Marks was baptized a member of Church of Christ sometime in April 1835 in New York and ordained a priest shortly thereafter.

Partly due to the lack of records available on his baptism, Marks was rebaptized in proxy by the LDS Church on January 29, 1965.

[citation needed] Marks was appointed by revelation (D&C 117) to leave Ohio and move to Far West, Missouri, to preside over the body of Saints.

Smith wrote that he saw Marks: "... closely pursued by an innumerable concourse of enemies, who pressed upon him hard; and when they were about to devour him, and had seemingly obtained some degree of advantage over him, a chariot of fire came, and near the place, even the angel of the Lord, put forth his hand upon Bro.

Smith presented evidence of why Sidney Rigdon should be rejected as first counselor in the First Presidency of the church during the October 1843 General Conference.

Among his remarks he said: This funerary sermon is considered one of the most introspective and emotionally depressed discourses by Smith, and pointed to by Mormons as foreknowledge and a prophecy of his own death which occurred not long thereafter.

Other purported pieces of evidence, such as Joseph's burning of the polygamy revelation and destroying his temple garments, seem to support Marks's story.

Marks, as landlord of the Nauvoo Mansion, oversaw some of the funerary preparations for the burial of Joseph and his brother, Hyrum.

[13] Historian D. Michael Quinn claims that, despite the foregoing, church succession in Nauvoo revolved around one central issue: plural marriage.

Young and the majority of the Quorum of the Twelve, Quinn asserts, feared that Marks would end plural marriage and other ordinances that they saw as crucial to exaltation in the afterlife.

[14] Quinn states that, despite Emma's support, and despite receiving his endowments and anointings before any other successor claimants (including every member of the Quorum of Twelve), Marks did not advance his own claims to church leadership.

Between 1853 and 1859 they approached Joseph Smith III dozens of times to convince him to take leadership of the RLDS movement, which he eventually did.

"[19] This revelation was presented to the April 1863 General Conference of the RLDS Church and canonized as Doctrine and Covenants Section 115.

[20] Marks' ordination took place at the same conference, joining Joseph Smith III and Jason W. Briggs in the RLDS First Presidency.