I have heard a lot of speculation from my Protestant friends about how credible it is that Joseph Smith really saw a vision of Heavenly Father and that he was instructed to do and to write things. When I at first read about Joseph Smith, I was incredulous too. The world looks at the faith of Latter Day Saints as just another hero-worship like that of Jim Jones or Mohammed who added their “additions” to the Bible and made it an entirely new thing. Joseph Smith, though, really isn’t in the same category.

Why do I say that? Because Joseph Smith saw something that was truly a vision of God. I myself when I was a child saw a vision of Jesus. Not everyone gets to behold a being bright as light with eyes like fire, who you can’t look at for the brightness of Him. But I did. And so did Joseph Smith. And my description of what I saw exactly matches Daniel’s vision in Daniel 10:5-8:

I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. ⁶ His body was like topaz, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude.⁷ I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the vision; those who were with me did not see it, but such terror overwhelmed them that they fled and hid themselves. ⁸ So I was left alone, gazing at this great vision; I had no strength left, my face turned deathly pale and I was helpless. ⁹ Then I heard him speaking, and as I listened to him, I fell into a deep sleep, my face to the ground.

It also matches the description in Revelation 1:12-18:

I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, ¹³ and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man,^[d] dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. ¹⁴ The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. ¹⁵ His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. ¹⁶ In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword.His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. ¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. ¹⁸ I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

What is the same in these passages about the “Son of Man” is that he was brilliantly white as light, burning with eyes like fire, shining like the sun at full strength. He was awesome and fearsome so much so that those who saw him lost their strength and could not move. When I saw Jesus, I was a little girl of 4 years old, and I had just said prayer to make him Lord of my Life. In that moment, my mom left the room and forgot to turn the nightlight on. I was deathly afraid of the dark. And lo and behold there was someone in my room – someone in a white robe, with sandals on His feet, which glowed like fire. With a brilliance so bright that no one could touch or even look at Him. His hair was like wool or like a shining sun. And his eyes were fire but warm and glowing. He didnt speak to me, but in my heart I felt, “Do not be afraid, Little One.” I fell asleep to Him beside me. I told my mom the next morning, but she was incredulous. It was not until I read the passages in the Bible myself that I knew what I had seen.

So when Joseph Smith describes the vision he has of Moroni, it matches what is consistent with Bible teachings about what glorified beings look like in vision appearances. Let’s read His account (THE TESTIMONY OF THE PROPHET JOSEPH SMITH):

“While I was thus in the act of calling upon God, I discovered a light appearing in my room, which continued to increase until the room was lighter than at noonday, when immediately a personage appeared at my bedside, standing in the air, for his feet did not touch the floor. He had on a loose robe of most exquisite whiteness. It was a whiteness beyond anything earthly I had ever seen; nor do I believe that any earthly thing could be made to appear so exceedingly white and brilliant. His hands were naked, and his arms also, a little above the wrist; so, also, were his feet naked, as were his legs, a little above the ankles. His head and neck were also bare. I could discover that he had no other clothing on but this robe, as it was open, so that I could see into his bosom. Not only was his robe exceedingly white, but his whole person was glorious beyond description, and his countenance truly like lightning. The room was exceedingly light, but not so very bright as immediately around his person. When I first looked upon him, I was afraid; but the fear soon left me. 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. He said there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang. He also said that the fulness of the everlasting Gospel was contained in it, as delivered by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants...”

When I read this passage the first time, my initial response was, “Wow! He saw the same thing I did!” And that made me pause and think about it. God doesn’t often reveal Himself in physical visions to people. And often He does so for a specific reason or intent. Daniel was to write prophecies about the future, and so was John in Revelation. Soo…wouldnt it make sense that God would also send a messenger to Joseph if Joseph was to be a prophet about the future as well? It would make sense and match God’s pattern of appearance to prophets in Scripture.

Well then you say – aren’t the prophets over? Didnt they end when the Bible ended? Actually, no. The first churches were filled with prophets, so much so that Paul had to instruct in worship how they were to speak (prophesy) or old back prophesying in church. The Gospel Coalition website gives a thorough description:

“Prophetic ministry in the early church was widespread and diverse. A band of prophets traveled from Jerusalem to Antioch, and one of them, Agabus, “stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world” (Acts 11:28). Prophets were active in the church at Antioch (Acts 13:1), Tyre (Acts 21:4), and Caesarea, where the four daughters of Philip prophesied (Acts 21:8–9). Prophecy, one of the gifts of the Spirit designed for edifying the body of Christ, was also utilized in the churches at Rome (Rom. 12:6), Corinth (1 Cor. 12:7–11; 14:1–40), Ephesus (Eph. 2:20; 4:11; see also Acts 19:1–7; 1 Tim. 1:18), and Thessalonica (1 Thess. 5:19–22)”.

Please read the full page below to have a fully Protestant take on the gift of prophecy and how it still exists today in the church: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/sam-storms-what-does-scripture-teach-about-office-prophet-gift-prophecy/

Based on then, Protestant theology, we can determinately say that prophecy DOES still exist today, given that all prophets are subject to others in the church to test their prophecies. So it is not outlandish that Mr. Smith would have had this gift. He also consulted with others – the testimony of the three, and the testimony of the eight – with what he saw.

Thus I leave it to your own mind to determine if you can believe in modern day prophecy, but let me just encourage you: it DOES exist. There were female prophetesses in the New Testament. I believe that I do have this gift. It shows up on every spiritual gifts test. But more than that, I have been told things from God time to time that have come true. It is not every instance or every thought of mine that is from God. Of course not! That would be heresy! But once in a blue moon…I do receive some kind of instruction or words that are not mine. And when I use them it is to His glory. That is the definition of the gift properly used. And it is still properly used today.

I can believe in modern prophets and in the work of Jospeh Smith because modern prophets do exist. Their words are never more important than Scripture itself and must always be tested against he Word of God. But I can believe in God still revealing Himself in new and unforeseen ways today – even with the Book of Mormon as an entity of new Scripture.

When you reading the opening title pages of the Book of Mormon, there are some facts that are hard to miss. This is a book that was written years and years before it was found by Joseph Smith, who found it only by revelation. He found it during a time when there were still parts left of nature in New York untouched by the world and unseen – a pivotal moment in history that passed quickly, to be sure. He was instructed not to open them when he first found them but to wait 4 years before opening them and beginning a work. According to the Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith, he was led to the golden plates (the Book of Mormon) on the 22nd day of September 1823, but he did not open them until Sept 22, 1827. That’s four years later folks. Joseph said he was instructed by a messenger of God not to open them immediately but to return every year on the same day until finally on that day in 1827 he could retrieve them from the earth and begin translating the work.

This is a striking movement of God in several respects. Why…would God reveal a work to some other people other than the New Testament Christians and Old Testament Jews and hide it up in the earth to be opened and read later as a later Scripture? Why…would God choose that exact day to open it and not four years prior? Why…would God choose Jospeh Smith to do this work?

Not all questions can be answered on this front. Why God chose to reveal Himself to one small family: Lehi, Sarai, Nephi, Sam, Laman, and Lemuel, and have their stories and those of their children saved up for future generations to know the Lord is confusing to us evangelicals who were raised to believe that the Scripture stopped at John’s book of Revelation. This book comes later (in 1827) and thus after the date God said, “You shall not add to or take away from anything in this book” (Revelation 22). But wait a minute. God said not to add to or take away from the BOOK OF REVELATION itself, not the whole Bible. Read the Chapter. God doesn’t say all of it. People just assume that because it is at the end. Also, the stories of these peoples from Lehi came BEFORE the New Testament! They left Jerusalem circa 580 BC when it fell to the Babylonians and escaped to the New World under the hand of God. God sealed up their stories and revelations to their prophets until the “last days” for us all to have and to read, and He revealed Jesus to this people separately in person since they could not see or hear of his crucifixion otherwise.

If you stop and think about it…it makes sense that God would speak to a people group too far to hear the gospel otherwise. And – this is most important – absolutely NOTHING written in the Book of Mormon contradicts the gospel or Jesus or OT and NT Scripture. Nothing. God says, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! ⁹ As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!” Galatians 1:8-9. But WHAT IF the Book of Mormon DOESNT preach a different gospel but the SAME gospel (as I believe it does). What then?

Sceptics have told me that the Book of Mormon is unscriptural and directly contradicts tenets of Bible beliefs. Nowhere do I read this. The message is clear: sin has an eternal cost, a cost so great that God’s Only Begotten Son had to come and atone for it or we would all go to damnation. If we repent and believe in His name we are saved.

I challenge you to read the Book of Mormon for Yourself. It may not be exactly what you think when you begin, but keep reading. And let God tell you if it be truth or lies. God wants us to seek for truth. So seek and ye shall find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. Ask, and it will be given you. (Matthew 7:7-8).