Sunday, August 10, 2014

Resources on Joseph Smith's Prophecies

Often, one will hear the claim that Joseph Smith made false prophecies, and, in light of Deut 18:18-20, fails the test of a prophet. Furthermore, one will hear the claim that Joseph Smith never made any significant prophecies that have come to pass. Both these claims are false and based on (1) very poor exegetical skills and (2) equally poor research skills.

Resources on Allegedly False Prophecies and the Contingent Nature of Prophecy

Stephen O. Smoot, “Joel Kramer vs. the Bible and Joseph Smith” (a review of Joseph Smith vs. the Bible which I helped research)




John A. Tvedtnes, “The Nature of Prophecies and Prophecy”

Idem. “A Reply to Dick Baer” (challenges a list of 52 purportedly false prophecies of Joseph Smith)




Mike Parker, "John C. Bennett and D&C 124:16-17"

 Robert Boylan, Refuting James Walker on Joseph Smith's Prophecies

Idem, Did Joseph Smith Predict that the Second Coming would happen in 1890/91? (cf. Vern Grosvenor Swanson on the Eschatological Timetable of Joseph Smith's April 6, 1843 Discourse; Joseph Smith III (1832-1914) Not Believing Jesus Would Come in 1890/91; Joseph Smith's March 10, 1844 Discourse Concerning William Miller and the Parousia; Mario Stephen Depillis: Joseph Smith Never Predicted the Exact Date of Jesus' Second Coming; John Edward Taylor (1888) on D&C 130:14-17; Victor Ojeda Mari on D&C 130:14-17; Joseph Smith Speaking Publicly of His then-impending Death; 

Idem, Oliver Granger and "Sacred Remembrance" (cf. George M. Peacock on the meanings of "remember" and its application to D&C 117:12 and Oliver Granger)

Idem, Is D&C 71:9 a false prophecy?

Idem, An Examination and Critique of the Theological Presuppositions Underlying Reformed Theology (there is a lengthy discussion of contingent foreknowledge and related issues in this paper)

Idem, Did Joseph Smith Prophesy Falsely About Not Being Able to Be Killed By His Enemies?













Russell Ashdown, Is It Fair to Compare Joseph Smith with the Prophet Jonah? (response to Eric Johnson)

Elden Watson, Ask, and Ye shall Receive: A Review of "Where Does it Say That" by Bob Witte (see the discussion beginning at "2. False Prophecy")

FairMormon, Response to Claims Made in "Chapter 14 (of Jerald and Sandra Tanner's The Changing World of Mormonism): False Prophecy"

Idem, Response to claims made in "Appendix B (of Richard Abanes, One Nation Under Gods): Failed Joseph Smith Prophecies"







Resources on Fulfilled Prophecies of Joseph Smith

 The above resources do offer a number of fulfilled prophecies of Joseph Smith, but for articles and books with a focus on providing such, I would recommend the following:

 Articles:

Jeff Lindsay, “Fulfilled Prophecies of Joseph Smith”

Church History Topics: 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)


Idem, Oliver H. Olney's 1842 Journal Entries on the Saints Then-Future Move to the Rocky Mountains (cf. Brigham Young's Letter to William L. Marcy (December 17, 1845); Paulina Eliza Phelps Lyman Recounting Joseph Smith's Promise in 1832 that She Would Go to the Rocky Mountains; Helen Mar Kimball Whitney on the Importance of the Rocky Mountain Prophecy to LDS Truth Claims over RLDS Claims to Authority; 1831 and 1834 Accounts of a Then-Future Expansion to the West as far as the Pacific Ocean; Jonathan Dunham's Belief in 1840 that the Saints would go to the Rocky Mountains; Brigham Young and Joseph Smith's Prophecy of the Saints Moving to the Rocky Mountains; Plans to Establish a Settlement in Texas: Evidence Against the Authenticity of a Rocky Mountain Prophecy?; Luman Shurtliff, Orson Pratt, and Lyman Wight's Recollection of Joseph Smith Believing the Saints Would Move to the Rocky Mountains; Samuel W. Richards's Reminiscences Concerning the Move to the Rocky Mountains and the Building of the Temple in Independence; Interest in the Rocky Mountains in the August 13, 1842 issue of The Wasp; Thomas Bullock (October 7, 1846): Joseph Smith Prophesied of the Saints Moving to the West


Idem, D&C 87 and Joseph Smith's Letter to Noah C. Saxton (January 4, 1833) (cf, W.L. Crowe (1902)'s Attempt to Refute the "Civil War Prophecy" (D&C 87); The January 1833 Issue of the Evening and Morning Star and how Critics (Larry Jonas; the Tanners) try to Explain the Origins of D&C 87); B.H. Roberts (August 1914) on World War 1 as a Fulfillment of D&C 87:3; Defense of the "Civil War Prophecy" in the November 1860 issue of The True Latter Day Saints' Herald; Alice Smith McKay's (and the Tanner's) Abuse of the "Annual Register of the History of Europe" to Downplay the Prophetic Nature of D&C 87; Henry L. Southworth (December 23, 1851) and the belief in the then-imminent U.S. Civil War and Fulfillment of D&C 87; John C. Calhoun Predicting a Potential Civil War between Slaveholding and Non-Slaveholding States (February 19, 1847); "A Mormon Prophecy," New York Times, June 2, 1861; "Remarkable if True," Contra Costa Gazette (Martinez, California), April 23, 1864: The Prophetic Nature of D&C 87 Acknowledged by a non-LDS Newspaper; "A Prophecy of Joe Smith" in The Sacramento Bee, February 4, 1863: Another Non-LDS Newspaper Acknowledging the Prophetic Nature of D&C 87; The Santa Cruz Weekly Sentinel (January 9, 1864) calling Joseph Smith a "shrewd guesser" in light of D&C 87; Excerpts from Brian Taylor, "Fighting for Citizenship: Black Northerners and the Debate over Military Service in the Civil War" (2020); April 6, 1874 Letter to the Salt Lake Daily Tribune: D&C 87 was Produced by Joseph Smith in Response to the Secession Crisis of 1832; George Q. Cannon, John Taylor, and Brigham Young on D&C 87; Emanuel M. Murphy's Recollection of Joseph Smith's Belief that the Fulfillment of D&C 87 was Imminent; W. W. Phelps (February 18, 1861): Slaves to have a "Holiday as Wonderful as their Masters" by 1866; Joseph Smith's Reference to "nullifying [South] Carolina," January 2, 1844; Andrew Love Neff on D&C 87; Alfred Grant on the Construction of Ships for the Confederacy and the Union in Great Britain; Sherman L. Fleek and Robert C. Freeman on D&C 87 and the U.S. Civil War; Joseph Smith III on his Father’s “Civil War Prophecy” (D&C 87) (cf. Positive View of Joseph Smith's Civil War Prophecy from Roy E. Weldon and Norma Anne Holik (RLDS));) Did Heber C. Kimball Believe that the U.S. Civil War Would Result in the Destruction of the US Nation?; Improvement Era (October 1906) on When D&C 87 was First Printed and Where; Orson Pratt (January 1, 1862) not believing that the U.S. Civil War was not the Only War in view in D&C 87; Joseph Holbrook’s Commentary on, and Dream Concerning, D&C 87; Brigham Young, Jr. (April 24, 1898): D&C 87 was only partially fulfilled with the U.S. Civil War; Joseph Smith (April 2, 1843): The Then-Future U.S. Civil War would only be "the first outbreak of general bloodshed"; Editorial in The New York Times (January 10, 1861) Teaching There Would Not be a Major War Between the North and South; Thomas Cobb (February 15, 1861): The Almost Universal Belief of the Time is that there would be no U.S. Civil War; Harper's Weekly (May 4, 1861): Belief that the U.S. Civil War "will be over by January, 1862"; Abraham Lincoln (July 4, 1861) Believing that the U.S. Civil War may be "a short and decisive one"; R. L. Dabney on the Belief in the North that there would be no major Civil War before 1861; Lee Ellsworth Eusey (SDA) on the Common Belief that there would no Civil War in 1861; Joseph Smith on the Then-Future War in November 1837 (cf. D&C 87)
















































Idem, "Sabaoth" in the Doctrine and Covenants (an example of Joseph Smith's prophetic insights that only have recently been substantiated by modern scholarship)



















Jeff Roundy, Joseph Smith’s Prophecies Fulfilled - Evidences (Youtube)
Matthew C. Godfrey, William McLellin's Five Questions (a chapter from the book, Revelations in Context, showing a very powerful example of Joseph Smith's prophetic gifts)


Recommended Books:

 Pat Ament, Joseph Smith’s Prophetic Gifts; this book has been republished: A Timeline of Joseph Smith's Prophecies: His Prophecies Fulfilled, ed. Brian Stutzman, rev. ed. (2023); Brian J. Stutzman, On This Day: Joseph Smith’s Prophecies Fulfilled: Sorted by Day (2023)
Duane Crowther, The Prophecies of Joseph Smith

Daniel C. Peterson, The Last Days (2 vols.) (doesn't deal exclusively with Joseph Smith's prophetic utterances, but is still a good resource)


While dated, Nephi Lowell Morris' Prophecies of Joseph Smith and their Fulfillment does contain some good information
On the "White Horse Prophecy":

Don L. Penrod, "Edwin Rushton as the Source of the White Horse Prophecy," BYU Studies 49, no. 3 (2010): 75-131


George Cobabe, "The White Horse Prophecy"


Allen Richardson on “Book of Mormon Prophecies of the United States” Fulfilled Post-1830


Parley P. Pratt, “Wars and Rumours of Wars” (1840) and the Post-1830 Fulfilment of Book of Mormon Prophecies























Although not post-1830, note:



 A useful book addressing this topic is that of Ross W. Warner:

The Fulfillment of Book of Mormon Prophecies (Hawkes Publishing, 1975)

The book is based on an MA dissertation at BYU. Fortunately, the thesis is available online:

A Study of Problems Relative to the Fulfillment of Selected Prophecies in the Book of Mormon, with Particular Reference to the Prophetic View from 1830 Onward (August 1961)

 If anyone knows of other good resources, feel free to drop me an email at ScripturalMormonismATgmailDOTcom
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