D&C 133:4

The time will come when no man nor woman will be able to endure on borrowed light, each will have to be guided by the light within his self (Heber C. Kimball, C.R. 1956).

133:6 “Solemn Assemblies”

In ancient Israel, as part of the Mosaic worship, frequent solemn assemblies were held. They were held in connection with their sacrifices and feasts.

In modern Israel solemn assemblies have been called in temples from time to time as the Lord has revealed or as his Spirit has indicated.

133:7-16

The best measure of how close we are to the day of the Savior’s return is the extent to which the gospel has been declared among the nations of the earth.

133:18 “Calling and Election Made Sure”

The four angels who are given power over the earth are kept from sending forth desolations upon the earth until God’s servants are sealed in their foreheads. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that this sealing “signifies sealing the blessings upon their heads, meaning the everlasting covenant, thereby making their calling and election sure” (Teachings, 321).

133:26 “The Lost Ten Tribes”

1. A host of scriptural passages attest that the tribes of Israel have been scattered among all the nations of the earth.

2. Why would God send Moses to Joseph Smith to give him the keys by which Israel was to be gathered if some other prophets had already accomplished the task?

3. Why would John the Baptist, and then Peter, James and John restore priesthood to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery if that priesthood and its keys were already on the earth.

4. What of the statements the Lord made to Joseph Smith stating that he stood at the head of “the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth” (D&C 1:30). If priesthood, prophets, and covenants were already to be found upon the earth what truth can be found in such a statement?

5. If we are to accept the standard established in the revelations of the Restoration, we must maintain that none have the right to act in the name of the Lord (and surely that would include leading the tribes of Israel) save they have been “ordained by some one who has authority, and it is known to the church that he has the authority and has been regularly ordained by the heads of the church” (D&C 42:11). The Doctrine and Covenants accepts none as prophets save those who have been called, ordained, and received the sustaining vote of the Church. The Lord’s house is and always has been a house of order.

It is not wholly harmonious with the revelations and all we know about the Lord’s system of governing his people to suppose that the prophets called to lead the tribes of Israel back to the lands of their inheritance will be elders of Israel who trace their priesthood to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and through them to Peter, James, and John.

They are not held for the whole world or before the world, but are for those who have sanctified and purified themselves before the Lord

Dedicatory services for temples have always been solemn assemblies.

D&C 77:11, D&C 128:21

133:48 “The Lord Shall Be Red in His Apparel”

Red symbolizes the ripeness of grapes. The Savior will deal with the wicked’s ripeness in sin (Revelation 19:13).

Having bled at every pore, how red His raiment must have been in Gethsemane, how crimson that cloak! No wonder, when Christ comes in power and glory, that He will come in reminding red attire, not only signifying the winepress of wrath but also to bring to our remembrance how He suffered for each of us in Gethsemane and on Calvary! (Neal A. Maxwell, Ensign, May 1987, 72).

133:58 “The Little One Becomes a Strong Nation”

The “little one” is the Church. Early in the Kirtland period of Church History, Wilford Woodruff attended a meeting in a log cabin above the Morley farm. Of that occasion he recalled the following:

On Sunday night the Prophet called on all who held the Priesthood to gather into the little log school house they had there. It was a small house, perhaps 14 feet square. But it held the whole Priesthood of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who were then in the town of Kirtland… When we got together… the Prophet said, ‘Brethren I have been very much edified and instructed in your testimonies here tonight. But I want to say to your before the Lord, that you know no more concerning the destinies of this Church and kingdom than a babe upon its mother’s lap. You don’t comprehend it.’ I was rather surprised. He said, ‘It is only a little handful of Priesthood you see here tonight, but this Church will fill North and South America --- it will fill the world’” (C.R., April 1898, 57).

133:64 “It Shall Leave Them Neither Root or Branch”

The wicked and indifferent persons who reject the gospel will have no family inheritances or patriarchal lineage. No ancestors or children.

133:73 “Outer Darkness”

Hell is literally a place of outer darkness, darkness that hates light, buries truth, and revels in iniquity (McConkie, M.D., 551-52).

D&C 134

“Earthly Government and Law”

Even an evil government is better than none!

When every man has the power to enforce his own is the worst!

D&C 134:9-11Because Joseph Smith felt so strongly about the government’s duty to protect the individual’s rights and because the American government had failed to protect the Saints in Missouri from the mobs, Joseph Smith decided to run for the office of president of the United States in 1844. He felt none of the candidates running for president would represent the cause of the Saints fairly and guarantee them their constitutional rights.

On April 9th 1844, during the General Conference of the Church, Joseph Smith’s campaign for the presidency was launched. “A series of thirty-seven conferences was scheduled to be conducted throughout the nation by the Twelve with the final conference held at Washington D.C. from September 7th through the 15th (Ivan J. Barrett, Joseph and the Restoration: A History of the Church to 1846, 577)

On 6 May 1844 a vice-presidential nominee for the Saints’ political party called the Reformed party, was selected. The nominee, though not their first choice was Sidney Rigdon, who was then living in Pennsylvania.

The following are some of the men who ran for President of the United States in 1844:

Martin Van Buren (had been defeated twice) Henry Clay John C. Calhoun Lewis Cass Richard Johnson Joseph Smith James K. Polk (A late comer who won the

election)

Prior to running for President of the United States, the Prophet wrote to the men running and asked them what their intentions were toward the Latter-day Saints.

He received replies from Clay, Calhoun and Cass.

(Polk entered the race later, so he did not have a chance to respond).

Clay and Calhoun’s responses were so offensive that it gave rise to the following comments Joseph Smith made about the two men.

He said that they were wish-washy politicians and that their doctrine was that which fed mobs.

In Wilford Woodruff’s journal he stated that as early as December 1843, Joseph Smith was determined to run for President.

It was not announced to the people until January of 1844.

They tried to get James A. Bennett from New York to be Joseph’s running mate for V.P. but he declined.

Sidney Rigdon was eventually recruited.

(Paul went to Rome to appeal before Caesar to legitimize Christianity).

Perhaps Joseph was running for President of the United States to legitimize Mormonism.

February 1844

Joseph’s political platform was completed with the help of William W. Phelps and John Bernheisel (a family physician who had political inclinations). Both were gifted men. Joseph had the platform in mind, but William W. Phelps was most likely the one who wrote it.

1. Congressional Reform: Reduce the Congress by two-thirds.

2. Lower salaries for those in Congress:

They should be public servants and therefore only the best would seek the position.

3. Prison Reform:

Prisoners should work to pay their debt to society.

Prisons should be turned into seminaries to teach inmates a better way of life.

He thought only murderers and rapists should receive the harshest treatment.

Joseph proposed that murderers should be put to death.

4. Military:

It should be based on honor and moral responsibility. Joseph did not believe in a court marshal, but if a man were to betray the trust of his country he believed that man should never be allowed to hold a public office.

5. Slavery:

Legislatures should be petitioned to abolish slavery by the year 1850.

It would be taken care of by the sale of public lands to pay the owners of the slaves a just compensation for allowing them to go free. Many people were upset with this claiming that it would cost millions of dollars.

The Civil War alone would cost 10 times that amount and they still lost their slaves.

Joseph was opposed to slavery.

6. State rights:

He opposed State rights for obvious reasons.

He said that it was the doctrine that fed mobs.

He was in favor of a strong central government that administered fairly the laws and that the state was not supreme (Remember that Missouri could do just about anything it wanted to).

7. He advocated a strong National Security:

More economy and less taxation. Joseph advocated a federal banking system and a judicious tariff to protect U.S. interests abroad.

8. Joseph was an expansionist:

He said that Oregon, California, Mexico and Canada should all be invited to join with the United States.

A lot of missionaries were called to advocate the policy on government espoused by Joseph Smith as well as to preach the gospel.

The Twelve were sent out for the same reasons.

Bruce R. McConkie told his son Joseph McConkie that he felt the reason the Twelve were sent out was that Joseph knew he was going to die and did not want any harm to come to them.

Richard L. Bushman called Joseph a “Pro-test Candidate.” Why?

Because Joseph was not impressed with those who were running and what they would do for the Saints.

134:12

“We do not believe it right to interfere with bond servants”

This verse was intended to appease slave holders and avoid placing the Saints in the crossfire between the Southern and Northern states over the issue of slavery, though there was very little sympathy in the Church for the same. The Church had enjoyed some missionary success in the Southern states, particularly, Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky, and it was feared that if they came out against slavery it would invoke persecution similar to that which they had experienced in Jackson County. “For you will see,” wrote one Mormon, “that if madam rumor, with her thousand poisoned tongues, was once set afloat the story that this society had come out in favor of the doctrines and abolitionism, there would be no safety for one of us in the South” (Messenger and Advocate, 2:313).

The Prophet Joseph Smith sensed the precariousness of the situation and took measures to avoid trouble; he and other Church leaders during the spring of 1836 used the Messenger and Advocate to voice disapproval of the abolition movement. “I do not believe that the people of the North have any more right to say that the South shall not hold slaves, than the South have to say the North shall,” he wrote (Messenger and Advocate, 2:289), though he taught that the slave master must treat him slaves “with kindness before God.”

In the spring of 1844, in order to give the Saints a candidate for whom they could vote in good conscience, the Prophet announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States. In so doing he also announced a most enlightened platform which included a provision for Congress to pay slave holders a reasonable price for their slaves with money obtained from the sale of public lands, and from deduction of pay from the members of Congress. The idea, which was ignored, received wide public acclaim eleven years later when it was proposed by Ralph Waldo Emerson. The Prophet continued, “The southern people are hospitable and noble. They will help to rid so free a country of every vestige of slavery whenever they are assured of an equivalent for their property” (Smith, HC, 6:207).

The Law of Witnesses was fulfilled!

Two died and two lived to tell the story. If not, the onlyrecord we would have would be those who killed him.

Thursday, June 27, 1844. Joseph was 38 and Hyrum 44.

On at least 19 different occasions, beginning in 1829,Joseph told the Saints that he would probably not leavethis life peacefully (HC 4:587, 604; 6:558).

President Hinckley said in General Conference that Joseph Smith the Prophet has given to our present world more holy scripture than any other single prophet. The total amount of pages in the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price and the Joseph Smith Translation almost rival the amount of pages found in the Old Testament (CR, 1977).

135:1

J. Fielding Smith said that it was needful that these martyrs seal their testimony with there blood, that they might be honored and the wicked condemned.

At the funeral of Elder Richard L. Evans, President Joseph Fielding Smith, an Apostle said, “no righteous man is taken before his time (Ensign, Dec. 1971, 10).

Willard Richards said the exact time was 5:16 and 26 seconds (Willard Richards, in Glen M. Leonard, Nauvoo: A Place of Peace, a People of Promise (2002), 398).

135:2

This fulfilled a prophecy which Joseph Smith gave Willard Richards a year previous. Balls would fly like hail and he should see his friends fall on the left and right, but should not be a hole in his garment. A ball did graze the tip of his left ear (HC, 6:619).

The Night Before the Martyrdom:

That night Willard Richards, John Taylor, and Dan Jones remained with Joseph and Hyrum in jail. They prayed together and read from the Book of Mormon, Joseph bore his testimony to the guards. Much later, Joseph was lying on the floor next to the riverboat captain Dan Jones. “Joseph whispered to Dan Jones, ‘are you afraid to die?” Dan said, ‘Has that time come, think you? Engaged in such a cause I do not think that death would have many terrors.’ Joseph replied, ‘You will yet see Wales (Jones native land), and fulfill the mission appointed you before you die.’” Elder Jones later fulfilled the prophecy, serving a great mission in Wales (HC, 6:601).

Josiah Quincy, a prominent New England citizen who later became the mayor of Boston, visited Joseph Smith two months before the Martyrdom. Many years later he wrote about the people who had most impressed him during his life. Regarding Joseph Smith, he wrote, “It is by no means improbable that some future text-book, for the use of generations yet unborn, will contain a question something like this: What historical American of the nineteenth century has exerted the most powerful influence upon the destinies of his countrymen? And it is by no means impossible that the answer to that interrogatory may be thus written Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet” (Josiah Quincy, Figures of the Past from the leaves of Old Journals, 5th ed. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1883, 376).

D&C 135:3

Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, had done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it.

None have been privileged to do a labor that would have a greater effect on more of our Father’s children than Joseph Smith.

135:5 “Testators”

The “testators” are now dead,” and their testament is in force.

What is a “testator?”

A witness or witnesses who have left us something valuable!

The “law of witnesses” was fulfilled. Two die, two live to tell the story. If not, the only record we would have would be from those who murdered Joseph and Hyrum.

135:6

The martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith cost the best blood of the nineteenth century to bring them forth for the salvation of a ruined world.

Louisa Barnes Pratt (wife of Addison Pratt) said that at the time of the martyrdom, dogs barked, cows bellowed, and a depressed gloomy spirit set around. Women began to cry.

It wasn’t until hours later that they heard the Prophet had been killed.

Louisa said that no one had ever heard anything like it in Nauvoo before.

Wilford Woodruff said the following about the day of the martyrdom.

He wrote,

“Brigham Young and myself were at the railroad station at the time Joseph and Hyrum were assassinated and this was June the 27th at a quarter past five in the evening. It was half past six in Boston as we sat in the station. As we sat in the station Brigham was very sorrowful and depressed in Spirit not knowing the cause.

Brigham said,

“This was the time that Satan had struck the heaviest blow since the Son of God was crucified.”

We came to know afterward that all of the Twelve, wherever they were on that day, felt like the President of the Quorum, sorrowful and burdened in Spirit without knowing why.

George Albert Smith said that at the time of the martyrdom he heard a voice which said, “Joseph is dead aint you glad!”

George A. Smith was offended but knew that it was true.

Parley P. Pratt told some of the brethren he was with, “This is a sorrowful day. The horrors of hell have been turned loose, let us not say anything.” He didn’t know why, but he told his companions that this day we do not teach the Gospel nor do we say anything because of the horrors of hell have been let loose.

Praise

Whether in the work place, around the fireplace, or in community service --- we can all do something else which is simple but powerful. Isaiah spoke of providing the “garment of praise.” (Isaiah 61:3.) Of course, there are times in rendering humanitarian service when we need to give an actual, physical cloak, but, most often, those with whom most of us work need material clothing less than the “garment of praise” (Neal A. Maxwell, “Successful Leadership in Organizations, Communities and Families”).

Those who have breathless bread may still shiver for recognition and yearn for the succor of deserved commendation (Neal A. Maxwell, “King Benjamin’s Sermon: A Manual for Discipleship”).

Ezra T. Benson D&C 136:12

Ezra and his wife were baptized on Sunday, 19 July 1840 in the Mississippi River.

At the Sugar Creek encampment Ezra murmured to Brigham Young that his team was so weak he could not proceed further with the heavily laden wagon. Brigham gladly relieved Ezra of six hundred pounds of wheat and other food, leaving him with only fifty pounds of flour and a half a bushel of meal. “After that, when others complained about their wagons sinking in mud to their axles, Ezra would respond, ‘Go to Brother Brigham and he will lighten your load (Sheri Dew, Ezra Taft Benson: A Biography, 1987, 3).

At thirty five years old Ezra was called to be an Apostle. He was ordained by President Young and blessed that he should have the strength of Samson.

He journeyed to the Salt Lake Valley in the vanguard company and is credited with speaking at the first Sacrament Meeting there.

While attempting to care for a sick horse after a long ride from Logan to Ogden in September 1869, fifty eight year old Ezra fell dead. It was reported that “overwork and the burden of worry had weakened his heart.

Four thousand attended his funeral, including all members of the Twelve and three hundred Indian braves.

His testimony lives on these words: “I testify that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of the Most High…My testimony is: that ‘Mormonism’ is the kingdom of God” (Forace Green, comp., Testimonies of our Leaders, Bookcraft, 1958, 123).

D&C 136:31 “The Need to Be Chastised”

As Ben Franklin once said: “Those things that hurt, instruct. It is for this reason that wise people learn not to dread but welcome problems.”

Why did Joseph and Hyrum have to seal their lives with their own blood?

136:39

It was needful that he should seal his testimony with his blood, that he might be honored and the wicked might be condemned.

Doctrine and Covenants 136

Organization of the Camp of Zion:

Therefore, though we have rightly applauded our ancestors for their spiritual achievements (and do not and must not discount them now), those of us who prevail today will have done no small thing. The special spirits who have been reserved to live in this time of challenges and who overcome, will one day be praised for their stamina by those who pulled handcarts (Neal A. Maxwell, Notwithstanding My Weakness, 18).

If we are faithful the day will come when those deserving pioneers and ancestors, whom we rightly praise for having overcome the adversities in their wilderness trek, will praise today’s faithful for having made their way successfully through a desert of despair and for having passed through a cultural wilderness, while still keeping the faith (Neal A. Maxwell, If Thou Endure It Well, 28).

There have been over 240 “Splinter Groups” from our Church.

Sidney Rigdon:

Sidney Rigdon held secret meetings with disgruntled members of the Church, to be its “guardian,” for to that position he had been called of God. He said he held keys of authority higher than any conferred upon the Prophet Joseph: “the Keys of David.”

He was excommunicated after refusing to change his ways. He returned to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he organized a church similar to the one organized by the Prophet Joseph Smith. This organization soon disbanded. Sidney, the man who with the Prophet Joseph saw the vision of the three degrees of glory, died a lonely man, in Allegheny County, New York, in 1876.

William Smith:

William Smith was excommunicated in October 1845. He associated himself with James J. Strang for many years, but became disaffected and left prior to Strang’s death. Then, in 1850 he started another movement in which he set himself up as “President pro tem” of the Church, with two counselors. He claimed that the presidency of the Church should go from father to son, and since Joseph Smith III (the Prophet’s oldest son) was too young at the time to take over the leadership of the Church, he, William Smith, should be a sort of guardian in the meantime. This movement survived hardly a year.

Grandville Hedrick:

Grandville Hedrick followed several different factions after the Prophet’s death, but he did not remain with any of them. Almost twenty years after the martyrdom, in about 1863, Hedrick organized what he called the Church of Christ.

He claimed that Joseph Smith was a fallen prophet. He then told his followers to gather to Jackson County, Missouri, to prepare for “judgments” which would destroy the nation in 1878 (these judgments never came). The Hedrikites, as they are sometimes called, purchased plots of ground which were part of the temple lot laid out in Independence by the Prophet Joseph.

They still own part of that temple site today and call themselves the Church of Christ, Temple Lot. They have about three thousand members throughout the world. They claimed revelation instructing them to build a temple, but lack of funds has forced them to abandon that project temporarily. They are now hoping that some other organization will come along and provide them help in building a temple.

James Strang:

James J. Strang refused to follow the prophet Brigham Young. Instead, he claimed to have a letter from Joseph Smith appointing him to lead the Church after Joseph’ death. Many of the members of the Church who refused to follow Brigham Young believed Strang’s claim. For instance, William Smith, Joseph’s brother, and John C. Bennett and John E. Page followed Strang for a while. The group established themselves on Beaver Island in upper Lake Michigan, where Strang eventually had himself crowned King of Beaver Island. He was killed in 1856 during an uprising, and most of his followers disbanded. There are about three hundred members today.

The Community of Christ: (formerly the Re-organized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). They changed their name on April 6th, 2001.

The biggest of all the splinter groups which broke away from the Church after the death of Joseph and Hyrum is the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, with headquarters in Independence, Missouri. This church was not organized until 6 April 1860 when Joseph Smith III finally consented to be sustained as president. Today they have about 220,000 members and are remaining somewhat static, if not declining in membership. As early as 1856, Joseph Smith III had been urged to take over as president, but he did not do so until 1860.

Upon his acceptance of the office of president of the church, Joseph Smith III was ordained by four men, one being William Marks, who had been excommunicated in 1844 because he supported Sidney Rigdon’s claims of having authority to lead the Church. The Reorganized Church has become rather protestant in doctrine. They do not believe in temple marriage or endowments.

When a president of the Reorganized Church dies or leaves office, the next president is chosen by a system of delegates from congregations throughout the world who vote as if in a political convention. Members of the church have the right to vote on whether or not the president is inspired when he claims to have a revelation.

Men are not called to the priesthood; rather, they are recommended for it by any member who may feel inspired to do so. Patriarchal blessings are not given.