It is very difficult for me to hear quote after quote from Heber C. Kimball and dozens of other prophets and apostles, (See many quotes here) witnessing that the hill Cumorah in NY was indeed the place of the final battles of the Nephites and Lamanites. Why has it become such a stumbling block for some to believe there is some other hill Cumorah in Mesoamerica somewhere? I have to say for over 40 years I was looking in Mesoamerica as well. Wow, the earth has shaken about truth as I believe the following quote from Joseph Fielding Smith is so powerful.
He said, “This modernistic theory of necessity, in order to be consistent, must place the waters of Ripliancum and the Hill Cumorah some place within the restricted territory of Central America, notwithstanding the teachings of the Church to the contrary for upwards of 100 years. Because of this theory some members of the Church have become confused and greatly disturbed in their faith in the Book of Mormon. It is for this reason that evidence is here presented to show that it is not only possible that these places could be located as the Church has held during the past century, but that in very deed such is the case. It is known that the Hill Cumorah where the Nephites were destroyed is the hill where the Jaredites were also destroyed.” Joseph Fielding Smith Doctrines of Salvation Volume 3 Chapter 12 A Voice from Cumorah. Entire Article Here!
Can you see that great confusion among the Latter-day Saints? I certainly do. I refuse to judge others, but I feel so blessed to have eyes wide open as I study the geography of the Book of Mormon. I believe the USA is the Promised Land of the Book of Mormon.
Heber C. Kimball-Journal of Discourses
“To my certain knowledge there is not a settlement in these mountains but were instructed by brother Brigham to build good forts and live in them; and on these conditions alone were volunteers permitted to go out and make new settlements.
Have any of them built forts? Tell of one settlement, if you please, excepting they commenced one in Iron County which remains unfinished yet. The Indians are now upon us, and our brethren are scattered off, three, four, and five families in a place, away off in this and in that direction, exposed to the Lamanites. They have been called into the city that they might be safe, and they are now teasing us, and wanting to go back again, and live in those exposed locations without a fort. The Lord has made the Lamanites—the Indians, a scourge; but if this people will turn to and do just as they have been told, their wrath will be turned away in a short time, but not until the Lord God sees that this people are determined to do right…
As to getting rich, why bless your souls, is not the earth the Lord’s and the fulness thereof? Are not the gold and precious metals in the mountains, in the dells, and in the cliffs of the earth, all the Lord’s? He created all; and the human family, with all the treasures of earth, are in His hand. They all belong to the Lord our God, and we are His people if we do His will. Are we not heirs to all these riches? Certainly we are; every son and daughter of Adam, who loves the great Father of our spirits and His Son Jesus Christ, and obeys the Gospel, and listens to him whom God has delegated as an Apostle and Prophet to counsel His people, I tell you that all this treasure is theirs, and the devils cannot help themselves. I am just as sure of it as I am that the sun will rise and set tomorrow…
I have lived in the State of New York, town of Bloomfield, Monroe County, right in the heart of the country where the ancient Lamanites, and other veterans, destroyed each other, root and branch; where the Book of Mormon was discovered in the hill of Cumorah. From among those rich hills the people are flocking to these mountains. Why? Because this is the richest place in the world.
The country adjacent to the Sweet Waters has actually become a rich gold mine. Talk about gold! The Lord can change any of the elements into gold as easy as He could change the water into wine.
I suppose I had better bring my disjointed remarks to a close. I feel first-rate; I feel like a soldier of Christ, like a man of God. I feel sometimes that I could take one of those mountains, and handle it as I could a football. Bless your souls! If you will only do as the Lord tells you through His delegated agent, who gives you the voice of God and the wisdom of God, I am not troubled at all. The question is asked many times, “Has brother Brigham got the Urim and Thummim?” Yes, he has got everything; everything that is necessary for him to receive the will and mind of God to this people. Do I know it? Yes, I know all about it; and what more do you want? That is true, gentlemen; I am one of his witnesses in the last days, and to bear testimony of the truth of “Mormonism.” A Discourse by President Heber C. Kimball, Delivered at the Special Conference in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, August 13, 1853.
Reported by G. D. Watt.
Other Heber C. Kimball Quotes
J. Golden Kimball is quoted as saying the following: “Heber C. Kimball said it was revealed to him that the last great destruction of the wicked would be on the lakes near the Hill Cumorah.” J. Golden Kimball (abt. Heber C. Kimball) N. B. Lundwall, Temples of the Most High, SLC: Bookcraft, 1941, p. 52.
“Joseph and others… went into a cave in the hill Cumorah, and saw more records than ten men could carry… There were books piled up on tables, book upon book. Those records this people will yet have, if they accept of the Book of Mormon and observe its precepts, and keep the commandments.” Heber C. Kimball
“President [Heber C.] Kimball talked familiarly to the brethren about Father Smith, [Oliver] Cowdery, and others walking into the hill Cumorah and seeing records upon records piled upon table[s,] they walked from cell to cell and saw the records that were piled up. . . .” Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 5 May 1867
Joseph Fielding Smith was attending the first general conference of the Eastern States Mission, convened at the Joseph Smith Farm near Palmyra on September 21, 1923–the one hundredth anniversary of the appearance of Moroni to Joseph Smith–when he said the following:
“As I stood upon the summit of the Hill Cumorah, in the midst of a vast multitude, only a few of whom belonged to the Church, I tried to picture the scenes of former days. Here were assembled vast armies filled with bitterness and bent on destruction. I thought of the great promises the Lord had made through his prophets concerning those who should possess this choice land, and how those promises were not fulfilled because the people violated his commandments. Here a people perished because of their extreme wickedness. There is something in the destiny of things that would cause a repetition of this terrible scene on the same spot many centuries later. I reflected and wondered if this unhappy time would ever come when another still mightier people would incur the wrath of God because of wickedness and likewise perish. If so, would this same spot witness their destruction?” (See 1866 notation–Heber C. Kimball prophecy) Joseph Fielding. Smith Doctrines of Salvation, Vol. 3, p. 242.
“Before breaking camp the morning of June 3, the Prophet Joseph Smith, accompanied by several of the men, went to observe a large mound which was located approximately one mile below the Phillip’s Ferry crossing. It was of unusual size and lay within the proximity of a number of smaller mounds. Heber C. Kimball and Wilford Woodruff recorded in their journals that the mound was one hundred feet high and three hundred feet above the level of the river. The height of the mound enabled the men to look over the tops of the trees and view the surrounding area. At the crest of the mound, human bones were strewn around the base of what appeared to be a three-tiered altar. Heber C. Kimball wrote that the arrangement of the stones resembled the ancient order or altars..
The men were curious about the area, the mounds, and particularly about the scattered bones. As they began to descend the mound, Joseph Smith suddenly stopped, pointed to the ground, and said, “Brethren, dig in there.” When the earth had been removed to the depth of one or two feet, the men found the skeleton of a large man. Journal accounts state that, “the bones were all there and in a good state of preservation.” Buried in the backbone, between the ribs of the man was a stone arrowhead which Milton Holmes took. Examining the skeleton more closely, it was noted that one of the thigh bones had been previously broken and knitted together. The thigh bones and the arrowhead were taken back to camp and placed in Wilford Woodruff’s wagon. The skeleton was unusually large . It was estimated to be over eight feet tall.” James L. Bradley, Zion’s Camp 1834: Prelude to the Civil War (Salt Lake City: Publishers Press, 1990), p. 207.
“We two were alone: President Young took me to the spot [near Manti UT] where the Temple was to stand; we went to the southeast corner, and President Young said: ‘Here is the spot where the Prophet Moroni stood and dedicated this piece of land for a Temple site, and that is the reason why the location is made here, and we can’t move it from this spot; and if you and I are the only good persons that come here at high noon today, we will dedicate this ground.’ A Source Book, Provo, UT: FARMS; Whitney, Orson F., 1974, Life of Heber C. Kimball, Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft, p. 477; Cheesman, Paul R., 1978, The World of the Book of Mormon, Horizon Publishers, Bountiful, Utah, p. 25; Heinerman, Joseph, 1986, Temple Manifestations, Salt Lake City, Utah: Joseph Lyon and Associates, Inc. dba Magazine Printing and Publishing, p. 101
“From the time Father Bosley located near Avon, he found and plowed up axes and irons, and had sufficient to make his mill irons, and had always abundance of iron on hand without purchasing. In the towns of Bloomfield, Victor, Manchester, and in the regions round about, there were hills upon the tops of which were entrenchments and fortifications, and in them were human bones, axes, tomahawks, points of arrows, beads and pipes, which were frequently found; and it was a common occurrence in the country to plow up axes, which I have done many times myself.
I have visited the fortifications on the tops of those hills frequently, and the one near Bloomfield I have crossed hundreds of times, which is on the bluff of Honeyoye River, at the outlet of Honeyoye Lake. In that region there are many small deep lakes, and in some of them the bottom has never been found. Fish abound in them. The hill Cumorah is a high hill for that country, and had the appearance of a fortification or entrenchment around it. In the State of New York, probably there are hundreds of these fortifications which are now visible, and I have seen them in many other parts of the United States. Readers of the Book of Mormon will remember that in this very region, according to that sacred record, the final battles were fought between the Nephites and Lamanites. At the hill Cumorah, the Nephites made their last stand prior to their utter extermination, A. D., 385. Thus was Heber preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles, above the graves of the ancients of Israel, whose records with the fullness of that Gospel, and the relics of their prowess and civilization, were now whispering from the dust.” Life of Heber C. Kimball by Orson F. Whitney Mounds at Cumorah
“Joseph Smith stands at the head of this last, greatest of all dispensations (see JD 8:224). From his position today in the spirit world, he undoubtedly presides over the day of the Lamanite which now has arrived (see Kimball “The Day of the Lamanites”). In that sphere, with the cultural biases, the language difficulties, and the centuries of tradition put aside, one wonders if Joseph is not now preaching those very words and seeing the budding and blossoming of that rose which will, in due course, both there and here, reach the perfection of its bloom.” Byron R. Merrill, “Joseph Smith and the Lamanites,” in Joseph Smith: The Prophet, The Man, ed. Susan Easton Black and Charles D. Tate Jr. (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1993), 187–202
