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Joseph Smith’s Story

The First Vision

I was born on December 23, 1805, in Sharon, Vermont. When I was about ten years old, we moved to Palmyra, New York. When I was thirteen, we moved to Manchester (in the same county as Palmyra). There were eleven people in our family: my father, Joseph Smith, Sr.; my mother, Lucy Mack Smith; my brothers Alvin, Hyrum, Samuel, William, and Don Carlos; my sisters, Sophronia, Catherine, and Lucy; and me.

About two years after we moved to Manchester, the people in our neighborhood began to get very excited about religion. It began with the Methodists, but soon all the churches in the area joined in the excitement. Large groups of people began joining different churches. This caused many bad feelings between people, and they all argued about which church was right. Even though the people and priests and leaders in the different churches said they loved God and one another, it was soon clear that most of this love and good feeling was not real.

I was about fifteen years old when all this was happening, and I thought a lot about religion. Some of my family joined the Presbyterian Church. I was worried about my soul, but I did not join any church, even though I went to as many different meetings as I could. For a while I thought about joining the Methodist Church, but I was so confused about all the arguing that I could not decide who was right or wrong.

I thought all the time about what each church said about the others. One day during this time, I read James 1:5-6 in the Bible. It says: “If you need wisdom, ask God. He will give it to all people freely, and will not punish them for asking. But ask in faith, without doubting.”

What James 1:5-6 said went into my heart with great power. I thought about it over and over. I knew I needed wisdom from God to know what to do, and if I didn’t get more wisdom, I would never know. I knew I could not find the answers in the Bible alone, because the different teachers of religion all found different meanings for the same scriptures.

I finally decided I had to do what James 1:5-6 said — that is, ask God. So on the morning of a beautiful spring day in 1820, I went into the woods to ask God. It was the first time I ever tried to pray out loud.

When I got to the place I had planned to go, I looked around; when I saw I was alone, I knelt down and began to pray to God. I had just begun to pray when a thick dark power came over me and stopped me from speaking. I thought I was going to be destroyed by a terrible evil being whom I could not see.

I used all my power to pray to God. Just when it seemed I was going to be destroyed, I saw a pillar of light right over my head that was brighter than the sun at noon. It came down little by little until it rested on me.

As soon as the light came, I was free from the evil power. When the light rested on me, I saw two Persons who were bright and full of glory. One of them called me by name and said to me, while pointing to the other: “This is my Beloved Son. Listen to him!”

I had gone to pray to the Lord to ask him which church I should join. As soon as I was able to speak, I asked the Persons in the light which church was true.

I was told not to join any of them, because they were all wrong. (I had never thought of this before.) The Person who talked to me told me that the things those churches taught about God were wicked, and that their teachers were all wrong. He said that “they come close to me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from me. They teach people’s commandments instead of my gospel. Some teachings seem true, but they deny the power of God.” He commanded me not to join any of the churches.

I was hated and persecuted for saying I had seen a vision, but how could I fight against God? I really had seen a vision, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it.

The Book of Mormon

Even though I was persecuted for saying I had seen a vision, I worked as a farmer and helper as I had done before. Then during the night of September 21, 1823, I prayed to God to forgive my sins. (They were not big sins, but I had done things which were not right for someone to do who had been called by God to do his work.)

While I was praying to God, a light began to grow in my room. Soon my room was as bright as noon-time; then I saw a person by my bed. He was wearing a robe that was whiter than anything I had ever seen. (I don’t think anything on earth could be made to look that white.) His whole face and person was bright and full of glory. I was afraid at first, but the fear soon left me.

His name was Moroni. He called me by name and said that God had sent him. He said that God had a work for me to do, and that my name would be talked about in good ways and bad ways among all the people of the earth. Moroni told me about a book written on gold plates which told the history of a people who used to live in this land. This book also had the full gospel of Jesus Christ in it, just as Christ himself had given it to the people who had lived here.

This book was hidden along with the Urim and Thummim (translators). After telling me this, he quoted from several Old Testament prophets. Then he told me that when I got the plates (which would not happen for a time), I could not show them to anyone. If I did, I would be destroyed. While he was telling me about the plates, I was shown in my mind the place where they were hidden.

As soon as he told me this, the light began to gather around him, and he went up into heaven.

I lay thinking about what had happened, when all at once Moroni came to me again. He told me the very same things, and then talked about the judgments of God which were coming on the earth. Then he left, and I began to think about what I had seen and heard again. To my surprise, all at once Moroni came back again. He said the very same things he had said the first two times. Then he warned me that Satan would try to get me to use the plates to get rich, because my family was very poor.

Soon after he left for the third time, it was time to get up. I got up and tried to work as usual, but I was so weak that I could not. My father told me to go back to the house. I began to go back, but as I was climbing over a fence, I fainted. When I woke up, the first thing I heard was a voice calling my name. I looked up and saw Moroni standing over me. There was light around him just like before. He again told me the very same things that he had told me the first three times. Then he told me to go tell my father about what I had seen and heard. I went back to the field where my father was and told him all about what had happened the night before. He said it was from God, and that I should go and do what God had commanded.

I left the field and went to the place I had seen in my mind. There is a hill near Manchester which is the biggest hill in the whole neighborhood. Under a large stone on the west side of the hill, not far from the top, I found a box made from stones and cement. The plates, the Urim and Thummim, and the other things Moroni had told me about were in this box.

I tried to take out the plates, but I was told that it was not the right time yet. Every year for four years I was to come to that place. Moroni would meet me there and tell me more things I needed to know about how the Lord’s church was to be set up in these last days.

I was given the plates and the Urim and Thummim on September 22, 1827. With God’s help, I kept them safe from the many people who tried to take them away from me. When I was done translating the Book of Mormon, I gave the plates back to Moroni, and he has them to this day (May 2, 1838).

Beginning on April 7, 1829, Oliver Cowdery wrote down the words I translated from the plates. While we were working on the part of the plates which talks about forgiveness of sins and baptism, we went into the woods to pray about these things. While we were praying, John the Baptist came to us in a cloud of light. He put his hands on our heads and said: “My fellow servants, I give to you the Aaronic Priesthood in the name of the Messiah. This is the power of angels and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism for forgiveness of sins. This power will never be taken from the earth again until the sons of Levi make a sacrifice to the Lord in righteousness.”

John the Baptist told us that the Aaronic Priesthood did not have the power to lay on hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, but that that power would be given to us later. After we were given the Aaronic Priesthood, Oliver and I baptized each other as we were commanded. (Peter, James, and John gave us the Melchizedek, or higher, Priesthood, later on.)

After the Book of Mormon was printed, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was begun on April 6, 1830.

(Based on parts of Joseph Smith’s history in The Pearl of Great Price.)