Fake Moroni story, Zina Diantha Young, and the Three Nephites

The fake story that it was Moroni instead of Nephi who showed the plates to Mary Whitmer requires people to (i) ignore David Whitmer's account that Joseph said the messenger was one of the Nephites, (ii) ignore what Mary Whitmer herself said, and (iii) believe that resurrected bodies can change shape. While that narrative fits the ubiquitous shapeshifter legends, it contradicts basic teachings about the resurrection. 

Certain scholars promote the Moroni/Mary Whitmer story solely because of its implications for M2C (the Mesoamerican/two Cumorahs theory). 

These scholars (and their followers and employees) don't want people to believe what David Whitmer said about the messenger taking the abridged plates from Harmony to Cumorah and then bringing the "small plates" of Nephi to Fayette. That account corroborates the New York Cumorah, which contradicts M2C. Instead, these scholars and the revisionist historians who collaborate with them want people to believe the "true" Cumorah of Mormon 6:6 is somewhere in southern Mexico.

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There's another thread of the account that corroborates what Joseph told David about the messenger being one of the Nephites.

Among the stories about the Three Nephites, one of particular interest involves Zina Diantha. At the time of the 1832 visit described below, she was 11 years old. She would be baptized in August, 1835, after her family was taught by Hyrum Smith and David Whitmer, who were serving as missionary companions. 

Zina was the one who, many decades later, told Edward Stevenson to ask David Whitmer about his encounter with the messenger who was taking the abridged plates from Harmony to Cumorah. 

(That encounter occurred when David was taking Joseph and Oliver from Harmony to Fayette after Joseph had finished translating the abridged plates.)

When Stevenson visited David in Missouri, he asked about the event. His record of David's statements is one of two we have that clearly explain the messenger was one of the Nephites, not the Angel Moroni. 

We've discussed that before here:

http://www.bookofmormoncentralamerica.com/2016/05/more-on-david-whitmer-zina-young-and.html

and here:

http://www.bookofmormoncentralamerica.com/2016/05/note-on-cumorah-david-whitmer-and-zina.html

As you read the excerpt below, pay attention to how the messenger is described. 

Excerpt from the book Four Zinas: A Story of Mothers and Daughters on the Mormon Frontier

by Martha Sonntag Bradley and Mary Brown Firmage Woodward

When Zina Diantha was eleven, the Huntington family received an unusual visitor. They treated it as a significant occurrence, but the experience assumed heightened importance when the family joined the Mormons and heard the mysterious story of Three Nephites, ancient Americans promised by a resurrected Jesus they would live until the Second Coming. As told by Zina Diantha’s daughter, Zina Young Card, the visit occurred on a cold November evening in 1832. The family had gathered for their customary scripture study followed by a musical evening with Zina Diantha playing the cello. After they had finished a piece of music, they heard a knock at the door and opened it to a man of medium height, dressed in old-fashioned clothing, and carrying a bundle under his arm. He stepped into the room and inquired, “I usually bend my steps to some sequestered vale. May I find lodging here tonight?” They pulled up a chair for him, served him some supper, and read with him a section from the New Testament. Zina Baker commented wistfully that they would like to “hear the Gospel in its fullness as explained by the Saviour. The stranger immediately took up the subject and began explaining the scriptures and quoting the sayings of the Saviour. It seemed to them that his words held a new light and were clearer than they had ever thought of before. The stranger filled them with awe and reverence, such as they had never before felt.”33 He left the next morning.

[p.42] A few years later, when Joseph Smith spoke to a group of Latter-day Saints about the Three Nephites, William recounted this visit. Joseph laid his hand on William’s shoulder and said, “My dear brother, that man was one of the Three Nephites who was sent by the Lord to prepare your family to receive the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.”34

http://signaturebookslibrary.org/4-zinas-02/

An article titled "Questions and Answers, 8 May 1838" from the Elders' Journal: includes a couple of key points that Saints, volume 1, skews.

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Question 20th. What are the fundamental principles of your religion.

Answer. The fundamental principles of our religion is the testimony of the apostles and prophets concerning Jesus Christ, “that he died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended up into heaven;” and all other things are only appendages to these, which pertain to our religion.

But in connection with these, we believe in the gift of the Holy Ghost, the power of faith, the enjoyment of the spiritual gifts according to the will of God, the restoration of the house of Israel, and the final triumph of truth.

https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/questions-and-answers-8-may-1838/3

Although the resurrection is the fundamental principle of our religion, and although the resurrection is clearly explained in the Bible and the Book of Mormon, Saints teaches that we aren't really restored our bodies in the resurrection. 

Instead of what Alma 40:23 teaches, we receive a body that we can transform to look like whatever we want. Thus, Moroni, a resurrected being, could change his shape and appearance from a glorious personage taller than average into an short, stout old man to fool David Whitmer and his mother.

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https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/questions-and-answers-8-may-1838/1

Question 4th. How, and where did you obtain the book of Mormon?

Answer. Moroni, the person who deposited the plates, from whence the book of Mormon was translated, in a hill in Manchester, Ontario County New York, being dead, and raised again therefrom, appeared unto me, and told me where they were; and gave me directions how to obtain them. I obtained them, and the Urim and Thummim with them; by the means of which, I translated the plates; and thus came the book of Mormon.5

That is consistent with every other statement by Joseph and Oliver; i.e., that Joseph Smith translated the plates with the Urim and Thummim that came with the plates.

However, look at note 5 in the Joseph Smith Papers, which Saints follows. They change what Joseph said so that it was W.W. Phelps who coined the term, not Moroni, and that Joseph himself used "seer stones" he found in a well to translate the plates. Except the scholars now tell us that Joseph didn't really translate anything; he merely read the English words off the seer stones and didn't even use the plates, after all.

By now, we've all see that it wasn't Phelps who first used the term, but they don't update these notes because it's important for the scholars to claim it wasn't Moroni (or even Joseph) who first referred to the Nephite interpreters as the Urim and Thummim. 

According to the scholars, this is another example of Joseph passively adopting a misleading (a euphemism for false) tradition started by others, in this case Phelps. That's their explanation of why Joseph adopted the false tradition of the New York Cumorah as well, which is why the censored Cumorah from Saints, volume 1.

Note 5. The Book of Mormon describes revelatory stones, or “interpreters,” that could be used to “translate all records that are of ancient date.”a JS recounted finding such instruments with the plates and using them to translate the record on the plates into English.b Extant documents suggest that the biblical term Urim and Thummim was first applied to the interpreters by William W. Phelps in 1833 and that JS adopted the term thereafter.c JS also used other seer stones to translate the plates.d After 1833, JS at times referred to seer stones as Urim and Thummim.e   

(aBook of Mormon, 1830 ed., 172–173 [Mosiah 8:13].

b“Urim and Thummim,” in the glossary.

c“The Book of Mormon,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Jan. 1833, [2]; Exodus 28:30; Leviticus 8:8; Numbers 27:21; “Printer’s Manuscript of the Book of Mormon;”; JS, Journal, 9–11 Nov. 1835.

dSee “Urim and Thummim,” in the glossary.

eWoodruff, Journal, 27 Dec. 1841; Historian’s Office, Brigham Young History Drafts, 60.)

The end

Changing history

 "The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command."

"And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed—if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became truth." George Orwell, 1984

More on the fake Moroni/Mary Whitmer story

Saints, volume 1, is an awesome account of Church history that would have been even more credible and reliable if the editors were not focused on accommodating M2C (the Mesoamerican/Two Cumorahs theory) and SITH (stone-in-the-hat). 

I still hope they correct and revise the book for future readers, but until they do, the problems aren't going away. Instead, they're getting worse.

Over two years ago I pointed out that Saints, volume 1, contains an easily debunked claim that it was Moroni who showed the plates to Mary Whitmer. Definitely, Mary saw the plates, but just as definitely, it was not Moroni who showed them to her.

https://saintsreview.blogspot.com/2018/09/the-mary-whitmer-problem.html

In that post, I listed a series of repercussions that I anticipated:

This has several repercussions.

- the inclusion of this false account undermines the credibility of Saints.
- people who read Saints and believe this account will be confused when they read the actual history.
- the false account in Saints will undermine belief in the reliability and credibility of David Whitmer, one of the Three Witnesses.
- readers will wonder why Joseph and Oliver described Moroni so much differently than Mary Whitmer did.
- readers will miss the far more fascinating aspect of the account that links the Book of Mormon to Church history.
- the false account enables Saints to omit a key event in Church history that teaches us about the Hill Cumorah and the two sets of plates.

This can all be ignored, of course. Many will say it doesn't matter, it's a minor point of Church history that was confusing anyway, we can't question what the scholars publish, we have to relate the fake history to accommodate M2C, etc. Some of my M2C critics, including employees of Book of Mormon Central, reject what Oliver and Joseph taught anyway, so they easily reject what David and Mary said.

Plus, people can and will believe whatever they want. If people want to believe the Moroni/Mary Whitmer story, that's fine with me. 

But there are still some Latter-day Saints who want to know accurate Church history, and I don't think it's a good idea to falsify Church history purely to accommodate someone's theory of Book of Mormon geography, in this case M2C.

Anyone who cares to look at the footnotes to Saints will see this is a fake story. Worse, Saints omits the reference in which David explains that Joseph specifically identified the messenger who was taking the abridged plates to Cumorah as one of the Nephites, not as Moroni.

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The issue has resurfaced because in the October 2020 General Conference, one of the speakers repeated the story, citing Saints as authority. (I won't mention the speaker's name out of respect.) 

Right in the same talk, the speaker described Moroni as "as a glorious messenger from God," which is consistent with the description of Moroni in Letter IV. 

By contrast, the individual who showed the plates to Mary Whitmer was a "strange person" she called "Brother Nephi" who, according to David Whitmer, was a heavyset man with white hair and beard, wearing a brown wool suit, around 5'8" tall.  

There are lots of problems with this, but here we'll just discuss one. Thanks to the fake history in Saints, we now have General Conference precedent for the principle that resurrected beings don't really have restored bodies, but instead can change their bodies at will for inexplicable reasons. 

Here's how Alma explained it:

Alma 40:23 The soul shall be restored to the body, and the body to the soul; yea, and every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame.

M2C scholars are eager to explain how Joseph didn't translate the Book of Mormon correctly because he omitted all the indicia of Mayan culture, so I suppose it's consistent to say he didn't translate Alma 40:23 correctly, either. Or maybe he omitted an important clause, such as the one bolded below:

Alma 40:23 The soul shall be restored to the body, and the body to the soul; yea, and every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame; nevertheless, the soul can cause the body that it can take a different form.

This is an example of our scholars providing bad information to Church leaders. Consequently, we're left with two alternatives, assuming (i) David and Mary Whitmer were credible and reliable witnesses and (ii) we're allowed to believe a woman's account instead of her grandson's revision.

Alternative 1. Moroni and the messenger who interacted with David and Mary Whitmer were the same person, just in different bodies. Resurrected bodies might be restored to their proper and perfect frame, but they can change their bodies in size, appearance, age, etc. When they change their shape, they also use different names; in this case, Moroni and Nephi.

Alternative 2. Moroni and the messenger who interacted with David and Mary Whitmer were not the same person. Moroni was a resurrected being, taller than average and glorious in appearance. The messenger was Nephi, one of the 3 Nephites, who was promised he would not taste of death. Resurrected bodies really are restored to their proper and perfect frame, as Alma taught.

In my view, Alternative 2 fits the historical evidence and the doctrine about the resurrection. Alternative 1 does not. But Alternative 1 accommodates M2C, so that's what Saints presents.

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Some might argue that the angel who showed the plates to the Three Witnesses was not Moroni, that Oliver's description of Moroni in Letter IV was incorrect, that the resurrected Moroni is, in fact, a heavyset man with white hair and beard about 5'8" tall, that Mary Whitmer was wrong to call him "Brother Nephi," etc.

Those arguments are as plausible as what we usually hear from M2C advocates who try to persuade us that Lucy Mack Smith was unreliable, that the Three Witnesses were all wrong about Cumorah, that Joseph and his contemporaries and successors in Church leadership merely speculated about the New York Cumorah and were wrong, etc. I don't find any of that plausible. 

Again, everyone is free to believe whatever they want. As the saying goes, we're entitled to our own opinions but not our own facts, but in today's world, facts don't matter. 

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For those few remaining Latter-day Saints who still believe the teachings of Joseph and Oliver and others on these issues, here's something else to consider that I didn't bring up before.

Saints includes a footnote to the interview of David Whitmer by Joseph F. Smith and Orson Pratt. They asked him to describe the messenger, which he did (as I related above). Shortly prior to that question, though, they asked David if he really saw the angel who showed him the plates. He affirmed that he did, that the angel stood just a few feet away, etc. Oddly, they didn't ask David to describe the angel, or if they did they didn't mention it in their account. But David clearly did not say the angel and the messenger were the same person.

In 1884, B.H. Roberts interviewed David Whitmer. Here's one account he related in General Conference, October 1926:

Shortly after breakfast the four named went out into the woods, as I have said, and there supplicated the Lord with the result that they beheld the plates and the engravings thereon, and they heard the voice of God proclaim that the translation was true and he commanded them to bear witness of it to all the world.

In my interview with David Whitmer, in 1884, as he went over this ground, led by my questions, when we came to this part of it he said to me that in the progress of turning the leaves, or having them turned by Moroni, and looking upon the engravings, Moroni looked directly at him and said: “David, blessed is he that endureth to the end.” When David Whitmer made that remark it seemed to me rather a peculiar thing that he should thus be singled out for such a remark, and I remember reporting it as such to President John Morgan, then president of the Southern States mission. I stated to him the peculiar feelings I had when I learned that from the lips of David Whitmer; but the subsequent history of these three witnesses led me to conclude that there was indeed a hidden warning in the words of the angel to David, “Blessed is he that endureth to the end.” And it is rather a sad reflection that of these three witnesses he was the only one who died outside of membership in the Church. I wonder if Moroni was not trying to sound a warning to this stubborn man, that perhaps whatever his experiences and trials might be, that at the last he, too, might have been brought into the fold, and might have died within the pale of the Church.

David's encounter with Moroni occurred in June 1829, within a month of his encounter with the messenger who was taking the abridged plates to Cumorah. If Moroni spoke this directly to David, does it seem plausible that, when asked about the messenger, David would forget to explain that the messenger was the same person who showed David the plates?

Of course not. 

The only people who saw both Moroni and the messenger were David Whitmer, Joseph Smith, and Oliver Cowdery. David apparently related the incident as early as 1832, as we've discussed before.

We have no record of Joseph or Oliver describing the messenger, although we do have multiple accounts of Oliver and Joseph visiting the repository of Nephite records in the Hill Cumorah--the destination of the messenger. 

(Needless to say, our M2C friends also insist Oliver was wrong about the repository, too.) 

What we do have is Oliver's description of Moroni in Letter IV, which he wrote with the assistance of Joseph and which Joseph made sure was republished several times so all the Saints could learn about Moroni's visit.

We also have the original version of Joseph Smith--History 1:33, published in the Times and Seasons in 1842, which identified the angel as Nephi. That reference (which was compiled by Joseph's scribes, not written by Joseph in the first place) was later changed to Moroni, and Brigham Young explained that both Nephi and Moroni ministered to Joseph. They were not one individual in two different bodies. One was resurrected. The other was changed so he wouldn't taste death, as we learn in 3 Nephi. 

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In my previous post, I included an image of the page from the Historical Record cited by Saints as authority for the Moroni claim, but I apparently didn't include the link. Here's the link:

https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets?id=02b33f96-077a-47c7-b434-c45ee2f89897&crate=0&index=638

Here's a larger image:

Everyone can see that Mary herself called the messenger, or holy angel, "Brother Nephi." 

It was her grandson who decided "she undoubtedly refers to Moroni, the angel who had the plates in charge."

Thanks to our M2C scholars and revisionist Church historians who seek to accommodate M2C, Saints preferred the speculation of the grandson over the express statements of Mary Whitmer herself.

We would like to think that in this enlightened age, we wouldn't see our historians dismissing Mary's identification of the messenger because she was a woman, but we can all see that's exactly what happened here. 

What's worse: Mary's identification makes sense historically and doctrinally, while her grandson's "correction" makes no sense.

It makes sense that Mary "always called" the messenger "Brother Nephi" because Nephi was the name of one of the disciples from whom the group of three were granted their desire to never taste of death.

1 And it came to pass when Jesus had said these words, he spake unto his disciples, one by one, saying unto them: What is it that ye desire of me, after that I am gone to the Father?

2 And they all spake, save it were three, saying: We desire that after we have lived unto the age of man, that our ministry, wherein thou hast called us, may have an end, that we may speedily come unto thee in thy kingdom.

3 And he said unto them: Blessed are ye because ye desired this thing of me; therefore, after that ye are seventy and two years old ye shall come unto me in my kingdom; and with me ye shall find rest.

4 And when he had spoken unto them, he turned himself unto the three, and said unto them: What will ye that I should do unto you, when I am gone unto the Father?

5 And they sorrowed in their hearts, for they durst not speak unto him the thing which they desired.

6 And he said unto them: Behold, I know your thoughts, and ye have desired the thing which John, my beloved, who was with me in my ministry, before that I was lifted up by the Jews, desired of me.

7 Therefore, more blessed are ye, for ye shall never taste of death; but ye shall live to behold all the doings of the Father unto the children of men, even until all things shall be fulfilled according to the will of the Father, when I shall come in my glory with the powers of heaven.

8 And ye shall never endure the pains of death; but when I shall come in my glory ye shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye from mortality to immortality; and then shall ye be blessed in the kingdom of my Father.

9 And again, ye shall not have pain while ye shall dwell in the flesh, neither sorrow save it be for the sins of the world; and all this will I do because of the thing which ye have desired of me, for ye have desired that ye might bring the souls of men unto me, while the world shall stand.

(3 Nephi 28:1–9)

This makes sense also because of the accounts of the three men who prepared David's fields so he could go pick up Joseph and Oliver from Harmony. Saints omits that account too, which is not surprising, but people can read it in my Saints supplement.

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What doesn't make sense is that Moroni, a resurrected being, would (or could) change his body size and appearance, including his age.

We all know that David Whitmer explained that after he picked up Joseph and Oliver, he was driving them to Fayette when they encountered the messenger who was taking the abridged plates to Cumorah. 

Well, I should clarify: we don't all know that. Those who read Saints don't know that. And those who rely on M2C publications such as Opening the Heavens won't know that because the editor of that book censored the reference to Cumorah and instead wrote "The plates were carried to Fayette by Moroni in a bundle on his back." 

Opening the Heavens, Second Edition, p. 108, note 84.

That's a ridiculous revision of actual history because the point of David's account was that the messenger did not want to ride with them to Fayette because he was going to Cumorah first.

But of course, M2C scholars have to censor actual history to maintain the M2C hoax that the "real Cumorah" is in Mexico. 

That's why they perpetuate the Moroni/Mary Whitmer hoax.

BTW, the Joseph F. Smith, Statement 3, in the above note refers to anonymous typewritten minutes of a meeting that claim it was Moroni, but I've addressed that before.

David described the messenger to Joseph F. Smith and Orson Pratt. You can see the handwritten statement here (click to enlarge):

https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets?id=dca15baa-a0ac-4fc1-b2ec-7f3cd75e4906&crate=0&index=44

Summary:

Saints, volume 1, is an awesome, accessible book about Church history that could be improved with more accurate information. The fake Moroni/Mary Whitmer story accommodates M2C, but also raises doubts about the doctrine of the resurrection as explained by Alma.

Saints teaches "seer stones" instead of "Urim and Thummim"

The book Saints, volume 1, deliberately misleads readers by teaching them revisionist history. Here's another blatant example.

The book falsely describes the Urim and Thummim as "seer stones," a term Joseph never applied to them.

Beneath the boulder was a box, its walls and base made of stone. Looking inside, Joseph saw the gold plates, seer stones, and breastplate.19 

(Vol 1: 1815–1846, Part 1, Chap 3: Plates of Gold, ¶28 • 1:25–26)

The footnote:

19 Joseph Smith—History 1:52; Joseph Smith History, 1838–56, volume A-1, 7, in JSP, H1:232 (draft 2). Topic: Gold Plates

52 Having removed the earth, I obtained a lever, which I got fixed under the edge of the stone, and with a little exertion raised it up. I looked in, and there indeed did I behold the plates, the Urim and Thummim, and the breastplate, as stated by the messenger. The box in which they lay was formed by laying stones together in some kind of cement. In the bottom of the box were laid two stones crossways of the box, and on these stones lay the plates and the other things with them.

(Joseph Smith—History 1:52)

I looked in and there indeed did I behold the plates, the 

Urim and Thummin

 and the Breastplate as stated by the messenger.

https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-Summary/history-1838-1856-volume-a-1-23-december-1805-30-august-1834/7

The official Errata sheet for the Saints books

The official errata sheet:

https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/content/errata-for-saints?lang=eng

Errata for Saints
1 November 2018

Volume 1
The following errors appeared in early English print copies of Saints, Volume 1: The Standard of Truth. The errors have been corrected in electronic versions of the English text and, when applicable, in other languages. The print edition has been or will be updated in subsequent printings.

Page xiii. Japanese archipelago missing from map.

Page 31. Remove “on his property” from the sentence “Josiah had hired the young man and his father to help him find buried treasure on his property.” Remove “the Stowell farm in” from “When Joseph and his father came to the Stowell farm in Harmony, Pennsylvania.” Joseph Smith Sr. and Jr. were hired to help Josiah Stowell locate treasure near the Hale property in Harmony, Pennsylvania, not the Stowell property in South Bainbridge, New York.

Pages 96–97. Replace “Soon after the revelation, Joseph and Emma traveled to Colesville, where Emma and the Saints there ​were finally confirmed. As the new members received the gift of the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of the Lord filled the room.” with “Soon after the revelation, Newel and Sally Knight visited from Colesville, and Sally and Emma were confirmed. As the two women received the gift of the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of the Lord filled the room.”

Page 342. Replace “starting” with “started” in “a mob had starting setting wildfires.”

Page 390. “Him” should be capitalized in “all who turned to him in their trials.”

Page 594, note 11. Add explanation: “The Lord repeated this promise not long after, in what is now Doctrine and Covenants 10:53.”

Page 699. Add subentry under index entry for “Woodruff, Phebe Carter”: “near-death experience, 373–74.”

Volume 2
The following errors appeared in early English print copies of Saints, Volume 2: No Unhallowed Hand. The errors have been corrected in electronic versions of the English text and, when applicable, in other languages. The print edition has been or will be updated in subsequent printings.

Page 48. Remove the sentence “Since leaving Nauvoo, the apostles had continued to perform spiritual adoptions among the Saints.” In the next sentence, add the word “spiritually”: “Brigham observed that a few Saints were urging friends to be spiritually adopted into their families.”

Back to Saints

The fake Moroni-Mary Whitmer story again

On Easter Sunday, we studied the Come Follow Me lesson about Easter.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/come-follow-me-for-individuals-and-families-book-of-mormon-2020/14?lang=eng

Because the lesson focuses in part on the Resurrection, it reminded me of the post below that I wrote a while ago but didn't publish here. I'm cross-posting it from another blog because the fake Moroni-Mary Whitmer story contradicts the basic teachings of the resurrection, as we'll discuss below.

I was reminded of this quotation from Theodore Dalrymple I saw at the time.

When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. 

It may seem a small matter to be expected to believe it was Moroni who showed the plates to Mary Whitmer instead of Nephi. But this is such a blatant change to Church history, intended to accommodate if not promote M2C, that it undermines a host of other basic concepts.
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Mary Whitmer and Nephi,
one of the 3 Nephites,
falsely labeled Moroni
by the M2C intellectuals

What prompted my post was an article in BYU Studies that yet again perpetuated the fake story. As part of this disinformation campaign, Book of Mormon Central commissioned a beautiful painting of the messenger showing the plates to Mary Whitmer. Except they titled it "Mary Whitmer and Moroni."

See the article for yourself, here:

https://byustudies.byu.edu/content/mary-whitmer-and-moroni-experiences-artist-creating-historical-painting

We're not surprised to see this M2C-inspired phony story in BYU Studies, which continues to promote M2C even under the new editor (who was also involved with the Saints book, volume 1, that teaches the fake Moroni story to millions of Church members).

When I read this article in BYU Studies, I was impressed with the artist's detailed description of his work. It's a wonderful painting that seems historically accurate in every respect--except for its title. It is exceedingly unfortunate that the artist has been misled this way by the M2C intellectuals.
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We don't mind artists painting whatever they want. We don't even mind people claiming it was Moroni who showed the plates to Mary Whitmer.

What we object to is having such a fake story being taught as accurate Church history.

IOW, thanks to M2C, Church historians (in volume 1 of Saints and at historic sites) and the M2C citation cartel (BYU Studies, Book of Mormon Central, etc.) are teaching the world that resurrected beings can have multiple bodies.

People can believe whatever they want, of course. But it is (or should be) inexcusable for a theory of geography to cause Church historians to change history. And it's even worse for a theory of geography to change basic doctrine, such as the nature of a resurrected body.
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For some time now, I've discussed this point with several "seasoned" Church members, including employees of CES. When I point out the discrepancy between Joseph's description of Moroni and the description of the old man who showed the plates of Nephi to Lucy Whitmer, they usually shrug and say, "Well, I guess Moroni could appear as anyone he wants to be."

There are hundreds of thousands of Latter-day Saint youth being taught this new version of the resurrection in seminary and institute. There are millions of Church members who are learning this new doctrine by reading the Saints book and materials provided by the M2C citation cartel.

Compare this with the references in the Come Follow Me lesson regarding the resurrection, including these:

The spirit and the body shall be reunited again in its perfect form; both limb and joint shall be restored to its proper frame, even as we now are at this time...

Now, this restoration shall come to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, both the wicked and the righteous; and even there shall not so much as a hair of their heads be lost; but every thing shall be restored to its perfect frame, as it is now, or in the body... 

I say unto you that this mortal body is raised to an immortal body, that is from death, even from the first death unto life, that they can die no more; their spirits uniting with their bodies, never to be divided; thus the whole becoming spiritual and immortal, that they can no more see corruption.
(Alma 11:43-5)

The soul shall be restored to the body, and the body to the soul; yea, and every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame, as it is now, or in the body....

I say unto you that this mortal body is raised to an immortal body, that is from death, even from the first death unto life, that they can die no more; their spirits uniting with their bodies, never to be divided.
(Alma 40:23, 25)

Notice how, in the painting, the old man with the plates appears somewhat short and stocky, with a heavy white beard. That fits the description by David Whitmer. But it flatly contradicts the description of Moroni given by Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery.

If the spirit unites with a resurrected body, never to be divided, how can that same spirit unite with a different body?

And yet, this is what our Church historians expect us to believe, all because of this fake Moroni-Mary Whitmer story.
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The doctrinal problem arises not only because of the obvious incongruity between Joseph's description of Moroni and David Whitmer's description of the messenger with the plates. The problem exists also because David explicitly stated that Joseph Smith identified the messenger was one of the Nephites.

In December 1877, Edward Stevenson visited David Whitmer. Here's what he wrote in his journal:

"I wish to mention an Item of conversation with David Whitmer in regard to Seeing one of the Nephites, Zina Young, Desired me to ask about it. David Said, Oliver, & The Prophet, & I were riding in a wagon, & an aged man about 5 feet 10, heavey Set & on his back, an old fashioned Armey knapsack Straped over his Shoulders & Something Square in it, & he walked alongside of the Wagon & Wiped the Sweat off his face, Smileing very Pleasant David asked him to ride and he replied I am going across to the hill Cumorah. Soon after they Passed they felt Strangeley and Stoped, but could see nothing of him all around was clean and they asked the Lord about it. He Said that the Prophet Looked as White as a Sheet & Said that it was one of the Nephites & that he had the plates."

As I've discussed before, it is significant that Zina Young asked Elder Stevenson to ask David about this event. Zina had met David Whitmer in 1835 when he and Hyrum were missionaries that baptized her family. There is no record of her having an association with David after that time, and certainly not after David left the Church in 1837-8. This suggests that Zina's question was prompted by her memory of what David told her back in 1835, possibly as part of his missionary message.

The key points from this interview:

1. Zina asked Stevenson to ask David about "seeing one of the Nephites."

2. David said "an aged man about 5 feet 10, heavy set" had a knapsack over his shoulders.

3. The man said "I am going across to the hill Cumorah."

4. Joseph "said that it was one of the Nephites  that he had the plates."

None of this says or implies that the "Nephite" was the resurrected Moroni. Nor does the account say or imply that the Nephite was going to Fayette.

But Saints teaches otherwise, using a fictitious quotation derived from a grandchild's belief that his grandmother, Mary Whitmer, was wrong when she said the messenger identified himself as "Brother Nephi."

You can read the rest of the analysis here:

https://saintsreview.blogspot.com/2018/09/the-mary-whitmer-problem.html
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People ask, why would the Church historians concoct the fake Moroni-Mary Whitmer story when the accounts are so plain?

The answer: they concocted this story to accommodate M2C. It's the same reason why they changed history by purging Cumorah from the historical record.

If you're a new reader on this blog, you may wonder, what does M2C have to do with it?

M2C insists the Cumorah of Mormon 6:6 is in Mexico, not New York. Therefore, it contradicts M2C to have one of the Three Nephites take the abridged plates to Cumorah in New York after Joseph had finished with them in Harmony, and then to have that same individual bring the original plates of Nephi to Fayette for Joseph to translate.

Rather than deal with the actual history, the M2C advocates simply changed the history by claiming instead it was Moroni who carried the plates directly to Fayette.

One member of the triumvirate, Brother Jack Welch, published a detailed account of the translation process from April through June, 1829. It is included in a chapter in the important book Opening the Heavens, which you can download for free at this link.

https://byustudies.byu.edu/content/opening-heavens-coming-forth-book-mormon-chapter-only

Incredibly, even in this otherwise detailed account, Brother Welch omitted the quotations from David Whitmer and created a false narrative to accommodate M2C.

I discussed this in detail here:

http://www.bookofmormoncentralamerica.com/2017/12/opening-heavens-but-censoring-history.html

In Opening the Heavens, Brother Welch wrote this footnote on page 108.

84. As reported by Joseph F. Smith, David Whitmer told him and Orson Pratt that Joseph prophesied to Oliver “a perfect description of what David did on the way” before David arrived. Joseph F. Smith, Statement, written April 25, 1918, typescript, 2, Church History Library, available on Church History Library, https://dcms.lds.org/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE4987096. They traveled on “an ordinary wagon with two long poles in it at each end across the end gates of the wagon box, and then two boards laid across that for seats on those hickory poles. Joseph and Emma were on the hind seat and Oliver and David on the front seat.” Joseph F. Smith, Statement, 2. The plates were carried to Fayette by Moroni in a bundle on his back. Joseph F. Smith, Statement, 3. “Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845,” book 8, p. 10, does not include Emma on this trip to Fayette (Waterloo). See also Cook, David Whitmer Interviews, 114–15, 197

Notice the reference Brother Welch cited. It's not a "statement" by Joseph F. Smith (JFS). It's a typescript of part of the minutes of an unspecified meeting dated April 25, 1918. JFS was relating what he told a Sunday School in Los Angeles, going by memory.

According to the typescript, in Los Angeles JFS related his recollection of his meeting with David Whitmer in 1878, 40 years earlier. The transcript has JFS saying this: "Joseph informed him [David] that the man was Moroni, and that the bundle on his back contained plates which Joseph had delivered to him before they departed from Harmony, Susquehanna County, and that he was taking them for safety, and would return them when he (Joseph) reached father Whitmer's house."

The problem: this unauthenticated typescript of JFS's recollection contradicts what JFS himself wrote in a letter to President John Taylor on Sept. 17, 1878, 10 days after me met with David Whitmer (on Sept. 7). You can see the letter here:

https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets?id=dca15baa-a0ac-4fc1-b2ec-7f3cd75e4906&crate=0&index=38

Furthermore, JFS and his companion, Orson Pratt, wrote a formal report to President Taylor and the Quorum of the Twelve that is nearly identical to the letter, with the changes indicated below. (Wording from the original letter is in red, additions in the report are underlined.)

When I was returning to Fayette with Joseph and Oliver all of us riding in the wagon, Oliver and I on an old fashioned wooden spring seat and Joseph behind us, while traveling along in a clear open place [or prairie, we were suddenly approach by], a very pleasant, nice-looking old man suddenly appeared by the side of our wagon who saluted us with, “good morning, it is very warm,” at the same time wiping his face or forehead with his hand. We returned the salutation, and by a sign from Joseph I invited him to ride if he was going our way. But he said very pleasantly, “No, I am going to Cumorah.’ This name was something new to me, I did not know what Cumorah meant. [and] We all gazed at him and at each other, and as I looked round enquiringly of Joseph the old man instantly disappeared, so that I did not see him again.

J.F.S.—Did you notice his appearance?

D.W.—I should think I did, he was, I should think, about 5 feet 8 or 9 inches tall and heavy set, about such a man as James Vancleave there, but heavier, his face was as large, he was dressed in a suit of brown woolen clothes, his hair and beard were white like [bro.] Brother Pratt’s, but his beard was not so heavy. I also remember that he had on his back a sort of knapsack with something in, shaped like a book. It was the messenger who had the plates, who had taken them from Joseph just prior to our starting from Harmony.


We can infer that the changes were prompted by Orson Pratt's contribution, since the letter, written by JFS in his own handwriting, was the first draft of the report the two submitted to President Taylor. Thus the report was the product of both men.

Later in the same interview, David Whitmer said, "The three Nephites are at work among the lost tribes and elsewhere." This suggests that to David, the three Nephites were an integral part of the work.
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There are several points to consider here.

The contemporaneous accounts from JFS and Orson Pratt are consistent with Elder Stevenson's account of his interview with David Whitmer the year before. All of these accounts are consistent with Zina Young's request to Elder Stevenson before he left Utah to visit David.

None of these mention Moroni. Instead, they refer to a Nephite who took the plates to Cumorah. The Nephite was an "old man" who was heavy set and five feet, eight or nine inches tall. David said it was this same messenger who showed the plates to his mother Mary.

Mary Whitmer claimed the messenger called himself "Brother Nephi."

There are no statements attributed to David Whitmer or anyone else to the effect that the messenger was Moroni.
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To support the claim that it was Moroni who showed the plates to Mary Whitmer, the historians rely on Mary Whitmer's grandson, who thought his grandmother was confused or wrong, and on this typescript of meeting minutes.

The unauthenticated typescript that mentions Moroni could be accurate or not. It's possible that whoever typed it inferred that JFS meant to say Moroni when he said "the messenger" or even "the Nephite," just as Mary Whitmer's grandson inferred that she was wrong about how the messenger identified himself.

If the typescript is accurate, it shows JFS contradicting his 40-year-old contemporaneous account that was corroborated by Orson Pratt. It also shows JFS contradicting Elder Stevenson's contemporaneous account and Zina Young's contemporaneous question. Perhaps at some point JFS had heard an account from Mary Whitmer's descendants who claimed it was Moroni, and then JFS conflated the two in his memory.

Beyond the relative credibility and reliability of these accounts, we still have the problem of a shape-shifting resurrected being.

There is sound scriptural reason to believe David Whitmer's version. We know from 3 Nephi that the Lord promised the disciples that they would die at age 70, except for the three who would tarry. It seems logical that these three would be transformed at the age of 70 as well.

We don't know the names of those three, but among the twelve, the leader was named Nephi. The messenger identified himself to Mary Whitmer as "Brother Nephi," so at least Mary Whitmer's statement is consistent with what we know about the Three Nephites. And remember, she met the messenger before she had ever heard of Nephi. The 116 pages had been lost, the plates of Nephi had yet to be translated, and the yet-unpublished Harmony manuscript was in the possession of Joseph and Oliver.
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The totality of the evidence, especially when considered in light of the doctrine of the resurrection, does not support the idea that it was Moroni, as a short, old, fat man, who showed the plates to Mary Whitmer.

I propose that the fake story be replaced with the authentic historical record, even though it means teaching members of the Church that the messenger took the Harmony plates to Cumorah.

That's a feature, not a bug, of the original accounts.
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Summary:

Thanks to our M2C intellectuals and revisionist Church historians, the millions of people who have read, are reading, and will read Saints, Volume 1, learn a fake story about Moroni that is easily shown to be false. Missionaries are telling this phony story to visitors at the Fayette visitors center in New York. We members, including youth, as well as nonmembers are expected to believe this, but even cursory review of the original sources shows it was Nephi, not Moroni, who showed the plates to Mary Whitmer.

Moroni-a resurrected man

The M2C intellectuals don't want people to know it was Nephi, because that means it was also Nephi who took the Harmony plates to Cumorah before bringing the plates of Nephi to Fayette. That means the repository of Nephite records was actually in the Hill Cumorah in New York, as Oliver Cowdery reported. And that means M2C is a hoax.

The Mary Whitmer/Moroni narrative promoted by the M2C intellectuals frames Moroni as a shape-shifter. He appears to Joseph Smith as a glorious resurrected being, but appears to Mary Whitmer as a aged, portly, short man with a long beard in an old brown wool suit.

Item by item, these M2C intellectuals and the revisionist historians are making the story of the Restoration less and less credible.

Not only are they saying the prophets have been wrong about the New York Cumorah, but now they're saying that Joseph didn't translate the plates after all, that the words he read off a seer stone in a hat were composed by someone in the 1500s, and that we should rewrite what Joseph and Oliver wrote about the translation to conform to their theories.

The original accounts by Joseph, Oliver and their contemporaries are far more credible than the revisionist versions created in recent years.

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Postscript re Moroni and Nephi.

Aside from the M2C-inspired effort to change Church history regarding the messenger who took the plates to Cumorah, there is another lingering issue that confuses Moroni and Nephi.

When originally published in the Times and Seasons in 1842, Joseph Smith's history said that it was Nephi who first appeared to him in 1823 to tell him about the plates.

Church historians later edited the history so that it now read Moroni, but this detail has led critics to claim that Joseph couldn't get his story straight.

I see it differently.

First, there's no doubt the 1842 publication in the Times and Seasons was an error. Joseph had identified the messenger as Moroni in the Elders' Journal in 1838. Oliver Cowdery had done the same in 1835.

So how can we account for such an obvious error in the 1842 Times and Seasons?

First, the publication of the error is evidence that Joseph Smith, who was the named editor of the newspaper at the time, was merely the nominal editor. He didn't review the paper closely, or at all, prior to publication.

Second, the history published in the 1842 Times and Seasons was not written by, and probably not dictated by, Joseph Smith. Instead, it was compiled by his scribes beginning in 1838. Of course, this raises the question, why would the scribes think it was Nephi who first visited Joseph and not Moroni?

The answer could be that they knew Joseph had multiple encounters with both Moroni and Nephi.

Brigham Young explained in a letter to his son that "There is really no discrepancy in the history about these names. It was Moroni who delivered the sacred records and Urim and Thummim to Joseph, but Nephi also visited him."

https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets?id=b3c72fee-6f44-4ce6-8a9f-5cf38b6153d1&crate=0&index=387

By changing the historical narrative to omit Nephi and insert Moroni into the account of the messenger who took the Harmony plates to Cumorah and showed the plates of Nephi to Mary Whitmer, our Church historians have compounded the confusion that long existed over the claim in the 1842 Times and Seasons that it was Nephi who first appeared to Joseph Smith.

The sooner we correct this detail in Church history, the better.

Saints, vol 2 - omitting Cumorah from Brigham Young's next to last sermon

Saints, Volume 2, Chapter 29, discusses the last year in the life of Brigham Young. The chapter relates events associated with the creation of the Tooele Stake on June 24, 1877.

The week before, on June 17, 1877, President Young created a stake in Farmington, Utah. Saints doesn't mention this event, but on that occasion President Young taught something that he feared would be forgotten and lost if he didn't relate it.

Underscoring the importance of his message is the realization that this was just two months before he died.

President Young spoke to the audience about the reality of the Hill Cumorah in New York. He explained that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery actually entered the repository of Nephite records in the hill. (Recall that in Letter VII, Oliver also said the repository was in the hill.)

Because Saints omitted the message, and most Church members will never learn about it as a result, we offer it here to supplement Saints.

You can find it in Journal of Discourses, volume 19, pp. 36-45 starting on page 38. You can find it here. 

"I lived right in the country where the plates were found from which the Book of Mormon was translated, and I know a great many things pertaining to that country. I believe I will take the liberty to tell you of another circumstance that will be as marvelous as anything can be. This is an incident in the life of Oliver Cowdery, but he did not take the liberty of telling such things in meeting as I take. I tell these things to you, and I have a motive for doing so. I want to carry them to the ears of my brethren and sisters, and to the children also, that they may grow to an understanding of some things that seem to be entirely hidden from the human family.

Oliver Cowdery went with the Prophet Joseph when he deposited these plates. Joseph did not translate all of the plates; there was a portion of them sealed, which you can learn from the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. When Joseph got the plates, the angel instructed him to carry them back to the hill Cumorah, which he did. Oliver says that when Joseph and Oliver went there, the hill opened, and they walked into a cave, in which there was a large and spacious room. He says he did not think, at the time, whether they had the light of the sun or artificial light; but that it was just as light as day. They laid the plates on a table; it was a large table that stood in the room. Under this table there was a pile of plates as much as two feet high, and there were altogether in this room more plates than probably many wagon loads; they were piled up in the corners and along the walls. The first time they went there the sword of Laban hung upon the wall; but when they went again it had been taken down and laid upon the table across the gold plates; it was unsheathed, and on it was written these words: “This sword will never be sheathed again until the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our God and his Christ.”

I tell you this as coming not only from Oliver Cowdery, but others who were familiar with it, and who understood it just as well as we understand coming to this meeting, enjoying the day, and by and by we separate and go away, forgetting most of what is said, but remembering some things. So is it with other circumstances in life. I relate this to you, and I want you to understand it. I take this liberty of referring to those things so that they will not be forgotten and lost. Carlos Smith was a young man of as much veracity as any young man we had, and he was a witness to these things. Samuel Smith saw some things, Hyrum saw a good many things, but Joseph was the leader.

Now, you may think I am unwise in publicly telling these things, thinking perhaps I should preserve them in my own breast; but such is not my mind. I would like the people called Latter-day Saints to understand some little things with regard to the workings and dealings of the Lord with his people here upon the earth."

Other associates of Joseph and Oliver related their own versions of this account, including Heber C. Kimball and Wilford Woodruff. One good reference is here:

https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1360&context=jbms

Saints vol 2 - omitting Cumorah from JFS fact finding trip

Saints, Volume 2, chapter 30, includes an account of the fact-finding trip made by Joseph F. Smith and Orson Pratt, including their visit with David Whitmer. You can read it online at the link below, a little more than half way through the chapter (starting at the end of p. 453 in the print edition):

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/saints-v2/part-3/30-a-steady-onward-movement?lang=eng

Saints relates some of the details of the visit with David Whitmer, but summarizes other details with this sentence:

Orson and Joseph asked more questions about the Church’s past, and David answered them with as much detail as he could. 

Obviously the book cannot contain all the details, but an important detail about Cumorah has been omitted from the summary. Readers should be familiar with it, so you can read it here. [Red text is alternate wording from Joseph F. Smith's notes; underlined text is added to Joseph F. Smith's notes.]

When I arrived at Harmony, Joseph and Oliver were coming toward me, and met me some distance from the house, Oliver told me that Joseph had informed him when I started from home, where I had stopped the first night, how I read the sign at the tavern, where I stopped the next night, etc., and that I would be there that day before dinner, and this was why they had come out to meet me; all of which was exactly as Joseph had told Oliver, at which I was greatly astonished. When I was returning to Fayette with Joseph and Oliver all of us riding in the wagon, Oliver and I on an old fashioned wooden spring seat and Joseph behind us, while traveling along in a clear open place [or prairie, we were suddenly approach by], a very pleasant, nice-looking old man suddenly appeared by the side of our wagon who saluted us with, “good morning, it is very warm,” at the same time wiping his face or forehead with his hand. We returned the salutation, and by a sign from Joseph I invited him to ride if he was going our way. But he said very pleasantly, “No, I am going to Cumorah.’ This name was something new to me, I did not know what Cumorah meant. [and] We all gazed at him and at each other, and as I looked round enquiringly of Joseph the old man instantly disappeared, so that I did not see him again.

J.F.S.—Did you notice his appearance?

D.W.—I should think I did, he was, I should think, about 5 feet 8 or 9 inches tall and heavy set, about such a man as James Vancleave there, but heavier, his face was as large, he was dressed in a suit of brown woolen clothes, his hair and beard were white like [bro.] Brother Pratt’s, but his beard was not so heavy. I also remember that he had on his back a sort of knapsack with something in, shaped like a book. It was the messenger who had the plates, who had taken them from Joseph just prior to our starting from Harmony. [Mr. W. continued:] Soon after our arrival home, I saw something which led me to the belief that the plates were placed or concealed in my father’s barn I frankly asked Joseph if my supposition was right, and he told me it was. Sometime after this, my mother was going to milk the cows, when she was met out near [by] the yard by the same old man (judging by her description of him) who said to her, “You have been very faithful and diligent in your labors, but you are tried because of the increase of your toil, it is proper therefore that you should receive a witness that your [strength may] faith may be strengthened!”  Thereupon he showed her the plates. My father and mother had a large family of their own, the addition to it therefore of Joseph, his wife Emma and Oliver very greatly increased the toil and anxiety of my mother. And although she had never complained she had sometimes felt that her labor was too much, or at least she was perhaps beginning to feel so. This circumstance, however, completely removed all such feelings, and nerved her up for her increased responsibilities.

Elder O.P.—Have you any idea when the other records will be brought forth?

D.W. – When we see things [by] in the spirit and by the power of God they seem to be right here [present]—the present signs of the times indicate the near approach of the coming forth of the other plates, but when it will be I cannot tell. The three Nephites are at work among the lost tribes and elsewhere. John the Revelator is at work, and I believe the time will come suddenly, before we are prepared for it.