Responding to one popular charge against Joseph Smith’s prophetic gifts, Pat Ament, in perhaps the best book on the topic of Joseph Smith’s prophecies, wrote:
According to one critic, Joseph prophesied to a number of people that they would not “taste death” or would not die “until Jesus came.” Each individual to whom he made such a prophecy died. Does this mean they “tasted” death after all and that the prophecy failed? Or were they simply blessed with a painless death, and, in other words, did not taste of pain. Might the death spoken of be spiritual? They might die in a mortal, temporal way but not in a spiritual, everlasting way. That they died before the Savior’s Second Coming does not mean the prophecy was unfulfilled. One might also consider whether or not the prophecy speaks about a certain appearance of the Savior or “the” Second Coming. In the Kirtland Temple in March 1836 the Savior showed himself to some. For several days, the Saints saw glorious visions in the temple, and Joseph recorded that “the Savior made His appearance to some, while angels ministered to others.” Spiritual outpourings touched the lives of many people during Joseph’s day. (History of the Church, vol. 2, pp. 432-433). Thus, no one except the individual recipient of such a prophecy (and the Lord) could know if such a prophecy had been fulfilled.
In Nauvoo, Illinois, Joseph told William Huntington, “Brother William, in the name of the Lord I promise you will never taste of death.” (Diary and Reminiscences of Oliver B. Huntington, p. 9) William Huntington eventually settled in Springville, Utah. Over forty years after Joseph’s promise, or prophecy, William went to bed. He was conversing with his wife in darkness. He said something, and she replied. She said something, and he did not reply. Without a sigh or shudder, he had died. The family believed this to be the fulfillment of Joseph’s promise. Some clarification for this type of prophecy is founded in the Doctrine and Covenants, 42:46-47, “And it shall come to pass that those that die in me [the Savior] shall not taste of death, for it shall be sweet unto them; And they that die not in me, woe unto them, for their death is bitter” (Diary and Reminiscences of Oliver B. Huntington, vol. 2, p. 271, March 19, 1887, also Joseph Smith the Prophet, p. 148). A sweet death would be one where a person has followed the teachings of the Savior in this life, and a bitter death would be where a person has chosen another destiny. Not to taste of death might simply mean, for example, that the pathway to the spirit world was made pleasant and a person can tread that path without fear. To have a “sweet” death could well mean that salvation and exaltation in the world to come are secure. When Adam was shut out from the presence of the Lord, and thus suffered “spiritual death,” his posterity inherited that situation. Through Christ, however, people are born again in God’s presence. Thus they do not taste of spiritual death any longer. They move through mortality and onward to life.
Joseph was more specific to Zina Huntington when he said her flesh should “never see corruption.” Yet in July 8, 1839, she died. It may have appeared to some that the prophecy was not fulfilled. Four and a half years later, on December 9, 1843, when the old burning ground of Nauvoo was moved, Sister Huntington’s body was disinterred and found to be “full, plump, and natural in feature without a smell of corruption or decay” (Images of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 94, and Diary and Reminiscences of Oliver B. Huntington, pp. 165-166, LDS Church Archives).
There are many ways to look at the wording of any given prophecy. Joseph’s statements are similar to those of the Savior. According to Mark 9:1, Jesus said, “There be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.” In John 8:51, Jesus says, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.” Now of course his close followers, Peter, James, Paul, etc., died—in the mortal meaning of the word (John was allowed to “tarry”). There simply is another meaning than the literal.
That the apostles did not “see” death must mean they went through it in some different way. Or, again, it may perhaps mean they went from mortality to life with God and were exempt from “spiritual death” (separation from God). In Joseph Smith’s translation of Luke 9:27, Jesus says, “Verily, I tell you of a truth, there are some standing here who shall not taste of death, until they see the kingdom of God coming in power.” The men to whom the Savior spoke, and many men again during Joseph Smith’s time, witnessed a restoration, the establishment of the kingdom, and did see the Church begin to grow in power and people.
Because something does not occur the obvious way does not mean it has failed to occur. In the words of George Q. Cannon,
The greatest events that have been spoken of by all the holy prophets will come along so naturally as the cause of certain consequences that unless our eyes are enlightened by the Spirit of God and the spirit of revelation rests upon us, we will fail to see that these are the events predicted by the holy prophets. (Journal of Discourses, 21:266-67).
Prophets deliver prophecies usually when the Spirit (or Holy Ghost) comes upon them. We read, for example, in 1 Samuel 10:10, “And the Spirit of God came upon him (Saul), and he prophesied among them.” He did not prophesy at any given moment, but rather when the Spirit came upon him. The same is true for recognizing the truthfulness of prophecy. We, as hearers, need the Spirit to rest upon us before we can truly receive the prophecy. (Pat Ament, Joseph Smith’s Prophetic Gifts: His Prophecies Fulfilled [Fruita, Colo.: Two Lights, 2003], 163-64, emphasis in original)
