In my study this week, I focused on the death of the prophet. As I said last week, his death really struck me this time through the Doctrine and Covenants. I particularly appreciated a lecture by Truman G. Madsen about the martyrdom and the events leading up to it. I’ll give you portions of his lecture that talk about how the Lord prepared Joseph and the church for what was to come. I’ll also talk a moment about Willard Richards, whom I didn’t know about before this week, and what all this talk about the martyrdom means for the rest of us. 

Links

Madsen Lecture

https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/truman-g-madsen/joseph-smith-last-months-martyrdom/

Joseph Letter

https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/letter-to-emma-smith-27-june-1844/1#full-transcript

Willard Richards

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willard_Richards

Remembering the Martyrdom

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/revelations-in-context/remembering-the-martyrdom?lang=eng