June 27 and 29, 1844

June 27, 1844, was the day Joseph and Hyrum Smith were murdered in Carthage.

D&C 135 documents what happened.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/135?lang=eng

_____

Two days later, on June 29, 1844, a New York newspaper titled The Prophet announced that “Elder Wm. Smith, of the ‘Quorum of the Twelve’ having accepted of the Editorship of the Prophet all letters or communications appertaining to the business of said paper must be addressed to him."

https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4529&context=byusq

That same issue of The Prophet republished Oliver Cowdery's "Letter VII" in which Oliver, then Assistant President of the Church, declared "the fact that here, between these hills, the entire power and national strength of both the Jaredites and Nephites were destroyed."

The hills he referred to were the Hill Cumorah where Joseph found the plates and "At about one mile west rises another ridge of less height, running parallel with the former."

https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/b6ca5a6b-374b-4fbc-ad25-c66b91e43820/0/2?lang=eng

_____

During Joseph's lifetime, it was well known that the Hill Cumorah in New York was the same Hill Cumorah/Ramah described in the Book of Mormon (e.g., Mormon 6:6).

In Letter VII, Oliver explained that Mormon, "by divine appointment, abridged from those records, in his own style and language, a short account of the more important and prominent items, from the days of Lehi to his own time, after which he deposited, as he says, on the 529th page, all the records in this same hill, Cumorah and after gave his small record to his son Moroni, who, as appears from the same, finished, after witnessing the extinction of his people as a nation."

Oliver could affirm the facts because he had personally visited the repository of records in the Hill Cumorah.

_____

Today, 180 years later, we have prominent Latter-day Saint intellectuals who actively teach that Oliver was wrong about Cumorah. They claim that he was an ignorant speculator who misled everyone with a false "theory" about Cumorah.

The further claim that Joseph Smith embraced this false theory. They claim that Joseph's contemporaries and successors in Church leadership perpetuated the false narrative about the New York Cumorah, including members of the First Presidency speaking in General Conference.

We'll continue to discuss these modern theories that repudiate the teachings of the prophets. 

It's especially poignant to reflect on this during June.

Final destruction at Cumorah?

In his journal on December 17, 1866, Wilford Woodruff recorded that

"President Heber C. Kimball while at the Endowment House prophesied that when the final last struggle came to this nation it would be at the Hill Cumorah where both of the former nations were destroyed."

https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/0c76d480-00aa-4210-9334-12a578908f1f/0/45?lang=eng

(click to enlarge)

N. B. Lundwall quoted J. Golden Kimball as saying "Heber C. Kimball said it was revealed to him that the last great destruction of the wicked would be on the lakes near the Hill Cumorah." See Lundwall, Inspired Prophetic Warnings to all inhabitants of the Earth, 1940, p. 52.

(click to enlarge)

President Kimball reported that after he joined the Church in New York in 1832, he visited the Hill Cumorah and saw the embankments there. 

How many think he was referring to an unknown "hill" in Mexico?

Called by Moroni, Cumorah

B.H. Roberts reiterated the well-known point that it was Moroni who called the hill in New York Cumorah. This image is from his book titled The Missouri Persecutions.

Roberts explains: "The same day, namely, 22nd of September, 1823, Joseph Smith went to the place where the record was deposited--called by Moroni, Cumorah--and there in a rude stone box, the crowning cover of which he could see above the surface of the hillside, he found the record, together with the Urim and Thummim."

(click to enlarge)

https://archive.org/details/missouripersecut01robe/page/n23/mode/2up

_____

Lucy Mack Smith explained it was Moroni who identified the hill as Cumorah the first night he met Joseph Smith. She further explained that the whole family knew the name of the hill before Joseph got the plates. 

Parley P. Pratt also reported that during the mission to the Lamanites in the fall of 1830, they taught the Delaware Indians that it was Moroni who called the hill Cumorah anciently. Roberts quoted that passage in his book.

"This book, which contained these things, was hid in the earth by Moroni, in a hill called by him Cumorah, which hill is now in the State of New York, near the village of Palmyra, in Ontario County."

https://archive.org/details/missouripersecut01robe/page/n39/mode/2up

And, of course, Oliver Cowdery explained it is a fact that the hill Cumorah/Ramah in New York is the site of the last battles of the Nephites and Jaredites. We can all read this in Joseph's own journal, right in the Joseph Smith Papers.

http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1834-1836/90

_____

Yet our M2C scholars insist that we disbelieve these people because they were merely ignorant speculators who misled the Church--and the entire world. 

And we know this because our modern M2C scholars have applied their credentials and erudition to identify a mountain in southern Mexico as the "real" Cumorah.

You can learn more about the M2C delusion from Scripture Central and other sources:

https://hillcumorahexpeditionteam.com/

Scripture Central offers an M2C map in Spanish, here:

https://geografia.centralldm.es/

(note: that site is not secure, apparently)

Cast of characters:

(click to enlarge)

Scripture Central's Spanish-language M2C map of Cumorah:

(click to enlarge)

Scripture Central's Spanish-language M2C map of voyages:

(click to enlarge)

Credentials:

(click to enlarge)

¿Quiénes somos?

Book of Mormon Central es un equipo de apasionados estudiantes de las Escrituras nefitas, trabajando unido para compartir las maravillas de esta inspiradora obra maestra con el mundo. El equipo está formado por archivistas, investigadores, escritores, traductores, editores, revisores, ilustradores, narradores, ingenieros de audio, ingenieros de video, diseñadores web, desarrolladores web y móviles, artistas gráficos y editores de medios sociales, además de personal de apoyo. Book of Mormon Central (BMC) tiene su sede en el condado de Utah, Utah, Estados Unidos. Su misión es aumentar la comprensión y el compromiso fiel con el Libro de Mormón. La organización cumple su misión de varias maneras:

ScripturePlus:  Es una aplicación de estudio de las Escrituras, totalmente interactiva, diseñada para ayudar a los usuarios a involucrarse más en la palabra de Dios. Incluye múltiples versiones del texto del Libro de Mormón, comentarios, citas de las Autoridades Generales y eruditos confiables, gráficos, imágenes, videos y KnoWhys característicos de Book of Mormon Central

KnoWhys: Los KnoWhys son artículos concisos, enriquecidos con medios audiovisuales, que explican temas complejos, ideas interesantes y tesoros doctrinales en el Libro de Mormón. Cada KnoWhy consta de un breve artículo web, ilustraciones, un PDF imprimible y un video explicando el tema del artículo.
Estos KnoWhys tienen la intención de enriquecer el estudio personal de las Escrituras y proporcionar herramientas de enseñanza eficaces en la clase.

Archive [Archivo]: Archive de Book of Mormon Central (solo en inglés) es un repositorio digital integral de recursos escritos [en inglés], visuales y de audio relevantes para el Libro de Mormón. Contiene recursos para que los eruditos y estudiantes del Libro de Mormón realicen un estudio e investigación rigurosos de este texto sagrado utilizando materiales de FARMS, Religious Studies Center, Maxwell Institute, La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días y más.

Proyectos adicionales: Central del Libro de Mormón continúa apoyando otros proyectos que contribuyen a comprender y difundir la verdad del Libro de Mormón. Estos proyectos incluyen Evidence Central, Central de la Perla de Gran Precio, Central de Doctrina y Convenios, material complementario para el plan de estudios Ven, Sígueme, comentarios originales y un Concurso de Arte anual.

Marketing: Esta organización expande su alcance e influencia a través de campañas de marketing digital e iniciativas en redes sociales. Book of Mormon Central tiene cada vez más seguidores en Facebook, YouTube [y en inglés], Soundcloud, Instagram, Twitter y Pinterest.

La organización legal que respalda a Book of Mormon Central es Book of Mormon Archaeological Forum, Inc., una organización benéfica pública sin fines de lucro 501 (c) 3 constituida en el estado de Utah en 2004. Book of Mormon Central no es parte oficial de la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días, sino una organización independiente. BMC agradece las donaciones en apoyo a esta labor que es posible gracias al servicio diligente de muchos voluntarios. Book of Mormon Central comenzó a
operar en mayo de 2015.

Central del Libro de Mormón

Central del Libro de Mormón, por otra parte, es el nombre que recibe nuestro equipo de español.
Como grupo, somos los encargados de traducir, editar y publicar el contenido en inglés, adicionalmente, también somos creadores de contenido. Contamos, entre nuestras iniciativas, con el primer noticiero, el primer programa en vivo, la primera noche de hogar y un programa para público infantil. Hemos también realizado viajes cada año para enriquecer con más contenido nuestro público hispanohablante. Nuestros viajes han incluido: Tamaulipas y Tuxtla Gutiérrez, México (2016), Cholula y Cacaxtla, México (2017), Ecuador, Colombia y Guatemala (2017), la Ciudad de México y Puebla, México (2017), Guatemala (2018), Nauvoo y Missouri (2018 y 2019), Cacaxtla (2019), Utah (2019), un crucero de Florida al Caribe/Centro América (2019), Izapa, Suchiate en Tapachula, México (2020), Nueva York y Ohio (2020), Tabasco y Chiapas, México (2020).

LIDAR in Chillicothe, Ohio, North America

Gregory L Little, Ed.D.

@DrGregLittle2

So many more earthworks and mounds are being discovered by LiDAR and magnetometer studies that their results are showing us how little we really know. The first illustration is a mid-1800s survey of the Steel Group (left) near Chillicothe. There were 2 enclosures and a small mound visible in the 1800s. The second photo is the recent magnetometer survey of the Steel Group showing about a dozen earthwork structures that were once at the site. From: Burks, 2023, Oberlin Heritage Center.

(click to enlarge)

(click to enlarge)