For years, I believed the demise of the Jaredites at Hill Ramah (Ether 15:29) was connected to the abandonment of La Venta ca. 400 BC. This was based on a naive assumption about the relationship between the Jaredites and Olmec civilization. This incorrect correlation caused a chronological problem. The Limhi explorers left the city of Nephi, traveled to Hill Ramah, and returned with artifacts ca. 121 BC (Mosiah 8:8-9). These 43 intrepid explorers found bones of men and beasts littering the ground. Skeletal ramains completely decompose in as few as 10 - 15 years in damp, warm, shady, aerobic conditions. It is virtually inconceivable that osteological material would still be visible on the surface of the tropical or temperate earth after more than 100 years elapsed time. Jaredite bones are such an important motif in the Nephite record we find them mentioned in Omni 1:22, Mosiah 21:26-27, and Alma 22:30 in addition to the Mosiah 8 reference cited above.
Coriantumr survived the annihilation at Hill Ramah (Ether 15:31-32), joined the people of Zarahemla (the Mulekites) for 9 moons, carved his history on a stone stela that the Mulekites could not read, (Omni 1:20-21) and died among these Mulekite strangers (Ether 13:21).
Mosiah I became king over the combined Nephite/Mulekite nations before Zeniff's reign which began ca. 200 BC. (Mosiah 9:1). So, a date of 210 BC for the Jaredite demise at Hill Ramah may be in the ballpark. The Book of Mormon explicitly says the bones Limhi's explorers found were dry (Mosiah 21:26).
So, 210 BC for the final Jaredite battles may work, but 400 BC is entirely out of the question.
What caused the Olmec to abandon their capital, La Venta, ca. 400 BC? We now know it was due to an avulsion, a natural eastward re-routing of the big Mezcalapa-Grijalva River. See the work done on the Río Bari and Pajonal paleochannels by Mary Pohl, William F. Rust, Kevin Pope, and Robert Sharer.
Ca. 400 BC the Grijalva River Shifted Course
Without its life-sustaining river, La Venta ceased to be a viable urban community. And where did the majority of its former inhabitants migrate to? The Tuxtla Mountains, Tres Zapotes, where they founded what we now call the Epi-Olmec culture. Since Hill Ramah is likely in the Tuxtlas, the Book of Mormon now seems more plausible, both spatially and temporally.
A typical chiastic structure in the Old or New Testament has 5, 10, perhaps 15 elements. There is a book-length structure in the Book of Revelation with 45 pairs. Nothing, though, prepared me for the 274 pairs that undergird the entire book of 1 Nephi. In decades of studying the literature, I have never seen anything this epic. 1 Nephi is a masterpiece. Nephi was a genius.
A video posted on Sunday, February 1, 2026 entitled "Can The River Sidon Help Solve the Book of Mormon Geography Debate?" walks through the passages in the text that require a north flowing Sidon.
This is the first in a planned series of videos that will eventually allow us to locate Book of Mormon lands in the Americas. The transcript:
Welcome friends to this new episode of Discover the Book of Mormon. We're coming to you today from the CA and Emma Savage family studio in Springville, Utah. I'm Kirk Magleby, vice president of operations for Ancient America Foundation, and I'm pleased to welcome my friend Dan Johnson from the Atlanta area.
Hello again. Hey, always a pleasure to have you here. Same here. So, what would you like to talk about today? Well, since we don't have any physical expedition planned. You mean we can't put on our hats and go somewhere? You've got your Guatemala shirt on. I do. Brings back good memories. [laughter] All right. So, we're not going to go on a trip today somewhere. What would you like to talk about? Well, maybe another textual expedition into the words in the Book of Mormon and looking for a a place - the river Sidon. Trying to figure that out because that's one of the major features there. And what does that river do? Which direction does it go? Could we kind of figure out the you know what the Book of Mormon says around that?
Well, in the first place, if you take a look at river Sidon, in the Book of Mormon text, you'll find that there are all kinds of places where we have things east or west of Sidon. There is nothing north or south of Sidon. So it seems obvious, tells us it must go that direction. The corridor is a north south corridor. Right now which direction does it flow in that corridor is it flowing north or is it flowing south? Well that's a different story right so hopefully the text has enough information that we can figure that out. Well I believe it does okay. In fact in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism published in 1992 in the article Book of Mormon geography John Clark who's one of our brilliant Book of Mormon scholars actually goes so far as to say that the direction of flow of the Sidon, the fact that Sidon flowed from south to north is one of the few unambiguously attested tenets of Book of Mormon geography. He says it's unambiguous. What he means by that is that Orson Pratt in 1879 includes in his edition of the Book of Mormon the Sidon river has to flow north. In 1920 the James E. Talmage edition says the river Sidon is flowing north. In 1981 the Bruce R. McConkie edition says the river Sidon is flowing north. In the 1890s the George Reynolds masterpieces on the book are saying you know what the river is probably the Magdalena River down in Colombia which flows north.
In fact, it was so well established around the church in that latter part of the 1800s in the turn of the century that we had a famous expedition that left from BYU on horseback and they go to Colombia, cross what they thought was the narrow neck of land at the isthmus of Panama, get into Colombia because they're going to go to the Magdalena River and find Zarahemla on the west bank of the north flowing Magdalena River. Okay. When the New World Archaeological Foundation mounts it's very first expedition in 1953, they're at Huimanguillo, Tabasco which is west of the north flowing Grijalva River. We pretty much have everybody up until John Clark writes this article in the 1992 edition of the Encyclopedia of Mormonism. We pretty much have everybody who seriously looked at this thing, including the Reorganites, the folks who've been doing this kind of work from independence. They all have a north flowing Sidon. And so why is that?
Well, it's because the text is pretty clear, right? So should we go through the text? What more would you like? Yeah, sounds like that's what we should do. If it's that clear, we should be able to find it in the text of the Book of Mormon itself. Okay. So let's dig in then.
Let's start with scenario number one. All right. Now I appreciate these maps that you've put together. Okay. Yeah, we're going to try and visualize what we're talking about with some maps here. And these aren't trying to be any particular place. They're just general all based on what the text of the Book of Mormon says. Well, the church has come out and told us in the Gospel Topics essays, we don't know where the Book of Mormon took place. Right. And the best we can do is say it's somewhere in the Americas. Yeah. That's right. Officially from the church. And so, these are what we would call a theoretical map. Exactly. Or some kind of just a relative positioning because we do know that certain things are north, certain things are south and and east and west, up and down. We know that kind of thing right now. How do we know that up is up and down is down? So that is a really good question. Is it literal? Is it figurative? Is there a place in the text that might tell us that? Well, that's an interesting question and the answer is yes.
Okay. If we go to Alma chapter 43:34, that will tell us what the Lamanites meant when they use the word up in a spatial context. Alma 43:34. Okay. And it came to pass the Lamonites came up on the north of the hill. Okay. Bingo. There it is. As I go up a hill, I'm going up. Exactly. All right. Now, 3 Nephi 4:1. And this will disambiguate for us what the Nephites meant by the word down. All right. So we have the robbers here, right? Okay. These are the Gadianton robbers. They prepared for battle and began to come down and to sally forth from the hills. So as I come from their redoubts at the top of the hills, they're coming down into the valleys. Yeah. Down the hills. Yeah. All right. So up and down in the world of the Nephites meant what up and down mean to us today. Rise in elevation, down in elevation. That certainly seems to be the case.
What about east, north, southeast, west? Well, is there any place we know the geography we could maybe check that? We know the geography in the old world, right? When we have Lehi leaving Jerusalem and going to the valley of Lemuel, which is south of Jerusalem and he's then going to the head of the Red Sea. We are going to the fountain of the Red Sea. We're going along the Red Sea and we then get to Nahom which we know where Nahom is and we then turn directly east. We know where that eastward turn is of the frankincense trail. The directionality is so precise in that part of First Nephi where it's talking about the the Arabian trail through the Arabian Peninsula that it's got to help us or cause us to believe the Nephites understood north south east west in the very same sorts of cardinal directionality that we use today where east is where the sun rises, west is where the sun sets. And if I stand with my arm to the east and my arm to the west, my head is facing to the north and my back is facing to the south. And indeed, it seems like all ancient cultures seem to understand those same four cardinal directions.
Well, directional cardality is pretty much universal across the world because the sun rises at least in the mid latitudes. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west, right? You've got to go to the extreme Arctic or Antarctic to get some weirdness and no one lives there. And that's not where civilization took place. So, yeah, it's pretty much a generality that the same sort of a compass rose that you've got right here has been used by cultures throughout the entire known history of the earth. Certainly, we have some very good examples from the Americas that we can point to. We may get to that in a future episode. Well, so let's dive into the text. Let's kind of see what it might tell us about where these places are and if we can figure out where the up is, where the down is and well there are seven different textual scenarios. Okay, so seven different places where we can look in the text to find out what direction is the Sidon flowing and if all seven of these point to the very same direction then we can probably say with some certainty this is what the text says if the text is consistent. If the text is consistent. Okay. All right.
1st Scenario
So let's go to find out where Gideon is first of all. All right. Alma 6 verse7 and it says that Alma is leaving the city of Zerahemla and he went over upon the east of the river Sidon and into the valley of Gideon. So Gideon is east of Sidon and he crosses the river. He crosses the river. Okay. Zerahemla is west of Sidon. That would make sense. How far is Gideon from Sidon? Well, we know from the battle scenario in Alma chapter 2 that the army of the Nephites can get from Gideon to Zerahemla in less than one day. So, it's got to be close. So, it's got to be close. Okay. So, on your map, you're showing Zerahemla west of Sidon, Gideon east of Sidon, but pretty close to each other and in the center of the land. The text explicitly says Zarahemla is in the center of the land of Zarahemla. The Nephite capital. The Nephite capital right there. Yeah. Okay. So, we go to Alma chapter 17 verse 1. And here's where it starts to get interesting. Okay. So, 17:1. Would you mind reading that, Daniel? Yeah, I've got that. So, Alma was journeying from the land of Gideon southward away to the land of Manti. Okay. So, what direction is Manti from this Zerahemla Gideon area? Obviously south. Obviously south. Yeah. Now the fact that it doesn't mention crossing the river. That leads some people to think that well maybe Manti's east of the river just like Gideon's east of the river. So he wouldn't have to cross it because he wouldn't have to cross the river at that point. But nonetheless we've got Manti to the south, Zerhemla and Gideon to the north. Okay.
Now what do we have that separates Zerahemla from Nephi? Because the Lamanites are in Nephi. The Nephites are in Zerahemla, right? What separates those two? Well, let's go to Alma chapter 22. Let's do that. This is that famous excursus on geography that has been debated ad infinitum. Okay. So, we're talking about verse 27. Yes. And there's a narrow strip of wilderness that's being talked about. And that narrow strip of wilderness runs from the sea east even the sea west. So, it's a continental feature. Interesting. It goes all the way from one sea to the to the other sea. But it divides the Nephites on the north from the Lamanites on the south. Okay. So, and thus were the Lamanites and Nephites divided. So, almost like a political buffer zone. It's like a boundary line. A major boundary line, but a naturally occurring boundary line. Yeah. They didn't have to make it. It's already there. Okay. So, where's the head of Sidon now?
First of all, what's the head? That's a good question because I've read that and I've thought, what exactly does that mean? So, is there any clue we could get from the text what the head is? Well, we go to the editor of this particular Yale 2009 edition of the text, our friend Royal Skousen, and take a look at what he and Stan Carmack have put together, and they've made a very compelling case. And this is called the earliest text. Well, he called it the earliest text because this is Royal's 40 year labor of love, life's work, magnum opus, to reconstruct the text of the Book of Mormon as it fell from the lips of the prophet Joseph at the moment of translation. He's done that by going back to the original text the actual 27% of the original text that is still extant. And the printer's manuscript which the church recently purchased from the Community of Christ which is pretty much complete and then all published editions of the text and take into account the fact that we know that there was one section of the 1830 that was typeset from the original manuscript as opposed to from the printer's manuscript because that was during the time that we had Oliver Cowdery taking the printer's manuscript to Canada to try to get a British Commonwealth copyright for the Book of Mormon. They were unsuccessful, but nonetheless, the printer's manuscript was gone from the Grandin print shop during that time period, but the printers were continuing to work and they were typesetting from the original text. So, Skousen knew all this and that's where this is coming from. So, this text is really important. Well, the Yale 2009 is the go-to text for serious very precise kinds of textual analysis. Okay? And that's what we need right now.
So we go to here in 22:27 and we find several things going on. There's this narrow strip of wilderness as you've indicated on your map. We've got the head of Sidon which is in the narrow strip of wilderness or very adjacent to the narrow strip of wilderness. The idea then what is meant by this head of Sidon? Well, what we learn from the work of Skousen and Carmack is that the language in this text as it fell from the lips of the prophet Joseph is most likely to be early modern English. Very interesting. Which predates even the King James that comes out in 1611. Okay, so we're talking when Shakespeare was a youth wandering the streets of Stratford on Avon. Okay, that's the English that we're finding is the vernacular of this particular text. So that means that in order for me to understand what do they mean by head of Sidon, I've got to go to the Oxford English dictionary. Okay, because it has a history of the English language over time. And what we find in the OED is that the head can be the source like the headwaters like we would think of it today or it can also be the confluence of two tributaries. Okay? Because very often you've got these little streamlets or rivulets or brooks or whatever you want to call them that are not quite full river size yet. They come together form at that point of confluence. They now become a big enough stream that we're gonna call this a river from now on. Okay? And so it then flows from there to the sea. All right? And so as I understand rivers, these tributaries come together. They they get bigger, but they also have to flow from high to lower elevation. Well, everywhere on earth, stuff goes from the mountains to the sea. Exactly. I mean that's where we go through the Piedmont. We then go to the coastal plain and then eventually we get to the delta. Okay. So we might understand then the head of Sidon as being perhaps the source or the origin. Well, it's where the river begins. Yes. Okay. And whether or not there's stream flow upstream from that is not necessarily explained because they didn't consider that the river Sidon.
The river Sidon the point in the river that we call it the river Sidon. It begins here and that's the head of Sidon. And we know it's in the narrow strip wilderness. Okay. Which in a highland area. So can we read about some of those passages there? Well Alma 22:27 says the head of Sidon is by the narrow strip wilderness. But there's also this Manti south of Zerahemla in 17:1. And then we have the borders of Manti. So 22:27 Alma 22:27 also talks about the borders of Manti. And the borders of Manti are beyond Manti. They're further upstream. They're further south from Manti towards the narrow strip of wilderness. That would be sort of like the edge of the land of Manti. It's like the edge of the of the land of Manti. Absolutely. Yes. All right. And then we get into the fact that the land of Manti is by the head of Sidon. So we go to Alma 43:22 and it says they durst not come against the Nephites in the borders of Jershon. Therefore they departed out of out of Antionum and they took their journey round about in the wilderness by the head of Sidon that they might come into the land of Nephi. So to get to Manti, the Lamanite army is going by the head of Sidon. Okay. So that tells us that Manti and and head of Sidon are not too far distant. But from the head of Sidon which direction is it or or rather do I go up or down in elevation to get from the head of Sidon to Zerahemla? Well, let's go to Alma 56:25.
All right, I've got that. Go. Neither durst they march down against the city of Zerahemla. So they're at the head of Sidon. Okay. And they would have to go down. They're going to have to go down to Zerahemla, right? Well, if they're at the source of the river and they're heading to where further, I guess downstream where Zarahemla is, they've got to be going down. Okay. So we've established that Zerahemla is to the north. Head of Sidon is to the south and we're going to go down from head of Sidon to Zarahemla. Okay. What does that tell us about the direction flow of the river? Well, so far it's got to flow to the north, right? Okay. So this particular scenario tells us unambiguously the river Sidon is flowing towards the north. Okay.
Sidon Flows North Scenario 1 Synopsis
2nd Scenario
Number two we know that on the map now we've got greater Nephi south of the narrow strip of wilderness. We've got Zarahemla north of the narrow strip of wilderness. The head of Sidon is more or less in the narrow strip of wilderness or very proximate to it. And that's attested in Alma chapter 50 verse7 and then 50 verse 11. So we go over to 57 right and it says that their own lands which is the lands of the Lamanites right were south of the land of Zarahemla. So that would be the land of of Nephi. Right. That's correct. So that's how we know Nephi is south of Zerahemla. South of the narrow strip. We then find in Alma 51:1 that there's a dividing line between the two major lands. So there's the chapter where Moroni fortifies the line between the Nephites and the Lamanites between the land of Zerahemla and the land of Nephi. Okay. And this dividing line would be that narrow strip of wilderness again. Okay. That natural barrier. That natural barrier. Okay. And it is from the west running by the head of the river Sidon. So this line, this narrow strip of wilderness that runs east to west from the east to the west sea, separates Nephites on the north from Lamanites on the south. It also goes right by the head of Sidon. We can kind of see that on the map here, it's all kind of happening in that same area there. So what that tells us is if we can tell the direction of or rather the inclination of travel up or down from Zerahemla to Nephi, we're going to know what direction this river is flowing. And that tells us that in Alma chapter 2 verse 24. So go back here to the Amlicite battle scenario and Alma chapter 2 verse 24. Behold we followed the camp of the Amlicites and to our great astonishment in the land of Minon above the land of Zerahemla. Okay. In the course of the land of Nephi. So as I go from Zerahemla to Minon, I go up because it's above, right? And then as I go from Minon to Nephi, I continue to go up. In fact, there are probably half a dozen places in the text where it's always up to Nephi, down to Zerahemla, never the other direction. Yeah, I recall that's very consistent with that. Very, very consistent.
So, that's how we know that as I go from Nephi to Zerahemla, I'm going to follow the course of the river Sidon and it's got to go down because I'm going to the lowlands from the highlands. Okay? As I go from Zarahemla to Nephi, I'm going from the lowlands to the highlands. So, that's up. Okay? And I go from the highlands down to Zerahemla, that's down. All right. And that's the way the river's got to flow. That's the way the river's got to flow. All right. So therefore the the Sidon river is flowing towards the north from the narrow strip of wilderness towards Zarahemla. Okay.
Sidon Flows North Scenario 2 Synopsis
3rd Scenario
Now there's another scenario here about the Mulekites. Okay. So what does that tell us? Well, who are the Mulekites? So these were people who escaped from Jerusalem supposedly with Mulek, the son of the king. The son of the king Zedekiah. Right. All right. How did they get to the Americas? Good question. They probably came with the Phoenicians. Okay. That's been sort of general consensus among LDS scholars now for decades. If they came with the Phoenicians, they're going to come, they're going to check out some places to settle and then they're going to go up river. Okay. But it's got to be a big enough river that oceangoing craft can sail up it because that's how the Phoenecians did their settlements. We know that all throughout the entire Mediterranean basin and even into the the coast of of northern Africa on the Atlantic coast of north Africa, we have Phoenician settlements all through there. They're always on rivers. So, is there any clue in the Book of Mormon about these Mulikites and where they landed or where they settled? Well, we go to 22:30. We're back again now in this section on Book of Mormon geography here. Okay. And 22:30 tells us that in the the land northward, bordered upon the land they called desolation well, the land bountiful, which is in the land northward. Yes. Bordered upon the land they called desolation. It being so far northward, it came to the land which had been peopled and been destroyed. So desolation is where the Jaredites were destroyed in the land northward. Right. Of whose bones we have spoken discovered by the people of Zarahemla. That was the Limhi expedition. And then before that it was the Mulekites. The people of Zarahemla are the Mulekites basically. Exactly. It being the place of their first landing. So these people with Mulek the place of their first landing was the land northward. The land northward near where the Jaredites have been destroyed. Okay. All right. Now, where do they go from there? Well, they founded their capital, their Zarahemla, but it was in the land southward. We learned that in the Book of Mormon.
So, Mormon chapter 1:6 tells us what's the relationship between land northward, land southward, and Zerahemla. Okay? So, it says it came to pass at 11 years old. So, this is Mormon now as a young man, right? He's grown up in the land northward. Okay? And he says, "I was carried by my father into the land southward, even to the land of Zerahemla." So he was north of Zerahemla. So he grew up north of Zerahemla, Yes. In the land northward to the south where Zerahemla is in the land southward. Right. So there's the relative relationship. And what happens to the the Mulikites they found Zerahemla. And so it would make sense that if they landed in that area, they find the river, they go up the river to find a good place to settle. Well, that's what appears to happen because we read in verse 10 that the borders of Zerahemla were by the waters of Sidon. So the Sidon flows right past. We saw that now in Alma chapter 2 as well. The Sidon flows right past Zerahemla. Yeah. It's going to be a major feature there. And so the Mulekites are going to come into the land of Zerahemla to found their capital by going up a river. And we go to Alma chapter 22:31 and it tells us they came from there up into the south wilderness. Okay. So as they're going south what what direction are they going? So it's interesting according to the Book of Mormon, you go up to go south.
Okay. In this particular case, Alma 22:31, it says up to go south. That's right. And then you would go down to go north. So you go up to go south, down to go north. And that tells us that from the textual description of the Nephi, I'm sorry, the Mulekites founding Zerahemla that the river Sidon is having to flow towards the north because it's going to be down since it's up to the south, it's got to be down to the north. Okay. And down to the sea. Bingo. Okay. So far, we've had three scenarios. Are we consistent? Certainly sounds like it. Yeah. We've got the river going from the highlands in the south to the lowlands in the north and then to the sea. We'll get to the sea in a minute. Okay. All right.
Sidon Flows North Scenario 3 Synopsis
4th Scenario.
We've got Alma 16 6. So this is a very important chapter. Would you mind Daniel just walking us through this? Okay. So what we have here is that Alma is inquiring of the Lord. And so he's asking about captive Nephite soldiers. Is that right? The Lamanites have come into the land of Noah and they have captured a whole bunch of Nephites. Mhm. And they've taken these Nephi's captives captive and they're now taking them towards the land of Nephi. Okay. And Captain Zoram goes to Alma and says, "Where do I go?" Right? And the prophet gives him explicit directions and says, "You go here and you will find the captive Lamanites, I'm sorry, the captive Nephites, and you'll be able to rescue them." So he says, "Alma inquired of the Lord, behold, the Lamanites will cross the river Sidon in the south wilderness, away up beyond the borders of the land of Manti." Okay, so we've got Manti, the borders of Manti, the wilderness, and then the narrow strip of wilderness beyond that. Right? So there's a wilderness that's beyond the borders of Manti, south of Manti, because the borders of Manti are south of Manti, of course. And behold, there shall ye meet them on the east of the river Sidon. So there's that east bank. Yeah. All right. So we've established that there's a wilderness south of Manti. It's beyond the borders of Manti and it's east of the Sidon River, right, in this wilderness. And what direction do we go to go into this wilderness south of the borders south of Manti which is right there in verse six. Let's see. And so we have a way up beyond the borders. Okay. They're going up. Okay. So once again I go south. I'm going up. Exactly. Once again up river is south in this particular scenario. Okay. So there in one verse Alma 16:6 it pretty much just nails the the whole thing. The River Sidon is flowing at this particular point in its course is flowing from south to north.
Sidon Flows North Scenario 4 Synopsis
5th Scenario
All right, let's go to Alma 16:6. It says that there's a wilderness south of the borders of Manti. We then go to Alma 43:32 and it gives us the inclination. Alma 43:32. Okay, so that would be the remainder he concealed in the west valley on the west of the river Sidon. and so down into the borders of the land Manti. So this wilderness which is the scene of a number of military encounters that the text describes which is south of the borders of Manti. The borders of Manti being south of Manti itself, right? To go from this wilderness into the borders of Manti, I go down into the borders. So as I go north, I'm going down. Yep. And that just seems to be so consistent over and over. We're seeing this all through the text. Okay. And we already talked about how we know that up is up is a rise in elevation. Down is decline in elevation because of those references that we talked about earlier. Yes. Going uphill and downhill. All right. So, we've now had five scenarios, all of which are painting a consistent picture that this river is going from the highlands in the south to the lowlands in the north.
Sidon Flows North Scenario 5 Synopsis
6th Scenario
And we read about a land called Minon. Well, let's go find out about Minon. Okay. Let's go to Alma chapter 2 verse 24. And this is the Amlicite war. We learn a lot about geography in this Amlicite war. So 2 verse 24 in the land of Minon above the land of Zerahemla in the course of the land of Nephi. So it goes Zarahemla Minon Nephi. Right. And so Nephi is obviously south and higher than Zerahemla. Well, yes. I always go up to Nephi. Yes. And Alma 22:29, 22:33-34, and 50:7, Alma chapter 50 verse 7 all say Nephi is south of Zarahemla. All right. So that's unambiguous and it sort of Minon appears to be kind of on the way. It's on the way. I go Zarahemla to Minon and then eventually I get to Nephi. Right. All right.
Minon was on the west of Sidon. We learned that from Alma chapter 2 verses 27 and 34. Right. So just like Zarahemla's west of Sidon, Minon is west of Sidon. But what is the inclination? Am I going up or down from Zerahemla to Minon? Well, 24 told us above the land of Zerahemla. Yeah. And so there's probably no other way to think about that. Above it's higher. It's got to be higher. I've got to go up to Minon from Zerahemla. And yet Minon's right on the river. And so the river has got to be flowing downhill from Minon towards Zerahemla. Okay. So as I go from Minon, which is south of Zerahemla, I'm flowing north. Right. So the river is going down to the north to get from Minon to Zerahemla. All right. There's the sixth of our scenarios in the text.
Sidon Flows North Scenario 6 Synopsis
7th Scenario
Okay. Now the seventh scenario gives us a big broad brush brush picture and we begin to talk about where is the sea. Yes. Because we certainly have heard of it. So we've got to go from the highlands to the piedmont to the coastal plain to the sea coast somehow. So what can we find out about the sea here? Well the sea is talked about in Alma chapter 3:3 as well as 2:15 and Mormon chapter 1 verse 10. And what's happening here as I go past Zarahemla, I'm going downstream from Zarahemla, I eventually encounter the sea. Okay? And we find that out because we've got bodies being thrown into the river. Those bodies are flowing past Zarahemla and eventually ending up in the sea. All right. So, what can we read about the about that? Well, I just mentioned Alma 2:15, Mormon 1:10, and Alma 3:3. Those are the passages that talk about the river Sidon going through Zerahemla, and from there to the sea. But here's here's how the whole logic chain works.
Okay, first of all, you go to to where your map shows the head of Sidon, and that's near the narrow strip of wilderness. We found that out from Alma 22:27. Yes. The head of Sidon is in the general vicinity of the narrow strip of wilderness. Narrow strip of wilderness being some kind of a mountain barrier between the Nephites on the north and the Lamanites on the south. And we have Nephi on the south which is Alma 22:33 and Alma 57 and Zarahemla's on the north. And we find that out from 22:29 and from 50:11. So we've already gone through those passages which talk about the Nephites on the north, the Lamanites on the south. To go from Nephi to Zerahemla I'm going north. Right? And then of course the idea with after the battle the bodies are thrown to the river. It mentions that they are flowing out to the sea. Right? So Alma 2:15 let's go through and and just talk about this.
Okay. And the Amlicites came up upon the hill Amnihu which is east of the river Sidon which ran by the land of Zarahemla. So there's the Sidon river that's going right past Zarahemla and there's this little hill area where they're having the battle. And then we go into Mormon chapter 1 verse 10 and that tells us there began to be a war in the borders of Zerahemla by the waters of Sidon. So here again this is demonstrating that the Sidon river is going right past Zarahemla right and then we get Alma 3:3 and this is where the bodies of many of the Lamanites and the Amlicites that had been slain upon the bank of the river Sidon were cast into the waters of Sidon and their bones are in the depths of the sea. Okay. So that would tell us that the river Sidon has to flow to the sea. It's got to flow from Zerahemla to the sea. And therefore it's going to go downhill towards the sea. And what direction is downhill from head of Sidon and from Nephi? It's to the north. Right. So this series of passages again establishes that the direction of flow of the river Siodn is from south to north going from the highlands through the area south of Zarahemla which is is where this Amlicite battle took place. It's on the borders of of the the lesser land of Zerahelma and then we get into Zerahemla itself and then it goes from there and eventually ends up at the sea. So it seems like there are a lot of things that we can look at in the Book of Mormon with geography and debate. We're not quite sure but the course of the river Sidon as you said John Clark said it's unambiguous. Every serious person who pays attention to the text.
Sidon Flows North Scenario 7 Synopsis
Sidon Flows North Addendum
Now I will tell you this. There are some people who attempt to support a south flowing Sidon and they purposely intentionally knowingly misinterpret the text. Really, they have to fiddle with the text in order to make that work. And we've tried to read it and figure out exactly what it says. Anyone who's going to read this text, letting the text speak for itself, not forcing the readings, not superimposing some sort of preconceived notion upon the text, but letting the text tell us what it wants to comes to the conclusion that the river Sidon flows north. And the Book of Mormon text should be our ultimate authority in these kinds of matters. Well, if we can't trust the text, what can we trust? Good question. Basically, this is one thing in the text that I think we can hang our hat on. So, should we go find the river Sidon one of these days? I'd love to do that. All right. Someday. Someday. But right now, as we're looking across all the Americas, we're going to look for a river that flows north. Right. Well, that should narrow down the search quite a bit. Okay. Thank you, my friend. Thank you.
While serving as Bishop of the BYU 172nd Married Student Ward, I conducted many ecclesiastical endorsement interviews that included discussions about the honor code. On a few occasions, I had to work directly with the BYU Honor Code Office, and once I attended the training they offered to Bishops. I do not envy the BYU staffers tasked with enforcing this basic set of behavioral rules. If all the allegations brought forward by BYU students last week are factual, then there have been serious lapses and policy violations on the part of the honor code enforcement team. On the other hand, according to the young people I work with at Book of Moron Central, there is a growing sentiment, even among BYU students, that there simply should be no rules at all in today's hyper-tolerant, non-judgmental culture. The Church's April 4, 2019 policy change relaxing some rules for members in gay marriages and children of LGBT couples emboldened the BYU students to agitate for changes in the honor code via public social action.
I entered BYU as a freshman in the fall of 1971. Men could not wear excessively long hair or beards, and women could wear dress pants but not jeans. By 1981 the no jeans rule for women was gone. BYU has tinkered with its dress and grooming standards over the years, but the honor code provisions about the Word of Wisdom, honesty, and chastity have been constants helping maintain the clean-cut, wholesome image the university is renowned for.
Members of the Church need "to become stronger in a spiritually darkened world."
"Our members are standing like a rock in a moving river."
"Fortify our people - the adversary is an incorrigible insomniac. He never sleeps."
The "Book of Mormon comes to our rescue" referencing Moroni 7:14-19:
Do not judge that which is evil to be of God.
Do not judge that which is good and of God to be of the devil.
It is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil.
The way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night.
The Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil.
Every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent by the power and gift of Christ.
Ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.
Whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil.
After this manner doth the devil work.
He persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him.
Ye know the light by which ye may judge, which light is the light of Christ.
See that ye do not judge wrongfully.
With that same judgment which ye judge ye shall also be judged.
Search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil.
If ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ.
Good and evil exist and are as relevant today as they ever were. Some deeply-ingrained attitudes are cultural artifacts, not moral absolutes. The Book of Mormon offers clear and precise direction to distinguish eternal truths from passing fads. 2 Nephi 26:29-33 is unambiguous.
Do not murder, 6th of the 10 commandments, D&C 59:6.
Do not lie, 9th of the 10 commandments.
Do not steal, 8th of the 10 commandments, D&C 59:6.
Do not take the name of the Lord God in vain, 3rd of the 10 commandments, D&C 59:5.
Do not envy, 10th of the 10 commandments.
Have no malice.
Do not contend one with another.
Do not commit whoredoms, 7th of the 10 commandments, D&C 59:6.
Black and white are equal (no racism).
Bond and free are equal (no elitism).
Male and female are equal (no sexism).
Heathen, Jew, and Gentile are equal (no religious discrimination).
Racism is a cultural artifact that thankfully is going away in contemporary society. In my youth, people talked about miscegenation in negative terms. You hardly hear that word anymore. In the course of my service in the Church, I have referred dozens of people to Edward Kimball's tremendous article about his father's revelation on priesthood.
Elitism is a cultural artifact whose influence is being mitigated by the Internet. BYU Pathway Worldwide, for instance, makes world-class education accessible to most humans on the planet.
Sexism is a diminishing cultural artifact. The first time I flew with a female co-pilot in the cockpit, Delta Airlines announced this paradigm-shifting advance over the intercom and we passengers erupted in the seat-belts-fastened equivalent of a standing ovation. This does not mean we should expect female Apostles. The Savior's precedent in the New Testament, 3 Nephi, and the Restoration has males holding priesthood keys.
Religious monopoly is a cultural artifact. Each March, the largest celebration of the Holi Festival in the Western Hemisphere is at the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork, Utah where thousands of BYU and UVU students gather to throw colored powder at each other and eat Indian food.
Most of these young people will be in Sacrament Meeting the following Sabbath.
So far, so good. The BYU students on the lawn between the Wilkinson Center and the Law School are pretty much in sync with the Book of Mormon on racism, elitism, sexism, and religious exclusivity. The modern cultural rejection of the law of chastity, though, is plainly contrary to eternal truth revealed in the Book of Mormon.
John W. (Jack) Welch is my primary source for the idea that the Book of Mormon is our handbook of instructions for living in the 21st Century.
Kirk Magleby volunteers as Book of Mormon Central's Executive Director. Book of Mormon Central builds enduring faith in Jesus Christ by making the Book of Mormon accessible, comprehensible, and defensible to the entire world. We currently publish in English and Spanish.
As part of the 189th Annual General Conference today, the Church released its statistical report for December 31, 2018. As of year end, total Church membership stood at 16,313,735 which is an increase of 195,566 over 2017 when membership was 16,118,169. This is a growth rate of 1.21%, the lowest since 1937 when the great depression was ravaging the global economy. Here is a chart showing Church growth since 1975 with significant developments in certain years noted and the fastest growing years highlighted in yellow.
Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Membership
This is what the Church growth rate looks like as a graph. As with all images on this blog, click to enlarge.
Church Membership Growth Rates 1975 - 2018
Three things are immediately apparent from this graph:
Something important happened in 1989 when the Church grew by 8.74%.
The long-term trend is unsettling. All is not well in Zion.
Growth has steadily slowed since 2000.
What happened in 1989? In October, 1988 General Conference, Pres. Ezra Taft Benson gave his memorable talk about flooding the earth with the Book of Mormon. The Saints responded. Missionaries had boxes of books to give investigators with our photographs and testimonies pasted inside the front cover. The Book of Mormon is what happened in 1989. It is the divine tool uniquely designed by God to gather Israel in the last days. In 1989, we as a Church helped the Book of Mormon accomplish its intended purpose.
What has happened since 2000? The Internet has come to dominate popular culture. This creates several challenges for the Church:
The Internet is a network that empowers individuals and diminishes the influence of hierarchies. The Church, the Kingdom of God on earth, is the ultimate hierarchy. Our prophet, Pres. Russell Marion Nelson Sr., receives revelation directly from God. It doesn't get any more hierarchical than that.
Transparency is the coin of the realm in the Internet age. The Church, a Kingdom that is partly divine and partly human, struggles with transparency as indeed it must. Some things are sacred and pearls should not be cast before swine.
Trust in institutions is diminishing. How do people make buying decisions today? They look for five stars from a neighbor on Amazon rather than reading the manufacturer's slick and glossy brochure.
You don't sell much stuff knocking on doors anymore. We need innovative new systems to keep our missionaries productive.
Social media is hard to manage. In the old days, the Church could air Home Front spots on prime time TV or take out an ad in Reader's Digest and get our message out. Nowadays, each of the myriad content distribution channels has different protocols and audience expectations.
Search engines only identify "relevance," not truth. Search results on many subjects are more likely to be faith-destroying than faith-affirming.
Critics troll Church content online. The Church can post a terrific video on YouTube and haters within hours will post multiple low-budget videos contradicting the Church's position. After a member or investigator finishes watching the Church's polished production, YouTube's algorithm will suggest the attack videos.
Authenticity can outperform professionalism. The Church generally projects a clean-cut, classy image. Crude, unkempt reality content often gets more views, likes, and shares.
Humor rules. Most Church content is not very entertaining.
Diversity and tolerance are considered ultimate virtues. Obedience to eternal truth is often spun as old-fashioned if not discriminatory.
Twenty years ago, people required an average of 9 interactions with a product before they made a purchase decision. Today, 24 touch points are required on average before a prospect becomes a customer or an investigator a member, and that number is steadily rising.
Is the Church true? Yes. Is the Book of Mormon the most divine object most of us will ever hold in our mortal hands? Yes. Will the Savior return in glory and clean up this mess? Yes. Are we gathering Israel on both sides of the veil and preparing the world for the Second Coming? Yes. Will the Church figure out this online technology thing? Yes. "The mills of the gods grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine."
I took several members of the Book of Mormon Central staff to Google Headquarters in March, 2018. Visiting with a number of Latter-day Saint Googlers, we learned that two of the Apostles had been in Mountain View a few weeks before us. After learning that Google has eight products used by more than a billion customers (Search, Gmail, YouTube, Maps, Android, Chrome, Play Store, Drive) Elder Bednar reportedly said that we in the Church need to raise our sights and increase our expectations.
Of the 16,313,735 baptized members of record on December 31, 2018, how many attend Church on a given Sunday? About 30% according to Matt Martinich who publishes the LDS Church Growth blog. That would be about 4.9 million people in the pews which is likely a reasonable proxy for the number who make the Book of Mormon an important part of their daily life. The United Nations estimates there are 7.7 billion humans on the planet in April, 2019. The Book of Mormon went on sale to the public on March 26, 1830 in Palmyra, NY. After 189 years, the Book of Mormon has achieved a market penetration rate of .000636, less than 1/15 of 1%, or about 6 people out of every 10,000.
The bad news is we probably could have done much better. The good news is we did pretty well in 1989 by following Pres. Benson's recipe given in his October, 1988 General Conference talk mentioned above. Pres. Benson asked us to produce:
videos
reading programs
translations into many languages
articles
broadcasts
lectures and symposiums
classes
talks
books
insights
electronic media capable of mass distribution
conversion stories
recordings
displays
film, drama, literature, music, and paintings
He also asked us to:
read daily
make the Book of Mormon more central in our work
arouse mankind's interest
answer the great questions
abide by its precepts
FARMS was doing pretty much everything on the prophet's list in the 1988 - 1989 time frame. And, Book of Mormon Central is doing pretty much everything on the list today, albeit at a modest scale.
In order to learn how highly effective organizations scale in 2019, I took Zander Sturgill and Daniel Smith from Book of Mormon Central with me to Traffic & Conversion Summit 2019 in San Diego in February. The good news is some of the most talented digital marketers on earth are faithful Latter-day Saints who in their heart of hearts want to use their skills someday to help build the Kingdom. The additional good news is religious content has many characteristics compatible with modern distribution technologies.
The ideal mix for the Church in 2019 is to produce 50% of its own online content, with 30% coming from members (user-generated content) and the other 20% from trusted independent voices such as Book of Mormon Central (affiliates). The actual numbers right now are closer to 90% coming from the official Church, 8% from members, and 2% from trusted independent organizations. The ideal is achievable with increased donor support which will drive member awareness. The Church, its members, and those of us in supporting organizations are getting more adept at the modern media landscape every day.
Every one of the 15 living prophets, seers, and revelators has a Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter account and the Church just created a public Facebook Group (a gutsy move, frankly. I do not envy the moderators). The Church has many YouTube channels. Here is how the Church's primary YouTube channel compares with a handful of channels from other religious institutions and with Book of Mormon Central @ April 6, 2019:
With Pres. Nelson's extraordinary leadership, can Church membership growth numbers come roaring back to the levels they achieved during Pres. Benson's era? Yes, if we help the Book of Mormon accomplish its intended purpose. As Elder Christofferson said in his April 7, 2019 General Conference address, publication of the Book of Mormon was the signal the gathering of Israel in the last days has begun, and the Book of Mormon is the instrument of that gathering and conversion. Pres. Nelson has repeatedly emphasized the gathering of Israel is the most important thing taking place on earth today. Nothing else compares in magnitude. Nothing else compares in majesty.
Kirk Magleby volunteers as Executive Director of Book of Mormon Central which makes the Book of Mormon accessible, comprehensible, and defensible to the entire world in English and Spanish.
Jeremy Winborg's King Benjamin Speaking from his Tower
In Mosiah 12:2 Abinadi recounts his divine mandate to prophesy against King Noah and his wicked priests. What was the first thing the Lord instructed Abinadi to do? Open his mouth? Speak certain words? Cry with a loud voice? No. The first thing Abinadi was told to do was stretch forth his hand. At a particularly important point in his speech before Noah's court, Abinadi stretched forth his handMosiah 16:1.
Alma 10:25 tells us what Amulek did when things began to get heated as he preached in Ammonihah. Amulek stretched forth his hand and then cried the mightier to his angry audience.
Alma did the same thing. He stretched forth his hand toward the people of Ammonihah just before he energetically called them to repentance Alma 13:21.
Zeezrom in Sidom stretched forth his hand before he asked Alma and Amulek to heal him of his burning fever Alma 15:5.
King Lamoni, as soon as he awoke from his spiritual sleep, stretched forth his hand to his queen before he spoke to her Alma 19:12.
Aaron, one of the four sons of Mosiah, raised King Lamoni's father from his spiritual sleep by putting forth his hand and commanding the king to stand. Alma 22:22.
After Korihor, the antichrist, was struck dumb, the chief judge put forth his hand and wrote unto Korihor. Alma 30:51. Korihor then put forth his hand and wrote his reply. Alma 30:52.
The Zoramites in Antionum, when speaking atop the Rameumptom, stretched forth their hands before speaking Alma 31:14.
About eight years later Alma was preaching to the Zoramites on hill Onidah in Antionum. A spokesman for the lower class arose and recounted the persecutions he and his friends had suffered. Alma turned toward these humble people, but before he said anything to them, he stretched forth his handAlma 32:7.
Samuel the Lamanite prophesied to the Nephites atop a wall surrounding the city of Zarahemla. But what did he do before speaking to the hostile crowd? He stretched forth his handHelaman 13:4.
In the most dramatic moment in the text, the risen Lord descended from heaven and appeared to the Nephites assembled at the temple in land Bountiful. Before speaking, he stretched forth his hand3 Nephi 11:9.
After instructing his twelve disciples, the Savior again addressed the multitude, but before speaking he stretched forth his hand3 Nephi 12:1.
Twelve of the most iconic discourses in the text were preceded by a hand gesture. What is going on?
Abinadi, Amulek, Alma, Zeezrom, King Lamoni, Korihor, the Zoramites, Samuel the Lamanite, and the resurrected Savior were all speaking in Mesoamerica where important people and deities stretched forth their hand to give a major speech. The Book of Mormon authors faithfully recorded an ancient Mesoamerican cultural practice that anthropologists have only recently recognized. These examples are in approximate chronological order.
Unprovenanced Olmec Plaque
This Olmec image is dated ca. 1,000 BC. "That the Maya and other Mesoamerican peoples highlighted some kinds of speech as more important, more authoritative, than others is made evident by a convention in which an extended index finger secured emphasis." Stephen Houston, David Stuart, and Karl Taube, The Memory of Bones: Body, Being, and Experience among the Classic Maya (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2006) p. 250, fig 7.29.a.
La Venta Altar 3, Photo by Linda Schele
La Venta monuments date ca. 600 BC. La Venta may be where the Mulekites landed. Note the heavily bearded figure on the right. Both individuals have hands stretched forth in a speech gesture. Similar depictions are on Tres Zapotes Stela D and La Venta Altars 4 and 7.
Izapa Stela 5 Left-Hand Ground Level Scene, V. Garth Norman
This scene depicts a bearded old man wearing a conical hat tending a flaming incense burner. His left hand is stretched out in a speech gesture. Izapa Stela 5 is generally dated ca. 300 BC. Izapa may be the land of the Lehite's first inheritance on the west coast of the greater land of Nephi.
Izapa Stela 5 Right-Hand Ground Level Scene, V. Garth Norman
This scene depicts a younger man with an elaborate headdress holding a stylus or perforator in his left hand. A speech scroll comes out of his mouth and his right hand is extended in a speech gesture.
Kaminaljuyu (KJ) Monument 65 Front
This image of KJ Monument 65 was produced by a high definition 3D laser scan reported in Travis F. Doering and Lori D. Collins, "Revisiting Kaminaljuyu Monument 65 in Three-Dimensional High Definition" in Julia Guernsey, John E. Clark, and Barbara Arroyo, editors, The Place of Stone Monuments: Context, Use, and Meaning in Mesoamerica's Preclassic Transition (Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks, 2010). All three enthroned rulers have stretched out their hands in a speech gesture.
The back side of the stone has another example of an elite personage with hand outstretched in a speech gesture.
KJ Monument 65 Back
Kaminaljuyu underlies the northwest part of modern Guatemala City. It may be the city of Nephi. See the blog article "Kaminaljuyu." Monument 65, discovered in 1983, dates to ca. 150 BC, very close to the time Abinadi was in King Noah's court. For insight into the meaning of the objects displayed between these KJ figure's noses and lips, see the blog article "Partake of the Fruit."
San Bartolo is a Guatemalan site with spectacular murals that date ca. 100 BC.
San Bartolo West Wall Drawing by Heather Hurst
This scene depicts two enthroned gods flanking a dancer. Both gods have stretched forth their hands in a speech gesture. "As in the case of the San Bartolo gods, they both sit cross-legged and point with their extended index fingers, a convention for discourse that is present from Olmec times to the sixteenth century." Karl A. Taube, William A. Saturno, David Stuart, and Heather Hurst, The Murals of San Bartolo, El Petén, Guatemala, Part 2: The West Wall (Bernardsville, NC: Boundary End Archaeology Research Center, 2010) p. 75.
Teotihuacan Plano Relief Vessel, Drawing by Karl Taube
This image dates ca. AD 250. "Two of the figures appear to be presenting decorated cloth, and another emits a large speech scroll while gesturing with his extended index finger. From the late Preclassic to late Postclassic periods, this hand gesture denotes speech in Maya art." Karl A. Taube, "Tetitla and the Maya Presence at Teotihuacan" in Geoffrey E. Braswell, editor, The Maya and Teotihuacan: Reinterpreting Early Classic Interaction (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2003) p. 283.
Dresden Codex p. 9b
The Dresden Codex was painted ca. AD 1,300. It is believed to be a copy of an earlier manuscript. Itzamna, the right-hand figure, is shown talking to the maize god. Several other figures in the Dresden Codex are also depicted with hands extended in a speech gesture.
Gesturing Individuals with Glyph Passing Between Them
The image above is from Justin Kerr, K512. The glyph signifies "holiness". See Sarah E. Jackson, "Hieroglyphic Texting: Ideologies and Practices of Classic Maya Written Evidence" in Cambridge Archaeological Journal Volume 30, Number 4 (2020).
A speech gesture is attested in the New Testament with Paul before Agrippa Acts 26:1. Moses performed miracles by stretching forth his hand Exodus 9:22, 10:12, 14:21. David Michael Calabro, formerly with the Maxwell Institute, wrote his dissertation at the University of Chicago on various ritual hand gestures in the ancient near east. Human hands are ubiquitous. But, the consistent correlation of authoritative speech with a hand gesture in both the Book of Mormon and Mesoamerican iconography supports the idea of a cultural connection.
