Mormons say Joseph Smith, founder of Mormonism, never said as man is God once was and as God is man may become. What did Joseph Smith say?

"Both the "Journal of Discourses" (JOD) and the "Teachings
of the Prophet Joseph Smith" (TPJS) record that, on April
6, 1844, LDS Church founder Joseph Smith preached to a
congregation of 20,000 saying, "Here then is eternal life -
to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to
learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and
priests to God the same as all Gods have done before you"
(JOD 6:4; TPJS p.346).

"Brigham Young, the second prophet and president of the
Mormon Church, delivered a message in the Salt Lake
Tabernacle on August 8, 1852, in which he affirmed this
teaching when he said, "The Lord created you and me for the
purpose of becoming Gods like Himself" (JOD 3:93)."

https://www.exmormon.org/mormon/mormon140.htm

Joseph Smith apparently wanted to set his followers straight when he proclaimed the following at the Mormon Church's General Conference in April, 1844:

I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea, and take away the veil, so that you may see. … It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the character of God and to know...that he was once a man like us.... (“King Follett Discourse,” Journal of Discourses 6:3-4, also in Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 345-346, and History of the Church, vol. 6, 305-307, emphasis added)

http://mit.irr.org/god-was-once-man-...ormon-doctrine

One thing is certain, Mormon leaders have not repudiated Joseph Smith’s non-biblical teachings on the nature of God and continue to promote them, albeit selectively. This means the Mormon Church continues to hold to doctrines that make it decidedly non-Christian, while hiding these teachings from investigators, new members and even its own missionaries. This calls for boldness as we expose the disingenuousness of Mormon leaders, and discernment and gentle forthrightness as we draw Mormon people into truth, authenticity and spiritual worthiness through a restored relationship with the one true, immutable, ‘from everlasting to everlasting’ God.

Also I don't believe in an infinite regress of nature, because by that definition you would have had an eternity to come into being before now, so you should have already happened. In Mormonism there is no beginning just an infinite regress of nature like Atheists believe also, and gods creating gods.

I think various religions and sects try to diminish who Jesus is and distort Him and the gospel because they don't want to true reconciliation with God to repent to the cross as helpless sinners to receive the Lord Jesus as Savior the Jesus who is the 2nd Person of the Trinity who brought all things into existence, including time and space. They want a diminished lesser Christ and one where you work for salvation rather than salvation by faith alone. Pride thinks it can work it out when God declares you can't because you are a sinner. So no eternal progression.

Scientists have a pretty good handle on time and space. They are intricate to each other.