In June 1978 excited Mormons told each other the great news: the priesthood could now be bestowed on all worthy men.

My husband remembers hearing the news from his mother, hearing it on the radio as well, then going to the MTC to teach and finding everyone absolutely excited by the news.

Part of the excitement was knowing that this was no mere policy change, but direction obtain by revelation. While those present in the room at the time of the revelation still lived, they were able to tell us of the manifestation of the spirit they had received. I recall hearing Elder David B. Haight describe the events of that day when he addressed a gathering in Annandale, VA.

Dennis Horne gives us Elder Bruce R. McConkie’s account of the June 1 meeting where the revelation was received in his book, I Know He Lives. From the excerpt posted at Kurt Manwaring’s site, Elder McConkie recorded the event as follows:

In recent years the counselors in the First Presidency and all members of the Council of the Twelve and Presidency have had an acute awareness of the desire of President Spencer W. Kimball to learn the mind and will of the Lord relative to conferring the Holy Priesthood upon worthy males of every race and color. In recent months one aspect or another of this matter has come up for informal discussion in various regular meetings of the First Presidency and the Twelve…. Continue reading →

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It was a mid-summer day in Nauvoo, and Llewellyn Mantle was plowing a field on Joseph Smith’s farm.

There had been turmoil that summer of 1844, but the Smith farm was a place of relative calm, located as it is over a mile east of Nauvoo.

Cornelius Lott managed Joseph’s farm, and Llewellyn was likely one of many involved in working on the farm that summer day.

Llewellyn plowed until late in the evening, when the sun was low in the western sky.

Abruptly, the horses stopped. Nothing Llewellyn did or said had any effect. Joseph’s horses simply refused to move.

It was a puzzlement. Eventually Llewellyn gave up, left the horses standing in the field, and went home. Continue reading →

Book Review: Exploring the Apocrypha from a Latter-day Saint Perspective, by Jared W. Ludlow

While making his translation of the Bible, Joseph Smith asked the Lord whether he should include the Apocrypha in his translation.  The Lord responded that there were many good and true things in the Apocrypha, but also many interpolations of men, and so Joseph was not to translate it (D&C 91). Instead, the Lord said that a person guided by the Spirit could gain much value out of reading the Apocrypha.

In Exploring the Apocrypha, Ludlow discusses the history of the Apocrypha and gives an overview of each of the books. Continue reading →