📜 Section 101 — The Forgotten Law of Marriage
📜 Section 101 — The Forgotten Law of Marriage
Friends, have you ever noticed that in the LDS Come, Follow Me program, some scriptures get the spotlight… and others get quietly pushed into the shadows? Section 101 is one of those.
Let’s dust it off and see why.
✍️ 1835 — The Law of the Land
In the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, there was a section numbered 101. And it didn’t mumble, hedge, or hint. It declared in plain English:
“We declare that we believe that one man should have one wife, and one woman but one husband, except in case of death when either is at liberty to marry again.”
That was canon law for the Saints in Joseph Smith’s day. No confusion. No back doors. No “maybe polygamy down the road.” Just one man, one wife.
And Joseph stood by it. The Saints preached it. Missionaries carried it into the world.
🔧 1876 — The Switcheroo
But then something happened.
After Joseph’s death, Brigham Young and his circle controlled the papers. When they published the 1876 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, Section 101 was gone. Vanished.
In its place? Section 132 — the so-called “revelation” on plural marriage, which just so happened to defend Abraham’s concubines, David’s wives, Solomon’s harems, and throw in threats against Emma Smith for good measure.
Do you see the pattern?
The monogamy scripture (101) disappears.
The polygamy scripture (132) appears.
And from then on, Saints in the mountains were taught that polygamy was the “new and everlasting covenant.”
📖 What Come, Follow Me Won’t Say
Fast forward to today. The LDS Church still acknowledges that Section 101 existed back in 1835. But when Come, Follow Me goes over marriage in the D&C, do they really unpack it?
Not really. It’s treated like a dusty relic. Mentioned, but never explained. Because to explain it would raise too many questions:
If 101 was scripture in Joseph’s day, why was it erased?
Why did Joseph never repudiate it publicly?
Why would the Lord command one thing in 1835 and the opposite in 1843?
Why is there no clean manuscript of Joseph’s supposed polygamy revelation — only copies controlled by Brigham’s men?
And here’s the kicker: in November, Come, Follow Me is scheduled to cover Section 132 itself. That’s when the controversies will come front and center. How will they try to spin it? How will they sidestep the evidence that Section 132 was edited and weaponized?
I’ll be watching closely. And when those lessons roll out, I’ll be running a special three-day blog series digging into Section 132, showing how it was changed, and why it doesn’t line up with Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, or the word of the Lord.
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📜 The Stolen Section 101
There’s another layer to this parable that most Saints don’t even know.
That section was scripture. It was binding. It condemned the very abominations Brigham later enshrined.
And what did Brigham and his followers do after Joseph’s death?
They removed Section 101 — erased the commandment of monogamy — and in its place they put the parable of the watchman on the tower.
They hid the true law of God and substituted their own words.
And here’s the irony: the parable itself condemns them. The watchmen slumbered. The vineyard was left unguarded. The enemy came and destroyed.
The very counterfeit they put in Joseph’s book of scripture now testifies against them.
When the Saints wake up to this — when they see that Joseph’s Section 101 was replaced with Brigham’s Section 101 — they might wake up to their awful situation!
🌾 My Witness
I once sat in on a High Council court. My number was called first — number one. And back then, I was told and taught that my whole duty was to protect the Church. The question in every case was: How is this person damaging the Church?
But I’ve learned since then: our duty is not to protect the Church. Our duty is to protect the Savior. His word. His truth. His voice.
And when I look at the Book of Mormon, the 1835 Doctrine & Covenants, and the Nemenhah Records, I see a united testimony: polygamy is not of Christ.
If the William Clayton journal were ever opened and read without being doctored, I believe it would only prove the same.
At the end of the day, this isn’t about dusty manuscripts. It’s about listening to the Holy Ghost. He is the one who confirms truth. And what He whispers to me is simple:
The everlasting covenant is not about multiple wives. It’s about being sealed to Christ and to your eternal companion, walking together into Eternal Lives.
🚨 Why It Matters
Section 101’s quiet disappearance is not just a historical footnote. It’s the smoking gun.
If the Saints had kept that section in their scriptures, polygamy could never have taken root. Families wouldn’t have been shattered. Women wouldn’t have been coerced. And generations wouldn’t have been told that God commanded what He never did.
So when Come, Follow Me breezes past Section 101 — or when it tries to smooth over Section 132 this November — remember: the Lord spoke plainly once. Men changed it later.
And it’s up to us to hear His voice again.
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