Today in Mormon History - Dec 20

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On this day in Mormon History http://TodayInMormonHistory.com/ -- 200 years ago today - Dec 20, 1825 -- The Smiths run into financial difficulty, partially through the connivings of others, and are unable to come up with their final house payment. On this date, a Quaker, Lemuel Durfee, takes over ownership of the house, but allows the Smiths to keep residence in it for at least three more years. (1) ---------------------- -- 185 years ago today - Dec 20, 1840 -- [Wilford Woodruff] We retired to rest & I dreamed of ketching fish, fowl, geese & Turkies, in nets, & seeing a house on fire. Elder Kimball also Dreamed of casting a net & ketching a good hall of fish, two large ones, & gathering fruit. So I think sumthing will be done soon. (2) ---------------------- -- 115 years ago today - Dec 20, 1910; Tuesday -- [Anthony Ivins] I have been in council with my quorum considering various matters which came before us. The question of plural marriages were discussed & it was decided that cases rising where plural mar- riages were entered into prior to 1904 the parties to such marriages should not be molested unless they be cases where the interests of the Church are involved. Where men are in prominence in the Church who have taken wives plural wives since Prest. [Wilford] Woodruff manifesto be removed where it can be done without giv- ing unnecessary offence. (3) ---------------------- -- 65 years ago today - Dec 20, 1960 -- Adewole Ogunmokun writes LDS headquarters requesting that LDS missionaries be sent to Nigeria to officially baptize and formally organize Nigerians who have converted to Mormonism after reading LDS publications. In this unprecedented development in Mormonism, a dozen groups of self-converted Nigerians have already organized, calling themselves "Latter-day Saints" and baptizing themselves as sign of their conversion. Within five years one of these Nigerian groups has "seventy-five congregations with nearly ten thousand baptized adult members and six thousand children," many of whom are living in polygamous families and few of whom know about LDS church's policy of denying priesthood to black Africans. This situation creates a quandary with which LDS leaders struggle for years. (4) ---------------------- -- 60 years ago today - Dec 20, 1965 -- It has come to our attention that in some wards marriage ceremonies have been performed for couples following their marriage in the temple, in order that non-member relatives and friends might be privileged to witness such a pretended marriage. We are also informed that in other instances relatives and friends of the newly married couple have gathered in the ward house or elsewhere following the temple marriage in a service somewhat similar to a wedding, where prayer has been offered, remarks made by the bishop or others, and at times pomp and ceremony introduced somewhat aping sectarian weddings. These practices make a mockery of the temple marriage; they are unauthorized and contrary to Church procedures and must not be encouraged or permitted. This does not have reference to the wedding reception which customarily follows civil and temple marriages. We shall appreciate your accepting this letter as a directive for your guidance in matters of this kind. (5) ---------------------- -- 30 years ago today - Dec 20, 1995 -- [Gordon B. Hinckley] Announced new logo design for the name of the Church (6) ---------------------- 1 - Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology 2 - Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies 3 - Anderson, Elizabeth Oberdick, editor, Cowboy Apostle: The Diaries of Anthony W. Ivins: 1875-1932, Signature Books, Salt Lake City in association with the Smith-Pettit Foundation (2013) - http://bit.ly/AnthonyIvins 4 - The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database (http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase)] 5 - David O. McKay, Hugh B. Brown, N. Eldon Tanner, Joseph Fielding Smith, and Thorpe B. Isaacson, circular letter, Dec. 20, 1965, quoted in Anderson, Devery; The Development of LDS Temple Worship, 1846-2000: A Documentary History, http://amzn.to/TempleWorship 6 - LDS Newsroom, Time line of Significant Events as President, http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/time-line-of-significant-events-as-president via todayinmormonhistory-email https://ift.tt/lD1KvOq Manage Unsubscribe from these notifications or sign in to manage your Email service.