Hey guys! So at the beginning of every
Book of Mormon is the Testimony of the Three Witnesses who claimed that "an
angel came down from heaven and he brought and laid before our eyes that we
beheld and saw the plates and the engravings thereon." That's a big deal
because previously Joseph had been commanded not to show the ancient Book
of Mormon records to anyone but suddenly, all these people are saying, "I've seen it.
You've seen it? Yes. You haven't seen it." Well okay so did Joseph somehow trick them?
Were they lying and co-conspirators with Joseph? "Psych! As in got you." Or could
it be possible that they were just telling the truth? "Woody was telling
the truth!" In this episode we're gonna take a closer look at one of the three
witnesses, Oliver Cowdery. Oliver Cowdery was born in Vermont in
1806 and was a second cousin to Joseph Smith. In 1828, he took a job as a
schoolteacher in Palmyra New York. He boarded with Joseph Smith's parents for
a while, heard about Joseph's golden plates, went to meet Joseph for the first
time in Harmony, Pennsylvania in 1829, where he became Joseph's scribe. Before
the Book of Mormon translation in June 1829, he became one of the three
witnesses. In the 1830s, Oliver's finances took a hard hit with the failure of the
Kirtland Safety Society Bank and he had a falling-out with Joseph Oliver,
resigned and was excommunicated from the church in 1838. According to researcher
Richard Anderson, during Oliver's non-mormon decade, he was also a
politician journalist promoter of education and civic servant. The opinions
of his friends of this period show clearly that he was widely respected as
a man of more than ordinary stature. Between about 1840 and 1847, Oliver was a
practicing lawyer. A man named William Lane was Oliver's apprentice for a while
and would later serve as a judge, mayor, and an Ohio State Senator. Take a second
to pause and read his description of Oliver. In 1848, Oliver returned to the
church but was unable to join the Saints in Utah. After being bedridden for much
of 1849, he died of a lung condition in March 1850 but despite leaving the faith
for a decade, Oliver never once retracted his powerful witness of seeing the
ancient Book of Mormon plates and the angel. In fact, like the other two
witnesses, Oliver re-emphasized the truthfulness of his testimony on his
deathbed. So to get around Oliver's witness, skeptics search for reasons to
be able to say, "He's obviously lying." Of course Oliver knew that had already happened
and would continue to happen. In a letter to his brother-in-law, Oliver wrote, "I
have cherished a hope and that one of my fondest, that I might leave such a
character, as those who might believe in my testimony, after I should be called
hence, might do so, not only for the sake of the truth, but might not blush for the
private character of the man who bore that testimony."
But despite Oliver's cherished hope some people think that his use of a divining
or dowsing rod is good reason to question
his character. Dowsing was a folk practice commonly employed in Oliver's
day to locate groundwater or minerals, among other things. It was associated
with the Christian faith healing practices of the Pennsylvania Dutch. We
don't know what Oliver used his for or how often and if you're interested, you
can buy dowsing rods online today for about 20 bucks. Even major water
companies surprisingly still use this technique. Doctrine and Covenants 8
says Oliver's ability to use the rod or the gift of Aaron to receive revelation
was a gift from God and the scriptures are full of examples of God allowing the
use of physical aids when receiving revelation or performing miracles, and
sometimes what works for one person doesn't for the next. For example, in
Pharaoh's court, Aaron's staff became a serpent by the power of God. By the power
of not God, the magician's did the same thing with their rods. "The priests did
the same thing." But my ability with the staff maxes out at amateur renditions of
me old bamboo. What some people call magic divination, others call divine
revelation. For example, the Apostles replaced Judas by casting lots which
today might look like flipping a coin or rolling dice but they believe God
manifested his will through that medium and frankly God can do whatever he wants.
Claiming someone believes in magic and is therefore out of touch with reality
and untrustworthy is an incredibly easy accusation to make against anyone who's
religious. At the end of the day, Oliver was either tricked, lying or telling the
truth about the plates. The witness of Oliver and others is so consistent and
so strong that even some of the most popular antagonistic authors from Joseph's day until now seem convinced that the witnesses were not simply lying but they
at least thought they were telling the truth. Their theories are that Joseph was
a skilled magician or wizard or Joseph hypnotized the witnesses or
unconsciously induced hallucinations or that the witnesses only imagined their
experience that it was a dreamlike vision and not physical reality. "That's
right because Charlie thinks that this whole thing actually happened." People
advanced similar theories while Oliver was still alive, to which he responded, "It
was a clear, open, beautiful day far from any inhabitants,
in a remote field at the time we saw the record, of which has been spoken, brought
and laid before us, by an angel, arrayed in glorious light... Now if this is human
juggling -- judge ye." Check out the links in the description for more info on this
and enjoyed this montage of statements from and about Oliver Cowdery. Feel free
to pause and read as many as you like.
