Mentioned twice in the Doctrine and Covenants, he devoted most of his life to full-time missionary service for the LDS Church.

A compatriot of Joseph Smith, Murdock attended School of the Prophets and participated in Zion's Camp.

[3]: 178  His father remarried, but Murdock and his brothers experienced substandard treatment compared to their step-sibings and therefore disliked their step-mother.

After living at various relatives' and neighbors' homes for many years, Murdock married Julia Clapp in 1823 at the age of thirty-one and settled in Orange, Ohio.

[6] His falling out with the Campbellites was largely due to Alexander Campbell rejecting the "gift and power of the Holy Ghost.

"[7][6] Murdock was baptized a member of the Latter Day Saint Church of Christ by Parley P. Pratt on November 5, 1830, in Geauga County, Ohio.

[10][5]: 67  While Murdock could have left his infants in the care of his in-laws, he chose not to due to their recent estrangement over differing religious beliefs.

[5]: 258  Murdock depended on the charity of hosts and people he visited to survive, leaving his children with neighbors and family members whom he paid in exchange for their care.

[11] First, Murdock accompanied Hyrum Smith, Lyman Wight, and John Corrill on a mission to Independence, Missouri— by way of Pontiac, Michigan.

[15][16] Murdock had become ill in the early part of August, delaying the missionary party on the way to Missouri, resulting in a chance encounter with Joseph Smith on his way from Independence.

[5]: 118  On March 17, 1834, he was at a conference at Avon, New York, attempting to convince the local members of the church to join the Zion's Camp effort.

[9] In 1846, Murdock traveled to the Salt Lake Valley with the Abraham O. Smoot company accompanied by his fourth wife Sarah and her son, George; seven-year-old Gideon, Murdock's surviving son with his third wife Electa; and a two-year-old foster child named Mary.

[26]: 162 Murdock was ordained as a patriarch in Lehi, Utah, and fulfilled his duties until March 1867 when his illness, which is postulated by historians to be Parkinson's disease, prevented it.

In January 1857, he succumbed to ecclesiastical pressure and married widow Majory McEwan as a plural wife.

[3]: 186  After they were married in Salt Lake City, McEwan returned home to her children rather than sleeping in the house with her new husband.

During a sermon, Evans encouraged the congregation to lie about practicing polygamy to protect themselves from the United States government which Murdock publicly disagreed with.

[3]: 192  In October, Murdock traveled to Beaver, Utah, to be with his sons, Orric and John Riggs, who would care for him in his illness.