By the time the Prophet Joseph Smith was martyred in 1844, the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ had been successfully restored to the earth with all the ordinances and principles necessary to establish Zion on earth and exalt the saints in eternity. All that needed to happen for the final establishment of God’s kingdom was nothing—or at least, no changes were needed to the ordinances and principles. Regarding those things he had restored, Joseph Smith remarked the following:
“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…. If a man gets a fullness of the priesthood of God he has to get it in the same way that Jesus Christ obtained it, and that was by keeping all the commandments and obeying all the ordinances of the house of the Lord. Where there is no change of priesthood, there is no change of ordinances, says Paul.” [A]
Unfortunately, Isaiah prophesied that times would come wherein those things that should not be changed, would change:
“The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left” (Isaiah 24:5 – 6).
The changing of ordinances, and hence marring of priesthood, is an almost inevitable pattern throughout history. Seldom does it happen in an instant, and usually the masses go along with it. This can be seen in the history of Christianity:
The above points may easily be seen to describe the Catholic church in tracing its origin from the pure religion established by Christ, but it was actually written to tell the story of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (hereafter “LDS Church”).
This may seem surprising to those who have been told that the corporate entity established by Joseph Smith was to become the Kingdom of God in all the earth (despite the fact that the LDS Church is not technically the same corporate entity as was founded in 1830), but those more familiar with prophesy will not be confused. As Jesus Christ told the Nephites when taught among them:
“And thus commandeth the Father that I should say unto you: At that day when the Gentiles shall sin against my gospel, and shall reject the fulness of my gospel, and shall be lifted up in the pride of their hearts above all nations, and above all the people of the whole earth, and shall be filled with all manner of lyings, and of deceits, and of mischiefs, and all manner of hypocrisy, and murders, and priestcrafts, and whoredoms, and of secret abominations; and if they shall do all those things, and shall reject the fulness of my gospel, behold, saith the Father, I will bring the fulness of my gospel from among them. And then will I remember my covenant which I have made unto my people, O house of Israel, and I will bring my gospel unto them” (3 Ne 16:10 – 11).
“And the things which shall be written out of the [Book of Mormon] shall be of great worth unto the children of men…. For it shall come to pass in that day that the churches which are built up, and not unto the Lord, when the one shall say unto the other: Behold, I, I am the Lord’s; and the others shall say: I, I am the Lord’s; and thus shall every one say that hath built up churches, and not unto the Lord…. And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well—and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell…. Therefore, wo be unto him that is at ease in Zion!” (2 Ne 28:2 – 3, 21, 24).
The Lord has not been passive in declaring that the possibility always has existed that He would reject the church restored by Joseph Smith if it failed to live up to expectations:
“But I command you, all ye my saints, to build a house unto me; and I grant unto you a sufficient time to build a house unto me; and during this time your baptisms shall be acceptable unto me. But behold, at the end of this appointment your baptisms for your dead shall not be acceptable unto me; and if you do not these things at the end of the appointment ye shall be rejected as a church, with your dead, saith the Lord your God” (D&C 124:31 – 32).
Joseph Smith’s very last dream the night before he died even seemed to convey this looming state of affairs in the church he had established, which was compared to his old barn in Kirtland:
“I was back in Kirtland, Ohio, and thought I would take a walk out by myself, and view my old farm, which I found grown up with weeds and brambles, and altogether bearing evidence of neglect and want of culture. I went into the barn, which I found without floor or doors, with the weather-boarding off, and was altogether in keeping with the farm.
“While I viewed the desolation around me, and was contemplating how it might be recovered from the curse upon it, there came rushing into the barn a company of furious men, who commenced to pick a quarrel with me.
“The leader of the party ordered me to leave the barn and farm, stating it was none of mine, and that I must give up all hope of ever possessing it.
“I told him the farm was given me by the Church, and although I had not had any use of it for some time back, still I had not sold it, and according to righteous principles it belonged to me or the Church.
“He then grew furious and began to rail upon me, and threaten me, and said it never did belong to me nor to the Church.
“I then told him that I did not think it worth contending about, that I had no desire to live upon it in its present state, and if he thought he had a better right I would not quarrel with him about it but leave; but my assurance that I would not trouble him at present did not seem to satisfy him, as he seemed determined to quarrel with me, and threatened me with the destruction of my body.
“While he was thus engaged, pouring out his bitter words upon me, a rabble rushed in and nearly filled the barn, drew out their knives, and began to quarrel among themselves for the premises, and for a moment forgot me, at which time I took the opportunity to walk out of the barn about up to my ankles in mud.
“When I was a little distance from the barn, I heard them screeching and screaming in a very distressed manner, as it appeared they had engaged in a general fight with their knives. While they were thus engaged, the dream or vision ended.”[B]
In fact, a careful review of the scriptures finds that the assumed prophesy that “the church” would never be taken from the earth does not actually exist; the scriptures instead say that it is the fulness of the gospel and the keys of the priesthood, which lead to the establishment of an everlasting kingdom, that would not be taken away:
“The keys of the kingdom of God are committed unto man on the earth, and from thence shall the gospel roll forth unto the ends of the earth, as the stone which is cut out of the mountain without hands shall roll forth, until it has filled the whole earth” (D&C 65:2).
“The God of heaven [shall] set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these [other] kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever…. As thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands” (Daniel 2:44 – 45).
“I beheld that the church of the Lamb, who were the saints of God, were also upon all the face of the earth; and their dominions upon the face of the earth were small…. And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the power of the Lamb of God, that it descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb, and upon the covenant people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory” (1 Nephi 14:12, 14).
This opens the scriptures to show that God’s view of His work in the last days would be accomplished through the varied and widespread branches of the restoration movement, some bearing more fruit than others:
“For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches…. And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again.” (Romans 11:16, 23).
“Wherefore, let us take of the branches of these which I have planted in the nethermost parts of my vineyard, and let us graft them into the tree from whence they came; and let us pluck from the tree those branches whose fruit is most bitter, and graft in the natural branches of the tree in the stead thereof. And this will I do that the tree may not perish, that, perhaps, I may preserve unto myself the roots thereof for mine own purpose. And, behold, the roots of the natural branches of the tree which I planted whithersoever I would are yet alive; wherefore, that I may preserve them also for mine own purpose, I will take of the branches of this tree, and I will graft them in unto them. Yea, I will graft in unto them the branches of their mother tree, that I may preserve the roots also unto mine own self, that when they shall be sufficiently strong perhaps they may bring forth good fruit unto me, and I may yet have glory in the fruit of my vineyard” (Jacob 5:52 – 54).
The principle the preceding verses convey is that God has often resorted to scattering faith and authority to distant places when the roots of the main tree were threatened (think of the priesthood lines of the Nephites and the Israelites, or of Abraham and Esaias [see D&C 84:12 – 14], etc.). When combined with the prophecy of a kingdom being set up via priesthood keys in the last days, it becomes possible to see that the Lord may be playing “4D chess” with the branches of priesthood that have resulted from the restoration through Joseph Smith as opposed to using the corporate LDS Church alone.
The following verses are often and accurately attributed to the death of Christ, but, as with most prophetic passages, there are multiple fulfillments and patterns throughout time. The martyrdom of Joseph Smith is just such a prophesied event that also applies to these verses, especially the portion following “shall be scattered” (verses 8 and 9) that did not seem to have as much application in the time of Christ:
“Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones. And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God” (Zechariah 13:7 – 9, emphasis added).
The scattering of the latter-day sheep was seen prophetically by Joseph Smith who often lamented that the people could scarcely comprehend the trying scenes that would await them. Joseph also comprehended the principles that would allow the kingdom to be set up despite the flock being divided and purged. Cyrus Wheelock, a close associate of Joseph Smith’s who was in Carthage jail just prior to the martyrdom events, recalled Joseph’s prophetic principles:
“The Prophet Joseph Smith, about four hours before is martyrdom, in answer to the question by Col. Markham, ‘What will be the result of this?’ [Joseph] said that ‘if they slay me and the Twelve, while there is a man on the earth that is endowed with the Melchizedek Priesthood, and he is an honest man, and seeks the Lord, he would go forth and carry on the workuntil His kingdom was established.'” [C]
Pursuant to these principles, the Lord saw fit on the 26th of September 1886 to take some ‘honest’ men endowed with the Melchizedek Priesthood—branches full of good fruit—and graft them away from the Utah-based branch of Mormonism wherein the fulness of the gospel was, at that time, still being preached and lived, but which would soon be altered to appease the demands of the world. The Lord directed this so the fulness of the gospel might be preserved in His vineyard. This event is, in common parlance, referred to as the founding of Mormon fundamentalism and was done secretly by the then-president of the church, John Taylor, under the revelatory direction of Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith.
This event involved the passing of a branch of sealing authority to a select group of individuals present that day at the home of John Woolley (pictured below), where John Taylor was in hiding at the time. John Woolley’s son, Lorin Woolley, who was in attendance, later recounted those sacred experiences thusly:
“President Taylor called the meeting to order. He had the manifesto, that had been prepared under the direction of George Q. Cannon, read over again. He then put each person under covenant that he or she would defend the principle of Celestial or Plural Marriage, and that they would consecrate their lives, liberty, and property to this end, and that they personally would sustain and uphold the principle…. After that he talked for about an hour and then sat down and wrote the revelation which was given him by the Lord upon the question of Plural Marriage. Then he talked to us for some time, and said, ‘Some of you will be handled and ostracized and cast out from the Church by your brethren because of your faithfulness and integrity to this principle, and some of you may have to surrender your lives because of the same, but woe, woe, unto those who shall bring these troubles upon you.'” [D]
The revelation that John Taylor received on that day has been publicly denied as being authentic or even real by the LDS Church, official First Presidency messages even communicating the same. But in June 2025, the LDS church reversed their course and publicly released the original handwritten text of John Taylor’s September 27, 1886 revelation in its Church History Catalog. This marked the first time the LDS Church has officially acknowledged the document’s authenticity and provenance, confirming it is in Taylor’s own handwriting and has been in the LDS Church’s possession since 1933.
The revelation confirms the nature of the 1886 events and stands as a witness that the Lord had in mind to continually perpetuate the fulness of the Gospel by whatever means He deemed necessary, knowing the future actions of the church. Recall that the context for this revelation was the imminent imprisonment of church leaders and confiscation of church property if they did not cease plural marriage (commonly referred to as ‘the New and Everlasting Covenant’ or ‘the works of Abraham’ [see D&C 132]). The revelation states:
September 27, 1886
“My son John, you have asked me concerning the New and Everlasting Covenant how far it is binding upon my people. Thus saith the Lord: All commandments that I give must be obeyed by those calling themselves by my name unless they are revoked by me or by my authority, and how can I revoke an everlasting covenant, for I the Lord am everlasting and my everlasting covenants cannot be abrogated nor done away with, but they stand forever.Have I not given my word in great plainness on this subject? Yet have not great numbers of my people been negligent in the observance of my law and the keeping of my commandments, and yet have I borne with them these many years; and this because of their weakness—because of the perilous times, and furthermore, it is more pleasing to me that men should use their free agency in regard to these matters. Nevertheless, I the Lord do not change and my word and my covenants and my law do not, and as I have heretofore said by my servant Joseph: All those who would enter into my glory must and shall obey my law. And have I not commanded men that if they were Abraham’s seed and would enter into my glory, they must do the works of Abraham. I have not revoked this law, nor will I, for it is everlasting, and those who will enter into my glory must obey the conditions thereof; even so, Amen.” [E]
From these wise actions spurred by a foreknowledge of impending church changes, the Lord’s kingdom continues to be established in its purity upon the earth albeit in small dominions or scattered branches as the ancient prophets had seen. In short, these prophetic actions constituted ‘the Preservation’ of ‘the Restoration.’
[A] Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith [TPJS], 308
[B] “History, 27 June 1844.” The Joseph Smith Papers, Church Historian’s Press, accessed 24 July 2025, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1838-1856-volume-f-1-1-may-1844-8-august-1844/183
[C] Cyrus Wheelock, Deseret News Weekly 35:630, 10/20/86, p 2; Millennial Star 48:689, 705, 721; spelling modernized.
[D] Woolley, Lorin C. “Statement on the 1886 Revelation.” 1929. Quoted in J. Max Anderson, The Polygamy Story: Fiction and Fact, SHIELDS, 1979, http://www.shields-research.org/Books/Polygamy_Story/LDS-Funde_Polygamy_Story-c01.htm. Accessed 23 July 2025.
[E] Taylor, John (1886-09-27). “John Taylor revelation, 1886 September 27, LDS Church History Catalog”. Church History Catalog, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Archived from the original on 2025-06-15.
