2 People Who Saw Joseph Smith in Vision Before They Met Him


Joseph Smith had a lot of visions. He saw the Saints eventually settling in the Rocky Mountains, for one. The entire Bible story unraveled before his eyes. Joseph Smith even saw Christ a whole bunch of times.

An interesting and little known tidbit is that Joseph Smith didn't just have visions - he was in some! At least two people saw Joseph Smith in vision before they even met him. Joseph Smith was alive, he was restoring everything, and these two people (at least) were given visions of him to confirm what was true. Without further ado:

Jane Manning

“After I saw him plain, I was certain he was a prophet because I knew it. I was willing to come and gather, and when he came in with Dr. Bernhisel I knew him. Did not have to tell me because I knew him. I knew him when I saw him back in old Connecticut in a vision, saw him plain and knew he was a prophet.” (They Knew The Prophet, Andrus P. 155)

If that’s not clear enough, Manning spoke of it at least once more:

“I knew it was Brother Joseph, because I had seen him in a dream.” (They Knew The Prophet, Andrus P. 154)

Interesting, right? But that’s just one person. 

Actually - it's not. But we'd already talked about that:

James Henry Rollins:

““Joseph and my uncle returned to the house. He asked my uncle if I was his son.

“He said no, I was his wife’s nephew.

““Well,” he said, “The Lord has shown him great things.”

“I had seen Joseph and Hyrum in a vision, in December, 1830.” (They Knew The Prophet, Andrus P. 73)

What we can get out of this is that Joseph Smith, and the work he was doing, was important enough for him to star in dreams and visions for at least these two people. Keep in mind Joseph couldn't insert himself into the dreams of people he hadn't met yet. 

As I said - it's an interesting little tidbit. 


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