CONFLICTING TESTIMONY?

As mentioned in the Divine History section, in 1838 Joseph claimed to have been persecuted by all of the religious sects and the general public because he told people that he saw God and Jesus Christ in 1820:

“I soon found, however, that my telling the story had excited a great deal of prejudice against me among professors of religion, and was the cause of great persecution which continued to increase; and though I was an obscure boy, only between fourteen and fifteen years of age, and my circumstances in life such as to make a boy of no consequence in the world, yet men of high standing would take notice sufficient to excite the public mind against me, and create a bitter persecution; and this was common among all the sects all united to persecute me.”¹ But, this claim seems to be unsubstantiated as people from the area give accounts that don't appear to be substantially for or against him. His participation in debate clubs and Methodist preaching means he wasn't completely shunned. As is admitted by LDS scholars, “There is little if any evidence, however, that by the early 1830s Joseph Smith was telling the story in public. At least if he were telling it, no one seemed to consider it important enough to have recorded it at the time, and no one was criticizing him for it. Not even in his own history did Joseph Smith mention being criticized in this period for telling the story of the First Vision.”² And even when he started telling the story in the 1830s, it appears he made no claims of seeing God and Jesus Christ. The story seems to have grown as time went on. In fact, in his 1832 account he states that he saw Jesus and no one else. This fits the revelations that he and Sidney were recording at that time. In D&C 84, the priesthood is being explained and it states that without the priesthood, no man can see the face of God,

19 And this greater priesthood administereth the gospel and holdeth the key of the mysteries of the kingdom, even the key of the knowledge of God.

20 Therefore, in the ordinances thereof, the power of godliness is manifest.

21 And without the ordinances thereof, and the authority of the priesthood, the power of godliness is not manifest unto men in the flesh;

22 For without this no man can see the face of God, even the Father, and live.

According to Joseph, he did not receive the priesthood until 1829. Therefore, he could not have seen God in 1820, by his own revelation. These verses were written in 1832, which is the same year he wrote about seeing Jesus in his first vision, but makes no mention of seeing God the Father. His later accounts start to take on a different form and, in his 1838 account, he says to have seen God as well as Jesus Christ. It is this version that the church adopted as the official First Vision story:

“When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!

   My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong) and which I should join.

   I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.”³

Joseph had told so many versions of the First Vision story that even the prophets and apostles that started the Utah branch of the Mormon church seemed to have some of the details confused at times. Here are some examples:

-Brigham Young - "The Lord did not come with the armies of heaven ... but He did send his angel to this same obscure person, Joseph Smith jun., who afterwards became a Prophet, Seer, and Revelator, and informed him that he should not join any of the religious sects of the day, for they were all wrong"⁴ (1855)
-Wilford Woodruff - "The same organization and Gospel that Christ died for ... is again established in this generation. How did it come? By the ministering of an holy angel from God, out of heaven, who held converse with man, and revealed unto him the darkness that enveloped the world ... He told him the Gospel was not among men, and that there was not a true organization of His kingdom in the world"⁵ (1855)
-Wilford Woodruff - "Joseph was strengthened by the Spirit and power of God, and was enabled to listen to the teachings of the angel. ... The man to whom the angel appeared obeyed the Gospel."⁶ (1855)
-Heber C. Kimball - "Do you suppose that God in person called upon Joseph Smith, our Prophet? God called upon him; but God did not come himself and call, but he sent Peter to do it. Do you not see? He sent Peter and sent Moroni to Joseph, and told him that he had got the plates. Did God come himself? No."⁷ (1857)
-Orson Hyde - "Some one may say, 'If this work of the last days be true, why did not the Saviour come himself to communicate this intelligence to the world?' Because to the angels was committed the power of reaping the earth, and it was committed to none else."⁸ (1854)
-John Taylor - "How did the state of things called Mormonism originate? We read that an angel came down and revealed himself to Joseph Smith and manifested unto him in vision the true position of the world in a religious point of view."⁹ (1863)
-George A. Smith - "he [Joseph Smith] went humbly before the Lord and inquired of Him, and the Lord answered his prayer, and revealed to Joseph, by the ministration of angels, the true condition of the religious world. When the holy angel appeared, Joseph inquired which of all these denominations was right and which he should join, and was told they were all wrong."¹⁰ (1863)
-George A. Smith - "[Joseph] was enlightened by the vision of an holy angel. When this personage appeared to him, one of the first inquiries was 'Which of the denominations of Christians in the vicinity was right?'"¹¹ (1869)
-Wilford Woodruff - "How did it [Mormonism] commence? It commenced by an angel of God flying through the midst of heaven and visiting a young man named Joseph Smith in the year 1827. ... The Lord heard his prayer and sent His angel to him, who informed him that all the sects were wrong."¹² (1869)
-John Taylor - "None of them was right, just as it was when the Prophet Joseph asked the angel which of the sects was right that he might join it. The answer was that none of them are right."¹³ (1879)

It is not until as late as 1874 that church leaders began to consistently identify both the Father and the Son as the ones who visited Joseph Smith.¹⁴

Another thing that I think is worth pointing out has to do with a few other tales in Joseph's area that have some similarities to the way Joseph tells his first vision stories. In 1823, the Wayne Sentinel (which, as previously stated, Joseph's father subscribed to) printed an article telling the story of a man named Asa Wild who claimed to have had a vision. The story he told said, “It seemed as if my mind was struck motionless before the awful and glorious majesty of the Great Jehovah He also told me, that every denomination of professing Christians had become extremely corrupt He said that all the different denominations of professing Christians, constituted the New Testament Babylon.”¹⁵ Compare this to Joseph's later account that says, “No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong) and which I should join. I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.”¹⁶

Another account from a man who taught at the Palmyra Academy tells of a dream where he is visited by Jesus. Jesus descends from the heavens “in a glare of brightness exceeding tenfold the brilliancy of the meridian (noonday) Sun.”¹⁷ Joseph later describes his vision with these words, “I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.”¹⁸ I think there are some interesting similarities in these accounts. At the very least, these accounts were not unheard of.

 

Besides the differing tales of the First Vision, Joseph didn't keep straight whether he was later visited by the angel Nephi or Moroni. In the 1833 Book of Commandments is written, “Behold, this is wisdom in me; wherefore, marvel not, for the hour cometh that I will drink of the fruit of the vine with you on the earth, and with all those whom my Father hath given me out of the world.”¹⁹ My guess is that Sidney and Joseph felt it was important to add a scriptural figure into the tale of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. Therefore, somewhere between the writing of the first revelation in 1830 and the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants, the revelation was changed to read, “Behold, this is wisdom in me; wherefore, marvel not, for the hour cometh that I will drink of the fruit of the vine with you on the earth, and with Moroni, whom I have sent unto you to reveal the Book of Mormon, containing the fullness of the everlasting gospel.”²⁰ This created a scenario where Moroni was the angel of God who came to show Joseph where the plates were. It seems logical that the angel who buried the record would be the one to come back and reveal the burial location. However, when Joseph Smith started dictating his history three years after the addition of Moroni into the Doctrine and Covenants, he recorded that it was Nephi that visited him and later delivered the plates to him. The handwritten manuscript reads, “He called me by name and said unto me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name was Nephi; that God had a work for me to do; and that my name should be had for good and evil among all nations. (I find it worth noting that he writes this in 1838. By that time, people were already saying good and bad things about him. When prophecies are recorded after the prophesied event, it gives me reason to question their authenticity.) It was this “same heavenly messenger, Nephi, that delivered the plates to Joseph. This remains unchanged for four years, and in 1842 the Times and Seasons newspaper had this same history published. At this time, Joseph was the editor of the Times and Seasons and the account remained unchanged. The same account was published in the Millenial Star later that year as well. The story remained the same until Joseph was killed. Even in a book written by his mother, Lucy Mack Smith, the angel that visited Joseph still remains Nephi. In 1851, the first edition of the Pearl of Great Price is published and it also contains this same account. At some point through the years, people in the church start realizing that the revelation in the Doctrine and Covenants and the well published account from Joseph Smith, found in the Pearl of Great Price, contradict one another. They must have assumed that the revelation in the D&C should trump the account of Joseph Smith (the Lord trumps the Prophet). So, in the 1878 Pearl of Great Price, the name Nephi was changed to Moroni.

TREASURE HUNTING

Joseph had at least two seer stones. He went around using them to find treasure. He eventual received the reputation of being a stone-peeper, crystal-gazer, or a glass-looker as well as a money-digger. Joseph's official 1838 version of his own history downplays this activity. He mentions being hired to search for treasure, but makes no reference to the fact that he was attempting to use supernatural means to find the treasure. He says, “I hired with an old gentleman by the name of Josiah Stoal, who lived in Chenango county, State of New York. He had heard something of a silver mine having been opened by the Spaniards in Harmony, Susquehanna county, State of Pennsylvania; and had, previous to my hiring to him, been digging, in order, if possible, to discover the mine. After I went to live with him, he took me, with the rest of his hands, to dig for the silver mine, at which I continued to work for nearly a month, without success in our undertaking, and finally I prevailed with the old gentleman to cease digging after it. Hence arose the very prevalent story of my having been a money-digger.”²¹ This was his attempt at shrugging of the accusations that he was a money-digger, a somewhat derogatory term. He was indeed hired by a Josiah Stowell to find treasure for him, but he was not hired as a regular hand. He was hired because Joseph claimed to have the ability to see things in stones. Joseph's mother states that Josiah “came for Joseph on account of having heard that he possessed certain keys, by which he could discern things invisible to the natural eye.”²² No treasure was ever found. While working for Stowell, the hired hands were boarding at the house of Isaac Hale (the father of his future first wife). I will repeat some of Isaac's words relating to this period, “Smith, and his father, with several other 'money-diggers' boarded at my house while they were employed in digging for a mine that they supposed had been opened and worked by the Spaniards, many years since. Young Smith gave the 'money-diggers' great encouragement, at first, but when they had arrived in digging, to near the place where he had stated an immense treasure would be found - he said the enchantment was so powerful that he could not see. They then became discouraged, and soon after dispersed. At some point, word reached the authorities that Joseph was getting paid for glass looking and, in 1826, Joseph was brought up on charges for these actions. As stated before, these actions were against the law: “According to the Laws of the State of New-York, a disorderly person includes, "All jugglers and all persons pretending to have skill in physiognomy, palmistry, or like crafty science, or pretending to tell fortunes, or to discover where lost goods may be found shall be deemed and adjudged disorderly persons.”²³ In 1873, an alleged account of the court proceeding was published in Fraser's Magazine.  WARNING: While some details in this account are known to be accurate, it is unknown how accurate this record is when taken in full.

STATE OF NEW YORK v. JOSEPH SMITH.

Warrant issued upon written complaint upon oath of Peter G. Bridgeman, who informed that one Joseph Smith of Bainbridge was a disorderly person and an imposter. Prisoner brought before Court March 20, 1826.

Prisoner examined: says that he came from the town of Palmyra, and had been at the house of Josiah Stowel in Bainbridge most of time since; had small part of time been employed by said Stowel on his farm, and going to school. That he had a certain stone which he had occasionally looked at to determine where hidden treasures in the bowels of the earth were; that he professed to tell in this manner where gold mines were a distance under ground, and had looked for Mr. Stowel several times, and had informed him where he could find these treasures, and Mr. Stowel had been engaged in digging for them. That at Palmyra he pretended to tell by looking at this stone where coined money was buried in Pennsylvania, and while at Palmyra had frequently ascertained in that way where lost property was of various kinds; that he had occasionally been in the habit of looking through this stone to find lost property for three years, but of late had pretty much given it up on account of its injuring his health, especially his eyes making them sore; that he did not solicit business of this kind, and had always rather declined having anything to do with this business.

Josiah Stowel sworn: says that prisoner had been at his house something like five months; had been employed by him to work on farm part of time; that he pretended to have skill of telling where hidden treasures in the earth were by means of looking through a certain stone; that prisoner had looked for him sometimes; once to tell him about money buried in Bend Mountain in Pennsylvania, once for gold on Monument Hill, and once for a salt spring; and that he positively knew that the prisoner could tell, and did possess the art of seeing those valuable treasures through the medium of said stone; that he found the (word illegible) at Bend and Monument Hill as prisoner represented it; that prisoner had looked through said stone for Deacon Attleton for a mine, did not exactly find it, but got a p--- (word unfinished) of ore which resembled gold, he thinks; that prisoner had told by means of this stone where a Mr. Bacon had buried money; that he and prisoner had been in search of it; that prisoner had said it was in a certain root of a stump five feet from surface of the earth, and with it would be found a tail feather; that said Stowel and prisoner thereupon commenced digging, found a tail feather, but money was gone; that he supposed the money moved down. That prisoner did offer his services; that he never deceived him; that prisoner looked through stone and described Josiah Stowel's house and outhouses, while at Palmyra at Simpson Stowel's, correctly; that he had told about a painted tree, with a man's head painted upon it, by means of said stone. That he had been in company with prisoner digging for gold, and had the most implicit faith in prisoner's skill.

Arad Stowel sworn: says that he went to see whether prisoner could convince him that he possessed the skill he professed to have, upon which prisoner laid a book upon a white cloth, and proposed looking through another stone which was white and transparent, hold the stone to the candle, turn his head to book, and read. The deception appeared so palpable that witness went off disgusted.

McMaster sworn: says he went with Arad Stowel, and likewise came away disgusted. Prisoner pretended to him that he could discover objects at a distance by holding this white stone to the sun or candle; that prisoner rather declined looking into a hat at his dark coloured stone, as he said that it hurt his eyes.

Jonathan Thompson says that prisoner was requested to look for chest of money; did look, and pretended to know where it was; and prisoner, Thompson, and Yeomans went in search of it; that Smith arrived at spot first; was at night; that Smith looked in hat while there, and when very dark, and told how the chest was situated. After digging several feet, struck upon something sounding like a board or plank. Prisoner would not look again, pretending that he was alarmed on account of the circumstances relating to the trunk being buried, [which], came all fresh to his mind. That the last time he looked he discovered distinctly the two Indians who buried the trunk, that a quarrel ensued between them, and that one of said Indians was killed by the other, and thrown into the hole beside the trunk, to guard it, as he supposed. Thompson says that he believes in the prisoner's professed skill; that the board which he struck his spade upon was probably the chest, but on account of an enchantment the trunk kept settling away from under them when digging; that notwithstanding they continued constantly removing the dirt, yet the trunk kept about the same distance from them. Says prisoner said that it appeared to him that salt might be found at Bainbridge, and that he is certain that prisoner can divine things by means of said stone. That as evidence of the fact prisoner looked into his hat to tell him about some money witness lost sixteen years ago, and that he described the man that witness supposed had taken it, and the disposition of the money:

And therefore the Court find[s] the Defendant guilty. Costs: Warrant, l9c. Complaint upon oath, 251/2 c. Seven witnesses, 871/2 c. Recongnisances, 25 c. Mittimus, 19 c. Recongnisances of witnesses, 75 c. Suboena, 18 c.2.68"²⁴

This account was published in 1873, but went virtually unnoticed in the realm of the Utah saints. It was not brought into the eyes of the public till David O. McKay's niece, Fawn Brodie, published the Joseph Smith biography No Man Knows My History in 1945. Just as with the Book of Abraham and Kinderhook plates, LDS scholars and leaders spoke presumptuously in their defense of Joseph Smith. They claimed that this account was a fraud. Apostle John A. Widstoe exclaimed, “This alleged court record...seems to be a literary attempt of an enemy to ridicule Joseph Smith....There is no existing proof that such a trial was ever held.”²⁵ In 1961, Hugh Nibley, perhaps the most famous Mormon defender wrote, “...if this court record is authentic it is the most damning evidence in existence against Joseph Smith.”²⁶ Why would these men consider such a thing so damning? Because it was against the law in Joseph's time for people to take others out treasure hunting through supposed supernatural means. It was a common enough con perpetrated on the believing superstitious of that time, that a law had to be drawn up to control such behavior. Any evidence of Joseph Smith appearing to be a con man seriously casts doubt on anything he says or does. If a pattern of deception can be established, then it is highly likely that the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Book of Abraham, stories of visions, claims to authority, the establishment of polygamy, etc. were all part of this continuing pattern of deception. That is why such evidence would be so damning. The record of the court proceedings from Fraser's Magazine went unsubstantiated until 1971. In that year, old court records were found in New York. The following is one of those documents. As the writing can be a bit difficult to decipher, the words are typed below in order to ease the reading:

²⁷

It reads Joseph Smith the Glass Looker. The date on the slip is the same one given in the magazine article as well as the judge's fee of $2.68. Not only was Joseph brought up on charges like the article had claimed, but the information was extremely accurate. Other records were found along with this one. One of them shows a bill of Constable Philip M. DeZeng which says,

²⁸

“Serving warrant on Joseph Smith of [Chenango Co.?]
Subpoening 12 witnesses & travel
attendance with Prisoner two days & 1 night
Notifying two justices
10 miles travel with mittimus to take him.”²⁹

Joseph was indeed found guilty enough in this preliminary examination to be arrested and put on trial. (A mittimus is a writ issued by a court or magistrate, directing the sheriff or other executive officer to convey the person named in the writ to a prison or jail, and directing the jailer to receive and imprison the person.”³⁰) It still unknown if the full trial took place. Joseph may have just paid a fine and was released.

 

After this legal trouble, Joseph returned to the house of Isaac Hale, since he was interested in Isaac's daughter Emma. Isaac refused to let him marry Emma because he did not know Joseph well enough and because he did not approve of Joseph's line of work. Since Joseph could not get Isaac's permission, Joseph and Emma eloped. Upon returning to Isaac's house, Isaac relates that Joseph “Smith stated to me, that he had given up what he called "glass-looking," and that he expected to work hard for a living, and was willing to do so.”³¹ However, soon after that Joseph began to tell people that he had found plates that he would translate. Early on in the dictation process, Martin Harris was Joseph's scribe. Martin helped with 116 pages of writing and then those pages were lost. Isaac continues his account, “Soon after this happened, Martin Harris informed me that he must have a greater witness, and said that he had talked with Joseph about it - Joseph informed him that he could not, or durst not show him the plates, but that he (Joseph) would go into the woods where the Book of Plates was, and that after he came back, Harris should follow his track in the snow, and find the Book, and examine it for himself. Harris informed me afterwards, that he followed Smith's directions, and could not find the Plates, and was still dissatisfied.”³² With the translation process, Joseph was back to glass looking. “The manner in which he pretended to read and interpret, was the same as when he looked for the money-diggers, with the stone in his hat, and his hat over his face, while the Book of Plates were at the same time in the woods.”³³ Isaac considered the whole of it a delusion. It probably upset him quite a bit to see his daughter caught up in the middle of it.

FOLK MAGIC MEETS THE BIBLE

Others in the church that owned seer stones included Hiram Page, David Whitmer, Jacob Whitmer and James Strang. As the years went on, the original stories began to sound much more scripturally based. Instead of talk of using a seer stone in a hat to translate, he starts telling of using the Old Testament Urim and Thummim in order to translate. This terminology is eventually picked up by the members. However, the Urim and Thummim in the Bible, which are Hebrew for “cursed” and “faultless,” were most likely two objects used to determine innocence or guilt. The high priest would reach down into a pouch in his breastplate and pull one of them out. One of them signified innocent and one of them signified guilty. Whichever object was pulled out would be the answer accepted in the trial. So, it was a way of using luck to decide matters (hopefully not in life or death situations!). They were not used to look into and see visions or translations as was claimed by Joseph. It seems an attempt was made to create a Biblical connection to the translation process. As an example of adding this terminology into the Mormon system, we can look at what is now D&C 10. The beginning of this section in the 1833 Book of Commandments read, “Now, behold I say unto you, that because you delivered up so many writings, which you had power to translate, into the hands of a wicked man, you have lost them. In 1835, this section was altered to read, “Now, behold I say unto you, that because you delivered up those writings which you had power given unto you to translate, by the means of the Urim and Thummim, in to the hands of a wicked man, you have lost them. It makes sense that Urim and Thummim would not be mentioned in the 1833 Book of Commandments, because it was not until that same year that W. W. Phelps first made a Biblical guess to make sense of Joseph's translation story. In January 1833, the church publication The Evening and Morning Star contains his hypothesis, “The book of Mormon, as a revelation from God, possesses some advantage over the old scripture: it has not been tinctured by the wisdom of man, with here and there an Italic word to supply deficiencies.-It was translated by the gift and power of God, by an unlearned man, through the aid of a pair of Interpreters, or spectacles-(known, perhaps, in ancient days as Teraphim, or Urim and Thummim).”³⁴ It appears that it was not until after these guesses were made that the term Urim and Thummim began to be used. As Teraphim in the Bible seems to commonly be associated with idols, it probably seemed like a better idea to use Urim and Thummim. And in 1835, that guess became official by changing a former revelation and having it published.

Another folk magic practice some people in the church used involved what are called divining rods. In using divining rods, one holds a rod in each hand and searches for water or treasure or whatever, and when the rods cross, you have found it; or the rod or stick is Y-shaped and one holds the rod with both hands and when the end pointing away from you points up or down, you have found what you are looking for. Oliver Cowdery used divining rods. In the section that is now D&C 8, this gift is referred to as “the gift of Aaron. The wording was changed, though. The 1833 Book of Commandments called it “the gift of working with the rod” and the “rod of nature.”³⁵ However, even this appears to have been a changed, as a recent look at the revelation manuscripts show that it originally read, “working with the sprout”and the “thing of nature.”³⁶ Folk magic is largely considered an occult practice by the Christian community. Just as changes were made that downplayed Joseph's glass looking past, each successive writing of the divining rod revelation went further away from the folk magic roots, until it appeared to be of Biblical origin. It went from “the gift of working with the sprout” to “the gift of working with the rod” to “the gift of Aaron.” The “gift of Aaron”sounds much more dignified.

 

In August 1828, Lucy Harris, wife of Martin Harris, brought up charges against Joseph. She believed that Joseph did not have any plates, that the container he carried around was filled with nothing but sand or lead or some other material, but not gold plates. As Martin Harris had agreed to mortgage his large farm to fund the printing of the Book of Mormon, she felt her husband was just being used. At the trial Lucy Harris stated that, “she believed the chief object which Joseph Smith had in view, was to defraud her husband out of all his property, and that she did not believe that Joseph Smith had ever been in possession of the gold plates which he talked so much about.”³⁷ As no evidence other than conjecture was brought against Joseph, the case was dismissed. Martin ended up selling 151 acres of his farm to pay for the printing of the Book of Mormon and he and his wife broke up.

 

Just before the printing of the Book of Mormon, Oliver Cowdery and Hiram Page were commanded in revelation to go to Toronto and sell the copyright to the Book of Mormon for Canada. Notice how the account of this is also an example of how Joseph looking at his seer stone in his hat later became referred to as the Urim and Thummim. Here is the account,

“Joseph looked into the hat in which he placed the stone, and received a revelation that some of the brethren should go to Toronto, Canada, and that they would sell the copyright of the Book of Mormon. Hiram Page and Oliver Cowdery went to Toronto on this mission, but they failed entirely to sell the copyright, returning without any money. Joseph was at my father's house when they returned. I was there also, and am an eye witness to these facts. Jacob Whitmer and John Whitmer were also present when Hiram Page and Oliver Cowdery returned from Canada. Well, we were all in great trouble; and we asked Joseph how it was that he had received a revelation from the Lord for some brethren to go to Toronto and sell the copyright, and the brethren had utterly failed in their undertaking. Joseph did not know how it was, so he enquired of the Lord about it, and behold the following revelation came through the stone: "Some revelations are of God: some revelations are of men: and some revelations are of the devil.”³⁸ If that excuse for a failed prophecy doesn't make one question Joseph's abilities, I don't know what will. Is he saying that he can't even tell the difference? If so, why believe any of his revelations? Oliver Cowdery was very upset by this incident. He later writes, “But so great was my faith, that in going to Toronto, nothing but calmness pervaded my soul, every doubt was banished and I as much expected that Bro. Page and I would fulfill the revelation as that we should live. And you may believe, without asking me to relate the particulars, that it is no easy task to describe our desolation and grief. Bro. Page and I did not think that God would deceive us through Urim and Thummim,exactly as came the Book of Mormon.”³⁹

Joseph is supposed to be a prophet like the prophets from the Bible. Well, the Bible states: “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits.”⁴⁰ What are the fruits of a prophet? Why, their prophecies of course! “But the prophet who prophesies peace will be recognized as one truly sent by the Lord only if his prediction comes true”⁴¹ or “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 thou shalt not be afraid of him.”⁴² It is interesting that instead of Oliver realizing that he should “not be afraid of [Joseph]” because he was a false prophet, Oliver instead blames the failed prophecy on God when he says, “I did not think that God would deceive us.” How much sense does that make? The Bible states that you can tell a false prophet by the fact that his prophecies do not come true. If one opens the door for true prophets to make mistakes right along with false prophets, then you no longer have a way of determining between true and false prophets. Anyone can make predictions that will sometimes be right and sometimes be wrong. Joseph is just lucky he was not living in Biblical times, since God commanded that “the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak that prophet shall die.”⁴³ In other times, Joseph might have been stoned for this prophecy.

I think a lesson was learned from this experience. After the failed prophecy, virtually every revelation came with a stipulation about faith. The prophecies in future revelations would depend on the faith of certain individuals or on the faith of the collective membership. This meant that if a prophecy failed, it was not because it was a false prophecy, but because someone had just not been faithful enough. This was an ingenious way of never being wrong. If he makes a prediction and it comes out right, then his followers can say, “See! He was a prophet. If one of those same types of prophecies does not come true, those same people can say, “Well, obviously the terms of the prophecy were just not met.”

 

The church is founded in 1830. A few months later, Joseph is arrested and is again brought up on charges of disorderly conduct in two successive trials. Josiah Stowell is once again questioned about his hiring Joseph for treasure hunting. The testimony is as follows:

[Q] Did Smith ever tell you there was money hid in a certain place which he mentioned?

[A] Yes.

[Q] Did he tell you, you could find it by digging?

[A] Yes.

[Q] Did you dig?

[A] Yes.

[Q] Did you find any money?

[A] No.

[Q] Did he not lie to you then, and deceive you?

[A] No! the money was there, but we did not get quite to it!

[Q] How do you know it was there?

[A] Smith said it was!⁴⁴

Joseph was released to due to a ruling about the statute of limitations since he had already been tried for that crime.

At the end of 1830, Joseph and Sidney get to work on the retranslation of the Bible and recording other revelations. Even though the Lord in the Book of Mormon and the Book of Commandments told Joseph that his job was just to translate and Sidney was supposed to be his spokesman, by 1831, Joseph was already taking on a larger role. In the last days of August of that year, Joseph brought forth a revelation put in the Doctrine and Covenants saying that “I, the Lord, am not pleased with my servant Sidney Rigdon; he exalted himself in his heart, and received not counsel, but grieved the Spirit.”⁴⁵ Upset that Joseph was trying to tell him what to do and that his position of spokesman and gatherer of Israel was being usurped, Sidney declared in a meeting that the keys of the kingdom had been taken away. The account surrounding these events was written by church member Philo Dibble, “At this time Sidney Rigdon was left to preside at Kirtland and frequently preached to us. Upon one occasion he said the keys of the kingdom were taken from us. On hearing this, many of his hearers wept, and when some one undertook to dismiss the meeting by prayer he said praying would do them no good, and the meeting broke up in confusion. Brother Hyrum came to my house the next morning and told me all about it, and said it was false, and that the keys of the kingdom were still with us. He wanted my carriage and horses to go to the town of Hiram and bring Joseph. The word went abroad among the people immediately that Sidney was going to expose Mormonism.”⁴⁶ Whatever Joseph said to Sidney when he came back must have convinced him that it was better for him to stay with Joseph than try to Expose him. And perhaps it was more than words that were used against Sidney as Philo goes on to describe that a few weeks after this, “Sidney was lying on his bed alone. An unseen power lifted him from his bed, threw him across the room, and tossed him from one side of the room to the other from the effects of which Sidney was laid up for five or six weeks.”⁴⁷ Philo makes it sound as if some angel sent by God came to teach Sidney a leeson, but perhaps the being that attacked Sidney was sent from a more terrestrial sphere. Whoever performed the beating obviously felt the Sidney was getting out of line.

WORD OF WISDOM

In 1833, a revelation is produced that promises health, physical endurance, wisdom and knowlege, and protection from God's destroying angel.  This revelation begins by stating that it is a "word of wisdom...To be sent greeting; not by commandment or constraint."  Essentially, it is declaring that the following revelation is given as a recommendation, not a commandment.  The revelation goes on to stipulate that people should avoid the use of: tobacco, hot drink and strong drink.  Brigham Young described the events surrounding this revelation in these words, “The first school of the prophets was held in a small room situated over the Prophet Joseph's kitchen.... When they assembled together in this room after breakfast, the first they did was to light their pipes, and, while smoking, talk about the great things of the kingdom, and spit all over the room, and as soon as the pipe was out of their mouths a large chew of tobacco would then be taken. Often when the Prophet entered the room to give the school instructions he would find himself in a cloud of tobacco smoke. This, and the complaints of his wife at having to clean so filthy a floor, made the Prophet think upon the matter, and he inquired of the Lord relating to the conduct of the Elders in using tobacco, and the revelation known as the Word of Wisdom was the result of his inquiry.”⁴⁸

KIRTLAND/MISSOURI

Around January 1831, Joseph and his small group of followers moved to Kirtland.

As I discussed more thoroughly in a previously section, Joseph and Sidney were tarred and feathered in early 1832 for requiring that members give up their property to the church to then be redistributed. Joseph was also almost castrated at this time as well by the Johnson boys for his believed relationship with their 16 year old sister Nancy Johnson.

In the early 1830s, Missouri was the westernmost of the United States. Past that was unorganized territory or areas claimed by Mexico. During this time, the U.S. government began removing Indians from this area and putting them in allotted Indian territories (See the Indian Removal Act of 1830). Missouri was seen as the dividing line between the United States and Indian country. In 1830, a revelation is recorded stating that Oliver Cowdery should “go unto the Lamanites and preach my gospel unto them; and inasmuch as they receive thy teachings thou shalt cause my church to be established among them.”⁴⁹ It goes on to say that “no man knoweth where the city Zion shall be built, but it shall be given hereafter. Behold, I say unto you that it shall be on the borders by the Lamanites. A few other revelations come out mentioning that the site for a New Jerusalem or Zion would soon be revealed. One of them mentions that the members should gather up their riches to purchase their land of inheritance and that the New Jerusalem will be “a land of peace, a city of refuge, a place of safety for the saints of the Most High God.”⁵⁰ Joseph and others travel to Missouri and on August 3, 1831, Joseph dedicates the spot for the Temple, “a little west of Independence.”⁵¹ The next day, Joseph records that he “attended the first conference in the land of Zion.”⁵² After this Joseph starts producing revelations telling the members that they should be “assembled upon the land of Zion.”⁵³ While the church headquarters remained in Kirtland, Joseph's followers begin to gather in Jackson County, Missouri. The Missourians were uncomfortable with the growing Mormon presence. For one thing, most of the Mormons came from the North, whereas, the Missourians were mostly from Southern states. This meant that there were great political and social differences between the groups. Also, the Mormons predominantly voted as a bloc so, while the Mormon presence grew, the Missourians felt that they were losing their representation. Plus, the Mormons believed that Jackson County was a land of inheritance for them, that they had a God-given claim to the land. The revelations printed in the Mormon papers told the Missourians that the Mormons believed that the land would be theirs either by “purchase or by blood.”⁵⁴ Many of these revelations discussing Zion as a land of inheritance, as a place where they would establish a Kingdom of God were published by W. W. Phelps who ran the church publication the Evening and Morning Star in Independence, Missouri. (I would like to point out that establishing a separate kingdom, Joseph's theocracy, within the United States would amount to treason.) I know that if I had lived in Jackson County at the time, I would have been uncomfortable. Here was a group of outsiders moving in, claiming that a prophet of God that they followed told them that the land was their inheritance and that they would be establishing their own Kingdom on earth there. Also the revelations being published by the Mormons were stating that the land would be taken by force if necessary. These examples of eccentricity do not excuse what happened next, but hopefully it puts it into perspective. Eventually, Anti-Mormon sentiment grew to the point where vigilante mobs forcefully drove Mormons from their homes in October of 1833. The Mormons mostly settled in Clay County after this.

 

ZION'S CAMP

The Mormons attempted to get their land back by legal means, but this failed. In February 1834, Joseph produced a revelation, now found in D&C 103, stating, “Behold, I say unto you, the redemption of Zion must needs come by power. Therefore, I will raise up unto my people a man, who shall lead them like as Moses led the children of Israel Therefore, as I said unto you, ask and ye shall receive; pray earnestly that peradventure my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., may go with you, and preside in the midst of my people and organize my kingdom… It also states, “It is my will that my servant Parley P. Pratt and my servant Lyman Wight should not return to the land of their brethren, until they have obtained companies to go up unto the land of Zion, by tens, or by twenties, or by fifties, or by an hundred, until they have obtained to the number of five hundred of the strength of my house. Apparently the Lord realized that he may have gotten a bit overzealous in the large numbers that he was throwing out and began to back off from his presumptuous statement: “Therefore, if you cannot obtain five hundred, seek diligently that peradventure you may obtain three hundred. And if ye cannot obtain three hundred, seek diligently that peradventure ye may obtain one hundred. But verily I say unto you, a commandment I give unto you, that ye shall not go up unto the land of Zion until you have obtained a hundred of the strength of my house, to go up with you unto the land of Zion. Well, it was a good thing that the Lord backed off of the very ambitious number of 500. Joseph was able to raise a militia of somewhere between 150 and 200 men. They left Kirtland on May 4, 1834. As they were passing through southern Illinois, they came across a mound where they dug up some bones. They noticed an arrowhead in between the ribs of the unearthed skeleton. The men asked Joseph who the person was that had died. Heber C. Kimball writes, “It was made known to Joseph that be had been an officer who fell in battle, in the last destruction among the Lamanites, and his name was Zelph. This caused us to rejoice much, to think that God was so mindful of us as to show these things to his servant. Brother Joseph had enquired of the Lord and it was made known in a vision. Wilford Woodruff's account of this event reads, “Zelph was a large thick set man and a man of God. He was a warrior under the great prophet Onandagus that was known from the hill Camorah or east sea to the Rocky mountains. The above knowledge Joseph receieved in a vision. Levi Hancock writes, “Zelf he was a white Lamanite who fought with the people of Onendagus for freedom. Reuben Mcbride records, “His name was Zelph a warior under the Prophet Omandagus Zelph a white Lamanteand that he “was known from the atlantic to the Rocky Mountains. (before continuing, it is worth mentioning that Onandaga is a county in New York that is just one county over from Wayne county where Joseph Smith grew up.) Wilford Woodruff's account also states that Zelph was a white Lamanite because the skin of blackness that God cursed the Native Americans with in II Nephi 5:21-24 “was taken from him or at least in part. I find these accounts to be interesting, since LDS apologists now mostly try to claim that the Book of Mormon took place in the region around Guatemala. They do this because it is the only region that comes close to fitting the Book of Mormon descriptions, and probably because Joseph declared, “Let us turn our subject, however, to the Book of Mormon, where these wonderful ruins of Palenque are among the mighty works of the Nephites. Palenque is close to the northern border of Guatemala. However, Joseph made a lot of claims. What is interesting to me is that they have to choose which Joseph Smith to believe:

1. The Joseph Smith that dictated the Book of Mormon by revelation. The book gives enough of a definition to know that it can't take place in the middle of the United States.

2. Or the Joseph that revealed that Zelph the white Lamanite was known from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean and that Illinois was the plains of the Nephites. The Joseph that wrote to a newspaper and advertised that “The Book of Mormon is a record of the forefather of our western tribes of Indians By it, we learn that our western tribes of Indians, are descendants from that Joseph that was sold into Egypt, and that the land of America is a promised land unto them and that he was declaring these statements by the commandment of God. Joseph also declared that Huntsville, Missouri “is the ancient site of the City of Manti.

Just as Zion's camp was entering Missouri, a letter from the Governor of Missouri, Daniel Dunklin, was received in response to a letter sent by Mormon church leaders. In it, he mentions that he hopes that a compromise can be made, but as governor, he must remain “uncommitted to either party. He states that the Mormons have a clear constitutional right to get their land back after being expelled from Jackson County. He makes a point of saying that he is “fully persuaded that the eccentricity of the religious opinions and practices of the Mormons, is at the bottom of the outrages committed against them,but declares that the Mormons have a constitutional right to worship how they wish and that “Indeed, there is nothing so absurd or ridiculous, that they have not a right to adopt as their religion, so that in its exercise, they do not interfere with the rights of others. He then offers a few suggestions to end the standoff:

1. “My first advice would be to the Mormons to sell out their lands in Jackson county, and to settle somewhere else, where they could live in peace, if they could get a fair price for their lands, and reasonable damages for injuries received.”

2. “If this failed, I would try the citizens and advise them to rescind their illegal resolves of last summer; and agree to conform to the laws in every particular, in respect to the Mormons.”

3. “If both these failed, I would then advise the plan you have suggested, for each party to take separate territory and confine their members within their respective limits, with the exception of the right of egress and regress upon the highway.”

4. “If all these failed, then the simple question of legal right would have to settle it. It is this last that I am afraid I shall have to conform my action to in the end. And hence the necessity of keeping myself in the best situation to do my duty impartially.”

He then ends his letter by mentioning Zion's camp, which had been heading for Missouri for about a month. He tells them, “Indeed, the Mormons have no right to march to Jackson county in arms, unless by order or permission of the commander-in-chief. Men must not "levy war" in taking possession of their rights, any more than others should in opposing them in taking possession.”

They marched all the way to the borders of Clay County, but cholera broke out in the camp and eventually the whole idea of redeeming Zion was dropped and the camp disbanded.

 

TO BE CONTINUED...

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