me . . . when the light rested upon me I saw two personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spoke unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other, This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him." To Joseph this meant that he was forgiven of his sins and was not to join any of the organized churches. For the Mormons the visit of an angel to Joseph Smith during the night of September 21, 1823, signaled the documentary foundation of Mormonism. A statue representing the angel stands atop the Salt Lake Temple. In one hand the figure holds a trumpet: in the other are clasped plates symbolic of the Book of Mormon, the ancient religious record whose existence Smith claimed was revealed to him in 1823. Shortly after his first vision Joseph Smith was concerned with his lack of spirituality. He was praying on Sept. 21 when he was rewarded with the appearance of an angelic being who said his name was Moroni. It was Moroni who told Joseph Smith where the gold leaves or "plates" were located. Smith tried to keep this secret, however, word got out. And today, this religion is practiced by millions in the United States. The governing scriptures of the Mormon Church are the Bibles, The Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and The Pearl of Great Price. The Bible is the first of the "Four Standard Works" of the Mormon Church. The King James is most widely used. Because of the manner in which the Bible has come down through the centuries, with errors in translations and interpretations of language, the church makes a reservation for its own interpretation as given in its "Articles of Faith," number 8: "We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly . . . " The Book of Mormon is the second of the four standard works of the church. It is a direct translation from ancient records (gold plates) of God's dealings with ancient peoples on the Western Continent. Many of t...
