Sounds a lot like L Ron Hubbard and Scientology. If what I was told is correct, Hubbard started Scientology because of a bet.

@kiramea That's the TRUTH about Joseph Smith btw, I heard from an informed source that Hubbard started Scientology as both part of a bet and because he was such failure as an author with his earlier books and writings.
With them it seems it was all about how to make money at the expense of others though.

Nope. You have to go to non-church approved sources to learn who and what kind of person Joseph Smith really was.

@Triphid From what i read Hubbbard wqs known as a science fictin writer, but he didn't sell that well. Not like Asimov, Heinlein or other of his contemporary writers. Science fiction was not a genre which sold well.

Hubbord's best selling (science fiction) books came after he started Scientology.

@snytiger6 Yes, I've read heaps of information from non-approved 'church' sources, information, the best kind, usually comes from historical sources written by historians with no association to religions or churches.
Also, I kind of went under cover, so to speak, for 3 years in the Mormon Church here where I live purely to do my own research. I suppose I could say that my 'cover' was deep enough and so well planned out that they accepted me whole heartedly and I learned many, many of their inner secrets and workings plus the REAL history of their Founder/s which they keep their followers very much in the dark about.
Especially the bit about Joseph Smith being threatened with tarring, feathering and being run out of town on fence rail for his incessant philandering with the wives and daughters of others in the town.

@Triphid That would make much mroe sense than it beign done as "religious persecution" as the church claims. It would also be more consistent with actual practices and reasoning of the time period.