![time line of visions of glory time line of visions of glory](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1371492308l/17862285.jpg)
Consistency of the accounts is a subject of debate, whether variations are indicators of significant shifts in Smith's theology or are simply changing emphasis of minor details. Smith wrote several accounts of the vision between 18, two of which were published in his lifetime. One of the beings told Smith not to join any existing churches because all taught incorrect doctrines. At the last moment, he was rescued by two shining "Personages" (implied to be God the Father and Jesus) who hovered above him. Smith described it as a vision in which he received instruction from God the Father and Jesus Christ.Īccording to the account Smith told in 1838, he went to the woods to pray about which church to join but fell into the grip of an evil power that nearly overcame him. The First Vision (also called the grove experience by members of the Community of Christ) refers to a theophany that Joseph Smith said he received in the early 1820s, in a wooded area in Manchester, New York, called the Sacred Grove by Latter-day Saints. Stained glass depiction of the first vision of Joseph Smith, completed in 1913 by an unknown artist (Museum of Church History and Art).