SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - Saturday marks an important LDS anniversary, but the Church is not calling attention to it.
On July 12th, 1843, Joseph Smith dictated the revelation which would become an important part of the Doctrine and Covenants.
Section 132 deals with plural marriage.
And as we near this 165th anniversary, one thing is clear: it remains a defining moment in LDS Church history.
Section 132 of the Doctrine and Covenants reads in part:
“I reveal unto you a new and an everlasting covenant: and if ye abide not that covenant, then are ye damned; for no one can reject this covenant and be permitted to enter into my glory."
ABC 4 News asked Utah journalist and historian Verdoia, “When I say the date July 12th, 1843 to you, what do you think of?"
Ken Verdoia responded, "The curtain goes up on one of the great American dramas."
Ken Verdoia speaks so eloquently about polygamy, he was featured prominently in the PBS series, "The Mormons."
And this revelation, Verdoia says, changed not only thousands of lives but also the future history of the LDS Church.
Verdoia: "It leads to mob action against the church, being driven off from their settlements and their temples, a westward exodus, the murder of their founding prophet…these all stem from the July 12th, 1843 revelation."
And even though the 1890 Manifesto would end the LDS Church's practice of polygamy, Church leaders, from time to time, still denounce it.
LDS President Gordon B. Hinckley said in 1998: “More than a century ago, God clearly revealed unto his Prophet, Wilford Woodruff, that the practice of plural marriage should be discontinued, which means that it is now against the law of God."
Which led ABC 4 to ask Verdoia this question:
"Do you think the Church would like this revelation back?"
Verdoia said, "Oh, absolutely not."
Verdoia suggests that, even though polygamy has presented the LDS Church with certain obstacles and challenges, it is important to remember this 165th anniversary.
Verdoia added, “This is a defining principle of the Latter-Day Saint experience and they would not walk away from it because they view it as a revelation from God."
Verdoia also says that every decade or so, like we just saw in Texas, the polygamy issue is again in the national news.
And that prompts the LDS Church to remind people that, 165 years later, plural marriage is no longer one of its beliefs or practices.
The LDS Church politely declined ABC 4's request for a comment on this story.
