A False Prophecy In The Doctrine And Covenants?

The gravestone of Oliver Granger (d. 1841) — Oliver Granger’s grave marker in the cemetery adjacent to the Kirtland Temple in Ohio. I’ve been to that cemetery and seen Oliver Granger’s grave. More than once. I wonder how many similar small-town cemeteries regularly draw visitors from out-of-state. It can’t be a very high proportion, I would think. (Wikimedia Commons)

And again, I say unto you, I remember my servant Oliver Granger; behold, verily I say unto him that his name shall be had in sacred remembrance from generation to generation, forever and ever, saith the Lord.

Therefore, let him contend earnestly for the redemption of the First Presidency of my Church, saith the Lord; and when he falls he shall rise again, for his sacrifice shall be more sacred unto me than his increase, saith the Lord.

Therefore, let him come up hither speedily, unto the land of Zion; and in the due time he shall be made a merchant unto my name, saith the Lord, for the benefit of my people.

Therefore let no man despise my servant Oliver Granger, but let the blessings of my people be on him forever and ever.

(Doctrine and Covenants 117:12-15)

But does anybody really remember Oliver Granger any more? Hasn’t he been forgotten? Is this not a manifest case of a false prophecy by Joseph Smith?

Building upon previous writing by John Tvedtnes, Robert Boylan responds to this issue here:

http://scripturalmormonism.blogspot.com/2016/04/oliver-granger-and-sacred-remembrance.html

And, besides, everybody who reads this passage in the Doctrine and Covenants (including critics) thinks of Oliver Granger. That’s a lot of people. And it’s been a lot of people for approaching two centuries now. How many early nineteenth-century Americans are remembered by anybody at all? Answering even “one percent” would, I suspect, be far too generous.

Oliver Granger has been discussed in the official magazine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on at least two different occasions, by President Howard W. Hunter in 1992 and by President Boyd K. Packer in 2004.

Moreover, Brother Granger has an entry on Wikipedia, which must surely be a measure of something or other. Even most living people don’t have a personal Wikipedia entry.

For more on this issue, see “Is Oliver Granger’s Name Forgotten?”

Finally, I’m remembering Oliver Granger right now. And I say, “May the Lord’s blessing be on him forever and ever!”

A false prophecy in the Doctrine and Covenants?