Joseph Smith: Is He a True Prophet of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? (Part I of II)

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (errantly called by the media “The Mormon Church”)

Litmus Test of True Prophet As Stated in the BIble:

If you recall in the Old Testament, Hananiah and Jeremiah both claimed prophetic calls. They stood, as it were, in contrast and contest: One spoke the truth and one falsehood. They prophesied from the temple before a large audience about the fate of their nation.  Hananiah claimed that there would be freedom from oppression within two years and the enemy would cease efforts to overtake the people and their land. He assuaged anxiety with feigned messages of peace. Jeremiah, by contrast, indicated as a prophet of God that the oppression would continue. It wasn’t a pretty message but he gave it as he received it.

The question was then as it is today: “How could the listeners know which prophet held the mantle and which of them was the pretender?” “Who was the real prophet of God?” Jeremiah outlined himself the test: “When the word of the prophet shall come o pass, then shall the prophet be known, that the Lord hath truly sent him. 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.

 Every true prophet has been stoned and rejected by many. Joseph Smith is no exception. He didn’t seek his call; he received it from God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, to restore the true and pure teachings of Christ’s original Church to the earth. He never anticipated such a call when he went to pray and ask God about which Church was true. You can read his account and vision here. As such, critics and naysayers of truth have maligned Joseph Smith as a false prophet, but objective reality through this applied test, along with an honest reading of the Book of Mormon and Joseph’s account of his first vision of the Father and His Son Jesus Christ, contain more than ample spiritual evidences that the Savior’s Church has indeed been re-established in our day and that Joseph Smith is a true prophet of God.  In order to help the sincere seeker see some of Joseph’s character and a few of his prophetic claims as moved upon by his mantle, the following brief outline has been created for each to objectively and prayerfully and personally assess.

Joseph’s First Prophetic Claim: The Fulness of the Gospel would be made known to him

After Joseph Smith’s vision of God the Father and Jesus Christ, during a time of heated religious revival in northwestern New York,  Joseph Smith was confused by the variance in doctrines and the agitation of religious leaders to sway individuals towards affiliating with their brand of religion. Knowing he could not, on his own, come to know which church was the Savior’s and which, therefore, to join, he determined to ask God.  His description of his experience in seeing God and Jesus as separate individuals, and hearing the Son introduce the Father, was remarkable.  He was told in this divine dialogue that he was to join none of the churches of his day, that they did not contain the undiluted teachings of the Savior any longer. Furthermore, Joseph’s re-telling of his vision indicates his first prophetic statement, that the “fulness of the Gospel should at some future time be made known unto [him].”

Joseph Smith: Prophecy Fulfilled

Joseph was persecuted for making this claim and that persecution came as a surprise to him, but he, at the young age of fourteen, and throughout his life, he never retracted that vision. He stated, likening himself in this respect to Paul before Agrippa, “I had actually seen a light and and in the midst of that light I saw two Personages, and they did in reality speak to me; and though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was so.”

This prophecy that the gospel fulness would be made known unto Joseph to share with the world was fulfilled in 1829 as Joseph Smith labored to translate a sacred record of scripture that had been given to him by angel. This scripture is known as the Book of Mormon. This angel had indicated to Joseph in a vision that ‘there was a book deposited, written on gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang. He also said that the fulness of the everlasting Gospel was contained it, as delivered by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants.

Translating the Book of Mormon and receiving  revelations from the Lord about His work and kingdom, fulfilled this prophecy. In fact, a revelation given by the Savior Jesus Christ just prior to the official organization of The Church of Jesus Christ (errantly called by media “The Mormon Church”), in 1830, spoke of Joseph Smith and included these words:

God ministered unto him by an holy angel, whose countenance was as lightning, and whose garments were pure and white above all other whiteness;

And gave unto him commandments which inspired him;

And gave him power from on high, by the means which were before prepared, to translate the Book of Mormon;

Which contains a record of a fallen people, and the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles and to the Jews also (The Doctrine and Covenants of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, section 20:6-9.

Joseph Smith: Prophecy Through the Spirit of Revelation

Joseph sees a vision and responds prophetically.

Joseph Smith: Prophecy Fulfilled

When the Lord Jesus Christ commanded members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (nicknamed Mormons)  to move to Ohio, Joseph preceded the move of the members by several months. He and Emma, his wife, arrived in Kirtland on February 1, 1831. They lodged for a few weeks at the home of Newel K. Whitney, an early convert in the Kirtland area. What happened is best described in the Whitney family’s own words:

About the first of February 1831, a sleigh containing four persons drove through the streets of Kirtland and drew up in front of the store of Gilbert and Whitney. One of the men, a young and stalwart personage alighted, and springing up the steps walked into the store and to where the junior partner was standing. ‘Newel K. Whitney! Thou art the man!’ he exclaimed, extending his hand cordially, as if to an old and familiar acquaintance. ‘You have the advantage of me,’ replied the merchant, as he mechanically took the proffered hand, ‘I could not tell you by name as you have me.’ ‘I am Joseph the Prophet,’ said the stranger smiling. ‘You’ve prayed me here, now what do you want of me?’” The Prophet, it is said, while in the East had seen the Whitneys, in vision, praying for his coming to Kirtland. “Mother Whitney” also tells how on a certain night prior to the advent of Elder Cowdery and his companions, while she and her husband were praying to the Lord to know how they might obtain the gift of the Holy Ghost, which of all things they desired, they saw a vision as of a cloud of glory resting upon their house and heard a voice from heaven saying, “Prepare to receive the word of the Lord for it is coming.” Shortly afterwards Oliver Cowdery and his associates came with the Book of Mormon, and with the message of the restored Gospel. Moreover, in further fulfillment of this vision, under the rooftree of the Whitneys the Prophet received a number of revelations…. (Whitmer, John, History of the Church, ch. vii. Taken from a typewritten copy made by Pauline Hancock found in the special collections room of the Brigham Young University library).

Joseph Smith: Prophecy Through the Spirit of Revelation

Thoughts of Oliver Cowdery revealed to Joseph Smith

That Joseph’s inspired call came from Jesus Christ and Our Eternal Father in Heaven and not from himself was evidenced early in his prophetic role (Mormon prophet, prophet of God).  Three men in the early growth of the Church experienced immediately his ability to discern their innermost thoughts and received a witness of his call. Oliver Cowdery was one of those. He soon became a scribe of Joseph Smith’s as he dictated by the power of God the translation of the ancient record. Oliver asked Joseph Smith to inquire of the Lord in regard to direction for Oliver and this is the revelation he received on Oliver’s behalf:

I tell thee these things as a witness unto thee–that the words or the work which thou hast been writing are true.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, if you desire a further witness, cast your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart, that you might know concerning the truth of these things.

Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter?

What greater witness can you have than from God?

And now behold, you have received a witness; for if I have told you things which no man knoweth, have you not received a witness? (D&C 6:17, 22-24).

In hearing these words, Oliver learned that God had revealed to Joseph his innermost unknown, unexpressed thoughts; Oliver later stated he knew the work was true, because “no being living knew of the thing alluded to in the revelation, but God and himself [Oliver].”

Joseph Smith: Prophecy Through the Spirit of Revelation

The Rise of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

After John the Baptist visited Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, conferred priesthood authority to baptize, Joseph records that he prophesied, as he arose out of the water “concerning the rise of this church and many other things connected with the Church and this generation of the children of men.” Ten months later, The Church of Jesus Christ was organized under the Savior’s direction, and the Church has risen rapidly since. Even within the first decade it was enlarged from six to 30,000 members. Church (media often mistakenly names it “The Mormon Church”) membership then passed the two-million mark in 1963. It continues to rise and has over 13 million members today, all over the world.  The prophecy Joseph spoke at 24 has had and is having its fulfillment because it was of the Lord.

Joseph Smith: Prophecies on War

Among some of the many significant prophecies that Joseph Smith made during his lifetime were those related to the beginning of wars in the last days, and particularly a prophetic account of the inception of the U.S. Civil War, given 12 years before that conflict took place.

Joseph Smith declared on March 7, 1931:

Ye hear of wars in foreign lands; but behold, I say unto you, they are nigh, even at your doors, and not many years hence ye shall hear of wars in your own lands (Doctrine and Covenants 45:63).

On September 6, 1842, Joseph Smith remarked prophetically:

I prophesy, in the name of the Lord God, that the commencement of the difficulties which will cause much bloodshed previous to the coming of the Son of Man will be in South Carolina.

It may probably arise through the slave question. This a voice declared to me, while I was praying earnestly on the subject, December 25th, 1832 (Doctrine and Covenants 130:12-13).

In 1832, Joseph Smith received this revelation:

Verily, thus saith the Lord concerning the wars that will shortly come to pass, beginning at the rebellion of South Carolina, which will eventually terminate in the death and misery of many souls;

And the time will come that war will be poured out upon all nations, beginning at this place.

For behold, the Southern States shall be divided against the Northern States, and the Southern States will call on other nations, even the nation of Great Britain, as it is called, and they shall also call upon other nations; and then war shall be poured out upon all nations (Doctrine and Covenants 87:1-3).

This prophecy of Joseph Smith’s, then, indicates a series of wars beginning with skirmishes and “rebellion” of South Carolina. From history, it is fact that that very state actually withdrew its presence from Congress through a secession ordinance and fired on the Union troops positioned in Fort Sumpter on April 12, 1861.  Andrew Jensen commented on this occurrence in light of Joseph Smith’s words:

Not only was South Carolina the first State to commence the rebellion, but here, also, as if to cause a double fulfillment of Josephs’ prophecy, on April 12, 1861, the first gun was fired from a Confederate battery against Fort Sumpter standing at the entrance to Charleston harbor. The ruinous war that followed is a matter of history. The Union losses alone, according to the report of the Provost-General, amounted to 280,397 men, who were either killed outright in battle or who died subsequently of wounds or diseases. The loss on the side of the Confederates was about the same. Truly, as Joseph Smith predicted, the United States never witnessed such a scene of bloodshed before. The losses in the revolutionary war, in the war of 1812, and in the war of Mexico in 1846 were only small affairs compared with this last and terrible war of the rebellion, so accurately predicted by the prophet Joseph Smith. This prediction alone and its literal fulfillment should be sufficient to convince every reasonable man and woman who will take pains to investigate the subject thoroughly, that Joseph, indeed, was a prophet of the Living God (Jensen, Andrew, Joseph Smith As a Prophet, p.5, Special Collections).

 

Each is invited to apply this litmus test objectively, to read the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants which are records of the revelations cited herein that Joseph claims to have received and then to inquire of God who is the Source of all truth whether or not Joseph Smith was a prophet of His to re-establish His Church on earth.