Did the American continent exist before Columbus discovered it? Yes.
Did electricity exist before mankind learned how to utilize it? Of course.
Has every truth to be discovered, been discovered? No.
Is it possible that religious beliefs in the world today are incorrect? Yes!
There are truths in God's universe that are now existing, and have always existed, but man, as yet, has no knowledge of them.
So how does a person distinguish truth from error?
Joseph Smith defined truth in this way, “Truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come."
As a prophet of God, who received revelation, Joseph Smith acting in the capacity of a teacher, taught the saints the truth of all things - clarifying misconceptions and false truths.
For example, against the sectarian dogma of the cessation of revelation, Joseph Smith proclaimed the reopening of the heavens. Against the doctrine that angels would no more visit the earth, he asserted the visitation of angels to him, revealing the existence of the Book of Mormon, a new volume of Scripture.
This book JOSEPH SMITH THE PROPHET-TEACHER, is a collection of truths taught by the prophet during his life. These topics include clarification on; revelation, heaven and hell, our relationship with God, the nature of God, man’s origin, eternal punishment, and the existence of good and evil, among many other topics.
It may be asked, “What historical American of the nineteenth century has exerted the most powerful influence upon the destinies of his countrymen?” And it is by no means impossible that the answer to that interrogatory may be thus written: Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet.