Chapter 6

———————   7   ——————

 

False Teachings Concerning God

 Polytheism and Polygamy

  

 

“You have got to learn to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all Gods have done before you.”

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                    – Joseph Smith, Jr.[1]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I [the Lord] reveal unto you [Joseph Smith] a new and everlasting covenant [polygamy],  and if ye abide not in that covenant, then are ye damned.”

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                    – Joseph Smith, Jr.[2]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 “I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. For certain men whose condemnation was written about have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.”

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                    – Jude 3–4  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Polytheism

      As early as 1832 Joseph Smith was teaching that men could become ‘gods.’ Speaking of those in the priesthood who would come forth in the first resurrection Joseph said, “…wherefore as it is written, they are gods” (Doc. and Cov. 76:5h).

      On April 7, 1844, before a crowd of over 10,000 people, Joseph Smith gave a funeral sermon in which he declared that God had once been a man like us and progressed to His present state,

 

“I will prove the world is wrong by showing what God is…. God Himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! That is the great secret…. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity…. I will refute that idea and take away the veil so that you may see…. He was once a man like us…. You have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all Gods have done before you, namely by going from one small degree to another…. I am learned and know more than all the world put together.” [3] (emphasis added)    

     Further evidence that Joseph Smith believed in the plurality of gods is found in the Book of Abraham which he ‘translated’ from Egyptian papyrus in 1835. Abraham was supposedly the author of these  writings.

 

“Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was…. And then the Lord said: ‘Let us go down.’ And they went down at the beginning, and they, that is, the Gods, organized and formed the heavens and the earth…. And they, the Gods said: ‘Let there be light’ and there was light’…. And the Gods took counsel among themselves and said: ‘Let us go down and form man in our image….’ So the Gods went down to organize man in their own image, in the image of the Gods…. Now I, Abraham, saw that it was after the Lord’s time which was after the time of Kolob; for as yet the Gods had not appointed unto Adam his reckoning.”[4]  

     Though the RLDS Church tries to deny the fact that Joseph Smith taught the plurality of gods, the evidence is abundant. The idea that there are many gods, is one of the main tenants of Mormonism today. 

Polygamy  

     On July 12, 1843, Joseph Smith gave a revelation commanding the practice of spiritual wifery, (commonly known as polygamy), which was an essential step to becoming a ‘god.’ In his diary for that date, Joseph made the following entry, “Wednesday, l2th. I received the following revelation in the presence of my brother Hyrum and Elder William Clayton.” Excerpts from this lengthy revelation read:

 

“Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, my servant Joseph…. I reveal unto you a new and everlasting covenant [polygamy], and if ye abide not in that covenant, then are ye damned; for no one can reject this covenant  and be permitted to enter into my glory…. If ye abide in my covenant …then shall… [ye] be Gods. And let mine handmaid, Emma Smith, receive all those [women] that have been given unto my servant Joseph…. And again, as pertaining to the law of the priesthood …if he have ten virgins given unto him by this law, he cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him…. Except a man and his wife enter into an everlasting covenant and be married for eternity, while in this probation, by the power and authority of the Priesthood, they will cease to increase when they die; that is, they will not have any children after the resurrection. But those who are married by the power and authority of the Priesthood in this life, and continue without committing the sin against the Holy Ghost, will continue to increase and have children in celestial glory.”[5] 

      Convincing testimonies given by church members in the early Reorganization, (many of whom were closely associated with the situation in Nauvoo), admit that Joseph Smith authored a revelation on polygamy. 

Isaac Sheen

     Isaac Sheen was ordained President of the Quorum of High Priests at the conference held at Amboy, Illinois, in April 1860. As editor of the True Latter Day Saint Herald, an official organ of the RLDS Church, Sheen submitted articles in the first issue (1860), mainly to explain that Joseph, just prior to his death, repented of his connection with polygamy. The following quotes are taken from these articles (see photocopy on following page).

 

“We have here the facts as they have transpired and as they will continue to transpire in relation to this subject [polygamy.] The death of the prophet is one fact that has been realized although he abhorred and repented of this iniquity before his death.”

 

 

 

      “The Salt Lake apostles also excuse themselves by saying that Joseph Smith taught the spiritual-wife doctrine, but this excuse is as weak as their excuse concerning the ancient Kings and Patriarchs. Joseph Smith repented of his connection with this doctrine, and said that it was of the devil. He caused the revelation on that subject to be burned, and when he voluntarily came to Nauvoo and resigned himself into the arms of his enemies he said that he was going to Carthage to die. At that time he also said, that if it had not been for that accursed spiritual wife doctrine, he would not have come to that. By his conduct at that time he proved the sincerity of his repentance, and of his profession as a prophet. If Abraham and Jacob, by repentance, can obtain salvation and exaltation, so can Joseph Smith.”[6] (emphasis added) 

William Marks

     In October 1839, William Marks was appointed  President of the Nauvoo Stake. He held that position until after Joseph Smith’s death in 1844. He later joined the Reorganization and became a member of the First Presidency in 1863. In a letter to the Zion’s Harbinger and Baneemy’s Organ in 1853, Marks stated the following.

 

“During my administration in the Church [at Nauvoo] I saw and heard of many things that were practiced and taught that I did not believe to be of God…. Therefore when the doctrine of polygamy was introduced into the Church as a principle of exaltation, I took a decided stand against it; which stand rendered me quite unpopular with many of the leading ones of the church. I was also witness of the introduction (secretly) of a kingly form of government, in which Joseph suffered himself to be ordained a king, to reign over the house of Israel forever…. Joseph, however, became convinced before his death that he had done wrong; for about three weeks before his death, I met him one morning in the street, and he said to me, ‘Brother Marks, I have something to communicate to you.’ We retired to a by place, and sat down together, when he said: ‘We are a ruined people.’ I asked how so? He said: ‘This doctrine of polygamy,[7] or spiritual wife system, that has been taught and practiced among us, will prove our destruction and overthrow. I have been deceived … in reference to its practice; it is wrong; it is a curse to mankind, and we shall have to leave the United States soon, unless it can be put down, and its practice stopped in the Church.’ ”[8] (emphasis added) 

Jason Briggs

     Jason W. Briggs who lived in Nauvoo and became one of the founders of the “New Organization” (later known as the RLDS Church), admitted that he had heard of a revelation on polygamy, or plural marriage, before the death of Joseph Smith.

 

“I heard something about a revelation on polygamy, or plural marriage, when I was in Nauvoo in 1842…. There was talk going on about it at that time, but it was not called plural marriage, it was called ‘sealing’.… I talked with members with reference to sealing, and I understood that the doctrine of sealing  was sealing a man’s wife to him for eternity, or wives either.”[9]

 

     On February 13, 1888, Briggs, writing from Wheeler, Iowa, addressed a letter to Mr. J. T. Clark, part of which related to the origin of the Revelation of Celestial Marriage or polygamy.

 

“Brother J. T. Clark: Yours of late date duly received…. I was at Nauvoo in 1843, the year it was found necessary to legalize polygamy by a revelation. No, I have no doubt as to the authorship of the revelation of July 12, 1843. It has all the earmarks to identify it as the production of the mouthpiece of those days [Joseph Smith].”[10] 

Ebenezer Robinson

     Ebenezer Robinson joined the church in 1835, and in 1839 he and Don Carlos Smith, (Joseph Smith’s brother), became the first editors of Times and Seasons, the official church paper printed in Nauvoo. Robinson remained in the church until after Joseph’s death. In 1863, he joined the Reorganization and in 1866 was ordained a high priest. He tells of his growing disillusionment with regard to Joseph’s involvement in polygamy.

 

“In the spring of 184l, the doctrine of spiritual wives began to be secretly talked about. In June, l84l, Don Carlos Smith and myself left Nauvoo for Cincinnati, to settle with Mr. Shepherd, and also to lay in a stock of paper and other printing material…. While…waiting for a steamer, we conversed upon the subject of that new doctrine, when Don Carlos said: ‘Any man who will teach and practice the doctrine of spiritual wifery will go to hell, I don’t care if it is my brother Joseph.’” [11] 

Robinson recalls a sermon that was preached in Nauvoo by Elder William Clark in which the Saints were reproved for not living holy lives. He describes Joseph Smith’s reaction to Clark’s sermon.

 

“Joseph Smith mounted the stand and, perhaps to the surprise of the congregation, rebuked Clark as ‘Pharisaical and hypocritical,’ and proceeded to show the Saints what temperance, faith, virtue, charity, and truth were…. ‘If you will not accuse me, I will not accuse you. If you will throw a cloak of charity over my sins, I will over yours—for charity covereth a multitude of sins. What many people call sin is not sin: I do many things to break down superstition, and I will break it down.’ ”[12] 

     Robinson took strong exception to Joseph’s sermon, and saw it as, “…part of a process of preparing the people for new and different moral standards.” Robinson said that as a result of Joseph’s remarks, “…it began to be frequently talked by the people, that what was formerly considered sin was not sin.”[13] Robinson said that on one occasion Hyrum Smith told him to live in plural marriage and lie about it if necessary. He gave the following affidavit.

 

“To whom it may concern:

 

 

 

      “This is to certify that in the latter part of November, or in December, 1843, Hyrum Smith came to my house in Nauvoo, Illinois, and taught me the doctrine of spiritual wives, or polygamy. He said he heard the voice of the Lord give the revelation on spiritual wifery to his brother Joseph, and that while he had heretofore opposed the doctrine he was wrong, and his brother Joseph was right all the time. He told me to make a selection of some young woman and he would send her to me, and take her to my home, and if she should have an heir, to give out the word that she had a husband who had gone on a mission to a foreign country. He seemed disappointed when I declined to do so.”[14] 

Robinson, together with his wife made the following affidavits.

 

“To Whom It May Concern:

 

 

 

      “We, Ebenezer Robinson and Angeline Robinson, husband and wife, hereby certify that in the fall of 1843, Hyrum Smith, brother of Joseph Smith, came to our house in Nauvoo, Ill., and taught us the doctrine of spiritual wives, or polygamy…. And I the said Ebenezer Robinson, hereby further state that he gave me special instructions how I could manage the matter so as not to have it known to the public. He also told us that while he had heretofore opposed the doctrine, he was wrong and his brother Joseph was right, referring to his teaching it.” 

     Ebenezer Robinson and Angeline E. Robinson. Sworn to and subscribed before me this 29th day of December, 1873. J. M. Salee, Notary Public. [15] 

William McLellin

      William E. McLellin joined the church in 183l. In 1835 he became an apostle. He was mentioned in several of Joseph Smith’s revelations as a having a great work to do for the Lord. Concerning his relationship with Joseph Smith, McLellin wrote,

 

“I certainly knew him well, for he attended my High School during the winter of 1834, and the winter of 1835 we learned Hebrew together in the same class. Here I had good opportunity to know his make and strength of mind. I was with him in many councils, and a number of general conferences when I was usually Clerk. I traveled with him hundreds of miles, eat (sic) with him, slept with him etc…. It seems to me but few men had better opportunities to know J. Smith for five years than I, except those who were with him all the time.”[16] 

     Although McLellin left the church in 1836 and rejected the leadership of both Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, he continued to believe in the divinity of the Book of Mormon. He followed the events in the Mormon Church as well as the Reorganized Church and had inside knowledge regarding the origin of polygamy.  At the April 1860 conference, in Amboy, Ill., Joseph Smith III spoke of his father’s innocence regarding polygamy. McLellin responded to this speech in two letters written to Joseph III, one in 186l and another in July, 1872. The second letter reads in part,

 

“Now Joseph I will relate to you some history, and refer you to your own dear mother for the truth. You will probably remember that I visited your mother and family in l847, and held a lengthy conversation with her…. I did not ask her to tell, but I told her some stories I had heard. And she told me whether I was properly informed…. Mr. F. G. Williams practiced with me in Clay Co. Mo., during the latter part of l838. And he told me that at your birth your father committed an act with a Miss Hill - a hired girl. Emma saw him and spoke to him. He desisted, but Mrs. Smith refused to be satisfied. He called in Br. Williams, O. Cowdery, and S. Rigdon to reconcile Emma. But she told them just as the circumstances took place. He found he was caught. He confessed humbly, and begged forgiveness. Emma and all forgave him. She told me this story was true!

 

 

 

       “You referred to polygamy. Now let me tell you my dear Sir. I asked your mother particularly upon this point. She said, one night after she and Joseph had retired for the night, he told her that the doctrine and practice of polygamy was going to ruin the church. He wished her to get up and burn the revelation. She refused to touch it even with tongues (sic). He [Joseph] rose from his bed and pulled open the fire with his fingers, and put the revealment in and burned it up. But copies of it were extant, so it was preserved…. Can you dispute your dear mother? She related this to me, and will if you ask her tell you the same thing.” [17] 

      It was not until early February of l879, two and one-half months before Emma Smith’s death,  that it was decided by a few church leaders that Joseph Smith III should ask his Mother some questions concerning the things about which Mr. McLellin had asked him eighteen years earlier. In the interview Emma declared Joseph’s innocence.

     Richard Howard, long time RLDS Church Historian, made the following comment concerning William McLellin’s statements and Emma’s response.

 

“Emma Smith’s 1879 defense of Joseph Smith, Jr.’s innocence is somewhat weakened by Joseph III’s long delays in accepting William McLellin’s 1861 and 1872 challenges…and further by his delay (eight months after the interview, and six months after Emma’s death) in publishing his interview with her.”[18] 

John C. Bennett

     For a short time John C. Bennett and Joseph Smith were the closest of friends at Nauvoo. Although they had a falling out and accused each other of immorality, Bennett played a prominent role in the development of the spiritual wife doctrine. Among his many abilities, he was a capable physician and an expert abortionist. Samuel Taylor, Grandson of Apostle John Taylor, wrote in a short history of  Nauvoo, “Bennett had made himself useful in solving a growing problem at Nauvoo—pregnancies of secret plural wives…. [He] could take care of girls showing signs of what the gentiles called celestial consequences.”[19]

 

Sidney Rigdon

     Sidney Rigdon, who witnessed the development of polygamy in Nauvoo, served as one of Joseph Smith Jr.’s counselors in the First Presidency until 1844. After Joseph’s death he moved near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and began a periodical, The Messenger and Advocate. In his paper he made the following statement concerning the situation in Nauvoo.

 

“It would seem almost impossible that there could be found a set of men and women, in this age of the world, with the revelations of God in their hands, who could invent and propagate doctrines so ruinous to society, so debasing and demoralizing as the doctrine of a man having a plurality of wives; for it is the existence of this strange doctrine - worse than the strange fire offered on the alter,[sic] by corrupted Israel - that was at the root of all the evils which have followed, and are following in the church…. The crime of the people was that they loved to have it so, they were not charged with introducing the corruptions, but having pleasure in them after the prophets, and leaders, had introduced them. The Twelve and their adherents have endeavored to carry on this spiritual wife business in secret…and have gone to the most shameful and desperate lengths, to keep it from the public…. How often have these men and their accomplices stood up before the congregation, and called God and all the holy angels to witness, that there was no such doctrine taught in the church; and it has now come to light, by testimony which cannot be gainsaid, that at the time they thus dared heaven and insulted the world, they were living in the practice of these enormities; and there were multitudes of their followers in the congregation at the time who knew it.”[20]  

     After moving to Pennsylvania, Sidney Rigdon issued the following statement concerning the conditions in Nauvoo.

 

“This system [Plural marriage] was introduced by the Smiths some time before their death and was the thing which put them in the power of their enemies, and was the immediate cause of their death…. This system the twelve so called, undertook to carry out and it has terminated in their overthrow, and the complete ruin of all those who follow their pernicious ways…. We warned Joseph Smith and his family, of the ruin that was coming on them, and of the certain destruction which awaited them for their iniquity, for making their house, instead of a house of God, a sink of corruption.”[21] 

Zenos Gurley, Jr.

      Zenos Gurley, Jr. was an apostle in the Reorganization. He was the son of Zenos Gurley Sr. who had been a seventy in the church at Nauvoo. The younger Gurley urged Joseph III to present both sides of the polygamy issue through the RLDS press but to no avail. In 1879, Gurley  wrote a letter to Smith stating,

 

“I have felt somewhat sore and chagrined at the attempts made through the Herald to establish the innocence of your father touching polygamy, as though the work of God depended in any sense upon his innocence or guilt, and I may say here that many others in the church have expressed similar feelings to me, but have and do feel too delicate to speak with you upon the matter because it’s your father…. I believe firmly in your father’s guilt…and think it susceptible of proof, and have for years.” [22] (emphasis added) 

David Whitmer

      David Whitmer, one of the three witnesses to the Book of Mormon, admitted that Joseph Smith gave a revelation on polygamy.

 

“Concerning the matter, if Joseph Smith received the revelation on polygamy, how can the Book of Mormon be true? I must say that all who stumble because of the errors of Joseph Smith, are weak indeed…. In the first place, the revelation on polygamy did not come by the same means as did the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon was translated from golden plates…by means prepared of God—the stone of which I have spoken. Soon after Brother Joseph finished the translation, he gave up the stone, and all his revelations after that—including the one on polygamy—he gave by his own mouth. The revelation on polygamy was given fourteen years after the translation of the Book of Mormon, and after Brother Joseph had drifted into error and blindness.” [23] (emphasis added) 

William Clayton

      William Clayton, Joseph Smith’s personal secretary, admitted that he wrote down Joseph’s revelation on plural marriage. In 187l, he wrote a letter to Madison M. Scott, Esq.

 

“Now I say to you, as I am ready to testify to all the world, and on which testimony I am most willing to meet all the Latter-day Saints and all apostates, in time and through all eternity, I did write the revelation on celestial marriage given through the Prophet Joseph Smith, on the 12th of July, 1843. When the revelation was written there was no one present except the Prophet Joseph, his brother Hyrum and myself. It was written in the small office upstairs in the rear of the brick store which stood on the banks of the Mississippi river. It took some three hours to write it. Joseph dictated sentence by sentence, and I wrote it as he dictated. After the whole was written Joseph requested me to read it slowly and carefully, which I did, and he then pronounced it correct…. I again testify that the revelation on polygamy was given through the prophet Joseph on the 12th July, 1843; and that the Prophet Joseph both taught and practiced polygamy I do positively know and bear testimony to the fact”.[24] 

Joseph Smith III

    When Joseph III assumed leadership of the Reorganized Church in l860, he made the following statement, “There is but one principle taught by the leaders of any faction of this people that I hold in utter abhorrence; that is a principle taught by Brigham Young [polygamy]…. I have been told that my father taught such doctrines. I have never believed it and never can believe it.”[25]

     Joseph III spent much of his ministry denying his father’s polygamous activities, in spite of the many affidavits, testimonies and documents proving his guilt. Due to the abundance of evidence, Joseph III finally conceded that his father Joseph Smith, Jr., may have been involved, to some extent, with the polygamy doctrine, as evidenced in the following quote.

 

“I believe that during the latter years of my father’s life there was in discussion among the elders, and possibly in practice a theory like the following: that persons who might believe that there was a sufficient degree of spiritual affinity between them as married companions, to warrant the desire to perpetuate that union in the world to come and after the resurrection, could go before some high priest, whom they might choose, and there making known their desire, might be married for eternity …. That this was called spiritual marriage…. That this…grew out of the constant discussion had among the elders…. That once started the idea grew, spiritual affinities were sought after, and in seeking them the hitherto sacred precincts of home were invaded; less and less restraint was exercised; the lines between virtue and license hitherto sharply drawn, grew more and more indistinct…and so the enjoyment of a spiritual companionship in eternity became a companionship here…. That my father may have been a party to the first step in this strange development, I am perhaps prepared to admit, though the evidence connecting him with it is vague and uncertain.”[26]  

 David Smith, son of Joseph Smith Jr.

      Joseph Smith’s youngest son David, was not as convinced of his father’s innocence as his brother Joseph III. In 1872 David wrote,

 

“It [polygamy] is an unpleasant subject to me… I know my mother believes just as we do in faith, repentance, baptism, and all of the saving doctrines in the books of the church and all, but I do not wish to ask her in regard to polygamy, for dear brother God forgive me if I am wrong…. I believe there was something wrong: I don’t know it but the testimony is too great for me to deny. If my father sinned I cannot help it,’ David continues in his letter. ‘He must suffer for his sin. I do not know that he did, and if I had not received such a convincing testimony of the gospel, my faith might fail, but it does not, even though he did sin…he repented and told the saints that polygamy was a false and wicked doctrine.’ ” [27]    

R. C. Evans

     One of the most prominent missionaries in the Reorganized Church in the late l800’s and early l900’s was R. C. Evans. After devoting much of his life to promoting Joseph Smith’s teachings on the mission field and in administrative duties, he came to a knowledge of the truth regarding the origins of polygamy. He left the church and wrote a book, “Forty Years in the Mormon Church [RLDS]—Why I Left It” to explain his reasons for leaving.

 

“My reasons for presenting this little volume to the public are: First, that because my sermons have gone over the world for many years, millions of them have been published by the Canadian and American press, and the church has constantly advertised them, the consciousness that the world has the right to know from me, why I have left the church, advises me to present the facts. Second, many books have been published by those who know nothing of the inner workings of Mormonism. I have endeavored to give the true history of Mormonism, quoting very largely from their own works, and bringing into prominence the teaching of the Prophets, Seers, and Revelators, and other leading ministers.

 

 

 

      “Third, having been ordained to seven different offices in the Mormon [RLDS] Priesthood, from Priest to the Presidency of the church, standing next to Joseph Smith [III] himself in the Highest Council of the church, the world will be interested to read the facts from one who had escaped from the Mormon thraldom. Fourth, notwithstanding the cruel treatment that has been inflicted upon me by the leaders of the church from the moment they knew that I had determined to warn the world, I have tried to keep my heart from bitterness, but have, in this little volume, endeavored to show that Mormonism is the lying wonder of the Latter Days, with the hope that the honest in heart, now under the yoke of bondage will, like tens of thousands before them, make their escape and find peace and joy in the gospel of Christ as revealed in the Bible.

 

 

 

      “My earnest prayer for the many honest people of the church is, that they will abandon Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, the Book of Abraham, the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, the Book of Commandments, and all the other fraudulent works of Mormonism and embrace Christ and the gospel as presented in the Word of God [the Bible.] The Reorganized ‘Mormon Church’ does not teach or practice polygamy. Their great sin is in denying that Joseph Smith…taught, practiced and advocated it privately, while he denied it publicly. If human evidence is to be relied upon, then this book proves that the leading presidents, apostles, bishops, high priests, including the celebrated “three witnesses,” as also many of Smith’s own relatives declare that he had revelations commanding the church to enter into the practice of polygamy, and tens of thousands certify that they had many wives in consequence of his example and commandments. When these testimonies were confirmed unto me, then I could no longer believe that God and Christ visited and conversed with Smith, that John the Baptist and Peter, James and John ordained him to the priesthood and that many other heavenly personages visited him, and I finally, under the blessing of God, came out to tell the world the facts.[28] (emphasis added)

 

 

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

 

R. C. Evans

 

 

 

Toronto, Ontario, February 12th, 1920”

 

 

 William Law

     William Law was a close and loyal friend of Joseph Smith and a member of the first presidency in Nauvoo. However, when Joseph Smith brought forth his revelation on polygamy Law bitterly opposed it. On April 18, 1844, Law, along with several others, was excommunicated from the church without a hearing for rejecting polygamy and other false doctrines. On June 7, 1844 Law published the first and only issue of the Nauvoo Expositor, a newspaper exposing Joseph’s activities. Excerpts from this paper follow.

 

“Many of us have sought a reformation in the church, without a public exposition of the enormities of crimes practiced by its leaders, thinking that if they would hearken to counsel, and shew fruit meet for repentance, it would be…acceptable with God…. But our petitions were treated with contempt: and in many cases the petitioner spurned from their presence, and particularly by Joseph…. We would ask him…if the overthrow of the Church was not inevitable [if he did not repent]…to which he often replied that we would all go to Hell together, and convert it into a heaven, by casting the Devil out; and [said]…. Hell is by no means the place this world of fools suppose it to be, but on the contrary, it is quite an agreeable place…. Inasmuch as we [Law and others] have for years borne with the individual follies and iniquities of Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, and many other official characters in the Church of Jesus Christ…and having labored with them repeatedly with all Christian love meekness and humility yet to no effect…and inasmuch as they have introduced false and damnable doctrines into the church, such as a plurality of Gods above the God of this universe, and his liability to fall with all his creations…[and] the plurality of wives, for time and eternity [polygamy]…we [editors] therefore are constrained to denounce them as apostates from the pure and holy doctrines of Jesus Christ.”[29] 

     In response to these accusations, Joseph Smith called a City Council meeting on June 10, 1844, in which he declared the newspaper a “public nuisance” and ordered the press destroyed. Minutes of the meeting appeared in the June 19, 1844 issue of the church newspaper, the Nauvoo Neighbor. The minutes produced  incriminating evidence that Joseph Smith gave a revelation on polygamy while in Nauvoo. Richard Howard,  church historian, commented,

 

“These minutes, published in the church press while Joseph Smith, Jr., was yet alive and in Nauvoo, show him affirming the fact of a revelation dealing with both ancient marriage and present-day marriage for eternity. He [Joseph] chides the Expositor affiants for imputing criminal offense to Mormon leaders having a wife here while being sealed to former, deceased ones, in heaven…. This shows Joseph’s full endorsement of his revelation on marriage for eternity, tying it to priesthood authority, and revealing its direct implications for celestial polygamy. In light of those explanations it is easy for one to appreciate the city council’s disposition to place little confidence in the efficacy of repeated denials of the truth of the Expositor’s allegations. For, clearly, such denials did not dispel the growing conviction, both in and out of the church, that polygamy was fast becoming a feature of the theological/temple system of Nauvoo Mormonism.”[30] (emphasis added)  

Below are excerpts from the sworn testimony of William Law, given in 1885.

     

“To Whom it may concern:

 

 

 

       “I, the undersigned, being aware that many contradictory reports are in circulation as to the origin of Polygamy…make the following statements…: In l843 Hyrum Smith handed to me a writing to read, and to be returned to him. I took it home and upon reading found that it purported to be a revelation to Joseph Smith, authorizing polygamy in the Church. After reading it I went directly to Joseph Smith and showed him the document. He looked at it, and said it was all right. Said it was a great privilege granted to the High Priesthood. He spoke strongly in its favor. I remarked that it was in contradiction to the “Doctrine and Covenants.” He said they [the earlier saints] were babes, and had to be fed on milk but now they were strong and must have meat. He seemed much disappointed in my not receiving the revelation. He was very anxious that I would accept the doctrine and sustain him in it…. Joseph told me that he had several wives sealed to him and that they afforded him a great deal of  pleasure.

 

 

 

      “He kept some of them in his own house. He said his wife Emma had annoyed him very much about it, but he thought the revelation would cause her to submit peaceably, as it threatened her removal if she did not…. I [Law] have good reason to believe that Joseph and Hyrum Smith and others in the Church had been practicing polygamy for a long time before the revelation came forth, although it was vehemently denied from the public stand, and those who spoke of its existence were denounced as slanderers of the Church. But after the revelation came out, polygamy was rampant and the man who dared to speak against it was considered an apostate. (Subscribed and sworn to before me this 17th day of July, A. D. 1885 C. T. Douglas)”[31] 

     William Law will be remembered as “a voice crying in the wilderness” because he had the courage to stand up for what was right in the face of religious bigotry, at the risk of losing his own life. (It is important to note that nearly all of the major factional movements that left Nauvoo after the death of Joseph Smith, practiced polygamy in some form. And the fact that these groups went to such diverse and far away places such as Texas, Pennsylvania, Michigan, etc., would rule out the theory that polygamy was a new doctrine taught by Brigham Young after settling in Utah.) 

 Letter of Isaac and Sarah Scott

     One of the most damaging evidences that Joseph Smith was involved in polygamy and other false teachings in Nauvoo, is the letter written by Isaac Scott and his wife Sarah. They joined the Latter Day Saint Church in Massachusetts, and then “gathered” to Nauvoo in anticipation of finding the “Sanctum-Sanctorum of all the Earth.” Instead their expectations were shattered when they saw first hand what was happening to their beloved church. In the following letter to Sarah Scott’s parents, “…they write as Mormons who are disillusioned and recognize that much deception has occurred because Smith, who was held above criticism by most Mormons, and other leaders have publicly denied what they knew to be true.” Isaac Scott wrote most of the letter at the urging of his wife, and Sarah added the last two paragraphs.[32]

 

“Vicinity of Nauvoo,

 

 

 

  June l6, l844

 

 

 

 

        My Dear Father and Mother:

 

 

 

      “For such I suppose I may call you, on account of the relationship that now exists between us. Altho far distant, and having never had the privilege of beholding your faces, yet I rejoice exceedingly in the pleasure which I this day enjoy of sitting down to write a few lines to two so near and dear to me as you are. I have greatly desired to see you since I became acquainted with your daughter, and adopted into your family. But I have had to do with only hearing from you thus far. By a letter that Mrs. Haven received from you a few days since, we have the pleasing intelligence that you are all well, which blessing we also enjoy. I am glad that I ever became united to your family, for by this step I have gotten what Solomon says is a good thing. He says he that hath gotten a wife from the Lord, hath gotten a good thing. So say I. And were it not for troubles that exist in the land, we would rejoice continually.

 

 

 

      “But because of the things that are and have been taught in the Church of Latter Day Saints for two years past which now assume a portentous aspect, I say because of these things we are in trouble. And were it not that we wish to give you a fair unbiased statement of facts as they really exist, we perhaps would not have written you so soon. But we feel it to be our duty to let you know how things are going on in this land of boasted liberty, this Sanctum-Sanctorum of all the Earth, the City of Nauvoo. The elders will likely tell you a different tale from what I shall as they are positively instructed to deny these things abroad. But it matters not to us what they say; our object is to state to you the truth, for we do not want to be guilty of deceiving anyone. We will now give you a correct statement of the doctrines that are taught and practiced in the Church according to our own knowledge. We will mention three in particular.

 

 

 

      “A plurality of Gods. A plurality of living wives. And unconditional sealing up to eternal life against all sins save the shedding of innocent blood or consenting thereunto. These with many other things are taught by Joseph, which we consider are odious and doctrines of devils.

 

 

 

       “Joseph says there are Gods above the God of this universe as far as he is above us, and if He should transgress the laws given to Him by those above Him, He would be hurled from his Throne to hell, as was Lucifer and all his creations with him. But God says there is no other God but himself. Moses says he knows of no other God. The Apostles and Prophets almost all testify the same thing.

 

 

 

      “Joseph had a revelation last summer purporting to be from the Lord, allowing the saints the privilege of having ten living wives at one time, I mean certain conspicuous characters among them. They do not content themselves with young women, but have seduced married women. I believe hundreds have been deceived. Now should I yield up your daughter to such wretches?

 

 

 

      “Mr. Haven knows these statements are correct, for they have been in the quorum to which he belongs by the highest authority in the Church. He has told me that he does not believe in these teachings but he does not come out and oppose them; he thinks that it will all come out right. But we think God never has nor ever will sanction such proceedings, for we believe he has not changed; he says “I am God I change not.”  These things we can not believe, and it is by Sarah’s repeated request that I write this letter.

 

 

 

      “Those who can not swallow down these things and came out and opposed the doctrine publicly, have been cut off from the Church without any lawful process whatever. They were not notified to trial, neither were they allowed the privilege of being present to defend themselves, neither was any one permitted to speak on their behalf. They did not know who was their judge or jury until it was all over and they [were] delivered over to all the buffetings of Satan; although they lived only a few rods from the council room. These are some of their names: William Law, one of the first Presidency; Wilson Law, brigadier general; Austin Cowles, president of the High Council; and Elder Blakesly, who has been the means of bringing upwards of one thousand members into the Church. He has been through nearly all the states in the Union, the Canadas, and England preaching the Gospel. Now look at the great sins they have committed: the Laws, un-Christian-like conduct—Blakesly and others, Apostasy. If it is apostasy to oppose such doctrines and proceedings as I have just mentioned (which are only a few of the enormities taught and practiced here), then we hope and pray that all the Church may apostatize.

 

 

 

      “After they had been thus shamefully treated and published to the world they went and bought a printing press determined to defend themselves against such unhallowed abuse. It cost them six hundred dollars. [They] commenced their paper, but Joseph and his clan could not bear the truth to come out; so after the first number came out Joseph called his Sanhedrin together; tried the press; condemned it as a nuisance and ordered the city marshal to take three hundred armed men and go and burn the press, and if any offered resistance, to rip them from the guts to the gizzard. These are his own words. They went and burnt the press, papers, and household furniture. The Laws, Fosters, Coles, Hickbies (sic), and others have had to leave the place to save their lives. Those who have been thus unlawfully cut off have called a conference; protested against these things; and reorganized the church. William Law is chosen president, Charles Ivans, bishop, with the other necessary officers. The Reformed Church believe that Joseph has transgressed in his priestly capacity and has given himself over to serve the devil, and his own lusts. We will endeavor to send you a paper and you can judge for yourselves. They had only commenced publishing the dark deeds of Nauvoo. A hundredth part has not been told yet. (Written by Isaac Scott to this point; the rest is in Sarah Scott’s hand.)

 

 

 

      “The people of the state will not suffer such things any longer. But I am sorry that the innocent must suffer with the guilty. I believe there are hundreds of honest hearted souls in Nauvoo, but some of them I think have forgotten what they were once taught: that cursed is he that putteth his trust in man. It would offend some of them more to speak irreverently of Joseph, than it would of God himself. Joseph says that he is a God to this generation, and I suppose they believe it. Any one needs a throat like an open sepulcher to swallow down all that is taught here. There was an elder once wrote in confidence to a friend in England; told him the state of the Church here, and they showed it to some of the elders there, and they wrote back to the heads of the Church, and it caused him a great deal of trouble. I think if you would once come here, you would not put so much confidence in all who go by the name of Mormons.

 

 

 

      “I am very much obliged for the pin ball; I think it is very pretty, and it comes from Mother so far, from old Massachusetts. I shall appreciate it highly. My health has been very good since I came to the West notwithstanding it is a sickly part of the country. I enjoy myself well this summer. My husband is every thing I could wish, and I hope we may live all the days of our appointed time together. Joseph had two balls last winter and a dancing-school through the winter. There was a theatre established in the spring; some of the twelve took a part – Erastus Snow and many of the leading members of the Church. Dear Mother, I hope the time is not far distant when we can enjoy each other’s society, but when and where I suppose time only will determine. There is a report that a mob is coming to Nauvoo.

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                     Sarah Scott”

     The above letter was written just two weeks before Joseph’s death. Sarah Scott wrote another letter  shortly after he was killed. Below are some excerpts from her letter.

 

“Nauvoo, Illinois

 

 

 

  July 22, l844

 

 

 

 

  My Dear Father and Mother:

 

 

 

      “Having an opportunity to send to the east by way of brother Eames, who expects to return in a few weeks, I thought I would improve it and send to you a few lines. I suppose you received our letter and was somewhat prepared, when you heard of the dreadful murder of Joseph and Hyrum Smith in Carthage jail. Little did we think that an event like that would ever transpire. The Church believed that he would be acquitted as he had been on former occasions, and Joseph prophesied in the last Neighbor that was published before his death that they would come off victorious over them all, as sure as there was a God in Israel. Joseph also prophesied on the stand a year ago last conference that he could not be killed within five years from that time; that they could not kill him till the Temple would be completed, for that he had received an unconditional promise from the Almighty concerning his days, and he set Earth and Hell at defiance; and then said, putting his hand on his head, they never could kill his Child. But now that he is killed some of the Church say that he said unless he gave himself up.

 

 

 

      “My husband was there at the time and says there was not conditions whatever, and many others testify to the same thing…. The governor visited Nauvoo the day that Joseph and Hyrum were killed and made a speech. He told the people of Nauvoo the burning of that press was arbitrary, unlawful, unconstitutional, and that they had hurt themselves more than ten presses could have injured them in ten years…. The governor was met on his return to Carthage by a messenger informing him of the assassination…. Who the vile murderers were I suppose never will be known till the day when all flesh shall stand before God to answer for the deeds done in the body. Many of the Mormons lay it on the Missourians, others to the apostates, as they call them. If it is apostasy from Mormonism to come out against the doctrines of more Gods than one, more wives than one, and many other damnable heresies that they have taught, I hope and pray that I and all the rest of the Church may become apostates.

 

 

 

                                                                                                Sarah Scott”[33]

 

     These incriminating testimonies provide overwhelming evidence that Joseph Smith legalized by revelation an already existing domestic pattern of moral life in Nauvoo.  

Conclusion  

      Fawn Brodie explains the inner conflicts which plagued Joseph Smith as a result of alienating himself from reality and pursuing an imagined empire in which he would be ruler, and polygamy would be a part.

 

“[Joseph’s] frantic marrying of at least two score women within two years of his death, combined with his insistent denials that he was practicing polygamy, suggests a new and ever escalating moral conflict in addition to his continuing conflict between fantasy and reality. He could be sure no one would ever find his golden plates; he could hope no one would ever challenge his translation of the Book of Abraham; he could confidently expect that most of his followers would continue to accept his revelations as divine. But his continuing denial of polygamy was certain to be exposed very soon as flagrant deception. When Joseph Smith read the expose of his polygamy in the pages of the Nauvoo Expositor, published by a man whom he had respected and revered, he must have felt a shattering of his own grandiose and wholly unrealistic image of himself and his role in history. He reacted with rage and destroyed the press, though he was not normally a destructive man. He was a builder of temples and cities and kingdoms—most of all, a constructor of continuing fantasy. William Law attacked this fantasy with his simple, almost gentle exposition of reality. A man called Law had called him to account, as his parents never had, and he reacted with lawlessness. It was all extraordinarily symbolic. A sense of depression, foreboding, and doom dogged the prophet thereafter, contributing inexorably to his destruction.”[34]  

      Joseph Smith claimed, while living in Nauvoo, that an angel with a drawn sword had stood over him and told him, “…that if he did not establish polygamy, he would lose his position and his life.”[35] Ironically, Joseph obeyed the instruction of this ‘angel’, and in so doing lost both his position and his life.

     For nearly 140 years, RLDS leaders have tried to convince their membership that Joseph Smith was not the author of polygamy. They have insisted it originated with Brigham Young in Salt Lake City after Joseph Smith’s death. However, the undeniable evidence is that the originator of polygamy in the Latter Day Saint movement was Joseph Smith, Jr.

     This being the case, the leadership of the church should answer the following question, “Since Joseph Smith’s involvement in polygamy is a well documented historical fact, should the RLDS church hide this truth?  The Bible plainly records the faults of Abraham, Saul, David, Samson and many other men of God. Their faults are recorded as a warning for Christians today, so that we will not repeat the same mistakes. For the RLDS church to conceal the fact that Joseph Smith taught and practiced polygamy, with the abundance of evidence available, shows a very un-Christian like  character.

            We have seen in this chapter that Joseph Smith taught:

 

·        God was once a man who progressed to a state of deity.

 

 

 

·        There are many gods.

 

 

 

·        Men can become gods.

 

 

 

·        Polygamy was an essential step to becoming a god.

 

            Sir Walter Scott said, “Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” This insightful observation aptly describes the reason for the circumstances that surrounded Joseph Smith's life and death. The Bible says, “Be sure your sin will find you out” (Num. 32:23). Joseph  would have done well to have taken seriously this Biblical admonition.