This is the quote Joseph gave: "I have more to boast of than any man had. I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam. A large majority of the whole have stood by me. Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such work as I " (History of the Church, Vol.6, pp. 408-09).
He was claiming to be better than all of those holy Saints, including Jesus, Who is God.
“1 John 4: [3] And
every spirit that dissolveth Jesus, is not of God: and this is Antichrist, of whom you have heard that he cometh, and he is now already in the world.”
Anyone that claims to be better than Jesus in any way, is putting himself above God. That’s blasphemy.
It is true that Joseph was boasting, having patterned his address after a talk by Paul recorded in 2 Corinthians chapter 11. In that sermon, Paul was boasting to the Gentiles. Joseph picked up on Paul’s theme.
Paul was not really “boasting” in that chapter, at all. It wasn’t a sermon, either. It was a letter written to the Corinthians, who were straying away from the true Gospel. Paul was being sarcastic and playing the fool to admonish the Corinthians for listening to some others who had come to them claiming to be “apostles”, who were false teachers that were preaching the errors of “another gospel” when he wasn’t there. They were preaching false teachings that he and the true Apostles had never taught to them, but the Corinthians were fooled into listening to them. Those false teachers were also asking them for money, to pay for them to preach. Then, Paul tells them that he never asked for anything from them, but Christians from other churches had given him what he needed to sustain him in his ministry, so he could go and preach to them without burdening them with having to support him while he was there.
If Joseph Smith was supposed to be doing what Paul did, then he completely misunderstood Paul’s words, as he did most of the Bible.
In reference to Jesus, Joseph could have been thinking of John 6 where many of Jesus’s disciples left him because they did not like what He was claiming about Himself - “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him” (verse 66).
In John 6, the disciples that left were scandalized by Jesus saying that they had to eat His flesh and drink His blood in order for them to have any life in them. Like many modern day non-Catholics, they didn’t understand what Jesus was telling them about the necessity of partaking in the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist, which is the true Body & Blood, Soul & Divinity of Jesus Christ.
Many people tried to leave Joseph Smith when they realized he was a fraud, but after so many of them were killed for doing it, the rest of them were too afraid to leave. Jesus didn’t have to threaten anyone into following Him. They did it out of pure love.
Jesus also said later on another occasion, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father” (John 14:12). To what greater work could Jesus be referring? Perhaps He means a larger work, but certainly not more significant.- eg: John the Baptist presumably baptized more people than Jesus, the Apostle Paul may have converted more as a missionary, and Joseph Smith kept the Church together longer.
The works that Jesus was referring to were the many miracles that He had performed, that the Apostles also performed by the thousands after His Ascension. Those same kinds of miracles continue in the Catholic Church to this day. How many amazing miracles did Joseph Smith or any of his followers perform, that are carefully documented and verified by eyewitnesses, as well as doctors? How many cripples walked because they prayed for them, or touched them? How many that were born blind, were given their sight? Those are the kinds of signs and wonders that God uses to show that someone is truly holy, and speaks the truth of God. Those were the works and wonders that converted thousands to follow Jesus and His true Apostles, because only God can perform those kinds of true miracles. “
Matthew 7:20 Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them.”
I thought I had found everything worth finding in the JoD! Where is that?