Doniphan's Defence

One part of the lesson that I want to make sure I cover, at least briefly, is General Doniphan's defence of Joseph Smith. According to the lesson manual, General Lucas "conducted a secret and illegal court-martial and sentenced the Church leaders to be executed," and ordered General Doniphan to carry out the execution. The manual says that General Doniphan wasn't a member of the church, but was "a friend of the Saints." Evidently, he refused to carry out the order, calling it "cold-blooded murder," and he warned General Lucas that there would be legal consequences if he killed the church leaders.

This was rather brave and generous of General Doniphan. In some ways, this wasn't really his problem. He wasn't a member of the church, and I don't know if he ever became one. I don't know of any ties he may have had to the church or its members. Still, despite not having any affiliation with the church, he saw fit to defend the church leaders from what he saw as an unjust execution, when it probably would have been easier for him to carry out the execution with the excuse that he was just following orders. This wasn't really his battle, but he fought it anyway for the sake of justice and because it was the right thing to do.

We should try to be like General Doniphan, not just in defending church leaders, but in defending anyone who's facing injustice. So often, we find it all too easy not to get involved, because it's really not our problem (or so we tell ourselves), but rather than letting us off the hook, God has asked us to reach out and help those who need help, whether they're friends or affiliates or strangers or even enemies. A good and just person tries to always be just and good, even when it's not really their problem and they don't really need to get involved.