Gramps,
Have you ever seen Satan? Have you ever seen God or Jesus? If you are honest, you will answer, “no.” I have to ask myself whether or not Mormons should believe Joseph Smith did. The church doesn’t like us to talk about it, but he did have a reputation for telling tall tales. Why should Mormons believe him?
M.J.
Dear M.J.
Many derogatory things have been said about the Prophet, Joseph Smith. As a matter of fact, he was told by the Angel Moroni, whom he saw, “that [his] 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” (Joseph Smith-History 1:33). If I were you, I would check my sources very carefully before I subscribed to such derogatory comments about the Prophet.
There are about ten million Mormons who not only believe that Joseph Smith actually saw God the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ, but who have themselves received witnesses from God that he actually did see them. You could also come to know these things, receiving a true witness of them from the Father if you sincerely desired to know, rather than trying in a vain attempt to prove that they are not so.
-Gramps