To know the TRUTH amid all the falsehoods is extremely important today. This famous statement by our Savior gives us hope amidst the storms and challenges of life: “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32)
He promises, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” (verse 36) In my search for TRUTH, I have three criteria:
1) If God says it, I know it; His WORD is either from His sacred writings or from personal revelation—it is the same. He is the WORD. (John 1:1)
2) We cannot prove a theory or hypothesis true; we don’t know enough. Only God knows enough. People often make the mistake that if something agrees with their paradigm then that provides validation. IT DOES NOT! Correlation does not provide validation.
3) But, if I have reliable data, I can prove a theory or hypothesis false. This is very powerful—allowing us to move away from what is false to what is true. The “null hypothesis” is very useful in this regard.
A simple definition of which is that if I cannot find anything false about a theory or hypothesis, then it may be true.
I find it fascinating that Moroni uses the null hypothesis in his closing chapter in the Book of Mormon. My good friend, Joseph Papenfuss, pointed this out to me.
1. Now I, Moroni, write somewhat as seemeth me good; and I write unto my brethren, the Lamanites; [The Lamanites had destroyed his nation, the Nephites, and were the enemies of righteousness. Moroni had been alone for thirty-six years since the Nephite nation was destroyed in that great battle at the Hill Cumorah.]
2. And I seal up these records after I have spoken a few words by way of exhortation unto you.
3. Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts. Moroni had read the Jaredite record, which tells the end from the beginning as was received by revelation by the Brother of Jared. Moroni is asking us to “remember” the massive effort to bring forth God’s word from Adam down to our time. Can you imagine the massive effort to make plates, to scribe on those plates, to protect them and preserve them over the millennia? Also, Moroni had labored alone to make a repository room for all of the records they had kept over the centuries. This repository was in the Hill Cumorah—indeed, a massive effort all by itself.
4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; Here Moroni uses the null hypothesis profoundly.
In other words, if you cannot prove the Book of Mormon to be false, then you can move on to having the Holy Ghost witness to you that it is true. Many millions of people have received that sure witness and know that it is true. The Lord only asked, “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.” (1 Corinthians 13:1) We have millions of witnesses that this promise from the Lord is true. The Book of Mormon was translated once by the “gift and power of God.” No other record—including the Bible–holds that claim. It has been with us for nearly two hundred years, and many a critic has gone after it, but the “null hypothesis” has shown them that it cannot be proven false. Some claim plagiarism, but Jonathan Neville in his book, Infinite Goodness, has proven that claim false.
Then Moroni goes on to share, “…and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.”
5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things. Once people come to know by the power of the Holy Ghost, then they know for sure. As Chief Midegah told us one time, for him the Book of Mormon is not about faith; it is fact. It is a major part of the history of his people—“of the great Peacemaker,” who walked the Americas as a resurrected being. As He told the Jews, “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.” (John 10:16; 3 Nephi 15:13-17)
Bringing People To Christ
Per capita, the Book of Mormon has brought more people to Christ of those who have read it than any other book including the Bible. I share in this article several links that I have written giving both scientific validation of the Book of Mormon and of all our scriptures, as well as many other infallible evidences, spiritually, historically, and from glottology. Languages don’t lie; they are what they are within every culture.
For example, Mormon and Moroni wrote in “Reformed Egyptian,” that they lived nearly a thousand years after Lehi left Jerusalem in 600 B.C. At that time, as Brian Nettles shares, Nephi wrote in demonic and heretic Egyptian. This is illustrated by characters copied by John Whitmer, who was one of the scribes for Joseph Smith in Fayette, NY, where Joseph translated the small plates taken from the repository for the first part of the Book of Mormon (First Nephi through Omni). Brian has developed the gift of translating these ancient records. I have a picture of these characters that John Whitmer copied and translation insights that Brian has gained from them in the article: Ancient Hebrews in Ancient America.
The Hill Shim and Two sets of plates
Jonathan Neville also documents the two sets of plates for the Book of Mormon. The small plates were translated in Fayette, NY, and were the unabridged record from 600 B.C. to about 100 B.C. They weighed about 30 lbs and the eight witnesses handled them. The Large plates contained Mormon and Moroni’s abridged records of he Nephites and Jaredites and weighed about 60 lbs. The three witnesses were shown them by Moroni and they heard the voice of the Lord telling them that they had been translated by the “gift and power of God.”
After Joseph translated from the large plates, a messenger took them back to the repository in the Hill Cumorah. Then the small plates from that same repository were delivered to Joseph to translate in Fayette, NY.
Later, the Lord instructed Joseph to take all those records and put them in the nearby Hill Shim. Those trusted souls who helped him bear record of this and that no one is to know that location. They will come forth in the due time of the Lord.
Russell Burrows’ Unique Stones
Duane Erickson drove down to our place in Fountain Green from Evanston, WY, to let me borrow a stone that Russell Burrows had given him. Russell had found the stone in a cave in the heartland of America–depicting the Christ in North America. When he learned that I was going to St. Petersburg, Russia, in 2015, he wanted me to take it so that I might share with my colleagues there that the resurrected Christ had been in North America. I did and they were touched by the knowing.
I showed Brian this stone, and he was able to translate the characters on the right side of the image of Christ that I had wondered about for years. “He is risen to purify us.” I was so happy to get his translation. It made total sense. I was able to read the mystic symbol, (Jehovah and the five nails of the crucifixion) at the top and “Son of my Right Hand” at the bottom of the stone or Son of Righteousness. The phrase, “Son of Righteousness” is used uniquely three times in the Book of Mormon.
Voices From The Dust
Isaiah shares about voices from the dust in our day. (Isa. 29:4) I believe these stones are part of these prophesied manifestations along with the plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated. Russell Burrows gave a different stone to Wayne May that he had found in the same cave. Wayne sent me a picture and a copy of it. It depicts the Savior’s atonement in amazing detail. It shows the hole in the wrist. It denotes the three days in the tomb while the Savior’s spirit was three days in paradise. I did a blog article and a podcast with Brian Nettles and Michael Claridge about this amazing voice from the Dust Stone: Two Hundred Names for Jesus.
Glottology, the history or science of language, is a powerful tool in ascertaining truth. I share here the fascinating story of Professor Felix Mynhardt—who was a gifted linguist at Pretoria University. He knew over 60 languages. His father was the Reverend C. F. Mynhardt, who compiled the first concordance of the Afrikaans Bible. Professor Mynhardt was asked to translate the Book of Mormon into Afrikaans, and he declined, as a member of the Dutch Reformed Church. That evening when he was praying, the Spirit convicted him. He had been asking the Lord for an opportunity to use his special linguistic gifts. The Lord had given him the Book of Mormon to translate into Afrikaans, and he had declined. After a sleepless night, he called the mission President, Harlon Clark, and said he would do it.
As was his style, he went to the middle of the Book of Mormon, knowing that typically authors stabilize in their writing. He immediately recognized that it had been translated from another language. Over some months, he deduced that it had been translated from ancient Egyptian with Hebrew nouns added. His goal was to translate difficult passages back into the original language and then into Afrikaans to give more accuracy.
He shared his experience at a meeting in Johannesburg on May 14, 1972, when the Afrikaans Boek van Mormon was introduced to the South African Saints, it was a happy and, at the same time, an emotion-packed, spiritual experience for those in attendance. A missionary who attended the landmark event said that “to sit in that meeting and observe the rapt attention and subsequent tears in the eyes of the audience when the first few pages of Die Boek van Mormon were read aloud was one of the greatest spiritual experiences of my mission.”
Mynhardt stated, “Imagine my utter astonishment when… I came to verse two, where Nephi describes that he was writing in the language of the Egyptians, with the learning of the Jews! I knew by the second verse, that this was no ordinary book, that it was not the writings of Joseph Smith, but that it was of ancient origin. I could have saved myself months of work if I had just begun at the beginning. Nobody but God, working through a prophet of God, in this case, Nephi, would have included a statement of the language he was writing in. Consider, how many documents are written in English, including the phrase, “I am writing in English!” It is unthinkable and absolute proof of the inspired origins of this book.
Mynhardt said that he was perhaps the only person, at that time in South Africa, who had the language skills necessary to make the Afrikaans translation, using as he did, ancient Egyptian, Hebrew, Afrikaans, and English. He had this to say about Joseph Smith:
“I do not know what Joseph Smith was before he translated this book, and I do not know what he was afterward, but while he translated this book, he was a prophet of God! I know he was a prophet! I testify to you that he was a prophet while he brought forth this book! He could have been nothing else! No person in 1827 could have done what he did. The science did not exist. The knowledge of ancient Egyptians did not exist. The knowledge of these ancient times and ancient Peoples did not exist. The Book of Mormon is scripture. I hope you realize this… I declare that the Book of Mormon is of ancient origin, and is scripture of the same caliber as the Old Testament, or for that matter, the New Testament”.
Book of Mormon validates the Bible
A recent survey showed that 93% of the leading American scientists disbelieve the Bible. Joseph in Egypt and Nephi both prophesied that this would happen. (2 Nephi 3:11; 1 Nephi 13:38-41) And they further stated that one of the reasons for the Book of Mormon coming forth to this Gentile nation was to validate the Bible.
Chapter 3 of my first book, It’s About Time, and this blog article help to provide that historical and glottology evidence. I am pleased that LDS Living picked up on this as well.
Looking Forward to The Brass Plates and Other Records
Now we are looking forward to the Brass Plates, which have a sacred history all the way back to the Garden of Eden, and which the prophets in the Book of Mormon quote from. We have the full record of the Jaredite nation over their nearly 1,700 years of history, which are in the sealed portion of the large plates. The unsealed portion was what Joseph used to translate with the Urim and Thummim the Book of Mosiah through Moroni in the last part of the Book of Mormon. Also in the sealed portion is the revelation that Nephi received that is equivalent to John the Beloved’s Book of Revelations. All of these are yet to be translated; and what an incredible blessing these records will be—revealing the end from the beginning and knowing how the earth was created in the first place.
But first, the Gentiles need to repent and receive the Book of Mormon and have faith like the Brother of Jared before these will be revealed. (Ether 4; and D&C 84:54-59) Let us pray for that great day and live our lives in preparation for ZION and to receive these records and the Lord at His Glorious Coming.
David W. Allan