D&C 71 — Preach the Gospel and Confound Your Enemies
I was in the shop last night planing a board that had a slight twist in it. You can't see a twist just by looking down the edge. You have to sight it from the corner, hold the board at eye level, and look for the high spots catching the light. Even then, it's easy to miss until you put a square on it.
I thought about that while I was reading D&C 71 this morning. The revelation came in December of 1831, and the situation was this. A man named Ezra Booth had joined the Church earlier that year, served a mission, then apostatized and started publishing letters in local newspapers. The letters were critical of Joseph Smith and the Church, and they were creating what the revelation calls "unfriendly feelings" in the area around Hiram, Ohio.
Joseph and Sidney Rigdon had been working on the translation of the Bible. The Lord told them to set it aside for a season and go preach instead. Not to hide and not to wait for the noise to die down. To open their mouths.
How to Respond to Critics of the LDS Church
Verse 1 says, "Go forth among the churches, and among the congregations of the wicked." That's a direct command to go where the criticism is and answer it. Not to wait for people to come asking questions. To go.
But the method matters. Verse 2 says to expound the mysteries of the kingdom "out of the scriptures." Not out of opinion or clever argument. Out of the scriptures. The defense of the faith was supposed to be grounded in the text itself, not in whatever rhetorical strategy seemed most effective at the moment.
I think about that when I see how people respond to criticism online. The instinct is to match the tone of the critic. To be sharp because they were sharp. To be clever because they were clever. But the Lord didn't tell Joseph and Sidney to be clever. He told them to open the scriptures and let the truth do the work.
Meaning of Confound Your Enemies in D&C 71
Verse 8 says, "Confound your enemies." That word sounds aggressive to modern ears, like winning a fight. But in the scriptural sense, to confound means something closer to what happens when you put a square against a board that isn't square.
Before that, verses 5 and 6 promise that the Lord will give them "more abundantly, even power" to confound their enemies. The power doesn't come from their own skill or preparation. It comes from the Lord, and it's given in proportion to their faithfulness. That's an important detail. The command to go and preach isn't a command to go and argue well. It's a command to go and be faithful.
Wherefore, let them bring forth their strong reasons against the Lord. Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you -- there is no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper.
That's D&C 71:8-9. The board doesn't argue and the truth of its crookedness just becomes visible.
That's what the gospel does when it's preached with the Spirit. It doesn't have to shout. It just has to be true. The person hearing it either recognizes the truth or doesn't, but the preacher isn't responsible for the outcome. He's only responsible for opening his mouth.
Verse 9 makes the promise explicit. "There is no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper." That's from Isaiah 54:17, and it's conditional. The verse starts with "inasmuch as ye are faithful." The protection isn't automatic. It's tied to faithfulness, and if you're faithful, the attacks don't succeed. They might come and they might be loud, but they don't prosper.
What Happened with Ezra Booth and Joseph Smith
Ezra Booth's story is a strange one. He was a Methodist minister who joined the Church in 1831 after witnessing a healing. He served a mission with Joseph Smith and saw the Prophet up close. Something didn't sit right with him, and he left. Then he wrote nine letters that were published in the Ohio Star, accusing Joseph of being a fallen prophet and the Church of being a fraud.
The letters did real damage. They created suspicion among people who hadn't met the Saints yet. They gave ammunition to critics who were looking for reasons to dismiss the Restoration. And they hurt the morale of members who had to watch someone they trusted walk away and start throwing stones.
D&C 71 was the Lord's response. Not a rebuttal letter or a legal threat but a command to go preach. The best answer to bad information is good information, delivered directly and without defensiveness.
I wrote about a similar idea in the D&C 70 article, where the Lord calls stewards to be faithful over what they've been given. The same principle runs through both chapters. You don't protect the work by arguing about it. You protect it by doing it.
I also think about the Exodus 20 article and how the Ten Commandments gave Israel a foundation before they ever had to defend it. The same pattern shows up here. First you build and then you answer the questions.
How to Share the Gospel When People Are Unfriendly
Verse 3 says this was a "mission for a season." It wasn't permanent. Joseph and Sidney were supposed to go out, preach, confound the enemies, and then come back to the translation. There's a rhythm to it. There are seasons for quiet work and seasons for public work. The key is knowing which season you're in.
I think about that in terms of the shop. There are days when I'm cutting joinery and I don't want anyone in the garage. I need focus. I need the work to be uninterrupted. And there are days when I'm finishing a piece and I want people to see it, to run their hand over the surface, to ask questions. Both are legitimate. Both are part of the same process.
The same is true for sharing the gospel. There are seasons when the right response is to be quiet and let your life do the talking. And there are seasons when the Lord says, "Open your mouth." The wisdom is in knowing the difference.
D&C 71 No Weapon That Is Formed Against You Shall Prosper
I keep coming back to verse 9. "No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper." That's a promise I've needed more than once.
I've had people criticize the Church in my presence. I've had family members ask hard questions that I didn't have good answers for. I've sat in silence when I should have spoken and spoken when I should have been quiet. But the promise holds. The weapons don't prosper. They might wound or leave a mark, but they don't succeed in their final aim, which is to stop the work.
The reason is simple. The work isn't ours but the Lord's, and He doesn't lose.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Ezra Booth and why did the Lord give D&C 71 in response to him?
Ezra Booth was an early member of the Church who apostatized in 1831 and published letters in local newspapers criticizing Joseph Smith and the Restoration. The Lord gave D&C 71 to command Joseph and Sidney Rigdon to go preach and clarify the truth, countering the confusion and unfriendly feelings Booth's letters had created.
What does it mean to confound your enemies in a scriptural sense?
To confound means to prove an opponent's arguments wrong through the power of truth and the Holy Ghost. The truth manifests itself so clearly that the opposition has nothing left to stand on. Aggression has nothing to do with it. Clarity does.
How can we apply the lessons of D&C 71 when we face opposition to our faith today?
Stay grounded in the scriptures and seek the Spirit's guidance before you respond. Share the truth with kindness and confidence. Don't get drawn into contentious debates. The outcome is the Lord's, not yours, and that takes the pressure off.
What does it mean that no weapon formed against you shall prosper?
It means that while attacks may come, they can't succeed in stopping the Lord's work. The promise is conditional on faithfulness. If you stay faithful, the attacks don't prosper even if they're painful.
I finished planing that board last night. It took longer than I expected. I had to keep checking from different angles, taking off a little at a time, sighting down the edge again. But eventually the twist was gone and the board was flat.
That's what I keep coming back to with D&C 71. The work of responding to criticism is slow and patient. You check your work. You take off a little at a time. You let the truth do what the truth does. And eventually, the crookedness becomes visible and the board is square.
-- D.