What the Book of Mormon Witnesses Said Will Shock You!

Everybody knows the Book of Mormon is a fraud, right? Right? I mean, after Joseph Smith died, people came out of the woodwork to finally deny what his "mesmerism" had forced them to attest to. Finally, they were free to say whatever they liked about the Book of Mormon!

Except, that's not what actually happened (sorry if you were told otherwise).

Joseph Smith, Sr. (the prophet's father), Hyrum Smith and Samuel H. Smith (the prophet's brothers), Peter Whitmer, Jr., and Christian Whitmer never recanted their testimonies. All died faithful to the Church.

Here are the quotes of those witnesses of the Book of Mormon who later left the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Some of them left for good. Others eventually returned to full activity.

David Whitmer (left, but came back)

In regards to my testimony to the visitation of the angel, who declared to us three witnesses that the Book of Mormon is true, I have this to say: Of course we were in the spirit when we had the view, for no man can behold the face of an angel, except in a spiritual view, but we were in the body also, and everything was as natural to us, as it is at any time. Martin Harris, you say, called it 'being in vision.' We read in the Scriptures, Cornelius saw, in a vision, an angel of God. Daniel saw an angel in a vision; also in other places it states they saw an angel in the spirit. A bright light enveloped us where we were, that filled at noon day, and there in a vision, or in the spirit, we saw and heard just as it is stated in my testimony in the Book of Mormon.

Source: Anthony Metcalf, Ten Years Before the Mast (Malad, Idaho: A. Metcalf, 1888), 74.

It having been represented by one John Murphy, of Polo, Caldwell County, Mo., that I, in a conversation with him last summer, denied my testimony as one of the three witnesses to the BOOK OF MORMON. To the end, therefore, that he may understand me now, if he did not then; and that the world may know the truth, I wish now, standing as it were, in the very sunset of life, and in the fear of God, once for all to make this public statement: That I have never at any time denied that testimony or any part thereof, which has so long since been published with that Book, as one of the three witnesses. Those who know me best, well know that I have always adhered to that testimony. And that no man may be misled or doubt my present views in regard to the same, I do again affirm the truth of all of my statements, as then made and published. He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear; it was no delusion!

(Source: Richmond (Missouri) Conservator, March 24, 1881; Hamiltonian (Missouri) Newspaper, April 8, 1881.)

Oliver Cowdery (left, but came back)

If your honor please, and gentlemen of the jury, the attorney on the opposite side has challenged me to state my connection with Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon: and as I cannot now avoid the responsibility, I must admit to you that I am the very Oliver Cowdery whose name is attached to the testimony, with others, as to the appearance of the Angel Moroni; and let me tell you that it is not because of my good deeds that I am here, away from the body of the Mormon Church, but because I have broken the covenants I once made, and I was cut off from the Church, but, gentlemen of the jury, I have never denied my testimony, which is attached to the Book of Mormon, and I declare to you here that these eyes saw the angel, and these ears of mine heard the voice of the angel, and he told us his name was Moroni; that the book was true, and contained the fulness of the gospel, and we were also told that if we ever denied what we had heard and seen that there would be no forgiveness for us, neither in this world nor in the world to come.

Source: The Restored Church, 7th ed., p.74-75

Martin Harris (left, but came back)

The Book of Mormon is no fake. I know what I know. I have seen what I have seen and I have heard what I have heard. I have seen the gold plates from which the Book of Mormon is written. An angel appeared to me and others and testified to the truthfulness of the record, and had I been willing to have perjured myself and sworn falsely to the testimony I now bear I could have been a rich man, but I could not have testified other than I have done and am now doing for these things are true.

(Source: Martin Harris on his death bed. Cited by George Godfrey, “Testimony of Martin Harris,” from an unpublished manuscript copy in the possession of his descendants, quoted in Eldin Ricks, The Case of the Book of Mormon Witnesses [Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1971], 65–66.)

David Whitmer's brothers John Whitmer and Jacob Whitmer, along with Hiram Page were all excommunicated in 1838 and never returned to activity in the Church. Yet, they also never recanted their testimonies.

So, there were a total of 11 witnesses, 5 of which never left the Church, 2 of which left and later returned, and 4 of which left and never returned. All of them remained true to what they saw.

To prove the Book of Mormon a fraud, one has to go over, under, around, and through these men.

Kerry Shirts on the Book of Mormon Witnesses

My favorite online apologist, Kerry Shirts (aka the Backyard Professor), has produced some new videos on the Book of Mormon 3 & 8 Witnesses and a refutation of critical charges of fraud or delusion on the part of the witnesses. Furthermore, the works of Richard L. Anderson, specifically his book Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses and his many articles on the Neal A. Maxwell Institute website are strongly recommended as further reading on this subject.

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Nephi Sees Conditions Leading to Latter-day Events (1 Nephi 13, Part II)

Nephi now sees that the Gentiles who have come to the Americas (to Nephi, "the promised land") have family troubles of their own. The "mother Gentiles" from which they came arrived by sea to do battle with them. We know this as the various wars that led up to and followed the Revolutionary War.

Nephi also sees that the Gentiles are not alone in their struggles against their mother nations.

18 And I beheld that the power of God was with them, and also that the wrath of God was upon all those that were gathered together ^aagainst them to battle.

19 And I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles that had gone out of captivity were ^adelivered by the power of God out of the hands of all other nations.

As we will read later, and quite often at that, one of the major themes of the Book of Mormon is this: that no people will be able to prosper here unless they believe in God, their Creator.

Now, Nephi sees that they have something else with them that is "of great worth". He writes:

20 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that they did prosper in the land; and I beheld a ^abook, and it was carried forth among them.

21 And the angel said unto me: Knowest thou the meaning of the book?

22 And I said unto him: I know not.

23 And he said: Behold it proceedeth out of the mouth of a Jew. And I, Nephi, beheld it; and he said unto me: The ^abook that thou beholdest is a ^brecord of the ^cJews, which contains the covenants of the Lord, which he hath made unto the house of Israel; and it also containeth many of the prophecies of the holy prophets; and it is a record like unto the engravings which are upon the ^dplates of brass, save there are not so many; nevertheless, they contain the covenants of the Lord, which he hath made unto the house of Israel; wherefore, they are of great worth unto the Gentiles.

In short, they carry with them a record of the Jews who were left at Jerusalem. Remember, now, that Nephi only has everything up to and including the reign of Zedekiah, Nephi's contemporary, and then his record is of his own people in the Americas. He would have known nothing about the Christian Bible as it came forth from the Middle East and Europe after the third century A.D. The book he sees in the vision is entirely new and unexpected, especially, as he writes, that they are "of great worth unto the Gentiles". Why would they have been of such great worth to Gentiles if they were considered "outsiders" to ancient and traditional Hebrews?

Here's why.

24 And the angel of the Lord said unto me: Thou hast beheld that the ^abook proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew; and when it proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew it contained the fulness of the gospel of the Lord, of whom the twelve apostles bear record; and they bear record according to the truth which is in the Lamb of God.

25 Wherefore, these things go forth from the ^aJews in purity unto the ^bGentiles, according to the truth which is in God.

It contained (past tense) the fulness of the gospel of the Lord, which the twelve apostles also shown in this vision bore testimony. The words that were originally written by the Jews at one time were uncorrupted when they arrived in Gentile hands. But then...

26 And after they go forth by the ^ahand of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, from the Jews ^bunto the Gentiles, thou seest the formation of that ^cgreat and abominable ^dchurch, which is most abominable above all other churches; for behold, they have ^etaken away from the gospel of the Lamb many parts which are ^fplain and most precious; and also many covenants of the Lord have they taken away.

27 And all this have they done that they might pervert the right ways of the Lord, that they might blind the eyes and harden the hearts of the children of men.

28 Wherefore, thou seest that after the book hath gone forth through the hands of the great and abominable church, that there are many plain and ^aprecious things taken away from the book, which is the book of the Lamb of God.

29 And after these plain and precious things were ^ataken away it goeth forth unto all the nations of the Gentiles; and after it goeth forth unto all the nations of the Gentiles, yea, even across the many waters which thou hast seen with the Gentiles which have gone forth out of captivity, thou seest—because of the many plain and precious things which have been taken out of the book, which were plain unto the understanding of the children of men, according to the plainness which is in the Lamb of God—because of these things which are taken away out of the gospel of the Lamb, an exceedingly great many do stumble, yea, insomuch that Satan hath great power over them.

You can read the howls of heresy across the Internet as I write this. Hundreds of anti-mormon web sites exist for the sole purpose of denouncing us for believing that the Bible is not 100% the inerrant and flawless word of God. All kinds of rhetorical gyrations are engaged in by anti-Mormons to show that the Bible (no matter which of the hundreds of translations now published) has never, ever been tampered with...or that if it has, God "made it okay" somehow and that it's just a mystery we'll never understand.

We respectfully disagree.

We disagree on the grounds that any document that passes through the hands of men, as the Bible has done for the nearly 1600 years that it has existed more or less as a single book (there were 400 years during which it was scattered to the four winds), has the potential of being changed. To claim that God somehow forced each handler to be precise, even when making mistakes in translation or interpretation, either on purpose or by accident, is completely illogical and at odds with the clearly accepted Christian doctrine that God respects free agency.

No. There is another explanation that makes much more sense, does not require incredible claims with virtually no evidence, and does not contradict God's law of free agency: a second record. God knew that there would be mistakes and deliberate changes made by translators and those who made handwritten copies. Instead of forcing those individuals to "do it right" in some unexplainable way (and forcing us to believe without providing some other witness as to authenticity), God prepared other records, the principle of which is the Book of Mormon, to help re-establish what was lost in terms of doctrine and "plain and precious things" that once existed in the Bible.

1. Deut. 17: 6
   6 ^aAt the mouth of ^btwo witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to ^cdeath; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.
2. Deut. 19: 15
   15 ¶ One ^awitness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two ^bwitnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.
3. Matt. 18: 16
   16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three ^awitnesses every word may be established.
4. 2 Cor. 13: 1
   1 This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three ^awitnesses shall every word be established.
5. 1 Tim. 5: 19
   19 Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three ^awitnesses.
6. Heb. 10: 28
   28 He that ^adespised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:
7. D&C 6: 28
   28 And now, behold, I give unto you, and also unto my servant Joseph, the ^akeys of this gift, which shall bring to light this ministry; and in the mouth of two or three ^bwitnesses shall every word be established.
8. D&C 128: 3
   3 Now, in relation to this matter, it would be very difficult for one recorder to be present at all times, and to do all the business. To obviate this difficulty, there can be a recorder appointed in each ward of the city, who is well qualified for taking accurate minutes; and let him be very particular and precise in taking the whole proceedings, certifying in his record that he saw with his eyes, and heard with his ears, giving the date, and names, and so forth, and the history of the whole transaction; naming also some three individuals that are present, if there be any present, who can at any time when called upon certify to the same, that in the mouth of two or three ^awitnesses every word may be established.

The Book of Mormon is that sacred, second witness that fills in what Satan tried to have removed from the Bible. Why else was Joseph Smith killed, among other things, for claiming it to be true scripture? Why else were thousands of Mormons forced from their homes and made to flee from the most religiously free nation on earth? Why else would Mormons be so hated for propagating it to all the world? It so enrages the enemy of God to know that his original plan to create confusion and contention among thousands of breakaway Christian sects because of misunderstandings about passages found in multiple of versions of the Bible was thwarted, that he will stop at nothing to discredit a second witness.

And that is why God establishes truth via multiple testimonies, including the Book of Mormon. To destroy the works of the devil and to establish His Word among all nations...not just those dwelling in one region of the world.

For more on this subject from a Book of Mormon perspective, go to www.fairlds.org:

• Archaeology and the Bible [2 articles]
• Bible Complete - No Additional Scripture [18 articles]
• History and Manuscripts [16 articles]
• Inerrant [11 articles]
• Joseph Smith Translation [12 articles]
• LDS View [16 articles]

Also see 2 Nephi 29.

Getting Started

You can manage it, really! Millions have read it and millions more will read it. Some have read it twice. Others have read it countless times.

Where to get started? Open to the introduction page first and then read the brief explanation page to get a feel for the flow of the book. Finally, read the story of how the book came to be. There are also testimonies of three witnesses and of eight witnesses who saw the original document and signed their names to their testimony. It is notable that not one of these twelve witnesses (including Joseph Smith, its translator) ever denied what they saw, neither under intense persecution or even after some had left the Church.