Thought: It’s
natural to have questions—the acorn of honest inquiry has often sprouted and
matured into a great oak of understanding. There are few members of the Church
who, at one time or another, have not wrestled with serious or sensitive
questions. One of the purposes of the Church is to nurture and cultivate the
seed of faith—even in the sometimes sandy soil of doubt and uncertainty. Faith
is to hope for things which are not seen but which are true. Therefore,
my dear brothers and sisters—my dear friends—please, first doubt your doubts
before you doubt your faith.8 We must never allow doubt to
hold us prisoner and keep us from the divine love, peace, and gifts that come
through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. (President Dieter F. Uchtdorf Oct. 5, 2013)
Book of the Week: "Shaken Faith Syndrome" Michael
Ash
Church History by the
Year - 1837-8
|
1836-April
|
HC Kimball blessing to PP Pratt. In Toronto PPP found "Seekers".
Orson Hyde joined PPP. Mission ended in late fall-1836- 200+ converts. John
Taylor presiding elder
|
|
1836-Summer
|
Saints began settling Far West
|
|
1836-Aug. 6
|
D&C 112 received in Salem, Mass. after the search for $ arranged
by William Burgess
|
|
1836-Dec.
|
Caldwell County Mo. was created
|
|
1837-Jan. 2
|
Kirtland Safety Society opened for business
|
|
1837-Feb
|
Meeting called in Kirtland Temple to discredit Joseph and call David
Whitmer as new Church President. Brigham, Heber and others defend prophet.
|
|
1837-May
|
Panic of 1837 hit Ohio Many banks failed including KSS- Many blamed
Joseph- Apostasy cost Church nearly 1/3 of members including 4 from The 12.
|
|
1837-June
|
H.C. Kimball set apart to preside over mission in England-
"Brother Heber, the Spirit of the Lord has whispered to me: 'Let my
servant Heber go to England & proclaim my Gospel, & open the door of
salvation to that nation." Willard Richards, Joseph Fielding, Orson
Hyde, Isaac Russell, John Goodson, John Snyder.
|
|
1837-June
|
Joseph left Kirtland Safety Society
|
|
1837-July 23
|
D&C 112- see vs. 19
|
|
1837-July 23
|
1st sermons taught in Preston, England- "Truth Will Prevail"
1) Industrial Revolution. 2)Glorious Revolution of 1689. 3) Religious
Awakening sweeping Britain in the 1830's. 4)Reverend James Fielding
|
|
1837-July 29
|
1) Elder Isaac Russell asked HCK for a blessing 2) River Rabble,
George D. Watt, woman with incurable tuberculosis & 7 others 3) Russell & Snyder to
Alston (-) 4)Richards & Goodson to Bedford 4) Cock Pit in Preston. 8 months -2000 converts-26 branches. 1850-
12,000 Saints in Utah. 34,000 in Great Britain. 1840-1875 75K to USA.
|
|
1837-Aug.
|
"Old Standard" apostates broke up a meeting in the Kirtland
Temple with pistols & bowie knives led by Warren Parrish and John Boynton.
Again in the fall with Joseph in Mo. -2-300 left including Williams, 3
Witnesses, 4/12, several of 70 10-15% of Church.
|
|
1837 - Nov. 7
|
FG Williams of the 1st Presidency lost his standing-Hyrum Smith
called in his place.
|
|
1837-Nov.
|
Joseph Smith briefly visited Far West
|
|
1837 - Dec. 22
|
Brigham Young flees Kirtland-followed by 1,600 by middle of July 1838
|
|
1838-Jan. 12
|
Joseph Smith fled from his enemies warned by Luke Johnson. Mobs chased
200 miles. Aided by Brigham Young and Brother Tomlinson.
|
|
1838-Mar. 14
|
Joseph arrived to settle in Far West
|
|
1838-Mar. 15
|
D&C 113- Understanding Isaiah 11
|
|
1838-Apr. 17
|
D&C 114- David W. Patten
|
|
1838- Apr. 26
|
D&C 115 - Name of the Church
|
|
1838-May
|
Adam-ondi-Ahman was founded D&C 116 - May 19?
|
|
1838-June
|
Town of DeWitt was settled
|
|
1838-June 19
|
Sidney Rigdon gave his "Salt Sermon"
|
|
1838-July 4
|
Sidney gave his Independence Day speech
|
|
1838-July 8
|
4 new apostles called- 4 Sections of the D&C - 117, 118,119, 120
|
|
1838-July 6-Oct. 2
|
Kirtland Camp of over 500 journeyed to Missouri. 14 children-1 adult
buried on Trail. Edwin Peck-Crushed by a wagon. Limb flattened as if crushed
to pulp, flesh laid open.
|
|
1838-Oct. 27
|
Extermination order
|
1. Poverty- Many new people, too many arrived hoping to be cared for by
the Church. Old Settlers in Kirtland were alarmed and asked the poor to leave
as early as 1835. There was improvement as the Saints banded together.
2. Debt- William or Jonathan Burgess & D&C 111
3. The Kirtland Safety Society by R. McKay White Presented at the eleventh annual FAIR Conference, 6 August
2009. A longer version of this presentation, in PDF format, is available: The Kirtland Safety Society: The Myths, the Facts,
and the Prophet's Good Name.]
The Kirtland Safety Society Anti-Banking Company
is an important part of our church history, having, as it did, a significant
role in the Kirtland apostasy. Yet, to date, it has received much more
attention from anti-Mormons, or “the other guys”, than from our own scholars
and apologists. As a result, there are a large number of myths about the Safety
Society that the other guys use to criticize Joseph Smith and destroy faith.
Today, I’m going to lay the episode wide open. We’ll see the myths that have
sprung from the creative minds of interested parties, the facts will be laid
bare, and in doing so, we’ll see why the Prophet deserves a good name. I am a
lawyer and an economist. With this background, and the assistance of material
previously unpublished, I will explode the criticisms stemming from the Safety
Society and put these issues to rest, once and for all. The Safety Society can
no longer be an excuse for antagonism against the Church.
1. It was a dark and stormy night; January
12, 1838. Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon saddled up their horses and fled
Kirtland in the cover of darkness toward the state border, their saddlebags
bursting with gold and silver. Though pursued 200 miles by an armed posse, the
convicted outlaws escaped capture with their untold plunder. And thus was born
the Legend of Joe Smith and the Wildcat Bank.
Wildcat Bank! That’s what Joseph Smith and
Sidney Rigdon were fleeing from—the Kirtland Safety Society Wildcat Bank. Now,
that one was pretty easy, so you can bet the other guys don’t stop there.
2. Didn’t you know? The Safety Society was
illegal! When Oliver Cowdery went to Philadelphia to get plates for printing
bank notes, Orson Hyde was sent to the Ohio legislature to get a bank charter.
At the time, the hard money guys were in
power, meaning they didn’t like banks. As a result, Orson Hyde’s application
for a charter was rejected. Undeterred, the Mormons went ahead and formed one
anyway, though they called it an “anti-bank”, or joint-stock association. But
that was illegal, wasn’t it? Well, according to an 1816 Act it was. Doesn’t the
conviction prove the Safety Society was illegal? The other guys like to say so,
but by so doing they prove either they haven’t actually researched the legal
issue, or they have and are hiding it. My Dad is a trial lawyer, and he has a
good business arguing decisions like this one in the court of appeal and having
them overturned. The court that convicted Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon got it
wrong. How do I know? Well, I’m going to show you some more material that’s
never been published before. This first is an extract from the Painesville
Republican, January 19, 1837: “It is doubted, however, by good judges, whether
the [1816 Act] is now in force, or if in force, whether it is not
unconstitutional, and therefore not binding upon the people.” This second is
also from the Painesville Republican, February 16, 1837: “The law of 1816 … has
long since become obsolete and inoperative….“The law of ’16 against private
banking … was rejected by the committee and was not republished by the
legislature.” Now, this is just some of the evidence that the 1816 Act wasn’t
in force in 1837.
3.The failure of the Safety Society proves
Joseph Smith wasn’t a prophet! Do you know why? Because Joseph Smith had a revelation
that the Safety Society would stand until time immemorial, and it didn’t!
If there is such a revelation in favour of
the Safety Society, no one’s ever seen it except for one guy who claims he
heard it once somewhere—Warren Parrish. We’ll hear later about Warren Parrish
and his bowie knife. But there was a
revelation by Joseph Smith about the Safety Society. Remember, Joseph Smith
left the Safety Society in June of 1837 due to dishonesty on the part of other
bank officers. In a conference on September 3, 1837, he said…“I had always said
that unless the institution was conducted on righteous principles it would not
stand.” That prophecy came to pass when the Safety Society failed two
months later.
So did Joseph Smith ruin the Safety Society?
No. It was a coordinated attack by Church enemies, and fraud by the apostate
Warren Parrish. And that’s it. The myths are gone. Poof. There’s nothing to cover
up, nothing to hide, nothing to be embarrassed about.
The Safety Society was in no way a wildcat
bank. Everyone knew where the bank was and who its officers were. It was also
legal. Joseph Smith was a true prophet. The only revelation he had about the
Safety Society was fulfilled—that it could not succeed unless managed based on
the principles of righteousness. The Safety Society was an honest endeavour for
which Joseph Smith sacrificed greatly to help it succeed. It was not bungled up
or mismanaged by Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon; they were prudent in what they
did. Its failure was the work of antagonists and an apostate.
And those are the facts about the Safety
Society.
4. Apostasy
Section 112-
Vs. 10 - Another step to attain
meekness is to become humble. The Lord instructed Thomas B. Marsh through
the Prophet Joseph
Smith, saying, “Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee
by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers.”
By Elder Ulisses Soares Of the Presidency
of the Seventy
Vs.13 - True conversion is more than
merely having a knowledge of gospel principles and implies even more than just
having a testimony of those principles. It is possible to have a testimony of
the gospel without living it. Being truly converted means we are acting upon
what we believe and allowing it to create “a mighty change in us, or in our
hearts.”3 In the booklet True to the
Faith, we learn that “conversion is a process, not an event. You become
converted as a result of … righteous efforts to follow the Savior.”4 It takes time, effort, and
work. My great-great-grandmother had a strong conviction that the gospel was
more important for her children than all that the world had to offer in the way
of wealth and comfort because she had sacrificed, endured, and lived the
gospel. Her conversion came through living the principles of the gospel and
sacrificing for them. By Bonnie L. Oscarson Young Women
General President
Vs. 16-19 - Twelve have keys and they use them under the
direction of the 1st Presidency.
Vs. 17 - Note Hyrum in 1st Presidency. FG Williams was
excommunicated in 1837- Re-baptized Aug. 5, 1838
