By: Justin Hansen
At the beginning of the week, I had a grand idea to lay out a small blurb about various figures in the early days of the restoration that left the church, those who stayed and those who came back. Then, life happened. My kids got sick, work picked up big time and....well you get the point. I will simply make the point that some did leave and not return, even making a lot of trouble for the saints (John C Bennet, even William Smith, who was in an out as often as Ross Perot). Others included William and Wilson aw. These people are on occasion, held up by modern-day apostates as "heroes" or if you will, those that were actually able to think and get out from under the thumb of Joseph Smith. Truth be told though, the fruits of many who left (not all, but many) was bitterness and angst toward the church. Some carried this with them until they died, others eventually melted back into society (Warren Parish comes to mind). Then there is he group that left but stayed faithful to what they knew (all of the witnesses to the plates for example) David Whitmer being the most prominent who stayed away from the church but announced to the world he did see an angel and did not deny it. Examples of those who returned are fairly abundant, Thomas B Marsh, Oliver Cowdry, Frederick G Williams, WW Phelps, Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt, to a small degree Parley P Pratt, Martian Harris, and others.
What is the point of bringing up names and their "status" if you will? This is a war we are in, and with this war, comes battle after battle. Some win, some lose, some are wounded and healed. I am not in any position to judge the ultimate fate of these men, but I see the fruits of some as soldiers who lost their battle and became angry over it. I see some (Brigham Young, Heber C Kimble, John Taylor, and Joseph Smith) as those who were imperfect, but won their battles and stayed spiritually whole. There were others discussed above that suffered a few wounds along the way but came back and were made whole. I have been facinated with this topic for years. I have studied it (not as well as I'd like) but have seen it from 1830-2010) I will keep working on it, to better help myself grow, help others to possibly one day reclaim their armor of God, and o stand with the saints in the battle against spiritual evil. I ray we all take to heart the invitations uttered by so many of our leaders to remain faithful, come back to the fold if we have strayed and endure a best we can in this war.
Sources:
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http://www.cumorah.org/libros/ingles/The%20Heavens%20Resound%20-%20A%20History%20of%20the%20LDS%20in%20Ohio%20-%201830%20a%201838.pdf
http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=821f27cd3f37b010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Latter_Day_Saint_movement
http://byustudies.byu.edu/Resources/BioAlpha/MBRegisterB.aspx
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