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/
