Let Me Check My Crystal Ball...

So, to use the mind that God has granted me, with the efforts to uncover truth and share that which God has seen fit to reveal to me; the first thing to look at is the most basic claim - indeed, the crux of the Mormon church being the only right and true religion left on the planet: the belief that Joseph Smith was a prophet for the Lord. That this same man (then but a boy) was visited by angels of the Lord (or the Lord himself, depending on who you ask) and was given God’s true gospel, because the religions of the time had fallen away. That he received the true gospel, but was not allowed to keep it. Merely a copy only he, himself, had seen.

Without faith in this one simple statement, that Joseph Smith was given the Word of God the Mormon faith does not have a leg to stand on. Joseph Smith was said to be a prophet. A voice for God amongst his lost and floundering people. But, is the Mormon definition of a prophet in keeping with what biblical and historical context tell us the prophet WAS to the people of Israel?

Biblically, the Hebrew terms for ‘seer’ (hozeh and ro’eh) were only mentioned in the Old Testament twenty-six times, as opposed to the Hebrew term for ‘spokesperson’ (nabi'), which is seen over 317 times. Clearly the role of Prophet was intended to be the Spokesperson of the Almighty in the majority of instances, rather than the ‘seer’.

I suppose, the reason for this distinction lies in their significance in the biblical Hebrew society. The Prophet’s significance stems from his/her connection with the Almighty. Basically, a verbal conduit through which God speaks his message and guidance to his people. The Prophets’ purpose was to act like a verbal road map. To point out to God’s people that they were heading toward a hazard, or that they were, in a very real sense, losing sight of the Lord’s calling on their lives.

They were not, ever, magic eight balls for God’s personal amusement. Their purpose was never one meant to be the megaphone for God to announce His plans: “You shall be blameless before the LORD your God, for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do this” (Deut. 18:13-14, ESV).

That prophets were guides for the people of Israel is clearly seen in the roles the prophets of the Lord took throughout the pages of the Old Testament. Of course, the question over roles is not the only issue surrounding a prophet when looking between the biblical definition and description and that of the Mormons.

Once a prophet has begun prophesying - how does one know that his words are God’s and are not simply ideas flowing from his own mind to his lips? It is not new, that a self-proclaimed prophet would seek to mislead the public in thinking that they have the Almighty’s ear. The Bible has provisions for this situation, described in Deuteronomy 18:20:

“But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or[f] who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.' ”

The disgust that is employed when referring to false prophets, throughout the Bible, is easily distinguished. The position of Prophet is to be held in a much higher standing than it seems to be viewed in the Mormon Church. Each one of the presidents of this religion have claimed to be prophets. Each one has made predictions (fortune-tellings) and some have come to fruition. Others, of course, have not. Despite the idea that a Prophet has a direct connection with God and if he prophesies wrongly it was seen as the prophet had lost the voice of God, the Mormon church is based around the idea that there must be a prophet - and that it didn’t matter a whit if the prophet was wrong.

Joseph Smith himself admitted that his prophesies, “might be of man or even of the Devil” (From Complete History of the Church 1:165). “If you hit once in ten times, that’s all right.” Hyrum Smith, a prophet, was quoted to have said this to Abraham O’Smoot in 1868 at the Provo School for Prophets.

If the true nature of the Prophet is to be believed - from the biblical point of view - they were rare, and they were limited in their purpose (guiding the people and warning of impending doom not engaging in parlor tricks prognosticating for the future). The simple idea that something considered to be a rare, and sometimes, precarious honor, could be taught in school...strikes me as quite arrogant.

Are we now to the point where we can wave a diploma in the Almighty’s face and demand He let us into His council? “But...but...I graduated from Prophet School, Lord!”

Right.