Martin Harris’ Modern Angelic Testimony
Our good friend, Lynn “Doc” Cleland, recently shared with us a four-minute video he made of Martin Harris living in Douglas, Wyoming. Martin is the third great-grandson of Martin Harris, who was one of the three witnesses bearing testimony that the angel Moroni had shown them the gold plates used by Joseph Smith to translate the Book of Mormon. The witnesses heard the voice of God commanding them to share their testimony with the world, which is in every copy of the Book of Mormon. As orchestrated by the Lord, the original Martin Harris angelically shared his testimony again through his third great-grandson. This happened in 2009 as part of Doc’s incredible handcart journey while replicating his third great-grandmother’s handcart experience.
Lynn “Doc” Cleland’s Journey of nearly 1,400 Miles
I had the opportunity to meet Lynn “Doc” Cleland at a Book of Mormon Evidence conference in 2023. He told us about his third great-grandmother, Sarah Goode, who had joined the Church and was widowed in 1854. She was left alone with six children under the age of 12.
Before leaving England in April of 1856 to join the saints in Salt Lake, she was given a blessing and promise she would complete the journey successfully and not lose any of her children on the way. She was also promised that she would be the first one to enter the Salt Lake Valley from her company.
After they arrived in the States they went by train to Iowa City, where she joined the Ellsworth handcart company. On the last day of the 1,400-mile trek, she got permission from Captain Ellsworth to leave early. She and her six children were the first to enter the Salt Lake Valley, as promised in her blessing. As she pulled her handcart into the valley, with her permission, her six children were swept up by horsemen who came to meet them at the mouth of Immigration Canyon. It was a time of great rejoicing.
She is featured in the movie, Seventeen Miracles. Her experience was also featured in a 2006 ENSIGN article: “Some Must Push and Some Must Pull”. This article touched Doc’s heart and he knew her story through his family history. In 2009, he decided to honor this brave woman by replicating her experience.
Doc built a handcart, ate the same kinds of food Sarah would have eaten, and pulled a handcart alone for nearly 1,400 miles, following the same path as best he could. Over the 110-day journey, he lost 48 pounds, and nearly died three times during his trek and was miraculously healed.
He has written the book, “Faith Greater Than Pain”, which is available on Amazon. A full-length Hollywood-level movie is planned to share his remarkable experience.
Angelic Experiences
Doc had some major angelic assistance experiences during his trek and learned that Sarah had been with him all the way. She inspired him in the writing of the book. The Lord’s orchestration of the following is also a most inspiring example. When he got to Douglas, WY, he noticed that there was an LDS church not far from the trail. So, he went there that evening where he met the Young Men’s President for their ward by the name of Martin Harris. Doc learned that Martin is the third great son of Martin Harris–one of the three witnesses of the Book of Mormon. As a witness, his profound testimony is in every copy of the Book of Mormon.
Grandfather, Martin Harris, also mortgaged his farm to provide the $3,000 needed to print the first 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon. He also took the characters to Professor Charles Anthon to validate their correctness which Joseph Smith had copied and translated from the gold plates. The printing of the Book of Mormon was also a major miracle all by itself.
A Coincidence?
Doc called the local Bishop and got permission to set up his tent on the lawn of the church. Since this was a Wednesday evening and Brother Harris was at the church with the young people, Doc asked him for a favor. Doc had a replica of the first copy of the Book of Mormon and felt to ask Martin to write in it and share his testimony of the book, and Martin agreed to do that.
After a long evening, at about 10 o’clock Martin gave the book back to Doc in his tent. Doc being tired, didn’t read what Martin had written until two days later. He was so touched by his testimony, he decided to make a trip back to Douglas, Wyoming, and have Martin tell him, “The rest of the story.”
When Doc went back, to Douglas, Brother Harris shared that over the course of that Wednesday evening, he couldn’t think what to write; he just stared at a blank page. Finally, after all his church duties were taken care of and while pondering what to write, a phrase came into his mind. He wrote it down. Then, he waited; another phrase came into his mind. He wrote it down, and this continued until the testimony was completed.
Doc shared with me this testimony, which is most inspiring. It is the original Martin Harris putting into the mind of his third great-grandson his current testimony. Doc also shared with me a four-minute video he obtained from the grandson telling of this unique angelic experience.
So, we have this unique ministering angel Divine orchestration. Martin’s third great-grandfather, Martin Harris—one of the three witnesses of the gold plates, gets to share his testimony again. In due process, Doc will be sharing that marvelous current testimony that is written in his first replica edition of the Book of Mormon in a movie.
This event reminds me of how Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon. He would study the characters on the gold plates through the Urim and Thummim and then a phase would come to mind. The phrase needed to be correct–including the spelling of a lot of unique names– before he could move on. This translation process was indeed a major miracle. It is estimated that Joseph spent about 65 days in translation and averaged about 20 words per minute from this ancient unknown Egyptian language. A MARVELOUS WORK AND A WONDER, indeed; not a coincidence!
It is now known that the small plates translated by Joeseph Smith in Fayette, NY, were Demotic Egyptian (1 Nephi through Omni). One of the scribes, John Whitmer, copied off some of these characters, and my good friend, Brian Nettles, has been able to translate many of them. In this link, you can see a copy of the “Caracter’s” document that Brian translated from.
The large plates translated in Harmony, PA, were Reformed Egyptian with Mormon and Moroni being the scribes. Most people don’t know there were two sets of plates that Joseph used to translate the Book of Mormon.
David W. Allan (13 July 2024)
PS Doc has given me permission to share Martin’s testimony and video with those I can trust. Let me know if you are interested. Neither Martin’s testimony nor the video should be duplicated because Doc maintains the rights for them to be in the forthcoming movie.
This angelic ministration experience is a beautiful example as shared by Vinney Tolman in his most inspiring book: The Light After Death. The book report referenced gives inspiring details of the importance of angelic ministrations.
Photo: Utah State Historical Society