I am a 7th
generation member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I have spent
the majority of my life as a loyal and faithful member. I have loved the Church
and held a deep gratitude to the Lord for my membership in it. Several years
ago, as I studied Church History, I found over and over again that Joseph
Smith, Jr. denied practicing polygamy and spoke out against it. As I sought to
harmonize official LDS Church History regarding the introduction of polygamy by
Joseph Smith with Joseph’s consistent denials, I was reminded that I had been
taught since my youth that Joseph and other leaders were “lying for the Lord.”
For some reason, where I had accepted that explanation before in my life, this
time I could not. After deep, ponderous, and lengthy consideration, I decided
that Joseph was a fallen prophet. I kept this to myself and shared my thoughts
with no one. I stayed active, faithful, and “strong” in the Church.
A few years
later, as I sat in a lesson on the First Vision, I felt impressed to bear my testimony
on the truthfulness of this event. As I did so, the truth of it pierced my soul
and convicted me. Over the next few years, I contemplated how a man who
communed with Jehovah and diverse angels could lie about polygamy. Joseph had never
lied about anything else. He was never one to shy away from teaching deep,
difficult doctrine. Why would he with polygamy? I decided to seriously research
Joseph’s “polygamy.” As I did so, I continued to find his consistent denials of
any involvement. One day, the thought came to me, “Why don’t you believe Joseph?
Why don’t you give him the benefit of believing that he meant what he said?”
With this new idea, the evidence and proof that have been used to condemn him
opened to a newer understanding. I came to believe that Joseph never practiced
polygamy in any form. He never married any woman other than Emma. He was true
and faithful to her in every way. Joseph and Emma had a deep, poignant love for
each other and were the elect of God.
I wanted to
shout my new understanding to the world.
Joseph never taught, preached, nor practiced plurality of wives. He was a
man of integrity, moral purity, and chastity. I cannot understand why the LDS
Church still holds to the false claims that he was a polygamist. In the LDS
Church’s own historical records there is ample proof to at best exonerate him
from all such claims and at worst to caste serious doubts upon their current
historical narrative. For instance, on
the Joseph Smith Papers website, you can find the digital image of Joseph’s
journal entry for 5 October, 1843 (8 ½ months before his murder). There is no
way to misunderstand what Joseph believed or how he felt about polygamy. Here is
the digital image:
You can see the
image on the Joseph Smith Papers Project website here.
The entry states:
Thursday October 5 [1843]
Morning rode out with Esqr Butterfield to farm etc.—P.M. rode on prairie
to shew some brethren some land.—eve at home walked up and down st. with
scribe.—and gave instruction to try those who were preaching teaching or pprcting
the doctrin of plurality of wives. On this Law. Joseph forbids it. And the
practice thereof — No man shall have but one wife.
This is just
one of many, many times Joseph preached against the practice. Weeks before his
death he asked William Marks, Nauvoo Stake President, to help him find and
expel all those who were involved in the practice. During his final Conference address,
he stated emphatically that he only had one wife and her name was Emma. Throughout
her life, Emma consistently defended her husband and stated that he never
practiced polygamy. With the plethora of available historical records today, my
question is: Why does the LDS Church continue to be among those who speak evil
of Joseph, the Lord’s anointed?
Early in 1839,
after nearly a half-year of imprisonment, Joseph wrote a letter from Liberty
Jail to the saints. The letter included several revelations. One revelation
declared these words:
[C]ursed are
all those that shall lift up the heal against mine anointed saith the Lord and
cry they have sin[n]ed when they have not sined before me saith the Lord but
have done that which was meat in mine eyes and which I commanded them but those
who cry transgresion do it becaus they are the servants of sin and are the
children of disobediance themselvs and those who swear false against my
servants that they might bring them unto bondage and death. Wo unto them
because they have offended my little ones they shall be severed from the
ordinances of mine house their basket shall not be full their houses and their
barnes shall famish and they themselvs shall be dispised by those that
flattered them they shall not have right to the priesthood nor their posterity
after them from generation to generation it had been better for them that a
millstone had been hanged about their necks and they having drownd in the depth
of the see…” (JSP,
Documents Vol. 6, p. 366; all as in original.)
The angel Nephi,
who visited a young Joseph in September of 1823 prophesied that his name would
be had for good and evil among all people. It saddens and discourages me that
the largest Church to come out of Joseph’s Restoration joins with those who
speak evil of Joseph. I made the effort
to research and write a book laying out the proof of Joseph’s innocence. The
current LDS History, claiming that Joseph was a polygamist, a polyandrist, and,
in some eyes, a pedophile, makes all the vile rumors of Joseph’s enemies’
truth. The LDS history makes a mockery of the Lord’s anointed. Their history
makes the Church despised by seekers of truth who would otherwise embrace the fullness
of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Their stance on Joseph’s involvement in polygamy
not only drives good people away from the Church, but often away from a
relationship with God.
Unless the LDS
Church will be honest with the world and with its members and reveal the evidence
and the truth about Joseph’s innocence in regard to polygamy, including the
truth behind the origins of the practice, I can no longer remain a member. I
cannot continue to associate with an organization that continues to besmirch
and disparage the name of Joseph Smith. This is not something I take lightly. I have
reached out to Elder Curtis, the LDS Church Historian, and asked for a meeting
to discuss these issues before I take such a step. I was contacted by a female
employee who informed me that Elder Curtis’ schedule is booked for the unforeseeable
future. She has offered to meet with me in his stead. We made the appointment, but with the new societal
restrictions in consideration of the COVID-19 virus pandemic, our meeting has
been postponed. My questions for her are simple, is there any chance that the
LDS Historians' office will exonerate Joseph from the abominable practice of
plurality of wives? The LDS Church has a history of admitting that many things
done and taught by Brigham Young were done in the absence of revelation. The
LDS Church today denounces Brigham Young’s blood atonement, Adam-God Doctrine, and his racism toward people
of African heritage. Will the LDS Church also free their people of all remnants of
the false, and abominable, doctrine of polygamy? Will the LDS Church exonerate
Joseph Smith of the lies of his enemies? Will the LDS Church stop speaking evil and disparaging the name of the Lord’s anointed?
Today is the
spring equinox when light and darkness are in perfect balance. Joseph brought
light back to a darkened world, beginning 200 years ago in the spring of 1820 when the
heavens opened and God revealed himself to a young boy.
