There are various theories about what happened to the 116 manuscript pages that were lost by Martin Harris. Harris apparently broke his promise to only show the pages to his family and they may have been stolen by one of those persons. There has been speculation that the pages were stolen by treasure hunters seeking the gold plates.
There was a common belief at the time that Lucy Harris burned the pages, but she denied knowing what had happened to them. Another theory is that Flanders Dyke, Harris’ son-in-law, stole the pages. Dyke was from a family of swindlers who were actively committing crimes in upstate New York at about that same time.
The plan of wicked men
The Lord told Joseph Smith, in the revelation now known as Doctrine and Covenants Section 10, about the plan of wicked men to alter the words of the translation so as to contradict and shame Joseph Smith when he retranslates those pages.
And, behold, Satan hath put it into their hearts to alter the words which you have caused to be written, or which you have translated, which have gone out of your hands.
And behold, I say unto you, that because they have altered the words, they read contrary from that which you translated and caused to be written;
And, on this wise, the devil has sought to lay a cunning plan, that he may destroy this work;
For he hath put into their hearts to do this, that by lying they may say they have caught you in the words which you have pretended to translate.
This evil plan, however, depended on Joseph Smith re-translating the same pages again.
And then, behold, they say and think in their hearts—We will see if God has given him power to translate; if so, he will also give him power again;
And if God giveth him power again, or if he translates again, or, in other words, if he bringeth forth the same words, behold, we have the same with us, and we have altered them;
Therefore they will not agree, and we will say that he has lied in his words, and that he has no gift, and that he has no power;
Therefore we will destroy him, and also the work; and we will do this that we may not be ashamed in the end, and that we may get glory of the world.
The Lord had anticipated the wicked plan
Most Latter-day Saints know this story and the fact that Joseph Smith did NOT re-translate the Book of Lehi because the Book of Nephi, Lehi’s son, was also included in the plates and covered the same historical time period. We also take faith and comfort in knowing that the Lord had his prophets prepare for this event about 2400 years in advance!
Nevertheless, I have received a commandment of the Lord that I should make these plates, for the special purpose that there should be an account engraven of the ministry of my people.
Upon the other plates should be engraven an account of the reign of the kings, and the wars and contentions of my people; wherefore these plates are for the more part of the ministry; and the other plates are for the more part of the reign of the kings and the wars and contentions of my people.
Wherefore, the Lord hath commanded me to make these plates for a wise purpose in him, which purpose I know not.
But the Lord knoweth all things from the beginning; wherefore, he prepareth a way to accomplish all his works among the children of men; for behold, he hath all power unto the fulfilling of all his words. And thus it is. Amen.
The wicked love darkness
However, in addition to the story of how the Lord can anticipate and block Satan’s plans, there is another important lesson here about how wicked men work. In Section 10 the Lord describes the people who were plotting against Joseph Smith.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, that Satan has great hold upon their hearts; he stirreth them up to iniquity against that which is good;
And their hearts are corrupt, and full of wickedness and abominations; and they love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil; therefore they will not ask of me.
Satan stirreth them up, that he may lead their souls to destruction.
Of course evil people prefer darkness so they can hide their sins. But the particular form of evil these people are guilty of is especially relevant to our day.
A two-part sin
Yea, he stirreth up their hearts to anger against this work.
Yea, he saith unto them: Deceive and lie in wait to catch, that ye may destroy; behold, this is no harm. And thus he flattereth them, and telleth them that it is no sin to lie that they may catch a man in a lie, that they may destroy him.
And thus he flattereth them, and leadeth them along until he draggeth their souls down to hell; and thus he causeth them to catch themselves in their own snare.
The sin described here has two parts: 1. To set oneself up as a judge of another and then, 2. to attempt to ensnare that person by using lies and deception. This is sin is a combination of self-righteousness and self-justification.
Beware of this sin
Here is an example of how this sin works:
“You are wrong, and I am right. Therefore, I can lie and steal and cheat and deceive as long as I am trying to show the world how wrong you are.”
This sin is VERY common in the world today. I will let you, the reader, think of specific examples. But the Lord is very clear that such behavior will bring one under condemnation.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, wo be unto him that lieth to deceive because he supposeth that another lieth to deceive, for such are not exempt from the justice of God.
“the Lord had his prophets prepare for this event about 2400 years in advance!”
Will He prepare us for the catastrophe following Trump/Musk/Vance? See lewjeppson.com top feature.
Elon Musk is destroying the United States. Why were we not warned. Not one word in October Conference. And there will likely be none at April Conference. This all leaves me dismayed and confused.