The Prophet Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail p1

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The Platte City Missouri Stake lies adjacent to the Liberty Missouri Stake, now a very famous location in Church history encompassing several important Church history sites, including the ironically named Liberty Jail. From your study of Church history, you will all know something of the experience the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brethren had while imprisoned in that facility during the winter of 1838--39. This was a terribly difficult time in our history for the Church generally and certainly for the Prophet Joseph himself, who bore the brunt of the persecution in that period. Indeed, I daresay that until his martyrdom five and a half years later, there was no more burdensome time in Joseph's life than this cruel, illegal, and unjustified incarceration in Liberty Jail.

Time does not permit a detailed discussion of the experiences that led up to this moment in Church history, but suffice it to say that problems of various kinds had been building ever since the Prophet Joseph had received a revelation in July of 1831 designating Missouri as the place "consecrated for the gathering of the saints" and the building up of "the city of Zion" (D&C 57:1, 2). By October of 1838, all-out war seemed inevitable between Mormon and non-Mormon forces confronting each other over these issues. After being driven from several of the counties in the western part of that state and under the presumption they had been invited to discuss ways of defusing the volatile situation that had developed, five leaders of the Church, including the Prophet Joseph, marching under a flag of truce, approached the camp of the Missouri militia near the small settlement of Far West, located in Caldwell County.

As it turned out, the flag of truce was meaningless, and the Church leaders were immediately put in chains and placed under heavy guard. The morning after this arrest, two more Latter-day Saint leaders, including the Prophet's brother Hyrum, were taken prisoner, making a total of seven in captivity.

Injustice swiftly moved forward toward potential tragedy when a military "court" convened by officers of that militia ordered that Joseph Smith and the six other prisoners all be taken to the public square at Far West and summarily shot. To his eternal credit, Brigadier General Alexander Doniphan, an officer in the Missouri forces, boldly and courageously refused to carry out the inhumane, unjustifiable order. In a daring stand that could have brought him his own court-martial, he cried out against the commanding officer: "It is cold-blooded murder. I will not obey your order. . . . And if you execute these men, I will hold you responsible before an earthly tribunal, so help me God."1

In showing such courage and integrity, Doniphan not only saved the lives of these seven men but endeared himself forever to Latter-day Saints in every generation.

Their execution averted, these seven Church leaders were marched on foot from Far West to Independence, then from Independence to Richmond. Parley P. Pratt was remanded to nearby Daviess County for trial there, and the other six prisoners, including Joseph and Hyrum, were sent to Liberty, the county seat of neighboring Clay County, to await trial there the next spring. They arrived in Liberty on December 1, 1838, just as winter was coming on.

The jail, one of the few and certainly one of the more forbidding of such structures in that region, was considered escape proof, and it probably was. It had two stories. The top or main floor was accessible to the outside world only by a single small, heavy door. In the middle of that floor was a trapdoor through which prisoners were then lowered into the lower floor or dungeon. The outside walls of the prison were of rough-hewn limestone two feet thick, with inside walls of 12-inch oak logs. These two walls were separated by a 12-inch space filled with loose rock. Combined, these walls made a formidable, virtually impenetrable barrier four feet thick.

In the dungeon the floor-to-ceiling height was barely six feet, and inasmuch as some of the men, including the Prophet Joseph, were over six feet tall, this meant that when standing they were constantly in a stooped position, and when lying it was mostly upon the rough, bare stones of the prison floor covered here and there by a bit of loose, dirty straw or an occasional dirty straw mat.

The food given to the prisoners was coarse and sometimes contaminated, so filthy that one of them said they "could not eat it until [they] were driven to it by hunger."2 On as many as four occasions they had poison administered to them in their food, making them so violently ill that for days they alternated between vomiting and a kind of delirium, not really caring whether they lived or died.

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[Sanchez981]

Don't forget about the garden of eden and dawn of mankind started in JACKSON COUNTY MISSOURI when all scientific and plain common sense points towards eastern africa, where the former neutral angels live...

[MormonsLoveFamilies]

@Sanchez981 I want you to know that God loves you.

[omiolo]

"As it turned out, the flag of truce was meaningless, and the Church leaders were immediately put in chains and placed under heavy guard"

NEVER trust an EVANGELICAL!

[MormonsLoveFamilies]

@omiolo I don't know about that specific faith, but never trust those who fight against God.

[Ricovaca1987]

This talk by Elder Holland is fantastic. I remember when he first gave it, I was going through a somewhat difficult trial. It brought peace and perspective to my heart, and magnified my gratitude for the work of the servant and prophet Joseph.

[Sanchez981]

But mormonism is fake and we all know it. Its the worlds richest cult. Tax exempt don't forget that!

[Sanchez981]

Mormonslovefamilies I know that god loves me. He loves everyone.

[Sanchez981]

Omialo I'm not being ignorant mormonism has been disproved time and again. Jesus never went to america. He never went more then a hundred or so miles from where he was born.

[omiolo]

The scene at a Mormon congregation here on a recent Sunday would surprise Americans who think of Mormons as young white missionaries in stiff white shirts, black ties and name tags.

[omiolo]

With 'I'm a Mormon' campaign, church counters lily-white image

November 2, 2011

CNN

[omiolo]

@Sanchez981 "I guess I'm going to be stuck..."

the ONLY thing you are STUCK in is your OWN stupidity and IGNORANCE.

[omiolo]

@Sanchez981 "when all scientific and plain common sense points towards eastern africa"

Tell me ONE scientific journal athat says the garden of eden is in East Africa? Are you really that NAIVE and GULLIBLE?

[scottwins2]

@Sanchez981 If your talking about Lucy,thats a joke! Parts of Lucy were found 10 miles apart. Other than that nothing.

[MormonsLoveFamilies]

@scottwins2 Please come unto Christ.