Author: Jonathan Neville

On my Letter VII blog, I mentioned the visit Edward Stevenson made to Cumorah on September 28, 1888.

https://www.lettervii.com/2022/09/edward-stevensons-visit-to-cumorah.html

Stevenson, who had personally interviewed Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris, knew the hill Cumorah of Mormon 6:6 was the same hill in New York where Moroni deposited the plates. After all, all three of those witnesses affirmed what Oliver explicitly stated in Letter VII, that it is a fact that the hill in New York is the same hill called Ramah and Cumorah in the Book of Mormon. 

Moroni himself identified the hill the first time he met Joseph Smith.

It’s always a lot of fun to have our modern M2C scholars, along with their followers and employees, claim that the Three Witnesses were wrong about Cumorah. 

And, of course, our premier Cumorah-deniers are our friends and respected colleagues at Book of Mormon Central, as they remind us every time they plaster their M2C logo on a book, video, article, etc.

Think of how much good Book of Mormon Central would do if it sought to support and corroborate the teachings of the prophets about Cumorah instead of constantly denying and repudiating those teachings.

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Here are some classic posts about how the Cumorah-deniers at Book of Mormon Central rationalize their Mesoamerican/two-Cumorahs theory.

https://www.bookofmormoncentralamerica.com/2021/01/why-does-cumorah-matter.html

The infamous “Kno-Why #489” which I refer to as the “No-wise 489.”

https://www.bookofmormoncentralamerica.com/2022/01/classic-post-1-no-wise-489-where-is.html

Here’s a classic from FAIRLDS (formerly FairMormon), who are all great people who just have a different interpretation of the teachings of the prophets and witnesses about Cumorah.

https://www.bookofmormoncentralamerica.com/2016/07/the-hill-cumorah-storehouse-and.html

As well as one from Brant Gardner (whom I like and respect, but just disagree with on the issue of Cumorah):

https://www.bookofmormoncentralamerica.com/2015/08/oliver-cowdery-and-brant-gardner.html

Source: About Central America

Edward Stevenson (1820-1897), accompanied by Andrew Jensen and Joseph S. Black, toured Church history sites in 1888. 

On September 28, they ascended the hill Cumorah in New York and reported the experience in an article in the Deseret News.

https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=2672547

Sitting on the hill Cumorah, Stevenson wrote that “it was here, more than twenty-four centuries ago that the descendants of Jared and his brother fought their last exterminating battle… It was also in this land that Mormon in his old age and his son Moroni led their Nephite armies against their brethren the Lamanites… This took place more than fourteen hundred years ago, but looking over this hilly country today… our imagination can easily conceive how the exile Moroni… emerged from his hiding place and deposited the sacred treasure in this hill…”

Stevenson knew Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris. His bio explains,

He said of Oliver Cowdery: “I have often heard him bear a faithful testimony to the restoration of the gospel by the visitation of an angel, in whose presence he stood in company with the Prophet Joseph Smith and David Whitmer. He testified that he beheld the plates, the leaves being turned over by the angel, whose voice he heard, and that they were commanded as witnesses to bear a faithful testimony to the world of the vision that they were favored to behold, and that the translation from the plates of the Book of Mormon was accepted of the Lord, and that it would go forth to the world, and that no power on the earth should stop its progress.”

Elder Stevenson said of David Whitmer, in 1886, after recounting previous testimonies he had listened to from him: ‘David Whitmer is now just past eighty-one years of age. In this his last testimony he said to me: ‘As sure as the sun shines and I live, just so sure did the angel appear to me and Joseph Smith, and I heard his voice, and did see the angel standing before us, and on a table were the plates, the sword of Laban and the ball or compass.'”

Concerning Martin Harris, Elder Stevenson wrote: “In the year 1869, I was appointed on a mission to the United States. Having visited several of the Eastern States, I called at Kirtland, Ohio, to see the first Temple that was built by our people in this generation. While there I met Martin Harris, soon after coming out of the Temple. He took from under his arm a copy of the Book of Mormon, the first edition, I believe, and bore a faithful testimony just the same as I heard him bear thirty-six years previous.

Aug. 19, 1870, in company with Martin Harris, I left Kirtland for Utah, and on the 21st he was with me in Chicago, and at the American Hotel bore testimony to a large number of people of the visitation of an angel, etc.”

https://www.mormonwiki.com/Edward_Stevenson

Stevenson clipped the article and put it in his scrapbook, which you can see here:

https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/04f92e0e-9c1a-4dbd-9700-612ca98e6a57/0/15

1888 article (click to enlarge):

Source: Letter VII

Another tragedy of Book of Mormon Central (BMC) is the deceptive way the organization presents itself. It’s an M2C advocacy and lobbying group, not a legitimate academic or educational organization. 

Everyone affiliated with BMC has to accept, adopt, and promote M2C to be in good standing. BMC employees promote M2C formally by what they publish at BMC and informally through social media.

(click to enlarge)

Source: About Central America

There is a lot of room for reaching consensus with fellow Christians who are not Latter-day Saints. 

The Book of Mormon is God’s gift to the entire world. Regardless of any individual’s religious beliefs, the Book of Mormon will bless lives because it is evidence of God’s involvement with all people everywhere throughout history, and because the teachings of the Book of Mormon will being people closer to God.

After all, the purpose of the Book of Mormon, set out in the Title Page, says nothing about joining any church. Naturally, people join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to make covenants, but to the extent the book brings people closer to Christ, it blesses lives.

Which is to show unto the remnant of the house of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever—And also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations

(Title Page, 2)

The French (European) edition of the October Liahona magazine published an article by my friend Gabriel Mourier about our visit with Baptist minister Lynn Ridenhour in 2019. 

Source: Book of Mormon Concensus

Like you, good readers, I wake up every morning eager to make the world a better place. 

There’s so much good to be done. 

If you’re working at a full-time job, you’re making the world a better place. 

If you’re serving in your family, neighborhood, community, or in your ward (or other church), you’re making the world a better place. 

If you’re helping someone in need, financially, emotionally, spiritually, or physically, you’re making the world a better place.

From time to time, I post about these ideas on my blog https://howtozion.blogspot.com/.

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Because I’m retired from full-time job commitments, here are some of the things I enjoy doing to make the world a better place. What do you like to do?

– Substitute teaching in local public schools. 

– Teaching Institute online.

– Working with my wife to train Pathway missionaries in South America.

– Teaching for a Chinese university online, representing BYU.

– Blogging about Gospel principles and concepts, Church history, etc.

– Writing books and articles.

– Speaking at conferences, firesides, etc.

Grandkids climbing at Snowbird

– Corresponding with people around the world.

– Painting portraits, landscapes, and historical events.

– Helping someone in need financially, emotionally, spiritually, and/or physically. 

– Golfing, fishing, tennis, basketball, kayaking, swimming, and various other sports/activities with other people.

– Ward and stake service projects.

– Ward callings.

– Having people over for dinner.

– Family activities. For example, last week we had a quick trip to Utah and took our grandkids to Snowbird on the tram, etc.

– etc.

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The Scout motto – do a good turn daily – even has an app: https://goodturn.app/.

Source: Book of Mormon Concensus

If you haven’t heard, today (Sept 21, 2022) you can spend $250/plate to attend a fundraiser by Book of Mormon Central. 

$250/plate to add to the millions of dollars Book of Mormon Central is already spending to tell the world that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery misled everyone about Cumorah and the translation of the Book of Mormon.

It’s inexplicable why anyone would donate money to promote the private theories of a handful of scholars who repudiate the teachings of the prophets about Cumorah.

The ad for the fundraiser features the M2C logo* along with some historians who, as awesome as they are, will not tell the audience what Moroni first told Joseph Smith, even though we can all read what he said in the Joseph Smith Papers. These historians know these accounts perfectly well, but they refuse to share them, especially not to the donors who support Book of Mormon Central and its Mesoamerican/two-Cumorahs agenda.

(click to enlarge)

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Here are some of the things Moroni told Joseph Smith that the BMC audience will never learn about.

Moroni to Joseph Smith, 1823. “the record is on a side hill on the Hill of Cumorah 3 miles from this place remove the Grass and moss and you will find a large flat stone pry that up and you will find the record under it laying on 4 pillars of cement.”

https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/lucy-mack-smith-history-1844-1845/41

Moroni to Joseph Smith, 1823. He [Moroni] then proceeded and gave a general account of the promises made to the fathers, and also gave a history of the aborigenes of this country, and said they were literal descendants of Abraham. He represented them as once being an enlightned and intelligent people, possessing a correct knowledge of the gospel, and the plan of restoration and redemption. He said this history was written and deposited not far from that place, and that it was our brother’s privilege, if obedient to the commandments of the Lord, to obtain and translate the same by the means of the Urim and Thummim, which were deposited for that purpose with the record.

https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1834-1836/68

Joseph to his parents, 1827. said Joseph, “it was the angel of the Lord— as I passed by the hill of Cumorah, where the plates are, the angel of the Lord met me and said, that I had not been engaged enough in the work of the Lord; that the time had come for the record to <​be​> brought forth…

https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/lucy-mack-smith-history-1845/111

Oliver Cowdery, with the assistance of Joseph Smith. I must now give you some description of the place where, and the manner in which these records were deposited.

You are acquainted with the mail road from Palmyra, Wayne Co. to Canandaigua, Ontario Co. N.Y. and also, as you pass from the former to the latter place, before arriving at the little village of Manchester, say from three to four, or about four miles from Palmyra, you pass a large hill on the east side of the road. Why I say large, is because it is as large perhaps, as any in that country. To a person acquainted with this road, a description would be unnecessary, as it is the largest and rises the highest of any on that rout. The north end rises quite sudden until it assumes a level with the more southerly extremity, and I think I may say an elevation higher than at the south a short distance, say half or three fourths of a mile. As you pass toward canandaigua it lessens gradually until the surface assumes its common level, or is broken by other smaller hills or ridges, water courses and ravines. I think I am justified in saying that this is the highest hill for some distance round, and I am certain that its appearance, as it rises so suddenly from a plain on the north, must attract the notice of the traveller as he passes by.

At about one mile west rises another ridge of less height, running parallel with the former, leaving a beautiful vale between. The soil is of the first quality for the country, and under a state of cultivation, which gives a prospect at once imposing, when one reflects on the fact, that here, between these hills, the entire power and national strength of both the Jaredites and Nephites were destroyed.

By turning to the 529th and 530th pages of the book of Mormon120 you will read Mormon’s account of the last great struggle of his people, as they were encamped round this hill Cumorah. (it is printed Camorah, which is an error.) In this vally fell the remaining strength and pride of a once powerful people, the Nephites—once so highly favored of the Lord, but at that time in darkness, doomed to suffer extermination by the hand of their barbarous and uncivilized brethren. From the top of this hill, Mormon, with a few others, after the battle, gazed with horror upon the mangled remains of those who, the day before, were filled with anxiety, hope or doubt. A few had fled to the South, who were hunted down by the victorious party, and all who would not deny the Saviour and his religion, were put to death. Mormon himself, according to the record of his son Moroni, was also slain.

But a long time previous to this disaster it appears from his own account, he foresaw approaching destruction. In fact, if he perused the records of his fathers, which were in his possession, he could have learned that such would be the case. Alma, who lived before the coming of the Messiah, prophesies this. He, however, by divine appointment, abridged from those records, in his own style and language, a short account of the more important and prominent items, from the days of Lehi to his own time, after which he deposited, as he says, on the 529th page, all the records in this same hill, Cumorah and after gave his small record to his son Moroni, who, as appears from the same, finished, after witnessing the extinction of his people as a nation. …

This hill, by the Jaredites, was called Ramah: by it, or around it pitched the famous army of Coriantumr their tents. Coriantumr was the last king of the Jaredites The opposing army were to the west, and in this same vally, and near by, from day to day, did that mighty race spill their blood, in wrath, contending, as it were, brother against brother, and father, against son. In this same spot, in full view from the top of this same hill, one may gaze with astonishment upon the ground which was twice covered with the dead and dying of our fellow men. Here may be seen where once sunk to nought the pride and strength of two mighty nations; and here may be contemplated, in solitude, while nothing but the faithful record of Mormon and Moroni is now extant to inform us of the fact…

In this vale lie commingled, in one mass of ruin the ashes of thousands, and in this vale was destined to consume the fair forms and vigerous systems of tens of thousands of the human race—blood mixed with blood, flesh with flesh, bones with bones and dust with dust!

http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1834-1836/90

20 And again, what do we hear? Glad tidings from Cumorah! Moroni, an angel from heaven, declaring the fulfilment of the prophets—the book to be revealed. 

(Doctrine and Covenants 128:20)

For more references, see

http://www.lettervii.com/p/byu-packet-on-cumorah.html

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The difference between the “Cumorah” taught by Book of Mormon Central and the real Cumorah taught by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and their successors in Church leadership is evident from the map below, taken from the Spanish edition of Book of Mormon Central.

https://geografia.centralldm.es/mapa-modelo/?playlist=3db12fa&video=c33c342

(click to enlarge)

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* The M2C logo features a Mayan glyph to represent the Book of Mormon. This teaches everyone that Joseph and Oliver misled us by saying that the hill Cumorah of Mormon 6:6 was in New York. Instead, the brilliant scholars at Book of Mormon Central have decided that the “real Cumorah” is in southern Mexico, while the idea of Cumorah in New York was a false tradition that Joseph, Oliver and their successors in Church leadership ignorantly promoted for decades.

If Book of Mormon Central was an honest and accurate organization, their logo would represent the actual language of the Book of Mormon, which is English.

Source: About Central America

Source: Book of Mormon Wars