2 Timothy 2 15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Alpha and Omega Ministries presents the Dividing Line radio broadcast. The Apostle Peter commanded all Christians to be ready to give a defense for the hope that is within us, yet to give this answer with gentleness and reverence. Your host is Dr. James White, director of Alpha and Omega Ministries and an elder at the Phoenix Reformed Baptist Church. If you'd like to talk with Dr. White, you can call now by dialing 508-0960. That's 508-0960. And now, with today's topic, here's James White. And good afternoon, Phoenix. My name is Rich Pierce, and I am sitting in for Dr. James White, and I'm having a little bit of a problem with feedback in here, so I've got a little bit of an echo, so if I sound kind of strange, I'm trying not to. this afternoon this week we're going to be discussing joseph smith as a profit now i know that he has been in mentioned by me in previous broadcasts that we need to stay on target and this is part of that uh... some may ask why do we need to get into joseph smith if we're staying on target if the bible is our standard if that's what we want to be uh... looking at One of the things you're going to encounter in witnessing to any Mormon worth their salt, folks, is the issue of Joseph Smith as a prophet. You see, in the Mormon testimony, the Mormon will recite the testimony, and it goes as such, I believe that Joseph Smith is a true prophet, I believe that the Book of Mormon is true, I believe that the Mormon Church is the true Church, etc. They may put those three together in any combination, but ultimately, when it comes right down to it, that's what they will have, at least that much, in their testimony. And ultimately, when it comes down to it, we have a situation to where oftentimes, in order to get them to a point of reasoning the Gospel from the Bible, we have to go through Joseph Smith. and so it's important for us to be able to show the biblical standard of what a profit is what a profit is not and then examined joseph smith for whether or not he was a prophet or whether or not he was a false prophet and we must look at the evidence for it now let's look at some of the important factors when we look at joseph smith and how the mormon churches at least the early uh... early teachers and a contemporary of our day and time uh... looks at joseph smith Brigham Young said in the Journal of Discourses, Volume 9, page 312, regarding the importance of Joseph Smith, In the first epistle of John it is written, Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are from God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God, and is that spirit of Antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come, and even now is already in the world. This is no test to this generation, for all men of the Christian world confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. This generation, however, is not left without a test. I have taught for thirty years and still teach that he that believeth in his heart and confesseth with his mouth that Jesus is the Christ and that joseph smith is his prophet to this generation is of god and he that confesses not that jesus has come in the flesh and send joseph smith with the fullness of the gospel to this generation is not of god but is anti christ if that doesn't give you and uh... an idea of how much emphasis is placed on the person of joseph smith and mormonism i don't know what is however Joseph Fielding Smith, who was the president, prophet, revelator, and seer of the church from 1970 to 1972, said, quote, there is no salvation without accepting Joseph Smith. If Joseph Smith was verily a prophet and if he told the truth, no man can reject that testimony without incurring the most dreadful consequences, for he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That from Doctrines of Salvation, Volume 1, pages 189 through one hundred and ninety again brigham young from journal discourses volume seven page two hundred and eighty nine joseph smith holds the keys of this last dispensation and is now engaged behind the veil in the great work of the last days no man or woman in this dispensation will ever enter into the celestial kingdom of god without the consent of joseph smith from the day that the priesthood was taken from the earth to the winding up of the scene of all things every man and woman must have a certificate of joseph smith junior as a passport to their entrance into the mansion where god and christ are brigham young regarding joseph smith's character journal of discourses volume fourteen page two hundred and three well now Examine the character of the Savior and the character of those who have written the Old and New Testaments, and then compare them with the character of Joseph Smith, the founder of this work, the man whom God called and to whom he gave the keys of the priesthood, and through whom he established his church and kingdom for the last time. And you will find that his character stands as fair as that of any man's mentioned in the Bible. we can find no person who presents a better character to the world when the facts are known than joseph smith junior the prophet and his brother hire and smith who was murdered with him well folks we uh... We see very clearly a great deal of emphasis, a very high amount of emphasis is put on Joseph Smith, his character and his work. Well, the question has to be asked, was Joseph Smith a true prophet of God? We're opening up the phone lines today to talk to you. This is a live show. 602-274-1360, 602-274-1360, or if you're calling out of the dialing area, that's 1-888-550-1360, 1-888-550-1360. Now, one of the things we need to keep in mind as we examine this issue is that in pointing out the false prophecies, I am completely aware that excuses can be made for them. Anyone can find an excuse if they want to. Now, what I would like to do, and what I want to point out, is that since the LDS Church that is proclaiming Joseph Smith a true prophet, and by doing so is saying that all other churches are false and corrupt, then it is the LDS Church's responsibility to prove their claims. The Mormon Church must show how Smith's prophecies came true. Evidence must be brought forth to substantiate those claims. It is not my responsibility to prove that Joseph's prophecies failed, it is the Mormon's responsibility to prove that they succeeded. Hence, the making excuses for how a prophecy might have taken place, or saying that maybe he meant this, or something other thing, simply won't meet the biblical standard. What is the biblical standard? If you have your Bible, turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter 13, focusing on verses 1-3. Deuteronomy 13, 1-3. It says, If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them, thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God proveth you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Now turn over to Deuteronomy chapter 18, verses 22 and following. Deuteronomy 18, verse 22. When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, and again, that is that capital LORD, L-O-R-D, all caps, that is Yahweh speaking, that is the personal name of God. If the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken. But the prophet has spoken it presumptuously, and thou shalt not be afraid of him." We're not to pay attention to him. Now, in these two passages, in and of themselves, the Bible gives us objective tests by which we are to test any person, whether it's Joseph Smith, whether it's the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, whether it's anyone making the claim of being a prophet of God. We are not left to our feelings in this matter, and that is something very important. We are given a solid source of authority. We're never told to pray about our source of authority, for to do so would be to place man and his feelings as the real authority rather than God's word. Truth, God's truth, folks, can be examined to its very foundation and be found to be true because God is truth itself. Hence, any claims that cannot be so examined are not from God himself. Now the major source of the prophecies of Joseph Smith, well actually the source of the prophecies of Joseph Smith, comes out of the Doctrine and Covenants. And I've said in previous shows that the Mormon Church has four standard works that they call Scripture. the Book of Mormon that most everybody is, if anybody's even heard of Mormonism, are familiar with, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price, and then the Holy Bible, the King James Version, in as far as it is translated correctly. Now, it's important for us to understand what the Doctrine and Covenants represents in today's world of Mormonism. The Doctrine and Covenants is the major source. It is the major proof area for the vast majority of Mormon doctrine. And so we have to deal with what it has to say, and we have to be able to contrast what it says over against the Bible. And today we're going to look at some of the false prophecies of Joseph Smith in the Doctrine and Covenants. Now, just a brief synopsis of the Doctrine and Covenants. It contains the revelations of Joseph Smith given between September 21st, 1823 and July 12th, 1843, comprising 134 sections with four other revelations given by others, totaling 138. There are many problems with the Doctrine and Covenants. The revelations contained there have been changed thousands of times. For example, sections 88 and 101 have been totally deleted since 1835. Section 27 has had over 400 words added, deleted, or changed since it originally appeared as section 28 in the Book of Commandments in 1833. including the addition of the doctrine of the priesthood, which was not in place at the original founding of the church, but was inserted there in 1835 to give the impression that it was originally there. It would probably be a major shock to many Mormon missionaries going around our city, around our nation, around the world, to come to the revelation or the realization, bad word, Rich, don't want to say revelation, the realization that the priesthood was not even in place when Joseph Smith had of the vision of God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, as he claimed it. The priesthood was not in place when the church was even founded, and was an idea inserted later. Now, the internal evidence of the Doctrine and Covenants, first of all, betrays its origins. For example, Doctrine and Covenants 110, Joseph Smith makes the claim that he sees he had a vision of elias and elijah that's interesting that's a very interesting thing that he saw both elijah and elias because this coming from someone who had a strict understanding of strictly the king james version of the bible but let's uh... let's understand how some more modern mormons have understood that passage and uh... see what will bear a little bit more light on it from a marvelous work in a wonder page two hundred and thirty eight will grant richard said too many elijah and elias and john the baptist are one in the same person however from the revelations of the lord to the prophet joseph smith and the personal appearance of these three great prophets to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, all uncertainty and lack of understanding have been removed. For now we know that each was a separate and distinct personage, a prophet of the Lord, And there's some other references out there if you want to write these down. Mormon Doctrine, page 220. That's Bruce R. McConkie's version of it. And Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, page 335, talks about it as well. And that is from Joseph Fielding Smith, the gentleman I referred to earlier, who was the prophet of the church from 70 to 72. what's the big deal with the liaison lines are you ask what the big deal is folks is that the line here is a hebrew it is and uh... gentleman's name from the old testament in the hebrew scriptures the lias is the greek translation from the hebrew from the Hebrew word Elijah. So in other words, they're the same person. Elias is Elijah. And when the King James Version, the teams that were spread out to do the translations, the committee as it were, did the translation, he had a different team of people working on the Old Testament than you had on the New Testament. And one thing that you see very common in the King James Version, as well as, for instance, many modern literal versions like the New American Standard, is a practice of transliteration into English. In other words, instead of trying to invent a whole new name in English, we simply transliterate the pronunciation into English spelling. and that's what the king james uh... translators did so the the guys translating from greek into english translated it alliance because that's how it sounded out and the guys translating from hebrew elijah into english they translated elijah and that's how it sounded out and so this is once again we've already seen the character of the person uh... the importance of joseph smith is supposed to hold and he claims to have had a vision in in doctrine coming in section one hundred ten of two personages which in fact are the same person so that's uh... that's a little bit of a convenient problem Now, some of the major doctrines taught in the Doctrine and Covenants reflect the importance of it. First of all, you have the priesthoods, which, as we did our shows back in May, the priesthood is a very important issue in the Mormon Church. They honestly believe that if they don't have the Melchizedek and Aaronic priesthoods, they do not have authority from God, or to speak on behalf of God. So the priesthoods are taught in section 107. The gathering of Zion is taught in section 84. That God has a body of flesh and bones is taught in section 130, verse 22. Polygamy. This is an old doctrine that has been taught, well it was early Mormonism, but the doctrine of polygamy and that it needs to be practiced by the Mormons is taught in section 132. The doctrine of three levels of heaven is taught in section 76, and how to recognize angels by their handshake is taught in section 129. So you get an idea of the broad range of the prophecies that the prophecies cover. Now, continuing on with more of the false prophecies of Joseph Smith, now we're going to sink our teeth into some stuff that merits discussion. Again, if there's some Mormons out there that would like to talk with me today, the number is 602-274-1360, and the 800 number for if you're out of the Valley area is 1-888-550-1360. I invite your calls. The lines are open. Now on, let's see, we're going to look at Doctrine and Covenants, section 84. specifically focusing on verses 112 through 115. It speaks of the destruction of cities. And this one is very clear, I think. It makes itself pretty well known and you can pretty much kind of think about our nation and some of the eastern cities in our nation and how they currently reside as I go through this false prophecy of Joseph Smith. Quote, and the Bishop, Newell K. Whitney, also should travel round about and among all the churches, searching after the poor to administer to their wants by humbling the rich and the proud. He should also employ an agent to take charge and to do his secular business as he shall direct. Nevertheless, let the bishop go unto the city of New York, also to the city of Albany, and also to the city of Boston, and warn the people of those cities with the sound of the gospel, with a loud voice, and of the desolation and utter abolishment which await them if they do if they do reject these things the power of their judgment is not and their house shall be left unto them desolate now i've been to new york city and i've been to uh... albany and uh... to my understanding in fact i've even been to boston and uh... it it strikes me that they're still around and i don't recall any major destruction that took place uh... it doesn't strike me that uh... they were leveled at any time i think the uh... the phrase here the desolation and utter abolishment which await those cities now i think it's easy to say that those cities are not exactly mormon bastions of religion and they are not bastions of religion at all uh... and so we can uh... for for that matter we can see what's uh... some of the things in the news of what's going on in the state of massachusetts considered to be the most liberal state in the united states and uh... one needs to ask the question whether or not uh... this even closely came to pass. But this is a prophecy of Joseph Smith that he gave that would happen. And again, the hour of their judgment is nigh, their house shall be left to them desolate. So there was an imminent danger to the people of those cities if they didn't repent and turn to the Mormon gospel. So that would be one of the first. Now I want to let you know there are many, many false prophecies of Joseph Smith. And I am not going to even try to do every one of them on the radio. But you would want to consider the fact that there are some primary false doctrines that we need to focus on. There are some primary things that we need to consider that Joseph Smith gave false prophecy on. And again, as we started the show out, if one prophecy is false, he's a false prophet, and we're not to listen to him. We're not to follow him. From the Doctrine and Covenants, section 87. Now, I'll tell you something, if you want to talk about the false prophecies of Joseph Smith, this is one area where Mormon missionaries love to camp out. They love to come into people's homes and let them know, did you know that Joseph Smith prophesied the Civil War? who he prophesied the civil war that's impressive how did that come about and this is a fascinating uh... account of um... how things went along here so let me just go into a section eighty seven And it's key to understand these dates. One of the things about these prophecies is they were very contemporary in the day and era of Joseph Smith. And so we need to keep in mind the dates and the context of what was going on during that time. And so this is section 87 of the Doctrine and Covenants. It was given on December 25, 1832. It's known as the Civil War Prophecy. however it was not published until nineteen years later only about ten before the war quote verily thus saith the lord concerning the wars that were shortly to come to pass beginning at the rebellion of south carolina which will eventually terminate on the death and misery in the death and misery of many souls and the time will come that war will be poured out upon all nations beginning at this place For behold, the southern states shall be divided against the northern states, and the southern states shall call upon other nations, even the nation of Great Britain as it is called, and they shall also call upon other nations, in order to defend themselves against other nations. And then war shall be poured out upon all nations." And so Joseph Smith is supposedly prophesying on Christmas Day 1832 that a civil war is about to break out in the united states and it is going to be a northern and southern war well that that pretty much reflects the civil war doesn't it uh... you know broke out in the early sixties eighteen sixties and um... the interesting thing about it is is it was between the north and the south that's uh... the blue and the gray as we uh... historically know it to be so what's the big deal here well couple of points i want to make here and that is the first of all the war did not pour out upon any other nations in fact the rest of the world took very little notice of our civil war i know that's not a very american thing to believe we uh... in this country tend to believe that uh... everybody uh... is is uh... focused on the united states but at the time united states was uh... a very different kind of nation And the rest of the world really didn't take much notice of our war, our civil war. The interesting thing about that is that the only one that really took any kind of notice was Great Britain. and the only uh... the only real interest that they had was is that they didn't want to lose their cotton source that they were importing out of the south they were importing a tremendous amount of cotton in the south and should that uh... be cut off that would be a real problem for great britain but as it were as it was great in britain great britain's stayed out of it it was strictly a civil war and basically the way joseph smith described it here in section eighty seven he's talking about something that ultimately unfolds into a world war. And again, he finishes up, that war shall be poured out upon all nations. So where does he get this idea in 1832, then? Well, it's interesting, because on December 10, 1832, the Boston Daily Advertiser and Patriot printed extracts from the message of the governor of south carolina at the opening of the legislature november twenty seventh eighteen thirty two his message warned that south carolina was prepared to resist the u.s. government by force if necessary the same day that this was printed on december tenth eighteen thirty two orson hyde left boston orson hyde was one of the uh... contemporaries of joseph smith And on December 22nd, 1832, he arrived at Kirtland, Ohio, three days before this false prophecy was given. And that is from the Journal of Orson Hyde, typed copy, pages 56 and 57. Now, that's a little too much of a coincidence for my taste. you know you can think about the fact that uh... number one south carolina is getting very upset over the issue of tariffs that's what south carolina was getting upset about had nothing to do with slavery and nothing to do with slavery had to do with tariffs they were ready to secede from the union and start a war along with it and uh... they were very upset about it but something happened there that joseph smith wasn't counting on what happened was is that the tensions between south carolina and the north and washington if you are watching dc uh... died down they went away and so they decided to maybe pigeonhole this thing for nineteen years and uh... see if maybe something comes up a little later on down the road And in 1851, long after Joseph Smith's death, somebody decided that it was a good time to go ahead and publish this thing. It's about ten years before the war happened. But that was where it was coming from. That's where he got the idea. There's just no question about it. We're going to continue looking at the false prophecies of Joseph Smith when we look at Doctrine and Covenants section 124, right after this break. 602-274-1360, inviting your calls today here at KPXQ 1-888-550-1360. And we are examining here on The Dividing Line, by the way. My name is Rich Pierce, and I'm sitting in once again for Dr. James White, who is speaking at a conference in Globe today. And next week, either I will be doing a prerecorded message that will be played in behalf of myself, while I and the rest of the team of Alpha Omega Ministries will be up in Salt Lake City, Utah for the annual, or the semi-annual, General Conference of the Mormon Church. Yes, we go to the General Conference of the Mormon Church and I've personally done it. I've missed one time when I, well, I messed up the tickets at the airline and didn't get myself on it. I got everybody else taken care of, though. That was real nice. But since 1986, I have been going up there, and I believe, if you add it up, it's like 25 or 26 times I'll have gone up there. Is it that we want to sit there and listen to the Mormon prophets do their thing? No. We stand outside the temple. We stand outside the gates on the sidewalk, smiling, we're dressed in nice clothes, and we pass out tracks and share the gospel with people that may have never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ before in their lives. And it's important that we have that presence there. Again, we're inviting your phone calls 602-274-1360 or 1-888-550-1360 as we discuss the Doctrine and Covenants section 124 verses 16 and 17. Now, if you've got a piece of paper and a pen, it'd be important, as you examine this prophecy, to write some things down, because there are some key dates that are very important here, as we do a cross-reference over against another scenario. And at first reading of this prophecy, one may not think that it could be any big deal. But as we look at it, we will compare documentary history of the church, volume 5, page 42, over and against it. Now this prophecy was given January 19th in 1841. And it says that, well I'll just start on. Quote, again, let my servant John C. Bennett help you in your labor in sending my word to the kings and people of the earth, and stand by you, even you my servant Joseph Smith, in the hour of affliction. And his reward shall not fail if he receive counsel. And for his love he shall be great. For he shall be mine if he do this, saith the Lord. now listen to this next part it's very important this is god speaking through joseph smith joseph smith is doing a thus sayeth the lord thing here i have seen the work which he has done talking about john c bennett which i accept if he continue and will crown him with blessings and great glory keep in mind this was given january nineteenth eighteen forty one now in a letter that joseph smith eighteen months later wrote to the governor of the uh... governor of illinois and this is from volume five of the documentary history of the church page forty two we read from the uh... the prophets letter to the governor regarding the john c bennett affairs dear sir it becomes my duty to lay before you some facts relative to the conduct of our major general john c bennett which have been proven beyond the possibility of dispute and which he himself has admitted to be true in my presence it is evident that his general character and that is that of an adulterer of the worst kind and although he he has a wife and children living circumstances which have transpired in navoo have proven to a demonstration that he cares not whose character is disgraced whose honor is destroyed nor who suffers so that his lustful appetite may be gratified and further he cares not how many or how abominable the falsehoods he has to make make use of to accomplish his wicked purposes even should it be that he brings disgrace upon the whole community this is important to listen to hear more than twenty months ago that would be august of eighteen forty now when is it that We have January 1841. August of 1840 as compared to January of 1841, where God sees that the work which John C. Bennett has done, and he accepts if he continues it. And he will crown him with blessings and great glory." Well, what do we have the specifics from Joseph Smith on what John C. Bennett has been doing? Well, in August of 1840, Bennett went to a lady in the city and began to teach her that promiscuous intercourse between the sexes was lawful and no harm in it, and requested that it was very wrong to do so. but she refused in the strongest terms, saying that it was very wrong to do so, and it would bring a disgrace on the church. Finding this argument ineffectual, he told her that men in higher standing in the church then himself not only sanctioned, but the church itself was sanctioned. sanctioned, but practiced the same deeds in order to finish the controversy, said and affirmed that I, this is Joseph Smith speaking to the governor, both taught and acted in the same manner, but publicly proclaimed against it in consequence of the prejudice of the people, and for fear of trouble in my own house. fascinating information. So we have this situation to where this prophecy is given in January of 1841, a letter is written to the governor of the state in June of 1842, and the circumstance is, in truth, that John C. Bennett is a scoundrel, according to Joseph Smith's own words. So that, in and of itself, makes this a false prophecy, because God would never, ever have endorsed this kind of behavior in John C. Bennett's actions. And even the Mormon Church would obviously agree with that. But where does this come from? Think about this a second. polygamy didn't exactly start up uh... in the mormon church in the beginning the idea was something that came along later on and yet we have the circumstance in the uh... preface of doctrine and covenants section one thirty two the revelation on polygamy now this revelation was recorded in eighteen forty three but it's interesting what Apostle Bruce R. McConkie, I believe he's the one that did the prefaces, wrote about this particular revelation, and I quote, although the revelation was recorded in 1843, it is evident from the historical records that the doctrines and principles involved in this revelation had been known by the prophet since 1831. So what we have here, upon direct examination, is a situation to where John C. Bennett is a good buddy of Joseph Smith, and Joseph Smith is involved in polygamy long before, by the words of Bruce McConkie, long before he gave the revelation and he is, shall we say, visiting around the city. And John C. Bennett sees no problem with it, and so he starts doing the same thing. Well, it's a coincidence that this thing hits public in June of 1842, and in 1843 the revelation on polygamy is given. It sounds to me like Joseph Smith was exposed, He had a situation where John C. Bennett had been caught. Everybody found out about it. John C. Bennett pointed at him and said, hey, I got it from him. He's the one that taught me to do this. And I was just doing what Joseph Smith, the prophet and president of the church, told me was okay to do and was acceptable. and uh... joseph smith goes into the mode of plausible deniability and tries to shake it off with the governor of the state but by eighteen forty three he's openly practicing it endorsing it and showing it as a doctrine of the church fascinating false prophecy of joseph smith the next false prophecy prophecy of joseph smith we're going to have probably start off and then we'll take uh... a break uh... halfway through it but um... This is my favorite prophecy of all the false prophecies of Joseph Smith because it's very short and it's extremely easy to demonstrate. It really is. And so again, write this down. Doctrine and Covenants, section 114, the prophecy regarding David W. Patton. And we're going to cross-reference this over against Documentary History of the Church, volume 3, page 171. And again, I'm talking about false prophecies of Joseph Smith. If you disagree with me, I invite your calls. I'll let you on the air and let you discuss the matter with me. 602-274-1360, 602-274-1360, or 1-888-550-1360 is the numbers you can call. Now, Doctrine and Covenants section 114 is a revelation, as it says, given through Joseph Smith the prophet at Far West, Missouri, April 17, 1838. And this is another one where you need to keep some dates in line. It's not as complicated as the other one, but if you keep the dates in order, it makes perfect sense. It says, Verily, thus saith the Lord, it is wisdom in my servant David W. Patton that he settle up all his business as soon as he possibly can, and make a disposition of his merchandise, that he may perform a mission unto me next spring, in company with others, even twelve, including himself, to testify of my name, and bear glad tidings unto all the world. for verily, thus saith the Lord, that inasmuch as there are those among you who deny my name, others shall be planted in their stead and receive their bishopric. Amen." Now, just a brief synopsis and then we're going to go to the break. We have a situation here where we've got the Lord speaking through Joseph Smith, where he says, verily, thus saith the Lord, that this guy David W. Patton is to basically kind of Sell everything he has. Settle up his merchandise. He's going to go on a mission. When is he going to go on this mission? Well, he's going to go a year from now. So he's got a year to get all of his affairs in order and get things set to go on this mission. And in fact, he's going to go on this mission with eleven other people. There's going to be twelve, a very biblical number, right? Twelve are going to be sent out to who knows where, to go on this mission. But the thing is, as far as the specifics, it says very specific here that he's going to testify of my name, quote, and he is going to bear glad tidings unto all the world. That's important to keep in mind. And we're going to cover the rest of this false prophecy right after this. We're looking at the false prophecies of Joseph Smith today. Again, I want to reiterate the importance of dealing with Joseph Smith is that oftentimes he is an obstacle. An obstacle between the person you're witnessing to being able to see only him and not see clearly their way to the gospel and simply being able to simply see him. And as soon as you can take Joseph Smith out of the way, you take one obstacle away from there being able to see the gospel clearly. And it's important that we be able to deal with it if it becomes necessary. And folks, I want to reiterate here, the place to focus who God is Who Jesus Christ is and what the gospel is is vital, okay? But you may have circumstances where you may be right up against a situation where you're trying to deal with one of those three things and the person just keeps saying Joseph Smith, Joseph Smith. You've got to deal with Joseph Smith to get him out of the way so that they can then focus on the gospel. Finishing up Doctrine and Covenants, section 114, here is what's fascinating, and the cross-reference to this is Documentary History of the Church, volume 3, pages 170 to 171. The irony is that on October 25, 1838, David Patton was in a skirmish of some kind, and he was killed in what was called the Battle of Crooked River. It's just absolutely fascinating that God would give a prophecy through Joseph Smith in the spring of 1838, saying that a year from then, this man was going to go on a mission unto all the world. and then turn around and say, well, the guy dies six months later. He didn't even live until the following year. Wouldn't God have known that? Wouldn't God have known that he's the wrong guy to tap because he's going to die in the Battle of Crooked River six months from then? Well, that's kind of interesting that that doesn't really stop the Mormon in their defense of this false prophecy. They'll say things like, well, he wasn't faithful to his calling, and he failed his calling. Well, to that we say, in the very same passage from the documentary History of the Church, it's fascinating that Joseph Smith was the guy who preached his funeral. He preached his funeral. What did he have to say about this man who was not faithful to his calling? He says, In the pursuit, one of the mob fled from behind a tree, wheeled and shot Captain Patton, who instantly fell, mortally wounded. Having received a large ball in his bowels, and this is joseph smith brother david patten was very much a worthy man beloved by all good men who knew 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 in a world where mobs will have no power or place one of his last expressions to his wife was whatever you do else or do not deny the faith And so that argument doesn't fly, because Joseph Smith says that he was faithful to his calling, and he says that he was very strong in the faith of a glorious resurrection. And so that's a bit problematic. Well, the other argument that they throw out is that he went on a mission into the spirit world. the spirit world let's not forget mormons believe in spirit prison and they believe that all of us folks who are non-mormons if we don't accept the gossip the mormon gospel in this day and age here in this uh... era then we're gonna find a situation to where we're gonna wind up in spirit prison well how do we get out of spirit prison well somebody is sent down to spirit prison to preach the gospel to us and it's supposed to be an angel And that's basically the stories I've heard, and that's the general gist of it. And so Mormons will sit back and say, well, you see, he went on a mission into the spirit world, and that's where God used him. Well, the problem is that, once again, the prophecy is very specific. It is very specific in that it says he's going to go on a mission unto all the world." And he is going to bear glad tidings of the name of God unto all the world. It's very specific. There's no way around this prophecy. It is clearly a false prophecy of Joseph Smith. He had no knowledge of the fact that David W. Patton would be killed six months later in the Battle of Crooked River. He didn't live long enough to have done that. to go on this mission, let alone... Another question would be, I believe, as I recall in the account, there was only three people that were killed in the Battle of Crooked River. If he was sent on the mission six months later in October, let's say, for argument's sake, that he went on the Spirit Well, he went on a mission six months early, and there were supposed to be 11 other people going along with him, too. And that didn't happen either. So it's just not adding up how you look at it. What we have is a circumstance where Joseph Smith was once again being presumptuous, trying to impress everybody, hey, Brother Patton, he's going to go on a mission, okay? And he was one of the 12 apostles. So this was something that Joseph Smith wanted to have happen, and it was thwarted by God. Now there's what's known as the Canadian Revelation. This is a very interesting revelation, and this one is not necessarily documented in the documentary history of the Church or in Doctrine and Covenants. It's documented in the pamphlet By one of the three witnesses of the Book of Mormon, that's right, David Whitmer. It's known as the Canadian Revelation, and the source is from an address to all believers in Christ, page 31. And you can also see references on page 61. And this is a brief paraphrase of David Whitmer's account. And this is speaking of Hiram Smith going to Canada. Brother Hiram said that it had been suggested to him that some of the brethren might go to Toronto, Canada and sell the copyright of the Book of Mormon for considerable money. And he persuaded Joseph Smith to inquire of the Lord about it. Joseph concluded to do so. He had not yet given up the stone, the seer stone. Now I'm going to get into, the next time I'm on substituting for Dr. White, I will get into Joseph Smith and his seer stone as I get into the first vision of Joseph Smith. We'll just refer to it right now. You've heard stories about the fact that Joseph Smith was involved in the occult. Well, he had seer stones. He had a crystal ball, is what he had. And he placed that little crystal ball in a hat, and he looked into it. And so that's as the account goes on. Let's see, copyright of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith concluded to do so. And he had not yet given up the stone. Joseph looked into the hat in which he had placed the stone and received a revelation that some of the brethren should go to Toronto, Canada and that they would sell the copyright of the Book of Mormon. In other words, good idea, Hiram. Let me check it with God on it and see if he rubber stamps it and let's go for it. Hiram Page, Oliver Cowdery went to Toronto on this mission. but they failed entirely to sell the copyright, returning without any money. Joseph was at my father's house, this is David Whitmer speaking, when they returned. I was there also, and am an eyewitness to these facts. Jacob Whitmer and John Whitmer were also present when Hiram Page and Oliver Cowdery returned from Canada. I'm sorry, not Hiram Smith. Hiram Page is who this was about. Well, we were all in great trouble, and we asked Joseph how it was that he had received a revelation from the Lord for some brethren to go to Toronto and sell the copyright. In other words, they're looking around going, wait a second, we thought God told you that this was going to happen. It's supposed to happen. It's supposed to come to pass. And the brethren had utterly failed in their undertaking. Joseph did not know how it was, so he inquired of the Lord about it. And behold, the following revelation came through the stone. Some revelations are of God, some revelations are of man, and some revelations are of the devil. I would say amen to that, and I would say amen to that in all of the prophecies that we have looked at today. In this particular one, clearly, Whitmer did not understand Deuteronomy 13, he did not understand Deuteronomy 18, and I will reread them for you here again. Deuteronomy 13, verses 1 through 3, if there arise among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder came to pass, so they went. And let's say it happened. Let's say all of these prophecies were true. Where have He spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them. Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, or the Lord, So it's important, first of all, to understand that even if all these prophecies came to pass, Joseph Smith has led all of them. his people unto a false god who was once a man and lived on another planet. And so by that standard alone he's a false prophet. But let's move on to Deuteronomy 18 22 where it says when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord if the thing follow not nor come to pass that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously thou shalt not be afraid of him. Joseph Smith has spoken all of these prophet prophecies presumptuously. I have some other information for you here regarding some other false prophecies of Joseph Smith. I'm actually going to get another extra 10 minutes on the program today. James is going to start getting very jealous because this is twice now I've got an extra 10 minutes. And so with that we're going to be right back after the top of the hour with 10 more minutes of the false prophecies of Joseph Smith. We'll be right back.