Joseph Smith's Final Days - John Turner Pt. 40 | Ep. 2143
Mormon Stories Podcast
Dr. John Dehlin
4.5 ā¢ 5.7K Ratings
šļø 1 May 2026
ā±ļø 139 minutes
šļø Recording | iTunes | RSS
š§¾ļø Download transcript
Summary
Welcome to Part 40 of our Joseph Smith Podcast series with Dr. John Turner!
Today we are covering the final chapter of Dr. John Turnerās new book,Ā Joseph Smith; The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet. The chapter is titled āBleeding Hearts.ā
In this episode we unpack the turbulent final months of Joseph Smithās life in 1844. We explore escalating legal pressures, political tensions in Nauvoo, and the controversial events surrounding the Nauvoo Expositor, press freedom, and Smithās increasingly complex role as prophet, mayor, and military leader.
We also examine the accusations of polygamy and misconduct circulating at the time, the internal fractures within the Latter-day Saint movement, and how Joseph Smith responded through sermons, leadership decision, and public defense.
As tensions rise, we follow the path from legal entanglements and political conflict in Illinois to Smithās final days, his decision to flee, and the events leading to his death at Carthage Jail. The episode closes with reflections on the aftermath of his killing and its lasting impact on the movement he founded.
This is a deep historical discussion drawing on Dr. Turnerās scholarship and primary source material to better understand one of the most consequential and contested moments in early American religious history.
If youād like to help keep this project going, please consider donating to support this series here. Your support makes long-form, in-depth historical discussion like this possible!
Purchase John Turnerās book here.
Let us know your thoughts on a Brigham Young series (comprising ten episodes) covering John Turnerās book Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet.
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello, everyone and welcome to another edition of Mormon stories podcast. |
| 0:03.4 | I'm your host, John DeLinn. |
| 0:04.6 | This is the Joseph Smith podcast, and it is part 40, 40 in our Joseph Smith podcast series with Dr. |
| 0:14.9 | John Turner about his amazing book, Joseph Smith, The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet. |
| 0:23.5 | And we are on the final full chapter, which is chapter 31, called Bleeding Hearts, 1844. And John Turner, I'm feeling |
| 0:32.6 | a little bit nostalgic and sad that this journey of ours may be coming to an end soon other than the one |
| 0:41.1 | final episode that we're going to do is kind of a closing episode on this series and then at |
| 0:47.4 | some point we'll do the Brigham Young series but I'm feeling a little bit nostalgic and sad |
| 0:52.1 | I'm I'm right there with you as far as, |
| 0:55.8 | as far as my emotions go. |
| 0:58.7 | You know, |
| 0:59.2 | and it's a, |
| 0:59.7 | when you write a biography of someone, |
| 1:03.4 | it always ends with your subject's death. |
| 1:07.1 | And you live and you die with that person many times over. |
| 1:12.8 | So you write a draft, you get to the end, it's sad, you revise, so on and so forth. |
| 1:21.3 | And so I've sort of lived and died with Joseph Smith a few times. |
| 1:26.0 | And now I will have lived and died with him and all of you who are |
| 1:31.2 | listening. It has been a 40 episode flood of information and commentary about Joseph Smith. And I am also |
| 1:43.1 | feeling it. |
| 1:49.2 | And today's episode, we're going to be talking about the murder. |
| 1:55.2 | We're going to be talking about the Navajo Expositor and the murder of Joseph Smith by mob. |
... |
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