Where Did The Book Of Mormon Really Take Place?
Part 1 of 4 in the series “Book of Mormon Geography — And Why It Matters”
Many people say the geography of the Book of Mormon doesn’t matter. I have come to believe it matters a great deal — and I would like to share why.
Let Us Start With What We Know
The prophets have taught that:
- Hill Cumorah is in New York. Jonathan Neville has put together what he calls a “BYU Packet” of the prophets’ statements regarding Hill Cumorah being in New York
- We don’t know where all the other events took place — not because there is no evidence, but because there is too much evidence.
- From the Prophet Joseph we know that Zelph’s mound is real, and that the statements about it were received by revelation (see the Annotated Edition of the Book of Mormon).
- Joseph also identified the Nephi altar at Adam-ondi-Ahman as real.
- Joseph named the City of Manti and its location in Missouri.
- By revelation, the Lord gave the name Zarahemla to the city across from Nauvoo (see D&C 125:3). Jonathan Neville’s book The Lost City of Zarahemla discusses this important topic well.
Why Geography Matters
Moroni, who saw our day, recorded the Lord’s everlasting decree for this land of North America:
“For behold, this is a land which is choice above all other lands; wherefore he that doth possess it shall serve God or shall be swept off; for it is the everlasting decree of God.” (Ether 2:10)
Elder L. Tom Perry proclaimed that the United States is the promised land foretold in the Book of Mormon — a land the Lord prepared so that liberty and religious freedom would make the Restoration possible. “It was no coincidence,” he taught, “that the First Vision came just decades after the birth of the United States.”
If Elder Perry is right — and I believe he is — then it is critical that the people of the United States repent and serve God, or be “swept off.” How much more clear can it be? Yet many say Book of Mormon geography doesn’t matter.
How I Came to the Heartland Model
In my early years in the Church, I believed, like most members, that Mesoamerica explained Book of Mormon geography. Decades ago, our son Sterling first woke me up to the possibility that it could be otherwise, and that the Great Lakes area had a large number of artifacts consistent with the Book of Mormon.
Since then, I have gotten to know many researchers who have opened my eyes to the Heartland model — Wayne May, Rod Meldrum, Amberli Peterson, Jonathan Neville, Timothy Ballard, Ryan Fisher, Steve Smoot, Richard Moats, and many others. Much of what I share here comes from their research, and I am extremely grateful to them. Their work shows the consistency of the Heartland model, while giving evidence that the Mesoamerica model doesn’t match the history, geography, or archaeology of the Book of Mormon message.
How Can You Know Something Is True?
As a scientist, and as a devout member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I have three criteria I use in my search for TRUTH. I have studied the evidence around Elder Perry’s statement using these three criteria:
- If God says it, then I know.
- You cannot prove a theory or hypothesis true. We don’t know enough; only God knows enough. If something agrees with our paradigm, that does not validate it. Correlation does not provide validation.
- If you have reliable data proving a theory or hypothesis false, then you know it is false. Then you can move away from it and go on in your search for TRUTH.
I capitalize TRUTH because God’s TRUTHs never change. There is so much of relativism in the world that Satan uses to deceive people from knowing the TRUTHs of God.
The Lord Himself taught the first of these: “If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will “know” whether the teaching comes from God (John 7:17). And “if ye continue in my word… ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31–32).
These criteria reach far beyond geography. Most scientists today believe the theory of evolution and the big-bang theory to be true; There is reliable data proving both false — and by the third criterion, we can know it and move on. This is really important because most of the people of the world believe otherwise leading them down satanic distorted paths.
The Lord also gave a sure promise to those who treasure up His word: “And whoso treasureth up my word, shall not be deceived, for the Son of Man shall come, and he shall send his angels before him with the great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together the remainder of his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (Joseph Smith—Matthew 1:37). He is the Word (John 1:1).
We live in a world where credentials seem to be more important than inspiration. Well did Jacob counsel: “When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God… But to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God” (2 Nephi 9:28–29). Learning is a God given opportunity He has given us. But learning that sets aside the counsel of God can be deceiving.
The Savior also gave us a test for prophets: “Ye shall know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16). By the Savior’s criterion, Joseph Smith is a prophet of God.
Why the Mesoamerica Model Doesn’t Fit
It only takes one reliable source of data to prove a theory false, but here are several:
- The DNA of the aboriginal peoples of Mesoamerica is mainly Asian. House of Israel DNA shows up mainly in North America’s Heartland.
DNA map - The Book of Mormon peoples practiced the Law of Moses; the things necessary to observe that law didn’t exist in Mesoamerica.
- Mesoamerica is not “a choice land… above all other lands” (2 Nephi 10:19), nor has it ever been “a chosen land, and the land of liberty” (Alma 46:17).
- Mesoamerica did not produce the “mighty nation among the Gentiles” that would scatter Lehi’s seed (1 Nephi 22:7). That was clearly the United States.
- The New Jerusalem was promised for this land (Ether 13:2–3) — not Mesoamerica.
- Nephi prophesied that the Bible would be carried to this Gentile nation, and that the Book of Mormon would be “hid up, to come forth unto the Gentiles” (1 Nephi 13:35). That happened at Hill Cumorah — not in Mesoamerica.
What the Prophets Have Said
Joseph Smith, who knew better than anyone where the Book of Mormon took place, wrote to his wife Emma during Zion’s Camp that they were “wandering over the plains of the Nephites, recounting occasionally the history of the Book of Mormon, roving over the mounds of that once beloved people of the Lord.” (Letter to Emma Smith, 4 June 1834). On that same journey, Joseph identified by revelation the skeleton found in a mound as Zelph, a white Lamanite and warrior under the prophet Onandagus, who was known “from the eastern sea to the Rocky Mountains.”
President Oliver Cowdery, in Letter VII, described the valley west of Hill Cumorah as the place where “the entire power and national strength of both the Jaredites and Nephites were destroyed,” and where Moroni deposited the records.
President Marion G. Romney bore a personal witness of this in General Conference in 1975, and President Ezra Taft Benson testified that this land was the place of the Garden of Eden, of Adam, of the Jaredites and the Nephites, and of the Restoration itself.
President Russell M. Nelson has taught that Joseph’s inheritance was “a land choice above all others” — choice because it would be the repository of the sacred records from which the Book of Mormon would come, and the land of liberty for those who worship the Lord.
Take the Evidence, Build Our Faith, and Come to Christ
The main purpose of the Book of Mormon is to bring us to Christ — to be, along with the Bible, another witness of Him and His infinite Atonement. Infinite Atonement is mentioned only in the Book of Mormon. But it is the most important event in the history of the world, as I describe in my last book: THE INFINITE ATONEMENT OF JESUS THE CHRIST, AND IT’S SIGNIFICANCE IN THE LAST DAYS.
But we also see the importance of knowing that North America is the Promised Land. The United States is the “Promised Land” spoken of in the Book of Mormon — exactly as Elder Perry stated. Sadly, this Promised Land has turned her back on God, and the everlasting decree is still in place: her people will be “swept off” unless there is massive repentance.
That is why knowing this land is the Promised Land matters — and why sharing the gospel message matters: to bring this people, and all people, back to the God of this land, who is Jesus Christ. To come to know the Father and the Son is eternal life — the greatest of all the gifts of God.
David W. Allan
Next in this series: This article only scratches the surface. In the articles that follow, I will share what Joseph Smith and later prophets actually said about Cumorah and the plains of the Nephites, how the Mesoamerica idea entered the Church, and the stones, DNA, and earthworks that point to the Heartland.
- In this series — “Book of Mormon Geography — And Why It Matters”:
Part 1: Where Did The Book Of Mormon Really Take Place?
Part 2: What Joseph Smith and Other Latter-Day Prophets Actually Said
Part 3: How the Mesoamerica Idea Entered the Church
Part 4: Evidence in the Heartland: Stones, DNA, and the Newark Earthworks
Sources — Check Them for Yourself
Every quotation and scripture in this article can be read at its source:
- Scriptures (Gospel Library, churchofjesuschrist.org): Ether 2:10; Ether 13:2–3; 1 Nephi 13:35; Alma 46:17; Matthew 7:16; and on 2 Nephi 10:19, the BYU Religious Studies Center.
- Elder L. Tom Perry on the United States as the promised land: his address “The Church: Scaffolding for Our Lives” (BYU–Idaho); the statement also appeared in the Ensign, December 2012 — see the collection of prophets’ statements at Book of Mormon Evidence.
- Joseph Smith to Emma, 4 June 1834 (“plains of the Nephites”) and the Zelph account: BYU Religious Studies Center, “The ‘Nature’ of Revelation” and “Joseph Smith and Native American Artifacts”.
- Oliver Cowdery’s Letter VII (July 1835), full text: lettervii.com.
- President Marion G. Romney, “America’s Destiny,” General Conference, October 1975 — quoted here.
- President Ezra Taft Benson, The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, pp. 587–588 — quoted here.
