Wheat, Tares, and Lineal Succession

by John P. Pratt
15 Feb 2021, 1 Adar (PH), Herald (S), Archer (US)

©2021 by John P. Pratt. All rights reserved.

Index, Home

Contents

1. Wheat and Tares 2. Brigham Young 2.1 Apostolic Reign 2.2 First Presidency 3. Reorganized Church 3.1 Joseph Smith III 3.2 In Prophecy 3.3 Joseph's Blessing 3.4 Later Presidents 4. LDS Church 5. Reborn LDS Church 6. Joseph Fredrick Smith 7. Conclusion Notes

Lineal succession of the President of the High Priesthood is a key to distinguish wheat from tares.

The Lord taught the parable of the wheat and the tares and then interpreted it for his disciples. He explained that the harvest was at the end of the world, after which the field was burned. He also explained that the wheat was sown by the Son of Man, and the tares (a weed that looks like wheat), were sown by the devil. The point of the parable is that both the wheat and tares were allowed to grow up together, because trying to pull up the weeds would damage the young wheat sprouts also.

Patriarch Joseph Smith Sr.

In addition to the interpretation that the seed was sown in the days of Jesus, the Lord explained to the Prophet Joseph Smith that the sowing of the seed took place again in the early days of the restoration, when the devil also sowed bad seeds into the Church. Then the Lord gives us a key to understand one way to distinguish the true church from the imitation, which is proposed in this article to mean that the President of the High Priesthood should be of the chosen lineage, meaning some of the first high priests of the restoration, and ideally from the Prophet Joseph Smith himself.

This article first reviews the parable, then considers the claims of Brigham Young to preside over the Church, discusses the rise of the Reorganized LDS Church with President Joseph Smith III, which fulfilled lineal succession and prophecy, notes that the LDS again had some rightful heirs preside, and reviews the rise of Joseph Fredrick Smith to be the current President of the High Priesthood.

An example of a bad seed who was rooted out early might be John C. Bennett, who was in the First Presidency for a year in Nauvoo with Joseph Smith. He was living in adultery, calling it "spiritual wifery", and attributing the doctrine to Joseph Smith. Joseph was slow to excommunicate him, giving him every chance to sincerely repent, but finally had to cut him off. In his trial, Bennett signed an affidavit that Joseph played no part in his adultery, neither in teaching nor practice.[1] Later, Bennett caused huge problems for the Church, which indeed caused many to fall away, which continues even to our day. Even though he had to be plucked out, he definitely uprooted many others who believed his lies.

Immediately after explaining the parable, there comes a word, which to the best of my knowledge, has been entirely overlooked until now. Verse 8 begins with the word, "Therefore," meaning that which comes next logically follows from what was just explained. That word is repeated in verse 10:

Therefore your life and the priesthood have remained, and must needs remain through you and your lineage until the restoration of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy prophets since the world began. — D&C 86:10.

The truth revealed in this verse forms the foundation of this entire article. We are being told that it is the lineage of priesthood leaders that can help distinguish between the wheat and the tares just before the burning of the world. The right to preside in the Holy Priesthood after the order of Melchizedek was given to the tribe of Ephraim (D&C 133:32,34), and Joseph Smith was apparently a patrilineal ("line of fathers") descendant of Ephraim, meaning an all-male line.[2] That suggests that those in the future who should preside over the High Priesthood should also be patrilineal descendants of those to whom this revelation refers, if they are worthy, called, and ordained. If not, then others can be called, but worthy men with the chosen lineage should have the right of first refusal.

Remember that this revelation was given to a few men (see verse 1: "servants"), and that the word "you" in Biblical English is plural, as is "ye" in verse 7. My research did not reveal who was present when this revelation was given. If it was Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, and Samuel Smith, then the chosen lineage might refer only to descendants of their father, Joseph Smith, Sr. Apparently at that time Joseph was working on editing his new translation of the Bible, so it might have included Sidney Rigdon or others of the first elders of the Church who were of Ephraimite descent.

In any case, these final verses are apparently implying not only that some of the descendants of those receiving this revelation have the legal right to preside, but also that there would among the wheat, many tares which had been planted in the Church by Satan! And these tares would not be discovered until the wheat is gathered out from among tares, after which the tares will be bound in bundles to be burned! To better understand two of the continuations of the Church after the martyrdom, let us now compare the claims of Brigham Young to those of Joseph Smith III to be president of the Church.[3]

Brigham Young.

An attempt was made on the day of the martyrdom to kill Samuel Smith also, but he survived. He then mysteriously took sick and died on 30 Jul 1844, about a month after his older brothers. Because it had been understood that the succeeding president should be a descendant of Joseph Smith Sr., William Smith would have been next in line, but he made no attempt to claim the leadership. In fact, he feared for his life, and later publicly accused Brigham Young in the New York Times of having had his brother Samuel poisoned to death to eliminate him as a candidate to succeed Joseph.[4]

Thus, the Church was thrown into confusion. The top two claims to continue to lead the Church were made by Sidney Rigdon, First Counselor in the Presidency, who was a high priest and had been designated by the Lord to hold all the keys necessary to carry on in the place of Joseph when needed (D&C 90:6). The other claim was by Brigham Young as president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

2.1 Apostolic Reign

The two candidates debated on Thu 8 Aug 1844 to a public Church gathering of those in Nauvoo. Sidney presented himself to be a "guardian" of the Church until Joseph Smith III became of age, knowing that the presidency rightly belonged to him. Brigham claimed that the Twelve had all of the priesthood keys needed to lead the Church.[5] Later, it has also been argued that the Twelve can preside because the Lord had said that when the Twelve have a unanimous voice, their authority is equal to that of the First Presidency (D&C 107:23-24, 28-29). Brigham won the day: the majority of those attending voted for the Twelve to lead the Church. Moreover, that was considered binding, as if that were all that was necessary to choose a new leader. The Church had an accepted procedure that a new First Presidency was to be called by revelation (D&C 102:9-10), but that was ignored and now confusion reigned, because it was James Strang who had claimed that he had been called by revelation, and he did not even make it into this debate!

Apparently no one remembered that one serious problem was that the Twelve had no authority whatsoever to preside where there was an organized stake.[6] They were a "Traveling Counsel" to spread the gospel in all world (D&C 107:23), with authority only to open new branches there. Unless they had also been ordained to be high priests, their authority was the same as that of an elder (D&C 20:38). An apostle could not even ordain his own son in an organized stake like Nauvoo without permission of local leaders. Suddenly, all of that changed in an instant!

Here it should be noted that Emma Smith and others supported William Marks, a high priest and the stake president, to lead the Church until Joseph III grew up. It was he and the standing High Council of the Church who had the local authority. He declined, however, in favor of supporting Sidney Rigdon's candidacy.

2.2 First Presidency

If the Church had continued to be led by the Twelve, that might have been acceptable, even if they had usurped the local stake authority, but that was not the case. Brigham had never been ordained to be a high priest, which he knew held a higher priesthood than he did, so he immediately began to purge the Church of high priests. This he did by ordaining most of them (400) to be seventies in October 1844, which made their job to be to support the apostles.[7] It is not clear whether they understood that they were being in effect demoted. Brigham then began to teach the false doctrine that the apostle is the highest calling in Church and that Joseph had given the Twelve all of the keys of the kingdom at a closed meeting of the Council of Fifty.

Several of the apostles knew this was not true. They opposed Brigham's initial attempts to declare himself President of the Church. Then in 1846 the Church was driven out of Nauvoo in fulfillment of the Lord's prophecy that if they finished the Nauvoo temple on time, they would never be driven out of Nauvoo, but if they failed, they would be cursed to prevent them from polluting the land (D&C 124:33, 45-46, 48). The temple was never finished,[8] so they were forced to leave by mobs. On 5 Dec 1847, just before a conference at Council Bluffs, Iowa, Brigham called a special meeting of nine of the Twelve, when those who opposed him becoming president could not be present.[9] The vote had to be unanimous of a majority present to be binding (D&C 107:27-28). Elder Young was sustained as Church President there and later at the conference. This seems a gross usurpation of power, because that office is for a high priest, chosen by the quorum of high priests (D&C 107:22), and Brigham Young had never been ordained to be a high priest!

That event made Brigham's power grab complete. Moreover, he had totally ignored the teaching of Joseph Smith that the President of the High Priesthood should be a lineal successor if one is available, and Joseph's brother, William Smith, had been available. From May to October 1845 he had briefly been the Presiding Patriarch under Brigham Young, but he was then excommunicated when he opposed Brigham. By this time, the Church had been purged of true high priests, except for a few, and Brigham had claimed that he held all of the keys by virtue of being an apostle. If almost any so-called "high priest" in the LDS Church looks at his line of authority, it nearly always traces back to Elder Brigham Young, and if not, then through someone in the line who was ordained by one with authority only from Brigham!

Why did the Lord allow this obviously illegal seizure of power? Perhaps the answer lies in the parable of the wheat and the tares. The Church had already been torn apart into several splinter groups, had been driven out of Nauvoo, and now many were dying at Winter Quarters on the way west. What if Brigham Young had been exposed at that time as the usurper that he really was? Just as in the case of John C. Bennett, it could have caused the demise of the Church entirely. Would it not be better to let the fledgling Church grow strong in the faith and then expose the fraud and misdeeds later, near the harvest time, when those willing to look at the truth could carry on?

Thus, the Lord allowed the LDS Church to grow immensely, sending missionaries out to all the world preaching the gospel from the Book of Mormon, and doing much good. Moreover, subsequent leaders overturned many of Brigham's false doctrines which he had introduced.[10]

Many members of the Church at the time of martyrdom knew that Joseph Smith III should be the next president. The problem was that he was only eleven years old. Sidney Rigdon's offer to be guardian of the Church until that time had been rejected in favor of the hope that the apostles would fulfill that role. By 1847 when Brigham made himself President without having the required votes[11] even from his own quorum, many members knew that Joseph Smith III should become Church President in a few years and now it was clear that Brigham Young had no intention of letting that occur. Accordingly, more splinter groups broke off, including William Smith, who founded his own Church in 1847, based on his right of lineal succession. He promptly excommunicated Brigham Young![12] His Church did not, however, last long. He had not been called by heaven, nor ordained to office, but simply declared himself president, much like Brigham Young.

Brigham's actions led to some in the failed splinter groups to get together and start the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which held its first conference in 1852. One of its founding tenets was the promise that one of the sons of the Prophet Joseph would someday become president.[13] At that time, Joseph Smith III, the oldest, was still only 19 years old (21 was the legal age). At first Joseph III was not interested, having seen all of the dissension, but in 1860 at age 27 he agreed to be the president.

Now let us consider the evidence supporting the Prophet Joseph's son, Joseph Smith III, to be the President of the High Priesthood.

First, it should be noted that the priesthood is separate from any Church. The priesthood was received by Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in order to be able to found the Church. This concept can be especially confusing in the case of "high priests" because those word can refer both to a level of priesthood, as in the Priesthood after the order of Melchizedek, and also to the office of high priest in the Church, as in the Church president should be the President of the High Priests.

With that in mind, there were several witnesses who attested that shortly before the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum, the Prophet Joseph had ordained his son to succeed him someday as president.[14] This was widely acknowledged, so the debate between Sidney Rigdon and Brigham Young was mostly about who be the caretaker of the Church until Joseph III would be able to take over.

3.1 Joseph Smith III

Joseph Smith III.

When Joseph III saw all of the contention and confusion after his father's death, he apparently lost all interest in organized religion for some years. A few years after the martyrdom, a serious effort began to found a "true" church out of the remains of several failed splinter groups. It attracted Emma Smith, William Marks, William Smith, and others who were adamant that someday the president should be Joseph III. It was named the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Joseph III eventually felt the call of the Lord to accept the office of president of that Church. William Marks, the former stake president and high priest of the Church in Nauvoo, was in the circle of ordination of Joseph III to that office. Joseph III held that office from 1860 to 1914, until he passed away at age 82. From all that was found about him in my research, he was a Christ-like leader who received several revelations and was loved and admired by his church members.[15]

For the purposes of this article, the main point is that the Reorganized Church held fast to the belief that the President of the High Priests, and of the Church, be a lineal descendant of Joseph the Seer.

For the purposes of this article, it appears that Joseph III was indeed the true President of the High Priesthood, both in the sense of being the Church President and also of the priesthood outside of the Church. That means the President of high priests all over the world, in case, for example, some continued to exist in the other branches of the various continuations of Mormonism.

3.2 In Prophecy

Now let us turn to what appears to be an actual prophecy of Joseph Smith III made by Joseph of Egypt! Details are presented so the reader may decide for himself.

It is well known to Mormons of all the various sects that there is a prophecy in the Book of Mormon, where Lehi quotes a prophecy given to Joseph of Egypt. The prophecy states that he will someday have a literal descendant who will be a great seer among his brethren (2 Nephi 3:7-22). Because that future seer would be of his "seed", it was proposed in my last article that Joseph Smith was a patrilineal descendant of Joseph of Egypt.[16] Reading that prophesy from just the Book of Mormon, it sounds like the prophecy is about only one seer, Joseph Smith, Jr.

New light, however, is shone on this prophecy by The Sealed Book, the recently translated first portion of the sealed Plates of Mormon, much discussed in my earlier articles.[17] The Sealed Book of Moses within that volume contains a longer version of Joseph's prophecy than that in the Book of Mormon. The following table compares the two versions side by side.

Book of Mormon 2 Nephi Chapter 3	Sealed Book Sealed Moses Chapter 12
7 Yea, Joseph truly said: Thus saith the Lord unto me: A choice seer will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins; and he shall be esteemed highly among the fruit of thy loins. And unto him will I give commandment that he shall do a work for the fruit of thy loins, his brethren, which shall be of great worth unto them, even to the bringing of them to the knowledge of the covenants which I have made with thy fathers.	3 And the God of my fathers said unto me: Joseph, a chosen seer will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins, and he shall be highly esteemed; and I will command him to do a work for the fruit of thy loins: for whosoever shall accept his words, and be baptized because of them, shall be numbered as part of the house of Ephraim, whom I have separated among his brothers.
8 And I will give unto him a commandment that he shall do none other work, save the work which I shall command him. And I will make him great in mine eyes; for he shall do my work.	3-4 ... he shall perform whatever work I command him. And, lo, I, the Lord, will make him great;
9 And he shall be great like unto Moses, whom I have said I would raise up unto you, to deliver my people, O house of Israel.	he shall be in my sight like Moses, and his name shall be known among all nations, for he shall do my work. Yea, truly he will be like Moses, which I said that I would raise up to deliver my people, O house of Israel,
11 But a seer will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins; and unto him will I give power to bring forth my word unto the seed of thy loins—and not to the bringing forth my word only, saith the Lord, but to the convincing them of my word, which shall have already gone forth among them.	6 And again, a seer I will lift up of the fruit of thy loins, and I will give him power to carry my word to the seed of thy loins who were brought into this land beyond the sea and which are a remnant of the house of Manasseh and Ephraim, that is, to his brethren; and not only to bring to his brethren the words of his father, but to the convincing them of my word, which shall already have been declared unto them by the hand of the first seer of the last days.
12 Wherefore, the fruit of thy loins shall write; and the fruit of the loins of Judah shall write; and that which shall be written by the fruit of thy loins, and also that which shall be written by the fruit of the loins of Judah, shall grow together, unto the confounding of false doctrines and laying down of contentions, and establishing peace among the fruit of thy loins, and bringing them to the knowledge of their fathers in the latter days, and also to the knowledge of my covenants, saith the Lord.	5 Therefore, the fruit of thy loins shall write a record as soon as his offspring obtain this land beyond the sea; and the fruit of the loins of Judah shall also write a record; and that which is written by the fruit of thy loins in this far country, and that which is written by the fruit of the loins of Judah, shall grow together, each in his own nation, for the purpose of confounding false doctrines, and appeasing contentions, and establishing peace between the fruit of thy loins and the house of Jacob in the last days; when then, the words of these two records are brought to the notice of their fathers; and to the knowledge of my covenants which I made with the house of Israel, saith the Lord.
13 And out of weakness he shall be made strong, in that day when my work shall commence among all my people, unto the restoring thee, O house of Israel, saith the Lord. 14 And thus prophesied Joseph, saying: Behold, that seer will the Lord bless; and they that seek to destroy him shall be confounded; for this promise, which I have obtained of the Lord, of the fruit of my loins, shall be fulfilled. Behold, I am sure of the fulfilling of this promise; 15 And his name shall be called after me; and it shall be after the name of his father. And he shall be like unto me; for the thing, which the Lord shall bring forth by his hand, by the power of the Lord shall bring my people unto salvation.	7 And to this seer I will bless, and those who seek to destroy him will be confounded; because this promise I gave unto you because of the first seer in the fullness of time, on whom I promised that I would remember the fruit of his loins from generation after generation, even after that the arrow of death, a ray that I saw in the hand of the enemy's shot down the esteemed seer; and the name of his son shall be as his own, and it shall be Joseph, according to the name of his father; and he shall be like to you, Joseph of Egypt; and what the Lord make by him, shall lead my people in the latter days.

These two versions, both recorded long after the prophecy was given, show some important differences which may all be important. The prophecy in the Book of Mormon seems clearly to refer to one future great seer who will be of the seed the Joseph. There is no hint that it might refer to two different seers. The version in The Sealed Book clearly indicates two different seers in verse 7 (in the bottom right table cell). So which is correct? Could the Book of Mormon contain an error?

A closer examination also reveals that two of the verses in the Sealed Moses version (5 and 6) are in reverse order from the corresponding verses in 2 Nephi (11 and 12). Comparing the two versions clearly favors Sealed Moses being the more correct because it was Joseph Smith, Jr, whose record would become one with the Bible and bring forth the knowledge of the covenants of the fathers. If verse 11 in 2 Nephi is placed after verse 12, then the words match very closely, and allow for the possibility that the prophecy refers to two different men.

Reversing those two verses also allows the prophecy to make sense that the seer's enemies would not be able to kill him, which just was not true of Joseph Smith, Jr! The Sealed Moses version explains that the prophecy was about Joseph III and was given to Joseph of Egypt to comfort him that his line would not end with the great seer.

It is therefore concluded that the Sealed Moses version is superior because it clarifies the entire issue, including why it might have been mentioned that one Joseph had the same name as his father. Lehi, who read the ancient prophecy, or Nephi who was recording it third hand in his record, may not have understood the nuances of this revelation. That is, it does not look like a translation error of Joseph Smith, but rather like an error in the plates themselves. Remember that these books of scripture do not claim to be perfect! Moroni himself included the disclaimer that if there are mistakes in the book, they are the mistakes of men, so condemn not the things of God (B of M Title Page).

3.3 Joseph's Blessing

This passage from The Sealed Book explains another long standing mystery. The blessing given to Joseph of Egypt by his father Jacob has not been understood. The blessings to several of the other sons clearly referred to the long term destiny of their posterity, which were also represented in the twelve zodiac constellations. For example, Judah was compared to a lion and told that kings would descend from him and that the Messiah would be his descendant (Gen. 49:8-10).

But what about the blessing to Joseph? Here it is:

22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:

23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:

24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)

25 Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:

26 The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren. — Gen. 49:22-26

The "fruitful bough" whose branches run over the wall has been understood to refer this descendants crossing the ocean to America, as now corroborated by The Sealed Book (Sealed Moses 12:1-2), but what does it mean that the archers hated him and shot at him? Nothing like that is recorded in the extensive account of the life of Joseph in Egypt. Have you ever seen that explained?

That blessing is quoted and explained in Sealed Moses 12:7 (see bottom right table cell). It explains that the first and great seer of the last days would be killed by an "arrow of death", which appeared more like a "ray" (bullet), in the hand of the enemy. It was because of this that Joseph of Egypt received the promise that his son, who would have the same name Joseph, would not be killed by his enemies, but those who would seek to kill Joseph III would be confounded.

An amazing confirmation of this promise in The Sealed Book version of the prophecy of Joseph of Egypt that Joseph III could not be killed comes in the witness of several hearers of a sermon in 1843, who recorded in their journals that the Prophet declared that no one would be able to kill his son Joseph III, for he had the promise of the eternal God![18] President Joseph Smith III lived to the age of 82 (1832-1914).[19]

Thus, The Sealed Book has greatly clarified this revelation to Joseph of Egypt by correcting the order of the verses 11 and 12 of 2 Nephi 3 and also explained that there are two seers prophesied, both with the name Joseph, which apparently either Lehi or Nephi did not understand.

3.4 Later Presidents

Three sons of Joseph Smith III became the next three presidents of the Reorganized Church after his death!

Joseph III was succeeded by his son, Frederick M. Smith, who was president from 1914 to 1946. When he passed away, he was succeeded by his brother Israel A. Smith, who was president from 1946 to 1958. After his death, W. Wallace Smith, another son of Joseph III, born when he was 68 years old, became president from 1958 to 1978. Thus, his sons presided for some 64 years!

Community of Christ temple.

Wallace broke with many of the time-honored traditions of the Church, and in particular that of linear succession. For example, the office of Presiding Patriarch was also considered to be for patriarchal descent only. That practice was followed even in the LDS Church for Church Patriarchs, in which all Presiding Patriarchs descended from the first, Joseph Smith Sr., until the office was abolished in 1978. Wallace, in his first year, instead of calling Lynn Smith to replace his father, called someone else, breaking that rule. Afterwards, he introduced much more liberalism. W. Wallace retired in 1978, becoming "Prophet Emeritus", again breaking with the tradition to remain the president until his death in 1989.

Wallace B. Smith replaced his father W. Wallace as president from 1978 to 1996. By this time the liberalism had indeed been passed on to the son also. During his tenure he officially approved the ordination of women to the priesthood (1984), proposed the name of the church to be the Community of Christ (1994, accepted in 2001), deemphasized the Book of Mormon, and built the spiraling temple in Independence (1990-1994). The Community of Christ was on its way to become another Protestant Church.

The research for this article did not include extensive research into their lives and teachings, but the overall trend was that each became increasingly liberal, straying from the original teachings, which caused various new splinter groups to form.

This article discusses both the President of the High Priests of the Church, and also the President of the High Priesthood, outside of any Church. All of these men presided as Church presidents, meaning the Presidents of the High Priests within that church, but these subsequent presidents of this Church may not have qualified to be President of the High Priesthood. That also would depend on just how they were ordained.

After the death of Brigham Young in 1877, the next two presidents of the LDS Church were John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff, respectively. Both had been apostles who supported Brigham Young's ascension to president. They were promoted to president in the order of their seniority in the quorum, which was reordered by Brigham Young in 1875, putting John Taylor next in line.[20] Thereafter, that tradition of advancing the president of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles to be the next president has prevailed, even though it is without scriptural foundation.

Joseph F. Smith.

Two great events occurred after the demise of Lorenzo Snow, who succeeded Wilford Woodruff, which helped put the LDS Church back on track, at least as far as the lineal succession of the president is concerned.

First, the next in line for the office of president was Joseph F. Smith, son of Hyrum Smith. From what was noted above about D&C 86 having been revealed to at least two men, that their descendants would continue on the priesthood inheritance line, that means that Hyrum Smith would have been included, as well as the other sons of Joseph Smith, Sr. Thus, again the LDS Church would have a president of the preferred priesthood lineage.

The other wonderful event was that the new president knew the correct order of the Church offices. The Presiding Patriarch is actually the highest office in the Church, to be sustained first in general conference (D&C 124:124),[21] and he should be the one to set apart the new president of the Church. Indeed, his half-brother John Smith, the Patriarch and son of Hyrum Smith, set him apart for the office. That was certainly a step in the right direction. No LDS Church president after him was set apart by the Presiding Patriarch. In fact, that office was reduced to Church Patriarch, who no longer presided over the stake patriarchs, and then in 1978 the office was dropped entirely from the Church. That seems unfortunate, especially remembering that Brigham Young had taught that if the Church ever dropped that office, which was inherited by lineal succession, that the devil could have power over it![22] It might also be noted that the only revelation added to the Doctrine and Covenants by any president after Brigham Young was received by President Joseph F. Smith (D&C 138).

Later George Albert Smith became the LDS Church President. He was the grandson of Apostle George A. Smith, who in turn was son of "Uncle" John Smith, brother to Joseph Smith, Sr. Thus, he was a patrilineal descendant of Asael Smith, father of both Joseph Sr and Uncle John Smith.

The last patrilineal descendant of Joseph Smith Sr. to become LDS Church president was Joseph Fielding Smith, son of Joseph F. Smith. He was only president for two years, but he is remembered as a brilliant scriptorian and one who taught repentance, but with great compassion.

Although this article is about succession in the presidency, it should be noted that the office of Presiding Patriarch also is passed on patrilineally to worthy descendants. The LDS Church maintained this tradition all the way through its history until recently. The last Church Patriarch, Eldred G. Smith, passed away at the age of 106 in 2013. He was the son of Hyrum G. Smith, who was grandson of John Smith, who was son of Hyrum Smith, who was son of Joseph Smith Sr, all of whom served as Presiding Patriarchs. Church leaders, all of whom were really his subordinates, officially retired the office of Church Patriarch in 1978, but they had no authority to do that. Eldred Smith continued to give patriarchal blessings at the LDS Church office building almost until his death. His passing ended an era for the LDS Church of high leadership including the Smith priesthood lineage. That may have ended the era in all of the various splinter groups attempting to keep alive the High Priesthood in their leadership.

Reborn LDS Church opened in Utah.

One of those target audiences is members of the various sects of Mormonism, which tend to be the LDS Church and the various groups in Missouri. There are many members in all of those sects who have recognized that there are problems within their respective churches. Many members are hoping that the Savior will send someone to set their church back in order the way it was in the days of Joseph Smith. Senior members have seen many changes in the Church since their youth, and those who study history can see their church leaders have never provided any new revelations and are even changing revealed doctrines and ordinances. For example, in the LDS Church, the sacrament uses water instead of wine, the Church does not all kneel during the prayers, and the emblems are given to little children and visitors who have never made the covenant with Christ which is to be remembered.[23]

There is great news for Mormons (meaning members of any of those sects) who long to return to the days of being in the "true" Church accepted by God, which starts from where Joseph Smith left off, when he was trying to restore even more important truths of the gospel than contained in the Book of Mormon or Doctrine and Covenants. One of Joseph's twelve Articles of Faith stated that we believe that God would yet reveal many new things. Unfortunately, very few new things have be revealed since the martyrdom.

The first part of the good news is that Angel Moroni has again appeared unto a man in Brazil, chosen to be a seer to translate the first part of the sealed portion of the Plates of Mormon, from which Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon. His name is Mauricio Berger, and twelve witnesses watched as he unsealed those plates, and all got to examine them.[24]

And the rest of the good news is that Angel Moroni also restored the High Priesthood after the Order of Melchizedek to Mauricio, so that he could again be instrumental in restoring the Church with what had been lost by those attempting to continue it after the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith.

The Church started by Joseph Smith has now been revived and given new life. The name of the Church is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, exactly the same as originally spelled in the revelation requiring that name to be used (no hyphen in Latter-day), because it is the same church (D&C 115:3, 1835 edition). Thus, it's founding date is considered to be Tue 6 Apr 1830, when the Prophet Joseph Smith organized it. To avoid confusion with other churches with similar names, it is also called by the nickname, the "Reborn LDS Church".

This is also an official date of the "rebirth" of this church, being Sat 11 Apr 2020, when a branch of the Church was opened in Duchesne, Utah. That date was chosen before it was realized that it was apparently prophesied in The Sealed Book, which states that whenever the Lord founds His Church, he does so on the 14th day of the first month (Passover) on a solar calendar which does not depend on the moon (Sealed Moses 16:2-3). It turns out that both the days Tue 6 Apr 1830 and Sat 11 Apr 2020 were Passover, the 14th day of the first of the month on the Toltec Calendar.[25]

The official website of the Church is at thesealedbookofficial.org with information about the Church in the United States found at secondinvitation.info. "Second Invitation" refers also to the Reborn LDS Church, in the sense that the "First Invitation" was by the Church in the days of Joseph Smith.

Joseph Fredrick Smith journeyed to Brazil in 2017 with another man and they became the first two of eight witnesses of the Plates of Mormon. They returned in March 2018 with six other men. These eight witnesses from the Missouri churches witnessed the unsealing of the sealed portion of the sacred Plates of Mormon! Then in October 2018 Joseph Fredrick Smith was ordained to the High Priesthood after receiving the ordinance of the Washing of Feet, and anointed to be a member of the First Presidency of that priesthood when it would be organized later. This required a revelation of the Lord to him to accept[26], because he came from the Temple Lot Church which believed that there should not be any high priests in the Church because David Whitmer had claimed, decades after having been excommunicated, that high priests were a figment of Sidney's Rigdon's imagination.[27] Thus, the requirement for there to be an existing President of the High Priesthood has been fulfilled with the ordination of Joseph Fredrick Smith, now age 86.

Joseph Fredrick Smith.

After that ordination, the history is somewhat complicated and is still changing. Sometime after that ordination, Joseph Fredrick Smith has had a falling out with Mauricio, and no longer considers Mauricio to be a prophet, and has disassociated his church from the Church in Brazil.[28] The name of the Church he started in Missouri has been changed to the "Restructured Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Days".[29] Remember that it is not required to have a lineal descendant be one of the three Church Presidents, but a worthy descendant should have the right of first refusal. Joseph Fredrick Smith's rejection of Mauricio and the separation of his Restructured Church from the Reborn LDS Church has apparently been accepted by the heavens, because during Mauricio's discourse in the general conference of the Church in Brazil, the Lord called the initial First Presidency of the Reborn LDS Church, with Mauricio as President, with two named counselors who were ordained high priests and set apart in the presidency on Sun 22 Nov 2019.[30]

Thus, we have the interesting situation that the true Church has been reborn, with Mauricio as President of the Church, meaning President of the high priests quorum in the Church, but with Joseph Fredrick Smith having started what is now his own Church. Hopefully there can still come a reconciliation between these two presidents and these two churches! The whole purpose of Zion is to create a people with one heart and one mind, whereas the adversary promotes contention and division! It can also be noted that it is ironic that one of the lifelong desires of Joseph Fredrick Smith was to unite the various factions in the Missouri area. He had started to do that, but now most of the members he had gathered have gone back to their former churches.

Now let us turn to the Lord's promise in His explanation of the parable of the wheat and the tares. As we have seen above, the lineage of some of those present when D&C 86 was given would be preserved until the restoration of all things as spoken of by the prophets. At a minimum, if only two men were present and they were Joseph and Hyrum, then that would refer to the seed of their father Joseph Smith, Jr. In any case, the right to the High Priesthood would be inherited by their descendants until the second part of the dispensation of the fulness of times, being the days in which we now live. It may well turn out that the most important accomplishment of Joseph Fredrick Smith will be that he was ordained by the Lord's prophet, so that he might in turn ordain another of the chosen lineage, thus allowing the future descendant to indeed have the High Priesthood given him through his fathers, as in the explanation of the parable of the wheat and tares (D&C 86:10).

Here is a chart of the lineal succession of descendants of Joseph Smith, Sr., to be Church Presidents. Not everyone included in the chart was a president. Those who were have their years of presiding listed below their names.

Church Presidents have presidency dates listed.

Notes

1. See Wikipedia, "John C. Bennett", Excommunication: "Bennett was excommunicated from the church for adultery on May 11, 1842.... Contemporary sources indicate that Bennett used his trusted position as a doctor to allay fears of women he attempted to seduce by telling them that he could cause abortions by administering medicine if they became pregnant. While Bennett was mayor, he was caught in private sexual relations with women in the city. He told the women that the practice, which he termed "spiritual wifery", was sanctioned by God and Smith and that Smith did the same. When discovered, he privately confessed his crimes, produced an affidavit that Smith had no part in his adultery, and was disciplined accordingly."
2. Pratt, John P., "Prophesied Patrilineal Prophets" (6 Feb 2021) argues that Joseph Smith was a patrilineal descendant of Joseph of Egypt, father of Ephraim. That is probably what Brigham Young meant when he stated that "Joseph Smith was a pure Ephraimite" (Journal of Discourses 2:268-269), because it could not mean that all of his ancestors were of Ephraim.
3. Two excellent articles on linear succession are by Russell Anderson, "Succession of the Presidency" on his website salemthoughts.com, and Russell Ralston, "Succession in Presidency and Authority," on http://www.centerplace.org.
4. Smith, William, New York Tribune, "Mormonism" (28 May 1857): "I have good reason for believing that my brother Samuel H. Smith, died of poison at Nauvoo, administered by order of Brigham Young and Willard Richards, only a few weeks subsequent to the unlawful murder of my other brothers, Joseph and Hiram Smith, while incarcerated in Carthage jail. Several other persons who were presumed to stand between Brigham Young and the accomplishment of his ambitions and wicked designs mysteriously disappeared from Nauvoo about the same time, and have never since been heard from." This article is also referenced in Wikipedia to substantiate its summary: "[William] Smith believed that Young had arranged for William's older brother Samuel to be poisoned in 1844 to prevent his accession to the presidency of the church".
5. Brigham reported stated, "But I say unto you that the quorum of The Twelve have the keys of the kingdom of God in all the world. They stand next to Joseph and are the Presidency of the Church, and hold the keys and would have to ordain any man unto that appointment that should be Chosen, ie. if one was to be chosen. You Cannot appoint any man at our head. We should have to ordain him. You Cannot appoint a man at our head. But if you want any other man to lead you, take him, and we will go our way to build up the kingdom in all the world.... But who is the head? The Twelve." (See Wilford Woodruff's Journal 2:436-437 quoted by Brent Top and Lawrence Flake, "The Kingdom of God Will Roll On".)
6. See Quinn, D. Michael, The Mormon Hierarchy Origin of Power (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1994), p. 623, Chronology entry for 2 May 1835: "Smith reminds the Twelve that they have no juridiction in organized stakes, and that the stake high council has no authority in branches."
7. See Quinn, op. cit., p. 648, Chronology entry for 8 Oct 1844: "Young uses two administrative techniques to circumvent the Nauvoo high council's 'equal in authority' rights. First, 400 men are ordained today as seventies, which immediately transfers them from the juridiction of the high council into the Twelve's domain. Second, he appoints eighty-five of Nauvoo's high priests to be branch presidents outside Nauvoo, but does not require them to move. For the first time in Mormon history this puts a stake's high priests under the juridicition of the Twelve."
8. See Anderson, Russell, "Nauvoo Temple" on his website salemthoughts.com for a comprehensive review of the Nauvoo Temple construction. His section "Finishing the Temple" contains a quote from Brigham Young: "We built one in Nauvoo. I could pick out several before me now that were there when it was built, and know just how much was finished and what was done. It is true we left brethren there with instructions to finish it, and they got it nearly completed before it was burned" (JD 18:304). He includes other eye-witness reports that it was never finished.
9. Two of the missing apostles were John Taylor and Parley P. Pratt who were adamant against the proposal. Actually one who strongly opposed Brigham was Orson Pratt, and he was there. He debated long, but finally agreed. See Bergera, Gary, Conflict in the Quorum (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002), p. 53 for a list of the 9 apostles in attendance, and the rest of the chapter for the lively debate.
10. One false doctrine introduced by Brigham was that an apostle is the highest priesthood office, whereas it is actually only an elder with a special calling to spread the gospel (D&C 20:38). Two others were that polygamy was required for exaltation and the Adam-God doctrine, which were both rejected by future presidents.
11. What kind of man would want to be president without having the required votes? (J. B.?) Perhaps one who wants to exercise unrighteous dominion (D&C 121:34-37).
12. See Wikipedia "William Smith (LDS)": "In 1847, Smith announced that he was the new president of the Latter Day Saint church and that he held a right to leadership due to the doctrine of lineal succession. He excommunicated Young and the leadership of the LDS Church".
13. See "Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS Church): "On November 18, 1851, [Jason W.] Briggs sought and received what he felt to be divine revelation regarding the future of the church. His followers distributed copies of the record of Briggs's revelation to nearby branches. The four major thrusts of the document were to denounce other claimants to prophetic authority; to enjoin the elders to preach against false doctrines that had overtaken the church; to instruct the elders to teach the original gospel law as found in the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the Doctrine and Covenants; and to promise that from the lineage of Joseph Smith, Jr., would come the proper leader of the church."
    
    Part of the Jason Briggs revelation follows, which states (1) that William Smith was a legal candidate by inheritance for president, (2), more about the future seed of Joseph Smith, and (3) that polygamy (referred to a supposed "celestial law") is explicitly denounced: "'Verily, verily, saith the Lord, even Jesus Christ, unto his servant, Jason W. Briggs, concerning the church: -- Behold, I have not cast off my people; neither have I changed in regard to Zion. Yea, verily, my people shall be redeemed, and my law shall be kept which I revealed unto my servant, Joseph Smith, Jr., for I am God and not man, and who is he that shall turn me from my purpose, or destroy whom I would preserve? Wolves have entered into the flock, and who shall deliver them? Where is he that giveth his life for the flock? Behold, I will judge those who call themselves shepherds, and have preyed upon the flock of my pastures. And because you have asked me in faith concerning William Smith, this is the answer of the Lord thy God concerning him: I, the Lord, have permitted him to represent the rightful heir to the presidency of the high priesthood of my church by reason of the faith and prayers of his father, and his brothers, Joseph and Hyrum Smith, which came up before me in his behalf; and to respect the law of lineage, by which the holy priesthood is transmitted, in all generations, when organized into quorums. And the keys which were taught him by my servant Joseph were of me, that I might prove him therewith. And for this reason have I poured out my Spirit through his ministrations, according to the integrity of those who received them. 'But as Esau despised his birthright, so has William Smith despised my law, and forfeited that which pertained to him as an Apostle and High Priest in my Church.... and in mine own due time will I call upon the seed of Joseph Smith, and will bring one forth, and he shall be mighty and strong, and he shall preside over the high priesthood of my Church; and then shall the quorums assemble, and the pure in heart shall gather, and Zion shall be re-inhabited, as I said unto my servant Joseph Smith; -- after many days shall all these things be accomplished, saith the Spirit. Behold, that which ye received as my celestial law is not of me, but is the doctrine of Baalam. And I command you to denounce it and proclaim against it'" See Jason W. Briggs, The Messenger (Salt Lake City: vol. 2, No.1, November 1875): "History of the Reorganization."
14. See Quinn, op. cit.: Blessing by Patriarch Joseph Smith Sr to Joseph III in 1836, "You shall have power to carry out all that your father left undone" (p.226); Lyman Wight stated that in 1839 he and the Prophet gave him a blessing where Joseph cried aloud, "You are my successor when I depart" (p, 227); in a public sermon on 18 Jun 1839 the Prophet stated that if he should be killed by his enemies, that Joseph III would "finish the work in my place" (p. 227); and James Whitehead, secretary of the Prophet, testified that just before his martyrdom, Joseph, in the presence of John Taylor, Willard Richards, and several others, ordained Joseph III to be the next president, which occurred after the youth had been anointed with oil from a horn (p. 228-229), which probably occurred on 5 Jun 1844 (p. 645).
15. See Wikipedia "Joseph Smith III".
16. Pratt, John P., "Prophesied Patrilineal Prophets" (6 Feb 2021).
17. Pratt, John P., "Is The Sealed Book of Mormon Genuine?" (26 May 2019) is a positive book review of this work.
18. See Quinn, op. cit.: In a Sunday sermon given on 27 Aug 1843, the Prophet pointed to Joseph III saying, "There is your prophet, my work is pretty near done" and "I bear record this morning that all the combined powers of Earth and hell shall not overcome this boy, for he has a promise from the eternal God" (p. 227, emphasis added).
19. One can ask, "Why would a prophecy about the Prophet Joseph be given to Joseph of Egypt, as if it applied to him?" One could reply that many of the blessings of those twelve sons apply to their posterity, but there may be more to it. It has been suggested that Joseph Smith Jr actually was the same person (had the same spirit) as was Joseph of Egypt, namely, both were the chief angel Phanuel incarnated. If so, then the prophecy indeed referred to Joseph Smith, Jr. See my "Patriarchs, Angels, and Constellations", 25 Jan 2020, in which Figure 3 shows that Joseph of Egypt, represented by the Bull (Taurus) is in the same constellation column of Phanuel as is Joseph Smith Jr, represented by one of the Twins (Gemini). Being in the same column means that they were both incarnations of Phanuel. It might also be noted that the date of today's article (15 Feb 2021) falls on the two star calendars (Star and Uniform Star) on the days "Herald" (γ Cap, "Nashira", meaning the harbinger of "good news", i.e. the gospel), and "Archer" (ξ Sgr, the Archer's head, representing the entire constellation of Sagittarius). Both of those star days are holy days. Joseph Smith Jr. was born on the same two star days, with the two calendars swapped. Those two stars were apparently named to represent him, who would restore the good news of the gospel, and today is a rare anniversary of his birth on the Star Calendars.
20. See Bergera, Gary, Journal of Mormon History, Vol. 18, No. 1, "Seniority in the Twelve: The 1875 Realignment of Orson Pratt" (Spring 1992). Orson Pratt was out of the Quorum for a few months from 20 Aug 1842 to 20 Jan 1843 (see Wikipedia "Orson Pratt"), when he was reinstated into his original seniority. In 1875 Brigham declared that had been a mistake, and demoted him to where he would have been if he had joined in 1843, apparently so that he would not become Church President. Abstract from Bergera's article: "In April 1875, the positions of seniority of Orson Pratt and Orson Hyde in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles were readjusted. Where formerly they had been the most senior members of the quorum, they were demoted to third and fourth in seniority behind John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff. The traditional reason given for Orson Pratt's demotion is that he had been formally excommunicated in 1842 in Nauvoo. Due to losing his standing in the quorum, he had thereafter forfeited his rights to seniority. However, under scrutiny, this standard explanation does not stand up well under examination. It appears that Pratt was neither officially excommunicated nor legally dropped from the quorum. Bergera concludes that the causes underlying his 1875 realignment need to be accounted for by factors other than solely his excommunication. The real reasons Church leaders may have been unwilling to see Pratt become president was because of his disagreements with Joseph Smith over the secret practice of plural marriage in Nauvoo and his protracted doctrinal disagreements with Brigham Young."
21. See Quinn, op. cit., p. 638, Chronology entry for 27 May 1843: "Joseph Smith tells a council meeting, 'The patriarchal office is the highest in the church, and Father Smith, conferred this office on Hyrum Smith, on his death bed.'"
22. See Bates, Irene, and Smith, E. Gary, Lost Legacy (Urbana, IL: U. of Illinois Press, 2003), p. 102: (quoting Wilford Woodruff Journal, 27 Dec 1847): "We learned from President Brigham Young's teachings that it was necessary to keep up a full organization of the Church through all time as far as could be, at least the First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve, and the Patriarch over the whole Church &c so the devil could take no advantage of us."
23. Pratt, John P., "Changes to the LDS Church" (19 Sep 2020) lists seven major changes.
24. I myself was later privileged to become a witness of the plates, which is described in my "Examining the Gold Plates" (11 Jan 2020).
25. Pratt, John P., "Notice of LDS Church Rebirth" (17 Apr 2020) Section 4.2 "Rebirth" discusses the date in detail.
26. Joseph Fredrick Smith described his ordination thus: "But the thing in my mind was confusion. And God is not the author of confusion. This had me so wound up that in my mind I said, 'I'm going to get up and walk out of here.' In fact, I pulled my feet back and got hold of the chair arms and I was ready to catapult myself out of that meeting. And a voice spoke to me, as loud as any amplifier could make it in my mind. And he said, 'If you leave this service, you will destroy my work.' I sat back in my chair and I said, 'Lord, thy will be done, not mine. Whatever you give me, I will operate with the best of my ability to perform the work that you've called me to do.'"
27. Whitmer, David, An Address to All Believers in Christ, (Richmond MO, 1887), Part II, Chapter 4, p. 35: "The next grievous error which crept into the church was in ordaining high priests in June, 1831. This error was introduced at the instigation of Sydney Rigdon. The office of high priests was never spoken of, and never thought of being established in the church until Rigdon came in. Remember that we had been preaching from August, 1829, until June, 1831—almost two years—and had baptized about 2,000 members into the Church of Christ, and had not one high priest. During 1829, several times we were told by Brother Joseph that an elder was the highest office in the church. In December, 1830, Sydney Rigdon and Edward Partridge came from Kirtland, Ohio, to Fayette, N.Y., to see Brother Joseph, and in the latter part of the winter they returned to Kirtland. In February, 1831, Brother Joseph came to Kirtland where Rigdon was. Rigdon was a thorough Bible scholar, a man of fine education, and a powerful orator. He soon worked himself deep into Brother Joseph's affections, and had more influence over him than any other man living. He was Brother Joseph's private counselor, and his most intimate friend and brother for some time after they met. Brother Joseph rejoiced, believing that the Lord had sent to him this great and mighty man Sydney Rigdon, to help him in the work. Poor Brother Joseph! He was mistaken about this, and likewise all of the brethren were mistaken; for we thought at that time just as Brother Joseph did about it. But alas! In a few years we found out different. Sydney Rigdon was the cause of almost all the errors which were introduced while he was in the church."
28. Unfortunately, Joseph Fredrick Smith has now broken all ties with Mauricio Berger. On Tue 15 Oct 2019 he issued this statement: "I have asked that my name be taken from the Sealed Book of Mormon. Understand however I do not discredit the book nor this work. I repeat for those of you who desire to cast shadows on others who you disagree with. I do not discredit the book, nor do I discredit this work. I withdraw my name because it is being used to promote what, in my opinion, is an organization in Brazil that has now become the equivalent of a cult; that which is not in accordance with the scriptures I have enjoyed for these many years. This is not acceptable to me."
29. See Smith, Joseph F., "Wheat and Tares" on his website at www.forthecauseofzion-usa-brazil.org/prophetic-knowledge (choose "Wheat and Tares" from menu): "At that date we set the 'Restructured Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Days' in order and began to move the work forward towards the hope and desire of the Saints for 185 years, that hope being the Holy City of God, the New Jerusalem in the land of Zion."
30. Pratt, John P., "Reborn LDS Church Conference" (28 Nov 2020) gives an account of the conference, including in endnote 8 the wording of the revelation calling the two counselors. That part was given by the gift of tongues in English, the native language of both counselors, saying that the first counselor was called to replace someone who had rejected the Lord's prophet.