Tuesday, March 9, 2021

Joseph Smith Sr.'s Power to Bless and Curse

 

 

FATHER SMITH HAD POWER TO BLESS AND TO CURSE

 

(Note: While visiting at the home of Sister Robert Scott, in Rock Springs, Wyoming, on October 13, 1935, Sister Scott dictated the following incident from the diary of her father, Perrigrine Sessions.)

 

“in the year 1838, when on my way out of Missouri, near Palmyra, in company with Father Joseph Smith, the father of the Prophet Joseph, and Carlos Smith, his brother, we encountered a heavy storm. We halted at a farm house to buy corn and to stay all night. Father Smith asked the owner if we could camp there and buy feed for our animals. He asked: Are you Mormons? Father Smith answered: yes, we are. He became very angry and said: Damn you, you can’t stay on my property, and with many insulting words and threats we were driven out into the street. Here we stopped and gathered together in the falling snow. Slowly Father Smith removed his hat and with uplifted hands he prayed: In the name of the Lord whom we serve, let that man be cursed in his basket and in his store and let his man’s name be cut off from under heaven.” We all said, Amen.

 

When I came to travel this same road two years later, this incident was brought fresh to my mind. For behold there was nothing to mark the spot but the ruins of his home burned to ashes; his orchard broken down; his farm a picture of desolation; his wife and three children were burned to death in their home and he at this time was in close confinement for the insane. I saw the power of the priesthood manifested, for at the next farm we were received kindly and given all the comfort and assistance we needed and father Smith left his blessing on this household as we departed. Here my eyes beheld the fulfillment of his words to the letter as there I looked upon a picture of prosperity and happiness. All this passed and the two neighbors were ignorant of the curse or the blessing placed upon them as we passed on.” (N.B. Lundwall, comp., Assorted Gems of Priceless Value [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1944], 316-17)