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Joseph Smith was a charismatic, visionary leader who inspired deep devotion devotion but also deep disillusionment.

He claimed direct access to God, and he used that authority to make these sweeping decisions.

He introduced new rituals and revelations, but he also took more than 30 plural wives, including

teenagers and women who are already married. He used searstones and folk

magic to translate scripture. He excommunicated those who challenged him and demanded secrecy

and loyalty from those who stayed. In his new biography, the historian John Turner says that by

April of 1844, just weeks before he was killed, Joseph Smith was trying to quell these growing doubts about his leadership, even as he pushed his followers to embrace his most ambitious and most dangerous visions yet.

Over the first few months of 1844, it seemed as if everything might be falling apart for Joseph Smith.

One issue was polygamy. There were some public feuds about Joseph's practice of plural marriage.

There's external critics, internal critics, quarrels at church meetings.

He had critics who were accusing him of being a false teacher and a false prophet.

Joseph's leadership is very much in doubt.

So he felt that his prophetic back was up against the wall,

and he wanted to refute his critics. And so in early April 1844, an enormous number of church members

have gathered for this multi-day conference.

And Joseph decided to take on a lot of the doubts about his leadership.

Joseph tells them that he's never been in a nearer relationship to God than at that very moment.

He gave a remarkable sermon that became known as the King Follett discourse, because one catalyst was the death of a church member named King Follett,

who was killed in an accident while building a well.

And in this sermon, one of the things that he says is that if he can bring his listeners to God,

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