LDS Prophecies and Revelations, Part VI
On July 12, 1843, Mormonism’s founder, Joseph Smith, recorded a revelation about plural marriage which was published in 1852 as Doctrine and Covenants (D. & C.) Sec. 132. The introduction to it says, “It is evident from the historical records that the doctrines and principles involved in this revelation had been known by the Prophet since 1831.” That explanation was given because Joseph Smith had secretly practiced polygamy since about 1831. In fact, Joseph Smith married all but two or three of his 34 known wives before this revelation was even recorded!
D. & C. Sec. 132:1-4 says, “Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you my servant Joseph, that inasmuch as you have inquired of my hand to know and understand wherein I, the Lord, justified my servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as also Moses, David and Solomon, my servants, as touching the principle and doctrine of their having many wives and concubines—Behold, and lo, I am the Lord thy God, and will answer thee as touching this matter. Therefore, prepare thy heart to receive and obey the instructions which I am about to give unto you; for all those who have this law revealed unto them must obey the same. For behold, I reveal unto you a new and everlasting covenant; and if ye abide not that covenant, then are ye damned; for no one can reject this covenant and be permitted to enter into my glory.”
In D. & C. 132:1 “the Lord” was answering Smith’s inquiry about how Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David & Solomon were “justified” in having many wives and concubines. So, Smith had been thinking about polygamy. In D. & C. 132:34-39 “the Lord” told Smith that He gave them their wives, concubines and children and accounted them for righteousness and no sin was committed except in the case of David and Uriah’s wife. But in Jacob 2:24 in the Book of Mormon, the Lord said that David and Solomon’s wives were an “abomination” to Him! Did God give David and Solomon wives and concubines and justify them even though they were an abomination? Or was Smith’s “revelation” from God? In verse 4, “the Lord” told Smith He was revealing a “new and everlasting covenant” regarding polygamy. But, if Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and others practiced polygamy in ancient times, how could it be a new law in 1843? Verse 3 says, “All those who have this law revealed to them must obey the same” and verse 4 says, “If ye abide not that covenant, then are ye damned.” “The Lord” also said, “No one can reject this covenant and be permitted to enter into my glory” and in verse 21 He said, “Except ye abide my law ye cannot attain to this glory” (of godhood). D. & C. 132 is still LDS scripture, so all Mormons have this law revealed to them. But LDS today reject polygamy and deny that they practice it, so are they damned and excluded from God’s glory as verses 3, 4 & 21 say? Or doesn’t LDS scripture mean what it says?
Joseph Smith’s first wife, Emma, was angry when she heard about her husband’s involvement in polygamy and she refused to accept it. In order to “encourage” her to accept it “God” said in verse 52 “And let my handmaid, Emma Smith, receive all those (wives) that have been given unto my servant Joseph” … And in verse 54 “God” said, “And I command mine handmaid, Emma Smith, to abide and cleave unto my servant Joseph, and to none else. But if she will not abide this commandment she shall be destroyed, saith the Lord; for I am the Lord thy God and will destroy her if she abide not in my law.” Joseph lived the law of plural marriage, but just eleven months after this “revelation” was recorded he was shot dead at the age of 38 while he was in jail for treason. Emma rejected Smith’s revelation and refused to accept polygamy, but she lived 35 years longer than Joseph. After he died, she married another man and lived until she was 75. How was Emma “destroyed” in a worse manner than Joseph?
D. & C. 132:61-63 says, “If any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse another, and the first give her consent, and if he espouse the second, and they are virgins, and have vowed to no other man, then he is justified; he cannot commit adultery for they are given unto him; for he cannot commit adultery with that that belongeth unto him and to no one else. And if he have ten virgins given unto him by this law, he cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him, and they are given unto him; therefore is he justified. But if one or either of the ten virgins, after she is espoused, shall be with another man, she has committed adultery, and shall be destroyed…”. Joseph Smith never received permission from his first wife, Emma, to marry his other wives, but he married them anyway. At least eleven of the wives Joseph married were already married to other men when Joseph married them, so they were not virgins! Therefore, Joseph broke this “law of God!” Several of Smith’s plural wives married other men after marrying Joseph, but they were not destroyed and all of them lived longer than Smith! Joseph married at least seven girls between the ages of 14 and 17. Warren Jeffs, the Prophet of the FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), is now in prison for marrying girls that age to other men! If that made Jeffs a criminal, was Joseph Smith a criminal for marrying 14- to 17-year-old girls himself?
Mormons claim that polygamy ended in 1890 when the fourth LDS Prophet, Wilford Woodruff gave his “Manifesto” which is “Official Declaration-1” located at the end of the D. & C. It says, “I now publicly declare that my advice to the Latter-day Saints is to refrain from contracting any marriage forbidden by the law of the land.” But D. & C. 132:1 begins with, “Verily, thus saith the Lord...” which sounds a lot more authoritative! Notice that Woodruff’s Official Declaration I in the D. &C. doesn’t say polygamy is wrong, it just says to obey the law of the land. If polygamy was really an “everlasting” covenant, as D. & C. 132:4 says, could it be cancelled by Prophet Woodruff’s words? And if that “everlasting covenant” ended, could everlasting life also end? What does “everlasting” mean? LDS claim their scriptures clarify things better than the Bible, so it should be easy to understand the meaning of the words “everlasting covenant.” Joseph Smith claimed this “revelation” came from the Lord, and that is the reason several Mormon polygamist “off-shoot” groups still practice polygamy today. Because those groups are secretive, no one really knows how many polygamists there are. But various reports have said there are more practicing polygamy today than there were in Brigham Young’s day when polygamy was openly practiced in Utah.