Elder D. Todd Christofferson, SITH intellectual

On October 20, 2019, Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke at a devotional for Latter-day Saints living in the North America Northeast area. He recalled his recent visit to the Priesthood Restoration Site in Harmony, Pennsylvania, where most of the Book of Mormon was translated. He told the Saints:

The Church has reconstructed the home of Joseph and Emma on its original site, together with the larger home of Emma’s parents, Isaac and Elizabeth Hale, close by. We entered Joseph and Emma’s re-created home with a feeling of reverence. As I stood at the fireplace in the relatively small main room that served for cooking, dining, and every other purpose except sleeping, I reflected on their meager resources and humble circumstances. I looked at the small table, similar to something they would have had in that space, and in my mind’s eye envisioned the Prophet seated at one side with the golden plates on the table before him, perhaps covered with a cloth, and Oliver Cowdery on the other side of the table with his little ink pot, turkey quill pen, and the paper that was so expensive and difficult to obtain in those days. I imagined them there, hour upon hour, as Joseph, using the Urim and Thummim or his own seer stone, dictated the revealed text while Oliver faithfully wrote down what the Prophet spoke.

(A PDF transcript of Elder Christofferson’s remarks is available on the Church Newsroom website.)

This adds Elder Christofferson to the list of modern prophets and apostles who believed and taught that Joseph Smith used a seer stone, in addition to the Urim and Thummim, to translate the Book of Mormon. This list includes such leaders as President George Q. Cannon, President Wilford Woodruff, Elder B.H. Roberts, Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, President M. Russell Ballard, and President Russell M. Nelson—the current prophet, seer, revelator, and president of the Church.

Jonathan Neville rejects the teachings of the prophets. He insists that Joseph Smith never used a seer stone to translate the Book of Mormon. He’s published an entire book and dozens of blog posts making this claim.

Fortunately, there are still many Saints who believe the teachings the prophets and reject the false claims of Jonathan Neville and other Heartlanders.

—Peter Pan