Sacred Texts: Mormons

Doctrine and Convenants: 43. Revelation through Joseph Smith, Kirtland, Ohio, February 1831.

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This is a revelatory scripture from Section 43 of the Doctrine and Covenants, a canonical text of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, presented as direct speech from Jesus Christ to the early church's elders. The passage addresses a governance concern central to early Mormonism: establishing that only Joseph Smith holds the exclusive authority to receive commandments and revelations for the church, thereby delegitimizing any rival claimants to prophetic authority. It then pivots to missionary instruction, commanding elders to teach and edify one another, purge sin, and go forth preaching repentance to all nations. The latter portion shifts into apocalyptic prophecy, describing imminent cosmic signs — thunder, lightning, earthquakes, famine — as God's escalating calls to repentance, culminating in Christ's Second Coming, the binding of Satan, the Millennium, and the final judgment. A distinctive feature is the rhetorical catalog of divine outreach methods (angels, natural disasters, mercy) that humanity has persistently rejected, framing the coming judgment as humanity's own fault. The text will interest readers studying early Mormon ecclesiology, the development of prophetic succession doctrine, or nineteenth-century American millennialism.

Doctrine and Convenants: 43. Revelation through Joseph Smith, Kirtland, Ohio, February 1831.

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