THE GOD OF ANCIENT AMERICA

THE GOD OF ANCIENT AMERICA


IN JOHN 10: 16, Jesus gives expression to one of the most significant statements to be found in the Scriptures: “And
other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.”
It is recorded in the fifteenth chapter of Matthew that a woman of Canaanite descent followed Jesus and cried to him in behalf of her child. It was only after persistent and con­tinued effort that Jesus was persuaded to minister to her child. Jesus explained his slowness to respond to the Gentile woman’s cries with this terse but very significant statement: ‘1 am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15: 23, 24). A candid, open-minded, truth-seeking approach to the meaning of John 10: 16 leaves no alternative but to look somewhere (Africa, Australia, Siberia, America, or elsewhere) other than Jerusalem for evidence that the Good Shepherd had another flock of sheep (House of Israel) whom he visited and who heard his voice.
A survey of the history, legends, and archaeology of various nations quickly reveals that one does not have to be a detective to recognize that in Quetzalcoatl of the Aztecs we have a clue of the first order.

COURTS AND TEMPLE OF QUETZALCOATL AT TIKOTIHUACAN

About thirty~five miles northeast of Mexico City lie the famous pyramids of Teotihuacan. In prehistoric times, Teotihua­can was a great city that filled a large area in the valley. The dwelling places of the people have long since disappeared, but broken pieces of pottery and other evidences of ancient occu­pation are numerous. According to Robert Marett, the great government and religious structures of the city occupy an area
four miles long by two miles wide.1 Among the most impos­ing structures are the huge Pyramid of the Sun (twelve acres) and the awe-inspiring courts and temple of Quetzalcoatl. Paul found on Mars’ Hill an altar dedicated to an unknown god. In contrast, we find at Teotihuacan a temple dedicated to a mysterious prehistoric personage (Quetzalcoatl) which with its impressive courts and priest’s quarters occupies many acres.

THE DIEGO RIVERA MURALS OF QUETZALCOATL

Diego Rivera, a full-blooded Indian artist of outstanding ability, has recently completed a history of Mexico. This history is painted in murals on the expansive inner walls of the presidential palace in Mexico City. The history starts with the depiction of the presence in ancient Mexico of the white god, Quetzalcoatl. He is shown seated on a throne surrounded by a worshiping throng of brown-skinned Aztecs. In another scene he is shown seated on a white cloud ready to depart over the sea toward the rising sun from whence legend says he came. Before his departure he is said to have promised to re­turn. In both scenes he is depicted holding in his right hand a scepter strongly resembling a shepherd’s crook. United States historians also recognize Quetzalcoatl. In an eminent text­book, Epic of Ame~rica, which is used in colleges and univer­sities in the United States, James Truslow Adams introduces the student to the history of the United States with the story of Quetzalcoatl.

WHAT THE LEGENDS SAY ABOUT QUETZALCOATL

Mr. Lewis Spence, well-known English anthropologist, in a comparatively recent book (1923) sums up the Aztec legends of Quetzalcoatl from several trustworthy Mexican codices: “A god of the name of Citallatonac . . . . . sent an ambassador from heaven on an embassy to a virgin of TULAN called CHIMAL­MAN . . . . to whom the ambassador announced that it was the will of this god that she should conceive a son . . . she con­ceived a son without connexion with man, who they call QUETZALCOATLE.
“They say that it was he [QUETZALCOATLE] who effected the reformation of the world by penance, since as, according to his account, his father had created the world and men had given themselves up to vice, on which account it had been fre­quently destroyed, CITINATIONALI sent his son into the world to reform it.”—Ibid., page 131.
“He alone had a human body like that of men; the other gods were of an incorporeal nature.”—Ibid., page 128.
“Quetzalcoatl was a white man . . . with long black hair and a beard heavy and round.”—Ibid., page 120.
“He instituted fasting and mortification, and never married.”
—Ibid., page 127.
“He forbade all war and disturbance.”—Ibid., page 127.
“The arts had their inception with Quetzalcoatl.”—Ibid., page 123.
“As they considered him their advocate, they celebrated a solemn festival and fasted during four signs.”—Ibid., page 132.
“They adored him as a god, . . . for they believed it certain that he had ascended into heaven.”—Ibid, page 131.
“He desired of them at the time of his departure to restrain their grief and to expect his return, which would take place at the appointed time.”—I bid., page 130.
“When he died he was not visible for four days, during which period he tarried in the underworld.”—lbid., page 132.

“He had priests who were called QUEQUETZALCOHUA, that is to say, ‘priests of the order of Quetzalcoatl.’ “—Bancroft, Native Races, Volume 3, page 259.
Paul found an altar on Mars’ Hill dedicated to an unknown god. In Mexico we find the largest pyramid in the world dedicated to Quetzalcoatl as the “Author of Light.”
Gregory Mason comments on the size of the pyramid of Cholula in Mexico:
The greatest Toltec pyramid is the one at Cholula. . . It is inferior to the more famous work of the Egyptians in height, although its sum­mit was more than two hundred feet above the surrounding level... . But the base of this Cholula pyramid averages more than one thousand feet on a side, and the structure has three times the volume of the pyramid of Cheops.3

QUETZALCOATL PROMISED TO RETURN

Such was the impression left on the native mind by this mysterious person (Quetzalcoatl) that notwithstanding the centuries had rolled away since his appearance; the Aztecs thought he had reappeared when Cortez and his followers landed on their coast.
Brinton says: “Therefore when they first beheld the fair complexioned Spaniards, they rushed into the water to embrace the prows of their vessels, and dispatched messengers through­out the land to proclaim the return of Quetzalcoat1” (Brinton, Myths of she New Word, page 203).

QUETZALCOATL OR JESUS CHRIST IN THE NEW WORLD

The impact of the personality of Jesus Christ on the course of history in the Old World has been tremendous and incal­culable. When we pick up the evening paper or write a letter or look at the calendar, we are confronted with the evidence of the impression of the personality of the “Good Shepherd.” Every time we write the date or look at the date, we honor the Savior from whose birth time is measured.
One biographer has said,
I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that were ever built, and all the parlia­ments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as has that One Solitary Life..—Author Unknown; c1uoted in Reader’s Digest, January 1954, page 36.

The impression of the personality of Quetzalcoatl on the legends and temples and minds of the Aztecs is of such propor­-tions that the identity of this white god born of a virgin in the distant East cannot be reasonably interpreted as being other than the Good Shepherd of Israel.
Manly Palmer Hall in his book, Twelve World Teachers, published in 1937 by the Philosophical Research Society of Los Angeles, includes Quetzalcoatl along with Confucius, Mo­hammed, Jesus Christ, et al, in his work on “the twelve” great teachers of history.
The evidence that Quetzalcoatl was Jesus Christ is not com­plete until we add to the impact of his personality on prehis­toric America the traditions which link and weld the history of Quetzalcoatl with the story of the Good Shepherd.
Briefly, and in addition to the excerpts quoted by Mr. Spence, we present further milestones in the life of Quetzalcoatl:
A. QuetzalcOatl’5 birth was accompanied by the appearance of a new star and mysterious omens and wonders in the heavens.
B. Tradition is silent as to his childhood years.
C. Manly P. Hall says, “We read of the temptation of Quet­zalcoatl, how during his penance the spirits of evil came to him and tried to divert him from his course. In another place is the account of his fasting for forty days which later became a definite part of the Mexican ritual.”4
D. Quetzalcoatl had power of bidding the winds to be hushed; hence he is called “God of the Wind.”
P. Quetzalcoatl destroys the death god (victory over death).
F. One of his many appellations in the ancient language signi­fies a vine or juice thereof.5
G. The morning star was his symbol.
I-I. Spence says, that Quetzalcoatl died and was invisible for four days, after which he was resurrected and ascended his throne.6
I. Between his death and resurrection, Quetzalcoatl tarried in the underworld.

AUTHENTICITY OF AZTEC TRADITIONS

Mr. Paul Radin, anthropologist of the University of Cali­fornia who has made a special study of the reliability of Aztec traditions, says, “Many oral myths give us such details which not only look historical but have so often been subsequently proved to be correct that there is a certain presumption of their being correct whenever we find them.”7
Quetzalcoatl, the God of the Aztecs, was not himself an Aztec. The Aztecs were preceded in Mexico by the Toltecs.
Nadaillac says that the Toltec era “is enshrined in the memory of the Nahuas as their golden age.”8
Brinton says, “In Mexican legends the early Toltecs were of fair complexion.”9
As we travel farther south in Mexico we come to the state of Oaxaca. Eighty per cent of its inhabitants are Indian, mostly Zapotecs. Nine miles above its capital city by mountain road are found the ancient mountaintop ruins of Monte Alban. Its ruins are estimated to spread over an area of 24 square miles. Again and again the archaeologists have found the picture of a bearded god carved on the stones of the principal buildings. One of the finest of these stone portraits shows the figure in an attitude of prayer.
Only a stone’s throw away from the figure of a bearded god in prayer is a large tomb in the form of a cross. Two other large cruciform tombs constructed of fine-cut stones and adorned with mosaics and inscriptions are to be found at Mitla and El Garron also in the state of Oaxaca. In August of 1953 my son Ward and I visited the mountaintop tomb of El Garron. We measured one of the largest stones in the cruciform and found it to be roughly twelve feet long, three feet wide, and four feet high.
South of the state of Oaxaca is the frontier state of Chiapas. Chiapas borders on Guatemala. Vast areas of its southern reaches are unexplored and still occupied by the wild, uncivil­ized Lancadone Indians, many of whom wear animal skins
and hunt with bows and arrows. For twenty-eight miles along the eastern base of the mountains of Chiapas lie the ruins of the Mayan city of Palenque. Here explorers and archaeologists were amazed to find a temple containing a large tablet, in the center of which was a cross. This famous temple is now known as the “Temple of the Cross.”

On the Isthmus of Yucatan many ancient Mayan cities have been found. Perhaps the greatest of these is Chichen Itza. As at Monte Alban so at Chichen Itza we find portraits in stone of a bearded white god. Explorers and writers have referred to this figure as a “Jewish caste face.” The Mayans call their god Kulculcan. They tell the same kind of story about him that the Aztecs tell about Quetzalcoatl. He was a white man born of a virgin and came from the distant East beyond the sea. When he departed from them he promised to return.

And it came to pass that he stretched forth his hand, and spake unto the people, saying, Behold I am Jesus Christ, of whom the prophets testified should come into the world.—III Nephi 5: 9-11.

In the great assembly at the temple where Quetzalcoatl or Jesus Christ made his appearance, there were present not only the ancestors of the Aztecs but also the ancestors of the Mayas and other Indian tribes. After his first appearance, he announced that he would return and meet the people again on the morrow. His appearances were continued over a protracted length of time. The startling news that Jesus Christ the Shep­herd of Israel was making appearances at “the temple in the land Bountiful” spread like wildfire. It is indicated in the Book of Mormon that great numbers of people traveled all night as well as by day to reach the temple in the Land Boun­tiful (III Nephi 9: 3).
It is also recorded (IV Nephi 1: 3) that within two years of his visit, the entire population of ancient America was con­verted to Jesus Christ. This means that not only were ancestors of the Aztecs converted to Jesus Christ, but ancestors of every tribe had been gathered into the fold of the Good Shepherd. Consideration of Quetzalcoatl’s counterpart among all the tribes of the New World would require a volume or series of volumes. It is within the scope of this presentation to offer only a few brief references.

NUMEROUS TRIBES WORSHIP WHITE GOD DRESSED IN
LONG WHITE ROBE

Both the Book of Mormon and Aztec traditions tell us that Jesus Christ or Quetzalcoatl appeared in ancient America dressed in a long white robe.
Bancroft says,
Although bearing various names and appearing in different coun­tries, the American culture heroes—all present the same general char­acteristics. They are all described as white, bearded men, generally clad in long robes; appearing suddenly and mysteriously upon the scene of their labors, they at once set about improving the people by instructing them in useful and ornamental arts, giving them laws, ex­horting them to practice brotherly love and other Christian virtues, and introducing a milder and better form of religion; having accom­plished their mission, they disappear as mysteriously and unexpect­edly as they came.10

THE TEMPLE OF THE DESCENDING GOD

The story of a blond bearded god descending out of the sky to visit the ancient Americans is not only told in legend, picto­graph and ceramics, but in recent findings carved on temples in the remote fastnesses of Quintana Roo. In August, 1953, through the kindness of the Mexican air force, I was able to land with an air force pilot in a light plane in a small clearing near the fabled ruins of Tuluum overlooking the picturesque Caribbean Sea. In the ancient ruins of Tuluum is a temple called by archaeologists, “The Temple of the Descending God.” Over the entrance to the temple there is clearly carved on the facade a personage descending. His feet are upward and his arms and legs extended downward.

BORN OF A VIRGIN

Mr. Brinton says,
Many of the great gods of the race, Quetzalcoatl, Viracocha, and loskeha, were at times said to have been born of a virgin. Even among the Indians of Paraguay the early missionaries were startled to find this tradition of the maiden mother of the god. . .
Quiche legends of earliest men say they were white children, white sons, leading a white life beyond the dawn. Creation itself is attrib­uted to the dawn, the white one, the white sacrificer of blood.11

If it is true as the evidence seems to strongly indicate that Jesus Christ visited ancient America in person, then we should expect to find not only the evidence of his person but also the evidence of his teachings.

CHRISTIAN DOCTRINES IN PREHISTORIC AMERICA

Mr. P. De Roo says, “The first missionaries of the fifteenth century were greatly astonished to find them [Peruvians] in possession of several tenets of Christian doctrines and practic­ing a number of Christian rites.”12

Mr. Brinton says,

These reformers [ Quetzalcoatl, Votan, Virachocha, etc.] were credited with an ethical elevation in their teachings which need not blush before the loftiest precepts of the Old ‘World moralists. Ac­cording to the earliest and most trustworthy accounts, the doctrines of Tonapa were filled with the loving kindness and the deep sense of duty which characterize the present Christianity. Nothing was want­ing in them, says a historian, save the name of God and his . Son, Jesus Christ.13

William Prescott says, “They [Spanish missionaries] could not suppress their wonder, as they beheld the Cross, the sacred emblem of their own faith, raised as an object of worship in the temples of Anahuac, . . . Their surprise was heightened, when they witnessed a religious rite which reminded them of the Christian communion. On these occasions, an image of the tutelary deity of the Aztecs was made of the flour of maize, mixed with blood, and after consecration by the priests, was distributed among the people, who, as they ate it, ‘showed signs of humiliation and sorrow, declaring it was the flesh of the deity.’ “14

THE HAND DESIGN OF ANCIENT AMERICA

In his ministry at Jerusalem, Jesus healed the sick, the blind, and the lame by touching them with his hands.

Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray. And the disciples rebuked them, saying, There is no need, for Jesus hath said, Such shall be saved. But Jesus said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven. And he laid his hands on them, and departed thence.—Matthew 19: 13-15, KJV.

And they [his disciples] shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.—Mark 16: 18.
Now, when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases, brought them unto him: and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them.—Luke 4: 40.

If the Good Shepherd brought blessings to his flock in the Old World by placing his hands upon them, why should it not be reasonable that he should pursue the same course in bring­ing blessings to his flock in the New World? .
The open human hand has been found extensively among the ruins of prehistoric America. At Copan, Honduras, there is a large beautiful specimen of the open hand sculptured out of stone. Channing Arnold says that the human hand is found extensively on ruins at Chichen Itza, island of Cozumel, and other Maya ruins.15
Mr. Bancroft says, “Another form in which we may recog­nize Zamna is the image of Itzamat UI, or the ‘dew of heaven’ who is said to have been a great ruler, the son of god, and who cured diseases, raised the dead and pronounced oracles.”
Mr. Bancroft also says, “This class of devotees generally resorted to the temple where he [Zamna] was represented in the form of a hand, Kab Ul, or working hand, whose touch was sufficient to restore health.”’6
Henry Clyde Shetrose, director and archaeologist of Ohio State Archaeological Association, says that the human hand is found in the Hopewell Mounds and is related to the hand design of middle America.’7

Is GOD A RESPECTER OF PERSONS?

The golden text of all Christendom says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoso­ever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Did God give his Son to the Old World only? It is esti­mated that at the time of Christ the civilizations of ancient America were in full bloom with a culture as great and in some respects superior to the civilizations of Rome, Greece, Babylon, and Egypt. Estimates of the population in Mexico, Central America, and the Andean region at the time of Christ run as high as three hundred million people. Did God respect the Old World above the New World that they should enjoy the priceless benefits of Christ’s personal ministry while great civilized nations in America should be left to go it alone with­out a personal visitation and ministry of God’s Son?

Is THERE A FIFTH GOSPEL?

Jesus said, “Other sheep I have, which are not of -this fold:
. . . and they shall hear my voice” (John 10: 16).
Were these sheep in America? The last verse of the Four Gospels in the New Testament says, “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.” -
It is perhaps good to close this chapter with an answer to the questions from the legends of the Chibchas Indians of Colom­bia, South America.

BOCHICA, ENVOY OF THE OMNIPOTENT

Kathleen Romoli, noted authority on the cultures of South America, sums up the Chibcha story of the coming of the white god to America.
Bochica must have really existed. He came to Cundinamarca from the east, from the direction of the Orinoco, and when his mission was over he returned, alone as when he came. . . . He leant upon a shep­herd’s crook and his long white beard fell to his waist. (This beard is one of the most curious features of the Bochica legend. It is extremely bard to imagine whiskers of which you have never heard, and the Chibchas were beardless.) The Messenger of God was dressed in long robes, and a mantle covered his shoulders; his skin was fair, and on his forehead was the sign of the cross. He went up and down the land, teaching, and wherever he stopped the people crowded to hear him. He preached of the resurrection of the body and of the Last Judgment, of the afterlife and the immortality of the soul, and of the beneficent power of God; he enjoined his followers to practice good works and charity, . . . The children of Bach6e said that Bochica lived with them fourteen centuries before the Conquistadores—whose coming he foretold; . . . . the Spaniards believed he was St. Bartholomew.18


The last statement in this legend of Bochica is remarkable. Fourteen centuries before the arrival of the Spaniards in the New World puts us back to the very time when Jesus said, “Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: . . . and they shall hear my voice.”

(All italicizing is by the author for emphasis.)


1. Robert Marett, A,-chaeological Tours from Mexico City, page 27.
2. Lewis Spence, The Gods of Mexico, page 129.
3. Gregory Mason, Columbus Came Late, page 236.
4, 5. Manly P. Hall, Twelve World Teachers, page 230.
6. Lewis Spence, The Gods ol Mexico and Peru, page 132.
7. Paul Radin, The Sou,-ces and Authenticity of the History ol the Ancient Mexicans, page 137.
8. Nadaillac, Prehistoric Anze,-ica, page 275.
9. Brinton, Myths ol the New World, page 195.
10. Bancroft, Native Races, Volume 5, page 23.
11. Brinton, Myths ol the New World, pages 161, 209.
12. P. De Roo, Histo,-y ol America Belore Columbus, Volume 2, page 111.
13. Brinton, Myths ol the New Wo,-ld, page 337.
14. Willi~.m Prescott, Conquest ol Mexico, Volume 3, pages 321, 322.
15. Channing Arnold, American Egypt, page 266.
16. Bancroft, Native Races, Volume 3, pages 465, 464
17. Henry Clyde Shetrose, The-Mound Builders, pages 117, 118.
18. Kathleen Romoli, Colombia: Gateway to South Ame,-ica, pages 62, 63 (1941) .