The Sketchy History of Joseph Smith

Latter-day Saints revere Joseph Smith as a prophet of God. His role is absolutely central to the claims of Mormonism. LDS Church President Joseph Fielding Smith highlighted this important role:

“Mormonism, as it is called, must stand or fall on the story of Joseph Smith. He was either a prophet of God, divinely called, properly appointed and commissioned, or he was one of the biggest frauds this world has ever seen. There is no middle ground.” (Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation 1:188. Italics in original)

In light of this, it makes sense to examine the story of Joseph Smith to evaluate what we should think of him. Consider five elements of his story that bear upon this question.

Occult Treasure Hunting 

Money digging was a fairly common practice in frontier America in the late 1700s and early 1800s. It involved certain rituals or ceremonies performed to obtain buried treasure. The treasure was thought to be guarded by evil spirits. Joseph Smith as a young man offered his services for hire as a money digger. Smith’s entire family practiced various folk-magic practices, including visions, dreams and occult rituals.

Joseph’s method in finding lost treasure involved the use of a seer stone, which he discovered in 1822 while digging a well for a neighbor. He would place this small rock in his hat and pull his hat up over his face to block out the light. He claimed that he could see supernaturally through the stone to help locate the place where the treasure was buried.

The Vagrant Act, a New York law at the time, defined a disorderly person to include one who pretended to have skill in palm reading, telling fortunes, or discovering where lost goods could be found. In 1826 - during the period while Joseph was supposedly being prepared by God to receive the gold plates containing the Book of Mormon - he was arrested, brought before a judge, and charged with being a “glass-looker” and a disorderly person. The judge determined that Joseph was guilty, though no penalty was administered.

Shortly after this, Joseph stopped money digging but kept the seer stone. It was with this stone that he claimed to find the gold plates and to later produce the Book of Mormon. Historians have documented many points of connection between Joseph’s early occult practices and the origins of the Book of Mormon.

The First Vision 

Joseph Smith’s “First Vision” is a key part of the LDS story and establishes several unique LDS beliefs. The official account of this vision describes how the 14-year-old Smith, eager to learn the truth about which of the competing Christian churches was true, went to a secluded grove to ask God. There God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him and told him not to join any of them, for all of them were apostate. That event launched the prophetic mission of Joseph Smith to restore Jesus’ original church to the earth. The official account, now included in LDS scriptures, was written by Joseph Smith in 1838, 18 years after the events it recounts. 

Yet historical research in recent years has uncovered eight other accounts of the First Vision. Some were written by Smith himself, or were recorded by others who heard Smith tell about it. Most of these accounts are earlier than the official version. It appears that over time, the story changed and grew into its final form. In some versions, two personages appear to Smith. In another, only “the Lord” appears. In others, the glorious personage is an angel. In the official version, the personages tell Smith that all churches are corrupt. In another version, this message comes from an angel. In other versions, this message is missing. In some versions, In one version, Smith reports that he was told, “Your sins are forgiven.” But this is absent in other versions. The official account says that Joseph was 14 when he had the vision. Another version, in Smith’s own handwriting, says that he was 15. Others give his age as 17. 

The LDS Church’s Gospel Topics Essay: First Vision Accounts

The Kirtland Banking Scandal

The LDS Church was officially founded in 1830 in New York, near Joseph Smith’s home town. By the early 1830s Smith and his followers moved to Kirtland Ohio, where a number of converts had joined the church. New converts from other areas converged on Kirtland to be part of the LDS community. But the church’s presence in Ohio didn’t last long.

There was friction with the locals on a number of points, which led to persecution. But one significant issue emerged when Joseph Smith and other LDS leaders organized an illegal bank in 1836, called the Kirtland Safety Society. Smith not only broke the law to form the bank; he had no expertise in financial matters and hid behind his prophetic mantle to convince others to fund the bank, claiming that the audible voice of God instructed him to establish it. He prophesied that the bank would grow and flourish, surviving when others failed. Yet this bank failed in 1837, releasing a hornet’s nest of creditors who demanded payment, leading to numerous lawsuits and threats of violence. Many in the LDS church at that time lost faith in Smith’s prophetic leadership. Others were convinced that Smith intended to defraud investors from the beginning. Joseph left Kirtland in January 1838 under cover of darkness, never to return again. 

Freemasonry

Freemasonry was prevalent in the areas where Joseph Smith grew up. In fact, Joseph’s brother Hyrum became a Mason while the family was still living in Palmyra, New York. Some years later, in Nauvoo, Illinois, when the LDS church was at its height, many prominent Latter-day Saints were Masons. Joseph became a Mason in March 1842. Less than two months later, he introduced the core ritual of the LDS temple, the endowment ceremony. Numerous scholars have pointed out the many parallels between the Masonic ritual and the LDS temple ritual, such as: the language of the ritual; the handshakes and other physical signs; the oaths and promises made; the vows of secrecy; the clothing involved in the ceremonies; the presentation of the ritual through drama, and more. Masonic themes and symbols are also reflected in the architecture of the Nauvoo temple, such as the beehive; the sun, moon and stars; the square; and the all-seeing eye. The LDS temple ritual, said by Mormons to have been given by divine revelation, is actually based on Masonic rituals.

Polygamy

Plural marriage in Mormonism began with Joseph Smith. He was toying with the principle of polygamy as early as 1831, and began introducing the doctrine shortly thereafter, but the revelation outlining the practice was not written down until 1843. Around 1834, Smith had a sexual relationship with Fanny Alger, a teenager living in his home. Faithful LDS scholars view this as the first of his plural marriages, but early LDS leader Oliver Cowdery described it as a “dirty, nasty, filthy affair.” By 1842, Joseph had married 10 women. That summer, he married six additional women, along with 17 others in 1843. Two of these were only 14 years old. While Mormons have denied it for years, the LDS Church has acknowledged that many of these marriages were physically consummated.

The revelation authorizing plural marriage is found in Doctrine and Covenants 132. There, Joseph’s wife Emma is threatened with destruction if she does not go along with Joseph’s polygamy. (Today, most people would view that as spiritual abuse.) Section 132 also requires plural wives to be virgins. Yet Joseph married a number of women who were already married to other men. The revelation required a man taking plural wives to obtain the permission of his first wife. Yet Joseph married many women without Emma’s knowledge. 

The LDS Church’s Gospel Topics Essay: Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo

Again, Latter-day Saint leaders have challenged us to consider Joseph Smith’s story, to discern whether he was a prophet of God. These five elements of Joseph’s history give evidence that he was not.