D&C 135-136 - Slain Prophets and Strong Pioneers

Unshaken Saints

Jared Halverson

Religion & Spirituality, Education

5 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 24 November 2025

⏱️ 94 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

June 27, 1844. Carthage Jail. The greatest tragedy and the ultimate triumph of the Restoration. How does the Church move forward after the Prophet seals his testimony with his blood? D&C 135 and 136 answer with a powerful statement on sacrifice and a direct revelation on how to build a Zion people. Summary: This episode explores the final, foundational sections of the Doctrine and Covenants: D&C 135: The Martyrdom. Written by John Taylor, this section seals the testimony of the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants with the death of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. We contrast the different, yet unified, ways the brothers met their end—Hyrum falling "calmly" and Joseph attempting to leap from the window. The section declares that Joseph Smith "has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it". His innocent blood was shed , and it was "needful that he should seal his testimony with his blood". D&C 136: The Word and Will of the Lord. Received by Brigham Young in Winter Quarters, this revelation provided the blueprint for the great western exodus. It commanded the "Camp of Israel" to be organized into companies with a "covenant and promise to keep all the commandments". Collective Effort: The trek was not individualistic; the Saints were commanded to "bear an equal proportion" in taking the "poor, the widows, the fatherless," and the families of soldiers. The command was to "go to with their might, to prepare for those who are to tarry" —to be "pioneers to prepare". Preparation for Zion: The Lord warns, "my people must be tried in all things, that they may be prepared to receive the glory that I have for them". He assures them, "marvel not at these things" , and that He is the "God of your fathers" who led Israel and whose "arm is stretched out in the last days, to save my people Israel". Call-to-Action: Which person—a widow, a poor person, or a family—can you help bear their burden this week? The pioneer spirit is still needed! Share your plans in the comments below. If this message inspired you to keep striving for Zion, please like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell to stay "Unshaken" in your faith. Chapter Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 6:28 Life and Death Differences 19:33 Praise to the Man 33:39 Innocent Blood 45:10 Pioneers to Prepare 59:47 Still Hoping for Zion 1:08:35 Not My First Rodeo 1:20:29 Don't Be Surprised 1:31:12 One-Liners

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello everybody. Welcome back to another week on Unshaken. Doctor in Covenants is nearing its conclusion.
0:06.1	In fact, as we talked about last week, we're essentially, technically, I should say, done already.
0:12.2	We finished section 133 last week, which is the appendix to the doctrine and covenants,
0:17.3	the intended or anticipated final concluding section.
0:21.4	And from that moment on, every revelation that we're going to study from here on out, there's
0:25.6	only a few left, are after the fact, maybe appendices post-appendix.
0:31.7	We had a study of church and state last week with section 134.
0:36.8	This week is section 135 and 136. And what we'll
0:39.5	see here is an announcement of the martyrdom of Joseph and Hiram, John Taylor, who was there
0:45.5	in Carthes jail when it all happened. He is the source of section 135. And then section 136,
0:52.1	the source is Jesus again. So he's back in charge of revealing, but it's to a different, it's to a different prophet. With Joseph laid in the grave, we now have Brother Brigham in charge, and the Lord is revealing to him. So Section 136 is the only revelation that we have canonized in our scripture from Brigham Young.
1:11.5	The saints are crossing the plains. The first presidency is being reorganized, but basically
1:17.8	what's happening during this time period is what will the Lord say to the saints as they are
1:22.9	crossing the plains? How are we going to accomplish this pioneer trek? Okay. So that's that's this week's
1:29.0	material. Next week we'll be back to Joseph Smith for a revelation that could have been included
1:33.9	earlier, section 137. And then we're jumping forward into the future with 138 with Joseph F. Smith
1:40.0	and his vision of the redemption of the dead. And then with the and covenants, as far as the revelations are concerned,
1:46.3	does officially conclude.
1:47.8	We'll still have the two official declarations,
1:50.8	some things to tie up this year,
1:53.2	put a Christmas bow on it at the end,
1:55.7	spend some time with the proclamation to the world on the family,
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 7 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Jared Halverson, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Jared Halverson and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.