Testing Mormon Prophecy
God provided Israel with a means to identify a true or a false prophet. It is found in Deuteronomy 18:20-22. In paraphrase, the test was whether his prophesies came to pass. The false prophet was to die if he failed the test and because he presumed to speak a word in the name of the Lord or he spoke in the name of other gods (we will consider this last phrase later). Let us apply this test to Joseph Smith by considering some of his prophecies.
In the Doctrine and Covenants 57:1-5 (July 1831) is purported to be God speaking to the elders of His church by the Prophet Joseph Smith. They are told the land of Missouri is the "land of promise, and the place for the city of Zion." They were instructed to purchase as much of the land as they could, near the place called Independence, because it was going to be an "everlasting inheritance" for them.
Doctrine and Covenants 84:1-5 (Sept. 1832) tells us that this was a revelation of Jesus Christ to Joseph Smith. In brief it states that the city of the "New Jerusalem" would be built in the state of Missouri ('verily, this is the word of the Lord'), beginning at the temple, "which temple shall be reared in this generation. For verily, this generation shall not pass away until an house be built unto the Lord, etc."
In October of 1838, an extermination order was issued by the governor of Missouri that compelled the Mormons to leave that state. This is clearly stated in the heading of D&C 124. The temple was not built in "that generation" and the Mormons were expelled from their "everlasting inheritance." Joseph Smith obviously failed the test of God Almighty for a true prophet!
Let us look at one more prophesy, this time in the Book of Mormon. This one was not purported to be made by Joseph Smith, but was on the plates which were supposed to be revealed to him by an angelic messenger from God.
"But behold, the Spirit hath said this much unto me, saying: Cry unto this people saying-Repent ye, and prepare the way of the Lord, and walk in His paths, which are straight; for behold, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and the Son of God cometh upon the face of the earth. And behold, he shall be born of Mary at Jerusalem..." Alma 7:10
As most everyone knows, the Lord Jesus was born in Bethlehem, exactly as the Bible correctly predicted (Micah 5:2; Matthew 23:1-16). Here, Maroni, Alma and Joseph all failed God's test for a prophet. Alma prophesied it, Maroni delivered it and Joseph translated it, all purporting to have done so under the direction of God! No one can successfully nor honestly contend that these are incorrect representations or taken out of context, for all the information is contained in Mormonism's own "inspired" writings.
http://www.BibleTruths.org/cults/MormonismProphecy.html
updated September 4, 1998 by Webservant@BibleTruths.org