Destruction and Reconstruction by Richard L. Taylor

When I reported at the Gardo House in the morning I would occasionally find him writing at a table either in his bed room or in the small office on the west side of the building, occupied by myself. George Reynolds, President Taylor’s private secretary, provided insights to the revelatory process that he witnessed as John Taylor’s scribe, recording the revelations as they came through the prophet: I endorsed it and testified of its truth and coming from God.” Charles Lowell Walker, for example, “spoke of the satisfaction of the Revelation lately given of the Lord concerning His Church and Priesthood. As stake presidents, bishops, and quorum officers read these printed revelations in various meetings, Church members reacted with gratitude.

Additionally, President Taylor published two revelations, one dated October 13, 1882, and another dated April 14, 1883. not revelation in former times, but present and immediate revelation.” From the time of Brigham Young’s death in 1877 until his own death in 1887, John Taylor led the Church by “present and immediate revelation,” proclaiming on several occasions, “Thus saith the Lord.” ĭuring his ministry, John Taylor often asked members of the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and other priesthood leaders to sustain his prophetic declarations and revelations. Nearly forty years later he said, “We believe that it is necessary for man to be placed in communication with God.

John Taylor believed in continuing revelation, a major principle of the restored gospel that he accepted when he joined the Church in Canada in 1836. In February 1879, the anti-Mormon Salt Lake Tribune nicknamed John Taylor “John the Revelator.” Though meant to disparage President Taylor, this appellation echoed what many Latter-day Saints believed-that John Taylor, as the presiding Apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ, was the successor of the first two prophets, Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, and an inspired recipient of the word of God in his own right. Jones was a PhD student in American history at the College of William and Mary when this was published. Richard Neitzel Holzapfel was a professor of Church history at Brigham Young University, and Christopher C.

Destruction and Reconstruction by Richard L. Taylor