Maybe because he got ripped off by a black guy? But hey, they CHANGED from an EDICT from God (Known as the "Revelation of Convenience) and now all the blacks, hispanics, chinese, japs and others can hold the "Priesthood" Nifty hey?

Because it was time. There were varying reactions when the edict was made. It depended on the saints not the Church. I wept for joy , other mebers left the church. The blacks were withheld from the priesthood not because they were inferior, many blacks could have held the priesthood but as a race they were not ready for the priesthood. They had been under slavery by the world for too long. The governing responsibilitis of the priesthood were sacred responsibilites not enough freedom had been grated them. It was a test for those who are not black as much as for those who are. Darkness is not the curse it is a sign or mark of the curse. The curse is being seperated from God. There are many signs or marks of the curse just look around the world. The human race in its skin tones not one is pure we all carry the sign. There are many more. When Cain was given this sign God said "Whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him seven fold." The dark skin was given for portection why do his children have it--genetics? Because they were to live in an area of the world where the sun was so hot that they needed it? The spirit is innocent in the beginning in the spirit world and as far as the baby born he is innocent. Helpless babies are not responsible for crimes they did not commit.

I am sorry I must have answered the wrong question. That is probably a question only Elijah can answer and anyone he confided in.

You are probably right. I do not understand it. I cannot get the video to play. I do know that he is now with his Heavenly Father with full endowments. I do not like the "have faith and all will be right"--but sometimes we do have to do so. He was probably more faithful than I am. God loves all of his children I do not understand that he was given the priesthood and others were not. According to wikipedia he did not have his priesthood taken from him he was not given his endowments. There is a big difference. We are all denied doing certain things until the time is right. Some we do not understand. They seem unjust. We must pray and study harder to find the truth. I think his faith got him a seat with his Heavenly Father. He is now in Celestial glory. That is not nothing.

Additional Supporting Evidence for the Question: THE PRIESTHOOD ENDOWMENT: Andrew Jenson, who was the Assistant Church Historian, recorded that a man of African decent was indeed ordained to the Mormon priesthood in the early days of the church: “Abel, Elijah, the ONLY COLORED MAN WHO IS KNOWN TO HAVE BEEN ORDAINED TO THE PRIESTHOOD, ...he was ordained an ELDER March 3, 1836, and a SEVENTY April 4, 1841, AN EXCEPTION HAVING BEEN MADE IN HIS CASE WITH REGARD TO THE GENERAL RULE OF THE CHURCH IN RELATION TO COLORED PEOPLE.... In Nauvoo HE WAS INTIMATELY ACQUAINTED WITH THE PROPHET JOSEPH SMITH... In 1883, as a MEMBER of the Third Quorum of SEVENTY, he left Salt Lake City on a MISSION to Canada, during which he also performed missionary labors in the United States. Two weeks after his return he died, Dec. 25, 1884, of debility, consequent upon exposure while laboring in the MINISTRY in Ohio. He died in full faith of the gospel.” (L.D.S. Biographical Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 577) In 1884 the Mormon newspaper Deseret News printed Elijah Abel's obituary: “ABLE.—In the 13th Ward, December 25th 1884, of old age and debility, consequent upon exposure while laboring IN THE MINISTRY in Ohio, Elijah Able. Deceased was born in Washington County, Maryland, July 25, 1810; joined the Church and was ordained an ELDER as appears by certificate dated March 3d, 1836; was subsequently ordained a SEVENTY as appears by certificate dated April 4, 1841; labored successfully in Canada and also performed a MISSION to the United States, from which he returned about two weeks ago. He died in FULL FAITH of the Gospel. “Funeral at 16th Ward Assembly Rooms Saturday, Dec. 27th, at 10 a.m. Friends invited.” (Deseret News, Dec. 26, 1884) THE PRIESTHOOD REVOCATION: In 1879, while Elijah Abel was still alive, his status as a black priesthood holder figured prominently in the efforts of certain Latter-day Saints to trace the origins of priesthood denial back to Joseph Smith. One of the leaders of this movement, Zebedee Coltrin, conceded that "Brother Abel was ordained a seventy because he had labored in the [Nauvoo] temple." But Coltrin maintained that when Joseph Smith learned of Abel's black lineage "he was dropped from the quorum and another was put in his place."78 However, Apostle Joseph F. Smith felt that "Coltrin's memory was incorrect as to Brother Abel being dropped from the quorum of Seventies to which he belonged" since Abel had in his possession two certificates attesting to his status as a Seventy; the first "given to him in 1841" and a "later one" issued in Salt Lake City.79 Abel spoke up in his own defense, stating that he had been ordained a Seventy back in 1836 by none other than Zebedee Coltrin! In addition, Abel stated "that the Prophet Joseph told him he was entitled to the priesthood."80 John Taylor tried to reconcile the conflicting views of Abel, Apostle Smith, and Coltrin by suggesting that Abel had "been ordained before the word of the Lord was fully understood." Abel's ordination, therefore, was allowed to stand.81 By 1908, Joseph F. Smith, then president of the Church, abandoned the position he had taken in 1879 that Elijah Abel's priesthood authority had been recognized by the Mormon Prophet. [p.140]According to Smith, even though Abel had been "ordained a seventy ... in the days of the Prophet Joseph Smith ... this ordination was declared null and void by the Prophet himself" when he became aware of Abel's black lineage.82 Smith's later view of Abel's relationship to Joseph Smith fit in with the widespread Mormon belief that it was Joseph Smith, not Brigham Young who had fostered the practice of black priesthood denial.83 This "rewriting of the Mormon past" was also reflected in the way Elijah Abel was presented in Andrew Jenson's Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia (1920). According to Jenson, Abel was ordained to the priesthood because "an exception" was "made in his case with regard to the general rule of the Church" against black ordination.84 By 1955 even this qualified view of Abel's place as a Mormon priesthood holder was denounced by Apostle Joseph Fielding Smith. In response to a private inquiry, Smith rejected Jenson's account of Abel, suggesting that there were two Elijah Abels in the early Church-one white and the other black. Jenson had confounded the "names and the work done by one man named Abel ... with the name of the Negro who joined the Church in an early day.85 78. L. John Nuttall, Journal, 30 May 1879, Brigham Young University Library. Coltrin also recalled that: "In the washing and Annointing of Bro Abel at Kirtland I annointed him and while I had my hands upon his head, I never had such unpleasant feelings in my life-and I said I never would again Anoint another person who had Negro blood in him. unless I was commanded by the Prophet to do so [sic]." 79. Council Meeting, 4 June 1879, Bennion Papers. 80. Ibid. 81. Ibid. 82. Minutes of a Council Meeting, 26 Aug. 1908, Bennion Papers. 83. This important development is described in Bush, "Mormonism's Negro Doctrine," pp. 31-34. 84. 3:577. 85. Joseph Fielding Smith to Mrs. Floren S. Preece, 18 Jan. 1955, S. George Ellsworth Papers, Utah State University, Logan. http://www.signaturebookslibrary.org/neither/neither4.htm