Posted by:
imalive
(
)
Date: March 30, 2011 09:24PM
According to this website:
http://reform-mormon.blogspot.com/2006_08_20_archive.htmlit says, "In the Diary of Orson F. Whitney we find considerable support to substantiate this new doctrine, although Wilford Woodruff publicly claimed it to be false:
"3 June 1889: This evening I heard that Pres. Woodruff, in a meeting at Manti, a few days ago, publicly declared that the doctrine of reincarnation, that is one spirit having several bodies, to be false; that he was Wilford Woodruff and no one else, &c &c. Alright, bro. Woodruff, if you really said it, it is between you and the Lord. I believe it to be a true doctrine, & have for the last [word cut out of entry] years.
---Diary of Orson F. Whitney, 3 June 1889 entry, Church Archives
Orson F. Whitney here declares his belief that "the doctrine of reincarnation" is "a true doctrine." Just five days later Orson F. Whitney entered the following comments about Lorenzo Snow in his diary:
"8 June 1889: During our talks he [Lorenzo Snow] told me that his sister, the late Eliza R. Snow Smith was a firm believer in the principle of reincarnation and that she claimed to have received it from Joseph the Prophet, her husband. He said he [Lorenzo Snow] saw nothing
unreasonable in it, and could believe it, if it came to him from the Lord or His oracle.
---Diary of Orson F. Whitney, 8 June 1889 entry, Church Archives
So, it was from Joseph Smith that Eliza R. Snow became "a firm believer in the principle of reincarnation." If Joseph did teach Eliza R. Snow about this principle, then he certainly kept it a good secret."