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why were the Whitmers deposed as leaders in Missouri?
Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 4:09 am
by _Sethbag
I've wondered about this, and haven't got available to me books that discuss it. Who can explain the background and what happened that lead to the High Council in Far West deposing David Whitmer, John Whitmer, and W.W. Phelps as the Stake Presidency on Jan. 26th 1838?
Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 4:29 am
by _karl61
didn't they leave due to the danites and what was going on in missouri (i.e., the raids of Davies county etc.) and thought it had gone too far.
Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 4:30 am
by _karl61
I think Phelps wrote "the spirt of god like a fire is burning" I heard he was excommunicated - not sure why they are singing his song then.
Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 4:36 am
by _evolving
is this what you are looking for ??
Two senior apostles and most of the high council reject David and John Whitmer, W. W. Phelps as presidents of the church in Zion and arrange for neighborhood meetings on the case.
http://www.saintswithouthalos.com/m/380126.phtml
Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 6:05 am
by _Sethbag
Ah, so it was apparently one of the same issues that they threw in Oliver Cowdery's face. That is, that they chose to sell some personally-owned land in Jackson County, which others in the church were adamant should be held onto, pending some eventual LDS return to that promised land. And the Stake Presidency refused to be controlled by others in the church in decisions such as how to dispose of their own property.
And they threw in a little Word of Wisdom as a bonus. Kind of ironic since Joseph Smith himself was a violator of the Word of Wisdom until, quite literally, the day he died.
Somehow I think there was more to this than control of their temporal affairs.
I do find it interesting though that a Stake High Council could simply vote to, essentially, fire the Stake Presidency.
Was this a case of moderates in the leadership being overthrown by more hardliners?
Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 7:54 pm
by _LifeOnaPlate
This is discussed very adequately in Bushman's Rough Stone Rolling.
Re: why were the Whitmers deposed as leaders in Missouri?
Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 8:03 pm
by _Jason Bourne
Sethbag wrote:I've wondered about this, and haven't got available to me books that discuss it. Who can explain the background and what happened that lead to the High Council in Far West deposing David Whitmer, John Whitmer, and W.W. Phelps as the Stake Presidency on Jan. 26th 1838?
in my opinion the ever power hungry Sidney Rigdon wanted the Whitmers and Oliver Cowdry out of the way. I think he was the main mover behind all that happened to them as well as many of the reasons the Church had problems in Missouri.
Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 2:19 am
by _Sethbag
The Lesueur book does seem to show Rigdon saying things, and fostering a militant attitude, that seems to have really backfired on the Mormons in Missouri later in 1838. One has to wonder what might have happened with the church had Sidney Rigdon not been around.
Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 4:13 am
by _Blixa
LifeOnaPlate wrote:This is discussed very adequately in Bushman's Rough Stone Rolling.
Yep, when I want scholarship I want adequate scholarship. None of this challenging or thorough kind for me...
Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 5:26 am
by _Dr. Shades
LifeOnaPlate wrote:This is discussed very adequately in Bushman's Rough Stone Rolling.
Well, don't keep us in suspense. What does Bushman say was the reason?