When the Savior was asked by His disciples in the Book of Mormon about the name of the Church, He responded, “Have ye not read the scriptures, which say ye must take upon you the name of Christ, which is my name? For by this name shall ye be called at the last day . . . Therefore, whatsoever ye shall do, ye shall do it in my name; therefore ye shall call the church in my name; and ye shall call upon the Father in my name that he will bless the church for my sake. And how be it my church save it be called in my name?” (3 Nephi 27:5, 7–8). Complying with these instructions, the Articles and Covenants refer to “the rise of the Church of Christ in these last days” (D&C 20:1).¹

In 1834, possibly to avoid confusion with other churches named the Church of Christ, a conference of Church leaders voted to change the name to “The Church of the Latter-day Saints.”² In the ensuing years, the two names were occasionally combined as “the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” During the Kirtland apostasy of 1837–38, dissenters in the Church criticized Joseph Smith and other Church leaders for removing Christ’s name from the official title of the Church. Thomas B. Marsh, then president of the Quorum of the Twelve, wrote in June 1838 that the dissenters “claimed, themselves to be the old standard, called themselves the Church of Christ, excluded that of saints and set at naught Br. Joseph and the whole Church, denouncing them as heretics.”³ Forced to relocate to Missouri because of the dissenters, Joseph Smith received Doctrine and Covenants 115 on April 26, 1838. In the revelation the Lord gave the official name of the Church, declaring, “For thus shall my Church be called in the last days, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” (D&C 115:4).⁴ Usage of the different names of the Church varied throughout the remainder of Joseph Smith’s lifetime, for instance, in an epistle from Liberty Jail the Prophet and his fellow prisoners wrote “To the church of Latter-day saints at Quincy Illinois.”⁵ In Nauvoo, a sign hanging over the Prophet’s office read, “Joseph Smith’s, Office. President of the church of JESUS Christ of LATTER day Saints.”⁶

When Russell M. Nelson became the President of the Church in 2019, he strongly emphasized using the correct name of the Church. In an official statement given on August 16, 2018, President Nelson explained his reasons for the change: “The Lord has impressed upon my mind the importance of the name He has revealed for His Church, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We have work before us to bring ourselves in harmony with His will.”⁷ A few weeks later in general conference, President Nelson gave an even more forceful address, particularly to those critical of attempts to emphasize the name of the Church. “It is not a name change. It is not rebranding. It is not cosmetic. It is not a whim. And it is not inconsequential. Instead, it is a correction. It is the command of the Lord . . . The name of the Church is not negotiable.” President Nelson counseled Church members, “If someone should ask, ‘Are you a Mormon?’ you could reply, ‘If you are asking if I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, yes, I am!’ If someone asks, ‘Are you a Latter-day Saint?’ you might respond, ‘Yes, I am. I believe in Jesus Christ and am a member of His restored Church.’” He concluded, “So, what’s in a name? When it comes to the name of the Lord’s Church, the answer is ‘Everything!’”⁸

1. Articles and Covenants, circa April 1830 [D&C 20], p. 4, JSP.

2. “Communicated,” The Evening and the Morning Star, May 1834, p. 160, JSP.

3. Letter to Wilford Woodruff, circa 18 June 1838, p. 1, JSP.

4. Letter to the Church and Edward Partridge, 20 March 1839, p. 1, JSP.

5. Letter to the Church and Edward Partridge, 20 March 1839, p. 1, JSP.

6. “Joseph Smith Office Sign,” accessed June 18, 2019, https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/media-collection/joseph-smith-office-sign?lang=English, punctuation in original.

7. Russell M. Nelson in “The Name of the Church,” official statement, August 16, 2018, https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/name-of-the-church.

8. Russell M. Nelson, “The Correct Name of the Church,” October 2018 General Conference.

Knowing the coming calamities of the last days, the Lord identifies the “land of Zion” and “her stakes” (D&C 115:6), which are found throughout the world, as two places of refuge and safety for the Saints. Even though the Lord has promised that “Zion shall not be moved out of her place” (D&C 101:17), for nearly two centuries the gathering of Israel has centered around creating stakes in every land where Saints live. Amid growing instability throughout the world, the stakes of Zion are designed to serve as a “refuge from the storm” (D&C 115:6).

President Russell M. Nelson explained,“The stakes of Zion are a ‘refuge from the storm’ because they are led by those who hold priesthood authority. As you continue to follow the counsel of those whom the Lord has authorized to guide you, you will feel greater safety.”⁹ President Nelson also pointed out that “the temple—the house of the Lord—is a place of security unlike any other . . . there your families are sealed for eternity . . . simply said, a place of security is anywhere you can feel the presence of the Holy Ghost and be guided by Him.”¹⁰

9. Russell M. Nelson, “Embrace the Future with Faith,” October 2020 General Conference.

10. Russell M. Nelson, “Embrace the Future with Faith,” October 2020 General Conference, emphasis in original.

When the Lord designated Far West as a temple site, this designation was enough to make the city a holy place, but the Saints also believed in a sacredness surrounding the land that stretched back to ancient times. Shortly after this revelation was given, Joseph Smith identified Spring Hill, just twenty-five miles to the north, as Adam-ondi-Ahman. The Lord revealed to Joseph Smith that Adam-ondi-Ahman is the place where Daniel’s prophecy about the return of the Ancient of Days will be fulfilled (Daniel 7:9–14).

Many of the early Saints believed that Missouri was a significant place not only in the last days but also in the early days of our progenitors. Edward Stevenson, an early Church member, stated that Joseph Smith taught that “the Garden of Eden was in Jackson County—the Center Place of Zion where a great temple shall be reared.”¹¹ Brigham Young also related that Joseph Smith had told him “that the Garden of Eden was in Jackson Co., Missouri.”¹² While knowing the location of the Garden of Eden is not a question of salvation, having this knowledge informed the Saints’ view of Far West and the surrounding area as a significant place not just for the future of the Church but for the earliest Saints on earth as well. Missouri is a place where the ancient history and the latter-day history of the Church exist side by side, and the Far West area will continue to play a part in the future history of the Church.

The miracles that occurred in Far West contributed to the land’s holiness. Heber C. Kimball even recalled Joseph Smith speaking of a direct encounter with the adversary that took place at Far West:

He [Joseph Smith] then gave me a relation of many contests that he had had with Satan, and his power that had been manifested from time to time since the commencement of bringing forth the Book of Mormon. I will relate one circumstance that took place at Far West, in a house that Joseph had purchased, which had been formerly occupied as a public house [a pub or a bar] by some wicked people.

A short time after he got into it, one of his children was taken very sick; he laid his hands upon the child, when it got better; as soon as he went out of doors, the child was taken sick again; he again laid his hands upon it, so that it again recovered. This occurred several times, when Joseph inquired of the Lord what it all meant; then he had an open vision, and saw the devil in person, who contended with Joseph, face to face, for some time.

He said it was his house, it belonged to him, and Joseph had no right there. Then Joseph rebuked Satan in the name of the Lord, and he departed and touched the child no more.¹³

11. Larry E. Dahl and Donald Q. Cannon, The Teachings of Joseph Smith, 1997, 277.

12. Larry E. Dahl and Donald Q. Cannon, The Teachings of Joseph Smith, 1997, 277.

13. Orson F. Whitney, The Life of Heber C. Kimball, 1973, 258–59.

In accordance with the Lord’s instructions, on the Fourth of July, 1838, Joseph and other Church members laid the cornerstones of the Far West temple. Joseph Smith’s official history records:

July 4^th. was spent in celebrating the declaration of the Independence of the United States of America, and also, in the saints making a declaration of Independence from all mobs and persecutions which have been inflicted upon them, time after time, until they could bear it no longer; having been driven by ruthless mobs and enemies of truth from their homes, their property confiscated, their lives exposed, and their all jeopardized by such barbarous conduct; also in laying the corner stones of the house of the Lord, agreeably to the commandment of the Lord unto us, given April 26^th. 1838 (D&C 115).¹⁴

During the same celebration, Sidney Rigdon gave a sermon based on the text of Matthew 5:13, which reads, “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt hath lost its savour, wherewith it shall be good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” The speech apparently began as a discourse on the principles of religious freedom. However, toward its end, Sidney’s address took on a darker tone. We do not have the exact text of what later became known as the “Salt Sermon,” but Sidney was a powerful orator who could move an audience to tears or ignite a firestorm of fury. Sidney was quoted as saying, “That mob that comes to disturb us; it shall be between us and them a war of extermination.”¹⁵

Sidney’s speech not only inflamed passions among the Saints but it also caused a sharp increase in hostility from the other non–Latter-day Saint settlers in the area. After the sermon many of the dissenters of the Church who remained in Far West fled the city. Looking back six years later, Jedediah M. Grant believed the Salt Sermon seriously increased the danger to the Saints in Missouri. He said, “[The oration] was the main auxiliary that fanned into a flame the burning wrath of [a] mobocratic portion of the Missourians. They now had an excuse, their former threats were renewed, and soon executed, [and] we were then . . . all made accountable for the acts of one man.”¹⁶ Brigham Young agreed, later saying, “Elder Rigdon was the prime cause of our troubles in Missouri, by his Fourth of July oration.”¹⁷

Some Church members became overzealous in their desire to resist persecution in Far West, even forming a clandestine society known as the “Danites.” These Danites sought to intimidate dissenters and foes of the Church in Missouri. Some went as far as confiscating or destroying property. “Historians generally concur that Joseph Smith approved of the Danites but that he probably was not briefed on all their plans and likely did not sanction the full range of their activities. The Danites existed for only five months, from June through October 1838, and were only ever active in two counties in northwestern Missouri. Though the existence of the Danites was short-lived, it resulted in a longstanding and much-embellished myth about a secret society of Mormon vigilantes.”¹⁸

14. JS History, vol. B-1, p. 800, JSP.

15. Quoted in Alexander L. Baugh, “War of Extermination: The 1838 Mormon Conflict in Northern Missouri,” in The Mormon Wars, ed. Glen Rawson and Dennis Lyman, 2014, 53.

16. Jedediah M. Grant, Collection of Facts: Relative to the Course Taken by Elder Sidney Rigdon, in the States of Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, and Pennsylvania, 1844, 11–12; quoted in Baugh, “War of Extermination,” 53.

17. “Continuation of Elder Rigdon’s Trial,” Times and Seasons, vol. 5, no. 18 (October 1844), 19; quoted in Baugh, “War of Extermination,” 53.

18. “Danites,” Church History Topics, ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

While the Lord was pleased with the construction and dedication of the Kirtland Temple, He also asked the First Presidency to be more careful with incurring debt linked to temple building (D&C 115:13). The Church’s massive debts from the construction of the Kirtland Temple contributed to the downfall of the Church in Kirtland. Even though the need to build the temple may have outweighed concerns over debt, eventually the enemies of the Saints exploited the Saints’ financial concerns to overwhelm the Church. In Far West, a financial reorganization and the implementation of the law of tithing (D&C 119) caused the expense of building new temples to be more equally spread among the membership of the Church.

Instead of simply following the plans of the Kirtland Temple, the Lord explains that the temple at Far West should be built according to a new pattern that would be revealed to the First Presidency (D&C 115:14). Since the leaders of the Church had already been given keys by Moses, Elias, and Elijah, the concept of a temple was beginning to expand and grow into its full purpose. Because of persecution, the temple in Far West was never able to progress beyond its initial beginnings. But the temple in Nauvoo, and the expansion of temple ordinances linked to its construction, showed why a new pattern was needed for temples moving forward. If the Saints had not been forcibly removed from Far West, it is likely that all the ordinances of salvation for both the living and the dead would have been revealed there.

The Lord explains that multiple stakes of Zion will be built in the regions surrounding Far West, but new stakes must be designated by the First Presidency, who hold the keys of the kingdom. This instruction aligns with a revelation given several months earlier, which was recorded in Joseph Smith’s journal but not included in the Doctrine and Covenants. The revelation reads: 

Kirtland Jan 12^th 1838

Can any branch of the Church of Latter Day Saints be considered a stake of Zion until [until] they have acknowleged the authority of the First Presidency, by a vote of said Church[?]

Thus saith the Lord verily I say unto you nay

How then[?]

Answer. No stake shall be appointed except by the First Presidency and this Presidency be acknowledged by the voice of the same, otherwise it shall not be counted as a stake of Zion, And again except it be dedicated by this Presidency it cannot be acknowledged as a stake of Zion, For unto this end, have I appointed them, in laying the foundation of and establishing my Kingdom.¹⁹

This revelation from January 12 was an important step toward establishing the First Presidency as the leaders of the entire Church. When this revelation was received, there were only two stakes in the Church. The two stake presidencies were seen as roughly equal in authority, which was problematic as the First Presidency was serving as the stake presidency of the Church in Ohio. This revelation, along with Doctrine and Covenants 115, firmly establishes the role of the First Presidency as the leaders of the entire Church. 

19. Revelation, 12 January 1838–B, p. 1, JSP.