Evangelical apologist, Dave Hunt, wrote:
Just as prophecy is unique to the Bible, so it is unique to Christ. No prophecies foretold the coming of . . . Joseph Smith . . . or any other religious leader, all of whom lack the credentials which distinguish Jesus Christ. (Dave Hunt, A Woman Rides the Beast: The Roman Catholic Church and the Last Days [Eugene, Oreg.: Harvest House Publishers, 1994], 20)
There are some problems with Hunt’s claim, which is very common in “pop Protestant” apologetic works (e.g,. those of Josh McDowell)
Firstly, many of the prophecies about Jesus, cited in the New, are not “direct prophecies”; indeed, there are very few of them. Instead, the New Testament authors understood Old Testament texts (e.g, Psa 110:1; Hos 11:1) to be typological prophecies which received their fullest (typological) fulfilment in Jesus Christ (cf. the concept of Sensus Plenior)
We see that the New Testament authors allowed for a prophetic expansion of sorts beyond the historical-grammatical meaning of a passage. For instance, in Matt 2:15, we read the following:
And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.
However, when one examines the text Matthew quotes from (Hos 11:1), we find that, contextually, it is not a prophecy about the Messiah and his family, but it about the nation of Israel and how Yahweh rescued them from Egyptian bondage:
When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt. As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images. (Hos 11:1-2)
Evangelical scholar, Robert Gundry, offered the following commentary on Matthew’s use of Hos 11:1:
The formula of fulfillment introducing the quotation from Hos 11:1 reads exactly as 1:22b . . . The preceding mention of Egypt has united with “Son of God” and “Son of the Highest” in the tradition of Jesus’ nativity (Luke 1:32, 35) and with Matthew’s own interest in Jesus’ divine sonship . . . to suggest the statement in Hos 11:1. There, the Lord addresses the nation of Israel as his son. The multiplicity of parallels drawn between the history of Israel and the life of Jesus suggests that Matthew saw that history as both recapitulated and anticipated in the “king of the Jews”; like Israel in the messianic age Jesus receives homage from the Gentiles (2:11); as a son he, like Israel, receives God’s fatherly protection in Egypt (2:15); his oppression brings sorrow as the oppression of Israel brought sorrow (2:17-18); like Israel he is tempted in the wilderness (4:1-10). The messianic reference preceding the statement “God brought him [the Messiah] out of Egypt” in Num 24:7-8 LXX may also have facilitated quotation of the similar statement in Hos 11:1, for Matthew has recently used Numbers 24. (Robert H. Gundry, Matthew: A Commentary on His Literary and Theological Art [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1982], 33-34)
Secondly, we would expect there to be more prophetic expectation (whether typological or the rare instances of “direct prophecies”) of Jesus as he is infinitely more important in Latter-day Saint theology than that of Joseph Smith, in spite of claims to the contrary by misinformed critics.
Thirdly, there are many prophecies in Scripture that receive their fulfillment in Joseph Smith and/or the Book of Mormon, such as Malachi 4:5-6 and John 10:16. For a discussion and defence of such a thesis, see, for example:
Fourthly and finally, Joseph Smith did make a number of prophecies that were fulfilled, often to the letter. For a sampling, see:
Articles:
Jeff Lindsay, “Fulfilled Prophecies of Joseph Smith”
Gilbert Schaffs, “Samples of Prophecies of Joseph Smith that have been fulfilled” (this is appendix C of The Truth about the Godmakers)
Kerry A. Shirts, "A War on the Civil War Prophecy"
Books:
Pat Ament, Joseph Smith’s Prophetic Gifts
Duane Crowther, The Prophecies of Joseph Smith (a full preview of the 2008 printing is available on Google Books)
Daniel C. Peterson, The Last Days (2 vol.) (doesn't deal exclusively with Joseph Smith's prophetic utterances, but is still a good resource)
For more, see Resources on Joseph Smith's Prophecies
Instead of being an argument against Joseph Smith bring a prophet of God, this is just another prime example of how Evangelical Protestants are ignorant of the Bible that they view to be the sole, infallible rule of faith truly are.
