Word: smith
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...Prophet. Joseph Smith explained that the Book of Mormon was the new expression of the everlasting Gospel. The import of this revelation was clear. Joseph Smith was God's Prophet, Seer, Revelator and mouthpiece. On the raw frontier in Jackson County, Mo., he established the "true church." Thousands flocked to him-and were persecuted with him-until, after eight years of moving, mobbings, house burnings and guerrilla warfare, Smith sent the Mormons into Illinois. There they began building a new temple, and a new town: Nauvoo...
...intimates that he had discovered more awesome treasure. It was a pentecostal time of wild religious mysticism and hysteria. Scores of thousands of Americans were pondering the second coming of Christ, thronging into camp meetings where they danced, hopped, screeched and talked convulsively "in tongues." Joseph Smith's story: an angel named Moroni had told him where to unearth some golden plates covered with mystic symbols...
With them he got a pair of magic spectacles to decipher the symbols. One look by anyone else, Joseph said, would mean instant death. After months of speaking from behind a blanket while awe-stricken neighbors took down his words, Joseph Smith produced a 275,000-word document which he called The Book of Mormon. Mark Twain, the great debunker of his day, later described it as "chloroform in print...
...Joseph Smith and his chosen people were an affront to the whole frontier. Rumors blazed across the country. The prophet and a few intimates had secretly begun practicing polygamy, often marrying the wives of other Mormons who were handily absent on missions. In 1844, Smith ran for President of the U.S. He organized a Nauvoo Legion of 4,006 well-armed troops, donned a glittering uniform, signed himself "Lieut. General Smith," and talked of setting up a new nation...
...Government made the polygamy issue an excuse for political and economic pressure and the church was finally threatened with bankruptcy. In 1890 Wilford Woodruff, the third president in the succession from Joseph Smith, announced that by divine revelation polygamy was ended. It was the last revelation. Utah was admitted to the Union, the old enmity between Mormon and Gentile disappeared, and the modern history of the church began...