JESUS CHRIST OR JOSEPH SMITH?…

CHARGE: I chose Jesus over Joseph.

LDS RESPONSE: Latter-day Saints choose both; knowing Joseph Smith leads to a greater likelihood of finding the real Jesus.

REALITY: It is essential to accept Joseph Smith as the founder of the religion in order to be a devout follower of the LDS Church. Although Mormons don’t claim to worship Joseph Smith, they certainly defend his name more than they do any other mortal to walk the land.

It is understood that a person requires Joseph Smith’s permission to enter heaven. Brigham Young said:

“[N]o man or woman in this dispensation will ever enter into the celestial kingdom of God without the consent of Joseph Smith…every man and woman must have a certificate of Joseph Smith Junior, as a passport to their entrance into the mansion where God and Christ are” (JD 7:289).

Mormons typically aren’t aware they emphasize Joseph Smith as much as they do. Two out of every four years the teaching curriculum in the Church is (or has been) dedicated to LDS scripture and Joseph Smith’s history. The missionary discussions were changed in the 1970’s because the starting emphasis of the ‘flip charts’ was on Joseph Smith, and they wanted to give the appearance that Jesus means as much to them as he does to Christendom.

It’s easy to understand why the LDS Church spends so much time on Joseph Smith. The religion stands or falls on the word of this man.  Either Joseph Smith was really a prophet of God or he was one of the bigger religious con men to ever walk the earth.

But Joseph Smith most certainly was not a prophet. It appears that his intensions were based on mental delusion and a lust for power and sex.

The reason the CHARGE is personally significant to the average Christian is they feel you need no other intermediary between you and God, only Jesus.

~CHARGE and LDS RESPONSE originally online at: fairlds.org/The_God_Makers/tagm04.html~