Thirty-Three (1838)knowing where they would end up. They had heard of other people who had sailed in that
direction, found some habitable islands (in the Caribbean), and returned. This inspired them
to leave the mainland in search of a safer place to live. However, this particular group started
their oceanic voyage too far north, missed the Caribbean Islands, and were carried off by the
trade winds and ocean currents until they reached the west coast of southern Africa.
After they landed, the band of Lamanites migrated inland where the African people
rejected them, ironically—because of the color of their skin. The Lamanites had a much lighter
skin tone than that of the African tribes living there at the time. The small group of Lamanites
wandered where they could to avoid the Africans who would not accept them. Eventually,
they ended up on the east coast of present-day South Africa. Knowing nothing of the
geography of the world, they hoped that they could get back to their native lands of America
by again embarking on a voyage by sailing east. They ended up discovering the small islands
off the east coast of Africa, in the Indian Ocean northwest of the island of Madagascar.^31
Based on the stories they had heard of their ancestry, and according to the language
that they spoke as Lamanites, they named the island and its cities with names that were
familiar to them. Thus, the islands became known as “Comoros” and their major city
“Moroni,” names that, when translated, were similar to those of their original ancestry in
the Book of Mormon lands. Eventually, the islands were discovered by stronger African tribes
that overran them and made them their own. But, as is often the case, aboriginal names have
a way of being preserved by the conqueror where the identity of a new land was never
otherwise given or known. Many North American names have been preserved in the same
way from the original Native American nomenclature.
Book of Mormon critics might proclaim that this explanation, although it solves the
reason why the islands are called by Book of Mormon names, is a stretch of the imagination.
However, they might consider the following from their own evidence: Their own scientific
research has concluded that “[t]hese people arrived no later than the sixth century AD, the date of
the earliest known archaeological site.”^32
Joseph knew nothing about the existence of the Comoros islands when he was given
the text of the Book of Mormon through the Urim and Thummim. But those who gave him the
text did! They knew the history of the world—its islands, its peoples, and everything else
about it. They formed the “lesson book” based on the world in which the people lived for
whom the lesson was meant. They knew of both the eventual name of the Comoros Islands
and of its capital, Moroni, and arranged the textual match in the Book of Mormon for their
own purposes, providing another profound proof that the book was not a mortal invention.
Again, had Joseph created the book himself based on his own life, then he would
have had no knowledge what was going to happen after the book was published. The Book of
Mormon prophecies, however, have been fulfilled in every way; and Joseph’s life paralleled
Mormon’s with profound exactness.
Familiar Stories Given in a New Light
Christ first informed Joseph that he was going to do a great work for the people of
the world. Then the Book of Mormon came along, with Christ presenting “the fullness of the
everlasting Gospel”^33 to the people. The American people who read and accepted the Book of
Mormon had the words of Christ, both in the Bible and the Book of Mormon.^34 But the people
rejected the simplicity of the message of the Book of Mormon and desired many things that
they did not understand, expecting to have a religion and a church.