D&C 64 - Intro

The IM gives background information for section 64 saying, “Because of interference and because he needed a quiet place in which to work, the Prophet on September 12, 1831, moved to the home of John Johnson in the township of Hiram. This was in Portage County, Ohio, about thirty miles southeast of Kirtland. From the time he moved until early in October, the Prophet spent most of his spare time preparing for the continuation of the translation of the Bible. By translation is meant a revision of the Bible by inspiration or revelation as the Lord had commanded him, and which was commenced as early as June 1830. Sidney Rigdon continued to write for the Prophet in the work of revision. The day before the Prophet moved from Kirtland he received an important revelation, Section 64, as it now appears in the Doctrine and Covenants.” DJR also gave some background concerning Ezra Booth which will apparently be useful knowledge later and it’s interesting and, quite frankly, tragic. He says, “He was a Methodist minister and close friend of John Johnson and had been converted to the Church in about May 1831, when he saw the Prophet Joseph Smith command Brother Johnson’s wife, Elsa, to be healed. Ezra witnessed the immediate healing of her lame arm. Ezra was ordained a high priest on June 3, 1831, and served a mission to Missouri, as instructed by the Lord in D&C 52:21 (given June 7, 1831). He became upset about having to walk the entire distance to Missouri, preaching as they went. It was apparently not the comfort and attention to which he had become accustomed as a popular minister prior to joining the Church. He began to find fault with Joseph Smith and other leaders of the Church. By September 1831, he was back in Kirtland and was in a condition of apostasy, criticizing the Prophet and rejecting the Church. He was excommunicated on September 6, 1831, and he formally denounced the Church at a Methodist camp meeting on September 12, 1831. He went on to become the first apostate to write and publish anti-Mormon literature, publishing nine articles against the Church in the Ohio Star newspaper, from October to December of 1831. Ezra Booth participated in the tarring and feathering of the Prophet Joseph Smith on the night of March 24, 1832, at the John Johnson farm in Hiram, Ohio.” There’s a couple of points that I want to make about this introduction, first is that Ezra Booth was convinced of the truthfulness of the gospel because he witnessed a miraculous healing, but his testimony was short lived, like a match. This, I think is an excellent example of why miracles don’t convert, only the Holy Ghost can, and the miracles only strengthen a testimony, not start it. Another point is that Ezra Booth was an accomplished preacher, probably very knowledgeable in the scriptures, and by the world’s standard would have been a better choice as the prophet of the restoration for the Lord to pick because of his knowledge and experience. However, the problems that occurred because Ezra Booth was so “advanced” spiritually would have definitely factored in to the prophetship. So the fact that the Lord chose an uneducated farm boy to be his prophet of the restoration was incredibly wise, as is demonstrated in the situation of Ezra Booth. In fact, not only did his previous knowledge not help him build a testimony, it was a factor in his downfall. The last point that I want to make here is the concept of leaving neutral ground. I don’t think that Ezra Booth was a violent or negative man before his excommunication from the church, but he surely was afterward. He wasn’t able to go back to the point of even indifference to the church, it could only be hatred and anger and bitterness and violence to which he returned.