Oliver Cowdery Receives Priesthood Ordination and Divine Power Through the Laying on of Hands by Joseph Smith

On the evening of December 5, 1834, in Kirtland, Ohio, Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Frederick G. Williams, and Oliver Cowdery met to discuss the welfare of the Church. During this gathering, acting under the direction of the Holy Spirit, Joseph Smith laid his hands upon Oliver Cowdery and ordained him as an assistant president of the high and holy priesthood in the Church of the Latter Day Saints, tasking him with assisting in presiding over the Church and bearing the keys of the kingdom. In the same meeting, Joseph Smith offered a formal blessing for Cowdery, praying for wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and divine communion, and specifically asking that Cowdery be protected from the power of darkness and those who might seek his destruction. The following day, December 6, 1834, the meetings continued with the ordination of Hyrum Smith and Joseph Smith Sr. to the same office of assistant president. The gatherings also served as a moment of correction; a revelation was received during these days that reprimanded the church leaders for the overly informal and casual nature of their interactions, leading the presidency to adopt more formal titles of address in their official business.

Fuller account of this event (in the witness’s own words):

December 5th. Met in council with brother Sidney Rigdon, and brother Frederick G. Williams, to seek the mind of the Lord on the subject of the welfare of the church. We prayed to the Lord to give us wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, and to grant that we might be able to bear the keys of this kingdom, and that we might be protected from the power of darkness, and from those who seek our destruction. After prayer, I laid my hands upon brother Oliver Cowdery, and ordained him an assistant President of the high and holy priesthood in the Church of the Latter Day Saints, to assist in presiding over the Church, and bearing the keys of this kingdom. After which, I blessed him with the blessings of the Lord, and prayed that he might be preserved from the power of the enemy, and that he might be endowed with wisdom, and knowledge, and understanding, and that he might be a mighty man in the kingdom of God, and that his life might be precious in the sight of the Lord. December 6th. Met in council with the same brethren, and ordained my father, Joseph Smith, sen., a president and patriarch, and my brother Hyrum Smith, an assistant president, and also brother John Smith, a president of the high council, and brother Reynolds Cahoon, and brother Jared Carter, members of the high council.