An honest believer?

David Whitmer was one of the Three Witnesses to the authenticity of the Book of Mormon. The two others were Oliver Cowdery and Martin Harris. All three eventually left the Mormon Church following conflicts with the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith, but Cowdery and Harris later rejoined it. Whitmer did not. Instead, he was involved in an attempt to create a competing denomination, the Church of Christ, often called Church of Christ (Whitmerite) to distinguish it from other groups of the same name. Whitmer passed away in 1888, and his followers apparently joined the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) in 1925. This group still exists.

In 1887, Whitmer wrote "An address to all believers in Christ", a document of considerable interest, at least for people interested in Mormon history. Theologically, Whitmer attempts to reconcile two contradictory positions: belief in the Book of Mormon, and rejection of Joseph Smith. To sceptics, this sounds foolish. After all, the Book of Mormon was written by Joseph Smith! However, Smith claimed that the book was an ancient document he had discovered and translated. Whitmer, of course, accepted this. Even after falling out with Smith, he still clung to the belief that the Book of Mormon itself was true. After all, Whitmer believed he had met the same angel as Joseph Smith. The angel, named Moroni, supposedly gave Smith the gold plates from which the Book of Mormon was then translated. Later, Moroni also showed the plates to Whitmer in a vision.

Essentially, Whitmer claims that Joseph Smith was commissioned by God for one purpose only: to retrieve, translate and publish the Book of Mormon. However, Smith was led astray, perhaps by his own vanity, perhaps even by the Devil himself. (Or perhaps by Sidney Rigdon!) He began to issue "revelations" that were false, and hence became a fallen prophet. Whitmer is particularly opposed to the revelation authorizing polygamy. He also attacks the office of Prophet, Seer and Revelator claimed by Smith. Another point of criticism is the fact that the church founded by Smith changed its name. Originally, it was simply called the Church of Christ. Whitmer points out that many Old Testament prophets were sinful and frequently strayed into error. Yet, the scriptures revealed through them have not been rejected by Christians. David's Psalms and Solomon's Proverbs are still considered inspired, so why can't the Book of Mormon be inspired, even though Joseph Smith later fell into error? (A clever argument - but note that the apostles of the New Testament are generally considered infallible, at least after Pentecost.)

Whitmer has a more serious problem with a prophecy in the Book of Mormon itself which clearly refers to Joseph Smith: the prophecy of the "Choice Seer". The Choice Seer's name is Joseph, his father's name is also Joseph, and he is mentioned in conjunction with the translation of the Book of Mormon. Joseph Smith's father's name was indeed Joseph. Whitmer skilfully points out that other parts of the prophecy cannot apply to Smith, for instance the claim that the Choice Seer would succeed in converting the American Indians. To a sceptic, this simply means that Smith included a bogus prophecy about his own future success in the Book of Mormon. To Whitmer, it means that the prophecy must refer to somebody else! Whitmer believes that this character will be an American Indian, since the prophecy claims that the Choice Seer will be descended from the Biblical Joseph, something true of the Indians according to the Book of Mormon scenario. The official Mormon interpretation is that *Joseph Smith* was descended from the Biblical Joseph, an obviously absurd claim.

"An address to all believers in Christ" isn't just a treatise on theology, however. It also contains interesting information about the early history of the Mormon Church. Historians who study Mormonism often refer to this document. Here are two sensational quotes:

"I will now give you a description of the manner in which the Book of Mormon was translated. Joseph Smith would put the seer stone into a hat, and put his face in the hat, drawing it closely around his face to exclude the light; and in the darkness the spiritual light would shine. A piece of something resembling parchment would appear, and on that appeared the writing. One character at a time would appear, and under it was the interpretation in English. Brother Joseph would read off the English to Oliver Cowdery, who was his principal scribe, and when it was written down and repeated to Brother Joseph to see if it was correct, then it would disappear, and another character with the interpretation would appear. Thus the Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God, and not by any power of man."

"At times when Brother Joseph would attempt to translate, he would look into the hat in which the stone was placed, he found he was spiritually blind and could not translate. He told us that his mind dwelt too much on earthly things, and various causes would make him incapable of proceeding with the translation. When in this condition he would go out and pray, and when he became sufficiently humble before God, he could then proceed with the translation. Now we see how very strict the Lord is; and how he requires the heart of man to be just right in His sight, before he can receive revelation from him."

This confirms that Joseph Smith was actually a scryer. His visions were apparently induced by a seer stone, in a way reminiscent of crystal gazing. Today, Joseph Smith's use of this magical technique is something of an embarrassment for the Mormon Church, but David Whitmer apparently saw no problem with it. Nor did the Mormons themselves at the time - as D. Michael Quinn points out in his book "Early Mormonism and the Magic World View", several leaders of the Utah Mormons proudly displayed Joseph Smith's seer stone to people who asked to see it!

Another statement of considerable interest is the following one:

"I will say here, that I could tell you other false revelations that came through Brother Joseph as mouthpiece, (not through the stone) but this will suffice. Many of Brother Joseph's revelations were never printed. The revelation to go to Canada was written down on paper, but was never printed. When Brother Joseph was humble he had the Spirit of God with him; but when he was not humble he did not have the Spirit. Brother Joseph gave many true prophesies when he was humble before God: but this is no more than many of the other brethren did. Brother Joseph's true prophesies were almost all published, but those of the other brethren were not. I could give you the names of many who gave great prophesies which came to pass. I will name a few: Brothers Ziba Peterson, Hiram Page, Oliver Cowdery, Parley P. Pratt, Orson Pratt, Peter Whitmer, Christian Whitmer, John Whitmer, myself and others had the gift of prophesy. Hiram Page prophesied a few days before the stars fell in November, 1833, that the stars would fall from heaven and frighten many people. This prophesy was given in my presence. I could give you many instances of true prophesies which came through the above named brethren, but I desire to be brief. I could also tell you of some false prophesies which some of them gave, when they were not living humble."

This shows that the early Mormon Church had a very heterogenous and diffused authority structure. It seems pretty much everyone felt free to prophesize. Later, of course, the charisma was routinized and the organization bureaucratized. Whitmer also points out that Smith even changed many of his own "revelations" after they had already been printed!

I honestly don't know what to make of David Whitmer. He seems to have been an honest believer in Christ and the Book of Mormon, but at the same time, it's difficult not to see him as extremely gullible, since he saw through Joseph Smith but never realized that the Book of Mormon stands or falls with Joseph. Perhaps the visionary experiences Whitmer claims to have had were too powerfully imprinted on his psyche.

Be that as it may, "An address to all believers in Christ" is a very interesting read. It's available in several different editions, and also free on-line.