We all admire people who stand up for what they believe, even in the worst of circumstances. We all remember Jeff Widener’s AP photo of the lone man standing in front of the four tanks rolling onto Tiananmen Square in 1989. This one man was clearly overwhelmed, out-armored, and outgunned. Yet he held his ground, inspiring millions.

This reminds me of an incident in the life of Joseph Smith, the founding prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known as the Mormons.

In October, 1838, Missouri Governor Lilburn W. Boggs issued Executive Order 44, now known as the Extermination Order, to General John B. Clark. This order, in part, read as follows:

“Sir:—Since the order of the morning to you, directing you to cause four hundred mounted men to be raised within your division, I have received by Amos Rees, Esq. and Wiley E. Williams Esq., one of my aids, information of the most appalling character, which changes the whole face of things, and places the Mormons in the attitude of an open and avowed defiance of the laws, and of having made open war upon the people of this state.”

“Your orders are, therefore, to hasten your operations and endeavor to reach Richmond, in Ray County, with all possible speed. The Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the state, if necessary, for the public good. Their outrages are beyond all description.”

If you can increase your force, you are authorized to do so to any extent you may think necessary. … You will proceed immediately to Richmond, and there operate against the Mormons.” (Executive Order 44, emphasis added.)

In the process of events, Joseph Smith was captured by the militia, and held in Richmond Jail to await trial. Parley P. Pratt, an apostle in the Church, was with Joseph Smith during his imprisonment. In his autobiography, he told of Joseph Smith standing up to abusing guards, exhibiting the power of one.

Here are Parley P. Pratt’s words:

“In one of those tedious nights we had lain as if in sleep till the hour of midnight had passed, and our ears and hearts had been pained, while we had listened for hours to the obscene jests, the horrid oaths, the dreadful blasphemies and filthy language of our guards, Colonel Price at their head, as they recounted to each other their deeds of rapine, murder, robbery, etc., which they had committed among the ‘Mormons’ while at Far West and vicinity. They even boasted of defiling by force wives, daughters and virgins, and of shooting or dashing out the brains of men, women and children.”

“I had listened till I became so disgusted, shocked, horrified, and so filled with the spirit of indignant justice that I could scarcely refrain from rising upon my feet and rebuking the guards; but had said nothing to Joseph, or any one else, although I lay next to him and knew he was awake.”

Pratt had a gift for prose. You can feel the damp walls and the palpable darkness in his words. The guard’s trash-talk stings you now just as it stung Smith and Pratt 170 years ago.

So the guards had Joseph Smith in custody, but that was not enough. They had to brag about their atrocities and hate crimes against the Latter-day Saints. However, the prisoners as prisoners were powerless to do anything about the verbal abuse.

But Joseph Smith was not really a prisoner. Parley P. Pratt explains what happened next:

“On a sudden he [Joseph Smith] arose to his feet, and spoke in a voice of thunder, as the roaring lion, uttering, as near as I can recollect, the following words:

“‘SILENCE, ye fiends of the infernal pit. In the name of Jesus Christ I rebuke you, and command you to be still; I will not live another minute and bear such language. Cease such talk, or you or I die THIS INSTANT!’”

There is a saying that goes "if you have nothing to lose, then go for broke." But I’m not sure if gambling was on Joseph Smith’s mind. He always believed that the Lord would protect him: “God will always protect me until my mission is fulfilled” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 365). This belief gave him the faith to speak truth to power.

Whatever his thought-process was, he stood his ground. Again, picture this in your mind. Joseph Smith was worn out from his time in jail. He had been wearing the same clothes for several weeks. I imagine that he was unshaved and haggard form the ordeal, and a tad bit stir-crazy.

On top of that he was the Lord’s prophet. Every person who was abused, looted, raped, or murdered was his responsibility. They depended upon him for guidance, and here he was pinned-down in a stinking cell. He was powerless.

And then he had to endure the taunting guards reliving their sadism.

We think of Christ before Pilate and the Sanhedrin, or Paul before Agrippa. Like them, Joseph Smith took the initiative and drew a hard line against these obscene guards. He made his voice heard.

Parley P. Pratt continues:

“He ceased to speak. He stood erect in terrible majesty. Chained, and without a weapon; calm, unruffled and dignified as an angel, he looked upon the quailing guards, whose weapons were lowered or dropped to the ground; whose knees smote together, and who, shrinking into a corner, or crouching at his feet, begged his pardon, and remained quiet till a change of guards.”

That is the power of one. Be it standing up to tanks in Tiananmen Square, or rebuking obscene jailors, we must stand tall for what is right, regardless of the consequences.

Of course standing up for the right can be frightening. Some people believe that public speaking is scarier than death. If that is true, standing up for the right must require an extraordinary amount of courage. If anything, Joseph Smith’s example should encourage, even empower us to speak up.

And notice the guard's reaction: they fell back into a corner, like the cowards they were. Keep that in mind the next time you must take a stand for the right and the good. Your opponent (and all opponents are potential allies) may just be bluffing. Shakespeare spoke of “sound and fury, signifying nothing” (Macbeth V.5.32). Have the courage to call someone’s bluff, get past the bluster, and speak the truth—even when you are afraid.

This encounter also suggests this question: Who were the real prisoners? Joseph Smith in irons or the vulgar guards? Jesus Christ said, “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin” (John 8:34). The vainglorious guards were guilty of atrocities and hate crimes, and Governor Boggs’s Extermination Order was an affront to the spirit and intent of America, and a violation of Constitutional liberties. Yet, according to Christ, Joseph Smith was free as a bird, and the perpetrators were the ones in stocks. Worse than physical bondage is spiritual bondage.

Whatever your personal faith is, Joseph Smith was no less a hero than the apostle Paul, Martin Luther King, Boethius, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Henry David Thoreau, or Gandhi. They were all prisoners of hope, and had the courage to stand firm in the face of abusing power.

Parley P. Pratt summed his reaction to Joseph Smith’s rebuke this way:

“I have seen the ministers of justice, clothed in magisterial robes, and criminals arraigned before them, while life was suspended on a breath, in the courts of England; I have witnessed a Congress in solemn session to give laws to nations; I have tried to conceive of kings, of royal courts, of thrones and crowns; and of emperors assembled to decide the fate of kingdoms; but dignity and majesty have I seen but once, as it stood in chains, at midnight, in a dungeon in an obscure village of Missouri.” (Parley Pratt Autobiography, 179-180.)

Joseph Smith has inspired me over the years. This event, in particular, was one of his finest moments. He drew a hard line, took a stand, and spoke up for the right. He exhibited in a marvelous way the power of one.

Wrong is wrong and right is right. When we are put in dilemmas, we need to stand up for the right, just like Joseph Smith. Even if we stand alone.

There are so many demands on a woman’s time. We live in an age which has taught us that women can be anything that they want. Quite honestly, it’s instilled another belief as well. Not only do women feel more empowered to be anything they had somehow gotten the notion that means they need to “be” everything. Somehow, in the process of empowering women to their natural abilities to excel and come off conqueror in any battle they might find themselves in, we have managed to back ourselves into a corner fighting more battles than anyone could win on their own.

It comes back down to the basics. The part of the “be anything” philosophy that gets conveniently over looked is making conscious choices. Instead of anything we want, our ideas become morphed into anything everyone around us needs, plus what we want. Yes, women are amazing creatures. We do have almost unlimited capacities for good, but we also have almost unlimited capacities of other God-given attributes: nurturing, compassion, care, protection, love and many other beautiful parts of our nature. These serve a distinct purpose. They allow women to almost instantly develop an attachment to a child, even before it is born, and to see the needs of those weaker around us and be compelled to help and nurture. The down side is, at the same time these attributes work in our favor, they also work against us. This is where the feelings of inadequacy and failures stem. Though these are not God-given emotions, Satan uses the things we value most (our feminine, caring natures) to tell us we are lacking.

We take that “be anything” philosophy and combine it with our desires to be anything our family, spouse, children, or friends needs us to be at any given time. We take our desires to the extreme, seeing it as a personal failure when those we love face sorrow or challenges we feel we should have been able to protect them from or nurture them through. We morph “be anything” into “be everything and be the best at it” because that is what we perceive the world is asking of us.

This is how Satan uses our righteous desires against us. “Be everything” is not what the Lord asks of us. His desires for the women of the world are very clear and simple.

First and foremost is simply His plea: Come Unto Me. His desire is for us to develop our spiritual nature and draw closer to Him in everything that we do.
Next: Develop your talents and love for life.
Plus, when possible: Develop a gospel-centered marriage and nurture children.

It is understood that in trying your best in these areas (not to be the best, but to be your best) can come with some monumental tasks. There are many women who have no choice to put on the additional hat of wage earner, or caretaker for both aging parents and small children. The challenges of this life are huge. But God would have you understand that He understands and will help you, if you let Him.

I think of the story of Mary and Martha. I see both women as beautiful examples of the daughters of God trying their best. One saw a need for food and nurturing for the Lord she loved dearly. The other loved just as deeply but ignored the physical tasks of caring for Him in order to have a chance to sit at the Master’s feet. Neither woman’s activities were necessarily wrong, but when Martha complained about Mary’s lack of involvement, the Master kindly reminded her of the needful thing, and an ability to choose the good part. He recognized Martha’s tendency to be “careful and troubled about many things” and kindly reminded her that she could not be everything all at once. It’s a matter of choice where we are required to choose the good part, or the part that will have the most lasting effect for us, and those around us.

There is a little bit of Mary and Martha in each woman. Even so, the Savior would have us remember to choose wisely. He asks us first to come to know Him, then to come to know ourselves, then to reach out and touch the lives of others. These tasks can very rarely come out of order. Perhaps Martha’s expectations for what her Lord and Master needed for a meal were far greater than the actual need. Perhaps Mary could have been a little more attentive to her sister’s goals and desires and helped her so that there was time for both to hear the gospel. Perhaps Martha should have chucked the housework altogether that day.

With the Lord’s guiding hand, it is up to each of us to decide. It may be that some things should drop out of our lives completely, others may need to be placed on hold, something else may need to be brought in, and still others may need to be weighed on a daily basis. In any case, He does not want us to become so weighed down with those things that we feel we need to do that we lose our joy for the things that really matter.

Nowhere has He ever said, “Thou Shalt be Super Woman or you’ll never be good enough.” He has promised us that He will help carry our burdens, that He will help us choose the good part, that He will remind us not to run faster than we have strength. All He asks in return is that we first, come unto Him.