Sacred Texts: Mormons

Mormon Doctrine & Covenants 6. Revelation to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, Harmony, Pennsylvania, April 1829.

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This is a canonized Latter-day Saint scripture — a revelation recorded in the *History of the Church* (1:32-35) — presented as direct speech from Jesus Christ to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in April 1829, during the period when the Book of Mormon was being translated. The text belongs to the genre of prophetic revelation and closely resembles the style of the Doctrine and Covenants. Its primary content is a divine commission and reassurance to Oliver Cowdery, confirming that he possesses a spiritual gift and granting him the ability to translate sacred records alongside Joseph Smith. A distinctive claim runs through the text: that God validated Cowdery's faith by referencing a private, nocturnal prayer Cowdery had offered — knowledge no human could possess — as proof of divine communication. The revelation also subordinates material wealth to spiritual wisdom, frames the imminent publication of hidden scriptures as fulfillment of gospel restoration, and invokes classic New Testament imagery (the harvest field, the two-or-three witnesses, Christ's wounds) to authorize the new movement. Someone deciding whether to read further would find this text essential for understanding the early theological and personal foundations of Mormonism, particularly the role of Cowdery as co-witness and translator.

Mormon Doctrine & Covenants 6. Revelation to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, Harmony, Pennsylvania, April 1829.

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