Saturday, May 2, 2026

Michael Hicks Recollection of a Meeting with Elder Mark E. Petersen (January 16, 1980) and Petersen Opposing Claim Jesus was Married

Context: Meeting held January 16, 1980, 2 pm, between Michael Hicks and Elder Mark E. Petersen:

 

He asked if I sustained the authorities of the church. "Yes." Did I sympathize with any other claimants to that authority? "No." He asked a few doctrinal questions, whose import I didn't quite understand. For example, he asked me, "Do you believe that Jesus was married?" "It had never occurred to me that he wasn't." "Are you willing to accept that it is the doctrine of the church that Jesus was not married?" "Well, Elder Orson Hyde said that Jesus married Mary Magdalene, Mary of Bethany, and Martha." This angered Elder Petersen. He pounded his fist on his desk and said, loudly, "Orson Hyde didn't know what he was talking about!" He asked me again if I was willing to accept that Jesus being unmarried was "the doctrine of the Church." Frankly, what did I care? My prosperity was on the line over a snippet of history with dubious relevance. "Yes," I told him. (Michael Hicks, Wineskin: Freaking' Jesus in the 1960s and 70s–A Memoir [Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2022], page 245 of 254, kindle ed.)

 

 

Transcription of M. A. Walker letter, De Kalb, Illinois to Jared Carter, Salt Lake City, Utah

The following is a transcription of M. A. Walker letter, De Kalb, Illinois to Jared Carter, Salt Lake City, Utah (MS 3696); the letter has no year, but composed during August. There are a lot of illegible words, but thought I would make the following available:




 

 

Page 1

 

[illegible] ignorance and vice, and [illegible] the warning shall meet and merit

the best of respect should they reflect thereon [illegible]

declare that as their [illegible] duty, it is [illegible]

suffering of ignorance, hypocrisy, [illegible], and [illegible]

[illegible] their [illegible], which all mankind will [illegible]

end the [illegible] of their [illegible] [illegible]

[illegible] which it may be necessary to be

given to all men so far as [illegible]

made for the instruction of man.

 

Question 1st. [illegible]

 

The [illegible] [illegible] is given in your work entitled

[illegible] and [illegible] of [illegible]

[illegible] made therefor.

 

Question 2. [illegible]

 

To communicate my experience [illegible]

of whom were also gifted with heavenly gifts, and speak [illegible]

rehearse and divine things [illegible]

[illegible] and [illegible] things [illegible]

[illegible] contempt, which after all [illegible]

[illegible] of the heart of God, and [illegible] nature.

 

[illegible]

 

[illegible] communicate my experience [illegible]

of whom were also gifted with heavenly gifts, and speak [illegible]

rehearse and divine things [illegible]

[illegible] with contempt, which [illegible]

[illegible] upon the earth and [illegible]

[illegible] charity, friendship, brotherly love and

affection for each other [illegible]

[illegible] when God [illegible] and holy nature.

 




PAGE 2

 

[illegible] and thousands, whose hypocrisy and inward deceit is [illegible]

[illegible] them [illegible] will [illegible] continue [illegible]

 

This was a number [illegible]

which human nature would shrink at the

recapitulation thereof. But I am commanded to declare to the world that the

earliest portion of my life was spent in the midst of [illegible]

and this was impressed upon me by a nightly vision, which seemed to me

the errors of human life in general, together with the past follies of my own

and the future state which would [illegible] upon the earth [illegible]

establishment of Christ’s kingdom. And as I grew in years [illegible]

I had heavenly visions, with sacred and holy communications were made

unto me, that I might prepare the minds of men for the things, which even

yet must come to pass. By making known my experience to others, I [illegible]

myself in my endeavors to promote and spread the doctrine of

Christ’s gospel. But my desire for worldly interests and selfishness [illegible]

me the necessity of seeking worldly interests [illegible]

and by listening to the pernicious influence [illegible]

the path of my youth was lost for me. [illegible]

 

These revelations were revealed unto me against hypocrisy, and all evils to which

the human race are subject, yet I continued to set forth deep and

delusive doctrines, mingled with what I knew were just and holy

until Him who had called me to this mighty mission caused me to

end my career ignominiously. While thus ascribed to me in the

propagation of the laws and formations of the church, along with

the worldly benefit of the things for which I labored [illegible]

the wrongfully termed laws, codes, rules, rites and ceremonies, which

are all estranged from God and opposed to Divine wisdom

and truth, and by which means the bands of my fellowship are [illegible]

 

[illegible]

 

I am [illegible] to declare to the world [illegible]

[illegible] not [illegible]

[illegible] the commands of [illegible]

[illegible] and to declare that [illegible]

[illegible] all the horrors [illegible]

[illegible] while continuing [illegible]

[illegible] around the place inhabited by my body.

 




PAGE 3

 

I was much surprised on learning you were in Illinois, and feel

much surprised at learning you were in Illinois, and feel

some regret that I had not earlier followed the impression of my mind.

Had I then felt to address you before. But thinking I might probably see

you personally in De Kalb this summer, had flattered myself for a more

convenient opportunity of communication. You will remember, I think,

you think in my last letter, that I had received from

you [illegible] [illegible] [illegible] — [illegible]

 

[illegible] I am the more encouraged and deeper impressed

to feel the necessity of [illegible] upon me.

Also [illegible] to comply with revelation [illegible]

that you are [illegible], and I am the more encouraged and deeper impressed

to [illegible] the task and to feel a responsibility resting upon me.

 

[illegible] Brother [illegible], and there have been [illegible]

from [illegible] I think, and [illegible]

[illegible] will be ready to believe and receive that [illegible]

 

I last [illegible] the subject presented [illegible]

to [illegible] from a conscience responsibility, independent [illegible]

other consideration. [illegible] I can [illegible]

perform the [illegible] connection with the [illegible]

the Spirit of truth. [illegible] The single language of my heart, [illegible]

 

[illegible] the steps you have and am

about to take.

 

God and mammon. O the [illegible]

[illegible] them both [illegible]

Saints, Communicans, and Baptizers [illegible]

[illegible] [illegible] [illegible]

 

I am requested [illegible] from me a concern [illegible]

[illegible] impression upon me to warn

[illegible] [illegible] Mr. Bushnell and

[illegible] [illegible] [illegible]

 




PAGE 4

 

The following verse was first given as a proof

of Joseph Smith having been a true prophet before the fall.

“He was a prophet from the [illegible] with special gift to make men wise,”

[illegible] ambition for a worldly name, [illegible]

[illegible] and [illegible]

 

After this the following Revelation was given:

 

“I am [illegible] Smith, whose [illegible] [illegible]

in various parts of the earth, and whose [illegible] is likewise [illegible]

therefore [illegible] I am commanded to state that my career

[illegible] in a manner which human nature would [illegible] at the

recapitulation thereof. But I am commanded to declare to the world that the

earliest portion of my life was spent in the midst of [illegible]

and this was impressed upon me by a nightly vision, which seemed to me

the errors of human life in general, together with the past follies of my own

and the future state which would [illegible] upon the earth, great to the

establishment of Christ’s kingdom. And as I grew in years [illegible]

I had heavenly visions, with sacred and holy communications were made

unto me, that I might prepare the minds of men for the things, which even

yet must come to pass. By making known my experience to others I found

myself in my endeavors to promote and spread the doctrine of

Christ’s gospel. But my desire for worldly interests and selfishness [illegible]

me the necessity of seeking worldly interests [illegible]

and by listening to the pernicious influence [illegible]

the path of my youth was lost for me. [illegible]

 

These revelations were revealed unto me against hypocrisy, and all evils to which

the human race are subject, yet I continued to set forth deep things and

delusive doctrines, mingled with what I knew were just and holy

until Him who had called me to this mighty mission caused me to

end my career ignominiously. While thus [illegible] me in the

propagation of the laws and formations of the church, along with

the worldly benefit of the things for which I labored [illegible]

the wrongfully termed laws, codes, rules, rites and ceremonies, which

are all estranged from God and opposed to Divine wisdom

and truth, and by which means the bands of my fellowship are [illegible]

 

[illegible] I was cast off as a desolate and my

spirit seemed to retreat into my eternal immortality, and I am commanded

to declare that I suffered all the horrors of the supposed while

continuing near and around the place inhabited by my body.

From that time I was made capable to hear the first branch

of darkness beyond which I mingled with the sickly elements, and approach

of my mind of spirits and still remain with the [illegible] of my body

in which state we dreaded the experience of a future state. Thereupon

I am commanded to declare to the world that I have seen in proper

satanic [illegible], that which the conscience reaches my sensibility with such

a just punishment when reaching the sphere wherein I [illegible]

and I am commanded to declare to those who follow the delusions

which are set forth by those who have [illegible] in my name, and to this

[illegible]

 

David H. Stern on Luke 16:16

  

Up to the time of Yochanan the Immerser there were the Torah and the Prophets giving their prophetic and predictive witness to the coming of the Kingdom of God. The verse does not mean that the authority of the Torah and the Prophets came to an end when Yochanan appeared (an error even the notable Hebrew Christian thinker David Baron made). But since then, in addition to their witness (v. 31, Yn 5:46, Ro 3:21), the Good News of the Kingdom of God, which is now “near,” has been proclaimed directly, first by Yochanan (Mt 3:1–2) and now by Yeshua (Mt 4:17, Mk 1:15), with the result that everyone is pushing to get in.  (David H. Stern, Jewish New Testament Commentary: A Companion Volume to the Jewish New Testament [Clarksville, Tenn.: Jewish New Testament Publications, 1996], Logos Bible Software edition)

 

the Text of D&C 78:3

The current text of D&C 78:3 reads:

 

For verily I say unto you, the time has come, and is now at hand; and behold, and lo, it must needs be that there be an organization of my people, in regulating and establishing the affairs of the storehouse for the poor of my people, both in this place and in the land of Zion—

 

The earliest text, however, does not read “an organization of my people”; instead the verse initially read:

 



 

for verily I say unto you the time has come and and is now at hand and behold & lo it must needs be that there be an organization of the Literary and Merchantile establishments of my church both in this place and in the land of Zion (Revelation, 1 March 1832 [D&C 78], page 1)

 

Robert Alter on Ecclesiastes 9:1; 10:20; 11:5

  

Eccl 9:1:

 

All before them is mere breath. The Masoretic Text reads “All before them,” followed by a full stop, and then begins the next verse with “all.” Neither “all before them” standing alone nor the second “all” makes much sense. This translation follows the Septuagint and two other ancient versions in reading instead of the second “all,” hakol, “mere breath,” hevel, a difference of one consonant. The sentence then is coherent. (Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible, 3 vols. [New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2019], 3:699)

 

 

Eccl 10:20:

 

Even on your couch. The Hebrew noun madaʿ generally means “knowledge” (in modern Hebrew it is the term for “science”). Many modern interpreters construe it as “thought” or “mind”—an understanding already registered in the King James Version. But if a person is merely thinking nasty thoughts about the king without speaking them, how could the fowl of the heavens carry the sound? The parallelism between the two clauses here invites the emendation of madaʿakha, “your thought,” to matsaʿakha, “your couch.” Perhaps an emendation is not even necessary: Seow proposes that the “knowing” reflected in the root of the word is knowing in the sexual sense, which could make this an otherwise unattested term for the place where sexual intimacy is consummated. (Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible, 3 vols. [New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2019], 3:703-4)

 

 

Eccl 11:5:

 

into the limbs within the full womb. The “limbs,” ʿatsamim, are the body of the fetus. The Masoretic Text reads “like the limbs,” kaʿatsamim, but many Hebrew manuscripts as well as the Targum have, more plausibly, baʿatsamim, “into the limbs.” The received text also reads “the womb of the full one [that is, the pregnant woman],” which could be correct, but a change of the initial vowel from be to ba yields “the full womb” and enables the translation to reproduce the play on “fill” in verse 3. This may be the more likely reading because there are no other biblical instances of “the full one” as a synonym for a pregnant woman. (Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible, 3 vols. [New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2019], 3:704-5)

 

Gregory Nazianzen, Oration 8.18 (c. 390) and a Woman Being Said to Explicilty Partake of the Eucharist

The following is taken from Gregory Nazianzen, Oration 8.18 (c. 390). Gregory describes Gorgonia, his biological sister, who was gravely ill and applied to herself “a portion of the antitypes of the Precious Body and Blood.” This is the earliest explicit statement in Christian literature of a woman partaking of the Eucharist:

 

18. What then did this great soul, worthy offspring of the greatest, and what was the medicine for her disorder, for we have now come to the great secret? Despairing of all other aid, she betook herself to the Physician of all, and awaiting the silent hours of night, during a slight intermission of the disease, she approached the altar with faith, and, calling upon Him Who is honoured thereon, with a mighty cry, and every kind of invocation, calling to mind all His former works of power, and well she knew those both of ancient and of later days, at last she ventured on an act of pious and splendid effrontery: she imitated the woman whose fountain of blood was dried up by the hem of Christ's garment. What did she do? Resting her head with another cry upon the altar, and with a wealth of tears, as she who once bedewed the feet of Christ, and declaring that she would not loose her hold until she was made whole, she then applied her medicine to her whole body, viz., such a portion of the antitypes of the Precious Body and Blood as she treasured in her hand, mingling therewith her tears, and, O the wonder, she went away feeling at once that she was saved, and with the lightness of health in body, soul, and mind, having received, as the reward of her hope, that which she hoped for, and having gained bodily by means of spiritual strength. Great though these things be, they are not untrue. Believe them all of you, whether sick or sound, that you may either keep or regain your health. And that my story is no mere boastfulness is plain from the silence in which she kept, while alive, what I have revealed. Nor should I now have published it, be well assured, had I not feared that so great a marvel would have been utterly hidden from the faithful and unbelieving of these and later days.

 

Wilford Woodruff (July 15, 1894): Brigham Young Being the Recipient of Public Revelation

  

Joseph Smith stood at the head of this dispensation all the days he dwelt in the flesh. So did Brigham Young. I traveled with Brigham Young at home and abroad, and I never saw a day in my life but what he had the spirit and power of revelation of God with him. This power was with him when he came to this land. It was with him when he laid the foundations of our temples, and when he laid out the city of Salt Lake. He did all these things by the inspiration and Spirit of Almighty God. (Wilford Woodruff, Discourse on “Revelation and Judgment,” delivered at the Weber Stake Conference, Ogden, Utah, July 15, 1894, repr. The Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star 56, no. 41 [October 8, 1894]: 642)

 

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