Recently, a very errant Evangelical Protestant who claims to be a "Mormon Studies Scholar" posted a reformatted version of this page attempting to call into question the Three and Eight Witnesses of the Book of Mormon. However, such "arguments" have long been refuted, and as someone who prides himself on his knowledge of LDS history, this Protestant should have known better. For example, all these and other "arguments" were refuted back in 1981 by Richard Lloyd Anderson:
Richard Lloyd Anderson, Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1981).
Other excellent articles proving the credibility of the testimony of the witnesses would include:
Richard Lloyd Anderson, Attempts to Redefine the Experience of the Eight Witnesses
As an example of who utterly deceptive and poorly researched this article is, under the section entitled, “Overview of the three witnesses” the anti-LDS Website reads as follows:
Brigham Young said, "Some of the Witnesses of the Book of Mormon, who handled the plates and conversed with the angels of God, were afterwards left to doubt and to disbelieve that they had ever seen an angel." (Journal of Discourses, Vol 7, page 164, 1859, Brigham Young.)
Matthew Roper ably answered the Tanners on this “criticism”:
Nonofficial Witnesses of the Book of Mormon
Some of the witnesses of the Book of Mormon, who handled the plates and conversed with the angels of God, were afterwards left to doubt and to disbelieve that they had ever seen an angel. One of the Quorum of the Twelve—a young man full of faith and good works, prayed, and the vision of his mind was opened, and the angel of God came and laid the plates before him, and he saw and handled them, and saw the angel, and conversed with him as he would with one of his friends; but after all this, he was left to doubt, and plunged into apostacy [sic], and has continued to contend against this work. There are hundreds in a similar condition.4
I previously noted that the Tanners had only cited the first sentence of the statement, giving the misleading impression that President Young had reference to the eleven official Book of Mormon witnesses, when, in fact, the next sentence explains that he was referring to a member of the Quorum of the Twelve. None of the eleven special witnesses of the Book of Mormon was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve.5
The Tanners now claim that the statement shows that Young felt that “two or more of the [three] witnesses had fallen into disbelief.”6 But this ignores other statements by Brigham Young which affirm that the witnesses were always true to their testimonies of the Book of Mormon, even after they left the Church. “Martin Harris declared, before God and angels, that he had seen angels. Did he apostatize? Yes, though he says that the Book of Mormon is true. Oliver Cowdery also left the Church, though he never denied the Book of Mormon, not even in the wickedest days he ever saw.”7 Abundant evidence from interviews and personal correspondence shows that David Whitmer staunchly adhered to his testimony of the Book of Mormon and never doubted the reality of the angel and the plates,8 a fact that was acknowledged by early Mormon leaders.9 Brigham’s statement does not fit the Eight Witnesses either, since they only saw and handled the plates, while the doubters in question disbelieved “that they had ever seen an angel.” This makes the Tanners’ claim that Brigham had reference to one of the eleven difficult to sustain.
The Tanners, however, argue that Brigham Young’s statement refers to “different cases of apostasy. First he spoke of some of the Book of Mormon witnesses having doubt and disbelief concerning the gold plates from which the Book of Mormon was supposed to be translated and also regarding the angel who showed them the plates. President Young then claimed that a member of the Quorum of the Twelve also had an experience in which ‘an angel of God came and laid the plates before him.’ “10 Once again, however, the Tanners’ explanation does not accurately represent what Brigham Young said. He did not state that some of the Three or Eight Witnesses doubted that they saw or handled the plates, but only speaks of “some” unidentified witnesses of the Book of Mormon who doubted and disbelieved that they had “seen an angel.” Moreover, the word “also” is not part of Brigham Young’s statement.11 Consequently, the phrase “some of the witnesses” in the first sentence need only include the young member of the Twelve and one other unidentified individual, and not one of the official eleven witnesses, as the Tanners claim. Finally, President Young compares these doubters to unidentified “hundreds of others in a similar condition” of unbelief. Whether intentional or not, by emphasizing only the first sentence of the paragraph, the Tanners do in fact perpetuate a misleading and inaccurate interpretation of Brigham Young’s statement, an interpretation which has little or no historical basis.
The Tanners insist that when Brigham Young speaks of “witnesses” to the Book of Mormon, he can only be referring to the Three or Eight Witnesses.12 However, that interpretation only makes sense if the use of the term by Brigham Young and his contemporaries is exclusive to the official eleven. While Brigham Young clearly recognized the unique calling of the Three and Eight Witnesses to the Book of Mormon, he and his contemporaries could also use the term witness in the context of the Book of Mormon to designate a wider group of individuals. “How many witnesses has the Book of Mormon?” he once asked. “Hundreds and thousands are now living upon the earth, who testify of its truth.”13 “Besides the testimony of these twelve witnesses, hundreds and thousands have received a witness to themselves from the heavens, and who can dispute their testimony?”14 In other words, according to Brigham Young, anyone who can testify that the Book of Mormon is true is, in a very real sense, a Book of Mormon witness. That would include all those testifying from a variety of experiences—those who saw angels, saw or handled the plates, heard the voice of God, had visions, dreams, or those who simply prayed and received the testimony of the Holy Ghost that it is true.15 So the term witness need not be limited to the official eleven. However, the context of Brigham Young’s statement alludes to “some,” that is, at least two within the group of Book of Mormon witnesses who “handled the plates and conversed with the angels of God.” So Brigham Young is speaking of those witnesses who could testify of angels, the plates, or both. Known examples from Church history suggest that there may be many who could fall into that category.
In a revelation given in 1831 the Lord stated, “I have sent forth mine angel flying through the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel, who hath appeared unto some and hath committed it unto man, who shall appear unto many that dwell on the earth” (D&C 133:36). In 1837 John Taylor referred to the testimony of Joseph Smith regarding the angel and the plates, noting that Joseph “was told to choose other three men to whom God would reveal the same things. These three men were together, making prayer to the Lord on the subject, and the angel of the Lord appeared to them, unfolded God’s purposes, showed them the plates, and told them the interpretation was correct. Since that time angels have appeared to a great number of others, who bear testimony to the same things.”16 Early convert Zerah Pulsipher joined the Church shortly after he saw a vision in which angels testified to him that the Book of Mormon was “the great revelation of the last days in which all things spoken of by the prophets must be fulfilled.”17 Oliver Granger reportedly had a vision in which the angel Moroni appeared to him and testified that the Book of Mormon was true.18 Another convert, Benjamin Brown, described how after pleading with the Lord for a testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, he was visited and severely rebuked by divine messengers who then warned him, “Now you know for yourself! You have seen and heard! If you now fall away, there is no forgiveness for you.”19
Not only did some individuals receive the witness of heavenly messengers who testified of the Book of Mormon, but others not among the eleven saw both an angel and the plates. Joseph Smith’s mother reported that Lucy Harris described a dream in which she was reproved by an angel for her unbelief. “She [Mrs. Harris] related a very remarkable dream which she said she had during the night. It ran as follows. She said that a personage appeared to her, who told her, that as she had disputed the servant of the Lord, and said his word was not to be believed, and had also asked him many improper questions, she had done that which was not right in the sight of God. After which he said to her, ‘Behold, here are the plates, look upon them and believe.’ After giving us an account of her dream, she described the record very minutely.” Yet after all this she still rejected the Gospel.20 Harrison Burgess, another early convert to the Church, witnessed a similar experience in 1832, although in this instance it was not a dream. He explained that after he retired to the woods, he “commenced praying to the God of heaven for a testimony of these things. Suddenly a glorious personage clothed in white stood before me and exhibited to my view the plates from which the Book of Mormon was taken.”21 While the Book of Mormon was being translated at the Whitmer home in Fayette, New York, Mary Musselman Whitmer was shown the plates by a messenger who “turned the leaves of the book of plates over, leaf after leaf, and also showed her the engravings upon them; after which he told her to be faithful in bearing her burden a little longer, promising that if she would do so, she would be blessed and her reward would be sure, if she proved faithful to the end.”22
In 1846 John D. Lee visited Luke Johnson in St. Joseph, Missouri. Johnson had been one of the original twelve apostles who had left the Church during the Kirtland apostasy of 1837—38. Not insignificantly, Lee described Johnson as “one of the witnesses23 to the Book of Mormon” even though he was not one of the eleven. According to Lee:
While there I met Luke Johnson, one of the witnesses to the Book of Mormon. I had a curiosity to talk with him concerning the same. We took a walk down on the river bank. I asked him if the statement he signed about seeing the angel and the plates, was true. If he did see the plates from which the Book of Mormon was printed or translated. He said it was true. I then said, ‘How is it that you have left the Church? If the angel appeared to you, and you saw the plates, how can you now live out of the Church? I understand you were one of the twelve apostles at the first organization of the Church?’ ‘I was one of the twelve,’ said he, ‘I have not denied the truth of the Book of Mormon. But myself and several others were overtaken in a fault at Kirtland, Ohio. . . . But I have reflected over the matter much since that time, and I have come to the conclusion that each man is accountable for his own sins, also that the course I have been pursuing injures me alone, and I intend to visit the Saints and again ask to be admitted to the Church.24
Luke Johnson returned to the Church in time to accompany the first Saints west and would later become a bishop in the Church. Consequently, Brigham Young’s statement, “and has continued to contend against this work,” may refer to yet another apostle who left the Church during the Kirtland apostasy. Brigham’s statement may in fact refer to Luke’s brother Lyman Johnson who reportedly apostatized after having seen an angel. “Lyman Johnson had wonderful manifestations given unto him; but when he fell into transgression . . . the power and authority that had distinguished him before was withdrawn.”25 ” I remember hearing President Snow say on more than one occasion,” recalled Mathias Cowley, “how determined Lyman E. Johnson was to see an angel from the Lord. He plead [sic] with and teased the Lord to send an angel to him until he saw an angel; but President Snow said the trouble with him was that he saw an angel one day and saw the devil the next day, and finally the devil got away with him.”26
Although the Tanners claim that Brigham Young said the Three Witnesses doubted their testimony of the Book of Mormon, available historical evidence does not support that position. Since many early members of the Church claimed powerful spiritual experiences connected with the Book of Mormon, and since these individuals are also referred to by early Mormons as Book of Mormon “witnesses,” we can justifiably conclude that the phrase “some of the witnesses,” contrary to the Tanners, does indeed refer to some early Mormons who had similar experiences, but not to one of the official Book of Mormon witnesses.
Notes for the Above
5. The Tanners complained that my criticism was unfair (p. 13). They responded that the adjoining page of Mormonism: Shadow or Reality? contained a "photographic copy of not only the quotation but also the entire page of Brigham Young’s sermon!" (ibid.). Unfortunately, the Tanners have failed to reproduce the page in question in more recent adaptations of their work; see Jerald and Sandra Tanner, The Changing World of Mormonism, 2d ed. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1981), 94. So the issue remains a legitimate one.
8. Anderson, Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses, 79—92; Lyndon W. Cook, David Whitmer Interviews: A Restoration Witness (Orem, UT: Grandin, 1991).
11. Ironically, the Tanners accuse me of trying to “redefine Brigham Young’s statement” (ibid.), when, in fact, they have done so by fabricating the nontextual word “also” to defend a dubious interpretation without historical support.
12. Ibid.
15. Orson Pratt, in JD 16:216—17, speaks in a similar vein: “I will ask the Latter-day SaintsÑthose now sitting before me throughout this large audience, how did you know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God when you dwelt in England and had never seen the man? How did you know in Sweden, in Denmark, in Norway, Switzerland, Italy, Australia and in the various parts of the earth from which you emigrated? How did you know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God before you crossed the mighty ocean and came to this land? You learned this fact by a knowledge imparted to you by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost in your own native countries. There you have been healed, and have seen the manifestation of the power of God in healing the sick from time to time. There you have had the vision of your minds opened to behold heavenly things. There you have heard the voice of the Almighty speaking to you by revelation and testifying to you of the things of heaven. Many of you have experienced those great and blessed gifts.” Orson Pratt described this all-inclusive group as a “vast cloud of witnesses raised up among all nations, and kindreds, and tongues and people to whom this work has been sent, . . . bearing the same testimonyÑthat God has spoken and that the Book of Mormon is true, for the Lord revealed it to them” (emphasis added).
17. Zerah Pulsipher, History of Zerah Pulsipher, unpublished manuscript, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, 5.
20. Lucy Mack Smith, Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith the Prophet and His Progenitors for Many Generations (Liverpool: Richards, 1853), 112.
21. Harrison Burgess, “Sketch of a Life Well Spent,” LDS Church Archives, 65—66.
22. Andrew Jensen, The Historical Record (October 1881): 621, cited in Anderson, Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses, 30—33; for a description by David Whitmer see Cook, David Whitmer Interviews, 13, 28, 182, 214, 216—18.
23. There is virtually no difference between a witness to the Book of Mormon and a witness of the Book of Mormon. Church leaders could also use the preposition to in describing the Three Witnesses; cf. JD 7:55; 12:87.
24. John D. Lee, Mormonism Unveiled or the Life and Confessions of the Late Bishop John D. Lee (St. Louis, Missouri: Bryan, 1877), 184 (emphasis added).
25. JD 26:248. A blessing in February 1835 promised “that Holy angels shall administer to him occasionally,Ó in HC 2:188.