background

Joseph Smith was born on December 23, 1805 in Sharon, Vermont to Joseph and Lucy Mack Smith. He grew up on a series of farms in Vermont, New Hampshire, and New York. Although the LDS church has deceptively painted a picture of Joseph Smith as an "uneducated" farm boy, he was home schooled quite extensively in "reading, writing, and the ground rules of arithmetic," as his mother put it.

Even from an early age, it is apparent that Joseph was not a typical boy, but possessed some qualities and mannerisms that seemed beyond his years. Some Mormons know about Joseph's terrible operation on his leg at age seven. Infected bone was cut from his swollen and infected lower leg without any anesthesia. Joseph's mother reported the incident in her writings:

The principal surgeon, after a moment's conversation, ordered cords to be brought to bind Joseph fast to a bedstead; but to this Joseph objected. The doctor, however, insisted that he must be confined, upon which Joseph said very decidedly, "No, doctor, I will not be bound, for I can bear the operation much better if I have my liberty." "Then," said Dr. Stone, "will you have some brandy?"...

"No," exclaimed Joseph, "I will not touch one particle of liquor, neither will I be tied down; but I will tell you what I will do—I will have my father sit on the bed and hold me in his arms, and then I will do whatever is necessary in order to have the bone taken out." Looking at me, he said, "Mother I want you to leave the room, for I know you cannot bear to suffer so; father can stand it, but you have carried me so much, and watched over me so long, you are almost worn out." Then looking up into my face, his eyes swimming in tears, he continued, "Now, mother, promise me that you will not stay, will you? The Lord will help me, and I shall get through with it." (Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith The Prophet, Lucy Mack Smith).

That manner of speech and control is certainly not typical for a seven-year-old child. Even at that tender age, it appears Joseph had the verbal skills and influence over those much older. Although Joseph survived the operation quite well, he walked with a limp from that day forward. Few LDS depictions will show Joseph with a limp and occasionally using a cane.

It is very apparent in my studies of Joseph Smith, that he had academic strengths and weaknesses. I would describe Smith as very creative, articulate, and well read. By his early teens, he had quite a thorough knowledge of the bible and many other books. Although well-read beyond average, he appeared weak in areas such as writing and grammar and, of course, in formal education subjects such as the sciences and mathematics.

He had quite the knack for story-telling. According to some family sources, he often gave fantastic imaginative stories in the evenings to his family and friends. Once journal entry by Joseph's mother stated the following:

During our evening conversations, Joseph would occasionally give us some of the most amusing recitals that could be imagined. He would describe the ancient inhabitants of this continent, their dress, mode of travelings, and the animals upon which they rode; their cities, their buildings, with every particular; their mode of warfare; and also their religious worship. This he would do with as much ease, seemingly, as if he had spent his whole life among them. (Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith The Prophet, Lucy Mack Smith).

It's interesting that these fantastic storytelling episodes about the ancient inhabitants of this continent occurred before Smith's translation of the Book of Mormon.

It was in New York that Smith spent much of this growing up years. There he observed and read about many of the typical ideas of the times. Delving into the supernatural and magical world were common occurrences within that time frame and culture. It is no surprise that the Smith family was involved in such.

The fact that Joseph Smith and his companions used occult practices does not bother me. It was a cultural phenomenon. What DOES bother me is that the LDS Church erases and hides this from their history and paints an unrealistic picture of Joseph Smith and early Church leaders. They have systematically eliminated most references to these occult practices in order to "sanitize" their history to be more in line with current values and culture. I believe this is deceitful and unfortunate.

Few LDS members may be aware that Joseph's father was a digger of treasure. The whole concept of "treasure hunting" was quite common in the early 1800's. Out of all of father Smith's sons, Joseph was the most interested in this activity, which is predictable based upon Joseph's imaginative storytelling character and his eager adoption and participation in occult practices of the day.

One of the motivations of this treasure seeking was the finding of "mounds" around the area that buried artifacts from ancient cultures. There was a lot of speculation about the "mound people." They found a lot of bones and ornaments made from copper and stone. There were no less than eight of these mounds in the area where Joseph lived.

Speculation grew as to the origination of these mounds and the ancient peoples that created them. Speculation, imagination, creative thinking were right down Joseph's alley and he took hold on the treasure seeking activities with gusto.

Many at the time speculated that the mounds were made by a white people who were slaughtered and buried by the savage dark skinned natives. They couldn't imagine these native people produced such items themselves. This theory was spread and was common thinking at the time. Obviously, later, we have learned that the mounds were, indeed, the re-burial pits of our Native American peoples, not of a mysterious white nation that once existed there.

Joseph became a well known "treasure finder." Although his success was low, his outward imaginative and creative personality served the purpose well. His explanations of lost treasure and failures along with his very charismatic and likeable personality often left people satisfied, even if they had paid money for the service. In other words, I believe the "entertainment" value of Smith in his treasure seeking activities meant as much as the actual finding of the treasure.

Smith used seer stones as magical devices for finding treasure. One of his favorite stones was a brown stone that was found in 1822 while helping dig a well for Willard Chase. Smith would often use a hat in which to place the seer stone. By putting his head in the hat and pressing the sides closed to block out the light, he could see images of treasure and where they were buried. Willard Chase recalled the finding:

I became acquainted with the Smith family, known as the authors of the Mormon Bible, in the year 1820. At that time, they were engaged in the money digging business, which they followed until the latter part of the season of 1827. In the year 1822, I was engaged in digging a well. I employed Alvin [Joseph's brother] and Joseph Smith to assist me; the latter of whom is now known as the Mormon prophet. After digging about twenty feet below the surface of the earth, we discovered a singularly appearing stone . . . and as we were examining it, Joseph put it into his hat, and then his face into the top of his hat. . . . The next morning he [Joseph] came to me and wished to obtain the stone, alledging that he could see in it . . . (Early Mormon Documents, vol.2, edited by Dan Vogel, Signature books, 1998, pp. 65-66.)

Once Joseph Smith found his trusty seer stones, he preferred them over other occult objects such as the divining rod. But there was a "rodsman fraternity" to which some close associates of Smith aligned themselves. The Cowderys were members of this fraternity and Oliver Cowdery was very skilled and known for finding treasure with his divining rod.

In fact, years later, the Lord himself, through the prophet Joseph Smith praised Olivery Cowdery on his "gift of the rod" (D&C 8:6) which "told him many things." Of course, the church "sanitized" that in later years replacing the word "rod" with "Aaron."

The occult was an everyday tool of Joseph Smith's life just like today the television or computer is an everyday tool. The seer stone in the hat was how Joseph Smith found the golden plates. The occult concept of "threes" was used extensively, meaning that if things appeared or were dreamt in threes it became validated and true. This wasn't just true with Joseph Smith, but was common occult knowledge of the time and we often read about other people's experience with three mystical events. Therefore, it is not surprising that Joseph Smith often experienced events in threes in such things as Moroni's visits and witnesses, etc.

The Smiths had a magical "holiness to the Lord" golden parchment with all kinds of occult symbols as well as a "Saint Peter Bind Them" parchment and a "Jehovah, Jehovah, Jehovah" parchment that supposedly warded off evil spirits. Joseph wore a magical Jupiter Talisman around his neck with various symbols and meanings. He even had this on his person the day he was killed in Carthage Jail.

When Joseph Smith later aligned himself with Masonry, the occult symbolism accelerated even more. Many of the magical occult symbols that were meaningful to Joseph Smith were later included in church buildings and temples. Even the temples of today are filled with occult symbols such as the sunstone used in decorating the exterior of temples or the stones of the SL temple that depict the moon's phases. Even after the saints moved to Salt Lake, astrology charts were printed in church publications and it is known that Brigham Young used a divining rod to find the placement for the Salt Lake Temple (Anthon H. Lund diary, 5 July 1901).

To dismiss the influence of magic and the occult in LDS history is significant. Many members have absolutely no idea what the symbols mean on the temple or why they are there. They have no knowledge of Joseph Smith's occult activities and how significant they were in the his life.

Smith reflected the times and he evolved and changed throughout his life. Many of Smith's religious concepts were altered and changed as he went along. I saw an evolution of religious thought. When he first claimed to find the plates, the Lord told him that translating them was his only purpose. Later, Smith went back to that revelation and changed it to read that it was his "first" purpose and then proceeded to actually restore a church. Even later, he sought to institute a worldwide theo-democracy on the earth and even ran for President of theUnited States to begin the process.

I have no serious problems with the occult influences in Joseph Smith life. However, later when Joseph Smith's mixed the occult with his religious claims, I found some very serious issues that the LDS Church has since scrambled to hide or erase. However, with the preservation and access of historical documents on the internet – mostly by LDS scholars – I found some very troubling information. This information access caused the LDS church to form several apologetic foundations to explain away the problems and limit the fallout and damage.