THE MYSTERY OF THE “LOST BOOK
OF GOD”
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.—John 10: 16.
WHEREVER OR WHENEVER in the Old World the words of the Good Shepherd or his undershepherds were heard,
there was an urge to write them down that they might be preserved for the inspiration and salvation of coming generations.
From the time the Lord instructed Moses to write the Book of Genesis and the other books in the Pentateuch until He instructed John on Patmos to “Write the things which thou hast seen” (Revelation 1: 19), books and instructions about writing are mentioned no less than 175 times in the King James Version of the Scriptures, according to Young’s Analytical Concordance.
The urge of prophets, patriarchs, and holy men to write down the words of life that came when they heard the voice of the Good Shepherd is well illustrated in the Book of Job:
Oh that my words now were written! Oh that they were printed in a book! That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever! For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.—19:23-27.
In the Old World they wrote down the words when they heard the voice of the Good Shepherd. It is reasonable to assume they would do the same when the Shepherd of Israel visited his sheep in the New World, and they heard his voice.
SPANIARDS DESTROYED ENTIRE LIBRARIES OF ANCIENT DOCUMENTS
Because of the many similarities to Christianity which the Spanish priests found in the native religion, they thought that the Devil had attempted to build a counterfeit church here in America.
Father Duran at the end of his Historia Antiqua de la Nueva Espana (1585) wrote, “I verily believe that the evil spirit himself must have somehow supplied these poor people with a spurious edition of the Bible.” (Quoted from Jesus Christ Among the Ancient Americans, by Paul M. Hanson.)
The Catholic priests thought they could destroy this so-called spurious work of Satan by destroying the ancient writings.
Brinton says,
Immense masses of such documents were stored in the archives of ancient Mexico. Torquemada asserts that five cities alone yielded to the Spanish governor on one requisition no less than sixteen thousand volumes of scrolls. Every leaf was destroyed.’
Archaeologists and students of ancient America greatly regret this wanton destruction of such a priceless treasure. Without question, these vast libraries of Mexican documents would have cleared up many mysteries and questions which now baffle the academic and scientific students of prehistoric America.
There is one man who was acquainted with the contents of the libraries who has given us an inkling of what these ancient volumes contained. His name is Ixtlilxochitl. He was a grandson of the king of Tezcuco. Tezcuco, a small kingdom allied with the Aztecs, was situated on the west of Mexico City. Ixtlilxochitl wrote a history of prehistoric Mexico.
THE TEOAMOXTLI OR LOST BOOK OF GOD
From the works of Ixtlilxochitl, Bancroft gives us this story of the Teoamoxtli:
Returning now to the other version of Toltec history we learn that after the death of the first king of Tollan, his son Ixtlilcuechahuac mounted the throne. His reign, like that of his predecessor, was peaceful and prosperous; but the only event recorded was a meeting of all the sages under the direction of the aged Hueman which took place only a few years before the end of the second king’s term of office. At this assembly there were brought forward all the Toltec records reaching back to the earliest period of their existence, and from these documents, after a long conference and the most careful study, the Teoarnoxtli, or ‘book of God~’ was p’re pared. In its pages were inscribed the Nahua annals from the time of the deluge, or even from the creation; together with all their religious rites.2
TEOAMOXTLI AND THE NEPHITE RECORD COMPARED
Ixtlilxochitl’s account of the end of the prehistoric Toltecs is startling in its similarity to the story in the Nephite Record According to the Nephite Record, the golden age of peace and prosperity in ancient America lasted for about two hundred years after the visit of Christ, About the beginning of the third century after the appearance of Christ, a war broke out between the Nephites and the Lamanites.
Three hundred and five years later, when the empire had been long at peace, a revolt broke out (Native Races~ Volume 5, pages 210, 211) .
After several years of war, the Nephite Record records that a treaty was reached in which the Lamanites would not come again in battle against the Nephites for ten years.
From the account in Bancroft’s Native Races, we find a similar story.
Unable to resist this formidable army, the Toltec king was compelled to send ambassadors bearing rich presents to sue for peace. . . . . A truce. was concluded to the effect that the Toltecs should not be molested for ten years.—Volume 5, page 279.
After the expiration of the ten-year period of truce, the Nephite Record and Ixtlilxochitl tell a similar story in their accounts, the one of the end of the Nephites, and the other of the end of the Toltecs. The points of their similarity include:
A. Introduction of a new religion (Native Races, Volume 5, pages 280-282)
B. Women join men in battle (Ibid. page 283)
C. Cities sacked and burned as fast as conquered (Ibid. page
283)
D. War continues year after year for a long time (Ibid. page
284)
E. Immorality, bestiality, and iniquity reigned (Ibid. page 277) . Lamanites eat flesh and drink blood of Nephites (Nephite Record, pages 772, 773)
F. Numbers engaged in the war (Ibid. page 282)
The Nephite Record tells us that the Lamanites “were not numbered because of the greatness of their numbers.” In the last day of battle after years of conflict, 230,000 Nephites perished. From the Nephite Record account, there must have been millions of men engaged on each side during the long death struggle of the Nephites.
Bancroft says:
It is difficult to credit the statements of the old authors respecting the number of Chichimecs that espoused Xolotl’s cause. Ixtlilxochitl and Veytia state that no less than three million, two hundred and two thousand men, women, besides children rallied to his standard.3
It should be noted that the works of Ixtlilxochitl were not available in 1830, since the Spanish colonial manuscripts were not collected and translated and published to the English-speaking world by Bancroft until several decades after publication of the Nephite Record.
In the previous chapter, we found that ancestors of the Aztecs were not the only ones who were present in that great day when the Good Shepherd appeared; likewise we find that other tribes besides the Aztecs had a knowledge of the existence of a prehistoric sacred record.
THE POPUL VUH
The story of the Pcpul Vuh, like the story of the Teoarnoxtli, comes from the writings of a native author. The original Maya Quiche text was translated into Spanish in the early days of colonial history.
The manuscript, however, remained in . obscurity in Catholic archives in Guatemala until it was discovered by Doctor Scheizer in June, 1854, and translated and published in the English language. Like the Te’carncxtii of Ixtlilxochitl, the Pcpul Vub of the Maya Quiches could not have been known to in 1830.
Concerning the Popul Vuh (Book of God) Bancroft says:
I pass next to the tradition of the Quich6 nations as preserved in the Popul Vuh, . . . These traditions, the authenticity and general ac-curacy of which there is no reason to doubt . . . with apparent, although vague references here and there, to actual events in the primitive history of the people whose descendants were the Quich6s.4
Bancroft continues with an excerpt from the Popul Vuh:
The Popul Vuh, the national book, is no longer visible, in which it was clearly seen that we came from beyond the sea . . . It is the first book, written in olden times, but its view is hidden from him who sees and thinks.
Wonderful is its appearance, and the narrative of the time when he (the Creator) finished everything in heaven and on earth.5
Like Quetzalcoatl, Votan was the first historian of his people, and wrote a book on the origin of the race.6
THE TEMPLE OF HIEROGLYPHICS
At Copan, Honduras, there is a temple containing large tablets of hieroglyphics. The stairway which leads to the entrance of the temple is literally covered with hieroglyphics. At the base of the stairway stands an imposing figure of a man holding in his hand a king’s escutcheon. I had the good fortune to visit Copan, Honduras, in 1941, in company with a group of archaeologists from the United States. As we approached the entrance to the mysterious temple of the hieroglyphics with its prehistoric figure in stone standing guard, someone asked the leading Carnegie Institute archaeologist as to the identity of the imposing statue. His answer was, “Your guess is as good as mine.” Similar answers were given to other questions regarding the elegant ruins of this very ancient city. There is very much that science does not know about the ancient Americans. Archaeology has not yet scratched the surface. Much exploration is yet to be done.
There are, however, some conclusions that can be drawn about Copan as well as other archaeological sites. The people who built Copan were a religious people. The presence of temples and beautiful altars attests this fact. They had a system of writing as is attested by the abundance of hieroglyphics. If the Good Shepherd of Israel visited these people and they heard his voice, why would it not be possible that they would inscribe his words on temples and tablets of stone? If guessing is in order, why not venture the guess that the tablets of hieroglyphics (as yet undeciphered) in the temple of the hieroglyphics may contain words of Jesus Christ.
We have already noted that the name “Toltecs” is identified with Quetzalcoatl and the golden age of prehistoric America. We have also noted that the Toltecs were a pale skin people.
Dr. Eduard Seler says:
In the traditions of the Mexican and Central American races, there is mention of a civilized nation, said to have been in the country before all others, which was the originator of all arts and sciences. This was the Toltec nation. Among other things, the invention of the calendar is ascribed to this nation, and we are told that they carried their books with them on their migrations.7
If the Toltecs were of Hebrew origin and had brought the Hebrew Scriptures with them in their migration from the Old World to America, the evidence should be readily discernible in the creation legends of the Indians.
DID THE ANCESTORS OF THE INDIANS KNOW THE
STORY OF GENESIS?
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.—Genesis 1: 2.
From the Popul Vuh:
And the earth was without form, and void: and darkness was upon angle and alignment, and its boundaries fixed towards the four winds by the Creator and Former, and Mother and Father of life and existence—He by whom all move and breathe, the Father and Cherisher of the peace of nations and of the civilization of his people. . . .
Behold the first word and the first discourse. There was as yet no man, nor any animal, nor bird, nor fish, nor crawfish, nor any pit, nor ravine, nor green herb, nor any tree; nothing was but the firmament. The face of the earth had not yet appeared—only the peaceful sea and all the space of heaven. There was nothing yet joined together, nothing that clung to anything else; nothing that balanced itself, that made the least rustling that made a sound in the heaven. There was nothing that stood up; nothing but the quiet water, but the sea, calm and alone in its boundaries: nothing existed; nothing but immobility and silence, in the darkness, in the night. . . . And on the instant it was formed; like a cloud or a fog was its beginning.8
MIXTEC CREATION LEGEND
“In the year and in the day of obscurity and darkness, yea, even before the days or years were, when the world was in a great darkness and chaos . . .“~
According to Genesis, creation involved a period of seven days and was accomplished by the word of God’s power.
The Aztec book, The Anales de Quauhtitlan, states that the world and all therein was created in seven days. “In the sign Tochtli the earth was created, the firmament was erected in Acatl, animals came into being in Tecpatl, and man was made out of dust or ashes on Ehecati, the seventh day.”10
CREATION LEGENDS OF PERU
All things emanated from Pachacamac, the all-pervading spirit, the maker and molder of matter. Pachacamac it was who breathed the breath of life into man.
“By means of his word . . . the creator, a spirit, powerful and opulent, made all things.” The formula of his words in Peruvian prayers: “Let the earth and heaven be,” “Let there be night,” “Let the light shine.”1’
AZTEC LEGENDS
Lewis Spence says that Tezcatlipoca deceived the first woman who committed sin. Ixnextli is the name of an Eve who sinned by plucking forbidden roses and was cast out of a paradise with her husband.’2
Consideration of the scriptural analogies contained in the legends of all the Indian tribes of the New World would be a very large undertaking. We therefore conclude the subject with a statement from the well-known English nobleman, Lord Kingsborough:
It is impossible when reading what Mexican mythology records of the war in heaven and the fall of Zontemonque and other rebellious spirits; of the creation of light by the word of Tonacatecotle; and of the division of the waters, of the sin of Xztiacoliuhqui, and his blindness and nakedness; of the temptation of Suchiquecal and her disobedience in gathering roses from a tree and the consequent misery and disgrace of herself and all her posterity not to recognize scriptural analogies. But the Mexican tradition of the deluge is that which bears the most unequivocal marks of having been derived from a Hebrew source.13
Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the entire question of whether Jesus Christ visited the ancient Americans in person and they heard his voice lies in the fact that the Aztecs, Mayas, and Incas pictured their~ god as a white man with a full beard and a Hebrew caste face so unlike the physiognomy of the native Americans. ‘The Aztecs, Mayas, and Incas have no beards and appear incapable of raising one.
When Christianity was carried to China, their artists (unless trained otherwise) pictured the Savior as a Chinaman. The same is true of the artists of India and Africa where the . Savior has been pictured as a Hindu or a black man. But in
Mexico the most beloved of their gods was Quetzalcoatl, white and bearded.
In the face of these facts how can anyone conceive of the Mayas, Aztecs, and Incas depicting their god as a white man with Hebrew caste face and a beard unless they had seen him in person and heard his voice?
7. Dr. Eduard Seler, Signiflcsa’ice of ihe Maya Calendar in Historic Chronology, Bulletin 23, Bureau of American Ethnology. (Quoted from Jesus Christ Among the Ancient Americans, by Paul M. Hanson.)
8. Bancroft, Native Races, Volume 3, pages 44, 45.
9, Bancroft, Native Races, Volume 3, page 70.
10. Lewis Spence, The Gods of Mexico, page 46.
11. I.ewis spence, The Myths of Mexico and Peru, page 305.
12. I.ewis Spence, The Gods ol Mexico, pages 103 if., 190.
15. Lord Kingsborough, Mexican Antiquities, Volume 4, page 401.
1. Brinton, Myths of the New World, page 13.
2. Bancroft, Native Races~ Volume 5, pages 250, 251.
3. Bancroft, Native Races, Volume 5, page 292.
4. Bancroft, Native Races, Volume 5, page 170.
5, Bancroft, Native Races, Volume 5, page 171.
6. Bancroft, Native Races, Volume 3, page 451.
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