The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints/Joseph Smith

The LDS Church recognises Joseph Smith as a prophet. The Prophet of the Restoration. Latter-day Saints believe that Smith was called by God to restore the ancient church, which was corrupted. Smith had contact with heavenly messengers who gave him priesthood authority and the Book of Mormon and other keys for the salvation of mankind. Smith was also according to LDS Church teaching a martyrer for his cause and should be revered as a prophet. He is the most important person in this dispensation after Jesus Christ.

Joseph Smith, Jr. portrait

Short biography

Joseph was born on December 23, 1805 in Sharon Vermont to Lucy Mack Smith and her husband Joseph. In an early age he had a bone infection and suffered because of this very much. Smith grew up in a very religious environment and the area were he grew up in Palmya, New York was referred as the burned over district because of its many religious revivals. He was confused, which church he should join. According to him, he saw Jesus Christ and God the Father in a wooded area near his home. This event is referred to as the First Vision. Later in his life, an angel called Moroni appeared to him and said that there was a record of the ancient inhabitants of this american continent written on gold plates. The angel directed Smith to the place where the plates were buried and he took the plates with him. He found eleven witnesses who could confirm to the world that the gold plates and the angel were true. The text of the gold plates was dictated to a scribe and published in March 1830 as the Book of Mormon. After he founded a new church with the Book of Mormon, he moved from New York to Ohio. There in Kirtland, he organised the first General Conference and built the first temple. Smith had financial difficulties because he owned a bank and had many creditors. After everybody demanded his money back from Smith. He had to leave Kirtland and start a new existence somewhere else. He started with his followers anew in Missouri, which was according to his teachings, the Garden of Adam and Eve. The local population was very hostile to the Mormons. Smith was imprisoned for four month in Liberty Jail and the local governor issued an extermination order against the Mormons and a massacre happend at Haun Mill against Mormons. The Mormons were defeated in Missouri and flew with Smith to Illinois. There he became mayor of the city Nauvoo, which was founded by him. He married many women in Nauvoo and this caused anger amongst his followers. A disenfranchised Mormon named William Law, published his excesses in a newspaper called Nauvoo Expositor. Smith ordered his loyal followers to destroy the printing press for this newspaper, which they did. This alarmed the governor of Illinois and he put Smith in custody together with his brother Hyrum in the Cartage Jail. There the Smith brothers were killed by an armed mob on June 27, 1844.