Judging Joseph Smith by His Fruits
Jesus did not tell His disciples to accept every prophet at face value. He warned them, “Beware of false prophets,” and then gave the test: “You will know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:15–20). That is not permission to slander a man’s soul. It is permission — even an obligation — to test a prophet’s claims by the visible fruit of his life, teaching, character, and legacy.
Joseph Smith himself invites that kind of examination. Near the end of his life, in a public discourse on May 26, 1844, Smith boasted that he had accomplished what even Jesus and the apostles had not:
“Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from Him; but the Latter-day Saints never ran away from me yet.”
This is not an anti-Mormon invention. The wording appears in the Joseph Smith Papers and in the Latter-day Saint-published History of the Church. Smith was not merely saying, “God has been merciful to me.” He was comparing his own success with the ministry of Christ and the apostles, and he placed himself favorably in that comparison.
To be fair, some Latter-day Saint defenders argue that Smith was speaking rhetorically, echoing Paul’s “boasting” language in 2 Corinthians 11. Even if that context softens the tone, it does not remove the problem. Paul boasted in weakness, suffering, and dependence on Christ. Joseph boasted that his followers had stayed with him when Christ’s followers had not. That is a very different spiritual instinct.
So when Christians judge Joseph Smith “by his fruits,” they are not applying a standard foreign to Scripture. They are applying the standard Jesus Himself gave. A prophet who claims to restore Christ’s Church may rightly be examined by whether his life and words reflect the humility, holiness, and truthfulness of Christ — or whether they reveal another spirit entirely.