Amanda Barnes Smith was an early member of the Church who lived in Kirtland.
After the fall of the Kirtland Safety Society and the apostasy in Kirtland, the faithful Saints went to gather in Missouri because they were trying to follow the Prophet.
On their way to Far West, they were harassed by a Missouri mob—threatened, had their guns stolen, and were kidnapped and essentially held hostage for three days.
When they were finally let go, they stopped at Haun’s Mill for the night—not as residents, but because it was on their way to Far West. This happened to be the same day the Livingston County militia came to exterminate the Mormons in Haun’s Mill.
Amanda’s husband and one son were killed. Her ten-year-old son was shot in the hip, where he was miraculously healed.
How hard would this trial be? How could anyone claim that Joseph Smith was a prophet when following him brought such devastating consequences?
Yet, this is the Testimony of Amanda Smith:
From the Follow Him Podcast,
I felt the loss of my husband, but not as I should have if he had apostatized.
He died in the faith and in the hopes of a glorious resurrection.
As for myself, I felt an unshaken confidence in God through it
all. I had been personally acquainted with the prophet Joseph
Smith for many years; had seen his walks and knew him to be a
Prophet of God. That buoyed me up under every trial and
privation.
Dr. Dirkmaat chimes in:
I would say to anyone listening, when you decide that you are going to take the evil report about the prophet Joseph Smith from some detractor, that you do so by rejecting Amanda Smith’s testimony because she is saying that she personally knew him and knew him to be a good man and knew him to be a prophet, and she lost her son and her husband in following him to be a prophet. She didn’t come away from that and say, I
guess he’s not really a prophet anymore. She has a better testimony than any so-called insider who thinks they know about Joseph Smith.
She’s someone who actually knew Joseph Smith and then suffers as a result of the violence against Latter-Day Saints. She will later give her testimony where she says,
I have drank the dregs of the cup of sorrow and affliction, as well as partaken of the blessings
of an all merciful God. I have drank from the fountain of life freely. I have seen the Lord’s power manifested in a great
degree. I have seen the lame leap as in hearts and the eyes of the blind opened and as it were, the dead raised to life all in my
own family.
Please be hesitant and be careful with the legacy of faith that people like Amanda Smith have given to you. Because,while we all suffer and we all have trials and we all have questions, we all go through difficulties. I absolutely believe atone point you are gonna have to explain to someone like that why you decided to stop believing. Let’s just see whether or not your explanation carries a lot of weight, given the things that she suffered through. My guess is not.
Human nature is such that people usually follow others only when they see some form of personal gain—whether financial benefit, greater comfort and happiness, or the pursuit of power and influence.
Which testimony are you going to choose to believe—the testimony of a woman who personally knew Joseph Smith, who viewed life through the lens of the plan of salvation and understood that following the light and carrying our testimonies into eternity matters more than the suffering we face in this life, or the testimony of those who were under the influence of darkness, lacking light, and driven by anger and a personal desire to discredit the Prophet?