D&C Section Forty Nine

The Shakers were a religious group who demonstrated their spirituality by rolling around on the floor, shaking (obviously), crying out and anything else they could physically do so show they were overcome by the spirit. They also didn't believe in marriage so it's easy to see how they would die out after a while. They also abstained from eating meat. Lyman Copely was a Shaker who joined the church and then with Parley P. Pratt and Sidney Rigdon, was sent to preach to them. Lyman felt that if the Shakers were taught, they would accept the gospel like he had. So they went to where the Shakers were near Cleveland and tried to teach the gospel and also read this revelation to them. The Shakers didn't accept them and pretty much kicked them out. This bothered Lyman so much that he left the church.

I think the format the Lord uses in this revelation is interesting. He first declares that he is the author of the revelation and instructs the people to believe on him. Then with that faith, they should repent and be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost. He then explains the importance of marriage between a man and a woman so that the earth can answer the ends of its creation. We don't often think that the reason the earth was created was so that families could be formed. Families are the organization of things in heaven and our families here will be continued there. It's not by accident that we turn to our families, stick together as family, and yearn for family when it isn't there. Those without families have a basic yearning for that association. Adopted children have a yearning to know who their birth parents are. People naturally seek to find out who there ancestors were, who they belong to in history. These yearnings are not coincidental or without reason. And the one basic reason that families often fail is because one or more members fail in these principles of the gospel that were given to the Shakers. Undoubtedly, the Shakers felt strongly about their beliefs and flourished for a while. But without faith in and a correct understanding of Christ; without repenting and changing their lives to conform to Christ's standards, without baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost, eventually they came up empty just as individual lives will come up empty, missing something they can't put their finger on it. They look for it in different causes and different people. Stars and heros eventually come up short. They seek but don't realize know exactly what they are seeking for. One of my old missionary scriptures in Amos describes it like this, "And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord and shall not find it." Job describes it as "groping in the dark without light."