I spent the better part of last Sunday mildly, but not unexpectedly peeved at Brigham Young. It is not that I don’t have some respect for him as a leader and a strong personality who accomplished many positive things. My “relationship” with Brigham is very nuanced and complicated.
Reading the History of the Church, Volume 2, in preparation for completing the latest chapter of my book, I came across a passage that didn’t sit so well with me and prompted me to pull up the Joseph Smith Papers online to look at the original manuscript. And there it was right in front of my face—19 additional words that completely changed the meaning of what Joseph said to the Twelve in a special council meeting with them held on Saturday, January 16, 1836.
The original manuscript says this:
“…also the 12 are not subject to any other than the first presidency; viz. myself, S. Rigdon and F.G. Williams—”
Pretty straightforward, right? These comments came about largely due to a controversy in which the Twelve felt slighted because in a recent assembly they had been placed below the high councils of Kirtland and Zion in their seating assignments (sounds like the apostles of old arguing over who is the greatest in the kingdom, doesn’t it?) In the meeting Joseph explained to them that there were practical considerations as to why they were seated in the way that they were—there was not insult intended, and that they (the Twelve) were only subject to the oversight and control of the First Presidency consisting of Joseph and his two counselors, Sidney Rigdon and Frederick G. Williams.
Here is where Brigham’s sleight-of-hand comes into play with his 19 additional words which I highlight in bold (you will notice some changes in punctuation as this is now taken directly from Vol. 2 of the History of the Church):
“…also the Twelve are not subject to any other than the first Presidency, viz., “myself,” said the Prophet, “Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams, who are now my Counselors; and where I am not, there is no First Presidency over the Twelve.”
Incredible!
By adding those words Brigham has completely changed the power structure of the Church and attributed it to the Prophet Joseph. Of course, as the man who ran Sidney Rigdon out of town following the martyrdom, Brigham had to degrade any claim to authority held by the only man left in that quorum and elevate the Twelve above all else. And as we know, he succeeded in doing so and duping the saints into voting for a strong leader instead of a prophet.
Yet, the scriptures clearly teach that the First Presidency hold the keys of the kingdom and that even one remaining member can reconstitute the quorum if necessary.
In speaking to Frederick G. Williams in Section 81 of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord states:
“Listen to the voice of him who speaketh, to the word of the Lord your God, and hearken to the calling wherewith you are called, even to be a high priest in my church, and a counselor unto my servant Joseph Smith, Jun.; unto whom I have given the keys of the kingdom, which belong always unto the Presidency of the High Priesthood;”
The Lord also states in D&C 90:6 that Sidney and Frederick “are accounted as equal with thee (Joseph) in holding the keys of this last kingdom.” The First Presidency is special. It is not an extension of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles where the senior guy becomes the next president / prophet.
D&C 102 is not a revelation from the Lord, but as a canonized Church policy makes clear that either of the two counselors may step in as presiding High Priest when the others are absent:
“The president of the church, who is also the president of the council, is appointed by revelation, and acknowledged in his administration by the voice of the church [note the bit about being appointed by revelation, not seniority].
And it is according to the dignity of his office that he should preside over the council of the church; and it is his privilege to be assisted by two other presidents, appointed after the same manner that he himself was appointed.
And in case of the absence of one or both of those who are appointed to assist him, he has power to preside over the council without an assistant; and in case he himself is absent, the other presidents have power to preside in his stead, both or either of them.
Not much ambiguity there.
Now on to my second discovery. In reading through the version of Section 110 contained in Volume 2, I decided again to read the original version which is written in the third person. The version in our scriptures has been changed to the first person. There I noticed words of the Lord that were TAKEN OUT of the original record. The original reads as follows:
“Yea the hearts of thousands and tens of thousands shall greatly rejoice in consequence of the blessings which shall be poured out, and the endowment with which my servants have already been endowed and shall hereafter be endowed in this House.
Brigham and his co-conspirators removed the words in bold!
But why? Why would they feel the need to eliminate those words. I believe for two reasons.
1- The appearance of the Lord and three prophets as recorded in Section 110 was the end of the great endowments in the Kirtland Temple. Nothing even approaching the spiritual outpourings at that time have been experienced since. Those words point to a future fulfillment (in the third watch) which challenges directly Brigham’s claim to the fulness of the gospel. We have documented that future work extensively in previous blog posts.
2- By the time Brigham became aware of this vision —sealed up in Joseph’s journal and undiscovered until a decade after Joseph’s death—the Kirtland Temple was no longer in the hands of the Brigham faction of the church. The Reorganized Church owned the Temple (still do) and Brigham likely wanted to downplay anything that had to do with the Kirtland Temple because he was full steam ahead on building temples to administer the masonic endowments that were part of turning the saints over to Satan for a period of chastisement.
Whatever the reasons, I think the Lord looks askance at anyone who would change His words for their own benefit.
You may have been a great leader, Brigham. But your changes to history are appalling.
Shame on you.
You’re one of the reasons why we Keep Searching.
One Who Is Searching 
“Yea the hearts of thousands and tens of thousands shall greatly rejoice in consequence of the blessings which shall be poured out, and the endowment with which my servants have already been endowed and shall hereafter be endowed in this House”
Incredible find!!!!!
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I rejoice in those that search and reveal their findings! When I was reading history of the church volume one Josephs commentary between section 61 and 62. I found his wording ” contending for the faith once delivered to the Saints”Interesting. Considering section 63 “the Saints shall hardly escape ” I believe they shall hardly escape the takeover of the Church of Christ by the tares. Hence most of the first labors either leaving or being driven out once they figured out the coup. Now to tie this to Brigham young, Jude verse 3. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you, of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the Saints. 4. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
1. Turning the “grace” (section 76 celestial law) into a lesser law of works.
2. Promulgating lasciviousness in spades!
3. “Denying the only Lord God “Adam god theory… Etc. etc.
Considering the timing could it be that Joseph quoting Jude was warning us in many ways, Including that we should earnestly contend for the reception of the word ( Spirit ) that can dwell within us…
Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word,…
In the first part of the book of Mormon it is amazing how many times Lehi and Nephi declare” the spirit which is in me.”
Thank you for searching and declaring your finds
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Both of these are incredible finds. Great job listing to the Spirit as it whispered to you to dig deeper.
It looks like FGW will have another say in the matter as he returns as one of the First Laborers who shall return to the vineyard prior to the 3rd Watch.
D&C 81:3
3 Therefore, verily I acknowledge him and will bless him, and also thee, inasmuch as thou art faithful in counsel, in the office which I have appointed unto you, in prayer always, vocally and in thy heart, in public and in private, also in THY MINISTRY IN PROCLAIMING THE GOSPEL IN THE LAND OF THE LIVING, and among thy brethren.
It’s interesting that the Lord would use that term at all. It’s the only term of its kind in the D&C.
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I would not want to be Brigham Young or one of his conspirators right now or in the final day of judgment. But we can feel peace of mind all the same that God has ultimate control of the situation. It was not his divine will that we Gentiles go off the rails so badly, but it was within his permissive will. He let it happen because men must be free to choose to damn themselves. And no matter how much Brigham and company were confederate with Satan’s plans to make God a liar, the wisdom of Jesus is greater than the cunning of the devil. No man has power to frustrate heaven’s ultimate designs with the house of Israel.
Now, that said … please consider and study out the following truth on your own time and in private. It needs to be shared.
3 watches = Christ’s 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Comings.
Where in all of scripture do we specifically read “Second Coming” besides in the chapter headings written by scholars. No. The scriptures say “at my Coming”, “at His coming”, and the like. Many of the conditions described at his coming are contradictory, and clearly indicate that he is coming 3 times, not just twice. And why not? We have:
3 portions of Priesthood
3 degrees of glory
3 major dispensations (Adamic, Abrahamic, Gentile)
3 temples (eventually) in Jerusalem
Plus many, many more things that come in 3’s.
Jesus’ 1st Coming was a betrothal. His 2nd Coming to the Jews will be an engagement. And his 3rd Coming is the marriage feast. This follows Jewish tradition in which an innocent child may be betrothed, but then as an adult man commences an official engagement, after which he returns a year later to wed his bride and enjoy a week long celebration with her. The Jews are not mature enough in the gospel to be counted worthy as his children yet, let alone his bride. They will endure many hardships and tribulations prior to his 2nd Coming, which will purge and winnow them; even so, they still will not know that Jesus is their Savior until he shows them the marks in his hands and feet and tells them he received those wounds in the house of his friends. In no way do the prophecies of his appearing on the Mount of Olives again (when he saves just the Jews and causes them to mourn for their false traditions) correlate with the prophecies of his appearing to burn the entire world. Study it out.
The Book of Mormon states in half a dozen places in 1st and 2nd Nephi alone that the lost tribes of Israel cannot be gathered until after the Jews are converted, en masse, to a knowledge of the identity of their real Messiah. And the heathen nations cannot be redeemed until after the lost tribes of Israel are restored.
We are living in the times of the Gentiles, which must come to an end before the Jews are converted at Christ’s 2nd Coming. Before the stone cut out of the mountain without hands even begins to fill the whole earth, it has to pulverize the magnificent image of gold, silver, bronze, iron, and clay. That image is still with us in the form of Gentile Empires. America is modern day Babylon.
Joseph said the fullness of times was ushering in, and we just assume that it must be all the way in by now. But the truth is that we’re still trying to usher it in. Or perhaps more accurately, we have played the part of a bouncer who is blocking the doorway rather than holding it open. Either way, Christ’s 2nd Coming is the prophesied event that truly tips us over into the era known as the fullness of times. It will last at least 100 years, and may well last for 365 years (1 year for each day of a typical, year long engagement).
Many of Joseph’s prophecies regarding the redemption of Zion will not come about until after Christ’s 2nd Coming. The 3 Nephites and John will become public figures in preaching the gospel, as we read in 3 Nephi 28:25-33. All things must be gathered back into one. So after some millions of lost Israelites are recovered and brought to Zion, 144,000 High Priests (not just in title, but with actual power and proper humility) will be chosen to sound the gospel in every ear by the true gift of tongues, fulfilling the details of Luke 14:23 that everyone else will be COMPELLED to come in. Even all the languages which were confounded shortly after the world’s baptism by water must once again be restored in one shortly before the world’s baptism by fire. For the first must be last, and the last must be first.
The Gentiles got the gospel last, and D&C 90 says that until the Jews receive the gospel again as a nation, all the preaching of the Gentiles would be just to other Gentiles. That is why missionary work is blocked in so many non-Gentile countries. It is heaven’s divine decree that the Gentiles should have (and squander) their 2nd opportunity before these days of prosperity and dominance come to an end. And only after the times of the Gentiles come to an end (in a world-wide nuclear holocaust set to begin in about 10 years, give or take – and starting with a near complete destruction of the USA) will the Jews be restored.
And only after the Jews are restored can the lost tribes be restored. And only after the lost tribes are restored can the heathen nations be restored. It will take many more generations after Christ’s 2nd Coming for the rest of the story arc to play out as it needs to in order to fulfill prophecy before the Millennium officially begins with Jesus coming in the clouds at his 3rd Coming.
Please study it out. All the pieces fall into place perfectly when the 3 watches is taken to mean that Christ is coming 3 separate times. His 2nd Coming does not initiate the Millennium; it initiates the real fullness of times. Don’t fall for Satan’s counterfeit fulfillments of prophecy.
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Your paradigm may shift when you realize that the reference about the Jews “begining to believe in Christ” and gathering in upon the face of the land (2 Nephi 30:7) refers to scattered Israel who were grafted in by the preaching of the gospel by the Quorum of the Twelve in the late 1830s. Watcher has written about this extensively. Here are just two examples. The latter-day jews call themselves the latter-day saints.
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Here’s the link to the document that searcher found if anyone wants to see for themselves.
http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1838-1856-volume-b-1-1-september-1834-2-november-1838/145
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Reply to Ryanniickelco and to all deep searchers. D&C 81 is to Jesse Gauss not anyone else. This is promise to him alone. Also Joseph never exed him rather O. Cowdery did it when Joseph was absent. I believe Br. Jesse still has a roll to fill as does Joseph and many others. God bless you truth seekers.
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Are you suggesting that there is yet a future endowment to be received in the Kirtland temple?
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That is what the original manuscript of Section 110 says. It makes sense that the Lord would use that temple again for a Spiritual Endowment of the Elders prior to them going forth in power to preach the Gospel for the last time.
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