Levi Hancock Rebukes the Destroyer and His Cholera-Stricken Brother Recovers

During Zion's Camp's stay in Missouri in 1834, Levi's brother Joseph Hancock was struck with a severe case of cholera — the same scourge that was killing many in the camp. Levi stayed alone to nurse him through what seemed a hopeless illness:

'I would shoot squirrels and cook them and then give him the broth and it would run right through him like quick silver. I did this until I thought I could endure no more. I could not sleep, for his call for to do this and do that. He said he was going to die. I told him, "No you shan't die." I then laid my hands on his head and rebuked the destroyer. A darkness would sometimes come over me that I could feel like smoke.'

After Levi exercised his priesthood and rebuked the destroyer, help arrived providentially — first Brother David Evins, then his brother Solomon Hancock — and Joseph was eventually carried to safety. He survived, while many others in the camp died of the same disease.