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Moroni defeated a Lamanite army led by Zerahemnah, who made a covenant of peace and promised that his people would never come to war again against the Nephites. This was in the eighteenth year. In the nineteenth year, a man named Amalickiah appeared among the Nephites and gained a number of followers, who wanted to make him king. Amalickiah started to lead his supporters to the land of Nephi, but was cut off by Moroni, and only he and a few of his man escaped to the land of Nephi. Amalickiah persuaded the king of the Lamanites to call his people to battle against the Nephites. This is a rather incredible story for a number of reasons. Only the year before, Zerahemnah had made a treaty of peace with Moroni. Where was Zerahemnah at this time? Moreover, the Zoramites had just become allies of the Lamanites; would they have allowed Amalickiah to gain so much influence over the king? Furthermore, with the appearance of Amalickiah, the Amalekites disappear from the Book of Mormon. But how could they have become so unimportant, after they had lived among the Lamanites for a number of years and had acted as captains and leaders of the Lamanite armies and had built the great city of Jerusalem? Amalickiah later killed the king of the Lamanites, but if the Amalekites had finally gained control of the land of Nephi, after Ammon and the Anti-Nephi-Lehies left, why would they disappear and allow Amalickiah to usurp the position of the king?

Alma 46:17 states that Moroni "named all the land which was south of the land Desolation, yea, and in fine, all the land, both on the north and on the south - A chosen land, and the land of liberty." It is not clear why Moroni was particularly concerned with the area around Desolation or why he designated it as the land of liberty. He was preparing to oppose Amalickiah, and this was apparently where Amalickiah first gained his following. But the last that we heard, Moroni was battling Zerahemnah at the hill Riplah on the banks of the river Sidon, not far from Manti. This was a fair distance from the land south of Desolation, where Moroni was now rallying the people.

The people made a covenant with Moroni, saying, "We covenant with our God, that we shall be destroyed, even as our brethren in the land northward, if we shall fall into transgression" (Alma 46:22). The race which occupied the land northward, which was destroyed because of transgression, was the Jaredites. Why then would these people refer to the Jaredites as "our brethren" and invoke them in a covenant which they were making with Moroni? Moroni identifies the people as "a remnant of the seed of Jacob; yea, we are a remnant of the seed of Joseph" (Alma 46:23). How then were these people and the Jaredites related?

The Book of Mormon contains this praise of Moroni: "Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever . . . . Behold, he was a man like unto Ammon, the son of Mosiah, yea, and even the other sons of Mosiah" (Alma 48:17-18). In truth, however, Moroni and Ammon were very different men. Moroni was a warrior, who did not hesitate to kill or bend the rules of justice if necessary, while Ammon and his people were pacifists, who would rather lay down their lives than slay their enemies. There could not be any greater contrast between the two men.

In the twenty-ninth year, Moroni and Ammoron exchanged letters, in which they use some rather confusing language. For his part, Ammoron writes as if he were a true Lamanite. He says, "For behold, your fathers did wrong their brethren, insomuch that they did rob them of their right to the government when it rightly belonged unto them. . . . subject yourselves to be governed by those to whom the government doth rightly belong" (Alma 54:17-18). Ammoron rejects a belief not only in God, but in the devil and hell as well: "And as concerning that God whom ye say we have rejected, behold, we know not such a being; neither do ye . . . . And if it so be that there is a devil and a hell . . . ." (Alma 54:21-22). But then Ammoron states, "I am Ammoron, and a descendant of Zoram, whom your fathers pressed and brought out of Jerusalem" (Alma 54:23). But if Ammoron was a descendant of Zoram, how could he claim to represent the right to govern, which supposedly belonged to Laman? Furthermore, Ammoron's religious beliefs demonstrate that he and Amalickiah could not have belonged to the Zoramites, who believed that God had elected them as his chosen people and that everyone else would go to hell. However, Amalickiah had appointed Zoramites as chief captains of his armies (Alma 48:5), and one of Ammoron's leaders named Jacob is specifically identified as a Zoramite (Alma 52:20, 33). If Ammoron's statements really reflect his beliefs, and if he objected to Moroni's references to God and hell, why would he and Amalickiah have placed Zoramites in such important positions?

After Moroni drove the Lamanites out of the land of Zarahemla, the text jumps several years and mentions a migration of 5,400 men and their families from Zarahemla into the land northward. Then a man named Hagoth started building ships, which carried more people to the land northward. We are not told what motivated this desire to explore and settle new lands. It could not have been the pressure of overpopulation, since the Nephites had just concluded a long war with the Lamanites.

In the forty-sixth year, "there were an exceedingly great many who departed out of the land of Zarahemla, and went forth unto the land northward to inherit the land" (Helaman 3:3). One would think that by this time the population of Zarahemla would be seriously depleted, but apparently it was not. Even more surprising is the rapidity with which the land northward was settled: "And it came to pass that they did multiply and spread, and did go forth from the land southward to the land northward, and did spread insomuch that they began to cover the face of the whole earth, from the sea south to the sea north, from the sea west to the sea east" (Helaman 3:8). But the Book of Mormon gives us scarcely any information about the people who migrated northward, the lands that they settled, and the cities that they built; it continues to focus on the land of Zarahemla.

In the sixty-second year Nephi and Lehi, the sons of Helaman II, set out on a mission. They converted many people in the land of Zarahemla and then proceeded to the land of Nephi, where they were cast into prison, "yea, even in that same prison in which Ammon and his brethren were cast by the servant of Limhi" (Helaman 5:21). This indicates that Nephi and Lehi traveled not only to the land of Nephi, but actually went all the way to Lehi-Nephi. There was a dissident Nephite living in the city named Aminadab, who told the Lamanites, "You must repent . . . even until ye shall have faith in Christ, who was taught unto you by Alma, and Amulek, and Zeezrom" (Helaman 5:41). The Book of Mormon does not contain any record of the mission of Alma, Amulek, and Zeezrom to the Lamanites in Lehi-Nephi, although Alma 31 does say that they journeyed to Antionum to preach to the Zoramites. The chronology does not seem to allow for the trip to Lehi-Nephi. Alma converted and baptized Zeezrom in the tenth year. In the eleventh year the Lamanites destroyed Ammonihah, and Alma was in Zarahemla, advising Zoram to intercept the Lamanites in the south wilderness. Alma and Amulek then went about preaching, but their activities seem to have been restricted to "all the people of the Nephites" (Alma 16:15). This carries us to the end of the fourteenth year. In the fifteenth year Alma met the sons of Mosiah, somewhere between Gideon and Manti, who were returning from their fourteen-year mission to the land of Nephi. It was also in the fifteenth year that a tremendous battle occurred between the Nephites and Lamanites. In the sixteenth year peace was reestablished in the land. Then "in the latter end of the seventeenth year" (Alma 30:6), a man named Korihor came into the land of Zarahemla. He was called an Anti-Christ and was opposed by Alma. It was after Korihor was killed by the Zoramites that Alma, Amulek, and Zeezrom went on their mission to Antionum, but they completed this mission before the end of the seventeenth year (Alma 35:12). In the eighteenth year Alma returned to Zarahemla, and in the nineteenth year Alma "departed out of the land of Zarahemla, as if to go into the land of Melek. And it came to pass that he was never heard of more; as to his death or burial we know not of" (Alma 45:18).

Thus the Book of Mormon describes only the mission of Alma, Amulek, and Zeezrom to the Zoramites in Antionum. The only time that they could have journeyed to Lehi-Nephi would have been between the twelfth and fourteenth years, but no mission to the Lamanites is mentioned. Moreover, if they had gone to Lehi-Nephi, they surely would have tried to contact Ammon and his brethren to see how they were faring in their own mission among the Lamanites. But it is clear that Alma had not seen Ammon until they met again in Zarahemla in the fifteenth year. The text says: "Now these sons of Mosiah were with Alma at the time the angel first appeared unto him; therefore Alma did rejoice exceedingly to see his brethren; and what added more to his joy, they were still his brethren in the Lord" (Alma 17:2). This indicates that Alma had not seen them for fourteen years, that he had doubts about how strong they were in the faith, and therefore that he had not even received news of their great success in converting thousands throughout the land of Nephi, including the area around Lehi-Nephi. Clearly, Alma, Amulek, and Zeezrom could not have gone on a mission to Lehi-Nephi.

After the Nephites battled the Gadianton robbers, the Book of Helaman states: "And more of this Gadianton shall be spoken hereafter. And thus ended the forty and second year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi. And behold, in the end of this book ye shall see that this Gadianton did prove the overthrow, yea, almost the entire destruction of the people of Nephi. Behold I do not mean the end of the book of Helaman, but I mean the end of the book of Nephi, from which I have taken all the account which I have written" (Helaman 2:12-14). This is very confusing, because this Gadianton should have died nearly 300 years before the destruction of the Nephites. A band which called itself the Gadianton robbers did appear sometime after A.D. 260 and became allied with the Lamanites. Although Mormon mentions them in his record, he does not indicate that they held prominent positions as leaders of the Lamanites armies, and Mormon himself negotiated with the Lamanite king, when he requested permission for his people to gather at Cumorah. The Gadianton robbers are not even mentioned in chapters 3-6 of Mormon's record, which cover the years from A.D. 351 to the final battle at Cumorah in A.D. 385. If the Gadianton band was responsible for the destruction of the Nephites, the Book of Mormon does not make this clear.

The Book of Mormon uses three different calendar systems. The first starts with the year in which Lehi left Jerusalem, which was 600 years before the birth of Jesus. The second system dates events from the first year of the reign of the judges, which was ninety-one years before Christ. The third begins with the birth of Jesus. Thus the ninety-second year of the reign of the judges would correspond to the year in which Jesus was born, and dates should change at this point. However, after carrying us to the hundredth year of the reign of the judges, the Book of Mormon backs up and says that nine of those years really belonged to the new era, beginning with the birth of Jesus (3 Nephi 2:5-8). This suggests that the Book of Mormon set Lehi's departure from Jerusalem at 609 B.C. and that it was changed to 600 B.C. Lehi left Jerusalem in the first year of the reign of Zedekiah, which is now dated by scholars as 596 or 597 B.C. However, in the early 1800s, some people placed Zedekiah's reign much earlier. For example, in 1834 E. D. Howe wrote in his book Mormonism Unvailed: "According to history, and according to Jeremiah, in the ninth year of the reign of Zedekiah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadrezzar, King of Babylon, besieged Jerusalem, which was six hundred and six years before the christian era" (Howe 1834, 51). Thus by Howe's reckoning, the first year of Zedekiah's reign would have been in 614 B.C.

After Jesus appears on the American continent and ascends into heaven again, the chronology of the Book of Mormon once again becomes very hazy. The book called Fourth Nephi stretches all the way from A.D. 35 to A.D. 320, but it consists of only four pages and forty-nine verses.

When Mormon was eleven years old, his father took him "into the land southward, even to the land of Zarahemla. The whole face of the land had become covered with buildings, and the people were as numerous almost, as it were the sand of the sea" (Mormon 1:6-7). We are not told why Mormon and his father were living in the land northward, but Mormon's words seem to imply that the land of Zarahemla had been desolate and uninhabited. This is rather strange, because nearly 300 years had passed since the land had been ravaged by earthquakes, fire, and tempests at the time of Jesus' crucifixion. And Mormon states that 200 years after the birth of Jesus "the people had multiplied, insomuch that they were spread upon all the face of the land" (4 Nephi 1:23).

There are some curious similarities between the ending of the Book of Mormon and an event which happened hundreds of years earlier. Ammaron buried the Nephite records in the hill Shim in A.D. 320, sixty-five years before the destruction of the Nephites, and gave Mormon custody of them. In the Book of Omni another man named Amaron wrote that about 280 B.C. "the more wicked part of the Nephites were destroyed." This was before Mosiah I led a group of people from the land of Nephi to Zarahemla. Jacob, the brother of Nephi, seems to have predicted these events when he warned the Nephites, "And the time speedily cometh, that except ye repent they [the Lamanites] shall possess the land of your inheritance, and the Lord God will lead away the righteous out from among you" (Jacob 3:4).

There is also another man named Mormon who is mentioned in the Book of Mosiah. Alma, one of Noah's priests, fled to the waters of Mormon, which had received its name from a king (Mosiah 18:4), but we do not know anything about this king Mormon. We should also recall that Abinadi's prophecies of the destruction of Noah's people failed to come true. Nonetheless, two passages in the Book of Mosiah imply that some great calamity did befall Noah's people. One refers to the priests of Noah, who "had caused such a great destruction to come upon them [the people of Limhi]" (Mosiah 21:20). In the other, Mosiah says, "Yea, remember king Noah, his wickedness and his abominations, and also the wickedness and abominations of his people. Behold what great destruction did come upon them; and also because of their iniquities they were brought into bondage" (Mosiah 29:18). We are led to speculate that Noah's people were destroyed, that Amaron and Mormon lived during this time, and that it was Mosiah, not Limhi, who led a group of people to Zarahmela.

Mormon also tells us, "And behold, I am called Mormon, being called after the land of Mormon, the land in which Alma did establish the church among the people, yea, the first church which was established among them after their transgression" (3 Nephi 5:12). Thus, although Mormon and his father were living in the land northward, Mormon links himself with the land of Mormon, which was supposedly located in the land of Nephi. This is the only reference made to the land of Mormon in the hundreds of years which passed after Alma fled to the waters of Mormon.

At the end of the Book of Mormon, Moroni inserts two epistles written by his father, which are difficult to fit into the rest of the record. Mormon writes, "Behold, my son, I will write unto you again if I go not out soon against the Lamanites. Behold, the pride of this nation, or the people of the Nephites, hath proven their destruction except they should repent" (Moroni 8:27). This would seem to date the letter about A.D. 362, for it was in this year that the Nephites soundly defeated the Lamanites at the city of Desolation and started boasting of their strength. But it was also at this time that Mormon relinquished his command of the Nephite armies, precisely because he was offended by their pride. However, Mormon's letter indicates that he was still in command and that he might have to go out against the Lamanites. Mormon also refers to "this part of the land," as if he were writing to Moroni from a great distance. But if the letter is dated A.D. 362, they should have been in the same location, because Mormon had directed all of the people to gather at Desolation.

In his second epistle to Moroni, Mormon says, "write somewhat a few things, if thou art spared and I shall perish and not see thee; but I trust that I may see thee soon; for I have sacred records that I would deliver up unto thee" (Moroni 9:24). The letter would have to be dated not earlier than A.D. 379, for it was about this time that Mormon removed the records from the hill Shim and resumed his command of the Nephite armies.

Mormon describes atrocities committed by both the Lamanites and Nephites and then adds, "(And only a few years have passed away, and they were a civil and delightsome people)" (Moroni 9:12). But in fact the Nephites had not been "a civil and delightsome people" for a great many years. The downward spiral of the Nephites into sin and corruption had begun about A.D. 210, when false churches appeared and the disciples of Jesus were persecuted and killed. By A.D. 244 "the more wicked part of the people did wax strong, and became exceedingly more numerous than were the people of God" (4 Nephi 1:40). And by A.D. 300 "both the people of Nephi and the Lamanites had become exceedingly wicked one like unto another" (4 Nephi 1:45). Mormon records that when he was fifteen years old, "wickedness did prevail upon the face of the whole land" (Mormon 1:13). Mormon's record continues to lament the sinfulness of the Nephites, and it states that in A.D. 366 "there never had been so great wickedness among all the children of Lehi" (Mormon 4:12). It appears then that the Nephites had been growing continually more wicked for at least 169 years before Mormon wrote his letter.

In his second epistle, Mormon refers to the army of Aaron, and he names a number of other people, including Archeantus, Luram, Emron, Amoron, Zenephi, and a place called the tower of Sherrizah, which are not mentioned anywhere else in the Book of Mormon. This fact, together with the inconsistencies which exist between the epistles and Mormon's record, gives the impression that the letters were concocted from material which was removed from the Book of Mormon. It is possible that the material was taken from the account of the king Mormon who was mentioned by Alma.

The phrase "And it came to pass" is used repeatedly throughout the Book of Mormon, including Mormon's own record and the Book of Ether. It must be remembered that the Book of Mormon is Mormon's abridgment of the plates of Nephi, except for the small plates (1 Nephi to Omni) and the material added by Moroni. However, the Book of Moroni does not contain one occurrence of the phrase "And it came to pass," despite the fact that Moroni quotes a long discourse and two epistles from Mormon. In the two chapters which Moroni added to Mormon's record, there is only one occurrence of the phrase (Mormon 8:2). On the other hand, the phrase does appear in the Book of Ether, which is Moroni's abridgment of the Jaredite history.

There is a great deal of evidence that the final battle at the hill Cumorah should have occurred later than A.D. 385. Nephi had a vision of the appearance of Christ to his descendants on the American continent and of events which would follow.

And the angel said unto me: Look! And I looked, and beheld three generations pass away in righteousness . . . . And I, Nephi, also saw many of the fourth generation who passed away in righteousness. And it came to pass that I saw the multitudes of the earth gathered together. And the angel said unto me: Behold thy seed, and also the seed of thy brethren. And it came to pass that I looked and beheld the people of my seed gathered together in multitudes against the seed of my brethren; and they were gathered together to battle. . . . I beheld and saw that the seed of my brethren did contend against my seed . . . and because of the pride of my seed, and the temptations of the devil, I beheld that the seed of my brethren did overpower the people of my seed. (1 Nephi 12:11-19)

Nephi here states that he saw three generations and many of the fourth pass away in righteousness, and then his posterity was overpowered because of pride and iniquity. Much later, Nephi repeats this prophecy: "But the Son of righteousness shall appear unto them; and he shall heal them, and they shall have peace with him, until three generations shall have passed away, and many of the fourth generation shall have passed away in righteousness. And when these things have passed away a speedy destruction cometh unto my people" (2 Nephi 26:9-10).

Several hundred years later Alma delivered a similar prophecy to his son Helaman: "I perceive that this very people, the Nephites, according to the spirit of revelation which is in me, in four hundred years from the time that Jesus Christ shall manifest himself unto them, shall dwindle in unbelief. Yea, and then shall they see wars and pestilences, yea, famines and bloodshed, even until the people of Nephi shall become extinct" (Alma 45:10-11). In 6 B.C. Samuel the Lamanite began to prophesy among the Nephites and delivered these words of the Lord: "And four hundred years shall not pass away before I will cause that they shall be smitten; yea, I will visit them with the sword and with famine and with pestilence. Yea, I will visit them in my fierce anger, and there shall be those of the fourth generation who shall live, of your enemies, to behold your utter destruction . . . and those of the fourth generation shall visit your destruction" (Helaman 13:9-10). In A.D. 34 Jesus said to his American disciples, "But behold, it sorroweth me because of the fourth generation from this generation, for they are led away captive by him even as was the son of perdition . . . . And in that day will I visit them, even in turning their works upon their own heads" (3 Nephi 27:32).

These prophecies do not all agree with each other in every detail. According to Nephi, many of the fourth generation after Christ would remain righteous, but would then fall to pride and temptation and would be destroyed. Alma said that the Nephites would dwindle in unbelief four hundred years after Christ's appearance, and then would follow wars, pestilence, famine, bloodshed, and final extinction. According to Samuel, famine and pestilence would precede the final destruction, which would occur in the fourth generation, perhaps a bit short of A.D. 400. Jesus, on the other hand, spoke of the fourth generation from the generation living in A.D. 34.

Nephi's prophecy does not agree with the end of the Book of Mormon. Fourth Nephi seems to equate a generation with a hundred years: "an hundred and ten years had passed away; and the first generation from Christ had passed away . . . . two hundred years had passed away; and the second generation had all passed away save it were a few" (4 Nephi 1:18, 22). The fall of the Nephites actually began in A.D. 210 and by A.D. 244 the wicked outnumbered the righteous. But this would be the third generation, and according to Nephi, the third generation and many of the fourth would pass away in righteousness.

With the exception of Samuel, the prophecies seem to point to a date for the battle of Cumorah sometime after A.D. 400. We should note that Moroni's additions to the Book of Mormon are dated A.D. 401 and 421. It does not seem likely that Moroni would have carried the plates around with him for sixteen years before adding his comments to the record. It is even more unlikely that he would still be making additions to the record more than thirty-six years after the battle of Cumorah. It is probable, then, that in accordance with the prophecies, the final battle actually occurred between A.D. 400 and 420. In fact the battle of Cumorah parallels the fall of Rome in A.D. 410 to Alaric, the Visigoth.

There are peculiarities about Moroni's additions to the Book of Mormon. He states, "Behold, my father hath made this record, and he hath written the intent thereof. And behold, I would write it also if I had room upon the plates, but I have not; and ore I have none, for I am alone" (Mormon 8:5). It is unclear what Moroni means by "the intent thereof," but it seems likely that he is referring to the title page of the Book of Mormon, which outlines the contents and purpose of the book. Joseph Smith said that he translated the title page from the last leaf of the book of plates. However, if the title page was written by Mormon, it was certainly added to by Moroni, for it declares that the plates were "sealed by the hand of Moroni." It also gives information about the Book of Ether, which was abridged by Moroni, after he received the plates from Mormon. After stating that he did not have room on the plates to write Mormon's intent and that he did not have ore to make new plates, Moroni proceeds to write a discourse which fills six printed pages. Following this is his abridgment of the Book of Ether, which continues for another thirty pages. But Moroni still found room to add more material covering another twelve and a half pages.

Mormon stated that he had buried all of the plates in the hill Cumorah, except for his abridgment, which he gave to Moroni. However, Moroni says that he made his abridgment of the Book of Ether "from the twenty and four plates which were found by the people of Limhi" (Ether 1:2). Of course, Moroni might have returned to the hill Cumorah to dig up the plates, although this would have been after he finished the record of Mormon in A.D. 401. If Moroni did not know the Jaredite language, he would first have to translate all of the plates of Ether, before he could abridge them. Moroni states that he has not written "the hundredth part" of Ether's record (Ether 15:33). Moroni's translation and abridgment of the Jaredite history would have been a prodigious task. However, Sidney Sperry points out that the twenty-four plates had already been translated much earlier by Mosiah II, and Moroni might actually have been using Mosiah's translation. In fact, Helaman II sent out another translation of the record (Alma 63:12); therefore, Moroni might have had two translations to work with. Still, these translations would have been buried in the hill Cumorah, and Moroni states that he used the plates which were discovered by Limhi's men.

Furthermore, Moroni recorded on his plates "the very things which the brother of Jared saw" (Ether 4:4), and he could not have taken his account from either of the translations made by Mosiah or Helaman. We know this, because Moroni says that it was forbidden by the Lord to make the visions public, until after Christ had been crucified, and Mosiah specifically held back the writings of the brother of Jared (Ether 4:1). Helaman also could not have published the visions, because he lived before the time of Christ. Moroni does say that when Christ appeared after his death, he commanded that the visions "should be made manifest" (Ether 4:2). The Book of Mormon makes no other reference to this, and it is not clear exactly how they were made manifest. However, if the visions were made known, Moroni might have obtained a knowledge of them. But he apparently did not use the interpreters to translate the record, for he says, "And now I, Moroni, have written the words which were commanded me, according to my memory" (Ether 5:1). If Moroni was writing from memory, he could not have been using a translation.

The visions were considered to be of great importance, and therefore, a precise rendering would certainly be desirable. Since Moroni had the interpreters, nothing prevented him from making an accurate translation. Nonetheless, Moroni expresses concern that "the Gentiles will mock at these things, because of our weakness in writing . . . . And thou hast made us that we could write but little, because of the awkwardness of our hands" (Ether 12:23-24). Of course, we can not judge Moroni's account of the visions, because they have never been made public.

It is also strange that although Mormon included the small plates of Nephi with his abridgment, he did not include the Jaredite history and the visions of the brother of Jared. We have only Moroni to thank for saving Joseph Smith from the embarrassment of discovering a book which did not contain the sealed portion.

But as we have seen Moroni creates an embarrassment of another sort. Since Moroni wrote the visions from memory, the sealed portion of the plates did not consist of the records which the brother of Jared sealed up, but contained Moroni's rather inferior rendering of the visions. And if Moroni sealed up the interpreters with his record, why was it necessary for him to write his own version, instead of merely including the record of the brother of Jared, to be translated by a future seer? Moroni's language is so strange that we are led to speculate that the visions of the brother of Jared were included in the manuscript which Martin Harris lost, and that Joseph Smith was unable to reconstruct them in anything more than a crude approximation.

The rapidity with which Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery worked is demonstrated by the fact that although they sometimes caught their own mistakes, they did not stop to rewrite the manuscript, but simply corrected the error within the text. For example, after Ammonihah was destroyed by the Lamanites in the eleventh year of the reign of the judges, the text states that "the people did not go in to possess the land of Ammonihah for many years" (Alma 16:11). But according to Alma 49, Ammonihah had been rebuilt and fortified by Moroni only eight years later. Apparently the editor caught his mistake, because the text says, "Behold, I said that the city of Ammonihah had been rebuilt. I say unto you, yea, that it was in part rebuilt" (Alma 49:3). Amulek, the missionary partner of Alma, finds it necessary to correct himself: "I never have known much of the ways of the Lord, and his mysteries and marvelous powers. I said I never had known much of these things; but behold, I mistake, for I have seen much of his mysteries and his marvelous power" (Alma 10:5). An error occurs at Alma 24:19: "and thus we see that they buried their weapons of peace, or they buried the weapons of war, for peace." A similar mistake appears at Alma 43:38: "they being shielded from the more vital parts of the body, or the more vital parts of the body being shielded from the strokes of the Lamanites . . . ." There is sometimes confusion about the proper subject of sentences: "And when the armies of the Lamanites saw that the people of Nephi, or that Moroni, had prepared his people . . . ." (Alma 43:19); "Now behold, the people who were in the land Bountiful, or rather Moroni, feared . . . ." (Alma 50:32). Moroni has to correct himself in an epistle to Ammoron: "Behold, Ammoron, I have written unto you somewhat concerning this war which ye have waged against my people, or rather which thy brother hath waged against them, and which ye are still determined to carry on after his death" (Alma 54:5). King Limhi seems to become confused when he tries to explain Abinadi's teachings to Ammon: "And because he said unto them that Christ was the God, the Father of all things, and said that he should take upon him the image of man, and it should be the image after which man was created in the beginning; or in other words, he said that man was created after the image of God, and that God should come down among the children of men, and take upon him flesh and blood, and go forth upon the face of the earth" (Mosiah 7:27).

We have seen that there are numerous problems with the Book of Mormon: essential information is missing, there are historical gaps and chronological inconsistencies, there are references to events which could not have happened, characters and statements seem to be out of place, prophecies are left unfulfilled, and the final battle between the Nephites and Lamanites occurs at the wrong time. It appears that the manuscript was taken apart and pieced back together again in a rather clumsy manner. Even Mormon scholars acknowledge that the first part of the Book of Mormon was actually the last to be written. Although Joseph Smith received a revelation in May 1829 commanding him to substitute the plates of Nephi for the lost manuscript, he and Oliver Cowdery continued on from the Book of Mosiah to the end, and then went back to 1 Nephi.

The revelation concerned only the first part of the Book of Mormon, down to the reign of king Benjamin. Since different plates were substituted, we might expect that the two parts of the book would not fit neatly together, but it is evident that the entire Book of Mormon was reworked. Why would Joseph and Oliver revise the latter part of the book, if the revelation instructed them only to change the first part?

It can be demonstrated that Joseph Smith removed material from the manuscript of the Book of Mormon and then incorporated it in later writings. In the Book of Mormon, the Gadianton robbers are a band which use secret signs, words, oaths, and covenants. These secret oaths are specifically associated with the Jaredites. In the Book of Ether, the first reference to a secret combination occurs during the reign of Omer. Omer's son Jared was frustrated in his attempt to gain a kingdom for himself, and his daughter said to him, "Hath he not read the record which our fathers brought across the great deep? Behold, is there not an account concerning them of old, that they by their secret plans did obtain kingdoms and great glory?" (Ether 8:9). Jared married his daughter to a man named Akish and then sought his aid. Akish gathered together his kinsmen.

And it came to pass that they all sware unto him, by the God of heaven, and also by the heavens, and also by the earth, and by their heads, that whoso should vary from the assistance which Akish desired should lose his head; and whoso should divulge whatsoever thing Akish made known unto them, the same should lose his life. And it came to pass that thus they did agree with Akish. And Akish did administer unto them the oaths which were given by them of old who also sought power, which had been handed down even from Cain, who was a murderer from the beginning. And they were kept up by the power of the devil to administer these oaths unto the people, to keep them in darkness, to help such as sought power to gain power, and to murder, and to plunder, and to lie, and to commit all manner of wickedness and whoredoms. (Ether 8:14-16)

Thus the Jaredites were not the originators of those secret oaths; they obtained knowledge of them from records which they brought with them to the New World. But curiously enough, the Gadianton robbers did not learn the oaths from the record of the Jaredites.

Now behold, those secret oaths and covenants did not come forth unto Gadianton from the records which were delivered unto Helaman; but behold, they were put into the heart of Gadianton by that same being who did entice our first parents to partake of the forbidden fruit -- yea, that same being who did plot with Cain, that if he would murder his brother Abel it should not be known unto the world. And he did plot with Cain and his followers from that time forth. . . . And behold, it is he who is the author of all sin. And behold, he doth carry on his works of darkness and secret murder, and doth hand down their plots, and their oaths, and their covenants, and their plans of awful wickedness, from generation to generation according as he can get hold upon the hearts of the children of men. (Helaman 6:26-30)

Thus the Book of Helaman also traces the origin of the oaths back to Cain and the devil. Its explanation for Gadianton's knowledge of the oaths seems rather contrived, but Alma commanded Helaman to keep the oaths secret, when he handed over the Jaredite plates.

Supposedly, the Nephites had lived free of secret combinations for hundreds of years until Gadianton. But, both Jacob and Nephi reveal a knowledge of secret combinations long before the record of the Jaredites was discovered. Nephi says, "and there are also secret combinations, even as in times of old, according to the combinations of the devil, for he is the founder of all these things; yea, the founder of murder, and works of darkness" (2 Nephi 26:22). In speaking of the devil, Jacob says, "who transformeth himself nigh unto an angel of light, and stirreth up the children of men unto secret combinations of murder and all manner of secret works of darkness" (2 Nephi 9:9).

Nephi and Jacob may have received their knowledge of the secret combinations from the brass plates. After Joseph Smith finished the Book of Mormon, he produced the Book of Moses, which gives an account of the compact between Cain and the devil. But since the Book of Moses is also a part of Genesis in Joseph Smith's translation of the Bible, it should have been included among the scriptures on the brass plates. The Book of Moses gives this account:

And it came to pass that Cain took one of his brothers' daughters to wife, and they loved Satan more than God. And Satan said unto Cain: Swear unto me by thy throat, and if thou tell it thou shalt die; and swear thy brethren by their heads, and by the living God, that they tell it not; for if they tell it, they shall surely die; and this that thy father may not know it; and this day I will deliver thy brother Abel into thine hands. And Satan sware unto Cain that he would do according to his commands. And all these things were done in secret. And Cain said: Truly I am Mahan, the master of this great secret, that I may murder and get gain. Wherefore Cain was called Master Mahan, and he gloried in his wickedness. (Moses 5:28-31)

Cain was succeeded by Lamech as Master Mahan:

For Lamech having entered into a covenant with Satan, after the manner of Cain, wherein he became Master Mahan, master of that great secret which was administered unto Cain by Satan; and Irad, the son of Enoch, having known their secret, began to reveal it unto the sons of Adam; wherefore Lamech, being angry, slew him, not like unto Cain, his brother Abel, for the sake of getting gain, but he slew him for the oath's sake. For, from the days of Cain, there was a secret combination, and their works were in the dark, and they knew every man his brother. (Moses 5:49-51)

Thus the Book of Moses contains essential information which is missing from the Book of Mormon; without it our understanding of the Gadianton robbers is incomplete. Furthermore, the accounts in the books of Ether and Helaman, as well as the statements made by Nephi and Jacob, are evidently dependent upon the material in the Book of Moses.

There are other things which seem to link the Book of Moses to the Book of Mormon. In the Book of Moses, the Lord shows Enoch a vision, in which the Lord repeatedly says, "Look," just as Nephi was repeatedly commanded by an angel to "Look" during his vision. In Enoch's vision, certain place names are given, which are similar to names in the Book of Mormon. Among those mentioned are the lands of Omner, Heni, and Hanannihah. In the Book of Mormon, Ammon II has two brothers, one of whom is named Omner and the other Himni. Also the ending -ihah is characteristic of such names as Nephihah, Moronihah, Ammonihah, and Zemnarihah in the Book of Mormon. Furthermore, the phrase "And it came to pass" is used repeatedly throughout the Book of Moses, as it is in the Book of Mormon.

It appears that Joseph used some of the material that was removed from the Book of Mormon in the Doctrine and Covenants as well. Although the phrase "And it came to pass" does not characterize the Doctrine and Covenants as a whole, it does occur in some verses, most frequently in the form of "And it shall come to pass." We should take particular note of occurrences of the phrase in Sections 29 and 74. In Section 29, the Lord says that he created Adam with free agency, and then states:

And it came to pass that Adam, being tempted of the devil -- for, behold, the devil was before Adam, for he rebelled against me, saying, Give me thine honor, which is my power; and also a third part of the hosts of heaven turned he away from me because of their agency; and they were thrust down, and thus came the devil and his angels; and, behold, there is a place prepared for them from the beginning, which place is hell. And it must needs be that the devil should tempt the children of men, or they could not be agents unto themselves; . . . wherefore, it came to pass that the devil tempted Adam, and he partook of the forbidden fruit and transgressed the commandment, wherein he became subject to the will of the devil, because he yielded unto temptation. (D&C 29:36-40)

The phrase "And it came to pass" appears twice in these verses. This material presents some concepts which are important in Mormon theology: the preexistence of the devil, who wished to be recognized by God, his rebellion, and the free agency of angels and men. It seems to blend well with some things which Lehi taught to his son Jacob: "Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself. Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other. And I, Lehi, according to the things which I have read, must needs suppose that an angel of God, according to that which is written, had fallen from heaven; wherefore, he became a devil, having sought that which was evil before God. And because he had fallen from heaven, and had become miserable forever, he sought also the misery of all mankind" (2 Nephi 2:16-18). Lehi refers to "the things which I have read," and presumably he would have obtained his knowledge of these doctrines from the scriptures which were written upon the brass plates. Joseph Smith seems almost to be quoting from the brass plates in Section 29, which goes somewhat beyond the words of Lehi. In fact, it seems to anticipate chapter 4 of the Book of Moses: "And I, the Lord God, spake unto Moses, saying: That Satan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me, saying -- Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor. . . . Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine own power; by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down; and he became Satan, yea, even the devil . . . ." (Moses 4:1-4). The account in the Book of Moses is very likely that same record which was written upon the brass plates and the same source from which Lehi derived his knowledge. Once again we find Joseph Smith supplying at a later date information which is closely linked with the Book of Mormon and is essential for a complete understanding of the book.

Two other occurrences of the phrase "And it came to pass" appear in Section 74: "And it came to pass that there arose a great contention among the people concerning the law of circumcision, for the unbelieving husband was desirous that his children should be circumcised and become subject to the law of Moses, which law was fulfilled. And it came to pass that the children, being brought up in subjection to the law of Moses, gave heed to the traditions of their fathers and believed not the gospel of Christ, wherein they became unholy" (D&C 74:3-4). This supposedly applies to the Jews in the time of the apostles, but it sounds as if it were lifted from the Book of Mormon. Another "great contention" involving children was the subject of Mormon's first epistle to Moroni: "For, if I have learned the truth, there have been disputations among you concerning the baptism of your little children" (Moroni 8:5). Mormon quoted the words of the Lord, stating that little children could not sin and that "the law of circumcision is done away in me" (Moroni 8:8). Thus the contention concerning circumcision described in Section 74 may actually have been a point of doctrine disputed by the Nephites.

The phrase "And it shall come to pass" is used more frequently in the Doctrine and Covenants. It appears seven times in Section 42 and four times in Section 45, both written in 1831. Section 42 deals with the laws of the church, the building of the New Jerusalem, and the consecration of property. Section 45 refers to the city of Enoch, which was taken up into heaven, and then relates a conversation between Jesus and his disciples, which concerns the fulfillment of "the times of the Gentiles," the Second Coming, and the establishment of the New Jerusalem. The resurrected Jesus in the Book of Mormon also seems to be preoccupied with prophesying about the Gentiles and refers several times to the New Jerusalem.

Section 45 seems to contain a passage which is out of place. In this revelation, the Lord says: "And I will show it plainly as I showed it unto my disciples as I stood before them in the flesh, and spake unto them, saying: As ye have asked of me concerning the signs of my coming, in the day when I shall come in my glory in the clouds of heaven, to fulfil the promises that I have made unto your fathers, for as ye have looked upon the long absence of your spirits from your bodies to be a bondage, I will show unto you how the day of redemption shall come, and also the restoration of the scattered Israel" (D&C 45:16-17). Jesus' reference to "the long absence of your spirits from your bodies" is inappropriate, because his disciples seem to have been decidedly in the flesh. It is also curious that Joseph F. Smith produced a vision in 1918, which gives us the proper context for Jesus' words. His vision concerns Jesus' visit, after his crucifixion, to the spirits of the dead who were being held in prison. He saw in the spirit world many who had lived from Adam to the time of Malachi: "All these and many more, even the prophets who dwelt among the Nephites and testified of the coming of the Son of God, mingled in the vast assembly and waited for their deliverance. For the dead had looked upon the long absence of their spirits from their bodies as a bondage" (D&C 138:49-50). Here we have the words of Jesus in a proper setting; the spirits of the dead were separated from their bodies and were in a spirit prison, where they were awaiting the resurrection of Jesus. The vision continues: "These the Lord taught, and gave them power to come forth, after his resurrection from the dead, to enter into his Father's kingdom, there to be crowned with immortality and eternal life" (D&C 138:51). Alma had discussed this very same topic with his son Corianton, but had expressed a great deal of uncertainty about some points of interpretation (Alma 40:16-21). Despite the fact that Alma was a high priest, prophet, and seer, he could not decide whether those who died before Christ would be resurrected with Christ or after his resurrection. These passages raise all sorts of questions. Are Alma's doubts and uncertainties really those of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery? Did they in fact delete the account of Jesus' visit to the spirit prison from the Book of Mormon, because they were not sure of its implications? Did someone mistakenly copy part of this account, while he was writing Section 45? Did Joseph F. Smith have access to material which was removed from the Book of Mormon, which he used in composing his own vision?

It is evident that Joseph and Oliver attempted to rearrange and revise the Book of Mormon and that they took little time and care in their labors. Joseph and Oliver completed the entire Book of Mormon in only three months, but the evidence indicates that they must have spent all of this time revising an already existing manuscript. Furthermore, their revisions demonstrate that they did not have a good understanding of the manuscript; there are too many errors and inconsistencies.