D&C 28:9-16

28:8 - Now we get to an interesting part of the revelation, the Lord calls OC on a mission to the Lamanites, saying, “And now, behold, I say unto you that you shall go unto the Lamanites and preach my gospel unto them; and inasmuch as they receive thy teachings thou shalt cause my church to be established among them.” The IM teaches, “The Lamanite mission was a very important movement of the young but vigorous Church. Oliver Cowdery was the first-appointed member of the part. Peter Whitmer, Jr., was added by Revelation; and then Parley P. Pratt and Ziba Peterson. Soon after the Conference the little party set out on the perilous journey of about 1,500 miles. They started on foot, trusting in the Lord to open the way. Near Buffalo they visited the Catteragus Indians and left the Book of Mormon with them. Then they proceeded to Kirtland, Ohio. Here they visited Sidney Rigdon, then a popular Campbellite minister. He and some of his friends joined the Church. Night and day, for some time, the missionaries were teaching the people in Kirtland and vicinity. After having ordained Rigdon, Isaac Morley, John Murdock, Lyman Wight and others, to the ministry, the missionaries left for the West. Near Sandusky they visited the Wyandot tribe and preached the gospel. In Cincinnati and St. Louis they met with very little success. At the latter place their progress was impeded by heavy snowstorms. With the opening of New Year, 2831, they continued their journey, traveling on foot 300 miles over prairies, without shelter and fire, living on frozen corn, bread and raw pork. At length they reached Independence, Mo., on the extreme western frontier of the State. They had traveled four months and suffered untold hardships; they had preached to two Indian nations and to thousands of white people, and organized several strong branches of the Church. After having rested a little at Independence, three of the brethren crossed the frontier and visited the Shawnee Indians. Then they went among the Delawares. These manifested a great deal of interest in the Book of Mormon. Therefore the jealousy of ministers was aroused and these prevailed upon the Indian agents to expel the missionaries from the Indian country. They, accordingly, returned to Jackson county, where they labored for some time with encouraging success.” I’m the first to admit that I don’t know a ton about Church history, but this seems like a pretty intense mission. I had actually heard once, a couple of Native Americans say, on separate occasions that most Native Americans were at one point baptized into the Church. I don’t know if that is just hearsay or whatever, but it would seem that there was much success for these missionaries. Another point that I thought of was the maybe the mission wasn’t just for those who were about to learn the gospel, but for those who were called to preach it. When I was listening to the different aspects of this revelation, it seemed to me that telling OC to take his notion of his place in the Church down a notch, then calling him on a mission right after might have been a way for the Lord to take OC out of JS’s face, and maybe give him a little bit more perspective. Maybe it was also a way for the Lord to bring OC closer to him and broaden his view on the eternal nature of the work, and not that it was all JS. 28:9-16 - We circle back around to Hiram Page, though he hasn’t been addressed in this revelation so far. Apparently, one of the revelations that Hiram Page purported to have was giving the location of Zion. This is an interesting concept to me because looking back at it 200 years later, after everything that we know, it seems kind of a non-issue, especially not because we know that Zion is wherever the Saints are, we are to build Zion where we are, but apparently this was a big concern at the time of the restoration. The IM says, “Through the revelation of Moses and Enoch received by Joseph Smith, the early Saints learned that Zion was to be established again on the earth. It was only natural that the Saints would inquire about its location. ‘It is not improbable that some of the pseudo-revelations of Hiram Page related to this very subject (the location of Zion). The Saints were full of enthusiasm, looking for the immediate fulfillment of the prophecies. The Lord now made it known that the locality of that holy city had not yet been revealed, but that it might be looked for ‘on the borders by the Lamanites.’ Further revelation on this subject would come later.’ By Lamanites’ Joseph Smith had reference to the Indians, and to go out to the ‘borders of the Lamanites’ meant to go to the frontier. The natural way to travel would be by the most frequently traveled roads to the most populous area. Even at that, Independence was a town that was organized only about four years before the missionaries arrived.” Again, I’m kind of perplexed as to where Zion is and what Zion really means. I’m a little bit confused, as this revelation is addressed to OC, so I wonder if he’s giving OC charge to “take thy brother, Hiram Page, between him and thee alone, and tell him that those things which he hath written from that stone are not of me and that Satan deceiveth him. For, behold, these things have not been appointed unto him, neither shall anything be appointed unto any of this church contrary to the church covenants. For all things must be done in order, and by common consent in the church, by the prayer of faith.” It seem that the Lord is telling OC that he is the one to teach Hiram Page about the proper order of revelation in the Church, which is interesting because OC is doing something similar in his actions towards the Prophet JS. Very interesting, the Lord is having someone teach another person the lesson that they are both trying to learn, that’s very interesting, it would be like having my daughter teach my son how to speak nicely to others. This unites them in purpose, changes the route of authority for the discipline, gives JS more credibility as the revelator. It occurs to me that if Satan was the one deceiving Hiram Page, saying that he was equal to the position of JS, he might have warned him that JS would have come to discredit his revelations and make it into a power struggle. But if OC was the one who came to teach Hiram the correct doctrine, Satan probably wouldn’t have thought to teach Hiram that OC’s intentions were malicious. This is a really interesting concept, another way that the wisdom of God is greater than the cunning of the devil. Satan wouldn’t have guessed that OC would have been the one to contradict his influence over Hiram Page, he would have assumed that it would have been JS. Also by having OC teach this principle that he himself struggled with to Hiram Page, the Lord reinforced the teaching to OC. The IM teaches, “the Church covenants mentioned here include the articles and covenants of the Church found in section 20 of the Doctrine and Covenants. In that revelation the Lord specified who presided over the Church and outlined the duties of all the other members and priesthood holders. Hiram Page’s claim that he received revelation for the whole Church was out of harmony with the teachings of that section of the Doctrine and Covenants. Linked with this teaching is the doctrine of common consent, which principle, according to Doctrine and Covenants 28:13, had been violated by Hiram Page in preaching that the revelations he had received were to be obeyed by all the members of the Church.” This was a very profitable and interesting section. Some of the lessons that we learned are: 1. There is a set order for the receiving of revelations and commandments. 2. You’ll never receive revelations or commandments for those outside of your stewardship. 3. You’ll never receive personal revelation contrary to established Church doctrine. 4. In rebuking someone, do it privately and with caution. 5. One way to reinforce a teaching is have the offender teach the principle to someone else. 6. The wisdom of God is greater than the cunning of the devil.