First, the notion that every other church was wrong is impossible to reconcile with the promise of Jesus that the gates of hell would not prevail against the church. The claim of wholesale apostasy in all Christian churches is simply a fabrication of Joseph Smith. It speaks more of his pride and arrogance than it does about the state of churches in the United States or other parts of the world. Second, it is particularly telling that Smith failed to remember the year of this alleged encounter. He