When the Latter-day Saint Prophet Joseph Smith was killed by a mob at Carthage
Jail, the Saints he left behind weren't sure who would become the new leader of
the church and to make matters worse Joseph himself made as many as eight
different references to who should succeed him. Subsequently, after his death,
several people came forward claiming to be Joseph's successor. In past episodes
we've already talked about the claims of Sidney Rigdon and the later claims of
Joseph Smith the third. In this episode we're gonna talk about an interesting
fellow by the name of James Strang
Joseph Smith baptized James Strang into the church in February 1844, only
about four months before Joseph was killed but despite him being a very new
convert after Joseph's death, James claimed he had a letter from Joseph naming him
as his successor. Now this letter is problematic for multiple reasons. First
nobody really knows who wrote it. It's not the handwriting of Joseph Smith or
any of his known scribes. Strang claimed that Emma Smith recollects well of her
husband receiving a letter from Mr. Strang and holding a counsel on the
subject and names Hyrum Smith, Willard Richards and John P Green as present at
that counsel but the letter doesn't match the handwriting of any of those
people either. I searched through the handwriting of Joseph's contemporaries
for hours but couldn't find anything that was even close to a match. Some
scholars think the letter was simply a forgery and some don't. So I take the
letter with a grain of salt but even if the letter is real, the language in it is
ambiguous. Much of the subject matter had to do with Strang's called to establish
a stake of the church in Wisconsin. Some people, including Strang's own son
Charles, believed the letter was nothing more than an appointment to lead the
Saints in Wisconsin. In addition to the letter, Strang claimed that in the hour
Joseph was killed he was ordained as the next prophet by an angel.
In fact, he believed that every successor of the church would have to be ordained
by an angelic messenger Strang said, "And as Joseph was called by revelation and
ordained by angels, so must his successor be." Joseph was ordained with priesthood
keys by angels because it was the opening of a new dispensation. There were
no mortal priesthood holders available. We don't believe that an angel must
restore those keys every time a prophet dies, but anyway. Strang drew away a good
amount of followers including but not limited to Joseph's brother William
Smith, Martin Harris, Apostle John E Paige, though in time all of those people
left Strang's Church. Strang established a community with his followers at Beaver
Island Michigan. He had himself crowned as king over his church and I'm gonna do
one or two other episodes about James Strang. He claimed to discover and
translate an ancient record from metal plates similar to how Joseph had done
except with a lot of super important differences.
I'll talk about some of that stuff later but to make a long story short, Strang was
shot three times by a couple of disgruntled former followers on June
16th 1856, he died instantly the next month. And yes, that was a Hotrod
reference. "He died instantly the next day." Though Strang had time to
name a successor, he refused to. He said God hadn't called one. He left the church
in the hands of the remaining leaders but without a prophet successor, most of
Strang's followers left his church and joined other groups. So was James
Strang Joseph Smith's true successor? Well, Joseph Smith taught, "No unhallowed
hand can stop the work from progressing. Persecutions may rage, mobs may combine,
armies may assemble, calumny made defame, but the truth of God will go forth
boldly, nobly, and independent till it has penetrated every continent, visited every
clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear till the purposes of God shall
be accomplished and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done." Some sources
report the James Strang initially led as many as twelve or thirteen thousand
followers. Today all that remains are a few different splinter groups. As far as
I can tell, the main surviving group is based in Wisconsin with about a hundred
and thirty active members. Of course truth isn't dependent on how many
followers you have, but James Strang's Church certainly
doesn't seem to reflect the progress Joseph Smith described. But as always,
you're free to come to your own conclusions about that. I've never met a
Strangite in person but I'm sure they're fabulous people. If you've got questions,
check out the resources in the description and have a great day. I said
calumny weird, it's a hard word to say. We should probably look
this up before I say something stupid. I get it from the song in Hunchback of