In 1823, at age 17, Joseph Smith was visited by an angelic being in his home in New York state:
“He called me by name, and said unto me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name was Moroni; that God had a work for me to do; and that my name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people” (http://lds.org/library/display/0,4945,104-1-3-1,00.html)
This prediction is being fulfilled. It doesn’t surprise me to hear the intense opposition and ridicule that has been directed towards him. It has always been the case with the servants of God.
I know that Joseph Smith was called by God to be a prophet in these latter days — this testimony has come to me and millions more through the witness of the Holy Ghost. I believe that his same witness can come to all who seek to know the truth from God through the prayer of faith, with a sincere desire to know the truth.
Normandy
ALL: you need to understand a few things Mormons believe about angels:
(1) A figure of the angel Moroni sits atop Mormon temples. The cross isn't the primary symbol of the Mormon church; this angel is.
(2) Who are angels according to Joseph Smith? And particularly who was Moroni?
Answer: "Moroni, who deposited the plates in a hill in Manchester, Ontario County, New York, being dead and raised again therefrom, appeared unto me, and told me where they were, and gave me directions how to obtain them." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 119)
So who was Moroni per Smith? Why, he was a deceased spirit. A ghost. A ghost was the jumpstarter of Mormonism!
Smith went on to describe a "sister's" first vision in which "Many true things were spoken by this personage, and many things that were false. How, it may be asked, was this known to be a bad angel? (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 214)
So how, perchance, was Smith able to "distinguish" between a "good" angel and a "bad" one? Why, he answered that, too: "By the color of his hair; that is one of the signs that he can be known by..." (pp. 214-215)
Bottom-line, Smith had ZERO discernment on how to tell the difference between a demon masquerading as a ghost (Moroni), and a true angel.
The other way Joseph Smith advocated that people discern between a...
..."just...angel",,,
...and a "deceiv[ing]...devil" (Mormon Doctrine & Covenants 129:4-8)
...is to "offer him your hand and request him to shake hands with you" (Mormon Doctrine & Covenants 129:4).
If you wind up shaking your hand with the devil, says ole Joe, "you will not feel anything; you may therefore detect him" (D&C 129:8).
So there ya go. Hair color and handshaking.
Tell me something. Would you buy even a used car from a used car dealer who told you the way you can discern between a well-maintenaced vehicle & and a lemon is the color of the car and the nature of the handshake of the dealer???
I learned a testimony concerning Abraham, and he reasoned concerning the Gods of heaven. '...Intelligences exist one above another, so that there is no end to them.' If Abraham reasoned thus--If Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and John discovered that God the Father of Jesus Christ had a Father, you may suppose that He had a Father also. Where was there ever a son without a father? And where was there ever a father without first being a son? Whenever did a tree or anything spring into existence without a progenitor? And everything comes in this way. Paul says that which is earthly is in the likeness of that which is heavenly. Hence if Jesus had a Father, can we not believe that He had a Father also? I despise the idea of being scared to death at such a doctrine, for the Bible is full of it. I want you to pay particular attention to what I am saying. Jesus said that the Father wrought precisely in the same way as His Father had done before Him. As the Father had done before? He laid down His life, and took it up the same as His Father had done before. (Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 373)
"We were begotten by our Father in Heaven; the person of our Father in Heaven was begotten on a previous heavenly world by His Father; and again, He was begotten by a still more ancient Father; and so on, from generation to generation, ... we wonder in our minds, how far back the genealogy extends, and how the first world was formed, and the first father was begotten" (Orson Pratt, The Seer, p.132).
In the beginning, the head of the Gods called a council of the Gods; and they came together and concocted a plan to create the world and people it. (Joseph Smith, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, p. 5, 1844)
"Some people are troubled over the statements of the Prophet Joseph Smith.... The matter that seems such a mystery is the statement that our Father in heaven at one time passed through a life and death and is an exalted man. This is one of the mysteries.... The Prophet taught that our Father had a Father and so on. Is not this a reasonable thought, especially when we remember that the promises are made to us that we may become like him?" (Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 1, pp.10, 12).
I will go back to the beginning, before the world was, to show what kind of a being God is. What sort of a being was God in the beginning? Open your ears and hear, all ye ends of the earth; for I am going to prove it to you by the Bible, and to tell you the designs of God in relation to the human race, and why he interferes with the affairs of man. God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted Man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens. That is the great secret. (Joseph Smith, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, p. 3, 1844)
The above direct quotes from Momron sources reveal the truth about Momronism and why it is considered 'not Christianity in any shape or form' by all the major Christian denominations in the World. The god of Mormonism is a lie, just low enough in imaginary standing so that Mormons are encouraged to strive to someday be a god also.
In 1823, at age 17, Joseph Smith was visited by an angelic being in his home in New York state: