There are a few LDS folks giving seminars and firesides trying to prove that the correct location for Book of Mormon lands is in the New York and Great Lakes area. Some of these stir up excitement about the vast hoard of Michigan Relics that supposedly support the Book of Mormon (lots of slate engravings and some copper relics as well). Unfortunately, these have been determined to be fraudulent. Twice, in fact. They had been donated to the Church but, in light of their lack of relevance to the Book of Mormon, the Church recently gave them to the Michigan Historical Museum. I would be suspicious of any lecturer claiming that these are authentic, and especially claiming that God has told him that they are real. People are welcome to their views on the difficult topic of Book of Mormon geography, but when unauthorized voices begin telling us what God thinks on this matter, for which no official revelations have been given, something may be out of whack.

One voice in particular, the author of the DVD, DNA Evidence for Book of Mormon Geography, appears to be claiming inspiration and divine guidance as he challenges or rather ignores the body of evidence presented by LDS scholars over many years pointing to Mesoamerica, and implies that LDS scholars are akin to apostates for allegedly not taking Joseph Smith's revelations seriously. His approach may well be described as "misguided zeal," the title of a response being prepared by FAIRLDS.org. See part 1 of this response: "Misguided Zeal and Defense of the Church" (PDF file). The motivation for the FAIRLDS response is not so much that they disagree with the arguments, but that inappropriate claims of divine guidance for matters relevant to the whole Church are being made. It's sad that such critiques are needed for the work of fellow LDS people, but people may be harmed by basis testimony on bad science that can easily be refuted, at the risk of damaging their faith in the process.
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