The Testimony of the Witnesses
In the manner of every restoration of the gospel, witnesses have been called to testify of the work.
It has been the pattern of the Lord in every dispensation to call witnesses to bear record of the work he is doing. The ancient apostles were witnesses of the resurrected Christ. The three witnesses and the eight witnesses to the Book of Mormon bore record of the plates and of the angel who showed them. In every case, the witnesses were not selected for their independence or their credentials. They were selected because they were willing to bear record and to stand by it.
The Final Restoration follows this pattern — and extends it. The Lord has appointed formal witnesses who have examined the plates and the stones of translation in person, whose signed statements will be published here when completed. And he has opened the record to the wider body of those who have seen the work with their own eyes, in the manner that this age permits. Both are witnesses. Both are on record. Neither cancels the other.
The formal witnesses to the Book of the Brother of Jared are persons known to Christopher Glenn Marriott who have examined the plates and the stones of translation in person. They have been shown the record. They have held the instruments. Their signed statements are being prepared and will be published on this page when complete.
This follows the same pattern by which the Lord called the witnesses to the Book of Mormon. Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris were close associates of Joseph Smith. The eight additional witnesses were primarily members of the Whitmer and Smith families. The Lord did not require that witnesses be strangers. He required that they be willing to bear record.
If any witness should at any future time depart from association with the Final Restoration, this shall not invalidate the testimony they have signed. The witnesses to the Book of Mormon who later fell out personally with Joseph Smith never recanted what they had witnessed. Our witnesses have understood this from the beginning. They may leave. They may not unsign.
Joseph Smith had eleven witnesses. The Lord has seen fit to give this work thousands.
Those who have seen the plates and the stones of translation by broadcast — watching as the work was shown publicly — are witnesses in the same sense that Joseph's witnesses were witnesses. They saw what was shown. They can attest to what they saw. The mechanism of seeing is different. The act of witness is the same.
If you have seen the plates of the Brother of Jared and the stones of translation — whether in person or by broadcast — you may add your witness below. Your signature and your name will be added to the permanent record of this church. Witnesses who later change their minds about the church do not thereby change what they saw. The record stands.
Draw your signature above using your mouse or finger.