When studying any religion or cult a good starting point, and maybe the best place to go is directly to the founder. With the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or Mormons, that person would be Joseph Smith. Regarded as a prophet and the father of the Church within the Mormon belief, Joseph Smith was born on December 23, 1805. According to the Mormon's own website,
"As a young boy in 1820, Joseph Smith wanted to know which church was true. As he searched the Bible for help, he read that he should ask of God. Acting on this counsel, Joseph went into the woods near his home and prayed. Suddenly, a light shone above him and Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him. When Joseph asked which church he should join, the Savior told him to join none of the churches then in existence because they were teaching incorrect doctrines. Through this experience and many others that followed, the Lord chose Joseph to be Hisprophet and to restore the gospel of Jesus Christ and His Church to the earth."
According to the story, Joseph Smith was later visited by an angel named Moroni, who showed him the location of gold plates called the Plates of Nephi. Joseph Smith translated from these plates what is now known as the Book of Mormon. It seems there is a lot of stock put in this man, but is he trustworthy?
As his new belief taught polygamy, and he certainly had no problem practicing it with his 28 wives, one could begin to see how a man could benefit sexually from this new belief. I'm sure if we were able to ask him, Smith would point to King Solomon's many wives in the Old Testament. Even though the New Testament would dispute this.
1 Timothy 3:2, 12 "A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach. . . . Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well." |
One could easily say that this only pertains to a Bishop and a Deacon, and not the Christian, but as the Founder of the Mormon Church what would this make Joseph Smith? Yet, the Mormon and Christian beliefs supposedly line up to hear them tell it.
This wouldn't be the first time Smith was wrong, for he was indeed a false prophet!
In 1835, Joseph Smith prophesied that Jesus Christ would return in 56 years. This would have meant 1891 being the year of His return. This did not happen, and to make such an arrogant claim is contradictory to scripture.
Matthew 24:23-28 say's,
23 “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. 24 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you beforehand.
26 “Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it. 27 For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 28 For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.
Joseph Smith made MANY false prophesies over his life. He made a lot of outlandish claims in fact.
President Joseph Smith read the 11th Chap. II Corinthians. My object is to let you know that I am right here on the spot where I intend to stay. I, like Paul, have been in perils, and oftener than anyone in this generation. As Paul boasted, I have suffered more than Paul did. I should be like a fish out of water, if I were out of persecutions. Perhaps my brethren think it requires all this to keep me humble. The Lord has constituted me so curiously that I glory in persecution. I am not nearly so humble as if I were not persecuted. If oppression will make a wise man mad, much more a fool. If they want a beardless boy to whip all the world, I will get on the top of a mountain and crow like a rooster: I shall always beat them. When facts are proved, truth and innocence will prevail at last. My enemies are no philosophers: they think that when they have my spoke under, they will keep me down; but for the fools, I will hold on and fly over them.
A large majority of the whole have stood by me. Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I.
History of the Church, Vol. 6, pp. 408-409
Address of the Prophet
His Testimony Against the Dissenters at Nauvoo.
Address of the Prophet
His Testimony Against the Dissenters at Nauvoo.
What you have just read above is from a Mormon publication and not something anyone is alleging that Joseph Smith said. It is Mormon history! Yes, you did just read that Joseph Smith claimed to do more for the Church than Paul, John, Peter, and even Jesus! At this point you would think that his followers would have turned away and deserted him, and I'd say some did, but obviously most of them didn't as evidenced by the size of the Mormon church today. Possibly like many Christians, the people just hang onto the man doing the talking and not the Word of God! In Smith's case, he also had this covered as he fabricated his own Testament of the Bible. According to Smith our government shouldn't exist either.
President Smith, in concluding his remarks, said that if the government, which received into its coffers the money of citizens for its public lands, while its officials are rolling in the luxury at the expense of its public treasury, cannot protect such citizens in their lives and property, it is an old granny anyhow; and I prophesy in the name of the Lord God of Israel, unless the United States redress the wrongs committed upon the Saints in the state of Missouri and punish the crimes committed by her officers that in a few years the government will be utterly overthrown and wasted, and there will not be so much as a potsherd left, for their wickedness...
History of the Church, vol. 5, p. 394, May 1843
Yes, according to Joseph Smith, the United States Government was going to be overthrown. Of course once again he was wrong. Doesn't the Bible warn us about false prophets?
"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world"
1 John 4:1
I believe that Joseph Smith was one of these false prophets, but even worse, he deceived many people with a whole new slant of their Christian faith. What could have been this man's motive? Well, what did he gain? He gained power, he gained money, and let's not forget with the 28 wives, he gained sex. These three, the lust for power, money, and sex, have destroyed many men. Joseph Smith had all three! What kind of man could do such a thing? Well, if the man had a prior criminal record maybe that would have been a clue. Oh wait a minute, he does...
Prior to his Mormon con, Smith was arrested and convicted in New York, and was found guilty of being a con-artist. By looking through his "seeing stone" (possibly quartz), Smith advertised to farmers that he could locate gold on their property. The farmers would pay him and of course, he wouldn't deliver on his end. This seer stone is the same stone that he supposedly used to translate the Plates of Nephi into the Book of Mormon. Of course the angel Moroni took the original gold tablets back to heaven and Smith's finished book was the only authoritative text left to go on. It seems to me that those tablets could have been useful to start this new church being they were gold!
Joseph Smith was a creative man with quite an imagination. Joseph Smith said that,
" the moon was inhabited by people six feet tall who dressed like Quakers and lived to be 1,000 years old"
Journal of Oliver B. Huntington, a follower of Joseph Smith. Utah State Historical Society, Vol. 2, p. 166Joseph Smith, who at the time was running for President of the United States, was killed in a gun fight on June 27, 1844. It is a shame that so many people follow a faith that is founded by this egotistical, convicted con artist. This man obviously was a very persuasive man, but this should be a lesson to us. The supposed 8 witnesses that signed showing they had seen the Plates of Nephi later recanted their confessions. By this time however the movement had gained so much steam that it was unstoppable. The Mormon Church claims apostolic authority just as the Vatican does. They have their temple in Salt Lake City, Nevada. On it you will see many Masonic symbols as Joseph and his brother Hiram were also Freemasons.
