Was Joseph Smith a True Prophet of God?

 In the Mormon book, Doctrines

 of Salvation p.188, Joseph Fielding Smith, a past president and prophet

 of the Mormon Church, state

s that Joseph Smiths ‘s claim to

 divine prophethood must be

Is Joseph Smith A True

Prophet of God?

 

The thing that needs to be established here is whether or not Joseph Smith is a true prophet of God.

 

1. How do you know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God? Because God spoke to him?

 

2. How do you know that he was a prophet to whom God spoke?

 

If your answer is, “because I have this burning feeling in my heart that these things are true”, you may be wrong! First of all, every religion or cult would respond by saying the same thing,  that they just know and feel in their heart that they are right. Second, you cannot simply go by feelings. Feelings come from emotional states, this only clouds the thoughts. What we are discussing is of rational thought. Emotions only impair judgment. Anger is an emotion, a man cannot think rationally, or clearly in an angry state, nor in a state of panic, nor in any state of intense emotion.  Emotions and intellect come from two entirely different parts of the brain. Therefore “feelings” would be an invalid answer to the question. We must only consider facts, and since the Bible is our final authority, we will begin with the Scriptures:

 

In the Mormon book, Doctrines of Salvation p.188, Joseph Fielding Smith, a past president and prophet of the Mormon Church, states that Joseph Smiths ‘s claim to divine prophethood must be tested by Scripture

 

Deut. 18:20-22

 But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

 

The most effective and sure way to tell if Joseph Smith was a prophet is to examine his prophecies. Some may say that he never gave any prophecies, but no man can claim to be a prophet if he does not prophecy. The logic of the above passage of scripture is very simple to understand. If someone claims to be a prophet of God and his predictions fail to happen, this person is a false prophet. Since the Bible came before the Book of Mormon, The Pearl of Great Price, and Doctrine and Covenants, it will judge all new revelations. Thus Deut. 18:20-22 will apply directly to Smith’s prophecies. One more point to remember, false prophecies are not “mistakes,” all of us have made mistakes, but not many of us have claimed to be a ‘prophet of God’ who speaks by ‘inspired revelations’.

Also keep in mind that the historic documents and facts must have the last word and that they must have priority over guesses and speculations, because the issue is one of facts not theories.

 

Joseph Smith’s prophecies:

 

Joseph Smith, 2. (pp.51-52)

41. He also quoted from the second chapter of Joel, from the twenty-eighth verse to the last. He also said that this was not yet fulfilled, but would soon be. And he further stated that the fullness of the Gentiles was soon to come in.
42. ….he informed me of great judgments which were coming upon the earth, with great desolations by famine, sword, and pestilence; and that those grievous judgments would come on the earth in this generation.

 

According to Smith, when was Joel 2:28-32 to be fulfilled? The fullness of the Gentiles to come in? and what generation would experience these things?

 

Doctrine and Covenants, 130.  (p.238)

12. I prophecy, in the name of the Lord God, that the commencement of difficulties which will cause much bloodshed previous to the coming of the Son of Man will be in South Carolina.
13. I was once praying very earnestly to know the time of the coming of the Son of Man, when I heard a voice repeat the following:
14. Joseph, my son, if thou livest until thou art eighty-five years old, thou shalt see the face of the Son of Man; therefore let this suffice, and trouble me no more on this matter.
15. I was left thus, without being able to decide whether this coming referred to the beginning of the millennium or to some other appearing, or whether I should die and thus see His face.
16. I believe the coming of the Son of Man will not be any sooner than that time.

 

In verse 12 was Smith giving a prophecy? Concerning whom? What was to happen just before the second coming? In verse 14, what did Smith want to know? In verse 15, what did Jesus supposedly tell him? What was Smith’s conclusion in verse 17?

The bloodshed in South Carolina did not lead to the coming of Christ, and Christ did not come in 1890, when Smith would have been 85 years old.                                 

 

History of the Church [A.D. 1831] p.176

The Spirit of the Lord fell upon Joseph in an unusual manner……….. After he had prophecied he laid his hands upon Lyman Wight and ordained him to the High Priesthood [i.e. ordained him a High Priest] after the Holy order of God. And the Spirit fell upon Lyman, and he prophesied concerning the coming of Christ. He said that there were some in the congregation that should live until the Savior should descend from Heaven with a shout, with all the holy angels with Him.

 

In 1831, when Smith ordained Lyman Wight, what did Lyman prophesy concerning his generation and the second coming of Christ? Did Smith object to Wight’s teaching? This shows that the early Mormons believed that Christ would come in their own generation.

 

History of the Church, (pp.315-316 )

And now I am prepared to say by the authority of Jesus Christ, that not many years shall pass away before the United States shall present such a scene of bloodshed as has not a parallel in the history of our nation: pestilence, hail, famine, and earthquake will sweep the wicked of this generation from off the face of the land, to open and prepare the way for the return of the lost tribes of Israel from the north country. …….therefore I declare unto you the warning which the Lord has commanded to declare unto this generation.      ….Repent ye, repent ye, and embrace the everlasting covenant, and flee to Zion, before the overflowing scourge overtake you, for there are those now living upon the face of the earth whose eyes shall not be closed in death until they see all these things, which I have spoken, fulfilled.

 

In 1833, Smith prophesied that the wicked of which generation would be swept off the earth? When was this to occur? Who would return after this event? Did Smith claim that there would be those of his own day who would live to see his predictions come true? Did the people who were alive in 1833 see any of these events? Did the ten lost tribes appear? It is very apparent that none of these things ever came to pass.

 

Journal of Oliver Broadman Huntington (Vol..2, p.129)

^th of Feb. 1835, Joseph Smith said that God had revealed to him that the coming of Christ would be within 56 years, which being added to 1835 shows that before 1891 and the 14^th

 

In light of the above, clearly stated prophecies of Joseph Smith, we must conclude that Joseph Smith was not a “true” prophet of God. With these and nearly sixty other documented prophecies, not one of them has ever come to pass.  Thus, Joseph Smith was a “False Prophet!”

 

Dear friend do you want to be saved and know the “real” power of God?

All you have to do is to take God at “His” Word. Recognize yourself as a sinner,  (Rom.3:23), and put your  trust in Him only, not a self-proclaimed prophet, nor your own works, but in the only one who can truly save you, the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.      Romans 10:9-10