Whitmer was baptized in June 1829, nearly a year prior to the formal organization of the Church of Christ. During that same month, Whitmer said that he, along with Smith and Cowdery, saw an angel present the golden plates in a vision.

Why was David Whitmer excommunicated from the LDS Church?

God did not tell Whitmer to repudiate Mormonism

He then goes on to outline in detail his disagreements with the church and with Joseph Smith, Jr. It was because of these disagreements that Whitmer was ultimately excommunicated. When God told him to leave Far West, he had not been a member of the Church for weeks.

Did John Whitmer leave the LDS Church?

John Whitmer never returned to the church. He lived the last 40 years of his life in Missouri, remaining faithful — despite persecution, disaffection and decades of isolation from the Saints — to his claim that he had seen and handled the plates of the Book of Mormon.