“The Life of Heber C Kimball” is a Biography of Heber Kimball written by the Orson F Whitney in 1888. Whitney was a historian and prior Editor of the LDS publication “The Millennial Star”. Subsequent to publishing this book Whitney was given a teaching post at BYU and made an Apostle of the Quorum of the 12 in 1906.

One of the most remarkable chapters in this book, XLVI, tells of how Joseph Smith introduced ‘celestial marriage’ (aka polygamy) to Heber. In this chapter the following is stated:

An angel with a flaming sword commanded Joseph to institute polygamy among certain members, pg. 331 Before revealing polygamy to Heber Kimball, Joseph tested him by requiring Heber to surrender his wife, Vialate, to Joseph for marriage, pg. 333-4 After 3 days of torment and soul searching, Heber led his wife to Joseph’s house to present her to him as required, pg. 334 After declaring that it was a sort of Abrahamic test which Heber passed, Joseph performed a marriage sealing between Vilate and Heber “then and there”, apparently outside of the temple in the Prophet’s own residence, pg. 335. Heber was told, by Joseph, to take a certain woman for a plural wife 3 times. Only after Joseph commanded Heber “in the name of the Lord” to do so did he obey. Joseph instructed Heber to hide this plural marriage from his first wife Vilate. pg. 335 After reflecting upon the grave consequences such a deception may effect on his relationship with his first wife, Heber plead with Joseph to reconsider. Joseph inquired of the Lord who said that Heber should do as commanded, pg. 336 Joseph chose the woman for Heber to marry – Sarah Noon. Heber was told that if he refused, he would lose his Apostleship and be damned, pg. 336 After wedding the woman, Heber falls into a great despair and personal conflict – unable to reveal the source to his first wife, Vilate. She prays about the cause of Heber’s turmoil and has a vision of celestial marriage, which would confer “great exaltation and honor” upon her and would increase her husbands “kingdoms, and the power and glory, extending throughout the eternities” if she would accept it. She accepts ‘the principle’ pg. 337-8. Joseph reveals a small hint of the soon possibility of plural marriage in a sermon, which causes great excitement – leading to Joseph to modify his statement to suggest that it is not so soon after all, pg. 338 Soon after this Helen Mar Kimball, the 14 year old daughter of Heber and Vilate Kimball, was given to Joseph Smith as a plural wife, pg. 339 (I have written before on just how this transaction took place. You can read about it here: Indulgences Restored)

Wow.

That’s a memorable story! Read it for yourself. I propose the following questions to ask yourself:

What would you do if you were in Heber Kimballs shoes?

What if you were Vilate Kimball?

Would you have such great faith?

Is that faith in God or faith in a man who says he is of God?

Is there any limit to what a Prophet of God can ask “in the name of the Lord”?

When does the nature of the request by a prophet reveal them not to be a prophet of God, but a charlatan using the name of God for personal gratification?

This experience of having a man, claiming to be a prophet or other enlightened person, ask a follower to do something outside the realm of normal accepted behaviour as a test is not unique to Mormon history. Unethical controlling groups created and maintained by totalistic leaders who demand allegiance of their followers not uncommonly use this “allegiance test” to bind their followers to them. (Some people call these groups “Cults”, but that term is not very helpful.) In some cases it takes the form of illegal actions, which would not only tend to tie the follower to the leader through passing the test, but also through fear of legal consequences if they separate from the group and go public. Indeed, polygamy was illegal at the time of Heber’s test.

What is more telling is what the leader does once they have bound their followers to them through these sorts of allegiance tests. The story of Helen Mar Kimballs marriage to Joseph Smith directly followed Heber and Vilate’s remarkable test. Some former mormons see this sequence of events as a manipulation which allowed Joseph to find his way into marriage with the 14 year old. I leave that judgement to the reader.

If you examine some literature from people who counsel parents who permit dangerous cult leaders to abuse their children you might see some uncomfortable parallels when reviewing Joseph’s interactions with the Kimball family:

Parent Participation in Child Abuse Victims of mind control are capable of being persuaded to commit acts that they would not normally do outside the cult. “The victim of thought reform typically commits criminal acts fully aware of their wrongfulness [according to society’s standards]. He [or she] acts consciously, even enthusiastically, and without overt coercion.”The cult member “may have even felt the decision to be his own at the time; he may truthfully have said he was acting of his own free will.” As a result of thought reform, the member’s allegiance lies primarily with the cult’s leader, causing the member to adhere stringently to the leader’s requests and teaching. A parent’s willingness to participate in or allow the abuse of his or her children at the leader’s request is one indicator the leader uses to test the parent’s devotion to the cult. It is important to remember that the cult member has absolute faith that the leader’s instructions are biblically based or that the leader possesses unquestionable higher knowledge and enlightenment. If the parent or child should object to their leader’s commands, the member is considered to lack loyalty and allegiance to the cult, prompting public ridicule or some other punishment. Abusive practices are further facilitated by the fact that the members have been taught never to question or criticize the leader. As a result, the members are unable to protect their children from the cult’s child abuse practices. Journal of Family Law, Volume 29, Number 3, 1990-91 http://www.icsahome.com/articles/children-and-cults-landa