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"Glad tidings from Cumorah! Moroni, an angel from heaven, declaring the fulfilment of the prophets—the book to be revealed." (D&C 128:20) President Nelson: "Good inspiration is based upon good information." Latter-day Saints must read Oliver Cowdery's Letter VII to understand Church history and the Book of Mormon. “If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking." –Haruki Murakami
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Unfortunately, in some instances he perpetuates rumors because of the prevailing traditions.
We can use the book and Erekson's examples to help us all be more careful in our historical research and analysis.
The series will be posted here:
http://www.ldshistoricalnarratives.com/2022/04/real-vs-rumor-part-1-dispelling-latter.html
The link to my interview on Gospel Tangents regarding Lehi crossing the Atlantic is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tI8ydV7MoCA
The Church History Library has made available a series of photos of the erection of the Hill Cumorah monument in 1935.
https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/record/070378c9-7bab-49b8-aa68-3329f4130c06/0?view=browse
This photo from the top, looking north, shows how bare the hill was at the time.
https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f363354d-1b5a-4641-bb21-000124430552/0/12
Mobom.org (Museum of the Book of Mormon) has a discussion of Letter VII here:
https://www.mobom.org/letter-vii-letter-seven
When he wrote Letter VII, Oliver Cowdery was Assistant President of the Church. Joseph Smith referred to him as President Cowdery because, as Assistant President, he was a member of the First Presidency and senior to the First and Second Counselors.
Letter VII is President Oliver Cowdery's explanation of not only the fact of the location of the Hill Cumorah described in Mormon 6:6, but also the number of Jaredites and Nephites/Lamanites who died there (far fewer than often assumed). President Cowdery explained that Joseph helped him write these letters.
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Letter VII excerpt (click to enlarge) |