Sacred Texts: Mormons

Doctrine and Convenants: 72. Revelation through Joseph Smith, Kirtland, Ohio, December 4, 1831.

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Section 72 of the Doctrine and Covenants is a canonized revelation from the Latter-day Saint scriptural tradition, recorded as divine instruction delivered to assembled church leaders. Its central concern is ecclesiastical administration: specifically, the appointment of a bishop (named as Newel K. Whitney) to oversee a regional portion of the early church and the financial and spiritual accountability structures that office requires. The text establishes a system of stewardship in which elders must render formal accounts of their labors and resources to their local bishop, who in turn reports to the central bishop in Zion, creating a hierarchical chain of accountability. A distinctive feature is the certification requirement: members and elders traveling to Zion must carry written credentials from their local bishop or three elders, without which they will not be received — a notably bureaucratic mechanism for a revelatory text. The passage also links spiritual labor (preaching, ministry) to material debt, treating gospel work as a form of currency that can offset financial obligations within the church's communal economy. It concludes by framing all these rules as a universal template for church branches wherever they are established.

Doctrine and Convenants: 72. Revelation through Joseph Smith, Kirtland, Ohio, December 4, 1831.

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