http://www.fairblog.org/2012/09/18/critical-evidences-of-the-restoration/

I almost laughed out loud reading through this drivel. Note the ridiculous amount of cheer-leading and exclaimation marks amid the absence of any REAL evidence. It honestly reminded me of something I heard some North Korean uppity up say about the "dear Leader" in a documentary. It's so plain to see the straw grasping, and circular logic, and it genuinely made me feel sorry for the guy, who is obviously clueless that he's stuck in a cult.

So the whole point of the article is that Joseph Smith had subordinates that he shared power with and got in on the con. And that somehow proves he is a prophet. lol

Nevermind that none of these men remained consistently loyal to him (except Hyrum). Never mind that there is no evidence presented for the assertion that con men don't share power. Nevermind that half of the D&C is scripture proclaiming Joseph Smith as the one in charge that no one can cross.

rofl.

He couldn't have been a con-man because he shared power with subordinates? What a preposterous argument! Thats just the reality of any organization, not proof of divine guidance.

So Bin Laden et al who convince people to kill themselves is a true man of God because has a hierarchy?

Once I read his statement that THE first vision happened. I shut the window.

The man's lying by omission. He ignores Smith's multiple and increasingly embellished accounts, and in so doing shows his dishonesty. The cult leadership that see this and allow these members to lie for them are complicit, and it's all being saved and recorded for future use by truth seeking exmos.

This is just nonsense intended for an audience that needs reassurance that someone else has done the thinking for them.

This work in progress explains the role of the others mentioned:
http://mormonleaks.com/

The longer (earlier) version is here:
http://sidneyrigdon.com/criddle/rigdon1.htm

The evidence for the Spalding theory is not bad. Both Lucy Smith and Oliver Cowdery told known porkies for Joseph, so they are quite likely involved to some degree. Rigdon was caught out lying about his past on key issues related to his access to the original Spalding manuscript. Uncle Dale's early textual analysis has been confirmed by statistical lexical analysis of the Book of Mormon. Mormonleaks will have all that information up in due course I believe. In the meantime, the site has a raft of links to follow. I was converted to the Spalding theory after the paper was published, but there has been more confirmatory work done since.

Joseph shared power because from the start he was in a bit of a power struggle with Rigdon. Neither could betray the other without getting lynched. Initially Joseph was just the translator, NOT the prophet.

Me thinks he conveniently forgot about JS going for the highest levels of political leadership, controlling a militia, marrying other men's wives, destroying a printing press that dared to speak out against him and being anointed a king and a god. Such a humble prophet.

Since I'm such a clueless anti-mormon viper, may I mention where he talks about JS getting a visit by Elias and Elijah, which brings up the Elijah/Elias problem, wherein one name is simply the greek version of the other, so it's a mistake.

Apologists chime in by saying that "Oh, no problem..." and point that it could have been either one of several people by that name and/or a title, which doesn't make a lot of sense since whoever Elias is supposed to be it's not made clear why all of the other of the bible's Top Hitter's that visited JS are named and we know who he's talking about, but this guy, plus the fact none of these other heavenly messengers is referred to by their title only...

That's one reason I think Joe was NOT a prophet, simply because and his cohorts went overboard in their heavenly visits--I mean, really: God, Jesus, Moses, John the Baptist, Peter, James, John, all sorts of angels (no Virgin Mary though...). Has any other "prophet" or visionary ANY TIME IN HISTORY gone overboard like that?

Somebody's Boast-O-Meter was set to High.