"Joseph Smith's Last Dream" - The Video

In the summer of 2007, while working for retired church history instructor and author, Paul Thomas Smith, I came across this little-known account of Joseph Smith. Few pieces of literature have ever touched my mind and soul as deeply as this has and I’ve longed to share this account with others.

That being said, I am profoundly grateful for the help of Paul Thomas Smith, Rob Gardner, Jon McNaughton and Bruce Newbold for their help in creating this video.

After years of waiting, and months of work, here is “Joseph Smith’s Last Dream...”

For the sake of timing in the video I had to edit the dream down. To read the FULL Account of the Dream (and to see digital photographs of the original pages it was printed on) you can click here.

Is Joseph Smith’s Last Dream a Valid Account?

Before we can talk about anything else in the dream, we have to ask ourselves: is this account, written by W. W. Phelps, true? Is it reliable?

Ardis E. Parshall of Keepapitchinin, made some excellent points about properly evaluating this historical document by W. W. Phelps. You can read her blog post on this account. Additionally, Bruce Nielson of Mormon Matters, wrote some great insight about "questionable history -- which, unfortunately, is pretty much all of it, though some is more questionable than others." I strongly recommend you read his article by clicking here.

On June 15th, 2011, I interviewed Paul Thomas Smith and asked him concerning the validity of Joseph Smith's Last Dream.



(Click here to read a short bio of Paul Thomas Smith and to read the full account of the other dream that Paul Smith mentioned, please click here.)

But apart from the points that Brother Smith stated, there are at least three other factors that (for me) make this account by W. W. Phelps a bit more believable:

• In June of 1844, Joseph Smith had been feeling strong premonitions of his impending death. At about midnight on June 22 (June 23), Joseph and his brother Hyrum attempted to escape Nauvoo and go to the Rocky mountains. According to History of the Church: “About midnight, Joseph, Hyrum and Dr. Richards called for Orrin P. Rockwell at his lodgings, and all went up the river bank until they found Aaron Johnson's boat, which they got into, and started about 2 a. m to cross the Mississippi river. Orrin P. Rockwell rowed the skiff, which was very leaky, so that it kept Joseph, Hyrum and the doctor busy baling out the water with their boots and shoes to prevent it from sinking.”
• In the dream, Joseph Smith said “while I was at Jordan’s in Iowa the other night...” Jordan’s is not a town, but the home of William Jordan. “Joseph, Hyrum and Dr. Richards walked up to Captain John Killien's house, where they arrived at sunrise; but he not being at home, they went from thence to Brother William Jordan's.”
• Joseph was at the home of William Jordan for a few hours (enough time to sleep and have the dream) before he was interrupted when at “About 9 a. m. Dr. Bernhisel came over the river to visit Joseph; also Reynolds Cahoon, who made some explanations respecting Governor Ford's letter.” After receiving the letter, Joseph also heard reports  of his friends essentially calling him a coward for leaving them. The Prophet then made the now infamous statement, “If my life is of no value to my friends, it is of none to myself.” He then decided to go back to Nauvoo and give himself up to the Governor. (Source: History of the Church - 6:29, 6:30, 6:31)

Do you remember how in the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy has experiences in her real life that she later puts into her dream? Joseph Smith’s dream is much like that.

Joseph and his brother Hyrum left much of the civilized world behind them as they went west across the Mississippi. The boat (or skiff) was leaky and so there was a chance that the boat might sink. When they made it to the other side, Joseph likely felt a sense of relief, believing that he and his brother Hyrum might have made it to safety.

As Joseph slept, these events from his real life situation may have been embellished and put into his dream. The leaky skiff became a large steamboat that catches fire; the Mississippi became a great ocean and as they move Westward they feel like they’re leaving all of their troubles behind them. In the dream, Joseph Smith is welcomed into the presence of God, symbolic of their future homecoming into Heaven after the horrors of Carthage Jail.

According to my knowledge and understanding, these are sublime details that W. W. Phelps would have known little about.

What Might the Dream Mean?

Frankly, I have a hard enough time interpreting my own dreams, let alone the dreams of a Prophet! But over the years I’ve had a few thoughts concerning this dream. These are only my own interpretations, so take it for what it is worth.

• This is clearly a prophecy about Joseph and Hyrum’s eventual martyrdom. Joseph and Hyrum leap from the steamboat (the world) and leave the land (the world or civilization) behind.
• Joseph and Hyrum walk on the water. In the scriptures, water can be a cleansing element, but it often symbolizes chaos, doubt, sin, confusion, death and fear (just think of the story of Peter walking on the water). The fact that Joseph and Hyrum are walking on the water is significant because it says that they have conquered life through their faith in God.
• Joseph and Hyrum walk westward. West is often symbolic of death.
• Joseph and Hyrum are met by their brother Samuel. Samuel died of unknown causes (perhaps a hernia or internal bleeding) about a month after Joseph and Hyrum died. When Samuel learned that Joseph and Hyrum were in Carthage Jail, Samuel sold his horse and bought a racehorse and galloped to Carthage as fast as he could in order to be with Joseph and Hyrum. He was one of the first Mormons on the scene after Joseph and Hyrum were killed. Some have speculated that his ride into Carthage scared off the mob (“the Mormons are coming!”) and others have speculated that his hard riding caused internal bleeding which eventually killed him. The fact that Samuel meets Joseph and Hyrum in the dream is prophetic, to say the least.
• Joseph, Hyrum and Samuel see a great city and are greeted by music “such as is not on earth.” Many who have had near death experiences will describe heaven as being filled with music; that even the plants emit a kind of music.
• Joseph and Hyrum are then reunited with their friends and family and feel the “light of God himself.” This scene of God’s light runs parallel to Joseph Smith’s First Vision. 

Controversy

However, the fact that this dream was not published until almost two decades after the fact, is a bit troublesome.

Nevertheless, many of Joseph Smith's accounts of the First Vision were not published until at least a decade after the fact, and as a commenter on my blog pointed out, "Not to mention the entire bible and the sayings of Jesus -- point me to one direct quote of Jesus that wasn't written decades later. Not to mention the entire [Book of Mormon]."

Ardis Parshall provides some excellent words of caution:

I am wary of appeals to emotion...that replace rational thought and prayerful consideration. I am wary of people’s uncritical acceptance of old documents produced as the latest new thing and presented without adequate study... 

I don’t call for automatic dismissal; I do maintain that people who aren’t more careful about what they accept as truth are in danger of being tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine, and build their houses on what too often turns out to be sand. 

Concerning "Joseph Smith's Last Dream," Bruce Nielson of Mormon Matters wrote,

My advice is to accept that historical stories are historical stories. Historians have a specific duty to try their best to assess the truthfulness of it. Non-historians do not have an equivalent duty. You should feel free to quote stories like this by giving the sources and admiting you don't know if it's true or not. (Which will probably always be the case.) Then let the story speak for itself.

Overall, it is always important to take everything with a grain of salt and to "seek learning even by study and also by faith" (D&C 88:118).

Conclusion (My Thoughts)

So what does it all mean? Is this account of "Joseph Smith's Last Dream" written by W. W. Phelps true? Frankly, I don't know. Furthermore, it's simply beyond my ability (educationally and spiritually) to confirm to you that this dream is true.

As for me, I personally believe that the Prophet Joseph actually had this dream.

However, at the end of the day, my faith does not rest on the possible "Last Dream" of a Prophet, but on the reality of his First Vision. I do not know whether or not Joseph Smith prophetically saw himself and his brothers walking on the water, but I do know that he saw God and Jesus Christ in a grove now called sacred.

So whether fact or fiction, "Joseph Smith's Last Dream" is a beautiful and symbolic story. For me, it represents a marvelous bookend to his mission as a Prophet. It symbolically tells the story of his martyrdom not as a horrifying tragedy but as a beautiful triumph. The story first came to me during a difficult time---when I felt as though I was treading through deep water---and it symbolically pointed me back to the Savior. As I exercised more faith in Him, I found that I was soon "able to walk upon the water."

My intent in creating the video, was to share this beautiful story with you, and hopefully inspire you (on your troubled waters) to seek out the Savior.

The first time I read it, I wept.

Joseph Smith's Last Dream - a painting by Jon McNaughton