Joseph F. Smith was a nephew of Joseph Smith. Lds thought so much of more dead appearing to their "prophet" in 1918 that they added it to their "Scriptures" (D&C 138)...(I think the occult world likes October for some reason). His uncle, Joseph Smith, has dozens of accounts of the dead appearing to him. And then the Lds church thought so much of this that they put most of them in a 2007 book on the series of Lds "Presidents" ("Prophets").
Specifically, Joseph F. Smith -- claimed 92 years ago this month to see the hosts of the dead, both small and great...an innumerable company of the spirits of the just (D&C 138:11-12) -- and these spirits were just waiting for Mormon missionaries to come their way to be redeemed -- as JF Smith said that the Mormon jesus had prepared "the faithful spirits of the prophets who had testified of him in the flesh; That they might carry the message of redemption unto all the dead, unto whom he could not go personally, because of their rebellion and transgression, that they through the ministration of his servants might also hear his words. (D&C 138:37-38)
Who was he talking about? This is where Mormon beliefs gets confusing. You need to understand that Mormonism teaches that the spirit world is on this planet; that it's not very far from us; and that "all mankind" goes there upon death, no matter what you did in this life. If you don't believe me, go to this Lds article as a primer: The Spirit World, Our Next Home So on the one hand, Joseph F. Smith mentions seeing the "spirits of the just", but then he also mentions seeing spirit-rebels.
Lds try to claim the apostle Peter's account of Jesus proclaiming victory to the dead in prison as Scriptural justification. But Jesus didn't go preach to the "just spirits." And the rebel spirits He preached to were only those who lived during Noah's day, a very limited number (1 Peter 3:20) in contrast to those who've ever lived on this planet. This Mormon elder writing this article tries to claim that a "gospel" was going out to those who "rejected the prophets," but there were no "prophets" mentioned in the first several chapters of the book of Genesis (up through Noah's day). Even Noah is never mentioned to be a prophet.
Besides, Jesus made it quite clear in an account about a certain rich man and a certain beggar named Lazarus (Luke 16) that when the wealthy man told Abraham that he had five brothers who should be warned about that place of flaming torment (Luke 16:23-28), Abraham told him: "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them...If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." (Luke 16:29, 31)
So: Joseph F. Smith and this elder-writer must consider Abraham and Jesus to be either badly ill-informed, or worse, liars. Here they clearly said these in torment will not be persuaded even if a resurrected missionary comes to them. Mormons claim an entire missionary structure has been set up to go to the rebel dead who have rejected the prophets. [See link above, The Spirit World, Our Next Home, bottom of the article, for proof].
Who are you going to believe? Abraham and Jesus? Or the Mormon false prophets who contradict them?
The one thing I’ll never understand is, if Jesus wasn’t enough, then why did He come in the first place? What was the whole purpose of that? Why would God sacrifice His only son in a most horrible way, if it means nothing? And why did God say, by grace you are saved and not by works? The blood of Jesus is enough.
It has to be a heart thing, not a physical thing. When the bible says, without works your faith is dead. God’s saying, actions speak louder then words. If you love God, you will do the works. We can not work our way to heaven, so no man can boast.
Undecided readers,
If you peruse the Free Republic religion forums you will notice a pattern. There’s an anti-Mormon group of people here that spends a great deal of their time attacking the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They post regurgitated propaganda on an almost daily basis.
They have a misguided obsession. You can witness many different tactics employed that you might find quite interesting. The straw man argument is a big favorite and is frequently preceded by cherry-picking quotes or other material. After the “quotation” the attacker will misrepresent what has been said or what was meant and then attack their own interpretation.
Another favorite is posting scripture or statements which on their own really present no dilemma. They make something out of nothing while never bringing up a single objection that hasn’t been addressed a hundred times before.
Sometimes they cruise the headlines of the day seeking any story that might be twisted into making the Church look bad. Anything will do, just watch the progression of posts following it and see what I mean.
After reading their posts, I invite you to seek the truth about whatever “issue” they seem to be “revealing” or “exposing”. I promise that if you do so with honest intent, the “ahah” moments you will have will be many and frequent. You will start to recognize the tactics employed to cleverly twist and attack and will likely chuckle the more you see. In actuality, there’s nothing new here. It’s all been addressed many times before.
Here’s a few links to get your started from a different viewpoint. I have found that the vast majority of the “issues” brought up can be found and addressed at http://www.fairlds.org/ but here’s more:
http://scriptures.lds.org/
http://www.lds.org
http://www.fairlds.org/
http://www.mormonapologetics.org/
http://www.mormonwiki.com/Main_Page
http://www.lightplanet.com/response/index.html
http://www.jefflindsay.com/LDS_Intro.shtml
http://www.answeringantimormons.com/index.htm
http://promormon.blogspot.com/
Now you will likely notice the “you never address our points” posts pop up as usual. All after providing the answers just as you have here. Will you wear blinders too? Seek truth. Find out for yourself.
the hosts of the dead, both small and great...an innumerable company of the spirits of the just (D&C 138:11-12) — and these spirits were just waiting for Mormon missionaries to come their way to be redeemed
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When Jesus saw this type of thing He cast them out...
The mormons play around with them and honor them..
The dead are gone from this Earth once they die...there are no such things as “ghosts” of the dead departed humans...
What Joey Smith and his followers have seen (if they “see” anything) are demons and devils...We know that Brigham Young listened to devils...
“Well, these evil spirits are ready to prompt you. Do they prompt us? Yes, and I could put my hands on a dozen of them while I have been on this stand; they are here on the stand; Could we do without the devils? No, we could not get along without them. They are here, and they suggest this, that, and the other.” Brigham Young, JoD, 3:369, June 22, 1856