[Joseph Smith] In compliance with the Aug revelation, Mormons engage in their first war-like confrontation in the so-called "Battle of Blue River," near Independence, Missouri. Led by Book of Mormon witness David Whitmer, the Mormons kill two mobbers. Of the one Mormon death during battle, the official History of the Church calls Andrew Barber "the first direct martyr to the cause," despite the previous murder of missionary Brackenbury.
[Source: Quinn, D. Michael, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, Appendix 7: Selected Chronology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-47, http://amzn.to/origins-power]
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ReplyDeleteHC 1:429-432.
ReplyDelete"the Aug. revelation" was D&C 98:28-46 (Aug.6, 1833).
ReplyDeleteAlso based upon the following scripture:
ReplyDelete"And they were doing that which they felt was the duty which they owed to their God; for the Lord had said unto them, and also unto their fathers, that: Inasmuch as ye are not guilty of the first offense, neither the second, ye shall not suffer yourselves to be slain by the hands of your enemies." (Alma 43:46).
Also Alma 43:47:
ReplyDelete"And again, the Lord has said that: Ye shall defend your families even unto bloodshed. Therefore for this cause were the Nephites contending with the Lamanites, to defend themselves, and their families, and their lands, their country, and their rights, and their religion."