Praise to the Man? Joseph Smith worship?
For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. – Matthew 24:24
Do Mormons like Glenn Beck worship Joseph Smith? If you asked a mormon I’m sure they would say no. They have even built many websites refuting this claim and the prophets have also refuted this idea. So, technically no. But I think it’s not a hard sale to say that Joseph Smith worshiped himself and that his believers in practice have a regard for him that is borderline worship, where belief in him is equal to the Christian idea of belief in Christ in some ways. Such as entering heaven. I doubt a mormon would think he could enter the celestial kingdom without believing that Joseph Smith was a true prophet. Especially since Joe Bob Smith holds the keys and decides who comes in.
In this quote, Joseph Smith not only seems to make himself equal with Christ, but actually says he kicked Christ’s ass.
- Come on! ye prosecutors! ye false swearers! All hell, boil over! Ye burning mountains, roll down your lava! for I will come out on the top at last. I have more to boast of than ever any man had. I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam. A large majority of the whole have stood by me. Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from Him; but the Latter-day Saints never ran away from me yet. – Joe Smith
Set that quote next to this one: Ephesians 2:8 - For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Praise to the man or Worship the man
The prophets and apostles of the LDS have taken on this belief of Joseph Smith kicking Christ’s ass in saving the world. Over the years and through the quotes I post bellow you will slowly see him more and more elevated through the prophets of the LDS. I won’t go so far as to say “worship,” but I will say after reading these things, that no wonder most people think they worship Joe Smith.
Joe Smith has allot of responsibilities, including, allowing people to come into heaven, resurrection by belief in him, assigning crowns, ruling the spirit world like God the father rules his world, being better than Jesus as a preacher… and so much more.
1. Joseph Smith Second only to Christ
- 3 Joseph Smith, the aProphet and bSeer of the Lord, has done more, csave Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it. D&C 135:3
- Joseph Smith was less than 15 when he had his first vision. 24 when he translated the book of Mormon, 25 when the Church was organized, and he died a young man – yet he left an imprint upon this world second only to that of Christ the Lord - hugh b brown abundant life page 38
2. Joseph Smith, a prerequisite for heaven: No Joe no Go
- If we can pass the sentinel Joseph the Prophet, we shall go into the celestial kingdom, and not a man can injure us. If he says, ‘God bless you, come along here’; if we will live so that Joseph will justify us, and say, ‘Here am I, brethren,’ we shall pass every sentinel.” - Brigham Young
- “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. He holds the keys of that kingdom for the last dispensation – the keys to rule in the spirit world.“ - Brigham Young
- “He stands, therefore, at the head of this dispensation and will throughout all eternity, and no man can take that power away from him. If any man holds these keys, he holds them subordinate to Joseph Smith…. If we get our salvation, we shall have to pass by him; if we enter into our glory, it will be through the authority that he has received. We cannot get around him.” - LDS Apostle George Q. Cannon
3. Believe in Christ or Believe in Joseph Smith: Both
- .. I know that Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God, that this is the Gospel of salvation, and if you do not believe it you will be damned, every one of you. … - Brigham Young -Journal of Discourses
- “Whosoever confesseth that Joseph Smith was sent of God to reveal the holy Gospel to the children of men, and lay the foundation for gathering Israel, and building up the kingdom of God on the earth, that spirit is of God; and every spirit that does not confess that God has sent Joseph Smith, and revealed the everlasting Gospel to and through him, is of Antichrist....- Brigham Young
4. Joseph Smith gained victory over Satan and now rules the spirit world as God rules
- I with you and you with me. I cannot go there without his (joe Smith) consent. He holds the keys of that kingdom for the last dispensation—the keys to rule in the spirit-world; and he rules there triumphantly, for he gained full power and a glorious victory over the power of Satan while he was yet in the flesh, and was a martyr to his religion and to the name of Christ, which gives him a most perfect victory in the spirit-world. He reigns there as supreme a being inhis sphere, capacity, and calling, as God does in heaven. Many will exclaim—”Oh, that is very disagreeable! It is preposterous! We cannot bear the thought!” But it is true.
5. Joseph Smith equal with the Saviors in character
- ”Well, now, examine the character of the Savior, and examine 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… 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, Jun., the prophet and his brother Hyrum Smith, who was murdered with him.” Brigham Young (Journal of Discourses, vol. 14 p. 203)
- ”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.” (vol. 6, pp.319-320)
6. Joseph Smith holds the keys to resurrection
- “How are you going to get your resurrection? You will get it by the President of the resurrection pertaining to this generation, and that is Joseph Smith Jun. Hear it all ye ends of the earth; if ever you enter into the kingdom of God it is because Joseph Smith let you go there. This will apply to Jews and Gentiles, to the bond, and the free; to friends and foes; no man or woman in this generation will get a resurrection and be crowned, without Joseph Smith saying so. The man who was martyred in Carthage Jail, State of Illinois, holds the keys of life and death to this generation. He is the President of the resurrection in this dispensation, …” (An unpublished Discourse given October 8, 1854. Also found on page 99 of Eugene E. Campbell’s book entitled The Essential Brigham Young).
7. Joe Smith strangely does the exactly thing Christ did by descending into hell
- The Discourses of WILFORD WOODRUFF- when joseph smith’s body was laid in the grave, his spirit like unto the Son of God, went into the spirit world with the keys of this dispensation to unlock the prison doors. There were fiffty thousand millions of spirits that never saw the face of a prophet, or heard a gospel sermon in their lives until Joseph Smith preached to them the message of salvation.
8. Joseph Smith’s name “coupled” with the name and life and sufferings of Christ
- “The day will come—and it is not far distant, either—when the name of the Prophet Joseph Smith will be coupled with the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the Son of God, as his representative, as his agent whom he chose, ordained and set apart to lay anew the foundations of the Church of God in the world, which is indeed the Church of Jesus Christ, possessing all the powers of the gospel, all the rites and privileges, the authority of the Holy Priesthood, and every principle necessary to fit and qualify both the living and the dead to inherit eternal life, and to attain to exaltation in the kingdom of God” President Joseph F. Smith(Gospel Doctrine, 5th ed. [1939], 134).
- And his hour had come to seal with his blood his testimony, so often borne to multitudes of friends and foes. His Judas came from his own circle—Governor Ford was his Pontius Pilate, Nauvoo was his Gethsemane, and Carthage his Calvary. There were also modern Pharisees to goad the mobs—and another martyr testified. Spencer Kimball
9. Joseph Smith’s teachings more safe and sure than Christ’s teachings
- 2003 ensign magazine David Mckay – The principles of the restored gospel as revealed to the prophet Joseph Smith are the surest, safest guide to mortal man
10. No Salvation without Joseph Smith and the Latter-day Saints church
- If it had not been for Joseph Smith and the restoration, there would be no salvation. There is no salvation outside the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, (Mormon Doctrine, p. 670).
11. Oh, also, look on Joseph Smith as a God: Every knee shall bow Every tongue confess, that Joseph Smith is a God.
- “You call us fools; but the day will be, gentlemen and ladies, whether you belong to this Church or not, when you will prize brother Joseph Smith as the Prophet of the Living God, and look upon him as a God, and also upon Brigham Young, our Governor” - Apostle Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 5, p. 88
12. Sounds like he’s talking about Jesus… guess again. Joseph.
- “How great indeed is our debt to him. …Great is his glory,… We stand in reverence before him… Let us not forget him. Let not his memory be forgotten in the celebration of Christmas.” (15th President Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, 12/1997, p.2.)
