Doctrine and Covenants 34
Historical Introduction
After his conversion to the Church, Parley P. Pratt was anxious to share the gospel with members of his own family, so in September 1830 he traveled to his hometown of Canaan, New York, where he preached to large crowds nearly every day. Parley later recalled that “the people, who had known me from a child, seemed astonished—knowing that I had had but little opportunity of acquiring knowledge by study; and while many were interested in truth, some began to be filled with envy, and with a lying, persecuting spirit.” He later recorded, “My father, mother, and aunt Van Cott, and many others began to believe the truth in part, but my brother Orson, a youth of nineteen years, received it will all his heart, and was baptized at that time, and has ever since spent his days in the ministry.”
Regarding his own conversion, Orson Pratt later wrote, “For about one year before I heard of this Church, I had begun seriously in my own mind to inquire after the Lord. . . . I took the privilege, while others had retired to rest, to go out into the fields and wilderness, and there plead with the Lord, hour after hour, that he would show me what to do—that he would teach me the way of life, and inform and instruct my understanding.” Orson remembered that when he learned about the restored gospel, “I rejoiced with great joy, believing that the ancient principles of the Gospel were restored to the earth—that the authority to preach it was also restored. I rejoiced that my ears were saluted with these good tidings while I was yet a youth, and in the day, too, of the early rising of the kingdom of God. I went forward and was baptized. I was the only individual baptized in that country for many years afterward.”
In November 1830, Orson traveled to Fayette, New York, where he met Joseph Smith. It was during this visit that Joseph received a revelation for Orson, which is recorded in section 34. An acquaintance of Orson’s later recorded a secondhand account of the reception of this revelation. He wrote that Orson
was anxious to know what his mission was and would be, and at Peter Whitmer Sr’s residence he asked Joseph whether he could not ascertain what his mission was, and Joseph answered him that he would see, & asked Pratt and John Whitmer to go upstairs with him, and on arriving there Joseph produced a small stone called a seer stone, and putting it into a Hat soon commenced speaking and asked Elder P[ratt] to write as he would speak, but being too young and timid and feeling his unworthiness he asked whether Bro. John W[hitmer] could not write it, and the Prophet said that he could: Then came the revelation.
Historical Introduction, Revelation, 4 November 1830 [D&C 34]
Verse-by-Verse Commentary
D&C 34:1–4
1 My son Orson, hearken and hear and behold what I, the Lord God, shall say unto you, even Jesus Christ your Redeemer;
2 The light and the life of the world, a light which shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehendeth it not;
3 Who so loved the world that he gave his own life, that as many as would believe might become the sons of God. Wherefore you are my son;
4 And blessed are you because you have believed;
Latter-day Saints believe in and wholeheartedly accept the doctrine that we are the spirit children of Heavenly Parents, but the teachings of the New Testament, Book of Mormon, and the Doctrine and Covenants also call people to a new spiritual birth that makes them the sons and daughters of Jesus Christ. The Apostle John declared of Jesus Christ that “as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12).
The Book of Mormon prophet Alma the Younger likewise taught that “all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters” (Mosiah 27:25). King Benjamin gave his people a new name, declaring that they “shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold this day he hath spiritually begotten you” (Mosiah 5:7). The promises given to Orson Pratt apply to all righteous men who qualify to become the sons of God, and a similar promise was given to Emma Smith, whom the Savior addressed as his daughter. The Savior further explained that “all those who receive my gospel are sons and daughters in my kingdom” (D&C 25:1).
D&C 34:5–9
5 And more blessed are you because you are called of me to preach my gospel—
6 To lift up your voice as with the sound of a trump, both long and loud, and cry repentance unto a crooked and perverse generation, preparing the way of the Lord for his second coming.
7 For behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, the time is soon at hand that I shall come in a cloud with power and great glory.
8 And it shall be a great day at the time of my coming, for all nations shall tremble.
9 But before that great day shall come, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon be turned into blood; and the stars shall refuse their shining, and some shall fall, and great destructions await the wicked.
Orson Pratt spent the rest of his life acting on the Lord’s commandment to “lift up your voice as with the sound of a trump, both long and loud, and cry repentance” (D&C 34:6). In 1835 he was called as a member of the original Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in this dispensation. He served at least eleven missions to the Eastern States and traveled to Europe another sixteen times as part of his missionary service. He wrote numerous books and pamphlets on Church teachings; the publications include The Kingdom of God (1848), Divine Authority, or the Question, Was Joseph Smith Sent of God? (1849), Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon (1850), The Holy Spirit (1856), Discourses on Celestial Marriage (1869), The Bible and Polygamy (1877), and Key to the Universe, or a New Theory of its Mechanism (1879). In 1840 he wrote the first published account of Joseph Smith’s First Vision in a pamphlet entitled A[n] Interesting Account of Several Remarkable Visions.
Despite his dedication to the Church, Orson struggled mightily during the trying times in Nauvoo and was excommunicated on August 20, 1842. A few months later, on January 20, 1843, he was rebaptized and resumed his place in the Quorum of the Twelve. In 1852 Orson was chosen to give the address publicly announcing the practice of plural marriage by members of the Church. Orson’s theological writings sometimes strained his relationship with Brigham Young and other Church leaders, though none of these leaders ever questioned the power or sincerity of his testimony. Brigham Young once remarked, “If Brother Orson were chopped up in inch pieces, each piece would cry out Mormonism was true.”
Orson lived longer than any member of the original Quorum of the Twelve called in 1835. However, he was never called to serve as Church President because in 1875 Brigham Young reorganized seniority in the Quorum of the Twelve based on continuous service. Because of his 1842 excommunication, Orson was moved from second in seniority to fifth, and John Taylor became President of the Church when Brigham Young died in 1877. Orson unreservedly endorsed President Taylor as leader of the Church. Before Orson passed away in 1884, he left instructions for the inscription on his tombstone to read, “My body sleeps for a moment, but my testimony lives and shall endure forever.”
D&C 34:10–12
10 Wherefore, lift up your voice and spare not, for the Lord God hath spoken; therefore prophesy, and it shall be given by the power of the Holy Ghost.
11 And if you are faithful, behold, I am with you until I come—
12 And verily, verily, I say unto you, I come quickly. I am your Lord and your Redeemer. Even so. Amen.
In a discourse given in 1875, Orson shared the story of his conversion and recounted how he traveled to meet with Joseph Smith to receive the revelation that became Doctrine and Covenants 34. Orson said,
I have often reflected upon this revelation, and have oftentimes inquired in my heart—“Have I fulfilled that commandment as I ought to have done? Have I sought as earnestly as I ought to obtain the gift of prophecy, so as to fulfill the requirement of heaven?” And I have felt sometimes to condemn myself because of my slothfulness, and because of the little progress that I have made in relation to this great, heavenly, and divine gift. . . . But still, notwithstanding all this, there is one thing that I have endeavored to do, and that is, to inform my mind as far as I could by reading what God has revealed to both ancient and modern Prophets, in relation to the future, and if I have not had many important prophecies and revelations given directly to myself, I certainly have derived great advantage and great edification from reading and studying that which God has revealed to others; and hence most of my prophesying throughout my life, so far, has been founded upon the revelations given to others.
Footnotes
