Friday, February 6, 2026

Explaining 2 sets of plates - graphic book

Several years ago I worked with an African illustrator to create a book for African Latter-day Saints that explained Church history from their perspective, including African culture. We published it in 2021.

Here is the cover for the French edition:


It is available in English, French and Spanish in print and on Kindle. Here is the English Kindle edition: https://www.amazon.com/Lemurs-Chameleons-Golden-Plates-Perspective-ebook/dp/B09MFTFK1F

One part of the book explained the two sets of plates.

Joseph's mother, Lucy Mack Smith, related this account of Joseph and Oliver contacting David Whitmer in May 1829.

In the mean time Joseph was 150 miles distant and knew naught of the matter e[x]cept an intimation that was given through the urim and thumim for as he one morning applied the<​m​> latter to his eyes to look upon the record instead of the words of the book being given him he was commanded to write a letter to one David Whitmore [Whitmer] this man Joseph had never seen but he was instructed to say him that he must come with his team immediately in order to convey Joseph and his family <​Oliver [Cowdery]​> back to his house which was 135 miles that they might remain with him there untill the translation should be completed for that an evil designing people were seeking to take away Joseph’s life in order to prevent the work of God from going forth among the world 

https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/lucy-mack-smith-history-1844-1845/100

Here are some of the images:




















This is the display in the Church History Museum in Salt Lake City, Utah.








Friday, January 30, 2026

Forgotten or ignored sites

 I've visited several of these, but most are long gone.


This isn’t a conspiracy. It’s a cover-up. Look at these maps. Thousands of mound sites. mapped, documented, erased. Not taught in schools. Not shown in museums. Not protected. Not preserved. They bulldozed civilizations and built parking lots. And we’re just supposed to move on?





Thursday, January 29, 2026

CWIC Media podcast explains two sets of plates

Greg Matsen at the Cwic Show interviewed me about the two sets of plates article by Don Bradley in BYU Studies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WExjn1MZt3k



The Cwic Show podcasts are always thought-provoking.

Time constraints kept us from answering all the questions, so here are some additional references to consider.

The original book about two sets of plates, Whatever Happened to the Golden Plates?, is available on Kindle and print on Amazon and Digitalegend. 

https://www.amazon.com/Whatever-Happened-Golden-Jonathan-Neville/dp/1544822723


The Rational Restoration also has a section on the two sets of plates.

https://www.amazon.com/Rational-Restoration-Jonathan-Neville/dp/1964978319

You can search the 350 posts on this blog, or look at the Pages section on this blog:

Pages

Friday, January 16, 2026

The Scioto Valley


The Scioto Valley around Chillicothe was one of the most engineered ritual landscapes in ancient North America… terraces, river bends, enclosures, mounds, causeways, all deliberately placed across flood cycles and sightlines. Seip. Hopeton. Mound City. High Bank. Spruce Hill. Not isolated sites. One integrated system. The map isn’t showing ruins. Welcome to Ohio