84: Exposing the Expositor Part 2 – Polygamy, Game Over | 132 Problems: Revisiting Mormon Polygamy

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Links:
Nauvoo Expositor (Affidavits on pg 2)

Joseph Smith July 16 Sermon: Franklin D Richards William Clayton Levi Richards

Willard Richards – Joseph Smith “Journal”

High Council Minutes

Early History of the Reorganization by Edmund C. Briggs (searchable online version)

Nauvoo City Council Minutes: June 8,1844

-June 10, 1844

-Joseph Smith June 16, 1844 sermon

-Hyrum Smith April 8 Sermon

Happiness Letter

Catherine Lewis

Times and Season Feb. 1, 1844

Times and Seasons March 15, 1844

China Creek Letter Cut from History

Times and Seasons April 1, 1844

William Clayton Letter

William Clayton Affidavit

July 12, 1843 Official Business

Smith Family Land Deed (Emma and Children)

Hyrum Smith Land Deed

Joseph Smith Fought Polygamy online vol. 3, chapter 14 – chapter 15

Nauvoo School Announcement (pg 4, 2nd column)

Jason Briggs: Basis of Brighamite Polygamy

William Law 1887 Interview

Video on Nauvoo Counterfeiting

Transcript:

[00:00:00] Welcome to 132 problems revisiting Mormon Polygamy where we explore the scriptural and theological case for plural marriage. And in this episode, in particular, I think destroy the historical case for Joseph’s plural marriage. I am so glad that you are here. This, there is a lot that we are going to get to. I think you are going to be overwhelmed with information in this episode. In the best possible way. It has been slog so much research, so much work. But I think absolutely, totally worth it. I want to again, thank all of those serious, sincere thanks to anyone who has donated to this podcast and thank you to anyone else who feels like they can. I really appreciate it. I also want to say, I hope that you will share this episode far and wide. I think this information is so important and needs to be brought to the discussion. So I’m so glad that you are here. I want to get into it. So thank you for joining us as we take this deep dive into the quickly becoming less murky water of Joseph’s polygamy. I’m hoping that most of you have watched part one, but since it’s been a couple of weeks, I’m just going to do a quick recap. If you’ll remember, we spent that episode really digging into the character and especially the motivations of the nau conspirators, the laws fosters and Higby. I did that mainly to dispel the claim that polygamy was the issue that William Law in particular was just a loyal, faithful, honest guy who just couldn’t abide polygamy And then to show the character of all of those, um all of those conspirators. So we talked about their deep financial motivations that um I didn’t and and their corrupt business practices. I didn’t even go enough into that. There’s a lot of evidence that I didn’t cover of several of them using Joseph Smith’s name to defraud people out of their money to say Joseph is backing what I’m doing and getting people to invest or to buy in and then taking their money and the complaints would come afterwards to Joseph Smith. There were many other things like that. We talk about their immorality. Every single one of them had major moral problems from William Law’s adultery to Wilson law being caught on the floor with a teenage orphan girl to um uh is it Francis Higby, venereal disease? Chauncey Higby is joining with Bennett in the attempted seductions of young girls, not to mention everything happening with the fosters. It goes on and on and on. Right. So we talked about a lot of that. Then we went into their very blatant death threats against Joseph Smith. They’re joining with a guy like Joseph Jackson, the very worst person to ever enter anything to do with Mormonism or Nauvoo joining with him to plot to take out the entire Smith family um there. And then we talked about their strategy to try to usurp Joseph, take out the Smith family and take over his position. They started an alternate church. They did the entire legal strategy and several other things I wanted to continue on with that to um show the newspaper strategy, how they were using the newspapers and, and the rest of the legal strategy that they used to finally lead to the martyrdom. But so I was going to start there this time, but I really realized that there is just so much material and I don’t want people to feel like they’re being left hanging for the stuff about the affidavits. That’s a really, really big question. So I decided to just hit right on the affidavits in this episode. And then if I can stand to do anything else with the expositor in part three, I’ll go back to where I left off and cover the rest of those questions and get into, I guess I do need to do it because get into the, there are questions of credibility of the other sources that people think lend some credence to these claims against Joseph Smith Joseph and Hyrum Smith. So, so part two though, we are just going to get right to it, to the claims of the affidavits, right? And what they do show what they don’t show what they prove what they actually disprove all of all of those questions. So I’m first going to just read the affidavits. There are three of them, they’re not very long and then I’ll explain the claims about them and then we’ll start digging in. I I have to say one of the hardest things with all of this, but with this episode, in particular, was knowing how to get all of the information across. Like if I could just take what I’ve read and studied and just like put it into other people’s brains that would be so easy. But it’s really hard to get this piece and this piece and this piece that are all such important pieces. So I ask you to please stick me through this entire episode. Even if you need to take it in chunks come back, please make sure you get all the way to the end because there are very, very important pieces of evidence all the way through to the very end that you need to know. Even if you still want to insist that Joseph was the originator of polygamy and that the affidavits prove that

[00:05:02] you need this evidence. So you can at least argue from any credibility. You need to answer these incredibly important direct questions and problems to your case. You need to know what they are. So please don’t miss any of this episode. I’m gonna try and be as concise as I can. So let’s get on with it. Ok. The first affidavit is William Law. It says I hereby certify that Hiram Smith did in his office, read to me a certain written document which he said was a revelation from God. He said that he, he, he said that he was with Joseph when it was received. He afterwards gave me the document to read and I took it to my house and read it and showed it to my wife and returned it the next day. The revelations so called authorized certain men to have more wives than one at a time in this world and in the world to come, it said this was the law and commanded Joseph to enter into the law and also that he should administer to others. Several other items were in the revelation supporting the above doctrines, doctrines, William Law, Hancock County, right? So that’s William Laws and um oh, there are so many things I want to say about all of these as I go, but I’ll try to just keep keep going. But no, he doesn’t tell us when this supposedly happened. We don’t have any indication of a day a time, a time of year, even a year. So let’s get to the next one. This is Jay law. Um William Law’s wife, I certify that I read the revelation referred to in the above affidavit of my husband. It sustained in strong terms, the doctrine of more wives than one at a time in this world. And in the next, it authorized some to have to the number of 10 and set forth that those women who would not allow their husband to have more wives and one should be under the condemnation before God Jane Law. So there’s, there’s the next one. These were all taken May 4th 1844 and printed in the June 7th novel Expositor. So the next one, I’m going to skip over the legalese. This was Austin Cells. I’ll start here in the latter part of the summer 1843 the patriarch Hiram Smith did in the High Council of which I was a member, introduced what he said was a revelation given through the prophet that the said Hiram Smith did. Essay that means endeavor to read the said revelation in the said council that according to his reading, there was contained the following doctrines. First, the sealing up of persons to eternal life against all sins, save that of shedding innocent blood or of consenting. Thereto second, the doctrine of a plurality of wives or marrying virgins that David and Solomon had many wives. Yet in this, they sinned not save in the matter of Uriah. This revelation with other evidence that the Aforesaid heresies were taught and practiced in the church determined me to leave the office of first counselor to the president of the church at Nauvoo inasmuch as I dared not teach or administer such laws and further depoit sayeth not. So that’s Austin cells. Ok. There’s so much to go over here. I think that we’re going to have to save for the third part really getting into the claims in these um in depth and looking at all of the other. Well, the very few other claims of polygamy that um, the nauer made or that any of the um, signers of the Africa Davids or any of the conspirators made because that will be an important thing to see if this really was an issue. That was a true issue at all and if they had any information about it. So, um, but right now we’re just going to look at these affidavits, there’s so much to cover here. So first just pay attention to who it was that witnessed these and signed them who the lawyer was. Right. Robert Foster, again, the murderous guy who held a gun to his wife’s head, wife’s head and aimed guns at Joseph Smith and many others. He was just threatening to kill everyone all over the place. So it doesn’t prove anything just again, speaks to the character of this crew that was, that was doing this. So, ok, so the argument is, I’ll restate it, right. These were published during Joseph Smith’s life a few weeks before he was killed, they contain clear similarities to parts of section 132 the plurality of wives, eternal polygamy as a law condemnation of women who object mention of virgins mentioning David and Solomon sealed up despite any sin but murder. So those are the similarities for now in this episode, we’ll have to say that we will ignore the equally if not far more important differences between the affidavits and section 132. We’re just going to look at this claim. They say, since all of those things are the same, these affidavits prove that 132 as we have it. Now, the revelation existed in during Joseph’s lifetime. So they prove that Joseph was the originator of polygamy. So OK, I just have to really quickly say again, as many of you will understand if you would put it in a different context. It is very easy to feel certain about things when you don’t have very much information about them,

[00:09:56] right? Everyone who has left the church, who used to have a fervent testimony, but then learned a little bit more should be able to understand that including those of us who stay in the church and have learned more, right? It’s really easy to have black and white certain thinking when you just don’t have all of the information. So I’m hoping that you will understand the importance of getting more information, getting a better grasp on the information trying to understand why you think, you know what you think, you know and where it comes from, right? So that you can know how to make more reliable claims. So the critical question, the Nauvoo expositor affidavits pro pose is, was the revelation William and Jane Law claim to see and that Austin Cowell’s claim to hear red in the Nauvoo Council, the same as what we now have in section 132 right? That’s the question we’re investigating. That’s what we’re going to try to answer in this episode. And um that seems to be the consensus from all the church historians, the other historians, all of the anti MS like this is what everyone says, which the more I’ve looked in it, I cannot understand why, but it seems to be the consensus. So we’re going to try to get to the bottom of it and see if it should be the consensus, if this should be what we believe. And so, um anyway, remember also that most of the narrative, well, all of the narrative we have about section 132 comes from William Clayton, right? And his testimony. So we’re going to look into that to some extent as well. So we can understand what we think we know to get to the bottom of this. We need to ask a few additional questions because they form the basis of our narrative that 132 as we now have it existed and is what Hyrum read to the City council and passed around the city. So the first question is, is our understanding of the coming forth of section 132 trustworthy. Can we believe those claims based solely in William Clayton on William Clayton? Right. Second, are the authors of the affidavits fully trustworthy. Can we believe absolutely everything they say for sure. And third, is there possibly any other explanation, maybe one that is much better, that makes a lot more sense that relies far less on the highly spurious accounts and that matches up with the rest of the evidence. And that is just much more solid and reliable in every way. Is that a possibility? That’s what we’re going to explore. So spoiler, I vote for number three. There is there is that is the best answer because there is a much better explanation that I think that you will see in this episode and continuing on into further episodes. The best answer for all of this is the evidence, the solid evidence that certain elders including Brigham, Young Hebrew C Kimball and others including William, the wannabe Clayton who desperately just wanted to be included in anything. What could, what could make that guy happier than to be able to claim that he was alone with Joseph and Hyrum and he wrote the revelation that no one else knew about. Uh um stay tuned. I hope that you guys have watched the first episode. I did with Jeremy Hoop on William Clayton. We are about to record the second episode on William Clayton that will air the week after this one does. So I really hope you guys will stay tuned to that because there is this guy matters. It’s important to really understand him. So anyway, those elders were going around pursuing polygamy falsely invoking Joseph’s name just as John Bennett has done just as the the expositor conspirators did about their investments and their attempted seductions, right? And very possibly passing around at least one if not possibly more fake revelations, which they claimed falsely were from Joseph and then later, further edited and amalgamated with the true revelation from Joseph on eternal marriage that we will get into. They put those all together to create what we now have as section 132. If you are tempted to laugh this off, I challenge you to actually listen to this entire episode and then then let’s talk, then I’m happy to engage and answer questions. I love that. So please just get the information first. So even as I said, even if you want to continue to argue, no, absolutely. I insist that the expositor proves that 132 came from Joseph Smith based on William Clayton’s Games. Even if you want to continue to insist that you need this information to be able to do so with any credibility whatsoever, you need to answer these things. So OK, here we go where this is where we’re gonna start. And remember our entire understanding is based on William Clayton, right? As I said, so we’re, we’re gonna go into this much more later. And, um, but if we look at what he wrote in his journal, right? What we claim is his journal and what he testified 30 years later in a 1871 letter and in 1874 affidavit, he claims that he wrote the revelation for Joseph the morning of July 12th, 1844. The reason he wrote it is because Hyrum wanted to convince Emma and, and said the doctrine is so plain,

[00:15:11] I can get any man or woman to believe it. If they can just hear the revelation, he knew that, that they would believe it. So that’s the claim we have July 2nd, 1843 right? Just four days later, Sunday, July 16th, 1843. After four days after Joseph dictated this most important revelation of the restoration, at least according to Brigham Young and the polygamists, that’s what they always said. Um When his, so he had just received this revelation, his marriage was barely hanging on by a thread, right? Remember according to this claim, he had to give Emma all of the church property and all of the city property just to keep her from divorcing him. Right? Based again, only on Clayton’s claims, there’s no other evidence for that. We’ll go, we’ll get into it but this Sunday the 16th Joseph preached all day, both morning and evening at the stand in the grove, near and west of the temple, the temple that was under construction. So Joseph preached the entire day four days after receiving these this revelation, right? And I need to point out these were important sermons among many other things without mentioning names. He spoke of secret enemies in the cities, foes of his own house. He also announced Hiram was now to be the prophet and president of the church. Joseph would no longer prophesy. Hiram had that authority because it was his birthright. So that was a big, big thing to announce, right? There were some other things as well. That afternoon, he taught principles of eternal marriage. And what’s awesome about this is we have contemporary nus accounts and multiple accounts. So it’s not depending on one guy or on 30 years later memories, we know that this happened. Joseph taught on eternal marriage while his marriage was hanging on by a thread. Right. Right. After receiving a revelation on polygamy. So interesting. So um we’ll read some of the various accounts. Franklin D Richards, I think is the best. It has the most information. Um He recorded that Joseph taught all blessings that were ordained for man by the council of Heaven were on the conditions of obedience to the law thereof. No man can obtain an eternal blessing until the contract or covenant be made in view of eternity. Remember some of these code words, right? Or these important phrases in view of eternity, all contracts in view of this life, only in view of this life, only terminate with this life. And then he spoke of the case of the woman and seven husbands in Luke 20 right? OK. So keep that in mind as well. I’ll go into it a little bit more. But remember the sadducees came to Jesus and said, whose wife would this woman be if her seven husbands die? And it was a trick question about love, right? Something that didn’t apply anymore. That was just an old law for old times. So Joseph, that question made him think, oh, Jesus says they’d no longer give or are giving in marriage. And so Joseph wanted to know what that meant for marriage and received these answers about eternal marriage that you need to be married in view of eternity. And he got that based on Luke 20. Remember some of these critical things and those who don’t are only made angels to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation, never becoming sons of God. Having never kept the law of God ie eternal law. OK. That’s what Joseph taught William. Now, it’s important in this because I know people might just have it so amalgamated in their brain that they can’t, they can’t recognize the very important distinctions, right? Some of these things are in section 132. That doesn’t mean that all of these things are in section 132. That’s the whole point, right. So, so anyone who needs to keep it straight in their brain, it’s a good idea to go through and check. Ok, this fits here. This fits here, but it’s not clean because remember Brigham’s way of doing things, Joan’s way was to add little keywords here. Switch up little phrases here, right? That’s kind of the, the way, the way that they did things. But let’s keep going on. William Clayton recorded and I’ll include his because it lines up with what the other people recorded. He showed that man must enter into an internal covenant with his wife in this world or he will have no claim on her in the next. He said that he could not reveal the fullness of these things until the temple is completed, et cetera. Um So it is interesting that William Clayton at other times later on really fills out and adds a lot of additional teachings. But this is what he had teach, taught what he claimed. Joseph taught in this sermon that does fit with the other accounts. This is from Levi Richards. He said that Joseph spoke of contracts and covenants made from life, made from life and with life, the necessity of the temple that the servants of God may be sealed in their foreheads. So you can see some of the similarities, right? Willard Richards account in Joseph’s journal, which we know was not kept contemporaneously because we know

[00:20:10] that he always recorded it later on. Even the Joseph Smith papers, historians admit this, that he would get notes and different things and then bring them together and then later on create the journal, right? So, um this is the entry for the 16th of July 1843 Sunday preached all day or am and pm at the stand in the grove near and west of the temple concerning a man’s foes being bay of his own house, such as having secret enemies in the ci city intermingling with the Satans, et cetera and proposing Hiram Smith as a prophet that he might be a priest. So, so the hearers tell the story. So apparently, Willard wasn’t even there and he didn’t ask Joseph, he just listened to other people. Then this is what’s interesting. He didn’t include anything else. He didn’t include anything about eternal marriage, right? He left four lines blank and then he left the entire next page blank. So apparently, so that he could come fill it in after they figured out what they needed or wanted it to say, right? Remember he was one of these polygamists. So um again, point out the entire day of preaching, saying extremely shocking things including that Hiram is now the president and the prophet um which caused a lot of upheaval and a lot of pushback um claiming that we have traitors among us, which also caused a lot of upheaval and a lot of pushback. And also saying that marriage must be for eternity, um which also was a revolutionary doctrine because it seemed to contradict the Bible. And that caused quite a bit of pushback, right? These were all very revolutionary things that he was willing to say. Again, he taught this while his marriage was on the rocks, right? When he had just um dictated the revelation on polygamy. But this is, this is what he taught all day. And for people who like speak and preach and teach, you need some preparation, put some thought into that, right? You get your thoughts together, you really rely on the spirit and you see the Lord developing ideas. So it’s really weird that he would have this revelation, have all of this on his mind and none of it would show up in an entire day of preaching. None of it would show up anywhere even in his mood or in like, right? Nothing was recorded. So that’s a problem right there. And then um also, it’s weird that doc that Hiram would claim the doctrine is so plain. I convince I can convince any reasonable man or woman of its truth, purity and heavenly origin that’s from of, of um Clayton’s records that he thought it was so plain and so obvious that anyone would get it. But he didn’t say anything about it at all or even anything like it, it doesn’t show up at all. So it’s really, really interesting. I, I will say that I wish I had read all of this, done all of this research before I did my episode on what about eternal marriage? Because I didn’t realize that Joseph taught about eternal marriage so extensively and having absolutely nothing to do with polygamy. So those who want to claim that polygamy and eternal marriage are indistinguishably tied together just because they show up together in section 132 they’re actually completely wrong. We have Joseph on record extensively teaching about eternal marriage about being married in view of eternity without anything to do with polygamy. So that’s a really good thing to know that made me happy. And again, this provides a the beginning of the evidence that there were separate documents, right, that there were separate things going around. So, um apparently though, however, according to Austin Cowell’s narrative um in the expositor, while it was too dangerous to teach anything about the revelation four days after it was written to all of the faithful Saints. Hiram freely read the revelation just a month later to the entire High Council, right? So the reason it couldn’t be known is because it was so super secret, except when it wasn’t, except when it could be public made public, right? And Cal’s again, just like um the laws, he doesn’t give us a date. He says it was the latter part of the summer in 43 we have conflicting dates of when that supposed happened mostly from other much later and motivated sources, right? Who gave statements after the Clayton narrative had been established, which was done in f with full awareness of Cowell’s affidavit, right? It’s not hard to make things match up when you have full access to the previous claims. But in any case, despite the inconsistent dates, the church has settled on August 12th as the date that Hiram supposedly read this revelation, but we can’t confirm it because

[00:24:41] there is no record of this happening. The High Council kept minutes, right? It was pretty, pretty organized, pretty important to keep records. We know that that’s part of what they did. And these are the only contemporary contemporaneous records. We have even Cell’s statement, which is the first claim we have of Hiram reading this that doesn’t come until a year later, right? So the very best records we have of what happened in the High Council are the High Council minutes and here they are. And you’ll notice it’s really interesting how sparse they are, how little is written. There are again, later claims, cleaning that away. But what we have right here are the contemporaneous records. So let’s read them. August 12th, 1843 council met according to um, adjournment, I think at Hiram Smith’s office, no business before the council teaching by President Hiram Smith and William Marks adjournment till next Sunday, two o’clock PM Jos stout clerk. Then the 19th, I’ll just include that for good measure. Um, council met according to adjournment at Hiram’s office with Marx and Cowell’s presiding. Then it goes on to give a list of those who attended. Right. And it doesn’t have Hiram listed as, as attending there, which is maybe part of why we say it was the 12th that he must have taught it. So a couple of things to point out, right? Just like I said, they kept these minutes for a reason so that they would have a record of what happened. And um many meetings have very extensive detailed records of, of all of the business that happened. If something this major would have happened, Hiram shocking the entire High Council with by reading this revelation, there would be record of it, right? It would have been included in the minutes for sure. It would have at the very least been written in journals in letters. We have so many letters going around with um ideas of things that were being taught. There is not a single record of Hyrum reading this until well, first Austin cells and then the decades later claims that were built on what Austin Cell said. So I think that’s important to recognize anyone who wants to claim it was just too dangerous that he, you know, they couldn’t write anything about it that falls flat. It’s so ludicrous to claim that when Hiram read it to the entire High Council. Right? And when there were already all of these wives and all of these people being brought into it every time you tried to bring someone into it, you were risking them revealing it. And Hiram wasn’t even carefully trying to bring people into it. He just read the dang thing and not in front of the whole High council. So um so it’s, it’s impossible to believe that there would be no record of it in any journal anywhere other than William Clayton. He’s our only source for this happening, right? And so, um anyway, then the things to note I think is that we’ll just go quickly over no attendance list is given on the 19th. So we don’t actually even know who was there. You will see that people will claim to know who was there, but they must, the only attendance is listed on the 19th. So people must be dishonestly applying the attendance on the 19th to the 12th because we don’t have an attendance for the 12th. Then the fact that the the the minutes are used though to claim this was the day because they say teaching by President Hiram Smith, that’s used to confirm that this was the day the polygamy revelation was read. But the huge thing that they completely unders um like ignore and neglect and try to brush away is that the teaching was done by Hiram Smith and William marks the state president, the highest in authority at the meeting, other than Hiram, this, he was the state president and this was his high council, right? He was not only there, he was presiding and teaching alongside Hiram that day and he never heard anything about the polygamy revelation. I find this, I find it unbelievable that people completely ignoring gloss over this fact. And so like the contemporaneous minutes we have right now right here for the meeting should disprove this claim. The same way we used to claim Hyrum was teaching. So it must have been then William Marks was teaching as well. And so remember, let’s go over a few things about William Marks. He was extreme. He is universally recognized as a very good man with a ton of integrity, not like William Law who was on who that was only claimed by himself in the fraudulent Mark Hoffman version of his diary. And by those who were using his testimony to go after Joseph Smith. You know, for the anti Mormons, anyone who was on their side was a very good person. Not like that. William Marks genuinely from everyone on all sides was recognized as a very good man of deep integrity and goodness and selflessness. And so like some people thought he should have made a claim for the church.

[00:29:40] He didn’t, right. He just tried to do what he thought was right. He tried to help Emma after the martyrdom, but he was quite violently whittled out of town by Brigham’s gangs. And so, um, the whistlers and whittlers that were actually fully grown men with Bowie knives, right. That would, would often rough people up quite a bit on their way out of town. So, um, this is who William Marks is. And I read several, I also want to point out remind everyone he gave a very consistent account throughout his life of a conversation he had with Joseph Smith just a few weeks before he was killed. He did not vary that account. It’s very consistent, which gives it even more credibility, right? I read three versions. I think of it in my episode I did on the RL even the R LDS admit that Joseph was a polygamist that was said tongue in cheek, right? And I will read two other versions here to make it even more clear. So this is reading from William Marks just before his death. So almost a year after that high council meeting, I had quite a long talk with him, meaning Joseph Smith, I had been feeling badly about the rumors that were being circulated about polygamy. And those old stories started by John C Bennett concerning spiritual wives. And I was fearful that Joseph was mixed up with them in some way. So remember not the only way he knows about the stories of spiritual wifey or polygamy are from John C Bennett, not from Joseph or Hyrum. And if he had heard a revelation from Hiram that had been given to Joseph, he wouldn’t have to wonder if Joseph was mixed up in it. He would know. Right. Um, let’s see. But in his conversation, he denounced all those things in the strongest language possible and I became satisfied that Joseph was not abetting the crime of polygamy in any sense or form. And in fact, he told me that he would go on the stand the very next Sunday and announce it publicly and also advised me to look up the matter in the most thorough manner. And if I found anyone in the church who was teaching spiritual wives or any form of polygamy to bring charges against them, and he would help me to prosecute them until the church was cleansed of all such characters. Ok? You can claim that Joseph was lying. If you know that’s how people might be hearing this, but then William Marks would have to be lying too. You have to make sense of that, right? And the fact is this is consistent with everything Joseph consistently always did that we will go into. Um his language was in such earnest solicitude for the welfare of the church and against evil in any direction that I was much encouraged and was determined to stand by him to my utmost ability. I then said, this is now Edmund Briggs speaking brother Marx. Do you know anything of that purported revelation concerning polygamy as published in the seer by Orson Pratt. So remember this was the, the, um, the revelation section 132 wasn’t printed in the doctrine of covenants until 1876 I believe. And so at this time, the only place they had access to it was in Orson Pratt this year. And, um, he replied, I never saw any such thing until I saw it in Pratt’s paper. Nor did I ever hear of it during Joseph’s life. It was evidently gotten up by Brigham Young and some of the 12 after Joseph’s death, he said, I think Joseph had been deceived in some men who were hovering around him and that he had not been aware of their real character until just before his death. In fact, since then, I have been led to believe that it was hidden from Joseph until just before his death. So that’s on, um Briggs book. I’ll show the cover of it. Page 106. And there’s yet another account, another conversation later in his life when Edmund Briggs reported a conversation he had with William Marks. So the first one is first hand from William Marks. This is, um, Edwin Briggs reporting a conversation. He said, did you when you had that conversation with bro, brother Joseph think he had been in any way mixed up in polygamy or had favored it? He replied, meaning marks, no, I had more confidence in him at that time than I ever had in my life. Before and was satisfied that he was pure from that gross crime. I had been troubled over the condition of the church for some time and been fearful that Joseph did not bring the pressure against some men in the church that he should have done. And that seems to be accurate. Right. That’s how Joseph got himself in trouble. Like we’ve already talked about, he was too forgiving, he always believed in second chances. He was too trusting. William Marks thought he should have gotten rid of people before he did. And he was probably right. Um, you see from John C Bennett’s time, there had been so many rumors going, going the rounds. I was fearful that there might be something in the stories afloat that might implicate Joseph. And this was an interesting thing to see as well that he was like everyone is saying this,

[00:34:19] there must be some truth to it, right? It’s the same case we make. If there’s this much smoke, there has to be fire. So many people were starting rumors that even William Marks Joseph Joseph’s close friend and the state president worried that there might be some truth to it. I think that can help us understand a lot of the later testimonies we have as well. Right. So many people heard so many things, they just knew them for sure and assumed that they were true. My husband mentioned in the episode I did with him that one of his hang ups is that Sidney Rigdon didn’t speak out more vociferously in defense of Joseph, but maybe he was suffering from the same situation. Who knows? Right. I think this is an important insight that Marx gives us here. Um But um let’s see, but Joseph was so free and positive in his denunciation of polygamy in every form that I took courage. And I could see Joseph was in earnest and felt just as I did about it. But before the Sunday, following our conversation, Joseph was having his suit and was killed before he had a chance to commence his investigation against those who those whom he had suspicion of teaching it privily. This also matches up with an account we have from William Smith that I’m just thinking of right now. So I don’t have it written down. But where he was at a dinner with Joseph just before his life and told him what Brigham and some of the elder elders were doing and, and Joseph said, uh let me take care of these other things and then I will take care of that and said, I’m going to have problems with Brigham. He knew he was going to have troubles, that was also reported right before his death. Um continuing with Marx. But I thought he, I thought he had been deceived in some of the men and elders of the church and had too much confidence in some of them. I then said, brother Marx. Did you ever see the revelation on polygamy before it was published in 1852 by Mr Pratt Marx emphatically replied, no, never. You were president of the stake at N NAVOO. And if Joseph had had such a revelation, would you not have been privileged according to custom, to have seen it or heard of it? Yes, he replied. He replied yes. Without a doubt, there was no such revelation and that’s true, right? These secret revelations, that wasn’t a thing. There was no such revelation in existence when I lived in Navoo just after Joseph’s death, Brigham Young would have, this is important as well. Just after Joseph’s death, Brigham Young would have showed it to me when I opposed his measures, right? If there was a succession crisis, if Brigham had this revelation from Joseph, he would have showed it to prove his case. Absolutely. That’s such a good point. But he never pretended to any such thing to me that there was that there was such a revelation on the subject from Joseph. So those are pretty important testimonies to consider from the man who was standing alongside Hyrum Smith teaching with him in that meeting, like each one of these should be enough. But there’s so much more, there’s so much more, there’s so much more I I do want to hear from any professional historian or anybody else who still wants to claim that a Hyrum read section 132 at the August 12th, 1843 High Council meeting. They need to deal honestly with this. I am wide open to hearing your explanations as long as they’re not incredibly weak and stupid or just ignoring it. Really let maybe there is a good explanation for this. I have yet to hear it. So, ok, moving on the city council meetings then the following year when they were dealing with the expositor, those city council meetings, we went into um part one on June 8th and June 10th. Um important information is added there as well. Um They record Joseph’s and Hiram’s responses to Austin Cowell’s claims that they, that Hiram read that revelation, whatever it was and they line up perfectly with all of the other accounts and records that we have other than William Clayton and the later Utah decades later. Um testimonies, right? That’s why it’s important to look at the contemporaneous things because some of these things are a mess. William Clayton sticks out like a sore thumb. Everything else lines up perfectly except him. That’s why we call him into question. That’s why we need to do the deep dive. That’s why his quote diaries which have never been released are so important and so suspect, I think it’s valid to ask those questions. So, ok, let’s go into the city council meetings in both June 8th and in both the June 8th and June 10th meetings. Um Hiram explained very clearly that quote the revelation read to the High Council was an answer to a question concerning things which transpired in former days and had no reference to the present time. So this is actually the only way other than Austin cells. This is the only way we know that Hiram did read a revelation in the High Council meeting because he said he did

[00:38:58] and he very likely could have read it on the day he was teaching with William Marks. So the question is, did Hi Hiram read a revelation? The question is what revelation might Hiram have read that William Marks could have heard and still not heard anything about polygamy or section 132 right? And then on the 10th, he repeats himself and says, he said that it referred to former days not to the present time as stated by cows. Joseph added on inquiry of the passage in the resurrection. They neither marry nor are given in marriage I received for answer. Men in this life must be married in view of eternity. That was the amount of the revelation. Otherwise they must remain, remain as angels in heaven. Ok? Will you please note how that matches up perfectly with Franklin D Richards, contemporaneous account of exactly what Joseph taught publicly, right? Let’s put them side by side. All blessings that were ordained for man, by the council of Heaven were on the conditions of obedience to the laws thereof. No man can attain an eternal blessing unless lest the contract or covenant be made in view of eternity, right? He said they must be married in view of eternity. All contracts in this life only terminate with this life. And talks about the case of the woman with seven husbands, which is Luke 20 which is exactly what Joseph refers to. It’s Luke 2035. That verse where they neither marry nor are given in marriage that Joseph was talking about when he received this revelation on eternal marriage, which would have been what Hiram Smith read. It’s consistent with everything we know. There are more things that go on. Otherwise they must be single and alone in the eternal world. And that and are only made angels to minister to those who will be heirs of salvation, never becoming sons of God, never having kept the law of God. You can see the similarities there, right? If you want to claim that there are similarities between the affidavits and 132 will you please acknowledge the incredible similarities between what we know Joseph preached publicly and what he claimed the revelation was that he acknowledged that he preached publicly, that he spent a whole day preaching on or at least a whole afternoon, right? And that Hiram later read to the High Council, which would be fine to do because it had already been preached publicly. Can we make sense of all of this, please? It fits perfectly. Oh, also, let’s note that. It’s talking about Luke chapter 20 which again is talking about Leverett marriage, which is a law from former times that had no reference to today. Right. Exactly. As Hyrum said, marriage was a terrible old testament ridiculous law because as we, as I went into on the episode on that women were property of the family, they were purchased and if their husband died, then the woman hadn’t, you know, fulfilled the investment that the family put into her by having Children for the family. That’s what that was based in. It had no reference today. So Hiram also was completely accurate in saying it was just about the laws from the former times. Not for today, makes complete sense stands up. It’s consistent. This works perfectly right, as opposed to all of the later lies. So, um anyway, we can read those scriptures that it came from. This is um oh no, what I want to go to now is looking at how this part got amalgamated into section 132 right? If we read verses 15 through 17, you’ll see how they match up perfectly with what Joseph and Hyrum claimed the revelation was and what they both taught publicly. Therefore, if a man marry him, a wife in the world and he marry her, not by me nor by my word. And he covenant with her so long as he is in the world and she with him, their covenant in marriage are not of force when they are dead and when they are out of the world, therefore, they are not bound by any law when they are out of the world. See how this matches up perfectly. Therefore, when they are out of the world, they neither marry nor are given in marriage. There’s the reference to Luke 20 but are appointed as angels in heaven as both Joseph said publicly and said, he said in the city council meeting are as angels in heaven, which angels are ministering servants to minister to those who are worthy of a are more at an exceeding and eternal weight of glory for these angels did not abide my law. Therefore, they cannot be enlarged but remain separately and singly without exaltation in their saved condition to all eternity. And from henceforth, are not gods but are angels of God forever and ever. And I can’t know if that last part is, you know, like Joseph, I mean, Brigham added things here and there. But this, when I had that experience of the Lord saying which parts are from me? Sorry. Um That was a really profound experience I had and I’m just remembering the confirmation when I read these verses, that was my experience. So now being able to nail down that they actually we have the record to prove that

[00:43:55] that’s pretty profound to me. I I’m this is this has been a really cool study to embark upon. I also want to point out how I have talked repeatedly in previous episodes going over how polygamy does not work scripturally how these verses in particular throughout this entire section are strictly and specifically monogamous. It says repeatedly throughout this, if a man marry a wife, right? It says it in verse 15, verse 18, verse 19 and verse 26 a man marry a wife. It is purely monogamous. It then describes the process that the to go through as a couple together, to progress, to exultation, to have their, their covenant sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise. Right? And I broke down in that episode, how it couldn’t work in any other way. These verses don’t only, I mean, only don’t allow for polygamy or introduce polygamy. They actually preclude polygamy because the process it describes in these verses cannot work except one on 11 and one husband and wife, man and woman together. That’s the only way it works. So a completely consistent record. And right there, you can see how these different things were amalgamated into section 132. I hope this is becoming more and more clear. It’s pretty amazing. Um Let’s see. Also, the mayor said he had never preached the revelation in private as he had in public. Again, we have the record. He preached it publicly on the temple stand, right? And um and he had not taught it to the anointed in the church in private, which many there at the meeting confirmed. So there were many a sense that’s true. And so this again matches up perfectly with the rest of the record. And um Joseph Joseph’s um sermon July 16th, 1844 he said, I am bold to declare that I have taught all the strong doctrines publicly and always stronger than what I teach in private. Again, that’s true. That’s consistent. He would have a revelation and reveal it publicly, right? Those were strong doctrines that he taught that day when he talked about Hiram becoming the president and the prophet and talked about eternal marriage and talked about that. I mean, those were strong doctrines, right? He didn’t teach him secretly, go around and then give just like simple things in public. That’s he never did that. So it wouldn’t make sense just as he said that he didn’t do. I also, well, there’s one more thing I want to point out that um let’s see. Oh again, it would be so illogical for Joseph to be claiming these things here in this city council meeting. Again, this was not a public meeting. These were not public records. Joseph wasn’t putting on a performance to try to get something. He was seriously trying to grapple with what was happening. There was no reason for him to be lying. Many of the people in the city council meeting were also would have also been in the high council meeting, right? They like, why would, why would he allow this to be preached publicly in the High Council meeting and then just lie about it in the city council meeting. It’s so ridiculous to make these claims. It just does not make any sense. And again, to claim that like Joseph surrounded himself, that the people would have sent to it in the city council because Joseph just surrounded himself by sycophants. And yes man, that’s, that’s laughable as well because it’s his very own first counselors in his first presidency. That are the reason that he’s having to deal with this at all. Joseph absolutely did not surround himself only by yes men who would just say whatever he wanted them to say. Or John Bennett and William Law wouldn’t have done this. Not to mention all of the others, Sidney Rig and all of the Oliver cry, all of the people who, who he did not surround himself by Yes men. He was not one who the only way you could do that is if you have authoritarian control as his successor did and he was surrounded by yes men because he had authoritarian control. So everyone stayed in line with what he wanted. That’s not who Joseph Smith did and that’s not what Joseph Smith was about which the record makes clear he didn’t have control over other people because he didn’t seek to have control over other people. So, oh, there’s so much more I want to say, but let’s just keep going. Ok Joseph Smith said, also, they make it a criminality for a man to have a wife on earth while he has one in heaven according to the keys of the Holy priesthood. And he read the statement of William Law and the expositor where the, the truth of God was transformed into a lie. OK. This one was interesting to dig into. So I went through and looked at law’s statement to see what Joseph would have read here. And it’s the revelation so called, authorized certain men to have more wives than one at a time in this world and in the world to come. So Joseph who clearly had never seen this false revelation and he didn’t know what it was about and he was trying to make sense of it. He connected la’s statement of having

[00:48:57] more than one wife on earth and in heaven, I think it makes the most sense. He connected it to the claims that because Hyrum had a dead wife who he was sealed to that, that somehow justified polygamy. I think that he made that, that’s what Joseph thought law must be talking about because Hiram’s wife to Rusia had died. And we have Hiram on record extensively talking about this exact problem. So they knew this was a problem, right? So Joseph saying they turned the truth of God into a lie. Eternal marriage was the truth of God. And polygamy was the lie that they turned it into by their willful misunderstanding. And so, um let’s, let’s look into Hyrum Smith’s speech that’s famous um April 8th sermon. And I want to point out we have Thomas Bullock’s record of it, but we also have records I now have found. Um, thank you. I just want to thank Cheryl Klute again and the prices for their great work because they just like Cheryl Klute told me the chapters to read and I read and the prices had done such great work on this. They didn’t have all of the pieces I have now because I have the Joseph Smith papers that they didn’t have and I’ve been able to do more work, but they sure helped to let me see what is in the R LDS record. And so we do have this speech recorded in, in um you know, not, not extensively, but we do have records of it in the R LDS record which interestingly, the LDS always claimed the that were lies until now we have the Joseph Smith papers so we can validate and verify that the R LDS and the clue and the um prices were correct all along. I just think that’s really interesting. So I have to give that shout out. But um let’s see, I want to read, oh, so this is the Thomas Bullock version, Hyrum speech, which is the one that there’s still so much misunderstanding about this. Thomas Bullock’s version has been removed from the Joseph Smith’s papers. Project. The church historians under Brigham Young took Thomas Bullock’s version and altered it and changed it and adjusted it just like they did with Joseph’s journal and with the letter written to the Relief Society and so many other things they altered it. And that is still available on the Joseph Smith papers project. And that altered version is what’s included in the church narrative and in the book Saints. And it is so incredibly deceptive, I just can’t even believe it. So, even people who I found a couple of websites where people are trying to call out this deception, that the, that the Joseph Smith papers has again removed the speech, they’re again trying to make it disappear and people don’t know and, and some people are using the altered version prepared for the church history that was edited and claiming that that’s the original Thomas Bullock version. And it’s not, we don’t have a transcript of it. You have to go through the original, like, really hard to read. Well, I’ll show it to you the Thomas Bullock version to try to read what the original sermon was. So that’s what I’ve done. And I’m going to read parts of it here. I’m to read extensively because this is the sermon that Hyrum gave apparently like eight or nine months after he read the beautiful clear revelation 132 to Emma Smith and then to the High Council and then he gave this speech um nine months later. So here it is one reason I speak to the elders is in consequence of the 10,000 reports which come to me from abroad. Almost every fool man runs to me to inquire if such and such things are true. And how many spiritual wives a man may have. I know nothing about it. What he might call a spiritual wife. I should not know anything about in about half an hour. Um In, in about half an hour after he is gone, another person begins to say, the elders tell such and such things all over the country. I am authorized to tell you from henceforth that any man who comes, comes in and tells any such damn fool doctrine to tell him to give up his license. We’ll talk a little bit more about licenses. The elders were written licenses that were their approval to speak on behalf of, you know, to do their missionary work. None but a fool teaches such stuff. The devil himself is not such a fool and every elder who teaches such stuff ought to have his nose rung and anyone found guilty of such teaching will be published and his license will be taken from him. I wish the elders of Israel to understand it is lawful for a man to marry a wife, but it is unlawful to have more. And God has not commanded any of you to have more. And if any of you dare to presume to do any such things, it will spoil your fun for. You will never, never have the spirit of God to preach to the gospel. I despise a man who teaches a pack of stuff that will disgrace himself. So for a man to go into the world and to talk of this spiritual wife system, he is as, as empty as an open

[00:53:46] sepher. If the coat suits anyone, let him put it on. I would call the devil my brother before such a man. I know I’ve read this before in another episode, but we have to read it again because it is so important. Now, he like Joseph goes on to teach the true doctrine of eternal marriage. So there we, here we get the truth of God after he has dispelled the lie, the idea of marrying for eternity is the seal of the covenant and is easily understood. And as to speaking of it, I could make all the world believe it for. See, that’s where we get that. It’s so plain. I could make anyone believe it. It comes from this speech. Do you see what they do? I could make all the world believe it for it is noble and grand. It is necessary in consequence of the broken covenants in this world. Um I read that what God, I read that what God joins together. Let no man put asunder. When I look at the seal of the covenant, it is during the natural lives, but it is, but it is an end there. But what is done by the Lord has an endless duration. No man is married in the morning of the resurrection. But the marriage covenant must be joined by one who has authority in order to have effect in the mourning of the resurrection. Perfect teaching on eternal marriage, right? Just like Joseph Smith taught and they both claimed just like the revelation that Joseph received and that Hiram read to the City Council. And for anyone who wants to say, well, then why doesn’t, why didn’t they publish it? Hyrum goes on to say these are not things that should be published abroad. Like he was saying, basically, this is the temple work. Joseph said, I can’t more of this until we have the temple finish which by the way, they never finished. But that’s what Joseph said. And that’s what Hiram says here as well. Like this is not meant to be published abroad. This is meant to be taught to the saints in Navoo. And according to Joseph taught more in the temple when that was ready. I think that’s like the consistency is amazing and recognizing this true doctrine that was taught is just beautiful. So Hiram continues no spiritual wife doctrine ever. Oh I lost my place. Ever originated with me. God Almighty has given us a plan of salvation, redemption and deliverance and the power and authority of the Holy priesthood under the constitution of the Almighty God. Everything belongs to man legally and lawfully again, they have to follow the legal laws of the land, right? If a thing belongs to me, legally, it cannot belong to anyone. I married me a wife. Now he’s explaining the confusion and I am the only man who has any right to her till we had five Children. The covenant was made for our lives. She fell in the grave before God showed us his. I think that says, answer showed us his answer. God has showed me that the covenant is dead and had no more force. Neither could I have her in the resurrection, but we should be angels. It troubled me. Brother Joseph said you can be sealed to her upon the same principle as you can be baptized for the dead. And it’s interesting to note here. Well, there are so many changes, it’d be an interesting episode to go just through the changes they made on this one’s speech because it’s important to recognize what they were and what they were trying to do, right? But this was an interesting little change. It doesn’t say that Hiram could be sealed to her. It says that she could, she, he could have her sealed to him. It’s an important difference and apparently they couldn’t be sealed together as equals. The man is the center point and the women are the appendages that can be sealed to him, right? That’s an interesting change right there. So anyway, we’ll continue on. Hyrum goes on in the speech to say if there is any man that has no sense and will make any story of such a fact, his name shall be published and then continues. There is a power to seal on earth and in and in heaven how the spirit of Elijah and Elias, I see a seal that shall never be broken and be enforced in the morning of the resurrection. He jokes and makes fun of polygamy. I believe if a man has one wife and I believe if a man has one wife in his life, that must be written funny. And I know if I had to, I should not know what to do. They might quarrel about me and I might get a whipping one enough and I warn all of you not to attempt it. If any man preach any false doctrine, I shall disgrace him. Get the wife that God and your country let you have. If any brother hears any person preach such stuff, wring his nose, look out or he may be stouter than you. So he’s again making a joke. No man would have more than one wife or they will beat him if I was a woman and I got so fooled, I would hide my head. I give the sisters leave to wring his nose to, to, to any who teach such stuff. I’ll bear you out in it. Another report. One of the R LDS ones we have said that, that Hiram said he would support them if they put a dagger to his heart. So it was very strong language. In any case, every man who knows me knows that I have taught these principles from the beginning. We want the honest and heart, the virtuous, the noble. We want the good seed gathered here, let all men repent and the elders gather out the good seed and bring it to navoo. We want you to understand that if you preach any anything wrong, you will be published. We don’t want bogus makers.

[00:58:48] That’s counterfeiters like we talked about right. Bogus makers, counterfeiters or preachers of the spiritual wife system. He puts them all in the same category. We shall see the wicked flee. When no man pursueth, we want you to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves, preach principles that will stand the test of ages, teach them good principles and save souls go forth as men of God, be wise and you will find good friends wherever you go, drink deep of the spirit of truth and great and mighty work shall be, shall be rot in the world. They are only waiting to hear the truth. Have a well ordered life and a Godly conversation. When thousands and tens of thousands shall flock to the standard and go up with Zion. Why? Because they are good souls have the knowledge of the truth drove into you like a broadside. I am serious in what I say and it has the power of God in it. I wanted to read that last part because it is just so clear how, who Hiram Smith was? How intelligent he was, what a good preacher he was. What a good thinker he was, how clear he was in what he believed and how consistent he both was and claimed to be right? How can we claim that he gave this sermon after stupidly reading that revelation to Emma and then to the High Council cannot be the same man any more than it can be the same God that gave us Jacob chapter two and Doctrine and covenant section 132 right? You can just recognize the, the man who gave this sermon would not have done that. It’s impossible, right? So anyway, this speech on its own, like each one of these points, each one of them alone should be enough to put this all rest. But we’ll continue on. We’ll go back to the city council minutes which is where Hiram and Joseph were explaining what this was all about. I read that to show you again how consistent their explanations are with the record we have and thank heaven we have it. Even though the church historians under Brigham tried so hard to bury it and have tried to keep it buried for so long. And so then he read the statement of Austin calls and said that. So that would have been Austin Cowell’s affidavit and said, he had never had any private conversation with Austin cows on these subjects. And he repeats that he had preached on the stand from the Bible showing the order ancient days have nothing, having nothing to do with the present time. Again, just like we’ve said repeatedly, right? He preached it on the temple stand on the day that we said we have multiple reports of it. He’s correct. He’s consistent with the record. The other people aren’t. And so then they go on and say, 00, well, let me point out this for anyone that is still claiming that the issue that inspired the expositor and that inspired the destruction of the expositor. Um I just read every statement in the city council meetings about the accusations of polygamy. They make up three per 3.5% of the total discussion of those two meetings dealing with the expositor. Just so the expositor, I think it was 2.5% that anything about polygamy made up. And in these meetings, it was 3.5% polygamy was not, not even, was it not the central issue? It was barely a side issue to just be brushed away. It was not a key factor at all. So, OK, now let’s go on to some other things that we know right that we have in the record from Brigham’s speeches, his later speeches, and Hebrew’s contemporaneous journals and letters. We know that they were deeply converted to polygamy while still in England in 1841 and 1842. Long before even they claimed that Joseph taught them about polygamy. We know this as of Clayton as well, right? The episode that we did with Jeremy and so this if, if you haven’t watched recently or haven’t watched, um, oh, I have the episode written down the one, it is the one I did with Jeremy on the Godfathers of Mormon Polygamy about Hebrew and Kimball, I I Hebrew and Brigham, I recommend watching that one because it will give you all of this evidence from their journals and letters and speeches that they were deeply, deeply converted and committed to polygamy in England and most likely already practicing it from all of the feet washing. Mumbo Jumbo. So anyway, that’s, that’s what we already know. And so I’ll give you a few quotes. This is Brigham Young June 21st, 1874. It is now recorded in the complete discourses volume five page 1101. Interestingly, this was included by the prices because it was written by some R LDS writers. Um Briggs who I quoted earlier, I think it was his brother Jason Briggs included it in a paper that he wrote and the LDS just pooh poohed it and said that’s not a real quote. Now, we know that it is Right. So we need to take the R LDS quotes and claims their history a little more seriously and give it a little more credibility because so far they have proven to be more credible as we can these things up with the actual sources. So this is what Brigham Young’s taught while we were in England. I think the Lord manifested to me by visions and by his spirit things that I did not then understand. Joseph had never mentioned this. There had never been a thought of it in the church that I knew anything about at the time when I returned home and Joseph revealed these things to me. I then understood the reflections that were upon my mind while in England. But this was not until after I had told him what I understood. This was in 1841 the revelation was given in 1843 but the doctrine was revealed before this. Ok. Do you, are you catching on? Right, Brigham Young, like just can’t stand it, not, not getting to get the credit for the doctrine that he should get the credit for it, right? Um This is what he said to Skyler

[01:04:33] Colfax, the soon to be Vice President of the United States. Kofax recorded this conversation with Brigham Young in his journal on June 17th, 1867 while he was visiting Utah. Brigham Young brought up polygamy and said that the revelations of the doctrine and covenants declared for monogamy. But that polygamy was a later rev revelation commanded to God commanded by God to him to Brigham and a few others and permitted and advised to the to the rest of the church. So this is what um Brigham is telling Skyler Colfax, right? And unless, unless someone wants to claim that Skyler Colfax had some motivation to lie about what Brigham told him in his conversation that it recorded that evening. So, ok, anyway, I don’t want to spend too much time here. There is so much more. I recommend watching those episodes. I might do more on this at some point, but there is a long and extensive record that we have of polygamy showing up long from these men long before they claim that Joseph said anything about it and recall, we have all of these records from them, right? Contemporaneous letters and journal entries and the later admissions, we have nothing like that from Joseph Smith, right? There’s nothing it would have shown up somewhere. And so, um ok, let’s go on to what else we know. We also know that there was premeditation for a polygamy revelation in Nauvoo. Um Clayton’s story that it was recorded spontaneously simply because Hyrum begged Joseph for it so that he could show Emma is highly problematic um when considered with many of these other evidences. So let’s go into a couple of these things according to Martha Brotherton. And again, there’s question about that because it only comes through John Bennett, right? So if we want to take it, it’s everyone’s own decision whether to think the Martha Brotherton story is reliable or not. But according to her story, Brigham had her locked in a room and after propositioning um propositioning her said brother Joseph has had a revelation from God that it is lawful and right for a man to have two wives for as it was in the days of Abraham. So it shall be in these last days and whoever is the first that is willing to take up the cross will receive the greatest blessing. And if you will accept of me, I will take you straight to the celestial kingdom. And if you will have me in this world, I will have you in that which is to come. Ok? That’s interesting. None of this was included in any of um the affidavits, right of what whatever those men claim to have seen. So these are new hints we get into new, new insights, we get that show up and make their way into 132 where as the days of Abraham and right that it’s anyway, all of there are some more pieces here and this was in 1842 this was published in 1842. So it was before the revelation was written down that Brigham Young had it memorized, had it like word for word well enough to be using it in his attempted seductions. Right. Like Joseph hadn’t written it down. So how did Brigham Young have it memorized? Well enough to be able to use against Martha Brotherton and to claim that it existed. I think that that’s interesting. And you know, if Brigham Young didn’t need it written down in order to convince women, why did Hiram need it written down? Why couldn’t he just go convince Emma without having the actual rebel? How is the revelation being written down going to help him? Right. And so anyway, this is just more evidence that there were claims of this revelation from Joseph. And I don’t know when, what parts of it were written down if they were or if it was all just going around in the rumors and the claims. But there were claims to be these revelations from this revelation from Joseph Smith that was going around and being used by the polygamists in Joseph’s name falsely. And while we asking why Hiram would have needed the revelation written down when Brigham Young, didn’t, we should also ask, why would Hiram do this at all anyway? Right. Why would we just heard him speak and heard how intelligent he is? Why would this like brilliant man do something this ridiculous? Right. Hey, Joseph, I know, I know it’s just so plain and beautiful that Emma will totally be fine with you secretly behind her back, sleeping with all of her best friends and sleeping with the orphan girls and the servant girls living in your home that you guys are raising as your own daughters and all the rest of it. She’ll be totally fine. If only she can read the revelation that will make it, make complete sense. As soon as she sees that God is threatening her with destruction, she’s just going to love it. Right. So, you write it down and I’m going to go over to Emma’s little house. They were living at the homestead this time. It’s only that little um section, the rest of it was added much later. It’s a tiny little house, less than 288 square feet. That is smaller than most official tiny homes. Now, it’s smaller than most small studio apartments. Right. That’s how big Emma’s home was where she was living with her and Joseph’s four living Children.

[01:09:42] Also. Lucy. Joseph’s mother was now an invalid and had moved in. And according to these claims that I now am realizing I have to dig into and see if there’s any validity to them. They had at least two sets of sisters living with them, plus another servant and another girl with her three siblings. I, I’m not seeing it in this tiny little home, but in any case, this would have been right at lunch time. One of em, Emma’s busiest times trying to get lunch for all of her Children stopping in from school. Right. For taking care of Lucy like moms and in this day and age would have been extreme busy. Moms of pig families get it. Now when you’re racing and trying to get everything done and, you know, interruptions can be difficult. Right. So Hyrum chooses this time of day to go over to this tiny house where Emma is where all of those people would have been there because it was lunch time and take at least 20 to 25 minutes to read this revelation at her where she is threatened, threatened with destruction. Right? And then strange, none of these people on the middle of this busy day witnessed this in their home. All of the people that would have been there. No one noticed this happening, especially like let’s consider. Well, Hiram claims that Emma gave him, you know that she was. Clayton says that she was very rebellious. Hiram says that she gave him the worst talking to he’d ever had in his life. I wonder why if he was read. She, if she, if he actually read this incredibly manipulative and threatening revelation, right? The oh, so here’s some more information on the home. It was a 16 by 18 Foundation and there would have been that many people. And here’s what it says that she had her rebellious Clayton at another time, calls it a temper tantrum where someone does where because she was so bitter and full of resentment and anger. She gave hymn the most severe talking to he had ever received in his life. This is who, um, William Clayton paints Emma and Hiram to be, this is how he, the, the, the characters that he gives us. Right. And again, that tiny little house, there’s no witness of it. Even Lucy, who was an invalid living in this home. These, this wouldn’t have been like soundproofed walls even if it was big enough 288 square feet on the main floor plus 288 square feet for bedrooms upstairs. Right? Where could this have happened? And, and how could Emma have been interrupted in the middle of her day? And if this happened, what would it have done to her? She would be like, think, think women, right? You’re going to divorce your husband because he’s doing this and now your brother in law comes over and does this too. You would be like shaking and crying the entire day. You would need to talk to someone about it. Right. At the very least, the only mother you had your very sweet mother in law who you were incredibly close to so close that you spent the rest of your life living with her and take the rest of her life, living with her and taking care of her, right? She was the only mother Emma had and the mother of the, the dorks doing this to you, right? You would absolutely like someone would have seen this happening if it could have happened. The whole thing is just completely impossible. But, you know, we go on to, um, like, like their marriage was so on the, on the rocks that Joseph was going to give her all of the property to keep her from divorcing him. But she’s just fine. It just goes on making lunch. Nobody sees this happening and Hiram did this to her and yet, like, really think that what that would have done to their relationship, right? How think of how Emma responded to polygamists both during Joseph’s life and after his death, Emma was not a shrinking violence. She was violent. She was not afraid to speak her mind very plainly as we have repeated evidence of her doing. And yet the baby that she gives birth to after her husband dies, she names after Hiram, Joseph was getting ready to leave. He was on his horse and felt uncertain. So went back in and gave Emma a blessing and told her name the baby. David. Emma said, what if it’s a girl? And Joseph said, name him David. And so that’s the only instruction that Joseph gave her Emma on her own, named him David Hyrum. After her brother in law, this didn’t happen. It didn’t happen, but even that’s not all it goes on. It gets better. Despite Emma’s furious reaction, Hiram apparently still thought, well, it didn’t work with Emma but it’s still so plain that of course, the High Council will just love it. Right. So I’ll read it to them even though it’s supposed to be top secret. Right. So a month later he does it again. Oh, and I’ll just keep it in my pocket and start showing it all around town. Just everyone promised that you won’t tell anyone else and won’t show it to anybody else. Right. We have all of these later claims of Hiram showed it to me.

[01:14:34] Hiram brought it to me. Joseph gave it to me. Right? Really? Like how idiotic do we think Hiram had to be like, really think of this story? We we believe Hiram is a complete idiot. Does it make sense? Is there any other record in his life that he was this big of an idiot? No, he was the most educated and according to some, the most intelligent of these, this highly intelligent family. So it’s just ridiculous that we believe this, you know, I would say Hyrum and Joseph weren’t the ones that were idiots in all of this. And you know, speaking of when I just said that it threatens Emma with destruction, wouldn’t that be a juicy tidbit to include in your affidavit if you read this revelation that literally threatened the prophet’s wife with destruction repeatedly if she didn’t go along with it, wouldn’t you include that wouldn’t especially Jane, a woman who did say that it, it told women that they would be under condemnation if they didn’t go along with it under condemnation doesn’t quite have the same ring as destroyed, that you will be destroyed. Right? What woman would read? Section 132. And in summarizing it wouldn’t include the parts about being destroyed and about Joseph’s wife specifically being threatened with destruction. If she didn’t go along. It comes, it’s in like verse 53 and later it’s very close to the end. That’s something that I think would stick with you and that you would want to include in an affidavit if it had been there, right? That’s why I’m saying. I think there were different things that were added over time, different parts and pieces brought together as they got the all of the part. Like now they knew the austin cells affidavit and they needed to work that in. They had all like you can see it all being amalgamated and leaving their footprints all over it. That’s what makes sense. Not William Clayton’s ridiculous story. OK. But I’m digressing. Let’s get back into it. So we’ve gone over the Mar the Brotherton account and we have more than that. Um This is an even less reliable account because this is only from Bennett. It’s the um it was published in the Sangamo Journal and it’s the happiness letter, right? It’s um like, let’s see. Oh, and interestingly, I did want to point this out, this happiness letter from the Sammo journal from John Bennett was included in the church history. Hiram’s speech was excluded many other things we’ll get into that were newspaper articles published and different things were also excluded. But John Bennett single journal article was included in the church history, I guess because it told the right story, right? It was part of the new order of things and the right narrative like think how unbelievable that is that Hiram Smith is scrubbed from the church history while John Bennett with his testimony of traitors is included. That’s an interesting thing to consider. So we have um this happiness letter and I’ll just read this little section of it and, and I will say looking into this was interesting, we have no record of this other than what John Bennett printed in the newspaper. He claims that it was in the writing. Well, John Bennett claims claims it was in the writing of Apostle William Richards. I have to assume he means Willard Richards. And um but, and so that’s why people say it’s in his writing, but we don’t have it. We don’t have anything. All we have is this letter, right? And all of this is really confusing. Nancy Rigdon was dating one of the C was dating one of the immoral Higby brothers. And so there are all kinds of, I don’t know where I guess what I’m saying is this story had to go through a lot of very not credible people in order to come to us as we have it. So I don’t know what you want to do with it. But it did include this sentence, even things which might be considered abominable to all who do not understand the order of heaven only in part, but which in reality were right because God gave and sanctioned by special revelation. There it is again, the special polygamy revelation, the Super secret special revelation, right? I think that um let’s see, this mentions the special revelation that this letter several times, but it doesn’t give any details again, no dates, no details. It’s the pattern of the polygamists. They’re just like they twist Jacob 230 to say God’s laws are firm unless right, unless God changes his mind. Like someone says there’s that. But in 230 no, there’s not the polygamous mindset is you follow God’s laws unless he tells you something different. That’s the pattern we keep, we see repeatedly come through the polygamist. I can’t find it anywhere from Joseph Smith. So and then we’ll go on to one more. I’m Catherine Lewis tells a similar story in her narrative which is more credible because it’s more reliable because it doesn’t come through Bennett. She published it herself. This is what she said. I was still strong in the faith until the plurality of wives was taught. I from the first mention of it opposed it and told the elder it was the doctrine of the devil. Again, the elders, right? But was sharp, sharply rebuked by one of the elders who said, ought we not to receive everything, Joseph Saith, no, said I, Joseph is a man and subject to like passions as ourselves. So again, in Joseph’s name said the elder, this is a direct revelation immediately from heaven. So there it is, again, it keeps showing up this secret polygamy

[01:19:54] revelation or these multiple secret polygamy revelations, who knows how many versions there might have been that keep being alluded to and referred to that shows the premeditation of the polygamist that they had or needed a revelation from Joseph that taught their polygamy long before. Section 132 was ever written down. So what should be clear by this point is that there was a polygamist underground going around in Nauvoo very possibly more than one because we know there was the John Bennett with the Hig BS and who knows who else. Um And then there was this one with Brigham Young Heber C Kimball William Clayton and who knows who else? Just as there were multiple counterfeiting rings. I’ll link a video below again where um a historian talks about the multiple counterfeiting rings. There might have been multiple polygamy rings and the claim is that um people want, people say, well, if this was happening, clearly, Joseph knew about it, but I think the evidence strongly supports that he actually didn’t know about, he was so trusting in people that he didn’t know that this was happening. Um I want to say about this. Um, Brigham and Hebrew and Clayton Ring, it seems to have been galvanized in England, which we’ve talked about before and then really kind of grown from there when they returned from their mission. So it happened not while they were in Nauvoo by Joseph and Hyrum. It happened when they were out on their own on their missions. That’s when they really got into this and they brought it back into NAVOO. And um that, that’s part of the evidence that Joseph and Hyrum weren’t involved. It didn’t come from them or through them, right? It came underground beneath them and came at them. So, OK, now, in addition to all of the evidences from the outside claims that we’ve just talked about from these testimonies of these three women will note that and, and just like, again, I’ll say that just like Robert Foster’s accusation of will against Willard Richards that it was him propositioning his wife. These were all against the elders. There’s nothing about Joseph Smith in them, right? And so other than the Martha Brotherton Hyrum Brigham bringing her, I mean, bringing her to Joseph Smith, which I went over in another episode. People who want to make fun of that, you explain all of these things and come up with a better explanation and I will be curious to hear what it is. So, um OK, people want to claim that all of this was duplicitous and hypocritically done by Joseph and Hyrum to cover their tracks and that nobody was really in trouble unless they got caught. That was really the only crime that there was in polygamy getting caught. So that is ludicrous for so many, so many reasons. I won’t take the time to go into all of them right now. I’m hoping you can figure them out, we can talk about them later if not just ask, but show me any source or any evidence for any of that. Show me anyone who says that that’s really what the issue was. Show me any um any letter or document, anything from Joseph or Hyrum or anyone else saying no, this is what you did wrong, right? Like you, it’s so easy to make up these claims and say no, it was super secret and this is what it really was. But can you at least recognize how highly speculative that is and problematic because there’s not a shred of evidence to support it and all of the evidence that we’re pointing out completely contradicts it. So we’ve just gone over some of the evidence that came from outside of the church. The testimonies of these three women who left evidence of this underground polygamy ring happening. Now, we’re going to look at evidence that comes from inside the church, from Joseph and Hyrum themselves, right? And, and their reaction to it and what they tried to do to end it to put it down just like William Marks testified of and I know people, people, if they are aware of these, um, all of this evidence, they will claim, well, Joseph and Hyrum were just doing that, duplicitous and hypocritically they, they were just doing it to cover their tracks and they, they will claim that the real problem wasn’t polygamy and, and spiritual wifey. The real problem was getting caught. So that’s why Joseph and Hyrum would excommunicate someone or kick them out. It’s because they got caught, they weren’t secret enough about it. Ok. That is so ludicrous for so many reasons. I won’t even go into all of them. But first of all, how can you get anyone involved if you don’t tell them about it? Right? How could Hiram have read it to the High Council? But then said, no, the problem is getting caught. Is it not being kept secret? It’s so so ridiculous and, and dumb. But, but in addition to that, I want people to acknowledge to acknowledge how highly speculative that is, right? Can you show me one piece of evidence anywhere from Joseph getting mad at someone for not being secretive enough or Hiram for like show me anything like to, to nail this down. Give me any piece of evidence to claim that this is true, right? Otherwise you were just speculating and how easy would it be to make up any story about anyone and say, oh, well, they had to keep it secret so they could I mean,

[01:24:52] really, we need some evidence. We need something better, better than that. Please be willing to look at it honestly. So these are the, I just, this is also just a small portion of the efforts that Joseph and Hyrum went to, to try to end polygamy. There’s a lot more than this, but this episode is already long. So, OK, this is from Times and Seasons. February 1st 1844. This is what they printed as we have lately been credibly informed that an elder of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints by the name of Hiram Brown has been preaching me and other faults and corrupt doctrines in the in the county of Lapira State of Michigan. This is to notify him and the church in general that he has been cut off from the church for his iniquity. And so that right there, they’re not only excommunicating them, they are publicly excommunicating them saying, hey, no, if you do this, just like just like Hyrum said in his talk, you’re gonna get cut off. It’s not gonna work, it’s not gonna happen. Right? Then we have March 15th. They had this published in um in, in the newspaper to the brethren of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints living on China Creek in Hancock County. Greetings. Whereas Brother Richard Hewitt has called on me today to know my views concerning some doctrines that are preached in your place. And states to me that some of your elders say that a man having a certain priesthood may have as many wives as he pleases. And that, and, and that doctrine is taught here, I say unto you that that man teaches false doctrine. For there is no such doctrine taught here. Neither is any such thing practiced here. And any man that is found teaching privately or pub publicly, any such doctrine is culpable and will stand a chance to be brought before the High Council and lose his license and mem membership. So, ok, remember that’s repeated again by Hyrum in his April 8th speech. So it just keeps happening, right? That just like Hyrum speech was not included in church history. All of these things were edited out, they didn’t want any record of it, right? So let’s go on. This is April 11th, 1844 to the elders abroad. We very frequently receive letters from elders and individuals abroad inquiring of us whether certain statements that they hear and have written to them are true. Some pertaining to John C Bennett. Bennett’s spiritual wife system, others in regard to immoral conduct practiced by individuals and sanctioned by the church. And as it is possible as, as it is impossible for us to answer all of them, we take this opportunity of answering them all once and for all in the first place, we cannot but express our surprise. I’m skipping ahead because it’s long since every our surprise since every species of iniquity is spoken against and exposed publicly at the stand and every means made use of that possibly can be to suppress vice, both religious and civil. Not only so, but every species of iniquity has frequently been exposed in the times and seasons and as practicer and advocates held up to the world as corrupt men that ought to be avoided. So they can’t believe they’re surprised that people would ask this question or believe it. We are however, living in the last days a time when it is declared, if it is possible, the very elect should be deceived. I want to pause on that for a minute because people spell that at me saying, look, the very elect are being deceived, are being deceived into believing that polygamy was not of God. Can you see how Joseph and Hyrum Smith used it? They said the very elect will be deceived by the doctrine of polygamy that’s worth pausing on and pointing out. Right. Let’s really open up our minds to what it could mean that the elect can be deceived by false doctrines. Are we aligned with Joseph Smith and Hiram Smith or not? I think that’s worth worth thinking about it continues. We have in our midst, corrupt men who circulate corrupt principles and spread their pernicious influence abroad. Such men not unfrequently go abroad and prey upon the f dully of the people. There are other men who are corrupt and sensual and who teach corrupt principles for the sake of gratifying their sensual appetites and at the at the expense and ruin of virtue and innocence, such men ought to be avoided as pests to society and to be frowned down with contempt by every virtuous man and woman. They are reprobate concerning the faith. If they write, they write corruptly. If they speak, they speak correctly. They are high and lifted up and would trample upon the humble and the meek and the unassuming and are not afraid to teach for the commandments of God, their own corrupt and devilish doctrines and principles. Let no man therefore, but be deceived by them. Let no man harbor them nor bid them God speed. Don’t be partakers of their evil deeds. If any man writes to you or preaches to you doctrines, contrary to the Bible, the book of Mormon or the book of Doctrine and covenants set him down as an impostor. There. It is again, the teaching that we, we, we follow the commandments given in the scriptures. You need not write us to know what you are to do with such men. You have authority with them, try them by the principles contained in the acknowledged word of God. If they preach or teach or practice contrary to that dis fellowship them, cut them off from among you as useless and dangerous branches.

[01:29:55] And if they are belonging to any of the quorums in the church report them to the president of the quorum to which they belong. If you cannot find that out. If they are members of an official standing belonging to NAVOO, report them to us. Follow after purity, virtue, holiness, integrity, godliness, and everything that has a tendency to exalt and ennoble the human mind and shun every man who teaches any other principles. Do you see the consistent record that they are laying down? Right. It’s exactly the same thing except that it was scrubbed from church history. That’s interesting. So, um ok, there are so many other other things we could read the entire purpose of the Relief Society, the voice of innocent, so many other sermons of Joseph Smith, their fight goes on and on and on. So there, there is just this catalog, the more I study, the more clear the picture becomes and I think that would happen for anyone who really will start investigating these claims. So from the information we have gone over so far, the following things should be clear first that there was a true revelation on eternal marriage inspired by jesus’ statement in Luke chapter 20 that in the resurrection, they neither are married nor are given in marriage. And that Joseph taught multiple times in public just as he said, he did. And that Hiram read to the High Council and that parts of that are included in section 132. That should be pretty clear. The next thing that I hope is clear is that there were underground polygamy who falsely used Joseph’s name just as John Bennett had done and claimed to have a revelation at least one revelation in his name that included many of the elements that we also now find in section 132 but that we have no record of Joseph teaching anywhere. And then the third thing that should be clear is that Joseph and Hyrum are both on record consistently with no exceptions, trying in every possible way to put down polygamy to make it extraordinarily clear that it had no connection to them or to the gospel and to warn members from believing anything they heard about it, no matter who said it, those are the things that we should know at this point, right? OK. And, but, but that’s not all it goes on, it gets better from here. So remember the only, I hope that people are still watching um send, send it to um starting at this point if anyone thought this was too long and stopped, like share it with them and tell them to keep watching from here. OK. The only reason that we connect 132 to Joseph Smith at all is because of William Clayton’s story of how it came about which he told over 30 years later in his 1871 letter and his 1840 74 affidavit. So I need to do an entire episode on William Clayton’s affidavit because there is so much. In fact, I desperately am hoping, I’m hoping that Brian Hills will come back on and talk to me just about William Clayton’s affidavit. And then we can go through it piece by piece. So, if anyone has a connection, that’s, well, maybe I’ll invite him back on. I’m not sure if he’ll say yes, but I think it would be great. I really, really hope he will because I think it would be a valuable exercise. So, um, anyway, but let’s for now, just look into a couple little piece of it. These are just a few things that we can look into. There’s so much more and we can just see how well it holds up. So, like I said, I’m ignoring things like his claim that Hiram really wanted the and Thummim when they didn’t even have the thummim and um, many other things like that that should just make it, you know, that should just exclude it from credibility from the beginning. We’ll, we’ll go into a couple of other things. We’ll, we’ll ignore that. So he says going to read just little parts of it. He says on the morning of the 12th of July, 1843 Joseph and Hyrum Smith came into the office in the upper story of the brick store, they were talking on the subject of plural marriage. So Joseph and Hyrum were freely just talking about plural marriage as they were walking through this building. Right. And as they went into the office, he goes on to make it clear that, you know, this was a super secret topic of polygamy, but that’s ok because they were all alone on the upper floor. Clayton makes that quite clear. There were no other people around and it’s very clear that for the entire three hours that Clayton claims it took to write it down, plus whatever time it took, either Joseph and Hiram together, depending on which version of Clayton’s were going to with either Joseph and he going together or, um, Clayton’s later version that Hyrum went alone and he and Joseph stayed alone together in that upper store. So that’s maybe another hour for him to go harass Emma with it. Right. So, for that entire time, there was not a single interruption. They were in complete peace and quiet and solitude for, um, for that entire morning. Right. So, first of all, let’s just get into this a little bit. Anybody who has been the president of any organization

[01:34:54] knows how rare it is to have alone time without interruption an entire morning without a phone call or someone knocking on your door or an email. That’s what that would equate to in our world or, you know, even a parent. Like, how often do you even get to go to the bathroom alone? Right. People need things when you’re in charge of things. And Joseph was in charge of a lot of things. He was not only the president of the church, he was the mayor of the city. So he and he was in charge of all of the land trans transactions because he was at that point, the trust, the interest, right? He was in charge of all other business. He was the prophet of God and the minister to all of the people. He was also a husband and a father. He would have been one of the most in demand people in all of history. It would be hard to compete with how many things he was in charge of responsible for and how many people would need him. And remember Emma talks about how difficult it was to ever have uninterrupted time with him. She mentions for example that she never liked it when he worked in the garden because everything would get trampled by all of the people coming who needed to talk to Joseph. But that entire morning magically, there was nobody that needed anything and there was nobody even in the upper floor of the building. So this also is the red brick store. So I have the prices to think for a lot of this. I had to do a lot of work to track things down. They have a couple of their sources wrong, but I was able to find them thankfully. And this, this was, this was fun to get into. So this was the busiest place in town where, um, all church and city business was transacted. Right. It doubled as the church headquarters, the city building, the, and, and the store, the central store. Right. This was everything, the store. So here, here’s the building, I’ll show it to you. It was on a 40 by 23 ft foundation with a large staircase. So, only about 900 square feet on each level. A little over. It was just about three times bigger than Emma and Joseph’s tiny homestead home before they moved into the mansion house when this all happened. Right. And you can see in the floor plan, the bottom floor had the mercantile floor, the store and the counting room, which was the bank, right? And then the upper floor had the large assembly room, which was where they had their church meetings. It also doubled as the church house at this point, right? And then there were the two tiny little offices, Joseph Smith’s office. One is Martin as the store room, right? So that’s where um William Clayton claims they were that there was no one in the assembly room, no one in the store room, no one. And this is where they would have done all of the land deeds. All tiding would have been paid all. Um Oh, it was so much more. I have a list but um um records made all of the licenses given by when the elders needed licenses. We, we’ll get into that a little bit and on and on and on. Any official church or city or financial business had to be done in these, in these little offices. This is where all of it was, was done. Also, it’s where all of the church records were kept. So Nauvoo was one of the fastest growing cities in all of Illinois and not only with all church and city business and land business done, but also at this time, Willard Richards and WW Phelps would have been employed full time in those offices every day, writing the history of the church. That’s where they were working, right? Plus we know from the records that I found some records that show that the city recorder James Sloan was also there and who knows who else? So this idea that they were there alone is already dead in the water. They weren’t. But you know that, that maybe everyone was sick that day. Like what are we going to come up with now? So anyway, we can see that we have because of the Joseph Smith papers, we can see the official business that was transacted that day and it actually was a pretty busy day. In addition to the revelation being received in the morning, we have three licenses for elders being written. Most days have like two, maybe three entries on average. There are some with more, some without any. But this day had seven entries written which is a pretty busy day. So three of them were the licenses for elders and then we had the revelation. Then this is interesting. There were two very big and very important land deeds that were written this day. One is the very well known landy to Emma for 10th. Well, to Emma and her Children, $10,000 that if my counting was correct, I was doing this really late at night last night, but they were deeded 563 lots. And so I think a, a block is four lots. So the deed gave them 563 lots for Emma and her Children for $10,000. That land deed was transacted. William Clayton claimed it was to keep Emma from divorcing Joseph Smith. Ok. Again, I’ve mentioned it before when a wife threatens to divorce a husband, the husband doesn’t say, oh, then let me give you not only all of my property but all of the property of the church and the city. And right now now you can divorce me.

[01:39:55] It’s so dumb. A man would protect himself, not just give everything to his wife if she was wanting to divorce him. Right? And, and not to mention when in this busy day, did they have time to come up with that and to get it done? We’ve gone into that before, but there’s a lot more to go into. But that wasn’t the only land deed that was transacted that day there was a much lesser known but equally important one to Hiram also for $10,000 deed became over 100 96 acres and 54 lots. Hm. That’s interesting. I wonder if Hyrum was going to divorce Joseph too and Joseph was trying to keep him happy, or is it possible that there’s a different explanation for both of these very similar land deeds for the same amount of money one granted to Emma and her Children, one granted to Hiram for on the very same day, maybe that’s something we should consider. And I will get into that when we do our episode on land deeds. So that’s a good thing to note. But there’s more, it gets better because guess what? One day before on July 11th, a school opened in the assembly hall like you can’t make this stuff up. It’s like the Lord is just leaving us all of these golden nuggets to find everywhere to help in this because this gets ridiculous. William Clayton claimed they were all alone. We’ve already shown how impossible that was. But this is the best part of all a school that according to other records had 30 Children in it was in session their second day of school. These were wooden steps and wood benches and wooden chairs and tables, right? It would have been so noisy with all of these kids excited on their second day of school. Plus the coal there, the teachers would all have been there in the assembly hall right next to the tiny offices that would have had the church recorders, the, um, the historians, the, all of the business being done, all of this would have been happening this morning that William Clayton claims that they had all to themselves, silence and solitude. I think this is just delightful to when I had to look through several newspapers to find this actual announcement, but it’s just beautiful and so fun. And there’s more, this school was so loud that they eventually get kicked out. A few months later, there are so many complaints that Willard Richards tells them, tells Joseph that he has to tell them that they have to leave because they can’t do their work. It’s way too distracting to have the school there. So that, that’s like Joseph says, we need the room back. This is not working. That’s how chaotic this this was the morning that William Clayton claimed that the revelation was received. Ok? I hope that people are really hearing this and considering it, these are big things, right? As we’ve said, it’s hard to tell good lies. It’s hard to tell. Like truth has a way of just coming out eventually when we get access to all of the records as we have now. So yet again, what we’ve already laid out should be more than enough to disprove this entire thing, but there’s more so we’re gonna keep going on. So, um going back to Clayton’s now, I hope we can see it as amusing account. I think we should all just read William Clayton with a little smile and a little pat on the head from now on for the poor little man trying to tell his big stories. But anyway, um this is, he goes on after saying that, um Hyrum received that terrible talking to and he came back and Joseph said, you don’t know Emma like I do, Joseph then put the revelation in his pocket and they both left the office. The revelation was read to several of the authorities during the day. Again, can we pause and ask when, how, how did this happen? You can look and see in Joseph’s journal that he had several other what we call journal that he had several other appointments throughout that day. There were all of these transactions that you be done. He had to work everything out with Emma, right? So in, in Clayton’s version, the like the revelation was the only thing happening that day. And this incredibly busy bustling city with Joseph Smith who had all of these responsibilities and a marriage on the rocks. But you know, he, I mean, he had to go figure out with her somehow how they could make the land transaction, solve the problem according to one version of Clayton’s and anyway on and on and on. But they, they spent the rest of the day showing the revelation to other important church officials. And then um he goes on to say, well, and then he explains that that evening. Um um Bishop Whitney asked if he could have a copy of me made and, and Kingsbury made a copy that evening, which according if you put all of those records together, Kingsbury claims that took him under an hour, which is interesting. I dare anyone to try to copy section 132 in perfect penmanship in under an hour even in bad penmanship. And um and, and, but it is, if you look at Kingsbury’s copy, you think that was made in under an hour.

[01:44:56] But then um Helen Mar Kimball claims that her husband Horace Whitney made in made a copy of it in winter quarters and she says it took him the entire day and into the night. So all of these things are interesting. There’s so much more I want to get into, but I have to just stay on task. So, ok, anyway, two or three days, this is going back to Clayton’s record two or three days after the revelation was written, Joseph related to me and several others that Emma had so teased and urgently entreated him. Just listen to him. Always getting these digs in against Emma. She had so teased and urgently entreated him for the privilege of destroying it that he became so weary of her teasing and to get rid of her annoyance, he told her she might destroy it and she had done so, but he had consented to her wish in this matter, to pacify her, realizing that he knew the revelation perfectly and could rewrite it at any time if necessary. So, ok, there’s that right? So less than two or three days after it was received or two or three days after it was received, Joseph told Kingsbury that he had let Emma destroy it, but it didn’t matter because he could write it down any time. And then he goes on to say the copy made by Joseph C. Kingsbury was carefully preserved by Bishop Whitney. And but few knew of its existence until winter quarters in 1846 right? And then we get the claims about Brigham keeping it hidden in his desk all those years, his desk that hadn’t even crossed the plains because he hadn’t yet crossed the plains and he hadn’t built his office and he hadn’t ordered his desk and had it shipped across the plains, which then he had to put it in. But apparently the revelation was just sitting in his desk all of those years since it was first copied by, since he first got it in winter quarters from Bishop Whitney, apparently, right. So let’s get back to the important part of this, right? There are the revelation according. So Clayton is the authoritative source that we rely on for all of our information about polygamy. So we should listen to him when he says that and, and Brigham repeats over the stand and everyone knows that Emma destroyed the revelation. And Clayton lets us know that she just, that Joseph, that she destroyed it in less than two or three days after it was received. Right? So that made me start thinking if Emma destroyed the only known copy and the other copy was just secretly kept safe and nobody knew about it. What exactly did Hiram have to go across the street to get and bring back to read to the High Council as Tommy Boy would say. Hm, that’s a mystery, right? What was it that Hyrum read? What was it that the law that Hyrum brought to the laws that they kept overnight? What revelation did they have to make their affidavits affidavits based on, if we’re relying both on William Clayton and on the laws and the cows to all be telling the truth, someone explain this to me. Clayton tells us the revelation was destroyed and yet Hiram read it and the laws kept it and, and, oh, I really, really wanted to go into all of the claims about the affidavit going through the Temple Lot is hysterical, going through the um testimonies given there, but I had to limit it because it’s already really long. But hopefully, I, I just want to do another episode on just the Temple Lot claims about section 132 about the manuscript. They are delightful. It’s so fun to read them. If you really want to be amused, you can spend hours just laughing at the storm at these people telling their story. It’s really, really funny. So, anyway, I think that’s a valid question right there. Can someone please explain that to me? Who are we disbelieving in what part of it and why? And based on what, how do you justify picking and choosing what you believe from all of these different people when we have a consistent record? A Joseph and Hiram’s version gives us a consistent record that stands up with all of the contemporaneous evidence, stands up with all of the hard evidence, like no Children, no records or notes or letters or journal entries anywhere, right? It is consistent all the way through everything else is a giant mass of lies that should be so obvious and so clear to anybody. So there, there’s the next piece according to Clayton, the revelation was destroyed before July 15th. So exactly someone needs to tell me exactly what Hiram would have had to show all around town and to read on August 12th. I I will, I will look forward to hearing your responses. So now that hopefully we have proven that Clayton’s entire claim is utterly impossible.

[01:49:42] I won’t even say implausible. I will say impossible. He can’t have been telling the truth. We can go on to look at what evidence we can find of what was the truth and what actually did happen. So again, I’ll remind you, Brigham Young had the revelation kept safely in his law to desk until August 1852 18 52/8 years after Joseph’s death and five years after settling in Brigham Young in, in Utah, Brigham Young called a special conference where the revelation, the secret polygamy revelation that we’ve been hearing about from the elders all of these years in Nauvoo. It was finally revealed for the very first time. And here’s his explanation of where it came from. This revelation has been in my possession many years and who has known it? None but those who should know it. I keep a patent lock on my desk and there does not anything leak out that should not. So it’s funny because apparently a few things leaked out that Brigham didn’t want to leak out that he didn’t intend to have leaked. Jason Briggs made a serious study of the claims of Joseph’s polygamy. He’s the one that wrote the paper that I’ll link to. It’s called um the basis of Brimm polygamy, a criticism upon the so called Revelation of July 12th, 1843. And so in that paper where he studied this in depth, he reported that WW Phelps said from the stand, speaking about the secret polygamy revelation, we were some 10 and 10 or 12 days in writing it. I wrote some of it. So he’s quoting WW Phelps as accidentally oops letting the cat out of the bag. Now, if anyone wants to in these sources, I’m using here, um write them off because they’re R LDS. Again, I want to restate what I stated before. They were right on all of their sources that we have since verified that we were saying they’re wrong on. So I think we should give them the benefit of the doubt and also see what seems to make sense. So that’s the first piece. And then, um, and then I do want to say this, this is sometimes the case, right that um that not all of the brethren were as tight lipped at and, and careful about keeping the secrets of the new order of things as Brigham wanted them to be, for example, when Orson Pratt reprinted Lucy Mac book that Lucy Mac Smith’s book that, that just sent Brigham Young into apoplexies. He was so angry about that and, and just ripped him a new one in the newspaper. Anyway. It’s kind of funny to see how these things happened again. It wasn’t Joseph Smith who kept, tried to keep this type of control that was Brigham Young. And so, um I’m certain that they weren’t eager to publish or keep records of all of these things happening. So it’s not surprising that we don’t find them from the, from the, you know, from our church history, but we can find them in other places. And so this is, this showed up in the journal of discourses. Well, let’s see, there was something else I wanted to read. Oh, here it is. This is from Charles Derry. So yeah, I knew I had another source. He was a member of the church who came west to Utah and followed Brigham Young, but then later converted to the R LDS church. And he wrote his autobiography. This is what he says from, from his time in Utah, the information he had. Joseph F. Smith says the revelation on polygamy was given at different times. WW Phelps says he part of it also that Brigham and Joseph wrote part of it exactly what we are claiming, right? And that Clayton wrote part of it while Clayton swears, he wrote all of it. Brigham Young says Phelps lies. So that sounds to be about, about accurate, right? You can see all of that happening because we have clearly established that this was a conglomeration made up afterward in Utah when they, we’re going through and changing and fixing everything, altering it to make it a fit what Brigham Young called the New Order of things. They clearly did this with section 132 as well. So I am thinking that these um reports from Briggs and Derry are something to listen to. And so what, what I was going to say is I’m certain that they weren’t eager to keep or publish records of these things, but I was able to find a, a couple of references in the complete teachings of discourses of Brigham Young volume two that I think maybe um could give us some verification of this. So this is from page uh this is from July 9th 1854. Brigham said brother Phelps takes from the third heaven and the lowest hell and throw them all out of his mouth at a time. So, so this would be in keeping with Brigham being unhappy. We don’t, we don’t get the reference for what Brigham is unhappy with Phelps about. But it sounds to me like it could be about this revelation because he takes from heaven and from hell and spews them all out of his mouth at the same time. So Phelps could have been talking about the revelation and saying, hey, it took us about 10 to 12 days to write it and I wrote part of it and then, um apparently he was still in the doghouse a few days later, a week later on July 9th. Um Brigham said I have no evidence that brother Phelps has done anything wrong except drinking. So again, I couldn’t find references to tell me what these statements are about. So unless some more experienced knowledgeable historian wants to tell me why Brigham was saying these things about Phelps.

[01:55:08] I think it’s fair to at least consider whether it might be that Brigham is reacting to Phelps letting the cat out of the bag. This was early, it was 1854 when they would have been talking about it before, it would have been all shut down and locked up and everyone knew for sure that these things were not to be talked about. So this was the actual secret that needed to be kept. It wasn’t the, the Joseph and Hyrum polygamy wasn’t the secret that needed to be kept in Nauvoo. It was the secret of coming up with the revelation and changing the history and editing it all out. That was the secret that needed to be kept a little bit later on. So I think that um that is an interesting and fun point to consider that the Utah Mormons did acknowledge and admit that they had come up with a revelation. So um OK, there we’re gonna go on to more. There’s more because this is the piece I was saving for the end. This is the real red meat of this entire episode that it I think is the serious death blow to the belief that the novel Expo Expositor affidavits proved that section 132 in Joseph’s Day. I think this will show that they prove exactly the opposite. So in addition to everything we’ve already covered that all of this was gotten up by the elders, right? As is said, um I hope we can at least agree on this central piece. Even if you want to throw everything else out that William Law’s voice matters. It’s important, right? We should listen to what William Law says, particularly those who want to claim that his affidavit is valid and that it’s important that the novel expositor should be relied on as good evidence. So William Law just to paint it out again, he was the primary conspirator behind the expositor. He was the counselor to Joseph Smith in the first presidency. He was the president of the new church. They were organizing the true church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. He was the clear leader of the conspirators. He was the most successful and the wealthiest. He was the most connected politically. He was the one that wrote almost the entire expositor. He was the only the expositor conspirator who included his affidavit. Two of the three critical affidavits we’re talking about come from him and his wife and he gave by far the most testimony in the years afterward. And so we are basing all of all of this on his testimony. That’s why we should be able to agree that what he says matters that his voice is extremely important to this entire discussion. So here’s the big reveal, William Law, the critical figure in the entire expositor story himself completely disproves this claim. So you’ll recall at the end of episode one, the 15 minute part I added where I was talking about the William Law Journal, which if you haven’t like William Law’s supposed journal, if you haven’t listened to that, I hope that you’ll go back and listen to it that at least that last 15 minutes, if not the entire episode. But um I mentioned at the end of that, that he wrote three letters and gave one interview in 1887 that are very important resources for us to consider. He wrote them to dr We, he had written a book about the Mormons and William William Law wrote to him to congratulate him on the book and to correct some things mainly in large part to say, no, Joseph never propositioned Jane. And to say, I don’t even want to be attached to this anymore. But mainly it was that Joseph did not proposition Jane. So that, that is the one thing that should be thrown out. And again, if that had happened, wouldn’t it have been included in the affidavits? But there’s more on that, that we’ll get into next, next episode with William Law. And um Austin Cell’s important things to consider that they just happened to leave out of their affidavits if they had actually happened, if the polygamy narrative is true. So anyway, let’s go on to that interview. Um I will quote, when I will quote from the interview, when um doctor we asked William Law about the revelation. This is what he said. I was astonished to see in your book that the revelation was such a long document. I remember distinctly distinctly as capitalized that the original Given Me by Hiram was much shorter, also capitalized. I remember distinctly that the original me by Hyrum was much shorter. It covered not more than two or three pages of Fool’s cap. The contents are substantially the same, but there was not the theological introduction. The thing consisted simply in the command of doing it. And that command was restricted to the high priesthood and to virgins and widows. But as to Joseph himself, the Lord’s chosen servant, it was restricted to virgins only to clean vessels from which to procure a pure seed to the Lord. OK. Did you hear that? Let’s first go over a couple of things because people are really interested in finding similarities between the affidavits and 132. Let’s compare this. There is nothing like this. In 132 widows are never mentioned. The high priesthood. I mean, the priesthood is mentioned but not the night the high priesthood clean vessels, pure seed to the Lord.

[02:00:22] Restriction to only virgins. None of that is mentioned. And can I repeat, need I repeat, Joseph Smith had no Children which all of these people writing at this time were claiming that he had Children, right? It’s, it’s now that we know definitively that he did not. I mean, the cons, the polygamy conspirators knew that because they knew that Joseph and Hyrum hadn’t been polygamous, but they still were trying to make the case. So and, and then all of the anti worm were absolutely certain that Joseph had Children all over the place because they had no clue what they were talking about. Right. So anyway, so not none of that is anywhere but I want to repeat this. I was astonished to see the, that the revelation was such a long document. I remember distinctly that the original was much shorter. It covered not more than two or three pages. So the interviewer himself, his name is Wilhelm Ritter von Weedle said of the interview, his statement of the false revelation on polygamy is interesting as showing that it was tinkered up afterwards. Yep. Exactly. Even the interviewer gets it. Even the anti Mormon writer gets what happened, right. We have so many voices. I want to do another episode on all of the 19th century voices knew that this was the case like Skyler Colfax and Doctor we and so many others. And this is why right here like this is why you can’t make these huge sweeping certain claims without doing the work without digging deeper into it. So for anyone who has been set on the claim that the expositor affidavits prove the legitimacy of 132 and Joseph’s involvement in poly polygamy, I’ll put it in legal terms for you if that will help your own star witness just destroyed your case. Like it’s over. I cannot for the life of me figure out how historians or anyone else justify completely ignoring this very important source. I want to hear what their explanation is because what he says is exactly what we are showing in the rest of this entire episode. And there’s so much more evidence that I couldn’t include to show us that. Yes. Section 132 what we have is a CRE is a Utah creation that in different parts and pieces. A true revelation from Joseph and these false claims going around by the polygamists, conglomerated them all together and, and pulled it out in 1852. That’s exactly what happened. And I think it’s so clear and so if we need to go into this anymore, how could this 2 to 3 page document that William Law claimed that he had and read? How could that be? Section 132? Let’s go over just a little bit of. They always like to talk about the Providence of 132. So we’ll talk about some of the history. The Providence of 132. Clayton testified that the original was 10 pages. Kingsbury’s copy. The one that we still have is eight pages. Oh and um guess what? Surprise Willard Richards also made a copy. We don’t talk about that yet because they haven’t yet woven that into the narrative to figure out how it uh what, what they, what they should say about that. But his flawless copy is seven pages and the Virgin in our current Doctrine and covenants is eight pages. So how could that be the 2 to 3 page document, especially when William La himself says it was a lot shorter. The one I had was a lot shorter. And the interviewer acknowledges that it was tinkered up afterward. I think that this is important and should be acknowledged. And I’ll also point out that James Whitehead who was the actual clerk of Joseph Smith. William Clayton was a wannabe. That’s all he was, was a water be he never, he never wrote any revelation for Joseph Smith ever, right? But he liked to claim that he was important. But um James Whitehead’s testimony lines up perfectly with William Law’s testimony. He says that he saw a revelation in winter quarters but that it had nothing to do with polygamy and that it was two or three pages. So he might have seen um the true revelation that Joseph had that was floating around at some point. I don’t know. But in any case, we have multiple testimonies from critical key figures saying that what they saw in um either Joseph’s life or shortly after his death was not the same as what was presented as the revelation in 1852 and what is now contained in the doctrine and covenants. So let’s see if there’s anything else I need to talk about. Oh, there is, but I’m going to save the rest for next week. We have to still get into things like the motivations and problems with Austin cells. Oh, I want to talk about some other witnesses that people hold in high esteem like Leonard soy, that’s going to be a fun one. There are many other things to talk about also still going into the entire expositor.

[02:05:20] I don’t know where I’m going to go because this has been exhausting. So we’ll see where I go to next. But those are all on the, um, stove waiting to be done. I know people might think that I just talk a big game. But I hope that I’ve shown you that I don’t, I don’t claim I have things if I don’t have them. It’s been really hard to want to get this out so urgently and to have to work so hard to put it in a format that it could be um you know, delivered and hopefully consumed and absorbed. I hope that you guys are able to understand all of these pieces and recognize that this is just what I chose to include in this episode. There is so much more. So I want to close though with, with just saying this, I, I want to make an invitation a sincere genuine. I’m not being arrogant or like like sarcastic at all. Every single one of us believed that Joseph was a polygamist. Many of us myself included, believed that polygamy was of God because that was the information we had, right? We were told that and we were shown that side of the argument and only shown that side of the information. So there is no shame in believing that Joseph was a polygamist. None at all. We all did it because we have to base our beliefs on the evidence. We have. The question is the question, isn’t, did you, did you ever believe this? The question is, are you willing to follow the evidence when new evidence is presented? Are you really seeking truth or are you just um ideologically possessed and seeking to just prove your narrative despite further evidence coming forward? So I, I just want to declare that there is no, there’s absolutely no room for like I told you. So you’re certainly never going to get one from me. I know that I tease a little bit because people have come at me so hard, but I promise you that I will never try to thumb someone down who, who looks at this evidence and goes, wow, I hadn’t seen that before. That’s a really good case. I may need to reconsider my conclusions. That’s exactly what we should all be doing all the time. So I hope that people will consider doing that, you know, looking seriously at this evidence. If there are other things that you that still are holding you up or that feel like hang ups like maybe Leonard soy or, or I hope I hope no one will ever again bring up to be Buckeye’s lament as if that is some sort of proof of Joseph’s polygamy. Oh my gosh, like, like no more of this weak, weak sauce stuff. But if there’s anything that you have that’s genuinely holding you back, please let me know and let’s dig into it. I, I have changed very publicly changed my stance multiple times to my own expense. I have lost credibility in different um groups of people. Some of the people who hate me the most now were some who loved me the most before, before I changed my stance based on the evidence. So I just again, want to say that invitation is there all the time for everyone that’s the best we can do in this life is try our best to seek truth based on the information we have. So with that being said, I hope that that’s what everyone listening to this will be willing to do. And I’m always open to conversations and I welcome you to the discussion. But thank you again for sticking with me again. Please share this information because it’s so important and I will see you next time.