You've hit this on the head--with part of the "power" formula being eternal power promised by the "prophet" himself. For some reason, LDS put D&C 137 up to vote to be "sustained" as "Scripture" (why couldn't the 1976 LDS "prophet" just call it such?). What is telling is what is not included.
Look for example at History of the Church, 2:187. We see there Smith's original apostles. Smith claimed to envision all 12 of these original apostles in celestial kingdom--the highest kingdom.
The "excluded portions" of D&C 137 shows that Smith was already unhappy w/his apostles and in fact, rebuked them: "...fatigued...tattered...eyes cast downward...the Saviour looked upon them and wept." Despite this, Smith was trying to get them to get their act together and decided to lure them with the promise of eternal prowess:
"I finally saw the Twelve in the celestial kingdom of God."
What happened to these dozen: 7 were soon ex-communicated or apostatized from the LDS Church (Luke S. Johnson + John F. Boynton, 1837; Orson Hyde, Thomas B. Marsh, Lyman Johnson, Wm E. McClellin, all in 1838; and William Smith, 1845. Now how could these be in the celestial kingdom if those who "breaketh this [priesthood/oath] covenant after he hath received it, and altogether turneth therefrom, shall not have forgiveness of sins in this world nor int he world to come?" (D&C 84:40-41)
McLellin was an apostate, pure and simple even tho Smith envisioned him working miracles in the south and preaching there [none of which happened]. While it's true that some of these apostles returned to the church, they were not exactly the highest candidates for "godhood"/highest degree of glory upon returning.
You get an instant pay-out just for signing up. But with a bunch of pregnant wives on your hands, you're going to stay put, aren't you? You can't exactly travel around America with these women in tow, as an obvious polygamist. You also have to work pretty hard to support them all. This glues you into the fold pretty securely, assures Smith, Young, etal. of an army of laborers for their various enterprises and even more worker ants as those (thoroughly indoctrinated) offspring come of age and start producing even more worker ants.
But reality soons sets in, as you begin to feel the downside of the deal. That's when the second gimmick kicks in. Money. You're never out of work. The church sees to that by always having something for you to do to help build its wealth. So for the first time in your life, you always have everything you need. That makes it even harder to take off. You look back at where you came from and see only the failures, the loneliness, the risk and uncertainty. You've made the classic mistake of trading freedom for security. But you'll stand pat because money talks and thinking for yourself makes your head hurt anyway.
But as time goes by, you begin to chaff under the tyrannical hand of your glorious leader. You begin to envy his power and status and resent being under his thumb. So he promises you power beyond reckoning in the life to come, emphasizing that your life of obedience and virtual servitude is "only for a time." And you buy that too. You go for it because he's already delivered on his first two promises. You go for it because he's made examples of those who defy his authority. You go for it because everybody around you is doing that and how could they all be wrong?
This is how Smith and Young held onto their power and their empire.
In contrast to the Earp-Holliday-Masterson racketeering schemes, which merely aimed at controlling liquor, prostitution and gambling in one town at a time, Smith and Young thought big. I have to give them credit for that.