Joseph Smith III

Joseph Smith III

Joseph Smith III (born November 6, 1832 in Kirtland , Ohio , † December 10, 1914 in Independence , Missouri ) was the eldest surviving son of Joseph Smith and Emma Hale Smith . Joseph Smith III was the prophet and President of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , now called the Communion of Christ . This church believes it is a continuation of the church founded by Smith's father in 1830. Smith served as President of the Church for fifty-four years until his death. His ideas and ways of life influenced the development of the church.

Life

childhood

Joseph Smith III in his youth

Joseph Smith III was born in Kirtland, Ohio on November 6, 1832. He moved to Far West, Missouri with his parents ; where his father was temporarily arrested. Young Joseph was able to be in prison with his father at times. It was later reported by fellow prisoners and an apostle of the Church that Joseph Smith put his hands on the head of Joseph III and said, "You will be my successor if I go." While his father was still in prison, in 1839, Joseph III left Missouri with his mother and siblings and moved to Nauvoo, Illinois . His father escaped captivity later that year and reunited with the family.

According to later records, Joseph III was blessed at a meeting of church leaders and his father. According to many witnesses, Joseph III was placed in a chair by his father. Then his head was anointed. Next, Joseph Smith reportedly offered a special blessing for him. That blessing is believed to have included that Joseph III will succeed his father as President of the Church if he lives righteously. His father was murdered when Joseph III was eleven years old. Although many Mormons believed that Joseph III should succeed his father, his young age was a hindrance. In the successor crisis that followed, the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles , Brigham Young , assumed leadership over the majority of Mormons. Three years later, Young was sustained as President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . Relations between Young and the Smith family deteriorated, and many members of the Smith family favored James J. Strang as church president. Young and the majority of the Mormons left Nauvoo in 1846, leaving the Smith family in an almost empty town. Trying to survive, his mother married her second husband, Lewis Bidamon, in 1847 .

Joseph Smith III began law school and became a lawyer. In 1856 he married Emmeline Griswold and the couple moved into what had been his parents' very first home in Nauvoo.

The reorganization of the church

In the late 1840s and 1850s, the majority of Mormons either attached themselves to Brigham Young and emigrated to Utah, or they stayed in the Midwest and looked to James J. Strang as their new president. Strang gave evidence that he believed a son of Smith would one day lead the Church. He made advances to the Smith family. But that left it cold. Many Mormons in the Midwest were bitter opponents of polygamy, and as Strand practiced it openly, they distanced themselves from his church. When Strang was fatally injured by assassins, he refused to name a successor. After his death, his church was without a leader. The Mormons in the Midwest began to campaign for the creation of a "New Organization" and many believed that Joseph Smith III should be their president. The Mormons made several visits to Smith and asked if he would like to take on his father's role. But he replied that he would only take up the church presidency if God would inspire him to do so. In the end, Smith stated that he got the inspiration. He was appointed President of the Church on April 6, 1860, at a conference in Amboy, Illinois . At the conference he said:

“I say to you, brothers, how I hope you will be, and I trust you are already in faith when a people blessed God that I did not come here by myself, but because of the influence of the saint Mind. For some time now I have been receiving manifestations indicating the position I will assume. I want to tell you that I did not come to teach one or more men. I came because I listened to a force that is not my own and this force is to instruct me because it sent me. "

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At the time, both organizations, this Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , claimed to be the proper Church of Mormonism .

President of the Church

As president, Smith was described by his biographer as a "pragmatic prophet." Many of his supporters were dissidents who had escaped his father's theocracy and the Brigham Youngs in the Utah Territory . From the beginning, Smith tried to follow a consensus course. Instead of denying his father's later teachings, such as the baptism of death , the holiness of the Book of Abraham, and the concept of exaltation , Smith taught that these teachings were never officially accepted or misinterpreted, or that one should simply not place too much emphasis on these teachings lay. However, Smith taught that polygamy was not taught and practiced by his father, but was invented by Young and his followers. Smith also refused to designate a meeting point for his followers, although they wanted to. This teaching is called the City of Zion in Mormonism .

In the 1860s and 1870s, Smith built the structure of the Church. He called a First Presidency , a Quorum of the Twelve Apostles , Seventy, and a Presiding Bishopric .

In 1866, Smith moved to Plano, Illinois, and established the Church's printing press there. He became the editor of the church magazines and moved the headquarters of the church to that town. Meanwhile his followers established a colony in Lamoni . In 1881, Smith also moved to Lamoni and relocated church headquarters there. The church built a university in the city now known as Graceland University .

During the presidency of Smith, the Church acquired jurisdiction over the Kirtland Temple . The church did not manage to acquire jurisdiction over the Temple Lot . However, in both cases the court announced that the Church was the official successor to the organization of Smith's father.

The redemption of Zion

In Smith's final years, church members began moving to Independence, Missouri . Many Mormons have wanted to return to this important place since they were evicted in 1839. In 1906 Smith moved to Independence and became a part-time retiree. His eldest son became the new President of the Church. On December 10, 1914, Smith suffered a heart attack and died. He had been the president for more than fifty years and was admired and mourned by thousands.

Lessons on polygamy

Joseph Smith III was an opponent of polygamy all his life. Throughout his career, he denied his father was involved, claiming that the practice only began with Brigham Young. Smith served on many missions in the western United States, interviewing women and family members who wanted to prove to him that his father was polygamous. In the end, Smith found that he "cannot positively or confidently say that my father is innocent." He also announced that he believed polygamy was a false doctrine even if his father practiced it. However, many members of the Communion of Christ believe that Joseph Smith was never involved in polygamy and that the evidence is flawed.

family tree

Joseph Smith, Sr. 1771–1840 Supreme Patriarch (1833–40)

Lucy Mack Smith 1775-1856

Hyrum Smith 1800–1844 Supreme Patriarch (1841–44)

Joseph Smith, Jr. 1805–1844 President of the Church (1830–44)

Emma Hale Smith 1804–1879 Chosen Lady

William B. Smith 1811-1893 Supreme Patriarch (1845)

Bertha Madison 1843-1896

Joseph Smith III 1832–1914 Prophet President (1860–1914)

Ada Clark 1871-1914

Alexander Hale Smith 1838–1909 Supreme Patriarch (1897–1902)

David Hyrum Smith 1844-1904

Frederick M. Smith 1874–1946 Prophet – President (1914–46)

Israel A. Smith 1876–1958 Prophet – President (1946–58)

W. Wallace Smith 1900–1989 Prophet President (1958–78)

Frederick A. Smith 1862–1954 Supreme Patriarch (1913–38)

Elbert A. Smith 1871–1959 Supreme Patriarch (1938–58)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The Early Church (1830) ( Memento from October 21, 2013), Community of Christ website (accessed July 20, 2008)
2. ↑ ^{a b} Wight, Lyman: letter to "The Northern Islander.", July, 1855; reprinted in Saints Advocate, Vol. 7 (September 1884), p. 478. also quoted in The History of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints vol. 2, p. 789
3. ↑ True Latter Day Saints' Herald , vol. 1, pp. 102-104
4. ↑ While retaining use of this original name, Smith's church for legal purposes was eventually incorporated as the "Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" in 1872, partly to distinguish it from the Utah church enmeshed in federal problems associated with polygamy and today is known as the Community of Christ , although the legal name remains the long Reorganized title. Young's church had reincorporated in Utah as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints .
5. ^ Roger D. Launius: Methods and Motives: Joseph Smith III's Opposition to Polygamy, 1860-90 . 112. Winter 1987. Archived from the original on July 7, 2012. University of Utah web site.
6. ^ "Community of Christ." Britannica Concise Encyclopedia . 2007. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. 15 June 2007.
7. ↑ http://www.restorationbookstore.org/jsfp-index.htm

credentials

• Roger D. Launius, Joseph Smith III: Pragmatic Prophet , University of Illinois Press: 1995, ISBN 0-252-01514-2
• Richard P. Howard, The Church Through the Years , Herald House: 1992, ISBN 0-8309-0629-0