By Jerald and Sandra Tanner

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In 1830 the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith, published the Book of Mormon—a book which purports to be a history of the “former inhabitants of this continent.” The same year he organized a church in the State of New York. Later he claimed to have power from God to revise the Bible and to receive many important revelations from heaven. In 1835 he obtained some papyri. He claimed that “one of the rolls contained the writings of Abraham, another the writings of Joseph of Egypt” (History of the Church, vol. 2, page 236). He translated the “Book of Abraham” from the papyri, and the Mormon leaders still use this book to prove that Negroes cannot hold the Priesthood. In 1843 “six brass plates” were found near Kinderhook, Illinois. Joseph Smith translated a “portion of them” and claimed that they contained the history of “a descendant of Ham.”

He also taught that the “Garden of Eden was located in what is known to us as the land of Zion, an area for which Jackson County, Missouri, is the center place” (Mormon Doctrine, by Bruce R. McConkie, page 20).

Map showing the location of the Garden of Eden (called Adam-ondi-Ahman by Joseph Smith).
From My Kingdom Shall Roll Forth, Readings in Church History, (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1980) p. 2

He claimed that he found the very altar on which Adam offered sacrifices and stated that Noah built his ark in America. Oliver B. Huntington made these statements:

Adam’s Altar, which was mentioned, I have visited many times. I sat upon the wall of stone and reflected upon the scenes that had taken place thousands of years ago right where I was. There were the rocks that Father Adam used . . .

Perhaps those coals, I thought, were from wood burned by Father Adam, . . .

I felt sure, however, that the rocks were the identical rocks that he placed there, for Joseph said, “That altar was built by our Father Adam and there he offered sacrifice.”. . . according to the words of the Prophet Joseph, mankind in that age emigrated eastwardly until they reached the country on or near the Atlantic coast; and that in or near Carolina Noah built his remarkable ship, in which he, his family, and all kinds of animals lived a few days over one year without coming out of it. (The Juvenile Instructor, Organ for Young Latter Day Saints, November 15, 1895, pages 700-701)

Photo from the book, Joseph Smith Begins His Work, vol. 1 (Wilford C. Wood, ed.)

Mr. Huntington also claimed that Joseph Smith described the inhabitants of the moon:

“The inhabitants of the moon are more of a uniform size than the inhabitants of the earth, being about 6 feet in height.

“They dress very much like the quaker style and are quite general in style, or the fashion of dress.

“They live to be very old; coming generally, near a thousand years.

This is the description of them as given by Joseph the Seer, and he could “see” whatever he asked the father in the name of Jesus to see. (Journal of Oliver B. Huntington, page 166 of typed copy at Utah State Historical Society; original journal in Henry E. Huntington Library, Pasadena, California)

Although many people could not accept Joseph Smith’s claims, there were a number of people who gave support to his ideas. Martin Harris, for instance, provided Joseph Smith with financial support and became one of the “Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon.” Like Joseph Smith, Martin Harris was a visionary man. William A. Linn gives this information:

Daniel Hendrix relates that as he and Harris were riding to the village one evening, and he remarked on the beauty of the moon, Harris replied that if his companion could only see it as he had, he might well call it beautiful, explaining that he had actually visited the moon, and added that it “was only the faithful who were permitted to visit the celestial regions.” (The Story of the Mormons, New York, 1902, page 35)

Joseph Smith seemed to have great power over the mind of Martin Harris. Mary Rollins Lightner—a devout Mormon—related the following:

A few evenings after his [Joseph Smith’s] visit to our house, Mother and I went over to the Smith home. . . . I sat with others on a plank . . . After prayer and singing, Joseph began talking. Suddenly he stopped and seemed almost transfixed. He was looking ahead and his face outshone the candle . . . After a short time he looked at us very solemnly and said, “Brothers and Sisters, do you know who has been in our midst this night?” One of the Smith family said, “An angel of the Lord.” Joseph did not answer. Martin Harris was sitting at the Prophet’s feet on a box. He slid to his knees, clasped his arms around the Prophet’s knees and said, “I know, it was our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” Joseph put his hand on Martin’s head and answered, “Martin, God revealed that to you. Brothers and Sisters, the Savior has been in our midst. I want you to remember it. He cast a veil over your eyes for you could not endure to look upon him.” (“Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner Journal,” as quoted in Conflict at Kirtland, by Max Parkin, pages 82-83)

Although Joseph Smith was able to persuade Martin Harris to become a witness to the Book of Mormon, he had a great deal of trouble with him. In a revelation given in July of 1828, Martin Harris is called a “wicked man”:

And when thou deliveredst up that which God had given thee sight and power to translate, thou deliveredst up that which was sacred into the hands of a wicked man,

Who has set at naught the counsels of God, and has broken the most sacred promises which were made before God, and has depended upon his own judgment and boasted in his own wisdom. (Doctrine and Covenants, 3:12-13)

Joseph Smith certainly made a mistake when he chose Martin Harris to be one of the three witnesses to the Book of Mormon, for it would be hard to find a more unstable person as far as religion is concerned. In an affidavit dated November 28, 1833, G. W. Stoddard, a resident of Palmyra, stated that as a farmer Harris was “industrious and enterprising,” but that his “moral and religious character was such, as not to entitle him to respect among his neighbors. . . . He was first an orthodox Quaker, then a Universalist, next a Restorationer, then a Baptist, next a Presbyterian, and then a Mormon” (Mormonism Unvailed, by E. D. Howe, 1834, page 260-261).

Martin Harris’ instability did not end when he joined the Mormon Church. In 1846 the Mormon Church’s own publication, Millennial Star, reported the following concerning Harris:

One of the witnesses to the Book of Mormon, yielded to the spirit and temptation of the devil a number of years ago—turned against Joseph Smith and became his bitter enemy. He was filled with the rage and madness of a demon. One day he would be one thing, and another day another thing. He soon became partially deranged or shattered, as many believe, flying from one thing to another, as if reason and common sense were thrown off their balance. In one of his fits of Monomania, he went and joined the “Shakers” or followers of Anne Lee. He tarried with them a year or two, or perhaps longer, having had some flare ups while among them; but since Strang has made his entry into the apostate ranks, and hoisted his standard for the rebellious to flock to, Martin leaves the “Shakers,” whom he knows to be right, and has known it for many years, as he said, and joins Strang . . . if the Saints wish to know what the Lord hath said of him, they may turn to the 178th page of the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and the person there called a “wicked man” is no other than Martin Harris, . . . It is not the first time the Lord chose a wicked man as a witness. . . . evil men like Harris, out of the evil treasure of their hearts bring forth evil things. . . .

. . . . .

Just as our paper was going to press, we learned that Martin Harris, . . . had landed in Liverpool, . . . there was a strangeness about him, and about one or two who came with him. A lying deceptive spirit attends them, . . . they are of their father, the devil, who was a liar from the beginning, and abode not in the truth. The very countenance of Harris will show to every spiritual-minded person who sees him, that the wrath of God is upon him. (Latter-Day Saint’s Millennial Star, vol. 8, November 15, 1846, pages 124-128)

The Mormon writer Richard L. Anderson admits that Martin Harris “changed his religious position eight times” during the period he was in Kirtland, Ohio:

He and other prominent dissenters in the Church were formally excommunicated in the last week of December 1837 . . . Martin Harris remained at Kirtland for the next 30 years in the condition of a fossil embedded in an earlier layer of sediment . . .

Martin Harris also felt strong resentment against Church leaders, in large part stemming from the blow to his ego in never being given a major office. If such thinking is obviously immature, it was nevertheless real to the man who had sacrificed domestic peace, fortune, and reputation to bring about the printing of the Book of Mormon and the founding of the Church. Real or supposed rejection breeds hostility and, at its worst, retaliation. . . .

The foregoing tendencies explain the spiritual wanderlust that afflicted the solitary witness at Kirtland. In this period of his life he changed his religious position eight times, including a rebaptism by a Nauvoo missionary in 1842. Every affiliation of Martin Harris was with some Mormon group except when he was affiliated with the Shaker belief, a position not basically contrary to his Book of Mormon testimony because the foundation of that movement was acceptance of personal revelation from heavenly beings. (Improvement Era, March 1969, page 63)

If we add the “eight times” that Martin Harris changed his religious position in Kirtland to the five changes he made before, we find that he changed his mind thirteen times! Richard Anderson is forced to admit that Martin Harris’ life shows evidence of “religious instability” (Ibid.). The Mormon writer E. Cecil McGavin states that “Martin Harris was an unaggressive, vacillating, easily influenced person who was no more pugnacious than a rabbit . . . His conviction of one day might vanish and be replaced by doubt and fear before the setting of the sun. He was changeable, fickle, and puerile in his judgement and conduct” (The Historical Background for the Doctrine and Covenants, page 23, as quoted in an unpublished manuscript by LaMar Petersen).

At one time Martin Harris even went on a mission for the Strangites. Andrew Jenson, who was Assistant Church Historian wrote the following in the book Church Chronology, under the date of October 1, 1846:

— Martin Harris and others, followers of the apostate James J. Strang, preached among the Saints in England, but could get no influence. (Church Chronology, page 31)

The fact that Martin Harris would join with such a group casts a shadow of doubt upon his testimony to the Book of Mormon, for the Strangites claimed that James Jesse Strang found some plates which he translated with the Urim and Thummim. The Mormons, of course, claim that Strang was a deceiver.

The reader will notice that Richard Anderson admitted that Martin Harris “affiliated with the Shaker belief,” although he feels that this position was “not basically contrary to his Book of Mormon testimony because the foundation of that movement was acceptance of personal revelation from heavenly beings” (Improvement Era, March 1969, page 63).

Now, while it is true that the Shakers believed in revelation, a Mormon could not accept these revelations without repudiating the teachings of Joseph Smith. For instance, the Shakers felt that “Christ has made his second appearance on earth, in a chosen female known by the name of Ann Lee, and acknowledged by us as our blessed mother in the work of redemption” (Sacred Roll and Book, page 358). If Martin Harris accepted this teaching, he was certainly out of harmony with Joseph Smith’s revelations, for in one of the revelations we read that “the Son of Man cometh not in the form of a woman, . . .” (Doctrine and Covenants, 49:22).

The Shakers, of course, did not believe the Book of Mormon, but they had a book entitled A Holy, Sacred and Divine Roll and Book: From the Lord God of Heaven, to the Inhabitants of Earth. More than sixty individuals gave testimony to the “Sacred Roll and Book.” Although not all of them mention angels appearing, some of them tell of many angels visiting them—one woman told of eight different visions.

The evidence seems to show that Martin Harris accepted this book as divine revelation. In our Case Against Mormonism, vol. 2, page 50, we cited a very revealing statement by Clark Braden:

Harris declared repeatedly that he had as much evidence for a Shaker book he had as for the Book of Mormon. (The Braden and Kelly Debate, page 173)

Since we published this statement evidence has been brought to light from a Mormon source which shows that Harris claimed to have a greater testimony to the Shakers than to the Book of Mormon. In a thesis written at Brigham Young University, Wayne Cutler Gunnell stated that on December 31, 1844, “Phineas H. Young [Brigham Young’s brother] and other leaders of the Kirtland organization” wrote a letter to Brigham Young in which they stated:

There are in this place all kinds of teaching; Martin Harris is a firm believer in Shakerism, says his testimony is greater than it was of the Book of Mormon. (“Martin Harris—Witness and Benefactor to the Book of Mormon,” 1955, page 52)

The fact that Martin Harris would even join with such a group shows that he was unstable and easily influenced by men. Therefore, we feel that his testimony that the Book of Mormon was of divine origin cannot be relied upon. How can we put our trust in a man who was constantly following after movements like the Shakers? Brigham Young himself once stated:

Some of the witnesses of the Book of Mormon, who handled the plates and conversed with the angels of God, were afterwards left to doubt and to disbelieve that they had ever seen an angel. (Journal of Discourses, vol. 7, page 164)

In the Case Against Mormonism, vol. 2, we devote a great deal of space to the witnesses to the Book of Mormon.

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