The Life and Claims of Joseph Smith

The Prophet at the Center

Everything in Mormonism depends on Joseph Smith. If Smith was a true prophet who received revelations from God, translated ancient scripture, and restored Christ's church to the earth, then the LDS church has an extraordinary claim on the allegiance of all people. If Smith was a false prophet—whether deceived or deceiving—then Mormonism, however sincere its members, rests on a foundation of sand.

Latter-day Saints understand this. Testimonies in LDS meetings frequently include the affirmation: "I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God." The church's missionary discussions lead investigators toward this conclusion. President Gordon B. Hinckley stated plainly: "Each of us has to face the matter— either the Church is true, or it is a fraud. There is no middle ground. It is the Church and kingdom of God, or it is nothing."

The Making of a Prophet

Family Background

Joseph Smith Jr. was born December 23, 1805, in Sharon, Vermont, the fifth of eleven children born to Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith. The family moved frequently, struggling economically, eventually settling in Palmyra, New York, in 1816—the heart of what would become known as the "burned-over district" due to intense revivalist activity.

The Smith family existed on the margins of respectable society. They were poor, poorly educated, and involved in activities their neighbors found disreputable. Both Joseph Sr. and his son Joseph Jr. participated in treasure seeking—using folk magic techniques like divining rods and seer stones to locate buried treasure supposedly hidden by ancient peoples or guarded by spirits.

This background is important for understanding Joseph Smith's later prophetic career. The use of seer stones, the belief in hidden ancient records, and the expectation of supernatural encounters were part of his world before he claimed prophetic calling. The transition from treasure seer to prophet was not as dramatic as later church histories suggest.

The 1826 Trial

In 1826, Joseph Smith was brought before a justice of the peace in Bainbridge, New York, on charges of being a "disorderly person" and "glass looker"—someone who claimed to find lost objects or buried treasure through supernatural means. The trial record, discovered in 1971, confirms that Smith worked as a treasure seeker for hire, using a seer stone placed in a hat to locate buried treasure.

This same method—stone in hat, face buried in the hat to block out light—would later be used in translating the Book of Mormon, according to eyewitness accounts. The LDS church has recently acknowledged this translation method, though for generations official artwork depicted Smith studying the golden plates directly. The connection between treasure-seeking and prophetic translation raises questions about the nature of Smith's revelatory experiences.

The First Vision: Foundation of Mormonism

The Official Account

According to the canonized account in the Pearl of Great Price, in the spring of 1820, fourteen-year-old Joseph Smith was troubled by the competing claims of different denominations. After reading James 1:5 ("If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God"), he retired to a grove of trees to pray. There, he claims, he was attacked by a dark power, then delivered by a pillar of light in which two personages appeared—God the Father and Jesus Christ.

The personages told Smith that all churches were wrong, all their creeds were an abomination, and all their professors were corrupt. He was commanded to join none of them. This vision established both Smith's prophetic calling and the foundational LDS doctrine that Christianity had completely apostatized, requiring a new restoration.

Multiple Conflicting Accounts

The church now acknowledges that Joseph Smith left multiple accounts of the First Vision that differ in significant details. The earliest known account, from 1832, mentions only one personage (Jesus) appearing—not the Father and Son together. Smith's age varies between accounts (14, 15, or 16). His motivation for praying shifts (seeking forgiveness in one version, seeking to know which church is true in another). The beings who appear change (one personage, two personages, angels).

The 1838 account that became canonized was written after Mormon theology had developed the concept of the Father and Son as separate beings with physical bodies. Earlier accounts, when Smith's theology was more traditionally Christian, describe only one being appearing. This pattern—where the First Vision account evolves to match developing theology—suggests a story that grew over time rather than a consistent memory of an actual event.

Contemporary Silence

Perhaps most troubling is the complete silence about the First Vision in contemporary records. If a teenage boy in rural New York had seen God the Father and Jesus Christ, we would expect some mention of it—in diaries, letters, newspaper accounts, or early church documents. Instead, there is nothing until 1832, twelve years after the supposed event.

The 1830 Book of Mormon and the early revelations make no mention of the First Vision. Early missionaries didn't share it; early converts hadn't heard it. The vision that is now foundational to LDS faith was unknown to the earliest Latter-day Saints. It only became central to Mormon identity in the late nineteenth century.

The Book of Mormon: Keystone of Mormonism

The Coming Forth

In 1823, Smith claimed that an angel named Moroni appeared and revealed the location of golden plates buried in a hill near his home. These plates contained the record of ancient peoples who inhabited the Americas—Israelites who fled Jerusalem around 600 BC and became the ancestors of Native Americans. After four years of preparation, Smith was permitted to take the plates and translate them "by the gift and power of God."

The translation process, as described by scribes and witnesses, involved Smith placing his seer stone in a hat, burying his face in the hat, and dictating the text that appeared to him. The golden plates were often not even present during translation—sometimes hidden in the woods or kept elsewhere. The primary scribe, Oliver Cowdery, recorded what Smith dictated, producing over 500 pages of text in approximately 65 working days.

Problems with the Text

The Book of Mormon presents itself as an ancient historical document—which means its claims can be tested against evidence. The results are problematic:

No archaeological evidence: Despite decades of searching, no archaeological evidence supports Book of Mormon peoples, cities, or civilizations. No inscriptions, coins, buildings, or artifacts have been found. The Smithsonian Institution has repeatedly stated that it sees no connection between New World archaeology and the Book of Mormon.

DNA evidence: The Book of Mormon claims Native Americans descended from Israelites. Modern DNA evidence shows no trace of Middle Eastern genetic markers in Native American populations; instead, DNA confirms Asian ancestry through the land bridge. The LDS church has quietly adjusted the Book of Mormon introduction from describing Lamanites as "the principal ancestors of the American Indians" to "among the ancestors."

Anachronisms: The text contains numerous elements that did not exist in pre-Columbian America: horses, cattle, sheep, goats, wheat, barley, steel, chariots, compasses, and others. Apologists offer various explanations (perhaps "horse" means "tapir"), but these require significant special pleading.

King James Bible dependence: The Book of Mormon contains extensive quotations from the King James Bible, including the distinctive italicized words that KJV translators added for clarity (and that would not have been on any ancient plates). Isaiah passages that scholars date to after 600 BC appear in the Book of Mormon as pre-exile prophecy.

Plural Marriage: The Secret Practice

The Beginning of Polygamy

Joseph Smith secretly practiced plural marriage for years while publicly denying it. Historians estimate he married between 30 and 40 women during his lifetime, beginning perhaps as early as 1833. Some of these marriages were to teenagers as young as 14 (Helen Mar Kimball). Some were to women already legally married to other men (polyandry). Some were to pairs of sisters or mothers and daughters.

The revelation commanding plural marriage (now Doctrine and Covenants 132) was recorded in 1843, though Smith claimed to have received it years earlier. It threatened Emma Smith with destruction if she refused to accept her husband's other wives: "And I command mine handmaid, Emma Smith, to abide and cleave unto my servant Joseph, and to none else. But if she will not abide this commandment she shall be destroyed, saith the Lord."

Denials and Deception

While practicing polygamy secretly, Smith and other church leaders publicly denied it. An 1835 statement on marriage, canonized in the Doctrine and Covenants until 1876, declared: "Inasmuch as this Church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication and polygamy, we declare that we believe that one man should have one wife, and one woman but one husband."

In 1844, shortly before his death, Smith declared from the pulpit: "What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one." At the time of this denial, Smith had approximately 30-40 plural wives. This was not a misunderstanding or matter of interpretation; it was deliberate deception.

Evolving Doctrine

From Monotheism to Polytheism

One of the most striking features of Joseph Smith's prophetic career is how dramatically his theology changed over time. The Book of Mormon, published in 1830, teaches a fairly orthodox view of God. It speaks of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost as "one God" in language that sounds trinitarian. It contains nothing about plural gods, God having a physical body, humans becoming gods, or eternal progression.

By 1844, Smith was teaching something radically different. In the King Follett Discourse, delivered just months before his death, Smith declared: "God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man... We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea." He taught that humans can become gods, that there are many gods, and that God the Father has a Father of his own.

This represents not development but contradiction. The Book of Mormon's monotheism and the King Follett Discourse's polytheism cannot both be true. If Smith received both by revelation, then God contradicted himself. If Smith invented the later doctrines, then he was not a reliable prophet throughout his career.

Failed Prophecies

The Bible provides a clear test for prophets: "When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously" (Deuteronomy 18:22). By this standard, Joseph Smith's prophetic claims are problematic:

The temple in Independence, Missouri: A revelation in 1832 (D&C 84) declared that a temple would be built in Independence, Missouri, "in this generation." The revelation specified the exact location. No temple was built there; the land remains in the possession of another Latter Day Saint splinter group.

The return of Christ: Smith prophesied in 1835 that the coming of the Lord was "nigh—even fifty-six years should wind up the scene." That would place Christ's return around 1891. This did not occur.

The Civil War prophecy: Sometimes cited as a fulfilled prophecy, Smith predicted in 1832 that war would begin in South Carolina and involve Great Britain. While the Civil War did begin in South Carolina, Great Britain was not directly involved as the prophecy suggested. Moreover, talk of secession and war beginning in South Carolina was common in 1832 during the Nullification Crisis—Smith may simply have been stating what many expected.

The Death of the Prophet

The Nauvoo Expositor

By 1844, Smith had accumulated numerous enemies, both within and outside the church. Some former members, disturbed by the secret practice of polygamy and what they saw as Smith's increasing authoritarianism, established a newspaper called the Nauvoo Expositor. Its single issue exposed the practice of plural marriage and criticized Smith's consolidation of power.

Smith, acting in his capacity as mayor of Nauvoo and lieutenant general of the Nauvoo Legion (militia), declared the newspaper a public nuisance and ordered the printing press destroyed. This action—the suppression of a newspaper by destroying its press—outraged even those who had no sympathy for the Expositor's message. It brought charges of riot and, eventually, treason.

Carthage Jail

Smith surrendered to authorities in Carthage, Illinois, on charges related to the destruction of the press. While awaiting trial, he and his brother Hyrum were held in Carthage Jail—not in cells but in an upstairs room. Friends smuggled in weapons, including a six-shot pepper-box pistol.

On June 27, 1844, a mob of 150-200 men stormed the jail. In the attack, Smith fired his pistol through the door, hitting three men (at least two fatally). He then ran to the window and was shot multiple times. He fell from the window, dead at age 38. Hyrum died in the room.

Martyr or Something Else?

Latter-day Saints revere Joseph Smith as a martyr— one who sealed his testimony with his blood. His death, they believe, confirms his prophetic calling. "Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it" (D&C 135:3).

The historical picture is more complex. Smith died in a gunfight, shooting back at his attackers and attempting to escape through a window. He had been arrested for ordering the destruction of a newspaper that exposed his secret practices. He was awaiting trial on charges related to actions that, even by nineteenth-century standards, violated fundamental liberties.

None of this justifies mob violence. Smith deserved a fair trial, not assassination. But the circumstances of his death are more complicated than the simple martyr narrative suggests. And martyrdom, in any case, does not prove truth—people die for false beliefs all the time.

Evaluating the Prophet

The Biblical Standard

Scripture provides criteria for evaluating prophetic claims. A true prophet speaks what God has commanded (Deuteronomy 18:18). A true prophet's predictions come to pass (Deuteronomy 18:22). A true prophet does not lead people to worship other gods (Deuteronomy 13:1-3). A true prophet's life and character should reflect God's holiness (Matthew 7:15-20).

By these standards, Joseph Smith's prophetic claims face serious challenges. His doctrine evolved to contradict itself. His prophecies often failed. He taught a view of God that the biblical writers would have recognized as polytheism. His personal life included patterns of deception about matters as serious as marriage.

The Fruit of His Teaching

Jesus said we would know false prophets by their fruits (Matthew 7:16). What are the fruits of Joseph Smith's teaching? Millions of sincere people following a different gospel—one that replaces grace with works, the eternal God with an exalted man, and salvation as gift with exaltation as achievement. Families bound together by temple ordinances that have no power to save. Missionaries proclaiming "another testament of Jesus Christ" that obscures the true Christ of Scripture.

This is not to deny that many good things exist in Mormon culture—strong families, moral discipline, community service. But good fruit can grow alongside bad, and the doctrinal fruit of Joseph Smith's teaching leads people away from the one true God and the genuine gospel.

Pointing to the True Prophet

Joseph Smith claimed to be a prophet, seer, and revelator—one who spoke for God and revealed truths hidden from the rest of humanity. The evidence does not support this claim. The First Vision accounts evolved over time. The Book of Mormon bears the marks of nineteenth-century composition, not ancient authorship. The doctrines contradicted themselves and Scripture. The prophecies failed. The prophet himself practiced deception about serious matters.

But our goal is not merely to tear down false prophets; it is to point people to the true Prophet—Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life. "Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son" (Hebrews 1:1-2).

Jesus Christ is the Word made flesh, the final and complete revelation of God. We need no additional prophets to supplement what he has revealed. We need no additional scriptures to complete his message. We need no restored priesthood to access his grace. In Christ, all the fullness of God dwells bodily (Colossians 2:9), and in him we have been made complete (Colossians 2:10).

May we gently but clearly help our LDS friends see that following Joseph Smith leads away from Christ, not toward him. And may we point them to the Prophet who alone can save—Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever.