Saints Mountain Meadows Massacre Part 3

Viewpoint on Mormonism, the program that examines the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from a Biblical perspective. Viewpoint on Mormonism is sponsored by Mormonism Research Ministry. Since 1979, Mormonism Research Ministry has been dedicated to equipping the body of Christ with answers regarding the Christian faith in a manner that expresses gentleness and respect. And now your host for today's Viewpoint on Mormonism. President Brigham Young carries some of the blame for the Mountain Meadows Massacre. Welcome to this edition of Viewpoint on Mormonism.

I'm your host Bill McKeever, founder and director of Mormonism Research Ministry, and with me today is Eric Johnson, my colleague at MRM. Looking at the book Saints, No Unhallowed Hand, we're coming into a time period which I think has brought a lot of remorse for many Latter-day Saints because this is a tragic time in Mormon history. The time period is in the 1850s and we're going to be talking about the Mountain Meadows Massacre. We're trying to find a way to find a way to find a way to find a way to find a way to find a way to find a way to find a way to find a way to find a way to find a way to find a way to find a way to find a way to find a way to find a way to find a way to find a way to find a way to find a way this book on page 134, we're supposed to believe that these insulting remarks is what eventually led to the massacre at Mountain Meadows. On page 134, the historians write, Some men in Cedar City, like men elsewhere in America, followed a code of honor that required anyone who insulted a wife, mother, or sister to apologize or be punished. Okay, they probably should have apologized, but you're going to punish them how? The book goes on to say, Some of the immigrants went farther south to Hamilton's Fort, where they were able to trade.

No troubles were reported in this tiny settlement. It goes on to say that minutes of the Cedar City's female benevolent society also provide contemporary evidence that residents believe the immigrants were a threat. Later in the week, two women whose husbands followed the immigrants to Mountain Meadows counseled the other women in their group, quote, to attend strictly to secret prayer in behalf of the brethren that are out acting in our defense. Another woman, Sister Hate, told the women not to be fearful and to teach their sons and daughters the principles of righteousness and to implant a desire in their hearts to avenge the blood of the prophets, referring to the murders of Joseph and Hiram Smith.

And then it goes on to talk about a gun. The book Saints mentions this. Page 258, it says, What happened next remains unclear.

Years later, Cedar City settlers recall that the store clerk did not have the items the immigrants needed or that he simply refused to sell them. Some people remembered a few members of the company growing angry and threatened to help the soldiers exterminate the Saints once the army arrived. Other settlers said that one man in the company claimed to have the gun that killed the prophet Joseph Smith. Now, this accusation of a man having the gun that killed the prophet Joseph Smith is totally made up. For much of Mormonism's history, all we knew about the Mountain Meadows massacre was told by the perpetrators.

They were giving us the narrative. According to page 135 in the book Massacre at Mountain Meadows, the three Mormon historians write this. A persistent element in the stories told against the immigrants was that one boasted of having a gun that killed Joseph Smith.

If an immigrant in fact made such a boast, it was probably just part of the venting that went on in Cedar City. None of the identified victims of the massacre is known to have had anything to do with the Smith brothers' death. So this whole notion of avenging the blood of the prophets, which was an oath that Mormons would make in their temple ceremony, was totally unnecessary.

These people coming from Arkansas were not responsible at all in the death of Joseph Smith or Hyrum Smith in June of 1844. Thank you for listening. If you would like more information regarding Mormonism Research Ministry, we encourage you to visit our website at www.mrm.org. Where you can request our free newsletter, Mormonism Researched. We hope you will join us again as we look at another viewpoint on Mormonism. When sharing your faith with a Latter-day Saint, it helps to know what their church has taught on several basic topics. For this reason, Mormonism Research Ministry has provided its Crash Course Mormonism. Crash Course Mormonism includes concise articles highlighting what LDS leaders and church manuals have taught on issues that will probably come up in a typical conversation. You can find these informative articles at CrashCourseMormonism.com That's CrashCourseMormonism.com