Journal of Discourses and Other Church publications.
President George Q. Cannon, Journal of Discourses, Preface, Vol.8. The Journal of Discourses deservedly ranks as one of the standard works of the Church, and every rightminded Saint will certainly welcome with joy every number (issue) as it comes forth.
Apostle Orson Pratt, Preface. Volume 3. Each successive Volume of these Discourses is a rich mine of wealth, containing gems of great value, and the diligent seeker will find ample reward for his labor. After the fathers and mothers of this generation have made them the study of their lives their children’s children will find that they are still unexhausted, and rejoice that this Record has been handed down from their fathers to also aid them in following the way of life.
President Joseph F. Smith, Preface, Vol.18. It is impossible to give monetary value to the past volumes of this publication, … Those who read the utterances of the servants of God, contained in this book, under the same influence by which the speakers were inspired, cannot fail to receive profit from the perusal.
Apostle Albert Carrington, Journal of Discourses, Preface, Vol. 15. We take great pleasure in presenting to the Saints and the world the … the JOURNAL OF DISCOURSES, which they will find contains rich treasures of information concerning the glorious principles of Eternal Life, as revealed through God’s anointed servants in these last days. All who read the discourses contained in this Volume are earnestly recommended to adapt them to their lives by practice, and we can confidently assure them that, in doing so, they are laying up a store of knowledge that will save and exalt them in the Celestial kingdom.
Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 9, p. 289, 1862 “The Lord Almighty leads this Church, and he will never suffer you to be led astray if you are found doing your duty. You may go home and sleep as sweetly as a babe in its mother’s arms, as to any danger of your leaders leading you astray, for if they should try to do so the Lord would quickly sweep them from the earth.”
President Heber C. Kimball ,Journal of Discourses, vol. 6, p. 32
“But if you are told by your leader to do a thing, do it. None of your business whether it is right or wrong.”
Elder Joseph Comment - If you follow the church leader and he is wrong then you are the even bigger fool …… Jesus spoke of the blind leading the blind (Matt15:14)
First Vision
JD 12:334, George Albert Smith, November 15, 1868
Joseph Smith had attended these meetings, and when this result was reached he saw clearly that something was wrong. He had read the Bible and had found that passage in James which says “If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not,” and taking this literally, he went humbly before the Lord and inquired of Him, and the Lord answered his prayer and revealed to Joseph, by the ministration of angels, the true condition of the religious world. When the holy angel appeared, Joseph inquired which of all these denominations was right and which he should join, and was told they were all wrong, − they had all gone astray, transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances and broken the everlasting covenant, and that the Lord was about to restore the priesthood and establish His Church, which would be the only true and living Church on the face of the whole earth.
Elder Joseph Comment - I thought it was The Father and The Son who appeared ? Why did he think it was an Angel ?
Brigham Young didn’t claim to be a prophet.
JD 5:296, Brigham Young, October 6, 1857
[After putting the motion for himself to be sustained as "Prophet, Seer, and Revelator," the President
remarked: − ]
I will say that I never dictated the latter part of that sentence. I make this remark, because those words in that connection always made me feel as though I am called more than I am deserving of. I am Brigham Young, an Apostle of Joseph Smith, and also of Jesus Christ. If I have been profitable to this people, I am glad of it. The brethren call me so; and if it be so, I am glad.
Jesus or the Father Never appeared or communicated with Brigham Young .
JD 7:243, Brigham Young, September 1, 1859
I have flattered myself, if I am as faithful as I know how to be to my God, and my brethren, and to all my covenants, and faithful in the discharge of my duty, when I have lived to be as old as was Moses when the Lord appeared to him, that perhaps I then may hold communion with the Lord, as did Moses. I am not now in that position, though I know much more than I did twenty, ten, or five years ago. But have I yet lived to the state of perfection that I can commune in person with the Father and the Son at my will and pleasure? No, − though I hold myself in readiness that he can wield me at his will and pleasure. If I am faithful until I am
eighty years of age, perhaps the Lord will appear to me and personally dictate me in the management of his Church and people. A little over twenty years, and if I am faithful, perhaps I will obtain that favour with my Father and God.
JD 11:42, Brigham Young, January 8, 1865
And what shall we say of our Heavenly Father? He is also a man in perfection, and the father of the man Jesus Christ, and the father of our spirits; He lives far above the influence and power of sin, and holds in his hands the destinies of all. We have not seen the person of the Father, neither have we seen that of the Son; but we have seen the children of the Father, and the brethren of the Savior, who are in every way like them in physical appearance and organization. Although mankind of the same color look alike, yet there exist expressions of the features by which one person can be distinguished from another. The human family all
resemble one another in the main characteristics of humanity, and all resemble the Savior who died for us; and could we see him in the flesh, as he appeared to the ancients, we should very likely find that some men are more like him that others in feature and form, as we often see men who are more like Joseph Smith than others are.
JD 4:54, Brigham Young, September 21, 1856
It is our desire to be prepared for a celestial seat with our Father in heaven. It was observed by brother Grant that we have not seen God, that we cannot converse with Him; and it is true that men in their sins do not know much about God. When you hear a man pour out eternal things, how well you feel, to what a nearness you seem to be brought with God. What a delight it was to hear brother Joseph talk upon the great principles of eternity; he would bring them down to the capacity of a child, and he would unite heaven with earth, this is the beauty of our religion.
Brigham Young – Blood atonement
JD 4:53 − p.54, Brigham Young, September 21, 1856
I do know that there are sins committed, of such a nature that if the people did understand the doctrine of salvation, they would tremble because of their situation. And furthermore, I know that there are transgressors, who, if they knew themselves, and the only condition upon which they can obtain forgiveness, would beg of their brethren to shed their blood, that the smoke thereof might ascend to God as an offering to appease the wrath that is kindled against them, and that the law might have its course. I will say further; I have had men
come to me and offer their lives to atone for their sins. It is true that the blood of the Son of God was shed for sins through the fall and those committed by men, yet men can commit sins which it can never remit. As it was in ancient days, so it is in our day; and though the principles are taught publicly from this stand, still the people do not understand them; yet the law is precisely the same. There are sins that can be atoned for by an offering upon an altar, as in ancient days; and there are sins that the blood of a lamb, of a calf, or of turtle doves, cannot remit, but they must be atoned for by the blood of the man. That is the reason why men talk to you as they do from this stand; they understand the doctrine and throw out a few words about it. You have been taught that doctrine, but you do not understand it.
JD 4:219, Brigham Young, February 8, 1857
You are aware that when brother Cummings came to the point of loving our neighbours as ourselves, he could say yes or no as the case might be, that is true. But I want to connect it with the doctrine you read in the Bible.When will we love our neighbour as ourselves? In the first place, Jesus said that no man hateth his own flesh. It is admitted by all that every person loves himself. Now if we do rightly love ourselves, we want to be saved and continue to exist, we want to go into the kingdom where we can enjoy eternity and see no more sorrow nor death. This is the desire of every person who believes in God. Now take a person in this congregation who has knowledge with regard to being saved in the kingdom of our God and our Father, and being exalted, one who knows and understands the principles of eternal life, and sees the beauty and excellency of the eternities before him compared with the vain and foolish things of the world, and suppose that he is overtaken in a gross fault, that he has committed a sin that he knows will deprive him of that exaltation which he desires, and that he cannot attain to it without the shedding of his blood, and also knows that by having his blood shed he will atone for that sin, and be saved and exalted with the Gods, is there a man of woman in this house but what would say, “shed my blood that I may be saved and exalted with the Gods?”
JD 4:219 − p.220, Brigham Young, February 8, 1857
All mankind love themselves, and let these principles be known by an individual, and he would be glad to have his blood shed. That would be loving themselves, even unto an eternal exaltation. Will you love your brothers or sisters likewise, when they have committed a sin that cannot be atoned for without the shedding of their blood? Will you love that man or woman well enough to shed their blood? That is what Jesus Christ meant. He never told a man or woman to love their enemies in their wickedness, never. He never intended any
such thing; his language is left as it is for those to read who have the Spirit to discern between truth and error; it was so left for those who can discern the things of God. Jesus Christ never meant that we should love a wicked man in his wickedness.
JD 4:220, Brigham Young, February 8, 1857
I could refer you to plenty of instances where men have been righteously slain, in order to atone for their sins. I have seen scores and hundreds of people for whom there would have been a chance (in the last resurrection there will be) if their lives had been taken and their blood spilled on the ground as a smoking incense to the Almighty, but who are now angels to the devil, until our elder brother Jesus Christ raises them up − conquers death, hell, and the grave. I have known a great many men who have left this Church for whom there is no chance whatever for exaltation, but if their blood had been spilled, it would have been better for them. The wickedness and ignorance of the nations forbid this principle’s being in full force, but the time will come when the law of God will be in full force.
JD 4:220, Brigham Young, February 8, 1857
I have known a great many men who have left this Church for whom there is no chance whatever for exaltation, but if their blood had been spilled, it would have been better for them. The wickedness and ignorance of the nations forbid this principle’s being in full force, but the time will come when the law of God will be in full force. This is loving our neighbour as ourselves; if he needs help, help him; and if he wants salvation and it is necessary to spill his blood on the earth in order that he may be saved, spill it. Any of you who understand the principles of eternity, if you have sinned a sin requiring the shedding of blood, except the sin unto death, would not be satisfied nor rest until your blood should be spilled, that you might gain that salvation you desire. That is the way to love mankind.
JD 3:247, Brigham Young, March 16, 1856
There is not a man or woman, who violates the covenants made with their God, that will not be required to pay the debt. The blood of Christ will never wipe that out, your own blood must atone for it; and the judgments of the Almighty will come, sooner or later, and every man and woman will have to atone for breaking their covenants.
Adam not made from dust of this earth.
LDS Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 3, p. 319, 1856
“He {Adam} was the person who brought the animals and the seeds from other planets to this world… You may read and believe what you please as to what is found written in the Bible. Adam was made from the dust of an earth, but not from the dust of this earth.”
Brigham Young’s Schooling ?
JD 13:176, Brigham Young, May 29, 1870
“Did you not go to school?” Yes; I went eleven days, that was the extent of my schooling.
Life on the moon and Sun ?
JD 13:271, Brigham Young, July 24, 1870
I will tell you who the real fanatics are: they are they who adopt false principles and ideas as facts, and try to establish a superstructure upon a false foundation. They are the fanatics; and however ardent and zealous they may be, they may reason or argue on false premises till doomsday, and the result will be false. If our religion is of this character we want to know it; we would like to find a philosopher who can prove it to us. We are called ignorant; so we are: but what of it? Are not all ignorant? I rather think so. Who can tell us of the
inhabitants of this little planet that shines of an evening, called the moon? When we view its face we may see what is termed “the man in the moon,” and what some philosophers declare are the shadows of mountains. But these sayings are very vague, and amount to nothing; and when you inquire about the inhabitants of that sphere you find that the most learned are as ignorant in regard to them as the most ignorant of their fellows. So it is with regard to the inhabitants of the sun. Do you think it is inhabited? I rather think it is. Do you think
there is any life there? No question of it; it was not made in vain. It was made to give light to those who dwell upon it, and to other planets; and so will this earth when it is celestialized.
Elder Joseph Comment - Did you read what Brigham Young just said about fanatics adopting false principles and ideas as facts and yet here he his claiming that there is life and inhabitants on the moon !! This man was most Arrogant and wrong .
Brigham Young’s expertise on geology?
JD 1:219, Brigham Young, October 9, 1852
You may ask any practical chemist, any man who knows, understands, and studies the elements, and he will corroborate these statements. This is a matter I want you to look at, to think and meditate upon. I do not talk about the expense of the building, and the time it would take to erect it, but its durability, and which is the bestmaterial within our reach to build it with. If you take this clay, which is to be found in abundance on these bottom lands, and mix with it these pebble rocks, and make adobies of the compound, it will petrify in the wall and become a solid rock in five hundred years, so as to be fit to cut into millstones to grind flour, while the other materials I have mentioned will have decomposed, and gone back to their native elements. I am chemist enough to know that much. My simple philosophy is this. The elements of which this terra firma is composed, are every moment either composing or decomposing. They commence to organize or to compose, and continue to grow until they arrive at their zenith of perfection, and then they begin to decompose. When you find a rock that has arrived at its greatest perfection, you may know that the work of decaying has begun. Let the practical chemist make his observations upon a portion of the matter of which this earth is composed; and he will find, that just as quick as it is at its perfection, that very instant it begins to decompose. We have proof of this. Go into Egypt, for instance, and you will find the monuments, towers, and pyramids, that were erected in the days of Joseph, and before he was sold into Egypt; they were built of what we call adobies, clay mixed up with straw; these fabrics, which have excited interest for so many ages and are the wonder of modern nations, were built of this raw material. They have bid defiance to the wear of ages, and they still remain. But you cannot find a stone column that was reared in those times, for they are all decayed. Here we have actual proof that the matter which is the furthest advanced to a state of perfection, is the first to decompose, and go back into its native element, at which point it begins to be organized again, it begins to congeal, petrify, and harden into rock, which grows like a tree, but not so perceptibly.
Elder Joseph Comment - The Pyramids were made of quarried Stone and are still standing .The adobies ( bricks he refers to) do not really remain .The stone has remained .He didn’t know what he was talking about.
JD 1:219, Brigham Young, October 9, 1852
Gold and silver grow, and so does every other kind of metal, the same as the hair upon my head, or the wheat in the field; they do not grow as fast, but they are all the time composing or decomposing. So much, then, for my views touching the material to be used in building a Temple upon this block. You may go to San Pete and get stone for it, and when five hundred years have elapsed you will not find a building. You may build of that red sand stone, and it will live out the San Pete rock, and the lime stone will out live that. But when you come to the adobies, they will out−live either of them, and be five hundred years better than the day they were first laid. This is a pretty strong argument in favor of a mud building.
Elder Joseph Comment - Gold and Silver do not grow like he says and the adobies/bricks do not get stronger with age (500 years )?
Brigham Young on ADAM and EVE
JD 7:285 − p.286, Brigham Young, October 9, 1859
Here let me state to all philosophers of every class upon the earth, When you tell me that father Adam was made as we make adobies from the earth, you tell me what I deem an idle tale. When you tell me that the beasts of the field were produced in that manner, you are speaking idle worlds devoid of meaning. There is no such thing in all the eternities where the Gods dwell. Mankind are here because they are the offspring of parents who were first brought here from another planet, and power was given them to propagate their species, and they were commanded to multiply and replenish the earth. The offspring of Adam and Eve are commanded to take the rude elements, and, by the knowledge God has given, to convert them into everything required for their life, health, adornment, wealth, comfort, and consolation. Have we the knowledge to do this? We have. Who gave us this knowledge? Our Father who made us; for he is the only wise God, and to him we owe allegiance; to him we owe our lives. He has brought us forth and taught us all we know. We are not indebted to any other power or God for all our great blessings.
Danites - Heber C Kimball - Judas’s bowels were kicked out by the other apostles ?
JD 6:125 − p.126, Heber C. Kimball, December 13, 1857
Jesus said to his disciples, “Ye are the salt of the earth; and if the salt loses its saving principle, it is then good for nothing but to be cast out.” Instead of reading it just as it is, almost all of you read it just as it is not. Jesus meant to say, “If you have lost the saving principles, you Twelve Apostles, and you that believe in myservants the Twelve, you shall be like unto the salt that has lost its saving principles: it is henceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men.” Judas lost that saving principle, and they took him and killed him. It is said in the Bible that his bowels gushed out; but they actually kicked him until his bowelscame out..
“I will suffer my bowels to be taken out before I will forfeit the covenant I have made with Him and my brethren.” Do you understand me? Judas was like salt that had lost its saving principles − good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men. It is just so with you men and women, if you do not honour your callings and cultivate the principles you have received. It is so with you, ye Elders of Israel, when you forfeit your covenants. Brethren and sisters, as the Lord liveth, and as we live and exist in these mountains, let me tell you the world is ripe, and there are no saving principles within them, with a very few exceptions; and they will gather out, and the rest of mankind are ready for destruction, for they will have no salt to save them. I know the day is right at hand when men will forfeit their Priesthood and turn against us and against the covenants they have made, and they will be destroyed as Judas was.
Elder Joseph Comment – How does he know what happened to Judas’s bowels ? and why is he threatening his church members with this ?
Outlaws – Mormons To Rule The Earth
JD 2:13, Jedediah M. Grant, February 19, 1854
If you maintain the fact that the Priesthood of God is upon the earth, and God’s representatives are upon the earth, the mouth−piece of Jehovah, the head of the kingdom of God upon earth, and the will of God is done upon earth as it is in heaven, it follows that the government of God is upon the earth. I allude to the Church which it dictates, and then to the whole earth which it will dictate, Satan may succeed for a season to curtail the extent of this government and the free working of its machinery, but if the Lord Almighty has organized a government upon the earth, and has committed the keys and Priesthood of it to His Prophet, that Prophet holds jurisdiction over the earth, the same as Adam did in the beginning.
JD 5:188, John Taylor, August 30, 1857
God has established his kingdom; he has rolled back that cloud that has overspread the moral horizon of the world; he has opened the heavens, revealed the fulness of the Everlasting Gospel, organized his kingdom according to the pattern that exists in the heavens; and he has placed certain keys powers, and oracles in our midst; and we are the people of God; we are his government. The Priesthood upon the earth is the legitimate government of God, whether in the heavens or on the earth.
Some people ask, “What is Priesthood?” I answer, “It is the legitimate rule of God, whether in the heavens or on the earth;” and it is the only legitimate power that has a right to rule upon the earth; and when the will of God is done on earth as it is in the heavens, no other power will bear rule.
JD 5:266, John Taylor, September 20, 1857
This principle pervades all, whether in a civil or military capacity or in any other capacity. We used to have a difference between Church and State, but it is all one now. Thank God, we have no more temporal and spiritual! We have got church and State together, and we used to talk of baptism and repentance, and we used to whip out sectarian priests with their own Bible, and we thought that we were tremendous fellows.
Brigham Young – Mormon Offspring to RULE The Earth
JD 9:37, Brigham Young, April 7, 1861
How will you be happy? Love the Giver more than the gift. Delight yourselves in your duties, mothers. Here are the middle−aged and the young. I am now almost daily sealing young girls to men of age and experience. Love your duties, sisters. Are you sealed to a good man? Yes, to a man of God. It is for you to bear fruit and bring forth, to the praise of God, the spirits that are born in yonder heavens and are to take tabernacles on the earth. You have the privilege of forming tabernacles for those spirits, instead of their being brought in to this wicked world, that God may have a royal Priesthood, a royal people, on the earth. That is what plurality of wives is for, and not to gratify lustful desires. Sisters, do you wish to make yourselves happy? Then what is your duty? It is for you to bear children, in the name of the Lord, that are full of faith and the power of God, − to receive, conceive, bear, and bring forth in the name of Israel’s God, that you may have the honour of being the mothers of great and good men − of kings, princes, and potentates that shall yet live on the earth and govern and control the nations. Do you look forward to that? or are you tormenting yourselves by thinking that your husbands do not love you? I would not care whether they loved a particle or not; but I would cry out,
Joseph Smith holds keys for salvation
JD 6:154 − p.155, Orson Hyde, January 3, 1858
When we pass a law in the Legislature, and say that it is the law by our acts, we also say that all laws and parts of laws conflicting herewith are repealed from this time henceforth. When Joseph takes his position, all laws and parts of laws that shall conflict at all with him are hereby repealed, and his word, and his law will be the end of strifes. There is no dodging it, and I feel thankful for it. Well, brethren and sisters, let it be our happy lot and our ambition so to live before our God and our superiors that have gone before us, that they maytake pleasure in saying to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things.” I tell you, Joseph holds the keys and none of us can get into the celestial kingdom without passing by him. We have not got rid of him, but he stands there as the sentinel, holding the keys of the kingdom of God; and there are many of them beside him. I tell you, if we get past those who have mingled with us, and know us best, and have a right to know us best, probably we can pass all other sentinels as far as it is necessary, or as far as we may desire. But I tell you, the pinch will be with those
that have mingled with us, stood next to us, weighed our spirits, tried us, and proven us: there will be a pinch, in my view, to get past them. The others, perhaps, will say, If brother Joseph is satisfied with you, you may pass. If it is all right with him, it is all right with me. Then if Joseph shall say to a man, or if brother Brigham say to a man, I forgive you your sins, “Whosoever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them;” if you who have
suffered and felt the weight of transgression − if you have generosity enough to forgive the sinner, I will forgive him: you cannot have more generosity that I have. I have given you power to forgive sins, and when the Lord gives a gift, he does not take it back again. When he bestows a power, he does not diminish it, unless it is through transgression in the individual to whom this authority is given; but if he increases in righteousness, the Lord will add to it, instead of taking away.
Threats against Doubters and Apostates
JD 3:242, Heber C. Kimball, February 24, 1856
The Elders of Israel, in all their meetings and speeches, say, they are willing to do whatsoever they are called upon to do, by the authorities of this Church. As some missionaries are wanted, we are now ready to test whether you are willing or not; and when a man is appointed to take a mission, unless he has a just and honorable reason for not going, if he does not go he will be severed from the Church. Why? Because you said, you were willing to be passive, and if you are not passive, that lump of clay must be cut off from the wheel and laid aside, and a lump put on that will be passive.
That is my doctrine, and it is the doctrine of Christ and of the Father. The Lord’s servant is here to guide, dictate, and advise you what course to take, that he may mould and fashion you into the image and likeness of the Son of God.
Threat of loosing Your Wife.
JD 4:165, Heber C. Kimball, January 11, 1857
There is a little matter of business that we want to lay before this congregation in regard to John Hyde, who went to the Sandwich Islands on a mission. There are a couple of letters that the brethren have received; we shall read a little from them, and give you to understand the course he is taking. (The letters were read.) You hear the letters and the testimony of our brethren in regard to John Hyde. Such matters, many times, have passed along and we have not noticed them but have let men deny the faith, speak against it and deliver lectures through the world. Many times we have let them run at large, but the time is now passed for such a course of things. By the consent of my brethren I shall move that John Hyde be cut off from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter−day Saints,………………………………………
When there was a vote of this kind taken before the congregation in regard to Thomas S. Williams, it caused a great deal of sympathy with some, for they looked upon it as though it had cut off his family, his wives and his children. I will ask the congregation, was a motion put to cut off his family? No, there was not. A motion has been put, and unanimously carried, that John Hyde be cut off root and branch, that is, himself and all the roots and branches that are within him; this has no allusion to his family. He has taken a course by which he
has lost his family and forfeited his Priesthood; he has forfeited his membership. The limb is cut off, but the Priesthood takes the fruit that was attached to the limb and saves it, if it will be saved. Do you understand me? His wife is not cut off from this Church, but she is free from him; she is just as free from him as though she never had belonged to him. The limb she was connected to is cut off, and she must again be grafted into the tree, if she wishes to be saved; that is all about it.
Obedience to the Leaders
JD 13:71 − p.72, Orson Pratt, December 19, 1869
I have seen Messrs. W. S. Bodge and E. L. T. Harrison once since they were cut off from the Church. I went to see Mr. Godbe, but he was not at home. I was invited to take a seat in the presence of Mr. E. L. T. Harrison, and heard him, for an hour or two, relate his spiritual manifestations. Mr. Godbe, hearing that I had been to see him, sent me a letter requesting me to meet again with them. I met with him in a private room, separate from any of the rest, and I had a long conversation with him. My object in meeting with these gentlemen was to see if it were possible to point out to them their foolishness and the foolishness of their conduct and the course they were taking, what it would lead to and how much misery it would make them in time to come if they did not repent. I did not know, before going to see them, that they were so fully wrapt up in Spiritualism, or what I term Spiritualism, for it is a good species of this same kind of Spiritualism of which I have been speaking. They both, separately, one on one evening, the other on another, related to me their supernatural manifestations, commencing some fifteen months before. They told me they had had interviews, by hearing a voice without seeing any person, with Heber C. Kimball, who taught them a great many things which, according to my ideas, conflicted with the instructions contained in the Doctrine and Covenants, such as sending men on missions, etc. The tenor of the instructions he received on this subject was that no person, when called on a mission, need go unless he got the light of the Spirit thereon in his own heart, to tell him whether it was right that he should go; in other words they need not go because of being appointed by the voice of the Priesthood or the general Conference of the Latter−day Saints. Now, who does not know, except those who are infatuated and overcome by false spirits, that that is directly in opposition to the Book of Doctrine and Covenants? The Lord says there, “Whomsoever you shall lay your hands upon and ordain and send forth will be with them and bless them; I will go before their faces and will be on their rearward, and my Spirit shall be in their hearts.” It is not, therefore, for every man, when he is commanded by the voice of the Priesthood, to think he is to be his own judge whether he is to go forth on that calling or not and still remain in fellowship. That is not the way of Heaven, for the Lord says in the same book that “all things” − remember this is very broad in its nature − “all things shall be done by the voice of my servants whom I have appointed, pertaining to the calling and missions of the Priesthood;” and all things pertaining to the building up of the kingdom of God are to be done in this way. Now these spirits have taught them directly to the contrary of this.
Brigham’s Dream – Cutting Apostates Throats
JD 1:83, Brigham Young, March 27th, 1853
I will tell you a dream that I had last night. I dreamed that I was in the midst of a people who were dressed in rags and tatters, they had turbans upon their heads, and these were also hanging in tatters. The rags were of many colors, and, when the people moved, they were all in motion. Their object in the appeared to be, to attract attention. Said they to me, “We are Mormons, brother Brigham.” “No, you are not,” I replied. “But we have been,” said they, and they began to jump, and caper about, and dance, and their rags of many colors were all in motion, to attract the attention of the people. I said, “You are no Saints, you are a disgrace to them.” Said they, “We have been Mormons.” By and bye, along came some mobocrats, and they greeted them with, “How do you do, sir, I am happy to see you.” They kept on that way for an hour. I felt ashamed of them, for they were in my eyes a disgrace to “Mormonism.” Then I saw two ruffians, whom I knew to be mobbers and murderers, and they crept into a bed, where one of my wives and children were. I said, “You that call yourselves brethren, tell me, is this the fashion among you?” They said, “O, they are good men, they are gentlemen.” With that, I took my large bowie knife, that I used to wear as a bosom pin in Nauvoo, and cut one of their throats from ear to ear, saying, “Go to hell across lots.” The other one said, “You dare not serve me so.” I instantly sprang at him, seized him by the hair of the head, and, bringing him down, cut his throat, and sent him after his comrade; then told them both, if they would behave themselves they should yet live, but if they did not, I would unjoint their necks. At this I awoke.
JD 1:186 − p.187, Brigham Young, June 19, 1853
When the officers returned from this territory to the States, did we send them away? We did not. But I will tell you what I did, and what I will do again − I did chastise the mean ruffian, the poor miserable creature, who came here by the name of Brocchus, when he arose before this people to preach to them, and tell them of meanness which he supposed they were guilty of, and traduce their character. But they bore the insult like Saints of God. It is true, as it is said in the Report of these officers, if I had crooked my little finger, he would have been used up, but I did not bend it. If I had, the sisters alone felt indignant enough to have chopped him in pieces. I did not, however, do it, but suffered him to fill up the measure of his shame and iniquity until his cup is running over. He was not hurt in the least………………
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Thus every man that operates against the truth, will forestall himself, and be confounded by his own arguments and operations in every movement and act that he shall perform; it will all work to his own injury and disgrace. Every man that comes to impose upon this people, no matter by whom they are sent, or who they are that are sent, lay the axe at the root of the tree to kill themselves. I will do as I said I would, last Conference. Apostates, or men who never made any profession of religion, had better be careful how they come here, lest I should bend my little finger.
Virgin Mary
JD 7:286, Brigham Young, October 9, 1859
The Being whom we call Father was the Father of the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he was also his Father pertaining to the flesh. Infidels and Christians, make all you can of this statement.
JD 11:268, Brigham Young, August 19, 1866
This matter was a little changed in the case of the Savior of the world, the Son of the living God. The man Joseph, the husband of Mary, did not, that we know of, have more than one wife, but Mary the wife of Joseph had another husband. On the manger, was begotten, not by Joseph, the husband of Mary, but by another Being. Do you inquire by whom? He was begotten by God our heavenly Father. This answer may suffice you − you need never inquire more upon that point.
Joseph Smith
JD 8:176 − p.177, Brigham Young, September 9, 1860
For unbelievers we will quote from the Scriptures − “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” Again − “Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God.” I will now give my scripture − “Whosoever confesseth that Joseph Smith was sent of God to reveal the holy Gospel to the children of men, and lay the foundation for gathering Israel, and building up the kingdom of God on the earth, that spirit of God; and every spirit that does not confess that God has sent Joseph Smith, and revealed the everlasting Gospel to and through him, is of Anti−christ, no matter whether it is found in a pulpit or on a throne, nor how much divinity it may profess, nor what it professes with regard to revealed religion and the account that is given of the Saviour and his Father in the Bible.
We will not Lead You astray ?
LDS President Marion G. Romney (of the first presidency), quoting LDS President (and prophet) Heber J. Grant “Conference Report” Oct. 1960 p. 78
“Always keep your eye on the President of the church, and if he ever tells you to do anything, even if it is wrong, and you do it, the lord will bless you for it but you don’t need to worry. The lord will never let his mouthpiece lead the people astray.”
Ward Teachers Message, Deseret News, Church Section p. 5, May 26, 1945
Also included in the Improvement Era, June 1945 (which was the official church magazine before the Ensign)
“Any Latter-day Saint who denounces or opposes whether actively or otherwise, any plan or doctrine advocated by the prophets, seers, revelators’ of the church, is cultivating the spirit of apostacy. One cannot speak evil of the lord’s annointed… and retain the holy spirit in his heart. This sort of game is Satan’s favorite pastime, and he has practiced it to believing souls since Adam. He {Satan} wins a great victory when he can get members of the church to speak against their leaders and to do their own thinking.”
“When our leaders speak, the thinking has been done. When they propose a plan–it is God’s Plan. When they point the way, there is no other which is safe. When they give directions, it should mark the end of controversy, God works in no other way. To think otherwise, without immediate repentance, may cost one his faith, may destroy his testimony, and leave him a stranger to the kingdom of God.”
N. Eldon Tanner, August Ensign 1979, pages 2-3
“When the Prophet speaks the debate is over”.
L. Aldin Porter of the Presidency of the First Quorum of Seventies (Ensign, Nov. 1994, p. 63)
“I sat in this tabernacle some years ago as President Joseph Fielding Smith stood at this pulpit. It was the general priesthood meeting of April 1972, the last general conference before President Smith passed away. He said: ‘There is one thing which we should have exceedingly clear in our minds. Neither the President of the Church, nor the First Presidency, or the united voice of the First Presidency and the Twelve will ever lead the Saints astray or send forth counsel to the world that is contrary to the mind and will of the lord’.”
Boyd K. Packer (General Conference, Oct. 1992; Ensign, Nov. 1992)
“Follow your leaders who have been duly ordained and have been publicly sustained, and you will not be led astray.”
EXCERPTS FROM THREE ADDRESSES BY
PRESIDENT WILFORD WOODRUFF
REGARDING THE MANIFESTO
The Lord will never permit me or any other man who stands as President of this Church to lead you astray. It is not in the programme. It is not in the mind of God. If I were to attempt that, the Lord would remove me out of my place, and so He will any other man who attempts to lead the children of men astray from the oracles of God and from their duty. (Sixty-first Semiannual General Conference of the Church, Monday, October 6, 1890, Salt Lake City, Utah. Reported in Deseret Evening News, October 11, 1890, p. 2.)
Brigham Young said you must confess Joseph Smith as a prophet of God in order to be saved.
JD 9:312, Brigham Young, July 13, 1862
This generation, however, is not left without a test. I have taught for thirty years, and still teach, that he that believeth in his heart and confesseth with his mouth that Jesus is the Christ and that Joseph Smith is his Prophet to this generation, is of God; and he that confesseth not that Jesus has come in the flesh and sent Joseph Smith with the fulness of the Gospel to this generation, is not of God, but is anti−christ. All who confess that Joseph Smith is sent of God in the latter days, to lay the foundation of his everlasting kingdom no more to be thrown down, and will continue to keep his commandments, are born of God.
Brigham Young said his discourses are as good as Scripture.
JD 13:264, Brigham Young, October 6, 1870
Brother Orson Hyde referred to a few who complained about not getting revelations. I will make a statement here that has been brought against me as a crime, perhaps, or as a fault in my life. Not here, I do not allude to anything of the kind in this place, but in the councils of the nations − that Brigham Young has said “when he sends forth his discourses to the world they may call them Scripture.” I say now, when they are copied and approved by me they are as good Scripture as is couched in this Bible, and if you want to read revelation read the sayings of him who knows the mind of God, without any special command to one man to go here, and to another to go yonder, or to do this or that, or to go and settle here or there.
JD 13:95, Brigham Young, January 2, 1870
I know just as well what to teach this people and just what to say to them and
what to do in order to bring them into the celestial kingdom, as I know the road to my office. It is just as plain and easy. The Lord is in our midst. He teaches the people continually. I have never yet preached a sermon and sent it out to the children of men, that they may not call Scripture. Let me have the privilege of correcting a sermon, and it is as good Scripture as they deserve. The people have the oracles of God continually. In the days of Joseph, revelation was given and written, and the people were driven from city to city and place to place, until we were led into these mountains. Let this go to the people with “Thus saith the Lord,” and if they do not obey it, you will see the chastening hand of the Lord upon them. But if they are plead with, and led along like children, we may come to understand the will of the Lord and He may preserve us as we desire.
Brigham Young said he had never given any counsel that was wrong.
(Journal of Discourses, Vol. 16, page 161,Brigham Young .)
“I am here to answer. I shall be on hand to answer when I am called upon, for all the counsel and for all the instruction that I have given to this people. If there is an Elder here, or any member of this Church, called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who can bring up the first idea, the first sentence that I have delivered to the people as counsel that is wrong, I really wish they would do it; but they cannot do it, for the simple reason that I have never given counsel that is wrong; this is the reason.”
Brigham Young said you can’t get to the highest heaven without Joseph Smith’s consent.
JD 7:289, Brigham Young, October 9, 1859
Joseph Smith holds the keys of this last dispensation, and is now engaged behind the vail in the great work of the last days. I can tell our beloved brother Christians who have slain the Prophets and butchered and otherwise caused the death of thousands of Latter−day Saints, the priests who have thanked God in their prayers and thanksgiving from the pulpit that we have been plundered, driven, and slain, and the deacons under the pulpit, and their brethren and sisters in their closets, who have thanked God, thinking that the Latter−day Saints were wasted away, something that no doubt will mortify them − something that, to say the
least, is a matter of deep regret to them − namely, that 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; and he rules there triumphantly, for he gained full power and a glorious victory over the power of Satan while he was yet in the flesh, and was a martyr to his religion and to the name of Christ, which gives him a most perfect victory in the spirit−world. He reigns there as supreme a being in his sphere, capacity, and calling, as God does in heaven. Many will exclaim − “Oh, that is very disagreeable! It is preposterous! We cannot bear the thought!” But it is true.
Wilford Woodruff – God was progressing in knowledge.
JD 6:120, Wilford Woodruff, December 6, 1857
If there was a point where man in his progression could not proceed any further, the very idea would throw a gloom over every intelligent and reflecting mind. God himself is increasing and progressing in knowledge, power, and dominion, and will do so, worlds without end. It is just so with us. We are in a probation, which is a school of experience.
Brigham Young – Never gave Wrong Counsel
JD 12:127 − p.128, Brigham Young, December 29th 1867
What man or woman on the earth, what spirit in the spirit−world can say truthfully that I ever gave a wrong word of counsel, or a word of advice that could not be sanctioned by the heavens? The success which has attended me in my presidency is owing to the blessings and mercy of the Almighty. Why I have referred to this is to show you that I realize the importance of obeying the words of the Lord, which he gives through his acknowledged servants. When a revelation is given to any people, they must walk according to it, or suffer the penalty which is the punishment of disobedience; but when the word is, “will you do thus and so?” “It is the mind and will of God that you perform such and such a duty;” the consequences of disobedience are not so dreadful, as they would be if the word of the Lord were to be written under the declaration, “Thus saith the Lord.
Brigham Young made a false prophecy?
JD 4:40 − p.41, Brigham Young, August 31, 1856
In the days of Joseph it was considered a great privilege to be permitted to speak to a member of Congress, but twenty−six years will not pass away before the Elders of this Church will be as much thought of as the kings on their thrones. The Lord Almighty will roll on the wheels of His work, and none can stop them; and they cannot drive us from these mountains, because the Lord will not suffer them to do so. I desire them to let us alone; “hands off and money down,” we crave no jobs and make none. Let them attend to their own business, and we will build up Zion while they go to hell. Jesus Christ will be the President, and we are his officers, and they will have to leave the ground: for they will find that Jesus has the right of soil. This they are afraid of, do you blame them? No, I do not, and you should not: let them feel bad and worry.
Elder Joseph Comment - The Elders were not thought of as Kings on their thrones except in their own ‘imagination’ and neither did the neighbours go to hell. Jesus Christ did not become President .( He thought perhaps Jesus would return and rule in salt lake and crown them kings ? ) .. Instead the church later on had to bow down to the Law over polygamy.
Heber C Kimball – I do not profess to be a prophet
JD 5:177, Heber C. Kimball, August 23, 1857
How many times I have heard it − “We believe what brother Brigham says, and we believe this, and we believe that; but here is brother Heber, − he is a kind of wild, kind of enthusiastic; he is full of visions and wild notions.” Tell me one notion I have had that is not correct. Say you, “Some things you have prophesied have come to pass, but we do not know whether the rest will or not.” I do not profess to be a Prophet. I never called myself so; but I actually believe I am, because people are all the time telling me that I am. I do not boast of that. I say that every man and woman who will live their religion, be humble, and be dictated by the Holy Ghost, the spirit of prophecy will be upon them.
Heber C. Kimball Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, p. 32, November 8, 1852.
“Wake Up, Ye Elders of Israel, and live to God and none else; and learn to do as you are told, both old and young: learn to do as you are told for the future. . . if you are told by your leader to do a thing, do it. None of your business whether it is right or wrong .”
Men becoming Gods…..
LDS Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, p. 275, 1852. “After men…have become gods…they have the power then of propagating their species in spirit; and that is the first of their operations with regard to organizing a world. Power is then given to them to organize the elements, and then commence the organization of tabernacles. How can they do it? Have they to go to that earth? Yes, an Adam will have to go there, and he cannot do without Eve; he must have Eve to commence the work of generation, and they will go into the garden, and continue to eat and drink of the fruits of the corporeal world, until this grosser matter is diffused sufficiently through their celestial bodies to enable them, according to the established laws, to produce mortal tabernacles for their spiritual children.”
LDS Apostle Orson Pratt, The Seer, p. 37.“In the Heaven where our spirits were born, there are many gods, each one of whom has his own wife or wives which were given to him previous to his redemption, while yet in his mortal state. Each God, through his wife or wives, raises up a numerous family of sons and daughters; …for each father and mother will be in a condition to multiply forever and ever. As soon as each god has begotten many millions of male and female spirits …he, in connection with his sons, organizes a new world, …where he sends both the male and female spirits to inhabit tabernacles of flesh and bones. Thus each God forms a world for the accommodation of his own sons and daughters… The inhabitants of each world are required to reverence, adore, and worship their own personal father who dwells in the heaven which they formerly inhabited.”
LDS Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 7, p. 285, 1859.“Mankind are here because they are the offspring of parents {Adam and Eve} who were first brought here from another planet, and power was given them to propagate their species.”
LDS Prophet Brigham Young, Deseret News, June 18, 1873, p. 308, 1859.“Our father Adam helped to make this earth, it was created expressly for him, and after it was made he and his companions came here. He brought one of his wives with him, and she was called Eve…”
LDS Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 3, p. 319, 1856.“He {Adam} was the person who brought the animals and the seeds from other planets to this world… You may read and believe what you please as to what is found written in the bible. Adam was made from the dust of an earth, but not from the dust of this earth.”
LDS Apostle Orson Pratt, The Seer, p. 132, 1853 “The Fullness of Truth, dwelling in an endless succession of past generations would produce an endless succession of personal Gods, each possessing equal wisdom, power, and glory with all the rest.”
LDS Apostle Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 1, pp. 331 – 332“…the earth itself will die, and its elements {will} be dissolved through the agency of a fire… the earth will again be renewed, its elements will again be collected, they will be recombined and reorganized… As the bodies of the righteous are made immortal, eternal, unchangeable, and glorious, so the earth itself will be so constructed as to be capable of everlasting endurance… It will be crowned with the presence of God the Father, and shine forth in all the splendors of celestial glory. But who will be its inhabitants? Those who have passed through the same process of purification, and none else… no beings can inhabit it but those who are sanctified by the same ordinances and law.”.
LDS Apostle Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 1, pp. 331 – 332“…the earth itself will die, and its elements {will} be dissolved through the agency of a fire… the earth will again be renewed, its elements will again be collected, they will be recombined and reorganized… As the bodies of the righteous are made immortal, eternal, unchangeable, and glorious, so the earth itself will be so constructed as to be capable of everlasting endurance… It will be crowned with the presence of God the Father, and shine forth in all the splendors of celestial glory. But who will be its inhabitants? Those who have passed through the same process of purification, and none else… no beings can inhabit it but those who are sanctified by the same ordinances and law.”.
LDS Apostle Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 14, p. 236.“This will be the final transformation of this earth, and when that is effected it will become one of the mansions of our father… our globe will become the abiding place of all the saints from the days of Father Adam until …it passes away and is renewed again and becomes glorified…”
Elder Joseph Comment - Orson Pratt was teaching that all the saints from Father Adam to present will live on the glorified earth …….What about having our own Planets to populate ? If that is the case then we will not all live on the glorified earth , we will live on our own ‘seperate’ planets
It doesn’t really make any sense ……….
The next one he teaches that Vegetables have spirits J
Vegetables Have Spirits
Orson Pratt, The Seer, March 1853, pages 34, 38; July 1853, pages 102-103; see also Doctrine and Covenants 77:1-4.
That vegetables as well as animals have spirits, is clearly shown from the fact that they have capacity for joy and rejoicing…. We are compelled to believe that every vegetable, whether small or great, has a living intelligent spirit capable of feeling, knowing, and rejoicing in its sphere….
This is the origin of spiritual vegetables in Heaven. These spiritual vegetables are sent from Heaven to the terrestrial worlds, where, like animals, they take natural tabernacles, which become food for the sustenance of the natural tabernacles of the animal creation. Thus the spirits of both vegetables and animals are the offspring of male and female parents which have been raised from the dead, or redeemed from a fallen condition….
If [these particles of spirit] were once organized in the vegetable kingdom, and then disorganized by becoming food of celestial animals, and then again reorganized in the form of the spirits of animals which is a higher sphere of being, then, is it unreasonable to suppose that the same particles have, from all eternity, been passing through an endless chain of unions and disunions, organizations and disorganizations, until at length they are permitted to enter into the highest and most exalted sphere of organization in the image and likeness of God?
…[H]ere, then, is apparently a transmigration of the same particles of spirit from an inferior to a superior organization, wherein their condition is improved, and their sphere of action enlarged. Who shall set any bounds to this upward tendency of spirit? Who shall prescribe limits to its progression? If it abide the laws and conditions of its several states of existence, who shall say that it will not progress until it shall gain the very summit of perfection, and exist in all the glorious beauty of the image of God?
What happened to The Gold Plates ? They are in Hill Cumorah ?
Brigham Young Journal of Discourses, volume 19, pages 39-40.
This is the origin of spiritual vegetables in Heaven. These spiritual vegetables are sent from Heaven to the terrestrial worlds, where, like animals, they take natural tabernacles, which become food for the sustenance of the natural tabernacles of the animal creation. Thus the spirits of both vegetables and animals are the offspring of male and female parents which have been raised from the dead, or redeemed from a fallen condition….
If [these particles of spirit] were once organized in the vegetable kingdom, and then disorganized by becoming food of celestial animals, and then again reorganized in the form of the spirits of animals which is a higher sphere of being, then, is it unreasonable to suppose that the same particles have, from all eternity, been passing through an endless chain of unions and disunions, organizations and disorganizations, until at length they are permitted to enter into the highest and most exalted sphere of organization in the image and likeness of God?
…[H]ere, then, is apparently a transmigration of the same particles of spirit from an inferior to a superior organization, wherein their condition is improved, and their sphere of action enlarged. Who shall set any bounds to this upward tendency of spirit? Who shall prescribe limits to its progression? If it abide the laws and conditions of its several states of existence, who shall say that it will not progress until it shall gain the very summit of perfection, and exist in all the glorious beauty of the image of God?
