Today in Mormon History - Aug 06

[h...@mail2.bigplanet.com]

On this day in Mormon History
http://TodayInMormonHistory.com/

-- 180 years ago today - Aug 6, 1842 --

While attending a Masonic ceremony Joseph Smith prophesies that Mormons would settle in the Rocky Mountains. NILES NATIONAL REGISTER reportes that the Mormons have "six thousand votes under their immediate control, sufficient to give them the balance of power between the parties in the state. It is alleged they have found out how to make profitable use of this power...." (1)
----------------------

-- 175 years ago today - Aug 6, 1847 --
[Wilford Woodruff]
... In two days we got timber sufficient for two buildings each of us one. But I had laboured so hard during the two days I Could hardly stand upon my feet. I went to my waggon & flung myself upon my bed to rest.

I had not been on the bed but a short time before Br Kimball called upon me & informed me that the Twelve were going soon to the water to be Baptized for the remission of their sins to set an example to the Church As they would be called upon on Sunday morning to be baptized by the Twelve [all?] those that wished. We considerd this A duty & privlege as we come into a glorious valley to locate & build a temple & build up Zion we felt like renewing our Convenant before the Lord and each other.

We soon repaired to the water & President Brigham Young went down into the water & Baptized all his Brethren the Twelve that were with him by burying them in the water. He also confirmed us in the Church & sealed upon us our apostleship & all the keys, powers & Blessings belonging to that office.

Br Heber C. Kimball Baptized & Confirmed President Bringham Young. (2)
----------------------

-- 160 years ago today - Aug 6, 1862 --

Deseret News affirms Mormons are not abolitionists,

It is frequently asked, What is the reason of your being driven from place to place?....Were not your people abolitionists? They were not. Did they not spread an influence that slavery was not right?They said, as they say now, that slaves are, in many instances, abused, and that masters will be punished for abusing their slaves. (3)
----------------------


DESERET NEWS publishes a sermon by Brigham Young: "Monogamy, or restrictions by law to one wife, is no part of the economy of heaven among men. Such a system was commenced by the founders of the Roman empire....Rome became the mistress of the world, and introduced this order of monogamy wherever her sway was acknowledged. Thus this monogamic order of marriage, so esteemed by modern Christians as a holy sacrament and divine institution, is nothing but a system established by a set of robbers.... -Why do we believe in and practice polygamy? Because the Lord introduced it to his servants in a revelation given to Joseph Smith, and the Lord's servants have always practised it. 'And is that religion popular in heaven?' It is the only popular religion there,..." (1)
----------------------

-- 135 years ago today - Aug 6, 1887 --

Wilford Woodruff reprimands assistant church historian Andrew Jenson for publishing a list of the known plural wives of Joseph Smith. "We do not think it is a wise step to give these names to the world at the present time in the manner in which you have done in this 'Historical Record.' Advantage may be taken of their publication and in some instances, to the injury, perhaps, of families or relatives of those whose names are mentioned." (1)
----------------------

-- 70 years ago today - Wed Aug 6, 1952 --
[David O. McKay Office Journal]
At meeting with Presiding Bishopric: I told the Presiding Bishopric that negroes should not be invited to speak in sacrament meetings and at Firesides. (4)
----------------------

-- 55 years ago today - Aug 6, 1967 --

First counselor Hugh B. Brown receives "a call from the Salt Lake City police adivising me that four car loads of negroes armed with machine guns and bombs [are] reported coming to Salt Lake City for the purpose of inciting a riot and particularly to destroy property on the temple block." He orders all entrances to the Salt Lake Temple Square to remain padlocked, and that armed guards turn away all visitors this morning. For the first time the Choir performs its regular Sunday broadcast in an otherwise empty Tabernacle. (5)
----------------------

-- 40 years ago today - Aug 6, 1982 --
First Presidency letter: "The Church organization formerly identified as The Development Office will henceforth be known as LDS Foundation . . . to encourage and facilitate voluntary philanthropic contributions to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its related organizations and activities, with primary fund-raising emphasis relating to Church institutions of higher education."

BYU's public television station KBYU cancels last in a three-part series on homosexuality in Utah because "it did not meet the standard of accuracy set by the station." The third part of the student production contained interviews with homosexual students at BYU with lighting techniques used which darkened the faces of the students being interviewed. The DAILY UNIVERSE quotes KBYU's news director Louise Degn as saying, "Nothing was wrong with the story journalistically, and I told [KBYU's General Manager] Joe White I felt he was wrong in his decision to cancel the story." (1)
----------------------

-- 30 years ago today - Aug 6, 1992. --
[Lavina Fielding Anderson presented] a version of this paper [see footnote] at a Sunstone Symposium session. Eugene England, in the audience- response period, identifies as "the chief danger the group that is compiling the files . . . the Committee to Strengthen Members, an ad hoc Church group without General Authority standing but apparently great influence, headed by one William Nelson. . . . I accuse that committee of undermining our Church." (6)
----------------------


1 - On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com
2 - Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies
3 - http://www.xtimeline.com/timeline/Chronology-Pertaining-to-Blacks-and-the-LDS-Church
4 - McKay, David O., Office Journal
5 - The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]
6 - Anderson, Lavina Fielding, "The LDS Intellectual Community and Church Leadership: A Contemporary Chronology," Dialogue, Vol.26, No.1