In Palmyra, New York in the early 1800’s lived the Smith family. The father was worthless, a lazy man that never worked. All he did was dig in the hills outside Palmyra when he finally got up each day looking for gold. Joseph Smith was born in 1805 in Sharon, Vermont. When he was a child, his family moved to Palmyra in western New York where there was a lot of revivalism and religious fervor due to the Second Great Awakening. The wild enthusiasm and many denominations present confused Smith and he was uncertain of what to believe and how to worship. As he writes in The Pearl of Great Price: “In process of time my mind became somewhat partial to the Methodist sect, and I felt some desire to be united with them; but so great was the confusion and strife among the different denominations, that it was impossible for a person young as I was, and so unacquainted with men and things, to come to any certain conclusion who was right and who was wrong.” Smith read James 1:5 which instructs those who lack wisdom to request it of God. He immediately withdrew to a wooded area near his home to pray for wisdom. One night Joe was visited by all three members of Deity who woke him up from sleep. At the age of 14, He was told he was to restore the “Saints” that had not existed for 2 millennia, he claimed.
From this visit, Smith became convinced he had been called as God’s prophet. While praying in his room, he received an angelic visitation. This angel, named Moroni, told him that he had been chosen by God for a great work. He told Smith about a book written upon gold plates that had been buried in the foothills and he was to go find it. Moroni was the last existing member of a tribe of Indians that had existed in the 5th century B.C. that had been killed off. Joe found the golden tablets. The only problem was that the writing of the tablets was in a language Joe later called Reformed Egyptian. Bet you never heard of this language, don’t worry, neither has nor had anyone else!! Joe struggled mightily to read the writing but could not UNTIL the angel Moroni began to reveal to Joe what it said. While Joe would read, the angel would translate. WHEN JOE WOULD PUT ON THE SPECIAL GLASSES he found by the plates, his interpretations would be approved or disapproved by Moroni. The story line on the tablets was of two tribes of Indians from the 5th to 6th centuries. They had fought the final battle in Palmyra; the good Indians were all killed; only Moroni remained. The actual novel written about 30 years earlier has been found. Joe never paid the original author royalties!! He just downright stole it!!
When he told his story, some believed. Joe had a problem that always got him and his people run out of town. They went to Ohio, then to Missouri, then to Illinois. Joe and the angel fell out with each other. “That did not bother Joe, he kept right on translating.” In 1830 Joe published his work in a book called the Book of Mormon. Everywhere Joe would go, he would have to leave. He had a problem. He liked to look at everybody’s wife or daughter, so he would go around “peeping in their windows” at night. When he was caught, they would have to move. Finally, he couldn’t move quickly enough. In Missouri, Joe had found the “new Jerusalem”, BUT, was arrested and put in jail. You guessed it, for peeping. A mob formed and overrun the jail. As Joe was trying to escape, he and his brother Hyrum were killed. This made Joe a martyr. The movement was taken over by Brigham Young, who took the sheep to Utah.
Joe was a liar, cheat, fraud, and a pervert. His book was not about Jesus Christ, it was about the American Indian. You guessed it, Indians, history never heard about. Joe had the Church of Christ existing in the 5th century B.C. 500 years before Christ came to earth, he had his Indians using etc., 1600 years before it was ever used, he had green men on the moon eating cheese long before the space program could get to the moon and verify, but his main problem was that he was a pervert. He liked everybody’s wife, daughter, or sister. It finally killed him.
You would not think people would believe this junk, would you? They did, he has more followers (they claim about 15 million) than most denominations. We almost had one of his ilk as President. His doctrine book is called Doctrine and Covenants. The name of this illustrious company of deceived souls is the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints.
