Joseph Smith Jr. (Author of The Book of Mormon) edit data Joseph Smith, Jr. was the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, also known as Mormonism, and an important religious and political figure during the 1830s and 1840s. In 1827, Smith began to gather a religious following after announcing that an angel had shown him a set of golden plates describing a visit of Jesus to the indigenous peoples of the Americas. In 1830, Smith published what he said was a translation of these plates as the Book of Mormon, and the same year he organized the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. For most of the 1830s, Smith lived in Kirtland, Ohio, which remained the headquarters of the church until Smith began encouraging members to gather the church to a Latter Day Saint settlement in Missouri. There, ten Joseph Smith, Jr. was the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, also known as Mormonism, and an important religious and political figure during the 1830s and 1840s.

In 1827, Smith began to gather a religious following after announcing that an angel had shown him a set of golden plates describing a visit of Jesus to the indigenous peoples of the Americas. In 1830, Smith published what he said was a translation of these plates as the Book of Mormon, and the same year he organized the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. For most of the 1830s, Smith lived in Kirtland, Ohio, which remained the headquarters of the church until Smith began encouraging members to gather the church to a Latter Day Saint settlement in Missouri. There, tensions between Mormons and non-Mormons resulted in the expelling of the Mormons. Smith and his people then settled in Nauvoo, Illinois where they began building a new temple aided by new converts from Europe. He was assassinated by a mob of non-Mormons at the age of 38. Smith's followers consider him a prophet and have canonized some of his revelations as sacred texts on par with the Bible. His legacy as a leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been recognized by millions of adherents.

...more Joseph Smith's Challenging Brother | Meridian Magazine By Kyle Walker · October 14, 2015 Cover image: William B. Smith, ca. 1880, courtesy of Mary Dennis. As a member of the founding family of Mormonism, William B. Smith has long been a person of interest in Latter-day Saint history. Six years younger than his prominent elder brother Joseph Smith Jr., the founder of the Mormon religion, Smith was present for his brother’s earliest recitations of his revelatory experiences, an early witness to the events connected to the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, and a participant in most of the meetings that laid the groundwork for the establishment for what would eventually become known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Smith held many prominent positions within the movement, as he migrated with the Saints through the states of New York, Ohio, Missouri, and finally to Illinois. He was an active missionary from 1832 through 1845 and had marked success in adding hundreds of converts to the expanding church. Smith progressed rapidly through the priesthood hierarchy of the Church, becoming a member of the original Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1835.

When the Church was headquartered at Nauvoo, Illinois, he was among those trusted by his brother to be initiated into the Quorum of the Anointed (endowed) and be introduced to plural marriage. The following spring he became part of the private Council of Fifty, just prior to the murder of his two older brothers, Joseph and Hyrum. While he resided in Illinois, his was the privilege of representing Hancock County in the state legislature, where he played a key role in defending Nauvoo’s controversial charter. Smith successfully published the Wasp, a newspaper at Nauvoo, and oversaw the publication of the Prophet in New York in 1843-45 during the time he presided over the eastern branches of the Church. These papers were instrumental in defending the Saints’ viewpoints at the state and national level. William also succeeded his brother Hyrum as Church patriarch, acting in that calling even before he returned to Nauvoo in May 1845 where the Twelve confirmed this hereditary office. He energetically magnified this calling, bestowing more than three hundred blessings on the Saints during the summer of 1845 as patriarch.

As the only surviving male member of the Smith family after the summer of 1844, he was looked to by many members of the Church for his views on succession and church policy. In October 1845, simmering tensions between him and his fellow apostles boiled over, and he was excommunicated in a dramatic break with Brigham Young and the main body of Mormons who eventually settled in Salt Lake City. From that point on, Smith’s name all but vanishes from Church history. Saints in the West branded him an apostate, and any mention of his name in LDS Church history decried his rebelliousness and insubordination. For that reason, most of his contributions to the building up the early Church have been lost to the reader. While there were certainly challenges related to his personality that impacted his leadership and decision-making, simply dismissing him from the record fails to account for his vast contributions during the fifteen years between 1830 and 1845. William B. Smith, ca. 1885, photographer unknown. But William lived an additional forty-eight years, dying at age eighty-two in the obscure town of Osterdock, in northeastern Iowa.

The twelve years following his dramatic departure from Nauvoo were equally turbulent as he roared through various factions of the LDS movement. In addition to several unsuccessful attempts at organizing his own church, Smith joined with noted dissidents: James J. Strang, Lyman Wight, Martin Harris, John C. Bennett, George J. Adams, and Isaac Sheen. His interactions with pockets of Saints throughout the Midwest and East are a valuable resource in understanding the views of those who did not follow Brigham Young’s leadership. His voluminous surviving letters not only reveal Smith’s attitudes and motives, but also those with whom he interacted. He also made multiple attempts at being reinstated into the LDS Church in the West, including being rebaptized in 1860. However, most of these attempts included William’s stipulation that he be restored to his former offices, something Church leaders in Salt Lake City were unwilling to grant. In the end, he never gathered to Salt Lake City. One little-known discovery in researching William was his openness towards African-Americans in early Church history. He ordained a black convert in Lowell, Massachusetts, Q. Walker Lewis, to the office of elder in the Church’s Melchizedek Priesthood.

Lewis and Smith labored together for more than a year after Lewis was ordained an Elder, while Smith presided over the eastern branches. William similarly ordained black convert Joseph T. Ball a High Priest, and afterward installed him as president over the Boston Branch of the Church. He later argued forcefully, in a view that ran counter to Joseph Smith III’s sentiments at the time, that the “Constitution of these United States makes no distinction in the human family; all men are born free and equal.” He quoted the apostle Paul that “god has made of one blood all nations,” and argued “by what authority [then] have we the right to say that a colored man has no right to be ordained to all the powers of the priesthood, necessary for the building up the church of Christ in any part of the world, among any race of people, whether black or white.” Thus, when the Civil War broke out, William eventually joined the fray, enlisting in Rock Island, Illinois, and serving for about a year and a half. He participated in skirmishes in the Arkansas River Valley, and while he returned without being wounded in battle, he suffered from ailments contracted during the Civil War for the remainder of his life.

Finally, in 1878, William linked his experience and aspirations with the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (now the Community of Christ), under the leadership of his nephew Joseph Smith III. Prior to its organization, William had laid out the blueprint for the formation of his nephew’s church, something that has been previously ignored in RLDS histories. Though the tenets he outlined were eventually adopted by his nephew, RLDS leaders viewed William as a liability. While Joseph III accepted William into his Church on the basis of his original baptism in Joseph’s Church, he never appointed William to a prominent position within the movement, even as Church patriarch, and discouraged his attempts to infiltrate the Church’s hierarchy. As a result, once again, William’s contributions to the formation of the RLDS Church, as well as what he brought to that movement for the better part of fifteen years, have been vastly understated in RLDS histories. Another chapter of William’s life that has received little attention were his final years spent in Northeastern Iowa. By the decade of the 1860s William had remarried and seemed to make a fresh start, distancing himself from any branch of Mormonism for about eighteen years.

During this time period he established a solid and respectable reputation in the communtiy of Elkader, Iowa, occasionally preaching in the community, overseeing the Sunday School Association, and speaking at funerals and other notable celebrations. Towards the end of his life, Samuel Murdock, a local judge, described William as an individual “whole life was one of rectitude and honor.” Such a tribute highlights the contrasting descriptions of William’s unstable life—remembered as both rogue and respected citizen; saint and sinner; apostle or an apostate; profligate brother of the Mormon prophet or revered patriarch. For these reasons, and with my background as a professional counselor, I had a desire to flesh out William’s complex personality. William remains for me one of the most fascinating characters in nineteenth-century Mormon history. With all of William’s contributions to Mormonism, it is rather surprising that more has not been written about him. Calvin P. Rudd, a former faculty member from the Salt Lake LDS Institute of Religion, wrote a master’s thesis in 1974, but only minimally accessed the vast resources on William owned by the RLDS Church.

Nearly everything else written about William is by authors who have focused on his struggle with Church authorities over the scope of his patriarchal authority in 1845. Only one has attempted to highlight his interactions with his nephew Joseph Smith III, and none of the articles have attempted to probe the depths of Smith’s complex personality. Consequently, his life has been presented in truncated vignettes. This biography covers his entire life, beginning with William’s recollections of and contributions to early Mormon history prior to his 1845 break with Brigham Young and the Twelve and continuing with the events of the final fifty years of his life. From that basis and with due caution about the pitfalls in attempting to “diagnose the dead,” in Steven Harper’s felicitous phrase, I attempt to sort out the complexities of his enigmatic personality. Despite the abrupt discontinuities, reversals, disappearances, and spectacular public comebacks, this biography bridges those gaps in the life of William B. Smith. William B. Smith headstone, Osterdock, Iowa. Photography by Kyle R. Walker, 2010. “Why study the process of dissent?”, asked Ronald W.

Walker in his classic history Wayward Saints: The Social and Religious Protests of the Godbeites against Brigham Young (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 2009). Answering his own question, Walker clarified that studying dissent assists to flesh out clues related to “personality trait[s]” that help us understand the individual. But, he emphasizes, even more importantly, “the process helps to clarify a historical era. By defining the ideas and policies that divided the apostate from the mainline believer, we find what a former age valued—even to the point of defying old allegiances and old associates. In short, by studying dissent we gain the means to view a society as the participants themselves saw it—and not necessarily as we today assume it to have been.” (p. 72). In the case of Willliam B. Smith, we gain additional insights into the dynamics of Mormonism’s first family. One item that came to the fore was the Smith family’s rather remarkable ability to continue to support and encourage their wayward son and brother. My personal interest in William dates back many years, when I first began researching on the Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith family.

Most of what I had heard and read about William prior to my research was adverse and dismissive. Prior research has referred to him derisively, including articles that included in their titles, “Problematic Patriarch,” “A Wart on the Ecclesiastical Tree,” and the “Persistent ‘Pretender.’” I certainly concur with some of these author’s perceptions about the challenging nature of William’s leadership. By all accounts, William was a complex person who wrestled with insecurities and fits of passion that sometimes overrode his noble desires and family loyalty. But I also began to discover his vast contributions to the upbuilding of Mormonism, including his missionary success, his persuasiveness as a gifted orator, his propensity to accurately portend the future, and his charismatic leadership. I had a desire to highlight all sides of his personality, which I felt was more complex than can be captured in a single article and best evaluated over the course of his life. Joseph Smith | American religious leader [1805-1844] | Britannica.com Joseph Smith, originally Joseph Smith, Jr. (born Dec.

23, 1805, Sharon , Vt., U.S.—died June 27, 1844, Carthage , Ill.), Mormon prophet and founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . Joseph Smith, detail from an oil painting by an unknown artist; in the Community of Christ Temple … Courtesy of the Community of Christ, Independence, Missouri Early years Smith came from an unremarkable New England family. His grandfather, Asael Smith, lost most of his property in Topsfield, Mass., during the economic downturn of the 1780s and eventually moved to Vermont , where Smith’s father, Joseph Smith, Sr., established himself as a farmer. After the birth of Joseph Smith, Jr., a series of crop failures forced the family to move to Palmyra, N.Y. His mother, Lucy Mack, came from a Connecticut family that had disengaged from conventional Congregationalism and leaned toward Seekerism , a movement that looked for a new revelation to restore true Christianity. Although privately religious, the family rarely attended church, and after they moved to Palmyra they became involved in magic and treasure-seeking.

Lucy Smith attended Presbyterian meetings, but her husband refused to accompany her, and Joseph, Jr., remained at home with his father. Religious differences within the family and over religious revivals in the Palmyra area left Smith perplexed about where to find a church. When he was 14, he prayed for help, and, according to his own account, God and Jesus Christ appeared to him. In answer to his question about which was the right church, they told him that all the churches were wrong. Although a local minister to whom he related the vision dismissed it as a delusion , Smith continued to believe in its authenticity. In 1823 he received another revelation: while praying for forgiveness, he later reported, an angel calling himself Moroni appeared in his bedroom and told him about a set of golden plates containing a record of the ancient inhabitants of America. Smith found the plates buried in a stone box not far from his father’s farm. Four years later, the angel permitted him to remove the plates and instructed him to translate the characters engraved on their surfaces with the aid of special stones called “interpreters.” Smith insisted that he did not compose the book but merely “translated” it under divine guidance.

Completing the work in less than 90 days, he published it in March 1830 as a 588-page volume called the Book of Mormon . Britannica Stories Ringling Bros. Folds Its Tent The Book of Mormon told the 1,000-year history of the Israelites, who were led from Jerusalem to a promised land in the Western Hemisphere . In their new home, they built a civilization, fought wars, heard the word of prophets, and received a visit from Christ after his resurrection. The book resembled the Bible in its length and complexity and in its division into books named for individual prophets. According to the book itself, one of the prophets, a general named Mormon, abridged and assembled the records of his people, engraving the history on gold plates. Later, about 400 ce, the record keepers, known as Nephites, were wiped out by their enemies, the Lamanites, presumably the ancestors of the American Indians. Emergence of the church Establishment of settlements and persecution On April 6, 1830, Smith organized a few dozen believers into a church.

From then on, his great project was to gather people into settlements, called “cities of Zion,” where they would find refuge from the calamities of the last days. Male converts were ordained and sent out to make more converts, a missionary program that resulted in tens of thousands of conversions by the end of Smith’s life. Members of the church, known as Saints, gathered first at Independence , Mo., on the western edge of American settlement. When other settlers found their presence intolerable, the Saints were forced to move to other counties in the state. Meanwhile, Smith moved his family to another gathering place in Kirtland, Ohio, near Cleveland. Editor Picks: Exploring 10 Types of Basketball Movies The Mormons came together in the nearly abandoned town of Commerce on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River . Renaming the site Nauvoo (a Hebrew word meaning “Beautiful Place”), Smith built his most successful settlement, complete with a temple (finished only after Smith’s death) on a bluff overlooking the town. Attracting converts from Europe as well as the United States , Nauvoo grew to rival Chicago as the largest city in the state. Teachings Mormons believed that Smith’s actions were directed by revelation.

When questions arose, he would call upon God and dictate words in the voice of the Lord. Sometimes the revelations gave practical instructions; others explained the nature of heaven or the responsibilities of the priesthood. All Smith’s revelations were carefully recorded and preserved. In 1835 Smith published the first 65 revelations in a volume titled the Book of Commandments, later called the Doctrine and Covenants. While believing the Bible, like all Christians, Smith broke its monopoly on the word of God. The Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants were added to the canon of scripture , and Smith spoke as if more revelations and translations would accumulate in the future. Smith’s teachings departed from conventional Christian traditions by incorporating certain practices from the Hebrew Bible . The temples he built (in Smith’s lifetime, two were erected and two more were planned) were modeled on the temples of ancient Israel. He appointed his male followers to priesthoods, named for the biblical figures Melchizedek and Aaron , that were overseen by the office of High Priest. In the temples, he instituted rituals of washing and anointing taken from instructions in Exodus for consecrating priests.

Justifying the practice of polygamy by reference to the precedent of Abraham , the first of the Hebrew patriarchs, Smith was “sealed” (the ceremony that binds men and women in marriage for eternity) to about 30 wives, though no known children came from these unions. As in the Bible, men took the leading roles in church affairs, but by the end of his life Smith taught that men and women were redeemed together through eternal marriage. At the heart of his teachings was a confidence in the spiritual potential of common people. He believed that every man could be a priest and that everyone had in him the possibility of the divine. The purpose of the temple rituals was to give people the knowledge they needed to enter God’s presence and to become like God. Character and final years Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest Smith was not a polished preacher. It was the originality of his views, an outsider commented, that made his discourse fascinating. Absolutely resolute in all of his projects, he never became discouraged, even under the most trying circumstances. Nor did people of higher social standing intimidate him; he appeared to think of himself as the equal of anyone, as demonstrated when he ran for president of the United States in 1844.

He married Emma Hale in 1827, when he was 21 years old and she 22. The couple adopted twins and had nine of their own children, five of whom died in infancy. Their devotion to each other was sorely tried by the practice of polygamy. Emma believed in her husband’s calling but could not abide additional wives. She remained faithful to him to the end, however, and after his death wore a lock of his hair on her person. When Mormon dissenters published a reform newspaper in Nauvoo that Smith felt disturbed the peace, he ordered it suppressed. Meanwhile, non-Mormon hostility in the surrounding county had been growing for the usual reasons, and when the press was closed, irate local citizens brought charges of promoting riot against Smith and his brother Hyrum. The two were taken to Carthage, the county seat, for a hearing, and while imprisoned they were shot by a mob on June 27, 1844. The leadership of the church then fell to Brigham Young , who dedicated himself to perpetuating Smith’s teachings and program.

After the Mormons left Nauvoo in 1846, they migrated to Utah, where they constructed Salt Lake City on a pattern laid down by Joseph Smith for the cities of Zion. 'The Assassination of Joseph Smith' Book is a Detailed Account of the Last Years of the Mormon Founder - World Religion News World Religion News 02 Jul 2016 ‘The Assassination of Joseph Smith’ Book is a Detailed Account of the Last Years of the Mormon Founder 02 Jul 2016 Posted by Alison Lesley Author Ryan C. Jenkins recounts the last six Years of the LDS Founder in The Assassination of Joseph Smith. The Assassination of Joseph Smith: Innocent Blood on the Banner of Liberty , written by Ryan C. Jenkins, provides a detailed insight into the life of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, from October 31, 1838, till June 27, 1844, the day he died. Smith was only 38 when he was killed by an assailant who was part of an armed mob that stormed the Carthage Jail, Illinois, where he was being held for treason.

Tweet This The Assassination of Joseph Smith: Jenkins opens the book a day after Haun's Mill massacre , the bloodiest event in the history of the Latter Day Saint movement. The event saw the Mormon settlement in eastern Caldwell County, Missouri, being attacked by a militia unit from Livingston County, Missouri. It happened after the Battle of Crooked River, one of the main reasons for the conflicts in the 1838 Missouri Mormon War, which resulted in the expulsion of the Mormons from Missouri. After the war, Smith and his known associates were arrested for treason, and sentenced to death. The brigadier general in the Missouri militia, Alexander Doniphan, who was also the former attorney of Smith, refused to carry out the execution order. As a result , Smith was sent to the Liberty jail in Missouri, to await trial. Smith escaped from the jail some months later, and proceeded to the town of Nauvoo, Illinois, along with his followers. Some of the other important events that happened in the life of Smith that is mentioned in the book include his trip to Washington, D.C., his run for the presidency, and his final days leading up to his martyrdom. The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement.

Smith first published it in 1830. As per Mormon belief, Smith translated the Book of Mormon from the golden plates. According to Smith, Moroni , the last prophet to contribute to the golden plates, after his death, returned as an angel, and showed him (Smith) the location of the golden tablets. Smith returned the tablets after translating them. Jenkins has written the book in the present tense. This adds to a more engaging reader experience. The book can be used as a reference to know more about the LDS Church and its founder. It can be enjoyed as a good read as well. There is no sexual content in the book. The historical quotes contain mild swearing. Amazon has tagged it as one of the best books of 2016 , so far. Resources Mormonism's History | CARM Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry by Matt Slick Mormonism began with Joseph Smith Jr., who was born on Dec. 23, 1805 in Vermont. He was the fourth child of Lucy and Joseph Smith. Joseph senior was known as a money digger and sought after buried treasure particularly that of Captain Kidd. His mother was highly superstitious. Joseph Smith Jr.

stated that he was disturbed by all the different denominations of Christianity and wondered which was true. In 1820, when he was 14, he went into the woods to pray concerning this; and allegedly God the Father and Jesus appeared to him and told him not to join any of the denominational churches. Three years later, on Sept. 21, 1823, when he was 17 years old, an angel called Moroni, who was supposed to be the son of Mormon, the leader of the people called the Nephites who had lived in the Americas, appeared to him and told him that he had been chosen to translate the book of Mormon which was compiled by Moroni's father around the 4th century. The book was written on golden plates hidden near where Joseph was then living in Palmyra, New York. Joseph Smith said that on Sept. 22, 1827, he received the plates; and the angel Moroni instructed him to begin the translation process. The translation was finally published in 1830 as the Book of Mormon.

Joseph claimed that during this translation process, John the Baptist appeared to him and ordained him to accomplish the divine work of restoring the true church by preaching the true gospel which, allegedly, had been lost from the earth. The Book of Mormon is supposed to be the account of people who came from the Middle-East to the Americas. It covers the period of about 600 B.C. to A.D. 400. It tells of the Jaredites, people from the Tower of Babel who came to central America but perished because of their own immorality. It also describes some Jews who fled persecution in Jerusalem and came to America led by a man called Nephi. The Jews divided into two groups known as the Nephites and Lamanites who fought each other. The Nephites were defeated in A.D. 428. The Lamanites continued and are known as the American Indians. The Book of Mormon is the account of the Nephite leader, Mormon, concerning their culture, civilization, and appearance of Jesus to the Americas. After the publication of the Book of Mormon, Mormonism began to grow.

Because their religion was so deviant from Christianity, i.e., plurality of gods, polygamy (Joseph is said to have had 27 wives), etc., persecution soon forced them to move from New York to Ohio, then to Missouri, and finally to Nauvoo, Illinois. After being accused of breaking some laws in Nauvoo (for destroying a printing press that was publishing harmful information on Mormonism), Joseph and his brother Hyrum ended up in jail. A mob later broke into the jail and killed Joseph and his brother. After the shooting, the church divided into two groups: One led by his widow which went back to Independence Missouri. They are known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. They claim to be the true Church and lay claim to the legal succession of the church presidency which was bestowed upon Joseph's son by Joseph Smith himself. The other group was led by Brigham Young; and they went to Utah where in 1847, they ended up in Salt Lake and founded Salt Lake City. Brigham had 25 wives and accumulated much wealth.

This article is also available in: Español , Português BBC - Religions - Mormon: Joseph Smith Joseph Smith Last updated 2009-10-05 The history of Joseph Smith, the 19th-century prophet and founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. On this page Joseph Smith Joseph Smith © The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was founded by Joseph Smith in New York State in the USA in 1830. Smith had received a revelation from God, first through an angel, and then through a book inscribed on golden plates. Smith translated the writing on the plates into the Book of Mormon , which tells the story of the ancient people of America. It was published in 1830. The Church The Church was founded in 1830 and soon attracted members. From the start it actively tried to convert people and sent missionaries out to win members. The first church meeting, in a farmhouse in New York State on 6 April 1830 © The Church also attracted enemies and was persecuted by mainstream Christian church members. Smith himself was imprisoned more than thirty times for his faith.

In 1836 the first Mormon Temple was dedicated at Kirtland in Ohio. The City of Nauvoo The church continued to grow, many of its members being converts from England. But the persecution also continued and eventually the Mormons moved to Illinois, where they built a new city, where they could live and worship in peace, on the banks of the Mississippi. The death of Joseph Smith The Mormon hope that they would find peace at Nauvoo was disappointed and the persecution continued. Joseph Smith was arrested on several occasions, and in 1844 a jail where he and his brother was being held was attacked by an armed mob, and both men were shot and killed. Joseph Smith's life "An authentic religious genius" Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has been described by Professor Harold Bloom as "an authentic religious genius." Joseph Smith © He was born into a poor family in 1805 in Sharon, Vermont, USA, the fifth of eleven children. Because the family was so poor, Joseph received very little education - learning only basic maths and literacy. But he did spend much time in Bible study. Later the family moved to Palmyra in New York.

It was a time of religious revival and the teenage Joseph was not sure which version of Christianity he should follow. He found a Bible text that told him to ask God what to do. The Vision Joseph went out into the country and prayed for guidance, and he had a vision of God the Father and Jesus Christ. Joseph wrote: I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. Joseph Smith Two beings appeared within the light "whose brightness and glory defy all description". One of them spoke his name, pointed to the other, and said, "This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!" Christ told Joseph that he should not join any existing church, but should be God's agent to restore the true Church of Christ. This vision, and its effect on Joseph are a close parallel with the vision of Paul on the Damascus Road. Joseph went home and told his family. They supported him, although the local churches, not surprisingly, were highly critical. The Golden Book Three years later, Smith was visited by the angel Moroni and told that he should unearth and translate a holy book written on plates of gold, which contained the religious writings of the prophets of ancient America.

Smith wanted to take the plates immediately but was advised by Moroni not to do so. Cumorah, where the plates were found © Four years later Smith removed the plates, and spent 3 months translating the words engraved on them into the Book of Mormon. Restoration of the Church Before Joseph could fulfil the task of restoring the Church it was necessary for him to get the authority to do it. This authority could come only from God. In 1829 Joseph was visited by John the Baptist. The Baptist laid hands on the heads of Smith and his colleague Oliver Cowdery and gave them the authority of the Aaronic Priesthood . Soon afterwards, the Apostles James, Peter, and John appeared to Joseph and Oliver and gave them the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood . With this priestly authority, Smith founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Fayette, New York State on 6 April 1830. Joseph set about building the restored church, continuing to receive direct guidance from God on how to do it. During the rest of his short life he translated further scriptures , and wrote down further revelations from God, which form a major part of Church doctrine today.

He also founded the missionary programme of the Church, built several towns and was a candidate for US President. In 1836 the first Mormon Temple was dedicated at Kirtland in Ohio. The jail at Carthage in Illinois where Joseph Smith was murdered © He suffered much persecution, being jailed over thirty times (although never found guilty), as well as being tarred and feathered. The persecution eventually led to his death at the age of 38. Joseph and his brother Hyrum were shot on 27 June 1844 by a mob of 150 men while they were jail in Illinois on charges of riot and treason. During Joseph's life the Church grew from six to 26,000 members. The False Teachers: Joseph Smith - Tim Challies The False Teachers: Joseph Smith # false teachers Share A few weeks ago I set out on a new series of articles through which I intend to scan the history of the church—from its earliest days all the way to the present time—to examine some of Christianity’s most notorious false teachers. Along the way we will visit such figures as Arius, Servetus, Fosdick, and even a few you might find on television today.

We continue this morning with a false teacher who has at least 15 million followers in the world today, many of whom have undoubtedly knocked on your front door. His name is Joseph Smith. Sponsor Become a Patron Joseph Smith Joseph Smith was born on December 23, 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 the 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 were 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.” In 1820, in this time of confusion, Smith read James 1:5 which instructs those who lack wisdom to request it from God.

He immediately withdrew to a wooded area near his home to pray for wisdom and it was at this point that he recalls having a vision of a pillar of light coming down from heaven and God the Father and Jesus his Son standing above him in the air. Smith asked them which of the denominations or sects were right and which he should join. He was told that all of the denominations were evil and corrupt. It was at the time of this experience that Smith became convinced he had been called as God’s prophet. On September 21, 1823, 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 alongside the Urim and the Thummin of the Old Testament. Smith immediately found this book, and, using the Urim and Thummin, translated it, and published it in 1830 as The Book of Mormon. This was the same year that he formally organized the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A commanding and gregarious figure, Smith began to amass followers.

As the movement grew, it migrated west, in large part because their teaching was not welcome in most places and was often opposed with threats of violence. Smith moved first to Ohio, then to Missouri, then to Illinois. As the movement grew, it required more and more revelations, and Smith received them as need arose. These revelations continued until his death and were compiled into a book referred to as the Doctrine and Covenants. There was strife within the Mormon church, and in the spring of 1844 it led to threats of violence between Smith and others in the town of Nauvoo, Illinois. The governor intervened and imprisoned Smith until he could stand trial. Before this could happen, though, an armed mob stormed the jailhouse where he was being kept, and Smith was shot and killed while trying to escape through a window. False Teaching The heart of Joseph Smith’s false teaching was that he put his own authority over the authority of Scripture. He added his own revelation to the Bible’s revelation and took it upon himself to identify and correct what he claimed were errors in Scripture. Smith believed that the Bible was corrupt and insufficient and for that reason both took away from, and added to, God’s written revelation.

Regarding the Bible’s corruption he said, “I believe the Bible as it read when it came from the pen of the original writers. Ignorant translators, careless transcribers, or designing and corrupt priests have committed many errors.” These errors were both typographical and doctrinal. To address the Bible’s shortcomings, Smith produced his own translation of the Bible, making many corrections and additions to a variety of Old Testament and New Testament books. He also claimed that his own revelations from God were the only access point to the true gospel that had apparently been lost. Mormon historian Richard Bushman says the “signal feature” of Smith’s life was “his sense of being guided by revelation.” He placed himself above all previous revelations and interpretations of the Bible—even those of Christ himself. Followers and Modern Adherents Joseph Smith gained many devoted followers during his lifetime. Immediately after his death, his followers split into two main groups: those who followed Brigham Young to Utah to become the modern “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” and those who coalesced under Smith’s eldest son, Joseph Smith III to become the modern “Community of Christ” (formerly known as the “Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints”).

These are the two main groups who follow Joseph Smith today. They continue to adhere to his false teachings about the Bible and countless doctrines contained within it. They continue to deny the inerrancy and sufficiency of Scripture while elevating personal experience above the authority of the Bible. In total they number approximately 15 million and their ranks continue to grow through constant and systematic proselytization. What the Bible Says The Bible claims that it is the authoritative, infallible, inerrant, sufficient revelation of God. “Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar” (Proverbs 30:5-6). It offers this dire warning: “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book” (Revelation 22:18-19).

There is no historical evidence that the Bible was missing information or that it had been corrupted before it was compiled into the Old and New Testaments. The fact that Jesus quotes the Old Testament with such confidence and without any hint that it is lacking or misrepresentative is reason enough to accept it as the pure and true word of God (John 17:17). The New Testament has also been repeatedly proven as unchanged and undefiled since it was first given by God. The diversity of interpretations and sects among those who claim to follow the Bible, the very context which so confused Smith and led him to create an entirely new religion, does not provide warrant to say that the Bible itself is ambiguous or lacking in any way. We are told to expect divisions and factions among the body, “in order that those who are genuine … may be recognized” (1 Corinthians 11:18-19). Mormonism itself has been cut by endless in-fights and divisions, showing that the problem when the fractured church is not corrupted Scriptures but corrupted hearts.

13 little-known facts about Joseph Smith | Deseret News 13 little-known facts about Joseph Smith By Sarah Petersen , Deseret News Published: March 17, 2015 9:07 p.m. Comments Nadine Barton, lds.org Joseph Smith, founder and first prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was killed on June 27, 1844. This weekend, we commemorate his life In the book " 500 Little-Known Facts about Joseph Smith ," Wayne J. Lewis, Jana Lee Cox and Lee Nelson have compiled interesting facts about Joseph Smith's life, the people he interacted with and his spiritual experiences. Thirteen of those 500 little-known facts are included in this list. Several sources, as cited in "500 Little-Known Facts about Joseph Smith," are included on each slide, and those that are abbreviated on the slides are listed below. HC: "The History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" by Joseph Smith, edited by B. H. Roberts.

Volumes 1–7, 1951, 1980, Deseret Book, 3,992 pages. JD: "Journal of Discourses" by President Brigham Young, His Two Counselors, the Twelve Apostles and others, reported by G. D. Watt, and D. W. Evans, Liverpool, England 1867. D&CWW: "Doctrine & Covenants Who’s Who: A Comprehensive Guide to the People in the Doctrine and Covenants" by Ed J. Pinegar & Richard J. Allen, 2008, Covenant, 201 pages. Joseph and Emma’s posterity Nadine Barton, lds.org "The Joseph Smith Jr. and Emma Hale Smith family organization estimates that there are 1,600 descendants of Joseph Smith and Emma, of whom about 1,100 are living today.

There are 130–140 confirmed Latter-day Saints among those 1,100 who are still living." Michael Kennedy, "The Family of Joseph and Emma Smith: The Untold Story," DVD Cited in "500 Little-Known Facts about Joseph Smith," 11 Angelic visitors Deseret News archives Joseph Smith saw a recorded 139 heavenly beings, according to "500 Little-Known Facts about Joseph Smith." A few of those visitors are listed below. John the Baptist ( D&C 13 ) Adam, or Michael ( D&C128:21 ; JD 9) Abel (HC, 3:388; JD 18:325) Alma the Younger (JD 27:374; Hyrum L. Andrus, "Joseph Smith, the Man and the Seer") Mormon (JD 27:374; JD 17:374; Hyrum L. Andrus, "Joseph Smith, the Man and the Seer") Lehi (JD 16:265–266; Brian L.

Smith, "Joseph Smith and the Doctrinal Restoration: The Annual Sidney B. Sperry Symposium," 343) Cited in "500 Little-Known Facts about Joseph Smith," 33-38 Visits from Moroni Intellectual Reserve, Inc. Joseph Smith saw Moroni at least 27 times, according to "500 Little-Known Facts about Joseph Smith." Some of these visits are listed below. Sept. 21-22, 1823: Moroni visited Joseph three times. Sept. 21, 1823: Moroni visited Joseph next to the fence near the Smith log home. May-June 1828: Moroni visited at Joseph and Emma’s log cabin in Harmony, Pennsylvania, when the 116 pages were lost. Moroni picked up the gold plates and the Urim and Thummim. 1828: Moroni was seen by Joseph, Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer while walking on the road to the Whitmers'.

Truman Madsen Tapes; "A Chronology of Joseph Smith," BYU Studies Cited in "500 Little-Known Facts about Joseph Smith," 34-35 Witness of Jesus Christ Deseret News archives Joseph Smith saw Jesus Christ at least 10 times, according to "500 Little-Known Facts about Joseph Smith." Some of these visits are listed below. Spring of 1820: Joseph saw the Savior with Heavenly Father during the First Vision. Feb. 16, 1832: Joseph and Sidney Rigdon saw the Son of Man on the right hand of God. Dec. 18, 1833: Joseph saw Jehovah appear to Adam. Jan. 21, 1836: Joseph saw the celestial kingdom with Christ standing in the midst. April 3, 1836: Joseph and Oliver Cowdery saw Jesus Christ in the Kirtland Temple. HC; John W.

Welch, "Opening the Heavens," Page 311–18; Ronald Vern Jackson, "The Seer," 65 Cited in "500 Little-Known Facts about Joseph Smith," 33, 34 Vision of celestial kingdom "On January 21, 1836, while in the Kirtland Temple with the First Presidency, Joseph saw the Father and the Son in the celestial kingdom. The account of this experience was recorded in section 137 of the —John W. Welch, ed., "A Chronology of the Life of Joseph Smith," BYU Studies, 8 "I saw the transcendent beauty of the gate through which the heirs of that kingdom will enter." —Joseph Smith, HC, 2:380 “I saw the beautiful streets of that kingdom, which had the appearance of being paved with gold.” —Joseph Smith, HC, 2:38 Cited in "500 Little-Known Facts about Joseph Smith," 50, 54 A near-death experience Deseret News archives "Apostate William Law attempted to kill Joseph and fired a pistol at him six times at close range.

It misfired six times, and he then pointed it at a post and all six shots discharged properly." Stoddard, Charles H. 1949. In Hannah R. Stoddard, "Hannah Rebecca Larson Stoddard, Affidavit, Oct. 15, 1949," LDS Church Archives Found in "Remembering Joseph" by Mark L. McConkie, 73-74 Cited in "500 Little-Known Facts about Joseph Smith," 139 Editor's note: This slide has been updated to include additional details about the source material. Zion's Camp members Deseret News archives "Joseph Smith saw a vision of the 13 men and one woman who died in the Zion’s Camp cholera epidemic and said, 'If I get a mansion as bright as theirs, I ask no more.' " HC, 2:180–181 Cited in "500 Little-Known Facts about Joseph Smith," 56 Last father’s and patriarchal blessing from Joseph Smith Sr. to Joseph Smith Jr.

Deseret News archives "At Joseph Smith Sr.’s deathbed in 1840 in Nauvoo: 'Joseph, my son, thou art called to a high and holy calling. Thou art even called to do the work of the Lord. Hold out faithful, and you shall be blessed and your children after you. You shall live to finish your work.' At this Joseph cried out, weeping, ‘Oh my father, will I?’ ‘Yes,’ said his father, ‘you shall live to lay out the plan of all the work which God has given you to do.

This is my dying blessing on your head in the name of Jesus.’ ” "History of Lucy Smith, Mother of the Prophet," 1845 manuscript, 298, Church Archives Cited in "500 Little-Known Facts about Joseph Smith," 63, 64 Die for a Presbyterian or Baptist Deseret News archives “If it has been demonstrated that I have been willing to die for a ‘Mormon,’ I am bold to declare before Heaven that I am just as ready to die in defending the rights of a Presbyterian, a Baptist or a good man of any other denomination.” Joseph Smith, HC, 5:498; Matthew B. Brown, "Joseph Smith: The Man, the Mission, the Message," 44 Cited in "500 Little-Known Facts about Joseph Smith," 157 Poems and hymns Del Parson, lds.org "In 1843, Joseph wrote a long poem called "I Will Go," or "The Vision." This nine-page poem, 78 stanzas, was sent to W.W.

Phelps as a poetic version of section 76 of the Doctrine and Covenants, the vision of the glories." —The Vision, a letter to W. W. Phelps Joseph Smith's favorite hymns: “I Know That My Redeemer Lives,” “The Spirit of God,” “When Joseph, His Brethren First Beheld” (referring to Joseph of Egypt), “Redeemer of Israel” and “A Poor Wayfaring Man.” —James Palmer, Truman Madsen Tapes; They Knew the Prophet by Hyrum L. Andrus, 172 Cited in "500 Little-Known Facts about Joseph Smith," 150, 158 Orrin Porter Rockwell lds.org "He was a bodyguard on several occasions.

However, when Joseph went to Carthage, he requested Rockwell stay behind in Nauvoo and guard Emma and the children." D&C WW, 91; GD, 300 Cited in "500 Little-Known Facts about Joseph Smith," 16 Funeral services Dan Baxter, lds.org "When mother Lucy Mack Smith saw the dead bodies of her sons Joseph and Hyrum, she cried out, 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken this family!' She then heard a voice saying, 'I have taken them to myself, that they might have rest.' " —Scot F. Proctor and Maurine Jensen Proctor, eds., "History of Joseph Smith by His Mother," 457 "Decoy caskets for the funeral were filled with sandbags to protect Joseph’s and Hyrum’s bodies. A $1,000 reward had been offered for the head of Joseph Smith. William W.

Phelps preached the funeral service at the Nauvoo Temple." —Norman Rothman, "The Unauthorized Biography of Joseph Smith," Page 360; "Martyred," 201 Cited in "500 Little-Known Facts about Joseph Smith," 225, 227 Birthplace monument Teachings of Presidents of the Church: George Albert Smith (2011), 32 "President Joseph F. Smith assigned Junius Wells to locate the site, procure the land and design a monument. One hundred tons of granite was mined and shaped 35 miles to the north, in Berre, Vermont. The 38½–foot shaft (one foot for every year of Joseph’s life) weighed 40 tons, with another four pieces for the base weighing 60 tons. It took 33 days to move the granite monument to its location." —Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial Pamphlet "For Joseph Smith’s 200th birthday, President Gordon B. Hinckley held a telecast at his birthplace in Sharon Township, Vermont. It was telecast to 161 countries in 81 languages. President Boyd K.

Packer mentioned Joseph and Emma Smith and said, 'We pray now that their descendants will be gathered in.' In the closing prayer by Uriah A. Kennedy, fifth great–grandson of Joseph and Emma, he said, 'We pray that thou wilt give a special blessing to his descendants that the Prophet might have claim to his children once more.' " —Joseph Smith Jr. Bicentennial Celebration Broadcast; "Church Almanac" 2009, 617 Cited in "500 Little-Known Facts about Joseph Smith," 229 Early history of the LDS and other Mormon groups History of LDS Restorationism before 1843 CE Sponsored link. Joseph Smith's early experiences: The Mormons have had a fascinating and turbulent history. Its founder was Joseph Smith. He lived in Palmyra NY -- in "...western New York state, sometimes known as the "Burned-over District" because of the waves of religious revivalism that periodically swept over the area." 1 His family of origin were called "Seekers." These were Christians who were not affiliated with a specific denomination, but who respected the teachings of all faith groups.

In his early teens, his mother and most of the rest of the family converted to Presbyterianism. However, Joseph was deeply troubled by the multiplicity of sects that existed in Christianity. Methodists, Presbyterians and Baptists were active in his hometown. In common with many Christians before and since, he wondered which was the "true" Christian religion . He asked God: "Who of all these parties is right; or, are they all wrong together?ï¿½ Smith's first vision: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- the main Mormon church -- teaches that he received his answer in the form of his first vision in 1820, at the age of 14 in Palymra, NY. God and Jesus Christ appeared before Joseph as two separate persons, apparently in flesh and bone bodies. This conflicts with the traditional Christian beliefs that God is a spirit, and that God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit consist of three persons in a single entity.

Smith wrote that he was told by Jesus to: "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: ï¿½they 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 thereofï¿½." 2 Smith was also told that he would receive a major personal assignment in the future. Belief in this vision is a central belief of the LDS Church. LDS president, Gordon B. Hinckley, has said: "We declare without equivocation that God the father and his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, appeared in person to the boy, Joseph Smith. Our whole strength rests on the validity of that vision." 3 During an interview with PBS, Hinckley stated: "...it's either true or false. If it's false, we're engaged in a great fraud. If it's true, it's the most important thing in the world. Now, that's the whole picture.

It is either right or wrong, true or false, fraudulent or true. And that's exactly where we stand, with a conviction in our hearts that it is true: that Joseph went into the [Sacred] Grove; that he saw the Father and the Son; that he talked with them; that Moroni came; that the Book of Mormon was translated from the plates; that the priesthood was restored by those who held it anciently. That's our claim. That's where we stand, and that's where we fall, if we fall. But we don't. We just stand secure in that faith. 4 Subsequent visitations: The Church also teaches that in 1823, at the age of 17, he received three visitations from Moroni (some texts say Nephi) at the time of the Autumn Equinox . The angel revealed to Joseph the location of golden tablets on which was written the history of two early American tribes. He later wrote that he had gone to the site and found: A breastplate, such as might have been worn by an ancient Israelite. Golden plates upon which ancient American authors Ether, Mormon, Lehi and Nephi had recorded additions to Biblical history The Urim and Thummim.

These were two "stones in silver bows" which appear in Numbers 27:21 and 1 Samuel 28:6 of the Hebrew Scriptures. They were apparently devices (perhaps in the form of flat stones) that the high priest consulted to determine the will of God. They might have worked something like a pair of dice. Smith claimed that through the stones "and by the gift and power of God" he was able to translate the unknown script on the golden plates into English Brass plates upon which another author, Laban, had quoted from Hebrew Scriptures and recorded genealogies. However, he was not permitted to remove the plates at that time. He was instructed to return to the spot at each Autumn Equinox. Four years later, in 1827, he was finally allowed to take possession of the material. Translation of the golden plates: A friend of Smith, Martin Harris, attempted to authenticate the tablets by taking copies of some of the inscriptions to Professor Charles Anton and is said to have received verbal confirmation that the tablets were written in "reformed Egyptian" hieroglyphics. There is no such language. Prof.

Anton later denied making this statement, and wrote that the symbols that he saw were a combination of Greek, Hebrew, inverted or sideways Roman letters, and elements from a Mexican calendar. Joseph Smith positioned himself behind a curtain and used the special stones to translate the inscriptions on the golden plates. Emma Smith, Martin Harris and Oliver Cowdery served at various times as a scribe. A 116 page Book of Lehi was translated over a two month interval in 1828. Unfortunately, Martin Harris showed the only copies to his wife who promptly "lost" them. Lucy Harris was a skeptic, and there is speculation that she believed the book to be a fraud. By forcing Smith to retranslate the book, she hoped to demonstrate discrepancies between the two versions, thus proving that the book was a hoax. Smith stated that God was so angry at this loss that he temporarily took away the special stones. Smith later decided to not re-translate the Book of Lehi, but to translate the plates of Nephi instead, which described the same events as the Book of Lehi. The preface to the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon included the following preface referring to the loss of the Book of Lehi.

It was signed "The Author:" "As many false reports have been circulated respecting the following work, and also many unlawful measures taken by the evil designing persons to destroy me, and also the work, I would inform you that I translated, by the gift and power of God, and caused to be written, one hundred and sixteen pages, the which I took from the Book of Lehi, which was an account abridged from the plates of Lehi, by the hand of Mormon; which said account, some person or persons have stolen and kept from me, notwithstanding my utmost exertions to recover it again—and being commanded of the Lord that I should not translate the same over again, for Satan had put it into their hearts to tempt the Lord their God, by altering the words, that they did read contrary from that which I translated and caused to be written; and if I should bring forth the same words again, or, in other words, if I should translate the same over again, they would publish that which they had stolen, and Satan would stir up the hearts of this generation, that they might not receive this work: but behold, the Lord said unto me, I will not suffer that Satan shall accomplish his evil design in this thing: therefore thou shalt translate

 from the plates of Nephi, until ye come to that which ye have translated, which ye have retained; and behold ye shall publish it as the record of Nephi; and thus I will confound those who have altered my words.

I will not suffer that they shall destroy my work; yea, I will shew unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the Devil. Wherefore, to be obedient unto the commandments of God, I have, through his grace and mercy, accomplished that which he hath commanded me respecting this thing. I would also inform you that the plates of which hath been spoken, were found in the township of Manchester, Ontario county, New-York." 10 The preface is missing from modern editions of the Book of Mormon. Mormons believe that John the Baptist later appeared to Smith and Cowdery, investing them in the Aaronic Priesthood showing them how to baptize each other by total immersion in water. Still later, the Apostles Peter, James and John invested Smith and Cowdery in the Melchizedec priesthood and commissioned them as the first two elders of the new church. Smith founded the Church of Christ: Joseph Smith and five other men founded the Church of Christ in 1830-APR-06. it attracted 1,000 members during its first 12 months.

Smith and a small band of followers moved to Kirtland (near Cleveland OH) in 1830. Their group was renamed the Church of Latter Day Saints in 1834. Financial problems and local opposition from non-Mormons caused them to flee for their lives to Jackson County, MO in 1837, which he called Zion. Church members were heavily persecuted here as well -- largely because many of the public believed that the church was promoting the establishment of a religious dictatorship -- a theocracy. They were also distressed at the Mormon's belief that the Book of Mormon was the revealed work of God, with the same status as the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) and Christian Scriptures (New Testament). In spite of the opposition -- much of it state-sponsored or condoned -- the church increased greatly in numbers. Many of their homes were destroyed. Many Mormons died while trying to survive winter without adequate shelter. Other Christians expelled the church from Jackson County. The Mormons settled in Far West, MO, in Caldwell County which had been reserved for them.

In 1838, they renamed their group again, to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, In the same year, 17 Mormon settlers were murdered in the Massacre at Haun's Mill. Sidney Rigdon had a major influence on the LDS between 1831 and 1839. In spite of his mental illness -- apparently bipolar affective disorder -- he was Joseph Smith's spokesperson and was responsible for a number of: "...doctrines, policies and key portions of Mormon history like the current two-tiered priesthood structure, moving to Kirtland, temple building, the belief of an immanent second coming in early Mormonism, the Joseph Smith 'translation' of the Bible and portions of the Pearl of Great Price, the Word of Wisdom, the United Order, a First Presidency, a salary for some church leaders, the name of the church and the term 'Latter-day Saint,' the Lectures on Faith, a new Jerusalem and Zion in Jackson County, Zion's Camp, and settling in Nauvoo. ... It is very safe to say that Mormonism would be a very different religion today were it not for Sidney Rigdon's influence.

He delivered nearly every significant Mormon sermon in the 1830s." 5 Few present-day Mormons are familiar with Rigdon's massive contributions to the church during its early years. Sponsored link: Joseph Smith's prophecy about Jesus' second coming: During 1843, Joseph Smith heard a voice while he was praying.

He, or someone on his behalf, wrote, in Doctrines and Covenants section 130: 14: "I was once praying very earnestly to know the time of the coming of the Son of Man, when I heard a voice repeat the following:" 15: "Joseph, my son, if thou livest until thou art eighty-five years old, thou shalt see the face of the Son of Man; therefore let this suffice, and trouble me no more on this matter." 16: "I was left thus, without being able to decide whether this coming referred to the beginning of the millennium or to some previous appearing, or whether I should die and thus see his face." 17: "I believe the coming of the Son of Man will not be any sooner than that time." 6 Smith is later recorded as having said: "I prophesy in the name of the Lord God, and let it be written--the Son of Man will not come in the clouds of heaven till I am eighty-five years old.8 Smith would have reached the age of 85 during 1890.

Unfortunately, by that year, Smith had been dead for almost a half century, having been assassinated by a Christian mob in 1844 when he was 38 years of age. Mormon belief is that Smith would have reached the highest of the three levels of Heaven when he died and would end up in the presence of Jesus at that time. Note that his prophecy can be interpreted that Jesus would return to Earth during 1890 (which did not materialize) or that 1890 would pass without Jesus' return (which did come to pass). Some anti-Mormon sources quote only verses 14 and 15, and draw the former conclusion -- that Smith's prophecy failed. As a result of this prophecy, his followers were not caught up in the great religious turbulance caused by William Miller's prophecy of the imminent return of Jesus. He initially computed the date to be between 1943-MAR and 1844-MAR. When that failed, Miller changed the date to 1844-APR-18 and later to 1844-OCT-22. These were equally unsuccessful prophecies.

Mormons also were able to ignore subsequent predictions of the date of Jesus' return as later prophecized by Ellen White (co-founder of the Seventh Day Adventist denomination), Mary Baker Eddy (founder of Christian Science ) and Charles Taze Russell (founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses ). On an unrelated topic, Joseph Smith predicted that a Civil War would occurr and would start in South Carolina. Two decades later, the Civil War began with shots firec on Fort Sumter in South Carolina. Documents, Volume 4: April 1834–September 1835 Documents, Volume 4: April 1834–September 1835 Purchase: The fourth volume of the Documents series, published in 2016, contains minutes, revelations, discourses, administrative records, legal documents, personal letters, and recorded blessings, among other documents. Almost all of the documents in the volume in some way touch on Joseph Smith’s efforts to redeem Zion after the Saints had been expelled from Jackson County, Missouri.

Specific topics addressed in these documents include the march of the Camp of Israel (later known as Zion's Camp), the construction of the House of the Lord in Ohio, the publication of the Doctrine and Covenants, responses to the church’s financial struggles, and the development of the church’s organizational structure. ISBN-13: 978-1-62972-174-3 Volume Editors Matthew C. Godfrey and Alex D. Smith are historians for the Church History Department, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Brenden W. Rensink is an assistant professor of history at Brigham Young University. Max H Parkin is a retired instructor for the Latter-day Saint Institute of Religion at the University of Utah. Alexander L. Baugh is a professor of church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University. Additional Content About This Volume Accomplishing the “redemption of Zion” was Joseph Smith’s primary concern for much of 1834 and 1835.

After the Latter-day Saints had been forcibly removed from their lands in Jackson County, Missouri—the place where they believed God had commanded them to build the city of Zion—Joseph Smith led numerous efforts to reclaim those lands and restore the Saints to their homes. Covering April 1834 through September 1835, the ninety-three documents featured in this fourth volume of the Documents series of The Joseph Smith Papers shed light on Joseph Smith’s attempts to redeem Zion and reveal his maturation as a leader and prophet for a growing church facing nearly constant challenges. The project of redeeming Zion placed large demands on Joseph Smith’s time and resources. He left his home in Kirtland, Ohio, in May 1834 to lead a company of about two hundred individuals, known as the Camp of Israel and later as Zion’s Camp, to Missouri to aid the beleaguered Saints there. Smith also sought to redeem Zion through the construction of the House of the Lord (or temple) in Kirtland, where the elders of the church were to receive an “endowment of power,” and the publication of the Doctrine and Covenants, a collection of revelations that provided instruction to the Saints on church doctrine and theology.

Funding these projects proved difficult, however. In part because of the loss of the printing press in Jackson County and the mounting construction costs of the Kirtland temple, Smith and the church faced severe financial problems in the mid-1830s. Several documents in this volume describe these projects, the church’s financial strain, and the resulting assignments given to some individuals to collect donations for the church. Meanwhile, the number of Saints in and outside Kirtland continued to increase. To address the challenge of growth, Joseph Smith further developed the church’s governing bodies and created a more complex administrative structure. Some documents presented herein, for example, detail the creation of new leadership positions in the church, including the offices of apostle, seventy, and church patriarch. The types of documents included in this volume range from minutes and administrative documents to personal letters and revelations. Particularly prominent are a number of recorded blessings. These documents reveal the growing importance that Joseph Smith placed on giving blessings that provided personalized instructions and promises to various individuals, including veterans of the Camp of Israel and new church leaders. The documents reproduced in this volume have been transcribed and annotated to the highest standards of documentary editing.

Altogether, they open a window into Joseph Smith’s efforts to establish the kingdom of God on earth and his development as a leader of a growing religious movement. This volume is an indispensable resource for those studying the life of Joseph Smith during this formative and turbulent period. Excerpts Revelation Commanding the Camp of Israel to Disband 22 June 1834 [D&C 105] “It is expedient in me that mine elders should wait for a little season for the redemption of Zion, that they themselves may be prepared and that my people may be taught more perfectly, and have experience and know more perfectly concerning their duty, and the things which I require at their hands, and this cannot be brought to pass until mine elders are endowed with power from on high, for behold I have prepared a great endowment and blessing to be poured out upon them[.]” Discourse Prefacing the Calling of the Twelve Apostles 14 February 1835 “President Smith arose and stated the reason why this meeting was called. It was this. God had commanded it and it was made known to him by vision and by the Holy Spirit.

he then gave a relation of some of the circumstances attending us while journeying to Zion, our trials, sufferings &c &c. He said God had not designed all this for nothing, but he had it in remembrance yet, and those who went to Zion, with a determination to lay down their lives, if necessary, it was the Will of God, that they should be ordained to the ministry and go forth to prune the vineyard for the last time[.]” Request for Documents Do you know of any Joseph Smith documents that we might not have heard about? Tell us The Church Historian’s Press is an imprint of the Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah, and a trademark of Intellectual Reserve, Inc.

Question: Joseph Smith is known as the founder of what movement?
Answer: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints