New Light on Joseph Smith’s “Last Charge”
Published on Sunday, September 15, 2019 at 12:00 PM
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One key event that has been called the “zenith” of events affecting the outcome of the 1844 Succession Crisis is an event that occurred in March 1844. At this time, Joseph Smith gave the apostles the “keys of the kingdom” and charged them to bear off the Kingdom of God triumphantly to the world, saying that he had “rolled” the responsibility of bearing it off of his shoulders and placed it upon them.
With the recent release of the Council of Fifty minutes in 2016, more questions have been raised than clarity brought to the Last Charge. The event is not explicitly recorded in the minutes — and private discussion about the Last Charge a year later raises questions about what was said and what significance it held. Did Joseph Smith intend to confer ecclesiastical authority with the Last Charge? Was the charge exclusively to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles? Brigham recalled that Joseph “made no mention of the anointing” during the Council of Fifty meeting where he gave the charge — so was there an anointing?
This becomes the subject of this issue of One Eternal Round, namely, the meaning and significance of the “Last Charge”.
This issue of One Eternal Round can be discussed over at the One Eternal Round Facebook Group!