Demon theory? Perhaps, perhaps not.
I know not exactly what guided Joseph Smiths hand, it may have been the Devil himself or could be as simple as that which drove PT Barnum to pursue his circus, a sucker is born every minute.
What I do know is what ever guided him did not come from above. God doesn't talk in circles, make hard right and left turns in his actions, ask us to lie, intentionally complicate salvation or waste his efforts on our behalf. Most of all he does not hide from his people only to randomly reappear in New York forest.
So if it is not from bellow or from the mind of man, there are precious few choices left...
Aren’t you even a little embarrassed by it?
Ahem...
First Nephi
God told Lehi to look at the ball and read the words written upon it. And when he read the words "he did fear and tremble exceedingly."
16:26
The pointers on the ball work according to the faith of its user.
16:28
And the words written on the ball change according to the faith of its user.
16:29
So Nephi found his way to the top of the mountain by following the instructions that were written on the ball.
16:30
"It's better to know nothing than to know what ain't so."
--Josh Billings
