It's sort of remarkable to a Latter-day Saint living in 2021, to learn that there wasn't a formal

organization of the first presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints until

early 1832. Section 81 is given in the context of the Lord organizing that priesthood body,

which consisted of Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, and Jesse Gauze.

Rigden is a name that most Latter-day Saints know, but Gauze is the name known only to the most

prepared seminary trivia contest participants.

Gauze was a relatively new convert to the restored gospel.

Hi, my name is Joseph Stewart.

I'm the public communication specialist at the Neale A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship.

Janice Johnson is a Willis Center research associate at the Institute.

And each week, we will discuss the block of reading from the Church of Jesus Christ of

Latter-day Saints, come follow me curriculum.

We aren't here to present a lesson, or rather to hit on a few key themes from the scripture

block that we believe will help fulfill the Maxwell Institute's mission to inspire and fortify Latter-day Saints in their testimonies of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ

and engage the world of religious ideas. By 1833, less than a year after G. G. G.s had been named

a member of the first presidency, he had left the church to be replaced by Frederick G. Williams. Later, scribes crossed out G. G.

Zhez's name on this revelation and inserted Williams, the man who replaced Goss in the

First Presidency, and I find this absolutely fascinating. I really like what the Joseph Smith

papers say. When in their research, they found that the published revelation in the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants,

the 1844 edition, and the 1844 issue of the times and seasons, all have Williams' name instead of gauzes,

which the argue indicates that Joseph Smith and others regarded this revelation as containing general information

about the duties of a counselor, rather than instructions specific to gauze. And I agree with this,

...