Joseph Smith or Jesus Christ?

by Gilbert Alexander

God has spoken to us in these last days by His Son, whose name is Jesus or Immanuel (Matthew 1:21,23; Hebrews 1:1-4). His message is the New Testament, the gospel of Christ, the faith once for all delivered to the saints (Hebrews 8:6; Mark 16:15-16; Romans 10:16; Jude 3). Do you firmly believe this? The firmness and fruitfulness of your faith in these fundamental facts radically affect where you go in religion.

Joseph Smith, an American born in the early 1800s, declared that he was visited on September 21, 1832, by an angel named Moroni (not mentioned at all in the Bible) and that the angel told him about some golden plates hidden in "Cumorah," containing the message of God, which became the Book of Mormon. He further claimed that he had seen God and Jesus and had the Aaronic priesthood conferred upon him by John the Baptist. His Book of Mormon states that Jesus was born in Jerusalem (Alma 7:10), that three of twelve chosen disciples were granted permission to live on earth, never dying, until Jesus comes again (3 Nephi 28:6-8), and that Christ's church was in existence and people were being baptized into it between 120 and 100 B.C. Smith's claims were superior to that which was lawful for Jesus Christ on earth (Hebrews 8:4; 7:12-14), and he claimed for his Book of Mormon a completeness and perfection not found in the New Testament (according to his proclamation of corruption of the New Testament).

Here you have Jesus Christ, attested to by prophecy and miraculous works as the Son of God, and Joseph Smith, whose writings contradict the Scriptures. Whom will you believe? In whom will you trust the eternal destiny of your soul? Both of them claimed revelation from God. Which claims do you believe? Smith is one of many who have introduced new religions, claiming divine revelation, but utterly lacking proof of their claims; yet, many follow their "destructive ways" (II Peter 2:1-2). There is no parity between the works of men and the works of God (Isaiah 55:8-9). The Bible and the Book of Mormon are not compatible and are not companion books. Listen well to God, and you will not be inclined to listen to the inferior messages of men.