Failed prophecies alone are a sufficient reason to leave the LDS church. Years ago when my friend Dick Baer decided to leave the LDS Church, he wrote a letter to his Mormon family and friends explaining why. Part of that was the number of failed prophecies of Joseph Smith. Baer made a list of 53 such failed prophecies which you can read here.
One of my favorite failed prophecies in the list (and one of Dick's as well) is #22:
April 23, 1834. Doctrine & Covenants, Section 104:1:
“Verily I say unto you, my friends, I give unto you counsel, and a commandment, concerning all the properties which belong to the order which I commanded to be organized and established, to be a united order, and an everlasting order for the benefit of my church, and for the salvation of men until I come – “
The United Order was a communal type of order where everyone worked according to his ability, gave everything that he produced or earned to the Bishop's Storehouse and received from the Bishop's Storehouse according to his needs. History records that the United Order failed. If I were to choose a single prophecy of Joseph Smith as being false, this would be it. There is no way to escape the simple truth that it has failed. The least that you can say about this prophecy is that it was frustrated. Therefore, it was not from God, but the work of men (Section 3, verse 3).
For more information, see The Mormon Mirage 3rd Edition: A Former Member Looks at the Mormon Church Today(Zondervan, 2009). Also available as an audiobook and as an expanded-text E-book for Nook, Kindle and other reading devices.
