The Prophet Joseph Smith was unjustly confined in Liberty Jail in Liberty, Missouri from December 1838 to April 1839 along with several other Church leaders. Joseph suffered helplessly, knowing that the Latter-day Saints were being driven from Missouri under an "extermination order" from the governor. The Prophet and his companions were imprisoned in a rough stone dungeon measuring 14 by 14 feet, with a ceiling just over 6 feet high. Only two small barred windows allowed light and air into the cell. The six prisoners suffered from winter weather, filthy conditions, hunger, and sickness.
The prisoners slept on a straw-strewn, freezing stone floor, with only thin blankets to provide warmth. They were allowed very little light and could not light a fire for the smoke it made. Sanitation conditions were negligible. The structure had only bars to cover the two open windows. For drinking water the prisoners were forced to break the ice in a bucket, and their food was often moldy, inedible, and even poisoned at times, which conditions subjected the men to acute suffering and near death.
While in Liberty Jail, the Prophet wrote letters to his family and the Saints. His correspondence contains some of the most beautiful revelations found in scripture. In this miserable jail, Joseph called unto God in fervent prayer during his sufferings and Joseph learned that his sufferings were still not comparable to those of the Savior, as the Spirit whispered to him: "The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?" He was taught that in the end "all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good."
In early April 1839, Joseph and the other prisoners were allowed to escape, and they fled to safety in Illinois.
The jail was eventually torn down, though some of the dungeon floor and walls remained. The property was purchased for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1939. President Joseph Fielding Smith dedicated a partial reconstruction of the jail housed within a visitors' center in 1963.
Here we are in front of the Historic Liberty Jail.
Here are some of the pictures from the Visitor’s Center of the actual jail, a picture of the original key to the jail, and the scriptures in the Doctrine and Covenants containing some of the revelations that Joseph Smith received while in Liberty Jail, and Kaden hanging out in the Visitor’s Center waiting room before our tour began.
What an amazing man Joseph Smith is. I have always known that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God, and after learning more about him and his life that was reconfirmed to me with 100% certainty. Besides having been given the spiritual confirmation that he is a true prophet, there is no way a man would have endured what he did had he not believed in what he was doing to be irrevocably true. He endured so much, suffered so much and did so much to restore Christ’s gospel on the earth. What an amazing burden that must have been but he demonstrated faith beyond my comprehension. I find it absolutely amazing that he could be so strong in such an environment and circumstance. And that even while suffering unbelievably, he was still in tune enough to receive revelation. Just absolutely amazing!!
Here is the reconstructed Liberty Jail. You see the Prophet Joseph Smith on the bottom left side.
And here is the back side of the jail.
Joseph Smith has taught me that it is important to be courageous in the cause of Christ and that is OK to be unpopular in the eyes of others. Having a testimony of the gospel of Christ also means having a testimony of the man that gave his life restoring it. I am so grateful for him and for his remarkable work.
I think this quote by Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail is very moving. “I am like a huge, rough stone rolling down from a high mountain; and the only polishing I get is when some corner gets rubbed off by coming in contact with something else, striking with accelerated force against religious bigotry, priest-craft, lawyer-craft, doctor-craft, lying editors, suborned judges and jurors, and the authority of perjured executives, backed by mobs, blasphemers, licentious and corrupt men and women—all hell knocking off a corner here and a corner there. Thus I will become a smooth and polished shaft in the quiver of the Almighty.”
He has taught me that Heavenly Father doesn’t leave us alone during the hardest trials and times in our lives. ‘My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; and then if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.’” I love the quote from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, a modern apostle to Jesus Christ. “ You can have sacred, revelatory, profoundly instructive experiences with the Lord in the most miserable experiences of your life- in the worst settings, while enduring the most painful injustices, when facing the most insurmountable odds and opposition you have ever faced.” Holland refers to the jail as a “prison-temple”. He says, “spiritual experience, revelatory experience, sacred experience can come to every one of us in all the many and varied stages and circumstances of our lives if we want it, if we hold on and pray on.”
I am so thankful for the chance that my family and I had to visit this sacred place and continue to learn more about the Prophet Joseph Smith.
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