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D&C 105:5 And Zion cannot be built up unless it is by the principles of the law of the celestial kingdom; otherwise I cannot receive her unto myself.
Rob Fatheringham Links (There are several others as well):
Link 1 | Link 2
@ 51:08 I forgot to reference this critical scripture:
Mosiah 4: 21 And now, if God, who has created you, on whom you are dependent for your lives and for all that ye have and are, doth grant unto you whatsoever ye ask that is right, in faith, believing that ye shall receive, O then, how ye ought to impart of the substance that ye have one to another.
22 And if ye judge the man who putteth up his petition to you for your substance that he perish not, and condemn him, how much more just will be your condemnation for withholding your substance, which doth not belong to you but to God, to whom also your life cbelongeth; and yet ye put up no petition, nor repent of the thing which thou hast done.
23 I say unto you, wo be unto that man, for his substance shall perish with him; and now, I say these things unto those who are rich as pertaining to the things of this world.
@ 1:05:05
They were in debt because of tithing they hadn’t paid. We will do a future episode on Brigham Young and tithing.
Transcript
[00:00:00] Welcome to 132 Problems revisiting Mormon Polygamy, where we explore the scriptural and theological case for plural marriage. Thank you so much for joining us, and as always, I recommend listening to these episodes in order. Some of you are getting sick of hearing me say that, but we have covered many important topics in the past that, um, it’s important to understand as we continue on with the discussion. This is episode 37, where we will compare the principles and laws of Zion. With the principle of polygamy and see how well they do or don’t go together. My name is Michelle Stone. Thank you for joining us as we take a deep dive into the murky waters of Mormon polygamy. This is an episode I’ve been thinking of for quite a while, and I’m excited to finally be doing it. It’s a complicated one, as so many of them are because there are so many different directions that we could go and so many different things we could talk about. So please feel free to add your comments and add to the discussion, because I know that I can’t cover everything or even close to it. But, um, I want to share the thoughts I’ve had so far and we’ll see which direction that this episode goes. So I think the The reason I’ve been thinking about this so much is because my past belief genuinely was that polygamy was a principle of Zion. I, I really thought Doctrine and Covenants 105 verse 5 specifically spoke about this. It says, and Zion cannot be built up unless it is by the principles of the law of the celestial kingdom. Otherwise I cannot receive her unto myself. And I interpreted that to mean, well, I think I read it wrong. It says principles of the law, but I think it meant laws, multiple laws, not just multiple principles with one law, and I interpreted it to interpreted it genuinely to mean the law of consecration or the united order, whatever we want to call that, and the law of polygamy. That’s those are what I thought were the principles of Zion and what Zion and the celestial kingdom. Founded upon were those laws. And so it really has been interesting to go back to see how little I understood and how I could have believed that. So I want to share some of this exploration that I’ve done so that I, I know that there are many people who still believe this, who just genuinely believe that polygamy is the law of God and that that sacrifice is required to become God’s chosen people, and I I think that when you actually dig into the scriptures instead of just traditions, it becomes so apparent that that is actually the opposite of the truth. So that’s what I want to go into today. So, um, First of all, well, as we get into the scriptures, you will see that polygamy is not only completely unscriptural, but Zion is very scriptural, and we’re going to see that polygamy is actually the antithesis to Zion. They are built on completely different principles. So if we take one law, right? And the principles of that law, it’s, it becomes pretty apparent that the principles of polygamy are in exact opposition to the principles of Zion. So we do have a lot of scriptures about Zion, right? Like we have many examples of Zion that are discussed in the scriptures, and then we have, you know, the entire doctrine and covenant, so much of that is dedicated to the establishment of Zion. We have quite a bit of information. So we’re going to um just explore that today and see what we can figure out, right? What we can understand. So,
[00:03:40] first of all, I want to read the examples, just a brief snippet from each of the examples we have of Zion in the scriptures. The first is the city of Enoch. Moses 7:18 says, and the Lord called his people Zion because they were of one heart and one mind and dwelt in righteousness, and there was no poor among them. So it’s important to look for commonalities between each of these examples, right? That’s a really interesting addition at the end, and that is, that’s maybe my favorite description of Zion, because I think it just encapsulates it so well. Then we have Zion that was established in um New Testament times after the death of Jesus Christ, the apostles established Zion, right? Um, Acts 4:31 says, and when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together. There there were manifestations of the spirit, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness, and the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and one soul, neither said any of them that ought of the of the things which he possessed was neither said any of them that ought of the. Things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things common, and with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and great grace was upon them all. Neither was there any among them that lacked, for as many as were were possessors of lands or houses, sold them and brought the price of the things which was sold and laid them down at the apostles’ feet, and distribution was made and to every. And according as he had needs. So again, a similar example, that one goes on. I’ve read a little bit more. That was Act 44 verses 31 through 35, but you get the same principles, right? And this, it’s right, right after this virtue, um, the next chapter is where Ananias and Sofia are struck down. They were the ones that sold their property and didn’t consecrate all of the money they tried to hide some from. The Lord, so they tried to have their reliance still on their wealth, and that didn’t seem to go very well. So the next example we have is in the Book of Mormons. So 4th Nephi 12 chapter 1 verses 2 and 3, and it came to pass in the 30th and 6th year that people were people were all converted unto the Lord upon all the faces of the land, both Nephites and Lamanites, and there were no contentions and disputations among them. And every man to deal justly one with another, and they had all things common among them. Therefore, there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free and partakers of the heavenly gift. And so, um, just a couple other snippets, Doctrine of Covenants 38:27, I say unto you, be one, and if ye are not one, ye are not mine. And then, so now that first doctrine Covenant section 105 verse 5 that I was reading. I, I want you guys all to think about the commonalities. Oh, I, I mean this, the establishment of Zion could be its entire own episode on the principles that um we can dig out that are required and how we can try to develop those, at least my thoughts on those. And so I’m not going to go into it too much, but I hope that you’re looking for the commonalities and that you’ve thought about them. And so if we read the verse I read before in context with what comes before it, it says, but behold,
[00:06:47] this is when um the people in Zion in Missouri were suffering and But behold, they have not learned to be obedient to the things which I require at their hands, but are full of all manner of all manner of evil, and do not impart of their substance as becometh saints to the poor and the afflicted among them and are not united according to the union required by the law of the celestial kingdom, right, that gives it a little more context, a lot more context, and Zion cannot be built up unless it is by the principles of the law of the celestial kingdom. Otherwise I cannot receive her unto myself. So the commonality between all of these really is that the people in Zion love God and love their fellow man more than they love anything else. They love it more than they love their possessions, more than they love their ease, um, more than they love. Well, well, anything else, and more than they love their ideas that they’re willing to contend about, they are just completely humbly dedicated to unity and to God, and that overrides every other feeling that they have. That’s, that’s um not a great encapsulation, but the best I can do just right now at the top of my head, a way to describe the a Zion people, right? And um Those are the commonalities in every single case of Zion that I that I could think of that I am aware of, so. That’s um interesting that God describes Zion in each each time and a couple of things to think about. So first of all, I want to say. That it becomes very clear what the law of Zion is. It’s this unity, right? This selflessness, this having all things common, which is really about loving our neighbors and God more than loving our things. I think that you know that that love is what is the definition of Zion. What I cannot find anywhere in any description of Zion is polygamy, anything to do with polygamy at all. And so I, I think that that’s really, really important. In fact, it’s interesting that um the example I used, Ananias and Sofia, I’m, I’m saying her name wrong wrong probably, but they were a couple, right, a husband and wife that were coming into Zion. Their sin wasn’t not living polygamy. It was not fully trusting God and not fully consecrating, holding part of their wealth and therefore their hearts back was their sin. And so as I have thought about this more and more, it has become so clear to me. That polygamy never was and never will be a part of Zion. It has nothing to do with Zion whatsoever. So we can look at this in a lot of ways, but first of all, I want to look at it in church history, then we’ll go on to some more world history, but God gave the the saints the commandment and the promise to establish Zion, right? That’s what so much of the doctrine and covenants is about that we don’t have time to go into right now. We’ll read a few verses here and there. But they fully believed they were establishing Zion, right? They lived in Kirtland and then they were told that Zion was on the borders of the Lamanites, which they believed were the Native Americans, and that at that time was Missouri, so we all know hopefully that
[00:10:05] The Saints believed Zion to be built in that it was going to be built in Jackson County, Missouri. That’s where Zion was supposed to be, right? They gave it their best shot like, was it Edward Partridge? I never can remember for sure who was the bishop in Zion, and he died, and Joseph Smith said that. He died young. He died, I think it was my age, 46 when he died, and he died early because of how difficult and stressful it was to try to be the bishop in Missouri with all of the things that were happening there and how difficult it was and how much persecution there was. And so, um So Zion was commanded and the saints were building it, right? Here’s the thing. There’s nothing about polygamy. Nothing, no commandment given anywhere, nothing said. Nobody was living polygamy before and while God told them to establish. So if we believe that polygamy is necessary for Zion, then we believe that God sets us up to fail, right? God says, Hey, go do this thing. Oh, but by the way, I’m not going to tell you all of the things, all of the principles you need to follow and live in order to do it. It was after Missouri failed, right? That the saints then went to Navvo and the, it was a swamp. They drained it. They made the beautiful city of Navvo, but that was after. The failed attempt at Zion and the Navvou is when polygamy. Came into the church and began to grow and apparently. There was, there was all the secrecy and all the claims of one thing while doing another thing if we believe that story, that all happened in Navu after Zion. I want to, I, I, I’m not being as articulate as I want to be, but I want to make this really clear, the saints lived before Zion, believing they were going to establish Zion. Then God said Zion would not be established for a season, so they knew after that they were not establishing Zion, and that’s when polygamy came about. It was the I guess the corruption that happened in a rejected people and a people that hadn’t been able to establish Zion as they had hoped. And so I don’t want to be harsh on these people. I don’t, you know, but I think it’s important for us to look at it and recognize that and see what happens now. There are some claims, like I will read um in one of the church essays, this is plural marriage in Kirtland and Navvo. This is on the church website. I’ll put a link. It says after the marriage with Alger ended in separation, Joseph Smith seems to have set the subject of plural marriage aside until after the church moved to Navvoo, Illinois, so. This is so difficult because even in that essay they acknowledge that there is only, they call it fragmentary evidence to substantiate a marriage between Fannie Elger and Joseph Smith. I would say there is a complete and utter dismal lack of any evidence whatsoever. There are, we, we will go into the Fannie Elger issue in a Later episode, we won’t go into it now, but there is nothing to show any way that they were sealed or married. It’s just
[00:13:08] there was some gossip and some difficulty and then people putting, and then after the Navvo and Salt Lake polygamy situation, then they included Fannie Alger into that, right? After they already had the storyline. So we’ll talk about that later, but there is nothing to say that Fannie Alger was a plural wife other than You know, bringing later history to earlier history and trying to claim that that’s what it was. The only other thing that they can claim that there was anything about polygamy is that Doctrine Covenants 132 says That um it it it implies that it was while Joseph was or that it was while Joseph was um translating retranslating the Bible that he um asked about Abraham and Isaac and, well, Isaac, yeah, Isaac wasn’t a polygamist Abraham and Jacob and David and Solomon and so. That apparently was happening in 1829, so people say that that’s when that revelation clearly was first received again, massively problematic, absolutely nothing to substantiate that other than revisionist history, right? That’s what I was looking for later on, taking later history and applying it earlier when it never existed. So they’re really There was nothing about polygamy in Kirtland or pre Missouri, pre Zion. And anyone who, even those who want to claim that he received those revelations earlier, have to acknowledge that he didn’t teach it. He didn’t tell anyone. So nobody who was establishing Zion, including the bishop of Zion, did not know anything about polygamy. He, the bishop of Zion, never was a polygamist and so cause um he died before that all happened, so. So it’s really, really problematic. If we want to believe that polygamy is part of Zion, we have to believe that God intentionally set the saints up to fail because he didn’t tell them the law that was required. In order for them to establish Zion, right? I think it’s so clear that that is not the case that those early saints, and I like heaven forbid I’m never put in that situation. I so want to be a Zion person, but I kind of don’t want to have the test to see if I am a Zion person cause I don’t know if I am yet. And so, so it’s really like I like no judgment at all toward the Missouri Saints who were trying so hard. I have no idea how any of us would do. That was a tall order. But it wasn’t polygamy that they were lacking. It was the complete reliance on God and the complete dedication and devotion to God above anything else that was lacking and as well as being in a super hostile environment. So, So anyway, we can all um interpret that as we want to, but it should be clear that polygamy was never intended to be part of Zion. So that’s the first thing and um as as we want to look, I, I, like I said, I want to talk in a later episode about what Zion will look like, but I’ve just been thinking about Zion so much, so I wanted to share just a couple of thoughts because I was talking to my daughter about it and some other people and um I think it’s good to ponder on what is required for Zion and how we can become Zion people if that’s what we want, right? If that’s what we’re preparing for. And the more I’ve thought about it, so I’m going to take this little sidetrack. I hope that it will be that you’ll forgive me. Um, I, I, I think that Zion is a process of internal progression or internal perfection more than. External projection. Let me see if I can explain what I mean. I think that we all tend to
[00:16:41] interpret Zion in our own way, right? And what that tends to be is that whatever we imagine as good and as perfect is how everyone will be in Zion. So, like, whatever I think is really good, everyone will be like that is is how we imagine Zion. Like if I’m a Beautiful homemaker and I keep my yard perfect and I, and nothing is ever out of place and I just value order and tidiness and beauty in my surroundings. Then of course everyone in Zion will keep their yard perfect and their home perfect and no one with a messy home would live in Zion, right? Do you see what I’m saying? Or if I’m like, like whatever we view as comfortable and nice and moral and That’s that’s what Zion will be, and it’s really interesting to to consider that that really isn’t likely to be the case because God makes us in a huge variety and everybody brings different skills and different talents because that’s the way God made us, right? So I really think Zion is more about us loving God more than we love our biases or our judgments or even Our desires and our ideas of what is good and righteous. And so Zion is a place where there is no judgment and no defensiveness and no contendings. I’m not trying to convince anyone of my ideas that I’m right about things. It’s where we truly just love God and love. one another, and that’s about all we know about it. We can’t say, well, they don’t deserve to be in Zion for any reason because we don’t know. That’s, anyway, that’s just a little bit of what I wanted to go into as as I’m thinking about it. I would love to know your thoughts. Go ahead, please comment on your thoughts of what Zion might look like and what we can do to become more like a Zion people. Um, a couple of things that come out of the scriptures of Zion, the The, um, I guess principles or characteristics of Zion is that there is unity and lack of contention, which I think means humility, forgiveness, dependence on revelation of God rather than dogma. So like when the um In the, oh, is it in Forth me? I can’t remember where it is, but they’re contending about what the name of the church should be, and the savior comes and says, why are you contending? And then gives them the answer. And I think it’s really important to recognize we should never contend. We should let the savior come to each of us and give us the answer. And if that hasn’t happened yet, then we don’t need to know yet, right? And so there’s there’s no contending, and um, we’re never trying to control people. We’re never trying to, let’s see what else was I going to say, oh, it’s where we love God and our fellow man above everything else. It is a place where all people know God, right? Za is a place where the savior can walk among the people, and that means all the people that are there know the savior and can be in His presence, and that comes through through growing in these principles and characteristics and the center of all of them is charity. If you have not charity, you are nothing. So that’s the main thing that we need to have in a Zion community. And so as we talk about all of these things.
[00:19:53] I just want to compare that to polygamy, right? All of all of these principles compared to this principle and see how they go together cause I don’t think they go together very well. So, OK, so first of all, we’ve covered the timeline of the early church and it was when the saints had been rejected and scattered and were re-establishing in Navu in a post-Zion period. That and they all we like we still have the idea that Zion will be in Missouri, right? That’s still like church folklore that’s in the milieu that we all know we call like like Utah’s called Zion, Nu was called Zion, but we all kind of know it’s a holding pattern, right? It’s not the Zion that Joseph Smith was talking about that the the revelations given were talking about. So what that all means, I don’t know for sure, but I know that. We need to acknowledge the truth of the timeline and where we are now, and you know, in many ways. They were given the gospel and then it started to be corrupted and lost and determined to be other things that we got buried in traditions of our fathers like see it which is what seems to happen every time God does something, right? God sent Jesus Christ in the Meridian enough time. Well, we can start her back with Adam. God, God gave the gospel to Adam and then lamick and I mean after Cain and you know all of these corruptions start growing in this fallen and corrupted world and then. I just time and time again that God gave the gosp sent the gospel with Jesus Christ, and even those who followed it, we believe that there was an apostasy and things started to get corrupted and kind of spin out, right? And God sent the gospel with Joseph Smith, and it was received, and then we’ve gone on from there and perhaps there was some traditions of our fathers, some corruption of the pure gospel that was given. I think that we should at least consider if that’s possible, especially when we look at these principles of Zion and what the people were given and what they were told to do. So, OK, so we’ve looked at the principles of Zion, and now I want to look at the characteristics of polygamist societies. So polygamy has been Just it’s, it’s just found in many, many cultures as old as time, right, that I have been able to see and what I generally have seen, so I’ve studied um Attila the Hun. We don’t even know how many wives he had, right? Um, Genghis Khan. I can’t remember if we know how many wives he had, but it was a lot and There there are so many other examples, but generally these societies, they are tribal warring raiding societies they acquire wealth by raiding other people and stealing their um their wealth, their possessions, including their wives, including their women, right? And um you can look at the rules throughout different Societies. Well, as we’re talking about rating and wealth and gaining it that way, we have to include David in that because that was that society as well. Those
[00:22:56] how many different nations did they utterly demolish and take all of their wealth and often take their girls and add them to their harems, you know, have them have them become their wives. That was what it was, um. The their their wealth was gained through plunder and domination and then collecting tribute. That was what so many of these world leaders or societal leaders did throughout time. And then, yeah, as we look at the different rules, um, it’s really interesting the, oh, I left off my list King Darius, King Nebuchadnezzar, right? The kings had harems and they were warfaring people. It it just goes throughout time and so it’s interesting because even the law of God condemned this again Deuteronomy 17:17. Neither shall shall he multiply wives to himself that his heart might not turn away. Neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold, so. God from the beginning was teaching against this, right? But it just seems to be the way of fallen man in this fallen world that these things keep on happening. So, um, in every society that I’ve been able to find where polygamy is or was allowed, it was a status symbol. The The wealthy, like, even among the um Genghis Khan, you could have as many women as you could afford, right? The more wives you had, the more wealthy and powerful you were. You had to be able to both um provide for them and keep them, protect them so that they wouldn’t be stolen by another band, right? So however many wives you could acquire, that’s how many you could have, and it was definitely a status, the higher ranking you were. The more wives you could afford to have. Even in, so, um, in ancient Hindu, this was interesting, according to the Rig Veda. um, so you know, in Hindu they had, I, I hope it’s falling out of fashion, I believe it is, but they had the caste system and the different levels in the cast could determine how many wives you could have at least according to that, um. That scripture, so the Brahmins, the top caste could have 4 wives, and it went down from there. The shura, the lowest caste could only have one wife and um. And so now I know that in India, you’re only allowed to have one wife I believe unless you’re Muslim, but in general, um, that that’s the law, so it’s no longer allowed, but that’s how it was. It always was about the wealthier and the more powerful you were, the more wives you could have, right? It was, it was the ultimate status symbol and the main purpose of a status symbol is to differentiate between rich and poor, right? So we have to look at OK, women, the richer you are, the more women you can have,
[00:25:48] and that shows how rich you are. How does that fit into Zion, where there are no rich or poor, where there are no status symbols, where there are no divisions in castes or wealth or power. Everybody is supposed to be equal equally loved, equally equally provided for, equally contributing at least to where they can. So, are you getting the point I’m making? So, um It’s really interesting also because these men couldn’t provide enough on their own to provide for their wives, so they always had more because they were higher up in their society, which meant that they had more ability to acquire wealth from others, which is always what happened, right? Like all of these conquering heroes would take tribute from all of the places that they conquered. They would tax them, they would loot them, and then They would tax their people whatever whatever that looked like to provide for their to provide the lavish lifestyle and the protection they needed for their large families, right? And so, um we can see the every example we have in the Book of Mormon follows this exact pattern. We have The two examples we’ve spoken about before, right? King Noah’s, this is again Mosiah 11:24. For behold, he did not keep the commandments of God, but he did walk after the desires of his own heart. So it’s the king, right? The king and his priests, and he had many wives and concubines, and he did cause his people to commit sin and do that which was abominable in the sight of the Lord. Yeah, they did commit whoredoms and all manner of wickedness. And he laid a tax of 1/5th part of all they possessed, a 5th part of their gold and of their silver, a 5th part of their zi and of their copper and of their brass and their iron and a 5th part of their fatlings and also 1/5 part of all their grain, and all this he did take to support himself and his wives and his concubines and also his priests and their wives and their concubines. Thus he changed the affairs of the kingdom. So we see these commonalities that always seemed to be there with. Polygamy with a division of, um, a division of wealth, right? When there are very, very rich people and very, very poor people and the rich take from the poor to add to their riches, the rich and powerful. So the other example is an ether. So with replication, ether 10, 5 to 7, and it came to pass that replication to He did not do that, which was right in the sight of the Lord, for he did have many wives and concubines and did lay and did lay that upon men’s shoulders, which was grievous to be born. Yeah, he did tax them with heavy taxes, and with the taxes, he with the taxes, he did make many spacious buildings, and he did erect him a be an exceedingly beautiful throne, and He did build many prisons, and Hoso would not be subject to taxes. He did cast into prison, and Hoso was not able to pay taxes. He cast into prison and he did cause that they should labor continually for their support. And Hoso refused to labor he did cause to be put to death. Wherefore he did obtain all his fine work, yeah, even his fine gold, he did cause to be refined in prison. And all manner of fine workmanship he did cause to be wrought in prison, and it came to pass that he did afflict the people with his whoredoms and his abominations.
[00:29:06] So they, they broke the commandments of God to have many wives and concubines. Then they broke the commandments of God by grinding the faces of the poor. So the rich took from the poor to add to their riches because they could, because they were powerful and that’s how it worked. So that seems to be a pattern. That continues. So again, the whole time we’re talking about this, we have to be comparing it to the principles of Zion, right, where there are not rich and poor, where there is unity and love and everyone is trying to help one another rather than taking from others to enrich themselves. And so, um, as we’ve talked about this so far, maybe some of you are ahead of me and know where we have to go, and I kind of hesitate going here because I’m already accused. I, I’m accused sometimes of hating Brigham Young as if that’s the motivation. I just hate Brigham Young and that’s why I’m doing this, which I, to come clean, I have to tell you I actually have a son. My 13 year old is named Brigham and I, I named my son Brigham. He’s a great kid. He, he’s a redhead and he’s my kid with oppositional defiant disorder. So if that’s a thing, he’s been diagnosed. So, you know, maybe it’s fitting, but, um, but it couldn’t be further from the truth that I hate Brigham Young and hated Brigham Young, and that’s why I’m doing this. I assure you it has been quite the opposite. If I hated Brigham Young. I would not have named my child Brigham. In fact, if I knew everything then that I know now, I might not have named him Brigham, but I do love the name. I think it’s a great name and he’s a great kid. So, but I’m just coming clean to say, please don’t accuse me of hating Brigham Young and therefore doing this. Like it’s, I don’t hate Brigham Young, but I assure you it’s the exact opposite. I have learned and studied and in some cases been horrified. So, um, we’re just going to look at the reality of what was said, what was done, and what happened, so we can compare the principles of Zion to the universal principles of polygamy and see how they played out in our church history so that again, we can look with open eyes to to try to find truth and error. So that’s what Trying to do. So please don’t accuse me of that anymore. OK, so first of all, Brigham Young’s finances were completely intertwined with the church’s finances. There wasn’t a difference. There wasn’t a separation. So whatever was acquired for the church, Brigham had as his own. In fact, it was such a mess that when Brigham died. Um, I’m going to link some videos below. Rob Fotheringham has made a series of just excellent videos. They can be difficult, so watch them prayerfully, but I want to link them below, um, maybe particularly, well,
[00:32:00] there are a couple, but it’s interesting that Brigham Young really wanted to have his son be the next in line. He ordained him as a young boy kind of secretly because the presidency went in order of ordination until that was changed later and had to be public, so. So he, um, really, I think, thought that it would be OK because that’s what he was hoping to do. So, um, but when he died, since that didn’t happen, since he wasn’t able to accomplish that, there was just a mess and lawsuits and the church had to kind of buy off some of his wives and children to try to separate out what belonged to Brigham Young and what belonged to the church. And really, you know, I don’t know. How Brigham would have had wealth other than from the church because he didn’t contribute more than other people contributed to that society in terms of building wealth, right? He just was able to acquire more, at least it seems to me, and again, please, if you have different information, share it. I would love to hear. So um. So we’re we’re just going to talk about how this works because we’ve already looked at how a tribute was paid to replication to King Noah and to Genghis Khan or whoever else it was to provide for their wives and the lavish lifestyle that they enjoyed as the leader and the most powerful in their various societies. So. Um, OK, this book is, um, and again it’s backwards, it’s called Brigham Young’s Homes, and it’s really um interesting. I’m so glad I found it. It’s written by Collet Whiteley or Whitley, and it’s actually a book that’s um written from a very Glowing faithful perspective, right? It’s like look at these beautiful homes and I understand that perfectly cause as a tour guide, I mean as a high school student, I worked as a tour guide um at downtown Salt Lake. I used to, they had a little trolley that would go around and I was the tour guide telling about the lion house and the beehive House and all all of the different things. So I understand being like, look at our beautiful heritage. With very little understanding of what it all meant. And so that’s what we’re going to look at right now to see um Brigham Young’s homes and how he lived and what he acquired and compare that to some extent to how other people were living in his religion, how his brothers and sisters were living, and let’s really honestly compare this to Zion. And the principles of Zion and what we claim to be, and right, the principles that we claim to that we claim that belong with Zion. So um first of all, um it’s important to know that Brigham Young literally had Well over a dozen homes. I haven’t gone through enough to count exactly how many, but there were just many, many, many, many homes that he was able to acquire. Um, when they first came into the valley, they split up, you know, they, they kind of split up the square pattern and deeded lots to people according to their families,
[00:34:59] and Brigham Young deeded to himself or the church deed to Brigham Young, however that worked, um. Many lots of the best real estate and um so he, he got quite a bit to begin with because he was the one that was able to do them outright, and he was able to acquire the most wives. And so from the beginning, he lived in a completely different manner than any of the other struggling pioneers. And so, um, he had, let’s see where I wanted to start, um. Well, he, I, so, so I think we’ll do another episode where where we will talk more in detail about the different homes of Brigham Man cause this one’s mainly about Zion, and so I don’t want to spend too much time into it, but he, like the other pioneers had to build beginning homes, right? Like he had a row of of cabins basically, and then he built up from there. The thing that’s interesting is that he started out like that and But then he kept building up and up and up, while at the same time there were many people that didn’t even have homes, like my great great great grandmother who died of starvation, living in a dugout, which means a hole that they found or dug in the ground and You know, so it wasn’t like the number of outbuildings that Brigham Young had. I’m sure that many of the, the saints and the converts and the immigrants would have loved to live in any of his barns more than where they were living. So that contrast is important to look at, honestly. So, um, anyway, after he had already built several homes, he started on the Lion House and the Beehive House. Those were both literal mansions, and they were both under construction during the most difficult times in Utah history. Um you’ll remember the episode we did on the Mormon Reformation that was 55, 56 and That is exactly that when when they had the horrible droughts and all of those terrible things happen, that is when he was building the lion house and the beehive House during that same time. I haven’t yet been able to find the costs of these houses, so I don’t know exactly yet. That’s what I want to find for a future episode, but I do know that. All of the glass for all of the windows had to be shipped across the plains, all of the fineries, like so many of the materials that I mean that the the bringing them across the plains would have cost more by far than just the price of manufacturing and buying them, and then the cost of manufacturing and buying them and when you consider that. All of those wagons coming across with all of the fineries for these luxury homes could have been filled with food, with wheat, with potatoes, with with sustenance to feed the starving people, right? And um it’s really something to consider and what the priorities could or should have been, or if you were in that situation, what your priorities would be if they were starving people around you. It’d be pretty hard. You’d have to be in a really different mindset to think, I am going to prioritize building my mansions rather than making sure the people who have believed in the church that I represent and have been obedient to the call to gather and who have given up everything they had to cross
[00:38:23] the plains and pulled handcarts and got here starving. Right? What do they need now? Do they need to go continue to starve? Like, or can we provide for them in some way? So it’s really interesting to consider this entire, this entire saga that we’re going to talk about. So, um, he had in addition, like I said, to these many homes, he had several outbuildings. There was the president’s office, so he had his two beautiful homes and then also the, it was called the president’s office. So basically, you know, like. I know that my parents had to grow their business really, really big before they finally built a building for it, and even then that was a hardship on their business and they ended up selling that building, like building a headquarters is also a huge investment of money that’s required and that really was mainly for him, so. Um, then in addition to that, he had many outbuildings, many businesses, many like just many things that he was building, um, all the time. So, so those were just two of his homes, the Beehive home and the like the Beehive House and the lion house, they were. I mean, the comparison. I, I’m hoping that you’re seeing how different it was and but he didn’t stop there, right? He also, we’re we’re going to go into more. These are just some of the homes, but he had the farmhouse that it came to become the farmhouse. It was 4 miles out of downtown. I believe they’ve moved it now, maybe, well, they’ve moved it to the this is the place um monument, but there’s also something at Wheeler Farm. I also worked at Wheeler Farm when I was in high school. I did tours there, so I was able to talk about the Brigham Young house that was there, but um. This this farmhouse apparently was also very large. They had wonderful parties that they hosted there that people love to go there. It was on apparently the farm was over 11,000 acres and again had many outbuildings. It was a huge property and um But the thing that’s interesting there is apparently that’s where the less favored or out of favor wives, many of them lived. This is Emily Dow Partridge, who she herself had 7 children, so she wasn’t an unfavour, but she spent some years there. And this is a quote from her. She said, Every one of the wives who had been compelled to live there had become confirmed invalids before they left the place, broken down by overwork. She also said, I have not been well since I went to the farm to live about 5 years ago. Nobody knows my feelings while there but but myself, so apparently it was just a devastatingly difficult place to live. I know that the Um, walls were very thin. It was cold, the stairways were narrow, the work that needed to be done, that’s where the silkworms were and that like Brigham had many projects and experiments going there. And it was the wives who were charged with keeping them going and they literally tended to work themselves about to death there. And um I know that he had one wife that got pregnant while she was there, at least one, and he moved her out of there because she couldn’t have handled the workload while she was pregnant.
[00:41:23] So I guess she wasn’t too unfavoured if she became pregnant, but it, it’s a tough, it’s a tough story. So, um. That let’s see, but, but as I thought about it and felt felt so bad for these wives who were there tending the farm and living in those conditions, you compare that even to the women who were living, who knows where, and their husbands were sent on missions, and they had nothing, like literally nothing and were not provided for in any way, and they were alone and I, you know, so, so hard circumstances. So really Brigham Young’s wives, even those living at the farm, were very blessed compared to many of the other, particularly women. In early Utah. So, um, then there, there’s more, there were many, many more homes also he seemed to have a way to acquire several homes that had been built by and belonged to other people. So one example is the Chase home and farm and mills that there’s still a a monument in Salt Lake that you can see where those were, and they were um Isaac Chase was a very successful, like he was an early, he was here in 47 and built a prosperous farm and mill and Brigham Young somehow acquired that from him while they were living in it and they had to go somewhere else. He was able to take at least 2 homes in Saint George and then he built his big Saint George mansion as well. So the building that continued more and more and more, um, it’s hard not to see the similarities, right? And so, um, then, then came The Garddo house, which I confess I did not even know about until a few years ago cause it’s no longer standing. It was, I guess Brigham Young apparently called it the Gardo House, but it was called Amelia’s Palace because his last favorite wife, Amelia Folsom, I believe was her name. She was apparently a beautiful young woman. Her father was an architect, Brigham Young. Built this mansion, um, he, he, you know, it was supposed to be like the headquarters of the church, which is so really what it was was a palace, right? It really was a palace because it was his showplace to show how successful his civilization was and It was described as the most, oh, I, I have to find the quote, but anyway, it was the most grand, there it is, one of the finest homes between Chicago and the West Coast, and Brigham Young was apparently the most wealthy person west of Chicago. So, you know, he really did acquire a lot of wealth and the only way he had to do that was from the church, right? And so,
[00:44:06] um. So let’s see, um, what else did I want to say? Oh, the Salt Lake Tribune, so that was the newspaper that was opposing the Mormons, and they wrote many, many articles and edit editorials just. Castigating Brigham Young for his lavish extravagance and ostentatiousness to that he was putting into this home when so many, the vast majority of the people throughout the territory were literally barely scraping by in the most difficult circumstances, and he was building this palace. So um we’re going to go into it more, I hope in a future episode, but um. You will, you will at least see the similarities. It’s hard to not see the similarities between King Noah and Replicke and some of these other. Polygamists throughout time and how they live compared to the rest of their people and how they What what they take in order to provide for their, you know, how their power makes them behave, I guess. I don’t, I don’t know exactly the best way to explain this. I know these are hard topics and I don’t. I want to, uh, I, I, it’s just hard because these are the realities and so I don’t know how we look at them without being accused of being apostate. I don’t know exactly what that means. I believe in the truth of the gospel, and I think that every time that God reveals something and does something that the adversary comes in and tries to turn it around in every possible way. I’m so glad that we are no longer living these principles and that we don’t have the same exact setup, but I think it’s important to look at it honestly and consider what it was, and then we can all determine what that means for us. I am not in any way saying the church isn’t true or you know, I’m not making any conclusion drawing any conclusions. I’m just looking honestly at Principles and that history. That’s all I want to do. So I hope that this isn’t offensive to anyone to just learn the truth. Please search and study out the Gardo house and um see what you find about it and what you think about it, right? And how you would have felt. And so it’s interesting because even the other church leaders, I know that many members of the church, but even the other church leaders seemed Disapproving and somewhat embarrassed. For example, Brigham Young died before the home was completely finished and before it was furnished, and so the church spent. Much more money to furnish it as lavishly as it required and um and then it was voted, well, and then John Taylor was told to move in and he refused. He didn’t want to move in, but they actually voted in general conference that the Gardo house would be the residence of the president of the church, so he he reluctantly acquiesced and was sort of forced by the church to move in, but he and his wives, it sounds like would have rather stayed in their other homes, and they were not comfortable with what this represented and what it was. So I feel bad that John Taylor got blamed for it, but I want to um just read one quote. So in January of 1882, he held a large open house so that anyone in the territory could come and tour the home, and this is what the Tribune had to say about it. The favored saints have received an invitation to call upon President John Taylor at Amelia Amelia’s palace tomorrow. We want the poor Mormons to mark the carpets, mirrors, the curtains, and the rest, and then to go home and look at the squalor of their own homes, their Kept wives,
[00:47:38] their miserable children growing up in despair and ignorance, and then to reflect how much better it would have been for them to, instead of working for hard wages, if they had only started out as did Uncle John, determined to serve God for nothing but hash. I, again, they, they called the Tribune called John Taylor Uncle John as a demeaning term, and I’m not comfortable with how hard they were on John Taylor, you know, whatever that was. It wasn’t him. That built this, but the point they are making is so true. If like the disparity, the difference between rich and poor was just painful, painful, what they saw, how they saw the president of the church living and his wives compared to how they were living. I think that that would have been incredibly difficult to understand and to deal with and so. Um, now, now I know that this might seem like I’m being harsh and people might be having all their different ways of explaining it, but I think it’s important to look at the reality like I already said, and I want to go over a few talks. That Brigham Young gave on these topics just to kind of show what the reality of the situation was. So this was a talk that’s called Gathering the Poor. It was delivered September 16, 1855. So during those hard times of the Mormon Reformation, this is in volume three pages 1 through 6 of the Journal of Discourses, and um I, I, it’s I, I hope that some of you feel inclined to go read the entire talk cause it’s really hard to do it justice by just pulling out snippets. I’ve pulled out quite a bit of it, but it goes on and on and on, and it’s just, it’s really hard. Right from the beginning, it seems to start with defensiveness and justification, and um there’s just this tone. So it starts with, um, I have made the saints some promises, and I am not aware that I have made any promises to them that I have not fulfilled, at least so far as I was as I was personally concerned. I have promised myself that I would plead for the poor. I have done it. I have continued to do it, and I expect to continue to plead for the poor saint. So he’s saying, I didn’t make you any promises that I fulfilled. All I promised to do was pray for you, and that’s what I’m doing. Um, he says, I have invariably promised the saints one blessing hard labor, hard fare, and plenty of persecution if they would only live their religion, and I believe they are generally well satisfied that this this promise has been amply fulfilled. If the saints cannot endure and endure to the end, they have no reason to expect eternal salvation. So he then goes on to discuss the honest poor, the devil’s poor, and the poor devils. That’s kind of the joke that he repeatedly makes. He, he served his mission in England, remember, so he’s especially talking about England, about how they can’t distinguish who are the honest poor or the deserving poor is the term we’ve heard, and Who are the undeserving poor or the devil’s poor and and he seems to think that matters because they justify not giving to the poor because they don’t know which poor it is, so they can’t give them a farthing or a loaf of bread. So when they’re seeing the starving children in the street, you know, apparently anyway, that’s the, that’s the idea. And so he says were it not for this,
[00:50:45] the worthy poor would be fed and clothed in England. If the wealthy of that nation could know the truth, they would feed the hungry and clothe the naked, honest, just, and virtuous portions of the community. But they do not know them. And if they give a loaf of bread or a sixpence, they expect it is given to a poor devil. This makes them very careful how they give. Has not a similar dishonesty, the same effect upon us. It has, and that is what I wish to talk about. So keep in mind this was the time in England that they had the poor houses. I don’t know who else has studied those. I’ve looked into those quite a bit over the years, and they were horrible. It was the English version of that time of charity, and I, you know, we can talk about whether they’ve overcorrected or what’s happened, but. They basically punished the poor for their poverty because they were so worried that people would take advantage of the system. So if you went into the poor house, the first of all, families were separated. Mothers were not allowed to be with their children, and children were not allowed to be with their mothers. They weren’t even allowed to see each other except sometimes as a privilege on Sunday if they were well enough behaved, but even that was definitely in question. Many, many, many children died. They were so malnourished, so overworked, so treated so terribly and harshly that many of the children died. They were basically became prisoners. You had to be allowed to go out of the poor house. So there was no other. The social safety net other than the poor house. So you either starved on your own, or if you were desperate enough, went to the poorhouse and where you would lose your children, be separated from anybody and that, you know, that like if your husband died and he was the provider, then what did you do? The poor house was the only option you had and that was the situation. It was horrible. It was atrocious. It still is considered to just be Like a huge stain on um on the people of England. I mean, I mean they they look at it as a terrible, terrible thing in their history, and this is what Brigham Young was talking about. So it’s really interesting and I guess, you know, in Utah, I don’t know what they had. I can’t find anything to say what they had. We know that people starve to death. We know that women were left with no care and I can’t find anything. These talks are the best I can find that reveal what the situation was. It wasn’t until the Great Depression that the church came up with its system of charity of, um, you know, it’s social safety net. Before that, it doesn’t seem there was much, seeing that there was much. So um. Let’s see what else, where, where was I going from there. So, um, oh, OK, now he goes on to talk about the perpetual immigration fund, and I knew about that because um President Hinckley started the perpetual Education Fund, and he talked about the perpetual immigration fund.
[00:53:32] So I always thought of it as a good thing. I didn’t realize that it was basically indentured servitude. It was like the exact same principle. We’ll pay your fare, and then when you get here you’ll work to pay it off, right? And um that was, that was the idea. So. Anyway, it’s really interesting to think about that. So here’s, here’s what he goes on to say. Do I receive promises? Yes, men will promise me, saying, if you will let me go out this year by means of the perpetual immigration fund, I will refund the means again that you, that you may have it to send back for more. And what will they do when they get here instead of paying their just debts to the fund? They will hang on and plead poverty and sickness and say they cannot live unless they have this tent or that wagon. And when they get it into their possession, they will never return it unless they are compelled to. This conduct is discouraging to us. I will tell you a little further. It is actually the faltering and misgiving and misleading of unjust persons that prevent the gathering of the Lord’s poor, and that is God’s truth. Were it not for that, the saints would be gathered by scores of thousands. It is the wicked, the half-hearted, and what I. Hickory Mormons that prevent a more extensive gathering of the saints. So we’re saying it’s these poor people like think about this, they come into the valley completely penniless. Nothing. They have nothing. They have nowhere to live. We, you know, we’re told often that the like many times the men would die pulling handcarts across the plains and then they would come in the Daughters and wives were told the only way they could be provided for was to get married immediately and even then, who knows if they were provided for, right? It was just a hard, hard, hard, hard situation and and there weren’t very good systems set up to help people get on their feet. It was just like go figure it out and. You know, and Utah isn’t the best territory to go figure it out, even if you could find some land. I, I don’t, I don’t know exactly how it worked. I’m hoping someone can teach me more about what happened to most of the people when they emigrated and when they came here. So, um, Anyway, but he blames the fact that more aren’t able to come on the people not paying back their debts while he’s spending all of this money on his mansions, right? And so he then complains about the debts that he owes. Um, he’s saying that men, oh, he says, um, men harass him, saying they will go out of business if he doesn’t pay. They say, I am hunted. I am like one that, 00, he says, um, that men will are harassing him, saying they will go out of business if he doesn’t pay their debts to him. Like they’re like, I need this money to operate, and he says, I am hunted. I am like one that is their prey, ready to be devoured. I wish to give you one text to preach upon. From this time henceforth,
[00:56:14] do not fret thy gizzard. I will pay you when I can and not before. Now I hope you will apostatize if you would rather do it. So he’s. He’s lambasting these poor saints for not paying their debts to him, but then he’s telling the people he owes debts to to not fret their gizzard. He’ll pay them when they can when he can. And so, um, this is, it’s just, it’s fascinating. I can’t help but think of the story that the parable that the savior gives about the man whose debt was forgiven and then he goes and tries to collect debt from the the poorer man, right? And so, um, he continues, it is the poor who have got your money, and if you have any complaints to make, make them against the Almighty for having so many poor. I do not owe you anything. You have my name attached to the paper to help the poor, whether they are the Lord’s poor, the devil’s poor, or the poor devils. It is not for it, it, it is not for my for me now to judge. So he’s saying. If the poor would pay me their money, I could pay you for the, the what you what I’ve gone into debt for on my big homes. Um, so he’s, he then continues. It has just come to mind how the brethren can be relieved at their present dilemma, meaning that the brethren who he owes money to. Every soul of you can come forward and make a donation of those drafts to the perpetual immigration fund. So the money that you have a draft out on me that I owe you, you can donate that to the perpetual immigration fund. That will relieve you of the debt at once, and then you can sit down and enjoy yourselves and lie down and sleep contentedly. This is pleading for the poor again, and I am bound to do just that. So he’s saying donate it to the perpetual immigration fund without realizing it’s his debt that he would need to prepay to the perpetual immigration fund, but he’s not doing that. He’s see, he’s really dipping out of both sides in his mind this somehow makes sense to him. It’s, it’s really interesting and so um. He continues, I know that many of my brethren think that I am building myself up. It is true. I gather a great deal of substance around me. I am obliged to do it. I cannot shun it. I must feed the poor. I must clothe them and take care of them. I must see that they have houses, and when they get so, as, as and so where and when they get so as to deserve them, they must have them a watch, a farm, etc. and they must increase, but they must work and pay for it all. In Utah, no man is so he’s saying I have to give. I, I have to have a lot of substance because I have to provide for the poor, but they have to pay for everything that they get. In Utah, no man is deserving or woman either, or 50, um, of 50 or 25 cents worth of flour or a piece of meat, a garment, or the possession of any property property without they pay for it with their labor. I collect means around me. The poor must have it, and I must make them work to pay for it. That makes me wealthy, and I cannot help it. Do you understand what he’s saying like. So he has this huge 11,000 acre farm where he has the, he owns all the mills or he has whatever and he’s and he’s saying there are a lot of poor and they need a lot of things, and I have to charge them for it and that makes me rich cause I’m the only one that can sell it to them. That’s, that’s the justification.
[00:59:17] It’s strange. I remember what I was going to read before. It was about his first mansion that he built that was called the White House or the Mansion House, and he. First one in this talk. So I just want to read this little bit from Brigham Young’s homes. It says, while he was living in the log row, that was the, the bunch of log houses he built first, Brigham started work on several other homes. The first to be completed was the White House, immediately south of the old log row and ready for occupancy in 1854, so the year before he started on the beehive and lion houses. Located at the top of a hill, it says, it commanded a view of the city and was connected with the street by a flight of stairs. Its colonial design included large porches and a large balcony. It was reported to be the first house in the state with a shingled roof. It was elegant with its whitewashed walls, the only whitewashed building in the territory in that early period. That’s they think why it was called the the White House and it was called the Mansion House. They said that could refer to Joseph Smith, but it more likely was because it was such an elegant home. So that was his first home that was built up on a hill before he built the Beehive House and the lion house, you see, it just continues and continues on and on and on. I didn’t know about that house either because it’s, I believe, no longer standing. So, um, so he’s saying, right, I have to provide for the poor and they have to pay me for it and that makes me rich. There’s nothing I can do about it. It’s not my fault. So then he goes on to, oh, then he goes on to talk about his property, saying he would sell them if anyone could afford to buy them, and um he says, dare any of you, he talks about that quite a while. This is part that I’ll quote, Dare any of you come and buy property? I can furnish as much as you can buy. My house on the hill yonder, I have advertised it for sale and also my lands and barn. What do I ask for it? $16,000 which is worth it is worth that and a great deal more for it actually cost more. Can any of you buy it? So he’s saying, I would sell it if any of you could buy it. Walk up and buy my beautiful situation on the hill, and I will put the preset the proceeds into the perpetual immigration fund. If you will pay me the money and gather the saints, the Lord’s poor, and the devil’s poor and the poor devils, and when we got when we have got them here, we will make saints of them if we can, and if we cannot, we will cast them out of the kingdom. So again, it’s this illogical, nonsensical way saying I would sell it to you if you would provide for the poor like I have to do and. But and if you would donate it to the and I would, you know, it’s easy to say I would donate it to the perpetual immigration fund when no one can give him the no one else had money to buy his home which he was saying he would sell if someone could afford like the whole thing, it’s easy, words are one thing, right? But he’s saying this while he is building. Multiple homes, which he continued on in more and more grandiose style his entire life until he died while he was building the gardo house, like he just continued on that same trajectory his entire life. So I just want to read a little bit more of this talk because I think it’s important. It was reported to you last conference that there were $56,000 owing to the perpetual immigration fund by brethren in this terri territory. Some of the debtors have run away, but most of them are here. Can these men pay anything? No,
[01:02:22] they are poor and distressed, they say. If we let our oxen go, how can we live? If we let our cows go, our families will suffer. How did your families get along before you had the cows? Another will say, I have only one. Span of horses and a wagon, and I cannot pay the debt. You promised before you left England that you would pay it, and you pledged your sacred honor, and that is forfeited to the perpetual immigration fund. You say that you cannot pay the debt, but I know you can if you have a mind to. Live without a cow as you used to. Pay in your houses and farms and work until you get more. This debt is diminished but little since last conference. I do not suppose we have gathered. In more than $1000 of it and this season there are about $94,000. There are about $49,000 more added to it. I calculated that will rest upon my shoulders, but they are so sloping, as you may observe, that it slips off and I kick it off at my heels. So that’s what he’s telling these people. Pay me your dead. I don’t care if you don’t have a cow. I don’t care if your family will starve. You promised that you would pay this back now, pay it back, and then Um, he said, and I think my, my guess is that these people thought that if they came to Zion, if they heeded this call, they would be able to provide, right, that it was the promised land, and they would be able to pay it back without starving to death, but that doesn’t seem to be what they experienced. So here’s the last that I’ll quote from this. I have a word, I have a word. To, um, I have a word to say to another portion of the community, some of whom may be here today. A great many of the brethren are indebted to the tithing office, and I have a good deal coming to me, and I intend to put you into the screw, for we mean to make you pay these debts this season. I want to have you fully understand that I intend to put the screws upon. And you who have owed for years, if you do not pay up now and help us, we will levy on your property and take every farthing you have on the earth. So it’s interesting to see how he acquired so many homes that others had built and had their families living in, right? When you hear this, I have to wonder if this is how he got some of those homes. I want to see if I can make some of you aposta apostatize. I give you this word of caution, prepare to pay the debt you owe to the church, so he’s basically saying, I dare you to apostatize because of what I’m doing, but pay the debt. Um, if I had the money due to the church by by a few individuals, I could pay every one of our individual debts and the church debt and have a few scores of thousands lying by me to operate upon. And in such circumstances I could operate to some advantage and greatly benefit the church. But it seems that there are many drones in the hive who are determined to tie up the hands of those who rule the affairs of this kingdom, and the quicker they are thrown out, the better. So that’s um and and I couldn’t find information about how and why they were in debt to him, what that meant, if that meant they were deeded property until they had to pay for it, if, you know, he didn’t have anything that he was selling that was actually something he created or built, right? So it just would be that basically he owned Utah and anything that someone got they had to pay him for somehow. I don’t know exactly how they got into debt, but this, I think it’s important to look at what was actually happening for people who might want to say, well,
[01:05:32] he wasn’t living off the back, he wasn’t grinding the faces of the poor like replication and like King Noah, but when we read that we should consider what the what the situation might actually have been. So. And and and interesting to look at these principles and to see how the same things happen every time and maybe that’s why God forbids and condemns these principles, these ways of living, just like if you read all of Jacob 2 in um contrast to, um, in, in contrast to Zion, you’ll see the first part about it is all about wealth and pride and living abundantly. and looking down on others who have less, and then the um the rest of it is about polygamy and I’m not even getting into this. I, I, it was a hard call, but I, um, some of you may know about, I think it’s called Yosepa. It’s um where the Polynesians who immigrated to Utah finally were sent to live, and that is one of the most tragic stories in Utah history. And so we’ll cover that at some point because it’s important to look at and to recognize and um. I don’t want to lay that all at the feet of the LDS Church because it sounds like all of Utah was pretty harsh and unwelcoming. And so that’s another horrible period that we need to look at and just see the difference between rich and poor. It’s impossible to really comprehend what this situation was. So I wish I, I, I after reading that, I went and read Seconi 26 and Oh, I just want to encourage you to go read that in contrast to what we’ve just read here. I’ll just read a few verses, um, 20 and 21 and then 28 through 30, and the Gentiles Gentiles are lifted up in the pride of their eyes and have stumbled because of the greatness of their stumbling block, and they have built up many churches. Nevertheless, they put down the power and miracles of God and preach up unto themselves their own wisdom and their own learning that they may get gain and grind upon the face of the poor. And there are many churches built up which cause envyings and strifes and malice when you think about all of this, like just, just applying it to this period, it just fits so well we can go into that more in the discussions if anyone has questions, skipping to 28, behold, hath the Lord commanded any that they should not partake of His goodness. Behold, I say unto you, nay, but all are privileged. The one like unto the other, and none are forbidden. He commandeth that there should be no priest crafts, for behold, priest craft. are that men preach and set themselves up for a light unto the world that they may get gain and praise of the world, but they seek not the welfare of Zion when you consider how it talks about the welfare of Zion and other verses that they labor not for themselves but for Zion and that in Zion we make sure that there are no poor, right? That’s what it means to labor for the welfare of Zion. Behold, the Lord hath forbidden this thing. Wherefore the Lord God hath given a commandment. That all men men should have charity, which charity is love, and except they should have charity, they were nothing. Wherefore, if they should have charity, they would not suffer the laborer in Zion to perish. If we have charity, we don’t live high on the hog while others are starving.
[01:08:49] And we follow the inspiration we’re given. We don’t grind the faces of the poor by collecting and demanding that they pay us money when we’re building palaces and mansions, right? It’s just so, so opposite from the principles of Zion. And so, um, I, I just want to read in closing one last verse Doctrine of the Covenants 104 15 to 17, and this is also the principles of Zion. And it is this is this is describing the unity, the law of consecration, the way that Zion is supposed to be built up, right? And we can compare it. And it is my purpose to provide for my saints, for all things are mine, but it must needs be done in my own way. And behold, this is the way I, the Lord, have decreed to provide for my saints, that the that the poor shall be exalted in that the rich are made low, for the earth is full and there is enough and to spare. Nobody needs to go. Yeah, I prepared all things and have given unto the children of men to be agents unto themselves. Therefore, if any man shall take of the abundance which I have made and impart not his portion according to the law of my gospel and to the poor and the needy, he shall with the wicked lift up his eyes in hell, being in torment. So I think it is important to look this square in the face, even though these might be hard things to hear and to understand. I hope nobody. Sees this as me somehow being destructive. If anyone’s angry at what they’re hearing, consider whether you should be angry at the messenger or angry at what was done and what happened, right? It’s really a tragic period in our history that we were given the principles of Zion and instead we followed the principles of polygamy, I guess I can call them for lack of a better word, because It’s just so interesting when people, it seems that even in societies where polygamy isn’t allowed, when people start to get elevated enough where they have enough wealth and enough power and enough fame or whatever it may be, they start to feel that they shouldn’t be constrained by any laws, including the lot why should they only have one woman when everything else is infinite, right? Um, and so it’s, it’s really interesting to see how that can happen even in our culture today where, you know, rich, powerful men maybe live sort of those same principles and um. We need to consider what God wants us to be, whether he wants us to be a a Zion people who follow his commandments and keep his covenants, or whether he wants us to be a polygamous people, because I would love anyone to show me any example of. Polygamy being lived for a long period of time that doesn’t follow this pattern. That is what it is built for. That is what what it does. It is, it is exactly antithetical to everything God has commanded about Zion. Zion is where the poor are exalted and that the the rich are made low and the poor are lifted up, right? Polygamy, the rich and the powerful are exalted. Oh, isn’t that interesting? Quite literally, according to the doctrine, right? On the backs of the poor and particularly on the backs of the women and the children, I, I just will testify to my last breath that that never was
[01:12:14] and never will be of God and I don’t know how anybody could disagree, but I, I, I welcome your comments. If anyone does disagree, I would love to hear your thoughts. So thank you again for listening to this episode. My name is Michelle Stone, and this is 132 Problems.
