The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the closest to the church Jesus instilled

Joseph Smith did not found my religion, he restored it to the earth. I am NOT a follower of him. I AM a follower of God and his son, Jesus Christ. I don't worship Joseph Smith; I worship Them. Please do not tell me what I do or don't believe or what I practice. You have no right to do that. This argument was NOT about the integrity of Joseph Smith, it was about the fact that the LDS church is the closest to what Jesus established while he was here. The fact that you do not believe that God would encourage that violence within people only deepens my point that it was the Devil. Granted, the Devil takes joy in and fuels any sin, but why would he fuel sin and hatred toward a religion that encourages people to , as you say, "blindly follow a person like Joseph Smith"? Would the Devil not encourage that; seeing as it draws people away from God? My response to your question "Why would God send someone after Jesus?" is EXACTLY. God didn't send those evils after Jesus; the Devil did in order to destroy what was good and pure and drawing men closer to God and truth. As for baptism... The LDS church also believes that before you get baptized you must accept the meaning of it. You're not supposed to be baptized unless you understand the symbolic meaning of it. The LDS church *again* DOES worship Christ, our Savior, and God the Father; NONE ELSE! His word IS all that matters and the LDS church and I believe that. What does it say on the front of every Book of Mormon? Or have you not had the integrity to look? If not let me enlighten you. It states: The Book of Mormon- Another Testament of Christ. "We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God." You have no right to condemn this book if you have never read it. That book, in no possible way could have been entirely made up and written by a 14 year old boy with a third grade education. I have read it many times and in no possible way is that book evil. The Bible states that "by their fruits ye shall know them"...and..."an evil tree can not bring forth good fruit , neither can a good tree bring forth evil fruit" just as mikelwallace stated below. I KNOW beyond any shadow of doubt that that book and Joseph Smith are not evil. God told us that he WOULD send another messenger to prepare the way for the Second Coming; look up Malachi 3:1 (KJV) and if that isn't enough I can always give more. Every prophet we have is a messenger of God, not just Joseph Smith, but every single one after up until the current prophet Gordon B. Hinkley. "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." (Amos 3:7 [KJV]). "We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God." I suggest that until you actually know and understand what you are talking about, you don't try to tell someone what they do or don't believe. To answer your question about why I go to church… I go because my Lord God and my Savior Jesus Christ commanded me to keep the Sabbath day holy by worshipping them. I go not to glorify myself, for my life is not really mine; it belongs and is devoted to God in every way. It is not for you to judge. You know me not, so don't pretend that you do. You know nothing about the LDS religion and yet you try to tell me what I believe. Your prejudice and lies cannot sway my beliefs, for I am in no way that simple minded.