Below are the quotes that were used in the video.
What is the Oliver Granger Principle? How can it help you in your life? Oliver Granger was not praised for his successes in life, but rather for his efforts. Oliver was earnest in serving the Lord. We can’t always expect to succeed, but we can try again. In this video, we also focus on how members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can find their ward and stake to be a refuge from the storm and defense in their lives.
Joseph sought counsel from the Lord and received a revelation on January 12 that is not canonized in the Doctrine and Covenants: "Thus saith the Lord: Let the presidency of my Church take their families as soon as it is practicable and a door is open for them, and move on to the west as fast as the way is made plain before their faces, and let their hearts be comforted, for I will be with them. Verily I say unto you, the time page damaged to come that your labours are finished in this place, for a season. Therefore, arise and get yourselves on to a land which I shall show unto you, even a land flowing with milk and honey.1 You are clean from the blood of this people, and wo unto those who have become your enemies, who have professed my name, saith the Lord, for their judgment lingereth not and their damnation slumbereth not. Let all your faithful friends arise with their families also and get out of this place and gather themselves together unto Zion and be at peace among yourselves, O ye inhabitants of Zion, or there shall be no safety for you." (Harper, Making Sense of the Doctrine and Covenants, Section 117)
On 29 June 1836 a mass meeting was held in the Clay County courthouse in Liberty to discuss objections to the Mormons remaining in the area. Some were concerned that the “crisis” would erupt into a civil war. Opponents gave five reasons for their objection to the Saints:
Conditions for the Saints were critical. Without assurance of protection from the governor and with hostility in both Clay and Ray counties, the stake presidency and the high council met in an emergency session on 25 July.
To complicate matters further, the brethren had just learned that approximately one hundred families of immigrating Saints were camped on the Crooked River in lower Ray County. Many of them were ill, and “destitute of means to purchase lands or provisions.” Citizens in Ray County threatened them with violence if they did not leave. Furthermore, another hundred impoverished families were en route from the Mississippi River.
Thomas B. Marsh and Elisha H. Groves, a convert from Kentucky, were sent to branches of the Church in other states to collect money to benefit “Poor Bleeding Zion,” while W. W. Phelps, John Whitmer, Edward Partridge, Isaac Morley, and John Corrill were assigned to locate more land in Missouri for settlement.
Thomas Marsh and Elisha Groves returned early in 1837 from their fund-raising mission in Kentucky and Tennessee and turned $1450 over to W. W. Phelps and John Whitmer, counselors in the stake presidency, since President David Whitmer was in Ohio. The counselors used the money to buy more land, but they purchased it in their own names and then sold it to the Saints at a small profit, which they retained.
On 10 February the high council, with the assistance of two Apostles, excommunicated W. W. Phelps and John Whitmer and sustained Thomas B. Marsh and David W. Patten as acting presidents until the expected arrival of Joseph Smith.
Additional action against David Whitmer, Oliver Cowdery, and Lyman Johnson, an Apostle who had joined the dissenters, was postponed pending the Prophet’s arrival.
On January 12, 1838, Joseph sought counsel from the Lord and received a revelation on January 12 that is not canonized in the Doctrine and Covenants:
"Thus saith the Lord: Let the presidency of my Church take their families as soon as it is practicable and a door is open for them, and move on to the west as fast as the way is made plain before their faces, and let their hearts be comforted, for I will be with them … Let all your faithful friends arise with their families also and get out of this place and gather themselves together unto Zion and be at peace among yourselves, O ye inhabitants of Zion, or there shall be no safety for you.“ (Revelation, Kirtland, Ohio, January 12, 1838, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, copied into Joseph Smith, Journal, July 8, 1838, Church History Library, Salt Lake City. See Joseph Smith, The Papers of Joseph Smith, ed. Dean C. Jessee, 2 vols. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1989-92), 2:255; spelling and punctuation standardized.)
At the conference, the Prophet called the three senior members of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles—Thomas B. Marsh, David W. Patten, and Brigham Young—as the new stake presidency in Missouri.
A much more serious matter was the case of Oliver Cowdery. He was charged by the high council for:
Oliver refused to appear before the council, but he answered by letter. He denied the Church’s right to dictate how he should conduct his life and asked that his fellowship with the Church be ended. The high council excommunicated him 12 April 1838.
President Russell M. Nelson: "The Lord impressed upon my mind the importance of the name He decreed for His Church, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." (https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/name-of-the-church)
Elder M Russell Ballard: "The words Church of Jesus Christ declare that it is His Church. In the Book of Mormon, Jesus taught: “And how be it my church save it be called in my name? For if a church be called in Moses’ name then it be Moses’ church; or if it be called in the name of a man [like Mormon] then it be the church of a man; but if it be called in my name then it is my church, if it so be that they are built upon my gospel” (3 Nephi 27:8).
"Of Latter-day explains that it is the same Church as the Church that Jesus Christ established during His mortal ministry but restored in these latter days. We know there was a falling away, or an apostasy, necessitating the Restoration of His true and complete Church in our time.
"Saints means that its members follow Him and strive to do His will, keep His commandments, and prepare once again to live with Him and our Heavenly Father in the future. Saint simply refers to those who seek to make their lives holy by covenanting to follow Christ." (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2011/10/the-importance-of-a-name?lang=eng)
"The Church of itself cannot be this standard. Since the Church is made up of individuals, it becomes an individual responsibility to make the Church a standard for the nations. I must be a standard in my life. I must so conduct myself that I may be a standard worthy of being followed by those who seek the greater joy in life." (CR, April 1940, p. 35; D&C Student Manual, p. 286.)
Elder Neal A. Maxwell: "However, our collective light does not yet shine brightly enough to be “a standard for the nations” (D&C 115:5). (Conference Report, Apr. 1987, 87; or Ensign, May 1987, 71)
President Ezra Taft Benson: “Members of stakes are to be models or standards of righteousness. Stakes are to be a defense (see D&C 115:6). They do this as they unify under their local priesthood officers and dedicate themselves to do their duty and keep their covenants. Those covenants, if kept, become a protection from error, evil, or calamity. . . .
“Stakes are a defense for the Saints from enemies both seen and unseen. The defense is provided through priesthood channels that strengthen testimony and promote family solidarity and individual righteousness” (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [1988], 150).
Joseph Smith: "It was the design of the councils of heaven before the world was, that the principles and laws of the priesthood should be predicated upon the gathering of the people in every age of the world....ordinances instituted in the heavens before the foundation of the world, in the priesthood, for the salvation of men, are not to be altered or changed. All must be saved on the same principles.
"It is for the same purpose that God gathers together His people in the last days, to build unto the Lord a house to prepare them for the ordinances and endowments, washings and anointings, etc.” (History of the Church, 5:423-24).
Adam-ondi-Ahman
Joseph Smith: "Daniel in his seventh chapter speaks of the Ancient of Days; he means the oldest man, our father Adam, Michael, he will call his children together and hold a council with them to prepare them for the coming of the Son of Man. He (Adam) is the father of the human family and presides over the spirits of all men, and all that have had the keys must stand before him in this grand council…"
“The Son of Man stands before him, and there is given him glory and dominion. Adam delivers up his stewardship to Christ, that which was delivered to him as holding the keys of the universe, but retains his standing as head of the human family" (Smith, Joseph, History of the Church, 3:386-87.)
Oliver Granger performed this assignment with such satisfaction to the creditors involved that one of them wrote:
“Oliver Granger’s management in the arrangement of the unfinished business of people that have moved to the Far West, in redeeming their pledges and thereby sustaining their integrity, has been truly praiseworthy, and has entitled him to my highest esteem, and every grateful recollection.”
"However, Oliver was largely unsuccessful in selling the church's property, and most of it would eventually fall into the hands of others who would never pay the church any remuneration. " (History of the Church, 3:174.)
Oliver Granger remained in Kirtland until his death in 1841 at the age of 47. Even though there were few Latter-day Saints in the area at the time, his funeral was attended "by a vast concourse of people" from Kirtland and neighboring towns.
The Oliver Granger Principle
Oliver is not praised for his success but rather for his efforts and for earnestly contending at personal sacrifice.
We can’t always expect to succeed, but we can try again.
A portion of Governor Boggs Extermination order: "“Your orders are, therefore, to hasten your operation with all possible speed. The Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the state if necessary for the public peace--their outrages are beyond all description.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormon_Extermination_Order)
Amanda Smith: "Emerging from the blacksmith shop was my eldest son, bearing on his shoulders his little brother Alma. ‘Oh! my Alma is dead!’ I cried, in anguish. ‘No, mother; I think Alma is not dead. But father and brother Sardius are killed!’ What an answer was this to appal me! My husband and son murdered; another little son seemingly mortally wounded; and perhaps before the dreadful night should pass the murderers would return and complete their work! But I could not weep then . . . The entire hip joint of my wounded boy had been shot away. Flesh, hip bone, joint and all had been ploughed out from the muzzle of the gun, which the ruffian placed to the child’s hip through the logs of the shop and deliberately fired. We laid little Alma on a bed in our tent and I examined the wound. It was a ghastly sight . . .
"‘Oh my Heavenly Father,’ I cried, ‘what shall I do? Thou seest my poor wounded boy and knowest my inexperience. Oh, Heavenly Father, direct me what to do!’ And then I was directed as by a voice speaking to me. The ashes of our fire was still smouldering. We had been burning the bark of the shag-bark hickory. I was directed to take those ashes and make a lye and put a cloth saturated with it right into the wound. It hurt, but little Alma was too near dead to heed it much. Again and again I saturated the cloth and put it into the hole from which the hip joint had been ploughed, and each time mashed flesh and splinters of bone came away with the cloth; and the wound became as white as chicken’s flesh. Having done as directed I again prayed to the Lord and was again instructed as distinctly as though a physician had been standing by speaking to me. Near by was a slippery-elm tree. From this I was told to make a slippery-elm poultice and fill the wound with it. My eldest boy was sent to get the slippery-elm from the roots, the poultice was made, and the wound, which took fully a quarter of a yard of linen to cover, so large was it, was properly dressed . . .
"I removed the wounded boy to a house, some distance off, the next day, and dressed his hip; the Lord directing me as before. I was reminded that in my husband’s trunk there was a bottle of balsam. This I poured into the wound, greatly soothing Alma’s pain. ‘Alma, my child,’ I said, ‘you believe that the Lord made your hip?’ ‘Yes, mother.’ ‘Well, the Lord can make something there in the place of your hip, don’t you believe he can, Alma?’ ‘Do you think that the Lord can, mother?’ inquired the child, in his simplicity. ‘Yes, my son,’ I replied, ‘he has showed it all to me in a vision.’ Then I laid him comfortably on his face and said: ‘Now you lay like that, and don’t move, and the Lord will make you another hip.’ So Alma laid on his face for five weeks, until he was entirely recovered—a flexible gristle having grown in place of the missing joint and socket, which remains to this day a marvel to physicians." (LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, Andrew Jenson, Vol. 2, p.793-796)
Within a few weeks Alma resumed his normal childhood activities and lived to serve four LDS missions, three in the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) and one in England. He died in Colesville Utah June 19, 1887.
Wilford Woodruff: "When President [Brigham] Young asked the question of the Twelve, 'Brethren what will you do about this?' [D&C 118:4-5] the reply was: 'The Lord has spoken and it is for us to obey.' We felt that the Lord God had given the commandment and we had faith to go forward and accomplish it, feeling that it was His business whether we lived or died in its accomplishment. We started for Missouri" (Deseret News, Dec. 22, 1869, 543).
Those of the Quorum of the Twelve who could travel across Missouri in April 1839 did so. On the night of April 25, the Apostles and some other faithful brethren arrived in Far West. Shortly after midnight, in the earliest morning hours of April 26, they assembled on the temple lot in Far West, Missouri, as the Lord had commanded.
After rolling a large stone up to the southeast corner of the temple lot to fulfill the Lord's command that the foundations of His house be laid, the Apostles ordained Wilford Woodruff and George A. Smith to the apostleship. Then, after several of the Apostles had prayed, and all those who attended had sung the hymn "Adam-ondi-Ahman" together, the Apostles left.
None of the enemies of the Church remembered that April 26 was the day the Apostles were to assemble at the temple lot in Far West. The Apostles were blessed because of their determination to keep the Lord's command, and they fulfilled what the Lord had asked them to do.
Shortly after midnight on 26 April, Elders Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, John E. Page, Orson Pratt, Wilford Woodruff, John Taylor, and George A. Smith gathered with about twenty other Saints at the Far West temple site. In the moonlight they recommenced laying the foundation of the Lord’s house by rolling up a large stone near the southeast corner. Brigham Young reported, “Thus was this revelation fulfilled, concerning which our enemies said, if all other revelations of Joseph Smith were fulfilled that one should not, as it had day and date to it.”
In the early morning hours Theodore Turley, one of the Saints who had been at Far West with the Twelve, went to the home of apostate Isaac Russell to say goodbye. Russell was astounded that his friend was in Far West with members of the Twelve and speechless upon learning that the prophecy was fulfilled.
Teaching Thoughts:
Joseph sought counsel from the Lord and received a revelation on January 12 that is not canonized in the Doctrine and Covenants: "Thus saith the Lord: Let the presidency of my Church take their families as soon as it is practicable and a door is open for them, and move on to the west as fast as the way is made plain before their faces, and let their hearts be comforted, for I will be with them. Verily I say unto you, the time page damaged to come that your labours are finished in this place, for a season. Therefore, arise and get yourselves on to a land which I shall show unto you, even a land flowing with milk and honey.1 You are clean from the blood of this people, and wo unto those who have become your enemies, who have professed my name, saith the Lord, for their judgment lingereth not and their damnation slumbereth not. Let all your faithful friends arise with their families also and get out of this place and gather themselves together unto Zion and be at peace among yourselves, O ye inhabitants of Zion, or there shall be no safety for you." (Harper, Making Sense of the Doctrine and Covenants, Section 117)
On 29 June 1836 a mass meeting was held in the Clay County courthouse in Liberty to discuss objections to the Mormons remaining in the area. Some were concerned that the “crisis” would erupt into a civil war. Opponents gave five reasons for their objection to the Saints:
- They were poor.
- Their religious differences stirred up prejudice.
- Their Eastern customs and dialect were alien to the Missourians.
- They opposed slavery.
- They believed the Indians were God’s chosen people destined to inherit the land of Missouri with them.
Conditions for the Saints were critical. Without assurance of protection from the governor and with hostility in both Clay and Ray counties, the stake presidency and the high council met in an emergency session on 25 July.
To complicate matters further, the brethren had just learned that approximately one hundred families of immigrating Saints were camped on the Crooked River in lower Ray County. Many of them were ill, and “destitute of means to purchase lands or provisions.” Citizens in Ray County threatened them with violence if they did not leave. Furthermore, another hundred impoverished families were en route from the Mississippi River.
Thomas B. Marsh and Elisha H. Groves, a convert from Kentucky, were sent to branches of the Church in other states to collect money to benefit “Poor Bleeding Zion,” while W. W. Phelps, John Whitmer, Edward Partridge, Isaac Morley, and John Corrill were assigned to locate more land in Missouri for settlement.
Thomas Marsh and Elisha Groves returned early in 1837 from their fund-raising mission in Kentucky and Tennessee and turned $1450 over to W. W. Phelps and John Whitmer, counselors in the stake presidency, since President David Whitmer was in Ohio. The counselors used the money to buy more land, but they purchased it in their own names and then sold it to the Saints at a small profit, which they retained.
On 10 February the high council, with the assistance of two Apostles, excommunicated W. W. Phelps and John Whitmer and sustained Thomas B. Marsh and David W. Patten as acting presidents until the expected arrival of Joseph Smith.
Additional action against David Whitmer, Oliver Cowdery, and Lyman Johnson, an Apostle who had joined the dissenters, was postponed pending the Prophet’s arrival.
On January 12, 1838, Joseph sought counsel from the Lord and received a revelation on January 12 that is not canonized in the Doctrine and Covenants:
"Thus saith the Lord: Let the presidency of my Church take their families as soon as it is practicable and a door is open for them, and move on to the west as fast as the way is made plain before their faces, and let their hearts be comforted, for I will be with them … Let all your faithful friends arise with their families also and get out of this place and gather themselves together unto Zion and be at peace among yourselves, O ye inhabitants of Zion, or there shall be no safety for you.“ (Revelation, Kirtland, Ohio, January 12, 1838, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, copied into Joseph Smith, Journal, July 8, 1838, Church History Library, Salt Lake City. See Joseph Smith, The Papers of Joseph Smith, ed. Dean C. Jessee, 2 vols. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1989-92), 2:255; spelling and punctuation standardized.)
At the conference, the Prophet called the three senior members of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles—Thomas B. Marsh, David W. Patten, and Brigham Young—as the new stake presidency in Missouri.
A much more serious matter was the case of Oliver Cowdery. He was charged by the high council for:
- persecuting Church leaders with vexatious lawsuits,
- seeking to destroy the character of Joseph Smith,
- not abiding ecclesiastical authority in temporal affairs, selling lands in Jackson County, and
- leaving his calling as Assistant President of the Church and turning to the practice of law.
Oliver refused to appear before the council, but he answered by letter. He denied the Church’s right to dictate how he should conduct his life and asked that his fellowship with the Church be ended. The high council excommunicated him 12 April 1838.
President Russell M. Nelson: "The Lord impressed upon my mind the importance of the name He decreed for His Church, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." (https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/name-of-the-church)
Elder M Russell Ballard: "The words Church of Jesus Christ declare that it is His Church. In the Book of Mormon, Jesus taught: “And how be it my church save it be called in my name? For if a church be called in Moses’ name then it be Moses’ church; or if it be called in the name of a man [like Mormon] then it be the church of a man; but if it be called in my name then it is my church, if it so be that they are built upon my gospel” (3 Nephi 27:8).
"Of Latter-day explains that it is the same Church as the Church that Jesus Christ established during His mortal ministry but restored in these latter days. We know there was a falling away, or an apostasy, necessitating the Restoration of His true and complete Church in our time.
"Saints means that its members follow Him and strive to do His will, keep His commandments, and prepare once again to live with Him and our Heavenly Father in the future. Saint simply refers to those who seek to make their lives holy by covenanting to follow Christ." (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2011/10/the-importance-of-a-name?lang=eng)
"The Church of itself cannot be this standard. Since the Church is made up of individuals, it becomes an individual responsibility to make the Church a standard for the nations. I must be a standard in my life. I must so conduct myself that I may be a standard worthy of being followed by those who seek the greater joy in life." (CR, April 1940, p. 35; D&C Student Manual, p. 286.)
Elder Neal A. Maxwell: "However, our collective light does not yet shine brightly enough to be “a standard for the nations” (D&C 115:5). (Conference Report, Apr. 1987, 87; or Ensign, May 1987, 71)
President Ezra Taft Benson: “Members of stakes are to be models or standards of righteousness. Stakes are to be a defense (see D&C 115:6). They do this as they unify under their local priesthood officers and dedicate themselves to do their duty and keep their covenants. Those covenants, if kept, become a protection from error, evil, or calamity. . . .
“Stakes are a defense for the Saints from enemies both seen and unseen. The defense is provided through priesthood channels that strengthen testimony and promote family solidarity and individual righteousness” (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [1988], 150).
Joseph Smith: "It was the design of the councils of heaven before the world was, that the principles and laws of the priesthood should be predicated upon the gathering of the people in every age of the world....ordinances instituted in the heavens before the foundation of the world, in the priesthood, for the salvation of men, are not to be altered or changed. All must be saved on the same principles.
"It is for the same purpose that God gathers together His people in the last days, to build unto the Lord a house to prepare them for the ordinances and endowments, washings and anointings, etc.” (History of the Church, 5:423-24).
Adam-ondi-Ahman
- Section 78:15-16 Introduction
- Daniel 7:9-14 Vision
- Section 116 Location
- Section 107:53-57 Type for 2nd Coming
- Section 27:5-14 Who gets to attend
Joseph Smith: "Daniel in his seventh chapter speaks of the Ancient of Days; he means the oldest man, our father Adam, Michael, he will call his children together and hold a council with them to prepare them for the coming of the Son of Man. He (Adam) is the father of the human family and presides over the spirits of all men, and all that have had the keys must stand before him in this grand council…"
“The Son of Man stands before him, and there is given him glory and dominion. Adam delivers up his stewardship to Christ, that which was delivered to him as holding the keys of the universe, but retains his standing as head of the human family" (Smith, Joseph, History of the Church, 3:386-87.)
Oliver Granger performed this assignment with such satisfaction to the creditors involved that one of them wrote:
“Oliver Granger’s management in the arrangement of the unfinished business of people that have moved to the Far West, in redeeming their pledges and thereby sustaining their integrity, has been truly praiseworthy, and has entitled him to my highest esteem, and every grateful recollection.”
"However, Oliver was largely unsuccessful in selling the church's property, and most of it would eventually fall into the hands of others who would never pay the church any remuneration. " (History of the Church, 3:174.)
Oliver Granger remained in Kirtland until his death in 1841 at the age of 47. Even though there were few Latter-day Saints in the area at the time, his funeral was attended "by a vast concourse of people" from Kirtland and neighboring towns.
The Oliver Granger Principle
Oliver is not praised for his success but rather for his efforts and for earnestly contending at personal sacrifice.
We can’t always expect to succeed, but we can try again.
A portion of Governor Boggs Extermination order: "“Your orders are, therefore, to hasten your operation with all possible speed. The Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the state if necessary for the public peace--their outrages are beyond all description.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormon_Extermination_Order)
Amanda Smith: "Emerging from the blacksmith shop was my eldest son, bearing on his shoulders his little brother Alma. ‘Oh! my Alma is dead!’ I cried, in anguish. ‘No, mother; I think Alma is not dead. But father and brother Sardius are killed!’ What an answer was this to appal me! My husband and son murdered; another little son seemingly mortally wounded; and perhaps before the dreadful night should pass the murderers would return and complete their work! But I could not weep then . . . The entire hip joint of my wounded boy had been shot away. Flesh, hip bone, joint and all had been ploughed out from the muzzle of the gun, which the ruffian placed to the child’s hip through the logs of the shop and deliberately fired. We laid little Alma on a bed in our tent and I examined the wound. It was a ghastly sight . . .
"‘Oh my Heavenly Father,’ I cried, ‘what shall I do? Thou seest my poor wounded boy and knowest my inexperience. Oh, Heavenly Father, direct me what to do!’ And then I was directed as by a voice speaking to me. The ashes of our fire was still smouldering. We had been burning the bark of the shag-bark hickory. I was directed to take those ashes and make a lye and put a cloth saturated with it right into the wound. It hurt, but little Alma was too near dead to heed it much. Again and again I saturated the cloth and put it into the hole from which the hip joint had been ploughed, and each time mashed flesh and splinters of bone came away with the cloth; and the wound became as white as chicken’s flesh. Having done as directed I again prayed to the Lord and was again instructed as distinctly as though a physician had been standing by speaking to me. Near by was a slippery-elm tree. From this I was told to make a slippery-elm poultice and fill the wound with it. My eldest boy was sent to get the slippery-elm from the roots, the poultice was made, and the wound, which took fully a quarter of a yard of linen to cover, so large was it, was properly dressed . . .
"I removed the wounded boy to a house, some distance off, the next day, and dressed his hip; the Lord directing me as before. I was reminded that in my husband’s trunk there was a bottle of balsam. This I poured into the wound, greatly soothing Alma’s pain. ‘Alma, my child,’ I said, ‘you believe that the Lord made your hip?’ ‘Yes, mother.’ ‘Well, the Lord can make something there in the place of your hip, don’t you believe he can, Alma?’ ‘Do you think that the Lord can, mother?’ inquired the child, in his simplicity. ‘Yes, my son,’ I replied, ‘he has showed it all to me in a vision.’ Then I laid him comfortably on his face and said: ‘Now you lay like that, and don’t move, and the Lord will make you another hip.’ So Alma laid on his face for five weeks, until he was entirely recovered—a flexible gristle having grown in place of the missing joint and socket, which remains to this day a marvel to physicians." (LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, Andrew Jenson, Vol. 2, p.793-796)
Within a few weeks Alma resumed his normal childhood activities and lived to serve four LDS missions, three in the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) and one in England. He died in Colesville Utah June 19, 1887.
Wilford Woodruff: "When President [Brigham] Young asked the question of the Twelve, 'Brethren what will you do about this?' [D&C 118:4-5] the reply was: 'The Lord has spoken and it is for us to obey.' We felt that the Lord God had given the commandment and we had faith to go forward and accomplish it, feeling that it was His business whether we lived or died in its accomplishment. We started for Missouri" (Deseret News, Dec. 22, 1869, 543).
Those of the Quorum of the Twelve who could travel across Missouri in April 1839 did so. On the night of April 25, the Apostles and some other faithful brethren arrived in Far West. Shortly after midnight, in the earliest morning hours of April 26, they assembled on the temple lot in Far West, Missouri, as the Lord had commanded.
After rolling a large stone up to the southeast corner of the temple lot to fulfill the Lord's command that the foundations of His house be laid, the Apostles ordained Wilford Woodruff and George A. Smith to the apostleship. Then, after several of the Apostles had prayed, and all those who attended had sung the hymn "Adam-ondi-Ahman" together, the Apostles left.
None of the enemies of the Church remembered that April 26 was the day the Apostles were to assemble at the temple lot in Far West. The Apostles were blessed because of their determination to keep the Lord's command, and they fulfilled what the Lord had asked them to do.
Shortly after midnight on 26 April, Elders Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, John E. Page, Orson Pratt, Wilford Woodruff, John Taylor, and George A. Smith gathered with about twenty other Saints at the Far West temple site. In the moonlight they recommenced laying the foundation of the Lord’s house by rolling up a large stone near the southeast corner. Brigham Young reported, “Thus was this revelation fulfilled, concerning which our enemies said, if all other revelations of Joseph Smith were fulfilled that one should not, as it had day and date to it.”
In the early morning hours Theodore Turley, one of the Saints who had been at Far West with the Twelve, went to the home of apostate Isaac Russell to say goodbye. Russell was astounded that his friend was in Far West with members of the Twelve and speechless upon learning that the prophecy was fulfilled.
Teaching Thoughts:
- How do you feel about being called a saint? Or know as being someone who has covenanted to become more holy?
- Discuss how being surrounded by fellow saints, (‘holy ones’) can be a defense, and a refuge from the storms of life.
- What have you experienced in your ward/stake that has been a defense, and a refuge for you or your family?
- God vindicates His prophets.
- How can the Oliver Granger Principle help you in your life?
- Share your feelings about membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
- What have you experienced in your ward/stake that has been a defense, and a refuge for you or your family?