The Word of Joseph

Over the past few months we have written several articles regarding the so-called Malay Theory regarding the fallacy of Lehi, and the Jaredites before him, landing on the Malaysia Peninsula and that this area in Indonesia was the Land of Promise of the scriptural record of the Book of Mormon. At each article a discussion in the comments section ensued where a defense of the Malay Theory of Lehi’s landing on that Peninsula took place (the last one amount to over a running dialogue between several readers of over 50 comments).    Regardless of the extensive evidence to the contrary and showing without question that Lehi landed in a Land of Promise that was located in the Western Hemisphere, called the Americas, this contrary dialogue has continued.

Despite the fact that Joseph Smith tells us that the Angel Moroni told him the record (gold plates) that he was about to receive contained a record of the people “of this continent” and “from whence they came,” and the record itself clearly states and identifies the location from whence they came as Jerusalem (and the Tower of Babel in the case of the Jaredites), and there that two groups were basically located in the same general area (Land Northward and Land Southward) this dialogue about Lehi’s landing in Malay had continued for months on end. In a recent defense of the Malay Theory, the comment write has rejected Joseph Smith’s statement regarding Moroni’s comment in light of the argument that what is not found in the Book of Mormon directly is to be rejected, quoting our own writing about the need to not stray from the Book of Mormon in our writing about the Land of Promise—which is good advice for any theory about where the principal group (Jaredites, Nephites, Mulekites) landed and lived.
    On the other hand, it has to be acknowledged that the words of the very person who handed over the hidden records of these ancient groups, one angel Moroni, that last of the Nephites prophets, and final writer of the scriptural record, the one who, after writing the closing and final words of the record, hid up the plates and then appeared to Joseph Smith 1500 years later and eventually led him to the hidden records and commanded Joseph to translate the records, should be believable in his statements as to where his people, the Nephites, (from Lehi to Mormon and himself) originated and where they were and where their progenitors lived.
    If Moroni is not to be believed on a par with the record itself (part of which he wrote himself and another part he personally abridged), then what of the claim the record is accurate to begin with? Surely, Moroni’s instructions, explanations and information about the plates, the Nephite history and their origin are as truthful and accurate as the record itself.

Then there is the translator himself, one Joseph Smith, who was assigned by the Lord to do the translation. Surely, what he had to say about the record, the people, and their origin is as truthful and accurate as the record he translated. If it is not, then what is the point of the record being accepted if not the translator of the record being believed?
    So let us take a look at what Joseph Smith tells us about the origin of the people he wrote about—from whence they came and where they landed. After all, if we are going to accept and believe what Joseph Smith translated then we have to accept what he said about the people and their history which he translated. If we reject Joseph’s words, then we must reject what he translated—it is as simple as that. And if we are going to set ourselves above this man who translated the record and claim he was wrong in what he said about the very history he translated, then we are indeed more arrogant and stubbornly resistant to common sense and reality than we ought to be.

So let us turn to the Wentworth Letter, which Joseph Smith personally wrote on March 1, 1842, at the request of Mr. John Wentworth (left), editor and proprietor of the Chicago Democrat, regarding the early history of the Church and Joseph Smith’s involvement. First of all, according to B.H. Roberts of the First Council of the Seventy: “The letter is one of the choicest documents in our church literature; as also it is the earliest published document by the Prophet personally, making any pretension to consecutive narrative of those events in which the great Latter-day work had its origin…For combining conciseness of statement with comprehensiveness of treatment of the subject with which it deals, it has few equals among historical documents, and certainly none that excel it in our church literature” (History of the Church, pp535–541. The Wentworth Letter was originally published in Nauvoo in the Times and Seasons, 1 Mar. 1842, and it also appears in A Comprehensive History of the Church, 1:55).
    In this letter, which again is the background of Joseph’s translation work and development of the Book of Mormon and the experiences of the early Church and its members, Joseph wrote regarding the translation itself and the people who originally wrote the scriptural record: “I was informed concerning the aboriginal inhabitants of this country and shown who they were and from whence they came; a brief sketch of their origin, progress, civilization, laws, government.” He went on to say about the plates: “In this important and interesting book the history of ancient America is unfolded, from its first settlement by a colony that came from the Tower of Babel, at the confusion of the languages to the beginning of the fifth century of the Christian Era. We are informed by the records that America in ancient times had been inhabited by two distinct races of people.

The first were called Jaredites, and came directly from the Tower of Babel. The second race came directly from the city of Jerusalem, about six hundred years before the Savior’s birth. They were principally Israelites, of the descendants of Joseph” (DHC Vol IV, pp 535-541, as found in Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Third Edition, compiled by Alma P. Burton, Deseret Book, Salt Lake City, 1965).
    As should be clear to anyone, Joseph Smith tells us that both the Jaredites and Lehi landed in the Americas, “this continent,” making their landing in the Western Hemisphere. This is not a debatable issue. In addition, the Book of Mormon tells us “from whence they came,” with the Jaredites coming from Mesopotamia, or the Tower of Babel” (Ether Chapter 1), about, according to the Bible dating, 2100 B.C. (Genesis Chapter 11), and that the Book of Mormon tells us that where Lehi landed and where Nephi traveled to (on foot) after Lehi’s death, was the same area or land where the Nephites spent their entire history.
    Thus, it should be understood that the Jaredites and the Nephites landed in the Western Hemisphere and remained in the same general area for their 1000-year history. At no time in the more than 500 pages of the scriptural record do we find any indication—not a single word—to suggest that they landed anywhere other than the Land of Promise, the Americas, where they spent their entire 1000-year history.
    Joseph Smith said of this: “The inhabitants of this continent anciently were so constituted, and were so determined and persevering, either in righteousness or wickedness, that God visited them immediately, either with great judgment or blessings. But the present generation, if they were going into battle, if they got any assistance from God, they would have to obtain it by faith” (DHC, Vol V, p 390). On page 189, Joseph added: “The Book of Mormon is a record of the forefathers of our Western tribes of Indians; having been found through the ministration of an holy angel, and translated into our own language by the gifts and powers of God, after having been hid up in the earth for the last fourteen hundred years.”

Joseph Smith, the translator of this record, who knew and understood the Nephites and their origin and history far more than any man, tells us they landed on this continent, in the Americas, and that is where the entire record unfolds—the Book of Mormon tells us Lehi came from Jerusalem, so they left Jerusalem and sailed directly to and landed in the Western Hemisphere.
    This should set to rest and end any ill-founded speculation regarding theories that do not center within the Western Hemisphere. For anyone to continue to champion Malay, Africa, or anywhere else other than the Americas is simply burying their heads in the sane and ignoring the truth surrounding this landing issue. In order to continue to tout Malay, one has to ignore that obvious truth of the fact that the very person who translated the record has told us in no uncertain terms that Lehi and the Jaredites before him landed in the Americas! Period! End of Discussion!