Doctrine and Covenants 103,105

DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS 103,105

We need 229 people willing to march 1000 miles on foot in less than 60 days. You will travel through the swamps and dry praries of Missouri, averaging 20-40 miles each day. Your feet will be swollen; sores will form and you will bleed most every day. You will arise each day at 4am, eating stale bread, bacon with maggots and bad water. You may also pick up cholera and many will die along the way. The days will be miserably hot and the nights piercingly cold. Mosquitoes will be with your constant companions. This march will cost your family significant money, leaving them hungry and wanting. If interested, please be at the temple in the morning.

Would you like to be one of 229 elect people of God to have a chance to be with the prophet every day for 60 days? You will assist him in aiding saints who have been swindled, beaten, tortured and persecuted. You will, in the process, learn more about God and angels that you ever knew before. Miracles will be performed in your behalf. You will also learn about the Book of Mormon and the Prophet will tell you about the leaders, great battles, and share doctrinal insights with you. You will hear the prophet pray and teach on a regular basis. And from your group will emerge future prophets, apostles, Seventy and other church leaders. If you are interested, report at the temple tomorrow morning.

ZIONS CAMP D&C 103,105

ZIONS CAMP D&C 103

Read Doctrine and Covenants 103:19, 22, 27–28, 36. Read Doctrine and Covenants 105:1–5

Zion's camp was formally organized in New Portage, Ohio, on 6 May 1834. It eventually included 207 men, 11 women, and 11 children, whom the Prophet divided into companies of tens and fifties. They marched together to Clay County, Missouri, a distance of over 1,000 miles.

Stories of

Zion’s Camp

ZIONS CAMP D&C 103

Joseph was some ways ahead of the company one day, and was seen talking with a stranger by the roadside. When the company came up there was no person with him. When at camp that night, Heber asked the Prophet who the man was; Heber heard Joseph say that, “It was John. He had been among the ten tribes beyond the north pole." (In Remembering Joseph; Oliver B. Huntington, "History of the Life of Oliver B. Huntington, Written by Himself 1878-1990," typescript copy, BYU Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Provo, Utah, 5-6; see also Oliver B. Huntington, "Words and Incidents of the Prophet Joseph's Life," Young Woman's Journal 2, no. 2 (November 1890): 76.)

ZIONS CAMP D&C 103

On a high mound, near the river, the brethren procured a shovel and removing the earth to the depth of about one foot and discovered the skeleton of a man and between his ribs a stone point which evidently produced his death.

Joseph Smith wrote, “I discovered that the person was a white Lamanite, a large, thick-set man, and a man of God. His name was Zelph. He was a warrior and chieftain under the great prophet Onandagus. One of his thigh bones was broken by a stone flung from a sling, while in battle, years before his death. He was killed in battle by the arrow found among his ribs, during the last great struggle of the Lamanites and Nephites.” (History of the Church, 2:79-80)

ZIONS CAMP D&C 103

James Campbell, a Zion’s Camp dissenter, exclaimed: “The eagles and buzzards shall eat my flesh if I don't fix Joe Smith and his army.” Campbell and his delegation started to cross the Missouri to get to Joseph, but when about the middle of the river, their boat suddenly went down as if made of lead. There was no storm—the river was calm, and no natural explanation could be given for the sinking of the boat. Joseph declared that the angel of the Lord sank it…

ZIONS CAMP D&C 103

The body of Campbell was found about three weeks after the occurrence on a pile of drift-wood, some four or five miles below where the boat sank. Little more than the skeleton of the man remained. His flesh had been eaten by the eagles and buzzards.

The command of Jehovah—“Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm”—must be obeyed. (B. H. Roberts, The Missouri Persecutions, p.157–158)

ZIONS CAMP D&C 103

Some men found on a sandbar some eggs they believed to be turtle eggs and highly edible. The Prophet Joseph, however, said that they were not turtle eggs but snake eggs, which, if consumed, would make the men ill. The men preferred their own reasoning to the Prophet’s counsel. Again the Prophet warned the men against eating the eggs, but they persisted, probably driven to disobedience because of hunger as well as an unwillingness to hearken to prophetic counsel. The men who ate the eggs provided again substantial evidences of the prophetic role of Joseph Smith, because they became violently ill upon consuming the eggs.

ZIONS CAMP D&C 103

Sylvester Smith (no relation to the Prophet), a sharp-tongued group captain, frequently led the dissension. He complained that the food was poor, preparations for the journey were inadequate, and Joseph’s watchdog kept him awake at night. Joseph found a “rebellious spirit in Sylvester Smith, and to some extent in others. I told them they would meet with misfortunes, difficulties and hindrances, and said, ‘and you will know it before you leave this place,’ exhorting them to humble themselves before the Lord and become united, that they might not be scourged. The following day the prophecy was fulfilled: nearly every horse was sick or lame. The Prophet promised if they would humble themselves and overcome their discord, their animals would immediately be restored to health. By noon the horses were nimble once again, with the exception of Sylvester Smith’s mount, which soon died.

ZIONS CAMP D&C 103

On a number of occasions, Joseph Smith taught those in the camp to conserve natural resources and to avoid killing animals. One afternoon while preparing to pitch his tent, Joseph and others discovered three rattlesnakes. As the men prepared to kill them, the Prophet said, “Let them alone—don’t hurt them! How will the serpent ever lose his venom, while the servants of God possess the same disposition, and continue to make war upon it?” The snakes were carefully carried across a creek on sticks and released. Joseph instructed the camp to refrain from killing any animal unless it was necessary to avoid starvation.

ZIONS CAMP D&C 103

A few days later, he recorded: “I came up to the brethren who were watching a squirrel on a tree, and to know if they would heed my counsel, I took one of their guns, shot the squirrel and passed on, leaving the squirrel on the ground. Brother Orson Hyde picked up the squirrel, and said, ‘We will cook this, that nothing may be lost.’

I perceived that the brethren understood what I did it for, and in their practice gave more heed to my precept than to my example.”

ZIONS CAMP D&C 103

On a hill between two branches of the Fishing River, Joseph learned that mobs were preparing to attack. He knelt and prayed for divine protection. Joseph's fears were confirmed when five armed Missourians rode into camp, cursing, and swore that the Mormons would "see hell before morning."  The Prophet promised that the Lord would protect them. He declared, ‘Stand still and see the salvation of God.’

A few minutes after the Missourians left, a small black cloud appeared in the clear western sky. It moved eastward, unrolling like a scroll, filling the heavens with darkness. As the first ferry load of mobbers crossed the Missouri River to the south, a sudden squall [storm] made it nearly impossible for the boat to return to pick up another load.

ZIONS CAMP D&C 103

The storm was so intense that Zion's Camp abandoned their tents and found shelter in an old Baptist meetinghouse nearby. When Joseph Smith came in, he exclaimed, "Boys, there is some meaning to this. God is in this storm." It was impossible for anyone to sleep, so the group sang hymns and rested on the rough benches.

Elsewhere the beleaguered mobbers sought any refuge they could. The furious storm broke branches from trees and destroyed crops. It soaked and made the mobbers' ammunition useless, frightened and scattered their horses, and raised the level of the Fishing River 40 feet, preventing them from attacking Zion's Camp.  (Church History in the Fulness of Times, p. 148)

VIDEO 20 Minutes

Doctrine and Covenants 103,105

DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS 103,105