Didn’t Joseph Smith make a false prophecy about the Second Coming?

Many people, even some Mormons, believe that Joseph Smith prophesied that the Second Coming would take place around the year 1890, however, he never made any such statement.  He actually said that the Second Coming would not happen before 1890, but that ultimately he did not know when it was.  In 1843, America was stirred up by the claim of a man named Alexander Campbell who said that Jesus Christ would return to the earth in 1844.  Many people were talking about this prophecy including the Mormons.  Joseph Smith characteristically prayed to God about it.  This is what happened in his own words:

I was once praying very earnestly to know the time of the coming of the Son of Man, when I heard a voice repeat the following: Joseph, my son, if thou livest until thou art eighty-five years old, thou shalt see the face of the Son of Man; therefore let this suffice, and trouble me no more on this matter.  I was left thus, without being able to decide whether this coming referred to the beginning of the millennium or to some previous appearing, or whether I should die and thus see his face.  I believe the coming of the Son of Man will not be any sooner than that time (D&C 130:14-17).

It is clear that he did not claim to know when the Second Coming of Jesus was going to be, since, as he says, he did know exactly what this prophecy meant.  Since Joseph Smith was born in 1805, he would have turned 85 in 1890 and thus many people mistakenly believed he was prophesying that the Second Coming would happen in 1890. 

Like other Christians, Mormons teach that no one knows precisely when Jesus Christ will return for as Jesus said, “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only" (Matt. 24:36).  Years later some Mormons claimed to remember hearing Joseph Smith prophesy about the Second Coming in 1890, but they misunderstood.  What Joseph really said was that Jesus would not come before 1890 and so they should get on with their lives.  Of course, Jesus did not come in 1890 and so Joseph Smith’s prophesy was true.