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The Law of Consecration
While the Ohio press was engaged in an aggressive campaign aimed at thwarting the growth of the restored Church, some Ohio editors and other critics were also denouncing the economic policies unfolded by Joseph Smith. Some of the opposition emerged because of misunderstanding of the economic reform program that the Prophet revealed; critics associated it with communistic systems established by various other religious communities in early America.
Prior to his arrival in Kirtland, the Prophet had informed members of the Church that a new economic system would be instituted. The revelation given in New York on January 2, 1831, instructing the Saints to gather in Ohio, also indicated that after the members settled in that state, they would receive the law of the Lord and would be endowed with power from on high. The law they would receive would include provisions related to the temporal affairs of the Church. "Let every man esteem his brother as himself," the revelation specified. A parable was related that indicated that members of Christ's Church should "be one," which apparently referred, in part, to the responsibility of members to care for the temporal needs of one another. The revelation further directed that men would be "appointed by the voice of the church" to care for the poor and needy and to "govern the affairs of the property" of the Church.
After arriving in Kirtland, Joseph Smith learned that an economic program established by the "Family," the followers of Sidney Rigdon who had created a communal order on Isaac Morley's farm in the northeastern section of Kirtland township, involved both petty controversies and major conflicts. According to John Whitmer, some members of this society had decided that what belonged to one brother belonged to all; therefore they would take each other's clothes and other property and use them without permission. Such action, he observed, was leading to their temporal destruction.
Not only was there a need to provide members of the communal order in Kirtland with a better economic system, but finances were also required to support various Church programs. For example, money, goods, and property were needed immediately to help the poor and to assist immigrants who had sacrificed much to gather in Ohio. Some of the Church leaders also needed financial help. Joseph Smith lacked a home for his family; and Sidney Rigdon, after uniting with the Latter-day Saints, lost his pastoral home and the economic support he had previously received from his congregation. After Edward Partridge was called in February 1831 to devote all of his time to the Church, he was not in a position to support his family through his mercantile enterprises. Moreover, as the years passed, funds were necessary to support Church publications, educational programs, and the construction of buildings, especially the Kirtland Temple.