Support for the Radio West podcast comes from Harmon's Grocery, committed to excellent service and friendly smiles.

Your food is our passion.

The historian John Turner says one of the characteristics of Joseph Smith, outside of being creative and charismatic and flamboyant, was his audacity.

In his new biography, Turner says Smith had a thirst for excitement. He reveled in risk. In other words, Joseph Smith was gutsy. He was willing to gamble or go all in. And Turner says,

the golden plates is the perfect example. Smith said these plates existed. In fact, he staked

his reputation on it, and he managed to convince a lot of people that they were real.

Joseph's story of the plates begins with an encounter with an angel of the Lord at night at his bedside.

He is told by this visitor, whom he later identifies as Maroni, that plates of gold are buried near his house.

And they contain a history of the aborigines of this country, who are the literal descendants of Abraham, and they contain the

fullness of the everlasting gospel.

And Joseph recounts that he follows Moronai's instructions.

He knows where to go.

And it's on the west side of a hill, a couple of miles south of the Smith Farm.

When he gets there, he finds a half-buried stone box.

He uses a lever to pry the top off, and inside he sees plates resting on pillars holding them up.

Curiously, Joseph, in his earliest history, relates that he made several attempts to take

the plates, grab hold of them, but couldn't.

And the angel appears to him and tells him that he's not ready,

that at this point he wants the plates to get rich.

There are stories about the plates vanishing and then reappearing, Joseph being hurled back from the plates by some sort of spiritual power.

It seems that after this first encounter, Joseph goes home empty-handed, but he's not discouraged.

He's got at least the germ of what becomes perhaps the most important chapter in his life.

...