The Martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith

Readings:

1. a. 
   Doctrine and Covenants 135.
2. b. 
   Our Heritage, pages 62–66.

I have been thinking a lot about Joseph Smith lately.  He was only 14 in 1820, when he asked God which church was right because there were so many that seemed to teach different views of the same doctrines in the Bible.  In answer to his prayer, God the Father and his son, Jesus Christ appeared to him to tell him that none of the churches at that time had the full doctrines of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  From then on, Jesus Christ directed Joseph in bringing eternal truths to light that had been lost since he was on the earth.  Doctrines came line upon line and precept upon precept; such as, proper authority to act in the name of God, proper baptism, the bestowal of the gift of the Holy Ghost, the necessity of a prophet and 12 apostles, the nature of the Godhead, our relationship to God, a plan of salvation and much more.  He endured awful persecution because he would not deny these experiences, revelations and truths.

As was prophesied, Joseph's name "should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people," (JS-H 1:33).  There are many good things spoken about him and many bad things spoken about him.  Here are my feelings: Joseph was a prophet, call by God himself and led by Jesus Christ himself and moved upon by the Holy Spirit to do the will of God and Jesus Christ.  When he received direct revelation and guidance from them, he did not act amiss.  He was strictly obedience in bringing forth the doctrines and truths that would help all of God's children return to him.  I will always be grateful to Joseph Smith for braving and enduring harsh persecution, that was violent enough to result in his death, as well as his brother's.  I am grateful especially for his diligence in translating The Book of Mormon, wherein I have learned about my Savior Jesus Christ with information that enhances what was preserved in the Holy Bible.

Knowing this information about Jesus Christ and the atonement he willingly suffered for my sins, helps me have peace about any of the evil things spoken about Joseph Smith.  There really are so many evil things said and circulated about him that it seems fruitless to try to prove them right or wrong.  Because while I believe that Joseph acted in complete obedience to what he was commanded by the Lord, I also believe that in other areas of life, he was a regular human being.  Whether information spoken against him is true or not, I believe that if the atonement of Jesus Christ covers my issues, sicknesses, failings, weaknesses, sins and thoughts, then the atonement covers Joseph's as well.  Eternal truths are eternal and unchangeable, aside from what prophet's choose to do in other areas of life.  I honor Joseph Smith for being strictly obedient in all that he was commanded.  I honor him for the courage it took to be human amidst all the expectation of perfect prophet.  I honor him for seeing past all the things that happened to him, things that were said about him then and now, knowing that he was fulfilling his perfect.  Elder Holland talked about God working with imperfect people in his last conference talk, and I believe Joseph Smith was no exception:

Except in the case of His only perfect Begotten Son, imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with. That must be terribly frustrating to Him, but He deals with it. So should we. And when you see imperfection, remember that the limitation is not in the divinity of the work. As one gifted writer has suggested, when the infinite fulness is poured forth, it is not the oil’s fault if there is some loss because finite vessels can’t quite contain it all. Those finite vessels include you and me, so be patient and kind and forgiving.

Here is the full announcement of the martyrdom of the prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum as recorded in section 135:

1 To seal the testimony of this book and the Book of Mormon, we announce the martyrdom of Joseph Smith the Prophet, and Hyrum Smith the Patriarch. They were shot in Carthage jail, on the 27th of June, 1844, about five o’clock p.m., by an armed mob—painted black—of from 150 to 200 persons. Hyrum was shot first and fell calmly, exclaiming: I am a dead man! Joseph leaped from the window, and was shot dead in the attempt, exclaiming: O Lord my God! They were both shot after they were dead, in a brutal manner, and both received four balls.
 2 John Taylor and Willard Richards, two of the Twelve, were the only persons in the room at the time; the former was wounded in a savage manner with four balls, but has since recovered; the latter, through the providence of God, escaped, without even a hole in his robe.
 3 Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it. In the short space of twenty years, he has brought forth the Book of Mormon, which he translated by the gift and power of God, and has been the means of publishing it on two continents; has sent the fulness of the everlasting gospel, which it contained, to the four quarters of the earth; has brought forth the revelations and commandments which compose this book of Doctrine and Covenants, and many other wise documents and instructions for the benefit of the children of men; gathered many thousands of the Latter-day Saints, founded a great city, and left a fame and name that cannot be slain. He lived great, and he died great in the eyes of God and his people; and like most of the Lord’s anointed in ancient times, has sealed his mission and his works with his own blood; and so has his brother Hyrum. In life they were not divided, and in death they were not separated!
 4 When Joseph went to Carthage to deliver himself up to the pretended requirements of the law, two or three days previous to his assassination, he said: “I am going like a lamb to the slaughter; but I am calm as a summer’s morning; I have a conscience void of offense towards God, and towards all men. I shall die innocent, and it shall yet be said of me—he was murdered in cold blood.”—The same morning, after Hyrum had made ready to go—shall it be said to the slaughter? yes, for so it was—he read the following paragraph, near the close of the twelfth chapter of Ether, in the Book of Mormon, and turned down the leaf upon it:
 5 And it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord that he would give unto the Gentiles grace, that they might have charity. And it came to pass that the Lord said unto me: If they have not charity it mattereth not unto thee, thou hast been faithful; wherefore thy garments shall be made clean. And because thou hast seen thy weakness, thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father. And now I … bid farewell unto the Gentiles; yea, and also unto my brethren whom I love, until we shall meet before the judgment-seat of Christ, where all men shall know that my garments are not spotted with your blood. The testators are now dead, and their testament is in force.
 6 Hyrum Smith was forty-four years old in February, 1844, and Joseph Smith was thirty-eight in December, 1843; and henceforward their names will be classed among the martyrs of religion; and the reader in every nation will be reminded that the Book of Mormon, and this book of Doctrine and Covenants of the church, cost the best blood of the nineteenth century to bring them forth for the salvation of a ruined world; and that if the fire can scathe a green tree for the glory of God, how easy it will burn up the dry trees to purify the vineyard of corruption. They lived for glory; they died for glory; and glory is their eternal reward. From age to age shall their names go down to posterity as gems for the sanctified.
 7 They were innocent of any crime, as they had often been proved before, and were only confined in jail by the conspiracy of traitors and wicked men; and their innocent blood on the floor of Carthage jail is a broad seal affixed to “Mormonism” that cannot be rejected by any court on earth, and their innocent blood on the escutcheon of the State of Illinois, with the broken faith of the State as pledged by the governor, is a witness to the truth of the everlasting gospel that all the world cannot impeach; and their innocent blood on the banner of liberty, and on the magna charta of the United States, is an ambassador for the religion of Jesus Christ, that will touch the hearts of honest men among all nations; and their innocent blood, with the innocent blood of all the martyrs under the altar that John saw, will cry unto the Lord of Hosts till he avenges that blood on the earth. Amen.