Revision as of 21:03, 3 November 2009

Index of Claims made in Chapter 17: Joseph Smith

"They will circulate falsehoods to destroy your reputation, and also will seek to take your life" --Angel Moroni to Joseph Smith (1823)2

Overview

This review of Bill McKeever and Eric Johnson's book, Mormonism 101, is limited to an examination of Chapter Seventeen--"Joseph Smith." It is seemingly McKeever and Johnson's most important chapter, as the first sentence in their introduction repeats the quote that "Mormonism...must stand or fall on the story of Joseph Smith."3

The authors' approach is typical of writings hypercritical of Mormonism. The chapter generally consists of contextually lacking quotes from the writings of others, with no consideration given to enlighten the reader as to the original authors' intentions, biases, or interpretations. The challenge in reviewing this chapter rests in the fact that the review is not so much that of McKeever and Johnson's work, but rather a review of the fragments that McKeever and Johnson selectively pieced together from other works. The fact that so many of the issues dealt with in Mormonism 101 are already addressed elsewhere in various sources, both pro and con, is an indicator that the "fresh" material the authors present is, in reality, nothing more than an outdated and stale recompilation designed to provide fresh income.

The authors attempt to add the illusion of validity to their work by calling upon an odd mix of several names that bear the label of "Mormon" or "LDS." For example, the authors readily cite:

   * "former Mormon historian D. Michael Quinn"4
   * "LDS historian Richard Van Wagoner"5
   * "LDS historian Todd Compton"6
   * "Historian Reed C. Durham"7
   * "Mormon Church historian Andrew Jenson"8
   * "LDS historian Stephen C. LeSueur"9
   * "LDS historians James B. Allen and Glen M. Leonard"10

Such a sampling would certainly lend itself to a balanced approach from an ill-informed reader's viewpoint. Yet while McKeever and Johnson allude to Smith's "high morals" and "impeccable integrity," as described by "Mormon historians,"11 one is left to wonder why, of the seven Latter-day historians they cite, not one of the selected quotes presents a "high moral" view." While there are volumes of accounts and testimonies of the prophet's good character, the authors did not consider or mention a single one.

The authors state that the descriptions of the prophet they present may seem "unfathomable by many faithful Latter-day Saints."12 What the reader may find surprising is that such a respected faith and devoted people could be the product of the unscrupulous, drunk, lying, womanizing deceiver that the authors present. Joseph's character is found as the ultimate target of doubt as the authors rely upon contextually lacking personal interpretations of historical detail. In the end, the reader will likely be shocked by the rapid succession of emotionally charged wording. In all, there are nearly 100 such instances, many of which are repeats, in thirteen pages of reproduced speculations and misrepresentations ranging from sexual issues to the occult. This review reflects a small, representative sampling of Chapter 17 in an attempt to disabuse the public mind of the images McKeever and Johnson have portrayed of the prophet.

251

Claim

• Having made regular visits to Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah, we have noticed a more subdued reference to Mormonism's founder by tour guides and various displays. In the public area, emphasis on Smith seems to be diminishing.13

• For a detailed response, see: Joseph Smith/Subdued references by the Church

252

Claim

• The authors condescendingly claim,

...almost feel sympathetic toward the Mormon apologist who has to defend Smith's bad social behavior...24

Response

• Regardless of a token acknowledgement to the contrary, McKeever and Johnson leave the reader with the impression that not one person ever had anything good or positive to say about Joseph Smith. It is important to consider a few recorded opinions of Joseph in his day from those who knew and understood him, had the opportunity to interact with him, and ultimately finds itself in harmony with what he actually taught.
• For a detailed response, see: Joseph Smith/Personality and temperament  ^{[needs work]}

253

Claim

• The authors claim,

...should people accept Smith as a prophet of God when his behavior was sometimes less than what we would expect from political leaders? Should character be ignored when it comes to men who claim to be prophets of God?16

Response

• For a detailed response, see: Joseph Smith/Character

Polyandry and the Prophet

253

Claim

• The authors quote Richard Van Wagoner to describe Joseph's "lust for manly achievement" and his alleged "inclination toward extra-marital romantic liaisons."

• n2
• n3
• n4

• In the tasteless pursuit of tabloid details, the authors have merely excerpted sensational passages from the works of Richard Van Wagoner and Todd Compton in an effort to deconstruct Joseph.
• Richard Van Wagoner, whose writings the authors make much use of, wrote what certainly applies to McKeever and Johnson's approach to Joseph's marital matters:

Contrary to popular nineteenth-century notions about polygamy, the Mormon harem, dominated by lascivious males with hyperactive libidos, did not exist. The image of unlimited lust was largely the creation of Gentile travelers to Salt Lake City more interested in titillating audiences back home than in accurately portraying plural marriage.30

The authors portray Joseph's plural marriages as lustful passion. This, however, is contrary to what polygamy31 was about.

253-255

Claim

• The authors use the terms "secret marriages" "secret plural wives" "secretly married" "amorous advances" "errant yearnings" "extra-marital romantic liaisons" "still teenagers" "affairs" "sexual relations" to describe Joseph's martial arrangements.39

• The authors' emotionally laced words of suggested deception are tactically employed to control their readers' perceptions of Joseph's marital engagements. Throughout the chapter they narrowly isolate emotionally charged wording while completely disregarding peripheral matters that could challenge their self-serving interpretations of history. They thereby manipulate their readers by limiting the information to which they have access.
• In this case, the authors superficially gloss over Joseph's plural marriages of which Emma had limited knowledge. The authors repeatedly indicate on the one hand that Joseph's plural marriages were a secret to Emma, yet on the other hand describe her feelings as "jealously battling" something she supposedly did not know about. While there is ample evidence that shows Emma consented to at least a half-dozen wives, the authors ignore any discussion on the implications and meaning of this or her overall mixed feelings on the entire issue.
• Unfortunately, the readers' understanding of Joseph's marriages, through McKeever and Johnson, is a balancing act of affairs and divorce. In portraying such an image, the authors deceptively misrepresent the circumstances surrounding Joseph's marriages as well as the principle of plural marriage in general. In doing so, the authors also ignore the deep spiritual commitment that Emma shared with Joseph during their seventeen trial-filled years of marriage. As a notable sign of this special bond, Emma's last deathbed words were, "Joseph, Joseph, Joseph...Joseph! ...Yes, I am coming."47
• For a detailed response, see: Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Emma Smith

253

Claim

• The authors note,

One misconception concerning Joseph's polyandry is that it was a practice represented in only one or two unusual marriages; however, fully one-third of Joseph's plural wives, eleven of them, were polyandrous.48

Response

• In regard to polyandry, Daynes wrote: "Perhaps nothing is less understood than Joseph Smith's sealings to women already married, because the evidence supports conflicting interpretations."49
• The authors base their shallow glimpse of this subject on what at times could be described as the historical guesswork of Compton, which carries its own subsequent set of problems. The authors merely repeat one sentence from Compton's book and fail to mention or consider any of Compton's long list of theories for reasons behind polyandry which might provide some understanding for the reader.50
• For a detailed response, see: Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Polyandry

254

Claim

• The authors state,

Some might argue that these relationships were strictly platonic. Compton disagrees, "Though it is possible that Joseph had some marriages in which there were no sexual relations, there is no explicit or convincing evidence for such a marriage (except, perhaps, in the cases of the older wives). And in a significant number of Joseph's marriages, there is evidence for sexual relations."62

Author's source(s)

Response

• While the authors readily accept the insinuation that all of Joseph's relationships were sexual, they fail to consider or even recognize the speculative (and what at times has been described as the self-serving) nature of Compton's exploration of polyandrous marriages. Sources do not show nor is there any reliable evidence that the way Joseph practiced polyandry included sexual or familial relations.
• Compton's only hint of possible intimacy with a married wife is a second-hand late account in 1915 wherein a daughter of one of Joseph's married wives related a story told to her thirty-three years earlier, that she was Joseph's child. This debatable piece of evidence, taken at face value, has been plausibly interpreted as meaning either that Joseph was the biological father or that he was the father in merely a spiritual sense. Either way, if the married wife, Sylvia Sessions, meant with certainty that Joseph was the biological father, she obviously would have to have been restricting her relationship to Joseph and not her excommunicated first husband,63 thus demonstrating a faulty application of the definition of polyandry.
• For a detailed response, see: Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Children of polygamous marriages

Claim

• The authors claim,

In May 1843 the thirty-seven-year-old prophet of Mormonism convinced fifteen-year-old Helen Mar Kimball to be sealed as his plural wife. The daughter of Heber C. Kimball stated how Smith promised that if she would "take this step," it would insure the eternal salvation and exaltation of her father's household and kindred. Helen was led to believe that the relationship was more of a spiritual nature and claimed she would have never gone through with it had she known otherwise.67

Author's source(s)

Response

• At this point in the authors' book, their sources are intermingled between Todd Compton and Richard Van Wagoner. While both books cover this same paragraph, the authors chose Van Wagoner's paragraph over Compton's entire chapter on the subject. This is likely because Van Wagoner provides no hint that the source of Helen's later claim of "would have never gone through with it" comes from an anti-Mormon writer whom Compton describes as displaying "extremism," "is suspect," "not credible," "unreliable," and to be "regarded with caution."68
• Oddly enough though, while Compton recognizes these problems in the source, he seems to have no problem in citing the source so long as it is qualified with his disclaimers.
• The authors state that Joseph "convinced" Helen to be sealed to him. What the authors fail to divulge is that it was Helen's father that initiated and arranged the marriage. Helen wrote:

My father...taught me the principle of Celestial marrage, & having a great desire to be connected with the Prophet, Joseph, he offered me to him; this I afterwards learned from the Prophet's own mouth...my father introduced to me this principle & asked me if I would be sealed to Joseph.69

• For a detailed response, see: Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Helen Mar Kimball

255

Claim

• The authors state,

For instance, would Mormons living in today's society follow as their prophet a man who was known to be a money digger and advocate of folk magic? According to Quinn, Smith and his family were well versed in such things: Joseph Smith...had unquestionably participated in treasure seeking and seer stone divination and had apparently also used divining rods, talismans, and implements of ritual magic.79

Response

• The authors are misrepresenting the material of the one author they choose to base their entire theme upon. It would seem reasonable that if the authors are going to base their claims off of someone else's research, then they ought to at least share the original author's conclusions and interpretations of the single fragment they cut from his 646 page book. One need not look far to understand the historical context for the 19th Century magical world view which Quinn writes about. Quinn's book establishes the idea that on the 19th century frontiers of America, a belief in superstition and magic was quite normal for the environment. If it was normal for the time period for which Joseph lived, then why do the authors not inform their readers of this key fact? Quinn wrote,

"It is often difficult for us in the twentieth century to appreciate the world from the perspective of earlier times... All of us have a tendency to assume that our ancestors saw the world as we see it today."80

• We could ask if the authors would follow a man known to have killed an Egyptian taskmaster? Or a man who used a magic cup for divination? Or a man who claimed to live in the belly of a whale? Or a man who lay drunken in his tent to the embarrassment of his family? Or a man who sought out Christians for prosecution and death? Or a man who collected taxes for a repressive government? These are the men of the Bible; they were unquestionably involved in such things. Do the authors believe this makes the Bible any less true? Would they have trouble accepting Matthew or Paul if they reappeared today?
• For a detailed response, see: Joseph Smith/Occultism and magic and Joseph Smith/Money digging

Claim

• The authors bring up magic again,

The fact that Smith owned a Jupiter talisman shows that his fascination with the occult was not just a childish fad. At the time of his death, Smith had on his person this talisman...106

Response

• For a detailed response, see: Joseph Smith/Occultism and magic/Jupiter talisman

256

Claim

• The authors claim that "[t]here is no question that many Mormon historians have painted Smith as a man of high morals and impeccable integrity. Any reports to the contrary are often assumed to have been made by enemies of the church or disgruntled ex-Mormons. Despite what may have been written about him, it is evident that Smith had an ego and expected to be followed without question." 129

• Interestingly the authors seem to have no problem citing "LDS" and "Mormon" authorities to construct an entire chapter of "contraries." Is the reader to conclude that every single "LDS" or "Mormon" historian that they cite is an enemy or apostate?
• The authors state that despite what may have been written about Joseph, he remains an egotist that controlled his people. Do Mormon leaders control the faithful and expect to be followed without question? There are several examples that show just the opposite expectation. Brigham Young, quoting Joseph Smith, said:

The question was asked a great many times of Joseph Smith, by gentlemen who came to see him and his people, 'How is it that you can control your people so easily? It appears that they do nothing but what you say; how is it that you can govern them so easily?' Said he, 'I do not govern them at all. The Lord has revealed certain principles from the heavens by which we are to live in these latter days. The time is drawing near when the Lord is going to cut short his work in righteousness, and the principles which he has revealed I have taught to the people and they are trying to live according to them, and they control themselves.' Gentlemen, this is the great secret now in controlling this people. It is thought that I control them, but it is not so. It is as much as I can do to control myself and to keep myself straight and teach the people the principles by which they should live.130

• For a detailed response, see: Authoritarianism and Church leaders and Authoritarianism and Church leaders/Quotes

The Proud Prophet

257

Claim

• The authors claim Joseph was boastful when he said,

I have more to boast of than ever any man had. I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam. A large majority of the whole have stood by me. Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I.123

Author's source(s)

Response

• For a detailed response, see: Joseph Smith/Narcissism/Did Joseph Smith 'boast' of keeping the Church intact

No Salvation Without Joseph Smith

258

Claim

• The authors use a quote from Brigham Young and from Joseph Field Smith to "prove" that Joseph is the gateway to the Celestial Kingdom,

Young stated that entrance into the celestial kingdom was conditional on Smith's consent. "No man or woman in this dispensation will ever enter into the celestial kingdom of God without the consent of Joseph Smith. From the day that the Priesthood was taken from the earth to the winding-up scene of all things, every man and woman must have the certificate of Joseph Smith, junior, as a passport to their entrance into the mansion where God and Christ are-I with you and you with me. I cannot go there without his consent. He holds the keys of that kingdom for the last dispensation-the keys to rule in the spirit world."140

President Joseph Fielding Smith affirmed this, saying that nobody could reject this "testimony without incurring the most dreadful consequences, for he cannot enter the kingdom of God."142

Author's source(s)

Response

• For a detailed response, see: Joseph Smith/Status in LDS belief

258-259

Claim

• The authors claim that Latter-day Saints believe that Joseph will save them,

Christians throughout the centuries have pointed to Jesus Christ as the only way to eternal life, Mormon leaders have taught that Joseph Smith will apparently be a deciding factor as well"... "The Bible clearly states that every person-both believer and non-believer-will be judged by Jesus, not Joseph! There is no hint that somebody like Smith would assist in the judgment.134

Response

• There is little doubt that through reading the Bible and rest of the Standard Works of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that we all will stand before the great judgment bar. The Bible however, as the authors avoid mentioning, speaks of this judgment authority being given by Christ to others. For example:

I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.135

Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore? And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.136

And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.137

Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?138

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.139

• It would appear that there is at least a "hint" of delegated judgment. It is interesting that many Christians commonly state that Peter is awaiting them at the pearly gates. Do they believe he has some judgment role or determination in their salvation? Clearly many unwittingly do.

• For a detailed response, see: Joseph Smith/Status in LDS belief

Joseph Smith as Prophet

261

Claim

• The authors claim evidence of failed prophecies,

[Smith's] followers were forced to leave Missouri...It should come as no surprise that among the many excuses Mormons have raised for the failure of Smith's Missouri predictions, few admit it was due to his lack of prophetical insight.119

Response

• It is important to understand the context in which "historians" are quoted for a proper understanding of their material. Interestingly, the authors freely called upon dead "LDS historian Andrew Jenson"120 for an earlier quote in their chapter that served to question the truthfulness of Joseph as a prophet. That quote had nothing to do with the context of Jenson's talk. His entire lecture was on proving that Joseph was in fact a prophet of God by describing numerous instances of fulfilled prophecies and other such witnesses to the truthfulness of his call. McKeever and Johnson ignore the fact that Jenson, in his 110-year-old Friday-evening lecture to the Student's Society, illustrated how Smith's predictions were proof of his "prophetical insight."
• Ironically, Jenson uses Missouri as one proof of Joseph's "prophetical insight." Jenson states:

In 1831 the Saints were commanded to gather to Jackson County, Mo., which was designated as a land of inheritance for the Saints in the last days, and also as the identical spot where they should build that great city, the New Jerusalem, about which the ancient Prophets and Saints had sung, prayed and rejoiced so much. Joseph Smith had just arrived in that goodly land, together with a number of his brethren, when a revelation, containing some very strange sayings was given on the 1st of August, 1831.121

• Jenson then relates D&C 58:1-5, wherein the Lord talks of the land they had just arrived in and speaks of "much tribulation" and blessings to those that remain faithful after that which is to follow. Jenson points out that if Joseph was a fraud attempting to make financial gain or seeking the vain glory and honor of men, then it would be pretty absurd to be predicting trouble when there was none immediately apparent. In less than three years after this revelation, the Saints were driven out of Jackson County and three years after that they were forced from Clay County, Missouri, then two more years later the Governor issued an extermination order driving them from the State of Missouri. If McKeever and Johnson do not think this means "much tribulation," then what, as Jenson states, does it mean?
• For a detailed response, see: Joseph Smith/Prophecies

The "Martyrdom" of the Prophet

262

Claim

• The authors now attempt to cast doubt on Joseph's status as a martyr for his beliefs,

Knowing full well that he would be in great danger by placing himself in the hands of his enemies, Smith attempted to flee into Iowa and ultimately to the Rockies. While waiting for horses, his wife Emma sent him a message stating that the Latter-day Saints were accusing Smith of cowardice and urged him to return. Smith did so.144

Response

• Was Joseph a coward? Joseph and Hyrum returned to Carthage for reasons that the authors omit from their narration. Joseph was, and always had been, willing to die for his faith, his God, and his people. Danel Bachman, illustrating this willingness, cited an 1838 incident when Joseph and Hyrum were in the hands of their enemies and were sentenced to be executed. Did he resist? No! Joseph, speaking of his feelings at the time said:

As far as I was concerned, I felt perfectly calm, and resigned to the will of my heavenly Father.... And notwithstanding that every avenue of escape seemed to be entirely closed, and death stared me in the face, and that my destruction was determined upon, as far as man was concerned; yet, from my first entrance into the camp, I felt an assurance, that I with my brethren and our families should be delivered. Yes, that still small voice, which has so often whispered consolation to my soul, in the depth of sorrow and distress, bade me be of good cheer, and promised deliverance.

• For a detailed response, see: Joseph Smith/Martyrdom

Claim

• The authors which to emphasize that Joseph drank wine at Carthage,

After dinner, Smith and several church officials ordered some wine to be brought to the jail.157

Author's source(s)

Response

• The authors lead the reader to think that Joseph and his associates sat around drinking wine all night. Joseph's final night consisted of testimony, study, and prophecy. The record reads:

During the evening the Patriarch Hyrum Smith read and commented upon extracts from the Book of Mormon, on the imprisonments and deliverance of the servants of God for the Gospel's sake. Joseph bore a powerful testimony to the guards of the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon, restoration of the Gospel, the administration of angels, and that the kingdom of God was again established upon the earth, for the sake of which he was then incarcerated in that prison, and not because he had violated any law of God or man.158

• Later that night we read:

Soon after Dr. Richards retired to the bed which Joseph had left, and when all were apparently fast asleep, 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, and fulfill the mission appointed you before you die."159

• In fulfillment of this prophecy, Dan Jones fulfilled two missions to Whales and was an instrument in bringing nearly one thousand people into the church.
• For a detailed response, see: Joseph Smith/Martyrdom/Joseph drank wine and Word of Wisdom

An Armed Martyr

Smith was visited by Cyrus H. Wheelock who, as he was about to leave, "drew a small pistol, a six-shooter from his pocket, remarking at the same time, 'Would any of you like to have this?"' The narrative states that Smith "immediately replied, 'Yes, give it to me."' He then proceeded to take the pistol and put it into his pants pocket.160

There is no question Joseph intended to defend himself and his friends, as was his right. As to the details that shed light on his acquisition of the weapon, another narrative from the History of the Church paints a different and clearer picture than the one McKeever and Johnson present. The account reads:

The morning being a little rainy, [Wheelock] favored his wearing an overcoat, in the side pocket of which he was enabled to carry a six shooter, and he passed the guard unmolested. During his visit in the prison he slipped the revolver into Joseph's pocket. Joseph examined it, and asked Wheelock if he had not better retain it for his own protection... Joseph then handed the single barrel pistol which had been given him by John S. Fullmer, to his brother Hyrum, and said, 'You may have use for this.' Brother Hyrum observed, 'I hate to use such things or to see them used.' 'So do I,' said Joseph, 'but we may have to, to defend ourselves;' upon this Hyrum took the pistol.161

Setting the Stage for Murder

Non-Mormon Colonel John Hay, an American poet and statesman, recorded the day's details leading up to the murder, shedding light on the mood of the mob that infamous day. He wrote:

[The mobsters] followed their leaders off on the road to Carthage, with rather vague intentions. They were annoyed at the prospect of their picnic coming so readily to a close, at losing the fun of sacking Nauvoo, at having to go home without material for a single romance... These trudged along under the fierce summer sun of the prairies towards the town where the cause of all the trouble and confusion of the last few years awaited them.

The farther they walked the more the idea impressed itself upon them that now was the time to finish the matter totally. The unavowed design of the leaders communicated itself magnetically to the men, until the entire company became fused into one mass of bloodthirsty energy...

...As the avengers came in sight of the mean-looking building that held their prey, the sleeping tiger that lurks in every human heart sprang up in theirs, and they quickened their pace to a run. There was no need of orders,-no possibility of checking them now. The guards were hustled away from the door, good-naturedly resisting until they were carefully disarmed.162

Interjecting into Hay's narrative, the view from inside the jail finds the mob rushing up the stairs to the room where Joseph and his friends were. It was "at this point, Joseph sprang to his coat for his six-shooter, Hyrum for his single barrel, Taylor for Markham's large hickory cane, and Dr. Richards for Taylor's cane. All sprang against the door, the balls whistled up the stairway, and in an instant one came through the door...Joseph Smith, John Taylor and Dr. Richards sprang to the left of the door, and tried to knock aside the guns of the ruffians...Joseph, seeing there was no safety in the room, and no doubt thinking that it would save the lives of his brethren in the room if he could get out, turned calmly from the door, dropped his pistol on the floor and sprang into the window when two balls pierced him from the door, and one entered his right breast from without, and he fell outward into the hands of his murderers, exclaiming. 'O Lord, my God!'"163

The idea that Joseph tried to escape through the window to save the lives of Richards and Taylor is in harmony with one of the reasons he went to Carthage to begin with.164

The historical account reads that "Dr. Richards' escape was miraculous; he being a very large man, and in the midst of a shower of balls, yet he stood unscathed, with the exception of a ball which grazed the tip end of the lower part of his left ear. His escape fulfilled literally a prophecy which Joseph made over a year previously, that the time would come that the balls would fly around him like hail, and he should see his friends fall on the right and on the left, but that there should not be a hole in his garment."165

Mr. Hay continuing with his narrative writes:

Joe Smith died bravely...after he half leaped, half fell, into the jail yard below. With his last dying energies he gathered himself up, and leaned in a sitting posture against the rude stone well-curb. His stricken condition, his vague wandering glances, excited no pity in the mob thirsting for his life.

A squad of Missourians who were standing by the fence leveled their pieces at him, and, before they could see him again for the smoke they made, Joe Smith was dead.

The moment the work was done, the calmness of horror succeeded the fever of fanatical rage. The assassins hurried away from the jail, and took the road to Warsaw in silence and haste. They went home at a killing pace over the wide, dusty prairie.

Concluding with the official record:

To seal the testimony of this book and the Book of Mormon, we announce the Martyrdom of Joseph Smith the Prophet, and Hyrum Smith the Patriarch. They were shot in Carthage jail, on the 27th of June, 1844, about 5 o'clock P.M., by an armed mob, painted black--of from 150 to 200 persons...They were innocent of any crime, as they had often been proved before, and were only confined in the jail by the conspiracy of traitors and wicked men; and their innocent blood on the floor of Carthage jail, is a broad seal affixed to 'Mormonism' that cannot be rejected by any court on earth; and their innocent blood on the escutcheon of the State of Illinois with the broken faith of the State, as pledged by the Governor, is a witness to the truth of the everlasting gospel, that all the world cannot impeach; and their innocent blood on the banner of liberty, and on the magna charta of the United States is an ambassador for the religion of Jesus Christ that will touch the heart of honest men among all nations; and their innocent blood with the innocent blood of all the martyrs under the altar that John saw, will cry unto the Lord of Hosts, till He avenges that blood on the earth. Amen.166

Dead Men Walking

John Taylor stated that before Smith was shot, he used his smuggled gun to shoot three of his attackers, killing two of them.167

John Taylor actually said, "I afterwards understood that two or three were wounded by these discharges, two of whom, I am informed, died."168 Who were these rumored dead men? Colonel Hay in his narrative wrote:

Joe Smith died bravely. He stood by the jamb of the door and fired four shots, bringing his man down every time. He shot an Irishman named Wills, who was in the affair from his congenital love of a brawl, in the arm; Gallagher, a Southerner from the Mississippi Bottom, in the face; Voorhees, a half-grown hobbledehoy from Bear Creek, in the shoulder; and another gentleman, whose name I will not mention, as he is prepared to prove an alibi, and besides stands six feet two in his moccasins.169

The courts indicted these alleged dead men for murder. Mr. Hay wrote:

Bills of indictment were found at the October term of court against Levi Williams, Mark Aldrich, Jacob C. Davis, William N. Grover, Thomas C. Sharp, John Wills, William Voorhees, William Gallagher and one Allen. They were based on the testimony of two idle youths, named Brackenbury and Daniels, who had accompanied the expedition from Warsaw to Carthage on the 27th of June, and had seen the whole affair.170

The two youths eventually exploited the incident and became useless as witnesses. However, their testimony as to seeing Wills, Voras, and Gallaher, all wounded, on the road between Carthage and Warsaw, were sufficient for indictment. The three indicted men were never arrested, nor did they appear at the trial. In contrast to Taylor's unverified rumor perpetuation of their death, a local newspaper of that day perpetuated rumors to the contrary stating that the three men had left the state.171

Dallin Oaks and Marvin Hill's detailed analysis of the accused killers trial stated that:

Wills, Voras, and Gallaher were probably named in the indictment because their wounds, which testimony showed were received at the jail, were irrefutable evidence that they had participated in the mob. They undoubtedly recognized their vulnerability and fled the country. A contemporary witness reported these three as saying that they were the first men at the jail, that one of them shot through the door killing Hyrum, that Joseph wounded all three with his pistol, and that Gallaher shot Joseph as he ran to the window... The citizens of Green Plains were said to have given Gallaher and Voras new suits of clothes for their parts in the killing.172

McKeever and Johnson erroneously turn rumors into fact. Clearly there is more to the story than the mangled words of John Taylor reveal.

Joseph the Martyr

The differences between Jesus and Joseph Smith are obvious. On the one hand, Jesus quietly and humbly went like a lamb to the slaughter. He went peacefully and without resistance. When Peter attempted to defend his Lord from the mob by drawing his sword, he was told to put it away (John 18:11)...it is wrong for Mormons to draw a similarity between Smith's final actions and those of the Savior. There can be no comparison between the sacrificial death of Christ and the way Smith died!173

Professional critics Jerald and Sandra Tanner would no doubt approve of McKeever and Johnson's conclusions about the martyrdom of Joseph Smith. Why wouldn't they? The same material can be found in a pamphlet that they sell entitled Jesus and Joseph Smith. For example:

   * Tanner: "It is interesting to compare the death of Joseph Smith with that of Jesus."
   * McKeever: "The differences between Jesus and Joseph Smith are obvious."
   * Tanner: "Jesus did go like a 'lamb to the slaughter'"
   * McKeever: "Jesus quietly and humbly went like a lamb to the slaughter"
   * Tanner: When Peter tried to defend Jesus with the sword, Jesus told him: "Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?" (John 18:11)
   * McKeever: When Peter attempted to defend his Lord from the mob by drawing his sword, he was told to put it away (John 18:11)
   * Tanner: "can be seen that the death of Joseph Smith can in no way be compared to the death of Jesus."
   * McKeever: "can be no comparison between the sacrificial death of Christ and the way Smith died!"

Additionally, the previously addressed narratives of Cyrus H. Wheelock's pistol, details of the "shoot-out," and the two dead men, can all be found in the Tanner's free pamphlet. The fact that this information can be had via the Tanner's Internet site, or thirty copies of the pamphlet can be had for the price of one dollar at the Tanners' store in Salt Lake City, demonstrates the stale and tired recompilation of 170+ years of asked-and-answered anti-Mormon rhetoric.

While both sets of critics make much of Jesus telling Peter to put his sword away, both fail to mention the instruction was preceded by Jesus telling the apostles who did not have swords to sell their garments and buy one, which was followed by Peter cutting the servants ear off, then Jesus said it was enough.174 Why did Jesus tell his followers to equip themselves with swords if he did not want them to defend themselves? Jesus himself said, "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword."175

Regardless, "Mormons" draw no such comparison between the matchless sacrifice of Christ and that of the cold-blooded murder of the Prophet. This theme of denying Joseph Smith status as a Martyr is popular in anti-Mormon publications. They conclude that his use of a gun, and attempted escape from a window (to save the lives of those in the room, no less) voids him as a martyr. While this defies definition, it is nonetheless used as a basis for denial. The question must be asked, can a martyr give resistance? There is nothing in its definition that suggests they cannot. Webster's definition of a Martyr certainly fits Joseph. The definition states that a martyr is someone "put to death for adhering to a belief, faith, or profession." The authors apparently want the definition to be re-written to exclude Joseph Smith. If the authors suggest he was put to death for some other reason, they fail to make their case. Can McKeever and Johnson deny Christ as the Savior because he resisted earlier attempts against His life? Paul similarly fought death through following a lengthy legal process in hopes of freedom. So are we to conclude that Paul is not a Martyr either? It is puzzling how McKeever and Johnson can contrast between Jesus and Joseph and arrive at the conclusion they do. We see through examples above, just how Joseph acted under due process. He was a willing sacrifice and his words and actions repeatedly confirm this.

The Big Conclusion--That Wasn't

The authors conclude their chapter with a sarcastic fizzle. Their shallow exercise in repeating claims that have been made and answered many times over by others apparently left them with nothing else to say for their conclusion. They conclude their chapter stating that Mormons believe Joseph restored the Church, was inspired to bring forth scripture, and was a martyr. While the beliefs are accurate, the conclusion has nothing to do with what they wrote in their chapter. The reader will likely think they are missing pages from the end of the chapter due to its thoughtless and abrupt end.

McKeever and Johnson's preoccupation with their calculated and craftily misguided quotes serve to purposefully miss Joseph's complete devotion to the restoration of Christ's Church and gospel. Joseph's life of persecution, sacrifice, and influence is not a story that can be told or understood by reading tabloid type books such as Mormonism 101. Sadly, this is how many will learn of him. Joseph said, "No man knows my history."176 Apparently that would include McKeever and Johnson.

As a final note as to why books like this are written, Brigham Young made it clear when he said:

Do you understand the reason why such feelings exist against this people? Go to the United States, into Europe, or wherever you can come across men who have been in the midst of this people, and one will tell you that we are a poor, ignorant, deluded people; the next will tell you that we are the most industrious and intelligent people on the earth, and are destined to rise to eminence as a nation, and spread, and continue to spread, until we revolutionize the whole earth. If you pass on to the third man, and inquire what he thinks of the "Mormons," he will say they are fools, duped and led astray by Joe Smith, who was a knave, a false Prophet, and a money digger. Why is all this? It is because there is a spirit in man. And when the Gospel of Jesus Christ is preached on the earth, and the kingdom of God is established, there is also a spirit in these things, and an Almighty spirit too. When these two spirits come in contact one with the other, the spirit of the Gospel reflects light upon the spirit which God has placed in man, and wakes him up to a consciousness of his true state, which makes him afraid he will be condemned, for he perceives at once that "Mormonism" is true. "Our craft is in danger," is the first thought that strikes the wicked and dishonest of mankind, when the light of truth shines upon them. Say they, "If these people called Latter-day Saints are correct in their views, the whole world must be wrong, and what will become of our time-honoured institutions, and of our influence, which we have swayed successfully over the minds of the people for ages. This Mormonism must be put down." So priestcraft presents a bold and extended front against the truth, and with this we have to contend, this is our deadliest foe.177

Endnotes

1 I am a convert to the LDS faith and amateur apologist. This review is a representative sampling of the many things already written about the prophet and serves to organize that material into a format that conveniently clarifies and counters some of McKeever and Johnson's misguided claims. In the end, I alone am responsible for this review, which represents only a few impressions and findings of error in the work of Mormonism 101.

2 I selected this epigraph as McKeever and Johnson's book points to a lecture from Andrew Jenson that revisited Moroni's words. As the author's work appears applicable to the fulfillment of the angel's words, I cite an excerpt from Jenson's talk which McKeever and Johnson ignore. The Angel Moroni tells Joseph in 1823 "that when he should bring forth the Book of Mormon, the workers of iniquity would seek his overthrow. Says the angel: They will circulate falsehoods to destroy your reputation, and also will seek to take your life; …When [the brass plates] are interpreted, the Lord will give the holy Priesthood to some, and they shall begin to proclaim this Gospel and baptize by water, and after that they shall have power to give the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands. Then will persecution rage more and more; for the iniquities of men shall be revealed, and those who are not built upon the rock will seek to overthrow the Church; but it will increase the more opposed, and spread further and further. The angel further told him: Your name shall be known among the nations; for the work which the Lord will perform by your hands shall cause the righteous to rejoice and the wicked to rage; with the one it shall be had in honor and with the other in reproach." Andrew Jenson, "Joseph Smith: A True Prophet," a lecture delivered by Elder Andrew Jenson, before the Students' Society, in the Social Hall, Salt Lake City, Friday evening, January 16, 1891, as found in Collected Discourses, Vol. 2, edited by Brian H. Stuy (Burbank, California: B.H.S. Publishing, 1988). This is a rather amazing prediction, considering the absolute obscurity of Joseph and the not yet formed Church.

3 Bill McKeever and Eric Johnson, Mormonism 101 (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2000), 251. The semi-original source for this quote comes from Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, Vol 1, edited by Bruce R. McConkie (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1954), 188. The very next page in this book ironically reads: "ALL ATTACKS ON WORK OF JOSEPH SMITH FAIL. There is no possibility of his being deceived, and on this issue we are ready to make our stand. I maintain that Joseph Smith was all that he claimed to be. His statements are too positive and his claims too great to admit of deception on his part. No impostor could have accomplished so great and wonderful a work. Had he been such, he would have been detected and exposed, and the plan would have failed and come to naught. In the plan of salvation, as it was made known through Joseph Smith to the world, there are no flaws. Each part fits perfectly and makes the whole complete. Attacks have been made from the beginning to the present, and yet every one has failed. The world has been unable to place a finger upon anything that is inconsistent, or out of harmony in the revelations to Joseph Smith, with that which has been revealed before, or predicted by the prophets and the Lord himself."

4 McKeever and Johnson, Mormonism 101, 252. While Quinn may have done award-winning research, his conclusions and interpretations may not always be correct. Apologist Mike Ash, in his list of "Who's Who in Apologetics," writes that Quinn "has produced a mixed bag of LDS related material. Much of his early work is very good. Some of his later work has some interesting insights. Although Quinn is an excommunicated Mormon, he considers himself to be a believer in the Mormon faith. Quinn's writings on Joseph Smith and his early treasure digging years has some value, while most of his writings on Joseph Smith's supposed connection to early frontier magic is often specious. Quinn's writings on early LDS history and priesthood authority is also a mix of good and bad, while his writings on supposed 'gay' relations in early LDS history is so far off the accuracy scale that it makes it difficult to trust some of his other history-related conclusions." See http://www.mormonfortress.com/who1.html. In a 1998 review of one of Quinn's works, FARMS reviewers Mitton and James in speaking of Quinn's homosexual identity and agenda, find that in regard to his treatment of beliefs and practices of the Latter-day Saints, his arguments are "equivocal, conceptually confused, often baseless, and ultimately absurd." They further state that Quinn has been "dishonest in advancing his homosexual agenda; what he has produced, instead of being competent, honest history, is an instance of fraud." See FARMS Review of Books, Volume 10, Number 1 (1998), 143-144.

5 McKeever and Johnson, Mormonism 101, 253.

6 Ibid., p.253. While Compton may have done award-winning research, his conclusions and interpretations may not always be correct. In Who's Who in Apologetics (http://www.mormonfortress.com/who1.html), Mike Ash writes of Todd Compton, [he] "has written some good material, his work on Joseph Smith and plural marriage (although offering some additional insights), is not universally accepted as accurate by other LDS apologists." An example of this is in Danel W. Bachman's review of Compton's work. He says, "If one wonders what Compton really believes about Mormonism and its doctrine of revelation, this single self-characterization provided in a footnote may or may not be helpful: 'I am a practicing Mormon who considers himself believing but who rejects absolutist elements of the fundamentalist world view, e.g., the view of Joseph Smith as omniscient or morally perfect or receiving revelation unmixed with human and cultural limitations. However, I do accept non-absolutist incursions of the supernatural into human experience. (p. 629)'" Bachman notes that "this comment is puzzling. What 'fundamentalists'? I do not know any well-informed Latter-day Saint who thinks that Joseph Smith was either omniscient or morally perfect. However, on several occasions in the book, Compton speaks of the early Saints as looking upon Joseph as 'nearly, practically infallible.'… But that too is baffling in light of statements by Joseph and his contemporaries to the contrary." Bachman also notes that Compton "uses literally hundreds of speculative terms such as probably, perhaps, may have, might have, must have, undoubtedly, apparent and apparently, seems likely, or unlikely…" [this] "demonstrates the very noticeable degree of historical guesswork in the book." (See: FARMS Review of Books, Volume 10, Number 2 (1998).

7 McKeever and Johnson, Mormonism 101, 256. It is interesting that the authors ignore his former LDS Church historian label.

8 Ibid., 259.

9 Ibid., 260. While LeSuer may have done award-winning research, his conclusions and interpretations may not always be correct. Apologist Jeff Lindsay wrote of LeSueur's book: "After reading his book, I can only conclude that LeSueur has an axe to grind. Several times he forces his viewpoint into his interpretation of events when the evidence he discusses seems to cry out for a different interpretation. In other cases, he chooses not to even discuss evidence that directly challenges his claims. A few instances of logical sleight of hand misdirect the reader and conjure up an image that is unfairly unfavorable of Joseph Smith, in my opinion." For a review of LeSueur's work, see: http://www.jefflindsay.com/LDSFAQ/FQ_Danites.shtml#LeSueur.

10 Ibid., 261.

11 Ibid., 256.

12 Ibid., 252.

13 Ibid., 251.

14 LeIsle Jacobson, "Ashamed of Joseph: Mormon Foundations Crumble, Charles Crane and Steven Crane," FARMS Review of Books, Volume 8, Number 1 (1996). Note the following conclusions:

Jacobson took the same tour Crane would have taken and noticed no information was given concerning Joseph Smith on the tour. Then, Jacobson says, "about twenty minutes into the tour, I asked Sister McCombs, one of our guides, why nothing had been said about Joseph Smith. She smiled and told me that Joseph Smith wasn't covered in that tour, but I could learn more about him in the Restoration or Basic Beliefs tour at the North Visitors' Center. The tour ended on the lower floor of the North Visitors' Center in front of a large group of video displays. Sister McCombs demonstrated their use by selecting (purely by coincidence, I'm sure) 'Who was Joseph Smith?' After suggesting that we all make use of the video displays, Sister McCombs brought the tour to a close with the reminder that other tours were available inside the Visitors' Center, and she gave directions to the various tours available, including the aforementioned Basic Beliefs tour.

Sister McCombs, who noticed that I had been taking notes during the course of the tour, asked me what the notes were for. I explained that I was reviewing a book. Brother Anderson, the second tour guide, overheard our conversation, rejoined us and asked me about the book I was reviewing. I told them the title of the book and explained that the author of the book said that his Temple Square tour guide had told him that the guides were instructed not to talk about Joseph Smith. I mentioned that the author of Ashamed of Joseph said that the reason his tour guide had told him she wasn't supposed to talk about Joseph Smith was because the Church is embarrassed by Joseph Smith. Brother Anderson exclaimed, 'Why, that's absurd!' After following their suggestion to take the Basic Beliefs tour, I would have to say that I agree with Brother Anderson's assessment of Charles Crane's account of his experience at Temple Square. It's absurd. Crane assumes that if one tour guide says the Church is embarrassed by Joseph Smith, it must indeed be true that the Church is embarrassed by Joseph Smith. And yet a minimum of time and research could have shown him numerous errors in his assumption.

Information on Joseph Smith is readily available on the video displays, which visitors are encouraged to use. The First Vision and Joseph Smith's role as a prophet are covered in the Basic Beliefs tour (which started on the main level of the North Visitors' Center right above the video displays). Two guides gave me what appeared to be a trained response to questions about Joseph Smith, i.e., 'You can learn about him on the Basic Beliefs tour.' And the guides on the Basic Beliefs tour (Sister Bevans and Sister Miller) did talk quite readily and easily about Joseph Smith, the prophet and founder of the Latter-day Saint religion. I've recounted Crane's Temple Square story because it illustrates a problem I found throughout the text of Ashamed of Joseph. Crane does not take the minimum amount of time and research to verify the conclusions and accusations he makes in his book.

This last illustration can be applied to McKeever and Johnson as well.

15 The letter was issued as an official clarification and issued to religion writers and editors regarding the article that had recently ran in Newsweek on the Latter-day Saint faith. While that letter was posted on www.lds.org for a time, it has since been replaced by other similar clarification letters that put to rest misconceptions about Mormonism in the media. One can still read "From Farm Boy to Prophet" as well as many other articles on Joseph Smith in the "Story Packages" section of www.lds.org under the heading "Church History."

16 McKeever and Johnson, Mormonism 101, 253.

17 Brigham Young, "The Gifts of Prophecy and Tongues, Etc," Journal of Discourses, reported by G.D. Watt 22 June 1856, Vol. 3 (London: Latter-Day Saint's Book Depot, 1856), 366. See also Discourses of Brigham Young, edited by John A. Widtsoe (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1954), 466.

18 Joseph Smith, History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Vol. 5 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1978), 406-408.

19 Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, edited by Joseph Fielding Smith (Salt Lake City; Deseret Book Company, 1976), 258.

20 B.H. Roberts, A Comprehensive History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Vol. 2 (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1965), 360.

21 Smith, History of the Church, Vol. 1, 9-10.

22 Smith, History of the Church, Vol. 1, 9-10. (Oliver Cowdery letter cited as a footnote.)

23 Acts 7:58, 8:1, 8:3, 26:10; Galatians 1:13

24 McKeever and Johnson, Mormonism 101, 252.

25 Smith, History of the Church, Vol. 6, 467.

26 Smith, History of the Church, Vol. 1, 94 (see footnote).

27 Cited as a footnote in Truman G. Madsen, Joseph Smith the Prophet (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1989), 33.

28 New York Herald (February 19, 1842). Reprinted in Millennial Star, III (May 1843): 8; cited in Hyrum L. Andrus, Joseph Smith, the Man and the Seer (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1960), 11.

29 Marvin S. Hill, "Joseph Smith the Man: Some Reflections on a Subject of Controversy," BYU Studies, 21:2 (Spring 1981).

30 Richard S. Van Wagoner, Mormon Polygamy: A History (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1989), 89.

31 Of the non-biblical cultural abhorrence of polygamy, Stephen E. Robinson writes:

In Western culture plural marriage is generally abhorred, but the roots of this abhorrence can hardly be described as biblical, for the Old Testament explicitly sanctions polygamy and the New Testament does not forbid it. The practice could not have been abhorrent to Jesus and the first-century Jewish Christians, for their culture was not Western, and plural marriage was sanctioned in the law of Moses, the holiness of which was endorsed by both Jesus and Paul. Indeed, it is possible that some Jewish Christians of the first century continued to practice plural marriage just as they continued Sabbath observance, circumcision, and other practices related to their cultural and religious background. The cultural milieu of Judaism and early Christianity simply cannot be the source of the Western horror of plural marriage, for plural marriages were common in the environment of the earliest Christian church.

I do not deny that polygamy is now abhorred in Western culture generally and in modern Christianity particularly. What I deny is that the source of that abhorrence is biblical. It is derived not from the biblical heritage but the classical-the abhorrence of polygamy comes from Greece and Rome. As orthodox a figure as Saint Augustine knew that the prohibition of plural marriage in the church of his day was only a matter of Roman custom: 'Again, Jacob the son of Isaac is charged with having committed a great crime because he had four wives. But here there is no ground for a criminal accusation: for a plurality of wives was no crime when it was the custom; and it is a crime now, because it is no longer the custom… The only reason of its being a crime now to do this, is because custom and the laws forbid it.' Though pagan culture could freely tolerate multiple sexual partners, it could tolerate only one wife. In that respect Greco-Roman culture was very similar to contemporary Western culture.

Clearly, then, the antagonism to plural marriage was not biblical in origin, for the bosom of Abraham, where most Christians long to repose, is a polygamous bosom, and the house of Israel, into which most Christians seek admission, is a polygamous house. [Stephen E. Robinson, Are Mormons Christians? (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1991), 92-93.]

32 Erastus Snow, "Preparation of Heart, Etc.," Journal of Discourses, reported by G.D. Watt 4 October 1857, Vol. 5 (London: Latter-Day Saint's Book Depot, 1857), 290. See Hyrum L. Andrus, Doctrines of the Kingdom (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1973), 456-457.

33 Andrus, Doctrines of the Kingdom, 479. Andrus writes of Joseph's interview with Lucy Walker wherein Joseph said: "I have been commanded of God to take another wife, and you are the woman." Joseph then told her, "If you pray sincerely for light and understanding…you shall receive a testimony of the correctness of this principle." Doing as the Joseph directed, she inquired of God and then she states, "I received from Him a powerful and irresistible testimony of the truthfulness and divinity of plural marriage, which testimony has abided me ever since." Andrus also cites examples from parents of those that Joseph sought as wives, wherein Joseph told them to inquire of God for themselves to ascertain the truthfulness of the principle. This prophetic direction that guided others to inquire for themselves also extended to leaders who were commanded to engage in plural marriage.

34 Kathryn M. Daynes, More Wives than One: Transformation of the Mormon Marriage System, 1840-1910 (Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 2001), 27.

35 Andrus, Doctrines of the Kingdom, 471-472. One of several statements from Andrus' notes reads: "Hyrum Smith told Benjamin F. Johnson: 'I know that Joseph was commanded to take more wives, and he waited until an angel with drawn sword stood before him and declared that if he longer delayed fulfilling that command that he would slay him.'"

36 Helen Mar Whitney, "Scenes and Incidents in Nauvoo," Woman's Exponent, X (November 1, 1881), 83, as cited in Andrus, Doctrines of the Kingdom, 471-472.

37 Brigham Young, "Plurality of Wives, Etc.," Journal of Discourses, reported by G.D. Watt 14 July 1855, Vol. 3 (London: Latter-Day Saint's Book Depot, 1856), 266 and Andrus, Doctrines of the Kingdom, 472. Brigham Young states: "It is not through lust that men and women are to practise this doctrine, but it is to be observed upon righteous principles; and, if men and women would pay attention to those instructions, I would promise, in the name of the Lord, that you would never find them lustful in their dispositions, and you might watch them as closely as you pleased…Some of these my brethren know what my feelings were at the time Joseph revealed the doctrine; I was not desirous of shrinking from any duty, nor of failing in the least to do as I was commanded, but it was the first time in my life that I had desired the grave, and I could hardly get over it for a long time. And when I saw a funeral, I felt to envy the corpse its situation, and to regret that I was not in the coffin, knowing the toil and labor that my body would have to undergo; and I have had to examine myself, from that day to this, and watch my faith, and carefully meditate, lest I should be found desiring the grave more than I ought to do."

38 B.H. Roberts, The Truth, The Way, The Life: An Elementary Treatise on Theology (Provo, Utah: BYU Studies, 1991), 557.

39 McKeever and Johnson, Mormonism 101, 253-255.

40 Temple Lot Case transcript of testimony, LDS Church Archives, 100, as cited in Richard Lloyd Anderson and Scott H. Faulring, "Compton: In Sacred Loneliness," FARMS Review of Books, Volume 10, Number 2 (1998), 86. There are no less than two other scholarly reviews of Compton's book available. One is by Danel Bachman in the same FARMS volume, the other is by Alma Allred and is posted on the www.sheilds-research.org website.

41 Todd M. Compton, In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1997), 743-744; see Anderson and Faulring, "Compton: In Sacred Loneliness," 88-90.

42 Linda Newell and Valeen Avery, Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1984), 144-145.

43 Ibid., 153; Daynes, More Wives than One, 191.

44 Van Wagoner, Mormon Polygamy, 60.

45 Newell and Avery, Mormon Enigma, 145.

46 Ibid.

47 Zion's Ensign, December 31, 1903, as cited in Jerald R. Johansen, After the Martyrdom (Horizon Publishers, 1997), 112.

48 McKeever and Johnson, Mormonism 101, 253.

49 Daynes, More Wives than One, 29.

50 Compton, In Sacred Lonliness, 15-23.

51 Examples such as killing being forbidden and then condoned; animal sacrifices being a statute forever and then done away; the Sabbath being a perpetual covenant, then ceasing, being strictly practiced, then liberally practiced; paid ministries prohibited then allowed; wine to be avoided then allowed; and so on. For a detailed list including scriptural references, see Michael W. Hickenbotham, Answering Challenging Mormon Questions (Bountiful, Utah: Horizon Publishers, 1995), 66-68.

52 Van Wagoner, Mormon Polygamy, 42.

53 Daynes, More Wives than One, 202.

54 Ibid., 33.

55 See Anderson and Faulring, "Compton: In Sacred Loneliness," 82.

56 Glen M. Leonard, Nauvoo: A Place of Peace, a People of Promise (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 2002), 349.

57 Compton, In Sacred Lonliness, 95.

58 Leonard, Nauvoo, 349.

59 Van Wagoner, Mormon Polygamy, 41.

60 Leonard, Nauvoo, 349.

61 Jedediah M. Grant, "The Power of God and the Power of Satan," Journal of Discourses, reported by G.D. Watt 19 February 1854, Vol. 2 (London: Latter-Day Saint's Book Depot, 1855), 14.

62 McKeever and Johnson, Mormonism 101, 254.

63 See Daynes, More Wives than One, 29-30; Anderson and Faulring, "Compton: In Sacred Loneliness," 83, 100; and Compton, In Sacred Lonliness, 13, 183.

64 See Anderson and Faulring, "Compton: In Sacred Loneliness," 83 and Compton, In Sacred Lonliness, 15.

65 See Anderson and Faulring, "Compton: In Sacred Loneliness," 83-84 and Compton, In Sacred Lonliness, 82.

66 Anderson and Faulring, "Compton: In Sacred Loneliness," 100.

67 McKeever and Johnson, Mormonism 101, 254.

68 Compton, In Sacred Lonliness, 501-502.

69 Helen Mar Whitney, A Woman's View: Helen Mar Whitney's Reminiscences of Early Church History (Provo, Utah: BYU Religious Studies Center, 1999), 482-487.

70 Anderson and Faulring, "Compton: In Sacred Loneliness," 80.

71 Stanely B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball: Mormon Patriarch and Pioneer (Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1981), 98; cited in Anderson and Faulring, "Compton: In Sacred Loneliness," 81.

72 Whitney, A Woman's View, 486-487.

73 Andrus, Doctrines of the Kingdom, 474. Consider also Helen's writings of when she first learned of plural marriage, by her fathers telling, and that of Joseph's marriage to Sarah Ann. Helen writes:

My father was the first to introduce it to me, which had a similar effect to a sudden shock of a small earthquake. When he found (after the first outburst of displeasure for supposed injury) that I received it meekly, he took the first opportunity to introduce Sarah Ann to me as Joseph's wife. This astonished me beyond measure; but I could then understand a few things which had previously been to me a puzzle, and among the rest, the meaning of his words at her party.

I saw, or could imagine in some degree, the great trial that she must have passed through, and that it had required a mighty struggle to take a step of that kind, and had called for a sacrifice, such as few can realize but those who first rendered obedience to this law. It was a strange doctrine, and very dangerous too, to be introduced at such a time, when in the midst of the greatest trouble Joseph had ever encountered. The Missourians and Illinoisans were ready and determined to destroy him. They could but take his life, and that he considered a small thing when compared with the eternal punishment which he was doomed to suffer if he did not teach and obey this principle. No earthly inducement could be held forth to the women who entered this order. It was to be a life sacrifice for the sake of an everlasting glory and exaltation. (Whitney, "Scenes and Incidents in Nauvoo," 146.)

74 Whitney, A Woman's View, 486-487.

75 Ibid., xviii and Compton, In Sacred Lonliness, 486.

76 Compton writes in response to Jerald and Sandra Tanner's negative use of his book: "The Tanners made great mileage out of Joseph Smith's marriage to his youngest wife, Helen Mar Kimball. However, they failed to mention that I wrote that there is absolutely no evidence that there was any sexuality in the marriage, and I suggest that, following later practice in Utah, there may have been no sexuality. (p. 638) All the evidence points to this marriage as a primarily dynastic marriage. Furthermore, in the Protestant polygamist tradition, it is common to find examples of marriages to young teenagers. (Cairncross, p. 14.) I strongly disapprove of polygamous marriages involving teenage women, but my point is that it is inconsistent and unfair for a Protestant to denounce Mormons for doing such things while not denouncing his or her own tradition." (http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Oracle/7207/tanners.html) See also Compton, In Sacred Lonliness, 487.

77 Charles W. Penrose, "What the Constitution Guarantees, Etc.," Journal of Discourses, reported by John Irvine 26 July 1884, Vol. 25 (London: Latter-Day Saint's Book Depot, 1884), 228-230; and Andrus, Doctrines of the Kingdom, 485.

78 George Q. Cannon, "The Remarks of Brother Woodruff, Etc.," Journal of Discourses, reported by John Irvine 12 June 1881, Vol. 22 (London: Latter-Day Saint's Book Depot, 1882), 181; and Andrus, Doctrines of the Kingdom, 485. Cannon states: "We desire to have no margin of unmarried women among us. We do not want institutions among us which are not of God, and which propagate death and disease. We desire every woman to be married, and as there are not more women than men in Utah, if every man marries, there will be no plural marriage, it will cease, and that is the best remedy in the world for this 'Utah Polygamy,' as it is called. Let every man marry, and there will be no single women of marriageable age. But as all men will not marry, we have instances of two and more women who love one man and who choose to live together and live together virtuously and properly."

79 McKeever and Johnson, Mormonism 101, 255.

80 D. Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1998), xxii.

81 Ibid.

82 Ibid.

83 Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 120.

84 Smith, Lucy Mack, The History of Joseph Smith by His Mother Lucy Mack Smith (American Fork, Utah: Covenant, 2000), 96. Joseph also makes this same statement about where "the very prevalent story" of his having been a money digger arose from. See Smith, History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Vol. 1, 16-17. Dallin H. Oaks wrote of this subject, "Treasure-seeking was a cultural phenomenon of that day. It was indulged in by upright and religious men such as Josiah Stowel. Young Joseph Smith accepted employment with Stowel at fourteen dollars a month, in part because of the crushing poverty of the Smith family. Joseph and his older brothers had to scour the countryside for work in order to construct their home and make the annual payment on the farm, which they were in imminent danger of losing and finally lost for nonpayment shortly after this period." [Dallin H. Oaks, "Recent Events Involving Church History and Forged Documents," Ensign (October 1987).]

85 Richard Bushman, Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism (Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1984), 75.

86 Ibid.

87 Ronald W. Walker, "The Persisting Idea of American Treasure Hunting," BYU Studies Vol. 24 No. 4 (1984): 434. For another discussion on money digging and the transformation of Joseph Smith from boy to Prophet, see Richard Lloyd Anderson, "The Mature Joseph Smith and Treasure Searching," in the same volume.

88 Walker, "The Persisting Idea of American Treasure Hunting," 451-452.

89 Ibid., 446.

90 Ibid., 433.

91 Ibid., 448.

92 Bushman, Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism, 72.

93 Walker, "The Persisting Idea of American Treasure Hunting," 447; Quinn noted the importance of this paper's endorsement of money digging and that the elite class of the 1820s "were hardly discouraging treasure-digging. They condemned Joseph Smith for the practice only after he published the Book of Mormon." (Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, 41.)

94 Walker, "The Persisting Idea of American Treasure Hunting," 450-451.

95 Bushman, Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism, 72.

96 Walker, "The Persisting Idea of American Treasure Hunting," 449.

97 Ibid., 451.

98 Bushman, Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism, 74.

99 Brigham Young states in regard to the gold rush: "Ten years ago, it was called heresy for Joseph Smith to be a money digger, and receive revelations; it actually became treason; and the people killed him for it, and now I see hundreds of reverend gentlemen going to dig money. I despise a man who won't dig for gold; he is a lazy man, and intends to sponge on others. Do not think that I blame you; all I have to say is, that you have to follow in the wake of 'Old Joe Smith', and paddle away to dig gold; it is a comic, novel thing to me." [23 June 1850, Salt Lake City DNW 1:20, in Elden J. Watson, Brigham Young Addresses 2 (July 1979): 16. Thanks to Ted Jones for sharing this. See also Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, 62.]

100 Oaks, "Recent Events Involving Church History and Forged Documents."

101 Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, 68. Reviews of this aspect of Quinn's work are included here for balance and comparison. In the FARMS Review of Books, William J. Hamblin reviews the work of Owens who, like McKeeever and Johson, rely entirely on Quinn's flawed work. A portion of Hamblin's analysis is included here as it is relevant to McKeever's work. Hamblin writes:

Owens insists that Joseph Smith or members of his immediate family owned a magical talisman, a ceremonial dagger, and parchments early in their lives. Based on Quinn's claims, Owens maintains the following seven propositions:

  1. Joseph himself owned these items (p. 161).
  2. His possession dates to his early days of "treasure seeking" (p. 162).
  3. He used them for magical purposes (p. 162).
  4. He made them himself or commissioned them (p. 161).
  5. He therefore must have used magic books to make them (p. 162).
  6. He therefore must have had an occult mentor to help him with the difficult process of understanding the magical books and making these items (p. 162).
  7. This occult mentor transmitted extensive arcane hermetic lore to Joseph beyond the knowledge necessary to make the artifacts (p. 163).

In reality, Owens's seven propositions are simply a tissue of assumptions, assertions, and speculations. There is no contemporary primary evidence that Joseph himself owned or used the parchments or dagger; one late source claims he had a talisman in his pocket at the time of his death. We do not know why Joseph had the talisman, or even if he really did. And we do not know-if he had it-what he thought of it. We do not know when, how, or why these items became heirlooms of the Hyrum Smith family. Again, there is no contemporary primary evidence that mentions Joseph or anyone in his family using these artifacts-as Quinn himself noted, "possession alone may not be proof of use." There is no evidence that Joseph ever had any magic books. There is no evidence that Joseph ever had an occult mentor who helped him make or use these items.

The methodology used by Owens is a classic example of what one could call the miracle of the addition of the probabilities. The case of Quinn and Owens relies on a rickety tower of unproven propositions that do not provide certainty, rather a geometrically increasing improbability. Probabilities are multiplied, not added. Combining two propositions, each of which has a 50% probability, does not create a 100% probability, it creates a 25% probability that both are true together. Allowing each of Owens's seven propositions a 50% probability-a very generous allowance-creates a .0078% probability that the combination of all his seven propositions is true. And this is only one element of a very complex and convoluted argument, with literally dozens of similar unverified assertions. The result is a monumentally high improbability that Owens's overall thesis is correct.

Based on the evidence of these artifacts alone, it is just as plausible to speculate that these items were obtained from Masonic friends or European converts late in the Nauvoo period; that they were owned by Joseph's friends or family rather than by Joseph himself; that they were essentially heirlooms, good-luck charms, or ornaments for Masonic pageantry; or that neither Joseph nor anyone associated with him had any idea what they were "really" made for. If there were some solid contemporary primary evidence from Joseph or other early Mormons of magical activity-like Mark Hofmann's forged "Salamander Letter"-then these artifacts might provide useful circumstantial confirmation. But there is no such solid corroborating contemporary primary evidence! ["Owens: Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection," reviewed by William J. Hamblin, FARMS Review of Books, Volume 8, Number 2 (1996), 282, 283.]

In yet another similar review of Quinn's material, Stephen E. Robinson writes:

Another example of Quinn's strange sense of what proves what is provided by chapter 4 on magic parchments and occult mentors. Quinn concludes from the fact that Hyrum Smith may once have owned a dagger and two parchments with magical symbols on them that Hyrum, Joseph, and generations of the entire Smith family must have believed in and practiced magic. Even if these items were Hyrum's--and that provenance is by no means certain--it proves only that Hyrum once owned them, nothing more. It does not tell us why he had them, how he got them, what he thought of them, whether or how he may have used them, or what his brother Joseph may have thought about them. To refer to these artifacts as the 'Joseph Smith family parchments' is a willful distortion, and Quinn's conclusions about the possible meaning of these artifacts are pure speculation. I happen to have among my cherished possessions a St. Christopher medallion, but that does not make me a practicing Roman Catholic any more than my menorah makes me Jewish or my Egyptian religious papyri make me a closet pagan. Moreover, my possession of these objects certainly does not prove that my brother, Reid, is a Catholic, Jew, or pagan. Such 'proof' violates logic, wouldn't stand up in court, and shouldn't stand up in historical research. [Stephen E. Robinson, BYU Studies, Vol. 27, No. 4 (1987): 91.]

102 Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, 72.

103 Ibid., 104, 109, 111.

104 Quinn notes that the term "occult" means evil for many people. However, that is not correct. Quinn clarifies the meaning and puts it into historical context by defining it from the dictionary as "deliberately kept hidden, not reveled to others, secret, undisclosed; not to be apprehended or understood, demanding more than ordinary perception or knowledge, abstruse, mysterious, recondite; hidden from view, not able to be seen, concealed; of, relating to, or dealing in matters regarded as involving the action or influence of supernatural agencies or some secret knowledge of them, not manifest or detectable by clinical methods alone." (Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, xxiii.)

105 Richard Lloyd Anderson, "The Mature Joseph Smith and Treasure Searching," BYU Studies Vol. 24 No. 4 (1984): 536; Spelling of Moumford in Anderson corrected to read Mountford as noted by Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, 249.

106 McKeever and Johnson, Mormonism 101, 255.

107 Robinson writes of the Talisman story: "In the case of the Jupiter coin, this same extrapolation error is compounded with a very uncritical acceptance of the artifact in the first place. If the coin were Joseph's, that fact alone would tell us nothing about what it meant to him. But in fact there is insufficient evidence to prove that the artifact ever belonged to the Prophet. The coin was completely unknown until 1930 when an aging Charles Bidamon sold it to Wilford Wood. The only evidence that it was Joseph's is an affidavit of Bidamon, who stood to gain financially by so representing it. Quinn uncritically accepts Bidamon's affidavit as solid proof that the coin was Joseph's. Yet the coin was not mentioned in the 1844 list of Joseph's possessions returned to Emma. Quinn negotiates this difficulty by suggesting the coin must have been worn around Joseph's neck under his shirt. But in so doing Quinn impeaches his only witness for the coin's authenticity, for Bidamon's affidavit, the only evidence linking the coin to Joseph, specifically and solemnly swears that the coin was in Joseph's pocket at Carthage. The real empirical evidence here is just too weak to prove that the coin was really Joseph's, let alone to extrapolate a conclusion from mere possession of the artifact that Joseph must have believed in and practiced magic. The recent Hofmann affair should have taught us that an affidavit from the seller, especially a 1930 affidavit to third hand information contradicted by the 1844 evidence, just isn't enough 'proof' to hang your hat on." (Robinson, BYU Studies, Vol. 27, No. 4 (1987): 91).

108 Dr. Reed Durham's Presidential Address before the Mormon History Association, April 20, 1974.

109 Johansen, After the Martyrdom, 79.

110 Anderson, "The Mature Joseph Smith and Treasure Seeking," 541.

111 Ibid., 558.

112 Ibid., with the original coming from LaMar C. Berett, The Wilford Wood Collection, Vol. 1 (Provo, Utah: Wilford C. Wood Foundation, 1972), 173.

113 Anderson, "The Mature Joseph Smith and Treasure Seeking," 558; Anderson points to its original source in J.W. Woods, "The Mormon Prophet," Daily Democrat (Ottumwa, Iowa, 10 May 1885); and in Edward H. Stiles, Recollections and Sketches of Notable Lawyers and Public Men of Early Iowa (Des Moines, Iowa: Homestead Publishing, 1916), 271.

114 Anderson, "The Mature Joseph Smith and Treasure Seeking," 541.

115 These are examples of later arguments by Quinn in an attempt to refute Anderson.

116 Gilbert W. Scharffs, The Truth About "The God Makers," Second Edition (Salt Lake City: Publishers Press, 1989), 180.

117 Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, 89-90, 94.

118 Ibid., 317-318.

119 McKeever and Johnson, Mormonism 101, 261.

120 Ibid., 259. The author's ignore Jenson's entire listing of evidences in the body of his talk and instead only excerpt the one sentence shown with emphasis below:

Jenson said, "We claim for him that he was visited by holy beings, who restored to him the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, with authority to administer in all the ordinances of the same; that he received from the angel Moroni certain gold plates that had been hidden in the earth for fourteen hundred years, and that he translated the engravings upon these plates into the English language by the gift and power of God, the result of which was the Book of Mormon. We further claim that he organized the Church of Christ once more upon the earth, and that he received by direct revelation a code of laws and commandments by which to govern the affairs of that Church, according to the original pattern given by Jesus and His Apostles eighteen hundred years ago. We further claim that it is of the utmost importance for all people who desire eternal salvation to know whether these things are true or not. If Joseph Smith is what he professed to be: A true Prophet of God, no one can reject his testimony without being condemned, while on the other hand, if he was an impostor, or a false prophet, we can reject him without fear of Divine punishment, and the condemnation will rest upon the man who assumes to speak in the name of the Lord presumptuously. In this lecture I shall confine myself to his prophetic and inspired utterances by proving their fulfillment and truthfulness mostly from a historic standpoint."

121 Andrew Jenson, "Joseph Smith: A True Prophet," a lecture delivered by Elder Andrew Jenson, before the Students' Society, in the Social Hall, Salt Lake City, Friday evening, January 16, 1891, as found in Collected Discourses, Vol. 2, edited by Brian H. Stuy (Burbank, California: B.H.S. Publishing, 1988).

122 Ibid.; This prophecy comes from Smith, History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Vol. 5, 85, footnote.

123 McKeever and Johnson, Mormonism 101, 257; cited from Smith, History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Vol. 6, 408.

124 Paul H. Peterson, "Understanding Joseph: A Review of Published Documentary Sources," Joseph Smith: The Prophet, The Man, edited by Susan Easton Black and Charles D. Tate, Jr. (Provo, Utah: BYU Religious Studies Center, 1993), 104.

125 Smith, History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Vol. 6, 408.

126 John 14:12.

127 Truman G. Madsen, Joseph Smith the Prophet (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1989), 28. Madsen notes: "Eliza wrote of him: 'Though his expansive mind grasped the great plan of salvation and solved the mystic problem of man's destiny-though he had in his possession keys that unlocked the past and the future with its succession of eternities, in his devotions he was humble as a little child' ("Sketch of My Life," p. 136)."

128 B.H. Roberts, A Comprehensive History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Vol. 1 (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1965), 131.

129 McKeever and Johnson, Mormonism 101, 256.

130 Discourses of Brigham Young, edited by John A. Widtsoe (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1954), 470.

131 Brigham Young, "Eternal Punishment-'Mormonism,' Etc.," Journal of Discourses, reported by G.D. Watt 12 January 1862, Vol. 9 (London: Latter-Day Saint's Book Depot, 1862), 150.

132 Boyd K. Packer, "Agency and Control," Ensign (May 1983): 66.

133 Elder George F. Richards, Conference Report (April 1907), 15-17.

134 McKeever and Johnson, Mormonism 101, 259.

135 Daniel 7:21-22.

136 Matthew 19:27-28.

137 Luke 22:29-30.

138 1 Corinthians 6:1-3.

139 Revelation 20:4.

140 McKeever and Johnson, Mormonism 101, 258.

141 Brigham Young, "Intelligence, Etc.," Journal of Discourses, reported by G.D. Watt 9 October 1859, Vol. 7 (London: Latter-Day Saint's Book Depot, 1860), 289-290. Also consider Helen Mar Kimball's words on the "saving Joseph." She writes:

How gross is the darkness that covers the minds of the people who are fighting against the principles of salvation. No one actuated by the spirit of God would do this or speak against his servants, but would be attended by the Holy Ghost, which would give them faith and reveal to them the power of God unto salvation; but which without faith, is impossible. We read that 'the just shall live by faith,' and that 'faith without works is dead.' We can understand the things of God only by the spirit and power of God. The revelations of Joseph Smith can never save others, unless they receive revelation from heaven of their truth, and they must seek for it in order to obtain it. Those who are too careless and slothful to read or to 'search and believe in me, not in man,' as Jesus said for, 'who leans on him leans on a broken reed,' will be left as many others have to stumble even at noonday. The sorrows and privations and all the persecutions endured by the Saints of God are light, when compared with the punishment of a guilty conscience and this is the punishment that awaits, not only those who persecute his people, but the ones who are too indolent to make inquiries for themselves, or to forego the momentary and fleeting pleasures of today, in the vain hope of gaining a little worldly pomp and praise. Here, we are as strangers in a strange land, and those who are too proud or obstinate to look up and read the directions so plainly written upon the guide board, which has been set by a Father's loving hand, that his children may not miss the track and be lost in the darkness, or refuse to listen to his servants who are crying, 'Come out of her my people, and be not partakers of her sins, that ye receive not of her plagues,' because He in his wisdom has chosen the meek of the earth who will do his bidding, being poor and unpopular in the world, renounce them as impostors, persecute and destroy them, will see their mistake when too late to retrace their steps and will have to pass through another probation. Helen Mar Whitney, A Woman's View: Helen Mar Whitney's Reminiscences of Early Church History (Provo, Utah: BYU Religious Studies Center, 1999), 222-223.

142 McKeever and Johnson, Mormonism 101, 258.

143 Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, Vol. 1, edited by Bruce R. McConkie (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1954), 189-191.

144 McKeever and Johnson, Mormonism 101, 262.

145 Danel W. Bachman, "Joseph Smith, a True Martyr," Joseph Smith: The Prophet, The Man, edited by Susan Easton Black and Charles D. Tate, Jr. (Provo, Utah: BYU Religious Studies Center, 1993), 324-325.

146 Smith, History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Vol. 5, 464.

147 Smith, History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Vol. 6, 547-550.

148 Bachman, "Joseph Smith, a True Martyr," 328, cited from The Historians Corner, BYU Studies, Vol. 19, No. 2 (1978-1979), 235.

149 Woodruff, Wilford. Wilford Woodruff's Journal. 9 vols Ed. Scott G. Kenney. (Midvale, UT: Signature Book, 1983-85) 2:217 as cited in Bachman, "Joseph Smith, a True Martyr," 328-329.

150 Smith, History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Vol. 6, 500 and Bachman, "Joseph Smith, a True Martyr," 328-329.

151 Hyrum L. Andrus and Helen Mae Andrus, They Knew the Prophet (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1974), 183.

152 Bachman, "Joseph Smith, a True Martyr," 330.

153 Smith, History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Vol. 6, 555.

154 Bachman, "Joseph Smith, a True Martyr," 328.

155 Smith, History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Vol. 6, 605.

156 Ibid., 546.

157 McKeever and Johnson, Mormonism 101, 262.

158 Smith, History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Vol. 6, 600.

159 Ibid., 601.

160 McKeever and Johnson, Mormonism 101, 262.

161 Smith, History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Vol. 6, 607 and J. Christopher Conkling, A Joseph Smith Chronology (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1979), 243-245.

162 Orson F. Whitney, The Mormon Prophet's Tragedy: A Review (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1905), 68-79; taken from the original, John Hay, "The Mormon Prophet's Tragedy," Atlantic Monthly 24, No. 146 (December 1869): 674-675.

163 Smith, History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Vol. 6, 617-618.

164 Bachman, "Joseph Smith, a True Martyr," 325-326. Bachman concurs that Joseph's attempted escape from the window was to save the lives of his friends in the room.

165 Smith, History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Vol. 6, 619.

166 Smith, History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Vol. 6, 629-631.

167 McKeever and Johnson, Mormonism 101, 263.

168 Smith, History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Vol. 7, 102-103.

169 Whitney, The Mormon Prophet's Tragedy: A Review, 75; and Hay, "The Mormon Prophet's Tragedy," 675.

170 Whitney, The Mormon Prophet's Tragedy: A Review, 87; and Hay, "The Mormon Prophet's Tragedy," 677.

171 Dallin Oaks and Marvin Hill, Carthage Conspiracy, The Trial of the Accused Assassins of Joseph Smith (Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1975), 79.

172 Ibid., 52-53.

173 McKeever and Johnson, Mormonism 101, 263.

174 Luke 22:36-51.

175 Matthew 10:34.

176 Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 361.

177 Brigham Young, "Where the Wicked Go, Etc.," Journal of Discourses, reported by G.D. Watt 19 June 1853, Vol. 1 (London: Latter-Day Saint's Book Depot, 1854), 189.