Q. Where did the gold plates come forth?
A. Present-day Palmyra, New York, in a hill called “Cumorah.”
Q. To readers of the Book of Mormon, does it say that anyone ever lived in the Land of Cumorah?
A. No, only in the lead-up to the final Nephite battle.
Q. Why did no one ever live in Cumorah?
A. Because it wasn’t part of “core” Book of Mormon lands.
Q. What else do we know about the Hill Cumorah?
A. Omer, a Jaredite, passed by it.
3 And the Lord warned Omer in a dream that he should depart out of the land; wherefore Omer departed out of the land with his family, and traveled many days, and came over and passed by the hill of Shim, and came over by the place WHERE THE NEPHITES WERE DESTROYED, and from thence eastward, and came to a place which was called Ablom, by the seashore, and there he pitched his tent, and also his sons and his daughters, and all his household, save it were Jared and his family. (Ether 9)
Q. Did the Jaredites ever live in the Land Southward?
A. No.
Q. What separates the Land Northward from the Land Southward?
A. The Sea South, which was only south of the Land Northward.
Thus, the Hill Cumorah is located in the Land Northward, which land is surrounded by four seas.
Q. While standing on the Hill Cumorah looking north, what large body of water do you see?
A. Lake Ontario. Thus, Lake Ontario is the Sea North, also known as Ripliancum, by the Jaredites.
Q. While looking west from the Hill Cumorah, what large body of water do you see?
A. Lake Erie. Thus, Lake Erie is the Sea West.
Q. Did the Sea West also border the Land Southward?
A. Yes. And Lake Erie does extend south for many miles.
Q. If Lake Ontario is the Sea North and Lake Erie is the Sea West, what is the Sea East?
A. The Sea East is today known as the “Grand Canyon of the East,” which was once full of water. The Genesee River runs through it.
Q. What is the Sea South?
A. The Sea South is the large inland sea called Lake Tonawanda, which was nearly emptied at the time of Christ’s coming when the land split and was lifted up in fulfillment of prophecy. Niagara Falls remain as a testament to that great event. When the Book of Mormon came forth, Lake Tonawanda (as swamps and marshes) was 25 miles by 7 miles.
Q. Was the Sea South ever used for shipping?
A. No.
Thus, core Book of Mormon lands were bordered by Lake Ontario to the north, Lake Erie to the west, and the “Grand Canyon of the East” (Genesee River) to the east.
Q. What Land Promises are tied to that land?
A. It would never have a king to the Gentiles, and it never has, which cannot be said of models that include Canada or Mexico.
Q. What land prophecies were fulfilled on that land?
A. That fair-skinned Gentiles would buy it (see Holland Land Purchase).
Q. Where did the Book of Mormon come forth?
A. On this land.
Q. Where did the first American Indians receive the Book of Mormon?
A. On this land.
Q. Where did the mother countries come to war against the Gentiles by “land and sea?”
A. On this land (see War of 1812).
Q. Where did the American Indians found a New Jerusalem with the Gentiles?
A. On this land (see Albany Plan of Union and Iroquois Nation).
Nephi’s vision in 1 Nephi 13 describes the Promised Land clearly:
- Gentiles are moved by the Spirit of God to come to the Promised Land (v.13)
- They leave lands of captivity (v.13)
- Many multitudes come (v.14)
- The Indians are scattered by them (v.14)
- They are white with fair skin (v.15)
- They buy the Promised Land (v.15)
- They humble themselves before God (v.16; see also Great Awakening)
- The Spirit of God is with them (v.16)
- Their mother countries come to battle against them (v.17)
- They come on the waters and the land (v.17)
- The Gentiles are delivered from all nations (v.19; see also Peace of Paris 1783)
- The Gentiles stumble because plain and precious things are removed from the Bible (v.29)
Thus, the government of the United States already fulfilled the prophesied American New Jerusalem, and Joseph hijacked the idea. The Mormon Church will never build a New Jerusalem in Missouri, and no one will ever gather to it. That has already been fulfilled. If Joseph had that wrong, what else did he not understand?
Joseph Smith did not refer to passages from the Book of Mormon in his writings or sermons, nor was it cited very often by early church leaders. –Grant Hardy (Royal Skousen ed., The Book of Mormon, the Earliest Text, Yale University Press, 2009, p. xxii)