Book of Mormon Geography

[Shulem]

Okay Shulem, try to explain this ancient monument to Mormonism that was recently unearthed.

The sacred phallus is dated at about 4,000 years ago which places it in Abraham’s time. Therefore, I refer to the figure sitting on the throne in Facsimile No. 2, Fig. 7 for a figurative explanation. The Mormons are very used to looking at an oversized phallus because they see one every time they read the Book of Abraham.

I hope that helps.

PS. You will recall that I discussed feminine hygiene down in the Terrestrial forum while Lehi was wandering about in the wilderness, here.

[NRnowlinMA]

Before his death, I had about a five-year email relationship with Yale University's eminent anthropologist/archaeologist Dr. Michael Coe in my investigation of his studies involving Mormon Mesoamerican archaeology and any evidence obtained by BYU's New World Archaeological Foundation (NWAF) of a pre-Columbian Nephite civilization supporting the Book of Mormon. Dr. Coe's candid responses to my inquiry were "There is no such thing as Mormon archaeology and geography. It doesn't exist because the Book of Mormon was totally fictional, as fictional as Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland." For about three years, I also had an ongoing email relationship with Dr. John Clark, the BYU successor of Thomas S. Furguson, who directed the NWAF for over 20 years, and is still teaching Mesoamerican anthropology to impressionable minds at BYU that great herds of horses were abounding in Mesoamerica 600 years before the birth of Christ and that wheels and chariots were used by the indigenous people Guatemala and Mexico. He also teaches that fine steel implements of war were smelted from iron ore by these native people.

Thomas S. Ferguson was a wealthy attorney, amateur anthropologist, and ardent supporter of Mormonism and the Book of Mormon, who spent a great deal of his own money to perform research digs in Mesoamerica, believing that evidence of Nephite/Lamanite civilizations would be found. Ferguson persuaded Mormon Prophet David O. McKay to fund the NWAF with as much money as it would take to build a large Mormon chapel in the USA. This was in the late 1950s when the NWAF was formed, and Ferguson went to Mesoamerica with two eminent non-Mormon university anthropologists/archeologists, Dr's Kidder and Metcalf with a BYU financial overseer. Ferguson and his crew remained in Mesoamerica for nearly 10 years digging furiously without finding one bit of physical evidence to support Mormon archaeology. A "Science Magazine" article about Ferguson was revelatory of his extensive contributions to an extensive understanding of Mayan and Mesoamerican archaeology as it had been long established, while losing his faith in Mormon religious claims. It was the effort of Dr. Coe and his crew that succeeded in breaking the Mayan language code for a chronological record of the Mesoamericans from 400 AD to 900 AD, which did not include any mention of Nephite or Lamanite civilizations. This groundbreaking work by Dr. Coe, "The Breaking of the Maya Code," is currently in book and video form.

For the longest time, BYU anthropologist John Sorenson sorely and derogatorily criticized Dr. Coe when the Yale professor published peer-reviewed articles about the egregiously fictional claims of BYU about substantiating Book of Mormon claims with hard evidence. Dr. Coe told me in detail about the attempts, starting with Joseph Smith, Jr. in 1840, of ascribing Mayan, Toltec, Incan, and Aztec temples and ruins to Nephites and Lamanites after 600 BC, and their totally fictional basis. Thomas S. Ferguson wrote seven letters to critics of Mormonism when he returned to the USA as a man who had lost his faith in Mormonism and stated that the Book of Mormon was a mythical book with no basis of authenticity. Mormon fulltime missionaries routinely lie to the Christian investigators they teach about the archaeological evidence supporting the Book of Mormon and never mention that the Smithsonian Institution had to formally publish a statement denying that the Book of Mormon was, in any way, a reliable archaeological guide to genuine Mesoamerican history, since that Mormon Church Corporation had on numerous occasions publicly stated that the Smithsonian Institution supported their claims. If the Book of Mormon had been labeled by Smith, Jr. as a book of fiction before its publication in 1830, things would have gone better for the Mormon cult.

[Shulem]

For the longest time, BYU anthropologist John Sorenson sorely and derogatorily criticized Dr. Coe when the Yale professor published peer-reviewed articles about the egregiously fictional claims of BYU about substantiating Book of Mormon claims with hard evidence. Dr. Coe told me in detail about the attempts, starting with Joseph Smith, Jr. in 1840, of ascribing Mayan, Toltec, Incan, and Aztec temples and ruins to Nephites and Lamanites after 600 BC, and their totally fictional basis. Thomas S. Ferguson wrote seven letters to critics of Mormonism when he returned to the USA as a man who had lost his faith in Mormonism and stated that the Book of Mormon was a mythical book with no basis of authenticity. Mormon fulltime missionaries routinely lie to the Christian investigators they teach about the archaeological evidence supporting the Book of Mormon and never mention that the Smithsonian Institution had to formally publish a statement denying that the Book of Mormon was, in any way, a reliable archaeological guide to genuine Mesoamerican history, since that Mormon Church Corporation had on numerous occasions publicly stated that the Smithsonian Institution supported their claims. If the Book of Mormon had been labeled by Smith, Jr. as a book of fiction before its publication in 1830, things would have gone better for the Mormon cult.

The Smithsonian Institution, National Geographic Society, and the world's institutions of higher learning do not recognize Book of Mormon geography or claims of evidence Mormons present in trying to justify a fraudulent work of fiction. Mormonism today is on the cusp of having to shift from the belief of nonfiction to inspired fiction in order to save a sinking religion from falling into oblivion. Cognitive dissonance in Mormonism is off the scales.

[Shulem]

Apologists have correctly reasoned (by the text) that Sidon originates its headwaters in the interior of the land -- in the middle of the peninsula beginning at Manti. Yes, Manti is the source of the river Sidon and the area round about that source is the land of Manti. Everything that flows away from Manti is the watery current that finds its way to the sea.

The river Sidon is never mentioned anywhere NORTH of Manti.

So, if you guessed that Sidon is the Ace of Hearts, you guessed correct.

This thread has already covered a lot of material about Manti and the river Sidon. But a closer look and more in depth look is now justified in order to validate my claims.

In time, at the right moment, I’ll play the Ace of Hearts. That card will really get your attention and make the apologists shake in their boots. I’ll keep that card up my sleeve until it’s time to play it -- along side the King, Queen, and Jack of Hearts.

Yeah baby! Shulem has the winning cards.

I await your masterstroke with baited breath, mon ami.

- Doc

KEY WORD = “Running”

And when my father saw that the waters of the river emptied into the  fountain of the Red Sea, he spake unto Laman, saying: O that thou mightest be like unto this river, continually running into the fountain of all righteousness!

A. Fresh source water
B. River
C. Flow/current
D. Outlet
E. Sea

*Note that the direction of flow corresponds with direction but a river has many turns and twists and so the overall general direction of flow is based on the long term run of the river in comparison to the source and the outlet that leads into the sea. For example: The mighty Mississippi flows from north to south.

And it came to pass that the king sent a proclamation throughout all the land, amongst all his people who were in all his land, who were in all the regions round about, which was bordering even to the sea, on the east and on the west, and which was divided from the land of  Zarahemla by a narrow strip of wilderness, which ran from the sea east even to the sea west, and round about on the borders of the seashore, and the borders of the wilderness which was on the north by the land of Zarahemla, through the borders of Manti, by the head of the river Sidon, RUNNING from the east towards the west—and thus were the Lamanites and the Nephites divided.

A. The regions of land are flanked by both east and west seas respectively
B. The regions of land are bordered by sea east and sea west
C. Land of Zarahemla is divided from sea east and sea west by a narrow strip of wilderness
D. The narrow strip of wilderness runs north and south being flanked by the seas
E. The narrow strip of wilderness is round about on the borders of the seashore
F. The narrow strip of wilderness leads all the way to Manti which was the head of the river Sidon
G. The narrow strip of wilderness extends to the north of Zarahemla through Manti and Zarahemla which is divided by the river
E. The Nephites and Lamanites are divided by the river Sidon that runs in-between the east and west seas
F. The RUNNING current of river Sidon flows FROM THE EAST TOWARDS THE WEST SEA and the river divides the Nephites from the Lamanites!

And thus he cut off all the strongholds of the Lamanites in the east wilderness, yea, and also on the west, fortifying the line between the Nephites and the Lamanites, between the land of Zarahemla and the land of Nephi, from the west sea, running by the head of the river Sidon—the Nephites possessing all the land  northward, yea, even all the land which was northward of the land Bountiful, according to their pleasure

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

This is so wild. You’ve solved a huge Book of Mormon mystery. Congrats, Paul. Well deserved.

- Doc

[Shulem]

This is so wild. You’ve solved a huge Book of Mormon mystery. Congrats, Paul. Well deserved.

- Doc

Thank you for a well-deserved compliment. The text of the Book of Mormon does in fact explain the direction of current in which the river Sidon flows beginning “through the borders of Manti, by the head of the river Sidon, RUNNING from the east towards the west” and it’s the very river itself that divides the territories between the Lamanites and the Nephites. The reason the apologists have been blindsided by the text and are unable to properly interpret/recognize it is because there is no river in Mesoamerica that matches what’s mapped out in Alma. The apologists refuse to see what they don’t want to see because it destroys testimony in what they are doing. They stumble over what seems to be the ups and downs, directions, elevations, and so forth because they fail to understand that Zarahemla is situated in such a way that the only way to get to it from the Lamanite lands is to cross Sidon from the east or go north through the narrow strip and then make a left hook and head down into Zarahemla. Sadly, everyone has been brainwashed in Book of Mormon geography. The apologists are responsible for all this brainwashing and keeping the truth from the masses. But now the record has been corrected. How long will it take for the lights to turn on whereby people like BYP, RFM, Vogel, and others realize they have been played by the system?

Wake up people! Eventually I am going to feel the urge to start twisting arms. I do not want to do that. But I will if people refuse to wake up!

[Shulem]

This is so wild. You’ve solved a huge Book of Mormon mystery. Congrats, Paul. Well deserved.

- Doc

And it goes without saying that vital geographic information about the river Sidon defined in the Book of Mormon does not match the models produced by apologists who sponsor their stoopid Mesoamerican and Heartland theories.

All we have to do is look at Delmarva just like Joseph Smith did and we can see the river and how it divided Zarahemla from the land of Nephi located on a narrow strip of land. I think you will agree that these are good times for Book of Mormon critics, and they are going to get better if and when I decide to play the Ace of Spades and the Joker.

Thank you for your support, Doc, and Moksha too. I wish others would lend a little support. It’s disheartening how some critics fail to see a good thing when it’s right in front of their face! What do I have to do, shake people and slap them across the face? They trust Shulem to find Anubis’s nose but not Zarahemla?

SLAP! SLAP! Snap out of it! Get with the program!

Moksha, do something! Start twisting arms.

[Zosimus]

...and which was divided from the land of  Zarahemla by a narrow strip of wilderness, which ran from the sea east even to the sea west

In the Delmarva model, where is this narrow strip of wilderness? Are you saying that river in the Delmarva map is the narrow strip of wilderness?

The narrow strip of wilderness leads all the way to Manti which was the head of the river Sidon

So then In Delmarva model, Manti is north of Zarahemla?

[Shulem]

...and which was divided from the land of  Zarahemla by a narrow strip of wilderness, which ran from the sea east even to the sea west

In the Delmarva model, where is this narrow strip of wilderness? Are you saying that river in the Delmarva map is the narrow strip of wilderness?

The narrow strip of wilderness leads all the way to Manti which was the head of the river Sidon

So then In Delmarva model, Manti is north of Zarahemla?

The narrow strip is somewhat ambiguous in describing the shape of the terrain within the region of the tale of Delmarva. It is not necessarily an exact science per se but offers a general description of the landform and its limitations in breadth that the author portrays for an audience who would never see the actual map. The land was tight having narrow places and open spaces and more especially the narrow neck leading into the land northward which I will go into more depth in time. The river was distinct and the west and east sea were marked as boundaries that encapsulated the peninsula within its borders.

You asked about MANTI earlier in this thread beginning here, do you recall? My response extends for several posts and I gave you a partial explanation with a promise that more would come in due time when I was ready to reveal/explain more. I keep my cards close to chest and play to win. The apologists have painted a wrong picture and have failed to correctly interpret the text because what is described in the text is not found anywhere in the western hemisphere. And everyone just went along with it except for you and me. Manti was a region of land that surrounded the head of Sidon. The land of Zarahemla was also a region that extended quite a ways but the capital city of Zarahemla was to the south.

*Let’s be clear, the Book of Mormon is fiction and there are flaws therein produced by the author who confessed those sentiments at the end of the book. And this is a matter of convenience for everyone, including you, me, and Smith.

[Shulem]

This post is dedicated to the likes of Brant Gardner in whom is stuck with an impossible task of matching the river Sidon in Mesoamerica. This post combines several posts made in this thread and serves as a review. I feel it may be useful to capture several key points into a single post.

I recently played the Ace of Hearts.



Therefore, I rest my case and call Brant’s bluff! He is faking!

The river Sidon is first mentioned in the Book of Mormon during the events occurring in 87 BC by which Alma and the Nephites were forced to go to war with the conspiring Almicites and the Lamanites who were in league with them. Hence, readers do not learn about the existence of this major river until 500 years after Lehi sailed to the promised land! Alma chapter two is when we first learn about the river Sidon and how this important topographic feature is a barrier that separates the land of Zarahemla from the land of Nephi. In this chapter we are given details on how Smith’s imaginary map used to create the stories in the Book of Mormon fit perfectly with that of Delmarva. Important points are given in relation to topographic features of the river Sidon within this geographic area of interest. According to the story, the Amlicites rebel and seek to invade Zarahemla. They make war against the Nephites at the hill Amnihu which is east of the river Sidon that runs by the land of Zarahemla. Alma takes his armies and “went up” (north) to the hill Amnihu to defend Zarahemla from the advancing forces of the enemy.

And it came to pass that the Amlicites came upon the hill Amnihu, which was east of the river Sidon, which ran by the land of Zarahemla, and there they began to make war with the Nephites.

• Amlicites set up a command base atop the hill Amnihu

• Hill Amnihu is on the east side of the river Sidon

• Zarahemla is on the west side of the river Sidon

• River Sidon runs “by” the land of Zarahemla

• Therefore, the river Sidon runs in a northern and southerly direction

<snip>

In chapter three we are given a clue about how the river Sidon relates to the lands mentioned in the war stories of chapter two. What is that clue?

3 And now as many of the Lamanites and the Amlicites who had been slain upon the bank of the river Sidon were cast into the waters of Sidon; and behold their bones are in the depths of the sea, and they are many.

We are given to understand that the very river in which the dead Lamanites and Amlicites were cast into was not far distant from the mouth of the river which leads into the sea. How so? The bodies would float downstream, southward into the sea! The bodies could not have floated upstream because the “head of the river Sidon” is northward near Manti, thus contrary to popular misconception by many Book of Mormon scholars, the river Sidon flows south, downstream until it reaches the sea that lies south of Zarahemla. All of this suggests that the river Sidon was NOT a long river but was local to that quadrant of the land with the city of Zarahemla being the most important city “by” the river. The river was less than 50 miles long! All crossing of the river Sidon was between its head near the land of Manti and the mouth that is south of Zarahemla! Nobody was forced to cross the river Sidon when travelling directly from the land of Nephi to Bountiful and to the land northward. Contrary to popular belief the river does NOT flow north with a mouth on the east sea! Those scholars are mistaken in interpreting the text and their models depicting the river Sidon are erroneous.

Several years later another battle took place near Manti at the river Sidon and bodies of the dead were thrown into the river to float downstream into the sea. It’s important to note that where ever bodies are thrown into the river they manage to find their way to the sea because it’s such a short river!

22 And it came to pass that they did cast their dead into the waters of Sidon, and they have gone forth and are buried in the depths of the sea.

Mesoamerican & North American Sidon Rivers

Let’s take a break and have a little fun, shall we?

Imagine an ancient Mesoamerican Nephite in the region of Guatemala describing the above verses in reference to bodies being thrown into a river. How would it compare with where apologists theorize a location for Zarahemla on a modern map with corresponding rivers as a viable candidate for Sidon? Some proposed models show Zarahemla a couple hundred miles inland away from the coast. Consider the snaky like Usumacinta River that turns and twists in a snakelike fashion for hundreds and hundreds of miles. Or the Grijalva River that winds about for hundreds of miles. Although they are rivers that finally flow into the sea, it’s hard to imagine an ancient historian describing bones having “gone forth” for hundreds of miles in a river to be “buried in the depths of the sea.” It makes little sense to me. What’s wrong with that picture? It makes no sense! In contrast, the Pocomoke River in Delmarva is a short river with a direct shot into the Chesapeake Bay according to the maps available to Joseph Smith. It’s easy to imagine bodies floating and finding their way to the sea because it’s a straight shot and the current will sweep the dead and bury them at sea.

The same problem exists for the Heartlander model which identifies the mighty Mississippi River as the Sidon River. It makes no sense for an ancient Nephite to imagine bones floating nearly two thousand miles through endless turns and bends going downstream in order to reach the Gulf of Mexico. That certainly is not something that would have been written into the script. It makes no sense! Sorry, but it’s just dumb.

HOWEVER, it’s easy to see how a straight shot Pocomoke River could easily carry bones to sea in which they would meet their destiny in a burial at sea. And that is what Joseph Smith wrote into his script. It makes perfect sense!

So what do you think of them apples, Dan Vogel? If you want to understand Joseph Smith then you need to get into his mind while he’s looking at the map -- not later when others come along and interpret the story with terrible calculation.

Recall earlier how the river Sidon “ran by the land of Zarahemla” and how the river was oriented in a north and south direction with Zarahemla to the west and Gideon to the east. But what of the flow? In which direction does the text say the water flows? Let’s examine an account in Alma that tells us exactly which direction the water flows and we can do that without having to plot all the various features and describe how cities and lands encircle the head waters of Sidon. We will do that later.

For now, let’s examine the key given twice that reveals the direction in which the water was flowing. I’m afraid this is very bad news for the apologists who have misinterpreted the text because they are trying to make the text fit their false models rather than use Joseph Smith’s map to fit his text. Thus, it is left for a nonbelieving critic (such as myself) to unlock the mystery of Book of Mormon geography. One can never do that so long as they have faith that the book is a genuine historical record! Thus, get rid of faith and realize that Joseph Smith was making it all up based on fiction using Delmarva as a template or backdrop in which to create his amazing epic.

So, in which direction did the water flow?

27 And it came to pass that the king sent a proclamation throughout all the land, amongst all his people who were in all his land, who were in all the regions round about, which was bordering even to the sea, on the east and on the west, and which was divided from the land of Zarahemla by a narrow strip of wilderness, which ran from the sea east even to the sea west, and round about on the borders of the seashore, and the borders of the wilderness which was on the north by the land of Zarahemla, through the borders of Manti, by the head of the river Sidon, running from the east towards the west—and thus were the Lamanites and the Nephites divided.

28 Now, the more idle part of the Lamanites lived in the wilderness, and dwelt in tents; and they were spread through the wilderness on the west, in the land of Nephi; yea, and also on the west of the land of Zarahemla, in the borders by the seashore, and on the west in the land of Nephi, in the place of their fathers’ first inheritance, and thus bordering along by the seashore.

29 And also there were many Lamanites on the east by the seashore, whither the Nephites had driven them. And thus the Nephites were nearly surrounded by the Lamanites; nevertheless the Nephites had taken possession of all the northern parts of the land bordering on the wilderness, at the head of the river Sidon, from the east to the west, round about on the wilderness side; on the north, even until they came to the land which they called Bountiful.

Now, I realize and it’s readily obvious that the river in Delmarva flows more of a north to south direction so why does the text specify an east to west direction? Well, the river head does originate a little to the east and flows in a Southwest direction towards the west sea. Also, tributary water is very close to the eastern coast. But the account also expresses how the river itself divides the land and acts as a separation or barrier between Zarahemla and the lands to the east including the land of Nephi to the south. Therefore, the flow of direction is given from east to west.

IF, the flow of water ran northward as apologists have mistakenly interpreted then the text would read in the opposite fashion and if that were the case the apologists could have their cake and eat it too:

1. running from the west towards the east
2. from the west to the east

The key words are “running” and “from” because they imply flow.

Joseph Smith, Sr.’s vision of the Tree of Life (1811) which references a stream of water as recorded in Lucy Mack Smith’s history:

Traveling a short distance further, I came to a narrow path. This path I entered, and, when I had traveled a little way in it, I beheld a beautiful stream of water which ran from the east to the west. Of this stream I could see neither the source nor yet the mouth, but as far as my eyes could extend I could see a rope, running along the bank of it about as high as a man could reach, and beyond me was a low but very pleasant valley in which stood a tree such as I had never seen before.

Thus, it could be construed that the phrase is simply a generic expression that can be applied to just about anything. But what of the case of the river Sidon in the Book of Mormon? Interestingly enough, there is an example in the Book of Mormon when *opposite* directions are used in a generic way:

17 And they began to know that the Son of God must shortly appear; yea, in fine, all the people upon the face of the whole earth from the west to the east, both in the land north and in the land south, were so exceedingly astonished that they fell to the earth.

But even more important, we are given a specific reference by certain brethren including the prophet’s brother (Don Carlos) who visited London England and noted how the River Thames flows from “west to east” which in fact is the very direction in which the Thames flows.

Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace &c. South lies the River Thames running from west to east, with five large arched bridges across it

Therefore, it seems fair enough to conclude that the references given of the river Sidon (“east to the west”) refer to the direction of water flow and is not a generic expression of area. The example of the River Thames given by the brethren who went to England provides proof that the interpretation of water flow (“west to the east”) is spot on!

This new interpretation (which is correct) is very bad news for the apologists.

Brant,

Will you please show me on your map the location of the river Sidon which runs “from the east towards the west” and therefore flows into the west sea?

Thanks,

Shulem

Apologists have correctly reasoned (by the text) that Sidon originates its headwaters in the interior of the land -- in the middle of the peninsula beginning at Manti. Yes, Manti is the source of the river Sidon and the area round about that source is the land of Manti. Everything that flows away from Manti is the watery current that finds its way to the sea.

The river Sidon is never mentioned anywhere NORTH of Manti.

So, if you guessed that Sidon is the Ace of Hearts, you guessed correct.

This thread has already covered a lot of material about Manti and the river Sidon. But a closer look and more in depth look is now justified in order to validate my claims.

In time, at the right moment, I’ll play the Ace of Hearts. That card will really get your attention and make the apologists shake in their boots. I’ll keep that card up my sleeve until it’s time to play it -- along side the King, Queen, and Jack of Hearts.

Yeah baby! Shulem has the winning cards.

I await your masterstroke with baited breath, mon ami.

- Doc

KEY WORD = “Running”

And when my father saw that the waters of the river emptied into the  fountain of the Red Sea, he spake unto Laman, saying: O that thou mightest be like unto this river, continually running into the fountain of all righteousness!

A. Fresh source water
B. River
C. Flow/current
D. Outlet
E. Sea

*Note that the direction of flow corresponds with direction but a river has many turns and twists and so the overall general direction of flow is based on the long term run of the river in comparison to the source and the outlet that leads into the sea. For example: The mighty Mississippi flows from north to south.

And it came to pass that the king sent a proclamation throughout all the land, amongst all his people who were in all his land, who were in all the regions round about, which was bordering even to the sea, on the east and on the west, and which was divided from the land of  Zarahemla by a narrow strip of wilderness, which ran from the sea east even to the sea west, and round about on the borders of the seashore, and the borders of the wilderness which was on the north by the land of Zarahemla, through the borders of Manti, by the head of the river Sidon, RUNNING from the east towards the west—and thus were the Lamanites and the Nephites divided.

A. The regions of land are flanked by both east and west seas respectively
B. The regions of land are bordered by sea east and sea west
C. Land of Zarahemla is divided from sea east and sea west by a narrow strip of wilderness
D. The narrow strip of wilderness runs north and south being flanked by the seas
E. The narrow strip of wilderness is round about on the borders of the seashore
F. The narrow strip of wilderness leads all the way to Manti which was the head of the river Sidon
G. The narrow strip of wilderness extends to the north of Zarahemla through Manti and Zarahemla which is divided by the river
E. The Nephites and Lamanites are divided by the river Sidon that runs in-between the east and west seas
F. The RUNNING current of river Sidon flows FROM THE EAST TOWARDS THE WEST SEA and the river divides the Nephites from the Lamanites!

And thus he cut off all the strongholds of the Lamanites in the east wilderness, yea, and also on the west, fortifying the line between the Nephites and the Lamanites, between the land of Zarahemla and the land of Nephi, from the west sea, running by the head of the river Sidon—the Nephites possessing all the land  northward, yea, even all the land which was northward of the land Bountiful, according to their pleasure

The water running down the river Sidon flowed in a southernly direction and exited into the west sea. The text of the Book of Mormon makes that perfectly clear. Sorry, Brant, but you lose. You got nothing! You have wasted countless hours defending lies.