Why have some historians, intellects or professors been changing, altering or editing LDS manuals and books on their own? Or, have they actually done that or did they make mistakes unknowingly?
Is it possible to have a book or manual endorsed with the Church trademark that may have mistakes or errors? Yes. I DO NOT believe for a minute that our Prophet nor our Apostles have ever lead us purposely astray. It is very rare that such edits are purposely done, but see for yourself as you decide yourself under the headings in red below called, Altered Manual, and Church Historians Censor Other Information.
Elder Packer said, “Historians seem to take great pride in publishing something new, particularly if it illustrates a weakness or mistake of a prominent historical figure. For some reason, historians and novelists seem to savor such things. If it related to a living person, it would come under the heading of gossip. History can be as misleading as gossip and much more difficult—often impossible—to verify. The writer or the teacher who has an exaggerated loyalty to the theory that everything must be told is laying a foundation for his own judgment. He should not complain if one day he himself receives as he has given. Perhaps that is what is contemplated in having one’s sins preached from the housetops.” The Mantle Is Far, Far Greater Than the Intellect Elder Boyd K. Packer
“I feel this is a very important blog to help us not make the mistake of judging the Church nor its leaders, by helping us understand that mistakes do happen, but so do purposeful edits occasionally happen, to allow our faith to be tested. Stick with the Church and the Prophet and Quorum of the 12 in following the prescribed doctrine. Above all use your gift of personal revelation between you and the Lord. My personal website is worksofjoseph.com for more information. In this blog like all others I edit, I do not represent the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints nor Firm Foundation.” Rian Nelson
Secular Historians
“This problem has affected some of those who have taught and have written about the history of the Church. These professors say of themselves that religious faith has little influence on Mormon scholars. They say this because, obviously, they are not simply Latter-day Saints but are also intellectuals trained, for the most part, in secular institutions. They would that some historians who are Latter-day Saints write history as they were taught in graduate school, rather than as Mormons.” The Mantle Is Far, Far Greater Than the Intellect Elder Boyd K. Packer
“Even our Latter-day Saint intellectuals are convinced that the way to impress the Gentiles is not to acquire a mastery of their critical tools, (how few even know Latin!), but simply to defer in all things to their opinions.” The WORLD Of The JAREDITES Improvement Era 1951-52 PART II The Tower By Hugh Nibley
Sound Doctrine
This is the last days and I have been trying hard to hear and obey sound doctrine. That means first I trust the Spirit of Revelation, next I read and ponder and pray about the scriptures, third I listen to our Church leaders especially with conference talks. Our Prophet said, “It is now time that we each implement extraordinary measures — perhaps measures we have never taken before — to strengthen our personal spiritual foundations. Unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures.” Oct 3, 2021 President Nelson
Our Biases
I feel it is significant to show some of the deeply held biases of some of our good members of the church. We should all be open minded to listen to differences in our opinions about the geography of the Book of Mormon. I believed in two Cumorah’s for over 40 years and I believe there is only one Hill Cumorah, and others are welcomed to keep their belief that there are two Cumorah’s. I’ve listened to Prophets and Joseph Smith carefully, and I have a personal witness that Joseph has it right. Prophets Quotes Here:
I Believe Joseph Smith
“Do you who trust and believe Joseph Smith, believe his words when he said to Emma that he was “wandering over the Plains of the Nephites?” Do you trust the fact that Joseph was camped on the Mississippi River near a small landing near the town of Atlas, Illinois? Do you indeed believe Joseph wrote said letter of June 4, 1834 as shown in the Joseph Smith papers? Was Joseph telling Emma the truth? Did he have any reason to be making something up here? Do you really think that Joseph was traveling on the very plains that the Nephites had once walked on, some 2,000 years ago? If he wasn’t why would Joseph say he was walking on those very plains of the Nephites? Was he really roving over the Nephite mounds and was it indeed a proof of the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon? Yes, Yes and Yes.
I believe events of the Book of Mormon happened in the USA and others who contribute to some of our Church publications such as “Saints”, believe events happened in Central America. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is officially neutral about where the events took place. Since the Church is neutral, why do many intellectuals who correlate and edit Church History, promote a specific geography in Central America? It’s a subject worth learning more about. I believe Joseph Smith taught a North American setting for the Book of Mormon and never hinted at a Central American setting. You can decide what you believe.
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One hill Cumorah!
Our great friend Jonathan Neville has been sharing information for years about the importance of the one and only Hill Cumorah being located in New York. I agree with him. For 40 years I had believed a second Cumorah in Mexico, but now it just doesn’t make sense.
Jonathan as a previous believer of the Mesoamerican theory, has amazing insight as he has studied Church History to show the importance of Cumorah in New York. Many of the friends of his who have stayed with their feelings about a second Cumorah have been upset with Jonathan as he continues to explain his position. Many of these historians claim Jonathan calls them offensive names. But I believe they are just concerned because of Jonathan’s solid information against the Meso theory. (Below you will see that Jonathan has a very favorable opinion of his friends on the other side. Jonathan’s opinion continues to show amazing information that supports his belief that Hill Cumorah indeed was the place that Joseph received the plates, and it was also the place where the final battles of the Jaredites (Ramah) and the Nephites, (Cumorah) occurred.
I have compiled below some of Jonathan’s research on how many of the Church Historians have edited, changed, or omitted important parts of historical documents in order to accommodate their version that there were two Cumorah’s; one hill where Joseph received the plates, and a different hill Cumorah in Mexico where the final battles of the Book of Mormon supposedly happened.
I share this information of course from the point of view of my own bias, as I believe the majority of prophets, apostles, and leaders of the church believe there is simply one Cumorah, which makes sense to me. For additional information about my views you can visit my website at www.worksofjoseph.com and read my list of Prophet and Apostle quotes here. Jonathan Neville’s website is www.moronisamerica.com His blog site is here.
Altered Manual
“For my first post in 2019, I’m showing another instance of M2C* censorship. This one is from the Brigham Young lesson manual (Teachings of the Presidents of the Church – Brigham Young).
This is part of a well-established pattern of censorship by Church employees who follow the M2C (Mesoamerican 2 Cumorah Theory) intellectuals. Although these materials are approved by Church leaders, the materials are prepared by staff who are trusted to be accurate and truthful when they write these manuals.
I don’t believe any Church leaders would knowingly approve of the deliberate censorship of teachings of the prophets who preceded them, especially when the censorship is driven by the desire to promote M2C.
Look at the comparison below to see how the employees who wrote this manual changed Brigham Young’s clear teachings to accommodate M2C. The blue in the right column is the original. The red in the left column is the work of the censors.
Lesson manual |
Original talk in Journal of Discourses |
| When Joseph first received the knowledge of the plates that were in the hill Cumorah, he did not then receive the keys of the Aaronic Priesthood, he merely received the knowledge that the plates were there, and that the Lord would bring them forth. … He received the knowledge that [early inhabitants of the Americas] were once in possession of the Gospel, and from that time he went on, step by step, until he obtained the plates, and the Urim and Thummim and had power to translate them. | When Joseph first received the knowledge of the plates that were in the hill Cumorah, he did not then receive the keys of the Aaronic Priesthood, he merely received the knowledge that the plates were there, and that the Lord would bring them forth, and that they contained the history of the aborigines of this country. He received the knowledge that they were once in possession of the Gospel, and from that time he went on, step by step, until he obtained the plates, and the Urim and Thummim and had power to translate them. |
Notice: the original phrase “aborigines of this country” was censored and replaced with “early inhabitants of the Americas.” Jonathan Neville post from Moroni’s America Jan 2, 2019 Jonathan Neville’s Above Post Continued Here!
Respect for Historians
“I again emphasize that I have great respect for Brother Sorenson; I acknowledged him in Moroni’s America as a major–and positive–contributor to the study of the Book of Mormon. Although I disagree with his premises and arguments in many respects, his practical, real-world approach to understanding the text has been highly influential on me and thousands of other Latter-day Saints.” Jonathan Neville
“For thousands of members of the Church, the censorship of Cumorah has become a serious enough issue that the editors of Saints responded publicly (although they haven’t yet responded to the other revisionist problems in Saints). Their response confirmed that they’ve been revising Church history to accommodate M2C. They now characterized their editorial policy as their effort to “uphold” what they perceive to be “neutrality” regarding Book of Mormon geography, a euphemism for accommodating 20th century theories about two-Cumorah’s. All along, I’ve emphasized that the censorship of Cumorah is an issue of accuracy in Church history, not a question of Book of Mormon geography.
The New York Cumorah says nothing about where the other events took place. In fact, for decades, Church leaders have consistently taught two things:
1. The hill Cumorah of Mormon 6:6 is in New York.
2. We don’t know where the other events took place (i.e., neutrality).
M2C intellectuals (including the historians) confuse members of the Church by conflating these two teachings. What they now characterize as “neutrality” is actually an explicit repudiation of the prophets and apostles, including members of the First Presidency speaking in General Conference.
Because M2C contradicts the plain teachings of the prophets and apostles, M2C intellectuals don’t want Church members to know what the prophets and apostles have taught. Saints is just the latest iteration of this effort.” Jonathan Neville
Church Historians Censor Other Information Below
Wentworth Letter Omission Here!
“The Prophet Joseph Smith shared with us important information regarding the Lamanites spoken of in the Book of Mormon and how they were the Native Americans of this land of North America.” Jonathan Neville
Church historians concede they censored Cumorah in Saints
“I’ve asserted that the editors of Saints censored Cumorah not to “suppress” or “speak against” a “heartland” model, but to accommodate (make room for) M2C. As you’ll see in a moment, they admit that’s exactly what they did.”Jonathan Neville
Cumorah – 8b, M2C in the Ensign
Few Church members realize the Ensign itself published the foundations for M2C (the Mesoamerican/two-Cumorahs theory). This brought M2C into the mainstream and gave cover for M2C intellectuals to openly defy the prophets and apostles. It helps explain why BYU/CES and other Church employees are so deeply invested in M2C, and why they refuse to look at the evidence that supports the teachings of the prophets and apostles regarding the New York Cumorah.
No-Wise #489 Where is the Hill Cumorah?
No-Wise #489 is a definite keeper. It exposes the paucity of evidence to support M2C’s repudiation of the prophets. Let’s take a look. Here’s the link. Here’s the opening image: They chose an image that makes the Hill Cumorah in New York appear insignificant, which supports their M2C narrative. Notice how Book of Mormon Central Censor (BOMCC) superimposes their Mayan logo. This is the logo that conveys their corporate mission to “to increase understanding of the Book of Mormon as an ancient Mesoamerican codex.”
Church historians concede they censored Cumorah in Saints
“…there is no historical evidence that Moroni called the hill “Cumorah” in 1823.” Editors of “Saints”
“This is a very carefully written sentence. It’s both another straw man fallacy and a deflection. The straw man is whether or not Moroni called the hill “Cumorah” in 1823. It’s an irrelevant point. Joseph could have learned the term from Moroni at any point between 1823 and 1827. What is important is that there is historical evidence that in 1827, before he got the plates, Joseph referred to the hill as “Cumorah.” These historians know this, but they word their statement here to deflect from that evidence, without overtly denying it exists. Joseph’s mother, Lucy Mack Smith, quoted Joseph referring to the hill Cumorah in 1827, in a passage these editors deliberately avoided when they wrote Saints, as I showed here.“ Jonathan Neville
“Chapter 4 of Saints, titled “Be Watchful,” covers the events leading up to the time when Joseph obtained the plates. You can read Chapter 4 here: At one point, the chapter relates an account of Joseph being chastised.” Jonathan Neville [Color headings and bold added]
CES Letter and other critics |
Today’s BYU Devotional Forum by Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge of the Seventy focused on how to approach critics.https://calendar.byu.edu/event/devotional-lawrence-e-corbridge-general-authority-seventy
I encourage everyone to read/watch his talk. Critics such as the CES Letter are having a tremendous impact on members of the Church (and investigators), and Elder Corbridge gives some great advice.
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Here, I want to discuss why the critics are so successful. I think their success is largely attributable to the teachings of certain LDS intellectuals that are being promulgated by CES and BYU.
IOW, the CES Letter is persuasive to people because of the teachings of LDS intellectuals who teach the youth that the prophets are wrong. This includes not only M2C advocates but also the revisionist Church historians who support them.
For now, I’ll give just two examples.
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| M2C-approved BYU Fantasy map that teaches students to think of the Book of Mormon in a fictional setting – because the prophets are wrong |
The Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion. The critics know that, so naturally that’s where they focus.
But their job is made easy because both CES and BYU teach their students that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were ignorant speculators who misled the Church about the New York Cumorah.
To make sure students grasp the point, CES and BYU use fantasy maps in their Book of Mormon classes.
Really, when CES and BYU students are being indoctrinated to think of the Book of Mormon in terms of a computer-generated fantasy map that has no relevance to the actual planet Earth, the critics are redundant.
The critics claim that the Book of Mormon is fiction, but every student going through CES and BYU is learning that already.
By contrast, how did Joseph and Oliver respond to the early anti-Mormon claim that the Book of Mormon was fiction? Did they draw a fantasy map and publish it in Church literature?
Of course not.
Instead, they wrote the first Gospel Topics Essays, published as letters, explaining the facts regarding the restoration of the Priesthood, the visit of Moroni, and the location of the Hill Cumorah in western New York.
They declared it was a fact that this is the very Hill Cumorah where (i) Joseph found the plates, (ii) Mormon concealed the repository of Nephite records, and (iii) both the Jaredite and Nephite nation waged their final battles. (See Mormon 6:6 and Letters IV and VII).
How do our intellectuals respond? Do they support and corroborate what Joseph and Oliver taught?
No. Instead, they side with the anti-Mormon critics and insist Joseph and Oliver were wrong.
They teach people to disbelieve these declarations by Joseph and Oliver that were republished multiple times during Joseph’s lifetime.
For example, Joseph’s brother William, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, republished Letter VII in New York City just two days after Joseph’s martyrdom in Carthage.
These LDS intellectuals proceed to teach their students to disbelieve the teachings of all the prophets who have reaffirmed the New York Cumorah, including members of the First Presidency speaking in General Conference.
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According to the M2C intellectuals, Joseph changed his mind about the setting of the Book of Mormon when he read a travel book in 1841-1842.
Look at this comment in the Joseph Smith Papers, for example. This is in the Historical Introduction to Orson Pratt’s 1840 missionary pamphlet titled “Interesting Account.”
Pratt’s association of Book of Mormon peoples with the history of all of North and South America matched common understanding of early Latter-day Saints. Shortly thereafter, when John Lloyd Stephens’s Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan became available in Nauvoo in about 1842, JS greeted it enthusiastically and church members used it to map Book of Mormon sites in a Central American setting.
In my view, this is an outrageously deceptive comment because Joseph Smith actually rejected Orson Pratt’s speculations.
If you’re a faithful member of the Church who reads the commentary in the Joseph Smith Papers, the Saints book, or even the Joseph Smith lesson manual, you will never know what Joseph actually taught.
Why?
Because the M2C intellectuals and their followers don’t want you to know what Joseph actually taught.
When he wrote the Wentworth Letter, Joseph Smith adapted parts of Pratt’s 1840 pamphlet. The Joseph Smith Papers comment explains it this way (same reference as above):
Interesting Account is not a JS document, because JS did not write it, assign it, or supervise its creation. However, two JS documents in this volume, “Church History” and “Latter Day Saints” (a later version of “Church History”), quote extensively from Pratt’s pamphlet. These documents made use of Pratt’s language to describe JS’s early visionary experiences and built on Pratt’s summary of the church’s “faith and doctrine” for the thirteen-point statement of church beliefs that came to be known as the Articles of Faith… Interesting Account is therefore included as an appendix to allow convenient comparison with JS’s histories.
“Church History” here refers to the 1842 Wentworth letter. While Joseph quoted from part of Pratt’s pamphlet when he wrote the Wentworth letter, he deleted all of Pratt’s speculation about the remnant of the Lamanites living in Central and South America and replaced it with this statement:
The remnant are the Indians that now inhabit this country.
This is the very passage that the Correlation/Curriculum Departments censored from the Joseph Smith Manual, as we’ve discussed before, such as here.
Why do the editors of the Joseph Smith Papers (JSP) claim Joseph “enthusiastically” “greeted” a travel book about Central America?
Because they continue to teach that Joseph Smith was the acting editor of the Times and Seasons, as opposed to merely the nominal editor. That teaching contradicts the historical evidence, as I’ve explained in detail in my three books about Nauvoo history. (This teaching causes other problems that I don’t have time to cover here.)
If you look at the footnote 6 to the JSP comment I linked to above, it references Terryl Givens for authority. Brother Givens also wrote the Foreword to John Sorenson’s Mormon’s Codex, in which he claims “So influential has Sorenson’s work on Book of Mormon Geography been that there is widespread consensus among believing scholars in support of what is now called the “Sorenson model,” which identifies the scripture’s setting with a Mesoamerican locale.”
Do you see how the M2C citation cartel works?
Brother Sorenson writes M2C material, including Mormon’s Codex, which was published by Deseret Book and the Maxwell Institute. Brother Givens writes the Foreword. Then the Joseph Smith Papers cites Brother Givens to support the proposition that Joseph Smith enthusiastically greeted the very travel book that is the premise for Mormon’s Codex.
It’s all circular reasoning, but it’s effective because most Church members rely on these intellectuals and historians to relate history accurately. They don’t realize this is all driven by the M2C agenda.
Recall, Mormon’s Codex is the book that teaches this: “There remain Latter-day Saints who insist that the final destruction of the Nephites took place in New York, but any such idea is manifestly absurd. Hundreds of thousands of Nephites traipsing across the Mississippi Valley to New York, pursued (why?) by hundreds of thousands of Lamanites, is a scenario worthy only of a witless sci-fi movie, not of history.”
Among these Latter-day Saints whose teachings are “manifestly absurd” according to the M2C intellectuals are these: Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Wilford Woodruff, Joseph F. Smith, Anthony Ivins, Joseph Fielding Smith, Marion G. Romney, James E. Talmage, LeGrand Richards, and many others who have declared, in their writings and in General Conference, that Cumorah is in New York.
These influential LDS scholars, who all believe in M2C, have infiltrated every department of the Church, and their work is found throughout the Joseph Smith Papers, as well as Saints, the lesson manuals, and the ubiquitous artwork and media productions.
They successfully indoctrinate people into believing M2C because the M2C citation cartel continues to censor the teachings of the prophets.
This all makes is much easier for CES Letter and other critics to undermine the faith of the Latter-day Saints.
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This is the tip of the iceberg, but today’s students don’t have to read CES Letter or other critical literature to lose their faith in the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon.
All they have to do is attend class at CES/BYU and learn how the prophets are wrong about so basic a fundamental as the location of the Hill Cumorah.
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Source: Book of Mormon Wars
Be Encouraged to Find New Truth about the Book of Mormon
“Let me here say a word in relation to new discoveries in our knowledge of the Book of Mormon, and for matter of that in relation to all subjects connected with the work of the Lord in the earth. We need not follow our researches in any spirit of fear and trembling. We desire only to ascertain the truth; nothing but the truth will endure; and the ascertainment of the truth and the proclamation of the truth in any given case, or upon any subject, will do no harm to the work of the Lord which is itself truth. Nor need we be surprised if now and then we find our predecessors, many of whom bear honored names and deserve our respect and gratitude for what they achieved in making clear the truth, as they conceived it to be–we need not be surprised if we sometimes find them mistaken in their conceptions and deductions; just as the generation who succeed us in unfolding in a larger way some of the yet unlearned truths of the Gospel, will find that we have had some misconceptions and made some wrong deductions in our day and time. . . . All which is submitted, especially to the membership of the Church, that they may be prepared to find and receive new truths both in the Book of Mormon itself and about it.” (B. H. Roberts, New Witnesses for God, Vol. II. (3 Volumes), Deseret News: Salt Lake City, 1909, pp. 503-504)
In all things follow the Spirit of Personal Revelation about additional truth, as no one can receive new revelation for the Church except the Prophet who holds all keys.
