Has the Location of the Hill Cumorah Been Revealed?
Some have recently claimed that the location of the Hill Cumorah has been identified by revelation and that the New York Hill, called by that name today is the same hill at which the Nephites and...
View ArticleReview of the Annotated Book of Mormon: Part I
President M. Russell Ballard recently counseled teachers and instructors in the Church, "not to pass along faith promoting or unsubstantiated rumors or outdated understandings and explanations of our...
View ArticleDestruction of Records in Ancient America and the Book of Mormon
Men of Ammonihah burn the scriptures of believers (churchofjesuschrist,org)The Nephite prophet-historians carefully preserved their most valuable records which were privately passed down from...
View ArticleThe Departure of Alma and Traditions about the Death of Moses
Alma counseling Helaman before his departure (churchofjesuschrist.org)After years of diligent service preaching the Gospel among the people of Nephi, the prophet Alma counseled with his sons,...
View ArticleScimitars or "Cimeters" in the Book of Mormon and Precolumbian Times
Curved Blade from the Codex Borgia (Wikipedia Commons)One of the weapons often mentioned in the war chapters of the Book of Mormon is the cimeter or scimitar. This was basically a sword with a sharp...
View Article"There is no archaeological evidence for . . ."
Kenneth Kitchen is Personal and Brunner Professor Emeritus of Egyptology and Honorary Research Fellow at the School of Archaeology, Classics and Oriental Studies, University of Liverpool, England. He...
View Article"Irrefutable" and "Enormously Impressive": Michael Coe on the Diffusionist...
Michael D. CoeWhen I first attended BYU as an undergrad in 1988-1989 I had the opportunity to work as a research assistant with Professor John L. Sorenson in helping update an edition of his...
View ArticleWas Aminadab a Zoramite?
Nephi and Lehi Encircled By A Pillar of Fire (Ronald Crosby)One of the more remarkable narratives in the Book of Mormon is found in Helaman chapter 5. A group of Lamanites and Nephite dissenters are...
View ArticleSwine and Peccary: Shift Happens
Wild PigThe earliest reference to swine in the Book of Mormon text is among the Jaredites, where they are said to have been useful for food (Ether 9:18). Later, swine are mentioned, but never said to...
View ArticleNephi Son of Helaman: A Prophet Like Moses
The prophet Moses was often seen as the ideal prophet in Israelite history. Biblical writers often portrayed subsequent Israelite leaders as prophets like Moses in a way that invites comparison and can...
View Article"Do ye not behold that the seed of Zedekiah are with us?" Mulek and the...
Nebuchadrezzar has Zedekiah's children killed before his eyes (Francois Xaview Fabre)When Nephi the son of Helaman prophesied to his people in the land of Zarahemla he appealed to various prophets...
View ArticleNephite Weights and Measures Again
A number of years ago, Robert F. Smith compared the Nephite weights and measures with Horus-eye fractions from Egypt. One need not go into the advantages and disadvantages of such a proposal to note...
View ArticleZoramites in Southern Arabia
In 1981 the following inscription was published. It comes from the Wadi el-Sirr, some 40 kilometers north of Sanaa, Yemen. It dates to the middle Sabean Period, somewhere between 300 BC and the time of...
View ArticleResurrection Teachings: Introduction
One of the clearest and most plain parts of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the doctrine that Jesus Christ not only suffered and died for us, but that he was resurrected from the dead with a glorious and...
View ArticleResurrection Teachings Part 1: The New Testament Witness
Christ Rose from the DeadThe New Testament Witness of the Apostles of Jesus clearly affirm that Jesus, after he was put to death, rose again on the third day with his glorified resurrected body. He was...
View ArticleResurrection Teachings Part 2: Early Christians Writers After the Death of...
Following the death of the Apostles and other disciples who knew Jesus and had witnessed his resurrection, many false teachers arose who rejected their clear testimony. Some false teachers introduced...
View ArticleResurrection Teachings Part 3: The Witness of the Book of Mormon and the...
The Book of MormonThe Testimony of Jacob the Son of LehiAnd because of the way of deliverance of our God, the Holy One of Israel, this death, of which I have spoken, which is the temporal, shall...
View ArticleResurrection Teachings Part 4: The Testimony of Joseph Smith
On several occasions the Prophet Joseph Smith testified of the truth of the resurrection based upon the revealed written word in the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, as well as...
View ArticleResurrection Teachings Part 5: A Doctrine of Devils. The False Teachings of...
In November 1835 Latter-day Saints in Kirtland Ohio were visited by a man who represented himself to be a Jewish teacher by the name “Joshua.” While in Kirtland, the Prophet patiently listened to the...
View ArticleResurrection Teachings Part 6: The Testimony of Nineteenth Latter-day Saint...
On February 19, 1854, Brigham Young spoke to a congregation of Latter-day Saints in which he addressed this subject.“Not more than a week since, I was told the baby resurrection doctrine was spreading...
View ArticleNephi and the Spirit of the Lord
Nephi's remarkable vision of the ministry of Christ, his future posterity and the apostasy and Restoration of the Gospel in the Latter-days is one of the most significant visions recorded in Scripture...
View Article"A Doctrine of Devils": William McCary
William McCary was a black man who joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sometime around 1846 and appears to have been baptized by Orson Hyde. Shortly afterward he went on a mission to...
View Article"A Doctrine of Devils": Charles B. Thompson
The aftermath of the martyrdom of Joseph Smith was a tumultuous time for the Saints in which a number of individuals who rejected the leadership of Brigham Young and the Twelve and claimed authority to...
View Article"A Doctrine of Devils": The Teachings of Joseph Morris
Joseph Morris is another individual once associated with the Church who taught the false doctrine of multiple probations and founded the group known as the Morrisites. A good book on Joseph Morris and...
View Article"A Doctrine of Devils": Morrisite Teachings after Joseph Morris
After the death of Joseph Morris in 1862, his followers were broken up. Several individuals then arose claiming prophetic authority for a time. Among these, several can be noted.James and George...
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