On the website JosephSmithAcademy.org, you can find a ton of pro-Mormon info on Joseph Smith. On this site there’s also a list of prophecies he gave, and I found it interesting there was no comment on how the one we’ve listed here was false.
Philo Dibble, Hyrum L. Andrus and Helen Mae Andrus, comps., They Knew the Prophet [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1974], 70; “While celebrating the 4th of July, in 1838, at Far West, there came up a thunder shower, and the lightning struck our liberty pole and shivered it to pieces. Joseph walked around on the splinters and said: “As the pole was splintered, so shall the nations of the earth be!”
Jeremiah 5:30-31; “A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; 31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?”
Mormons, much like the Israelites, also ‘liked to have it so’. They were enamored by Joe Smith and his charismatic ways, so much so, that even today they don’t question this is a false prophecy.
When someone prophesies in this manner, it’s expected the prophecy will happen within a respected amount of time. Giving prophecies that never come to fruition are threats, not a prophetic word from the Lord.
Just as the Lord asked the Israelites, if you’re LDS, what will you do in the end?
So why do you consider Joseph Smith’s prophecy a failed prophecy but not the prophecies of Jeremiah, Daniel, Isaiah, and John the Revelator who all prophesied of the end of Nations just as Joseph Smith?
Jeremiah 25: 31 “A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord. see also Jeremiah 25:31-38
Daniel 2: 39-45
Isaiah 34:2 “For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter.
Revelations 16:19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell:and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her cup of the wine of fierceness of his wrath.
That’s a good point, Kimberly. I hadn’t thought of some of those verses from God’s word. It drew my mind to remember the words of Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 30:11
For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee: though I make a FULL END of ALL nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.
Jeremiah 46:28
Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the Lord: for I am with thee; for I will make a FULL END of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.
Why is this a false prophecy? Do the nations still exist? Of course. Then this prophecy can still be fulfilled right? No time frame listed in the record of this prophecy.