A couple of points put forth on a forum:
1. Why did God show Adam the tree in the first place, and subsequently forbid him from approaching it?
Adam, before the incident was innocent like a child. If you tell a child to not go to a specific toy, what do you think the child will do? Automatically, curiosity will impel the child to touch it. Such is our nature.
Doesn't it mean that God inadvertently led Adam to sin?
2. If Adam had not eaten the apple from the tree, how else would you have existed? How else would this earth have come to be?
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I answered with:
If Adam had not transgressed, he would not have fallen; but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created, must have remained in the same state which they were, after they were created; and they must have remained for ever, and had no end.
And they would have had no children; wherefore, they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin.
But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things. Adam fell, that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy. And the Messiah cometh in the fullness of time, that he may redeem the children of men from the fall.
And because that they are redeemed from the fall, they have become free for ever, knowing good from evil;
To act for themselves, and not to be acted upon, save it be by the punishment of the Lord, at the great and last day, according to the commandments which God hath given.
Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man.
And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great mediation of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil:
For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things.
If not so, righteousness could not be brought to pass; neither wickedness; neither holiness nor misery; neither good nor bad.
Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one;
Wherefore, if it should be one body, it must needs remain as dead, having no life, neither death nor corruption, nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility.
Wherefore, it must needs have been created for a thing of nought;
Wherefore, there would have been no purpose in the end of its creation.
Wherefore, this thing must needs destroy the wisdom of God, and his eternal purposes; and also, the power, and the mercy, and the justice of God.
And if ye shall say there is no law, ye shall also say there is no sin.
And if ye shall say there is no sin, ye shall also say there is no righteousness.
And if there be no righteousness, there be no happiness.
And if there be no righteousness nor happiness, there be no punishment nor misery.
And if these things are not, there is no God.
And if there is no God, we are not, neither the earth, for there could have been no creation of things, neither to act nor to be acted upon; wherefore, all things must have vanished away.
From the book everyone loves to hate!
Monday, March 25, 2013
Sunday, March 24, 2013
GOD in the Flesh
A FINAL CALL
Dick Bauman,
Let me clarify who God is. The Power of God (His Spirit) is throughout the universe, which He framed and holds in place, and if it were contracted, the universe would implode. When God ‘pulls’ together some of His Spirit (Power) into a form, it is called the Father, and the Father is not limited by time or space, He is thus Omnipresent, and can be anywhere/everywhere all at once! When the Father projects himself into a spot in time; i.e., occupies time and space, such as the dimension we live in; and assumes a physical image patterned after the spiritual form, He is called the Son, or flesh, of God. That’s why the Son is in the image of the Father, but He is simply an extension of the Father.
Thus the Father is AN EXTENTION of the Power, and the Son is AN EXTENSION of the Father! He is in fact ONE GOD!, NOT three separate beings!! This is why Jesus Christ can say He is in the Father, and the Father is in Him, and the Father and He are One!
Christ, of course, could not be killed UNLESS HE GAVE UP PART OF HIS ETERNAL QUALITY. So, in order for the Jews to have him killed, so He could show the world how far he would go to redeem all who would accept Him, He had to set aside some of his power. He said (as an old friend found in an old Bible) “My Power, My Power, why hast thou forsaken me!” Modern Bibles say, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me!”
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28 And now Abinadi said unto them, I would that ye should understand that God himself shall come down among the children of men, and shall redeem his people;
29 And because he dwelleth in flesh, he shall be called the Son of God:
30 And having subjected the flesh to the will of the Father, being the Father and the Son; the Father because he was conceived by the power of God: and the Son, because of the flesh; thus becoming the Father and Son:
31 And they are one God, yea, the very eternal Father of heaven and of earth;
32 And thus the flesh becoming subject to the Spirit, or the Son to the Father, being one God, suffereth temptation, and yieldeth not to the temptation, but suffereth himself to be mocked, and scourged, and cast out, and disowned by his people.
A FINAL CALL
A FINAL CALL
Dick Bauman, servant of Christ, March, 2009
Part 5
Many ministers will rail against the ‘author’ of the Book of Mormon, and claim the book is the work of the Devil, BUT EITHER THEY HAVEN’T READ IT, OR DIDN’T STUDY IT AND ASK GOD IF IT’S TRUE!
Now I say ‘fortunately’, because Joseph Smith did, in fact, do MANY things contrary to what the Book Of Mormon actually says. The few who are willing to read this book with the eye of faith, will be astounded with the truth and relevance there is for us today.
As a Baptist minister said after he actually read the book (because he had set out to disprove it), “It is filled with the blood of Jesus.”
Indeed it is, and as it says in 2 Nephi, “And now behold, my beloved brethren, this is the way; and there is none other way (but to follow the words of Christ) nor name (Christ) given under heaven, whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God.”
Though many have tried laboriously to discredit the Book, the best they can do is to discredit the man; hopefully by killing the messenger, the message will be stopped! I studied the Book for years, and the history surrounding it. I know more ‘dirt’ about Joseph Smith and the church he founded, than probably any other person on the face of the earth, BUT I CAN’T DENY THE FULLFILLMENT OF THE MANY PROPHECIES, AND THE ENORMOUS TRUTH BETWEEN ITS COVERS! Nor can I deny the gift of tongues, and the power of the Holy Ghost I received, AFTER I read and accepted the truth and divinity of that book!
Its message is that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, and that he invites all races, men and women, young and old, black or white, rich or poor to partake of Eternal Life. It obviously isn’t anti-Christ, is it?
It declares the plan of salvation, with the Plan of Mercy and the Plan of Justice, with an undeniable simplicity and clarity.
It declares that you must believe in the Bible, and if you believe what the Bible says you will believe this Book from the Native Americans, also.
When the manuscript was written in 1829,
1. It prophesied that the Native People would be relocated and forts built among them. The U.S. Congress passed the Relocation Act in 1830 (the following year!). So that prophecy was fulfilled, wasn’t it?
2. It prophesied the Native People would be scattered, smitten, and brought down almost to nothing, and would be sustained by the Gentiles. That happened, didn’t it?
3. It prophesied that the Gentiles would take over the inheritance of this land. That happened, didn’t it?
4. It prophesied this nation would become the most powerful nation on the face of the earth. That happened, didn’t it?
5. It prophesied that it would have the most pride of any nation. That happened, didn’t it?
6. It prophesied that an organization that believed in Cain would be the downfall of this nation. It describes the earmarks of that organization: handshakes, blood oaths, the ceremonial loin cloth, and the profession of Cain. THAT ORGANIZATION IS FREEMASONRY! I have copies of their materials, and every mason is obligated to employ the principles of Cain. And as one mason told me, “Don’t you know it’s alright to FLEECE the sheep!” Isn’t that contrary to what Christ told Peter THREE times, “FEED my sheep!” So, you see that Freemasonry is contrary to the way of Christ!
Albert Pike, 33 degree, who wrote “Morals and Dogma” for the Masons, stated to a world-wide conference of top Masons some years ago that Lucifer was their God!
The Baptists and most other churches that condemn the Book of Mormon are loaded with Freemasons – so is CONGRESS AND THE LEGAL AND JUDICIAL SYSTEM! These churches should be thankful for the clarity of the Book of Mormon in exposing the secret societies, for it says, concerning the organizations set up by Cain---
“For the Lord worketh not in secret combinations, neither doth he will that man should shed blood, but in all things hath forbidden it, from the beginning of man.
“Wherefore the Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things come upon you, that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation,because of this secret combination which shall be among you, or wo
be unto it, ---
“For it cometh to pass that whoso buildeth it up, seeketh to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries;
“And it bringeth to pass the destruction of all people, for it is built up by the devil,”--.
Now here is the real kicker, the Mormon Church RELIGION IS BASED ON FREEMASONRY:
A. building of physical temples (Christ says He is the temple, and our bodies are supposed to be temples, too!),
B. two priesthoods named after men – Aaronic and Melchisidec (Book of Mormon says ONE order of ministry: Holy Order of Christ),
C. A Prophet, and other offices,
D. 3 Glories (the Mormons have added the third one, ‘telestial’, which word does not exist in the dictionary!),
E. blind obedience to next degree above, things done in secret (Christ says He did nothing in secret),
F. inequality of women (they have to be tied to a man to have the best eternal life, although the Book of Mormon says all are equal!) and many other things. (the doctrine of polygamy is directly tied to “eternal marriage” in the Mormon church.)
When the Prophet Brigham Young moved a large group of people west, the first thing they did was to apply for 3 new Masonic Lodges! And it is in their history that when Brigham saw the Salt Lake valley he exclaimed, “This is the place!” However, Christ warned against this in Matt. 24:24-26:
“For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.”
Jeremiah 17:5-6 also curses the man who would follow a man to a “salt land and not inhabited.”
I explained what happened to the Mormon church, and its splinter groups in a series of video/DVD tapes, “To All Book of Mormon Believers: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE CHURCH?” (See allbookofmormonbelievers.org)
Continuing on with Book of Mormon prophecies.
7. It prophesied that because of the things kept back by the Great Whore, the Gentiles would stumble and establish many churches. In 2000 A.D., there were 285 churches registered with the U.S. Government. That was true, also, wasn’t it?
8. It prophesied that some churches would say little children had to be baptized. That was/is true, also, isn’t it? (Book of Mormon is adamantly against that) Christ picked them up into his arms and blessed them, didn’t He? He did not baptize them! And, He also said, “of such is the kingdom of heaven.”
9. It prophesied the leaders of the Gentile churches had to be paid for their ministry. That’s true, isn’t it?
10. It prophesied that the leaders would say God no longer does miracles for us, and He has left it up to us. That is true, isn’t it? And yet, God is unchangeable, at least that’s what the Bible says. And I, for one, believe what it says, and I know that He does perform miracles.
11. It also says that polygamy is an abomination to God, and men are commanded to have ONLY one wife! (what’s interesting about that is the Bible doesn’t even say that!) And some of the Mormon church members still believe in polygamy, and still practice it. Also, for the record, the doctrine of polygamy was one of the last ‘revelations’ that came through Joseph Smith. He renounced it just before he died, calling it “An accursed doctrine.” When he first came up with it, he told his wife Emma that it was from God, and if she didn’t accept it that God would destroy her. He died about a year later, but she lived many years after.
Unfortunately, the works of Joseph Smith, Jr., and the Mormon church have done more to discredit the Book of Mormon than any outside group!
THE BOOK OF MORMON ALSO HAS PROPHESIED THAT A CONSPIRACY BY A SECRET ORGANIZATION(S) WOULD DESTROY AMERICA, AND IT IS HAPPENING!
12. It prophesied that when this nation is ripe, there will be economic collapse, war & destruction, and the burning of all who will not accept Jesus Christ and His way of life. The question is: is this nation ripe? Christ, in the Bible, talks of the ‘fullness of the Gentiles’. The Book of Mormon clarifies the fullness as when the Gentiles have received the fullness of the truth and have performed the fullness of iniquity.
As you study the Book of Mormon you will realize that indeed it contains the ‘fullness’ of the truth of the gospel. And what about the fullness of iniquity?
A. In what category would you put millions of babies killed by
abortion – the cup of iniquity?
B. In what category would you put the law against prayer in schools – in the cup of iniquity?
C. In what category would you put pornography, - or birth control devices in public school, or condoning illegitimacy – in the cup of iniquity?
D. And we can also add that those who wrote the U.S. Constitution said congressmen SHOULD NOT BE PAID!- hasn’t this brought iniquity to the top of our government?
E. In what category should we put starting wars in various places in the world FOR THE SAKE OF BIG OIL? (admitted by John McCain during his election campaign!)– thus killing thousands of innocent people, including our own fine young women and men: leaving behind children without a parent, who will never have one of their parents attend a school function, or see them married –DOESN’T THAT HEAP UP THE CUP OF INIQUITY?
Now, are you able to set aside prejudice and read the Book of Mormon with an open mind to see the truth and the finale? You will see WHY churches are against it: it condemns the false practices of Protestantism, Catholicism, AND Mormonism, and secret societies. You will understand in detail the Great Separation, and how to find yourself on the right side: to preserve the lives of your families and friends, and be prepared to make it through to be with Christ and a whole new society on this earth. You will see the great plan that will bring the Native Americans back into their inheritance of this land, and how you, as Gentiles, can be a part of it. I have seen parts of it in Vision and Dreams, and my friends Red Elk and Gayle have even seen more detail than I have. And years before us were the visions of President George Washington, the Iroquois prophecy of Deganawida, and others also.
Dick Bauman, servant of Christ, March, 2009
Part 5
Many ministers will rail against the ‘author’ of the Book of Mormon, and claim the book is the work of the Devil, BUT EITHER THEY HAVEN’T READ IT, OR DIDN’T STUDY IT AND ASK GOD IF IT’S TRUE!
Now I say ‘fortunately’, because Joseph Smith did, in fact, do MANY things contrary to what the Book Of Mormon actually says. The few who are willing to read this book with the eye of faith, will be astounded with the truth and relevance there is for us today.
As a Baptist minister said after he actually read the book (because he had set out to disprove it), “It is filled with the blood of Jesus.”
Indeed it is, and as it says in 2 Nephi, “And now behold, my beloved brethren, this is the way; and there is none other way (but to follow the words of Christ) nor name (Christ) given under heaven, whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God.”
Though many have tried laboriously to discredit the Book, the best they can do is to discredit the man; hopefully by killing the messenger, the message will be stopped! I studied the Book for years, and the history surrounding it. I know more ‘dirt’ about Joseph Smith and the church he founded, than probably any other person on the face of the earth, BUT I CAN’T DENY THE FULLFILLMENT OF THE MANY PROPHECIES, AND THE ENORMOUS TRUTH BETWEEN ITS COVERS! Nor can I deny the gift of tongues, and the power of the Holy Ghost I received, AFTER I read and accepted the truth and divinity of that book!
Its message is that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, and that he invites all races, men and women, young and old, black or white, rich or poor to partake of Eternal Life. It obviously isn’t anti-Christ, is it?
It declares the plan of salvation, with the Plan of Mercy and the Plan of Justice, with an undeniable simplicity and clarity.
It declares that you must believe in the Bible, and if you believe what the Bible says you will believe this Book from the Native Americans, also.
When the manuscript was written in 1829,
1. It prophesied that the Native People would be relocated and forts built among them. The U.S. Congress passed the Relocation Act in 1830 (the following year!). So that prophecy was fulfilled, wasn’t it?
2. It prophesied the Native People would be scattered, smitten, and brought down almost to nothing, and would be sustained by the Gentiles. That happened, didn’t it?
3. It prophesied that the Gentiles would take over the inheritance of this land. That happened, didn’t it?
4. It prophesied this nation would become the most powerful nation on the face of the earth. That happened, didn’t it?
5. It prophesied that it would have the most pride of any nation. That happened, didn’t it?
6. It prophesied that an organization that believed in Cain would be the downfall of this nation. It describes the earmarks of that organization: handshakes, blood oaths, the ceremonial loin cloth, and the profession of Cain. THAT ORGANIZATION IS FREEMASONRY! I have copies of their materials, and every mason is obligated to employ the principles of Cain. And as one mason told me, “Don’t you know it’s alright to FLEECE the sheep!” Isn’t that contrary to what Christ told Peter THREE times, “FEED my sheep!” So, you see that Freemasonry is contrary to the way of Christ!
Albert Pike, 33 degree, who wrote “Morals and Dogma” for the Masons, stated to a world-wide conference of top Masons some years ago that Lucifer was their God!
The Baptists and most other churches that condemn the Book of Mormon are loaded with Freemasons – so is CONGRESS AND THE LEGAL AND JUDICIAL SYSTEM! These churches should be thankful for the clarity of the Book of Mormon in exposing the secret societies, for it says, concerning the organizations set up by Cain---
“For the Lord worketh not in secret combinations, neither doth he will that man should shed blood, but in all things hath forbidden it, from the beginning of man.
“Wherefore the Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things come upon you, that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation,because of this secret combination which shall be among you, or wo
be unto it, ---
“For it cometh to pass that whoso buildeth it up, seeketh to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries;
“And it bringeth to pass the destruction of all people, for it is built up by the devil,”--.
Now here is the real kicker, the Mormon Church RELIGION IS BASED ON FREEMASONRY:
A. building of physical temples (Christ says He is the temple, and our bodies are supposed to be temples, too!),
B. two priesthoods named after men – Aaronic and Melchisidec (Book of Mormon says ONE order of ministry: Holy Order of Christ),
C. A Prophet, and other offices,
D. 3 Glories (the Mormons have added the third one, ‘telestial’, which word does not exist in the dictionary!),
E. blind obedience to next degree above, things done in secret (Christ says He did nothing in secret),
F. inequality of women (they have to be tied to a man to have the best eternal life, although the Book of Mormon says all are equal!) and many other things. (the doctrine of polygamy is directly tied to “eternal marriage” in the Mormon church.)
When the Prophet Brigham Young moved a large group of people west, the first thing they did was to apply for 3 new Masonic Lodges! And it is in their history that when Brigham saw the Salt Lake valley he exclaimed, “This is the place!” However, Christ warned against this in Matt. 24:24-26:
“For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.”
Jeremiah 17:5-6 also curses the man who would follow a man to a “salt land and not inhabited.”
I explained what happened to the Mormon church, and its splinter groups in a series of video/DVD tapes, “To All Book of Mormon Believers: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE CHURCH?” (See allbookofmormonbelievers.org)
Continuing on with Book of Mormon prophecies.
7. It prophesied that because of the things kept back by the Great Whore, the Gentiles would stumble and establish many churches. In 2000 A.D., there were 285 churches registered with the U.S. Government. That was true, also, wasn’t it?
8. It prophesied that some churches would say little children had to be baptized. That was/is true, also, isn’t it? (Book of Mormon is adamantly against that) Christ picked them up into his arms and blessed them, didn’t He? He did not baptize them! And, He also said, “of such is the kingdom of heaven.”
9. It prophesied the leaders of the Gentile churches had to be paid for their ministry. That’s true, isn’t it?
10. It prophesied that the leaders would say God no longer does miracles for us, and He has left it up to us. That is true, isn’t it? And yet, God is unchangeable, at least that’s what the Bible says. And I, for one, believe what it says, and I know that He does perform miracles.
11. It also says that polygamy is an abomination to God, and men are commanded to have ONLY one wife! (what’s interesting about that is the Bible doesn’t even say that!) And some of the Mormon church members still believe in polygamy, and still practice it. Also, for the record, the doctrine of polygamy was one of the last ‘revelations’ that came through Joseph Smith. He renounced it just before he died, calling it “An accursed doctrine.” When he first came up with it, he told his wife Emma that it was from God, and if she didn’t accept it that God would destroy her. He died about a year later, but she lived many years after.
Unfortunately, the works of Joseph Smith, Jr., and the Mormon church have done more to discredit the Book of Mormon than any outside group!
THE BOOK OF MORMON ALSO HAS PROPHESIED THAT A CONSPIRACY BY A SECRET ORGANIZATION(S) WOULD DESTROY AMERICA, AND IT IS HAPPENING!
12. It prophesied that when this nation is ripe, there will be economic collapse, war & destruction, and the burning of all who will not accept Jesus Christ and His way of life. The question is: is this nation ripe? Christ, in the Bible, talks of the ‘fullness of the Gentiles’. The Book of Mormon clarifies the fullness as when the Gentiles have received the fullness of the truth and have performed the fullness of iniquity.
As you study the Book of Mormon you will realize that indeed it contains the ‘fullness’ of the truth of the gospel. And what about the fullness of iniquity?
A. In what category would you put millions of babies killed by
abortion – the cup of iniquity?
B. In what category would you put the law against prayer in schools – in the cup of iniquity?
C. In what category would you put pornography, - or birth control devices in public school, or condoning illegitimacy – in the cup of iniquity?
D. And we can also add that those who wrote the U.S. Constitution said congressmen SHOULD NOT BE PAID!- hasn’t this brought iniquity to the top of our government?
E. In what category should we put starting wars in various places in the world FOR THE SAKE OF BIG OIL? (admitted by John McCain during his election campaign!)– thus killing thousands of innocent people, including our own fine young women and men: leaving behind children without a parent, who will never have one of their parents attend a school function, or see them married –DOESN’T THAT HEAP UP THE CUP OF INIQUITY?
Now, are you able to set aside prejudice and read the Book of Mormon with an open mind to see the truth and the finale? You will see WHY churches are against it: it condemns the false practices of Protestantism, Catholicism, AND Mormonism, and secret societies. You will understand in detail the Great Separation, and how to find yourself on the right side: to preserve the lives of your families and friends, and be prepared to make it through to be with Christ and a whole new society on this earth. You will see the great plan that will bring the Native Americans back into their inheritance of this land, and how you, as Gentiles, can be a part of it. I have seen parts of it in Vision and Dreams, and my friends Red Elk and Gayle have even seen more detail than I have. And years before us were the visions of President George Washington, the Iroquois prophecy of Deganawida, and others also.
Monday, March 18, 2013
1830 New York Map
Charles Finney preaching in and arround Rochester in 1830...Joseph Smith was arround Palmyra in 1830....The towns are 24 miles appart.....
Charles Finneys conversion experience In Adams N.Y. 1821
Joseph Smith in Manchester N.Y. 1823-1827
The translation, known as the Book of Mormon, was published in Palmyra on March 26, 1830, by printer E. B. Grandin.[67] Martin Harris financed the publication by mortgaging his farm.[68] Soon thereafter on April 6, 1830, Smith and his followers formally organized the Church of Christ,[69] and small branches were established in Palmyra, Fayette, and Colesville, New York.[70] The Book of Mormon brought Smith regional notoriety,[71] but also strong opposition by those who remembered Smith's money-digging and his 1826 trial near Colesville.[72] After Cowdery baptized several new members (including Emma Smith), the Mormons began receiving threats of mob violence.
When the translation spoke of an institutional church and a requirement for baptism, Smith and Cowdery baptized each other,[61] saying that John the Baptist had appeared and given them priesthood authority to do so.
THIS IS THE RESULT OF MORMONISM BROUGHT ON BY FREEMASONS....GOD IS NO RESPECTOR OF PERSONS....THESE LDS RAN ,OR WERE DRIVEN OUT OF THE SAME AREA WHERE THE LORDS SPIRIT HAD BEEN SPREADING LIKE WILD FIRE IN WAVES OF DEEP REPENTANCE PREACHING....READ FOR YOURSELF....
http://www.gospeltruth.net/memoirsrestored/memrest21.htm
Not doing the Lords work you suffer the consequences....
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A youtube video 43:39 min. Sandra Tanner great great granddaughter of Brigham Young....
"The Early Years of Mormonism, by Sandra Tanner"
Notice at the 5:24 min. mark using the caption option Quote: It (Book of Mormon)does not contain the major doctrines of Mormonism that seperate it from standard Christianity!
The D&C, IV of the Bible, the whole structure of the church priesthood,LDS, RLDS,Restoration,and All other's that adhear to the D&C-Book of Commandments...All= Mormonisim.......David Whitmer was correct........Try to find JKV and BOM ony believers without the D&C...restored priesthood etc. mormonism ...is hard to find........................RenegadeBoMbeliever
Charles Finneys conversion experience In Adams N.Y. 1821
Joseph Smith in Manchester N.Y. 1823-1827
The translation, known as the Book of Mormon, was published in Palmyra on March 26, 1830, by printer E. B. Grandin.[67] Martin Harris financed the publication by mortgaging his farm.[68] Soon thereafter on April 6, 1830, Smith and his followers formally organized the Church of Christ,[69] and small branches were established in Palmyra, Fayette, and Colesville, New York.[70] The Book of Mormon brought Smith regional notoriety,[71] but also strong opposition by those who remembered Smith's money-digging and his 1826 trial near Colesville.[72] After Cowdery baptized several new members (including Emma Smith), the Mormons began receiving threats of mob violence.
When the translation spoke of an institutional church and a requirement for baptism, Smith and Cowdery baptized each other,[61] saying that John the Baptist had appeared and given them priesthood authority to do so.
THIS IS THE RESULT OF MORMONISM BROUGHT ON BY FREEMASONS....GOD IS NO RESPECTOR OF PERSONS....THESE LDS RAN ,OR WERE DRIVEN OUT OF THE SAME AREA WHERE THE LORDS SPIRIT HAD BEEN SPREADING LIKE WILD FIRE IN WAVES OF DEEP REPENTANCE PREACHING....READ FOR YOURSELF....
http://www.gospeltruth.net/memoirsrestored/memrest21.htm
Not doing the Lords work you suffer the consequences....
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A youtube video 43:39 min. Sandra Tanner great great granddaughter of Brigham Young....
"The Early Years of Mormonism, by Sandra Tanner"
Notice at the 5:24 min. mark using the caption option Quote: It (Book of Mormon)does not contain the major doctrines of Mormonism that seperate it from standard Christianity!
The D&C, IV of the Bible, the whole structure of the church priesthood,LDS, RLDS,Restoration,and All other's that adhear to the D&C-Book of Commandments...All= Mormonisim.......David Whitmer was correct........Try to find JKV and BOM ony believers without the D&C...restored priesthood etc. mormonism ...is hard to find........................RenegadeBoMbeliever
Sunday, March 17, 2013
And when the day cometh
This is the thing which I will give unto you for a sign
[1 Ne 3:236] And when the day cometh that the wrath of God is poured out upon the mother of harlots, which is the great and abominable church of all the earth, whose foundation is the devil,
[1 Ne 3:237] Then at that day, the work of the Father shall commence, in preparing the way for the fulfilling of his covenants which he hath made to his people, who are of the house of Israel.
__________________________________________________________________________________
[2 Ne 12:80] For after the book of which I have spoken shall come forth, and be written unto the Gentiles, and sealed up again unto the Lord, there shall be many which shall believe the words which are written; and they shall carry them forth unto the remnant of our seed.
[2 Ne 11:127] Wherefore, because of the things which are sealed up, the things which are sealed, shall not be delivered in the day of the wickedness and abominations of the people.
[2 Ne 11:128] Wherefore the book shall be kept from them.
___________________________________________________________________________________
[3 Ne 7:32] But wo, saith the Father, unto the unbelieving of the Gentiles, for notwithstanding they have come forth upon the face of this land, and have scattered my people, who are of the house of Israel; and my people who are of the house of Israel, have been cast out from among them, and have been trodden under feet by them;
[3 Ne 7:34] And thus commandeth the Father that I should say unto you, At that day [1] when the Gentiles shall sin against my gospel, and [2] shall reject the fullness of my gospel, and [3] shall be lifted up in the pride of their hearts above all nations, and [4] above all the people of the whole earth, and [5] shall be filled with all manner of lyings, and [6] of deceits, and [7] of mischiefs, and [8] all manner of hypocrisy, and [9] murders, and [10] priestcrafts, and [11] whoredoms, and [12] of secret abominations;
[3 Ne 7:35] And if they shall do all these things, and shall reject the fullness of my gospel, behold, saith the Father, I will bring the fullness of my gospel from among them;
[3 Ne 7:36] And then will I remember my covenant which I have made unto my people, O house of Israel, and I will bring my gospel unto them;
[3 Ne 7:37] And I will shew unto thee, O house of Israel, that the Gentiles shall not have power over you, but I will remember my covenant unto you, O house of Israel, and ye shall come unto the knowledge of the fullness of my gospel.
__________________________________________________________________________________
[2 Ne 2:9] That the Messiah should be made manifest unto them
in the latter days, in the spirit of power, unto the bringing of them out of darkness unto light; yea, out of hidden darkness and out of captivity unto freedom.
[2 Ne 2:11] Yea, Joseph truly said, Thus saith the Lord unto me: A choice seer will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins; and he shall be esteemed highly among the fruit of thy loins.
[2 Ne 2:12] And unto him will I give commandment, that he shall do a work for the fruit of thy loins, his brethren, which shall be of great worth unto them, even to the bringing of them to the knowledge of the covenants which I have made with thy fathers.
[2 Ne 2:15] And he shall be great like unto Moses, whom I have said I would raise up unto you, to deliver my people, O house of Israel.
[2 Ne 2:17] But a seer will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins; and unto him will I give power to bring forth my word unto the seed of thy loins;
[2 Ne 2:18] And not to the bringing forth my word only, saith the Lord, but to the convincing them of my word, which shall have already gone forth among them.
[2 Ne 2:24] And out of weakness he shall be made strong, in that day when my work shall commence among all my people, unto the restoring thee, O house of Israel, saith the Lord.
[2 Ne 2:26] And they that seek to destroy him, shall be confounded:
[2 Ne 2:38] And the words which he shall write, shall be the words which are expedient [better, or good] in my wisdom should go forth unto the fruit of thy loins
[2 Ne 11:131] And the day cometh that the words of the book which were sealed, shall be read upon the housetops; and they shall be read by the power of Christ;
[2 Ne 11:130] For the book shall be sealed by the power of God, and the revelation which was sealed, shall be kept in the book until the own due time of the Lord, that they may come forth: for, behold, they reveal all things from the foundation of the world unto the end thereof.
[3 Ne 9:63] And behold ye are the children of the prophets; and ye are of the house of Israel; and ye are of the covenant which the Father made with your fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed, shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed;
________________________________________________________________________________
[3 Ne 9:86] And verily, I say unto you, I give unto you a sign, that ye may know the time when these things shall be about to take place, that I shall gather in from their long dispersion, my people, O house of Israel, and shall establish again among them my Zion.
[3 Ne 9:87] And behold, this is the thing which I will give unto you for a sign, for verily I say unto you, that when these things which I declare unto you, and which I shall declare unto you hereafter of myself, and by the power of the Holy Ghost, which shall be given unto you of the Father, shall be made known unto the Gentiles,
[3 Ne 9:88] That they may know concerning this people who are a remnant of the house of Jacob, and concerning this my people who shall be scattered by them;
[3 Ne 9:89] Verily, verily, I say unto you, When these things [Nephite record] shall be made known unto them of the Father, and shall come forth of the Father, from them unto you, for it is wisdom in the Father that they should be established in this land,
[3 Ne 9:92] For thus it behooveth the Father that it should come forth from the Gentiles, that he may shew forth his power unto the Gentiles, for this cause, that the Gentiles, if they will not harden their hearts, that they may repent and come unto me, and be baptized in my name, and know of the true points of my doctrine, that they may be numbered among my people, O house of Israel:
[3 Ne 9:93] And when these things come to pass, that thy seed shall begin to know these things, it shall be a sign unto them, that they may know that the work of the Father hath already commenced unto the fulfilling of the covenant which he hath made unto the people who are of the house of Israel.
_________________________________________________________________________________
[3 Ne 9:51] And I say unto you, that if the Gentiles do not repent, [1] after the blessing which they shall receive, [2] after they have scattered my people, [3]then shall ye who are a remnant of the house of Jacob, go forth among them;
[3 Ne 9:52] And ye shall be in the midst of them, who shall be many; and ye shall be among them, as a lion among the beasts of the forests, and as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he goeth through, both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.
_________________________________________________________________________________
[3 Ne 10:1] But if they [gentiles] [1] will repent, and [2] hearken unto my words, and [3] harden not their hearts, I will establish my church among them, and they shall come in unto the covenant, and be numbered among this the remnant of Jacob, unto whom I have given this land for their inheritance, and they [gentiles] [4] shall assist my people, the remnant of Jacob;
[3 Ne 10:2] And also, as many of the house of Israel as shall come, that they may build a city, which shall be called the New Jerusalem;
[3 Ne 10:3] And then shall they assist my people that they may be gathered in, who are scattered upon all the face of the land, in unto the New Jerusalem.
[3 Ne 10:4] And then shall the power of heaven come down among them; and I also will be in the midst, and then shall the work of the Father commence, at that day even when this gospel shall be preached among the remnant of this people.
[1 Ne 3:236] And when the day cometh that the wrath of God is poured out upon the mother of harlots, which is the great and abominable church of all the earth, whose foundation is the devil,
[1 Ne 3:237] Then at that day, the work of the Father shall commence, in preparing the way for the fulfilling of his covenants which he hath made to his people, who are of the house of Israel.
__________________________________________________________________________________
[2 Ne 12:80] For after the book of which I have spoken shall come forth, and be written unto the Gentiles, and sealed up again unto the Lord, there shall be many which shall believe the words which are written; and they shall carry them forth unto the remnant of our seed.
[2 Ne 11:127] Wherefore, because of the things which are sealed up, the things which are sealed, shall not be delivered in the day of the wickedness and abominations of the people.
[2 Ne 11:128] Wherefore the book shall be kept from them.
___________________________________________________________________________________
[3 Ne 7:32] But wo, saith the Father, unto the unbelieving of the Gentiles, for notwithstanding they have come forth upon the face of this land, and have scattered my people, who are of the house of Israel; and my people who are of the house of Israel, have been cast out from among them, and have been trodden under feet by them;
[3 Ne 7:34] And thus commandeth the Father that I should say unto you, At that day [1] when the Gentiles shall sin against my gospel, and [2] shall reject the fullness of my gospel, and [3] shall be lifted up in the pride of their hearts above all nations, and [4] above all the people of the whole earth, and [5] shall be filled with all manner of lyings, and [6] of deceits, and [7] of mischiefs, and [8] all manner of hypocrisy, and [9] murders, and [10] priestcrafts, and [11] whoredoms, and [12] of secret abominations;
[3 Ne 7:35] And if they shall do all these things, and shall reject the fullness of my gospel, behold, saith the Father, I will bring the fullness of my gospel from among them;
[3 Ne 7:36] And then will I remember my covenant which I have made unto my people, O house of Israel, and I will bring my gospel unto them;
[3 Ne 7:37] And I will shew unto thee, O house of Israel, that the Gentiles shall not have power over you, but I will remember my covenant unto you, O house of Israel, and ye shall come unto the knowledge of the fullness of my gospel.
__________________________________________________________________________________
[2 Ne 2:9] That the Messiah should be made manifest unto them
in the latter days, in the spirit of power, unto the bringing of them out of darkness unto light; yea, out of hidden darkness and out of captivity unto freedom.
[2 Ne 2:11] Yea, Joseph truly said, Thus saith the Lord unto me: A choice seer will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins; and he shall be esteemed highly among the fruit of thy loins.
[2 Ne 2:12] And unto him will I give commandment, that he shall do a work for the fruit of thy loins, his brethren, which shall be of great worth unto them, even to the bringing of them to the knowledge of the covenants which I have made with thy fathers.
[2 Ne 2:15] And he shall be great like unto Moses, whom I have said I would raise up unto you, to deliver my people, O house of Israel.
[2 Ne 2:17] But a seer will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins; and unto him will I give power to bring forth my word unto the seed of thy loins;
[2 Ne 2:18] And not to the bringing forth my word only, saith the Lord, but to the convincing them of my word, which shall have already gone forth among them.
[2 Ne 2:24] And out of weakness he shall be made strong, in that day when my work shall commence among all my people, unto the restoring thee, O house of Israel, saith the Lord.
[2 Ne 2:26] And they that seek to destroy him, shall be confounded:
[2 Ne 2:38] And the words which he shall write, shall be the words which are expedient [better, or good] in my wisdom should go forth unto the fruit of thy loins
[2 Ne 11:131] And the day cometh that the words of the book which were sealed, shall be read upon the housetops; and they shall be read by the power of Christ;
[2 Ne 11:130] For the book shall be sealed by the power of God, and the revelation which was sealed, shall be kept in the book until the own due time of the Lord, that they may come forth: for, behold, they reveal all things from the foundation of the world unto the end thereof.
[3 Ne 9:63] And behold ye are the children of the prophets; and ye are of the house of Israel; and ye are of the covenant which the Father made with your fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed, shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed;
________________________________________________________________________________
[3 Ne 9:86] And verily, I say unto you, I give unto you a sign, that ye may know the time when these things shall be about to take place, that I shall gather in from their long dispersion, my people, O house of Israel, and shall establish again among them my Zion.
[3 Ne 9:87] And behold, this is the thing which I will give unto you for a sign, for verily I say unto you, that when these things which I declare unto you, and which I shall declare unto you hereafter of myself, and by the power of the Holy Ghost, which shall be given unto you of the Father, shall be made known unto the Gentiles,
[3 Ne 9:88] That they may know concerning this people who are a remnant of the house of Jacob, and concerning this my people who shall be scattered by them;
[3 Ne 9:89] Verily, verily, I say unto you, When these things [Nephite record] shall be made known unto them of the Father, and shall come forth of the Father, from them unto you, for it is wisdom in the Father that they should be established in this land,
[3 Ne 9:92] For thus it behooveth the Father that it should come forth from the Gentiles, that he may shew forth his power unto the Gentiles, for this cause, that the Gentiles, if they will not harden their hearts, that they may repent and come unto me, and be baptized in my name, and know of the true points of my doctrine, that they may be numbered among my people, O house of Israel:
[3 Ne 9:93] And when these things come to pass, that thy seed shall begin to know these things, it shall be a sign unto them, that they may know that the work of the Father hath already commenced unto the fulfilling of the covenant which he hath made unto the people who are of the house of Israel.
_________________________________________________________________________________
[3 Ne 9:51] And I say unto you, that if the Gentiles do not repent, [1] after the blessing which they shall receive, [2] after they have scattered my people, [3]then shall ye who are a remnant of the house of Jacob, go forth among them;
[3 Ne 9:52] And ye shall be in the midst of them, who shall be many; and ye shall be among them, as a lion among the beasts of the forests, and as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he goeth through, both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.
_________________________________________________________________________________
[3 Ne 10:1] But if they [gentiles] [1] will repent, and [2] hearken unto my words, and [3] harden not their hearts, I will establish my church among them, and they shall come in unto the covenant, and be numbered among this the remnant of Jacob, unto whom I have given this land for their inheritance, and they [gentiles] [4] shall assist my people, the remnant of Jacob;
[3 Ne 10:2] And also, as many of the house of Israel as shall come, that they may build a city, which shall be called the New Jerusalem;
[3 Ne 10:3] And then shall they assist my people that they may be gathered in, who are scattered upon all the face of the land, in unto the New Jerusalem.
[3 Ne 10:4] And then shall the power of heaven come down among them; and I also will be in the midst, and then shall the work of the Father commence, at that day even when this gospel shall be preached among the remnant of this people.
Monday, March 11, 2013
Lihyan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A Lihyanite Temple in Arabia
Was Lehi the "father" of the Lihyanites in Arabia?
Lihyan (Arabic: Ù„Øيان) is an ancient Ancient North Arabian kingdom. It was located in northwestern Arabia, and is known for its Ancient North Arabian inscriptions dating to ca. the 6th to 4th centuries BC. Dedanite is used for the older phase of the history of this kingdom since their capital name was Dedan (see Biblical Dedan), which is now called Al-`Ula oasis located in northwestern Arabia, some 110 km southwest of Teima.
Their cities included Higra, Al-`Ula, Al-Khuraibah, Teima, Oman.
Lozachmeur, H (ed.) 1995. Présence arabe dans le croissant fertile avant l'Hégire. (Actes de la table ronde internationale Paris, 13 Novembre 1993). Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations. pp. 148. ISBN 2-86538-254-0. [1]
Werner Caskel, Lihyan und Lihyanisch (1954)
F.V. Winnett "A Study of the Lihyanite and Thamudic Inscriptions", University of Toronto Press, Oriental Series No. 3. [2]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Ancient America Foundation (AAF) is pleased to present AAF Notes: a series of
research articles by scholars of Book of Mormon culture and history and reviewed by AAF editors. Visit our Web site: http://www.ancientamerica.org
Strong winds and vertical sandstone cliffs couldn’t prevent a group of amateur Book of Mormon explorers from ascending a 600-foot rock face. Resting atop the mountains summit is a vast Lihyanite temple complex. The team included Jim Anderson, David Alexander, and myself.
What makes this find interesting to the LDS community is that the Lihyanites might have been a community of converts who were taught the gospel by Lehi and Nephi. Lynn and Hope Hilton originally brought to our attention that the name “Lihyanite” meant the “people of Lihy”, and that the Lihyanites appear to have had temple practices that were consistent to those in Jerusalem. The Hiltons based their theory largely upon the discovery of a font (cistern) at the Lihyanite temple in ruins of the Biblical town of Dedan (see LDS Bible Maps showing northwest Arabia). The cistern has nearly the same dimensions as the Brazen Sea of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem and has stone stairs inside it leading to its floor which has been buried below ground level (see Discovering Lehi, Hiltons).
Who were the Lihyanites? Until recently, archaeologists had no clue as to where they came from or how they conquered the Dedanites, the people who ruled the valley since the era of Abraham. Jewish historians believe that they were Hebrew descendants of Abraham[i] through the Dedanites (see Genesis 25:1-3). However, it is only recently that Professor Michael Macdonald at Oxford University’s Oriental Institute showed that the Dedanite and Lihyanite languages were the same[ii], meaning that the Lihyanites, who came to power in northwest Arabia around 550 BC, were not a new people, but were the Dedanites themselves who simply changed their name to “the people of Lihy”.
However the Hiltons didn't realize that the ancient trail down Arabia passed through the Ula valley, which became the capital of the Lihyanites.
All the same, the Hiltons studied the Lihyanite ruins in the wadi al-Ula, including the remains of the Lihyanite temple. The Lihyanites ruled the area between the coast of the Red Sea at the west and Domat al Jandal in the east for over five hundred years. Their rule ended with the emergence of the Nabataeans in the first century .C. [1]
In other words, the Lihyanties ruled northwest Arabia starting just after Lehi
passed through the valley of Ula.
In Nephi’s time, he would have been restricted to teaching the gospel to only Hebrews – yet here in Dedan, along the trail Lehi took through Arabia (see Lehi in the Wilderness by Potter and Wellington), were a community of Hebrews, the Dedanites. Secondly, the Dedanites changed their name to the people of Lihy. The question begs to be asked, “Why would they have changed their name after being called after the man Dedan for a millennium?” Whoever Lihy was, he must have meant a great deal to the Dedanites for they renamed themselves after him and did so shortly after the passage of Lehi through their town. The renaming of a tribe after a new leader is an ancient tradition in Arabia that persists to this day. That is, an entire tribe will rename itself (change their last names) in honor of a new leader, if that leader was truly exceptional.
Could the Lihyanites have been converts? The
Qur'an states that they were descendants of the people of Thamud, a righteous people who believed in the one true God. The Hiltons pointed out that the Lihyanites built a temple at Dedan, which had a font that was nearly the same in dimensions as the one at Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. The cistern (font) at the Lihyanite temple has stairs going into it, and if one stands in it, the lower half of their body would be below the surrounding surface of the earth.
The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Antiquities does not know the purpose of the font, however it notes the Lihyanite Temple. The modern name for Dedan is Ula, which means "to exalt". In antiquity Dedan and its surrounding villages were called Qura Arabiyyah. Allegedly, there are inscriptions on a large stone near Medina which indicates that Jeremiah sent two people to visit the people Qura Arabiyyah[2].
Were these two messengers Lehi and Nephi?
First, to our great surprise, we found that the Saudi Arabian Department of Antiquities has begun excavating the Lihyanite Temple! All that we knew
about the temple site prior to now was that a temple had once set upon a half mile long site, and that all that remains of the entire site is rumble--small pieces of rock. The one exception is the cistern that the Hiltons compare to the Brazen Sea baptismal font at Solomon's Temple. According to the Saudi Department of Antiquities, "near the foundations of a large temple is still found a well preserved large cistern." [3]. However, that is not what I saw at the temple's excavation on this trip. As the picture indicates, the font is located within the foundations to the temple itself. It was part of the temple, with the floor of the font being several feet below ground level.
Second, I discovered that the steep mountain that rises above the temples site, Mount Um-Daraj, has a very impressive feature - a stone stairs that had been carved up the entire 700 foot ascent to the mountain's summit, and that atop the summit is a second temple site. It appears that the Lihyanites carved a stone stair case from the temple with the font the entire way up a steep mountain to the temple with an altar.
Third, as we were preparing to leave the valley, I met a French explorer who told me about a hidden Lihyanite sacred area--their sanctuary. He told me he discovered the holy site in a maze of narrow wadis three miles west of the main wadi Ula. According to the Frenchmen, the site included an altar with two carvings, one a circled bowl and the other a rectangle. One was for the blood of the sacrificed animal and the other for water for the washings. I will make it the quest of my next visit to the oasis of al-Ula.
But were the Lihyanites practicing a faith consistent with that of Nephi? The Lihyanites referred to their God as 'Dhu-Ghaibit'. Dhu means
"the one with or one possessed with." Ghaibat literally means "absent, unknown, faint, swoon." Ghaiba( singular) means "one absent," but Ghibat
(plural) means "a lot of Absents." According to the Almonjed (Arabic to Arabic dictionary), Ghibat means "valleys, digs, caves, woods", or any thing that could make things or people absent or hidden. They say, "Ghaib this person" which means to kill him, or make him absent. The Koran
say "God has the knowledge of the Ghaib," which means God knows the unknown, which can also mean future things to happen. The sorcerer or enchanter claims he knows the Ghaib (mainly future). The Koran states "Al-Ghaib Knowledge is only for God." The Lihyanite God's name then means, "He who possess knowledge of the future". This compares well with Nephi's teaching that the Lord knoweth all things ...
The Lihyanites placed great importance on offerings and sacrifices, paid an annual offering (talal) at the temple [4]. Their Solomon like temples appear to have been used for sacrificing she-camels, black camels and other livestock to the God Dhu Ghaibat. [5], and as we have already seen, the temples included altars and what appear to be baptismal fonts.
During an earlier visit to Dedan, I learned from a French author and explorer that Lihyanite statutes and columns could be found on the top of a mountain on the opposite side of the valley from where the Lihyanite temple and cistern were found. In April 2005 my companions and I returned to the ruins of Dedan to search for the Lihyanite artifacts.
However, what we found was truly amazing. On the summit of the mountain, we found a large sanctuary covering approximately 10-14 acres. This lost temple is completely surrounded by vertical cliffs, and today it can only be reached with the aid of ropes.
In antiquity the sanctuary had steps carved in the sandstone that led from the base of the mountain to the summit. Unfortunately the steps have completely eroded away except at the bases of the mountain. Like an Arabian version of Machu Picchu the second Lihyanite temple is perched upon a mountain top with magnificent vistas. But unlike the Peruvian lost city, the lost temple of the Lihyanites is much more difficult to reach and appears to have been of much greater significances. Indeed, we found dozens of altar stones for animal sacrifices, statutes, columns, incense burners and cisterns.
There are literally hundreds of artifacts spread over the sanctuary including two large assembly areas where seats had been carved into the walls of natural amphitheaters
Overlooking the Dedan ruins in the valley below are two large carved cisterns which would have been filled with water and could have been used for bathing or similar purposes. There, we found a serpent stone the engraving of the snake symbolically protecting the sacred site.
In yet another location on the mountaintop we found two large reservoirs that were carved into the floor of the summit. With small circular openings, the subsurface reservoirs were roughly 10 feet deep and 7 feet wide and would have held thousands of gallons of water which all would have been brought to the summit from the valley floor in goat skin bags. The Frenchman believed that the reservoirs held water for the washing of animal sacrifices for within a few feet of the reservoirs was what appears to be the remains of an altar of unhewn stones and two bowls carved in the floor which the Frenchman believed was used for collecting the blood of the sacrificed animals.
It will take decades of excavations and restorations to understand fully the functions and the significance of this lost Lihyanite temple. However, it was clear that the mountain top sanctuary certainly eclipsed in importance the Lihyanite temple in the floor of the valley, and leads me to believe that the Lihyanite capital at Dedan was a major religious center in the centuries preceding the birth of Christ.
I am currently producing a film on the people of Lihy which is scheduled to be released in the Winter 2006.
http://www.ancientamerica.org/library/media/HTML/liz439og/Lihyanite%20temple.htm
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More pictures here.............
http://s1.zetaboards.com/anthroscape/topic/4700678/1/
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The Linguistic Footprints of Lehi
http://www.nephiproject.com/linguistic_footprints_of_lehi.htm
A Lihyanite Temple in Arabia
Was Lehi the "father" of the Lihyanites in Arabia?
Lihyan (Arabic: Ù„Øيان) is an ancient Ancient North Arabian kingdom. It was located in northwestern Arabia, and is known for its Ancient North Arabian inscriptions dating to ca. the 6th to 4th centuries BC. Dedanite is used for the older phase of the history of this kingdom since their capital name was Dedan (see Biblical Dedan), which is now called Al-`Ula oasis located in northwestern Arabia, some 110 km southwest of Teima.
Their cities included Higra, Al-`Ula, Al-Khuraibah, Teima, Oman.
Lozachmeur, H (ed.) 1995. Présence arabe dans le croissant fertile avant l'Hégire. (Actes de la table ronde internationale Paris, 13 Novembre 1993). Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations. pp. 148. ISBN 2-86538-254-0. [1]
Werner Caskel, Lihyan und Lihyanisch (1954)
F.V. Winnett "A Study of the Lihyanite and Thamudic Inscriptions", University of Toronto Press, Oriental Series No. 3. [2]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Ancient America Foundation (AAF) is pleased to present AAF Notes: a series of
research articles by scholars of Book of Mormon culture and history and reviewed by AAF editors. Visit our Web site: http://www.ancientamerica.org
Strong winds and vertical sandstone cliffs couldn’t prevent a group of amateur Book of Mormon explorers from ascending a 600-foot rock face. Resting atop the mountains summit is a vast Lihyanite temple complex. The team included Jim Anderson, David Alexander, and myself.
What makes this find interesting to the LDS community is that the Lihyanites might have been a community of converts who were taught the gospel by Lehi and Nephi. Lynn and Hope Hilton originally brought to our attention that the name “Lihyanite” meant the “people of Lihy”, and that the Lihyanites appear to have had temple practices that were consistent to those in Jerusalem. The Hiltons based their theory largely upon the discovery of a font (cistern) at the Lihyanite temple in ruins of the Biblical town of Dedan (see LDS Bible Maps showing northwest Arabia). The cistern has nearly the same dimensions as the Brazen Sea of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem and has stone stairs inside it leading to its floor which has been buried below ground level (see Discovering Lehi, Hiltons).
Who were the Lihyanites? Until recently, archaeologists had no clue as to where they came from or how they conquered the Dedanites, the people who ruled the valley since the era of Abraham. Jewish historians believe that they were Hebrew descendants of Abraham[i] through the Dedanites (see Genesis 25:1-3). However, it is only recently that Professor Michael Macdonald at Oxford University’s Oriental Institute showed that the Dedanite and Lihyanite languages were the same[ii], meaning that the Lihyanites, who came to power in northwest Arabia around 550 BC, were not a new people, but were the Dedanites themselves who simply changed their name to “the people of Lihy”.
However the Hiltons didn't realize that the ancient trail down Arabia passed through the Ula valley, which became the capital of the Lihyanites.
All the same, the Hiltons studied the Lihyanite ruins in the wadi al-Ula, including the remains of the Lihyanite temple. The Lihyanites ruled the area between the coast of the Red Sea at the west and Domat al Jandal in the east for over five hundred years. Their rule ended with the emergence of the Nabataeans in the first century .C.
In other words, the Lihyanties ruled northwest Arabia starting just after Lehi
passed through the valley of Ula.
In Nephi’s time, he would have been restricted to teaching the gospel to only Hebrews – yet here in Dedan, along the trail Lehi took through Arabia (see Lehi in the Wilderness by Potter and Wellington), were a community of Hebrews, the Dedanites. Secondly, the Dedanites changed their name to the people of Lihy. The question begs to be asked, “Why would they have changed their name after being called after the man Dedan for a millennium?” Whoever Lihy was, he must have meant a great deal to the Dedanites for they renamed themselves after him and did so shortly after the passage of Lehi through their town. The renaming of a tribe after a new leader is an ancient tradition in Arabia that persists to this day. That is, an entire tribe will rename itself (change their last names) in honor of a new leader, if that leader was truly exceptional.
Could the Lihyanites have been converts? The
Qur'an states that they were descendants of the people of Thamud, a righteous people who believed in the one true God. The Hiltons pointed out that the Lihyanites built a temple at Dedan, which had a font that was nearly the same in dimensions as the one at Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. The cistern (font) at the Lihyanite temple has stairs going into it, and if one stands in it, the lower half of their body would be below the surrounding surface of the earth.
The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Antiquities does not know the purpose of the font, however it notes the Lihyanite Temple. The modern name for Dedan is Ula, which means "to exalt". In antiquity Dedan and its surrounding villages were called Qura Arabiyyah. Allegedly, there are inscriptions on a large stone near Medina which indicates that Jeremiah sent two people to visit the people Qura Arabiyyah
Were these two messengers Lehi and Nephi?
First, to our great surprise, we found that the Saudi Arabian Department of Antiquities has begun excavating the Lihyanite Temple! All that we knew
about the temple site prior to now was that a temple had once set upon a half mile long site, and that all that remains of the entire site is rumble--small pieces of rock. The one exception is the cistern that the Hiltons compare to the Brazen Sea baptismal font at Solomon's Temple. According to the Saudi Department of Antiquities, "near the foundations of a large temple is still found a well preserved large cistern."
Second, I discovered that the steep mountain that rises above the temples site, Mount Um-Daraj, has a very impressive feature - a stone stairs that had been carved up the entire 700 foot ascent to the mountain's summit, and that atop the summit is a second temple site. It appears that the Lihyanites carved a stone stair case from the temple with the font the entire way up a steep mountain to the temple with an altar.
Third, as we were preparing to leave the valley, I met a French explorer who told me about a hidden Lihyanite sacred area--their sanctuary. He told me he discovered the holy site in a maze of narrow wadis three miles west of the main wadi Ula. According to the Frenchmen, the site included an altar with two carvings, one a circled bowl and the other a rectangle. One was for the blood of the sacrificed animal and the other for water for the washings. I will make it the quest of my next visit to the oasis of al-Ula.
But were the Lihyanites practicing a faith consistent with that of Nephi? The Lihyanites referred to their God as 'Dhu-Ghaibit'. Dhu means
"the one with or one possessed with." Ghaibat literally means "absent, unknown, faint, swoon." Ghaiba( singular) means "one absent," but Ghibat
(plural) means "a lot of Absents." According to the Almonjed (Arabic to Arabic dictionary), Ghibat means "valleys, digs, caves, woods", or any thing that could make things or people absent or hidden. They say, "Ghaib this person" which means to kill him, or make him absent. The Koran
say "God has the knowledge of the Ghaib," which means God knows the unknown, which can also mean future things to happen. The sorcerer or enchanter claims he knows the Ghaib (mainly future). The Koran states "Al-Ghaib Knowledge is only for God." The Lihyanite God's name then means, "He who possess knowledge of the future". This compares well with Nephi's teaching that the Lord knoweth all things ...
The Lihyanites placed great importance on offerings and sacrifices, paid an annual offering (talal) at the temple
During an earlier visit to Dedan, I learned from a French author and explorer that Lihyanite statutes and columns could be found on the top of a mountain on the opposite side of the valley from where the Lihyanite temple and cistern were found. In April 2005 my companions and I returned to the ruins of Dedan to search for the Lihyanite artifacts.
However, what we found was truly amazing. On the summit of the mountain, we found a large sanctuary covering approximately 10-14 acres. This lost temple is completely surrounded by vertical cliffs, and today it can only be reached with the aid of ropes.
In antiquity the sanctuary had steps carved in the sandstone that led from the base of the mountain to the summit. Unfortunately the steps have completely eroded away except at the bases of the mountain. Like an Arabian version of Machu Picchu the second Lihyanite temple is perched upon a mountain top with magnificent vistas. But unlike the Peruvian lost city, the lost temple of the Lihyanites is much more difficult to reach and appears to have been of much greater significances. Indeed, we found dozens of altar stones for animal sacrifices, statutes, columns, incense burners and cisterns.
There are literally hundreds of artifacts spread over the sanctuary including two large assembly areas where seats had been carved into the walls of natural amphitheaters
Overlooking the Dedan ruins in the valley below are two large carved cisterns which would have been filled with water and could have been used for bathing or similar purposes. There, we found a serpent stone the engraving of the snake symbolically protecting the sacred site.
In yet another location on the mountaintop we found two large reservoirs that were carved into the floor of the summit. With small circular openings, the subsurface reservoirs were roughly 10 feet deep and 7 feet wide and would have held thousands of gallons of water which all would have been brought to the summit from the valley floor in goat skin bags. The Frenchman believed that the reservoirs held water for the washing of animal sacrifices for within a few feet of the reservoirs was what appears to be the remains of an altar of unhewn stones and two bowls carved in the floor which the Frenchman believed was used for collecting the blood of the sacrificed animals.
It will take decades of excavations and restorations to understand fully the functions and the significance of this lost Lihyanite temple. However, it was clear that the mountain top sanctuary certainly eclipsed in importance the Lihyanite temple in the floor of the valley, and leads me to believe that the Lihyanite capital at Dedan was a major religious center in the centuries preceding the birth of Christ.
I am currently producing a film on the people of Lihy which is scheduled to be released in the Winter 2006.
http://www.ancientamerica.org/library/media/HTML/liz439og/Lihyanite%20temple.htm
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More pictures here.............
http://s1.zetaboards.com/anthroscape/topic/4700678/1/
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The Linguistic Footprints of Lehi
http://www.nephiproject.com/linguistic_footprints_of_lehi.htm
Friday, March 1, 2013
A HEBREW NATION IN AMERICA
A HEBREW NATION IN AMERICA
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.
IN THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER, we gave consideration to evidence ~ from the Bible that the Shepherd of Israel led the flock of Joseph to America. We found that the Bible promised to Joseph a special land, a promised land (Deuteronomy 33: 13-16; Genesis 49: 22-26), a land abounding in precious things. This Promised Land was to be “afar off,” “across the sea,” and “unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills.” All this involved a great migration or movement of a colony of people from ancient Israel to America. Before giving direct consideration to archaeological evidence that the Shepherd of Israel established a fold (Hebrew social order) in ancient America, let us examine some of the American Indian origin legends.
Paul Radin says,
The Mexicans came from Aztlan. They carried with them an idol called Huitzuilop;tchili. They affirm it was this idol that had commanded them to leave the country, promising them that they would be rulers and chiefs of all the provinces which had been settled by the other six tribes; of a land greatly abounding in gold, silver, precious stones, feathers, rich shawls, and every costly thing conceivable. Thus did the Mexicans set out just as the children of Israel had done in search of the Promised Land, taking with them their idol enclosed in an ark made of rushes just as the others had taken with them their ark of the covenant. They took with them four principal
priests who made their laws, instructed them in their rites and sacrifices, etc. They traveled with their ark wherever their idol bade them go.l
Mr. Radin says the Mexicans came from Aztlan.
Mr. Baldwin quotes from E. G. Squier: “In the map of their migrations presented by Gemelli, the place of the origin of the Aztecs is designated by the sign of water (atl standing for Aztlan), a pyramidal temple with grades, and near these a palm tree.”2
We shall soon give consideration to the pyramidal temple with grades as one of the signs of the origin of the Aztecs. Another symbol of the origin of the Aztecs is the palm tree. Concerning this palm symbol, Mr. Baldwin says, “In history Jerusalem has been sometimes referred to as the City of Palms.”3 In I Kings 6: 29-36, the walls of Solomon’s Temple are described as being decorated with palm trees carved in wood and overlaid with gold.
Concerning the origin legends of the Maya Quich6s (Guatemala), Lewis Spence says, “The truth is that the conditions of migration undergone by the Maya were similar to those described in the Scriptures.”4
According to Mr. Nadaillac, “The people of Yucatan believed that their ancestors had come from the East, across a great body of water.’ ‘~
A HEBREW TEMPLE IN AMERICA
Did the Shepherd of Israel establish a fold for his sheep here in America? If he did, the first evidence we should look for will be a temple of Hebrew design. Solomon’s Temple at Jerusalem was the center of the Good Shepherd’s fold in the Old World. We have also a second strong reason to look for a temple of Solomon in the New World. The “stick of Joseph” (Nephite Record) which contains the record of the Good Shepherd’s dealing with the flock he led to America contains the story of the erection of a temple after the manner of Solomon’s Temple. “And I, Nephi, did build a temple; and I did construct it after the manner of the temple of Solomon,... and the workmanship thereof was exceeding fine.”
—II Nephi 4: 22, 25.
Solomon’s Temple was composed of three courts, the innermost being called the Holy of Holies.
A. Hyatt Verrill says, The great temple of Pachacamac, Peru, is composed of courts in the center of which is the Holy of Holies containing the image of their great God.”6
The Nephite Record records that as their civilization developed, the Nephites gradually spread northward (into Central America and Mexico). It is also recorded that they continued to build temples, sanctuaries, and synagogues after the manner of the Jews (Alma ii: 22, etc.).
Mayan temples were usually composed of an outer corridor and an inner sanctuary surmounting a more or less lofty pyramid.7
In Bancroft’s Native Races, Volume 4, page 332, is a drawing of the ground plan of the Temple of the Cross at Palenque. This drawing shows an outer court or corridor and an inner corridor and a Holy of Holies, In a tablet on the wall of the Holy of Holies was found the great symbol (cross) of the Shepherd of Israel.
Solomon’s Temple was very large. The temple of the thousand columns with its courts at Chichen Itza covers five acres. The north colonnade extends across the north side of the court. It is a spacious hall 463 feet long.8
Nephi says the temple he built (after the manner of Solomon’s Temple) was of “exceeding fine workmanship.”
Besides its three courts, its size, and fine workmanship, the Temple of Solomon was noted for other things:
A. Greatest collection of gold and silver known -in the Old World (II Chronicles 9:13-22).
B. The flowers, palms, and temple utensils were made of pure gold (I Kings, chapter 6; II Chronicles, chapters 3,4).
C. The nails used in the Temple of Solomon were of pure gold (II Chronicles 3: 9).
A. Hyatt Verrill says,
Taken all together the gold of the Incas was probably the greatest accumulation of the precious metals the world has ever known prior to the time of the Conquest. . . . It is obvious that the Incans, finding the temple ready made, repaired it, added to it and made use of it as their own place of worship. Although the Spaniards transformed the temple to a Christian church, and added a deal of European embellishment and adornment to it, yet the greater portion of the structure still remains that of the prehistoric unknown inhabitants of Peru.
Architecturally this Temple of the Sun is one of the most remarkable buildings in the entire world. It is built of immense blocks of amazingly fitted stone, no two of which are exactly alike in size or shape, but which are so accurately designed and cut that the circular interior with its radii is mathematically and geometrically perfect. . . .
In the days when the Incas held sway this temple presented a sight which would have made Aladdin’s cave look tawdry by comparison. The walls, outside and inside, were completely covered with plates of burnished gold. The gardens were filled with trees, shrubs and plants of silver and gold. Among the leaves and branches of precious metals were birds, animals, and insects of gold and silver, and even the fountains, the tools and the implements of the gardener’s trade were of the same metals, . . .
The woodwork of the temple of the sun at Pachacamac was fastened together with gold nails and when, at Pizarro’s orders, these were removed, they were found to weigh more than thirty-two thousand ounces, roughly a value of over half a million dollars in our money.
During the months of July, August, and September, 1953, in company with Ronald Anderson of Rich Hill, Missouri, Joseph Anway of Independence, Missouri, and my son, Ward, I visited and photographed two temples in Copan, Honduras, each having outer, inner, and innermost divisions. We also visited an ancient temple in the ruins of Zacaleo in the mountains of northern Guatemala. Our pictures, both Kodachrome and third dimension, clearly show the three divisions of the temple.
Archaeology underwrites the Nephite Record claim of temples in ancient America built after the manner of the Temple of Solomon.
THE LAW OF MOSES
We have discovered that the Bible, the Nephite Record, and Indian traditions all indicate that the Shepherd of Israel
led some of his sheep of the flock of Joseph to the new world. The Bible and Nephite Record agree that this “remnant escaped from Jerusalem” just before Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the city (about 600 B.c.) . The children of Israel of that day practiced the Mosaic Law.
The Temple at Jerusalem and the Mosaic Law went hand in hand. They were two parts of a whole. Together they comprised the Shepherd’s fold for ancient Israel. If the Shepherd of Israel established part of his fold here (Hebrew temples), then it is logical to look for evidence of the prehistoric existence of the other part (the Law of Moses) .
The Book of Joseph (Nephite Record) tells us the ancient Americans kept the law of Moses.
And we did observe to keep the judgments, and the statutes, and the commandments of the Lord, in all things, according to the law of Moses—Il Nephi 4: 14.
The prophets, and the priests, and the teachers, did labor diligently, exhorting with all long suffering, the people to diligence; teaching the law of Moses, and the intent for which it was given—Jarom 1: 24.
- H. H. Bancroft says, “Circumcision was practiced upon all Aztec male children.”10
Theodore A. Willard says,
It is a curious fact that the ancient Itza-Mayas had many habits and customs similar to those of the Jews. Many have remarked that some of the faces carved on the walls and stones are of a Jewish caste, . . . Both the Itza-Mayas and the Jews venerated one God, of whom they made no image. Both worshiped toward the east; and both burned incense in the four directions. The confession of sins and atonement were common to both peoples. Both believed in devils. The Maya like the Jew was punctilious about washing and in making ablutions.”
Concerning the discovery of the great stone heads of La Venta in 1946 (Mexico), Mr. Miguel Covarubbias says,
On stele C two impressive chieftains stand face to face, surrounded by lesser men suspended in space. The face of the man on the left is smashed, but the other is untouched and represents a stern, fully bearded man with an enormous aquiline nose, totally different from the flat-nosed people of La Venta . . . a personage with surprisingly pronounced Semitic features.12
Altars for sacrificing are a common discovery in unearthing the temples of ancient America.
In the National Geographic for July, 1931, is a picture of what is reputed to be the largest and finest altar yet discovered (found at Uaxactun, Guatemala).
The Nephite Record says, “And they also took of the firstlings of their flocks, that they might offer sacrifice and burnt offerings, according to the law of Moses” (Mosiah 1: 30) .
Concerning the similarities between the Mosaic and Aztec systems, Lord Kingsborough says, “There was much in connection with the sacrifices that was common to Mexicans and Jews.”13
The Mexicans applied the blood of sacrifices to the same uses as the Jews; they poured it upon the earth, they sprinkled it, they marked persons with it, and they smeared it upon walls and other inanimate things (Ibid. page 154).
No one but the Jewish High Priest might enter the 1-Foly of Holies. A similar custom was found in Peru (Ibid. page 156).
Both Mexicans and Jews regarded certain animals as unclean and unfit for food (Ibid. page 273).
It was customary among the Mexicans to eat the flesh of the sacrifices of atonement (ibid. page 176).
Mr. C. Reginald Enoch says,
Cloths of vicuna wool, which were interwoven with gold and silver filaments (Peru), have come down to us today in all their primitive freshness. . . . An art which passed in remote times from Babylon to other cities and which is first mentioned as employed in the Ephods of Aaron.’~
THE JUBILEE YEAR
According to the law of Moses (Leviticus 25), the Hebrews made a new start every half century. This was called the Year of Jubilee. Mortgages and debts were canceled and all the land returned to the original tribal inheritance, It was a time of celebration and rejoicing.
Thus far we have found evidence of the existence in ancient America of much that the Good Shepherd had in his fold at Jerusalem in Old Testament times. Let us see if there is evidence that the Year of Jubilee was known in ancient America. Mr. Jose Jiminez Gomez says, concerning the Aztec calendar stone, “The snake scales are supposed to represent centuries of fifty-two years and on the upper side of the body of the serpents can be seen blazes of fire which means that at the beginning of every century they kindled the new fire.”’5
In the Mexican National Museum in Mexico City there are numerous bundles (stone) of roped years. Manly P. Hall says concerning these bundles of roped years, “The Mexicans had periods composed of what they called the binding of years. These bindings contained fifty-two years and constituted a cycle. “16
Concerning the volador, a religious ceremony of the Totonacs of Mexico, Dr. Alfonso Caso says, “The four macaws descending from the pole and taking thirteen turns are symbols of the 52 years of the Indian cycle, that is to say, of the movement of the sun in 13x4 which gives the 52 years figure.”’7
PATRIARCHY, GENEALOGY, AND TOTEMISM
Patriarchy, genealogy, and totemism were all part of the Old Testament system and found within the Good Shepherd’s fold in ancient Israel. Stephen D. Peet says,
The prevalence of Totemism in the Old Testament is shown by the dying words of Jacob, for in them be described the animal figures which were shown on the escutcheon of each tribe. The lion on the escutcheon of Judah, the serpent on that of Dan, the wild ass on that of Issachar, .and the bird on that of Naphtali.
How the patriarch came to use this language is a mystery. . . . Whatever the explanation is, the passage furnishes a good illustration of a custom which was common among the uncivilized races, and is still prevalent among the aborigines of America; namely, the custom of giving the names of animals and plants to children and making these serve as emblems of the clan or tribe.
Herrera remarks of the Mayas, “They were wont to observe their pedigree very much and therefore thought themselves all related and were helpful one to another. They did not marry any who bore the same name as their father . . . this shows that the patriarchy existed among the Mayas. “18
There are a number of theories as to the origin of the American Indian (Mongoloid, Hebrew, Phoenician, Egyptian, indigenous, etc.) . Concerning the Hebrew origin theory, Mr. Bancroft says, “The theory that the Americans are of Jewish descent has been discussed more minutely and at greater length than any other. Its advocates, or at least those of them who have made original researches, are comparatively few, but the extent of their investigations and the multitude of parallelisms they adduce in support of their hypothesis, exceed by far anything we have yet encountered.”19
While traveling in South America in 1949, 1 had a thrilling experience. A young archaeology student at the University of Trujillo in northern Peru was guiding me through the large Museum of Larco Hoyle at Chiclin, Peru. The museum contains the world’s finest collection of the ceramics of the ancient Chimus. Instead of painting pictures on canvas the Chimus molded pottery of the object they desired to picture, then painted the pottery. The museum seems to picture all the objects and activities connected with ancient Chimu life. One section is devoted to warriors and war, others to fruits and vegetables, another to various diseases. Finally, we came to a section devoted to crimes and punishments where my guide pointed out a large specimen of pottery. A man and a woman were tied to a post. There were many specks on the ceramic.
My guide pointed out the spots as rocks flying through the air. The crime was adultery punished by stoning to death. This is of course a part of the Mosaic Law, well illustrated by the woman brought to Jesus who was accused of adultery.
THE THEORY OF EGYPTIAN ORIGIN
The British scientist, F. A. Mitchell Hedges, says,
The modern theory is that the Mayas appeared in Central America sometime between 1,000 B.c, and the Christian Era, and that their civilization was derived from Egypt, from which they came across the vast Pacific, The points of resemblance between the Maya and the Egyptian civilizations are too numerous and peculiar to be explained by some imaginary impulse in all prehistoric people to develop along the same line.~
The question may well be asked: If the Shepherd of Israel led the flock of Joseph to America in 600 B.C., and established a fold for his sheep here, why is it that both Egyptian and H~-brew evidences are met with? Joseph was governor of the land of Egypt. He was second to Pharaoh himself. He married an Egyptian woman. His sons were raised in Egypt. The Bible says, “Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years” (Exodus 12: 40) . As slaves in the land of Egypt, the children of Israel built pyramids and obelisks, and inscribed hieroglyphics on Egyptian monuments.
The Prophet Nephi in the very first verse in the Nephite Record says, “I make a record in the language of my father, which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians” (I Nephi 1: 1).
The “stick of Joseph” quote, “And now behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge in the characters, which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech.”
The Egyptian Tau or letter T has been found at Palenque, Copan, and in Peru. Mr. Nadaillac says of the palace at Palenque, “Numerous masonry niches in the wall merit special attention on account of their resemblance to the letter T or rather the Egyptian Tau.”2’
THE MONGOLOID THEORY
There is one major theory in the world today concerning the origin of the American Indian and the ancient civilizations of the Americas. The Mongoloid theory taught in our school books is based upon the supposition that thousands of years ago uncultured tribes crossed from northern Siberia to Alaska over the frozen Bering Sea which is only twenty miles across. (The Nephite Record) records that the American Indian is of eastern Mediterranean or Hebrew origin.
If the Mongoloid theory is correct, how does one account for so much eastern Mediterranean influence in America (Hebrew style temples, Jewish caste faces, Egyptian pyramids, hieroglyphics, obelisks, etc.)? Another serious question arises. Ancient crude Eskimo type people living in the arctic northern Siberia region would have a tremendous adjustment to make between their native frozen north and the torrid tropics where ancient American civilization reached its heights. Which is the more reasonable—that Mongoloid people gradually scattered over Canada and the United States and down into Central America there to establish themselves and develop a great civilization, or that a people from the eastern Mediterranean already adjusted and acclimated to the warm regions migrated to similar regions here in the New World?
We make one more observation. The Lord told Abraham, “And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 22: 18) . It is both historical and remarkable that the four civilizations of the Old World sprang up immediately adjacent to the Promised Land of Abraham—Egypt to the Southwest, Babylon to the east, Greece to the north, and Rome to the northwest. Is it unreasonable that ancient American civilization sprang from this same cultural hotbed?
THE CALENDAR STONE
The greatest Egyptian discovery in America is not pyramids, stelae (obelisks), hieroglyphics, or mummies. It is the Aztec calendar stone. It is a huge round stone, twelve feet wide, four feet thick, and weighs 57,000 pounds. It is on exhibit in the Mexican National Museum in Mexico City. It has eighteen months of twenty days each, with five complementary days and six hours for the measurement of a year’s time. This is similar to the calendar possessed by the ancient Egyptians.
Stephen D. Peet says, “The year in common use, called the vague year, began at different times of the true year through a long cycle. Here we find the analogy between the Egyptian and the American systems very startling.”22
John Delafleld comments:
I have also recognized in your memoir on the division of time among the Mexican nations, compared with those of Asia, some very striking analogies between the Toltec characters and institutions observed on the banks of the Nile. Among these analogies there is one which is worthy of attention. It is the use of the vague year of 365 days, composed of equal months, and of five complementary days, equally employed at Thebes and Mexico, a distance of 3,000 leagues. . . . Now, it is remarkable that the same solar year of 365 days, six hours, adopted by nations so different, and perhaps still more remote in their state of civilization than in their geographical distance, relates to a real astronomical period, and belongs peculiarly to the Egyptians, . . . The fact of the intercalation ~by the Mexicans] of 13 days every cycle, that is, the use of a year of 365 days and a quarter, is proof that it was either borrowed from the Egyptians, or that they had a common origin.2~
The works of H. H. Bancroft also touch on this point.~
BARBARIC RELIGIONS
The barbaric religious systems that led to the downfall of ancient Israel were sun worship (Jeremiah 8: 2; 7: 18, etc.),
human sacrifice and serpent ‘worship (II Kings 18: 4) . These three abominations wrecked the Good Shepherd’s fold in ancient Israel and scattered the sheep on a thousand hills.
We have found abundant evidence that the Shepherd of Israel set up his fold in ancient America. Now we are confronted with evidence that similar idolatrous abominations wrecked the fold in ancient America. Stephen D. Peet says,
The most remarkable fact which is brought out by this study is that the aboriginal religions of America correspond to the earliest forms of religions which prevailed in the East, The system of sun worship which prevailed among the agricultural tribes of the gulf states closely resembled that which existed in Egypt and Babylonia at the opening of history and many of the same customs were observed.25
The significance of these different works (mounds) will be understood if we compare the rites and ceremonies of the sun worshipers of this district with those which prevailed in Syria and Phoenicia in Old Testament times.
It is recorded in the Nephite Record that because of the practices of Solomon the Nephites attempted to introduce polygamy (Jacob 2: 3 5-43) . The Lord’s declaration against this is very revealing—”Wherefore, I, the Lord God, will not suffer that this people shall do like unto them of old” (Jacob 2: 35). It seems evident that the barbaric beliefs and practices of the American Indians show decided indications of having redone like them of old” in similarities to the eastern Mediterranean of ancient times.
The Nephite Record history tells us that soon after the colony of Joseph arrived in America, in about 580 B.C., it divided. One group was faithful to God and kept the law of Moses (Nephites) . The other group reverted back to the idols and religious vices which led to the downfall of ancient Israel. This group (the Lamanites) was cursed and their skins were darkened so there would ‘be no intermarriage between the white, cultured Nephites and the lazy, idolatrous Lamanites.
Eventually, and after the Golden Age of ancient America which followed Christ’s visit here, the entire population gradually drifted away from the Good Shepherd’s fold. A war of extinction broke out between the Nephites and the Lamanites, and both nations turned from the gospel of Christ to idolatry and human sacrifice.
Yea, the more part of them [Nephites] had turned out of the way of righteousness and did trample tinder their feet the commandments of God, and did turn unto their own ways, and did build up unto themselves icfols of their gold and their silver.
And they [Lamanites in last war] did also march forward against the city Teancum, and did drive the inhabitants forth out of her, and did take many prisoners, both women and children, and did offer them up as sacrifices unto their idol gods.
The prophets of ancient Israel warned the people if they did not cease from worshiping the sun and moon and offering their sins and daughters up as sacrifices to the idols of Baal, that the Lord would destroy them and leave their cities desolate. When Columbus discovered America, the words of the prophets against ancient Israel could just as appropriately have been spoken against the Aztecs for human sacrifice to idol gods or against the Mayas for snake rites (II Kings 18: 4) and against the Incas for sun rites.
Jeremiah says,
Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, . . . they have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, . . . therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter.. . . And I will make this city desolate, and an hissing, every one that passeth thereby shall he astonished, and hiss because of the plagues thereof —19: 4-6, 8.
And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.—Jeremiah
AN ARRAY OF SOBERING FECTS
The facts indicate that the God of Israel established his fold in America. His sheep prospered and enjoyed a Golden Age as long as they listened to the voice of the Good Shepherd. The day came (third century after Christ) when they turned away from their Shepherd’s fold and reverted back to the abominations which destroyed the fold in ancient Israel. Now the fold the Good Shepherd established in America is desolate and the words of Jeremiah to Jerusalem and the cities of Judab are startlingly applicable.
Chan Chan, Kabah, and Sayil are “desolate without an inhabitant.” Piedras Negras, Tikal, and Uaxactun are rtdesolate2~ ~and a den of dragons.” Monte Alban, Teotihuacan, Copan, and Chichen Itza, glorious cities of ancient America, are ttheaps~~ and tta;i astonishment to all that pass by.~’
Now, from the pages of the Nephite Record, the warning comes to us and to our cities:
And now we can behold the decrees of God concerning this land, that it is a land of promise, and whatsoever nation shall possess it, shall serve God, or they shall be swept off when the fullness of his wrath shall come upon them.
And the fullness of his wrath cometh upon them when they are ripened in iniquity; for behold, this is a land which is choice above all other lands; wherefore he that doth possess it shall serve God, or shall be swept off; for it is the everlasting decree of God.
And this cometh unto you, 0 ye Gentiles, that ye may know the decrees of God, that ye may repent, and not continue in your iniquities until the fullness comet that ye may not bring down the fullness of the wrath of God upon you, as the inhabitants of the land have hitherto done.—Ether 1: 31, 32, 34.
1. Paul Radin, Sou7ces and Au;henticity ol the Hi.tto7y of the Ancient Mexicans, page 67.
2. Baldwin, Ancient Ame7ica, page 218.
3. Baldwin, Ancient America.
4. Lewis Spence, Myths ol Mexico and Peru, page 152.
5. Nadaillac, Prehistoric America, page 526.
6. A. Hyatt Verrill, Scientific American, March, 1931.
7. S. G. Morley, National Geo,graphic, May, 1927.
8. S. G. Morley, National Geo,graphic, July, 1931 .
9. A. Hyatt Verrill, CIa! Civilizations ol the New World, pages 294, 302, 303,
291.
10. Bancroft, Native Races, Volume 3, page 371.
11. Theodore A. Willard, The Lost Empires ol the Itraes ace’ Mayast page 422.
12. Miguel Covarubbias, Mexico South (1946), page 90.
13. Lord Kingsborougb, Mexican Antiquities, Volumes 6 and 8.
14. C. Reginatd Enoch, The Secret ol the Pacific, page 224.
15. Jose Jiminez Gomez, The Aztec Calendar, page 2.
16. Manly P. Hall, Twelve Great Teachers, page 234.
17. Dr. Alphonso Caso, Archaeological Guide Booh on Mexican National Museum.
18. Stephen D. Peet, Prehistoric America, Myths ace’ Symbols, Volume 5, pages
8-35.
19. H. H. Bancroft, Native Races, Volume 5, page 77.
20. F. A. Mitchell Hedges, London Daily Mail, March, 1924.
21. Nadaillac, Prehistoric America.
22. Stephen D. Peet, Prehistoric America, Volume 5, page 183.
23. Delafield, Antiquities of Ancient America, page 52.
24. H. H. Bancroft, Native Races, Volume 5.
25. Stephen D. Peet, Prehistoric America, Volume 5, pages 7, 321.
WARNING WORDS OF CHRIST FROM ANCIENT AMERICA
Yea, wo be unto the Gentiles, except they repent, for it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Father, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots, and I will cut off the cities of thy land~ and throw down all thy strongholds:
Thy graven images I will also cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the works of thy hands.
William Prescott in his Conquest of Peru says, “If no one could become rich in Peru, no one could become poor . . . no man, however humble, suffered from the want of food or clothing” (pages 36, 37, 103).
The science of archaeology proves there was once a high state of civilization in ancient America. The Indian legends and the Nephite Record both associate these high tides of blessing and welfare with the Divine Being who came to them. The legends and the Nephite Record also agree that this Divine Being promised a restoration and a New Jerusalem for his people on the American continent. It is a remarkable fact that biblical prophets also believed in, looked for, and promised a restoration of the Jews to Jerusalem and a Zion. The prophets clearly indicate two holy cities—Jerusalem in the Old World and Zion or a New Jerusalem in the New World.
Isaiah says,
For Zion’s sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.—Isaiah 62: 1.
Joel in a prophecy about the last days says,
And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions; and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit, And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered; for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.—Joel 2: 28-32.
The prophet Isaiah indicates that Zion and Jerusalem are two separate holy cities—”Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation” (Isaiah 64: 10) .
Isaiah also indicates that the rise of Zion and Jerusalem shall come in the last days:
And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall he established in the top of the mountains, and shall he exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and be will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.— Isaiah 2: 2, 3.
The prophet Isaiah agrees with the Nephite Record in indicating that Christ will come to Zion in America:
So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun, . . . And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord—Isaiah 59: 19, 20.
After the long period of dark ages which followed the collapse and destruction of the ancient civilization in America the Native American, surviving descendants of a once golden era, yearned for the return of their white hero god and a restoration of the ancient order of things. The arrival of Cortez in Mexico therefore was greeted with rejoicing and high expectancy as the natives thought Quetzalcoatl had returned in accordance with the promise he had made.
Following the medieval Dark Ages in the Old World the so-called period of the Reformation was ushered in. The reformers as evidenced from their own writings looked forward with expectancy to a day of restoration, a day when the old Jerusalem church with apostles, prophets, and the gifts and powers of the early church would again be set up on the earth. Alexander Campbell, founder of the Christian Church, says,
Some new revelation or some new development of the revelation of God must be made, before the hopes and expectations of all true Christians can be realized or Christianity save and reform the nations of the world. We want the old gospel back and sustained by the ancient order of things, and this alone by the blessing of the Divine Spirit is all we do want, or can expect, to reform and save the World.
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.
IN THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER, we gave consideration to evidence ~ from the Bible that the Shepherd of Israel led the flock of Joseph to America. We found that the Bible promised to Joseph a special land, a promised land (Deuteronomy 33: 13-16; Genesis 49: 22-26), a land abounding in precious things. This Promised Land was to be “afar off,” “across the sea,” and “unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills.” All this involved a great migration or movement of a colony of people from ancient Israel to America. Before giving direct consideration to archaeological evidence that the Shepherd of Israel established a fold (Hebrew social order) in ancient America, let us examine some of the American Indian origin legends.
Paul Radin says,
The Mexicans came from Aztlan. They carried with them an idol called Huitzuilop;tchili. They affirm it was this idol that had commanded them to leave the country, promising them that they would be rulers and chiefs of all the provinces which had been settled by the other six tribes; of a land greatly abounding in gold, silver, precious stones, feathers, rich shawls, and every costly thing conceivable. Thus did the Mexicans set out just as the children of Israel had done in search of the Promised Land, taking with them their idol enclosed in an ark made of rushes just as the others had taken with them their ark of the covenant. They took with them four principal
priests who made their laws, instructed them in their rites and sacrifices, etc. They traveled with their ark wherever their idol bade them go.l
Mr. Radin says the Mexicans came from Aztlan.
Mr. Baldwin quotes from E. G. Squier: “In the map of their migrations presented by Gemelli, the place of the origin of the Aztecs is designated by the sign of water (atl standing for Aztlan), a pyramidal temple with grades, and near these a palm tree.”2
We shall soon give consideration to the pyramidal temple with grades as one of the signs of the origin of the Aztecs. Another symbol of the origin of the Aztecs is the palm tree. Concerning this palm symbol, Mr. Baldwin says, “In history Jerusalem has been sometimes referred to as the City of Palms.”3 In I Kings 6: 29-36, the walls of Solomon’s Temple are described as being decorated with palm trees carved in wood and overlaid with gold.
Concerning the origin legends of the Maya Quich6s (Guatemala), Lewis Spence says, “The truth is that the conditions of migration undergone by the Maya were similar to those described in the Scriptures.”4
According to Mr. Nadaillac, “The people of Yucatan believed that their ancestors had come from the East, across a great body of water.’ ‘~
A HEBREW TEMPLE IN AMERICA
Did the Shepherd of Israel establish a fold for his sheep here in America? If he did, the first evidence we should look for will be a temple of Hebrew design. Solomon’s Temple at Jerusalem was the center of the Good Shepherd’s fold in the Old World. We have also a second strong reason to look for a temple of Solomon in the New World. The “stick of Joseph” (Nephite Record) which contains the record of the Good Shepherd’s dealing with the flock he led to America contains the story of the erection of a temple after the manner of Solomon’s Temple. “And I, Nephi, did build a temple; and I did construct it after the manner of the temple of Solomon,... and the workmanship thereof was exceeding fine.”
—II Nephi 4: 22, 25.
Solomon’s Temple was composed of three courts, the innermost being called the Holy of Holies.
A. Hyatt Verrill says, The great temple of Pachacamac, Peru, is composed of courts in the center of which is the Holy of Holies containing the image of their great God.”6
The Nephite Record records that as their civilization developed, the Nephites gradually spread northward (into Central America and Mexico). It is also recorded that they continued to build temples, sanctuaries, and synagogues after the manner of the Jews (Alma ii: 22, etc.).
Mayan temples were usually composed of an outer corridor and an inner sanctuary surmounting a more or less lofty pyramid.7
In Bancroft’s Native Races, Volume 4, page 332, is a drawing of the ground plan of the Temple of the Cross at Palenque. This drawing shows an outer court or corridor and an inner corridor and a Holy of Holies, In a tablet on the wall of the Holy of Holies was found the great symbol (cross) of the Shepherd of Israel.
Solomon’s Temple was very large. The temple of the thousand columns with its courts at Chichen Itza covers five acres. The north colonnade extends across the north side of the court. It is a spacious hall 463 feet long.8
Nephi says the temple he built (after the manner of Solomon’s Temple) was of “exceeding fine workmanship.”
Besides its three courts, its size, and fine workmanship, the Temple of Solomon was noted for other things:
A. Greatest collection of gold and silver known -in the Old World (II Chronicles 9:13-22).
B. The flowers, palms, and temple utensils were made of pure gold (I Kings, chapter 6; II Chronicles, chapters 3,4).
C. The nails used in the Temple of Solomon were of pure gold (II Chronicles 3: 9).
A. Hyatt Verrill says,
Taken all together the gold of the Incas was probably the greatest accumulation of the precious metals the world has ever known prior to the time of the Conquest. . . . It is obvious that the Incans, finding the temple ready made, repaired it, added to it and made use of it as their own place of worship. Although the Spaniards transformed the temple to a Christian church, and added a deal of European embellishment and adornment to it, yet the greater portion of the structure still remains that of the prehistoric unknown inhabitants of Peru.
Architecturally this Temple of the Sun is one of the most remarkable buildings in the entire world. It is built of immense blocks of amazingly fitted stone, no two of which are exactly alike in size or shape, but which are so accurately designed and cut that the circular interior with its radii is mathematically and geometrically perfect. . . .
In the days when the Incas held sway this temple presented a sight which would have made Aladdin’s cave look tawdry by comparison. The walls, outside and inside, were completely covered with plates of burnished gold. The gardens were filled with trees, shrubs and plants of silver and gold. Among the leaves and branches of precious metals were birds, animals, and insects of gold and silver, and even the fountains, the tools and the implements of the gardener’s trade were of the same metals, . . .
The woodwork of the temple of the sun at Pachacamac was fastened together with gold nails and when, at Pizarro’s orders, these were removed, they were found to weigh more than thirty-two thousand ounces, roughly a value of over half a million dollars in our money.
During the months of July, August, and September, 1953, in company with Ronald Anderson of Rich Hill, Missouri, Joseph Anway of Independence, Missouri, and my son, Ward, I visited and photographed two temples in Copan, Honduras, each having outer, inner, and innermost divisions. We also visited an ancient temple in the ruins of Zacaleo in the mountains of northern Guatemala. Our pictures, both Kodachrome and third dimension, clearly show the three divisions of the temple.
Archaeology underwrites the Nephite Record claim of temples in ancient America built after the manner of the Temple of Solomon.
THE LAW OF MOSES
We have discovered that the Bible, the Nephite Record, and Indian traditions all indicate that the Shepherd of Israel
led some of his sheep of the flock of Joseph to the new world. The Bible and Nephite Record agree that this “remnant escaped from Jerusalem” just before Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the city (about 600 B.c.) . The children of Israel of that day practiced the Mosaic Law.
The Temple at Jerusalem and the Mosaic Law went hand in hand. They were two parts of a whole. Together they comprised the Shepherd’s fold for ancient Israel. If the Shepherd of Israel established part of his fold here (Hebrew temples), then it is logical to look for evidence of the prehistoric existence of the other part (the Law of Moses) .
The Book of Joseph (Nephite Record) tells us the ancient Americans kept the law of Moses.
And we did observe to keep the judgments, and the statutes, and the commandments of the Lord, in all things, according to the law of Moses—Il Nephi 4: 14.
The prophets, and the priests, and the teachers, did labor diligently, exhorting with all long suffering, the people to diligence; teaching the law of Moses, and the intent for which it was given—Jarom 1: 24.
- H. H. Bancroft says, “Circumcision was practiced upon all Aztec male children.”10
Theodore A. Willard says,
It is a curious fact that the ancient Itza-Mayas had many habits and customs similar to those of the Jews. Many have remarked that some of the faces carved on the walls and stones are of a Jewish caste, . . . Both the Itza-Mayas and the Jews venerated one God, of whom they made no image. Both worshiped toward the east; and both burned incense in the four directions. The confession of sins and atonement were common to both peoples. Both believed in devils. The Maya like the Jew was punctilious about washing and in making ablutions.”
Concerning the discovery of the great stone heads of La Venta in 1946 (Mexico), Mr. Miguel Covarubbias says,
On stele C two impressive chieftains stand face to face, surrounded by lesser men suspended in space. The face of the man on the left is smashed, but the other is untouched and represents a stern, fully bearded man with an enormous aquiline nose, totally different from the flat-nosed people of La Venta . . . a personage with surprisingly pronounced Semitic features.12
Altars for sacrificing are a common discovery in unearthing the temples of ancient America.
In the National Geographic for July, 1931, is a picture of what is reputed to be the largest and finest altar yet discovered (found at Uaxactun, Guatemala).
The Nephite Record says, “And they also took of the firstlings of their flocks, that they might offer sacrifice and burnt offerings, according to the law of Moses” (Mosiah 1: 30) .
Concerning the similarities between the Mosaic and Aztec systems, Lord Kingsborough says, “There was much in connection with the sacrifices that was common to Mexicans and Jews.”13
The Mexicans applied the blood of sacrifices to the same uses as the Jews; they poured it upon the earth, they sprinkled it, they marked persons with it, and they smeared it upon walls and other inanimate things (Ibid. page 154).
No one but the Jewish High Priest might enter the 1-Foly of Holies. A similar custom was found in Peru (Ibid. page 156).
Both Mexicans and Jews regarded certain animals as unclean and unfit for food (Ibid. page 273).
It was customary among the Mexicans to eat the flesh of the sacrifices of atonement (ibid. page 176).
Mr. C. Reginald Enoch says,
Cloths of vicuna wool, which were interwoven with gold and silver filaments (Peru), have come down to us today in all their primitive freshness. . . . An art which passed in remote times from Babylon to other cities and which is first mentioned as employed in the Ephods of Aaron.’~
THE JUBILEE YEAR
According to the law of Moses (Leviticus 25), the Hebrews made a new start every half century. This was called the Year of Jubilee. Mortgages and debts were canceled and all the land returned to the original tribal inheritance, It was a time of celebration and rejoicing.
Thus far we have found evidence of the existence in ancient America of much that the Good Shepherd had in his fold at Jerusalem in Old Testament times. Let us see if there is evidence that the Year of Jubilee was known in ancient America. Mr. Jose Jiminez Gomez says, concerning the Aztec calendar stone, “The snake scales are supposed to represent centuries of fifty-two years and on the upper side of the body of the serpents can be seen blazes of fire which means that at the beginning of every century they kindled the new fire.”’5
In the Mexican National Museum in Mexico City there are numerous bundles (stone) of roped years. Manly P. Hall says concerning these bundles of roped years, “The Mexicans had periods composed of what they called the binding of years. These bindings contained fifty-two years and constituted a cycle. “16
Concerning the volador, a religious ceremony of the Totonacs of Mexico, Dr. Alfonso Caso says, “The four macaws descending from the pole and taking thirteen turns are symbols of the 52 years of the Indian cycle, that is to say, of the movement of the sun in 13x4 which gives the 52 years figure.”’7
PATRIARCHY, GENEALOGY, AND TOTEMISM
Patriarchy, genealogy, and totemism were all part of the Old Testament system and found within the Good Shepherd’s fold in ancient Israel. Stephen D. Peet says,
The prevalence of Totemism in the Old Testament is shown by the dying words of Jacob, for in them be described the animal figures which were shown on the escutcheon of each tribe. The lion on the escutcheon of Judah, the serpent on that of Dan, the wild ass on that of Issachar, .and the bird on that of Naphtali.
How the patriarch came to use this language is a mystery. . . . Whatever the explanation is, the passage furnishes a good illustration of a custom which was common among the uncivilized races, and is still prevalent among the aborigines of America; namely, the custom of giving the names of animals and plants to children and making these serve as emblems of the clan or tribe.
Herrera remarks of the Mayas, “They were wont to observe their pedigree very much and therefore thought themselves all related and were helpful one to another. They did not marry any who bore the same name as their father . . . this shows that the patriarchy existed among the Mayas. “18
There are a number of theories as to the origin of the American Indian (Mongoloid, Hebrew, Phoenician, Egyptian, indigenous, etc.) . Concerning the Hebrew origin theory, Mr. Bancroft says, “The theory that the Americans are of Jewish descent has been discussed more minutely and at greater length than any other. Its advocates, or at least those of them who have made original researches, are comparatively few, but the extent of their investigations and the multitude of parallelisms they adduce in support of their hypothesis, exceed by far anything we have yet encountered.”19
While traveling in South America in 1949, 1 had a thrilling experience. A young archaeology student at the University of Trujillo in northern Peru was guiding me through the large Museum of Larco Hoyle at Chiclin, Peru. The museum contains the world’s finest collection of the ceramics of the ancient Chimus. Instead of painting pictures on canvas the Chimus molded pottery of the object they desired to picture, then painted the pottery. The museum seems to picture all the objects and activities connected with ancient Chimu life. One section is devoted to warriors and war, others to fruits and vegetables, another to various diseases. Finally, we came to a section devoted to crimes and punishments where my guide pointed out a large specimen of pottery. A man and a woman were tied to a post. There were many specks on the ceramic.
My guide pointed out the spots as rocks flying through the air. The crime was adultery punished by stoning to death. This is of course a part of the Mosaic Law, well illustrated by the woman brought to Jesus who was accused of adultery.
THE THEORY OF EGYPTIAN ORIGIN
The British scientist, F. A. Mitchell Hedges, says,
The modern theory is that the Mayas appeared in Central America sometime between 1,000 B.c, and the Christian Era, and that their civilization was derived from Egypt, from which they came across the vast Pacific, The points of resemblance between the Maya and the Egyptian civilizations are too numerous and peculiar to be explained by some imaginary impulse in all prehistoric people to develop along the same line.~
The question may well be asked: If the Shepherd of Israel led the flock of Joseph to America in 600 B.C., and established a fold for his sheep here, why is it that both Egyptian and H~-brew evidences are met with? Joseph was governor of the land of Egypt. He was second to Pharaoh himself. He married an Egyptian woman. His sons were raised in Egypt. The Bible says, “Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years” (Exodus 12: 40) . As slaves in the land of Egypt, the children of Israel built pyramids and obelisks, and inscribed hieroglyphics on Egyptian monuments.
The Prophet Nephi in the very first verse in the Nephite Record says, “I make a record in the language of my father, which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians” (I Nephi 1: 1).
The “stick of Joseph” quote, “And now behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge in the characters, which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech.”
The Egyptian Tau or letter T has been found at Palenque, Copan, and in Peru. Mr. Nadaillac says of the palace at Palenque, “Numerous masonry niches in the wall merit special attention on account of their resemblance to the letter T or rather the Egyptian Tau.”2’
THE MONGOLOID THEORY
There is one major theory in the world today concerning the origin of the American Indian and the ancient civilizations of the Americas. The Mongoloid theory taught in our school books is based upon the supposition that thousands of years ago uncultured tribes crossed from northern Siberia to Alaska over the frozen Bering Sea which is only twenty miles across. (The Nephite Record) records that the American Indian is of eastern Mediterranean or Hebrew origin.
If the Mongoloid theory is correct, how does one account for so much eastern Mediterranean influence in America (Hebrew style temples, Jewish caste faces, Egyptian pyramids, hieroglyphics, obelisks, etc.)? Another serious question arises. Ancient crude Eskimo type people living in the arctic northern Siberia region would have a tremendous adjustment to make between their native frozen north and the torrid tropics where ancient American civilization reached its heights. Which is the more reasonable—that Mongoloid people gradually scattered over Canada and the United States and down into Central America there to establish themselves and develop a great civilization, or that a people from the eastern Mediterranean already adjusted and acclimated to the warm regions migrated to similar regions here in the New World?
We make one more observation. The Lord told Abraham, “And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 22: 18) . It is both historical and remarkable that the four civilizations of the Old World sprang up immediately adjacent to the Promised Land of Abraham—Egypt to the Southwest, Babylon to the east, Greece to the north, and Rome to the northwest. Is it unreasonable that ancient American civilization sprang from this same cultural hotbed?
THE CALENDAR STONE
The greatest Egyptian discovery in America is not pyramids, stelae (obelisks), hieroglyphics, or mummies. It is the Aztec calendar stone. It is a huge round stone, twelve feet wide, four feet thick, and weighs 57,000 pounds. It is on exhibit in the Mexican National Museum in Mexico City. It has eighteen months of twenty days each, with five complementary days and six hours for the measurement of a year’s time. This is similar to the calendar possessed by the ancient Egyptians.
Stephen D. Peet says, “The year in common use, called the vague year, began at different times of the true year through a long cycle. Here we find the analogy between the Egyptian and the American systems very startling.”22
John Delafleld comments:
I have also recognized in your memoir on the division of time among the Mexican nations, compared with those of Asia, some very striking analogies between the Toltec characters and institutions observed on the banks of the Nile. Among these analogies there is one which is worthy of attention. It is the use of the vague year of 365 days, composed of equal months, and of five complementary days, equally employed at Thebes and Mexico, a distance of 3,000 leagues. . . . Now, it is remarkable that the same solar year of 365 days, six hours, adopted by nations so different, and perhaps still more remote in their state of civilization than in their geographical distance, relates to a real astronomical period, and belongs peculiarly to the Egyptians, . . . The fact of the intercalation ~by the Mexicans] of 13 days every cycle, that is, the use of a year of 365 days and a quarter, is proof that it was either borrowed from the Egyptians, or that they had a common origin.2~
The works of H. H. Bancroft also touch on this point.~
BARBARIC RELIGIONS
The barbaric religious systems that led to the downfall of ancient Israel were sun worship (Jeremiah 8: 2; 7: 18, etc.),
human sacrifice and serpent ‘worship (II Kings 18: 4) . These three abominations wrecked the Good Shepherd’s fold in ancient Israel and scattered the sheep on a thousand hills.
We have found abundant evidence that the Shepherd of Israel set up his fold in ancient America. Now we are confronted with evidence that similar idolatrous abominations wrecked the fold in ancient America. Stephen D. Peet says,
The most remarkable fact which is brought out by this study is that the aboriginal religions of America correspond to the earliest forms of religions which prevailed in the East, The system of sun worship which prevailed among the agricultural tribes of the gulf states closely resembled that which existed in Egypt and Babylonia at the opening of history and many of the same customs were observed.25
The significance of these different works (mounds) will be understood if we compare the rites and ceremonies of the sun worshipers of this district with those which prevailed in Syria and Phoenicia in Old Testament times.
It is recorded in the Nephite Record that because of the practices of Solomon the Nephites attempted to introduce polygamy (Jacob 2: 3 5-43) . The Lord’s declaration against this is very revealing—”Wherefore, I, the Lord God, will not suffer that this people shall do like unto them of old” (Jacob 2: 35). It seems evident that the barbaric beliefs and practices of the American Indians show decided indications of having redone like them of old” in similarities to the eastern Mediterranean of ancient times.
The Nephite Record history tells us that soon after the colony of Joseph arrived in America, in about 580 B.C., it divided. One group was faithful to God and kept the law of Moses (Nephites) . The other group reverted back to the idols and religious vices which led to the downfall of ancient Israel. This group (the Lamanites) was cursed and their skins were darkened so there would ‘be no intermarriage between the white, cultured Nephites and the lazy, idolatrous Lamanites.
Eventually, and after the Golden Age of ancient America which followed Christ’s visit here, the entire population gradually drifted away from the Good Shepherd’s fold. A war of extinction broke out between the Nephites and the Lamanites, and both nations turned from the gospel of Christ to idolatry and human sacrifice.
Yea, the more part of them [Nephites] had turned out of the way of righteousness and did trample tinder their feet the commandments of God, and did turn unto their own ways, and did build up unto themselves icfols of their gold and their silver.
And they [Lamanites in last war] did also march forward against the city Teancum, and did drive the inhabitants forth out of her, and did take many prisoners, both women and children, and did offer them up as sacrifices unto their idol gods.
The prophets of ancient Israel warned the people if they did not cease from worshiping the sun and moon and offering their sins and daughters up as sacrifices to the idols of Baal, that the Lord would destroy them and leave their cities desolate. When Columbus discovered America, the words of the prophets against ancient Israel could just as appropriately have been spoken against the Aztecs for human sacrifice to idol gods or against the Mayas for snake rites (II Kings 18: 4) and against the Incas for sun rites.
Jeremiah says,
Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, . . . they have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, . . . therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter.. . . And I will make this city desolate, and an hissing, every one that passeth thereby shall he astonished, and hiss because of the plagues thereof —19: 4-6, 8.
And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.—Jeremiah
AN ARRAY OF SOBERING FECTS
The facts indicate that the God of Israel established his fold in America. His sheep prospered and enjoyed a Golden Age as long as they listened to the voice of the Good Shepherd. The day came (third century after Christ) when they turned away from their Shepherd’s fold and reverted back to the abominations which destroyed the fold in ancient Israel. Now the fold the Good Shepherd established in America is desolate and the words of Jeremiah to Jerusalem and the cities of Judab are startlingly applicable.
Chan Chan, Kabah, and Sayil are “desolate without an inhabitant.” Piedras Negras, Tikal, and Uaxactun are rtdesolate2~ ~and a den of dragons.” Monte Alban, Teotihuacan, Copan, and Chichen Itza, glorious cities of ancient America, are ttheaps~~ and tta;i astonishment to all that pass by.~’
Now, from the pages of the Nephite Record, the warning comes to us and to our cities:
And now we can behold the decrees of God concerning this land, that it is a land of promise, and whatsoever nation shall possess it, shall serve God, or they shall be swept off when the fullness of his wrath shall come upon them.
And the fullness of his wrath cometh upon them when they are ripened in iniquity; for behold, this is a land which is choice above all other lands; wherefore he that doth possess it shall serve God, or shall be swept off; for it is the everlasting decree of God.
And this cometh unto you, 0 ye Gentiles, that ye may know the decrees of God, that ye may repent, and not continue in your iniquities until the fullness comet that ye may not bring down the fullness of the wrath of God upon you, as the inhabitants of the land have hitherto done.—Ether 1: 31, 32, 34.
1. Paul Radin, Sou7ces and Au;henticity ol the Hi.tto7y of the Ancient Mexicans, page 67.
2. Baldwin, Ancient Ame7ica, page 218.
3. Baldwin, Ancient America.
4. Lewis Spence, Myths ol Mexico and Peru, page 152.
5. Nadaillac, Prehistoric America, page 526.
6. A. Hyatt Verrill, Scientific American, March, 1931.
7. S. G. Morley, National Geo,graphic, May, 1927.
8. S. G. Morley, National Geo,graphic, July, 1931 .
9. A. Hyatt Verrill, CIa! Civilizations ol the New World, pages 294, 302, 303,
291.
10. Bancroft, Native Races, Volume 3, page 371.
11. Theodore A. Willard, The Lost Empires ol the Itraes ace’ Mayast page 422.
12. Miguel Covarubbias, Mexico South (1946), page 90.
13. Lord Kingsborougb, Mexican Antiquities, Volumes 6 and 8.
14. C. Reginatd Enoch, The Secret ol the Pacific, page 224.
15. Jose Jiminez Gomez, The Aztec Calendar, page 2.
16. Manly P. Hall, Twelve Great Teachers, page 234.
17. Dr. Alphonso Caso, Archaeological Guide Booh on Mexican National Museum.
18. Stephen D. Peet, Prehistoric America, Myths ace’ Symbols, Volume 5, pages
8-35.
19. H. H. Bancroft, Native Races, Volume 5, page 77.
20. F. A. Mitchell Hedges, London Daily Mail, March, 1924.
21. Nadaillac, Prehistoric America.
22. Stephen D. Peet, Prehistoric America, Volume 5, page 183.
23. Delafield, Antiquities of Ancient America, page 52.
24. H. H. Bancroft, Native Races, Volume 5.
25. Stephen D. Peet, Prehistoric America, Volume 5, pages 7, 321.
WARNING WORDS OF CHRIST FROM ANCIENT AMERICA
Yea, wo be unto the Gentiles, except they repent, for it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Father, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots, and I will cut off the cities of thy land~ and throw down all thy strongholds:
Thy graven images I will also cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the works of thy hands.
William Prescott in his Conquest of Peru says, “If no one could become rich in Peru, no one could become poor . . . no man, however humble, suffered from the want of food or clothing” (pages 36, 37, 103).
The science of archaeology proves there was once a high state of civilization in ancient America. The Indian legends and the Nephite Record both associate these high tides of blessing and welfare with the Divine Being who came to them. The legends and the Nephite Record also agree that this Divine Being promised a restoration and a New Jerusalem for his people on the American continent. It is a remarkable fact that biblical prophets also believed in, looked for, and promised a restoration of the Jews to Jerusalem and a Zion. The prophets clearly indicate two holy cities—Jerusalem in the Old World and Zion or a New Jerusalem in the New World.
Isaiah says,
For Zion’s sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.—Isaiah 62: 1.
Joel in a prophecy about the last days says,
And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions; and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit, And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered; for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.—Joel 2: 28-32.
The prophet Isaiah indicates that Zion and Jerusalem are two separate holy cities—”Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation” (Isaiah 64: 10) .
Isaiah also indicates that the rise of Zion and Jerusalem shall come in the last days:
And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall he established in the top of the mountains, and shall he exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and be will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.— Isaiah 2: 2, 3.
The prophet Isaiah agrees with the Nephite Record in indicating that Christ will come to Zion in America:
So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun, . . . And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord—Isaiah 59: 19, 20.
After the long period of dark ages which followed the collapse and destruction of the ancient civilization in America the Native American, surviving descendants of a once golden era, yearned for the return of their white hero god and a restoration of the ancient order of things. The arrival of Cortez in Mexico therefore was greeted with rejoicing and high expectancy as the natives thought Quetzalcoatl had returned in accordance with the promise he had made.
Following the medieval Dark Ages in the Old World the so-called period of the Reformation was ushered in. The reformers as evidenced from their own writings looked forward with expectancy to a day of restoration, a day when the old Jerusalem church with apostles, prophets, and the gifts and powers of the early church would again be set up on the earth. Alexander Campbell, founder of the Christian Church, says,
Some new revelation or some new development of the revelation of God must be made, before the hopes and expectations of all true Christians can be realized or Christianity save and reform the nations of the world. We want the old gospel back and sustained by the ancient order of things, and this alone by the blessing of the Divine Spirit is all we do want, or can expect, to reform and save the World.
THE LOST TRIBE OF JOSEPH FOUND
THE LOST TRIBE OF JOSEPH FOUND
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.
WE have found strong evidence that the Good Shepherd visited America. We have also found substantial evidence that his sheep in America heard his voice and wrote down his words and had a sacred book. We are now confronted with the question of the origin of these sheep (house of Israel).
There is much in tradition and in ancient pictographs about the ancestors of the Indians migrating over seas and through vast forests and deserts. As already noted, the Toltecs are said to have carried their books with them.
Bancroft’s works tell us:
The Chileans assert that their ancestors came from the west. The Chepewyans have a tradition that they came from a distant land. . .
The Algonquins preserve a tradition of a foreign origin and a sea voyage. For a long time they offered an annual thank offering in honor of their happy arrival in America. According to Careri, the Olmec traditions relate that they came by sea from the east.1 [ For original Thanksgiving Day, see Mosiah 1: 30 in the Nephite Record.]
In the Popol Vuh, we are told that the Lost Book of God shows clearly “that we came from beyond the sea.”
Mr. Bancroft says, “According to the Quich6s’ tradition, the primitive portion of the Nahu as, or ancestors of the Toltecs, were in a distant East, beyond immense seas and lands.”2
Gregory Mason says that there are many legends along the west coast of South America concerning the remote arrival on rafts, of a very learned and powerful people.3
Brinton says, “The Aztec priests never chanted more regretful dirges than when they sang of Tulan, the cradle of their race.”4
Sahagun (pioneer traveler among Aztecs) was asked by the natives if he came from Tiapallan. He had crossed the sea to their country; and the inquisitive natives wanted to know, if he came from the same place their ancestors did.5
The evidence in the New World points across the sea for the origin of the ancient people. Since Christ himself is the Holy One of Israel and said he was “not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” it appears that the Bible might be the most likely place to look for the origin of the flock of sheep who were led to America.
THE FLOCK OF JOSEPH
Give ear, 0 Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellcst between the cherubims, shine forth.—Psalm
80: 1.
Where did the Shepherd of Israel lead the flock ‘of Joseph? Let us trace the movements of Joseph and see if the Bible will not give us a plain, clear-cut answer. Jacob’s blessing to his son Joseph says:
Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:
The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and bated him:
But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)
Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:
The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.—Genesis 49: 22-26.
The next lead we get as to the destiny of Joseph is found in Deuteronomy. Moses gives a description of Joseph’s land to which we shall make future reference.
And of Joseph he [Moses] said, Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath,
And for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon,
And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills,
And for the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush: let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren—Deuteronomy 33: 13-16.
Let us continue to trace the movements and destiny of the tribe of Joseph.
And in Jerusalem dwelt of the children of Judah, and of the children of Benjamin, and of the children of Ephraim, and Manasseh.— I Chronicles 9: 3.
A REMNANT TO ESCAPE FROM JERUSALEM
For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.—Isaiah
37: 32.
Just before Nebuchad rezzar came against Jerusalem to sack the city and carry the survivors away into captivity, the Prophet Jeremiah, who lived in Jerusalem at that time, delivered a prophecy to someone, instructing them to flee and get far away.
Flee, get you far off, dwell deep, 0 ye inhabitants of Hazor, saith the Lord; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon bath taken counsel against you, and hath conceived a purpose against you.
Arise, get you up unto the wealthy nation, that dwelleth without care, saith the Lord, which have neither gates nor bars, which dwell alone.—Jeremiah 49: 30, 31.
Let us sum up our biblical clues so far. The blessing of Joseph was to be unto the ‘~utmost bound of the everlasting hills” (Andes or Rockies). Joseph’s land was to be blessed with many specific things as mentioned in Deuteronomy. We shall soon search for that part of the earth which best meets the requirements of this prophecy. The flock of Joseph settled in Jerusalem. Someone was to escape from Jerusalem before the king of Babylon destroyed the city. The “zeal of the Lord of hosts” was to do this. In other words, the Shepherd of Israel would lead Joseph like a flock (Psalm 80: 1). Jeremiah delivers the prophecy to those that are to flee and offers some hints as to where they are to go. It was to be far off. It is to be a “wealthy nation which have neither gates nor bars, which dwell alone.” All the cities of the Old World had walls, gates, and bars, and no nation dwelt alone.
We found strong evidence in the New World, pointing back across the sea as the place “from whence they came.” Now, in the Old World and from the Bible, we find clear-cut evidence pointing across the sea to the New World as the place to which the flock of Joseph was led.
JOSEPH’S BRANCHES TO RUN OVER WALL (SEA)
Psalm 80: 1, 8, 11 says:
0 Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock.
Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it.
She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river.
Isaiah says:
For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah: the lords of the heathen have broken down the principal plants thereof, they are come even unto Jazer, they wandered through the wilderness:
her branches are stretched out, they are gone over the sea.—16: 8.
Jeremiah says:
o vine of Sibmah, I will weep for thee with the weeping of Jazer:
thy plants are gone over the sea, they reach even to the sea of Jazer:
the spoiler is fallen upon thy summer fruits and upon thy vintage.— 48: 32.
JOSEPH’S LAND DESCRIBED
We have already had strong indications that the Shepherd of Israel led his flock of Joseph away from Jerusalem down “through the wilderness” and “over the sea,” “to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills.”
Moses in the thirty-third chapter of Deuteronomy names eight specific points for which Joseph’s land is to be noted. II America is Joseph’s land and the choice pasture to which the “Shepherd of Israel” led “the flock of Joseph,” then we must expect that America will meet the requirements of Moses’ eight points better than any other country in the world.
Blessed of the Lord be his [Joseph’s] land, for the precious things of heaven.
Peter says, “Unto you… which believe, he [Christ] is precious” (I Peter 2: 7). Without question, the Savior is most precious. Joseph’s land was to be blessed because of the precious things of heaven. In other words, Joseph’s land was to be blessed by the presence of the Holy One of Israel. In our first chapter, “The God of Ancient America,” we found that evidence of Christ’s visit to Joseph’s land (America) is indeed great.
Moses used the word “things” (plural), so Joseph’s land is to be blessed with more than one precious thing of heaven. Next to the presence of the Good Shepherd himself, his words or a holy record takes second place as a precious thing of heaven. (SeelSamuel3: 1.)
We found evidences on both sides of the sea that the ancestors of the Indians came from ancient Israel. Also, we find evidences on both sides of the sea (Old and New World)
that Joseph’s land was to be blessed of a second thing of heaven—a holy book.
The Prophet Ezekiel tells us:
The word of the lord came again unto me, saying, Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:
And join them one to another into one stick: and they shall become one in thine hand.
And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?
Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.
—37: 15-19.
According to Ezekiel, Judah was to have a book (the Bible), and Joseph was also to have a book. Where is the Book of Joseph? If America is Joseph’s land, then we ought to find evidence of Joseph’s book on this side of the sea. Among the Indians’ writings and legends as already noted, we find evidence that the ancient Americans had a Holy Book of God. The seeker for truth asks, “Where is the book now?”
It does appear that the ancient people knew of thin gold plates with hieroglyphics.
A Spanish colonial history states:
The Mexican Indians sold to some European antiquarians very thin plates of gold, evidently worked with a hammer, which their ancestors had been able to preserve, and on which were engraved ancient hieroglyphics.7
In April, 1949, the author in company with Francis Anderson of Holden, Missouri, visited the awe-inspiring Museo de Oro or Museum of Gold in the Bank of the Republic at Bogota, Colombia.
The Museo de Oro contains by far the largest and finest collection of ancient gold artifacts the author has seen in the Western Hemisphere. Among the fabulous arrays of jewelry and golden artifacts, there is one showcase devoted to numerous rolls of thin gold paper. On the wall of the showcase are a number of specimens of the thin gold plates or paper on which there are inscriptions.
We have given consideration to the first of eight different things for which Joseph’s land was to be blessed. Let us briefly consider the seven remaining points.
Blessed of the Lord be his [Joseph’s] land, for the dew and for the deep that coucheth beneath.
For great rivers, fountains, and lakes, America is far ahead of any other part of the world.
According to Hendrick Van Loon’s Geography, the Mississippi-Missouri River is the longest river in the world (4,221
miles). It is navigable 3,550 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico, a distance greater than from New York to London.
The Yukon, known as the “Wandering River,” rises within fifteen miles of the Pacific, flows 2,300 miles, then empties into the Pacific. Steamboats cover all but fifteen miles of it. Next to the Mississippi-Missouri River, the Amazon is the longest river in the world (3,900 miles). For volume of water, no river can compare with the Amazon. During the wet season, the mouth of the river is said to be fifty miles wide. The Amazon River drops only one inch each five miles in its last seven hundred miles and flows only two and one quarter miles per hour, yet its current is felt two hundred miles at sea.
And fo7 the precious fruits brought forth by the sun.
The agricultural fruits of America are indeed precious now. Because America is so far ahead of the rest of the world in agricultural resources, it is helping greatly to feed the world. Countless millions across the sea depend upon the world’s bread basket (Mississippi Valley) for their food. In statistics published in 1938, before the war had upset the world’s economy, the United States (only one of the nations living in Joseph’s land) was producing 60 per cent of the wheat and cotton of the globe.
And for the precious things put forth by the rnoon.
It is well known that the moon as well as the sun plays its part in influencing and wooing plant life into maximum activity.
Mr. Nadaillac says:
In no region of the globe has nature been rnore prodigal than in the vast districts stretching from Guiana to Uruguay, from the Atlantic to the forest spurs of the Andes, forming the empire of Brazil. The fertility of the soil, under the double influence of heat and moisture, is wonderful; forest trees grow in great variety everywhere; valuable medical plants spring up in profusion which are not to be met with in any other climate; and vegetables, good for food, or fruits pleasant to
the palate of man, with flowers of the most brilliant colors. Fifteen thousand vegetable species peculiar to Brazil have already been recognized.8
And for the chief things of the ancient rnountains.
There are no forests in the Old World that begin to compare with the vast forests of the United States and Canada. “Founder’s Tree” on the Eel River in northern California is the tallest tree in the world (364 feet). In the Sequoia National Forest in California, there is one tree which contains enough lumber to build fifty-five five-room homes. Hooker’s Oak, near Chico, California, is the largest oak tree in the world. There are trees in California with a circumference of ninety-eight feet.
In the Kansas City Star for March 24, 1949 is a feature article about three giant cypresses in a valley in Mexico. The largest of these trees has a circumference of more than 114 feet. Its age is estimated as high as 10,000 years.
And for the precious things of the lasting hills.
The United States possesses (1938) almost $11,000,000,000 in gold, or nearly half of the world’s monetary metal. It has two thirds of civilization’s banking resources. The purchasing power of the population is greater than that of the 500,000,000 people in Europe and much larger than that of more than a billion Asiatics. These figures are to be found in the record. They are the envy of the world. Turning to one of our journals, The United States News, we find more statistics concerning automobiles. This country has 22 to every 100 persons. Canada has ii; France, 5; United Kingdom, 5; Germany, 2; and Italy, 1.
The United States produces 50 per cent of the copper and pig iron, and 40 per cent of the lead and coal output of the globe.9
These figures are taken from an article published in 1938. The title of the article is “America Has Highest Living Standard of the Nations.”
According to a recent chart prepared by the National Federation of Small Business in Washington, D.C., the United States has one auto for each four persons, Britain one auto for each twenty-two persons, Sweden one for twenty-nine persons, Italy one for ninety-three persons, and Russia one auto for two hundred and fifty-two persons. And though only possessing 6 per cent of the world’s land area we possess 40 per cent of the world’s telegraphs and 30 per cent of its railroads.
And for the precious things of the earth and fullness thereof.
The United States, exclusive of the other countries of the New World, produces 70 per cent of the world’s oil (1937-38).
The United States contains 6 per cent of the world’s area and 7 per cent of its population; but because of its wealth, based on the richness of its vast natural resources, it consumes 48 per cent of the world’s coffee, 53 per cent of its tin, 56 per cent of its rubber, 72 per cent of its steel, 36 per cent of its coal, and 42 per cent of its pig iron.
And for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush.
A great mass of evidence discloses that the ancient Americans had prophets and a Sacred Book, and that Jesus Christ visited them. In what other part of the world (Europe, Siberia, India, Australia, Africa) is there such evidence of having “the good will of him that dwelt in the bush”?
If we take Moses’ eight points in Deuteronomy as the determining factor in identifying Joseph’s land, there can be no other conclusion than that America is Joseph’s land and that it is the place where the Good Shepherd led the flock of Joseph (Psalm 80: 1).
1. Bancroft, Native Races, Volume 5, page 22.
2. Bancroft, Native Races, Volume 3, page 270.
3. Gregory Mason, Columbus Came Late, page 68.
4. Brinton, Myths of the New World, page 90.
5. Brinton, Myths of the New World, page 91.
6. Ann Axtell Morris, Digging in Yucatan, page 262.
7. Dr. Saville, Goldsmith’s Art in Ancient Mexico, page 175.
8. Nadaillac, Prehistoric America, page 465.
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.
WE have found strong evidence that the Good Shepherd visited America. We have also found substantial evidence that his sheep in America heard his voice and wrote down his words and had a sacred book. We are now confronted with the question of the origin of these sheep (house of Israel).
There is much in tradition and in ancient pictographs about the ancestors of the Indians migrating over seas and through vast forests and deserts. As already noted, the Toltecs are said to have carried their books with them.
Bancroft’s works tell us:
The Chileans assert that their ancestors came from the west. The Chepewyans have a tradition that they came from a distant land. . .
The Algonquins preserve a tradition of a foreign origin and a sea voyage. For a long time they offered an annual thank offering in honor of their happy arrival in America. According to Careri, the Olmec traditions relate that they came by sea from the east.1 [ For original Thanksgiving Day, see Mosiah 1: 30 in the Nephite Record.]
In the Popol Vuh, we are told that the Lost Book of God shows clearly “that we came from beyond the sea.”
Mr. Bancroft says, “According to the Quich6s’ tradition, the primitive portion of the Nahu as, or ancestors of the Toltecs, were in a distant East, beyond immense seas and lands.”2
Gregory Mason says that there are many legends along the west coast of South America concerning the remote arrival on rafts, of a very learned and powerful people.3
Brinton says, “The Aztec priests never chanted more regretful dirges than when they sang of Tulan, the cradle of their race.”4
Sahagun (pioneer traveler among Aztecs) was asked by the natives if he came from Tiapallan. He had crossed the sea to their country; and the inquisitive natives wanted to know, if he came from the same place their ancestors did.5
The evidence in the New World points across the sea for the origin of the ancient people. Since Christ himself is the Holy One of Israel and said he was “not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” it appears that the Bible might be the most likely place to look for the origin of the flock of sheep who were led to America.
THE FLOCK OF JOSEPH
Give ear, 0 Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellcst between the cherubims, shine forth.—Psalm
80: 1.
Where did the Shepherd of Israel lead the flock ‘of Joseph? Let us trace the movements of Joseph and see if the Bible will not give us a plain, clear-cut answer. Jacob’s blessing to his son Joseph says:
Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:
The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and bated him:
But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)
Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:
The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.—Genesis 49: 22-26.
The next lead we get as to the destiny of Joseph is found in Deuteronomy. Moses gives a description of Joseph’s land to which we shall make future reference.
And of Joseph he [Moses] said, Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath,
And for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon,
And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills,
And for the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush: let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren—Deuteronomy 33: 13-16.
Let us continue to trace the movements and destiny of the tribe of Joseph.
And in Jerusalem dwelt of the children of Judah, and of the children of Benjamin, and of the children of Ephraim, and Manasseh.— I Chronicles 9: 3.
A REMNANT TO ESCAPE FROM JERUSALEM
For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.—Isaiah
37: 32.
Just before Nebuchad rezzar came against Jerusalem to sack the city and carry the survivors away into captivity, the Prophet Jeremiah, who lived in Jerusalem at that time, delivered a prophecy to someone, instructing them to flee and get far away.
Flee, get you far off, dwell deep, 0 ye inhabitants of Hazor, saith the Lord; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon bath taken counsel against you, and hath conceived a purpose against you.
Arise, get you up unto the wealthy nation, that dwelleth without care, saith the Lord, which have neither gates nor bars, which dwell alone.—Jeremiah 49: 30, 31.
Let us sum up our biblical clues so far. The blessing of Joseph was to be unto the ‘~utmost bound of the everlasting hills” (Andes or Rockies). Joseph’s land was to be blessed with many specific things as mentioned in Deuteronomy. We shall soon search for that part of the earth which best meets the requirements of this prophecy. The flock of Joseph settled in Jerusalem. Someone was to escape from Jerusalem before the king of Babylon destroyed the city. The “zeal of the Lord of hosts” was to do this. In other words, the Shepherd of Israel would lead Joseph like a flock (Psalm 80: 1). Jeremiah delivers the prophecy to those that are to flee and offers some hints as to where they are to go. It was to be far off. It is to be a “wealthy nation which have neither gates nor bars, which dwell alone.” All the cities of the Old World had walls, gates, and bars, and no nation dwelt alone.
We found strong evidence in the New World, pointing back across the sea as the place “from whence they came.” Now, in the Old World and from the Bible, we find clear-cut evidence pointing across the sea to the New World as the place to which the flock of Joseph was led.
JOSEPH’S BRANCHES TO RUN OVER WALL (SEA)
Psalm 80: 1, 8, 11 says:
0 Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock.
Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it.
She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river.
Isaiah says:
For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah: the lords of the heathen have broken down the principal plants thereof, they are come even unto Jazer, they wandered through the wilderness:
her branches are stretched out, they are gone over the sea.—16: 8.
Jeremiah says:
o vine of Sibmah, I will weep for thee with the weeping of Jazer:
thy plants are gone over the sea, they reach even to the sea of Jazer:
the spoiler is fallen upon thy summer fruits and upon thy vintage.— 48: 32.
JOSEPH’S LAND DESCRIBED
We have already had strong indications that the Shepherd of Israel led his flock of Joseph away from Jerusalem down “through the wilderness” and “over the sea,” “to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills.”
Moses in the thirty-third chapter of Deuteronomy names eight specific points for which Joseph’s land is to be noted. II America is Joseph’s land and the choice pasture to which the “Shepherd of Israel” led “the flock of Joseph,” then we must expect that America will meet the requirements of Moses’ eight points better than any other country in the world.
Blessed of the Lord be his [Joseph’s] land, for the precious things of heaven.
Peter says, “Unto you… which believe, he [Christ] is precious” (I Peter 2: 7). Without question, the Savior is most precious. Joseph’s land was to be blessed because of the precious things of heaven. In other words, Joseph’s land was to be blessed by the presence of the Holy One of Israel. In our first chapter, “The God of Ancient America,” we found that evidence of Christ’s visit to Joseph’s land (America) is indeed great.
Moses used the word “things” (plural), so Joseph’s land is to be blessed with more than one precious thing of heaven. Next to the presence of the Good Shepherd himself, his words or a holy record takes second place as a precious thing of heaven. (SeelSamuel3: 1.)
We found evidences on both sides of the sea that the ancestors of the Indians came from ancient Israel. Also, we find evidences on both sides of the sea (Old and New World)
that Joseph’s land was to be blessed of a second thing of heaven—a holy book.
The Prophet Ezekiel tells us:
The word of the lord came again unto me, saying, Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:
And join them one to another into one stick: and they shall become one in thine hand.
And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?
Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.
—37: 15-19.
According to Ezekiel, Judah was to have a book (the Bible), and Joseph was also to have a book. Where is the Book of Joseph? If America is Joseph’s land, then we ought to find evidence of Joseph’s book on this side of the sea. Among the Indians’ writings and legends as already noted, we find evidence that the ancient Americans had a Holy Book of God. The seeker for truth asks, “Where is the book now?”
It does appear that the ancient people knew of thin gold plates with hieroglyphics.
A Spanish colonial history states:
The Mexican Indians sold to some European antiquarians very thin plates of gold, evidently worked with a hammer, which their ancestors had been able to preserve, and on which were engraved ancient hieroglyphics.7
In April, 1949, the author in company with Francis Anderson of Holden, Missouri, visited the awe-inspiring Museo de Oro or Museum of Gold in the Bank of the Republic at Bogota, Colombia.
The Museo de Oro contains by far the largest and finest collection of ancient gold artifacts the author has seen in the Western Hemisphere. Among the fabulous arrays of jewelry and golden artifacts, there is one showcase devoted to numerous rolls of thin gold paper. On the wall of the showcase are a number of specimens of the thin gold plates or paper on which there are inscriptions.
We have given consideration to the first of eight different things for which Joseph’s land was to be blessed. Let us briefly consider the seven remaining points.
Blessed of the Lord be his [Joseph’s] land, for the dew and for the deep that coucheth beneath.
For great rivers, fountains, and lakes, America is far ahead of any other part of the world.
According to Hendrick Van Loon’s Geography, the Mississippi-Missouri River is the longest river in the world (4,221
miles). It is navigable 3,550 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico, a distance greater than from New York to London.
The Yukon, known as the “Wandering River,” rises within fifteen miles of the Pacific, flows 2,300 miles, then empties into the Pacific. Steamboats cover all but fifteen miles of it. Next to the Mississippi-Missouri River, the Amazon is the longest river in the world (3,900 miles). For volume of water, no river can compare with the Amazon. During the wet season, the mouth of the river is said to be fifty miles wide. The Amazon River drops only one inch each five miles in its last seven hundred miles and flows only two and one quarter miles per hour, yet its current is felt two hundred miles at sea.
And fo7 the precious fruits brought forth by the sun.
The agricultural fruits of America are indeed precious now. Because America is so far ahead of the rest of the world in agricultural resources, it is helping greatly to feed the world. Countless millions across the sea depend upon the world’s bread basket (Mississippi Valley) for their food. In statistics published in 1938, before the war had upset the world’s economy, the United States (only one of the nations living in Joseph’s land) was producing 60 per cent of the wheat and cotton of the globe.
And for the precious things put forth by the rnoon.
It is well known that the moon as well as the sun plays its part in influencing and wooing plant life into maximum activity.
Mr. Nadaillac says:
In no region of the globe has nature been rnore prodigal than in the vast districts stretching from Guiana to Uruguay, from the Atlantic to the forest spurs of the Andes, forming the empire of Brazil. The fertility of the soil, under the double influence of heat and moisture, is wonderful; forest trees grow in great variety everywhere; valuable medical plants spring up in profusion which are not to be met with in any other climate; and vegetables, good for food, or fruits pleasant to
the palate of man, with flowers of the most brilliant colors. Fifteen thousand vegetable species peculiar to Brazil have already been recognized.8
And for the chief things of the ancient rnountains.
There are no forests in the Old World that begin to compare with the vast forests of the United States and Canada. “Founder’s Tree” on the Eel River in northern California is the tallest tree in the world (364 feet). In the Sequoia National Forest in California, there is one tree which contains enough lumber to build fifty-five five-room homes. Hooker’s Oak, near Chico, California, is the largest oak tree in the world. There are trees in California with a circumference of ninety-eight feet.
In the Kansas City Star for March 24, 1949 is a feature article about three giant cypresses in a valley in Mexico. The largest of these trees has a circumference of more than 114 feet. Its age is estimated as high as 10,000 years.
And for the precious things of the lasting hills.
The United States possesses (1938) almost $11,000,000,000 in gold, or nearly half of the world’s monetary metal. It has two thirds of civilization’s banking resources. The purchasing power of the population is greater than that of the 500,000,000 people in Europe and much larger than that of more than a billion Asiatics. These figures are to be found in the record. They are the envy of the world. Turning to one of our journals, The United States News, we find more statistics concerning automobiles. This country has 22 to every 100 persons. Canada has ii; France, 5; United Kingdom, 5; Germany, 2; and Italy, 1.
The United States produces 50 per cent of the copper and pig iron, and 40 per cent of the lead and coal output of the globe.9
These figures are taken from an article published in 1938. The title of the article is “America Has Highest Living Standard of the Nations.”
According to a recent chart prepared by the National Federation of Small Business in Washington, D.C., the United States has one auto for each four persons, Britain one auto for each twenty-two persons, Sweden one for twenty-nine persons, Italy one for ninety-three persons, and Russia one auto for two hundred and fifty-two persons. And though only possessing 6 per cent of the world’s land area we possess 40 per cent of the world’s telegraphs and 30 per cent of its railroads.
And for the precious things of the earth and fullness thereof.
The United States, exclusive of the other countries of the New World, produces 70 per cent of the world’s oil (1937-38).
The United States contains 6 per cent of the world’s area and 7 per cent of its population; but because of its wealth, based on the richness of its vast natural resources, it consumes 48 per cent of the world’s coffee, 53 per cent of its tin, 56 per cent of its rubber, 72 per cent of its steel, 36 per cent of its coal, and 42 per cent of its pig iron.
And for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush.
A great mass of evidence discloses that the ancient Americans had prophets and a Sacred Book, and that Jesus Christ visited them. In what other part of the world (Europe, Siberia, India, Australia, Africa) is there such evidence of having “the good will of him that dwelt in the bush”?
If we take Moses’ eight points in Deuteronomy as the determining factor in identifying Joseph’s land, there can be no other conclusion than that America is Joseph’s land and that it is the place where the Good Shepherd led the flock of Joseph (Psalm 80: 1).
1. Bancroft, Native Races, Volume 5, page 22.
2. Bancroft, Native Races, Volume 3, page 270.
3. Gregory Mason, Columbus Came Late, page 68.
4. Brinton, Myths of the New World, page 90.
5. Brinton, Myths of the New World, page 91.
6. Ann Axtell Morris, Digging in Yucatan, page 262.
7. Dr. Saville, Goldsmith’s Art in Ancient Mexico, page 175.
8. Nadaillac, Prehistoric America, page 465.
THE MYSTERY OF THE “LOST BOOK
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.
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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