"While They Who Reject this Glad Message Shall Never Such Happiness Know": A Response to a Fictitious ‘Prophecy’ and Apostate Sects

 

Recently on Facebook, someone who has a bone to pick with President Nelson regarding the COVID-19 pandemic posted, without comment, a questionable quote that is represented as coming from Brigham Young:

Brethren, this Church will be led onto the very brink of hell by the leaders of this people. Then God will raise the one mighty and strong spoken of in the 85th Section of the Doctrine and Covenants, to save and redeem this church.

This individual’s citation was apparently for a sermon delivered on 24 August 1867 in the Provo Bowery Conference. Her source was for an item found in the L. Tom Perry Special Collections in the Harold B. Lee Library on BYU campus, with a similar citation appearing in The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, volume 4, edited by Richard S. Van Wagoner on pages 2478–2479.

However, as will be shown, such a statement made by Brigham Young simply does not exist in the historical record. This statement likewise goes against what he himself had taught on multiple occasions, and a brief discussion will similarly show that this view of the One Mighty and Strong opposes even the viewpoints and teachings of other Latter-day Saint leaders contemporary to Brigham Young.

Source Criticism Regarding this Alleged Statement

There is simply one problem with the pamphlet cited: it gives no sources that can be confirmed, comes years after the fact, and is an antagonistic work towards the Church wherein the author attempts to set himself up as the One Mighty and Strong, attacking the Church’s position as outlined by the (still current) 1905 First Presidency. This booklet that contains this alleged prophecy, which can also be accessed online, was written by John Tanner Clark, who makes it clear in his preface that the Church had gone astray and he had received divine communication from the Lord that he was to restore the Church following the Manifesto.

On page 106, Clark makes the following observation:

President Brigham Young, in the course of a sermon he was delivering to the people, made the following prophecy: "Brethren, this Church will be lead onto the very brink of hell by the leaders of this people, then God will raise up the one ‘Mighty and Strong’ spoken of in the 85th Section of the Doctrine & Covenants to save and redeem this Church." Attested to by Joshua Jones who made a minute of it at that time and now has it in his diary. He is now (June, 1922) at Provo City, Utah.

Unfortunately, I was not able to find Joshua Jones’s journal online to validate this claim, and I doubt that the family has placed it online for public viewing. However, certain problems become manifest as this source is further investigated. If this was referring to a sermon delivered on 24 August 1867 as promoted, it clearly cannot be quoting Brigham Young word-for-word, as the prophecy of the one mighty and strong (D&C 85) was not even canonized at that point.

Furthermore, with such a source seemingly nonexistent that is unable to confirm Clark’s story, there is no reason to believe that he is accurately reflecting what Brigham Young actually said. At best, it is a paraphrase of something that Clark heard someone share who allegedly wrote it in his journal. This paraphrase is also a late (at least 55 years after Brigham Young’s 1867 sermon) and probably garbled account of what was said, and no context is provided to further understand what Brigham Young was teaching, which was subsequently used by someone who had everything to gain from garbling this account for his favor. At worst, it is a fabricated piece of history linked to an individual who may not have even recorded it like he was said to have done.

This doesn’t raise confidence in the citation’s accuracy.

The second citation here referred to uses the exact same verbiage, word-for-word. However, when compiling his volumes of Complete Discourses, Van Wagoner appears to not be aware of Clark’s source and quotes Joseph Musser’s The Truth magazine. Musser, like Clark, saw himself as the One Mighty and Strong who would restore the Church following the Manifesto. In Musser’s journal, it is evident that this is at best a third hand source (and even later than Clark’s, being published in 1936), yet he and Clark agree word-for-word – a highly unlikely feat unless he was relying exclusively on Clark’s account.

Now 64 years after Brigham Young allegedly offered these remarks, a second fundamentalist would-be prophet has declared himself the fulfillment of this alleged prophecy, only to have history show that he had no impact on the Church as a whole and he was not, in any sense of the word, called of God like he believed. Had any textual criticism have been done by Van Wagoner (who was also critical of the Church), who merely reprints the alleged statement without commentary of any kind, this statement could have been recognized as the forgery that it is, but it finds itself reprinted yet again.

To summarize, the only two sources to which this statement can be traced come over half a decade after the statement was allegedly made, and rely heavily on each other for any amount of authority. George D. Watts, who recorded Brigham’s sermons for that day recorded no such statement, and neither did anyone else refer to such a statement as ever taking place; it was, however, allegedly found in a journal of someone who we are told was there.

There is something that I like to ask when making any judgment on history: “Sources, please.” However, no valid proof of purchase is offered, and we are left to cast this troublesome statement aside for the forgery that it likely is.

Brigham Young's Teachings Regarding Following the Prophet

This forged statement goes completely against what Brigham Young (and other prophets who have followed him) taught on several other occasions, destroying all hope that this statement could be considered authentic or binding as doctrine. For example, Brigham Young is recorded as saying:

The Lord Almighty leads this Church, and he will never suffer you to be led astray if you are found doing your duty. You may go home and sleep as sweetly as a babe in its mother’s arms, as to any danger of your leaders leading you astray, for if they should try to do so the Lord would quickly sweep them from the earth. Your leaders are trying to live their religion as far as they are capable of doing so.[1]

On another occasion he told the Saints to never worry, for the Church would never be destroyed:

This kingdom they [the wicked] cannot destroy, because it is the last dispensation—because it is the fulness of times. It is the dispensation of all dispensations, and will excel in magnificence and glory every dispensation that has ever been committed to the children of men upon the earth. The Lord will bring again Zion, redeem his Israel, plant his standard upon the earth, and establish the laws of his Kingdom, and those laws will prevail.[2] 

Brigham Young also dealt with the question of prophetic fallibility while discoursing on this topic:

Can a Prophet or an Apostle be mistaken? Do not ask me any such question, for I will acknowledge that all the time, but I do not acknowledge that I designedly lead this people astray one hair’s breadth from the truth, and I do not knowingly do a wrong, though I may commit many wrongs, and so may you. But I overlook your weaknesses, and I know by experience that the Saints lift their hearts to God that I may be led right.[3]

And what of those who, like Musser or Clark, set themselves up opposed to the Church, claiming that it was out of the way and they must be the ones to rescue it?

Whenever there is a disposition manifested in any of the members of this Church to question the right of the President of the whole Church to direct in all things, you see manifested evidences of apostasy—of a spirit which, if encouraged, will lead to a separation from the Church and to final destruction; wherever there is a disposition to operate against any legally appointed officer of this Kingdom, no matter in what capacity he is called to act, if persisted in, it will be followed by the same results; they will “walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, self-willed; they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities” [see 2 Peter 2:10].[4] 

Finally, a remark from Brigham Young that I will conclude this section with reiterates our need to follow the Prophet in all matters, even in temporal matters as well:

The Lord is not everywhere in person; but he has his agents speaking and acting for him. His angels, his messengers, his apostles and servants are appointed and authorized to act in his name. And his servants are authorized to counsel and dictate in the greatest and what might be deemed the most trifling matters, to instruct, direct and guide his Saints.[5]

The alleged citation does not hold water in light of these and other remarks by President Young, casting more doubt on its alleged origin as a statement shared by Brigham Young.

How Did Other Church Leaders View the Prophecy in Doctrine and Covenants 85?

While the prophecy regarding the one mighty and strong was not canonized at the time of this alleged sermon, it was discussed and taught in Conferences, but most references appear after its official canonization. None of them paint the one mighty and strong as one who will save the Church from the brink of hell and from wicked leaders. A common reading of that prophecy is done in light of D&C 85 itself – when the Saints returned to Missouri, their inheritances would be divided by this figure (see D&C 85:7). No reference is made of the Church being in such a state of disarray that required this outside savior.

In fact, George Q. Cannon even references the one mighty and strong in such a way as to criticize those who gave prophetic privileges to Joseph Smith, but denied those to Brigham Young and the later prophets who followed him. Through all intents and purposes, no latter-day apostasy was ever expected by the early leaders of the Church, for there will be no latter-day apostasy.

Doctrine is not set by one statement by one apostle or prophet at any given time – as such, even if this was an authentic statement, it would not be held as doctrine based on the conflicting viewpoints in the Apostleship at that time. Furthermore, the 1905 First Presidency message would have superseded such a statement that would have been the opinion of a prophet. To this day this 1905 message has not been added upon, clarified, or revoked by another First Presidency, indicating that this is still the official position of the Church – namely, if D&C 85 was not a conditional prophecy regarding Bishop Partridge, it is a prophecy of a future Presiding Bishop who will undertake administrative work in Zion after he will be called by the proper authority.

This statement by Brigham Young is, by no means, a binding statement for belief for the Latter-day Saints if authentic, although no evidence supports its historical veracity, and is in all likelihood a late forgery by critics of the Church to justify their apostasy.

Conclusion

This statement by Brigham Young does not hold up to the test placed before it, as summarized below:

1. No historical record seems to exist of this statement having ever been made. The closest we come to this are two apostate claims that relied heavily on one another, dating to at least fifty years after such a statement would have been made.
2. Brigham Young taught consistently and powerfully that there is peace to be had in following the prophet. The Church will not be led astray, and the Lord will ensure that those who are called will fulfill their duties or be swept away.
3. Finally, contemporary church leaders read this prophecy as one who would be called by proper authority to set the lots of Zion in order. The One Mighty and Strong would not supersede the prophet or the priesthood; he would be an agent called by a living prophet to fulfill this work

This statement is in all likelihood a forgery attributed to Brigham Young, originally by John T. Clark, so that he could claim to be the One Mighty and Strong and separate himself from the Church. After his unsuccessful movement, Joseph Musser tried the same tactic, and met with the same results, with his own sect split into additional factions of others claiming to be the mighty and strong savior that the Church desperately needs. 

The Lord has established His Church in the last days. He has called a Prophet, Russell M. Nelson, who leads us and guides us to this day. There is peace and safety in following the prophet, and those who do will find themselves in the good ship Zion and protected from the danger that surrounds us in these troubled times.

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[1] Discourses of Brigham Young, ed. John Widtsoe (Salt lake City, UT: 1946), 137. Hereafter DBY.

[2] DBY, 442.

[3] Brigham Young, "A Series of Instructions and Remarks by President Brigham Young at a Special Council, Tabernacle, 21 March 1858, Church Historical Department," in Richard S. Van Wagoner, ed., The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young (Salt Lake City: Smith-Pettit Foundation, 2009), 3:1418.

[4] DBY, 83.

[5] DBY, 41.