Jan Shipps believes it’s important to not only focus on Joseph Smith, but his entire family, all of whom embraced their 14-year-old son and brother as a new prophet. Part of their acceptance, according to Shipps, was that living on the frontier they already had a belief in magic. In fact, Joseph was known to have a seer stone which he used to search for treasure. While this has been used for years to disprove Joseph’s visions, Shipps believes it is what allowed for his family and others to believe him so quickly.
Historically Speaking 