Description
A Man Came Through the Door: Wesley Smith
It was November 26, 1919, the night before the dedication of the Hawaii Temple in Laie, that President Elias Wesley Smith, the son of President Joseph F. Smith and Julina Lambson Smith, had the following experience as described by scholar Matthew Bowman:
“A man came through the door. He was tall enough to have to stoop to enter. His eyes were very protruding and rather wild looking, his fingernails were thick and long. He presented a rather unkempt appearance and wore no clothing at all…There suddenly appeared in [Smith’s] right hand a light which had the size and appearance of a dagger…A voice said ‘This is your priesthood.’
He commanded the person in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to depart…Immediately when the light appeared the person stopped and on being commanded to leave, he backed out the door. A shaken Wesley contacted his brother, Apostle Joseph Fielding Smith, who identified the apparition as ‘Cain…whose curse is to roam the earth seeking whom he may destroy.’ Joseph Fielding then echoed John Young’s themes almost verbatim, describing Cain as a representative of ‘the spirit of the adversary’ of which there was ‘always unusual evidence…for a period just prior to the dedication of every temple.’ As a final touch, Joseph directed his brother to ‘a little book written by Lycurgus A. Wilson on the life of David W. Patten’ for further investigation into the matter.”
Source:
“Experiences with Cain,” n.d., MSS 5273, Archives, Family and Church History Department, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City (hereafter LDS Church Archives).
