Smith's wife Emma once said that she believed God dictated the Book of Mormon because her husband could hardly speak clearly nor compose a clearly-written letter. The speeches and writings we have of him contradict this assessment. In addition, others...
In 1837 an illiterate youth named James Colin Brewster said that at age ten, he, like Joseph Smith, had been in direct communication with the angel Moroni. Brewster began “translating” non-existent records that he said were the lost books of Esdras, and...