Section from Joseph Smith’s 1832 Account – Text Below
One of the four standard works of Scripture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known as The Pearl of Great Price, contains a section entitled “Joseph Smith History.” In this section of Mormon Scripture we encounter what is known as the story of the so-called “First Vision.” In brief, it tells of Joseph Smith Jr.’s going into the woods to pray for wisdom in response to a large religious revival in the area of Palmyra/Manchester in upstate New York, which, according to the story, took place in the spring of 1820. Not knowing what church to join, Smith supposedly decided to ask God in prayer. Smith tells of being overtaken by a “power of some actual being from the unseen world” and just at the point of despair, in his own words, “I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head…. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages…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!” Upon asking these two Personages which church he should join, Smith supposedly was told that he should join none, “for they were all wrong; …all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt…”
The importance of this “First Vision” to the LDS Church cannot be over-emphasized. The late Mormon Apostle Bruce R. McConkie wrote: “This transcendent vision was the beginning of latter-day revelation;…Through it the creeds of Christendom were shattered to smithereens, and because of it the truth about those Beings whom it is life eternal to know began again to be taught among men.” (Mormon Doctrine, pg. 285). And, as Mormon Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith wrote, “Mormonism, as it is called, must stand or fall on the story of Joseph Smith. He was either a prophet of God, divinely called, properly appointed and commissioned, or he was one of the biggest frauds this world has ever seen. There is no middle ground.” (Doctrines of Salvation vol. 1, pg. 188).
Did Joseph Smith Jr. see God the Father and Jesus Christ as separate and distinct beings in the spring of 1820? The great mass of historical evidence now available to the honest investigator gives only one answer: no. Reproduced on the front cover of this tract is a photocopy of the earliest account of the First Vision, from 1832, written in his own handwriting. This account was the beginning of a history of the LDS Church (see Dean C. Jessee, The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith pages 3-14). It says:
“…and while in the attitude of calling upon the Lord in the 16th year of my age a pillar of light above the brightness of the sun at noon day come down from above and rested upon me…and the Lord opened the heavens upon me and I saw the Lord and he spake unto me saying Joseph my Son thy Sins are forgiven thee…behold I am the Lord of glory I was crucified for the world…”
One will search in vain for any reference to two personages anywhere in this account. Really, if you believed that God had commanded that a history of His Church be written (Doctrine and Covenants 21:1, 69:3), would you not include in that history something as important as seeing God the Father and Jesus Christ as separate and distinct gods? Remember, this is the earliest account, and the only one written in Joseph’s own handwriting. (See the Ensign of 12/84 for further corroboration of this account, page 25).
Joseph’s diary of November 9, 1835 contains yet another account, and here Joseph does mention two personages, only this time they testify that “Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” In this account angels are mentioned, but not God the Father or Jesus Christ! What makes this account even more fascinating is the fact that in the Documentary History of the Church, under the date of November 14, 1835 (only 5 days after the above account) we have another mention of this “vision.” When the account was originally printed in serial form in the Deseret News on May 29, 1852, it recounted Smith’s telling Erastus Holmes of his experiences “… from six years up to the time I received the first visitation of angels, which was when I was about fourteen years old…” However, since this contradicts the modern story, recent editions of the Documentary History have changed the wording: “…from six years old up to the time I received my first vision, which was when I was about fourteen years old…” (Documentary History of the Church, 2:312). Given the close proximity in time of the above diary account that mentions angels, and the editing of the text of the Documentary History in an attempt to cover up this fact, it seems to be clear that the “First Vision” story has undergone a substantial amount of evolution. Is it possible that the LDS Church in 1852 really believed that only angels appeared to Joseph Smith?
Most certainly! A brief perusal of the following references from the Journal of Discourses should suggest an answer to that question: 2:171, 2:196, and 13:324. President George A. Smith taught that when Joseph…
“went humbly before the Lord and inquired of Him,…the Lord answered his prayer, and revealed to Joseph, by the ministration of angels, the true condition of the religious world. And when the holy angel appeared, Joseph inquired which of all these denominations was right…” (JD 12:334).
Is it really possible that Joseph made up the story as he went along, adding God the Father only in the late 1830’s? Maybe he did not realize that by doing so he was violating his own revelation in Doctrine and
Covenants 84:21-22, where he says that no man can see God the Father without the priesthood and live. Joseph supposedly did not receive the “priesthood” until 1829!
Another interesting point that must be addressed by the person who believes in Joseph’s story is the fact that though the modern church in its missionary presentations claims that Joseph immediately came under persecution for telling people of his “First Vision” story, the fact is that there is no clear, unambiguous reference to this vision until many years after the alleged event—until the mid 1830’s at best. For example, E.D. Howe published the first “anti-Mormon” book in 1834, and never once mentions the “First Vision.” If it was so well known, why did he not take Smith to task for it? The concept of a “plurality of gods” presented in the vision would certainly have attracted Howe’s attention. Why do we not find mention of this vision by other Mormons of the time? Why do we not find many sermons based on the vision from the leaders in Utah? Why such a deafening silence, such a lack of evidence?
Modern research has provided us with much more information on the historicity of this alleged event, In 1967, Rev. Wesley Walters published an article entitled New Light on Mormon Origins from the Palmyra (NY) Revival. In this article, Rev. Walters revealed the results of his study of a question that had not yet been addressed fully—was there really a revival in Manchester in 1820? By going to the original sources themselves, Rev. Walters was able to determine that there were definitely revivals in the area in 1816/1817 and in 1824/1825, but none in 1820! Though in our limited space we cannot recount the literally hundreds of facts brought forth by Rev. Walters in both this study as well as another we will discuss below, a few items should be sufficient for our purposes. First, Oliver Cowdery’s story says that a revival broke out in 1823 under Rev. Lane, a Methodist minister. William Smith’s account as well dates the revival in 1824. Worthy of note as well is the fact that both of these sources (Cowdery and Smith) by mentioning various ministers help us to find the date; for both of the ministers they mentioned were not assigned to that area until after 1822! Second, Rev. Walters discovered the story of the revival written by Rev. Lane himself. All of the details of the revival that broke out in September of 1824 match perfectly with Joseph’s own story-hundreds of people joined the churches-Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian (401 to be exact), and it lasted through the spring of 1825. However, when we look to the records relevant to 1820, we find no evidence of revival at all. Rather than having hundreds joining the Methodist church, the records for the entire circuit show that there were losses of 23 for 1819, 6 for 1820, and 40 for 1821. The Baptist Church in Palmyra gained only 6 by baptism in 1820 (compared to 94 for 1825), and other local Baptist churches listed losses of 4, 5 and 9 for the year. Add to this the fact that though the denominational publications had devoted many pages to the “glowing reports” of the revivals in both 1816/17 and 1824/25, nothing is mentioned about any revivals in 1820.
So stood the situation until 1988 when Rev. Walters released new information from his research. This new information put together records photo-copied by BYU in 1970, newly discovered land assessment records from Manchester township and the records of “warning out” from Norwich, Vermont. What do these new historical sources tell us?
First, the Mormon story up until this point has been as follows: the Smith’s live in Norwich, VT from 1814 to 1816, when they move to Palmyra. The Smiths live in Palmyra for two years until 1818, at which time they move to Manchester. Two years later, as Smith states, a revival breaks out and the First Vision takes place (1820). Any disruption in this chronology not only threatens the entire story of the early history of Mormonism, but, since the date of the First Vision is part of Mormon Scripture (1820), it also destroys the foundation of Mormon revelation. With this in mind, let’s look at just a few of the facts.
Recently the record of the Smith’s being “warned out” of Norwich, VT has been discovered. “Warning out” was a common occurrence during that time period. Towns were responsible for taking care of the poor within their borders. When a family moved in that appeared to be less than affluent, they were “warned out” so that the town would not have to take responsibility for them should they come into need. In the Smith’s case, this occurred March 15, 1816. Now, as the warning out normally happened very shortly after arrival, and had to take place at most one year after arrival to avoid difficulties for the town, this means that the Smiths lived in Norwich from 1816 to 1818. Correlation of weather records with the story of Lucy Mack Smith confirms these dates.
Next, the road-tax records from Palmyra indicate that the name of Joseph Smith Sr. appears from 1817 through 1822. As all men 21 years of age and older as of April were required to be listed, Alvin Smith’s name appears as well in 1820. It is evident that Joseph Smith Sr. moved to Palmyra before the rest of his family, who joined him there at a later date. It is important to note that Smith is listed as living in Palmyra until 1822-despite the LDS claim that he moved from there four years earlier in 1818.
Further information has come to light in the land assessment records for Manchester township (please see the back of this tract for reproductions of these records). These records make it clear that the Smith’s did not contract to buy the 100 acres of land for their farm in Manchester county until after June of 1820, for the tax rolls at that time show that all of the land was taxed to the original owners, the heirs of Nicholas Evertson.
Land Assessment Record of 1820 – Smith not listed
However, in the tax rolls of 1821 we see that Joseph Smith Sr. is taxed for 100 acres at $7.00 an acre- the price of raw, unimproved land at the time.
Land Assessment Record of 1822 – Smith Listed at 100 acres, $700.00
The land is given the same value in the 1822 assessment, but in 1823 the value rises to $1,000, a jump of 40%, even though the other land values only went up an average of 4% in the area.
Land Assessment Record of 1823 – Smith listed at 100 acres. $1000.00
This indicates that, for the first time, improvements were made to the land, including the construction of a home. What does this tell us? It suggests that the Smiths moved onto the land and lived there after the summer of 1822 and before the summer of 1823, which perfectly meshes with the data provided from all other sources, especially the road-tax records from Palmyra. Then, recall that Joseph Smith himself said that it was “two years” after their move to Manchester (1822/23) that the revivals took place (1824/25)! This corresponds perfectly to the information that shows that the revival Smith described took place in 1824/25.
What then can be said of all of this? First, we see that given just the brief summary of the information as we have it today, one cannot help but suggest that the “First Vision” story evolved over time into the form it has today. Joseph Smith Jr. was simply in error when he said that this religious experience took place in 1820 – a very human error to be sure, but we must remember that this error is part of Mormon Scripture! Those who claim to be prophets cannot make excuses for themselves. Not only is the status of the “First Vision” placed in grave jeopardy, but all of the rest of the Mormon story is thrown into absolute disarray. If the “First Vision” did not take place until 1824, then how does one deal with the visit of “the angel Moroni” in 1823? Clearly, if the “First Vision” story has no historical basis, the LDS claim to be the “only true church on earth today” is left utterly without support.
We realize that LDS apologists have made attempts to deal with some of the above information. If you are LDS, and feel that you need to examine this issue further, we invite you not only to contact us for further information, but we invite you to read the works of LDS scholars who attempt to find some kind of support for the “First Vision” in history. As you read these works, keep in mind the necessity of dealing with all the data as a whole. What we mean might be illustrated by noting
that a rock-climber could avoid an avalanche if he could just manage to avoid each individual rock one-at-a-time. But avalanches don’t come one rock at-a-time. You have to deal with all the rocks simultaneously. In the same way, finding a semi-plausible excuse for one of the facts we have presented does not extricate one from the problems of the “First Vision.” Some LDS scholars, for example, attempt to find revivals in towns many miles from Joseph’s home during the time frame of 1820. But, even if such were the case, how does one explain the many other factors, including the identification of the specific ministers who were involved in the revival that Smith is discussing in his testimony in LDS Scripture? Excuses can be made for lots of things, but excuses do not make for solid historical research. As you read any work that would attempt to defend Joseph Smith’s story, keep these things in mind.
Finally, we can say with certainty, outside of all historical research, that Joseph Smith did not have the “First Vision.” How do we know this? Because the Bible teaches that there is only one eternal, omnipotent God. Joseph claimed that God the Father had a physical body (D&C 130:22), yet God asserts otherwise (2 Chronicles 6:18, Jeremiah 23-:24, Hosea 11:9, John 4:24). Rather than the plurality of gods found in Mormon theology, the Scriptures teach absolute monotheism-the eternal truth that there is but one God, who created all things, and has never been anything other than God. We invite you to read these truths for yourself. Read the 40th through the 48th chapters of Isaiah’s prophecy, and ask yourself if the God of Mormonism is being described in that passage. Read Psalm 90:2 and ask if Joseph Smith spoke of such a God (compare Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pg. 345). Therefore, we see that both history, and Scripture, demonstrate the false nature of Joseph Smith’s pretended “First Vision.”
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