The Untold Events Leading Up to Mormon prophet Joseph Smith's Death, Journal of William Law, 1844 

Descript

@@latterdaysmarts244 thx

They have to, either that or give up their faith.

Thanks for the comment. You can compare Law's journal entries in this video to Joseph Smith's journal entries on the church's website The Joseph Smith Papers. Here is the link to Joseph's journal to compare the events and timelines. They match up well. www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/journal-december-1842-june-1844-book-4-1-march-22-june-1844/50 Also, a copy of William Law's journal is in the BYU archives and seems accepted there as written by Law himself. See link- archives.lib.byu.edu/repositories/14/resources/4730 We encourage everyone to do their own research, and consider ALL information and sources to put the whole picture together. On this channel we provide the other side of the story not shared by the church. Also see our video on the Nauvoo Expositor published by William Law and 6 other members of the church.

This is absolutely fascinating. I am working on a project that I may need some more information on Wm. Law. Is there a source material that that has a legitimate chain of custody? Thanks.

Great question. We agree it is fascinating. Here is a link that might be useful to you. It is the Joseph Smith Papers website, run by the LDS church. The links on that web page are to the handwritten images of the original documents and also the text for each, since the handwriting can be difficult to read. There are many documents relating to William Law and his brother, Wilson. Hope it helps. www.josephsmithpapers.org/person/william-law Sometimes it can be difficult to find the chain of custody of these documents, and much easier to see who has possession now. In most cases we find the documents have always been in the custody of one of the Mormon religions such as LDS, RLDS(Community of Christ, which is Joseph's family line) or sometimes held in possession of the descendants and later shared publicly. There is not one official group that verifies these sources for members and non-members alike. However, there are many knowledgeable individuals. It is important to compare sources and accounts. Leave no stone unturned and come to your own conclusions.

@@latterdaysmarts244 excellent. It is actually more than enough to say that the facts are published by the Mormons themselves.

@@kiddtuffy Another way to tell that Law's journal entries are authentic is to simply read the affidavits published in the Nauvoo Expositor.

I’m curious about that as well. Any idea why he wanted to mention that?

Hope this helps. Here is a link to an 1887 interview with William. He explains in detail his opinion that Emma was no better than Joseph. www.mrm.org/law-interview Also, the Law's claimed that both Joseph and Emma had petitioned them for "sexual substitutes". Emma gave up fighting Joseph on polygamy and said if he does it, she will do it too. But the Laws turned them down. Then Joseph threatened Emma with Doctrine and Covenants 132, that she only cleaves to Joseph and none else, or be destroyed. (per Grant Palmer's book, An Insider's View of Mormon Origins)

Supposedly, Emma was mad at Joseph over his affairs, so she told him that if he could have other women, she should be able to have other men. She reportedly chose the "handsome little fellow" William Law. But just because Emma had a thing for Law doesn't mean that he liked her. Law's wife Jane was apparently very attractive, and he was satisfied with only her. This storyline is thought to be the reason for this passage in the "revelation on celestial marriage": "A commandment I give unto mine handmaid, Emma Smith, your wife, whom I have given unto you, that she stay herself and partake not of that which I commanded you to offer unto her; for I did it, saith the Lord, to prove you all, as I did Abraham, and that I might require an offering at your hand, by covenant and sacrifice.” “And I command mine handmaid, Emma Smith, to abide and cleave unto my servant Joseph, and to none else…” In other words, Joseph, speaking in the name of "God", commanded Emma to not screw around with Law.

@@latterdaysmarts244 I wonder if Emma proposed to Joseph that she have an affair with Law solely to try to make Joseph stop fooling around with other women. Keep in mind two things: one, Emma grudgingly consented to Joseph's sealing to the Partridge sisters, only to throw them out of her house shortly afterwards. And two, Joseph took no more plural wives shortly after that incident. That hints that Joseph realized that he had screwed up big time with the whole polygamy thing---especially after the proposal to sustain it as church doctrine was rejected by the Nauvoo High Council on August 12, 1843---and Joseph spent the last few months of his life regretting it and trying to reverse course.

@@randyjordan5521 Wow. I always thought Emma was attractive, but upon closer investigation I now see why Joseph might have wanted to stray.

See our references below. From what we have found it looks like he didn't know about polygamy until after he became 2nd counselor(Jan. 19, 1841) and after he got his endowment in the temple(May 26, 1843)(1). Polygamy was not taught as part of the endowment.(2) His journal entries starting early January, 1844 are already referencing his disagreement about Joseph's doctrines(as shown in this video). So we think he learned about it after his endowment in May 1843 and before January 1844? In an 1887 interview he said how he found out about polygamy and how disgusted he was. Also that he published the Nauvoo Expositor so people who knew him would know he didn't participate willingly. Also that he and others did not know for a long time about the scams. "Hyrum gave it [the revelation] to me in his office, told me to take it home and read it, and then be careful with it, and bring it back again…[My wife Jane] and I were just turned upside down by it…We did not know what to do."(3) “'Yes, I originated the idea to publish that paper(Nauvoo Expositor). I had friends in many parts of the country. They knew that I had become a member of the Mormon religion. I wanted to show them, by publishing the paper, that I had not been in a fraud willingly' (the old man’s eyes filled with tears and his voice trembled)".(3) "“Marks, Yves, I and some others had, for a long time, no idea of the depravity that was going on. This was simply the result of a very smart system adopted by the prophet and his intimate friends like Brigham Young, Kimball and others. They first tried a man to see whether they could make a criminal tool out of him. When they felt that he would not be the stuff to make a criminal of, they kept him outside the inner circle and used him to show him up as an example of their religion, as a good, virtuous, universally respected brother.”(3) References below: ***(1)William Law Biography with Dates- william-law.org/biographical/ ***(2)Polygamy was not taught in the endowment- (See Andrew F. Ehat, “Joseph Smith’s Introduction of Temple Ordinances and the Mormon Succession Question” (master’s thesis, Brigham Young University, 1982), 46-47.) ***(3)1887 Interview with William- www.mrm.org/law-interview ( See Dr. W. Wyl interview with William Law in Shullsburg, Wisconsin, 30 March 1887, published in The Salt Lake Daily Tribune, 31 July 1887, 6; cited by Cook, "Nauvoo Dissenter")

Thanks we appreciate the comment

​@@latterdaysmarts244 Joseph Smith dying in jail is the least of his Problems,, His next home will be the Lake of fire 🔥🔥🔥, Matthew 24:5 Jesus warned us about the Many false prophets in the Last days, But the Mormon church is teaching about that white dude they Call Jesus, So it's obvious Jesus was right because the Mormon church is doing exactly what Jesus said almost 2000 years ago exactly what he said

Yes he was a guard for Joseph Smith and a policeman in Nauvoo if we remember correctly. His sons were guards also. We have not researched the Mecham family in depth yet, but here is some great information on the Mecham family and extended family that is very interesting- daviesdawsonhistory.weebly.com/uploads/2/4/6/6/24669691/joshua_mecham_for_web.pdf

@@latterdaysmarts244 omgosh thank you! I'm checking it out right now 😁

@@latterdaysmarts244 thank you for sharing- that was very interesting; I find it galling that those people try to act like they were being persecuted

You are very welcome. Yes and it is very interesting to read the other side of the persecution story and how the church was treating nonmembers(Gentiles), and not in self defense but as the instigators claiming to have the blessing of God. The church leaders in Nauvoo maintained a very tight circle. They were careful to not let anyone into the circle who could become a whistle blower(i.e. William Law, Joseph's 2nd counselor, who was shocked after being let into the circle and brought it all to light, directly resulting in the deaths of Joseph and Hyrum). The average member did not know about the secret practices(polygamy, polyandry, Danites, murders, land schemes, intent to overthrow the gov't, Joseph was proclaimed King, thefts, etc) because Joseph denied these things in public. It appears this is why the average member in Nauvoo felt that the persecution was so unfair and it was interpreted as Satan fighting against the true church. Those practices have been hidden and denied. Now with the information age these acts are slowly being acknowledged but sometimes still justified as God's will. Many members still do not know much about the history however, and are heartbroken when they find out.

@@latterdaysmarts244 I try to look at as if it was happening today. If a guy stuck his face in a hat with magic rocks to decipher invisible plates that told of a new gospel, would I believe him? If a guy leading a cult started hitting on my wife or daughter in the name of his religion, would I follow him, run from him, or chase him from my home, or neighborhood? If the same cult leader destroyed peoples properties that opposed him, would he and his followers be arrested or driven from our town. The answer to me is obvious, we would chase these nut jobs as far from us as we could.