By early April 1844, Joseph Smith was searching for a way to quell growing doubts about his leadership. When the Saints in and around Nauvoo, Illinois, gathered for the church’s semiannual conference, the prophet told the congregation that he was “never in any nearer relationship to God than at the present time.” He would “show before the conference closed that God was with him.” Later that day, there was a vicious thunderstorm, followed by a double rainbow. It was auspicious.

Anticipation built overnight, and Joseph spoke to an enormous congregation the next afternoon. The prophet began by referencing the death of King Follett — not a royal figure, simply a church member with the given name King. He had been battered by a falling bucket of rocks while “stoning up a well” and died 11 days

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