Lyman E. Johnson,
probably not long before his death<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Elder Lyman Johnson, the first apostle called in this dispensation to serve in the Twelve, fell away in Kirtland, Ohio.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to a Utah recollection of Brigham Young, Johnson made roughly the following comment at a meeting of the Twelve, his former colleagues, several years later in Nauvoo, Illinois:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
If I could believe \u201cMormonism\u201d as I did when I traveled with you and preached, if I possessed the world I would give it. \u00a0I would give anything. \u00a0I would suffer my right hand to be cut off, if I could believe it again. \u00a0Then I was full of joy and gladness. \u00a0My dreams were pleasant. \u00a0When I awoke in the morning my spirit was cheerful. \u00a0I was happy by day and by night, full of peace and joy and thanksgiving. \u00a0But now it is darkness, pain, sorrow, misery in the extreme. \u00a0I have never seen a happy moment.<\/strong> \u00a0(Journal of Discourses 19:41)<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve heard and read similar statements from people in similar straits, and my heart goes out to them. \u00a0I would love to be able to help them. \u00a0I\u2019m working on a massive project that, I hope, will someday be of benefit to some such sufferers, but I have little time for it, and its completion is years away. \u00a0In the meantime, I try to do what I can.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lyman Johnson, incidentally, drowned in a boating accident on the Mississippi River near Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, on 20 December 1859, at the age of forty-eight. \u00a0He never returned to Mormonism. \u00a0His brother Luke, however, also a member of the original modern Twelve\u00a0who had left the Church, did return to fellowship and emigrated to Utah, where he served as a bishop and died as a member of the Church in good standing (though not as an apostle).<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Posted from Victoria, British Columbia<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 Elder Lyman Johnson, the first apostle called in this dispensation to serve in the Twelve, fell away in Kirtland, Ohio. \u00a0 According to a Utah recollection of Brigham Young, Johnson made roughly the following comment at a meeting of the Twelve, his former colleagues, several years later in Nauvoo, Illinois: \u00a0 If I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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