Biography of Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin--Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Since my grandma requested more information on this man, I have chosen to post my first short biography on Elder Wirthlin who is currently 7th in seniority.



Joseph Bitner Wirthlin was born June 11, 1917, in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is now 90 years old. His father served in the Presiding Bishopric for 23 years. Elder Wirthlin is a distant cousin of the late President Hinckley. Their middle name is the same--a name of a common ancestor (Joseph Bitner Wirthlin and Gordon Bitner Hinckley.)

Elder Wirthlin is an Eagle Scout. He was involved in football and track in high school and played several years on the University of Utah football team. He gave up his senior year of football to serve a mission from 1937-39 in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. He returned home and graduated with a business degree from the University of Utah.

He married Elisa Young Rogers in the Salt Lake temple in May 1941. They have 8 children (7 daughters and 1 son) and 46 grandchildren. Sister Wirthlin passed away in August 2006.


Before being called as a General Authority, Elder Wirthlin ran his family grocery store. He also served as the President of Utah Grocers' Association and President of the Utah Surveyors' Association.

In the Church, Elder Wirthlin has served as a Bishop, Counselor in a Stake Presidency, Counselor in the General Sunday School Presidency, Assistant to the Twelve, member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, and in the Presidency of the Seventy. He was called to the Quorum of the Twelve on October 4, 1986, at the age of 69.

Elder Wirthlin is a big believer in planning and makes a daily list of what he needs to accomplish.

In his most recent talk given in October 2007 General Conference on the topic of love, Elder Wirthlin began shaking and had a difficult time speaking. Elder Russell M. Nelson stood up to support him. It is interesting that Elder Nelson stood up to help Elder Wirthlin during his talk (besides the fact of Elder Nelson being a medical doctor). They have a long relationship of serving in the Church together going back to the 1960's. When Elder Nelson was a Stake President in Salt Lake, Elder Wirthlin served as his counselor. Then Elder Nelson was called to the General Sunday School Presidency for the entire Church and Elder Wirthlin again served as his counselor. After a few years, Elder Wirthlin was called as an Assistant to the Twelve and he was one of the General Authorities that Elder Nelson reported to. Later, when Elder Nelson was a member of the Twelve and Elder Wirthlin a Seventy, they both had responsibilities over Europe and worked together. Now they are both members of the Quorum of the Twelve.

On a personal note, I met him last summer at an event for my work. He was very nice and we talked a little bit about football. My wife and I also saw him in the Salt Lake temple one day. He was in a wheelchair being pushed by his son, Joe Jr. As I have heard him speak and seen him in person, I know Elder Wirthlin is a chosen servant of the Lord and an Apostle of Jesus Christ.

Sources:
Official Background Information from the Church

Article in the Ensign about Elder Wirthlin--this one has some good stories about his son stowing away in the car and Elder Wirthlin courting his wife.

Additionally, I took a class at BYU on the lives of the Apostles. I relied on some documents from that class.

Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

When Jesus Christ was on the earth, He called and ordained Twelve Apostles. (See John 15:16 and Matthew 10:2-5) He gave them authority to act in His name and to teach His gospel. There are living Apostles on the earth today. Like the original Twelve called in the New Testament, these Apostles have authority to act in the name of Jesus Christ and teach His gospel. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is led today by the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Generally, there are 15 Apostles--three in the First Presidency and twelve in the Quorum of the Twelve. Currently, the order of seniority is as follows:

1. Thomas Spencer Monson
2. Boyd Kenneth Packer
3. Lowell Tom Perry
4. Russell Marion Nelson
5. Dallin Harris Oaks
6. Melvin Russell Ballard, Jr.
7. Joseph Bitner Wirthlin
8. Richard Gordon Scott
9. Robert Dean Hales
10. Jeffrey Roy Holland
11. Henry Bennion Eyring
12. Dieter Friedrich Uchtdorf
13. David Allan Bednar
14. Quentin LaMar Cook

A fifteenth Apostle will most likely be called in April General Conference to fill the vacancy. The person at the top of this list has always been the President of the Church. Each of these men is appropriately called Elder. However, the 3 in the First Presidency are given the title of President, such as President Monson, President Eyring, and President Uchtdorf.

I have decided to do a brief biography on each of these men along with any personal encounters or experiences I have had with them. Look for these posts throughout the coming months. As Paul said, "...know them which labor among you, and are over you in the Lord." (1 Thessalonians 5:12)

Great Scripture Website

A professor and several students at BYU developed this website:

http://scriptures.byu.edu/

You can also try:

http://scripturesbeta.byu.edu/

It is great. You can look up a scripture and see who has used that scripture in General Conference. They currently have talks updated from 1942-present. You can also view that scripture and the talk in the same screen. For example, Helaman 5:12 has been used 42 times during this time period.

Also, you can look up a certain speaker and see how many times they have quoted a particular scripture. For example, President Monson has used John 3:16 five times during this time period.

This website is helpful in both personal scripture study and preparing a talk or lesson. Go check it out!

Background Information- The Book of Mormon

One of the works that Joseph Smith was called to do was to bring forth The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon is scripture like the Bible. Just as the Bible contains writings of God’s prophets in the ancient Holy Land, The Book of Mormon contains writings of God’s prophets in the ancient Americas. The record covers the time period generally from 600 B.C. to 421 A.D. The Book of Mormon testifies of Jesus Christ and includes an account of His ministry to the American continent shortly after His resurrection.

One of the last prophets in this book compiled the records on gold plates. His name was Mormon, hence the name The Book of Mormon. Mormon lived around 350 A.D. He gave these records to his son Moroni, who wrote a few things and then buried them in the ground.

In the year 1823, this resurrected angel Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith and told Joseph about this ancient record. In 1827, Joseph received these gold plates and later began translating them by the power of God. From this translation, the first edition of The Book of Mormon was published in 1830.

I know The Book of Mormon is the word of God. It has changed my life. It goes together with the Bible to bring me closer to Jesus Christ.

To read this account in Joseph Smith’s own words, click here.

To learn more about coming forth of The Book of Mormon and Moroni, click here.

To read The Book of Mormon, click here.

If you are reading The Book of Mormon for the first time, I recommend starting with the Introduction, 3 Nephi 11 which contains the account of the Savior’s ministry to the Americas, and Moroni 10:3-5 which contains the promise to those who read The Book of Mormon that you can know for yourself by the power of the Holy Ghost this book is truly the word of God.

To read the Bible, click here.

Background Information - The Story of Joseph Smith

Occasionally my posts will give background information about the Church. For my first background section, I have chosen to tell the beginning of the Joseph Smith story.

To understand the story of Joseph Smith, it is important to recognize that God has followed a pattern in calling prophets throughout time. God loves His children. He wants His children to return to live with Him after this life. To help His children, God calls prophets to teach His word and to be a witness for Jesus Christ. The Bible has many examples of prophets. Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Moses are all prophets. God spoke to them and they delivered God’s word to the people. In this pattern, we also notice that eventually people reject the truth and reject the prophet. This time period is called an apostasy, or a falling away from the truth. After many prophets, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to the earth. Jesus established a Church, taught and lived the truth, called disciples and gave them authority. The people rejected the Son of God and crucified Him. They also persecuted and rejected His disciples. This led to a time known as the Great Apostasy, where Christ’s authority and true gospel was lost. (See 2 Thes. 2:1-3)

A restoration of the truth was necessary. God followed His pattern as He did anciently and called another prophet. This prophet was Joseph Smith. Joseph Smith was born in 1805 in Sharon, Vermont. When he was 14 years old, his family was living near Palmyra, New York. There was a great religious revival going on in the area. Joseph was confused about which church he should join--even his family members went to different churches. One day he read a verse in the Bible, James 1:5, which says:
"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."

Joseph believed this passage of scripture and decided to do as it said. In the spring of that year (1820), Joseph went to the woods outside his home and prayed to God. In answer to his prayer, God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph. Joseph describes what happened in his own words:

“I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me….When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!”


The Father and the Son called Joseph Smith to be a prophet and told him that he had a great work to do. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet and he truly had this vision of the Father and Son, just as he said he did.

Part of this great work was to bring for The Book of Mormon, which I will discuss in another post.

To read the full account in Joseph Smith’s own words, click here.

To learn more about Joseph Smith, click here or here.

Growth of the True Church

Statistics are always interesting to me. I am including these graphs to to illustrate the growth of the Church over the last 11 years (1996-2006). The first graph is total Church membership each year. The second graph is the number of converts baptized that year. The third graph is the number of full-time missionaries serving in the Church. I am pleased to say that I am one of the full-time missionaries in 2001 and 2002. Also, you will noticed the dramatic decline in number of missionaries in 2003--along with an associated decline in the number of converts. This was around the time that the Church raised the bar.

What is most important about these charts is not the numbers, but the people and lives they represent. The stone continues to roll forward.

Source: Church Statistical Reports from April General Conference each year.

Media Correction 2 Follow-Up

It appears that the article was technically correct in regards to the "world-wide" ban on polygamy beginning in 1904. Please see the comment Christopher left under that post for more details. Thanks, Chris.

Further, I wrote an email to the author of that article. She sent a brief reply as shown below:

"We tried to simplify, thus the reliance on the later date. (The first ban was not uniformly followed, thus it was restated.)"

I appreciate the response of the author and here willingness to discuss this subject.

Media Correction 2

The Wall Street Journal had an article on their front page on Friday, Feb. 8th about the Church being in the spotlight because of Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. Although the article had some insightful comments (along with many false remarks from people who are anti-Mormon), the article also contained some historical errors as follows:

Error 1: The article states that the Church did not discontinue polygamy until 1904.

Correction 1: Polygamy was official discontinued in 1890 by a declaration from the Prophet and President of the Church at the time, Wilford Woodruff. In the sidebar on the article, it makes this distinction (sort of) between 1890 and a re-statement in 1904.

Error 2: The article says, "Mormonism began in 1830 after Joseph Smith, a farmer in upstate New York, said an angel led him to some golden plates that contained a 'New World gospel' -- the Book of Mormon."

Correction 2: The wording of this sentence needs some clarification, or it can be misleading. Although the Church was officially formed on April 6, 1830, Joseph Smith had the First Vision in 1820. Further, the article refers to the angel Moroni and the gold plates, which Moroni first appeared to the Prophet Joseph in 1823.

There are also some other important facts that are left out of the history in the sidebar. I recognize that it is impossible to give each of these subjects a full discussion in one article, but the events mentioned seem to focus on controversial topics--even ones that were resolved (such as the service in the Senate of Elder Reed Smoot.)

Succession of the Prophet

Today, President Thomas S. Monson was announced as the new President of the Church. President Henry B. Eyring was announced as 1st Counselor and President Dieter F. Uchtdorf as 2nd Counselor. They were ordained on Sunday, February 3, 2008 but not announced until Feb. 4th.

During the time between the death of President Hinckley and the ordination of President Monson, the Church was led by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. This time period is often referred to as an Apostolic Presidency. This Apostolic Presidency lasted 7 days. It was slightly longer than many recent Apostolic Presidencies, although very short compared to the early years of the Church. A time line of Presidents of the Church and the Apostolic Presidency is included below:

1. Joseph Smith, Jr.-First Elder from Apr.6, 1830-Jan.25,1832. President 12½ years from Jan.25,1832-June 27, 1844.
Apostolic Presidency for 3½ years, then:

2. Brigham Young-President 30 years from
Dec.27,1847-Aug.29,1877.
Apostolic Presidency for 3 years, then:

3. John Taylor-President for 6 years 9 months from
Oct.10,1880-July 25, 1887.
Apostolic Presidency for 2 years, then:

4. Wilford Woodruff-President for 9½ years from
April 7,1889-Sept. 2, 1898.
Apostolic Presidency for 11 days, then:

5. Lorenzo Snow-President for 3 years 1 month from
Sept.13,1898-Oct.10,1901.
Apostolic Presidency for 7 days, then:

6. Joseph F. Smith-President for 17 years 1 month from
Oct. 17,1901-Nov.19,1918.
Apostolic Presidency for 4 days, then:

7. Heber J. Grant-President for 27 years from
Nov. 23, 1918-May 14, 1945.
Apostolic Presidency for 7 days, then:

8. George Albert Smith-President for 6 years from
May 21, 1945-April 4, 1951.
Apostolic Presidency for 5 days, then:

9. David O. McKay-President for 18 years 9 months from
April 9,1951-Jan.18,1970.
Apostolic Presidency for 5 days, then;

10. Joseph Fielding Smith-President for 2 years 5 months from
Jan.23,1970-July 2,1972.
Apostolic Presidency for 5 days, then:

11. Harold B. Lee-President for 1 year 5 months from
July 7, 1972-Dec.26,1973.
Apostolic Presidency for 4 days, then:

12. Spencer W. Kimball -President for 11 years 10 months from
Dec.30,1973-Nov.5,1985.
Apostolic Presidency for 5 days, then:

13. Ezra Taft Benson-President for 8 years 6 months from
Nov.10,1985-May 30,1994.
Apostolic Presidency for 7 days, then:

14. Howard W. Hunter-President for 9 months from
June 5, 1994-Mar.3,1995.
Apostolic Presidency for 9 days, then:

15. Gordon B. Hinckley-President for 12 years 10 months from
Mar.12,1995-Jan.27,2008.
Apostolic Presidency for 7 days, then:

16. Thomas S. Monson President from Feb.3,2008-present.

Source: LDS Church History Packet by Susan Easton Black, available at BYU Bookstore for Rel C 342 class.

Media Correction 1

One of the purposes of my blog is to ensure accuracy in the media regarding the Church. As such, here is my first correction:

Error-During the Q&A session during the press conference today announcing the new First Presidency, one news reporter commented that President Uchtdorf is possibly the first foreign-born person to serve in the First Presidency.

Correction-John Taylor, who served as President of the Church from 1880-1887, was born in England. George Q. Cannon, who served as 1st Counselor to 3 Presidents from 1880-1901, was also born in England. There may be more-if so please let me know. These are the 2 I could quickly verify.

Official Name of the Church

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the preferred name of the Church, although its members are often called Mormons.

Welcome to my Blog

This blog is an opportunity for me to share doctrine, facts, thoughts, and personal experiences about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known commonly as the Mormon Church. Hope you enjoy.