100 years ago: The death of Mormon Church President Joseph Fielding Smith, Sr.

But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying,
I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Matthew 22:31-32

And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment; Hebrews 9:27

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water...
...For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. I Peter 3:18-20, 4:6

On November 19, 1918, Joseph Fielding Smith, Sr., President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 1901, died of pneumonia resulting from pleurisy, six days after his 80th birthday. Mr. Smith, a nephew of Mormon Church founder Joseph Smith, had five wives and fathered 45 children, although he officially opposed polygamy because he believed it was more important for Utah to achieve statehood within the U.S.A.

On October 3, 1918, six weeks before his death, Mr. Smith, the Latter-day Saints' "Prophet, Seer and Revelator" received the "Vision of the Redemption of the Dead," which he submitted to the counselors of the First Presidency, the Council of the Twelve, and the Patriarch on October 31, and it was unanimously accepted by them. The revelation is now part of the Mormon scripture Doctrine and Covenants as section 138.

Some excerpts:

27 But his ministry among those who were dead was limited to the brief time intervening between the crucifixion and his resurrection;

28 And I wondered at the words of Peter—wherein he said that the Son of God preached unto the spirits in prison, who sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah—and how it was possible for him to preach to those spirits and perform the necessary labor among them in so short a time.

29 And as I wondered, my eyes were opened, and my understanding quickened, and I perceived that the Lord went not in person among the wicked and the disobedient who had rejected the truth, to teach them;

30 But behold, from among the righteous, he organized his forces and appointed messengers, clothed with power and authority, and commissioned them to go forth and carry the light of the gospel to them that were in darkness, even to all the spirits of men; and thus was the gospel preached to the dead.

31 And the chosen messengers went forth to declare the acceptable day of the Lord and proclaim liberty to the captives who were bound, even unto all who would repent of their sins and receive the gospel.

32 Thus was the gospel preached to those who had died in their sins, without a knowledge of the truth, or in transgression, having rejected the prophets.

33 These were taught faith in God, repentance from sin, vicarious baptism for the remission of sins, the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands,

34 And all other principles of the gospel that were necessary for them to know in order to qualify themselves that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

35 And so it was made known among the dead, both small and great, the unrighteous as well as the faithful, that redemption had been wrought through the sacrifice of the Son of God upon the cross.

36 Thus was it made known that our Redeemer spent his time during his sojourn in the world of spirits, instructing and preparing the faithful spirits of the prophets who had testified of him in the flesh;

37 That they might carry the message of redemption unto all the dead, unto whom he could not go personally, because of their rebellion and transgression, that they through the ministration of his servants might also hear his words...

...50 For the dead had looked upon the long absence of their spirits from their bodies as a bondage.

51 These the Lord taught, and gave them power to come forth, after his resurrection from the dead, to enter into his Father’s kingdom, there to be crowned with immortality and eternal life,

52 And continue thenceforth their labor as had been promised by the Lord, and be partakers of all blessings which were held in reserve for them that love him...

...57 I beheld that the faithful elders of this dispensation, when they depart from mortal life, continue their labors in the preaching of the gospel of repentance and redemption, through the sacrifice of the Only Begotten Son of God, among those who are in darkness and under the bondage of sin in the great world of the spirits of the dead.

58 The dead who repent will be redeemed, through obedience to the ordinances of the house of God,

59 And after they have paid the penalty of their transgressions, and are washed clean, shall receive a reward according to their works, for they are heirs of salvation.

60 Thus was the vision of the redemption of the dead revealed to me, and I bear record, and I know that this record is true, through the blessing of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, even so. Amen.

Although the passages cited my Mr. Smith in I Peter don't tell us the exact words spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ to the spirits in prison, a reasonable inference is that He proclaimed that He had fulfilled the prophecies and completed His work of salvation. There's nothing in these passages to indicate that He was offering the possibility of salvation after death. Indeed, the vision received by Joseph Fielding Smith contradicts the statement of the Lord in Matthew 22:31-32 and Hebrews 9:27. The God of the Bible is the God of the living, but Mormonism is obsessed with the dead.

The perceptive reader will notice in paragraphs 58-59 of the vision clear proclamations that salvation is by works and not by the grace of God. Mormonism then and now believes that the blood of Jesus Christ is not sufficient to pay for all sins, but there are sins for which the sinner must shed his own blood, contrary to the biblical teaching that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin (I John 1:7). The Mormon "gospel" is not the true gospel of Jesus Christ at all, but a false gospel, which, according to Galatians 1:6-7, is not a gospel at all.

Since the Vision of the Redemption of the Dead received by Mormon "Prophet, Seer and Revelator" Joseph Fielding Smith, Sr. flatly contradicts the clear statements of the Bible, I conclude that Mr. Smith's vision didn't come from God; it's a false revelation, and Mr. Smith was a false prophet.

Joseph Fielding Smith, Sr. was succeeded as Latter-day Saints President by Heber J. Grant. Mr. Smith's son Joseph Fielding Smith, Jr. served as President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1970-1972.

See also my post Researcher claims that Mormons are still baptizing Holocaust victims and other dead Jews (December 29, 2017).