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The Prophet Nightlion is very clear in many of his statements. One he shared with me concerned the absence of Lorenzo Snow from Joseph F Smith's vision of the redemption of the dead. D&C section 138.

On Oct 3, 1918, Joseph F Smith had this vision. It was dictated to his son, Joseph Fielding Smith, on Oct 6, 1918 (GC was in between, Oct 4 and 5, 1918). The rest of the FP/12 approved of it on Oct 31, 1918. At the Oct 1976 GC, it was canonized first as part of the PoGP, but now is codified among the LDS canon as D&C 138.

By the time of the vision, Lorenzo Snow had been dead for just days shy of 17 years. Joseph F Smith explained that he saw in the spirit world:

53 The Prophet Joseph Smith, and my father, Hyrum Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, and other choice spirits who were reserved to come forth in the fulness of times to take part in laying the foundations of the great latter-day work,

So, Joseph F Smith named each of the prior prophets of this dispensation (and Hyrum Smith too), except Lorenzo Snow. Either Joseph F Smith's file leader in the Mormon hierarchy and immediate predecessor was relegated to merely inclusion in the unnamed "other choice spirits", or Lorenzo Snow was not seen in the vision.

Why was Lorenzo not named?

Simply because Lorenzo wasn't named doesn't necessarily mean that he wasn't there. Maybe he was included as part of the "many other choice spirits?"

I'm assuming that you are suggesting that Lorenzo wasn't named because he came out with the Manifesto against polygamy?

liz3564 wrote:Simply because Lorenzo wasn't named doesn't necessarily mean that he wasn't there. Maybe he was included as part of the "many other choice spirits?"

Yeah, it was noted in the OP, i.e. Lorenzo might have been simply lumped in the unnamed but described "many other choice spirits". But given how long that Lorenzo and Joseph F served together in the 12, the fact Lorenzo was not named makes one wonder why he would not have been named. If Lorenzo was seen in the vision by Joseph F, then Lorenzo was the only then deceased prophet of this dispensation not mentioned by Joseph F by name. Does it take longer that 17 years of other processing in the hereafter before you'd be introduced into the realm where the others already were? Since Wilford Woodruff was mentioned, 20 years then dead, there is a question of what might each of them had to do for >17 but <20 years to then be in that realm. Did JSJr, Hyrum, BY, JT, and WW have a prominence among the "choice spirits" reserved to come forth and play roles in the Restoration that later prophets, beginning with Lorenzo, did not, and serve more as caretakers of the Church during their duration as prophet? (There is much evidence that for quite a time following JSJr's murder, BY simply saw himself in a caretaker role. He wasn't much of a doctrine-maker prophet until about 1860.)

Was Lorenzo excluded because of issues Joseph F may have had with Lorenzo, and so Joseph F did not name him (consciously or subconsciously) for those reasons?

Did Lorenzo perhaps do something, like the Manifesto or tithing, that Elohim/Jehovah did not like?

liz3564 wrote:I'm assuming that you are suggesting that Lorenzo wasn't named because he came out with the Manifesto against polygamy?

I can certainly understand why that assumption would come to mind and be made, but the Manifesto is not the particular significance of Lorenzo either going unnamed or being absent, per the OP inquiry. Nightlion has a theory, but I want to elicit what some others might think for why Lorenzo was not named or not present in the vision, whichever it was, before discussing Nightlion's suggestions.

sock puppet wrote:Why was Lorenzo not named?

He was bidding his time for a Christmas vision.

He was an impostor.

It was a scribal error...

He only saw the souls of those in hell?

harmony wrote:He only saw the souls of those in hell?

Zinger!