Joe Smith’s Witch Hazel Rod Is Witchcraft

Joseph Smith’s New York Reputation Reexamined by Rodger I. Anderson, pp 154-155; “I was born in Palmyra, N.Y., near where old Jo Smith settled, January 4, 1807. I attended school with Prophet Jo. His father taught me to mow. I worked with old and young Jo at farming. I have frequently seen old Jo drunk. Young Jo had a forked witch-hazel rod with which he claimed he could locate buried money or hidden things. Later he had a peep-stone which he put into his hat and looked into it. I have seen both. Joshua Stafford, a good citizen, told me that young Jo Smith and himself dug for money in his orchard and elsewhere nights. All the money digging was done nights. I saw the holes in the orchard [p.155] which were four or five feet square and three or four feet deep. Jo and others dug much about Palmyra and Manchester. I have seen many of the holes. The first thing he claimed to find was gold plates of the “Book of Mormon,” which he kept in a pillowcase and would let people lift, but not see…

[Signed.] ISAAC BUTTS.

South Newbury, Geauga Co, O.”

Leviticus 20:6 “And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.”

Is there a verse in the Bible that stops you in your tracks? This verse has that effect on me. Each time I read it I can’t help but sit and think of the awful implications it brings upon my people. 

They’ve also haughtily claimed their new gospel is filled with familiar spirits that Isaiah 8:19-20 warns the Israelites about. They don’t seem to care or bother themselves with the numerous warnings God has given, and lend themselves to a defiant attitude that because they’re in America they can do as they please. 

I’ve got a newsflash – God isn’t too concerned about your home address. However, He’s very concerned about the residence of your heart. If you find it to be no problem that your prophet was using diving rods and digging for buried treasure, you’re in trouble my friend.

We originally wrote this article in 2015, but with the advent of e-mails I’m receiving about Smith’s occult activities, I’d be remiss not to remind the unknowing of what was really going on in Joe Smith’s world.

The opinion of one man who happened to be Joe Smith’s neighbor might not be a big deal. However Isaac Butt’s testimony of Smith’s shenanigans wasn’t the only example of what was going on.

As time would tell, the only residents who saw nothing wrong with his witchcraft were those who became Mormon.