Latter-day Saints are no strangers to the fact that even the best, brightest, and spiritually strongest of them can have the Church withdraw fellowship from them. Such was the case with the Church’s “second elder” (Doctrine and Covenants 20:3) Oliver Cowdery. Despite being one of the founding members of the Church and the many miraculous experiences he had with the Angel Moroni and the Restoration, Cowdery was excommunicated in April 1838. Happily, Cowdery returned to the Church and was rebaptized on November 12, 1848. What did Oliver do while he was out of the Church? Why did he return? What can today’s Latter-day Saints learn from Oliver’s experiences of being excommunicated and returning to the Church?
You can learn more about David Whitmer, Oliver Cowdery, and Martin Harris in Witnesses, an epic true story of how Harris, Cowdery and Whitmer became witnesses to the gold plates from which Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon.
Their statement of what occurred, and its veracity, has been published with every copy of the Book of Mormon since 1830. Many people know the story contained in their statement, but not many know the full story on how they became witnesses or why they chose to leave the church they were intimately involved in creating.
For more information, visit www.witnessesfilm.com
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dyejo
