Joseph Smith and the LDS Founding

 

Joseph Smith Jr. was born in the year 1805 in Vermont. The family moved to New York when he was about fourteen years old. It was during the Second Great Awakening when young Joseph was fifteen that the town he lived in was filled with the excitement of religion and preaching. His mother and three siblings were proselyted to the Presbyterian faith and ended up joining the church. Amid the conflict among the Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians, he became overwhelmed and in his words: "I was one day reading the Epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads: If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."

This prompted him to find a grove of trees and pray to ask God which church he should join. Then he claims that there were "two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name, and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!" You can find these excerpts from Joseph Smith History

So to sum it all up, an angel named Moroni, told him about some golden plates that were hidden in a mountainside that he dug up in September 1827 at the direction of said angel,  who further commanded Joseph to translate the ancient record. He worked on the translation between early 1828 and June 1829 after which he returned the plates to the angel. The translation became the Book of Mormon.

Joseph's church was informally organized in 1829 in upstate New York under the name of Church of Christ and then formally in 1830 to coincide with the principles of the newly published Book of Mormon and so begins the Latter Day Saint movement.

Joseph Smith was killed in 1844 along with his brother, Hyrum while they were in jail in Carthage, Illinois. The official story from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is that he was martyred, but in actuality, there is no proof of how he was killed. As a matter of fact, there's a gentleman who has made a documentary exploring this very thing: P1: "Who Killed Joseph Smith?" Documentary I can't help but think of a scripture in Galatians when it comes to his "heavenly" visitors;

"But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed". Galatians 1:8

We will discuss more about Joseph and his church and the many problems surrounding it another day but for now, I will say Shalom. 

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