Historical Events, Notable Doctrines: Mormonism Overview
Timothy Oliver, Rick Branch, and James Walker
1805 Joseph Smith, founder of Mormonism, is born in Sharon, Vermont.
1820 In response to his first uttered prayer, Joseph Smith purportedly has First Vision of God the Father and Jesus (Pearl of Great Price, "Joseph Smith - History" vv. 3, 17-19). (See 1832a, 1834d, 1835a, b, 1840b, 1842a, 1855a, 1879a.)
1827 Angel Moroni gives Smith the Golden Plates which will become the Book of Mormon (Ibid., v. 59).
1830 (a) Smith finishes translation of the Golden Plates and publishes Book of Mormon (BoM). This book contains two very interesting doctrines which would become pivotal in later years. First, only one God in the Godhead (Alma 11:22-35; cf. 1842a, 1844a, c, d.) Second, David's and Solomon's polygamy was an abomination to God (Jacob 2:24-35; cf. Doctrine &Covenants, 132:38-39). (See 1838c cross dates.)
(b) April 6, church founded - Name: The Church of Christ (David Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ, p. 73). (See 1834b, 1838d.)
1832 (a) First Vision account recorded for the first time. Joseph Smith says he was "in the 16th year of my age," and "I saw the Lord ... (who) was crucifyed for the world." No mention of the Father (Joseph Smith's 1832 Diary). (See 1820 cross-dates.)
(b) Joseph Smith gives prophecy of temple to be built at Independence, in Jackson County, Missouri. "A revelation of Jesus Christ unto his servant Joseph Smith ... to stand upon Mount Zion, which shall be the city of New Jerusalem ... in the western boundaries of the State of Missouri ... beginning at this place, even the place of the temple, which temple shall be reared in this generation. For verily this generation shall not all pass away until an house shall be built unto the Lord..." (D&C, 84:1-5) This proved to be a false prophecy (see 1833b, 1871, 1996b).
1833 (a) First 65 revelations printed in Book of Commandments. (See 1835c.)
(b) Mormons are driven out of Jackson County, Missouri. (See 1832b, 1871, 1996b).
1834 (a) Lectures on Faith first published for "School of the Elders" (Church News, 7 January, 1989, p. 4). (See 1835c, 1842a.)
(b) Name of church changed to "The Church of the Latter Day Saints" (Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ, p. 73). (See 1830, 1838d.)
(c) February 24, Smith receives revelation explaining persecution of Mormons in Jackson County, Missouri, wherein Independence, and the appointed temple lot are located. They are promised, "I have decreed a decree which my people shall realize, inasmuch as they hearken from this very hour unto the counsel which I, the Lord their God, shall give unto them. Behold they shall, for I have decreed it, begin to prevail against mine enemies from this very hour. And by hearkening to observe all the words which I, the Lord their God, shall speak unto them, they shall never cease to prevail until the kingdoms of the world are subdued under my feet, and the earth is given to the saints, to possess it forever" (Doctrine and Covenants, 103:5-7). This, too, proved to be a false prophecy (see 1841). (See also 1838b, 1839b, 1840a.)
(d) New First Vision information on Joseph Smith's age. "I shall, therefore, pass over that, till I come to the 15th year of his life" (Messenger and Advocate, Dec. 1834, Vol. 1, p. 42). (See 1820 cross-dates.)
1835 (a) New First Vision information on Smith's age in Mormon newspaper, Messenger and Advocate. "You will recollect that I mentioned the time of a religious excitement, in Palmyra and vicinity to have been in the 15th year of our brother J. Smith Jr.'s, age - that was an error in type - it should have been in the 17th" (Ibid., Feb. 1835, Vol. 1, p. 76). (See 1820 cross dates.)
(b) New First Vision account. Joseph Smith writes in his diary, "...a personage appeared in the midst of this pillar of flame...another personage soon appeared like unto the first, he said unto me thy sins are forgiven thee, he testifyed unto me that Jesus Christ is the Son of God; and I saw many angels in this vision when I was about 14 years old when I received this first communication" (1835 Diary, Nov. 9). (See 1820 cross dates.)
(c) The Doctrine &Covenants, containing the Lectures on Faith (see 1842a) and the purported revelations of Joseph Smith up to this date, is published. This is a major revision of the Book of Commandments. Hundreds of words are changed from the original revelations (see 1833a). A new section on marriage (101), contains: "Inasmuch as this church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication, and polygamy: we declare that we believe, that one man should have one wife; and one woman, but one husband, except in the case of death, when either is at liberty to marry again. (See 1838c cross-dates.)
(d) Church purchases Egyptian papyrus manuscripts from Michael H. Chandler. Joseph Smith claims to translate them by revelation, says they were actually written by Abraham of the Bible (making them thousands of years older than any extant manuscript of the Bible). Carbon-14 and most of the sophisticated dating methods known to modern science are still unknown. Study of ancient Egyptian language is an infant science and Joseph has no contemporaries who can disprove his translation. (See 1851, 1912b, 1966a, 1967.)
1836 First Mormon Temple is built in Kirtland, Ohio. Joseph Smith would later claim to see Jesus, Moses, Elijah and Elias in this temple (Deseret News Church Almanac, 1979, p. 47).
1838 (a) April 17, Joseph Smith receives revelation to send David W. Patton on a mission "next spring" (1839) "in company with" other Mormon Twelve Apostles (D&C,;sec. 114; see also sec. 118). However, in October David W. Patton is shot and killed in mob action (History of the Church, Vol. 3, p. 171). (See 1839a.)
(b) April 26, Smith receives another revelation, wherein the people are commanded to "build a house" unto the Lord at Far West, Missouri. They were to "recommence laying the foundation of my house" one year later, 26 April, 1839, and were to "labor diligently" on it "from that time forth...until it shall be finished, from the cornerstone thereof unto the top thereof, until there shall not anything remain that is not finished" (D&C,115:8-12). (See 1839b, 1840a, 1841, 1996b.)
(c) Church publicly denies belief in polygamy. In questions and answers prepared for and printed in The Elder's Journal, Joseph Smith writes: Q: "Do the Mormons believe in having more wives than one?" A: "No, not at the same time" (History of the Church, Vol. 3, p. 28). (See 1829, 1835c, 1838c, 1843b, 1844b, c, 1852b, 1853, 1854c, 1855b, 1856c, 1866b, c, 1876, 1879b, 1887a, 1890a, b, 1898b, 1906, 1963.)
(d) Name of the Church changes again. "For thus shall my church be called in the last days, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" (D&C,115:4). (See 1830, 1834b.)
(e) July 4, In a carefully prepared speech approved by Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon declares, "...that mob that comes on us to disturb us, it shall be between us and them a war of extermination; for we will follow them until the last drop of their blood is spilled; or else they will have to exterminate us,...one party or the other shall be utterly destroyed" (Comprehensive History of the Church, Vol. 1, p. 441). (See 1838f, 1840a.)
(f) October 27, Missouri Governor Lilburn Boggs issues orders to militia Major-General John Clark, "...The Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated, or driven from the state, if necessary for the public peace" (Document 61, LDS church Historical Department, quoted in Richard Van Wagoner, Sidney Rigdon, A Portrait of Religious Excess, p. 236). (See 1838e, 1840a).
1839 (a) Sometime between midnight and dawn of April 26, seven Mormon Apostles (two of them ordained on the spot) "officially" take their leave of "the saints" - eighteen of them present - for their mission to England. However, their vain attempt to fulfill Joseph Smith's prophecies of the previous year fails. David W. Patton is dead and unable to go with them as called and prophesied. Neither is there a full Quorum of Twelve in existence at the time, able to depart "in company with" each other as prophesied. Two of those in the Quorum at this time are temporarily dropped from it just eight days later. And not even all of the seven present actually go on their mission "over the waters." Of those who do, none leaves that spring as prophesied, but not until late August and September following. Frequently touted by Mormons as a "fulfilled prophecy," this "event" is in fact a complete failure (History of the Church, Vol. 3, pp. 336-39; Comprehensive History of the Church, Vol. 1, pp. 531-32; Vol. 2, pp. 22-24; Deseret News 1993-1994 Church Almanac, pp. 44, 46, 47, 52-54). (See 1838a.)
(b) Another cornerstone of the "Lord's House" in Far West is laid in an attempt to also fulfill Doctrine &Covenants section 115 (see 1838b). However, this also fails as the Mormons do not labor diligently from this time forward to complete the building until it is finished. They can not. The forced Mormon exodus from Missouri is in full progress. (See also 1841, 1996b.)
1840 (a)Fully routed from Missouri and settling in Commerce, Illinois, the Mormons rename it, Nauvoo.
(b) New First Vision information. "You will recollect that I informed you, in my letter published in the first No. of the Messenger and Advocate, that this history would necessarily embrace the life and character of our esteemed friend and brother J. Smith...I shall, therefore, pass over that, till I come to the thirteenth year of this life" (Times and Seasons, Dec. 1, 1840, p. 1). (See 1820 cross-dates.)
(c) Lorenzo Snow, who will become fifth prophet of the Mormon Church, receives the following "revelation" according to his own words. "As man now is, God once was: As God now is, man may be." This is explicitly confirmed by Joseph Smith in 1843 (Ensign, Feb. 1982, pp. 39-40).
1841 January 19: in a revelation requiring the saints to build both a boarding house and a temple in Nauvoo, Smith finds it necessary to allay concerns over previous failed prophecies and commands to build temples (see 1832b, 1833b, 1838b, 1839b). "Verily, verily, I say unto you, that when I give a commandment to any of the sons of men to do a work unto my name, and those sons of men go with all their might and with all they have to perform that work, and cease not their diligence, and their enemies come upon them and hinder them from performing that work, behold, it behooveth me to require that work no more at the hands of those sons of men, but to accept their offering....Therefore, for this cause have I accepted the offerings of those whom I commanded to build up a city and a house unto my name, in Jackson county, Missouri, and were hindered by their enemies, saith the Lord your God" (D&C, 124:49, 51). By thus acknowledging both their diligence to obey and their failure to succeed due to their enemies, Smith inadvertantly contradicts promise of revelation given seven years previous (see 1834c), that if the saints diligently obeyed they would from that time forth always prevail over their enemies.
1842 (a) Section 130 is added to the Doctrine &Covenants, in which God the Father is declared to have "a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's," and the Holy Spirit is said to be "a personage of Spirit." Official First Vision account also finally published. This is the account found today in the Mormon Scripture, The Pearl of Great Price, in which God the Father and Jesus appear to Joseph Smith in separate physical bodies. (See 1820 cross-dates.) These two additions conflict with former teachings contained in the Lectures on Faith, which from 1835 have been the "Doctrine" part of the Mormon scripture, Doctrine &Covenants (see Preface, "Lecture First" and "Section 1," D&C,;1835 ed.). The Lectures on Faith describe not the Holy Ghost, but God the Father as a "personage of spirit." They call the Holy Ghost the Holy Spirit, and include the Holy Spirit in the Godhead. However there are only two personages in the Godhead, the Father and the Son (cf. 1829, 1844a, d). The Holy Spirit is described as merely the mind shared by the Father and the Son (N.B. Lundwall, comp., Lectures on Faith, Lec. 5, pp. 48-53). Publication of all these conflicting teachings together in the same volume of scripture for many years (see 1921) inevitably leads to unbiblical Momon distinction between Holy Spirit and Holy Ghost.
(b) August 20, Orson Pratt, one of the original Twelve Mormon Apostles, is excommunicated for apparent disagreements with Joseph Smith over polygamy and Smith's sexual advances to Sarah Pratt, Orson's wife (Nauvoo: Kingdom on the Mississippi, pp. 269-70).
1843 (a) Orson Pratt reinstated January 20 as member of the Twelve Apostles (Deseret News Church Almanac, 1979, p. 104) (See 1842b and 1875.)
(b) Revelation recorded July 12, 1843, authorizes eternal, plural marriage. As noted in current editions of the Doctrine &Covenants, "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 is, historical records show Joseph Smith was sexually involved with women other than his legal wife Emma, long before this revelation is written, despite published denials. (See 1835c, 1838c, 1844b.) Revelation makes eternal and plural marriage essential to exaltation (see 1852b, 1855b, 1866b). It is also called an "everlasting covenant," leading later Mormon prophets and apostles to frequently claim its practice was protected by God and could never be stopped (see 1856c, 1866c, 1879b). (See also 1829, 1844c, 1876, 1887a, 1890a, b, 1898b, 1906.)
1844 (a) In April, Joseph Smith preaches perhaps his most famous sermon. "God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens!...I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea, and take away the veil so that you may see...He was once a man like us; yea that God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ himself did...Here, then is eternal life...you have got learn how to be Gods yourselves,...the same as all Gods have done before you" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 345-46). (See 1829, 1842a, 1844c, d.)
(b) May 26, Smith again denies polygamy: "What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one. I am the same man, and as innocent as I was fourteen years ago; and I can prove them all perjurers" (History of the Church, Vol. 6, p. 411). (See 1838c cross-dates.)
(c) June 7, first and only copy of the Nauvoo Expositor published. Accuses Smith of practicing polygamy and teaching polytheism. (See 1838c cross-dates.)
(d) June 16, Joseph Smith preaches on the plurality of Gods: "I have always declared God to be a distinct personage, Jesus Christ a separate and distinct personage from God the Father, and the Holy Ghost was a distinct personage and a Spirit: and these three constitute three distinct personages and three Gods" (History of the Church, Vol. 6, p. 474) (See 1829, 1842a, 1844a.)
(e) June 27, mob attacks jail in Carthage, Illinois, where Joseph Smith and others are being held on charges of trea