In 2 Nephi 3:24 it reads: “And there shall rise up one mighty among them”. The Book of Mormon today has in the footnote for this verse “Joseph Smith” as being the one who will rise up, however, earlier versions of the Book of Mormon have it recorded as “an Indian Prophet”.
Note: This is not referring to the "one mighty and strong" prophecy.
Here is a link of a scanned copy of an earlier edition of the Book of Mormon showing the original footnote.
Notice how footnote 'l' says "an Indian prophet" when referring to the scripture 2 Nephi 3:24 where it says "And there shall rise up one mighty among them".
Reference: Link is here.
Without going into too many details it is impossible for Joseph Smith to be the “one mighty among them” as Joseph Smith is a pure Ephraimite. Lehi clearly states that this mighty person will come from the “seed” of his youngest son Joseph. Not only is it impossible for Joseph Smith to be the “one mighty among them”, but Even Spencer W. Kimball apparently knew it was not Joseph Smith when he gave a talk (as the Prophet) and spoke about this very scripture. Below is the conference talk reference with a quote from the talk:
President Spencer W. Kimball:
“The Lamanites must rise in majesty and power.” (Conference Reports, Oct. 1947) “The Lamanites must rise in majesty and power. We must look forward to the day when they will be “white and delightsome” (2 Ne. 5:21; 2 Ne. 30:6), sharing the freedoms and blessings which we enjoy; when they shall have economic security, culture, refinement, and education; when they shall be operating farms and businesses and industries and shall be occupied in the professions and in teaching; when they shall be organized into wards and stakes of Zion, furnishing much of their own leadership; when they shall build and occupy and fill the temples, and serve in them as the natives are now serving in the Hawaiian Temple where I found last year the entire service conducted by them and done perfectly. And in the day when their prophet shall come, one shall rise. . . mighty among them . . . being an instrument in the hands of God, with exceeding faith, to work mighty wonders (2 Ne. 3:24).”
As you can see this is very confusing that a Prophet of God would not know better…. And we're not even talking about his racist comment “We must look forward to the day when they will be white and delightsome” as if being white is the only color that is delightsome. I’m talking about not knowing whether or not the person in 2 Nephi 3:24 is either “an Indian Prophet” or “Joseph Smith”.
It is very frustrating how easy it is for the LDS Church to sweep things like this under the rug and no one in the Church ever recognizes it or questions it. No answer needs to be given and people carry on as if it is business as usual. In fact when I have brought this up in the past to Bishops and Stake Presidents they told me to not worry about things like that and if I kept doing so it would only lead to apostasy. Now I can easily see how leaving it as “an Indian Prophet” would cause people to wonder who that might be especially after a Prophet such as Spencer W. Kimball says “And in the day when their prophet shall come” meaning to me at least that we still haven’t seen this “one mighty” person at least not up to 1947 we hadn't.
So the church changing it to Joseph Smith squashes any curiosities and interest as to when that prophecy is going to be fulfilled. Now I understand that it is just a footnote, I’m not saying the scriptures got modified, but even changing this footnote to me raises serious questions that I personally would like an answer too. I have yet to find anything on the internet that provides a good answer to this.
A concerned Latter-day Saint
Critic's comment: This is just one example of hundreds of small problems in Church History that very few church historians or even critics know of, let alone the general Church membership.
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