Tag: Priesthood Men

All three of these men started off strong and then left the church after allowing pride to fester in their hearts. Their stories are all to common among those who could have remained strong as priesthood men.

Orson Pratt wasn’t quite as prominent as his older brother, Parley (he was perhaps Parley’s first convert), but that might simply be due to his name not being alternative and thus less memorable as well as a brief stint of disaffection. He was faithful throughout his life despite enduring the trials of all the early…

Few men with the reputation of Parley P. Pratt could be considered as underestimated by such a reputation but Parley was. We know him as the author of many of our hymns, as a very effective missionary, as an eager convert to the church, and as one of the original apostles of this dispensation. For…

Thomas B. Marsh was faithful enough to be called as one of the original apostles but at some point he embraced proof in his heart until he was excommunicated from the church. Eventually he remained the saints and was rebaptized, demonstrating that even with a very public separation repentance was still possible.

Samuel is the brother immediately younger than Joseph. He was among the first missionaries of the church (possibly the first missionary). Although I may be remembering wrong, I don’t believe that Samuel was the one member of the Smith family who wavered in his support for the church a time or two. (It was one…

Jacob Whitmer, Christian Whitmer, Peter Whitmer junior, John Whitmer, and Hiram Page (who was married to a Whitmer) are each among the eight witnesses to the Book of Mormon. Together with their parents and their brother David they formed a strong nucleus of support for Joseph in his work prior to the formation of the…

Joseph Knight is another example of someone who gave early assistance to the work of the restoration. His assistance was of the same kind as Martin Harris – providing material support to allow Joseph Smith to translate the Book of Mormon – but he didn’t receive the same degree of recognition by historians as Martin…