Collisions
The Source of this Doctrine
After leaving Mormonism, I determined to uncover the source of this doctrine. One of the earliest mentions of Smith’s deification came from Joseph Smith himself.
God made Aaron to be the mouth piece for the children of Israel, and He will make me be god to you in His stead, and the Elders to be mouth for me; and if you don’t like it, you must lump it.
History of the Church, vol 6, pp 319-320, Teachings_of_the_Prophet_Joseph_Smith, p 363, emphasis added
The plot thickened when Brigham Young took up the reins of the church. He added new doctrines to my growing heap of disconcerting doctrines.
. . . 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 scene of all things, every man and woman must have the certificate of Joseph Smith, junior, as a passport to their entrance into the mansion where God and Christ are—I with you and you with me. I cannot go there without his consent.
Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 7 p 289 & Robert L. Millet, Ensign June 1994, emphasis added
Pause and Ponder
Jesus claims to be the way and Joseph Smith is said to be the way.
- Do these claims create a collision of theologies?
- What will you do with the tension between these two claims?
Joseph Smith and the Power to Save
Joseph Smith married fourteen-year-old Helen Mar Kimball in May of 1843. He persuaded this barely pubescent girl to marry him with the following assurance.
I heard him [Joseph Smith] teach and explain the principle of celestial marriage. After which he said to me, “If you will take this step, it will ensure your eternal salvation and exaltation and that of your father’s household and all of your kindred.” This promise was so great that I willingly gave myself to purchase so glorious a reward.
Joseph Smith, as recorded in the memoir of Helen Mar Kimball, age 14, Todd Compton, In Sacred Loneliness, p 499, emphasis added.
Pause and Ponder
Joseph Smith and Helen.
Did Jesus or Joseph have power to save and exalt you to heaven where God is?
Joseph Smith married seventeen-year-old Sarah Ann Whitney on July 27, 1842. Joseph Smith compelled the parents of Sarah, claiming he received revelation from God.
Verily thus saith the Lord unto my se[r]vant N. K. Whitney the thing that my se[r]vant Joseph Smith has made known unto you and your Famely [Family] and which you have agreed upon is right in mine eyes and shall be crowned upon your heads with honor and immortality and eternal life to all your house both old & young because of the lineage of my Preast [Priest] Hood saith the Lord it shall be upon you and upon your children after you from generation to generation by virtue of the Holy promise which I now make unto you saith the Lord.
Todd Compton, In Sacred Loneliness, Revelation for N. K. Whitney, father of Sarah Ann Whitney, p 499. Original manuscript in Church History Library. and Joseph Smith Papers, revelation, 27 July, 1842, p 1, emphasis added.
Pause and Ponder
Joseph Smith and Sarah.
Did Jesus or Joseph have power to crown Sarah and all her house with honor, immortality and eternal life?
Joseph Smith married seventeen-year-old Lucy Walker on May 1, 1843. He persuaded young Lucy to accept his proposal with the following argument.
He fully explained to me the principle of plural or celestial marriage. Said this principle was again to be restored for the benefit of the human family. That it would prove an everlasting blessing to my father’s house. And form a chain that could never be broken, worlds without End.
Todd Compton, In Sacred Loneliness, Writings of Lucy Walker, p 463 and Lyman Omer Littlefield, Reminiscences of Latter-day Saints: Giving an Account of Much Individual Suffering Endured for Religious Conscience (Logan: Utah Journal Co, 1888), 46–48; see also testimony in Andrew Jenson, “Plural Marriage,” Historical Record 6 July 1887: pp 229–230, emphasis added.
Pause and Ponder
Joseph Smith and Lucy.
Did Jesus or Joseph have power eternally bless individual people and entire families?
In these examples, Smith placed the burden of a family’s salvation on these young girls. Family salvation hung in their willingness to become a polygamous wife. Smith apparently manipulated barely pubescent girls to force sexually charged polygamous marriage.
The belief that salvation comes through Smith permeates Mormon doctrine. Little wonder people readily accept doctrines unfounded in Christianity.
Presenting Smith as the Way, Truth, and Life
. . . he that confesseth not that Jesus has come in the flesh and sent Joseph Smith with the fulness of the Gospel to this generation, is not of God, but is anti-christ.
Brigham Young, Journal_of_Discourses 9:312
[There is] no salvation without accepting Joseph Smith.
Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, v. 1, p. 190
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