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< Criticism of Mormonism | Books | One Nation Under Gods | Use of sources
Joseph gave couples marriage certificates | A FAIR Analysis of: One Nation Under Gods, a work by author: Richard Abanes
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Warren Parrish and Kirtland Safety Society "revelation" |
Joseph is said to have owned "one hundred and forty acres of land adjoining the temple besides his four acres of business property."
As the Saints began to gather to Ohio, the amount of property owned and managed by Church leaders in Kirtland significantly increased. In April 1832, Frederick G. Williams purchased 144 acres for $2,000. On May 3, 1834, this property was conveyed without monetary remuneration to Joseph Smith, as agent for the Church. (emphasis added)[1]
In compliance with a revelation Joseph Smith had received in Missouri during his second trip to that state, a central council, referred to as the order, the United Order, and the United Firm, was created to manage the temporal affairs of the Church. This included the general supervision of the poor, a responsibility that was continued on a local level by the bishops.... In the spring of 1832...[in Kirtland, four leaders were to] direct the activities of the United Firm....(Joseph Smith, Newel K. Whitney, Sidney Rigdon, and Jesse Gause). After one of the leaders, Jesse Gause, apostatized, Frederick G. Williams became a member of the firm, as did John Johnson. After Oliver Cowdery and Martin Harris returned to Ohio, they united with the other leaders in Kirtland in directing the economic affairs of the Church in that part of the country. These men functioned as a controlling body (like a board of directors that manages a corporation) and used the financial means at their disposal to finance various Church programs. While sharing the responsibilities of holding properties in trust, directors of the United Firm cared for the poor, supervised the bishop's storehouses, purchased land for those who gathered in Kirtland and Missouri, and assisted in the construction of the Kirtland Temple.[2]
Joseph did not hold this land for his own benefit—rather, he was acting as Church agent, and the use of the land was directed by a board of Church leaders. Poor members would settle on the Church lands:
Until 1832, most of the Saints gathering to Kirtland settled on the Isaac Morley farm. Later they settled on the Frederick G. Williams farm [i.e., the land deeded to Joseph as Church agent] and other land purchased by the Church.[3]
Backman explains:
A high percentage of the Saints were not asked to consecrate their property, and many converts who gathered in Kirtland did not purchase land....Instead of owning their own farms, they lived on Church property near the temple, where they built small frame homes and for several years devoted most of their energies and economic resources to the building of the [Kirtland] temple.[4]
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