Rod Meldrum and Jonathan Neville discussed historical ground-breaking material about LDS Church history in two recent Book of Mormon Evidence podcasts. Each discussion was an hour long. (Links Below)

Did you know Benjamin Winchester changed the course of history for the Church? Did you know there were two sets of gold plates for the Book of Mormon? Did you know that Zarahemla is across the Mississippi River from Nauvoo, Ill.? Did you know the Sidon River in the Book of Mormon is the Mississippi? Did you know Zarahemla and Sidon are Phoenician words? Artificial Intelligence (AI) and modern Stylometry reveal the truth, as Jonathan and Rod point out.

Benjamin Winchester

Benjamin Winchester wrote three articles appearing In the Times and Seasons indicating the Book of Mormon took place in Mesoamerica. These articles were attributed erroneously to Joseph Smith. The Prophet Joseph tried to change Benjamin’s mind and couldn’t. Joseph prophesied of Benjamin’s apostasy, and that he would do great harm to the Church. Joseph said Winchester was “rotten at heart.”

Jonathan’s book, The Lost City of Zarahemla, From Iowa to Guatemala—and Back Again, details how Winchester deceived the Church. I share Jonathan’s perspective here: “In 1842, a zealous, committed Mormon [Benjamin Winchester] invented a way to gain more converts. All he had to do was link the Book of Mormon to popular books, including a national bestseller, about Mesoamerica. This proof would be irresistible to the public. Except the prophet disagreed with the tactic. Convinced he was right, he battled Joseph Smith. Formally suspended and silenced, he fought back. He arranged for the publication in the Times and Seasons of articles that specifically linked the Book of Mormon to Mesoamerica. The consequences? Joseph Smith resigned from the paper. The champions of the Mesoamerican theory apostatized from the Church. And the Mesoamerican theory would undermine faith in Joseph Smith’s role as prophet, seer and revelator for the next 174 years. This man’s zeal and subterfuge have remained a secret despite the devoted efforts of historians, educators, and church leaders to uncover the truth. Until now.”

The Lord knows the end from the beginning and can turn bad into good. So, I find it fascinating that the Lord gave Joseph a revelation in March 1841 – “Let them build up a city unto my name upon the land opposite the city of Nauvoo, and let the name of Zarahemla be named upon it.” (D&C 125:3) These controversial articles in the Times and Seasons came later, and they changed the course of history significantly for the Lord’s Church. Here, the Lord has given a revelation to those paying attention to His word to avoid Winchester’s deceit.

In the infinite wisdom of the Lord, this revelation didn’t say Zarahemla was there for His all-knowing wise purposes. The magnificent ruins in Central and South America caught the eye of many Church leaders and academics in the Church. And most believed the articles in the Times and Seasons, promoting the Mesoamerica model, were attributed to the Prophet Joseph. That model came to be believed by most members of the Church. I believed it, as did Jonathan Neville!

Now, AI and modern stylometry techniques show those articles were written by Benjamin Winchester, and the Church members have been massively deceived. Now, we can prove that North America is where the Book of Mormon took place. The Book of Mormon geography is here in this “Land of Promise”—North America.

Edna Allan’s Major Insight

My wife, Edna, knowing the Lord can turn bad into good, had a major insight. She believes the Lord knowing this deceit turned bad into good. This deceit caused the Church to take the gospel to the people in Central and South America much more than otherwise. Because the Church leaders and members believed the Book of Mormon took place in Central and South America, they focused missionary work in that direction. The blessings to those good people have been enormous. Indeed, the course of history for the Church has changed for the good in spite of the deceit.

Exposing The Deceit

Now, the Lord is exposing that deceit, as the North American Indians (Lamanites) are blossoming as a rose in fulfillment of prophecy. Rod and Jonathan, in their podcasts, document this deceit in detail. They share the history of how this deceit came about.

Also, I am privileged to be part of Book of Mormon Heartland showing where the Book of Mormon really took place. This geography model exposes this deceit.  At the same time, in the above links, I prove the Mesoamerica model false.

Because the Lord turned this deceit into good, there are now 8 million members of the Church in Central and South America combined. Interestingly, there are only 7 million in the United States and Canada combined. The combined membership in Central and South America would be much fewer if this deceit had not occurred. Now, 15 million of the 17 million members of the Church are in the Americas.

Membership growth curves have changed dramatically over time. Now the membership in Africa is exploding, while the growth is flat in the Americas and in most of the rest of the world. The main cause of that flattening is Satan’s Wokeism and all the secularism that has invaded our education systems. The proven false theories of Darwinian evolution and the Big Bang are pervasive.

If you go to the statistics on the Church’s website, you will notice that there is no Central America. All the Central America countries are lumped in with North America. I had to add up the membership from the individual countries to get a Central America statistic. I did this from the Church’s Wikipedia page.

Unfortunately, the 2024 “Come Follow Me” manual for the Church still shows pictures from Mesoamerica. Even though the Mesoamerica model for Book of Mormon geography has been proven false.

However, we have seen progress. I taught the “Institute of Religion” class for the Moroni Stake in our Church for eleven years. The original Book of Mormon manual for that course of study had many pictures depicting Mesoamerica geography for the Book of Mormon. They made a new manual and took out all of those pictures.  “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” (John 8:32)

Two Sets of Gold Plates

Most don’t know that there were two sets of gold plates used in translating the Book of Mormon. Jonathan Neville has written an excellent book about this important topic: Whatever Happened to the Golden Plates? He also helped me with a blog article sharing this fascinating dimension for these sacred records coming forth.

Joseph shared that Moroni wrote the Title Page for the Book of Mormon. It was underneath the plates Joseph translated that were given to Joseph from the stone box in the Hill Cumorah. Two-thirds of them were sealed. These are the plates from which Joseph translated the Book of Lehi. The 116 pages of that translation were lost by Martin Harris’s wife, with Satanic designs. He was then instructed by the Lord to translate the Book of Mosiah through and including the Book of Moroni.

Notice the two paragraphs of the Title Page tell us that it is an abridgment of the record of the Nephites and an abridgment of the record of the Jaredites, respectively. These abridgments were made by Mormon and Moroni, respectively. The Title Page mentions nothing of the unabridged portion coming later from the small plates. It is estimated that the large plates taken from the stone box weighed about 60 lbs.

After finishing that translation from the large plates, Joseph was then instructed to give the large plates to a messenger. That messenger took them and put them into the repository in the Hill Cumorah. This is a room of records that was in the Hill Cumorah different from the stone box. As Jonathan points out from his research, that messenger was Nephi, one of the three Nephites. (3 Nephi 28) Nephi then took the small plates from the repository to Joseph Smith in Fayette, NY. Joseph had been instructed to go to Fayette to the Peter and Mary Whitmer home. The Whitmer family were kind supporters of the completion of this sacred work. Joseph then finished the translation from 1 Nephi through and including at least part of the Words of Mormon in the Book of Mormon.

This is a beautiful example of the FIRST shall be LAST, and the LAST shall be FIRST (D&C 29:30). “… the first shall be last, and that the last shall be first in all things whatsoever I have created by the word of my power, which is the power of my Spirit.” The last of the Book of Mormon was translated first, and the first part was translated last. “Brother Nephi” showed these small plates to Mary Whitmer, and she said that was how he introduced himself.

After the translation was finished in Fayette, the Three Witnesses were privileged to be shown the large plates by Moroni. They did not handle them but heard the Lord’s voice witnessing of their truth. All three of these witnesses later became disaffected with the Church, but never denied their testimonies. In a court of law, this would be sufficient evidence for the validation of this sacred record.

Again, as Jonathan points out, Joseph then took these plates back to the repository in the Hill Cumorah. These are the plates that Joseph showed to the eight witnesses near Palmyra. These witnesses were privileged to heft and turn the leaves of the small plates. Joseph’s father was one of those witnesses and said the plates weighed about 30 pounds.
No part of these plates was sealed.

John Whitmer, one of the scribes for the translation of the small plates, copied off some of the characters. This is the famous “CARACTERS” document. AI and Stylometry have identified John as the scribe. These characters are not “reformed Egyptian”, but Demotic Egyptian. That was the language used at the time Lehi left Jerusalem. Bryan Nettles verifies this in a blog article. You can see a picture of the “CARACTERS” document in this blog article.

Some confuse the “CARACTERS” document with the Anthon transcript. It is not. Joseph copied and translated some characters from the large plates, while in Harmony, PA. Martin Harris took these to experts to validate them. This is where we have a fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy regarding the Book of Mormon: (See Isaiah 29:11-24 and JS-H 63-65)

• Isa. 29:11 And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:
• 12 And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.

The Found City of Zarahemla

As mentioned, Jonathan Neville wrote the wonderful book, The Lost City of Zarahemla. He later told me, he should have named it, “The Found City of Zarahemla.” I find it fascinating that the Lord gave the revelation to Joseph Smith to name the city across from Nauvoo, Ill, Zarahemla. In His infinite wisdom, the Lord not only did it just before the Mesoamerica, Times and Seasons, deceit problem. The Lord also did not say it was the same site as the city and land so important in Book of Mormon history.

The Lord knew we would find that out later. Which we have after the massive Church’s effort to take the fullness of the gospel to the people in Central and South America. And the Church missionaries have had great success in doing so.

Now we know it is the day when the Lamanites (North American Natives) are blossoming as a rose in preparation for the Lord’s coming. We are learning more and more about the Native Americans. We now know not only where the City and the Land of Zarahemla are. Recent discoveries have shown an amazing, Spotted Bee Balm, an herbal remedy found in that area. It reminds one of the following scripture:

And some who died with fevers, which at some seasons of the year were very frequent in the land—but not so much so with fevers, because of the excellent qualities of the many plants and roots which God had prepared to remove the cause of diseases, to which men were subject by the nature of the climate— (Alma 46:40)

We remember when the saints settled in Nauvoo, they had serious problems with malaria. Now you can go to www.RocktheWorldBotanicals.com and take advantage of this newly discovered herbal blend. Its purest form and greatest abundance is where the Land of Zarahemla was!

Non-member Assistance

It seems that the leadership of our church has taken a neutral stand regarding Book of Mormon geography. Since many of the religion professors at BYU believe in the Mesoamerica model, I am guessing their influence has something to do with why we see Mesoamerica images in the Church’s 2024 “Come Follow Me” program.

Yet, the Lord has set an everlasting decree that whosoever possesses this land shall serve the God of this land, who is Jesus Christ. If they do not, they shall be “Swept off.” The people of North America cannot say, if they are destroyed, they didn’t know. (Ether 2:7-12) The Book of Mormon is very clear on the critical need for the people of this “Promised Land” to repent.

I find it fascinating how the Lord has orchestrated with non-members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Phillip Beale has shown the path of how the Lehites got to North America.  Russell Burrows has found some 4,000 ancient artifacts in the southern Illinois, Indiana area. Many North American Natives are reaching out to assist in sharing that the Book of Mormon is of their ancestry. The DNA of many of the native North Americans have strong Israelite markers. We read in the Title page the Lord’s purpose for the Book of Mormon:

It “is to show unto the remnant of the house of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever— And also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that JESUS is the CHRIST, the ETERNAL GOD, manifesting himself unto all nations.” Now the Book of Mormon is in 115 languages, and more are coming.

The printing of the first 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon in the Divine ratio was a major miracle. I was praying about this miracle. And, the Lord revealed to my mind and heart that these 5,000 copies were printed in the Divine ratio: 7 ½ inches / 4 5/8 inches = 1.62. In honor of this miracle, I had my new book, Time & Eternity, printed in the Divine ratio as well.

David W. Allan

Book of Mormon Evidence Part 3

Book of Mormon Evidence Part 4

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