“Abinadi Began to Prophesy Among Them”

Alan C. Miner

According to John Tvedtnes, if Joseph Smith were the author of the Book of Mormon narrative he would have been faced with the formidable task of keeping track of all the prophecies recorded within that narrative in order to record the fulfillment of each of the details, especially when one considers that he dictated the narrative only once through to Oliver Cowdery. One of the more complex set of prophecies was that of Abinadi, found in Mosiah 12-17. Subsequent events in the narrative not only vindicate Abinadi's words, but they point to the author's reliance on a written text for such information. We thus have evidence that the author (abridger) of the Book of Mormon is who he says he is: Mormon. [John A. Tvedtnes, "Mormon As an Abridger of Ancient Records," in The Most Correct Book, pp. 12-13]

Step by Step Through the Book of Mormon: A Cultural Commentary

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