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The consensus among the early Mormon fundamentalists (and a significant number of fundamentalists today) was that John W. Woolley was preceded as President of the Priesthood by Wilford Woodruff. See, for instance, Truth magazine, vol. 9, no. 3 (Aug. 1943), p. 75: "the keys to Priesthood passed in natural order from Wilford Woodruff to John W. Woolley." This was indicated by Lorin C. Woolley in Joseph W. Musser's Book of Remembrance, p. 15: "Six have held Keys to the Kingdom: Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, John W. Woolley and now Lorin C. Woolley." Also note Benjamin G. Bistline's statement in Colorado City Polygamists (Agreka Books, 2004), p. 107: "In the 1950s Guy Musser had put together a collection of ten photographs depicting the Presidents of Priesthood according to the Polygamist's teachings: Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, John Woolley, Lorin Woolley, Leslie Broadbent, John Y. Barlow, Joseph Musser, and Charles Zitting. All devout Polygamists purchased a set of these photographs and proudly displayed them on their living room walls."
While nearly all fundamentalists would certainly agree that John W. Woolley got his commission to perpetuate plural marriage from John Taylor, the belief that Woolley immediately succeeded Taylor as Prophet is, I believe, unique to the FLDS Church. Wilford Woodruff was written out of the FLDS line of succession when his 1880 revelation (declaring that all the apostles hold the keys of the Priesthood in common) was decanonized in favor of Leroy S. Johnson's One Man Rule, and to foster an image of prophetic infallibility. Warren Jeffs articulated the present FLDS position as follows: "The Lord saw what Wilford Woodruff and the Church leaders would do, so He had John Taylor appoint, ordain and appoint John W. Woolley as the next Keyholder. It had to be done in secret. . . . The whole Mormon church lost sight of the Keyholder" (Private Priesthood Record of President Jeffs, April 2003 to May 2003, p. 7). And again: "In September of 1886, there was that secret eight hour meeting. There was already a quorum of Twelve Apostles ordained, and yet, the Prophet Joseph stood by assisting while John Taylor ordained five men to the Apostleship. And he appointed John W. Woolley to be the next Keyholder, ahead of all those other Apostles already ordained" (Private Priesthood Record of President Jeffs, p. 121). And finally, via revelation: "I called my servant John W. Woolley to be my holy and authorized Keyholder of all the sealing keys and powers of Priesthood after I took my servant John Taylor from the earth in his passing unto the spirit world, to await his resurrection" (Jesus Christ Message to All Nations, p. 729).
The AUB's position on this subject seems to have alternated a bit over the years, and a variety of opinions on prophetic succession may exist in that organization. Nevertheless, I think the following 1966 statement from Rulon C. Allred is representative: "It has been said by some and quoted as doctrinal, and reference made in the Truth magazine itself on a number of occasions, that President Wilford Woodruff, at the time he signed the Manifesto, surrendered his position as President of the Priesthood and gave that honor and responsibility to someone else. This is not true. . . . President Woodruff had members in the Council of the Twelve whom he set apart to keep this principle alive after the signing of the Manifesto. He did this as President of the Priesthood and as President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. . . . President Wilford Woodruff signed the Manifesto because God permitted it and because the majority of the Church demanded it. . . . Now, when they took this position, it became necessary for the Presidents of the Priesthood, including Wilford Woodruff and Lorenzo Snow and Joseph F. Smith, to say one thing to the public and another to the faithful" (Gilbert A. Fulton, ed., Gems, pp. 3-5).
In summary, depending on which group you ask, John W. Woolley's predecessor as President of the Priesthood/senior member of the Council of Friends was either John Taylor (FLDS Church), Joseph F. Smith (AUB), or Wilford Woodruff (most others). -- Worthington56 ( talk) 21:15, 30 December 2014 (UTC)
The infobox links to John Taylor, which is a DAB page. I presume that it should link to John Taylor (Mormon), who is linked elsewhere in the article. Can someone who knows their way around Template:Latter Day Saint biography help fix this problem? Narky Blert ( talk) 14:57, 14 November 2017 (UTC)
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The consensus among the early Mormon fundamentalists (and a significant number of fundamentalists today) was that John W. Woolley was preceded as President of the Priesthood by Wilford Woodruff. See, for instance, Truth magazine, vol. 9, no. 3 (Aug. 1943), p. 75: "the keys to Priesthood passed in natural order from Wilford Woodruff to John W. Woolley." This was indicated by Lorin C. Woolley in Joseph W. Musser's Book of Remembrance, p. 15: "Six have held Keys to the Kingdom: Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, John W. Woolley and now Lorin C. Woolley." Also note Benjamin G. Bistline's statement in Colorado City Polygamists (Agreka Books, 2004), p. 107: "In the 1950s Guy Musser had put together a collection of ten photographs depicting the Presidents of Priesthood according to the Polygamist's teachings: Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, John Woolley, Lorin Woolley, Leslie Broadbent, John Y. Barlow, Joseph Musser, and Charles Zitting. All devout Polygamists purchased a set of these photographs and proudly displayed them on their living room walls."
While nearly all fundamentalists would certainly agree that John W. Woolley got his commission to perpetuate plural marriage from John Taylor, the belief that Woolley immediately succeeded Taylor as Prophet is, I believe, unique to the FLDS Church. Wilford Woodruff was written out of the FLDS line of succession when his 1880 revelation (declaring that all the apostles hold the keys of the Priesthood in common) was decanonized in favor of Leroy S. Johnson's One Man Rule, and to foster an image of prophetic infallibility. Warren Jeffs articulated the present FLDS position as follows: "The Lord saw what Wilford Woodruff and the Church leaders would do, so He had John Taylor appoint, ordain and appoint John W. Woolley as the next Keyholder. It had to be done in secret. . . . The whole Mormon church lost sight of the Keyholder" (Private Priesthood Record of President Jeffs, April 2003 to May 2003, p. 7). And again: "In September of 1886, there was that secret eight hour meeting. There was already a quorum of Twelve Apostles ordained, and yet, the Prophet Joseph stood by assisting while John Taylor ordained five men to the Apostleship. And he appointed John W. Woolley to be the next Keyholder, ahead of all those other Apostles already ordained" (Private Priesthood Record of President Jeffs, p. 121). And finally, via revelation: "I called my servant John W. Woolley to be my holy and authorized Keyholder of all the sealing keys and powers of Priesthood after I took my servant John Taylor from the earth in his passing unto the spirit world, to await his resurrection" (Jesus Christ Message to All Nations, p. 729).
The AUB's position on this subject seems to have alternated a bit over the years, and a variety of opinions on prophetic succession may exist in that organization. Nevertheless, I think the following 1966 statement from Rulon C. Allred is representative: "It has been said by some and quoted as doctrinal, and reference made in the Truth magazine itself on a number of occasions, that President Wilford Woodruff, at the time he signed the Manifesto, surrendered his position as President of the Priesthood and gave that honor and responsibility to someone else. This is not true. . . . President Woodruff had members in the Council of the Twelve whom he set apart to keep this principle alive after the signing of the Manifesto. He did this as President of the Priesthood and as President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. . . . President Wilford Woodruff signed the Manifesto because God permitted it and because the majority of the Church demanded it. . . . Now, when they took this position, it became necessary for the Presidents of the Priesthood, including Wilford Woodruff and Lorenzo Snow and Joseph F. Smith, to say one thing to the public and another to the faithful" (Gilbert A. Fulton, ed., Gems, pp. 3-5).
In summary, depending on which group you ask, John W. Woolley's predecessor as President of the Priesthood/senior member of the Council of Friends was either John Taylor (FLDS Church), Joseph F. Smith (AUB), or Wilford Woodruff (most others). -- Worthington56 ( talk) 21:15, 30 December 2014 (UTC)
The infobox links to John Taylor, which is a DAB page. I presume that it should link to John Taylor (Mormon), who is linked elsewhere in the article. Can someone who knows their way around Template:Latter Day Saint biography help fix this problem? Narky Blert ( talk) 14:57, 14 November 2017 (UTC)
Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified 2 external links on John W. Woolley. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
This message was posted before February 2018.
After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than
regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors
have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the
RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{
source check}}
(last update: 5 June 2024).
Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot ( Report bug) 03:54, 29 November 2017 (UTC)