Prophecy Fulfilled 005

Nephi explained that his small plates were for recording religious ministry 1 Nephi 9:4, while his large plates were for recording:

1. the reign of the kings
2. wars
3. contentions

The word "king" appears over 400 times in the text. The word "war" appears over 160 times and "contention" more than 80 times. Nephite scribes clearly followed their founder's directives.

In the lavish 2015 book The Maya: Voices in Stone Harri Kettunen has an article entitled "Ancient Maya Warfare: Military Techniques, Tactics, and Strategies." He lists the main topics recorded in Maya epigraphy:

1. dynastic histories of kings and queens
2. armed conflicts
3. political battles

The affairs Maya scribes chose to write about mirror Nephi's prophetic instructions to his successors.

Panel 2 Piedras Negras, Peten, Guatemala Showing Royalty & Warriors

Other articles in the Prophecy Fulfilled series are 006, 007. 008, 009, and 010.

Article last updated December 10, 2018

Prophecy Fulfilled 004

After he had a chance to read the plates of brass retrieved from Laban in Jerusalem, Father Lehi prophesied that the information contained on them would go forth to multiple "nations, kindreds, tongues, and people who were of his seed" 1 Nephi 5:18. The Book of Mormon contains a great deal of information that was on the plates of brass. So, as the Book of Mormon goes forth to Lehi's descendants in their mother tongues, Lehi's prophecy is fulfilled. Lehi's descendants include native speakers of many languages. The date indicates when the Book of Mormon was first published in a significant language spoken by a large group of native Americans.

• English 1830 (US, Canada, Belize, Guyana)
• Spanish 1886 (Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Dominican Republic)
• Portuguese 1931 (Brazil)
• Kaqchikel 1978 (Guatemala)
• Quechua - Peru 1979 (Peru)
• Quiche 1979 (Guatemala)
• Navajo 1980 (US)
• Kuna 1981 (Panama, Colombia)
• Quechua - Bolivia 1981 (Bolivia)
• Q'eqchi' (Kekchi) 1983 (Guatemala, Belize)
• Mam 1983 (Guatemala)
• Maya 1983 (Mexico, Belize, Guatemala)
• Aymara 1986 (Peru, Bolivia)
• Tzotzil 1993 (Mexico)
• Guarani 2009 (Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil)
• Quichua - Ecuador 2011 (Ecuador)

This map shows major places where native speakers of these 16 languages live today.

Sixteen Languages Spoken by Lehi's Seed
Who Have the Book of Mormon in Their Tongue

Lehi's prophecy has been fulfilled as the plates of brass have gone forth to his seed in many nations, kindreds, tongues, and people via the Book of Mormon.

Prophecy Fulfilled 003

At the end of the first day of His ministry to the Nephites, the risen Lord gathered his 12 New World disciples together, touched each of them individually, and spoke to them as He touched them. Jesus Christ gave each of his chosen disciples power to give the Holy Ghost 3 Nephi 18:36-37. Mormon then authored an editorial promise that at some point in his record he would show his readers that the Savior's ordinations were effective, that the 12 New World disciples did indeed possess the power to give the Holy Ghost 3 Nephi 18:37.

On the second day of the Savior's ministry, the 12 prayed to receive the Holy Ghost themselves 3 Nephi 19:9 and newly-baptized members had the Holy Ghost fall upon them 3 Nephi 19:13. The Holy Ghost was in rich abundance, but Mormon's prophetic promise was not explicitly fulfilled.

On the third day of the Savior's ministry, the 12 continued to baptize, and their converts were filled with the Holy Ghost 3 Nephi 26:17. Again, the Holy Ghost was present, but Mormon's prophetic promise was not explicitly fulfilled.

After the third day's ministry, the Savior's disciples continued baptizing and again their converts did receive the Holy Ghost 3 Nephi 28:18. Mormon's comments indicate he was citing the records at his disposal, but once again he did not explicitly fulfill his prophetic promise.

After approximately 1.5 years had elapsed, the Savior's disciples were still baptizing people who "did also receive the Holy Ghost" 4 Nephi 1:1. The baptism - Holy Ghost couplet was paramount, but the 12 possessing power were not mentioned - so yet again, Mormon did not explicitly fulfill his prophetic promise.

Mormon authored the historical book that bears his name and did not return to this theme of the 12 and their ministry. He then turned his plates over to his son, Moroni Mormon 6:6. After surviving his nation's holocaust, Moroni was alone and bereft with very little room left on his father's plates Mormon 8:5. Moroni authored Mormon chapters 8 & 9 without regard to his father's unfulfilled prophetic promise.

Then, something remarkable happened. Moroni lived for several more decades. He obtained ore and fashioned more plates. He had time to go over his father's abridgment in detail. He discovered his father's unfinished business. So, in his own book, after a short introduction, Moroni immediately recounted 3 Nephi 18:36-37 embellished with additional details, and then he explicitly fulfilled his father's prophetic promise Moroni 2:3. Moroni as faithful son completed what his father had begun.

Iconic Arnold Friberg Painting of Teutonic Mormon and Moroni

Prophecy Fulfilled 002

Nephi believed he was an effective public speaker but a relatively poor writer 2 Nephi 33:1. We marvel at his words today and consider the books of 1st and 2nd Nephi literary masterpieces. Nevertheless, he perceived his writing as weak 2 Nephi 33:4.

But, in the latter days, Nephi prophesied that his words would "be made strong unto" Lehi's descendants 2 Nephi 33:4. How do weak words become strong? The parallel text in 2 Nephi 3 has some of the answers.

• The Book of Mormon convinces people of the truthfulness of the Bible. Nephi's words are strong because they reinforce the earlier text 2 Nephi 3:11.
• The Book of Mormon and the Bible, growing together, strengthen each other 2 Nephi 3:12.
• Book of Mormon words will come out of God's own mouth 2 Nephi 3:21. This is one of the many reasons Royal Skousen's and Stan Carmack's theory of tight control over the translation process is compelling.
• Lehi's descendants in the latter days will exhibit faith 2 Nephi 3:21.

2 Nephi 33:4 goes on to say that Nephi's words will become strong because they help accomplish righteous purposes.

There is another way Nephi's words are being made strong unto the children of Lehi. Book of Mormon Central has published KnoWhys in English since January 1, 2016. Each of these well researched, written, edited, illustrated, documented, and packaged essays (with podcast and video) strengthens a word, phrase, or concept in the Nephite text through faithful scholarly elucidation.

KnoWhys 234 - 245 on the Book of Mormon Central Website

KnoWhy #500 was published on January 31, 2019. We will be publishing KnoWhys for many years. Eventually they will number in the thousands. KnoWhys are the most comprehensive corpus of formatted Book of Mormon scholarship ever produced. They are a formidable resource for profoundly engaging the Nephite text.

KnoWhys published in Spanish are reaching many more of Lehi's dcescendants. Every Hispanic Latter-day Saint who reads, watches, or listens to a KnoWhy is literally fulfilling Nephi's prophecy

Article updated February 10, 2019.

Prophecy Fulfilled 001

The Book of Mormon is beautiful, miraculous, and true. I first heard that description from Neal Rappleye, Operations Manager at Book of Mormon Central. One of the salient characteristics of this divinely-inspired text is its prophetic nature. How many prophecies are contained in its pages? I have never counted, but there are hundreds. Here is one being fulfilled before our eyes.

Nephi in his closing statement describes people who "cast many things away which are written, and esteem them as things of naught." 2 Nephi 33:2. He goes on to describe people in the latter days who will not "respect the words of the Jews, and also my words, and the words which shall proceed out of the mouth of the Lamb of God ..." 2 Nephi 33:14.

In other words, in our day the Bible and the Book of Mormon will be unappreciated and ignored.

In 1899, three traveling businessmen, Samuel Hill, William Knights, and John Nicholson, founded Gideons International whose mission is to distribute free copies of the Bible. I remember as a youth in Arizona being given a small Gideon Bible in grade school. In 1908 the Gideons placed a copy of the Bible in every room of the Superior Hotel (which no longer exists) in Superior, Montana. Since that time the group has become known worldwide for placing the scriptures in hotel and motel rooms, hospitals, prisons, etc. In April, 2015, The Gideons placed their historic 2 billionth copy of the Bible. (An article mentioning the number of copies of the Book of Mormon distributed worldwide is hosted here.)

J. Willard Marriott founded world's largest lodging chain. A devout Mormon, he established a policy of placing both a copy of the Book of Mormon and the Bible in every room of every Marriott property. For decades I have delighted at finding a copy of the Book of Mormon in my room as I have stayed at Courtyards, Fairmont Inns, Residence Inns, SpringHill Suites, and Marriott Hotels in many nations.

The Book of Mormon and the Bible in a Marriott Property

All of that is changing. An article by Hugo Martin in the LA Times this morning announced that "More Hotels are Checking Out of the Bible Business." Marriott has decided not to place scriptures in their new Moxy and Edition brand hotels because "the religious books don't fit the personality of the brands." Moxy and Edition hotels target "fun-loving millenials." A survey by a hospitality industry analytics firm reported that the percentage of U.S. hotels with religious material in their rooms dropped from 95% in 2006 to 48% in 2016.

The article goes on to explain reasons why many lodging chains are choosing not to place the scriptures in their rooms:

• Younger Americans are less devout than their parents or grandparents
• Muslims and Buddhists can be offended
• Nightstands are becoming less common in rooms
• Atheist groups are exerting pressure

The Freedom from Religion Foundation even goes so far as to encourage their members to affix stickers on hotel room Bibles that say "Warning: Literal belief in this book may endanger your health and life."

I was in a medical office waiting room not long ago and picked up a copy of the Book of Mormon. It had one of these atheist stickers on the title page. I penned a heartfelt testimony and signed my name to the side of the sticker. Nephi's prophecy is being literally fulfilled and I like him esteem the word of God "as of great worth." 2 Nephi 33:3.

Linguistic Cumorah

David Richins has a degree in linguistics from BYU. He has lived most of his life in Ohio. He authors a fascinating blog on Mormon topics entitled "The Lunch is Free" which is a nod to a famous essay by Hugh Nibley entitled "Work We Must, But the Lunch is Free." I find Richins' work on Book of Mormon etymologies insightful and highly creative. He corroborates and extends the impressive work Robert F. Smith, Paul Y. Hoskisson, Stephen D. Ricks, and John Gee have done in their Book of Mormon Onomasticon. Richins delights at finding wordplay in the text as does Matthew L. Bowen whose prolific contributions in Interpreter are defining a new sub-discipline within Book of Mormon Studies (see for example "Father  is a Man: The Remarkable Mention of the Name Abish in Alma 19:16 and its Narrative Context" and "Onomastic Wordplay on Joseph and Benjamin and Gezera Shawa in the Book of Mormon").

I planned on joining Warren Aston and his 2016 Ramah/Cumorah Expedition for the Tuxtlas portion of their exploration. Then a family tragedy struck and I stayed home. Wishing to contribute to the effort, I wrote the article Ramah/Cumorah which was of some use to the team in the field. I concluded in that article that dormant volcano Cerro San Martin was the most likely candidate for hill Ramah/Cumorah.

Possible Hill Ramah/Cumorah in the Tuxtlas of Southern Veracruz

Aston emailed me upon his return to Brisbane and indicated that locals call the hill San Martin Pajapan. Searching on that name led me to this remarkable article David Richins posted on September 5, 2016 "Fire Within, The True Meaning of Cumorah." Through methodical and far-reaching linguistic analysis, Richins comes to the same conclusion that San Martin Pajapan is a likely candidate for Ramah/Cumorah. Our efforts were entirely independent and our methods highly dissimilar, but we both ended up in the same place. Perhaps we are on to something.

For biblical examples of fiery mountains, likely volcanoes, see the blog article "Volcanoes."

The Olmecs revered San Martin Pajapan as the place of original creation, a notion that persisted through Aztec times as documented in Bernardino de Sahagun's "La Historia Universal de las Cosas de Nueva Espana" now commonly called the "Florentine Codex" because the best preserved original is in the Laurentian Library in Florence. From ca. 1,000 BC to AD 1968 San Martin Pajapan Monument 1 stood atop the summit with a cache of jade objects buried directly beneath it.

San Martin Pajapan Monument 1, Museo de Antropologia de Xalapa

This colossal effigy depicts the rain god in an elaborate headdress raising a world tree. The sculpture stands 1.4 meters high and weighs more than a ton. Iconongraphy includes crosses representing the four cardinal directions, four quarters of the earth, and the center (see the article entitled "Four Sides, Four Quarters, and a Center") and an early depiction of the bird/serpent motif best known from later images of the Central Mexican deity Quetzalcoatl.

The three most important Olmec sites: San Lorenzo, La Venta, and Tres Zapotes are precisely equi-distant from San Martin Pajapan.

Three Key Olmec Sites Relative to San Martin Pajapan

On a clear day, one can see San Martin Pajapan from both San Lorenzo and La Venta. At La Venta, the later Olmecs created an artificial mountain, a pyramid with fluted sides consciously imitating the conical shape of dormant volcano San Martin Pajapan.

Linda Schele's Drawing of  La Venta's Artificial Mountain,
an Effigy of San Martin Pajapan

A transect between Tres Zapotes and La Venta bisects both Cerro Vigia and Cerro San Martin Pajapan. San Lorenzo is roughly at right angles to this transect.

Tres Zapotes to La Venta & San Martin to San Lorenzo Transects

We have suggested that Cerro Vigia may be hill Shim and the Teotihuacan colony Matacapan may have played a major role in the final Nephite battle scenario (see the article Ramah/Cumorah). If our correlations are correct, they help explain these textual questions:

• Why did Mormon move the Nephite record archive from hill Shim to hill Cumorah against Ammaron's explicit command to leave the repository where he hid it Mormon 1:4? With the alliance between Matacapan & Teotihuacan, the Nephites no longer controlled the area around hill Shim.
• Why did Mormon believe the Nephite records would be more secure in hill Cumorah Mormon 6:6? Cumorah was widely revered as a sacred place, unlikely to be disturbed. San Martin Pajapan Monument 1 stood for nearly 3,000 years before modern archaeologists removed it to the museum in Xalapa.
• Why did Mormon choose Cumorah as the place for the final battle Mormon 6:2? Stories of the Jaredite demise could have been motivational to his people and de-motivational to the Lamanites. Some Lamanites may have refused to fight in a place many regarded as holy.   

Cerro San Martin, aka San Martin Pajapan, was a very important place to the Olmec. Ramah/Cumorah was highly significant in Jaredite and later Nephite affairs. Further research is warranted. Here is a photo of San Martin Pajapan Warren Aston took on his recent Ramah/Cumorah 2016 expedition.

San Martin Pajapan in Southern Veracruz
Photo by Warren P. Aston

And this is an aerial view from the Gulf of Campeche coast.

San Martin Pajapan From the Air Looking West

The Santa Marta aka Martha Mountains are faintly visible in background.

View of the San Martin Pajapan summit.

Heavily Fluted Ridges Rising to the Summit of San Martin Pajapan

Notes about this area:

• Cerro Vigia was the source of some of the boulders the Olmecs used to carve their colossal statues, including stone heads. Another source was Cerro Mono Blanco 24 kilometers east of Cerro Vigia and 3 kilometers NNW of the town of Catemaco.
• Cerro Mono Blanco is strongly associated with witchcraft in contemporary Mexico. Mormon decried occult practices Mormon 1:19, Mormon 2:10.
• At least 40 extinct volcanoes in the Tuxtlas have crater lakes. There are many springs and some spectacular waterfalls. These may be part of the many waters Mormon described Mosiah 8:8, Mormon 6:4.
• The natives hunt, fish, and farm. The presence of all three forms of subsistence may have been part of the advantage Mormon hoped to achieve in the area Mormon 6:4. 
• These volcanic mountains are full of caves. Ether's cavity of a rock Ether 13:13-22 may have been a lava tube or collapsed lava tube.
• Many natives are herbal healers recalling Alma 46:40.
• Natives gather honey on the slopes of San Martin Pajapan. The Book of Mormon mentions honey among the Jaredites Ether 2:3.
• Natives fear a bad wind as in Mosiah 7:31.
• The four cardinal directions are central to the local worldview as they were in the Book of Mormon Mosiah 27:6.

 Article updated November 28, 2016.

Prophets Human and Inspired

My wife and I just saw James Arrington's farewell performance of his acclaimed one-man show "Here's Brother Brigham." Arrington donned the beard and stove pipe hat for 40 years. He and his wife have accepted a call to serve as senior missionaries and will be leaving soon for Nashville, TN.

I love Brigham (1801 - 1877) as I love Joseph (1805 - 1844). I revere them as Prophets of God. I have also studied their lives in sufficient detail to realize they were highly imperfect human beings, like the rest of us. Prophets, like the Church they lead, are partly human and partly inspired. If you fail to see the divine inspiration, you miss the awe. If you fail to see the humanity, you have unrealistic expectations. The person who reasonably balances this humanity and inspiration in their mind can weather the storms of life with their testimony intact.

Brigham chewed tobacco much of his life, used colorful language, and practiced racism. He married 55 women, divorced 10 of them, and only publicly acknowledged 16 wives. He also helped convert thousands, led 70,000 emigrants west, founded 350 settlements, established many institutions that are thriving today, and built up a Church that now spans the globe. Joseph's temporal pursuits usually ended badly but he produced more pages of sacred writ than any Prophet in the Bible. Brigham's gifts as a seer and revelator were limited but a more successful administrator would be hard to find. Joseph and Brigham were both partly human and partly inspired.

Joseph Fielding Smith (1876 - 1972) was a prolific author although his outdated material is seldom referenced in the contemporary Church. His rigid orthodoxy and arch conservatism would make him a pariah in today's world. His famous statement that man would never travel to the moon was brought up in the 1970 press conference when he became President of the Church a mere six months after Apollo 11. "Well, I was wrong, wasn't I?" was his terse reply. I can't imagine Joseph Smith, Jr. ever uttering those words. See the blog article "Joseph Smith in One Question." Joseph Fielding Smith was partly human and partly inspired.

So how much credence should we give a statement attributed to a partly human and partly inspired Prophet? South American mission records contain statements by Apostles (Spencer W. Kimball (1895 - 1985), for instance) who later became the Prophet saying Lehi landed in Chile at 30 degrees south latitude. It is human nature to travel and say something about the place you are visiting to please your audience. Those brethren who over the years repeated the old myth about the Lehites landing in Chile were partly human and partly inspired. Perpetuating a false tradition over the pulpit was part of their human nature. See the article "The Case for Mesoamerica."

Joseph Fielding Smith in 1939 expressed his opinion that the Jaredite Ramah/Nephite Cumorah was in upstate New York. Rigidly orthodox and archly conservative, he espoused the "one Cumorah" theory in the wake of liberal new ideas coming up from BYU. Was Smith perpetuating a false tradition as part of his human nature? I believe he was (see the article Ramah/Cumorah), although I revere Joseph Fielding Smith as a Prophet who held the keys of the Kingdom of God on the earth for 2 1/2 years from 1970 - 1972. David O, McKay (1873 - 1970) had been the larger-than-life Prophet of my youth. I was hiking through Zion's Narrows in 1971 when I received a witness from the Spirit that Joseph Fielding Smith was indeed a Prophet of the Most High. As I participated in the Provo Temple dedication in 1972, the Spirit bore witness to me that the dedicatory prayer authored by Joseph Fielding Smith and read by Harold B. Lee (1899 - 1973) was divinely inspired. I have no problem with Joseph Fielding Smith or any Prophet being partly human and partly inspired.

I own a limited edition print of this painting entitled "Sacred Fire" by Jon McNaughton.

Latter-day Prophets of the Twentieth and Twenty First Centuries
in Period Scout Uniforms Surrounding Lord Baden Powell 

My great aunt told me stories about visits with Heber J. Grant (1856 - 1945). My grandfather was Ezra Taft Benson's (1899 - 1994) scoutmaster in Franklin County, Idaho. Some of my mother's family were students of Harold B. Lee in Weston and Oxford, Idaho. Part of my youth was spent in Thatcher, Arizona where Spencer W. Kimball was an insurance salesman and real estate broker. I entered BYU in 1971 as a Joseph Fielding Smith scholar. I have met Thomas S. Monson in various settings including airports and funerals over the years. I walked with Gordon B. Hinckley (1910 - 2008) back to his car (a Rambler Ambassador) in a BYU parking lot after he visited with a few of us on campus. These are great men, Prophets of God, partly human and partly inspired. Their private opinions about the Book of Mormon are significantly less authoritative than the text itself. The Prophets who authored the Book of Mormon were also partly human and partly inspired, but they lived in the areas and were eye-witnesses to the events they described. They also expressed themselves under divine mandate 3 Nephi 23:13. 3 Nephi 26:12, Ether 4:5 and received inspiration appropriate to their stewardships Mormon 3:20.

As Taylor Halverson reminded me, "Catholics say the Pope is infallible, but nobody believes it. Mormons say the Prophet is fallible, but nobody believes it."