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Podcast transcript:
A while back, a critic of the Church of Jesus Christ named Bethany Kay published a video in which she makes some rather interesting claims about the angel Moroni. Her video is a few years old now, but I keep seeing this topic pop up, so we’re going to listen to a clip of her video, see what the claims are, and then see whether or not they hold water. Let us begin.
“The angel Moroni visited him three times in September 1823, and that same angel Moroni visited him again every single year for four years till 1827, when he delivered the plates to him. But what they didn’t tell you is that in every early LDS publication, including Joseph’s own written account in the original Pearl of Great Price, Times & Seasons, Millennial Star 1842, we see Joseph clearly referring to that angel as Nephi, not Moroni.”
She goes on to claim that the Church changed Nephi to Moroni after Joseph’s death because it made more sense for the made-up story of the Book of Mormon — your classic conspiracy/cover-up one-two punch.
So her first claim is that in every early LDS publication, the angel is called Nephi. All due respect to this creator. I’m sure she’s coming from a place of pain in her video. I’m sure she’s a lovely person. But this claim is demonstrably false. In many early documents, the angel isn’t named at all, but when he is, his name is Moroni. The angel is Moroni in the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants. It’s Moroni in a letter from Oliver Cowdery, published in the April 1835 issue of the Messenger and Advocate. It’s Moroni in a Q&A with Joseph Smith published in the July 1838 Elders’ Journal. It’s Moroni in an 1839 discourse from Joseph Smith as recorded by Willard Richards.
The first existing instance of the angel being referred to as Nephi appears in mid-1839 in the earliest available manuscript of “Joseph Smith — History”. You’ll notice that it’s written in first-person, as if Joseph himself is writing it, but he’s not. Joseph is overseeing this project, but this is the handwriting of his clerk, James Mulholland.
The passage in question reads, “He called me by name and said unto me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me and that his name was Nephi.” If you had this document in front of you, you’d notice that there’s a little asterisk above “Nephi” with the word “Moroni”. This was a note added by Albert Carrington, probably in 1871, after Brigham Young assigned the Historian’s Office to look into this discrepancy. The corresponding footnote reads, “evidently a clerical error … should read Moroni.” This is further evidenced by the fact that about 50 pages later in this same manuscript, the same James Mulholland quoted from D&C 52, which calls the angel Moroni. This small note changing Nephi to Moroni was not the Church changing Joseph’s story; this was just the correction of a clerical error. Remember, the angel’s name had always been Moroni up to this 1839 document.
Orson Pratt came to the same conclusion that this was just a clerical error in an 1876 letter to John Christensen. Quote, “The discrepancy in the history to which you refer may have occurred through the ignorance or carelessness of the historian or transcriber … many events recorded were written by [Joseph’s] scribes who undoubtedly trusted too much to their memories, and the items probably were not sufficiently scanned by Bro. Joseph, before they got into print,” close quote.
Now, there are indeed other documents that call the angel Nephi. The creator we heard from earlier mentioned three examples. What is going on here? You guys, every angel Nephi reference that I am aware of from Joseph’s lifetime and up to at least 1853 traces directly back to the original 1839 clerical error. It’s one error that kept getting reprinted.
The 1842 article from the Times & Seasons she mentioned was just the printed version of the original 1839 document that contained the original error. The August 1842 edition of the Millennial Star contains 2 references. The first one is just a reprint of the Times and Seasons article. The second one is the one the creator mentions, and the author cites his source as “…the history of our beloved brother, Joseph Smith.” Again, it’s the Times and Seasons’ “History of Joseph Smith.” The source for the 1851 Pearl of Great Price reference she mentioned is once again the same Times and Seasons series where the original error was printed. There’s another reference in the 1845 draft of Lucy Mack Smith’s memoir. The source? You guessed it, it’s taken straight from that same Times and Seasons article.
And even while this error was being perpetuated, we also see the angel being called by his correct name, Moroni. For example, the original Times and Seasons article that perpetuated the clerical error was published in April 1842. In October of that same year, in the same newspaper, a letter from Joseph Smith to the Church was published, in which the angel is identified as Moroni.
You guys, I think this is a total non-issue, and frankly, it’s frustrating to see people try to twist this into some nefarious plot by Church leaders. But feel free to investigate for yourself and come to your own conclusions. Thanks for listening! If this podcast has been helpful to you, please leave us a review, and have a great day!