Michael Quinn, a former Mormon and Professor of History at Brigham Young University, wrote a book entitled Early Mormonism in the Magic World View. The book clearly documents the life of Joseph Smith as being heavily involved in the occult before he ever began to receive so-called "revelations" from his "messengers of light."

Joseph Smith, Jr., who was known for his tall tales, claimed he was 14 years old when he was allegedly "seized upon by some power which entirely overcame him" in which he saw a "pillar of light exactly over his head", during the spring of 1820.  In this visit, he claims to have asked which sects were correct and he claims to have been told that they were all wrong, (this is known as the official LDS version of Joseph's First Vision.) This version sits as part of the standard works of the Mormon Church, in The Pearl of Great Price. The quote can be found in the book Joseph Smith, Chapter 2, verses 15-19. This is the moment that opened the door to Mormonism.

LDS Apostle LeGrand Richards said on that spring day in 1820 that "God the Father and Jesus Christ gave instructions to Smith concerning the establishment of the kingdom of God upon the earth." (LeGrand Richards, A Marvelous Work and a Wonder, p.7)

Brigham Young said that Smith was visited by an angel sent by God. And the angel told him that he should not join any other church that they were all wrong. Now this couldn't be the angel Moroni in 1823, since Smith never asked Moroni which church was right. There wouldn't have been any reason to ask Moroni this question since it was supposedly answered three years earlier in the Sacred Grove. (Journal of Discourses 2:171). But Brigham Young also taught that the sun was inhabited (Journal of Discourses 13:271), that gold and silver grow like wheat in the field (ibid., 1:219), and that Adam was God (ibid., 1:50).

George A. Smith, first Counselor to Brigham Young said Joseph was not visited by either the Father and/or the Son or by an individual angel, but rather he was visited by a multitude of angels. (Journal of Discourses 12:334)

Apostle Orson Pratt claimed Smith was visited by two glorious personages who looked exactly alike.

Mormon author Milton V. Backman stated that Pratt's account is the first known publication of the First Vision. (Backman, Joseph Smith's First Vision, p.170)

Apostle Orson Hyde gives a similar account but adds that the personages told Smith the Lord had decided to grant him a special blessing.

In Smith's 1832 diary he claims to have been 16 years old when a pillar of light came down from above, this version does not say he was visited by God the Father, nor was he told that all the churches were wrong, their creeds an abomination and their professors corrupt in this version. (Joseph Smith's 1832 Accounts of His Early Life, p.7)

Despite these inconsistencies, the LDS Church took it upon themselves to promote an account that was written 16 years after the fact. (Joseph Smith History 1:2). The official LDS account states that Smith was visited on September 23, 1823, by an angel Moroni, yet in his 1832 diary he claims this event took place on September 22, 1823. And both the Times and Seasons 3:753 and the first edition of the Pearl of Great Price quoted Smith as saying the name of the angel was Nephi, not Moroni.

Shortly after allegedly being told by God and Jesus in 1820 not to join any existing church, Joseph Smith joined the Masons and the Methodist.

What does the Bible say?

Galatians 1:6-9 - "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel -- which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!  As we have already  said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!"

2 Corinthians 11:13-15 - "For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ.  And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve. "

In the History of the Church, 10-15-1843, Vol. 6, p.58, Joseph Smith predicted that he wouldn't be killed until he was ready to die. Nine months later he was killed in a bloody gun battle. Was he ready to die? No, anyone who shoots back in a gun battle is doing it in self defense in order to stay alive. Since Smith was also using a gun and firing back in defense, that could only mean that he wasn't ready to die, but he did, he was killed in 1844 giving Mormons their first martyr. 

Jesus prophesied about His death and when they came to get Him, He submitted to them and even healed the ear of one soldier that Peter was trying to fight.

First of all, the 5 golden plates are supposedly what Joseph Smith, Jr.  found and these were to be a book containing the "fullness of the everlasting Gospel" as delivered by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants of America.  The next day, according to Smith, he found the plates buried in a stone box in the side of a hill called Cumorah near his home in Palmyra, New York.  But the angel Moroni would not let Smith have the plates until September 22, 1827. Nine months before the plates became his, Smith eloped with Emma Hale.  Because of persecution, they moved to her father's house in Harmony, Pennsylvania. It was there that he allegedly began translating the plates with the aid of two magic stones, the "Urim" and the "Thummim."

In the history of Joseph Smith by his mother, Lucy Mack Smith, p. 108, she states how Joseph found the gold plates (6 in. wide, 8 in. long, 6 in. thick) tucked them under his arm and on the way home fought off 3 attackers by jumping over logs, fighting, and running at top speed. Plates made of gold measuring 6 inches wide, 8 inches long and nearly 6 inches thick would be too heavy a load to tuck under the arm, run, jump and fight off attackers (3 of them mind you) for even the strongest of men.

So, William Smith, Joseph's brother, said the plates were a mixture of gold and copper (Saints Herald, 31 1884, p.644). Yet, the plates were never analyzed and William Smith admitted he never saw the plates. (Francis W. Kirkham, A New Witness for Christ in America, Vol. 2, p.417)

Joseph Smith also claim to have used a magical peep stone to find buried treasure. He was arrested, tried and convicted for using this stone in his scam operations. (Wesley Walters, Joseph Smith's Bainbridge, N.Y., Court Trials)

When Joseph Smith began to translate the plates, a New York farmer named Martin Harris got interested in his project and planned to pay for publishing the book. But first, he wanted to make sure that it was genuine. Harris took Smith's copies of letters on the plates to Professor Charles Anthon of Columbia University.

Smith later wrote that Professor Anthon identified the letters as "Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyriac, and Arabic," and said that Smith's translation was more accurate than "any he had before seen translated from the Egyptian." (Pearl of Great Price, p.52)

When Professor Anthon heard about Smith's claim, he wrote a letter dated February 17, 1834, to tell his side of the story. But the Professor's warning had no effect on Martin Harris, for he mortgaged his farm to get money to publish, on March 26, 1830, the Book of Mormon.

Martin Harris later admitted that he never actually saw the plates since "they were covered over with a cloth."

Two other men supposed to have seen the plates, Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer, later left the Mormon church having being accused of theft and counterfeiting.

Despite this, the Testimony of Three Witnesses (Harris, Cowdery and Whitmer), claiming to have seen the plates, is found in the front of every copy of the Book of Mormon.