“When a messenger comes, saying he has a message from God, offer him your hand, and request him to shake hands with you. If he be an angel he will do so, and you will feel his hand. If he be a spirit of a just man made perfect, he will come in his glory; for that is the only way he can appear. Ask him to shake hands with you, but he will not move, because it is contrary to the order of heaven for a just man to deceive; but he will still deliver his message. If it be the devil as an angel of light, when you ask him to shake hands he will offer you his hand, and you will not feel anything; you may there fore detect him. These are three grand keys whereby you may know whether any administration is from God.” (Joseph Smith, History of the Church, Volume 5, Page 267)

I find it interesting that with all the various visions Joseph Smith claimed to have with all sorts of “heavenly” messengers, that he never once adhered to his own standard for testing a spirit. He started this whole Mormon religion without ever offering a handshake to the visitors. What’s even more amazing is that there is absolutely no Scriptural teaching, support, or example for Joe’s new hand shake “doctrine.” It goes to show that this guy could say or do anything and he would be believed.

I was wondering . . . is a “high-five” as good as a handshake?

Joseph Smith wasn’t done. If you’re unable to offer your hand, just look for the hair color:

“A sister in the state of New York had a vision, who said it was told her that if she would go to a certain place in the woods, an angel would appear to her. She went at the appointed time, and saw a glorious personage descending, arrayed in white, with sandy colored hair . . . . Many true things were spoken by this personage, and many things that were false. How, it may be asked, was this known to be a bad angel? By the color of his hair; that is one of the signs that he can be known by, and by his contradicting a former revelation.” (Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Page 214)

What does the Bible say: Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that is coming, and now it is already in the world. 1 John 4:1-3