Joseph Smith the Heretic Prophet

Joe Rogan, “Mormons are the nicest cult members.”

I am a heretic mormon; I walk through fire, not around it.

A woman goes down a rabbit hole of every controversial detail about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She was not prepared for what she found. The information she found shattered her soul. When she confronted her husband about it, she was shocked that he did not respond to it the way she had. “He’s such an intelligent man,” she cries, “he just will not see it. It’s so frustrating. I am crying. I now wish I hadn’t married someone so believing. How can these things not move him?” She then concluded her letter with crying emojis, “I hope with time he will see.”

I replied to the reposting of this message, “Both this woman and her husband are blind as they secretly and openly weep, ‘why won’t my partner open the closed eyes and see what I see.’ Both constructing their own truths and realities and fantasies.” They live in their own bubbles and prisons of their own ignorance. 

Beware of those who say, “We see.” For they are the ones who believe they see but in doing so make themselves blind to the other. As Jesus taught after healing a blind man, he wished to humble those who think themselves intelligent in sight:

For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

  And so, they each kneel at their own altars, the woman and her husband, with their own blindfolds on and cry: “Why can’t you see what I see?”

What if instead of denying that they are in a cult and heretics, Mormons embraced the title and transmuted it into something else entirely? What if we told the anti-mormon, “We are a cult of divine potential. A cultivation of godhood. A ritual path of ascent. We are the chosen heretics of the last days—those who chose the gods of Kolob, who write new scripture, who do not fear to build new heavens.” When told we are brainwashed we respond with, “Indeed, we have washed our brains of the world’s lies.” When accused of being secretive, say: “Mysteries are not for the world, but for the initiate.” When mocked for our temples, say: “Every temple is a forge. And we are gods in the making.” When Joseph Smith is accused of being a conman say, “What is a conman?  A man possessed with confidence and a raging fire greater than what you will ever have. A man who dared speak with heaven while you were busy scrolling your TikTok feed. A man who built kingdoms while you built excuses.” 

These are to be likened unto how Jesus taught, “…That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.”

Rather than being traditional-mormons, anti-mormons, post-mormons or progressive-mormons we shall transcend all of it to become heretic-mormons. This is Joseph Smith’s guide to being a heretic mormon. He who was a dangerously alive mythic madman who breathed fire into America’s religious wasteland.

As a disclaimer I’m not suggesting Mormons go all Jonestown, but that the way out of the cult mindset is not away from it but through it, into it and burning the idea down from within rather than without. The church is not a cult in the general sense of the word, but the members and some of their rituals often become cult-like. Our anti-mormon friends are correct to some degree and we should contemplate what they consider cult-like behaviour. 

But first, who was the true Joseph Smith? I speak not of the one praised as a wholly righteous man who did no wrong in the sight of God to whom mormons sing, “praise to the man who communed with Jehovah.” De-clawed, simple and sanitized as seen in the Joseph Smith movie produced by the Church. Nor do I speak of the dastardly, lustful, glutinous, cult leader criticized and ridiculed by Anti-Mormons as seen in the documentary The God Makers. I speak of the man, simply and plainly, as he was and not as we want him to be. The one who lays beneath both fasāds which the world sought to bury him in. Joseph Smith was no saint—he was more than a saint. He was a mythopoetic outlaw, the American Muhammad, the wilderness Hermes. A liar? At times. A prophet? Perhaps. But always: a man of visions, dangerously alive.

Joseph Smith Jr. (1805–1844) lived a short but eventful life that saw him transform from obscure farm boy to charismatic religious founder. Born in Vermont in 1805, he grew up in a family of modest means. The Smiths migrated to western New York after 1816, seeking better prospects following crop failures in New England. This put young Joseph in the heart of the Burned-Over District during his formative years. 

At the age of 14, during a tumultuous religious revival of competing churches, Smith emerged from a grove of trees with the most daring proclamation of all. He declared that all churches and their creeds were wrong and abominations. He prophesied that he would restore christianity back to its original form before the creeds with new scripture. The once rival churches unified against this common foe who dared call them all wrong, ignorant, and abominable. This once humble farm boy who knew nothing but peace up until then would forever be on the run from mobs and the government. Hunted, caged and killed like a wild animal. Like the mad prophet he was. Though within his short time he amassed more insanely loyal followers willing to suffer and die for his church than any individual religious or cult leader in America. He truly was a builder of kingdoms. 

By the time of his death, tens of thousands of people had accepted his teachings, and they mourned him deeply. Yet his movement did not die with him as with most cult leaders – it would go on to grow into a global faith. His followers crossed frozen rivers. Fought armies. Built cities. Became a people. New scripture. New priesthoods. New temples. New gods.

  To understand how Joseph Smith inspired such loyalty and created a lasting religion, we must examine his extraordinary charisma, leadership style, theology, and the oppositions he faced, each of which contributed to the making of his prophetic persona.

By all accounts, Joseph Smith possessed a remarkable charisma that was key to his success as a leader. The German sociologist Max Weber famously defined “charismatic authority” as power legitimized by a person’s perceived extraordinary qualities, which set them apart as almost superhuman. As one scholar notes, Weber’s concept of charisma describes Smith: an individual “treated as endowed with supernatural…powers or qualities” whom people follow “because of his divine gift”. To his converts, Smith’s personal authority felt legitimate and urgent specifically because it was rooted in what they saw as spiritual power, not mere position. They were convinced that Smith, this physically imposing man with a kind smile, did indeed walk with God and carried his power everywhere he went—performing miracles like raising the dead, healing the sick and casting out devils. 

This was during a time when numerous people were feeling overwhelmed and spiritually drained by the many religious preachers who taught that revelation and miracles were a thing of the past. The canon of scripture was forever closed, any new scripture or teaching was heresy of the highest. Preachers and followers bound to the same unchanging teachings forever. Like God was hiding. Or as Ralph Waldo Emerson put it, “Men have come to speak of the revelation as somewhat long ago given and done, as if God were dead. The injury to faith throttles the preacher; and the goodliest of institutions becomes an uncertain and inarticulate voice.” Then in walked a man with fire in his eyes and baring his own cross who was the first man in nearly 2000 years to declare, “thus saith the Lord.”

Smith not only wrote new scripture but encouraged ever evolving ideas and embracing truth wherever it came from as he said, “One of the grand fundamental principles of Mormonism is to receive truth, let it come from whence it may.” (Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 199)

Dissenters who challenged his authority were often themselves denounced in revelations and excommunicated, which had a chilling effect on would-be rivals. As one historian observed, early Mormons trusted Smith with their money, their labor, and their deepest confidences because he had convinced them that God was working through him in all things (rsc.byu.edursc.byu.edu). They followed him across thousands of miles of wilderness, through poverty and persecution – a testament to the devotion he inspired.

He kept his followers in line by demanding respect for the position he held and the roles and responsibilities he gave out. Organization was one of his greatest tools (or weapons depending on how you look at it.) Unlike many charismatic revivalists who led loosely bound flocks, Smith built institutions. He established a First Presidency, a Quorum of Twelve Apostles, traveling Seventies, the women’s Relief Society and other quorums to minister to the growing church. Weber theorized that pure charisma tends to be unstable and must eventually be “routinized” into institutions if a movement is to survive (rsc.byu.edu.) 

There is no reason to doubt that Joseph Smith had a considerably heavy god-complex. The man was practically oozing with divine mandates from heaven. He encouraged his people to build cities and temples to God. He never gave in when he was tarred and feathered or imprisoned over the course of a long winter in a tiny, filthy, freezing cell while his followers were being massacred in the Mormon war. It’s no wonder a man like that inspired such undying loyalty. If he didn’t believe in his mission then no one would.

It should be said that not everyone viewed Joseph Smith’s charisma benignly. Outsiders often saw manipulation where believers saw inspiration. In fact, Weber himself, while classifying Smith as an exemplar of charismatic leadership, added the caveat that Joseph “cannot be classified in this way with absolute certainty since there is a possibility that he was a very sophisticated type of deliberate swindler.” (rsc.byu.edu.) Nonetheless, even many who doubted Smith’s divine claims acknowledged his magnetic leadership. He had the rare ability to inspire communal loyalty and maintain cohesion among his people, even as they were driven into exile multiple times.

Above all else was his obsession with myth making. Turn your people into myths and they will remember you forever. Smith wielded myth like a flaming sword, reinterpreting scriptures in ways no one before him dared to. In ways that challenged the very definition of Christian. No matter how many he offended. No matter how unchristian his myths seemed. In ways that mocked the early creeds of christendom. In ways that taught power and joyfulness against everything else. The cause of being children of God with divine rights to forge their own myths and become their own gods. He created an entire theological world for his followers to live and play in.

The prime example is the Book of Mormon, which Smith presented as an ancient sacred record comparable to the Bible. According to Smith, the Book of Mormon was a translated history of Israelites who migrated to the Americas around 600 BCE, flourished, and received visits from the resurrected Jesus Christ. It purported to restore “lost” truths of the Gospel and to show that God had been at work on the American continent all alongamericanyawp.com. By placing Christian prophets and even Jesus himself in the New World, this narrative sacralized American soil and implied that the establishment of Smith’s church was the fulfillment of long-hidden prophecy. In short, the Book of Mormon gave Joseph Smith’s movement deep mythic roots – it was not a 1830s upstart religion, but the resurgence of an ancient covenant people, as the story went.

To legitimize his prophetic status, Smith skillfully used narrative and doctrine hand in hand. He often likened himself and his people to figures from scripture. For example, the persecutions they suffered were drawn into the mythos as a latter-day Exodus or as signs of truth (since prophets are always rejected by the world). He even inserted prophecies about himself into the narrative: an interesting instance is a prophecy in the Book of Mormon (attributed to an ancient seer) that a future seer named Joseph would arise – a not-so-subtle self-reference which, if believed, crowned him with ancient approval. A prophecy he would later include in his retranslation of the Bible.

Additionally, Smith claimed to be visited by many biblical figures who restored ancient rituals and doctrines through him. Most notably was the priesthood given to him in two parts: first by John the Baptist with the lesser priesthood; and second by Peter, James, and John with the greater. By claiming to have restored biblical authority which was lost, it made it harder to dispute his highest ranking claims and simultaneously delegitimize all other churches (who lacked this restored authority). Smith effectively gave himself ultimate authority above everyone else akin to Napoleon crowning himself emperor but without the crown or formalities. Rumors indeed spread that he named himself king within his inner circle and council of 50 in preparation for the coming of the kingdom of God. And with the support of all his followers he could have been elected president of the United States were it not for his assasination.

Smith’s theology continually evolved, becoming increasingly ambitious in scope. In the final years of his life, he preached bold doctrines that ventured beyond conventional Christian ideas. In his famous 1844 “King Follett Discourse,” he spoke of an expansive cosmology in which God Himself was once a mortal man and human beings could become gods in eternity – a dramatic reimagining of the potential of the soul. Such doctrines were theologically daring and controversial, even among his own followers. But to the faithful who accepted them, these teachings confirmed that Joseph Smith was unveiling mysteries of heaven not known since ancient times.

By the early 1840s, Smith was the unchallenged leader of a rapidly growing city, commanding a militia, serving as mayor, and being revered as God’s prophet. With such “untrammeled authority in Nauvoo,” it is conceivable, as Bushman notes, to imagine Smith feeling that “no conquest [was] beyond his reach”(mormonheretic.org.) This was his tragic flaw.

His downfall began when he tried to restore the ancient practice of polygamy as practiced by such biblical figures as Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, and Solomon (the later two of which Smith, in the voice of God, criticised for having too many which turned their hearts away from God). The reasons why he restored plural marriage are shrouded in mist though theories range from it was a genuine revelation from God as an Abrahamic test of faith to he had an unstable libido. It is such a controversial point that many today simply refuse to believe Smith ever touched the concept. Richard Bushman aptly asks: “Was [Smith] a blackguard covering his lusts with religious pretensions, or a prophet obeying instructions from heaven, or something in between?”(mormonheretic.org)

One point that defenders of polygamy bring up is how DNA evidence shows that Smith only had children by his first wife Emma and all other stories claiming otherwise have been proven to be fabrications. This could suggest that Smith never started it to satisfy his unstable libido and his open lying about it was from his uneasiness with the situation. Smith himself taught that God Himself mandated polygamy in the latter days. Smith’s new revelation explicitly taught that these biblical polygamists were justified because God “did it… to raise up seed unto [Him]” (cf. Jacob 2:30 in the Book of Mormon, which similarly allows polygamy only if God commands it to “raise up seed”)(churchofjesuschrist.org.)

 He privately told associates that an angel with a drawn sword visited him as many as three times between 1834 and 1842, threatening to destroy him if he did not proceed to institute plural marriage fully (churchofjesuschrist.org.) This dramatic claim – an angelic ultimatum – was later repeated by several early church members and is recorded in church writings (churchofjesuschrist.org.) It suggests that Smith himself was reluctant and needed heavenly pressure to embrace the practice. In Smith’s framing, then, he was not acting out of personal desire but out of fearful obedience to a direct command from God, delivered by an angelic messenger. One contemporary remembered Smith testifying that he “did not want to do it” but was compelled by the angel, “or [he] must be slain by the sword” (churchofjesuschrist.org.) But this could also be viewed as Smith diverting the blame.

We also need to account for how he married so many both old and rather young. Some were already married temporarily but sealed to Smith eternally, He may have viewed this practice as a loophole in the commandment as he feared offending his first wife Emma. Some were specifically requested to be sealed to him to link families such as when Helen Mar Kimball’s father requested it. The sealing of these women, and by extension their immediate families, may have been a way of binding his followers to him as one large family. As a family they would be closer and intimate to him and feel less capable of falling away. Bushman observes that Smith seemed less driven by lust and more by a desire to “create a network of related wives, children, and kinsmen that would endure into the eternities” (mormonheretic.org.)  A means of political and social alliance-building within the church.

Smith’s secretary recorded that Smith once remarked one of his plural wives “afforded him great pleasure,” a comment that shocked his counselor William Law (precisely because Joseph so rarely spoke of such things)(mormonheretic.org.) This suggests Joseph did find personal fulfillment in some of these relationships, though he generally kept such feelings private.

 Plural marriage spread only “incrementally” among the leadership at first, given the enormous sensitivity of the principle (churchofjesuschrist.orgchurchofjesuschrist.org.) By the time of Smith’s death in June 1844, approximately 29 men and 50 women (beyond Joseph and his first wife Emma) had entered into plural marriages under his direction (churchofjesuschrist.org.) Historians estimate Smith himself had anywhere from 28 to 33 wives in total (the number varies as new evidence is interpreted) (mormonheretic.org.) Notably, some of these wives were quite young (teenagers) and some were already married to other men (a practice known as polyandry.) All participants were sworn to secrecy as monogamy was the law and social norm. The small circle of insiders (sometimes called the “Holy Order” or the Anointed Quorum) included trusted apostles and their families. 

Needless to say, many individuals greatly struggled with the practice. Brigham Young envied those in the grave. Others left the church all together like Oliver Cowdery. In June 1844, Law and other dissenters published the Nauvoo Expositor, accusing Joseph of adultery and corruption. The paper included affidavits – Law’s own affidavit testified that Joseph and Hyrum Smith had read a revelation authorizing “certain men to have more wives than one at a time”(en.wikipedia.orgen.wikipedia.org.) This public exposure of polygamy was explosive. Declaring the Expositor a public nuisance, Joseph (as Nauvoo’s mayor) ordered its press destroyed – a dramatic act which led to his arrest on charges of inciting riot. These events set in motion the chain that led to Joseph and Hyrum’s murders at Carthage Jail on June 27, 1844 (en.wikipedia.orgen.wikipedia.org.) Thus, Smith’s practice of polygamy directly contributed to the internal schism and external hostility that culminated in his death (pbs.orgen.wikipedia.org.) As one historical survey bluntly states, plural marriage “divided Smith’s own household, caused a schism in his church, and brought the wrath of many Americans down on the Mormons for decades to come”(pbs.org.)

The heretic prophet never stopped accumulating more and more enemies as he gained followers beside them. He was called a tool for Satan, a deceiver, a conman, a madman, a false prophet, the antichrist and mocked for his doctrines and “gold bible.” He was willing to bear all those titles as he was a man possessed with a mission. He stood in direct opposition to all christians at the time and dared to say their creeds were an abomination. He burned like Alexander the Great and conquered like Napoleon  Bonaparte retaking Paris without firing a single shot because of the loyalty he inspired in others despite how hated he was by his enemies. Many were disappointed when they first met him as his myth vastly grew to eclipse him in its shadow.

His followers were refugees who were constantly on the run. Everyone feared the Mormons. Indeed, a pattern emerged: a Mormon community would gather and prosper, local suspicions would rise, conflict would ensue, and violence or government pressure would drive the Saints away – only for them to regroup and start anew elsewhere. Mobs would combine with baenettes to massacre the men and rape the women to death. Leaving orphans to leave bloodied footprints in the snow.

Skirmishes in 1838 between Mormon militia and Missouri militia/local posses escalated into what’s sometimes called the Mormon War. Reports (and rumors) of militancy on both sides led Governor Boggs to issue Executive Order 44, infamously known as the “Extermination Order.” In it, he declared the Mormons must be driven out of the state or exterminated for the public peace, as “their outrages are beyond all description.” (americainclass.org) Murder was made legal as Mormons could be killed on site. This chilling official sanction resulted in state troops and mobs attacking Mormon settlements. The Saints were indeed driven out – their homes burned, their property stolen or destroyed, and their leaders jailed. Joseph Smith’s own surrender and imprisonment in 1838 (under threat of execution by a Missouri firing squad, which was narrowly averted) became a legend among his people. While in the miserable Liberty Jail, he penned letters of encouragement and scripture-worthy exhortations to his followers, bolstering their faith to carry on despite the “fiery trial” they were undergoing.

600 - 800 men, women and children died during Smith’s lifetime. Around 6000 on the frozen exodus to Utah. If Smith was making it all up, he could have easily denied his outstanding claims and spared around 7000 innocent souls from being raped, murdered, consumed by hypothermia, swamp disease, or starvation. But he didn’t, and we must ask ourselves, Why?

Was he the most committed conman in history who lost control, a mad tyrant with a messiah complex, or a true seer? Maybe that’s what he was wondering about himself as he laid out under the burning sun against a well outside of Carthage with holes in his chest where his heart used to be. What will be remembered of the fanatical heretic who spat in the face of Traditional Christianity and morality until it killed him. He who stood boldly in the face of armies of the nation and dared them to fire the first shot. He who convinced so many that they could see angels and the gates of heaven open with him and even long after him.

Joseph Smith’s final days in Carthage Jail illustrate how opposition ultimately consumed him. Despite assurances of protection, on June 27, 1844, a mob of roughly 100 men – their faces painted black – stormed the jail and murdered Joseph and his brother Hyrum. After Smith’s death, his enemies might have expected the Mormon movement to collapse. Instead, something more complex happened. Martyrdom dramatically shaped Smith’s legacy. Contemporary non-Mormon newspapers largely rejoiced or coldly noted that a “fanatical impostor” had met a violent end (en.wikipedia.org.) But within the Latter-day Saint community, the reaction was the polar opposite: Joseph Smith was hailed as a modern martyr who sealed his testimony with his blood (en.wikipedia.org.) This echo of early Christian martyrdom strengthened the resolve of many followers. Far from discrediting him, the violent manner of his death validated his prophetic claims in believers’ eyes (“if he weren’t a true prophet,” they reasoned, “why would Satan inspire such hatred against him?”). As one scholar put it, “within the Latter Day Saint community, Smith was viewed as a prophet, martyred to seal the testimony of his faith.” (en.wikipedia.org)

So many today echo Elder Jeffery R. Holland’s testimony, “When Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum started for Carthage to face what they knew would be an imminent martyrdom, Hyrum read these words to comfort the heart of his brother:

“Thou hast been faithful; wherefore, … thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father.

“And now I, Moroni, bid farewell … until we shall meet before the judgment-seat of Christ.”

“A few short verses from the 12th chapter of Ether in the Book of Mormon. Before closing the book, Hyrum turned down the corner of the page from which he had read, marking it as part of the everlasting testimony for which these two brothers were about to die. I hold in my hand that book, the very copy from which Hyrum read, the same corner of the page turned down, still visible. Later, when actually incarcerated in the jail, Joseph the Prophet turned to the guards who held him captive and bore a powerful testimony of the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon. Shortly thereafter pistol and ball would take the lives of these two testators.

“As one of a thousand elements of my own testimony of the divinity of the Book of Mormon, I submit this as yet one more evidence of its truthfulness. In this their greatest—and last—hour of need, I ask you: would these men blaspheme before God by continuing to fix their lives, their honor, and their own search for eternal salvation on a book (and by implication a church and a ministry) they had fictitiously created out of whole cloth?

“Never mind that their wives are about to be widows and their children fatherless. Never mind that their little band of followers will yet be “houseless, friendless, and homeless” and that their children will leave footprints of blood across frozen rivers and an untamed prairie floor. Never mind that legions will die and other legions live declaring in the four quarters of this earth that they know the Book of Mormon and the Church which espouses it to be true. Disregard all of that, and tell me whether in this hour of death these two men would enter the presence of their Eternal Judge quoting from and finding solace in a book which, if not the very word of God, would brand them as imposters and charlatans until the end of time? They would not do that! They were willing to die rather than deny the divine origin and the eternal truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. “ (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2009/10/safety-for-the-soul?lang=eng)

Beyond the boundaries of his own church, Joseph Smith has secured a place in American history as a significant religious figure. Modern scholars (both Mormon and non-Mormon) generally agree that Smith was “one of the most influential, charismatic, and innovative figures in American religious history.” (en.wikipedia.org) He has been recognized in rankings of important Americans – for example, the Smithsonian magazine in 2015 ranked Joseph Smith first in the category of religious figures in its list of 100 Most Significant Americans (en.wikipedia.org.) Such acknowledgments underscore that what began as the visions of a backwoods farm boy have had enduring historical impact.

As one modern scholar put it, Joseph Smith’s influence is such that we cannot discuss American religion without him; love him or revile him, he “surpassed all Americans before him in the quest to create a new religious world” (josephsmithfoundation.org newrepublic.com.)

His life story has even entered popular culture, most famously in the satirical Broadway musical The Book of Mormon and in countless novels, songs, and films. These cultural products often play on the extraordinary elements of Smith’s tale – gold plates, angels, polygamy, martyrdom – sometimes affectionately, sometimes mockingly. Yet, even satire testifies to the mythic stature of Joseph Smith.

Despite what any in today’s world might think about Joseph Smith, despite how few actually know his character, his legacy is not likely to fade anytime soon. With over 16 million members today, his church became the largest to be started on American soil. Growing just as fast as the early days of the Catholic Church. His followers have a deep sense of a unique connection with God as his “covenant people.” They feel themselves having a strong duty towards their ancestors through temple ordinances for the dead as saviors on mount Zion. Their heretic prophet left a whole library of new scripture to call their own; the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. 

No one has built temples to their God since the time of the ancient cathedrals quite like the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Even if Anti-Mormons get their wish and the church goes extinct, the temples are likely to stand as an eternal reminder of the once heretics who walked the earth. They will be looked back on as the pyramids of Egypt, their religion like the ancient Egyptians. Maybe we won’t wonder if Aliens built them, but we will still marvel at them. Eternally marking this cult in the sands of time. Their rituals and sacraments will be seen as peculiar and fascinating on a deeply mythic level. Their existence forever puzzled over.

Joseph Smith invites reflection on the nature of heresy versus orthodoxy. The line between the two can be razor-thin and often depends on perspective and power. From the perspective of 19th-century Baptist or Presbyterian leaders, Joseph Smith was preaching rank heresy (new scripture, anthropomorphic God, plural marriage – take your pick). From the perspective of Smith and his followers, it was the mainstream churches that were in error (having “a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof,” as Smith reported God telling him) and the true orthodoxy was being restored through revelation. This reversal echoes a recurring pattern in religious history: today’s heretic may become tomorrow’s prophet, and yesterday’s “truth” can become today’s “apostasy” depending on who ultimately wins hearts and minds.

When German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, born only a few months after Smith’s death, declared “God is dead!” He did it as a diagnosis of the godless world he found himself in and the German protestants who paraded around the cross as if attempting to keep the corpse of God alive. He saw Christianity was trapped in what he called “slave morality,” where pastors would preach humility and submission instead of divine strength and mastery over one’s own fate. He saw the forthcoming of the Übermensch, a strong and powerful being as the next step in human evolution. A being who was bold enough to shout the sacred “No!” at the world which would chain him down with their strict laws and values. A being which would play as a child and create his own laws and values apart from everything else.

Like Smith, Nietzsche was also viewed as a heretic of his day. He had to self-publish his own books which sold extremely little and later went mad from the world silencing him so much. He was never able to succeed as Smith. Smith became that Übermensch which he foresaw coming. Smith was the heretic which wielded the sacred “No!” against the christians of his day. As his name suggests, he smithed and forged new myths, new values, new scripture, new cities, new kingdoms, and new gods and didn’t care what anyone thought of it. 

A boy, barely a man, claiming visions of angels and gold, casting down centuries of Christian tradition with a single breath.

“I will restore it,” he said. “I will build anew.” He did not ask permission. He commanded revelation.

Joseph Smith, the Godsmith. The boy who declared war on heaven and built his own.

There was a time when Mormonism burned—when its very name stirred riots, and its prophets dared to forge new heavens with their bare hands. But that fire… has cooled.

Today, the Saints slumber in the shadow of temples built by braver ancestors. Their words are careful. Their rituals rehearsed. Their songs—soft lullabies sung to a God they no longer wrestle.

They have become too still. Too satisfied with softened sermons. Too afraid to write new verses, to dream new dreams. Too meek to stand as heretics in a religion born of heresy.

They whisper the same testimonies like incantations, never daring to ask if the words still mean anything. They do not create. They do not blaze. They do not see.

What they need is not comfort. What they need is fire.

They await a new heretic—not a destroyer, but a divine disturber. A soul on fire, bold enough to walk into fast and testimony meeting, pound the pulpit, and cry out:

“WAKE THE HELL UP, ZION!”

Just as Joseph Smith was a heretic to the Christendom of his time, So too must one rise to be a heretic among the Saints. For truth is not a relic to be enshrined—it is a living flame, And flames must dance or die.

🌩️ The Nine Trials of the New Heretic

To awaken the sleeping gods, the heretic must:

1. Respond to a Spiritual Crisis Hear the silent scream beneath the hymns. Feel the fracture behind every smile.

2. Claim a Direct Theophany Not from tradition. Not from manuals. But from the whirlwind itself.

3. Produce New Scripture Words etched in fire, not formatting. Verses born of agony, revelation, and rapture.

4. Gather the Broken and the Brave A community not of comfort-seekers, but of warriors, artists, and seers.

5. Establish Mythic Legitimacy Let the story be sung across rooftops. Let the skeptics tremble at the poetry of it.

6. Organize and Consolidate Power From chaos, forge cosmos. From scattered sparks, birth a sacred flame.

7. Endure the Holy Persecution Let the mockers come. Their stones will be your crown.

8. Persist and Adapt If cast out, wander. If crushed, rise. If exiled, become myth.

9. Secure the Legacy Not with plaques or pews, but with souls set ablaze.

And when the heretic rises—eyes wild, heart storming, voice a trumpet to sleeping saints—let no man call them false. Let no woman call them mad. Let them be called what they truly are: The Reforger. The Fire-Bringer. The New Smith.

Citation List

1. “...That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also...”— Matthew 5:39–41, King James Bible (Sermon on the Mount)

2. “Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah”— LDS Hymn #27: Praise to the Man, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Hymnbook

3. “Charismatic authority” and concept of an individual “treated as endowed with supernatural…powers or qualities”— Max Weber, from his theory of charismatic authority in Economy and Society

4. “Men have come to speak of the revelation as somewhat long ago given and done, as if God were dead...”— Ralph Waldo Emerson, Divinity School Address, 1838

5. “Thus saith the Lord.”— Standard prophetic phrasing in the Doctrine and Covenants and Bible; used frequently by Joseph Smith

6. “One of the grand fundamental principles of Mormonism is to receive truth, let it come from whence it may.”— Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 199

7. “Cannot be classified in this way with absolute certainty since there is a possibility that he was a very sophisticated type of deliberate swindler.”— Max Weber (as cited in LDS scholarship, likely from discussions in Economy and Society or derivative interpretations in rsc.byu.edu)

8. Book of Mormon described as restoring “lost” truths of the Gospel— Paraphrased; common LDS teaching, not a direct quote

9. “Did it… to raise up seed unto [Him]”— Jacob 2:30, The Book of Mormon

10. “Or [he] must be slain by the sword”— Sourced from various early LDS journals and histories, including churchofjesuschrist.org (e.g., accounts of Zina Huntington, Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner)

11. “Afforded him great pleasure”— Attributed to William Law, cited in various historical accounts such as mormonheretic.org

12. “Certain men to have more wives than one at a time”— Nauvoo Expositor, June 7, 1844; public accusation against Joseph Smith

13. “Extermination Order” / “Their outrages are beyond all description.”— Missouri Executive Order 44, issued by Governor Lilburn Boggs in 1838 (see americainclass.org)

14. “Fiery trial”— Allusion to Liberty Jail Letters; specifically Doctrine and Covenants 122, dictated by Joseph Smith in 1839

15. “Fanatical impostor”— Language used in 19th-century newspaper accounts after Smith’s death (see en.wikipedia.org citations on Smith’s death)

16. “Thou hast been faithful... mansions of my Father...” / “And now I, Moroni, bid farewell...”— Ether 12:37–38, The Book of Mormon

17. “Never mind that their wives are about to be widows... Never mind that their little band of followers...”— Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, General Conference, October 2009: “Safety for the Soul”https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2009/10/safety-for-the-soul?lang=eng

18. “One of the most influential, charismatic, and innovative figures in American religious history.”— Paraphrased from multiple historians; cited at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Smith

19. “No conquest [was] beyond his reach”— Richard Bushman, as quoted on mormonheretic.org or in Rough Stone Rolling

20. “Was [Smith] a blackguard... or something in between?”— Richard Bushman, Rough Stone Rolling, or interpreted by mormonheretic.org

21. “Surpassed all Americans before him in the quest to create a new religious world”— From essays/articles cited at josephsmithfoundation.org or newrepublic.com