PART ONE
Joseph Smith is a false prophet, and since the church and its writings are built on his peepstone interpretation of the golden plates and other hallucinatons, therefore we can dismiss the entire Mormon/Latter Day Saints movement as a manmade debacle that is entirely outside of true, Biblical Christianity. If even ONE prophecy from Joseph Smith is incorrect in any way, the bible makes it clear he is not from God, and is a false prophet
Joseph Smith and the Biblical Test of a Prophet
by James Walker
Millions of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints pray to receive a "testimony" of the truthfulness of the Church and believe that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God. They base this knowledge largely on a Book of Mormon passage, Moroni 10:4, that if you ask sincerely ask God "if these things are not true he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost."
Mormons reason that the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, the LDS Church, and Joseph Smith can be "tested" according to Moroni 10:4. In fact, verse five indicates by this test, "ye may know the truth of all things."The problem with a subjective test of this sort is that many religions have followers that are sincere and pray.The Moslems pray five times a day facing Mecca and they have a sincere testimony that Mohammed was a true prophet and the Koran the word of God. Likewise, Jehovah's Witnesses believe in prayer and their "anointed" followers are convinced that they have the testimony of God's Spirit that their organization is true.
The Bible makes it clear that there are other spirits besides the Holy Spirit who can be very "seducing" and even teach "doctrines" (1 Timothy 4:1). This is why 1 John 4:1 warns: "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try [Greek dokimazo "test"] the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." Testing the spirits is necessary because of "many false prophets" in the world. What is the test for a prophet?
Biblical Test for a Prophet
The test for a prophet is found in Deuteronomy 18:20-22. This scripture teaches that a prophet must be tested by checking his prophecies. Also. Jesus said, "Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves."This is not telling us to examine a prophet's good works. Many false prophets have led moral lives. The fruit of a fig tree is its figs. The fruit of a prophet is his prophecies. One false prophecy (even if some true prophecies are given) and that person is a false prophet. It does not matter how sincere he or his followers are. It does not matter how often his followers pray or what feelings they seem to receive in answer to their prayers. He is a false prophet.
This is one way a person can decide if Jeane Dixon is a true prophet not by praying about her, but checking her prophecies. Many of them have not come true. A false prophet never says to you, "I am a false prophet. Follow me!" He will appear to be a true prophet. This is part of the "sheep's clothing."
Does Joseph Smith Pass the Test?
The fruit of a prophet is his prophecy. Before testing some of Joseph Smith's prophecies, it is important that we classify types of prophetic statements dealing with future events.
First, there are open-dated predictions. These are prophecies that are given no certain time frame in which to be fulfilled. An example is found in History of the Church, Vol. 2 p. 182. In this prophecy Joseph Smith predicts in 1835 that, "the coming of the Lord, which was nigh--even fifty-six years should wind up the scene." Although the Lord did not return by 1891, it should be noted that Joseph Smith said fifty-six years should wind up the scene. Something could have happened to upset the original time schedule. Therefore this prophecy alone does not make Joseph Smith a false prophet.
A second type of prediction that is quite common is the self-fulfilling prophecy. One sample is located in Doctrine and Covenants 37:1. In this revelation, the Lord instructs Joseph not to translate any more until he goes to Ohio. To make this prophecy come true, Joseph Smith had only to cease translating for a few months.
A third type of prophecy Joseph Smith gave is the conditional prophecy. One such prediction is preserved in Doctrine and Covenants 40:16-18. Here it is foretold that if the people of Ohio repent, they will not be severely judged of the Lord. This is conditional upon their repentance. If Ohio is severely judged, they did not sufficiently repent. If they are not judged, they must have repented before God.
Although most of Joseph Smith's prophecies are of the first three types, there is a fourth type of prediction that can be found. This is the close-dated unconditional prophecy. Although relatively few of Joseph Smith's prophecies are of this type, they are extremely important because they make it possible to put Joseph Smith to the Biblical test of a prophet.
One such prophecy is found in Doctrine and Covenants Section 114. This two-verse prophecy, given April 17, 1838, is a set of instructions to David W. Patten, then one of the LDS twelve Apostles. He was to prepare to go on a mission with the other eleven (Apostles) into "all the world." According to the revelation, the mission was to take place "next spring" which would give the prophecy a "closed-date" somewhere around April or May of 1839. Less than three months later, the "twelve" were given a specific date to leave (April 26, 1839) and one of the apostles, Thomas Marsh, was instructed to stay behind to "publish my word." (Doctrine and Covenants Sectiono 118).
The date of April 26, 1839 came and, as History of the Church records, "The Brethren arrived at Far West, and proceeded to transact the business of their mission." (Vol. 3 p.336). However, David W. Patten was not part of that mission. David Patten was not present because he had died in October of 1838.
History of the Church reports: "Captain Patten was carried some of the way in a litter, but it caused so much distress that he begged to be left by the way side. he died that night" (Vol. 3, p. 171). Rather than going on a mission with the Twelve next spring, as Joseph Smith had prophesied in 1838, Patten died before the next year even came. This could not be a reference to a "mission" in the spirit world after death because Joseph Smith was specific that he was to go "unto all the world" (not the Spirit World) and he was to be with the "twelve." (Doctrine and Covenants 114 emphasis added).
Some have suggested that David Patten could have apostatized from his calling. In other words, God called him to go on the mission but because of sin or faithlessness he fell from the calling. There are two problems with this explanation. The God of the Bible is all-knowing and He knew that Patten was going to die (Acts 1:18). Also, Patten did not fall away from the Church. After Patten's death, Joseph Smith wrote, "Brother David Patten was a very worthy man, beloved by all good men who know him. He was one of the Twelve Apostles, and died as he had lived, a man of God, and strong in the faith of a glorious resurrection." (History of the Church Vol. 3, p. 171).
