THE BOOK OF MORMON "WITNESSES"
WHO NEVER SAW THE GOLD PLATES
The Book of Mormon is the foundational book of scripture of the LDS
church. Their claim is that it is the most correct book on earth.
This article discusses its origin and translation, as well as the
testimonies of the so-called witnesses recorded in the front of
this book. Three of these witnesses testified that they had seen
the engraved gold plates from which it was supposed to have been
translated, and eight others testified that not only had they seen
them, but that they had also handled them. However, their
testimonies were a deliberate, premeditated misrepresentation of
the facts. And after an in-depth investigation the only conclusion
one can arrive at is that the Book of Mormon was yet another of
Joseph Smith's incredible deceptions, as were the testimonies
signed by all eight witnesses.
WHAT THE BOOK OF MORMON IS ABOUT
The Book of Mormon is a supposed historical account of the early inhabitants of the Americas, spanning the period 600 BC to 400 AD. It tells of two groups of people who migrated to the American continent. The first group came from Babel but perished because of their wickedness. The second group consisted of Jews from Jerusalem who formed two tribes, the Nephites and the Lamanites. Christ gave the Nephites the power of baptism, communion and the priesthood. However, the Lamanites destroyed them in AD 428. Because of their sinfulness, the Lamanites were cursed with a dark skin, and later became known as the American Indians.
THE GOLD PLATES
Joseph Smith's story is that God sent an angel named Moroni to tell him about some gold plates buried nearby, that had been inscribed with the history of the ancient Americas. However, he was not permitted to take possession of them until four years later. Then on the 22nd September, 1827 they were finally released to him by this same angel, together with the Urim and Thummim (two stones in silver bows fastened to a breastplate), for the purposes of translation.
TRANSLATING THE BOOK OF MORMON
Joseph Smith's wife, Emma, was the first to serve as his scribe. And she maintained that he had never ever looked at the gold plates at all during his translation. In a note to their son, Joseph Smith III, she recorded:
The LDS habitually sanitizes unpalatable truths from their past. And in their illustrations of Joseph Smith translating the Book of Mormon they invariably show the gold plates laying directly in front of him on the table whilst he examines them. This gives one the impression that he actually translated the Book of Mormon from engravings on gold plates. However, his scribes all maintained, without exception and without any contradictions, that this was not how the translating was done. Furthermore, he used the same occultic seer stone in his translation of the Book of Mormon that he had used earlier on when he had deceived previous victims by conniving them into believing that he could divine the whereabouts of supposed hidden treasure for a fee. That was how he'd "earned" his living in pre-LDS days. And he openly admitted when he was in leadership of the LDS church, that he used this same seer stone to receive his supposed revelations from God.
There are two sets of witnesses mentioned in the foreword of the Book of Mormon, one of three and another of eight.
THE FIRST GROUP OF THREE WITNESSES
In the testimony of the first three witnesses, the impression is given that they were all together when they literally saw the engraved gold plates with their own eyes. But that's not what happened. Furthermore, when Smith first broached the subject of using their testimonies to promote the Book of Mormon, he actually warned them that they would have to see the plates by faith as nobody was allowed to look at them for fear of being struck dead.
In "The History of the Church" he reported that their first two attempts ended in failure. As Martin Harris felt that he was to blame for not being sufficiently sanctified, he withdrew from the group. After he'd gone Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer each managed to have a vision of the gold plates. Then a few days later Martin Harris was finally able to conjure up a vision as well. But it should be noted that in spite of the testimonies they had signed, in published interviews and notarised affidavits the witnesses admitted to only having seen the plates by faith with "second sight," or with their spiritual eyes.
According to the testimony of a Mr. Stephen Burnett given a bit further on, at first neither of the groups wanted to sign their testimonies, which had been composed by Joseph Smith. Their reluctance was due to the fact that Smith's wording gave the false impression that they had actually physically seen the gold plates, which was not the case at all. But he eventually managed to persuade them to sign, anyway.
This sort of deliberate, manipulative deception would never be tolerated in a politician or anyone else in public leadership, and surely one should expect an even higher standard of integrity in a spiritual leader. Instead of being their inspiration for transparency, truthfulness and righteousness, Joseph Smith deliberately persuaded members of his church, who were under his spiritual guidance and care, to join him in his deception, against their wills.
Because the combined testimonies of both the groups that are printed in the front of the Book of Mormon were a deliberate, premeditated, connived deception, they are not worth the paper they are written on. And if the truth had been told right at the start, it is doubtful whether anybody would have believed Smith's story about the angel Moroni and the gold plates; and the Book of Mormon would most likely never have got off the ground.
As it is, there is no proof at all that the Book of Mormon had been engraved upon solid plates of gold. Nor is there any proof either that an angel named Moroni had ever appeared to him. We only have the word of Joseph Smith himself. And as deception seems to have been his chosen way of life, his word is highly suspect. But quite apart from his obvious lack of integrity, his spiritual claims need to be considered with a great deal of caution on the grounds of his long standing involvement with the occult alone. (There is well documented evidence in this regard.)
Here's what the three witnesses had to say about their testimonies:
David Whitmer:
Zenas Gurley interviewed David Whitmer in 1885, and asked if he knew if the plates were real metal. Whitmer answered that he had not touched or handled them. He was then asked if the table they were on was literal wood or if the whole thing was a vision. Whitmer replied that the table had the appearance of literal wood as shown in the vision, in the glory of God (Zenas H. Gurley, Jr., Interview with David Whitmer on January 14, 1885.)
David Whitmer later gave the following testimony:
From the following verse of poetry printed in the LDS publication, "Times and Seasons," Volume 2, page 482:20, it would appear that Cowdery later denied his testimony of the Book of Mormon:
However, it seems that the LDS somehow managed to persuade Cowdery to return to their church, albeit for a very short period. He left again a few weeks later, this time for good. He later died at the home of David Whitmer, who had also left. Contrary to LDS claims, Whitmer makes it clear that Cowdery died believing that Joseph was a fallen prophet, and that the Doctrine and Covenants contained false revelations ("An Address to All Believers in Christ," 1887, pages. 1, 2).
Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer were simple, gullible men who like so many others, had fallen under the spell of the charisma, charm and persuasiveness of Joseph Smith.
Martin Harris admitted that the official story of the Three Witnesses was inaccurate. He said:
CONCLUSION
All the witnesses from both the groups, except for Martin Harris, were closely related to one another, suggesting the likelihood of collusion. The first four of the group of eight witnesses were the brothers of David Whitmer (who was one of the three witnesses). The other four witnesses were Joseph Smith's father, his two brothers, Hyrum and Samuel, all of whom had been involved in the occult, and Hiram Page, who was married to the Whitmer's sister, Catherine. Oliver Cowdery, one of the three witnesses, was married to another Whitmer sister, Elizabeth.
Mormons need to understand that the testimonies printed in the front of the Book of Mormon are a serious and flagrant misrepresentation of the truth. Not a single one of the witnesses, or anybody else, for that matter, ever actually saw the gold plates. So we have no way of knowing whether or not they really existed. All we have is the word of Joseph Smith, and his deliberate deception regarding the wording of the witnesses' testimonies indicates that he is not a man whose word should be trusted.
Furthermore, it seems utterly ridiculous that God would send an angel to give Joseph the golden plates in order to translate the inscriptions on them, and then forbid him to ever look at them for fear of being struck dead. For people to have believed such a far fetched story indicates that he must have had tremendous charisma and persuasiveness, as well as a fertile imagination. Furthermore, although it seems that he didn't set very high standards for himself, He had a low opinion of at least four of the eleven witnesses. In the History of the Church, Volume 3:232, he wrote:
In order for these witnesses to have been credible, bearing in mind the fantastic nature of Joseph Smith's story about the gold plates, they should have been outstanding men of known integrity and good reputation, with independent mindsets. But instead the whole set up here is very suspicious. Furthermore, by 1847 not a single one of the surviving eleven witnesses was still in the LDS church. Five of them had joined the Church of Christ started by William McLellin, and Oliver Cowdery had indicated he was supportive of this group, although he never joined. (c/f D. Michael Quinn, "The Mormon Hierarchy - Origins of Power," Signature Books, 1994). These were hardly the type of people who should have been called upon to be witnesses to a book of scripture that would be relied upon by a church for spiritual guidance.
After careful consideration of all the facts, and bearing in mind that no proof has ever been found to verify that the advanced civilization described in the Book of Mormon ever actually existed (and also because important details contained in it have been disproved); it seems obvious that the Book of Mormon is not what it is claimed to be.
In order to get this conclusion into its right perspective, we need to compare the lack of proof of the legitimacy of the Book of Mormon with the mass of evidence available that proves the accuracy of the Bible. Although the Book of Mormon disparages the Bible and the LDS continually throws stones at it, insisting that it is full of errors and omissions (because it contradicts their doctrines), literally every time an archeologist digs a hole in Israel he comes up with still more evidence confirming the truthfulness of the biblical record. And nothing has ever been discovered that indicates that there is anything in the Bible that is incorrect.
Copyright 2007 by Mormonism and Biblical Truth. All rights reserved.
WHAT THE BOOK OF MORMON IS ABOUT
The Book of Mormon is a supposed historical account of the early inhabitants of the Americas, spanning the period 600 BC to 400 AD. It tells of two groups of people who migrated to the American continent. The first group came from Babel but perished because of their wickedness. The second group consisted of Jews from Jerusalem who formed two tribes, the Nephites and the Lamanites. Christ gave the Nephites the power of baptism, communion and the priesthood. However, the Lamanites destroyed them in AD 428. Because of their sinfulness, the Lamanites were cursed with a dark skin, and later became known as the American Indians.
THE GOLD PLATES
Joseph Smith's story is that God sent an angel named Moroni to tell him about some gold plates buried nearby, that had been inscribed with the history of the ancient Americas. However, he was not permitted to take possession of them until four years later. Then on the 22nd September, 1827 they were finally released to him by this same angel, together with the Urim and Thummim (two stones in silver bows fastened to a breastplate), for the purposes of translation.
TRANSLATING THE BOOK OF MORMON
Joseph Smith's wife, Emma, was the first to serve as his scribe. And she maintained that he had never ever looked at the gold plates at all during his translation. In a note to their son, Joseph Smith III, she recorded:
"I frequently wrote day after day, often sitting at the table close by him, he sitting with his face buried in his hat, with the stone in it, and dictating hour after hour with nothing between us. " (History of the RLDS Church, 8 volumes (Independence, Missouri: Herald House, 1951), "Last Testimony of Sister Emma," 3:356.)Emma's father, Isaac Hale, recorded the following in an affidavit:
"The manner in which he pretended to read and interpret, was the same as when he looked for the money-diggers, with a stone in his hat, and his hat over his face, while the Book of Plates were at the same time hid in the woods." (Affidavit of Isaac Hale dated March 20, 1834, cited in Rodger I. Anderson's, "Joseph Smith's New York Reputation Re-examined," [Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1990], pages 126-128.)David Whitmer was one of the three witnesses to the Book of Mormon. Most of the translating was done in his home. And he describes in detail the method used by Smith:
"Joseph Smith would put the seer stone into a hat, and put his face in the hat, drawing it closely around his face to exclude the light; and in the darkness the spiritual light would shine. A piece of something resembling parchment would appear, and under it was the interpretation in English. Brother Joseph would read off the English to Oliver Cowdery, who was his principal [sic] scribe, and when it was written down and repeated to brother Joseph to see if it was correct, then it would disappear, and another character with the interpretation would appear. Thus the Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God, and not by any power of man." ("An Address to All Believers in Christ," page 12.)There is plenty of other evidence available, all along the same lines, that makes it clear that Joseph Smith never ever looked at or referred to the gold plates at all at any time during his entire translation of the Book of Mormon. His method of translating was to put his head inside his hat and peer at his occultic stone. This gives us the impression that the gold plates and the Urim and Thummim were nothing more than "window dressing," invented by him to make his claim about the Book of Mormon's legitimacy seem more impressive. Not only did he never look at these elusive gold plates himself, or ever use the Urim and Thummim at all during his entire translation, but nobody else ever saw them either. Those who had originally testified that they had seen them readily admitted that it had only been with their spiritual eyes, in a sort of a vision.
The LDS habitually sanitizes unpalatable truths from their past. And in their illustrations of Joseph Smith translating the Book of Mormon they invariably show the gold plates laying directly in front of him on the table whilst he examines them. This gives one the impression that he actually translated the Book of Mormon from engravings on gold plates. However, his scribes all maintained, without exception and without any contradictions, that this was not how the translating was done. Furthermore, he used the same occultic seer stone in his translation of the Book of Mormon that he had used earlier on when he had deceived previous victims by conniving them into believing that he could divine the whereabouts of supposed hidden treasure for a fee. That was how he'd "earned" his living in pre-LDS days. And he openly admitted when he was in leadership of the LDS church, that he used this same seer stone to receive his supposed revelations from God.
There are two sets of witnesses mentioned in the foreword of the Book of Mormon, one of three and another of eight.
THE FIRST GROUP OF THREE WITNESSES
In the testimony of the first three witnesses, the impression is given that they were all together when they literally saw the engraved gold plates with their own eyes. But that's not what happened. Furthermore, when Smith first broached the subject of using their testimonies to promote the Book of Mormon, he actually warned them that they would have to see the plates by faith as nobody was allowed to look at them for fear of being struck dead.
In "The History of the Church" he reported that their first two attempts ended in failure. As Martin Harris felt that he was to blame for not being sufficiently sanctified, he withdrew from the group. After he'd gone Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer each managed to have a vision of the gold plates. Then a few days later Martin Harris was finally able to conjure up a vision as well. But it should be noted that in spite of the testimonies they had signed, in published interviews and notarised affidavits the witnesses admitted to only having seen the plates by faith with "second sight," or with their spiritual eyes.
According to the testimony of a Mr. Stephen Burnett given a bit further on, at first neither of the groups wanted to sign their testimonies, which had been composed by Joseph Smith. Their reluctance was due to the fact that Smith's wording gave the false impression that they had actually physically seen the gold plates, which was not the case at all. But he eventually managed to persuade them to sign, anyway.
This sort of deliberate, manipulative deception would never be tolerated in a politician or anyone else in public leadership, and surely one should expect an even higher standard of integrity in a spiritual leader. Instead of being their inspiration for transparency, truthfulness and righteousness, Joseph Smith deliberately persuaded members of his church, who were under his spiritual guidance and care, to join him in his deception, against their wills.
Because the combined testimonies of both the groups that are printed in the front of the Book of Mormon were a deliberate, premeditated, connived deception, they are not worth the paper they are written on. And if the truth had been told right at the start, it is doubtful whether anybody would have believed Smith's story about the angel Moroni and the gold plates; and the Book of Mormon would most likely never have got off the ground.
As it is, there is no proof at all that the Book of Mormon had been engraved upon solid plates of gold. Nor is there any proof either that an angel named Moroni had ever appeared to him. We only have the word of Joseph Smith himself. And as deception seems to have been his chosen way of life, his word is highly suspect. But quite apart from his obvious lack of integrity, his spiritual claims need to be considered with a great deal of caution on the grounds of his long standing involvement with the occult alone. (There is well documented evidence in this regard.)
Here's what the three witnesses had to say about their testimonies:
David Whitmer:
Zenas Gurley interviewed David Whitmer in 1885, and asked if he knew if the plates were real metal. Whitmer answered that he had not touched or handled them. He was then asked if the table they were on was literal wood or if the whole thing was a vision. Whitmer replied that the table had the appearance of literal wood as shown in the vision, in the glory of God (Zenas H. Gurley, Jr., Interview with David Whitmer on January 14, 1885.)
David Whitmer later gave the following testimony:
"If you believe my testimony to the Book of Mormon; if you believe that God spake to us three witnesses by his own voice, then I tell you that in June, 1838, God spake to me again by his own voice from the heavens, and told me to 'separate myself from among the Latter-day Saints, for as they sought to do unto me, so should it be done unto them'. In the spring of 1838, the heads of the church and many of the members had gone deep into error and blindness. I had been striving with them for a long time to show them the errors into which they were drifting, and for my labors I received only persecutions." (Address to All Believers in Christ, page 2.)Oliver Cowdery:
From the following verse of poetry printed in the LDS publication, "Times and Seasons," Volume 2, page 482:20, it would appear that Cowdery later denied his testimony of the Book of Mormon:
"Or prove that Christ was not the LordAfter Cowdery had left the LDS church, he joined the Methodist Protestant Church of Tiffin, Seneca County, Ohio. An extract from an affidavit by G. J. Keen in 1885 reads as follows:
Because that Peter cursed and swore?
Or Book of Mormon not his word
Because denied, by Oliver?"
"At that time he arose and addressed the audience present, admitted his error and implored forgiveness, and said he was sorry and ashamed of his connection with Mormonism. He continued his membership while he resided in Tiffin, and became Superintendent of the Sabbath-School, and led an exemplary life while he resided with us." (Shook 1914, pages 58-59).Keen went on to say that there were minutes of a church meeting in Oliver's handwriting and signed by him still in existence, at the Methodist Church in Tiffin, Ohio. (Gunn 1942, 124).
However, it seems that the LDS somehow managed to persuade Cowdery to return to their church, albeit for a very short period. He left again a few weeks later, this time for good. He later died at the home of David Whitmer, who had also left. Contrary to LDS claims, Whitmer makes it clear that Cowdery died believing that Joseph was a fallen prophet, and that the Doctrine and Covenants contained false revelations ("An Address to All Believers in Christ," 1887, pages. 1, 2).
Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer were simple, gullible men who like so many others, had fallen under the spell of the charisma, charm and persuasiveness of Joseph Smith.
Martin Harris admitted that the official story of the Three Witnesses was inaccurate. He said:
"I never saw the golden plates, only in a visionary or entranced state. I wrote a great deal of the Book of Mormon myself, as Joseph Smith translated or spelled the words out in English. Sometimes the plates would be on a table in the room in which Smith did the translating, covered over with a cloth. I was told by Smith that God would strike him dead if he attempted to look at them, and I believed it. When the time came for the three witnesses to see the plates, Joseph Smith, myself, David Whitmer and Oliver Cowdery went into the woods to pray. When they had engaged in prayer, they failed at the time to see the plates or the angel who should have been on hand to exhibit them. They all believed it was because I was not good enough, or in other words, not sufficiently sanctified. I withdrew. As soon as I had gone away, the others saw the angel and the plates. In about three days I went into the woods to pray that I might see the plates. While praying I passed into a state of entrancement, and in that state I saw the angel and the plates." (Anthony Metcalf," Ten Years Before the Mast, n.d.," microfilm copy, pages 70-71.)Stephen Burnett explained in a letter that when he realized that the witnesses to the Book of Mormon had only seen the gold plates in an imaginary way, he decided to leave the LDS church:
" ..... but when I came to hear Martin Harris state in public that he never saw the plates with his natural eyes only in vision and imagination, neither Oliver nor David; also that the eight witnesses never saw them; hesitated to sign that instrument for that reason, but were persuaded to do it, the last pedestal gave away ... the reasons why I took the course which I was resolved to do, and renounced the Book of Mormon. I was followed by W. Parrish, Luke Johnson, and John Boynton, all of who concurred with me, after we were done speaking M. Harris arose and said he was sorry for any man who rejected the Book of Mormon for he knew it was true, he said he had hefted the plates repeatedly in a box with only a tablecloth or handkerchief over them, but he never saw them, only as he saw a city through a mountain. And said that he never should have told that the testimony of the eight was false, if it had not been picked out of [him] but should have let it passed as it was." (Stephen Burnett Letter, as quoted in Persuitte's "Joseph Smith and the Origins of the Book of Mormon," page 47.) (Italics inserted by writer.)Wayne C. Gunnell, in his 1955 Brigham Young University thesis on Martin Harris, quotes a letter written in 1844 by Phineas Young to Brigham Young:
"Martin Harris is a firm believer in Shakerism, says his testimony is greater than it was of the Book of Mormon" ("Martin Harris - Witness and Benefactor to the Book of Mormon," Wayne C. Gunnell, BYU Thesis, 1955, page 52).
CONCLUSION
All the witnesses from both the groups, except for Martin Harris, were closely related to one another, suggesting the likelihood of collusion. The first four of the group of eight witnesses were the brothers of David Whitmer (who was one of the three witnesses). The other four witnesses were Joseph Smith's father, his two brothers, Hyrum and Samuel, all of whom had been involved in the occult, and Hiram Page, who was married to the Whitmer's sister, Catherine. Oliver Cowdery, one of the three witnesses, was married to another Whitmer sister, Elizabeth.
Mormons need to understand that the testimonies printed in the front of the Book of Mormon are a serious and flagrant misrepresentation of the truth. Not a single one of the witnesses, or anybody else, for that matter, ever actually saw the gold plates. So we have no way of knowing whether or not they really existed. All we have is the word of Joseph Smith, and his deliberate deception regarding the wording of the witnesses' testimonies indicates that he is not a man whose word should be trusted.
Furthermore, it seems utterly ridiculous that God would send an angel to give Joseph the golden plates in order to translate the inscriptions on them, and then forbid him to ever look at them for fear of being struck dead. For people to have believed such a far fetched story indicates that he must have had tremendous charisma and persuasiveness, as well as a fertile imagination. Furthermore, although it seems that he didn't set very high standards for himself, He had a low opinion of at least four of the eleven witnesses. In the History of the Church, Volume 3:232, he wrote:
"Such characters as McLellin, John Whitmer, David Whitmer, Oliver Cowdery and Martin Harris, are too mean to mention; and we had liked to have forgotten them."Apparently the witnesses were in constant trouble with the church, and were at various times accused of lying, stealing, counterfeiting, apostasy and fraudulent business activities. Yet Smith had chosen this type of person to testify to the existence of the gold plates.
In order for these witnesses to have been credible, bearing in mind the fantastic nature of Joseph Smith's story about the gold plates, they should have been outstanding men of known integrity and good reputation, with independent mindsets. But instead the whole set up here is very suspicious. Furthermore, by 1847 not a single one of the surviving eleven witnesses was still in the LDS church. Five of them had joined the Church of Christ started by William McLellin, and Oliver Cowdery had indicated he was supportive of this group, although he never joined. (c/f D. Michael Quinn, "The Mormon Hierarchy - Origins of Power," Signature Books, 1994). These were hardly the type of people who should have been called upon to be witnesses to a book of scripture that would be relied upon by a church for spiritual guidance.
After careful consideration of all the facts, and bearing in mind that no proof has ever been found to verify that the advanced civilization described in the Book of Mormon ever actually existed (and also because important details contained in it have been disproved); it seems obvious that the Book of Mormon is not what it is claimed to be.
In order to get this conclusion into its right perspective, we need to compare the lack of proof of the legitimacy of the Book of Mormon with the mass of evidence available that proves the accuracy of the Bible. Although the Book of Mormon disparages the Bible and the LDS continually throws stones at it, insisting that it is full of errors and omissions (because it contradicts their doctrines), literally every time an archeologist digs a hole in Israel he comes up with still more evidence confirming the truthfulness of the biblical record. And nothing has ever been discovered that indicates that there is anything in the Bible that is incorrect.
Copyright 2007 by Mormonism and Biblical Truth. All rights reserved.