It became obvious that no human power could prevent the disintegration of the Church, except upon a pledge by its members to obey the laws which had been enacted prohibiting the practice of polygamy. It was under these circumstances that Wilford Woodruff was sustained as President of the Church, in April, 1889. In light of the numerous statements made by several LDS leaders, it is difficult to take seriously Woodruff's claim that he acted according to the will of God. To do so would be to admit God has a very short memory, or that the previous comments from LDS leaders were outside of the will of God. It would appear that the signing of the Manifesto was merely a ploy to get the federal government to relax its sanctions against the LDS Church.
Evidence shows that polygamy continued despite the promise to abandon it.
Many Latter-day Saints viewed the abandonment of polygamy as religious treason. Fundamentalist Mormons who practice plural marriage have little to fear from the government. Not only does the government ignore this practice, in many cases it actually subsidizes it. In today's world of Mormonism, Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Orson Pratt, John Taylor, and many other well-known heroes of the Mormon faith would be promptly excommunicated from the LDS Church for their participation in practicing their view of celestial marriage. It would be incorrect to think polygamy is a dead issue within the LDS Church.