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Genderless Jesus Class at BYU-Sad!

Religion of Academia, Gender Dysfunction, Drag Queens, Intellectuals, Furry Litter Boxes in Schools for children who think they are a Cat, and now a “Genderless Jesus?” It’s sick and wrong. It’s hard to even imagine this type of filth in our world being taught to our children. What is more shocking to me, it is being taught at BYU along with the radical and in my opinion evil doctrine of Critical Race Theory.( CRT)

Don’t Fear, Have Faith

Students Who Blew Whistle On BYU ‘Revealing Whiteness’ Assignment Threatened With Discipline

Surprise! Utah is a hotbed of CRT activism and mandates in higher education.

A professor at Brigham Young University (BYU), in Provo, Utah, recently assigned a Revealing Whiteness assignment to a 100-level Sociology course. The resulting controversy has pitted conservative students against activist academic staff. One professor has threatened the students that posted the lesson to social media with severe punishment under BYU’s student conduct rules.

While this type of controversy over wokeness in reliably red Utah may come as a surprise to some, the state’s higher education system has begun to mandate lessons based in Critical Race Theory (CRT) for all colleges and universities operating in the state.

Campus Reform first reported on the controversial lesson:

A professor at Brigham Young University (BYU) allegedly assigned a classroom exercise titled “Revealing Whiteness Activity.”

Professor Jane Lopez assigned the activity as homework and instructed students to photograph three representations of “Whiteness” on campus.” Source

See more on CRT at my blog here:

What Prophets and Leadesr Say

“I do not know all of the providences of the Lord, but I do know that he permits false doctrine to be taught in and out of the Church and that such teaching is part of the sifting process of mortality.” Bruce R. McConkie, McConkie’s 1981 letter to BYU

President J. Reuben Clark famously said, “If we have the truth, it cannot be harmed by investigation. If we have not the truth, it ought to be harmed.”

The cornerstone of “sound scholarship” in our day is the comfortable doctrine that the answer no can never be quite as wrong as the answer yes, a proposition which to my knowledge has never been demonstrated. Excuse me if I seem recalcitrant, but I find it odd that the one skill most appreciated and rewarded in those circles where one hears everlastingly of “the inquiring mind” and the importance of “finding out for one’s self” is the gift and power of taking things for granted. Even our Latter-day Saint intellectuals are convinced that the way to impress the Gentiles is not to acquire a mastery of their critical tools, (how few even know Latin!), but simply to defer in all things to their opinions.The WORLD Of The JAREDITES Improvement Era 1951-52 PART II The Tower By Hugh Nibley

“It’s narrative is a chronicle of nations long since gone. But in its descriptions of the problems of today’s society, it is as current as the morning newspaper and much more definitive, inspired, and inspiring concerning the solutions to those problems… If the Book of Mormon is true, then America is a choice land, but if it is to remain such the inhabitants of the land must worship the God of the land, the Lord Jesus Christ. The histories of two great nations, told with warning in this sacred volume, indicate that while we must have science, while we must have education, while we must have arms, we also must have righteousness if we are to merit the protection of God.” Gordon B. Hinckley The Power of the Book of Mormon Ensign June 1988

Professors Bias and Historians Opinions

Just as there is bias in all of us, we must also be aware that Professors at our Universities, and some Church Historians and Intellectuals can also share their bias as well. Here is an example from the Church book series titles, “Saints.”

First I want to say the Saints Book is very good to read and I like it. The Church has worked hard to put together a great volume to help others understand the history of the church in a narrative way. There are in the church historians and intellectuals who like to retell history or revise things you may want to be aware of. The Prophet and the 12 have trusted these people to say the correct things and most of the time they do what is right. However, some of these intellects who think they are more important that the Brethren they serve, make mistakes. Some items are mistakes, but I feel much of it is their pride to look good or unique or more informed than others. For example:

“SAINTS”

“When the book Saints was published, I noted that the term Cumorah had been censored from the text. I attributed this censorship to an effort by Church historians to revise Church history to accommodate their M2C* colleagues.

Recently the editors publicly acknowledged the censorship of Cumorah. In this post we’ll examine their statement.

Many readers prefer short posts, so here are three twitter-length summaries:

1. Saints creates a false narrative present; i.e., characters in the book do not have 1827-1844 ideas about the New York Cumorah that is well established in original sources. 

2. Instead, the characters in Saints know nothing about Cumorah, a reflection of the late 20th century “two Cumorahs” theory created by M2C intellectuals.

3. In responses to criticism, the editors of Saints published an essay that seeks to explain their censorship of Cumorah with a series of inconsistent and counterfactual justifications.

4. The editors of Saints ultimately admit they censored the term Cumorah to “uphold” so-called “neutrality,” a euphemism for accommodating the M2C theory of Book of Mormon geography.

Over a year ago I anticipated this outcome in Saints, which is part of a well-established a pattern by LDS intellectuals to erase the New York Cumorah from the historical record and from the knowledge of members of the Church.**

There is additional related revisionist editing in Saints, such as replacing  terms from original sources (“this continent” and “this country”) with the M2C-approved term “the Americas.” Another problem is the phony 20th century story about Mary Whitmer being shown the plates by Moroni.

For thousands of members of the Church, the censorship of Cumorah has become a serious enough issue that the editors of Saints responded publicly (although they haven’t yet responded  to the other revisionist problems in Saints). Jonathan Neville. More Here!

*M2C means Mesoamerica 2 Hill Cumorah’s Theory


A brave young lady speaks out about a BYU class titled “The Genderless Jesus” on the video below. I am appalled and angry at so much evil and wrong doctrine is being taught, not only at BYU but all over the world.

Androgyny

noun

  1. The state of being androgynous; union of sexes in one individual; hermaphroditism.
  2. Union of both sexes in one individual; hermaphroditism.
  3. hermaphroditism

 

 

 

 This ′Old Devil’s Letter to the Young’? by CS Lewis

C. S. Lewis wrote this nearly 70 years ago but could have been written today:

“One young devil asked the old man: “How did you manage to bring so many souls to hell?” The old devil answered: “I instilled fear in them!”

Answers the youngster: “Great job! And what were they afraid of? Wars? Hunger?”

Answers the man: “No, they were afraid of the disease!”

For this youngster: “Does this mean they didn’t get sick? Are they not dead? There was no rescue for them?”

The old man answered: “But no … they got sick, died, and the rescue was there.”

The young devil, surprised, answered: “Then I don’t understand?”

The old man answered: “You know they believed the only thing they have to keep at any cost is their lives. They stopped hugging, greeting each other. They’ve moved away from each other. They gave up all social contacts and everything that was human! Later they ran out of money, lost their jobs, but that was their choice because they were afraid for their lives, that’s why they quit their jobs without even having bread.

“They believed blindly everything they heard and read in the papers. They gave up their freedoms, they didn’t leave their own homes literally anywhere. They stopped visiting family and friends. The world turned into such a concentration camp, without forcing them into captivity. They accepted everything! Just to live at least one more miserable day … And so living, they died every day! And that’s how it was very easy for me to take their miserable souls to hell …” CS Lewis

This is the World Today, without Question. Let’s Wake-Up Friends!

Save our Children

If we as a world and a Country, and as members of the true Church don’t wake up, our miserable souls will also be in hell. I don’t believe the Lord creates anyone except wonderful Children of God. If so, how do we become so complacent and lulled to sleep? How does Satan lead us? Carefully, and with carnal security.

Our current government of the United States and most countries of the world have been infiltrated with Satan and his Cabal or Deep State for many years. Can’t you see that? This is the last days remeber. Satan is more evil than ever. Just because all looks fine in your neighborhood, it isn’t. Satan hides and over and overwhelms us with propaganda, and telling us to eat drink and be merry. Can’t we see his ploy? Wake up. Do you realize over 5-8 million children and youth go missing in the world every year? Ask Tim Ballard. Where are they? What happened to them? Most are in deep dark literal dungeons under the earth called DUMBS. (Look it up. ) I will let you imagine what Baal and Moloch and Satan do. The same thing they did in the scriptures below.

“9 When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.

10 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,

11 Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.

12 For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee.” Deut. 18:9-12

My good friend, Sam Dunaway shared an appropriate scripture with me from Malachi 12:17Ye have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?”


GenderBread Person

REPORT: BYU ‘Human Development’ Course Features the ‘Genderbread Person,’ Says Jesus Was ‘Not Masculine’

(AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
College, one might say, has changed. Whereas secondary schools once served as sophisticated training grounds, they appear to have transformed into more elementary institutions.

Case in point: Young adults in Utah are learning about themselves by way of a mythical cookie.

Allegedly, that is.

On Facebook recently, Natalie Cline — a Utah State Board of Education member and congregant of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) — posted a photo from a course at Church-affiliated Brigham Young University.

Her caption:

(A) student texted [this] picture to her mom during her Human Development class at BYU Provo just THIS MORNING…

Natalie linked to what she explained was the lecture’s full slide deck as well as a three-minute audio clip.

The photo accompanying her post revealed a projected image in a large university classroom. Its focus: a drawing of “The Gingerbread Person,” alternately known as The Genderbread Person.

As seen in the image, terms are tied by arrows to the confected creature. The word “Sex” points to Mr./Ms. Cookie’s crotch; “Expression” outlines his/her body; “Identity” fills the progressive pastry’s rainbow-colored brain; and “Orientation is in the baked being’s heart.

To the right of the woke wafer are in-depth descriptions:

Gender Identity — ranges from Woman to Genderqueer to Man.
Gender identity is how you, in your head, think about yourself. It’s the chemistry that composes you (e.g., hormonal levels) and how you interpret what that means.

Gender Expression — ranges from Feminine to Androgynous to Masculine.
Gender expression is how you demonstrate your gender (based on traditional gender roles) through the ways you act, dress, behave, and interact.

Biological Sex — ranges from Female to Intersex to Male.
Biological sex refers to the objectively measurable organs, hormones, and chromosomes. Female = vagina, ovaries, XX chromosomes; male = penis, testes, XY chromosomes; intersex = a combination of the two.

Sexual Orientation — ranges from Heterosexual to Bisexual to Homosexual.
Sexual orientation is who you are physically, spiritually, and emotionally attracted to, based on their sex/gender in relation to your own.

It seems to me the above is a bit half-baked. If gender identity is defined by both “the chemistry that composes you” and “how you interpret what that means,” then your chemical composition plays no part; how you interpret things is the sole defining component. And the area directly linking “woman” to “man” leaves out lots of interpretive possibilities. Furthermore, if sexual orientation is based on one’s identity relative to the identity of others — which can be anything any person interprets it to be — then sexual orientation cannot simply exist linearly between heterosexual and homosexual.

After all:

Not to mention:

BYU seems a smidge behind the times. Maybe they should bake a better cookie.

Meanwhile, the professor evidently believes he or she has had a religious revelation. Back to Natalie’s post:

(The) student texted…this key takeaway from the teacher: “Not masculine, not feminine, Christlike. Androgyny is the key.”

This is blasphemous and goes completely against gospel doctrine. These teachings are not endorsed by the Church or BYU, but by wolves in sheep’s clothing that wish to devour the flock.

It may go against LDS doctrine, but it’s right in sync with modern cultural theology. And given that, the course name is correct: It’s all part and parcel of humanity’s new phase of development.” -ALEX

Furry Litter Box

A SCHOOL in Michigan has bizarrely been accused by outraged parents of installing litter boxes in bathrooms for students who identify as cats and dogs.

Midland Public Schools Superintendent Michael E. Sharrow took to Facebook on Thursday to deny the claims, insisting no litter box accommodations had been made for any students who identify as a “furry.”

The bizarre rumor pertains to a school in Michigan's Midland Public Schools District

The bizarre rumor pertains to a school in Michigan’s Midland Public Schools District Credit: Google Maps

Parents have claimed that at least one litter box was installed in a unisex bathroom for children who identify themselves as 'furries'

Parents have claimed that at least one litter box was installed in a unisex bathroom for children who identify themselves as ‘furries’ Credit: Getty

A “furry” is someone who role-plays or identifies as an animal, or an animal character with human-like characteristics. Some furries even wear animal costumes or tails in public.

In his statement, Sharrow said it was “unconscionable that this afternoon I am sending this communication.

“However, our Midland PS stakeholders may be confused about a false message/accusation that has resurfaced this week and is gaining traction in the social media realm.”

Sharrow said the rumor was recently brought up by a parent during a school board meeting on December 20 and has since been shared widely online.

“Let me be clear in this communication. There is no truth whatsoever to this false statement/accusation! There have never been litter boxes within MPS schools.

“It is a source of disappointment that I felt the necessity to communicate this message to you.”

I was also told at least 8 schools in Salt lake County, currently have litter boxes in both the boys and girls bathrooms. It’s sick and wrong!


Brainwashed School Kids Now Identifying as Animal “Furries”

Source:  Alex Newman

As if identifying as newly invented “genders” was not outlandish enough, indoctrinated and confused victims of government schools are now coming to class wearing tails, fake animal ears and even leashes. They call themselves “furries.” And estimates suggest there are already hundreds of thousands across America.

The Newman Report has received communications about this disturbing trend from parents across multiple states including Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, and more. Video of children barking like dogs or meowing like cats while scooting around on all fours have become increasingly popular on social media, too.

Even the “mainstream” media has started picking up on the phenomena in government schools — even in conservative states. NBC affiliate WLWT, for instance, recently reported on concerns among parents in the Meade County, Kentucky, School District about children “attending school acting like and dressing as cats.”

One grandmother of two in the local high-school was too scared to give her name but wanted to speak out nonetheless. “Apparently, from what I understand, they’re called ‘furries,’” the grandmother told WLKY. “They identify with animals. These people will hiss at you or scratch at you if they don’t like something you’re doing.”

According to the grandmother quoted by the NBC affiliate, she first became aware of the bizarre fetish spreading among school children in 2020. “But it really got bad when they went back to school this year,” she explained. “I have two grandkids in school and my grandkids didn’t want to go to school anymore.”

Students have even started a petition seeking to stop the practice, warning that some of these confused children were even biting fellow students as if they were wild animals with the knowledge of school officials.

Meanwhile, one woman who did not identify herself took to social media to explain that she was fired as a substitute teacher for refusing to “meow” back to a self-proclaimed “furry” child in the class she was subbing for. Apparently refusing to play along with the kitty delusion is tantamount to “misgendering” a student confused about their gender.

Biden signs bill to codify gay ‘marriage’ with an activist drag queen in attendance

The president claimed the controversial legislation will ‘strike a blow against hate in all its forms.’

Posted BY: Teresa | NwoReport

WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — President Joe Biden signed the so-called Respect for Marriage Act into law Tuesday at a White House ceremony filled with guests that included a “queer youth” activist drag queen.

The RMA repeals the longstanding (but unenforced) Defense of Marriage Act (which recognized marriage as a man-woman union in federal law and protected states’ rights to do the same), federally recognizes any “marriage” lawfully performed by any state and forces every state to recognize any “marriage” of any other state “between two individuals,” without regard for “the sex, race, ethnicity, or national origin of those individuals.”

Tensions have swirled over the bill since July when 47 Republicans joined Democrats to pass the first version out of the U.S. House of Representatives. But while opposition from conservative groups, religious leaders, and Republican voters led supporters to offer amendments meant primarily to satisfy religious liberty concerns (inadequately, according to conservatives), the Senate voted to pass the amended version, with 12 Republicans joining Democrats. The House voted last week to pass the final version, with 39 Republicans joining Democrats.

https://nworeport.me/2022/12/14/biden-signs-bill-to-codify-gay-marriage-with-an-activist-drag-queen-in-attendance/

Here is a list of Utah Congressmen who voted for this bill:

How did Utah’s GOP congressmen vote on a bill to write same-sex marriage into law?

Rep. Burgess Owens, left, Rep. Blake Moore, Rep. Chris Stewart, all Utah Republicans, pose for photos.
Rep. Burgess Owens, left, Rep. Blake Moore and Rep. Chris Stewart, all Utah Republicans, pose for photos at the Awaken Event Center in South Jordan after each won their primary race on Tuesday, June 28, 2022. Spenser Heaps, Deseret News

Utah’s four Republican congressmen joined all House Democrats in passing a bill Tuesday that would write same-sex marriage into law.

In all, 47 GOP House members crossed party lines in the bipartisan 267-157 vote for the Respect for Marriage Act.

Rep. John Curtis, R-Utah, said the majority opinion of the Supreme Court clearly stated that the court has no intention of reversing any decisions respecting the right to marriage in the Constitution.

“That said, I also understand how important codifying these protections are to many Utahans. I do not believe the federal government should infringe upon an individual’s decision about who they wish to marry,” he said in a statement.” Source

In a stunning move, LDS Church comes out for bill that recognizes same-sex marriage

Church doctrine still supports only man-woman marriage, but scholar says the news reflects a “dramatic reversal of previous teachings.”

(Rick Bowmer | AP) A couple look at the Salt Lake Temple, April 6, 2019. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints voiced its support for the federal Respect for Marriage Act, which recognizes legally sanctioned same-sex marriage, as long as it safeguards religious freedoms.

(Rick Bowmer | AP) A couple look at the Salt Lake Temple, April 6, 2019. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints voiced its support for the federal Respect for Marriage Act, which recognizes legally sanctioned same-sex marriage, as long as it safeguards religious freedoms.

In an unexpected move, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gave its support Tuesday to a proposed federal law that would codify marriages between same-sex couples.

The Utah-based faith’s doctrine “related to marriage between a man and a woman is well known and will remain unchanged,” the church stated in a news release. “We are grateful for the continuing efforts of those who work to ensure the Respect for Marriage Act includes appropriate religious freedom protections while respecting the law and preserving the rights of our LGBTQ brothers and sisters.”

The church’s remarks come after the act’s sponsors added an amendment to the House-passed bill exempting religious organizations, including faith-based universities, from providing “services, accommodations, advantages, facilities, goods or privileges for the solemnization or celebration of a marriage.” Neither could the act be used to alter the tax-exempt status of any organization.

Don’t Doubt The Prophet and Apostles

I am a life long member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and in good standing. This bill that our congress and our Church just agreed with in passing, is difficult to understand, but I agree with their stand of supporting this bill.

On the initial reading of this bill, it may seem the wrong thing for our true Church to do. But, as it says in Article of Faith 12, “We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.”

We must remeber this world is Satan’s world and we must be “in it but not of it.” We must be here to learn and grow. We will never progress if we don’t have opposition and learn how to stay true to the Savior while still obeying and sustaining the law of man.

Why was the Promised Land chosen by God to be here in the United States? First, before addressing that question let me share something with you.

Let’s consider another country such as Iran which has a Theocracy which means “A form of government in which God is recognized as the supreme civil ruler of the state, and his laws are taken as the statute-book of the kingdom.” Source

In other words, what ever their so-called god or Ayatollah says, is the way you are FORCED to live according to the law of one person who they call a god. Did you know that in Iran if you are gay or lesbian they will kill you? If they find out through others or by their own research, you will be killed. That sounds like Satan’s plan doesn’t it? Doesn’t freedom mean making a wrong choice or a right choice as it is up to us. 

Blessings and Curses

If our church said two gay people cannot be married, or they will be put in prison or fined or killed, would that be a righteous Prophet or Savior? No! The Church can and does say, only a man and a woman can be sealed in the Temple, and that is our right as a church or as an organization. Shouldn’t we teach correct principles and then allow others to choose for themselves? Yes! For every choice there is a blessing and a curse.

Therefore, O my son, whosoever will come may come and partake of the waters of life freely; and whosoever will not come the same is not compelled to come; but in the last day it shall be restored unto him according to his deeds.

If he has desired to do evil, and has not repented in his days, behold, evil shall be done unto him, according to the restoration of God.” Alma 42:27-28

Why the Lord Chose the United States

Back to my question of, why did God make the choice to have the United States be the Promised Land for the restoration of the gospel? The Bill of Rights says, God gives us Life, Liberty, and the right to pursue Happiness. Here is the answer to the question by Orson F; Whitney, “In culmination of the grand scheme of schemes, this great nation, the Republic of the United States, might be established upon this land as an asylum for the oppressed; a resting place, it might be said, for the Ark of the covenant, where the temple of our God might be built; where the plan of salvation might be introduced and practiced in freedom, and not a dog would wag his tongue in opposition to the purposes of the Almighty. We believe that this was His object in creating the Republic of the United States; the only land where his work could be commenced or the feet of his people find rest. No other land had such liberal institutions, had adopted so broad a platform upon which all men might stand. We give glory to those patriots for the noble work they did; but we give the first glory to God, our Father and their Father, who inspired them. We take them by the hand as brothers. We believe they did nobly their work, even as we would fain do ours, faithfully and well, that we might not be recreant in the eyes of God, for failing to perform the mission to which He has appointed us.” Bishop Orson F. Whitney, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, April 19, 1885. Reported by John Irvine. Journal Discourses Volume 26 Page 201

You see, Iran and most other countries, don’t have Liberal Institutions. They try and force all people to live only what their god or government or king or dictator tells them to. Our land of America with the Constitution that Christ wrote, (D&C 101:80), we allow others their freedom of choice and then hopefully elect good men and women to pass righteous laws to govern all people, regardless of their belief in God or not. We can’t and shouldn’t force others to follow our Church doctrine any more than the Catholics should force us to live their religion. Freedom and Liberty is why the Lord choose this land of the United States. Mesoamerica doesn’t have that, China doesn’t have that and no other land had such “liberal” or open institutions as the USA has.

To me, this explains why our Church agreed with this new bill. They must protect our religious liberties, or our church could be forced to allow gay’s to marry in the temple or other issues we don’t agree with. Sometimes you need to pass or follow a law of the government that is flawed, in order to follow a higher principle. Remeber, God will rule and reign on this cleansed earth, but that time is not here, yet! It’s close, as I feel our good government is mostly infiltrated with evil right now, but good will conquer bad. This is a fight of God vs Satan and has nothing to do with a Republican vs a Democrat.


Statement on the United States Congress Respect for Marriage Act.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released the following statement on Tuesday, November 15, 2022.

“The doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints related to marriage between a man and a woman is well known and will remain unchanged.We are grateful for the continuing efforts of those who work to ensure the Respect for Marriage Act includes appropriate religious freedom protections while respecting the law and preserving the rights of our LGBTQ brothers and sisters.We believe this approach is the way forward. As we work together to preserve the principles and practices of religious freedom together with the rights of LGBTQ individuals, much can be accomplished to heal relationships and foster greater understanding.” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Official-Statement-2022

“Mother I have got the Key… I Can See Anything” JS JR.

Joseph Loved “The Key”

Regarding the “key” Joseph Smith said, “I can see anything; they are marvelous.”

I believe Joseph wore the breastplate under his shirt, as Lucy Mack Smith said, “he kept these things constantly about his person.” Lucy also said speaking of the breastplate, and is made to fit the breast very exactly.” I believe Lucy, as I have been told that her journal is as accurate or more so than Wilford Woodruff’s.

Lucy also wrote in her journal of 1845 that Joseph said to her, “Mother,” said he. “Do not be uneasy. All is right. See here,” said he, “I have got the key.“ The Key was simply the two clear stones in a silver bow that was fastened to a breastplate.

Joseph Knight was also quoted by Lucy and said, “Then he [Joseph] went on to tell the length and width and thickness of the plates, and said he, “they appear to be gold.” But he seemed to think more of the glasses or the Urim and Thummim than he did of the plates, for, says he, “I can see anything; they are marvelous.” (“Joseph Knight’s Recollection of Early Mormon History,” BYU Studies, Vol. 17, No. 1; spelling modernized.)

Joseph Knight was present at the Smith family farm when Joseph Smith retrieved the plates in September 1827, and he supplied the Prophet Joseph with money, paper, and provisions during the translation of the Book of Mormon.


Translation Method, “not intended to tell the world“

The matter of how the Book of Mormon was translated has been of considerable interest and discussion virtually from the time the book became public. This is illustrated in an exchange that took place between the Prophet and his brother Hyrum in a conference of the Church held 25 October. On that occasion Hyrum said “that he thought best that the information of the coming forth of the book of Mormon be related by Joseph himself to the Elders present that all might know for themselves.” In response, Joseph Smith said that “it was not intended to tell the world all the particulars of the coming forth of the book of Mormon, & also said that it was not expedient for him to relate these things &c” (Cannon and Cook, Far West Record, 23).

Joseph did not share many particulars about the translation but it seems everyone else did. Even today there is a great effort by the historians and Intellectuals in the Church to push the Stone in the Hat Theory. I do not believe that theory. I believe what the Lord said, “and these stones, fastened to a breastplate, constituted what is called the Urim and ThummimGod had prepared them for the purpose of translating the book.(JSH 1:34), was the only means of translation.

Exclusive 26-Page Article Titled, “Mother, I have got the Key”
By Rod Meldrum and Rian Nelson FREE!

After downloading, you will be able to view it on your computer immediately. Feel free to copy and paste the pictures and information and share it with family and friends.

This 26-pages are similar pages from the 103-page book titled, “These Stones, Fastened to a Breastplate”, which is a complete story of Joseph and his mother’s descriptions of the method of translation, “by the Gift and Power of God.” Joseph was commanded to not show the plates, breastplate nor the spectacles to anyone unless commanded otherwise. As the only three items in the stone box, these exact articles were utilized by Joseph for the complete translation of the Book of Mormon. A Stone in a Hat was not used to translate, as you will not find that information anywhere in scripture.  Free Download Here!


What led up to the discussion between whether the Urim and Thummim or the Seer Stone were used for translation?

SITH below refers to “Stone in the Hat Theory” – M2C refers to the “Two Hill Cumorah’s theory.

“For over 150 years, LDS Church leaders taught that Joseph Smith translated the Nephite plates with the Urim and Thummim. From the early 1830s, critics said that Joseph produced the Book of Mormon by either (i) reading words off a seer stone he put in a hat or (ii) reading a manuscript written by Solomon Spalding and edited by Sidney Rigdon.

All three alternatives were set out in the 1834 book Mormonism Unvailed (Left). When that book was released in October 1834, Oliver Cowdery responded by declaring unambiguously that Joseph translated the record with the Urim and Thummim. You can see Oliver’s declaration in the Pearl of Great Price, at the end of Joseph Smith-History, or in the Joseph Smith papers here:By Jonathan Neville

Why are they called Interpreters and where did they come from?

The Interpreters are holy and came from God. How do we know this? It is in the Scriptures. We know where the Interpreters come from and why. That’s why it’s so important knowing that the Prophet Joseph Smith used them to translate the plates. Remember one of the greatest stories about faith is when the Brother of Jared (Mahonri Moriancumer) saw the finger of the Lord and could not be kept outside of the veil. Jesus Christ showed himself unto Mahonri and told him to write the doings of His people and He touched 16 stones for light in the 8 barges. The Lord also touched two additional stones called interpreters, for Mahonri to seal up until after Christ would appear in the flesh.

Ether 3:21-24

“And it came to pass that the Lord said unto the brother of Jared: Behold, thou shalt not suffer these things which ye have seen and heard to go forth unto the world, until the time cometh that I shall glorify my name in the flesh; wherefore, ye shall treasure up the things which ye have seen and heard, and show it to no man.

And behold, when ye shall come unto me, ye shall write them and shall seal them up, that no one can interpret them; for ye shall write them in a language that they cannot be read.

And behold, these two stones will I give unto thee, and ye shall seal them up also with the things which ye shall write.

For behold, the language which ye shall write I have confounded; wherefore I will cause in my own due time that these stones shall magnify to the eyes of men these things which ye shall write.” Ether 3:21-24

These two stones were also given to Mosiah with the same promise of being kept secret. Then these two stones were given back to Moroni who finally sealed up the Interpreters with the plates for the last time before Joseph Smith received them.

With this spiritual background of the Interpreters it is essential to understand the significance of Joseph using these “two stones” to translate the plates. In Ether we read, And behold, these two stones will I give unto thee, and ye shall seal them up also with the things which ye shall write. For behold, the language which ye shall write I have confounded; wherefore I will cause in my own due time that these stones shall magnify to the eyes of men these things which ye shall write.” Ether 3:23-24.

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Ether: “These Two Stones”
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Fastened to a Breastplate

It was “these two stones”, not A seer stone, not A stone, not A stone found in a well, but “these TWO stones” that were sealed up to come forth to Joseph the Prophet to translate the plates. Remember the translation was done “by the Gift and Power of God”, not by any other means. Not with one stone for convenience, or because Joseph left the Interpreters home, or he just can’t carry two stones, so I will only use one; these things did not matter because the Prophet was to do the translation “by the Gift and Power of God”, only! Joseph’s single stone he found in a well was not THAT spiritual method that the Lord planned from the beginning. Man’s way is not the Lord’s way. Joseph Smith the Prophet of the Lord translated the records of the Nephites and Jaredites with the spiritual means the Lord intended with the Interpreters (two stones and a breastplate) that were provided inside that most sacred stone box on Cumorah’s hill.

Scriptural Proof about the Method of Translation

Joseph said, “there were two stones in silver bows—and these stones, fastened to a breastplate, constituted what is called the Urim and Thummim—deposited with the plates; and the possession and use of these stones were what constituted “seers” in ancient or former times; and that God had prepared them for the purpose of translating the book.” (Joseph Smith—History 1:34–35). This scripture is very clear on the method and means of translation. The Urim and Thummim or more correctly called Interpreters, is a tool those in the Old Testament used but it was different than the one in the new world. See my complete blog here with more scriptural evidence.

“Joseph Smith received the same Urim and Thummim had by the Brother of Jared for it was the one expressly provided for the translation of the Jaredite and Nephite records. (D&C 10:1; 17:1; Ether 3:22-28.) It was separate and distinct from the one had by Abraham and the one had by the priests in Israel. The Prophet also had a seer stone which was separate and distinct from the Urim and Thummim, and which (speaking loosely) has been called by some a Urim and Thummim.” Mormon Doctrine page 576 under title Urim and Thummim and (Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 3, pp. 222-226.)

Many of the saints in Joseph’s day spoke of the instrument as a Urim and Thummim, but it was only called “Interpreters” in the entire Book of Mormon. Hence the Urim and Thummim or the Interpreters are that singular spiritual instrument called by two various names combined for translation, not the single stone, or a stone found somewhere in a well. To equate the two is not, “by the Gift and Power of God.

Proper Translation by Joseph

Entire Contents of the Stone Box

“Again, he told me, that when I got those plates of which he had spoken—for the time that they should be obtained was not yet fulfilled—I should not show them to any person; neither the breastplate with the Urim and Thummim; only to those to whom I should be commanded to show them; if I did I should be destroyed. While he was conversing with me about the plates, the vision was opened to my mind that I could see the place where the plates were deposited, and that so clearly and distinctly that I knew the place again when I visited it.” Joseph Smith History in the Pearl of Great Price or History of the Church 1:2–79.

“The box in which they lay was formed by laying stones together in some kind of cement. In the bottom of the box were laid two stones crossways of the box, and on these stones lay the plates and the other things with them.” JSH 1:52

In order to keep the commandment of the Lord it would be necessary for Joseph to use his intellect and be guided by the spirit, to protect these articles from being seen by those who transcribed or anyone else.I believe Joseph sat at one end of the table while Emma or Martin sat at the other end. In front of Joseph were the gold plates which were only covered by a cloth over about 10% of the front of the plates facing Emma. This way with the angle of Emma looking on, she could only see the cloth hiding the front end of the plates. I believe Joseph wore the breastplate as Lucy Mack Smith said, “he kept these things constantly about his person.” Lucy also said speaking of the breastplate, and is made to fit the breast very exactly.” I believe Lucy, as I have been told that her journal is as accurate or more so than Wilford Woodruff’s.

Anne Marie Oborn Artist, Mike LaFontaine, Great Friend and Steve Ross Metal Worker

As farm boy I believe Joseph wore a wide brim farmers hat, and not a top hat, and with that hat as a prop, he hid the spectacles from the view of Emma. Joseph did not put a stone or the spectacles in the hat, he just used the hat to block the sight (Joseph had to hide the spectacles with something. See picture left), between the spectacles and Emma’s view.

From Emma’s view (Picture below) all she could see is the farmers hat and maybe a slight view of the covered front of the plates. Joseph with the spectacles secured to the breastplate, could use one hand to hold the hat in front and use the other hand to turn the pages of the plates. This makes sense as the History of Joseph Smith which is canonized scripture says, “Also, that there were two stones in silver bows—and these stones, fastened to a breastplate, constituted what is called the Urim and Thummim—deposited with the plates; and the possession and use of these stones were what constituted “seers” in ancient or former times; and that God had prepared them for the purpose of translating the book.“ JSH 1:35 

“I have got the Key” by Joseph Smith Jr., as told by his mother Lucy

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is the-keya-1-1024x645.pngAfter first returning late at night from Hill Cumorah after the 4th year mentioned by Angel Moroni, on Sept 22, 1827 Joseph ran into the house and his mother Lucy said, “I trembled so much with fear lest all might be lost again by some small failure in keeping the commandments, that I was under the necessity of leaving the room to conceal my feelings. Joseph saw this and followed me. “Mother,” said he. “Do not be uneasy. All is right. See here,” said he, “I have got the key.“

“I knew not what he meant, but took the article in my hands and, examining it with no covering but a silk handkerchief, found that it consisted of two smooth three-cornered diamonds set in glass, and the glasses were set in silver bows connected with each other in much the same way that old-fashioned spectacles are made. He took them again and left me but did not tell me anything of the record….

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is crystal-glasses-and-breastplate-favorite-1-1024x768.pngThe spectacles shown left, reflect the definition by Lucy above. The glasses probably looked like two magnifying glasses with a clear diamond shaped and clear crystal possibly embedded in something like a magnifying glass. I’m sure it would be difficult for Lucy to describe, but I am confident that however it looked, it was an amazing instrument which originally came from the Brother of Jared. (See Ether 3:23-24; 4:5)

Spencer W. Kimball said, “Exactly how this precious instrument, the Urim and Thummim, operates we can only surmise, but it seems to be infinitely superior to any mechanism ever dreamed of yet by researchers… the abode of God is a master Urim and Thummim, and the synchronization of transmitting and receiving apparatus of this kind can have no limitation.”  (Spencer W. Kimball, Faith Precedes the Miracle, Pg.52 – Pg.53)   

For the full 103-page book $14.95 visit here!

We offer this entire 26-page pdf as an overall summary of the truest method of translation as we have discovered as you may also. Not just by the words you read but by the Spirit you may feel after study and prayer.

As Elder J. Reuben Clark says below, “So long as that church was persecuted from without, it prospered, but when it began to be polluted from within, the church began to wither.” What can we do to strengthen our family and ourselves? Now is the time to draw upon our testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ and follow our dear Prophet, Russell M. Nelson.”

We must study and pray to receive personal revelation from the Lord as the Prophet tells
us here.”

Personal Revelation

You don’t have to wonder about what is true. You do not have to wonder whom you can safely trust. Through personal revelation, you can receive your own witness that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, that Joseph Smith is a prophet, and that this is the Lord’s Church. Regardless of what others may say or do, no one can ever take away a witness borne to your heart and mind about what is true.

I urge you to stretch beyond your current spiritual ability to receive personal revelation, for the Lord has promised that “if thou shalt [seek], thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things—that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal.” Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives by President Russell M. Nelson

Evil White Mens Lie- Indians are Filthy, Lazy, Degraded and Ignorant Savages

Native Americans, Educated and Refined

“…When…first commanded to testify of these things they [The Three Witness] demurred and told the Lord the people would not believe them for the book concerning which they were to bear record told of a people who were educated and refined, dwelling in large cities; whereas all that was then known of the early inhabitants of this country was the filthy, lazy, degraded and ignorant savages that were roaming over the land. The Lord told us, in reply that he would make it known to the people that the early inhabitants of this land had been just such a people as they were described in the book, and he would lead them to discover the ruins of great cities, and they should have abundant evidence of the truth of that which is written in the book…” – David Whitmer, Interview with James H. Hart (Richmond, Mo., 21 August 1883), as printed in Deseret Evening News, Salt Lake City, Utah

Enos Loves His Brethren the Lamanites

Enos 1:13 “And now behold, this was the desire which I desired of him—that if it should so be, that my people, the Nephites, should fall into transgression, and by any means be destroyed, and the Lamanites should not be destroyed, that the Lord God would preserve a record of my people, the Nephites; even if it so be by the power of his holy arm, that it might be brought forth at some future day unto the Lamanites, that, perhaps, they might be brought unto salvation

First Mission to the Lamanites

“Elder Pratt’s autobiography recounts the first known preaching to the Lamanites in this dispensation: “After travelling for some days we called on an Indian nation at or near Buffalo; and spent part of a day with them, instructing them in the knowledge of the record of their forefathers. We were kindly received, and much interest was manifested by them on hearing this news” (Pratt 47). While Elder Pratt referred to these Native Americans as the Catteraugus tribe, Indian historians would more likely call them members of the Seneca nation who were inhabiting the Catteraugus reservation.

The group’s next contact with Native Americans was with the Wyandot tribe near Sandusky, Ohio. While no baptisms among the Indians were recorded, several settlers around Kirtland, Ohio, were baptized. Among these was Frederick G. Williams, who accompanied the four missionaries on their continued journey. Upon arrival at the western boundary of Missouri and after a trip on foot of about 1,500 miles (Pratt 52), Elders Whitmer and Peterson remained in the village of Independence working as tailors to earn money for the group, while the other elders crossed to the Indian territory. There they met with the Shawnees and the Delawares. These two tribes were not western savages but small, civilized remnants of once great eastern nations to whom the idea of prophets and special messages was not new (see Underfill 132–37). The interchange between the missionaries, Oliver as speaker, and Chief Anderson of the Delawares is well covered in Elder Pratt’s record (see Pratt 54–56). Hopes continued high as Oliver wrote to Joseph:

The principal chief says he believes every word of the Book & there are many more in the Nation who believes & we understand there are many among the Shawnees who also believe & we trust that when the Lord Shall open our way we shall have glorious times. . . . (Joseph Smith’s Letter Books) Byron R. Merrill, “Joseph Smith and the Lamanites,” in Joseph Smith: The Prophet, The Man

Earth Mounds are Buildings

Dr. Roger Kennedy, the former director of the Smithsonian’s American History Museum, addressed a misperception about earth mounds, noting that earth mounds are actually buildings. Build and building are also very old words, often used in this text [his book] as they were when the English language was being invented, to denote earthen structures. About 1150, when the word build was first employed in English, it referred to the construction of an earthen grave. Three hundred and fifty years later, an early use of the term to build up was the description of the process by which King Priam of Troy constructed a “big town of bare earth.” So when we refer to the earthworks of the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys as buildings no one should be surprised.” Jonathan Neville Mounds and Mormons

Hidden Cities: The Discovery and Loss of Ancient North American Civilization – by Roger G Kennedy, former director of the Smithsonian’s American History Museum is one of the most profound books on the hidden archaeology of North America.  How and why was it hidden away for centuries and why is it important to the future of America?  Reprinted by The Free Press, New York after overwhelming demand for its powerful message.  372 page soft cover.

Steven E. Smoot believes so, and he shared his story with for over 10 years with thousands of guests at conventions and with the sale of his book.

In the Book of Mormon Evidence Conferences (Now in its 30th semi-annual event) which is not sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, whether at the Davis Conference Center or the Mountain America Expo Center is it filled to capacity with LDS church members seeking more information on a variety of topics all focused on the Book of Mormon prophet Lehi and his descendants, where and how they lived, and how they vanished into thin air.

Steven E. Smoot

Smoot’s hypothesis is based on earthen mounds and archaeological artifacts found throughout Ohio, Mississippi and other heartland states between the Canadian border and the Gulf of Mexico. Most notable are the mound cities and burial grounds like those found in the Mississippi Valley.

This was a more highly advanced civilization than previously thought,” Smoot said. 

In a recent documentary Roger Kennedy, retired director of the Smithsonian Institute, said he had never heard of such civilizations. He had never considered the numerous mounds throughout the area to be more than piles of dirt. But that has changed.

After archaeological digs and significant artifacts and documentation had come forward over the years, Kennedy said the Smithsonian had to take another look.

“We now realize that tens of thousands of archaeological consequences are now hidden in our ground,” Kennedy said.

“One city across the river from St. Louis, the Cahokia Mounds, are bigger than the pyramid of Giza,” Smoot said. “There are 500 mounds in just one county dating back from 1,000 B.C. to 400 A.D.”

The fleeting notion that Columbus was the first to step foot on American soil is more sullied by the findings of modern archaeologists, Smoot said.

“The question is, who wasn’t here,” Smoot said. He noted the evidence of Vikings, Greeks, Polynesians, Welsh, Chinese and others.

So where did all this history go? According to Smoot, at one time there were 500 Native American languages and 50 linguistic families.

“Explorers were amazed at what they were finding in the early 1800s. They were finding symbols with old-world connections,” Smoot said. “We found early Jesuits seeking the lost 10 tribes. They thought the American Indians were of Jewish descent. They believed the Indian people worthy of salvation.”

Smoot said there were notes with opinions of the Jesuits stating that Indians in the Pennsylvania area were similar to the Jews of England.

All that changed when three men — John Wesley Powell, Lewis Henry Morgan, and E.B. Squier — first documented the mounds in the mid-1800s. They formed an association for the advancement of science and promulgated the evolution of societies.

HISTORY OF AAAS

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the betterment of all humanity. The formation of AAAS in 1848 marked the emergence of a national scientific community in the United States. While science was part of the American scene from the nation’s early days, its practitioners remained few in number and scattered geographically and among disciplines. AAAS was the first permanent organization formed to promote the development of science and engineering at the national level and to represent the interests of all its disciplines.

Smoot continues, “The evolution began with savages, then to barbarians and eventually civilized man. They categorized Indians as savages, thus sufficiently taking away their societal influence. Religionists like Joseph Smith and his church were considered barbarians.

Smoot quickly noted that both Powell and Morgan’s fathers were Methodist ministers who preached in Palmyra, N.Y., in 1830 and were instrumental in spreading some of the radical thinking against Smith, founder of the LDS Church.

Smoot believes the Indian history got lost through political debunking and battles over opinions that escalated in the late 1800s. Powell wrote the blueprint for how to handle Indians based on them being deemed savage.

“The most common question that is asked about mounds is, “How many exist?” In the 1800’s the Smithsonian sponsored many expeditions to identify mound sites across America. A map (shown below) was produced by Cyrus Thomas in 1894 in a Bureau of Ethnology book. They found approximately 100,000 mound sites, many with
complexes containing 2 to 100 mounds. The figure of 100,000 mounds once existing— based on Cyrus Thomas map revealing 100,000 sites—is often cited by others, but that estimate is far, far too low. After visiting several thousand mounds and reviewing the literature, I am fairly certain that over 1,000,000 mounds once existed and that perhaps 100,000 still exist. Oddly, some new mound sites are discovered each year by archaeological surveys in remote areas. But in truth, a large majority of America’s mounds have been completely destroyed by farming, construction, looting, and deliberate total excavations” – Gregory L. Little, Ed.D., The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Native American Mounds & Earthworks, Eagle Wing Books, Inc., Memphis, TN [2009].

White Mans Biggest Lie

By 1894 the mound investigation and archaeological digs had ceased. With the Indians now considered savages it was easier to convince people that Native Americans needed to be put away on reservations.

Terrible Advertisement (Our Government did the Natives wrong)

“The ancient inhabitants of this country must be lost,” Powell said.

“They pictured them in loin clothes running around with tomahawks in their hand,” Smoot said. “There are those who would seek to close the history book for a better world.”

With renewed interest in the mound cities and the early Native Americans, Smoot believes it’s time for people to look at all the possibilities.

“There is a larger history with implications for our day,” Smoot said.

For more information about the conference visit www.BookofMormonEvidence.org.


Understanding Lamanites- Nothing but Raw Meat

Enos 1:20 “And many of them did eat nothing save it was raw meat; and they were continually seeking to destroy us.”

“One hundred and seventy-nine years after Lehi’s family left Jerusalem, the Lamanites were “feeding upon beasts of prey” and many were eating “nothing save it was raw meat.” This diet, consisting of meat only, would require a very large sustainable population of wild animals, or very large animals, or both. One 1,800 pound bison will feed a large number of people. It has been estimated that between 30-60 million bison once roamed the Great Plains of North America. Living in tents was a necessary part of the Indian culture of moving with bison herds and correlates well with Eno’s description of the Lamanite lifestyle. In an Ancient Archaeology article, Discovery Reveals Ancient Bison Hunting in Illinois, [2006] archaeologist Alan Harn found “bison remains with a spearpoint, indicating that humans hunted the animals as long as 2,300 years ago. Annotated Book of Mormon page 121

Bison Migration

Buffalo Jumps: The Plunge of Death. Native Americans worshipped this beast. Buffalo Jumps took great skill, courage, teamwork, and a communal effort with everyone having a part. At times different tribes would come together for a better harvest of a large herd. The Indians had devised a unique yet ingenious way to capture large herds. The plan was to force them to stampede and fall off to the butcher and skin them. At times, the fastest runner of the tribe would be given the honor of starting the herd toward the cliff. He would be at the front of the herd waving his blanket or a hide to startle them and then run for his life to the cliff. Behind the herd was other Indians dressed in wolf’s hides with fat smeared over them and waving and yelling to start a stampede. A herd of just 50 buffalo could yield 11-20,000 pounds of meat, enough to feed a tribe for the winter. This is why the White Man killing the Natives food was so evil.

Again the White man stole the food of the Native American. It is estimated that over 60,000,000 Bison were killed in order to help exterminate the Indians. What an evil act. That’s why I love the book of Mormon which was written for our Lamanite brothers and sisters.

In Alma 22:31, Mormon describes a wild animal that came (migrated) from a northern region for food. In Mosiah 18:4, Mormon describes how the land of Mormon was “infested, by times or at seasons, by wild beasts.” And in Ether 9:34, it says that “the people did follow the course of the beasts, and did devour the carcasses of them which fell by the way” following a great dearth (drought) that forced the beasts to retreat southward. The map on the left shows the ancient migration of bison based on available zoo-archaeological, paleontological, oral and written historical accounts. Herds came from the north to graze on the fertile grasses of the plains of North America. (Stephenson, R. O. et al. Wood bison in late Holocene Alaska and adjacent Canada: Paleontological, archaeological and historical records, [2001],125-159; S. C. Gerlachand M. S. Murrya, eds.)

Seasonal Migrations “Bison migrated up to 310 miles between summer and winter ranges…” – Mystery of Migration, Planet Earth Series [1981]. David Hocking and Rod Meldrum Annotated book of Mormon page 246

Ancient Bison in North America

“The greater portion, both of the entire skeletons or extinct animals, and the separate bones, have been taken up from black mud [in Big Bone Lick, Kentucky], about twelve feet below the level of the creek. It is supposed that the bones of mastodons found here could not have belonged to less than one hundred distinct individuals, those of the fossil elephant (E. prim genius), to twenty, besides which, a few bones of a stag, horse, megalonyx, and bison, are stated to have been obtained….In regard to the horse, it may probably have differed from our Equuscaballus as much as the zebra or wild ass, in the same manner as that found at Newberne [sic] in North Carolina appears to have done” – Charles Lyell, Travels in North America in the Years 1841-1842, New York: Charles E. Merrill[1909], 139-144.

The first paleontological site in North America wasprobably at Big Bone Lick, which is now Big Bone Lick StatePark near the Ohio River in Union, Kentucky. A Frenchcommander organized a dig there in 1739. Bones retrievedby him were sent to the Natural History Museum in Paris,France. In the 1960’s, the University of Nebraska conductedanother dig and several mammal fossils were recoveredincluding: possible wolf and black bear, modern bison, ancientbison, two types of musk ox, American moose, wapiti elk,common Virginia deer, extinct stag moose, caribou, flat-headed peccary, extinct North American horse, possibletapir, American mastodon, woolly mammoth, and two typesof giant ground sloth. The most common fossil found at theBig Bone Lick dig was the modern bison.

Bison Intentional Killing

A natives means to food, depended on a successful Buffalo Jump: The Plunge of Death. Native Americans worshipped this beast as it was a huge part of their lives. Buffalo Jumps took great skill, courage, teamwork, and a communal effort with everyone having a part. At times different tribes would come together for a better harvest of a large herd. The Indians had devised a unique yet ingenious way to capture large herds. The plan was to force them to stampede and fall off to the butcher and skin them. At times, the fastest runner of the tribe would be given the honor of starting the herd toward the cliff. He would be at the front of the herd waving his blanket or a hide to startle them and then run for his life to the cliff. Behind the herd was other Indians dressed in wolf’s hides with fat smeared over them and waving and yelling to start a stampede. A herd of just 50 buffalo could yield 11-20,000 pounds of meat, enough to feed a tribe for the winter. This is why the White Man killing the Natives food was so evil.

This is why evil White man stole the food of the Native American. To eliminate them. It is estimated that over 60,000,000 Bison were killed in order to help exterminate the Indians. What an evil act. That’s why I love the Book of Mormon which was written for our Lamanite brothers and sisters.

While studying in England, Lewis Henry Morgan was heavily influenced by British evolutionary theorists of his day, who at that time would tout the intriguing works of Thomas Malthus. His ideas were growing in popularity and, even then, being proposed as a tool to perfect both man and society through population control measures. Malthus affirmed, “my object was to apply it, to try the truth of those speculations on the perfectibility of man and society, which at that time excited a considerable portion of the public attention.”414

The Bison and Indians Unique Relationship

One of his most daunting ideas found in Malthus’ 1798 book, Essay on the Principle of Population, in the forth chapter, titled The Check To Population Among the American Indian. In this chapter he would refer to the Indians as savages living in a barbaric country. He depicted the Indians as “tribes of hunters, like beasts of prey whom they resemble in their mode of subsistence, will consequently be thinly scattered over the surface of the earth… Under such circumstances, that America should be very thinly peopled in proportion to its extent of territory, is merely an exemplification of the obvious truth, that population cannot increase without the food to support it…I would wish particularly to draw attention of the reader, [to] the mode by which the population is kept down to the level of this scanty supply.”415


U.S. government pursued a policy to eradicate the buffalo and thereby extinguish the Indians’ very existence, forcing them onto reservations. Writing to his superiors in 1881, General Phil Sheridan made it clear: If I could learn that every buffalo in the northern herd were killed I would be glad. The destruction of this herd would do more to keep Indians quiet than anything else that could happen. Since the destruction of the southern herd, which formerly roamed from Texas to the Platte, the Indians in that section have given us no trouble. If the Secretary of the Interior will authorize me to protect all other kinds of game [other than buffalo] in the far west I will engage to do so to the best of my ability. Source

More about Bison on my blog here: https://www.bofm.blog/bison-killing/


Powell Family, Palmyra and the Book of Mormon

Lost American Antiquities by Steven E. Smoot Chapter 34

“In the Arlington Cemetery Eulogy of John Wesley Powell’s life, G. K. Gilbert of Rochester, New York remarked:

The qualities, which enabled him so splendidly to perform his many self-imposed tasks, were an inheritance from his parents, who possessed more than ordinary intelligence. Joseph Powell, his father, had a strong will, deep earnestness, and indomitable courage, while his mother, Mary Dean, with similar traits possessed also remarkable tact and practicality. Both were English born, the mother well educated, and were always leaders in the social and educational life of every community where they dwelt. Especially were they prominent in religious circles, the father being a licensed exhorter in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Both were intensely American in their love and admiration of the civil institutions of the United States and both were strenuously opposed to slavery, which was flourishing in America when they arrived in 1830. For a time they remained in New York City and then re-moved to the Village of Palmyra whence they went to Mount Morris, Livingston County, New York, where, on March 24, 1834, the fourth of their nine children, John Wesley, was born. Because of the slavery question Joseph Powell left the Methodist Episcopal Church on the organization of the Wesleyan Methodist Church and became a regularly ordained preacher in the latter. It was in this atmosphere of social, educational, political, and religious fervor that the future explorer grew up.283

The Powell’s had found their way to one of the most intensely evangelical districts in America. All during the building of the [Erie] canal and well into the 1830’s western New York was on fire with religion, as Congregationalists, Presbyterians, and Methodists vied to save souls; observers called this “the burned-over district” because of the frequent revivals that raged like forest fires through the countryside. Rochester was the persistent center of the fire. In 1830 a New England preacher, Charles Grandison Finney, with bulging blue eyes and tense, gripping voice, came to that city and for six months preached nearly every night and three times on Sunday, converting thousands.284

While Rochester could point to Finney and his stupendous achievements, Palmyra made its own contribution to the religious ferment, one that would eventually reverberate to the far western deserts. Palmyra was the birthplace of Mormonism. Joseph Smith, Mormonism’s founder, was an uneducated farm boy living south of the village center. Smith’s tales and teachings would cause reverberations throughout the region, as the doctrines he espoused would be heard far and wide.

The Book of Mormon rolled off the press in Palmyra, New York in 1830. Its publication created no small stir with much controversy in the area. The book tells of ancient cultures that migrated to America hundreds of years before Christ.

However, the Mormon story had begun years earlier near the Palmyra Township of western New York, with stories of heavenly visitations to its youthful founder, Joseph Smith. His audacious claims were met with either delight or disdain, depending on the listener. For many, he was either a deluded dreamer or a charlatan. For others, he was a prophet, raised up by God, who had personally appeared to him in 1820 and later sent angels to guide Smith to an ancient record inscribed on gold plates and buried in a hill. Of this experience, Smith said:

“I was also informed concerning the aboriginal inhabitants of this country and shown who they were, and from whence they came; a brief sketch of their origin, progress, civilization, laws, governments, of their righteousness and iniquity, and the blessings of God being finally withdrawn from them as a people, was made known unto me; I was also told where were deposited some plates on which were engraven an abridgment of the records of the ancient prophets that had existed on this continent.” 285

This claimed ancient record was found in an area of the country where many other artifacts were being retrieved from mound explorations. Joseph Smith claimed to have translated the record and to have shown the plates to eleven others, who reportedly witnessed and gave testimony that they did indeed, see and handle the plates. Upon the translation of the record according to Smith, it was returned to a heavenly messenger, as instructed. Smith’s translation of this record would go on to be printed and published in Palmyra in 1830 as the Book of Mormon.

Purporting to be a historical record of migrations of ancient near Eastern cultures to the Americas, the book tells of their rise to glory and their tragic fall. The thrust of this religious narrative is an abridgment of records comprising the writings of a number of different religious leaders and includes the record of a visit to these people of the resurrected Christ. The historical account also foretells modern day events and a latter-day rise of the descendants of those ancient populations.

The Book of Mormon, along with the claims of its translator and the missionary-minded church he established—a restoration, he insisted, of Christ’s ancient church—created no small stir in Palmyra and indeed throughout the young nation. As it turns out, two of the preachers vying for converts in the immediate area of Palmyra had sons who would go on to play a significant role in how the knowledge of ancient American cultures would be handed down. The two preachers’ sons were E. G. Squier and John Wesley Powell.

Upon arriving in America, the Powell family, steeped in their Methodist beliefs, would be confronted continually with a myriad of religious views, as many religions in the area were vying for converts. This battle for converts “was another American strangeness to absorb along with Jacksonian politics, Manhattan street life, wild forest scenes, and Yankee twang. They had brought with them the true Christian faith, based on the traditional Bible, and they needed no other, certainly not one from an upstart bumpkin who said he had seen angels.”286

In Powell of the Colorado, William Culp Darrah writes:

The Powell family moved on to Palmyra, New York, as another station on the road to (the western) wilderness. The town was still excited over the new sect, which called themselves Mormons. The first printing of the Book of Mormon of five thousand copies had but recently been finished. A few years earlier, Joseph Smith, a young farmer, had received a vision revealing to him the existence of that record of the fullness of Christ’s Gospel, and on September 22, 1827, … gold tablets bearing cryptic characters were delivered into (Joseph) Smith’s hands… Joseph Powell [John Wesley’s Father] did not find the opportunity he sought in Utica. Tailoring was not satisfying; it was but a means to an end. A licensed exhorter of the Methodist Church was expected to follow his regular trade or profession, but there had been little chance for him to carry on religious work. There were six churches in the town and all who desired to attend services had an opportunity to do so. Joseph Powell wanted to bring religion to those who were beyond his reach.287

Another Terrible Advertisement (Exploitation of our Lamanite Friends)

Despite the comfortable life they were enjoying in western New York, John Wesley Powell’s father, Joseph became restless “and informed the family that he now had his eye on Ohio. God was summoning to move once more. Joseph longed not merely to build churches but to preach the gospel and save souls. He had come to the New World with a mission to evangelize as well as prosper. Western New York State had plenty of preachers; Ohio did not. So, with many tearful good-byes, the family packed their clothes and portable goods and headed deeper into the nations interior.”288

John Wesley Powell artifacts travel home to Utah from Illinois State University

Powell’s family life from birth, moving ever westward, would shadow the westward migration of the early Mormon pioneers from New York to Ohio then on to Illinois. His interests and business would also drive his steps to follow the trails blazed by these early pioneers across the open plains, over the Rocky Mountains and into the valleys of the Great Salt Lake on numerous occasions.289

The Powell’s moved westward to Ohio…“taking a steamer across Lake Erie, then making a long canal trip south from Cleveland through Akron, Massillon, Coshocton, Newark, Columbus getting off at the former capital of Chillicothe. Inspired by the Erie Canal’s success, developers dug the Ohio Canal over three hundred miles long (going all the way to the Ohio River), with 152 locks and 16 aqueducts. When linked to the Erie Canal, it put much of the state within cheap, easy reach of New York City.290

“Over the next three decades hundreds more followed them, clustering together in what became southern Jackson County, Ohio, trying to keep their language and culture intact.”291

In Ohio the Powell family was looking to buy a small parcel to build a home when they met Big George Crookham, a large robust man who invited them to setup camp at his farm, as he would help them find a small property near Jackson, Ohio. Big George would become a real influence in Wesley’s life as later he became Big George’s pupil.

“Big George” Crookham was a strict but inspiring school master who had himself read as a lad such works as; David Hume’s History of England and Edward Gibbon’s The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and other substantial books; but the intimate instruction which had the greatest influence on him was the field trips and walks through the countryside…They dug in the prehistoric mounds of Jackson and Ross Counties…during which he was introduced to the elements of geology, archeology and natural history.292

High Bank Works, Ross County Ohio

With the extended construction of the Erie Canal, the corridor to the west was established and the Powell family was there to see this mass migration of tens of thousands of pioneers moving ever westward in pursuit of their dreams. Many would settle in America’s heartland, amidst some of the largest concentration of the ancient mounds and earthworks of the Hopewell and Adena cultures.

Hairy Mammoth ( Cureloms or Cumoms?)

One of the Powell’s’ residence was located near the edge of the plateau, and below they could see the tangled riverine forest of Little Salt Creek, which flows west to the Little Scioto, which enters the Ohio River about fifty miles away. An anonymous historian wrote, “Along most of these creeks, and especially along the [Salt], is some of the most beautiful, romantic, and picturesque scenery the eye of man ever beheld.293 “Wildlife and humans had long come here looking for that very practical necessity after which the stream was called—salt. The valley offered several salt licks where bison and elk, and before them mastodons and giant bears, had congregated, sometimes leaving their bones. In 1836, geologists, while excavating salt deposits in Jackson County, unearthed the skeleton of a hairy mammoth whose tusks measured eleven feet and weighed 180 pounds each.”294 Also found in Jackson County and some of the neighboring counties of Ohio—Scioto, Butler, Montgomery and Ross County—are some of the largest and most impressive concentrations of ancient works and mound structures as surveyed by Squier and Davis in their 1848 report.

Figure 17 of Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, near Marietta, Ohio

As one walks along the path leading past the many burial mounds at the Mound City Hopewell Culture Center in Ross County, Ohio, one can only guess about what additional knowledge is still buried in those mounds, decaying away with time. At what point does society stop and ask whether the silence and social engineering surrounding these ancient cultures has really led to a greater good for mankind?

The remaining mound sites which are found in National and State parks are but a vestige of a once large number of historical sites that Squier and Davis estimated would be in the thousands. Mounds, along with earthworks and enclosures, were estimated at over fifteen hundred in the state of Ohio alone. As of 2005, the Ohio Historic Preservation office had identified and compiled over 35,000 prehistoric sites in the state, with an estimate that over 60% of those, are located on private lands and with approximately 90% of those sites being referenced to be pre-Columbian.

As the late Roger G. Kennedy, former director of the National Park Service and former director of the American History Museum at the Smithsonian Institution, said:

“The search for harmony is not a new phenomenon in Ohio. Propitiatory sacrifice was not invented in the Middle East. Perhaps, as we move forward toward an attempt to restore our own harmonious relationship to our mound-building predecessors, we may find, in the Old or New Testament texts, analogies to the physical testaments they have left to us. Analogies do not explain things away. Instead, they may be opening to understanding, declaring that we are all baffled by the enigmas of the universe, and that it is possible that the American Indians, we, and ancient peoples of the Old World, including the Jews, may have sought ways of seeking harmony with mysterious systems we cannot understand and cannot control. In this spirit, let us return to the mounds, and risk some guesses about why and how they were built.295

Hopewell Metal Artifacts Located on the banks of Scioto River

Metal Ornaments, Highly Valued by the Mound Builders
Squier and Davis, Ancient Monuments, Fig. 88

Ancient Works, Ross County Ohio

_______________________

283 See: Arlington Cemetery Eulogy / J.W. Powell.Net
284 Johnson, P.E., Shopkeeper’s Millennium, 137.
285 Joseph Smith, Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith, compiled by Alma P. Burton, Deseret Book Company, Salt Lake City, 1977, 275-6.
286 Worster, 16.
287 William Culp Darrah: Powell of the Colorado, Princeton, University Press, 4
288 Worster, 20.
289 See: Ibid.
290 Ibid., 22.
291 Ibid., 21.
292 Darrah, William Culp: Powell of the Colorado, (Princeton University Press) 12: George L Crookham, History of the Hanging Rock Iron Region; 369-370: History of the Scioto Valley of Ohio, 471: see also Jackson Standard, March 5,1857.
293 See: Worster, 24-History of Lower Scioto Valley, 458
294 Worster, 23-24.
295 Kennedy, Hidden Cities; 242

Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, 1848 by Smithsonian (Entire Book)

$29.95 This is an actual reprint of the very first publication of the Smithsonian Institution and comprises the results of extensive original surveys and explorations in 1848.  It contains the earliest study of the remains of the Moundbuilders whose civilization thrived in the Heartland of North America from 500 B.C. to 400 AD – Book of Mormon time frames!  A ‘must read’ for anyone desiring to learn more about the Nephites from one of the earliest sources. 306 page softbound. Purchase Here

Ancient Monuments of The Mississippi Valley, Set of 48 original plates in 1848 (Black and White Mounds)

$9.95 This spiral bound oversized book contains a complete set of 48 of the plates from the book, Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley by the Smithsonian’s E.G. Squier and E.H. Davis from their original surveys. These reproductions have been enlarged 120% from the original size for greater detail.  They include such works as those of Newark, Chillicothe and Marietta, Ohio, the Great Circle & Octagon, Fort Ancient, Fort Hill, Serpent Mound, and “the Cross.” Purchase Here

A Manifesto from LDS Progressives- A Radical Orthodoxy

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is the true gospel of Christ which is my testimony. I am thankful for this testimony and strive each day to serve the Lord in a righteous manner. I feel it is imperative that I and all others understand that Satan has a strong desire to infiltrate and do evil to our Church and to Christians world wide, and his goal is to infiltrate, not attack us from the outside.

No General Apostasy

“We now live in a time when the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored. But unlike the Church in times past, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will not be overcome by general apostasy. The scriptures teach that the Church will never again be destroyed (see Doctrine and Covenants 138:44; see also Daniel 2:44).

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Although there will not be another general apostasy from the truth, we must each guard against personal apostasy by keeping covenants, obeying the commandments, following Church leaders, partaking of the sacrament, and constantly strengthening our testimonies through daily scripture study, prayer, and service. Gospel Topics Apostacy

Apostasy from Within

“It can be daunting to observe the proliferation of societal trends and worldly ideologies that conflict with the doctrines and beliefs that we embrace. Let us not lose faith. Rather, let us remember the words of the Prophet Joseph Smith penned in a letter to newspaper editor John Wentworth: “The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith [2007], 444). As in the days of the Nephites, the Church of Jesus Christ will never be overthrown by outside forces. Thus assured, we can confidently be about the business of strengthening the Church from within by means of personal righteousness and faithfulness, even as we reach out to share the gospel with others.” Viewpoint Church News 3/18/18

A Manifesto from Progressives?

I ask the question. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, do we need a new manifesto? Especially a “Radical Orthodox Manifesto“? Who is writing it and why do we need one? What does it say and how important is it to us? Why are we hearing more and more Liberal and Progressive thought with many church members and in the world today? What happened to Conservative principles and Traditional ideals and good old fashioned values?

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Traditionalists believe that progressives are destined to inherit ignorance because they reject revelation. Progressives believe that traditionalists are mired in ignorance because they do not fully accept and embrace the philosophies and teachings of the learned. Regardless of which position one takes, nearly all agree—an unbridgeable gulf separates the two.” FAITH CRISIS: Did the LDS Church Lie? (Part 1) We Were NOT Betrayed! By James and Hannah Stoddard

Understanding Apologetics

Apologetics cannot prove that the Church is true, but it can show you answers that may help you in knowing the Church is true, especially through personal revelation. Our group called FIRM [Foundation for Indigenous Research and Mormonism], along with FAIR, Book of Mormon Central, The Interpreter, Meridian Magazine, More Good Foundation etc., are similar organizations made up of great spiritual people who love the Lord and the Book of Mormon. All claim to have answers to many challenging or even difficult gospel questions that may encourage or assist people to better understand the truthfulness of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. No Apologetic organization speaks in behalf of, or for the Church however. Doctrine in the Church only comes from the Prophet and Apostles who all organizations support. The purpose of LDS Apologetics is to provide solid or well-reasoned information that makes sense in answering supposed church related difficult questions, so that a conclusive decision of the truth of the Gospel and Church can be determined by study and prayer through the Spirit.

President Russell M. Nelson in a talk titled, Hope of Israel said, “Learn for yourself—right now at your age—how to receive personal revelation. And nothing will make a bigger difference in your life than that!” “

There’s a new ‘Manifesto’ Circulating among Latter-day Saints, and it’s ‘Radical’

This article in the Salt Take tribune can be found here: The manifesto titled Radical Orthodoxy a Manifesto  is here and you can see an interesting dialogue about it on an online chat called “StayLDS.com” here: I quote below from the SL Tribune on who some of the signers of the manifesto are. In my opinion many of these people are very Liberal and Progressive. I believe in their freedom of choice, but not their stance with much of their politics, but I am confidant they love the Book of Mormon as much as I do. I just want you to become informed on the opinion of some of the Intellects and/or Professors in our church and at BYU

Progressive Ideals?

“Terryl and Fiona Givens, are listed among the manifesto signers and share their son [Nathaniel’s] vision. The two are known for their popular books on Mormon beliefs and for creative thinking about Latter-day Saint theology. “The American church is bipolar,” says Fiona Givens, “with histrionics on both sides and nobody in the middle. ”Terryl Givens, a senior research fellow at BYU’s Maxwell Institute and author of more than a dozen books, recently wrote an essay on abortion for Public Square Magazine. It chided “pro-choice” Latter-day Saints and generated lots of heated debate among the church’s intelligentsia. Others signers include Daniel Peterson, who was ousted from the Maxwell Institute (formerly the Foundation for Ancient Research in Mormon Studies) in 2012 after 23 years as editor of the Mormon Studies Review; Ralph Hancock, who has argued that professors at church-owned BYU have become too secular in their approach; Jacob Hess, a leading contributor to Public Square Magazine who has written on LGBTQ issues; Jennifer Roach, a therapist who has defended the church’s one-on-one bishop interviews; and Hanna Seariac, a BYU student who led a petition drive urging the Provo school to “emphasize Christ-centered education. ”Valerie Hudson, another signee, was delighted to embrace the document. “That is exactly the space we’ve tried to carve out with SquareTwo [an online journal] all these years,” exults Hudson, who teaches at The Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University. “The statement sums up our mission, which is to build constructively and soundly off square one, the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.” SL Tribune. Other signatories are: Spencer Kraus, Neal Rappleye, Jeff Round, Gregory L. Smith, Stephen O. Smoot [Not Steven E. Smoot of our Heartland group],  and Ben Spackman

The “manifesto” titled, Radical Orthodoxy a Manifesto says, “This polarization is driving members of the Church to spiritually dangerous extremes, tempting some Latter-day Saints to reduce fidelity to knee-jerk traditionalism and others to abandon fidelity for worldly philosophies.” I think good old traditionalism should be adhered to far more (90-10) than worldly philosophies. I am afraid that a 50/50 split with both has a better chance of making you a worldly philosophizer than keeping you as a wonderful traditionalist. It reminds me of what Elder Packer said, “To you who may have lost your way, come back! We know how that can happen; we have walked that path of research and study. Come help us!—you with your scholarship and your training, you with your bright, intelligent minds, you with your experience and with your academic degrees.” The Mantle Is Far, Far Greater Than the Intellect Elder Boyd K. Packer

“This problem has affected some of those who have taught and have written about the history of the Church. These professors say of themselves that religious faith has little influence on Mormon scholars. They say this because, obviously, they are not simply Latter-day Saints but are also intellectuals trained, for the most part, in secular institutions. They would that some historians who are Latter-day Saints write history as they were taught in graduate school, rather than as Mormons.” The Mantle Is Far, Far Greater Than the Intellect Elder Boyd K. Packer

Editor’s Testimony

I testify Joseph Smith was and is a Prophet of the living God. Do we need others to say he was simply a good man who made mistakes, maybe dealt in the occult, was not perfect and some of his ideas are old fashioned and don’t necessarily apply to life today? As I wrote about a few months ago on Bias Confirmation and Richard Bushman, how do you feel when Brother Bushman says the Book of Mormon is “right” vs. someone who tells you they know the Book of Mormon is “true” and the most correct book on earth?. I go with the later. How do you feel when some scholar tries to bring Joseph Smith down a notch, so the scholar can uplift himself? I follow what Wilford Woodruff says below.

“I look upon Joseph Smith as the greatest prophet that ever breathed the breath of life, excepting Jesus Christ. Father Adam, as I have said, stands at the head; but Joseph Smith was reserved to lay the foundation of this great kingdom and dispensation of salvation to the whole human family in these last days, to build up Zion, to establish God’s Kingdom, and to prepare it for the coming of the Son of Man.” Wilford Woodruff, The Deseret Weekly, vol. 38, (Deseret News Company, 1889), 389.

Have you heard friends and family members say the Book of Mormon is a good book that teaches some good parables. I cringe when I hear that! I think, “Is that all you think this wonderful book is“? I witness the Book of Mormon is absolutely the word of God, and as Mormon said “And now, if there are faults they are the mistakes of men; wherefore, condemn not the things of God, that ye may be found spotless at the judgment-seat of Christ.” Title Page

I believe many Intellectuals and Scholars are seeking to ‘stay in the middle’ on controversial issues. They don’t want to be like a small minded Conservative nor like an aggressive Liberal. They try to cut out a new path or new pet theory so they have something different to share with their inner group. They ask questions in a liberal or scholarly way that confuses those of us of that are not “learned” men and women. They seemingly side with intellect or theory on controversial issues, but most of them also try to stay true to core church teachings, which I know is crucial. I believe their straddling the fence allows people to believe less in spiritual matters and more in theory or unknown details.

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This “Radical Orthodoxy a Manifesto” was written by many that are far more intelligent than I am, who have all the learning of higher education. That’s not wrong or bad it just is! As I read through the many signers of this manifesto, I see a large percentage of those I know or who have read about, who believe very differently about the Book of Mormon Geography, Evolution, Creationism, Politics and Nationalism. I am not judging them as I am sure they are all people of faith and they love the Gospel as I do. I just think in their eyes, I am probably as Leonard Arrington says, a “Holy Ghoster”, which means a far right conservative, or a religious zealot or something like that. They also claim David O. McKay, Joseph Fielding Smith, and other spiritual men are “Holy Ghoster’s”. (See the Stoddard’s Books on Faith Crisis 1 and Faith Crisis 2)

Below I have broken down their new, Radical Orthodoxy a Manifesto into the three key words and define them below. This will help give you a better understanding of how I feel about their Manifesto.

Radical

a: very different from the usual or traditionalEXTREME b: favoring extreme changes in existing views, habits, conditions, or institutions c: associated with political views, practices, and policies of extreme change d: advocating extreme measures to retain or restore a political state of affairs the radical right

Orthodoxy

a: the traditional beliefs of a religious group or political party: b: authorized or generally accepted theory, doctrine, or practice.

Manifesto

a: a public declaration of policy and aims, especially one issued before an election by a political party or candidate. b: a written statement of a person or group’s beliefs, aims, and policies, especially their political beliefs: (All definitions come from Merriam Webster and Dictionaries online.)

Peggy Stack says, “These “radical orthodox” believers want to be defined “by what we are for, not what we are against,” [Nathaniel] Givens says. “We see ourselves as kind of ‘third way centrists’ — faithful to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, while interested in theological exploration.”

In my opinion this interest in theological exploration has a great chance to lead us away from faith and into the teachings of the world. Before young people get involved in deep theological discussions they should have a firm witness of the Savior and the Gospel.

Givens also says, “Many young believers feel the only options they have are to be rigidly dogmatic to the point of being fundamentalist or to reject the Church’s teachings in favor of progressive political doctrines and intellectualism. This statement encourages intellectual engagement with the Church of Jesus Christ in ways that are faithful and flexible instead of either rigidly dogmatic or heretical and doubting.” Public Square Magazine

If you showed on a line a Traditionalist on the Right vs a Progressivists on the Left, I would say life on the “Center Right” would be just perfect. You can’t stay in the middle. The further Center and Left you go, the more you go against solid values and closer to intellectual theory. That is my opinion and I know all don’t agree. I am just saying I find no need for the Manifesto here given. The church already teaches values and doctrines to live by. I think reading our scriptures and more deep study and prayer bring us the best answers.


There’s a new ‘manifesto’ circulating among Latter-day Saints, and it’s ‘radical’ By Salt Lake Tribune

Scholars are seeking ‘middle ground’ on orthodoxy that allows questions but remains true to core church teachings.

(Rick Bowmer | AP file photo) Angel Moroni statue sits atop the Salt Lake Temple in 2014.

(Rick Bowmer | AP file photo) Angel Moroni statue sits atop the Salt Lake Temple in 2014. By Peggy Fletcher Stack  | Dec. 5, 2020

For many, the word “manifesto” calls to mind “The Communist Manifesto,” a political pamphlet penned by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels in 1848.Closer to home, Latter-day Saints have their own history with a momentous manifesto, the 1890 edict that marked the beginning of the end of polygamy in the faith. Now, three Latter-day Saint bloggers have declared a new manifesto, and it has nothing to do with Marxism or multiple wives. Indeed, “Radical Orthodoxy: A Manifesto” is about theology and is staking a claim to the middle ground in Mormon intellectualism — neither extreme right nor left.

Radical orthodoxy “is radical because it promotes bold exploration beyond what is familiar, and therefore rejects the obstinateness of fundamentalism,” the declaration says. “It is willing to revisit many facets of our received paradigm in order to apply the revealed doctrines and principles of the gospel to the unique challenges of today. That includes — under the tutelage of modern prophets — a revolutionary reconsideration of traditions, paradigms, and applications of the gospel inherited from prior generations.” There was no single catalyst for this effort, just the observation that the online discussion of Mormonism is “slanted heavily toward progressivism,” says Nathaniel Givens, one of the three writers, while the “growing right-wing response to that has seemed too reactionary and too negative.” Givens, a data scientist and entrepreneur in Virginia, worked for more than a year on the manifesto’s wording with co-authors Jeffrey Thayne, who teaches at Brigham Young University-Idaho, and J. Max Wilson, who runs the LDS-oriented blog, Sixteen Small Stones.

These “radical orthodox” believers want to be defined “by what we are for, not what we are against,” Givens says. “We see ourselves as kind of ‘third way centrists’ — faithful to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, while interested in theological exploration.”

They reached out to others who shared their perspective and assembled a veritable who’s who among conservative Latter-day Saint intellectuals.

Theirs is not a movement per se, Givens says, but the organizers hope their manifesto might serve “as a rallying point to spur conversations, new friendships and maybe new projects.”

The key is not to “pick a fight with anybody, but to find new things to talk about, and to emphasize positivity,” he says. “We are not interested in labeling apostates,” but rather standing “for truth.”

When they feel compelled to speak up for church principles, practices and prophets, Givens says, they hope their style will be “kind,” not “contentious.”

‘Three tentpoles’

(Photo courtesy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) The Christus and the biblical apostles in the Rome Italy Temple Visitors' Center.

(Photo courtesy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) The Christus and the biblical apostles in the Rome Italy Temple Visitors’ Center. Supplemental materials are linked on the Radical Orthodoxy website, including an article by Thayne, spelling out what he sees as the “tentpoles” of belief in the Utah-based faith — namely, its three theological proclamations titled “The Family,” “The Living Christ” and “The Restoration.”

“Our argument is that once you dismiss, critique, or undermine the core teachings found in [these documents], you’ve left the tent of radical orthodoxy (as we understand it),” Thayne writes. “For example, if someone argues that the Book of Mormon is a modern midrash, argues that no unique divine authority was given to Joseph Smith, questions the historical Jesus as the sole anchor of our salvation, celebrates gender transitions as compatible with the gospel, or promotes the expectation that same-sex couples will someday be sealed in the temple, they are no longer operating within the paradigm laid out by radical orthodoxy.”

Being silent in the face of such statements, Thayne says, “can be as damaging as the critiques themselves. Radical orthodoxy, we argue, requires a willingness to speak out in defense of the divine truths in these documents, when the occasion calls for it.” Because the family proclamation addresses gender roles and the eternal importance of marriage between a man and a woman — and fails to mention never-married, divorced, childless or LGBTQ members — it often has been embroiled in controversy and overlapped with political debate. To J. Daniel Crawford, a blogger on the By Common Consent website, the manifesto amounts to little more than “question whatever you want, so long as you agree with the Brethren in the end.”

Thayne has an answer for that — a “steel man” approach to pronouncements from top church leaders.

“A straw man treatment finds and attacks the weakest interpretations of an argument. A steel man strives to find the strongest interpretations of an argument,” he writes. “It requires that we be generous with the prophets, not immediately dismissing them because we don’t agree or don’t understand. It means striving to step into a worldview (even if only provisionally) where we both understand and can embrace their warnings.”

That does not mean that those who embrace radical orthodoxy agree with everything church President Russell M. Nelson or his colleagues and predecessors have said, Thayne explains. “We have a duty to ‘steel man’ their teachings before rushing to conclusion — to strive to see the world through their eyes before dismissing what they have to say.” Kathleen Flake, who teaches Mormon studies at the University of Virginia, has no issue with what the manifesto says. She just questions why it even exists.

“No one needs more ‘-ites,’ or divisiveness,” she says. “You don’t need the Book of Mormon to tell you that anymore. The wisdom of it is manifest everywhere today.”

Besides, Flake says, it is always “a little spiritually dangerous to set oneself up as a public defender of the faith, any faith, and even for the best of reasons.”

Gathering the like-minded

(Chris Detrick | Tribune file photo Authors Fiona Givens and Terryl Givens in 2012.

(Chris Detrick | Tribune file photo Authors Fiona Givens and Terryl Givens in 2012.Givens’ parents, Terryl and Fiona Givens, are listed among the manifesto signers and share their son’s vision. The two are known for their popular books on Mormon beliefs and for creative thinking about Latter-day Saint theology. “The American church is bipolar,” says Fiona Givens, “with histrionics on both sides and nobody in the middle. ”Terryl Givens, a senior research fellow at BYU’s Maxwell Institute and author of more than a dozen books, recently wrote an essay on abortion for Public Square Magazine. It chided “pro-choice” Latter-day Saints and generated lots of heated debate among the church’s intelligentsia. Others signers include Daniel Peterson, who was ousted from the Maxwell Institute (formerly the Foundation for Ancient Research in Mormon Studies) in 2012 after 23 years as editor of the Mormon Studies Review; Ralph Hancock, who has argued that professors at church-owned BYU have become too secular in their approach; Jacob Hess, a leading contributor to Public Square Magazine who has written on LGBTQ issues; Jennifer Roach, a therapist who has defended the church’s one-on-one bishop interviews; and Hanna Seariac, a BYU student who led a petition drive urging the Provo school to “emphasize Christ-centered education.” Valerie Hudson, another signee, was delighted to embrace the document.“ That is exactly the space we’ve tried to carve out with SquareTwo [an online journal] all these years,” exults Hudson, who teaches at The Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University. “The statement sums up our mission, which is to build constructively and soundly off square one, the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Hudson agrees that “those in the church who have intellectual or political or influence aspirations in our faith community too often feel that either 1) they must oppose certain core doctrines of the church, or 2) they must never, ever question anything about the church, including current teachings,” Hudson says. “Both of these standpoints are injurious.”

There is a path “between the Charybdis of nonorthodoxy and the Scylla of super-rigid, or Mosaic, orthodoxy,” she says, “and that others are successfully treading that path even now is helpful and hopeful for many members to know. ”Hudson eschews labels, noting only that she fully supports the the church’s positions on gender issues, including the Equal Rights Amendment, abortion and same-sex marriage, she says, “but I am coming from an explicitly, even ardently, feminist perspective when I do.”

A ‘pretty banal’ document

(Jeremy Harmon | Tribune file photo) Patrick Mason speaks while recording the 100th episode of the "Mormon Land" podcast on Oct. 4, 2019.

(Jeremy Harmon | Tribune file photo) Patrick Mason speaks while recording the 100th episode of the “Mormon Land” podcast on Oct. 4, 2019.In his 1981 satirical dictionary, “Saintspeak,” novelist Orson Scott Card used the term “radically orthodox Mormon” to describe a member who, among other values and behaviors, “believes without question only those doctrines that are clearly set forth in the standard works or that have been accepted as revelation by the uplifted hands of the Saints in General Conference.”

Givens and his manifesto co-authors found this usage after they had already adopted it. They say that Card’s take, though it was meant to be humorous, isn’t far off from what they are doing.

The term “radical orthodoxy” has been identified for more than a decade by a school of Protestant theology coined by John Milbank, an Anglican theologian in England.“ It doesn’t very neatly line up with the way [the Latter-day Saint authors] are using the words,” says Adam Miller, author of “Letters to a Young Mormon” and a philosophy professor at Collin College in McKinney, Texas.

In their manifesto, the drafters praise “fidelity to the leadership of the church,” he says, “rather than a set of philosophically worked-out ideas and creeds.”

There is nothing to disagree with in this manifesto, unless “you want to read specific ideas into it,” Miller says. “Overall, it’s pretty banal.” Patrick Mason, head of Mormon studies at Utah State University in Logan, agrees that “radical orthodoxy” is hardly unique to Latter-day Saint theology. It has been used by Catholic and Protestant writers.

Many religions feel “besieged on all sides,” Mason says. “And they all are open to new arguments and conversations, trying to balance tradition while retaining a sense of relevance for the 21st century.”

Like Miller, Mason says “radical orthodoxy looks different in these other traditions.”

Still, the USU scholar applauds the attempt to thread “a middle path between what they see as the errors of unbridled progressivism and recalcitrant fundamentalism.” It is a “goodwill effort to put a stake in the ground,” he says, and, could be especially beneficial “if they provide a hedge against the far right, including some websites and groups like #DezNat.” That’s short for Deseret Nation, a “very conservative subgroup of church members,” according to an article in The Daily Beast, who sometimes harass those they see as apostates.

The backers of the Radical Orthodoxy manifesto — who seem to have the ear of some church leaders — “care deeply about the Latter-day Saint community and fear any fracture,” Mason says. “They want to hold the center.”

The historian understands why others might be wary, given that some of the document’s devotees are well-known conservatives, he says. They worry that the manifesto might be “a Trojan horse for doubling down on traditionalist views on gender and sexuality.”

In the end, Mason is unsure what will come of the manifesto and the radical orthodoxy rhetoric.

“It might be a nothing-burger,” he says, “or the beginning of something big.” “There’s a new ‘manifesto’ circulating among Latter-day Saints, and it’s ‘radical’ By Salt Lake Tribune


Progressive Thought

“Some historians write and speak as though the only ones to read or listen are mature, experienced historians. They write and speak to a very narrow audience. Unfortunately, many of the things they tell one another are not uplifting, go far beyond the audience they may have intended, and destroy faith. What that historian did with the reputation of the President of the Church was not worth doing. He seemed determined to convince everyone that the prophet was a man. We knew that already. All of the prophets and all of the Apostles have been men. It would have been much more worthwhile for him to have convinced us that the man was a prophet, a fact quite as true as the fact that he was a man.” The Mantle Is Far, Far Greater Than the Intellect Elder Boyd K. Packer

I say to any member or intellect who tries to belittle the Church or Joseph Smith or who tries to intellectualize and promote Progressive thought, to remember the words of George Albert Smith. “There have been some who have belittled [Joseph Smith], but I would like to say that those who have done so will be forgotten and their remains will go back to mother earth, . . . and, the odor of their infamy will never die, while the glory and honor and majesty and courage and fidelity manifested by the Prophet Joseph Smith will attach to his name forever.” George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p. 182

https://latterdayorthodoxy.org/

“As disciples of Jesus Christ we are called to hold fast to the revealed truths of the Restored Gospel in a polarized and contentious world. This polarization is driving members of the Church to spiritually dangerous extremes, tempting some Latter-day Saints to reduce fidelity to knee-jerk traditionalism and others to abandon fidelity for worldly philosophies.

On the one hand, those who replace divine instruction with secular measures of progress risk relinquishing eternal truths for misguided worldly ideas. This can lead them to declare that the Church is behind the times on moral and social issues. On the other hand, those who focus solely on conserving what we have already received are prone to conflate human tradition with eternal truth. This can lead them to condemn any form of question-asking, faithful exploration, or subsequent revelation.

Like Odysseus sailing between Scylla and Charybdis, the path of discipleship takes us through a narrow course between two spiritual monsters: unbridled progressivism and obstinate fundamentalism. Navigating these perilous waters requires radical orthodoxy. Radical orthodoxy is an approach to the Restored Gospel that seeks to harmonize fidelity with exploration and cultural improvement.

Radical orthodoxy is orthodox because it promotes fierce fidelity to revealed truth, the institutional Church, and the Lord’s authorized representatives, and therefore rejects the excesses of progressivism. This includes meticulously heeding and unabashedly embracing the counsel and teachings of prophets and apostles regarding chastity and morality, the divinity of Christ, and the foundational claims of the Restoration—even when doing so runs contrary to popular, worldly views. Those who embrace radical orthodoxy strive to be valiant in their witness of restored truth.

Radical orthodoxy is radical because it promotes bold exploration beyond what is familiar, and therefore rejects the obstinateness of fundamentalism. It is willing to revisit many facets of our received paradigm in order to apply the revealed doctrines and principles of the Gospel to the unique challenges of today. That includes—under the tutelage of modern prophets—a revolutionary reconsideration of traditions, paradigms, and applications of the Gospel inherited from prior generations.

Radical orthodoxy cultivates humility and a recognition that far less is certain about many doctrinal matters than we often presume. Those who embrace radical orthodoxy are not afraid to ask questions, and they eschew dogmatism with regards to lesser controversies—even while they boldly defend faith, diligence, and conviction on matters of covenant living, revelation, doctrine, and authority. As we revisit the lines between tradition and revelation, we are careful not to dishonor the prophets of the past, undermine the projects and programs of the church, or ignore the moral witness and counsel of living prophets and apostles.

Radical Orthodoxy embraces the following virtues:

  • Truth. We love and defend the Truth. We reject philosophies that suggest that there is no truth. We recognize, however, that without divine assistance, truth is very difficult to discern.
  • Humility. We recognize our own limitations and we are willing to question our cultural and religious presumptions in light of both sound scholarship and ongoing revelation from God.
  • Integrity. We do not believe in compartmentalizing the Gospel from our professional pursuits, politics, scholarship, social interactions, or hobbies.
  • Fidelity. We are loyal to Jesus Christ and His Restored Church and submit to His divine authority by sustaining and following the local and general leaders of the Church.
  • Seeking. We consider curiosity a virtue and desire to plumb the depths of the Gospel as well as of God’s Creation. Like Abraham, we seek to become “greater follower[s] of righteousness, and to possess a greater knowledge” than we currently possess (Abraham 1:2).
  • Revelation. We affirm that the Church is guided by continuing revelation. We strive to allow the Holy Spirit to guide us in all aspects of our lives, including our professional or scholarly endeavours. We recognize, however, that only those with the proper authority and stewardship can declare revelation for the Church and the world.
  • Faith. We know that Christ has already won the essential victories. We trust the Lord and His power to save us from sin and death. We also trust His ability to guide His Church and communicate His will to His appointed spokesmen, even when they are fallible.
  • Hope. We are deliberately optimistic about the Church and its role in the world. We reject negative, cynical attitudes towards the Church, its leaders, and its teachings. We avoid nitpicking and murmuring.
  • Charity. We love all of God’s children and we cultivate a soft-hearted temperament that rejects the spirit of contention towards those with different views, even while we vigorously defend the truth.

Radical orthodoxy is not a faction, nor a label intended to set forth boundaries for any particular group or organization. It is rather a rallying point, and invitation to embrace conviction and fidelity. It is also an invitation to reject fundamentalism and embrace the possibility of change, innovation, and progress in how we understand the Gospel. It is an occasion to reinforce our loyalties to the Resurrected Christ and the Church that bears His name, and to strive to be “lower lights” burning as an example to others who are also navigating the treacherous waters of modern intellectual discourse”. View Signatories


The Lord’s Way of Running the Church

Elder Henry B Eyring of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints discusses the remarkable candor and disagreement that accompany the eventual arriving at unanimity in Church councils.

Deep-Seated Roots of Faith Planted by Pilgrims

George Washington Said:

“Almighty God,… I beseech thee, my sins, remove them from thy presence, as far as the east is from the west, and accept of me for the merits of thy son Jesus Christ, that when I come into thy temple, and compass thine altar, my prayer may come before thee as incense; and as thou wouldst hear me calling upon thee in my prayers, so give me grace to hear thee calling upon me in thy Word…for his sake, who lay down in the Grave and rose again for us, Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.”  (Ibid, William J. Johnson, George Washington’s Prayer Journal-written in 1752 at age of 20) read entire prayer at missionariesofprayer.org)

Deep-Seated Roots of Faith Planted by Pilgrims

America is a country with deep-seated roots of faith planted by pilgrims seeking religious independence. 

It was these men and women who paved the way for a free nation under God in this promised land—but what if those early voyagers were brought here for a much greater purpose? What if their arrival in this new land heralded the fulfillment of ancient prophecy, laying the foundation of a country that would allow for the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the beginning of the gathering of scattered Israel?

In The Pilgrim Hypothesis, readers are presented with a gripping new investigation by best-selling author and historian Timothy Ballard as he uncovers what the early colonists—a people who believed themselves to be the “New Israel”—may have known about their role in the restoration of the gospel. Delve into a complex history bridging the centuries and spanning the globe, as each clue leads to one compelling conclusion: history and scripture may be far more intertwined than you’ve ever realized.

Two Apostles Testify of the Puritans and Pilgrims

“It was not by chance that the Puritans left their native land and sailed away to the shores of New England, and others later followed. They were the advance guard of the army of the Lord, predestined to establish the God-given system of government under which we live and to make America, which is the land of Joseph, the gathering place of Ephraim, an asylum for the oppressed of all nations, and prepare the way for the restoration of the gospel of Christ and the establishment of his church upon the earth” – Heber J. Grant, Conference Report, April 1930.

Nephi saw in vision also the coming of the Pilgrims, who came to escape religious persecution. He foresaw the coming to America of peoples from many nations, their wars and contentions. As Nephi said, they did humble themselves before the Lord. Thus the American colonies attained their independence and set up the government of the United States, all under the divine intervention of God in preparing this land for its divine destiny. We believe that both freedom and the continuing reformation that flourished here occurred in preparation for the restoration from heaven of the full gospel of Jesus Christ.

That restoration began in the United States of America in the 1820s, through the [assistance] of the Prophet Joseph Smith, who was chosen by the Lord and who, through [visits] from heavenly messengers, received … records that contained the authentic record of early American peoples and God’s dealings with them. He received the priesthood and authority to reestablish the church of Jesus Christ in these latter days. At the time of this restoration, God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ actually appeared to Joseph Smith, as they had appeared to leaders of previous dispensations. They announced to him that Christ’s church would be reestablished upon the earth. … This restoration was the greatest event in the history of mankind since the birth, death, and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ.” A Choice Land President N. Eldon Tanner, First Counselor in the First Presidency

Editor’s Note About Tim Ballard

About 8 years ago I remember speaking with my good friend Rod Meldrum about Tim Ballard. By that time I had only met Tim briefly a few times as he spoke at our different conferences over the years. Rod would tell me amazing stories about Tim and how brave he was and how much knowledge he had about America and his love for God and Country and his support of the Heartland Geography.

At this time, many years ago, I remember Rod speaking to me about Glenn Beck and how he and Tim Ballard were great friends and taught the same great message about the Gospel and our Country. Rod said something similar to this to me, “You watch one day Tim Ballard will run for the President of the United States. Glenn Beck has felt that as well and Tim has many donors already lined up to see him run one day.” I don’t know if Rod would even remember that, but it sure has stuck with me the past many years.

Tim Ballard is simply a “stud” as I would call him. He loves the Lord, honors our country, has a wonderful wife and eight children, loves rescuing sex slave children and even has adopted several. He now has 8 or 9 books he has written and I suggest you read them all. He is an awesome man and I know he has a future in politics to help our nation. Above all else he loves The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and honors his priesthood.

I have always said, Tim Ballard could be one of the Elder’s who help our Constitution from being destroyed. He has been working with President Trump for a few years now to help rid the evil sex trafficking trade from here in the US and in the world.

Joseph Smith’s Words

“Even this nation will be on the very verge of crumbling to pieces and tumbling to the ground, and when the Constitution is upon the brink of ruin, this people will be the staff upon which the nation shall lean, and they shall bear the Constitution away from the very verge of destruction.

Then shall the Lord say go tell all my servants who are the strength of mine house my young men and middle aged & come to the Land of my vineyard and fight the battle of the Lord Then the Kings & Queens shall come then the rulers of the Earth shall come then shall all saints come yea the Foreign saints shall come to fight for the Land of my vineyard for in this thing shall be their safety and they will have no power to choose but will come as a man fleeth from a sudden destruction

But before this the time shall be when these who are now my friends shall become my enemies and shall seek to take my life and shall be m there are those now before me who will more furiously pursue me and the more diligently seek my life and be more blood thirsty upon my track than ever were the Missouri Mobbers. You say among yourselves as did them of old time it is I & is it I. But I know these things by the visions of the Almighty.” 19 July 1840, as recorded by Martha Jane Knowlton Coray; ms. in Church Historian’s Office, Salt Lake City; Joseph Smith Papers, LDS Church Historical Archives, Box 1, March 10, 1844 Also: D. Michael Stewart, “I Have a Question,” Ensign, June 1976, 64-65

Constitution May Be Saved Soon?

Speaking about the Constitution hanging by a thread, I want to also mention a law case that was just accepted before the Supreme Court of the United States on about Nov 24, 2022. The court had 4 Justices vote to move the case forward to be heard. Today is Dec 1, 2022 and I don’t have an update. Here is the Supreme Court website with the court case

It has been brought forth by the Brunson Brothers, Loy, Raland, Deron and Gaynor. As I understand they are all members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know Loy as he has been a speaker at the Firm Foundation Conference that I manage.

As such, in my opinion, if this suit goes forward and is adjudicated correctly, it could fulfill one of Joseph Smith’s prophecies. Yes, it may be a miracle, as we should all be looking for the time that our Government can return to its original place, as a righteous representation of our values. 

The Brunson’s have a website that shows the story and timeline of the case, which will always be updated with any new developments. www.ralandbrunson.com
also, for those who want to help support this cause: www.7discoveries.com

The Question proposed by the Brunson Law Suit:

“How can you support, and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign, and domestic? Answer: You investigate. If there are claims that there is a threat, even if you don’t believe there is a threat, you investigate. How else can you determine if there is a threat unless you investigate? Were there claims of a threat to the Constitution? Yes. Where did these serious claims from from? 100 members of Congress. What was the threat? That there were enemies of the Constitution who successfully rigged the 2020 election. Is this lawsuit about a rigged election? No, it’s about the members of Congress who voted AGAINST the investigation thereby thwarting the investigation. Was this a clear violation of their oath? YES.

The Relief that Loy and Raland are Seeking That defendants be permanently removed from office, and not allowed to hold a public office again. More information here:


Opinion

This information is shared personally by myself Rian Nelson, and is not the opinion of Rod Meldrum, Firm Foundation or any of its employees. I want you to assist me in prayer as we all look for an end to the evil we are up against in this current world of ours. The key is to maintain Love and Patience, and continue in preparing for the great Second Coming of the Lord, Jesus Christ.

I do believe the 2020 and 2022 Elections were stolen by the Deep State, (Not Republican or Democrat, but a world wide foreign evil), but I also believe good USA Generals and Combatant Commanders of the Republic of the United States, will step in to help us. The Lord is in control and is with our great nation and with the other nations of this world who have been infiltrated with the same evil Deep State Satanic regimes. 


 

The American Covenant set. Volumes 1 & 2 by Timothy Ballard (Books)

The American Covenant I and II by Timothy Ballard.  Volume 1, Discovery Through Revolution, gives a profound understanding of the true and eternal purpose of America.  Witness ancient prophecies and promises of God’s glorious plan for his children on His Promised Land of America, the United States. Vol. 2 tells the covenant story from Abraham to the signing of the Constitution and on to Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War.  Buy the set and save. The rest of his books are at Deseret Book and Seagull Book.

Tim Ballard Explains How a Copy of the Book of Mormon Signed by Joseph Smith On May 14, 1844 Ended Up in the John Adams House Library

“Tim Ballard, author and CEO of Operation Underground Railroad, recently released his book called The Pilgrim Hypothesis, which explores the connection between US history and the Restoration.

In one of the videos, Ballard discusses what he discovered after seeing Emma Smith’s copy of the Book of Mormon, which was signed by Joseph, in the John Adams House Library. Ballard was so intrigued by how this copy could have gotten there, that he began reading through Adam family journals until he found his answer. https://www.youtube.com/embed/2EP62T-EOsg

Charles Francis Adams, son of former US president John Quincy Adams, and his cousin Josiah Quincy—who was a Massachusetts legislator, the son of a Harvard president, and later the mayor of Boston—were near Nauvoo and decided to pay a visit to Joseph Smith. They were both involved in politics and wanted to talk to Joseph because of what they’d heard about his claims of being a prophet and because he was running for president at the time.

Adams and Quincy were welcomed by Joseph, who talked to them about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. In the video, Ballard explains the two men’s reaction to Joseph and his teachings.

“Their response is so interesting. These men are verbose, they are opinionated, they are conclusive. But with the Mormon prophet they didn’t know what to think. They said, ‘There is a mixture of knowledge and ignorance of wisdom and folly in his whole system that I am somewhat at a loss to find definitions for it,’” says Ballard. 

Ballard goes on to explain that Adams and Quincy had expected to find a wild prophet, but within Adams’s diary it is evident that he sees wisdom in Joseph’s philosophies. Joseph was not what they expected.

Before the men left, Joseph signed a copy of the Book of Mormon (evidently Emma’s copy as her name was on the spine) and gave it to them.

Ballard also shares the story of John Howland, who was nearly drowned when he was thrown from the Mayflower during a storm while coming to America. Howland’s survival was a miracle and his posterity would come to include prominent early Church members and United States presidents.” By Emily Abel LDS Living

Other, Other Sheep, and Two Promised Lands

Explaining the title of this blog, this is what I mean. The Lord loves all people of this world perfectly and completely as His children. Christ speaks of two Promised Lands in 3 Nephi. These Lands were set apart by Christ himself so he could accomplish His great work of sharing the Gospel to all Nations. Christ had to chose a land where he could share with a people who would help Him accomplish His goal of loving and teaching the entire world.

He chose Judea and America. Because Christ loves us all equally, no people or land was better than another but utilized for his purposes. Elder Whitney said, “We believe that this was His object in creating the Republic of the United States; the only land where his work could be commenced or the feet of his people find rest. No other land had such liberal institutions, had adopted so broad a platform upon which all men might stand.” Bishop Orson F. Whitney, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, April 19, 1885.

From the Bible we learn,

“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 Book of Mormon we hear,

“19 But, verily, I say unto you that the Father hath commanded me, and I tell it unto you, that ye were separated from among them because of their iniquity; therefore it is because of their iniquity that they know not of you.

20 And verily, I say unto you again that the other tribes hath the Father separated from them; and it is because of their iniquity that they know not of them.

21 And verily I say unto you, that ye are they of whom I said: 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.

By David Lindsley

22 And they understood me not, for they supposed it had been the Gentiles; for they understood not that the Gentiles should be converted through their preaching.” 3 Nephi 15:19-22

And from the Book of Mormon we also hear,

“1 And verily, verily, I say unto you that I have other sheep, which are not of this land, neither of the land of Jerusalem, neither in any parts of that land round about whither I have been to minister.

For they of whom I speak are they who have not as yet heard my voice; neither have I at any time manifested myself unto them.” 3 Nephi 16:1-2

That means He loves us ALL! The entire world and every person. Some have heard his word and others have not, but before judgement, all will have an equal opportunity to hear the gospel whether in this life, or in the life to come. What a beautiful blessing.

President Hinckley said, “I should like to say a few words about America…No land is without its beauty, no people without their virtues, and I hope that you who come from elsewhere will pardon my saying a few words concerning my own native land, America…surely this is a good land, a choice land, a chosen land. To me it is a miracle, a creation of the Almighty.” Gordon B. Hinckley Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled

Elder McConkie said, “The ‘other sheep’ here referred to constituted the separated flock or remnant of the house of Joseph, who, six centuries prior to the birth of Christ, had been miraculously detached from the Jewish fold in Palestine, and had been taken beyond the great deep to the American continent” (Jesus the Christ, p. 419).

“In the quote above it mentions Palestine. I believe it is referring to a great area of the world that has been known by many names over the years. Today in 2022 we call it Israel like the rest of the world does. Understand however that this is the Land of Judea where Christ is from. Christ is through Adam to Eber (Hebrew) to Abraham to Israel and through the Tribe of Judah through David. Christ in not a “Jew” unless you define Jesus as coming from the royal Lineage above.

What was Israel called before it’s Historical Creation in 1948?

Judea province in the 1st Century CE

“On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion, the head of the Jewish Agency, proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel. U.S. President Harry S. Truman recognized the new nation on the same day. Through the centuries, the territory was known by a variety of other names, including Canaan, Djahy, Samaria, Judea, Yehud, Iudaea, Syria Palaestina and Southern Syria.” Source

“I truly believe that the Book of Mormon is the word of God by personal revelation. I also believe one of the greatest resources that has helped me understand the secondary evidences of that wonderful Book, is the “Annotated Book of Mormon.” by David Hocking and Rod Meldrum. Never before have I heard about and understood in my mind, the correct geography as researched about the two Promised Lands, as I have personally learned from the Annotated Book of Mormon.” Rian Nelson


Only Two Promised Covenant Lands by Rod Meldrum

“There are only two “Promised Lands” mentioned by Christ in the Book of Mormon; Jerusalem of the Old World (3 Nephi 20:29) and New Jerusalem of the New World (3 Nephi 20:22).  Both of these covenant lands of promise were given by the Lord to the house of Israel for their latter day gathering place. The New World Promised Land would be the location of the gathering place for the House of Israel in the America’s.  Where is this gathering place?  It will be at the New Jerusalem.  And where is the New Jerusalem going to be located?  We know through revelation that the New Jerusalem will be built in Jackson County Missouri, in the Heartland of North America (D&C 84:1-4).  Did the Book of Mormon history take place on the same land as the New Jerusalem?  Multiple passages establish that Lehi’s family was lead to and remained on this Promised Land throughout their entire history (1 Nephi 13:3022:72 Nephi 1:53 Nephi 20:2221:2-4,21:22-23Ether 13:2-6).  Therefore the land the Nephites, Jaredites, Mulekites and Lamanites lived upon was their “covenanted” land of promise and must – by covenant – include the Heartland of North America because it is the revealed location of the New Jerusalem by the Lord Himself.” Rod Meldrum. Read the entire article by Rod Meldrum called, The Scriptural Basis for Book of Mormon Geography

THE ANNOTATED EDITION OFTHE BOOK OF MORMON

THE OLD TESTAMENT:
“I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries whither I have driven them.”(Jeremiah 23:3)

THE NEW TESTAMENT:
“I am the Good Shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known of Mine. As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down My life for the sheep. 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 10:14-16)

THE BOOK OF MORMON:
“And verily I say unto you, that ye are they of whom I said: ‘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.’”(3 Nephi 15:21)“…for behold, I know My sheep and they are numbered.” (3 Nephi 18:31) (Note: words spoken by Jesus Christ are in red lettering.)


“Other Sheep”
Prophecies and Promises by Bruce H. Porter and Rod Meldrum 

“The Savior declared that He must visit others unknown to “this people” and unknown to those at Jerusalem, emphasizing that he must manifest Himself to them and that they must hear His voice. Read closely the few verses below as they indicate those to whom Christ had appeared to.

And verily, verily, I say unto you that I have other sheep, which are not of this land, neither of the land of Jerusalem, neither in any parts of that land round about whither I have been to minister.

For they of whom I speak are they who have not as yet heard my voice; neither have I at any time manifested myself unto them.

But I have received a commandment of the Father that I shall go unto them, and that they shall hear my voice, and shall be numbered among my sheep, that there may be one fold and one shepherd; therefore I go to show myself unto them. 3 Nephi 16:1-3

These statements made by the Savior should be emphasized inasmuch that they indicate that the story is not over or limited to one group of people. They also indicate that the story did not begin with the visit of Christ after his resurrection, in Jerusalem and then in Bountiful. Christ teaches that “I have other sheep, which are not of this land, neither of the land of Jerusalem, neither in any parts of that land round about whither I have been to minister.”

The scriptures teach that there may be many nations that He visited who no doubt have kept records of His appearance and teachings. The fact that Christ has visited other sheep and nations does not necessarily mean that all of them must be located outside of the western hemisphere. These nations may be in the proverbial “backyard” of the Promised Land as well as any other continents in the same hemisphere, or even different peoples and cultures within a continent. There are no stated limitations. Some have addressed this thought and possibility as recorded in scripture about the visitation of Christ to other nations.

From the vantage point of the scriptures, the Lord could have made a visit to the inhabitants of the Japanese islands, and for that matter, to other peoples of Asia as well. During his earthly ministry Jesus frequently reassured the Jews that he was the Good Shepherd, always mindful of his sheep, and known of them. He explained that he had other sheep not of their fold whom he would visit (see John 10:14-16). This promise was fulfilled when the resurrected Messiah appeared on the American continent as recorded in the Book of Mormon (see 3 Nephi 15:21). But while still among the Nephites, Jesus made a further promise that he would also visit other tribes of the house of Israel, neither of the land of Jerusalem nor of the land of the Nephites, whom the Father had led away. He had been commanded of the Father to administer to the needs of these sheep, and they would hear his voice.

Cartoon by Val Chadwick Bagley

“There is little doubt that other peoples came to the western hemisphere as the DNA evidence has shown. Likewise, there is evidence that Christ did visit many nations as the sacred text reveals. Many traditions around the world indicate or imply that one like Christ did indeed visit many lands, including Central America. However, the Book of Mormon by textual evidence and coupled with the prophetic statements of Joseph Smith, is unquestionably about a people on the Promised Land and speaks specifically about the nation established by Gentiles who came out of captivity. This is the same nation and Promised Land where the New Jerusalem will be built. This latter-day nation is the United States of America.

The Savior states in 3 Nephi that there were others that He must visit besides those to whom He was speaking. These other people are unknown to those in this land of promise and the land of Jerusalem. But, verily, I say unto you that the Father hath commanded me, and I tell it unto you, that ye were separated from among them because of their iniquity; therefore it is because of their iniquity that they know not of you. And verily, I say unto you again that the other tribes hath the Father separated from them; and it is because of their iniquity that they know not of them. And verily I say unto you, that ye are they of whom I said: 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. 3 Nephi 15:19-21

The Lord declares that others were separated, and that there have been many migrations of people that were led by the hand of the Lord to different lands, continents, and isles of the sea. The movement of families for the preservation of life and religion is a motif seen throughout the scriptures. The separation of the righteous from the wicked is evident in all of our standard works.

The City of Enoch, Abraham’s departure from Ur, the Rechabites in Jeremiah at the same time Lehi leaves Jerusalem, and then Nephi going into the wilderness leaving behind the land of their first inheritance are examples. Even the saints in this dispensation were led by the Lord from place to place seeking safety from persecution and religious freedom until they settled in the Salt Lake Valley. The Lord has led many families and groups into the “nethermost parts of the vineyard” explained in Jacob 5.

The Allegory of the Olive Tree

Jacob, the brother of Nephi, also gives clues to some migrations led by the hand of the Lord in the “Allegory of the Olive Tree” in Jacob 5. Zenos prophesied that the “natural branches” will be taken off the “mother” tree and planted in the “nethermost parts of the vineyard” (Jacob 5:13). This allegory teaches that one branch, planted in a “good spot of ground”, brought forth both good and bad fruit:

And he said unto the servant: Look hither and behold the last. Behold, this have I planted in a good spot of ground; and I have nourished it this long time, and only a part of the tree hath brought forth tame fruit, and the other part of the tree hath brought forth wild fruit; behold, I have nourished this tree like unto the others.

In this “good spot of ground” there is a division of the “tame fruit” and “wild fruit” in the branch planted there. In verses 43-45 the wild fruit eventually overcame the good and tame fruit that was planted in a “good spot of ground”—a place that was “choice unto me above all other parts of the land of my vineyard.” Verse 44 speaks of the Jaredites being in the same “spot of ground” that was cut down to plant the branch which brought forth the two kinds of fruit.

And behold this last, whose branch hath withered away, I did plant in a good spot of ground; yea, even that which was choice unto me above all other parts of the land of my vineyard. And thou beheldest that I also cut down that which cumbered this spot of ground, that I might plant this tree in the stead thereof. And thou beheldest that a part thereof brought forth good fruit, and a part thereof brought forth wild fruit; and because I plucked not the branches thereof and cast them into the fire, behold, they have overcome the good branch that it hath withered away. Jacob 5:43-45

The commentaries that exist on these verses are unanimous in their interpretation of this “good spot of ground” as the Promised Land obtained by Lehi, one that is “choice unto me above all other parts of the land of my vineyard.” This same part of the vineyard was given to Lehi, the descendants of Mulek and to the Jaredites that once “cumbered” this good spot of ground. The “good fruit” being overcome by the “wild fruit” is always viewed as the eventual wickedness and destruction of the Nephites by the Lamanites.

This “good spot of ground” is described as the spot where those described in the Book of Mormon as “this people” were led to “this land.” The Book of Mormon is not only a history of the people led to “this land” but it also becomes a historical record and prophetic text about the “Promised Land” and those who shall inherit it.

The other people led away and “planted in the nethermost part of the vineyard” could be those in any part of the world.146 This “nethermost part” could be in Japan, China, and India, parts of Russia, Scandinavia, Greenland, Australia, or New Zealand. Any of the “isles of the sea” could be included. The “nethermost part” could even be the peoples and cultures that might be living and keeping records near the Promised Land and be found in Central or South America.

There are “myths” and stories of one like Christ appearing in many places and cultures around the world and teaching “Christian-like” concepts. The important lesson learned from the Book of Mormon is that there are other nations and groups of people that kept their own records of His teachings and His appearances to them. It would be folly to decide or interpret that the visit of Christ was limited to a single geographical setting. The fact that Christ appeared to the people on “this continent,” according to Moroni, and Joseph Smith, does not negate a possible visit to many other cultures in this hemisphere as well as those in the Promised Land as recorded in 3 Nephi, nor does it mean that all those who were visited by Christ were of necessity “Nephites.”

Two Promised Lands

Christ Speaks to All Nations

An important question asked by the Lord in scripture and about scripture is “Know ye not that there are more nations than one?” There is no limit to the Lord’s love and concern for the nations, kindreds, and tongues of the world. Having reviewed a few scriptures about “other sheep” that are usually associated with the House of Israel, a review of passages about other nations might be helpful. These nations are discussed in scripture, beyond the scope of the historical setting and people of the Book of Mormon. However, the Lord has seen a need for the scriptural text of the Nephites to include information about these nations, lands, and records that lie beyond the borders of the particular Land of Promise. The paraphrased passages below give insight beyond “this land” into other peoples and other lands.

Know ye not that there are more nations than one?…and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea; and I bring forth my word unto the children of men, yea, even upon all the nations of the earth? …that I remember one nation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another. …that I speak forth my words according to mine own pleasure. And because that I have spoken one word ye need not suppose that I cannot speak another… Wherefore, because that ye have a Bible ye need not suppose that it contains all my words; neither need ye suppose that I have not caused more to be written.

For I command all men, both in the east and in the west, and in the north, and in the south, and in the islands of the sea, that they shall write the words which I speak unto them… For behold, I shall speak unto the Jews and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the Nephites and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the other tribes of the house of Israel, which I have led away, and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto all nations of the earth and they shall write it. 2 Nephi 29:7-12

Could these other “nations” in the verses (especially verse 12) above, include the highly advanced civilizations of Asia, and the Far East, perhaps the nations of northern Europe? Could these passages even include the peoples and cultures of Central and South America that might not be recorded in the Book of Mormon?

The last verse above speaks of the Jews, and then the Nephites and all the “other tribes of the house of Israel” and then includes the statement, that he “shall also speak unto all nations of the earth and they shall write it.”

The fact that the Book of Mormon is a record of the Promised Land does not mean that the entire hemisphere was that land. There can be no limitations on the Lord and the work He might do as He questions and declares: “Know ye not that there are more nations than one?…I shall also speak unto all nations of the earth and they shall write it.”

Other Records, Other People, Other Lands

Teachers of the Book of Mormon often remind their students that this sacred text is a record of “three migrations” and no more. Therefore, this written history is not the record of every migration to this continent or hemisphere. The claim of the book itself, and that of the translator, is that it consists of a record of only those who came to the “Promised Land.” It is a history of Lehi and his family, Mulek and those who came with him, and the earlier migration and history of the Jaredites.

All of these groups were led to the very same “Promised Land” as is evident in the scriptures. The fact that the record does not represent all cultures of the Western Hemisphere does not necessarily indicate that all lands within the hemisphere should be represented and included as the “Promised Land” within the Book of Mormon text.

There are only three groups of people that make up the known populations in the text of the Book of Mormon. Therefore, the land within the scriptural text should only include the land that those three groups inhabit. The prophecies and promises about the people and the land are to be fulfilled within the same land which they inhabit.

Based on the limited number of cultures that the Book of Mormon embraces and the information presented above, let us hypothesize for the moment that the text is just as limited in its geography. Suppose it is the record of those groups only, that were “planted in the good spot of ground” that is the “Promised Land.” Nephi explains that the record he is making “should be kept for the instruction of my people, who should possess the land” (1 Nephi 19:3) — then and now.” Prophecies and Promises by Bruce H. Porter and Rod Meldrum Chapter 14


I Will Graft Them:

“In the process of grafting, healthy, living branches are cut from a tree and inserted into the trunk of another tree to grow. The “branches” in this allegory of the Tame Olive Tree represent different groups of people whom the Lord takes from one place and then plants in another place to keep the “tree” from dying. Ultimately, the regrafting in of those of the House of Israel will include their coming to “the knowledge of the true Messiah”(1 Nephi 10:14).” Annotated Book of Mormon by David Hocking and Rod Meldrum page 107

14 Olive Tree Grafting Stock Photos, Pictures & Royalty-Free Images - iStock
Olive Tree Grafting

The Lord’s promises are extended to all of God’s people, world-wide. He loves us all and His goal is , “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” Moses 1:39

Covenant of Abraham

“Abraham first received the gospel by baptism (which is the covenant of salvation). Then he had conferred upon him the higher priesthood, and he entered into celestial marriage (which is the covenant of exaltation), gaining assurance thereby that he would have eternal increase. Finally he received a promise that all of these blessings would be offered to all of his mortal posterity (D&C 132:29–50Abr. 2:6–11). Included in the divine promises to Abraham were the assurances that (1) Christ would come through his lineage, and that (2) Abraham’s posterity would receive certain lands as an eternal inheritance (Gen. 1722:15–18Gal. 3Abr. 2). These promises taken together are called the “Abrahamic covenant.” It was renewed with Isaac (Gen. 26:1–4, 24) and again with Jacob (Gen. 2835:9–1348:3–4).

The portions of the covenant that pertain to personal salvation and eternal increase are renewed with each individual who receives the ordinance of celestial marriage (see D&C 132:29–33). Those of non-Israelite lineage, commonly known as Gentiles, are adopted into the house of Israel and become heirs of the covenant and the seed of Abraham through the ordinances of the gospel (Gal. 3:26–29).

Being an heir to the Abrahamic covenant does not make one a “chosen person” per se but does signify that such are chosen to responsibly carry the gospel to all the peoples of the earth. Abraham’s seed have carried out the missionary activity in all the nations since Abraham’s day. (Matt. 3:9Abr. 2:9–11.)

To fulfill the covenant God made with Abraham—having particular reference to the fact that the literal seed of his body would be entitled to all of the blessings of the gospel (Abr. 2:10–11)—a number of specific and particular things must take place in the last days. The gospel must be restored, the priesthood must be conferred again upon man, the keys of the sealing power must be given again to mortals, Israel must be gathered, and the Holy Ghost must be poured out upon the Gentiles. All this has already taken place or is in process of fulfillment. See also AdoptionGentile.” LDS Bible Dictionary

Zarahemla and Phoenicia Together in Lee County, Iowa

Magnetic Gradient Survey

Magnetic Gradient Survey PDF
in Lee County, Iowa by Heartland Research Group Feb. 2021

Visit the Phoenician Ship Museum website at phoenicia.rocks Help us to rebuild the replica Phoenician Ship and build The Phoenician Ship Museum. Video subtitled in English and Portuguese.

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Yuri and Vera Sonada on the Phoenicia in the Atlantic

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Lidar Imaging

Aug 24
Restoration of the Phoenician Ship in Montrose, Iowa

Fort Moroni View

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“Moroni Fortifies the Lands of the Nephites”

“Moroni fortifies the lands of the Nephites” by Clark Kelley Price. Follow Alma 50 as you view this amazing painting.

Hidden in the Heartland

Our good friends Kels and Stephanie Goodman of “Hidden in the Heartland”, did this wonderful early video about Philip Beale and his amazing Voyage in 2008. This is the replica 600 BC Phoenicia’s voyage from Oman to replicate the voyage to circumnavigate Africa on a trade route done by Herodotus in his 500 BC actual voyage. This 2008 voyage clearly showed that Lehi could easily have sailed on an ancient 600 BC ship from Oman to Florida right here in America. We believe Lehi landed around Apalachicola, FL in 589 BC according to the Book of Mormon. See blog about Apalachicola Florida landing here.

To read about his second voyage on the Phoenicia which proved Mulek’s voyage was possible see my blog here:


Travel Bureau –Association Didon de Carthage

Eryj Ben Sassi shares this video as it presents one of the most important partners of the Phoenician Ship Museum, The Association Didon de Carthage, from Tunisia.

A Misunderstood Quote by Mesoamerican Theorists

The Most Misunderstood Quote by Mesoamerican Theorists 

2023 NT Gospel Doctrine. Purchase for Christmas

“You know there has been great discussion in relation to Zion–where it is, and where the gathering of the dispensation is, and which I am now going to tell you. The prophets have spoken and written upon it; but I will make a proclamation that will cover a broader ground. The whole of America is Zion itself from north to south.President Joseph Smith’s Remarks–The Whole of America Zion–April Conference, 1844 Section Six 1843-44, p.362

Mesoamerican activists actually cite this above quote as evidence that the Book of Mormon took place in Central America. WRONG! They interpret the above quote in blue to mean North America to South America. It doesn’t say that however. It says America is Zion (speaking of America) and it means America (from its North to its South) Just like in the map below:

Center of America

This map explains the Joseph Smith quote above is that the very Zion is Eden, and the New Jerusalem, which are in the very center place of the United States of America. The Lord can’t be more accurate than that. In other words the cradle of society or its beginning is Eden in Missouri, and its location during the Book of Mormon times was Missouri [Zarahemla], and the New Jerusalem will be at Independence, Missouri. In other words, “The first shall be last and the last shall be first. The beginning and the end will be near Missouri. How beautiful is this information.

Civil War, North and South on Joseph’s Mind

“Have We Not Had a Prophet  Among Us?” Joseph Smith’s Civil War Prophecy 

“A month following the artillery rounds fired at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, signaling the start to the Civil War, the Philadelphia Sunday Mercury remarked, “We have in our possession a pamphlet, published at Liverpool, in 1851, containing a selection from the ‘revelations, translations and narrations’ of Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism.” Citing what is now Doctrine and Covenants 87, the paper continued, “The following prophecy is here said to have been made by Smith, on the 25th of December, 1832. In view of our present troubles, this prediction seems to be in progress of fulfilment, whether Joe Smith was a humbug or not.” Though early in the war’s advancement, the paper nevertheless speculated about the prophecy, concluding, “The war began in South Carolina. Insurrections of slaves are already dreaded. Famine will certainly afflict some Southern communities. The interference of Great Britain, on account of the want of cotton, is not improbable, if the war is protracted. In the meantime, a general war in Europe appears to be imminent. Have we not had a prophet among us?”[1] Scott C. Esplin

[1] Footnote Above: “A Mormon Prophecy,” Philadelphia Sunday Mercury, May 5, 1861, cited in Robert J. Woodford, “Historical Development of the Doctrine and Covenants” (Ph.D. dissertation, Brigham Young University, 1974), 2:1110, emphasis added.

Editors Note: On the 25th of December, 1832 Joseph received the Civil War Prophesy, (D&C 87) telling of the beginning war accurately, which began in Fort Sumter, SC on April 12, 1861. Then at April General Conference, 1844, Joseph mentioned the quote above stating, “The whole of America is Zion itself from north to south.” This shows the words “North and South” would be prevalent on the mind of Joseph, and he would definitely know and understand those two words, as he quotes them together. There is little question that Joseph did not mean to say, “The whole of America is Zion itself from north America to south America.” No, Joseph said what was on his mind that “the whole of America is Zion itself from north to south.


The United States is God’s Choice

The United States of America has been and is truly great. It is the Promised Land of the Book of Mormon. Today it is receiving relentless attacks from some very unpatriotic and evil people. We are in a World War 3 cyber battle and it is time to stand up and applaud the goodness of these United States. We know this land will not be possessed by a disobedient people. We have time to save our land, but it is becoming a challenge.

Prophets and Apostles have spoken of the Choice Land and the responsibility those of us who are citizens must act with more dignity, respect, honor, faith and righteousness than those living in any other country. Not because we are better people, but because far more is expected of us. The penalty for our sin and disobedience will be far greater than those who live in other countries, as more is expected of us. We welcome all into the United States that want to come here legally and adopt our way of life which is freedom to choose right or wrong and be willing to accept the blessings or the curse for disobedience. Love our neighbor as ourselves, and above all Love the Lord our God with all our Heart, Might, Mind and Strength.

Zion and Jerusalem by Joseph Fielding Smith

The following question is from a reader of the Improvement Era, in the Southern States: Referring to Isaiah 2:2-3, please explain whether it is the New Jerusalem that is to be built in the land of Zion, or Jerusalem that is to be built on the eastern continent, from whence the word of the Lord will go forth in the last days.

The Scripture in Question is as Follows:

And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s House shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be 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 he 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.

The statement is very clear that two separate cities, or centers, are mentioned by Isaiah. In modern revelation this is confirmed, and we are informed just where the city of Zion — which is the New Jerusalem — shall be built.

In order to get a proper understanding of this question, it is necessary to explain the fact that Palestine is to be the gathering place of the tribe of Judah “and the children of Israel his companions,” after their long dispersion as predicted by the prophets. America is the land of Zion. It was given to Joseph, son of Jacob, and his descendants to be an everlasting inheritance. The children of Ephraim (son of Joseph) “and all the house of Israel his companions,” will be gathered to Zion, or America.

In the blessing given by Jacob to his son Joseph the inheritance of America is foreshadowed and predicted in the following words:

Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall: * * * Genesis 49

The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bounds 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.

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Because of his faithfulness and integrity, Joseph received greater blessings than the progenitors of Jacob, and was rewarded with the land of Zion. [United States of America] His brothers, with malicious intent, separated him and cast him out from among them. The Lord, in rewarding him, separated him from his brothers — the other tribes of Israel — and gave him an inheritance in a land that is choice above all other lands, which, we have learned from the Book of Mormon and modern revelation, is America.

In this great day of gathering, the Lord has commanded that those of the house of Israel who are scattered among the Gentiles should flee unto Zion, and those who are of the house of Judah should flee unto Jerusalem, “unto the mountain of the Lord’s house,” which is their gathering place. (Doc. and Cov.133:12,13.)

In each land a holy city shall be built which shall be the capital from whence the law and the word of the Lord shall go forth to all peoples. The Savior said to the Nephites: “Behold, this people will I establish in this land, unto the fulfilling of the covenant which I made with your father Jacob; and it shall be a New Jerusalem. And the powers of heaven shall be in the midst of this people; yea, even I will be in the midst of you” (3 Nephi 20:22).

Moroni, writing of the Jaredites, has said: “Behold, Ether saw the days of Christ, and he spake concerning a New Jerusalem upon this land; and he spake also concerning the house of Israel, and the Jerusalem from whence Lehi should come; after it should be destroyed, it should be built up again a holy city unto the Lord, wherefore it could not be a New Jerusalem, for it had been in a time of old, but it should be built up again, and become a holy city of the Lord; and it should be built unto the house of Israel.” Zion and Jerusalem by Joseph Fielding Smith, Improvement Era Vol. 22 JULY 1919

Location of The New Jerusalem 

“Joseph, the Prophet, told me that the Garden of Eden was in Jackson County, Missouri. When Adam was driven out he went to the place we now call Adam-ondi-Ahman, Daviess County, Missouri. There he built an altar and offered sacrifices.” Wilford Woodruff, Wilford Woodruff, His Life and Labors, comp. Matthias F. Cowley [Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1916], 481

“The spot chosen for the garden of Eden was Jackson County, in the State of Missouri, where Independence now stands; it was occupied in the morn of creation by Adam and his associates who came with him for the express purpose of peopling this earth.” ournal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 10: 235

In 1831, the Prophet Joseph Smith received a revelation designating the place called Independence, Jackson County, Missouri, as the center place of the kingdom of God on the western hemisphere. A city called Zion or the New Jerusalem would there be built. There also, the foremost temple to the Lord should be erected. From the temple in Zion the law of the Lord would issue, as the word of the Lord would come from Jerusalem.” John A. Widtsoe, Evidences and Reconciliations [Salt Lake City: Improvement Era], 395.

“At that very spot, Spring Hill, Davis County, Missouri, in the year 1838, the Latter-day Saints, by direction of the Prophet, began to build a city, naming it Adam-ondi-Ahman, afterwards abbreviated to Diahman. While engaged in making the survey, some of the brethren came upon the ruins of an ancient altar, which the Prophet, on beholding, declared to be the identical altar upon which Adam offered sacrifices after he was expelled from Eden. The Garden of Eden, Joseph said, was in Jackson County, Missouri, from which part the Saints had been driven, as if to typify reminiscently the original expulsion. In both instances, the tree of disobedience bore the same bitter fruit. In Jackson County the New Jerusalem is to be built, and a people prepared for the glorious coming of the Lord. That America is the Old World, not the New, science now affirms; but the fact was first proclaimed by revelation, whose other name, in this case, is Joseph Smith the Prophet.” Orson F. Whitney, Gospel Themes [Salt Lake City: n.p., 1914], 99 – 100.

“In a revelation to the Prophet, an early event in the history of mankind, occurring near Adam-ondi-Ahman, was told: Three years previous to the death of Adam, he called Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, and Methuselah, who were all high priests, with the residue of his posterity who were righteous, into the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman, and there bestowed upon them his last blessing. (D. & C. 107:5)” John A. Widtsoe, Evidences and Reconciliations [Salt Lake City: Improvement Era], 395.

“In accord with the revelations given to the Prophet Joseph Smith, we teach that the Garden of Eden was on the American continent located where the City Zion, or the New Jerusalem, will be built. When Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden, they eventually dwelt at a place called Adam-ondi-Ahman, situated in what is now Daviess County, Missouri. Three years before the death of Adam he called the righteous of his posterity at this place and blessed them, and it is at this place where Adam, or Michael, will sit as we read in the 7th chapter of Daniel.” Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 3 vols., edited by Bruce R. McConkie [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1954-1956], 3: 74.

“Since Adam called together seven generations of his descendants at Adam-ondi-Ahman, it can well be believed that there was his old homestead. If so, the Garden of Eden was probably not far distant, for it was the entrance at the east of the Garden which was closed against them at the time of the “fall.” (Gen. 3:24) In fact, it has been commonly understood among the Latter-day Saints, from the teachings of the Prophet, that the temple was to be built in or near the location of the Garden of Eden.”John A. Widtsoe, Evidences and Reconciliations [Salt Lake City: Improvement Era], 396

“That the Prophet actually taught that the Garden of Eden was in or near Independence, Missouri, is amply testified to by many who knew and heard him.” pg. 379, Out of Captivity, Charles W. Allen  Joseph Smith Foundation Stoddard’s


Why Zarahemla in D&C 125 refers to the Zarahemla of the Book of Mormon

Editors note: Let me substitute a few words of Elder Smith and say about Zarahemla in the Book of Mormon, “wherefore it could not be a New Zarahemla, for it had been in a time of old, but it should be built up again, and become a holy city of the Lord; and it should be built unto the house of Joseph.”


We are informed in the revelations given to Joseph Smith the Prophet, that the city of Zion and the New Jerusalem is one and the same. In a number of revelations the Lord speaks of the New Jerusalem which is to be built. (See sections 28, 42, 45, 84.) In Sec. 45:66, 67, we read: “And it shall be called the New Jerusalem, a land of peace, a city of refuge, a place of safety for the Saints of the Most High God; and the glory of the Lord shall be there, and the terror of the Lord also shall be there, insomuch that the wicked will not come unto it, and it shall be called Zion” (See also sections 57:2 and 58:7).

In section 84:2, we read: “Yea, the word of the Lord concerning his Church established in the last days for the restoration of his people, as he has spoken by the mouth of his prophets, and for the gathering of his Saints to stand upon Mount Zion, which shall be the city of New Jerusalem.

Jerusalem of old, after the Jews have been cleansed and sanctified from all their sin, shall become a holy city where the Lord shall dwell and from whence he shall send forth his word unto all people. Likewise, on this continent, the city of Zion, New Jerusalem— shall be built, and from it the law of God shall also go forth. There will be no conflict, for each city shall be headquarters for the Redeemer of the world, and from each he shall send forth his proclamations as occasion may require. Jerusalem shall be the gathering place of Judah and his fellows of the house of Israel, and Zion shall be the gathering place of Ephraim and his fellows, upon whose heads shall be conferred “the richer blessings.”

“Because of his faithfulness and integrity, Joseph received greater blessings than the progenitors of Jacob, and was rewarded with the land of Zion. His brothers, with malicious intent, separated him and cast him out from among them. The Lord, in rewarding him, separated him from his brothers — the other tribes of Israel — and gave him an inheritance in a land that is choice above all other lands, which, we have learned from the Book of Mormon and modern revelation, is America… We are informed in the revelations given to Joseph Smith the Prophet, that the city of Zion and the New Jerusalem is one and the same. In a number of revelations the Lord speaks of the New Jerusalem which is to be built…” Zion and Jerusalem by Joseph Fielding Smith, Improvement Era Vol. 22 JULY 1919

Editors Note: This quote above by Elder Joseph Fielding Smith, “Because of his faithfulness and integrity, Joseph received greater blessings than the progenitors of Jacob”, verifies that the Lord blesses various people at different levels, probably based on their obedience and righteousness. Although the Lord  loves all people the same and will judge all people with a righteous judgement, there are people in the world that are more intelligent than others, as it says, “And the Lord said unto me: These two facts do exist, that there are two spirits, one being more intelligent than the other; there shall be another more intelligent than they; I am the Lord thy God, I am more intelligent than they all.” Abraham 3:19

The Most Misunderstood Quote by Mesoamerican Theorists in its Fullness

“It is as impossible for me to continue the subject of yesterday as to raise the dead. My lungs are worn out. There is a time to all things, and I must wait. I will give it up, and leave the time to those who can make you hear, and I will continue the subject of my discourse some other time. I want to make a proclamation to the Elders. I wanted you to stay, in order that I might make this proclamation. You know very well that the Lord has led this Church by revelation. I have another revelation in relation to economy in the Church–a great, grand, and glorious revelation. I shall not be able to dwell as largely upon it now as at some other time; but I will give you the first principles. You know there has been great discussion in relation to Zion–where it is, and where the gathering of the dispensation is, and which I am now going to tell you. The prophets have spoken and written upon it; but I will make a proclamation that will cover a broader ground. The whole of America is Zion itself from north to south, and is described by the Prophets, who declare that it is the Zion where the mountain of the Lord should be, and that it should be in the center of the land. When Elders shall take up and examine the old prophecies in the Bible, they will see it.” President Joseph Smith’s Remarks–The Whole of America Zion–April Conference, 1844 Section Six 1843-44, p.362

Jonathan Neville Explains North and South

Mesoamerican activists actually cite this above quote as evidence that the Book of Mormon took place in Central America. Others read the rest of the journal entry and get a better idea of what was intended.

“When the House is done, Baptism font erected and finished & the worthy are washed, anointed, endowed & ordained kings & priests, which must be done in this life, when the place is prepared you must go through all the ordinances of the house of the Lord so that you who have any dead friends must go through all the ordinances for them the same as for yourselves; then the Elders are to go through all America & build up Churches until all Zion is built up, but not to commence to do this until the Temple is built up here and the Elders endowed. Then go forth & accomplish the work & build up stakes in all North and South America. Their will be some place ordained for the redeeming of the dead. I think this place will be the one, so their will be gathering fast enough here.”

In modern times, we interpret this to mean the continents of North America and South America, but that’s now how it was meant in 1844. About a year later, in June 1845, Woodruff was back in England. He visited the exhibition of Madame Tussaud and Sons. One of the exhibits that most impressed him was this:

“George Washington dressed as the President of America taken from A bust executed from Life. This personage bespoke as much dignity as any member of the Group.”

Woodruff used the term “America” interchangeably with the United States, or the United States of America. He referred to it as America three times as often as he did the United States. Like his contemporaries, he was concerned about the division between the northern states and the southern states. For example, he made this comment in Volume 2 of his journal:

“After General Harrison was elected President of the United States A body of citizens suspended a line across the road in which the President was to walk. This line contained or supported 27 flags one for each of the states. As General Harrison was passing under these colors the line parted in the centre. One half fell into the street towards the north & the other half towards the south as much as to say the states would be divided.”

When we think about Joseph Smith’s statement from the April 1844 conference, he was referring to the Nauvoo temple, which was built “in the centre of North and South America” if we’re referring to the United States of America. It’s nearly as central as possible in a literal sense, given the unknown extent of the western territories.

When Joseph said the Elders were to go through “all America” “& build up stakes in all North and South America,” he was referring to the United States, as we can see not only from the ordinary use of the term “America” at the time, but also from the reality of what actually happened. The Elders were already in Europe. They didn’t go to South America until much later. But it was important for the members to know they would build the Church in both North and South America. They were not going to focus just on the northern states, where most of them had come from.

It’s always important to read historical documents in the context of the times in which they were written.” Jonathan Neville Blog Here

As you research the map to the right, you will realize that Joseph Smith was referring to north and south in regards to the USA not in relationship to north and south America, if not, New Jerusalem is not in the middle of north and south America, but New Jerusalem or MO. IS in the middle of the USA.


Quotes that Support the Land Joseph and Promised Land in the Book of Mormon, as the United States of America!

How Many Quotes about Mesoamerica as the Promised Land, can you find?

Thomas S. Monson

Thomas S. Monson by Ken Corbett

“The Lord gave a divine promise to the ancient inhabitants of this favored country (the United States): ‘Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ” (Ether 2:12).

“Our Heavenly Father inspired the leaders of…the United States of America, that they might together, under His direction, having been raised up by God for the purpose, establish the Constitution of this country and…Bill of Rights, that by the year of our Lord 1805 [there would be] a climate where our Heavenly Father could send into this period of mortality a choice spirit who would be known as Joseph Smith, Jr.” 2011 President Thomas S. Monson (ordained an Apostle, 1963; ordained President of the Church, 2008: (United States) is printed in the book just as shown in the quote above).

Gordon B. Hinckley

“I would that all men could believe in the destiny of America as did the early pioneers: that it is the land of Zion; that the founders of this nation were men of inspired vision; that the Constitution as written by the inspiration of heaven must be preserved at all costs. “I make a further plea that the citizens of this favored land live righteously that they might enjoy the fruits of their righteousness in this land of promise.Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled Gordon B. Hinckley of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles Oct. 29, 1974 • Devotional

“I marvel at the miracle of America, the land which the God of Heaven long ago declared to be a land choice above all other lands and concerning which He has made a promise and given a warning in these remarkable words: ‘Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ’(Ether 2:12.) “God bless America, for she is His creation.” (Hinckley, Gordon B., National Advisory Council of BYU College of Business [November 2, 1973]).

“I should like to say a few words about America…No land is without its beauty, no people without their virtues, and I hope that you who come from elsewhere will pardon my saying a few words concerning my own native land, America…surely this is a good land, a choice land, a chosen land. To me it is a miracle, a creation of the Almighty.” Gordon B. Hinckley Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled”, BYU Speeches of the Year, October 29, 1974, pp. 267-68 )

Heber J Grant) 

“It was not by chance that the Puritans left their native land and sailed away to the shores of New England, and others later followed. They were the advance guard of the army of the Lord, predestined to establish the God-given system of government under which we live and to make America, which is the land of Joseph, the gathering place of Ephraim, an asylum for the oppressed of all nations, and prepare the way for the restoration of the gospel of Christ and the establishment of his church upon the earth” – Heber J. Grant, Conference Report, [April 1930].

Russell M. Nelson

“The Book of Mormon reveals the important interrelationships between the Creation, the Fall, and the Atonement. One cannot fully comprehend the Atonement without first understanding the Fall; and the Fall of Adam cannot be fully understood without first understanding the Creation. These three great doctrinal pillars sustain each other in God’s eternal plan.

The Book of Mormon reveals that Joseph, the son of Jacob who was once sold into Egypt, foresaw the Prophet Joseph Smith and his day and noted that there would be many similarities in their lives. Centuries later, the Prophet Joseph stated, “I feel like Joseph in Egypt.” The Book of Mormon reveals that the inheritance of Joseph, son of Israel, was not forgotten when land was distributed to the tribes of Israel, as promised in the Abrahamic covenant. Joseph’s inheritance was to be a land choice above all others. It was choice not because of beauty or wealth of natural resources, but choice because it was chosen to be the repository of sacred writings on golden plates from which the Book of Mormon would one day come. It was choice because it would eventually host the world headquarters of the restored Church of Jesus Christ in the latter days. And it was choice because it is a land of liberty for those who worship the Lord and keep His commandments.” President Russell M. Nelson President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles June 23, 2016. 

Bruce R. McConkie

Certain lands were given to Israel for an inheritance in time and in eternity. America is the land of Joseph; it was the home of Nephite Israel, who were of Joseph, for a thousand years, and it is the headquarters of the Church in this final dispensation in which the church and kingdom of God are in the lands of Ephraim.” (McConkie, Bruce R., A New Witness for the Articles of Faith [1985], 511.)

HC 1:301-315

The Book of Mormon is a record of the forefathers of our western tribes of Indians; having been found through the ministration of an holy angel, and translated into our own language by the gift and power of God, after having been hid up in the earth for the last fourteen hundred years, containing the word of God which was delivered unto them. By it we learn that our western tribes of Indians are descendants from that Joseph which was sold into Egypt, and that the land of America is a promised land unto them, and unto it all the tribes of Israel will come, with as many of the Gentiles as shall comply with the requisitions of the new covenant. But the tribe of Judah will return to old Jerusalem. The city of Zion spoken of by David, in the one hundred and second Psalm, will be built upon the land of America, “And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads” (Isaiah 35:10); and then they will be delivered from the overflowing scourge that shall pass through the land. But Judah shall obtain deliverance at Jerusalem. See Joel 2:32Isaiah 26:20-21; Jeremiah 31:12, Psalm 1:5Ezekiel 34:11-13. These are testimonies that the Good Shepherd will put forth His own sheep, and lead them out from all nations where they have been scattered in a cloudy and dark day, to Zion, and to Jerusalem; besides many more testimonies which might be brought.

And now I am prepared to say by the authority of Jesus Christ, that not many years shall pass away before the United States shall present such a scene of bloodshed as has not a parallel in the history of our nation; pestilence, hail, famine, and earthquake will sweep the wicked of this generation from off the face of the land, to open and prepare the way for the return of the lost tribes of Israel from the north country. The people of the Lord, those who have complied with the requirements of the new covenant, have already commenced gathering together to Zion, which is in the state of Missouri; therefore I declare unto you the warning which the Lord has commanded to declare unto this generation, remembering that the eyes of my Maker are upon me, and that to him I am accountable for every word I say, wishing nothing worse to my fellow-men than their eternal salvation; therefore, “Fear God, and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment is come.” Repent ye, repent ye, and embrace the everlasting covenant, and flee to Zion, before the overflowing scourge overtake you, for there are those now living upon the earth whose eyes shall not be closed in death until they see all these things, which I have spoken, fulfilled. Remember these things; call upon the Lord while He is near, and seek Him while He may be found, is the exhortation of your unworthy servant. HC 1:301-315

W.W. Phelps

“This beautiful region of country is…the land of Joseph or the Indians, as they are called… The world will never value the land of Desolation, as it is called in the Book of Mormon, for any thing more than hunting ground, for want of timber and mill-seats: The Lord to the contrary notwithstanding, declares it to be the land of Zion which is the land of Joseph, blessed by him, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew… Thou [Jerusalem] shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land [Zion] any more be termed Desolate.” The Evening and Morning Star Vol. 1 No. 5 October 1832 Page 71 Editor WW Phelps

“To his steady drum roll about the Indian and his destiny, Phelps added his view of the land west of the Missouri settlements, which he called the “Far West.” Wasn’t this, the editor wondered, the land of the covenant, where the Book of Mormon Jaredites and Nephites had once roamed before meeting their destruction? While the world would never prize the area because of its want of timber and mill seats, Deity had a different view. This land was Zion, he argued, the land of Joseph, the receptacle of “the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills.” In a few sentences, Phelps wove together some of the images that Joseph Smith had been using when speaking of the western Zion and the soon-to-be redeemed Indian”  Quoted in  Seeking The “Remnant”: The Native American During The Joseph Smith Period by Ronald W Walker: Evening and the Morning Star 1 (October 1832): 137] Phelps was citing Deuteronomy 3313-17 The editor later would help select Mormon settlement sites in Daviess County and may have had a role in choosing the name of the region’s most prominent town, Far West, thus giving another expression to his fascination with the western region.” WW Phelps

LeGrand Richards 

The Book of Mormon tells us that America is a land of promise, a land choice above all other lands. Nephi said that whosoever should possess it must serve the God of the land or they would be swept off. And we have read in the Book of Mormon of the nations that have been swept off because they ceased to worship the God who had led them and their forefathers here to this land. We have a great responsibility as citizens in this land, for the Lord said that he would fight its battles and be its king, if we will just serve him. So it’s appropriate at this time that we express our appreciation for this great land. I like the words Moses used when he gave a blessing to the twelve tribes of Israel. When he blessed Joseph he promised him a new land in the utmost bowels of the everlasting hills (see Deut. 33:15). Now that isn’t in Jerusalem because they don’t have everlasting hills over there, and the prophets have never predicted a regathering of all nations to the land of Israel. But they have predicted the gathering of Israel to this land of America, which is the land of Joseph. And we are the only people in the world who know what that land is that Moses promised to Joseph. It was so great in his eyes as he received the revelations of the Holy Spirit that in describing the land he used the word “precious” five times in just four verses…We have so much to be grateful for. We are not here by chance. We are here because of the sacrifices of our pioneer fathers who came to this choice land that the Lord, according to the Book of Mormon, had hidden away from the eyes of the world that it should not be overrun. He preserved it for us, for the day and time in which we now live here in these valleys of the mountains.” LEGRAND RICHARDS of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles Nov. 18, 1980 • Devotional

BH Roberts-Prayer at Valley Forge

The painting and article “The Prayer at Valley Forge” [February insert] were very interesting and appropriate. There is another story, by B. H. Roberts, about George Washington and the Bible that really deserves retelling. It is found in the Contributor, vol. 10, p. 275:

A PROPHETIC INCIDENT: In the April number of the Century is a well-written and profusely illustrated article on the Inauguration of Washington, by Clarence Winthrop Bowen. Among the illustrations is a facsimile of the page of the Bible on which Washington laid his hand while taking the oath of office, and it is to this that I wish specially to call attention. … The Century article says:

“Secretary Otis of the Senate held before him (Washington) a red velvet cushion, upon which rested the open Bible. … ‘You do solemnly swear,’ said Livingston, ‘that you will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and will, to the best of your ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States’. … [Washington repeated the oath.] He then bowed his head and kissed the sacred book, and with the deepest feelings uttered the words, ‘So help me God!’”

The page of the Bible which Washington kissed, and on which his hand rested while taking the oath, is indicated in the Bible of the St. John’s Lodge [from which it was borrowed] by the leaf being turned down. A copper-plate engraving is on the opposite page illustrating the blessings of Zebulun and Issachar as pronounced upon them by the patriarch Jacob in Genesis 49, thirteenth and fourteenth verses respectively. The page on which Washington’s hand rested contains part of chapter forty-nine and also part of the fiftieth chapter down to verse eight inclusive.

The particular thing which struck me as being a remarkable circumstance is that the page indicated contains the blessing of Jacob upon the head of his favorite son Joseph, which reads as follows: “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 hated 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 49-50

To the Latter-day Saints the blessing of Joseph has a particular significance, for the reason that they, more than any other people, are familiar with his descendants, and the blessing promised them in which also they hope to participate. The Book of Mormon is a history, chiefly, of the descendants of Joseph; and in the mighty nations which have peopled the American continent, the Latter-day Saints see, in part, the fulfillment of the great blessings pronounced upon his head.

The article reviews Book of Mormon passages that refer to the seed of Jacob through Joseph coming to a promised land, including the comments made by the Savior when he visited them after his resurrection. Additional passages are reviewed that discuss the additional blessings pronounced upon Joseph by Moses. The author then says:

But what seems singular in connection with these promises made to Joseph and the account of their partial fulfillment in a portion of his posterity inhabiting America is, that after the nations, composed largely of his descendants, had been destroyed and other peoples from Europe—among whom, however, were also large numbers of the descendants of Joseph through the loins of Ephraim—had taken possession of the land, at the real establishment of that government which is destined to shape the destiny of the great continent of America—the land of Joseph—the very first executive chosen for that nation when being sworn to preserve, protect and defend the constitution of this land which God had inspired men to frame, he placed his hand upon the very page of the Bible containing the blessing pronounced upon the head of Joseph by the patriarch Jacob. …

Will men call this merely coincidence? Strange coincidence indeed it is, if that be all that it is. Observe that the forty-ninth chapter of Genesis is near the very first leaves of the Bible, and in laying the book open upon a velvet cushion for the use of one to be sworn, it would naturally be parted near the middle of the volume and not parted at the first few leaves.

Let others believe all this to be coincidence if they choose, but for my own part there is too much that is significant to assign it to that class of phenomena so conveniently disposed of by calling them coincidence … —B. H. Roberts.

Editor’s Note: I quote BH Roberts, “Let others believe all this to be coincidence if they choose, but for my own part there is too much that is significant to assign it to that class of phenomena so conveniently disposed of by calling them coincidence.” I say to all intellectuals scholars, professors and others in the great and spacious building, do you all believe this is a coincidence? Doesn’t it burn in your bosom that as Elder Perry said, “The United States is the promised land foretold in the Book of Mormon—a place where divine guidance directed inspired men to create the conditions necessary for the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Elder L. Tom promised Ensign Dec. 2012

Ether 13:5-7

“5 And he spake also concerning the house of Israel, and the Jerusalem from whence Lehi should come—after it should be destroyed it should be built up again, a holy city unto the Lord; wherefore, it could not be a new Jerusalem for it had been in a time of old; but it should be built up again, and become a holy city of the Lord; and it should be built unto the house of Israel—

6 And that a New Jerusalem should be built up upon this land, unto the remnant of the seed of Joseph, for which things there has been a type.

7 For as Joseph brought his father down into the land of Egypt, even so he died there; wherefore, the Lord brought a remnant of the seed of Joseph out of the land of Jerusalem, that he might be merciful unto the seed of Joseph that they should perish not, even as he was merciful unto the father of Joseph that he should perish not.” Ether 13:5-7

Marion G. Romney 

Marion G. Romney by Ken Corbett

“Just as Jesus Christ has piloted to this land of America the vanguard of each succeeding civilization which has dwelt upon it, so has He made known to them His everlasting decree “that whoso should possess [it] should serve Him, the true and only God, or they should be swept off … when they … are ripened in iniquity” (Ether 2:8–9; emphasis added). “Our present civilization is no exception. We who live in America are under this everlasting decree. And the Lord has said, “My word shall be verified at this time as it hath hitherto been verified” (Doctrine and Covenants 5:20). Jesus Christ, the God of this land, led Columbus to it. He led the Pilgrims to Plymouth. He sustained and gave victory to the colonists. He established the Constitution of the United States (see Doctrine and Covenants 101:80). Over a period of some twenty-six centuries He directed the writing of the Book of Mormon, which contains the record of the former inhabitants of this land. At His command, Moroni finished the record and hid it up in the Hill Cumorah, where, under his surveillance, it was safely preserved for some fourteen hundred years. “By the power of Jesus Christ, the God of this land, the record was brought forth, translated, and in 1830 published. For nearly 150 years now it has been bearing its message to all who will receive it. “After setting forth the everlasting decree concerning this land and reviewing the destruction of two civilizations, Moroni, seeing the present inhabitants of America, and knowing by the power of God that we would have the record, penned this message directly to those who inhabit this land: ‘And this cometh unto you … that ye may know the decrees of God—that ye may repent, and not continue in your iniquities until the fulness come, that ye may not bring down the fulness of the wrath of God upon you as the inhabitants of the land have hitherto done’” (Ether 2:11). (Marion G. Romney, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, “America’s Promise,” Ensign [Sept. 1979]; emphasis added.) Quoted in Annotated Book of Mormon by Hocking and Meldrum Page 462.

Ezra Taft Benson

“…Once this nation was well established, then the Church was restored and from here the message of the restored gospel has gone forth. All according to divine plan. This then becomes the Lord’s base of operations in these latter days. And this base will not be shifted out of its place—the land of America. This nation will, in a measure at least, fulfil its mission even though it may face serious and troublesome days. The degree to which it achieves its full mission depends upon the righteousness of its people. God has, through his power, established a free people in this land as a means of helping to carry forward his purposes.

“It was his latter-day purpose to bring forth his gospel in America, not in any other place. It was in America where the Book of Mormon plates were deposited. That was no accident. It was his design. It was in this same America where they were brought to light by angelic ministry. It was” . . . [here] “where he organized his modern Church, where he, himself made a modern personal appearance(Editorial, Church News).” The Lord’s Base of Operations” Elder Ezra Taft Benson Of the Council of the Twelve Apostles Conference Report, April 1962, pp. 103-106

2 Nephi 30:4

“And then shall the remnant of our seed know concerning us, how that we came out from Jerusalem, and that they are descendants of the Jews.” 2 Nephi 30:4 We need to look no further than the scriptures to know the Lamanites ARE DESCENDANTS of the JEWS. 

D&C 19:26-27

And again, I command thee that thou shalt not covet thine own property, but impart it freely to the printing of the Book of Mormon, which contains the truth and the word of God— Which is my word to the Gentile, that soon it may go to the Jew, of whom the Lamanites are a remnant, that they may believe the gospel, and look not for a Messiah to come who has already come.” D&C 19:26-27

D&C 57:1-4

“Hearken, O ye elders of my church, saith the Lord your God, who have assembled yourselves together, according to my commandments, in this land, which is the land of Missouri, which is the land which I have appointed and consecrated for the gathering of the saints. Wherefore, this is the land of promise, and the place for the city of Zion. And thus saith the Lord your God, if you will receive wisdom here is wisdom. Behold, the place which is now called Independence is the center place; and a spot for the temple is lying westward, upon a lot which is not far from the courthouse. Wherefore, it is wisdom that the land should be purchased by the saints, and also every tract lying westward, even unto the line running directly between Jew and Gentile;” D&C 57:1-4 (At that time the Lamanites (or Jews) lived on the west and the Gentiles (or Whites) lived on the east. In this way you may interpret D&C 57:1-4 as separating the Jews and Gentiles or the Lamanites and Whites).

Wilford Woodruff

“I would say to the Lamanites, if I could speak to them understandingly, that you are also a branch of the house of Israel, and chiefly of the house of Joseph, and your forefathers have fallen through the same examples of unbelief and sins, as have the Jews, and you, as their posterity, have wandered in sin and darkness for many generations; and you, like the Jews, have been driven and trampled under the foot of the Gentiles, and put to death through your wars with each other, and with the white man, until you are almost destroyed. But there is still a redemption and salvation for a remnant of you in the latter days. It is time for you to cease shedding each other’s blood or making war upon your fellow-man. Cease to destroy one another, learn to cultivate the earth, and raise your food therefrom; call upon the Great Spirit to protect you and deliver you from bondage and darkness, and the Great Spirit will hear you and deliver you, and a remnant of you will again become a delightsome people as your forefathers were when they kept the commandments of God.” Wilford Woodruff History of His Life and Labors AS RECORDED IN HIS DAILY JOURNALS  PREPARED FOR PUBLICATION BY MATTHIAS F. COWLEY Salt Lake City, Utah 1909

Bruce R. McConkie

Who, then, are the Jews, and what part shall they yet play in the gathering of Israel and the return of their King? There is a maze of fuzzy thinking and shoddy scholarship, both in the world and in the Church, that seeks to identify the Jews, both ancient and modern, and to expound upon what they have believed and do believe. It is not strange that the divines of the day-not knowing that the kingdom is to be restored to Israel at that glorious day; not having the Book of Mormon and latter-day revelation to guide them-it is not strange that they come up with false and twisted views about the mission and destiny of the Jews. It is a little sad that church members sometimes partake of these false views and of this secular spirit so as to misread the signs of the times.   

The term Jew is a contraction of the name Judah, but the Jews are not the members of the tribe of Judah as such. After the reign of Solomon, the Lord’s people divided into the kingdom of Israel  and the kingdom of Judah. Nearly ten tribes served Jeroboam in Israel and two and a half tribes served Rehoboam in Judah. The Levites were scattered among all the tribes. Judah, Simeon, and part of Benjamin comprised the kingdom of Judah. In actual fact, and considering blood lineage only, both kingdoms had in them people from all of the tribes. Lehi, who lived in Judah and was a Jew, was of the tribe of Manasseh. The Jews were nationals of the kingdom of Judah without reference to tribal ancestry. Thus the descendants of Lehi, both the Nephites and the Lamanites, were Jews because they came out from Jerusalem and from the kingdom of Judah. (2 Ne. 33:8.)   

The Jews today are also those whose origins stem back to the kingdom of their fathers. Clearly the dominant tribe-dominant, however, only in the sense of political power and rulership-was Judah. As to the bloodlines, who knows whether there are more of Judah or of Simeon or of Benjamin or of some other tribe among the Jews as we know them? Paul, a Jew, was of the tribe of Benjamin. The name Judea, now used as a noun, is actually an adjective meaning Jewish and is the Greek and Roman designation for the land of Judah.   

Since the Ten Tribes were taken into Assyria and lost from the knowledge of their fellows more than a century before the Jews went into Babylonian captivity, the prophets began to speak of Jews and Gentiles and to consider as a Gentile everyone who was not a Jew. This classifies Ephraim and the rest of scattered Israel as Gentiles. Everyone, in this sense, who is not a Jew is a Gentile, a concept that will enable us, in due course, to set forth what is meant by the fulness of the Gentiles.  (The Millennial Messiah: The Second Coming of the Son of Man, p.221-222)

Larry Echo Hawk

“As I read the Book of Mormon, it seemed to me that it was about my American Indian ancestors. It tells the story of a people, a part of which were later described as “Lamanites,” who migrated from Jerusalem to a “land of promise” (1 Nephi 2:20) about 600 B.C.” Larry Echo Hawk, “Come Unto Me, O Ye House of Israel,” Ensign, [Nov. 2012].

Joseph Fielding Smith

“Because of his faithfulness and integrity, Joseph received greater blessings than the progenitors of Jacob, and was rewarded with the land of Zion. His brothers, with malicious intent, separated him and cast him out from among them. The Lord, in rewarding him, separated him from his brothers — the other tribes of Israel — and gave him an inheritance in a land that is choice above all other lands, which, we have learned from the Book of Mormon and modern revelation, is America… We are informed in the revelations given to Joseph Smith the Prophet, that the city of Zion and the New Jerusalem is one and the same. In a number of revelations, the Lord speaks of the New Jerusalem which is to be built…” Zion and Jerusalem by Joseph Fielding Smith, Improvement Era Vol. 22 JULY 1919   

Alvin R. Dyer

Thus, from these brief accounts we see the reasons why America, or the continent of America, is the promised and choice land, choice above all other lands, for it was here that the habitation of man began, (Adam) and here that the covenants of God were first established. And it is from the center of this land that God has started his great latter-day work that will carry to the finish…America as Zion will not fail. Since America is the land choice above all other lands, and it is in the “Center Place” that Zion will be established, it will not fail. America as Zion will not fail, not simply because it is the land of our illustrious independence and constitutional fathers, but because it is the land of Joseph, the son of Jacob, and has been so established by God’s covenant. It is the land for the gathering of Israel in the culminating period of the last dispensation, which God has established through the Prophet Joseph Smith. I bear testimony of the fulfillment and the destiny of the land of America as Zion, and I do it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Alvin R. Dyer, Conference Report, October 1968, Third Day: Morning Meeting, 110.

More Geography quotes here:


Do you think a Prophet or Apostle would ever use the word FACT or PROOF or EXACT or DEFINATELY; whether in a daily conversation, or as a revelation unless he

believed it was indeed TRUE?

I Don’t Either!

Joseph Smith’s Letter to Emma June 4, 1834 is shown below.

Joseph Smith’s Letter to Emma is True! Click the letter above to see for yourself

Additional blog Here Titled PROPHETS & APOSTLES
KNOW IT AS FACT!

Nephite Archaeology in Cleveland, OH

Once again I am amazed at all of the significant archaeology that has been found, that shows a Nephite or Jaredite timeline all over North America. How can anyone miss all of this information coming from the ground as was prophesized. I believe the biggest challenge in the past, has been that historians and Intellectuals were looking in Mesoamerica and not in the USA.

How Can a Person be so Wrong?

Latter-day Saint Thomas Stuart Ferguson was the founder of BYU’s archaeology division (New World Archaeological Foundation). NWAF was financed by the LDS Church. NWAF and Ferguson were tasked by BYU and the Church in the 1950s and 1960s to find archaeological evidence to support the Book of Mormon. After 17 years of diligent effort, this is what Ferguson wrote in a February 20, 1976 letter about trying to dig up evidence for the Book of Mormon: “…you can’t set Book of Mormon geography down anywhere – because it is fictional and will never meet the requirements of the dirt-archaeology. I should say — what is in the ground will never conform to what is in the book.”  https://www.bookofmormoncentralamerica.com/2021/09/fair-lds-again-and-skousen-on-witnesses.html

Amazing Parallel of Hopewell and Nephites. Hard to deny!

If you live into the next century you will see evidence for the Book of Mormon come forth in droves.” Truman G. Madsen, speaking of what the Prophet Joseph Smith said to a colleague, in the opening statement of the 2005 video, “Journey of Faith.”

Elder Jeffery Holland said, “In one of the earliest such manifestations after His Resurrection, Jesus came to the eleven, inviting them to touch His hands and feet as He sat to eat meat and honeycomb. To those who doubted, Mark says He upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart. The message is that if members of the Godhead go to the trouble of providing many infallible proofs of truth, then surely we are honor bound to affirm and declare that truth and may be upbraided if we do not. My testimony to you tonight is that the gospel is infallibly true and that a variety of infallible proofs supporting that assertion will continue to come until Jesus descends as the ultimate infallible truth of all. Our testimonies aren’t dependent on evidence; we still need that spiritual confirmation in the heart of which we have spoken but not to seek for and not to acknowledge intellectual, documentable support for our belief when it is available is to needlessly limit an otherwise incomparably strong theological position and deny us a unique, persuasive vocabulary in the latter-day arena of religious investigation and sectarian debate. Thus armed with so much evidence of the kind we have celebrated here tonight, we ought to be more assertive than we sometimes are in defending our testimony of truth.

Purchase for 2023!

To that point I mention that while we were living and serving in England, I became fond of the writing of the English cleric Austin Farrer. Speaking of the contribution made by C. S. Lewis specifically and of Christian apologists generally, Farrer said: Though argument does not create conviction, lack of it destroys belief. What seems to be proved may not be embraced; but what no one shows the ability to defend is quickly abandoned. Rational argument does not create belief, but it maintains a climate in which belief may flourish.

May we leave to Nephi, son of Helaman, the last word regarding our celebration of gospel scholarship tonight. Said he of that which God has given an infallible proof:

“And now, . . . ye know these things and cannot deny them [because of the] many evidences which ye have received; yea, even ye have received all things, both things in heaven, and all things which are in the earth, as a witness that they are true.” Heleman 8:24

When such revelation comes, when that complete witness is borne to our heart and our head, then surely we will know how Martin Harris felt when, after considerable struggle of both body and spirit, he was able to behold the angel Moroni holding the gold plates, turning their leaves one by one before his very eyes. In response to that spiritual and temporal evidence he shouted for all of us, “Tis enough, ‘tis enough; mine eyes have beheld, mine eyes have beheld.” Joseph Smith, History, 1838-1856, vol. A-1, 25, Church History Library

May our Father in Heaven bless us and an ever-larger cadre of young scholars around the Church to do more and more to discover and delineate and declare the reasons for the hope that is in us, that like those converted Lamanites, we may with bold conviction hold up to a world that desperately needs it “the greatness of the evidences which [we have] received,” Heleman 5:50, especially of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, the keystone of our religion. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.” The Greatness of the Evidence By Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, August 16, 2017

Elder Holland speaks above about the importance that, “if members of the Godhead go to the trouble of providing many infallible proofs of truth, then surely we are honor bound to affirm and declare that truth.” [Could infallible truths be found in artifacts and archaeological findings? I say yes.] Then Elder Holland continues to say we should “acknowledge intellectual, documentable support for our belief” [I have found many of the archaeological findings to be intellectual and documentable in my search for truth], and as I add the power of prayer and the spirit, I have received many personal revelations for the truth of the Book of Mormon found in the ground all over North America. Let’s now discover some of that infallible truth in the mounds all around Cleveland and Kirtland, Ohio.

Indian Point Cleveland, OH

“Indian Point, located just 14 miles northeast of the Kirtland Temple. This ancient Indian enclosure features two earthen walls bordered by ditches and protected on two sides of a triangle by steep cliffs. The walls were built around 140 B.C.” Jonathan Neville by reading the signage at the site. 

“The most spectacular Cleveland area earthworks are surprisingly little known to many area residents. The prehistoric embankments are still sufficiently high as to be easily viewed. The site is Indian Point (33La2) located at the juncture of the Grand River and Paine Creek just east of Painesville, Ohio. The site is now part of the Lake Metro-park system. The archaeological community, who has been interested in the area long before it became a park, calls it the Lyman Site because it is on the former grounds of a military training camp operated by Charles Lyman. The site consists of three earthen enclosures atop a steep river bluff. (The western set of walls is severely eroded but the eastern two are easily viewed.) Indian Point did not have mounds; mound-like structures found there have more recently been determined not to be of prehistoric human origin. Until recently the Early Woodland date of Indian Point was not recognized; it was considered strictly a Late Prehistoric site (900 AD-1650 AD) because of the large amount of ceramics and bone tools of this period found there. Archaeologist James Murphy has long obtained radiocarbon dates prior to the First Millennium AD. He tested remains of cooking fires from deep within the inner earthworks. He also found an Early Woodland Stemmed point. The dates of specific portions of the site including the earthen walls still remain a matter of controversy. Murphy has proposed that the two sets of earthworks may have been constructed at different times.” 2011 LAURA PESKIN Prehistoric Indian Earthworks in the City of Cleveland and Environs

Indian Point

Once again this is a long blog about the Ohio area of the United States as the heart of the Heartland of the Nephites. I believe Ohio is their land and the Hebrew artifacts show amazing evidence. The mounds in just the area around Cleveland are immense and that is mainly what this blog is about. The sacred place of Kirtland, Ohio could very well be the land where the Savior visited the Nephites after His resurrection. Read and enjoy!

OHIO Mound Parallels with the NEPHITES

Parallels of the Hopewell Culture as described by William C. Mills, Chief Archaeologist of Ohio, with the Book of Mormon“[May 20, 1917; Sunday] Attended Sunday School and afternoon service in Hawthorne Hall, and was a speaker at each assembly. Evening meetings here, as also in Brooklyn, have been discontinued for the summer. The attendance both at Sunday School and afternoon meeting was surprisingly large in view of the fact that many of the Utah college students have left for the vacation period. This evening at the hotel I had a long and profitable consultation with Professor Wm. C. Mills, State Archaeologist of Ohio. He is continuing his splendid work of exploration in the Ohio mounds, and I went over with him again the remarkable agreement between his deductions and the Book of Mormon story. He has reached the following (10) conclusions: The area now included within the political boundaries defining the State of Ohio was once inhabited by two distinct peoples, representing two cultures, a higher and a lower. These two classes were contemporaries; in other words, the higher and the lower culture represented distinct phases of development existing at one time and in contiguous sections, and furnish in no sense an instance of evolution by which the lower culture was developed into the higher. These two cultural types or distinct peoples were generally in a state of hostility one toward the other, the lower culture being more commonly the aggressor and the higher the defender. During limited periods, however, the two types, classes, or cultures, lived in a state of neutrality, amounting in fact to friendly intercourse. The numerous exhumations of human bones demonstrate that the people of the lower type, if not indeed both cultures, were very generally affected by syphilis, indicating a prevalent condition of lasciviousness. Their (are) two peoples or cultures…the lower culture was most commonly the assailing party, while the people of the higher type defended as best they could but in general fled. As a further consequence of this belligerent status they buried their dead, with or without previous cremation, in such condition as to admit of expeditious covering up of the cemeteries by the heaping of earth over the sepulchers [sic], in which hurried work the least skilled laborers and even children could be employed. From a careful collating of data it is demonstrated that the general course of migration through the area now defined as the State of Ohio was inward from the west and outward toward the east. Professor Mills states that no definite data as to the age of these peoples have as yet been found, but that the mounds may date back a few hundred years or even fifteen hundred or more. Several years ago I placed a Book of Mormon in the hands of Professor Mills and, while he is reticent as to the parallelism of his discoveries and the Book of Mormon account, he is impressed by the agreement.”  James E. Talmage 20 May 1917

See my detailed blog about Ohio here!

Jews are Lamanites

“I would say to the Lamanites, if I could speak to them understandingly, that you are also a branch of the house of Israel, and chiefly of the house of Joseph, and your forefathers have fallen through the same examples of unbelief and sins, as have the Jews, and you, as their posterity, have wandered in sin and darkness for many generations; and you, like the Jews, have been driven and trampled under the foot of the Gentiles, and put to death through your wars with each other, and with the white man, until you are almost destroyed. But there is still a redemption and salvation for a remnant of you in the latter days.” History of His Life and Labors By Wilford Woodruff

A Survey of Prehistoric People in the Cuyahoga Lands

In this essay the term Greater Cleveland means Cuyahoga County and all areas from its heart to its periphery. The Cuyahoga River divides the city and county roughly down the middle. Its terminus at Lake Erie, its floodplains and its high bluffs have always enticed Native peoples as well as later Europeans. The Cuyahoga River Valley refers to the deep gorge system cut by the river south of downtown Cleveland and extending all the way to the glacial escarpment in the northern part of the city of Akron. Here the river makes its “Big Bend” to the east and ultimately to its source 30 miles to the northeast in Hambden Township, Geauga County, Ohio.

The Cleveland region has rich prehistory that goes back over 11,000 years. On a less grand scale than the spectacular ruins in Southern Ohio, remains of Adena and Hopewell ceremonialism and mortuary ritual are common in Northeast Ohio. There are also relics present of the Mississippian culture which flourished to a greater extent in Southern Ohio in the Late Prehistoric Period (900 to 1650 AD).

The geology of the Cuyahoga lands, right where the Allegheny Plateau, Central Till Plains and Great Lakes Plain meet, could have been significant for the proliferation of human activity in this region in all eras. The eroding Allegheny escarpment has provided ready Paleozoic building material in the form of the Euclid Bluestone, Berea Sandstone, and Cleveland Siltstone. Another geological feature that shaped human activity in the region is its position directly southeast of a large lake (Erie). Thus storms from the Northwest have battered the region since time immemorial, leaving precipitation that has carved its way into swift moving streams teeming with fish. Unbeknownst to many Northeast Ohioans today, the region is also strategically located on a continental divide; waters north of the so-called Great Bend in northern Akron flow ultimately into Lake Erie; those eight miles to the south (today Lake Nesmith in Coventry Township), flow into the Tuscarawas River and ultimately into the Gulf of Mexico. As this book will point out, the continental divide provided transportation advantages in this region from ancient times all the way up to the advent of railroads in the mid-19th Century.

The region south of Lake Erie was important in the Archaic period (7,000 to 1,000 BC). There have been more revealing Archaic findings in Northeast Ohio than interesting artifacts from later prehistoric Indians. Key Archaic developments in the region that is now Northeastern Ohio were commencement of atlatl or spear thrower use 5., and greater dependence on both wild plants and fish in the diet.

PREHISTORIC INHABITANTS. Following the melting of the last glacial advances, ca. 15,000 years ago, northeast Ohio was an area of slow, gravel-choked rivers, high bogs, and ice-ponded lakes. Vegetation was a mixture of near-Arctic tundra, roamed by herd of caribou, as well as mastodon, giant beaver, moose, lynx, and wolves. Source

Northeast Ohio’s prehistoric peoples distinguished themselves in the following millennium (Early, Middle Woodland periods) by commencing the region’s first agriculture. More important in Ohio prehistory are their followers, the Late Woodland people of 500 to 900 AD. Northeastern Ohio holds a large percentage of the state’s significant Late Woodland archaeology. The Late Woodland period saw transitions to localism and improved food procurement, storage and preparation.

As recently as 1650 there was a distinct population of prehistoric Native Americans roughly between Conneaut, Ohio on the east and the Black River on the west. This people are referred to as Whittlesey Culture after Col. Charles Whittlesey, civic leader, archaeologist and first president of the Western Reserve Historical Society. He was the first person to describe and map much prehistoric Indian activity in Northeast Ohio. No-one knows exactly why the archaeological record indicates an abrupt cessation of Whittlesey culture. (Some theories of its demise will be discussed at the close of this article). Changes in pottery style and a transition to a more sedentary lifestyle characterized Whittlesey culture. Other features included reliance on local resources rather than trade goods. Mortuary ritual appears simple from the lack of mounds and grave goods found. Some Mississippian influences took hold.

Until around 1650 northeast Ohio entirely belonged to the native peoples who had long inhabited it. The lucrative Colonial-era fur trade and the 1539 formation of the Iroquois Confederacy brought outsiders into the region, if largely of Native American blood themselves. The great Iroquois Confederacy, one of the foremost historic powers on the North American continent, until 1726 controlled the lands around the Cuyahoga River which the Iroquois used for hunting. Lake Erie in its entirety was so remote that Champlain’s 1634 map of New France properly named and drew the other three Great Lakes within its province; Erie the map distorted and failed to name.

In 1726 the Iroquois made a treaty which ceded their southeastern Lake Erie holdings to the British. The French vied for control, and obtained it, although for all intents and purposes they shared their dominion over Lake Erie with the Indians. A 1690 treaty between the French and the Iroquois, previously enemies, had allowed the French to establish posts on the lake. The first Europeans to familiarize themselves with the Cuyahoga lands were anonymous French missionaries who described the area to 1650 map-maker Nicholas Sanson. The first European resident on the Cuyahoga was French fur trader Francois Saguin who established a post in 1742. It was in the Cuyahoga Valley though on which side of the river is uncertain.

The first Briton to show familiarity with the Cuyahoga lands was Christopher Gist, surveyor for Virginia’s Ohio Company. The first British resident on the Cuyahoga was Col. George Croghan. He traded with area Indians in the 1740s as well as establishing other trading posts in the Ohio country. His friendliness with the Cuyahoga Valley Indians led many of them to favor the Briitsh. During most of the years between 1744-1760 the French and British fought over disputed portions of present-day Ohio and neighboring states in the Western Hemisphere correlates of King George’s War and the Seven Years’ War, both between Britain and France. In the United States the latter war is referred to as the French and Indian War. After these wars ended, a new alliance continued to make the area dangerous for the British, save a few missionaries and traders; in the 1760s great Ottawa chief Pontiac formalized a land-holding organization of the so-called Northwest Indian nations: the Ottawa, Chippewa, Wyandot and Delaware.

The Ottawas, a nation originating north of the Great Lakes, gradually migrated into the sparsely populated and loosely held southern Erie shores, reaching the vicinity of the Cuyahoga River in the Mid-18th Century. An area of settlement lasting about 50 years from around 1760 to about 1810 was near both the river and what is now Columbia Road in Boston Township, Summit County. During the latter years the site grew into a village under the locally well known Chief Ponty (not to be confused withe the great Ottawa Chief Pontiac.) Their confederates the Chippewa, closely related in language, gravitated to what’s now Brecksville after they settled into the Cuyahoga Valley. A French official also reported Chippewa living at “Mingo Town” in the mid-1840s. Though the word “Mingo” referred to Iroquois, both Iroquois and non-Iroquois lived in this large village. Mingo Town was in the general Cuyahoga Valley area, but archaeology has still not pinpointed the location with certainty. Nonetheless at its height, it was home to as many as 2,000 Indian individuals as estimated from the reports of the French official, Robert Navarre.

The Ottawas became better acquainted with another of their fellow Algonquian speakers, the Delaware, as both defended Fort Duquesne in the French and Indian War. Pontiac and other Ottawa may have already known the Delaware from the Ohio country; The Delaware, dispossessed of their homelands further east, had settled along the Cuyahoga River, both in the River Valley and around the strategic Great Bend region. John Hecklewelder, missionary and explorer to Northeast Ohio, recalled Delaware visionary leader Neolin in the Mid-18th Century living at a time on the Cuyahoga fairly close to Lake Erie, and then also for a time on the Tuscarawas River, at the southern end of the great canoe portage 1.

Few Whites were to be found in the Cuyahoga lands from the end of the French and Indian War to the end of the American Revolution. Afterwards from 1785 to 1795 treaties between the new American government and Ohio country Indians left the area east of the Cuyahoga River to the White Man. In 1796 Moses Cleaveland with a party of several men landed on the mouth of the Cuyahoga River to survey the area for the Connecticut Land Company. The land investments in Northeast Ohio were on territory called Connecticut’s Western Reserve. Connecticut had claimed the Reserve and then sold it part of it to private speculators. Connecticut retained ownership of the western portion of the Reserve called the Firelands. As its name implied, Connecticut gave this land away to its citizens whose homes had burned in the American Revolution. The city of Cleveland which sprouted on the mouth of the Cuyahoga River is of course named after Moses Cleaveland.

The Greenville Treaty of 1795 prohibited Indian settlement east of the Cuyahoga River. The Indians who continued to frequent the East Side mainly were hunters and fisherman who set up camp. Indians land claims were permitted on the West Side of Cleveland until the signing of another treaty in 1805. They stayed on afterward too due to the low land pressure; Cleveland in its first 25 years had less than 150 White settlers. It took the beginning of a canal system a few years later to finally bring immigrants into Cleveland. 1825 marked the opening of the Erie Canal to the east. The Ohio and Erie Canal, completed in 1832, connected Cleveland and Lake Erie with the Virginia settlements in southern Ohio.

Relics Remembered by Cleveland’s Early Settlers

The first mounds mentioned in this study as follows were unknown to all but Cleveland’s earliest settlers. Some ambiguity surrounds the authenticity of these relics. Their descriptions relied on the fading memories of Cleveland’s founders when they realized many years later that details of the city’s early history might be something worth committing to writing. Also the tendency for the human mind to think events occurred longer ago than actuality is operative here. Finally since these mounds of memory have never been examined for artifacts, it is possible that they were naturally occurring features and not constructed by human inhabitants. This is not to say that there was not human activity in the Late Prehistoric or Woodland periods in what is now downtown Cleveland. The area’s location at the mouth of a major river suggests that the area probably attracted humans in all eras. For example artifacts found in the vicinity of East Ninth Street, some mentioned in this study, support the existence of prehistoric inhabitants in what is Cleveland’s downtown area.

An Indian mound at the mouth of the Cuyahoga

A mound at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River was quite sizable, perhaps up to 150 feet in diameter and 75 feet tall. It was gradually lost after Clevelanders rechanneled the mouth of the Cuyahoga River too close to it. The rechanneling occurred in the 1820s as an infrastructure improvement for the simultaneous building of the Erie Canal. Before the rechanneling the mound was in fact not at the mouth of the river as pictured below; the mouth was around a mile to the west, at the terminus of what is known as the Old Riverbed. The painting below, created for Cleveland’s 1896 Centennial, depicts the rechanneled river directly east of the mound. The painting is based on an 1820s woodcut of the same scene. The woodcut in turn is based on a drawing by Captain Allen Gaylord.

There was at least one other Indian mound near what is now Cleveland’s Public Square.  It stood on what became Ontario Street, just south of Prospect Avenue.  This point in our present-day is just east of Tower City Center and just west of Myers University. Isham Morgan, an original area settler, had a good view of the mound around 1812 when he rode on horseback to Cleveland with his father. 

Morgan observed over a period of “several” years that the mound became leveled. He noted that in 1812 Ontario Street was in a forested region which stretched east, south and west. Ontario Street only ran south of Public Square and even there, it was merely a path through woods. (Newburgh Township, four miles to the southwest, where Morgan then resided, was more developed; Cleveland in a comparative context was a clearing in the woods.) Thus in the early days of Cleveland not much disturbance came to the mound. As Cleveland transitioned from a little New England Village to an industrial center, the mound gave way to urban settlement. Its location is in the heart of the city’s commercial activity.

Below is a detail of the area south of Public Square in 1834 at which time it was still little developed. (See Whelpley, Thos. “Cleveland from Brooklyn Hill”, engraving, Milo Osborne, NYC, from 1833 drawing, image courtesy of Clvlnd. Publ. Libr. Digital Collections.)

The Garlick and Gaylord Mounds to be discussed shortly were also in the downtown area of Cleveland.  Then come a small cluster of mounds around East 55th Streets that perhaps followed the course of the Cuyahoga River south-eastward.  These include the Mound Avenue site and the following two sites on which much was written in the 19th Century: “Ancient Forts 1 and 2, Newburg.”

“Ancient Forts 1 and 2, Newburg” (33Cu4, 33Cu5)

For many years time had forgotten the precise location of the earthen enclosure that Charles Whittlesey named “Fort 1 Newburg.”  The best that could be said about the fort site was that it was in the old Newburgh Township, a part of the county that was annexed by the city of Cleveland around 1880.  The leading theory relating the site to 20th Century landmarks placed it in the old Forest Hill Park, an area now in the industrial Cuyahoga River Valley east of the river, west of Independence Road, south of Pershing Avenue and north of Washington Park.  This approximation of the site’s location is understandable because it does resemble Whittlesey’s survey of the location (Figure A) in that there is a north facing narrow promontory south of a small stream with deep ravines on the east and west sides.   This theory of the earthworks’ location however omitted a key piece of evidence prominent in Whittlesey’s survey; that is that the earthworks occupied Lot 313, about one and a half miles southeast of the Forest Hill Park promontory.  Eight years after Whittlesey’s 1850 survey this lot consisted of  105.5 acres divided between three landholders. See Figure D. Today the location corresponds to Harvard Grove Cemetery on the banks of Burk Branch stream, just north of Harvard Avenue, and between East 55th and East 65th Streets.

Pictures Here:

Fort 1 consisted of two earthen walls with two corresponding trenches. See Figure A . When Whittlesey observed the earthworks in the mid-1800s, the walls were so badly weathered that only two feet of their height remained.  Whittlesey noted there was an entranceway at the west end of the inner wall. This casts the site’s utility for defense in doubt. Today archaeologists believe that such sites were ceremonial rather than defensive.

Whittlesey also mentioned a mound one fourth to one half mile to the east or southeast of Fort 1. It can be seen in Figure E above. Whittlesey indicated that the mound was 10 feet high in 1847 and quickly disappearing thereafter thanks to agriculture.  Today this mound site would be in the Harvard-71st Street- Broadway area. See Figure F below.  Interestingly this same area is one of the Cleveland metropolitan region’s oldest area’s for significant early settler habitation and once had working quarries.

Pictures here

Additional pictures here: Another Newburgh prehistoric site well described by Whittlesey is now in Cuyahoga Heights in the Cleveland Metroparks Ohio and Erie Canal Reservation. Whittlesey named this site Ancient Fort #2, Newburg. Today the site corresponds to a park location on the western bluffs of the Cuyahoga River floodplain. This places the site just northwest of  the main park entrance at East 49th Street and Whittlesey Way. This location fits Whittlesey’s description that the site be one and a half miles downstream of Ohio and Erie Canal Mile Marker 8 Lock, also known as Willow Lock or Lock 40. Whittlesey gave an additional requirement that the site be on a high isthmus surrounded by ravines on all but the south side. The location near the park entrance fulfills this requirement as well.

Like Fort 1 not a trace of the Cuyahoga Heights site remains. Like Fort 1 the Cuyahoga Heights site has never been analyzed and dated. Whittlesey noted the enclosure consisted of a single wall and trench on the land side. Its accessibility was different from Fort 1; at Cuyahoga Heights the wall did not have an opening but the outer trench did. This did not seem like much of an entrance to Whittlesey or to anyone who views his drawing The only other point of access was a narrow passageway along the southern portion of the ravine. Whittlesey noted in 1850 that only five feet of the wall’s height remained, as the site had just recently came under cultivation. 

Cleveland’s Most Well Known Indian Mound 

Cleveland’s most well-known Indian mound just like the nearby earthen enclosures  over time has been flattened.   The mound’s builders have never been determined; no-one knows if they were Woodland or Late Prehistoric.  The mound site, in the Slavic Village section of Cleveland, is appropriately marked by Mound Avenue on the south. The mound has further been memorilaized by the building of Mound Elementary School just west of old county lot 317 that held the mound. Lot 317 was at least 100 acres and was bounded approximately by Union Avenue on the north,  East 65th Street on the east,  the future Fleet Avenue on the south and the future Wilson Avenue (present-day East 55th Street) on the west. At the time of Whittlesey’s writing lot 317 was the homestead of Dr. Horace Ackley.  The area was still rural until the early 1870s when the city’s expanding Czech population gradually built up the Broadway/ East 55th Street area. An 1874 atlas of Cuyahoga County shows the street layout virtually as it still stands today. Undoubtedly the flattening of the earthworks, cliffs and ravine that accompanied the area’s urbanization dates to the same time period.   On Whittlesey’s non-scale map of Cleveland area Indian earthworks, the mound is a dot south of Morgan Run stream. 

Timeline Point I, Early Woodland Period: 700 BC – 100 BC, and Moundbuilder Culture near Cleveland

In 1894 when many mounds had not yet been flattened from agriculture, erosion and development, archaeologist W.C. Mills counted 5,396 in the state. The earliest of these mounds belong to Early Woodland  people who thrived from 500 BC to 100 AD. In some locales outside of Ohio, burial mounds and pottery showed up in the Late Archaic Period, from 3,000 BC to 1,000 BC.

 The Adena people who radiated outward from the Chillicothe, Ohio region had the highest mounds and most elaborate ceremonial culture.  The highest Adena mounds were over 70 feet and the widest 300 feet in diameter. Northeast Ohio’s Early Woodland mounds are smaller.

It is important to note that not all Ohio Early Woodland burials involved mounds. Most Early Woodland burials in northern Ohio were not in mounds, but in oval earthen enclosures such as atop steep bluffs of a creek. Seaman’s Fort in Erie County is a good example. There were also Adena burials of this type in southern Ohio and northern Kentucky. One good example is the Colerain Works near present-day Cincinnati.  

Many Early Woodland burials contained objects relating to the deceased’s status, both temporal and spiritual. Such buried objects were most commonly projectile points, sandstone tablets (perhaps used for stamping body tattoos) and personal adornments — head dresses, and jewelry such as rings, bracelets and beads. Some burials, probably of lower status individuals, contained no adornments.

Another object sometimes found in Early Woodland burials, including some near Cleveland, is the tubular clay pipe, used for tobacco smoking or as a pipe with which a shaman would suck out evil spirits which they thought were causing symptoms in sick people. This practice involved cutting the sick person, either superficially or enough to let blood, then placing the tube at the point of the cut mark, and sucking. Truthfully smoking and shamanistic sucking have been inextricably bound since Early Woodland times and continue to be so among Native Americans.. A related practice to smoking and shamanistic sucking is the shamanistic practice of blowing tobacco smoke on a sick person. Symbolically the blowing of smoke signified the transfer of spiritual power from shaman to patient. A shaman sucking out disease through a similar pipe was viewed as likewise transferring power. As inhaling and exhaling go together in smoking, sucking out disease and blowing medicine (smoke) go together in shamanistic practice. Thus the tube pipe, whether designed for smoking or sucking, was a sacred object with significance for mortuary practice and the afterlife. The width and construction of the end of the tube pipes and the materials with which they were made offer clues as to whether individual specimens were used for smoking or sucking.

Another important trait of the Early Woodland Period in Ohio is the commencement of pottery in this region. It was mainly simple and thick walled. Such a pottery found in Northern Ohio that shows little Adena influence is the Leimbach type after the Leimbach archaeological site on the Vermillion River in Lorain County. Leimbach ware in Northeast Ohio exhibited cordmarking on the outside. Cordmarking is a feature of much Woodland pottery. It refers to a pottery surface that was texturized with a wooden paddle wrapped with cord. Whatever purely decorative function cordmarking may have served, it also, from a strictly practical standpoint, made pottery easier to handle and harder to drop.

The Leimbach ware also has massive crude rectangular lug- type handles not found on Adena pottery. Some archaeologists think the Leimbach ware’s simple design reflects its utilitarian, non-ceremonial nature as well as the fact that specimens were designed as single-use items. In contrast some Adena pottery was used for ceremonial purposes.  Adena pottery such as Adena Plain and Montgomery Incised was sleeker and more stylized.  Very little if any of this fancier pottery has been found in Northeast Ohio.

Link Here

Additional attributes of the Early Woodland people include but are not limited to:

a) elliptical or hyperbolic shaped ornaments for hanging as pendants. These are often referred to as gorgets. This term is however misleading because they were not body armor. In fact Adena people scarcely knew war; their world is considered a peaceful one.

b) exotic materials obtained through a large trade network

 — native copper from present-day northern Michigan, often made into beads, bracelets and rings.

 –marine shells from Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, often fashioned into, but not limited to, spherical beads.

For an example of an Adena shell artifact more elaborate than a bead, look to the Adena Mound in Chillicothe, Ohio.

A realistic portrait in shell of a raccoon was found there– mica from southern Appalachia. While rarely creating such elaborate form as the later Hopewell people’s famous mica representations of human hands and faces to name a few artifacts, the Adena often cut the mica into simpler shapes such as crescents which were used in a plume-like manner in head-dresses, or pierced and worn on necklaces . If the Adena had had more mica, they might have put it to greater use. By contrast one later mound in Hopewell Culture National Historical Park yielded 3,000 sheets of mica !!

Most of the Early Woodland people in Northern Ohio were not Adena but other moundbuilders. The Woodland people, Early, Middle and Late, occupied what became the Eastern United States. Most Early Woodland people did not participate in the Adena cultural revolution. For these non-Adena Early Woodland people, life continued much as it had for centuries. Food continued to be procured by hunting and gathering if of a more sedentary type supplemented by agricultural experimentation with squash and more efficient use of native grain resources such as maygrass. Cultivation of maize was very limited though experimentation with it probably occurred.

For Adena people some key lifestyle changes occurred. The Adena culture saw the beginning in Ohio of a true sedentary lifestyle and agriculture that included the cultivation of maize. Still wild foods remained an important part of the diet. For example Adena people ate hickory nuts, black walnuts and beechnuts Some of these nuts were in the process of being replaced by local grains. Native maygrass was one of the first cultivated Ohio grains. Its seeds though small were ready in spring, much earlier than many previous dietary staples.  Another small seeded, labor intensive early grain enjoyed by Adena was goosefoot, related to the South American grain quinoa.

The Koth Cache (33Cu58)

 Quantities of Adena artifacts with neither skeletons nor mounds have been found in Ohio wetlands. Such concentrations of material goods are called caches. These are usually found in boggy areas that may have been wetter in former times. Prehistoric people may have lowered items into the water for ceremonial purposes. Sometimes remains of the vessels which held the items are found with the cache. 

The Luchens Cache in Portage County, a particularly large one in Northeast Ohio, contained over 300 trademark Adena leaf-shaped flint blades This type of blade is considered to be as much ceremonial as functional. The bog where found is thought to have been an actual lake in Adena times. Also found were remains of a wooden bucket which is thought to have held the blades. In Cuyahoga County is the remarkably little known Koth Cache which yielded 150 leaf shaped blades.

Koth’s Cache was found on high ground in the Cuyahoga Valley south of Tinker’s Creek and east of the Cuyahoga River. The location is currently in the National Park, north of Alexander Road. At the time of the find, the 1930s, the area was described as boggy.

 

Specific Early Woodland Mounds and Sites  around Cleveland

The most spectacular Cleveland area earthworks are surprisingly little known to many area residents. The prehistoric embankments are still sufficiently high as to be easily viewed. The site is Indian Point(33La2) located at the juncture of the Grand River and Paine Creek just east of Painesville, Ohio. The site is now part of the Lake Metropark system. The archaeological community, who has been interested in the area long before it became a park, calls it the Lyman Site because it is on the former grounds of a military training camp operated by Charles Lyman. The site consists of three earthen enclosures atop a steep river bluff. (The western set of walls is severely eroded but the eastern two are easily viewed.) Indian Point did not have mounds; mound-like structures found there have more recently been determined not to be of prehistoric human origin. Until recently the Early Woodland date of Indian Point was not recognized; it was considered strictly a Late Prehistoric site (900 AD-1650 AD) because of the large amount of ceramics and bone tools of this period found there. 

Archaeologist James Murphy has long obtained radiocarbon dates prior to the First Millennium AD. He tested remains of cooking fires from deep within the inner earthworks. He also found an Early Woodland Stemmed point. The dates of specific portions of the site including the earthen walls still remain a matter of controversy. Murphy has proposed that the two sets of earthworks may have been constructed at different times.

Charles Whittlesey drew this representation of the Lyman site in the middle of the 19th Century when the westernmost embankment was one and half feet high and eastern embankments were at least eight feet high. Now the latter are not even three feet high; the western embankment has all but disappeared. See Whittlesey (1850) 39.

Early Woodland siteGarlick Mound,33Cu3, Cleveland, Ohio This mound was at the southeast corner of East Ninth Street and Euclid Avenue on the future site of the Wesleyan Methodist Church built in 1839. The site has been known since the first decade of the 20th Century as the location of the George Post-designed Cleveland Trust Company.  Landowner Dr. Theodatus Garlick and his brother Abel partially opened the mound in 1820. A slate piercing tool and slate gorget were recovered .

The Garlick property where an Early Woodland mound stood was close to the Erie Street Cemetery founded in 1826.  Abel B. Garlick was a well-known Cleveland stone cutter who made gravestones similar to the ones pictured here from the cemetery. Garlick worked the fine-grained Euclid bluestone available on Mill Creek in Newburgh Township southeast of Cleveland. He particularly favored stone from a quarry owned by Dr. David Long, a neighbor and stone house builder to another early Clevelander with a mound on his property– Erastus Gaylord. (See Gaylord Mound below.) Garlick may have also made millstones. The Garlick brothers, Abel and Theodatus were natives of Vermont who came to Cleveland in the young town’s second decade of history. (Photo: Clay Herrick “Erie Street Cemetery and Gray’s Armory” 1978, used courtesy of the C. Herrick Slide Collection of the Michael Schwartz Library, Cleveland State University.)

Early Woodland siteGaylord Mound, Cleveland, Ohio.  This was a mound at 374 Woodland Avenue, the 11 acre country estate of the Erastus Gaylord family. Erastus Gaylord came to Cleveland from Connecticut in 1834 and established Cleveland’s first pharmacy Stickland and Gaylord. (Erastus perhaps is better known along with members of the Severance family, his neighbors on Woodland Avenue, as a founder of the Canal Bank, a troubled and dishonest Mid 19thCentury financial house which served Ohio and Erie Canal shippers.) In the late 1800s, a member of the Gaylord family retrieved from the mound an “Adena type” projectile point of eight inches in length. The only other known archaeological investigation of the area which yielded prehistoric findings merely turned up unfinished or broken tools from local cherts. There was not enough information from the finds for temporal and cultural assignment. The street number changes of 1905-1906 place the mound  in the 3200 block of  present-day Woodland Avenue.  The mound’s environs have been highly developed for the last 100 years.  A gas station occupied the property from about 1922 to 1973. Directly to the east was the St. Ann’s Maternity Hospital/ DePaul Infant Home. Since 1973 the site  has belonged to Cuyahoga Community College and has comprised a park and recreation buffer zone between college facilities to the west and the dilapidated Longwood public housing complex on the east.  From 2004 to 2009 the Finch Group, who are known for beautiful work at the luxurious Park Lane Villa in University Circle, tore down Longwood and launched a national award-winning innovation in public housing called the New Arbor Park Village. The colorful, gleaming complex simulates vibrant city blocks of mixed development. The mound site is under construction as of 2010 for a parking lot for nearby college buildings that are also under construction. 

The 1874 JD Lake Atlas of Cuyahoga County, page 12 shows the abutting Gaylord, Severance and Long properties.
The Gaylord property, the mound site, was also the site of the distinguished Gaylord stone-built home. Erected in 1836, it came from the pre-industrial era when building stone was quarried locally. Its location atop the Kingsbury Run creekbed, in former times attractive to Native Americans for shelter, placed it near stone outcrops which in the era of early white settlement, provided another shelter-related advantage.  It is hardly a coincidence that the Gaylord property held both a prehistoric mound and an early stone house. The topographical detail below shows the Gaylord mound and house site as on a high bluff at the juncture of the Cuyahoga River and Kingsbury Run (USGS 1916).

Early Woodland siteSawtell (Avenue) mound33Cu6, Cleveland, Ohio.  This mound was located at East 53rd Street and Woodland Avenues. The part of Sawtell Avenue that it occupied no longer exists. The one block of the street that still remains is appropriately called Sawtell Court. The mound site is now part of the Ohio Food Terminal facility. An alley leading from Crayton Avenue to the vicinity of the mound site is fittingly named Indianola.

A 19th Century viewer stated that the Sawtell Mound was five feet high, 40 feet long and 25 feet wide. Whittlesey and Judge C.C. Baldwin, also active in the Western Reserve Historical Society, opened the mound slightly in 1870. They found ornamental beads, copper rings, a spherical hematite gorget and a clay tube pipe. Andrew Freese, the owner of the land with the mound, did not want it destroyed, so no further investigation was conducted at that time. The mound was finally opened entirely in 1909. The report of the mound’s excavation did not take note of what was found, but said a few items were donated to the Western Reserve Historical Society. 

Early Woodland site: Collinwood Mound Although the exact location of this prehistoric work has been lost to time, a logical choice would be where St. Clair Avenue meets Euclid Creek. In 1851 when the Lakeshore Railroad was being constructed, a large tubular tobacco pipestem was found in the mound. It was in the range of three to eight inches long. A clay ball was found inside it. Archaeologist MC Read, who first reported the finding, thought it was used as a horn. He may have been mistaken; sometimes Early Woodland smokers of clay tube pipes placed small pebbles and the like inside the pipes to keep the smoking materials from coming out. Still Read tested his Collinwood find out as a horn and found it worked quite well. He also referred the reader to prolific archaeologist and naturalist Charles Conrad Abbott who had had similar experiences with like pipestems found in New Jersey. Abbott noted blowing on the pipestems he found would produce a noise so shrill it could be heard for a good ways away. He then hypothesized that Indians had used broken tobacco pipestems as sound signaling devices over vast distances.

Charles Whittlesey reported that the clay tube pipe taken from the Sawtell Avenue Mound  was a “whistle.” His description and picture of it give no indication why he thought it was a musical instrument and not a pipe. Whittlesey did not indicate it was broken. Whittlesey did however mention that he had seen other such pipes or pipestems employed as whistles because they had flute-like holes on the side.

Recent accounts of the pipestems being used as whistles among prehistoric inhabitants of Ohio are wanting. In fact the few other mentions in the recent archaeological literature of clay tobacco pipestems being recycled into whistles pertain to the occurrence among the17th and 18th Century Dutch and English.

Excavations at 17th Century Dutch Colonial Fort Orange in upstate New York revealed that colonists made good use of broken white clay tobacco pipe stems; they drilled or carved blow-holes into the fragments and used them perhaps for signaling, but chiefly for musical entertainment. Archaeologist P.R. Huey found over 30 of them.  

Early Woodland (or perhaps Middle Woodland) siteDundon Mound, 33Cu255, Hunting Valley, Ohio. The site is  west of the Hunting Valley Village Hall, and south of the University Upper School campus. As of 1980 the Dundon Mound was over four feet tall and forty feet wide.

Early Woodland siteWing Farm(no OAI number), Auburn Township, Geauga County. The site is in the vicinity of Wing Road- south of Stafford Road, east of Munn Road, west of Auburn Road, north of Washington Street. There are perhaps fewer Early to Middle Woodland archeological artifacts from Geauga County than the Northeast Ohio counties of Cuyahoga, Lake and Summit.  Geauga County is further northeast of the epicenter of Moundbuilder culture in Chillicothe, Ohio. Wing Road is appropriately in the southwest part of Geauga County. The Cuyahoga River is not far off.. The Geauga County Historical Society has recently cataloged its prehistoric artifacts, and found many Woodland age items coming from Wing Road area. Some large Early and Middle Woodland projectile points were found there. Some were brought up during plowing over the decades.

The Wing Farm is on a plateau at the juncture of Bridge Creek and one of its tributaries. This strategic location helps make it a good location for prehistoric human activity. (Ohio Digital Elevation Model, S. Titchenal, http://railsandtrails.com)

Early Woodland Site: Parkman Mound, 33Ge2,  Parkman Township, Ohio. The extreme southeast of Geauga County would be too far from Cleveland for inclusion here if it weren’t for a combination of standout natural features that have made this locale attractive to humans throughout the ages.  Here lie the headwaters of the Grand River above which tower massive cliffs.  Nearby is a salt seep.  All around are quarries.  The Nelson Ledges quarrying area is just two miles to the southeast.  In fact the prehistoric human occupation of this area seemed to revolve around stone.  The Parkman burial mound contained large stones to separate graves and smaller ones that furnished level surfaces or pavements on which to construct the crypts. 

The Parkman and Nelson Township stone outcrops are part of the Berea Sandstone formation.  Nearby Nelson-Kennedy Ledges State Park has rockshelters where Native Americans are believed to have dwelt in all eras.  Within a two mile radius of the Parkman Mound in a non-public location within Geauga County is the Mohawk Rockshelter which has yielded Early Woodland Leimbach Plain sherds.

 Cornelius Baldwin of the Western Reserve Historical Society excavated the Parkman Mound in 1879.  He described it as at that point in a state of ruin, having been looted numerous times by relic seekers. The best information he could get from longtime residents was that the mound before disturbance was eight feet high, 60 feet long and 15 feet wide.  In addition to the stone crypts, Baldwin found projectile points and slate gorgets in the mound.  From what he was able to gather from area residents who had looted the site over the years, they had had similar findings of relics.

Early Woodland Site: Chagrin Mound 1, 33Cu2, Hunting Valley, Ohio. (No-one ever recorded the exact latitude and longitude coordinates for this site.  Hobbyists living on the property or adjacent properties conducted the dig.)

 The site also has a companion mound to which has been assigned a Hopewell cultural affiliation.  See Hopewell sites on this webpage. The Chagrin Mounds, 1 and 2, were on the old Orange Township homestead of James Graham.  Today the property would be located just north of the juncture of South Woodland (Ohio 87) and Falls Road.  It is just northeast, across South Woodland Road from the Cleveland Metroparks’ South Chagrin Reservation.

Robert Graham, James’s brother, along with a neighbor opened Mound 1 in 1878. Stone slabs covered a central burial. There was red ochre or hematite in the mound and slate elliptical shaped gorgets were recovered. Red ochre burials with gorgets in fact in Ohio go back to Archaic times. Archaeologists believe that prehistoric Indians found red ochre sacred. They note that sprinkling a corpse with red ochre was part of Early Woodland mortuary ritual. Furthering an assignment of the site to the Early Woodland period were finely chiseled Robbins points.

The Chagrin mounds and surrounding area were rich in artifacts. Robert Graham was a prolific Indian relic collector in the late 1800s with a collection of around 2,000 objects. A few pieces from the 1878 excavation, such as a six by six inch piece of mica, found their way into museum collections shortly thereafter. The Grahams kept most of the numerous artifacts from  both of the Chagrin mounds in a private museum on their property.  The collection included in addition to gorgets beads, knives, projectile points, grinding stones and all sorts of other tools and ceremonial objects.  After Graham’s death in 1817, Graham’s collection was donated to an Ohio museum.  This was a move that furthered science. Over the years archaeologists have gleened beneficial information from Graham’s former collection. 

Early Woodland site: Southern Solon. In an unnamed locale in this area at an unknown date a farmer while plowing brought up an eight inch “Adena-type” projectile point. In and of itself, this finding is not significant. Probably agriculture has led to most amateur finds of prehistoric materials. What may be interesting about this finding is that it is in the open accessions catalog of an important regional museum. This study includes this site mainly to illustrate the breadth of what has been found and where findings may be kept.

Early Woodland/ Archaic sites:  Merkle 1 and 2, 33Cu38, 33Cu41, Independence, Ohio. This is one of several sites that were revealed by the 1975  installation of the Cuyahoga Valley Interceptor Sewer and the archaeological survey connected to the sewer upgrade. Like most of the other  sites uncovered during the sewer project, Merkle consists of  campsites at the point where the Cuyahoga River bluff  meets the river’s floodplain.  (See topographical map below.)

Woodland site or not manmade at all.  Now we journey to Avon, Ohio, to the southeast corner of the intersection of State Routes 83 and 254; this is the site of the Avon Cemetery. Local legend has it that this cemetery was built on the site of an Indian mound. There is a large hill of earth in the cemetery, predating it, that resembles an Indian mound. In 1900 the sexton of the cemetery, Alfred Walker, reported finding projectile points and beads in the mound. His motivation for this report or what he actually found and how it got there remain a mystery. The mound has not piqued the interest of professional archaeologists.

Those most knowledgeable believe that the mound is thousands of years old and came into existence naturally. The last ice age created a glacial lake, Lake Warren, of which Lake Erie is one portion. Lake Warren partially dried up in the hotter Xerothermic period 4,000 to 8,000 years ago, following the retreat of the glaciers. In Avon, Ohio the new shoreline after Lake Warren’s retreat corresponds to that of present-day Lake Erie. It is hypothesized that the cemetery mound was a sand dune on a beach of ancient Lake Warren. Certainly the location is plausible. It is south of the North Ridge, the former location of Detroit Road. Prior to European settlement, the North Ridge had marked the boundary of the former lake Warren and also had been the site of an ancient path which the early Detroit Road followed.

Timeline Point II, The Middle Woodland Period: 100 BC – 700 AD, and Hopewell Mound Culture near Cleveland

Before delving into the specifics of Hopewell Culture, it is necessary to point out that Hopewell culture was not the only Middle Woodland culture in Northeast Ohio. However other Middle Woodland cultures, besides Hopewell, are hard to detect because life went on much as before. One such Middle Woodland, non-Hopewell site in Northeast Ohio is the

Huntington Road Site (33La160).

The Huntington Road site is in Painesville Township, Ohio. It is on the north bank of the Red Creek just east of where the creek enters the Grand River. This places the site a half mile west of the intersection of Fairport Nursery and Mantle Roads. Chesser and Snyder projectile points were found there. These were used by a number of Middle Woodland people besides the Hopewell. The pottery recovered from professional digging at Huntington was undecorated. The remains of vegetable matter were mainly nutshells. No evidence of the following prominent Hopewell traits were found: 

a) agriculture with emphasis on tobacco
b) ample earthen enclosures of a more elaborate nature than Adena predecessors 2.
c) continent-wide trade networked) a wider variety and more elaborate decoration in functional art including pottery The Hopewell people (100-700 AD) were more agricultural and sedentary than their Adena predecessors. The large number of tobacco pipes that have been found in their burials suggest extensive tobacco farming. The characteristic Hopewell tobacco pipe is the animal effigy platform pipe. These pipes are truly works of art where the Hopewell displayed fine detail and realism. It would not be an exaggeration to say that among the Hopewell platform pipes found, hundreds of different animals and birds were depicted. This interest in animals was probably not mere design; it represented the elaborate spiritual belief system governing every aspect of Hopewell life. The Hopewell trade network was discriminating and extensive. The Hopewell people obtained obsidian from the Colorado area, marine shell from the Gulf of Mexico, native silver from Canada, large supplies of copper from upper Michigan and sizable quantities of mica from Appalachia. What materials from the Hopewell epicenter of Ohio the Hopewell in turn traded to others  is less clear. The main native Hopewell material that has been found far away from Ohio was flint from Flint Ridge, a quarrying area in Licking County, southwest of what is now Newark. Archaeologist Brad Lepper thinks demand for this mediocre quality flint may have been for its “swirly”, multicolored appearance which may have assumed spiritual characteristics in the same way light-throwing mica did . People have marveled at the skill and imagination with which the Hopewell worked copper. The Hopewell hammered the native metal into highly decorative armor. One particularly ornate piece is a double eagle breastplate recovered at a Michigan Hopewell site. Similarly in the museum at Hopewell Culture National Historical Park there is a hammered copper three dimensional bear or pig that is believed to have been part of a headdress. 

The Hopewell made their beautiful pottery without the aid of even a rudimentary potter’s wheel. They continued to use the stacked coil method of Adena times. The Hopewell also continued to cordmark their pottery and employed new decorative techniques such as stamping special ceremonial pieces with wood carvings.The perhaps most well known and most exquisite northern Ohio Hopewell artifact is an effigy-pipe found in the Esch Mound in Huron County. Though highly stylized, the effigy may represent an alligator. Like other Woodland Indians, the Hopewell built ceremonial earthen enclosures, near which mounds were sometimes located. At one time archaeologists thought Hopewell earthworks were built primarily for defense but recently have backed away from that hypothesis. For example at Ohio’s Fort Ancient and other Hopewell earthworks, trenches and moats were inside rather than outside the enclosure, and thus could not have served a defensive purpose. 

Some Hopewell earthworks exhibited complex features not seen in earlier enclosures. For example some were built in an octagonal shape such as the Newark Octagon. Some earthworks served as calendars, both solar and lunar. This is true of Fort Ancient in Southwestern Ohio.

North Benton Mound

 One Hopewell mound burial in Northeastern Ohio near Alliance in Mahoning County had an unusual and intriguing feature: Inside the earth mound some of the burials were organized around a floor mosaic in the shape of an eagle spreading its wings. The effigy was first sculpted in puddled clay; then white stones were laid over the clay form.  The effigy was 32 feet by 16 feet in size. This Hopewell burial site is also known more picturesquely as the Temple of the Effigy. The eagle may have represented a particular Hopewell clan as other animal and bird imagery in burials represented other clans. 

In Chillicothe, Ohio, the epicenter of Hopewell activity, archaeologists have found stone mosaic effigies on floors of mounds. In addition animal effigies made out of larger stones have been found directly under the outer layer of mounds’ soil.

Specific Hopewell Mounds and Sites around Cleveland

 Hopewell sites in Northern Ohio are few and far between. There are other less elaborate Middle Woodland sites in the area, such as the previously described Huntington Road site that fairly could not be considered Hopewell. The following attempts to be a reasonably complete list of truly Hopewell sites in Cuyahoga County and beyond. Hopewell site: Chagrin Mound 2, 33Cu2Hunting Valley. This site also has a companion mound, Chagrin Mound 1 to which has been assigned an Adena cultural affiliation See Chagrin Mound 1 under Adena sites on this webpage for more precise site location infomation. Chagrin Mound 2 was also on James Graham’s property. On Sunday October 24, 1886 Robert Graham and family invited fellow relic collectors to the property for excavation of Mound 2. (The literature does not note whether Mound 2 was investigated prior to this date as well.) The dig was undertaken chiefly in a hobbiest spirit and in the interest of swelling the Grahams’ private artifact museum. A local newspaper reported that “the neighbors served refreshments and all reported a fine time.”   The main evidence for assigning this mound to the Hopewell culture is the particular points found there. They displayed corner-notching and were made from the preferred pink and white flint from the Flint Ridge near what is now Newark, Ohio. Also contributing to the Hopewell identification were  “a finely wrought pipe”, a piece of galena, a perforated piece of sandstone, several knives of chalcedony, and some stone discs  found in the mound.  One collector, known only as R. Evans, donated one of the knives to a local museum.  See picture below.

Hopewell site (or perhaps Adena):  The Holtkamp Site, 33Cu78,  Bentleyville, Ohio. This site with a colorful history overlooks  the Chagrin River just south of where the river’s two branches split. The site was originally on Julius Kent’s land, several hundred feet southeast of his palatial residence. While the house if it still stood today would be on the west side of the Chagrin River in the metropark near the marked vistas for the bridal trail, the mound was on the portion of his property on the east side of the Chagrin River. Alltogether this property, that included land on both sides of the river, was 211 acres in 1878.  Its legal designation was Chagrin Falls Township Lot 4. 

By 1878 Martin Bentley owned the land.  By the 1900s the Foster family had acquired the property with the mound. Today it abuts Cleveland Metroparks’ South Chagrin reservation.  The site consists of a mound that was opened in about 1840. Four stone unlidded coffins were found. One was child sized. The others were built for adults of larger size than the Indians that European settlers had encountered. Their large size and sophisticated stone technology, similar to certain other moundbuilders relics, fuelled prominent 19th Century racist ideology. This theorized incorrectly that the Ohio moundbuilders were somehow related to the Egyptians or members of other great Eurasian civilizations, perhaps a lost tribe of Israel. Euro-Americans who held such notions were also likely to be among the large group of believers that historic Indians encountered by Europeans were indeed “savage” and had wiped out the Moundbuilders.

The idea that the historic Indians were actually descended from the moundbuilders struggled to find an audience in the early19th Century. Crisfield Johnson, editor of History of Cuyahoga County, the source on the Chagrin “Crypt”, writing in 1879, voiced the more modern opinion, that the moundbuilders were in fact ancestors of historic Indians. This author however  in his article also mentioned the competing idea that the moundbuilders were an “advanced” group unrelated to historic American Indians.

Perhaps the reason that  the mound was first opened in 1840 but only added to a regional history some 39 years later was that in 1878 another excavation was undertaken at the mound and written up in a local newspaper.  This later dig revealed a fifth coffin and also banded slate gorgets and at least one projectile point.  The literature on the 1840 excavation mentioned no artifacts.

In the early 1900s prominent citizens Howard and Homer Foster attempted to do additional explorations at the mound site, but being superstitious types, curtailed their efforts only after a little digging; they thought they heard strange noises coming from the mound.  As of the 1970s the mound stood over eight feet high and 20 feet wide.

Julius Kent’s sumptuous Greek Revival house, pictured here, was torn down in the 1940s as it was in the way of a Miles Road bridge improvement project.  See “Bridges Unsafe in Bentleyville.” Chagrin Valley Herald. 11/28/1946. 1.

Hopewell or Middle Woodland siteGleeson Mound and Gleeson Village33Cu19, Valley View, Ohio. These sites are east of the Cuyahoga River and Canal Towpath.  One is on the north side of Gleeson Drive, and the other is on the south side.   They are not far from the Valley View municipal complex on Hathaway Road. Due to agriculture, not much of a mound remains. Snyder’s projectile points, indicative of Middle Woodland but not necessarily Hopewell occupation, were found at Gleeson’s Mound. Hopewell diagnostic ceramics were found at nearby Gleeson Village.

Hopewell site: Everett Mound, 33Su14.  The Cleveland area’s most spectacular Hopewell site is the Everett Mound. It is in northern Summit County in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. It is on a creek bluff off Everett Road on the north side of the Everett Covered Bridge and on the north side of Furnace Run creek. Less than a mile to the east is the Cuyahoga River, Riverview Road and the Ohio and Erie Canal/ Towpath. In 1856 during excavations to build a schoolhouse, copper tools, many sheets of mica and most interestingly a mound with a crypt-like hexagonal limestone enclosure were found at the site. MC Read in his important archaeological work of 1888, gave the location special attention. Whittlesey may have also taken note of it.

Archaeologist David Brose professionally excavated the Everett Mound site in 1974. He did not find native copper tools or additional quantities of mica, but did salvage artifacts which further corroborate a Hopewell association for the site. For example Brose found pottery sherds similar to those from major Hopewell sites downstate such as the Seip Mound in Bainbridge, Ohio and the elaborate Turner Mound group in Hamilton County, Ohio

Timeline Point III, The Late Woodland Period near Cleveland: 500 AD – 900 AD

The land area corresponding to Northeast Ohio played a more prominent role in the Late Woodland Period than in the Early or Middle Woodland. A Late Woodland period site in Northeast Ohio, Greenwood Village, is one of the most important Late Woodland sites in what is now Ohio 4. The Late Woodland period occurred in last part of the first in Millennium AD, around the time of the perhaps parallel European “Dark Ages.” One possible reason for Woodland cultural decline at this time was scarcity of large game. Trade goods from afar such as obsidian vanished. Mica ceremonialism ceased. Art became simple. Yet in the Late Woodland period  advancements in agriculture and technology took place, rendering the period no “dark ages” at all. Several important changes in applied technology occurred at the end of Late Woodland Period. One was the decline of maygrass in dietary importance. A second was the rise of underground pits for prolonged food storage. Both of these changes in diet resulted in freeing up energy previously used for food procurement. Pottery changed too by shifting to thinner, simpler types. This shift enabled cooking with pottery to occur at higher temperatures with longer times. In turn porridge became a dietary staple. Fed to infants, porridge enabled them to be weaned earlier; mothers could then have more children; human populations mushroomed. Another sign of progress in the Late Woodland Period was entrance into Ohio of the bow and arrow. Points launched by bows moved more swiftly and could be sent forth in greater succession than those launched by atlatl, the former chief hunting weapon 5.  This change allowed for greater hunting success. Additionally bow-launched points had greater impact, further maximizing wild game harvesting. 

Military and sacred earthworks continued to be erected in the Late Woodland period. Some Late Woodland and Late Prehistoric Period earthworks have remains of log stockades, and thus are considered to be more defensive than the Hopewell earthworks which preceded them. (Defensive use of the Greenwood Village earthworks is doubted however. See next paragraph) Burial mounds continued to be built though their building material transitioned from earth to stone. Grave goods became few and far between.

Late Woodland site: Greenwood Village, 33Su93, Sagamore Hills, Ohio.Greenwood Village is located atop a high narrow wooded plateau east of the Cuyahoga River and south of the intersection of Route 82 and Holzhauer Roads in present-day Sagamore Hills, Summit County. The site is within national park boundaries. In the 1970s archaeologists conducting reconnaissance in the Cuyahoga Valley realized that Greenwood Village corresponded to a site Charles Whittlesey had extensively described in the 19th Century and named Whittlesey Fort #5. (It is easy to overlook the site based on Whittlesey’s description because the earthen embankments he reported are now only two feet high.) Whittlesey himself, though naming the site a “fort”, had doubts to its military character:”There are no evidences of attacks by a foe, or of the destruction or overthrow of any of them….” He wrote. Archaeologist Stephanie Belovich, a chief excavator of the Greenwood site, found posthole-mold evidence of wooden palisades in front of certain of the earthen walls. Though these in a cursory analysis could be assumed to be ramparts, Belovich, also finding no further evidence of military activity at Greenwood, and substantial evidence of an erosion problem, theorized that the wooden structure was used in prehistoric times to forestall erosion. One piece evidence that the site may have been ceremonial rather than defensive lies in the fact that, as with other “Whittlesey Forts,” the users could have easily walked right in. Secondly evidence of domestic activity is limited to fire-pits used only a short time. There would have been no need to fortify such an area. On the other hand erosion has been an ongoing problem at the Greenwood site. It has been such a problem with increased use of the site in historic times that the plateau is even much narrower than it had been in Whittlesey’s day. Belovich in her survey of the area, strongly suspected that the two earth mounds that Whittlesey reported there were now part of a large slippage slope 20 feet lower than the rest of the plateau. The latest archaeological evidence gathered at Greenwood, largely by Belovich, challenge early 1970s evidence from a larger general area that Greenwood was primarily used in the Late Prehistoric period. Belovich finally found a stone floor reported by Whittlesey. Archaeologists often associate such use of stone in Ohio with the Woodland period. For example Fort Ancient, a Hopewell enclosure in southwest Ohio, has ample stone pavements. The radiocarbon dates obtained for Greenwood in the 1980s corresponded to a few centuries later with a mean date of 750 AD. The Greenwood stone artifacts by that time, the Early Late Woodland period, were in turn more simple than any Hopewell artifacts. Another feature of Greenwood is trademark Late Woodland pottery lacking decoration. The particular projectile point styles found also correspond to the Late Woodland.  Nor is Greenwood Village an isolated Late Woodland phenomenon in the Cuyahoga Valley. At least one other nearby site has yielded lithic assemblages of similar appearance       

Late Woodland site: Fort HillOH57. This site is in present-day North Olmsted, Ohio overlooking the Rocky River in Rocky River Metropark. The site consists of three earthen walls that acted to cordon off a point of land surrounded on the other three sides by water. The walls date to about 800 AD. Since no post-mold holes for any structure were found at the site, as with Greenwood, it is assumed to be ceremonial, not defensive. There is also evidence at Fort Hill for later use by Whittlesey people.

Timeline Point IV, The Late Prehistoric Period: 900 AD – 1650 AD, and Whittlesey Culture near Cleveland

The Late Prehistoric period in northern Ohio between the Conneaut River in eastern Ashtabula County and the Black River in Lorain is distinguished by a marked culture that archaeologist Emerson Greenman named the Whittlesey Focus after Charles Whittlesey. Changes in pottery style and a transition to a more sedentary lifestyle characterized the Whittlesey Focus. In some ways the Whittlesey Focus displayed the insularity and isolation of the Late Woodland period. Local flint as opposed to that quarried far away became more popular for points and blades. The Hopewell level of trade was never re-established. Mounds and elaborate burials were rare in the Whittlesey Focus. Yet the Mid-Continental cultural blossoming inspired by Native Mexican developments, and called Mississippian culture, was present in the Whittlesey Focus. Two hallmarks of Mississippian culture seen in Northeast Ohio were rich ceremonialism and continued agricultural advancement. The flowering of Mississippian culture in Ohio is most associated with the Fort Ancient people near the Ohio River. In turn Fort Ancient civilization spread to the Whittlesey Focus and other cultures further north. Through Fort Ancient culture and the Mississippian influence, beans, originally from Mexico, came to dominate northern Ohio agriculture. Maize, also originally from Mexico, showed improved varieties among Whittlesey people. The Reeve Road site suggests increased tobacco culture; more smoking pipes were recovered there than at any other Ohio prehistoric site except the Mound City group, a well-known Hopewell complex in central Ohio. 

Pottery found at some Whittlesey sites shows tempering with shell. Shell tempered pottery is more durable and heat resistant than grit-tempered pottery. Handles and stamped designs are other enhancements observed in Whittlesey pottery. Archaeologists found a Fort Ancient influence in the Whittlesey pottery at least four Northeast Ohio sites: Reeve Road, Fairport Harbor, Tuttle Hill and South Park.  South Park and perhaps other local Whittlesey sites displayed further Mississippian influence in their elaborate art: Brose unearthed engravings with the trademark Fort Ancient “weeping eyes” as well as statuettes, headdresses and conch shell masks.

Specific Whittlesey Sites in and around Cleveland

Whittlesey site:Reeve Road, 33La4, 33La186, Eastlake, Ohio. Already in the 19th Century Charles Whittlesey knew of this artifact-rich site near the mouth of the Chagrin River in Eastlake, Ohio. In 1888 Whittlesey described the site as on a river bluff 35 feet high. He observed earthen walls of about 660 feet in length. The walls were so worn down as to be barely visible in height. Longtime artifact collectors on the site, the Worden Brothers, informed Whittlesey of two distinct walls about 16 1/2 feet apart in between which there had been a trench. The Wordens gave Whittlesey several bone awls, one of the most numerous artifacts in their collection from the site. Bone awls continued to be a prominent feature of Reeve site excavations which peaked in the 1970s. The Indian Museum of Lake County, a major repository of Reeve artifacts, counts 397 bone awls in their collections. The only Reeve site artifacts in the Museum’s collection more numerous than the awls are flint projectile points of which the Museum owns 707 and pottery sherds of which it holds 1216. Numerous bone awls also characterize the Fairport Harbor Whittlesey site in Lake County. By 1929 the Reeve site had come to the attention of the professional archaeological community. Mid-20th Century excavations revealed the many projectile points and tobacco pipes that now characterize the site. The largest artifact discoveries however were not made until 1973 when the property was sold to a condominium developer and water and gas lines dug. Local collectors descended on the site, taking all of interest that they could find until the site was closed off and the development completed. Several collectors formed the Lake County Chapter of the Ohio Archaeological Society which in 1980 started the Indian Museum of Lake County as a repository and display area for Reeve and other local artifacts. 

At least two types of pottery were named after the Reeve Road site, for example Reeve Horizontal and Reeve Filleted. Reeve Horizontal is usually horizontally cordmarked with a distinguishing rim. Reeve’s Filleted is similar but with an additional strip of clay around the rim.

Whittlesey site:Chagrin Long House, Hunting Valley, Ohio. This site is near an unidentified falls of the Chagrin River. This site illustrates Whittlesey construction. (For more information see “Whittlesey Site VI: Board of Education Building.”) Researchers found post-mold holes for a 50-foot long structure.

Whittlesey site:South Park Village, 33Cu8, Independence, Ohio. This site consists of forty acres now in Cuyahoga Valley National Park; they’re on the west side of the Cuyahoga River, south of Tinker’s Creek, north of Pleasant Valley Road. South Park is one of the most revealing Whittlesey sites in Northeast Ohio. It has an extensive literature. The South Park site is so important that the descriptions in this article of both Whittlesey culture and specific sites could not have been written without South Park as a guide. One highlight of South Park is insight into the appearance of Fort Ancient cultural traits in northern Ohio. Extensive pottery with such Fort Ancient influences as handles and symmetrical decoration has been recovered from South Park. Pipes with the weeping eye motif have been found at South Park as well.

Whittlesey site: Tuttle Hill33Cu7, Independence, Ohio. This site is east of Brecksville Road (State Route 21), north of Interstate 480, south of  Granger Road and west of the Cuyahoga River. This is another of the earthen hilltop enclosures that Charles Whittlesey investigated in the 19th Century. Whittlesey called the site the Ancient Fort #3, Independence. The current name stems from Henry Tuttle, the owner of property in Whittlesey’s time. Twentieth Century industrialization totally wiped out the earthworks, the location of which presently is the Cloverleaf Bowling Alley on Brecksville Road. Whittlesey lamented about the wear from agriculture on the earthwork in his own time, describing the area as “mercilessly cropped.”

Tuttle Hill was the site of Emerson’s Greenman’s 1930 work which identified the Whittlesey Focus. Tuttle Hill also lends its named to a style of pottery which David Brose identified and called Tuttle Hill Notched. This style characterizes much of the pottery in the entire area. Far more of the type was uncovered at the larger nearby South Park Whittlesey site. It is a late pottery style, perhaps as recent as 1650 AD, the era of the last of the Whittlesey people. The style shows likely Fort Ancient influence. It has strap handles and decorations on the lip of the vessels corresponding to the handle points. The rim displays symmetrically placed decoration. The body can be stamped, cordmarked or plain. (To a layman the Tuttle Hill Notched type of pottery looks “fancier” than average Whittlesey pottery, and appear to have a “tee-pee” design on the body.) Despite their late date, and the recovery of well-preserved shell tempered specimens, actually local Tuttle-Notched pieces were not tempered with shell more than the slightly earlier Reeve pottery.

Whittlesey site: (private property) 33Cu20,  Valley View, OhioCharles Whittlesey knew of this site and called it Ancient Fort #4, Southeast Independence. It is another upland riverside site. It has an ideal location at the southeastern juncture of the Tinker’s Creek and the Cuyahoga River.   Whittlesey saw a single embankment and a mound, but no trench.  Neighbors near the site could also not recall a trench by the embankment. Professional archaeological investigations over the years have determined that the site has been continuously occupied from the Archaic through Late Prehistoric periods.  The embankment may be still visible. 

Whittlesey site:Outdoor Education Center (OEC) .  This is an upland location in Independence, Ohio on Independence School System property; the location was once a Nike Missile Site. Fittingly for a site on school grounds, students as part of a joint university/ Cleveland Museum of History class in archaeological field methods, helped excavate OEC. 

This site illustrates Whittlesey building construction. Post-mold holes near Whittlesey Focus diagnostic artifacts (pottery, Late Prehistoric triangular arrowheads) indicated Whittlesey building. The structures’ frames used uprooted saplings that were stuck in the ground, and then pulled to a central point and tied near the top. Whittlesey people then sided the structures with bark. Most such structures were used as permanent homes. Furthermore OEC was not only occupied in Late Prehistoric times, but continuously from the Late Archaic.. For example the Middle Woodland period is represented at the site via findings of “raccoon notched” projectile points.

Whittlesey site: Hillside, 33Cu30, Independence, Ohio, Cuyahoga Valley National Park.  Exploration of this site suggests it was a Whittlesey deer hunting camp. The site has also yielded Fort Ancient influenced ceramics.

Whittlesey site:Birdsell, 33Cu252, Independence, Ohio, within Cuyahoga Valley National Park. This is one of the Cuyahoga River floodplains that have been attractive to humans in all eras for agriculture; in fact it has been cultivated in the last 20 years. Excavations suggest it was also a farm in Whittlesey times. Characteristic Whittlesey pottery sherds were found, as well as evidence that the Whittlesey people had contact with Prehistoric Iroquoian groups from further north. 

Whittlesey site:Cary’s Field/ Valley View 16, 33Cu23. This site in Valley View, Ohio is across Tinker’s Creek from the just-described “Ancient Fort #4.”  It is bounded by the Canal on the west and Tinker’s Creek Road on the north. The site has yielded Fort Ancient influenced ceramics. Archaeologists think the site was a Whittlesey farm.

Whittlesey site:  Golf33Cu 29, Walton Hills, Ohio. The present-day parking lot of Astorhurst Golf Course south of Tinker’s Creek and west of Dunham Road in Walton Hills, Ohio was the site of a small Whittlesey village.

Whittlesey sites: Vaughn and Riverview, 33Cu64, 33Cu65, 33Cu492, Brecksville, Ohio. The very southeast of Cuyahoga County holds at least three Whittlesey sites. One of these sites is an unaltered floodplain farm. Its present-day appearance may be close to what the Whittlesey people saw a millennium ago. One highlight of diagnostic artifacts from this site were three worked tortoise shells. Whittlesey sherds have also been found in the vicinity of the Brecksville sites.

Vaughn, Cu65, is in a quiet part of the national park on overgrown farm land, land that has been used agriculturally since time immemorial. (Photo courtesy of Google Maps.)

Whittlesey site:Gillie Rockshelter33Su20, Twinsburg, Ohio. This site just outside of Cuyahoga County north of Tinker’s Creek and east of Route 91 in an area park, furnishes further evidence for the Late Prehistoric habitation pattern in Northeast Ohio consisting of agricultural villages with satellite seasonal hunting camps along local streams. Gillie Rockshelter was such a camp.

Whittlesey site:Krill Cave33Su18, Bath, Ohio. Krill Cave is a misnomer.  It is actually a rockshelter, in other words a natural rock overhang that offers shelter to humans on the otherwise open ground underneath.  Krill Cave is less than a mile east of the Medina County line and just west of where Ira Road ends at Hametown Road. The site is a good ways southwest of the Cleveland area. I am including it in the study because of its uniqueness as a Northeast Ohio cave or rocksehlter that was continuously occupied by prehistoric people from the Late Archaic to the Late Prehistoric (Whittlesey) periods. Rockshelters such as Krill also should be mentioned because as a rich source of floral and faunal remains, they shed light on the diets of preshistoric people. Remains of 25 types of mammals and 10 species of birds have been found at Krill.  These have shown that the diets of prehistoric people were more diverse than previously thought.  Among the dietary remains found at Krill were bobcat, hawk, owl, passenger pigeon, ruffed grouse and woodcock.

More Whittlesey sites:  Many locations in Valley View, Independence and Brecksville, Ohio have borne Whittlesey-type artifacts. However the locations are too hard to describe, the data too inconclusive or specifics too lacking for inclusion in this article. The greater Cuyahoga Valley region literally contains more than 200 archaeological sites. They are too numerous to mention in this small article

The End of Prehistoric People in Northeast Ohio

 Seventeenth Century French explorers and missionaries in what is now Ohio wrote of an absence of native peoples in the lands near the Cuyahoga River. The only Indians they knew of in the region between 1650-1730 were Iroquois hunting parties. Theories have long circulated as to what happened to the Whittlesey people whose artifacts date to as late as 1650. Some theory on the end of people indigenous to Northeast Ohio implicates the Iroquois. Other theory does not. While there are many ideas as to what happened to the Northeast Ohio natives, this study will describe the four that I think are the most convincing. The first theory revolves around the so-called Indian Beaver Wars. Iroquois power peaked in about 1700. The Iroquois confederacy derived much of its material wealth and influence from fur-trapping and trading the pelts to the British, Dutch and to a lesser extent, French.. The Iroquois were always on the lookout for new territories in which to hunt beaver for their desirable fur. The Iroquois and indigenous Ohio Indians battled over fur hunting territories from around 1650 to around 1700. The Iroquois attacked weaker nations and usually won. European contact had vastly altered life among the six Iroquois nations, the Seneca, Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, Mohawk and Tuscarora, transforming them into commercial fur trappers. This level of trapping depleted animals valued for their fur in the Iroquois’ New York homelands. The Jesuit Relation group of missionary documents from New France  relayed Iroquois people as saying that their travels revealed a stone age indigenous population near the Cuyahoga River that knew neither guns nor Europeans. Iroquois people allegedly stated that they planned to make war on these newly discovered people, and easily wipe them out with their modern arsenal of weapons. Whether or not the Whittlesey were the victims of a specific Iroquois campaign, archaeologists believe that Whittlesey society which was traditional, non-hierarchal and patriarchal would have had a difficult time adjusting to the arrival of Europeans and the shifting Native alliances that ensued. A best-case scenario is one of gradual out-migration of Whittlesey people to past points of contact with other people. The Whittlesey then would have been absorbed into other societies and ceased to be a distinct culture. 

A third theory emphasizes that the isolated Whittlesey could not have survived diseases Europeans brought with them, and surely would have succumbed to illness. A fourth theory of Whittlesey disappearance entails some combination of the three just-mentioned theories. The Whittlesey could have been crushingly defeated by the Iroquois. Residual populations could have assimilated. Other survivors of war could have been wiped out by disease.

Notes

nd = no date or date unknown
wrhs = Western Reserve Historical Society
ESAWR = Early Settlers Association of the Western Reserve 
1. The Great Bend of the Cuyahoga River is south of the Cuyahoga Valley. It marks the northernmost point of the eight mile canoe portage between the Lake Erie and Ohio River watersheds. Today the Bend is within the city of Akron. The first few northern miles of the ancient canoe-toting path have evolved into a major Akron thoroughfare aptly named North Portage Path. The portage is important because it allowed a canoeist to paddle non-stop from Lake Erie to the Gulf of Mexico if he was willing for eight miles to port his boat overland. The strategic portage held forts both in the French and Indian War and the war of 1812. The canoe portage marks a local portion of the continental divide. 
2. Limited DNA evidence suggests that Hopewell people descended from Adena people. See Mills (2003) online resource. 
3. One trademark Hopewell artifact are flint “bladelest.” They are found in large quantities at Hopewell sites and outside the Hopewell interaction sphere as well, as trade pieces. The bladelets were small blades of about one inch in length. They were very sharp, having been whittled to a point. Researchers believe the few instances of these bladelets at Early Woodland cultural sites indicates Adena people copying the ascendant Hopewell culture in their midst. Lepper likens the bladelets to today’s disposable razors, tools that required heavy initial resource commitment relative to their time in use. This is one reason the bladelets may have disappeared in the more difficult and less organized Late Woodland period to follow. Another reason pertains to their likely use in the well-developed Hopewell ceremonial culture. See Byers, 238; Lepper et al. (2001) online pages 8,9; Lepper (2005) 122. 
4. The name Greenwood Village is strictly an archaeological formality; occupations of this size are called villages rather than mere campsites. The word “village” is not to imply a permanent sedentary settlement; the archaeological evidence for prolonged intermittent seasonal use of Greenwood Village is much stronger. 

5. The atlatl, also known as a spear-thrower, is basically a cup attached to a handle, in which a spear fits. A flicking motion of the wrist launches the spear farther and with greater accuracy than throwing the spear directly by hand would achieve.

A Survey of Prehistoric People in the Cuyahoga Lands

“The geology … mid-18th Century.”  See Larick and  Busta-Peck (2011) online resource.       
“As recently as 1650 …  Mississippian influences took hold..” See Murphy (1968) 26.            
“The region south …. diet.” Redmond (no date) online resource                                                
“Until around 1650 … failed to name” Wheeler 24, 27, 32; Whittlesey (1867) 73-85.                                        
“In 1726 … uncertain.” ibid; Brose (1997) online resource.      
“The first Briton … canoe portage.” Upton, 345-346;  Mills, WS 24-26;  Wheeler, 31; Finney 36-43; Dowd 31-53, 101.       
“Few Whites … southern Ohio” Sicha, 141.

Relics Remembered by Cleveland’s Early Settlers                               
“A mound at the mouth … first two decades.” See Rice, Harvey (1889) 296; Rice, Harvey (1884) 79. Miggins, 6 depicts the well-known wood carving of the mound at the mouth of the Cuyahoga.  In this depiction, the mound is stylized and less obviously a man-made earthwork.  The Western Reserve Historical Society holds the earliest known print from the carving. 

“There was … other Indian Mound … commercial activity.”  “Pioneers’ Day ….” , 6; “Oldest Resident”, 65-74; Chapman, 10-12; “Several” quote excerpted in Johnson, C., 155-156. ANCIENT FORTS 1 and 2 NEWBURG:   Bluestone Heights “Native American Sites” online resource ; Whittlesey (1871) 10-12, 41, 49ff; Belovich (1998) pages not noted. CLEVELAND’S MOST WELL KNOWN MOUND:  Bluestone Heights,
“Native American Sites ” online resource; Whittlesey (1871) 10-12, 41, 49ff; Busta-Peck, online resource; Rose, 296, 352, 362, 384-388 Timeline I: Early Woodland CultureAbrams (2005a) 84-87.Brose (1998) online resource.Fowke 576-581.  Grooms, 88.Jones, 8Keener, 23Lepper, 79-106McCauley et al., online resource.Moorehead, 82, 92, 178OHS (nd) online resource.O’Neill, 245.Otto, 2008a, vii-iv.Redmond, online resource. Selig, (1988a) 175-182.Shane (1975) 98-99, 111Stothers, 79-90. Webb, 68, 86-87, 163-164Winter, 73.         

“Luchens cache … boggy” See Finney, 135-136. “Most spectacular … Late Prehistoric Period” See Murphy, “Anc. History …”, 16-17; Lakus (2009) online resource; Whittlesey (1850) 19-20, 39.”For almost 40 years … Late Prehistoric Period.” Also see Murphy 1971b, 12-14, 21; Kollecker, online resource. . Whittlesey people are not thought to have used the Lyman Site as a village, but instead as a seasonal campsites, perhaps in connection with hunting or fishing. Lakus, online resource, Murphy (1971b) 12-14. Early Woodland siteGarlick. See Whittlesey (1871) 25, 40; (Whittlesey (1867) 33; Brose (1998) online resource                    photo caption to Garlick Mound:  Joe Hannibal et al., “The Euclid Bluestone of Northeast Ohio …,” Indiana Geological Survey Occ. Paper 67 (2004) 72;                        Kennedy (1896) 199; EO Randall, History of Ohio vol. 5 (NYC: Century, 1912) 276; M. Joblin, Cleveland Past and Present (Clvlnd: Fairbanks                         and Benedict, 1869) Project Gutenberg online, Accessed Mar. 1, 2011 at http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/; Margaret Manor Butler, PictorialHistory of the Western Reserve (Clvlnd: wrhs and ESAWR, 1963) 140; Rose, 80. 

Early Woodland siteGaylord. See wrhs “Point” acc. record, online resource ; Old and New Street Numbers, 115; Whittlesey (1871) 25, 39; Cleveland Illustrated, 142; Gaylord, Mrs. EF, 45-46; Hopkins, Griffin. (1922) Plate 9; Insurance Maps of Cleveland, Ohio. (1952) Sheet 59; Insurance Maps of Cleveland, Ohio (1983) Sheet 59; Miggins, 66-67. Jarboe, Michelle. “Florida Developer plans …. Renovation ..,” Plain Dealer, March 12, 2010.  online edition.  Accessed Dec. 28, 2010 at http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2010/03/florida_developer_plans_12_mil.html; “Canal Bank.”  ECH.  Case Western Reserve University webpages, 1997.  Accessed 12/28/2010; “Arbor Park Village”, Builder. Oct. 2004. 186-187, available online at www.thebuilderonline.com; Arbor Park Village, a Renaissance of Community Living.  website. 2009. http://www.arborparkvillage.com; Sisters of Charity Fndn.  Births and Rebirths. 17, website of Sisters of Charity Foundation.  Accessed Dec. 28, 2010 at www.socfndncleveland.org.  For caption see Larick and Busta-Peck (2011) online resource. 

Early Wdld. siteSawtell Avenue. See Whittlesey (1871), 25, 42; Art Work of Cleveland (1911) 4; Brose (1998) online resource; Shane (1967) 164. 

Early Wdld. siteCollinwood

“Vicinity of St. Clair … tobacco smoking” : See Read (1888), 43-44; Abbott (1881), 340; Abbott, (1875) 314-315; Fowke 578-582.

“Charles Whittlesey …side.” Whittlesey (1871) 25.                        “Recent … Dutch English” See Walker, 124″Excavations … New York” See Huey, Lynn Minor 17. 
Early Wdld. site: Wing Farm. See Fath, 10-11
Early Wdld. site: Parkman Mound.  Baldwin, 159-166; Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Nelson-Kennedy Ledges State Park page of of Ohio State Parks site, accessed 6/10/2011 at http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/parks/nelsonk/tabid/775/Default.aspx; Shane (1975) 112.
Early Wdld. site: Chagrin Mound 1. See “Discovery of Skeletons….”, 55-56; Webb, 19-22, 74, 154,279-281; Lepper, 74;  “32nd Meeting …”, 560;  Shane (1967) 162-163; Chagrin Falls Exponent- July 19, 1917,5; July 26, 1917,5; Jessie C. Glasier ” … all that’s left of the Indians,” Plain Dealer, unknown date; List of Ohio archaeological collectors, Ohio History I (1887) 395; Harris Blackmore, map of Cuyahoga County {Stoddard and Everett, 1852} railsandtrails.com);  Graham/ Bray deed transfer, Cuyahoga County Recorder, 1855, accessed Mar. 16, 2011 at http://recorder.cuyahogacounty.us/searchs/generalsearchs.aspx.                                        
Early Wdld. siteSouthern Solon. See wrhs “Projectile Point, online resource            
Early Wdld. site: Merkle. See Miller, 7; Finney, 132 Woodland … or not manmade … Lake Warren. See Gardner, 1.

Timeline II: Hopewell Culture “Before delving … much as before” See Lepper, 113-114; Stothers, 94ff.                    

“Huntington Road” Redmond (nd) online resource; Nolan, 2-3, 10ff, 36, 42-43, 52-54.
“Hopewell people …. Hopewell life” See Jones, chapter 1; Moorehead, 178; Lepper, 124.
“Hopewell trade … mica did.” Lepper, 123, 144.
“People have marveled.”  Lepper 123-124; personal visit to Hopewell Culture National Historical Park Chillicothe, Ohio, August 8, 2010.
“Some Hopewell earthworks … Southwestern Ohio” personal trip Fort Ancient State Memorial, Oregonia, OH, Aug. 6, 2010.
“Like other Woodland Indians … defensive purpose”  Redmond (nd) online resource; Moorehead, 176.
“One Hopewell mound … North Benton Mound.” See McGrath, Willis H., 40-46; Case and Carr 27, 232; 379ff.
“In Chillicothe … mounds’ soil” See Moorehead 103-115. 

Hopewell siteChagrin Mound 2. News quote from Chagr. Falls Exponent, Oct 28, 1886, 5; see also “Discovery of Skeletons ..,” 55-56; Shane (1967) 160ff; “Arch. Collection” (1886) 221.           
Hopewell site: Holtkamp/Chagrin “Crypt.”  See Johnson, C. 16; Webb, 116-118; Cram Atlas of Cuyahoga County, 1892; “Another Mound Exploration,” Chagr. Falls Exponent, July 11, 1878; Barmann, Geo., “Chagrin D.A.R.’s send Home News to Yanks …,” PD, Oct. 15, 1944, 26; “Chagrin to mark 100th Birthday …,”  PD, Aug. 13, 1933, 4; marriage and engagement notices, PD, Jan 25, 1942, 51,  July 12, 1942, 40.                                             
Hopewell siteGleeson.  See Finney, 125.                                                                      
Hopewell site: La-Lo.  Finney, 136; Justice, 42-43 
Hopewell siteEverett. See Brose (1974) 36-47; Whittlesey (1871) 20; Conservation Dept., online resource;  Read (1888) 80.

Timeline III: Late Woodland Period
“The Late Woodland period … Dark Ages.” Belovich, 126
“Several important changes … procurement.” See Lepper, 176                                            
“Pottery … mushroomed.” Lepper Another sign … harvesting.” Lepper 185-186.                                                                          
“Military and sacred earthworks … few and far between.” Redmond (2001) online resource.

Late Woodland SiteGreenwood Village. Whittlesey (1850) quoted in Belovich 17-18; Belovich, (1985) 13, 42, 50-70, 90-120 162-168 171, 173; Belovich (1998) 167ff; personal visit to site, autumn, 2010.

Timeline IV: Late Prehistoric period, Whittlesey Focus

“The Late Prehistoric … Whittlesey Focus.” See Lepper, 195, 198-201; Redmond (2001) online resource.

“Yet the … cultural blossoming … central Ohio. ” Lepper, 195-196; O’Rourke et al, online resource; Jones, 9; Greenman (1935a) online resource; Murphy (1971a) 302;”Pottery … masks.” Brose, (1971) 16-18; Brose (1994) 7, 165; Brose (1976) 28-33, 38-39; Lepper 195, 198-201; Redmond (2001) online resource 
Whittlesey siteReeve Road.  See Whittlesey (1888) 86-87; King 20-30, 34-40; “Two types … rim” Murphy (1971a) 298, 302 
Whittlesey siteChagrin Long House.  See Tittle, 13.                                                                        
Whittlesey siteSouth Park.  See Brose (1971a) 17  
Whittlesey siteTuttle Hill.  See Murphy (1968) 27; Murphy (1971a) 299, 302; Whittlesey (1871) 11; King, 24; OHS (nd) online resource; Prufer (2006) 337.  
Whittlesey siteprivate property/ “Ancient Fort #4”.  See Whittlesey (1871) 11-12, 47; Finney, 130ff.     
Whittlesey site: Independence BOE. See Kollecker, online resource; Redmond (2001) online  resource 
Whittlesey sites: Hillside, Birdsell, Cary’s Field, Golf.  See Finney, 130ff.  
Whittlesey sitesBrecksville.  Hopewell people fashioned shells of tortoises such as the Blanding’s, found on the Great Lakes, not only into combs but more   commonly cups, bowls and spoons which they sometimes engraved. See for example Griffin et al. (1970) 141. 
Whittlesey siteGillie Rockshelter.  See Burnhardt and Prufer, 239-249                                   

 Whittlesey siteKrill Cave.  See Prufer (2006) 329-330; Whitman, Linda et. al. Rpt. of Historical and Archaeological Investigations at Nature Realm… and Sand Run Metropark …   Akron, OH: Dept. of Classical Studies, Anthropology and Archaeology — Univ. Akron, 2008.  5.

The End of Prehistoric People in Northeast Ohio

Brose (1994) 182-185; Redmond (2002) 59-77.

References

ECH=Encyclopedia of Cleveland History
wrhs = Western Reserve Historical Society

Abbott, Charles C. Primitive Industry. Salem, MA: Bates, 1881.

Abbott, Chas. C.  Clay Hunting-whistles. American Naturalist 9:5. (1875): 314-315.

Abrams, Elliot. “The Eastern Agricultural Complex” in Lepper.

“Archaeological Collection: Knives.” Western Reserve Historical Society (wrhs) Tract 85-91 (1886-1894): 220-223.

“Archaeological Collection: Mica. ibid. 266.

Baldwin, Cornelius. “Ancient Burial Cists in Northeastern Ohio …” wrhs Tract 56 (1882) 159-166.

Belovich, Stephanie. “The Greenwood Village Site: an Early Late Woodland Site along the Cuyahoga River.” master’s thesis, Kent State University, 1985.

        ———. Defensive or Sacred ? An Early Late Woodland Enclosure in Northeast Ohio in Ancient Earthen Enclosures of the Eastern Woodlands, edited by Robt. C.  Mainfort. Gainesville, FL: Univ. Press of FL, 1998.

Brose, David. The Southeastern Ceremonial Complex in Northern Ohio. Ohio Archaeologist 21:4 (1971): 16-19.

———. Everett Knoll: a Late Hopewellian Site in Northeast Ohio. Ohio Jnl. Science 74:1 (1974): 36-47.

———. An Initial Summary of the Late Prehistoric Period in Northeast Ohio in  The Late Prehistory of the Great Lakes Drainage Basin : a 1982 Symposium Revisited, edited by D. Brose. Cleveland: CMNH, 1976.

———. South Park Village….Whittlesey Tradition of Northeast Ohio. Madison, WI: Prehistory Press, 1994.

            ———. “Explorations,”  “Prehistoric Inhabitants,” ECH. http://ech.case.edu (accessed Sept, 2010).

Burnhardt, Jack and O. Prufer. Gillie Rockshelter, Summit County, Ohio in  Caves and Culture: 10,000 Years of Ohio History, edited by Linda Spurlock et. al.  Kent, OH: Kent State Univ. Press, 2006. 239-249.

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Justice, Noel and Suzanne Kudlaty. Field Guide to Projectile Points of the Midwest. Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Press, 1999.

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King, Gwen. What Indians lived in Ohio.  Painesville, OH: Indian Museum of Lake Cnty., 2006.

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Adamic Time Period- Brain Tissue

Unlimited North American Archaeology

For me the amount of archaeology found in North America is simply amazing. We thank the pioneers, Wayne May, Rod Meldrum and others for their dedication for continuing research in North America for secondary evidences of the Book of Mormon.  I have the privledge of working with Rod often, searching and reading about the home of my heroes, Nephi and Mormon in the Heartland of the United States.

Florida Archaeology Abounds

Adamic Time Period Brain Tissue?

This is a huge find. In 1982 a backhoe operator found a human skull in his hands. Several intact brains have been recovered hidden in “peat.” The results of the testing found the bones of the remains were over 7,000 years old – more than 2,000 years older than the Egyptian pyramids. Of course carbon dating can be inaccurate at times, but that means this person found either lived during the time of Adam or before the flood and during the historic Clovis period.

These burials were preserved because of the remarkable properties of the substance in which they were sub-merged – peat. Made up of layer upon layer of decomposing organic materials (mainly vegetation), peat provided an oxygen- and acid-free environment that allowed bones and artifacts to survive for thousands of years.

What is amazing to me is, archaeologists were able to find DNA from Haplogroup X in soft brain tissue. That is DNA of Native Americans in the Great Lakes region as well as in the area around Israel. Absolutely amazing!

 

After mentioning the DNA found in Florida to my good friend Steven Reed, he sent me this article. Read his blog at  https://twocumorahsolution.blogspot.com/

Windover: Prehistoric Past Revealed at Ancient Pond Cemetery

It was a warm, spring day in 1982 when backhoe operator Steve Vanderjagt paused to examine a pale rock he had uncovered while working construction near the edge of a pond at Windover Farms in Brevard County, Florida. Turning the object over in his hands, Vanderjagt saw two eye sockets and realized he was holding a human skull. His first thought was, “Oh shit!”

What Vanderjagt did not know at the time was that he had stumbled across a prehistoric cemetery that would prove to be one of the most amazing archaeological discoveries of the 20th century.

Developers Jack Eckerd (son of the famous drugstore founder) and his stepson Jim Swann had planned for Windover Farms to become a housing development serving the growing community of Titusville. To help draw people to the area, Swann built a restaurant called the Roost, with a small lunch counter and offices on the second floor. Swann was working at the Roost when Vanderjagt walked in carrying a bucket of bones. Not knowing whom to contact, Swann walked the bones over to a nearby Florida Highway Patrol station.

“According to Swann,” archaeologist Rachel Wentz later wrote in her book Life and Death at Windover, “they were met with a chilly reception. The troopers took one look at the skeletons and said, ‘We only do car wrecks.’ ”

After an examination by the county coroner showed the bones were not the remains of modern humans and, thus, of little value to law enforcement, Swann had to fight for them to be returned to him. When he did get them back, the remains resided in Swann’s garage, then in the tiny trailer on the Windover Farms construction site, where workers repeatedly stubbed their toes on the large containers. But Swann was intrigued by what else might be hidden beneath the layers of pond muck, and that would have remained a mystery if not for Swann’s next decision – to call in archaeologist Glen Doran.

Doran was a young, up-and-coming professor at Florida State University in Tallahassee, and although he was not the first archaeologist to visit Windover, he was the first to recognize the site’s potential and not be daunted by the challenges it presented.

He was immediately fascinated by the age of the bones – heavy wear on the teeth provided evidence of a prehistoric diet – but he didn’t have the funds to have them radiocarbon dated. Swann volunteered the money, and when the results of the testing came back, both men were astounded. The bones were over 7,000 years old – more than 2,000 years older than the Egyptian pyramids.

Archaeologist Dave Dickel “pedestalling” a burial (working the muck away from a bone until it is entirely exposed in place) before it is mapped, photographed, and removed. Photo courtesy of R. Brunck.

Archaeologist Dave Dickel “pedestalling” a burial (working the muck away from a bone until it is entirely exposed in place) before it is mapped, photographed, and removed. Photo courtesy of R. Brunck.

WET-SITE ARCHAEOLOGY

Wet sites have yielded some of the most spectacular archaeological finds in the world. Prior to Windover’s discovery, ancient human remains had been uncovered at four others in Florida:  Little Salt Springs (Sarasota County), Warm Mineral Springs (Sarasota County), Republic Groves (Hardee County), and Bay West (Collier County). Known as mortuary ponds, these sites served as cemeteries during the Early and Middle Archaic periods, roughly 10,000 to 5,000 years ago.

These burials were preserved because of the remarkable properties of the substance in which they were sub-merged – peat. Made up of layer upon layer of decomposing organic materials (mainly vegetation), peat provided an oxygen- and acid-free environment that allowed bones and artifacts to survive for thousands of years. However, as soon as the materials are excavated and exposed to the air, they begin decomposing rapidly. This is one of the many factors that make wet-site archaeology especially slow, expensive, and challenging.

Doran recruited an old friend from college, archaeologist Dave Dickel. They designed a demucking system that would remove enough water to excavate, but not too much. It was essential that the peat stay moist to protect the materials buried within. Over the course of three field seasons, in 1984, 1985, and 1986, Doran and Dickel perfected the process. They in-stalled 158 well points around the edge of the pond to capture water from both the top and bottom of the pond and eject it away from the site, creating an excavation area about the size of an Olympic swimming pool.

Digging in peat was not like digging in soil. The peat had a clay-like consistency that had to be sliced using sharpened trowels and shovels. Thin layers were slowly shaved away until the peat changed color, a sign that archaeologists were nearing a burial. Then wooden tools were used to gently scrape the muck away from the bones. Chopsticks that the archaeologists hoarded from nearby Chinese restaurants worked best. However, their most important tool was water. Bones can crack when they dry out too quickly, so archaeologists used spray bottles of water to keep the bones wet and to help remove adhered peat.

Archaeologists adapted their excavation strategy to the unique challenges of digging in dense peat. Photo courtesy of R. Brunck.

Archaeologists adapted their excavation strategy to the unique challenges of digging in dense peat. Photo courtesy of R. Brunck.

BRAAAAINS!

Toward the end of the first field season, Doran and Dickel made an astonishing discovery: a mushy, greasy, tan substance inside one of the skulls. Speculating on what the material might be, Doran joked that maybe it was only “snail poop.” But doctors at the University of Florida’s Shands Medical Center soon confirmed that a sample was actually human brain tissue. By the end of that year, several intact brains had been recovered. Though shrunken to a quarter of their original size, they still retained the shape and surface features of a typical human brain. According to Wentz, an editorial in a local paper ran the headline, “Brains finally discovered in Titusville!”

Though these were not the first ancient skulls found with preserved brain matter, this was the first time such a discovery coincided with advances in technology that would allow researchers to analyze the tissue on a molecular level. To ensure the preservation of the brain matter for future study, it was removed from the skulls in the field, sealed in nitrogen-filled containers at minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit and transferred to the lab at the University of Florida, where the containers were frozen at minus 94 degrees. By comparing the DNA in these tissues with the genetic sequences of other populations – particularly mitochondrial DNA (passed down maternally) and Y-chromosome DNA (passed down paternally) – it is possible to trace the history of human migration.

While researchers have determined that DNA did survive in the brain tissue, the samples are still extremely fragile. Instead, an analysis of DNA extracted from the skeletal remains has yielded the most interesting results. Conducted decades after the excavation, the study revealed that the people buried at Windover migrated to North America from Asia but are not related to any living Native American tribes or to any other known prehistoric peoples. This leaves one of two possibilities: either their descendants died out, or their population bottle-necked (was reduced sharply) before the genetic markers we find in modern humans evolved.

WHAT CAN WINDOVER TELL US?

Despite the remarkable discovery of the intact brains, Doran and Dickel were initially disappointed by the results of their excavation. The finds uncovered during the first two field seasons in 1984 and 1985 were either too commingled or too isolated to draw many conclusions. But during the third and final field season in 1986, as the team began digging in the northern part of the pond, they suddenly started finding undisturbed burials with distinct, nearly complete skeletons. This, Wentz writes, is when “the graves began to speak.”

The story they tell begins 9,000 years ago when ancient humans began using Windover as a cemetery. As the indigenous people moved through the area seasonally, they would bury their dead in the pond during late summer and early fall. We do not know where they lived the rest of the year, but we can tell from the level of decomposition that the bodies were interred within 48 hours after death, so they were probably living nearby during the autumn months. The bodies were tucked into a “flexed” position, bundled in fabric along with a variety of grave goods, and submerged beneath the water, typically on their left sides, facing west. Wooden stakes driven through the cloth kept them anchored to the bottom of the pond. Generation after generation returned to the pond to bury their dead in this manner for the next 1,000 years.

Life in prehistoric Florida was not easy. The bones at Windover show signs of numerous ailments, including disease, broken bones, and malnutrition. About half of the individuals died before the age of 18, and many more did not live past their late forties. By that time, the high level of grit in their diet (caused by using stone tools and surfaces to prepare food), combined with the use of their teeth as tools, had worn their teeth down to nubs. Arthritis and abscesses were common. It makes sense, then, that several were found with large quantities of plant seeds known to have pain-relieving properties in their stomach region, potentially representing the first archaeological evidence of the medicinal use of plants.

The people of Windover probably also splinted broken bones, performed amputations, and cared for their sick and elderly. Only one skeleton showed signs of violence: a young man with an antler tine embedded in his hip – and a missing skull.

The artifacts buried with the bodies can tell us just as much as the bones themselves. In addition to a variety of wooden artifacts, archaeologists recovered 119 objects made from animal parts, many of which would have been used as tools to fish, hunt, and butcher meat. Deer antler was used to make projectile points and barbed fishing hooks. Scrapers and other tools were made from the teeth of sharks, opossums, and canids (mammals in the dog family). Containers made of turtle shell, too small for use in cooking food, were possibly used to prepare medicinal plants.

In one burial, archaeologists also found a bottle gourd that may have been used as a container. The oldest-known example of a bottle gourd north of Mexico, this find may support the theory that some of the earliest cultivated plants in the New World were not sources of food, but utilitarian plants that provided light, durable containers, and tools. Though very few stone artifacts were found, the points that were recovered can be traced to quarries in Sumter County, more than 80 miles away.

In addition, awls, perforators, punches, and pins made from animal bones and antler would have been used in the preparation of hides, baskets, cordage, clothing, and other fabrics. Remarkably, 87 fragments of these handwoven, palm-fiber textiles survived. Extremely fragile and nearly indistinguishable from the surrounding peat, the cloth had to be removed with the entire burial in a single, large block and transported back to the laboratory where specialists in preserving ancient fiber worked to carefully extract and conserve them. Although their production and use certainly predate Windover, these woven textiles represent the oldest surviving examples of this type in the New World.

Not all of the grave goods had a utilitarian purpose. Three necklaces adorned the neck of a woman in her early twenties, each made from a different material – fish vertebrae, Sabal palm seeds, and shells. Two more were found draped over a 2-year-old.

An artist’s rendering of a cutaway of Windover pond shows how the burials were originally positioned. Image courtesy of G. Doran.

An artist’s rendering of a cutaway of Windover pond shows how the burials were originally positioned. Image courtesy of G. Doran.

LEGACY

Garnering international fame, the archaeological finds at Windover were greeted by public demand for information so overwhelming that Doran was forced to hire a full-time communications specialist to respond to media inquiries, organize volunteers, and spearhead educational initiatives such as tours and school programs. The Brevard Artists’ Association even held a contest, challenging artists to produce the best Windover-inspired artwork, with Dickel, much to his dismay, to serve as the judge.

By the end of the third field season, Doran, Dickel, and their team had uncovered a minimum of 168 skeletons, including 91 with preserved brain tissue. It is the largest, most demographically diverse skeletal discovery from this time period in the New World, with ages ranging from newborn to over 65, and both sexes equally present.

Such a broad, well-preserved sample has allowed archaeologists to learn about prehistoric burial practices, lifeways, health, migration, and much more, and the materials will continue to be studied for years to come as new technologies open up fresh avenues for research.

Windover may also be one of the last prehistoric cemeteries ever excavated in the United States because, several years later, federal and state laws were passed that protect indigenous human remains, funerary items, and sacred objects – a response to the long history of stripping Native Americans of their material culture.

Although excavations of wet sites are notoriously challenging, a convergence of timing, technology, funding, and interest made the Windover excavation possible. As Doran wrote in his 2002 anthology about the site, “Our investigations at Windover were a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. . . . Never in my wildest dreams would I have been so bold as to envision excavations of a site like this. It was phenomenal. Being in the right place at the right time, and not knowing excavation of such sites was considered to be both unproductive and essentially impossible, has certainly made me one of the luckiest archaeologists of all time.”

There are almost certainly other Windovers in Florida, Doran claims. But whether or not another site will ever offer up so many of its secrets still remains to be seen.

https://www.thehistorycenter.org/windover/ Dr. Rachel Wentz, author of Life and Death at Windover, as she explores the discovery and excavation of Windover on Sunday, January 24, 2021, at 2 p.m.


Jaredites Route from Babel?

Some researchers believe that the Jaredites may have come from the Near East and traveled the Atlantic and arrived up the St Lawrence River near the Great Lakes. Some believe the Jaredites traveled on foot east from the Tower of Babel across Asia and traveled the Pacific arriving at the Columbia River. The Book of Mormon does mention two different sets of barge travel for the Jaredites.

With the information dating Louisiana and Georgia as places of the oldest North American known civilizations, I am beginning to consider that the Jaredites may have taken the same route to North America as Lehi near Tallahassee Florida, and/or Mulek up the Mississippi River locating near Montrose, Iowa. The most important fact we know is as the Book of Mormon said, the Jaredites “were driven forth, three hundred and forty and four days upon the water.” Ether 6:11

I believe information is so ancient as to not be very accurate in determining the correct route of the Jaredites, but it is very interesting to speculate on the plausibility of each location.

 

“America Will Not Fail” Believe It!

Why, The United States of America?

Why was the United States of America the location of, Adam, the Garden of Eden, Adam Ondi-Ahman, the city of Enoch, and Noah? Because it was a chosen land.

Why was the United States of America the location of the Brother of Jared, and Ether, Lehi, Mulek and the Lamanites?

Why is the United States of America the location for the coming forth of the gold plates, the place of translation, the Hill Cumorah, the land of the first modern Temples and the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which has brought forth the huge missionary force to share the Book of Mormon with the world?

Why is the Unites States of America the place where the New Jerusalem will be built in the latter-days?

Why? Because it was Chosen!

By whom? The Lord Jesus Christ!

Seeking the One by Liz Lemon Swindle

In answer to why was the USA chosen, I quote from Orson F. Whitney, “We believe that this was His object in creating the Republic of the United States; the only land where his work could be commenced or the feet of his people find rest. No other land had such liberal institutions, had adopted so broad a platform upon which all men might stand.” JD 26 Page 201

Elder Russell M. Nelson added, “Now, what of the promise of possession of certain lands? Territorial inheritance destined for the sons of Israel provided property in the Holy Land for Reuben, Simeon, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Gad, Asher, Dan, Naphtali, and Benjamin. But where was the inheritance for Joseph? From the Book of Mormon we learn that his inheritance was this land in the American hemisphere (see Ether 13:8)—identified as being choice above all other lands (see Ether 1:42, 10:28, 13:2; D&C 38:20). It was choice, but not necessarily from the standpoint of scenery or wealth. It was choice because it was chosen. America was to serve as the repository of sacred records written on metallic plates. It one day was to become the location for the restoration of the gospel. It was to host headquarters of the Lord’s restored church”.   Russell M. Nelson was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when this devotional address was delivered at Brigham Young University on 22 November 1988.                                                                            I believe the most important answer is this. The United States of America is the place that God personally chose to be His Promised Land. It was not chosen because it was better as a land, or that it was superior to any other place. It was not chosen because the people are better, or there are more plush gardens and forests. No, God Chose this Land, because, He Chose it, period. This is where He thought was best to preserve or save for the people of the last days to congregate and receive the blessings of the priesthood and prepare for His return.

He didn’t chose Brazil, or Guatemala, or Britain, or Russia. God knows all, and He chose the USA to be the gathering place of Israel in the last days. If the Lord chose this land of America, and He did, then the most important book for the world would have to be about people that lived and fought and proceeded us here, on this land. As Elder Perry said, “The United States is the promised land foretold in the Book of Mormon—a place where divine guidance directed inspired men to create the conditions necessary for the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Elder L. Tom Perry Ensign Dec. 2012

The Land & Covenant Remain

If the Lord CHOSE the United States, (which He did), then He will save it and the Constitution shall not fail, and the Land shall remain. The wicked may be swept off this chosen land, but the covenant and the land remain, and only righteous and chosen people of God will ever dwell on this Land. Those righteous of the Lord will dwell here during the Millennial reign, as this land of the USA is the place of the New Jerusalem.

Editors Opinion:
Faith not Fear should lead us. According to prophets and Apostles below, America will not fail, but if we don’t obey the Commandments, we will lose this great country of America. Today in Nov 2022 we are close to being swept off this land. The 2020 and 2022 election’s were stolen and this is truly Satan’s world. Our government has been infiltrated by foreign and evil Satanic leaders, but the Lord has a plan, and as we love and serve Him, He will allow us to remain.

There are good people in our current U.S. Space Force and Combatant Commanders who are still fighting for us behind the scenes. That is wonderful and amazing. Be patient and Pray, as the Lord is with us!

By a Thread

Many documents show that Joseph Smith did prophesy a number of times that the United States and the Constitution would be imperiled and that the elders would have a hand in saving them. The first known record of the prophecy dates to July 19, 1840, in Nauvoo, when the prophet spoke about the redemption of Zion. Using Doctrine & Covenants 101 as a text, he said, “Even this nation will be on the verge of crumbling to pieces and tumbling to the ground and when the Constitution is on the brink of ruin this people will be the staff upon which the nation shall lean and they shall bear the Constitution away from the very verge of destruction.” (Joseph Smith Papers, LDS Church Historical Archives, Box 1, March 10, 1844.)

There are also other documents in Church History files that show that five different early Saints recorded some remarks by the Prophet Joseph Smith on this same prophecy, perhaps voiced by the Prophet a number of times in a number of ways after 1840. Parley P. Pratt wrote in 1841 that the prophet said, “The government is fallen and needs redeeming. It is guilty of Blood and cannot stand as it now is but will come so near desolation as to hang as it were by a single hair!!!!! Then the servants goes [sic] to the nations of the earth, and gathers the strength of the Lord’s house! A mighty army!!!!!! And this is the redemption of Zion when the saints shall have redeemed that government and reinstated it in all its purity and glory!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” (George A. Smith Papers, Church Archives, Box 7, Folder 5, January 21, 1841.)

James Burgess related that the Prophet, while addressing the Nauvoo Legion several miles east of Nauvoo in May 1843, said that “the time would come when the constitution and government would hang by a brittle thread and would be ready to fall into other hands but this people the latter-day saints will step forth and save it.” (James Burgess Journal, 1818–1904, Church Archives, vol. 1—found among loose sermons.)
More quotes at my blog here:

Another blog here:

America Will Not Fail

America Will Not Fail:  Men may fail in this country, earthquakes may come, seas may heave beyond their bounds, there may be great drought, disaster, and hardship, but this nation, founded on principles laid down by men whom God raised up, will never fail. This is the cradle of humanity, where life on this earth began in the Garden of Eden. This is the place of the New Jerusalem. This is the place that the Lord said is favored above all other nations in all the world. This is the place where the Savior will come to His temple. This is the favored land in all the world. Yes, I repeat, men may fail, but this nation won’t fail. I have faith in America; you and I must have faith in America, if we understand the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are living in a day when we must pay heed to these challenges. “I plead with you not to preach pessimism. Preach that this is the greatest country in all the world. This is the favored land. This is the land of our forefathers. It is the nation that will stand despite whatever trials or crises it may yet have to pass through. President Harold B. Lee, 1974 Ye are the Light of the World, pp. 350-351

With this quote above, how can anyone think the Book of Mormon events happened in Guatemala or South America, or Baja, or anywhere else? It’s hard to fathom in my opinion.

“I should like to say a few words about America…No land is without its beauty, no people without their virtues, and I hope that you who come from elsewhere will pardon my saying a few words concerning my own native land, America…surely this is a good land, a choice land, a chosen land. To me it is a miracle, a creation of the Almighty.” Gordon B. Hinckley Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled”, BYU Speeches of the Year, October 29, 1974, pp. 267-68 )

“We have a great message to tell the world. We have to live it, and then we have to tell it, too. If you’re interest in history and in geography, just think what you can get out of the Book of Mormon! The Book of Mormon is the most tangible evidence that we have the truth, for no man could have written it at the time that it was written—except the story of the Prophet Joseph be a true story. Just imagine what that book has to tell us about America. Go back to the promises of Jacob and Moses and Joseph, who was sold into Egypt and who was promised a new land in the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills. Nobody in this world, outside of this Church, can tell you where that new land is, and yet Moses, in describing that land, used the word precious five times in just four short verses in the bible (see Deuteronomy 33:13–16). He called it a precious land, and we read the history of how Lehi and his people came here and how they were told that it was a land choice above all other lands. This fact is repeated over and over again in the scriptures.

From a historical standpoint, it ought to be worth something to people to know about this land of America or when Columbus discovered it. The knowledge that we get through the Book of Mormon is a knowledge that we can’t get any other way in all this world. It not only tells us of the great destiny of this land of America, but it also gives the promises of the Lord through his prophets that it would be a land choice above all other lands and that it would be the land upon which God would build his New Jerusalem in the latter days. It was hidden away from the eyes of the world that it might not be overrun, and the Spirit of the Lord moved upon a man across the great waters to come here. We understand and know that man was Columbus. You see what a marvelous thing it is to have understanding.” LeGrande Richards, “You’re Fringe Benefits” 1975 Devotional

America’s Past Uncovered

“On Sept. 10, 1925 what are believed to be bodies of a royal family of the ancient mound builders were unearthed in a group of mounds near Bainbridge, Ohio. With these remains were found strands of pearls, some of extraordinary size and perfection; also ornaments of silver and copper and some sculptured objects of exquisite workmanship.

This is a highly interesting find. It shows that these mound builders in the Mississippi valley were wealthy and civilized, and that they must have had commercial connections with distant places where pearl oysters were procured.

Scientists know nothing certain about the time when the mound builders lived, whence they came and what became of them.

However, when Zion’s Camp, in the year 1834, was temporarily located on the western bank of the Illinois river, the Prophet Joseph and others ascended a high mound, on the top of which three altars had once stood. On removing some soil, they uncovered a skeleton, between the ribs of which there was an arrowhead. To the Prophet it was later made known that this was the remains of a Lamanite warrior, by the name of Zelph, who served the great Onandagus, a prophet known from the Hill Cumorah to the Rocky Mountains. Zelph was slain during the last struggle between the Lamanites and Nephites. May not this furnish a key to the mystery of the mound builders in the Mississippi valley? Besides this, at various points, from Maine to California, we find evidences of a race, or perhaps more than one race, that, like the Jaredites, who from their point of departure, carried with them “the fish of the waters,” depended largely upon sea food for their sustenance. The evidence of this they have left in numerous shell mounds, which consist almost entirely of oyster shells, some of gigantic size.

Some tell us American archaeology does not corroborate the Book of Mormon. As I see it, American Archaeologists will never unravel the mysteries of this country without the Book of Mormon.” THE JUVENILE INSTRUCTOR, Vol. 60, No. 10 October 1925 Janne M. Sjodahl

“I testify that America is a choice land. (See 2 Nephi 1:5.) God raised up the founding fathers of the United States of America and established the inspired Constitution. (See D&C 101:77–80.) This was the required prologue for the restoration of the gospel. (See 3 Nephi 21:4.) America will be a blessed land unto the righteous forever, and is the base from which God will continue to direct the worldwide latter-day operations of His kingdom.” (See 2 Nephi 1:7.) “Ezra Taft Benson,” in Latter-day Prophets and the United States Constitution, ed. by Donald Q. Cannon (Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1991), 163–210.

“…Once this nation was well established, then the Church was restored and from here the message of the restored gospel has gone forth. All according to divine plan. This then becomes the Lord’s base of operations in these latter days. And this base will not be shifted out of its place—the land of America. This nation will, in a measure at least, fulfil its mission even though it may face serious and troublesome days. The degree to which it achieves its full mission depends upon the righteousness of its people. God has, through his power, established a free people in this land as a means of helping to carry forward his purposes.

“It was his latter-day purpose to bring forth his gospel in America, not in any other place. It was in America where the Book of Mormon plates were deposited. That was no accident. It was his design. It was in this same America where they were brought to light by angelic ministry. It was” . . . [here] “where he organized his modern Church, where he, himself made a modern personal appearance” (Editorial, Church News).” The Lord’s Base of Operations” Elder Ezra Taft Benson Of the Council of the Twelve Apostles Conference Report, April 1962, pp. 103-106

“[The Constitution] is the keystone of our nation. It is the guarantee of our liberty. That original document, with the Bill of Rights, constitutes the charter of our freedom. Through all of the years that have followed we have had some ambitious men who have sought to subvert the great principles of the Constitution, but somehow we have endured one crisis after another. We have been involved in terrible wars during this, the bloodiest of all centuries in the history of man. All of this is part of the miracle that is America, the struggle, the travail, the bitterness, the jealousies, the cynicism, and the criticism. But beyond and above it all is the wonder of a nation that for more than two centuries has remained free and independent and strong, the envy of the world, the hope of the world, the protection of free men everywhere, the manifestation of the power of the Almighty. Source: Gordon B. Hinckley“ Keep Faith with America”, commencement address at Weber State University, Ogden, Utah on 6 May 1999

“Certain lands were given to Israel for an inheritance in time and in eternity. America is the land of Joseph; it was the home of Nephite Israel, who were of Joseph, for a thousand years, and it is the headquarters of the Church in this final dispensation in which the church and kingdom of God are in the lands of Ephraim.” 1985 – Elder Bruce R. McConkie

“The Lord gave a divine promise to the ancient inhabitants of this favored country (the United States): ‘Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ” (Ether 2:12).

“Our Heavenly Father inspired the leaders of…the United States of America, that they might together, under His direction, having been raised up by God for the purpose, establish the Constitution of this country and…Bill of Rights, that by the year of our Lord 1805 [there would be] a climate where our Heavenly Father could send into this period of mortality a choice spirit who would be known as Joseph Smith, Jr.” 2011 President Thomas S. Monson (ordained an Apostle, 1963; ordained President of the Church, 2008)

“I would that all men could believe in the destiny of America as did the early pioneers: that it is the land of Zion; that the founders of this nation were men of inspired vision; that the Constitution as written by the inspiration of heaven must be preserved at all costs. “I make a further plea that the citizens of this favored land live righteously that they might enjoy the fruits of their righteousness in this land of promise.” Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled Gordon B. Hinckley of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles Oct. 29, 1974 • Devotional

America’s Native American Policy- Pro & Con

The United States Government’s Relationship with Native Americans

A brief overview of relations between Native Americans and the United States Government.

The history of relations between Native Americans and the federal government of the United States has been fraught. To many Native Americans, the history of European settlement has been a history of wary welcoming, followed by opposition, defeat, near-extinction, and, now, a renaissance. To Europeans and Americans, it has included everything from treatment of Native American nations as equals (or near-equals) to assimilation to exile to near-genocide, often simultaneously…

Treaty-Making?

After the Revolutionary War, the United States maintained the British policy of treaty-making with the Native American tribes. In general, the treaties were to define the boundaries of Native American lands and to compensate for the taking of lands. Often, however, the treaties were not ratified by the Senate, and thus were not necessarily deemed enforceable by the U.S. government, leaving issues unresolved.

On occasion, the representatives of Native American tribes who signed the treaties were not necessarily authorized under tribal law to do so. For example, William McIntosh, chief of the Muskogee-Creek Nation, was assassinated for signing the Treaty of Indian Springs in violation of Creek law.

Treaty-making as a whole ended in 1871, when Congress ceased to recognize the tribes as entities capable of making treaties. The value of the treaties also came to be called into question when the Supreme Court decided, in 1903, Congress had full power over Native American affairs, and could override treaties. Many of the treaties made before then, however, remained in force at least to some extent, and the Supreme Court was occasionally asked to interpret them.

One notable treaty with ongoing repercussions is the Treaty of Fort Laramie of 1868. Under that treaty, the United States pledged, among other things, that the Great Sioux [Lakota] Reservation, including the Black Hills, would be “set apart for the absolute and undisturbed use and occupation” of the Lakota Nation.

Although neither side fully complied with the treaty’s terms, with the discovery of gold in the area, the United States sought to buy back the Black Hills. The Lakota rejected the offer, resulting in the Black Hills War (1876-1877), which included Custer’s Last Stand at the Battle of Little Bighorn (June 25-26, 1876).

Finally, in 1877, Congress went back on the original treaty and passed an act reclaiming the Black Hills. In 1923, the Lakota sued. Sixty years later, the Supreme Court determined the annulment was a “taking” under the Fifth Amendment and that the tribe was owed “just compensation” plus interest starting from 1877. The tribe has refused to accept payment, however, and is still seeking return of the land. As of 2018, the amount due appears to be around $1 billion.” National Geographic https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/united-states-governments-relationship-native-americans

Joseph Smith and Many Misled by our Government

HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS
Period I History of Joseph Smith, the Prophet by Himself Volume II An Introduction and Notes by B. H. Roberts CHAPTER XXVI. OPENING OF THE YEAR 1836–THE AMERICAN INDIANS–SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETINGS IN KIRTLAND.

January 6, 1836
“Much has been said and done of late by the general government in relation to the Indians ( Lamanites) within the territorial limits of the United States. One of most important points in the faith of the Church of the Latter Day Saints, through the fullness of the everlasting Gospel, is the gathering of Israel (of whom the Lamanites constitute a part)—that happy time when Jacob shall go up to the house of the Lord, to worship Him in spirit and in truth, to live in holiness; when the Lord will restore his judges as at the first, and His counselors as at the beginning; when every man may sit under his own vine and fig tree, and there will be none to molest or make afraid; when He will turn to them a pure language, and the earth will be filled with sacred knowledge, as the waters cover the great deep; when it shall no longer be said, the Lord lives that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, but the Lord lives that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither He has driven them. That day is one, all important to all men.

In view of its importance, together with all that the prophets have said about it before us, we feel like dropping a few ideas in connection with the official statements from the government concerning the Indians. In speaking of the gathering, we mean to be understood as speaking of it according to scripture, the gathering of the elect of the Lord out of every nation on earth, and bringing them to the place of the Lord of Hosts, when the city of righteousness shall be built, and where the people shall be of one heart and one mind, when the Savior comes; yea, where the people shall walk with God like Enoch, and be free from sin. The word of the Lord is precious; and when we read that the vail spread over all nations will be destroyed, and the pure in heart see God, and reign with Him a thousand years on earth, we want all honest men to have a chance together and build up a city of righteousness, where even upon the bells of the horses shall be written Holiness to the Lord. The Book of Mormon has made known who Israel is, upon this continent. And while we behold the government of the United States gathering the Indians, and locating them upon lands to be their own, how sweet it is to think that they may one day be gathered by the Gospel...” HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS Period I History of Joseph Smith, the Prophet by Himself

Editors Note:
Unfortunately that “one day” is not in 2022 or previous to now. The Prophet Joseph Smith was hoping shortly during his time, that our government was gathering the Lamanites to help them and begin their gathering to Zion. Latter on Joseph Smith knew our government was driving them out of their homeland, which was a disgrace. Latter on in this same article, Joseph Smith said the following.

“The joy that we shall feel, in common with every honest American, and the joy that will eventually fill their bosoms on account of nationalizing the Indians, will be reward enough when it is shown that gathering them to themselves, and for themselves, to be associated with themselves, is a wise measure, and it reflects the highest honor upon our government. [Unfortunately there was very little honor among many in our government].

Joseph Smith continues, “May they all be gathered in peace, and form a happy union among themselves, to which thousands may shout, Esto perpetua. “Let it be eternal” HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS Period I History of Joseph Smith, the Prophet by Himself Volume II An Introduction and Notes by B. H. Roberts

We have learned many things since:

  1. The Book of Mormon, which contained Lehi’s prophecies, was published in March, 1830. The infamous “Indian Removal Act” was passed by Congress on May 28, 1830.
  2. In speaking to the Lamanites and others who are disobedient, the Book of Mormon said, “and he will take away from them the lands of their possessions, and he will cause them to be scattered and smitten.” 2 Nephi 1:10-11 [Mayan and Aztecs were not smitten and driven as they came from India. See my blog here].
  3. At the beginning of the 1830s, nearly 125,000 Native Americans lived on millions of acres of land in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and Florida–land their ancestors had occupied and cultivated for generations. By the end of the decade, very few natives remained anywhere in the southeastern United States. Working on behalf of white settlers who wanted to grow cotton on the Indians’ land, the federal government forced them to leave their homelands and walk thousands of miles to a specially designated “Indian territory” across the Mississippi River. This difficult and sometimes deadly journey is known as the “Trail of Tears.”
  4. Indian removal took place in the Northern states as well. In Illinois and Wisconsin, for example, the bloody Black Hawk War in 1832 opened to white settlement millions of acres of land that had belonged to the Sauk, Fox and other native nations.

Gather Israel

The Lord said, “Wherefore, this land is consecrated unto him whom he shall bring. And if it so be that they shall serve him according to the commandments which he hath given, it shall be a land of liberty unto them; wherefore, they shall never be brought down into captivity; if so, it shall be because of iniquity; for if iniquity shall abound cursed shall be the land for their sakes, but unto the righteous it shall be blessed forever.” 2 Nephi 1:7

Unfortunately the Lamanites were scattered for disobedience and some Americans sinned against God in the horrible things we did to them. We hope and pray this reuniting will return quickly as we Gather Israel. Much of the so-called “day of the blossoming as a rose” began in St George Temple Aug 29, 1877. See my blog here].

A Redemption for the Remnant Lamanites

“I would say to the Lamanites, if I could speak to them understandingly, that you are also a branch of the house of Israel, and chiefly of the house of Joseph, and your forefathers have fallen through the same examples of unbelief and sins, as have the Jews, and you, as their posterity, have wandered in sin and darkness for many generations; and you, like the Jews, have been driven and trampled under the foot of the Gentiles, and put to death through your wars with each other, and with the white man, until you are almost destroyed. But there is still a redemption and salvation for a remnant of you in the latter days.” History of His Life and Labors By Wilford Woodruff

Evil Against the Native American

Civilized Indians had been destroyed by barbarians who remained, and Indians-as-hostile-savages was a familiar motif in the Palmyra press during the period: Indians massacring anglos (Palmyra Register, 3 May 1820); white women falling captive to Indian savages (Wayne Sentinel, 17 Aug. 1824); children captured and raised by Indians (Palmyra Register, 3 July 1822); Indians fighting with each other (Palmyra Register, 19 July 1820). Even the Cherokees, (Iroquois) who had long been regarded as one of the most Christianized Indian nations, threatened to kill their own delegates to a peace conference upon their return from Washington because the tribe did not like the treaty the delegates had signed (Wayne Sentinel, 15 Aug. 1828).

Colonial attitudes toward Indians survived into the nineteenth century. There was the desire to get their lands, to kill or drive them [p.53] away. But there coexisted a guilty awareness that this was wrong and with this guilt a sense of obligation: convert and civilize them, or at least civilize them.” Joseph Smith’s Response to Skepticism Robert N. Hullinger

Editors Note: Read D&C 28, 30, and 32. Joseph Smith sent the first missionaries to the Lamanites (Native Americans of North America), who were the Cattaraugus (Iroquois) in Buffalo NY, the Wyandot, (Iroquois) in Ohio, and the Shawnee and Delaware (Algonquin) in Missouri. The Book of Mormon was to be shared with the Lamanites as it was written for them.

It is our duty to love the Hebrews and Lamanites and put in their hands the Book of Mormon. This is our duty.

Greatness With the Native American

George Washington Friendship sculpture at National Museum of the American Indian. Edward Hlavka depicts Oneida Chief Oskanondohna and Oneida woman (Polly Cooper), and General George Washington. The statue is a commemoration of the bonds between the Oneida Nation and the United States.

Sagwitch The Corinne Scare 

Chapter 4 1999 Sagwitch by Scott R. Christensen

The white man is roaming all over my country and killing my game. Still I make no objection to his doing so, and all I want is to be let alone, with the privilege of making a small farm for the benefit of my people, and to be allowed to live on it in peace. I have not gone into the white man’s country and intruded on him, and I do not think it is fair for him to come into mine and drive me from my own lands without any cause, and I ask the government to take the matter in hand and reinstate me and mine on our own lands, that we may live there in peace and friendship with all men. “Sagwitch” August 31, 1875 Continued

As Brigham Young announced new missionary assignments at the Mormon Church’s general conference in April 1875, he signaled his resounding support of George Washington Hill’s work among the Indians by calling fifteen men for a season of work among the “Lamanites” of northern Utah—eight more men than he called to labor in all the rest of the United States and Canada.1 [Read more about George Washington’s work among the Native American’s in the following section called Native American Policy]. Young was willing to dedicate so much manpower to the Indian cause he anticipated a large return in Indian converts. He had been greatly impressed by the positive reports forwarded to his office in 1873 and 1874 concerning Native American converts to Mormonism. Now he wanted to see them transformed from nomadic hunters to sedentary and self-supporting farmers. As Mormonism’s prophet, he was undoubtedly anxious to support a movement that seemed to fulfill scriptural injunctions concerning the “redemption” of the remnants of the “House of Israel,” interpreted by the Mormons to be America’s indigenous peoples. Another practical benefit of the Lamanite Mission, if implemented successfully throughout the Great Basin, was much hoped for relief of white settlers from the temporal demands associated with Young’s “feed rather than fight” policies.

George Washington Hill was one of those called to labor among the Indians, and Young assigned him to head the mission. Hill’s first task was to find a suitable location for a continuation of the farming experiment begun at Franklin the summer before. The search took him north and west of Brigham City to an area about halfway between present-day Plymouth and Tremonton. In a report to President Young, Hill commented, “I went to look for a location[.] selected for permanent location a section of country lying betwen bear river and malad about twenty miles from corinne with good land and plenty of grass[.] water plenty but a heavy job to get it out.”2 The site had merit, including thousands of acres of fertile land needing only a plow and the diverted waters of the Malad River to make it productive. Young approved the location and asked the missionaries to gather there.

Sagwitch and his band of approximately seventy lodges returned from the Promontory region sometime in late winter. On February 22, 1875, Sagwitch and his wife, listed as Mogogah, but probably Beawoachee, along with fellow Shoshone Ohetocump and his wife, Minnie, entered the Mormon Endowment House located in the northwest corner of the temple block in Salt Lake City. They participated in sacred temple rituals and received the Mormon endowment. Afterward, Apostle Wilford Woodruff performed another ceremony that, according to Mormon belief, “sealed” each couple’s marriage in an everlasting union.3 Only a few Native Americans had received the Mormon endowment, and none had ever been sealed. Woodruff recorded the significant event in his journal: “This is not only the birthday of George Washington. But it was the day when the first Couple of Lamanites were together as man and wife for time & Eternity at the Alter in the Endowment House according to the Holy Priesthood in the last dispensation & fulness of times. Wilford Woodruff Sealed at the Altar two Couple of Lamanites. The first Couple was Indian Named Ohetocump But Baptized and Sealed by the name of James Laman. His wife Named Mine. 2d Couple Isiqwich [Sagwitch] & Mogogah.4

Read my blog on Chief Sagwitch Here

Native American Policy by Richard Harless
George Mason University

Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington logo

“Near the beginning of his first term as President, George Washington declared that a just Indian policy was one of his highest priorities, explaining that “The Government of the United States are determined that their Administration of Indian Affairs shall be directed entirely by the great principles of Justice and humanity.”1 The Washington administration’s initial policy toward Native Americans was enunciated in June of 1789. Secretary of War Henry Knox explained that the Continental Congress had needlessly provoked Native Americans following the Revolution by insisting on American possession of all territory east of the Mississippi River. Congress had previously argued that by supporting the British during the war Native Americans had forfeited any claim to territory on the western frontier of American settlement. However, this perspective ignored the fact that only a portion of tribes had actually supported the British.

In 1787, the Confederation Congress enacted the Northwest Ordinance, opening the Ohio Valley to new American settlement. Members of the Western Lakes Confederacy reacted by utilizing armed resistance to protect their land. These events increased the urgency for Washington to develop a formal method for managing Indian affairs. In referring to the constitutional grant of treaty-making powers to the chief executive—with the “advice and consent” of the Senate—Washington declared that a similar practice should also apply to agreements with Native Americans. The Senate acceded to the President’s wishes and accepted treaties as the basis for conducting Indian relations.

In response, Congress proceeded to approve a treaty with seven northern tribes (the Shawnee, Miami, Ottawa, Chippewa, Iroquois, Sauk, and Fox). This agreement, however, lacked meaningful protection of tribal land. To the northern tribes this ineffectual treaty and the constant intrusion into their lands by droves of settlers meant that the American government had little control over its own citizens. Members of the northern tribes believed it was necessary to deploy force to prevent further incursions.

Washington’s desire to protect American citizens led to an American military response. In 1790 and 1791, Washington dispatched armies to confront native forces, and in both instances the Americans were soundly defeated. Responding to these two embarrassing setbacks, Congress authorized a five-thousand man regular army to quell resistance. Led by General “Mad Anthony” Wayne, the Legion inflicted a crushing defeat on the Indian confederation in the Summer of 1794. This decisive battle and the ensuing Treaty of Greenville brought a tentative peace to the northwest in 1795.

Simultaneously, as momentous events in the north unfolded, Washington also faced challenges from the four southern tribes. For the Cherokees and the more distant Choctaws and Chickasaws, Washington sought messages of assurance, friendship, and plans for trade. The formidable Creeks were the fourth southern tribe. Washington regarded the Creek with considerable apprehension because of their disagreement with the state of Georgia’s interpretation of three treaties that had been negotiated by that state during the 1780s. These treaties included significant cessions of land from the Creeks to Georgia that the tribe did not recognize.

The Creeks’ leader was Alexander McGillivray, a mixed-race chief who spoke fluent English and was a shrewd negotiator. Twenty-eight Creek chiefs led by McGillivray accepted Washington’s invitation to travel to New York in the summer of 1790 to negotiate a new treaty. The result was the Treaty of New York which restored to the Creeks some of the lands ceded in the treaties with Georgia, and provided generous annuities for the rest of the land. It also established a policy and process of assimilation called “civilization,” aiming to attach tribes to permanent land settlements. Under the policy tribal members would be given “useful domestic animals and implements of husbandry” to encourage them to become “herdsman and cultivators” instead of “remaining in a state as hunters.”2

In August 1790 the Creek chiefs formally approved the Treaty of New York. The Creek chiefs agreed to place themselves under the protection of the United States. In return the United States confirmed the sanctity of the Creek land lying within the boundaries defined by the treaty. However, the Treaty of New York failed to achieve its goals, as the federal government could not stem the relentless incursion of American settlers onto “protected” Indian lands. In a letter to Washington, Knox agonized over the possibility of Indian extermination. He observed that in the most populous areas of the United States, some tribes had already become extinct. “If the same causes continue,” he explained, “the same effects will happen and in a short period the idea of an Indian on this side of the Mississippi will only be found in the page of the historian.”3

Washington and Knox sought to provide safe havens for native tribes while also assimilating them into American society. Washington and Knox believed that if they failed to at least make an effort to secure Indian land, their chances of convincing Native Americans to transform their hunting culture to one of farming and herding would be undermined. As the two reluctantly came to recognize, however, it was the settlers pouring into the western frontier that controlled the national agenda regarding Native Americans and their land. By 1796 even Washington had concluded that holding back the avalanche of settlers had become nearly impossible, writing that “I believe scarcely anything short of a Chinese wall, or a line troops, will restrain Land jobbers, and the encroachment of settlers upon the Indian territory.”4 Richard Harless George Mason University

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Notes:

1. George Washington to The Commissioners for Negotiating a Treaty with the Southern Indians, 29 August 1789,” The Writings of George Washington, 30:392 & 392N.

2. Charles J. Kappler, Indians Affairs: Laws and Treaties, Vol. II, Treaties (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1904), 2:28.

3. “Henry Knox to George Washington, 7 July 1789,” The Papers of George Washington: Presidential Series, eds. W. W. Abbot and Dorothy Twohig, 2:139.

4. “George Washington to the Secretary of State, 1 July 1796,” The Writings of George Washington, 35:112.

References Native American Policy

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White Man and Red Man be One.
Two Flat Sticks

“In the forepart of the last month, about three hundred and sixty Indian, of the Kickapoos and Pattowattamies, pitched their tents on the east before this town, and tarried one night.  They were on their way to the place assigned them for the land of their inheritance, being gathered by the government of the United States, fulfilling that scripture spoken by the mouth of Isaiah, which says, Behold thus saith the Lord God, I lift up my hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people, and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. Their agent remarked that “they drunk no spiritous liquors,” and those who saw them can bear testimony that they were quiet and inoffensive, and different from any other tribes that have been gathered. They have a prophet, in whom they place great confidence, and he instructs them that the day is nigh, when the Great Father will send his Son on the earth; then (as he says) white man and red man be one. Their idea of what is to come to pass in the last days, the resurrection of the righteous, and their living on earth with the Lord while wickedness ceases to trouble the saints, seem to be correct as far as we could ascertain.  They are very devout apparently and pray night and morning; even children and all.   They have two flat sticks about one foot long, tied together, on which are several characters, which, they say, the Great Father gave to their prophet, and mean as much as a large book. They say one of these sticks, is for the old book that white man has, (the Bible) the other for the new book, (Book of Mormon) white man has it written on paper, Great Father writes it in red man’s heart.   They seem to Pray from these sticks– and worship on the Sabbath with great solemnity, commencing with a salutation from the greatest or oldest to the least that can walk, and ending with the same token of friendship. Should we have time to make them a visit, we may be more particular hereafter. *From Arkansas to the Missouri, the remnants are gathering together in rapid succession, and all, as far as we have been able to ascertain, have an idea that the Great Spirit is about to do something great and good for the red man.” Evening and Morning Star (Kirtland 1835-1836 ISRAEL WILL BE GATHERED. Page 201

 

Eighty-Five Chiefs Baptized 1877

Today, I am writing about several remarkable events in the lives of Latter-day Saints. These events took place in the St. George Temple in 1877. One event will be very familiar to you, but the other two miraculous events will hopefully bring an added joy to your lives.

Most of you are aware of the appearance of our Founding Fathers to Wilford Woodruff in the St George Temple on Aug 22, 1877, where 100 requested their ordinances to be completed. I will share more about that below, along with the 70 Eminent Women who were also baptized. I will then discuss and show you the Temple Records of 5 familiar and prominent men who were ordained to the Office of High Priest in the Temple. Then I will discuss the list of 85 prominent Native American Chieftains who were baptized one week after the Founding Fathers on Aug 29, 1877, in the same St. George Temple. An amazing story of opening up additional missionary work to be done today, with the help of our Lamanite brothers and sisters.

Jacob Loved the Lamanites

“O all ye that are pure in heart, lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his love; for ye may, if your minds are firm, forever.

But, wo, wo, unto you that are not pure in heart, that are filthy this day before God; for except ye repent the land is cursed for your sakes; and the Lamanites, which are not filthy like unto you, nevertheless they are cursed with a sore cursing, shall scourge you even unto destruction.

And the time speedily cometh, that except ye repent they shall possess the land of your inheritance, and the Lord God will lead away the righteous out from among you.” Jacob 3:2-4

These wonderful Lamanites have possessed this promised land as it says in the Book of Mormon. We know the righteousness of the ancient Lamanite has allowed their people to remain on this Land of Promise even the Land of Joseph or as it is called the United States of America. What have we learned from these Native Americans? How can we emulate them?

We have heard, “But before the great day of the Lord shall come, Jacob shall flourish in the wilderness, and the Lamanites shall blossom as the rose.D&C 49:24. As you read about these wonderful brothers and sisters, the Native Americans below, there has been a time in the not so distant past that they HAVE blossomed as a rose. Do you realize with the faith and dedication of these Native Americans who joined the early Church, they have passed on with their righteousness and shared the Gospel with many in the next life. As Peter said, “By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison” 1 Peter 3:19 What is not to say, there are millions of choice Lamanites just waiting for the day they can come down and join others in this world, to build the House of the Lord in the New Jerusalem?

Wilford Woodruff and the St. George Temple

St. George Utah TempleThe St. George Utah Temple, originally named the St. George Temple, and the only temple completed during Brigham Young’s 30-year tenure as President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is the oldest operating temple of the Church and the first built in Utah. It was privately dedicated on 1 January 1877 in a series of three dedicatory prayers: the baptistry by Wilford Woodruff, the main floor by Erastus Snow, and the sealing room by Brigham Young, Jr. The St. George Utah Temple is also the first temple where endowments for the dead were performed, and it is also there that temple ordinances were put into a written form for the first time.

Wilford Woodruff’s vision of the founding fathers in the St. George TempleElder Bruce C. Hafen, former president of the St. George Utah Temple and emeritus General Authority, during a presentation titled “Brigham Young, Wilford Woodruff, and the St. George Temple” at the Church History Museum in 2014 noted that “the temples in Kirtland, Nauvoo and St. George were all necessary for bringing about the restoration of important priesthood keys and ordinances.” Wilford Woodruff and the Temple Work of the Founding Fathers by Keith L. Brown | May 25, 2015 | Early History

Michael Bedard’s Founding Fathers & Ladies



A Miraculous Request to President Wilford Woodruff – Saint George Temple 1877 by Michael Bedard


 

Wilford Woodruff and the Temple Work of the Founding Fathers

tp://emp.byui.edu/davisr/121/70%20Eminent%20Women%20baptized.htm


See additional resources of information visit:
Joseph Smith Foundation Here!
Eminent Women of the St George Temple Here
LDS Living Article

A Salute to Michael Bedard -Artist of the Eminent Men and Women and 85 Native American Chiefs

Michael Bedard has created countless pieces of fine art, built three art studios, and raised a family of seven kids. He is a man who is confident in his abilities and always looking to improve them. He worked several jobs and served in the national guard while obtaining his BFA at Brigham Young University and MFA at Washington State University, all while raising a growing family. Michael is now living in Nauvoo, Illinois, with his wife and youngest son, establishing another gallery there. He has come a long way, developing his art over the years and through life’s challenges. The simple desire to create something greater popped into existence when a little Michael saw a mural made of tiny tiles at the public pool one summer. The flippant thought came to him, “I can do that!” This little boy looked at a simple piece of art and grew to create masterpieces that shape and are shaped by the world around him. With support from his young single mother, encouragement from schoolteachers eager to get the rebel to do something productive, and later many more people, the young man began to doodle, grow, draw, and paint. From that point he began his mission to change himself and the world. “When you create great art that literally frees people, it lifts them up and gives them wings.”

Christopher Columbus: A Latter-day Saint Perspective

Arnold K. Garr With a foreword by DeLamar Jensen Published by the Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah http://rsc.byu.edu

While many books have been written about the life of Christopher Columbus and his New World discoveries, this one has a different thrust—that Columbus was not just a skilled, courageous sailor but was also a chosen instrument in the hands of God. This book profiles the man from Genoa who apparently yearned from childhood for the seafaring life and who early began to acquire the nautical knowledge and experience that would make him the most widely traveled seaman of his day and would help him rise to the top ranks in that career.

Arnold K. Garr, Christopher Columbus A Latter-Day Saint Perspective, (Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1992), 71–72.

For Latter-day Saints, the story of Christopher Columbus does not begin with his birth in 1451; nor does it end with his death in 1506. Because they believe that everyone associated with this earth lived as spirit children of our Heavenly Father in a premortal state before they came to earth, they believe that Columbus lived before he came here. And because they believe that life continues after death, they believe he is now in the Spirit World awaiting the resurrection with millions of other spirits who have passed from this life.

But Latter-day Saints are more involved in Columbus’ life than just believing that he lived in a premortal state and waiting for him to be resurrected. They believe that he was an instrument in the Lord’s hand to discover the Americas to the Europeans. That in turn brought the Founding fathers here to establish the United States of America. Its freedoms made it possible to restore the Church of Jesus Christ to the earth. And there is still more.

They have a tradition that President Wilford Woodruff, while he was serving as the President of the St. George Temple, was visited by the spirits of several great men who requested him to perform vicarious baptism for them in the temple. Speaking of that experience, President Woodruff said:

“The spirits of the dead gathered around me, wanting to know why we did not redeem them. Said they, “You have had the use of the Endowment House for a number of years, and yet nothing has ever been done for us. We laid the foundation of the government you now enjoy, and we never apostatized from it, but we remained true to it and were faithful to God.” These were the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and they waited on me for two days and two nights. I thought it very singular , that notwithstanding so much work had been done, and yet nothing had been done for them. The thought never entered my heart, from the fact, I suppose, that heretofore our minds were reaching after our more immediate friends and relatives. I straightway went into the baptismal font [in the temple] and called upon brother McCallister to baptize me for the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and fifty other eminent men, making one hundred in all, including John Wesley, Columbus, and others.” (JD 19:229)

On the same day these ordinances were performed, President Woodruff records in his journal that he baptized brother McCallister “for 21, including Gen Washington & his forefathers and all the Presidents of the United States that were on my list except Buchanan Van Buren & Grant Sister

Lucy Bigelow Young went forth into the font and was Baptized for Martha Washington and her family and seventy (70) of the Eminent women of the world. . . . There were Baptized in all to day 682” (Woodruff, Journal 7:367–69). All these proxy ordinances are performed for the dead so they as spirits in the Spirit World may accept or reject them.

As President Ezra Taft Benson presided over the Church in 1992, the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ epic voyage, it seems appropriate to quote his appraisal of the man and the other “eminent men” whose temple ordinances were performed by President Woodruff:

The temple work for the fifty-six signers of the Declaration of Independence and other founding fathers has been done. All these appeared to Wilford Woodruff when he was President of the St. George Temple. President George Washington was ordained a High Priest at that time. You will also be interested to know that according to Wilford Woodruff’s journal, John Wesley, Benjamin Franklin, and Christopher Columbus were also ordained High Priests at the time. When one casts doubt upon the character of these noble sons of God, I believe he or she will have to answer to the God of heaven for it. (Benson 604)[I have a friend named Oak Norton who has a copy of the St. George temple records and Lord Nelson from Britain was also ordained a High Priest. It’s written out to the side as Elder Benson must have missed it.] You can clearly see below how High Priest is written for Lord Nelson.

See John Wesley and Christopher Columbus but here is says Elder only.

Arnold K. Garr continues, “Notwithstanding the mistakes he made in his life and the human faults he had, Christopher Columbus was a man of notable spiritual sensitivity. Given the powers of repentance and forgiveness, it should come as no surprise that President Wilford Woodruff vicariously had his endowments done and ordained him a High Priest three days after he was baptized for him.”
Arnold K. Garr

5 Ordained High Priests

Question: According to Wilford Woodruff’s journal, President George Washington, John Wesley, Benjamin Franklin, and Christopher Columbus were ordained high priests when they appeared within the sacred walls of the St. George Temple. Why did these ordinations take place in our sphere by a mortal man?

Answer: These ordinations took place in our sphere, by a mortal man because these ordinances must be performed in this life. After the resurrection comes the judgment, when the books will be opened and it will be eternally too late to enter ordinance work into the ledger. The ordination to the Melchizedek Priesthood, along with sealings, endowments, baptisms, and confirmations, all must happen in this life, and must be recorded in this life. Thus, the dead will “be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit” (1 Peter 4:6). askgramps.com

Finding the Temple Records

In speaking of the Lamanites “Blossoming as a Rose”, remember the amazing miracle in about 2015 discovered by Rod Meldrum? 

Page 196, St. George Temple Records August 29, 1877, LDS Church Archives, Copied by Rod Meldrum

Rod Meldrum said, “The deep understanding of the proper role and procedures in good government exemplified by Canassatego in his discourses with many of the Founding Fathers may have contributed to his being included in a little-known account in the history of the Church. I have recounted many times this story of how a Native American chief by the name of Canassatego had instructed some of the Founding Fathers during a particularly difficult negotiation, thereby being an instrument in establishing the inspired Constitution of the United States.

Many Latter-day Saints are aware that in August 1877 at St. George, Utah, Wilford Woodruff, the temple president, and his recorder received visions that vicarious temple ordinances for the Founding Fathers and other eminent men and women were to be performed. On August 21, 1877, temple ordinance work was undertaken for them. However, few church members are aware that baptisms by proxy were also performed for 85 Native American Chieftains. That was done August 29, 1877, only a few days following the ordinance work that had been done for the Founders. One of the historically significant chieftains of that illustrious group was Canassatego. The death of President Brigham Young on that same day resulted in the temple presidency leaving for Salt Lake City with only the chieftains’ baptismal work accomplished. Their remaining temple work seems to have been accidentally forgotten until I showed images of the temple registry during a presentation at St. George. In that audience was Delores Kahkonen, a Cayuga of the Six Nations/Iroquois. She literally jumped from her chair exclaiming, “Those are my people!” During the next two years she would be instrumental in researching each of those chieftains and facilitating the completion of their temple ordinance work including sealings to their spouses.” (January 26, 2019 email to Rian Nelson from Rodney Meldrum.)

Rod Meldrum and Michael Bedard. Montrose, Iowa Phoenicia Museum First Unveiling 2022- 85 Native Chiefs


See all of Michael’s beautiful Art HERE! https://bedardfinearts.com/

Michael is continuing to paint the 85 Indian Chiefs. See him paint live in Nauvoo, IL. Below is a preview from Sept 2021

The stories about the Founding Fathers and other Prominent Men and Women and Native American Chiefs, in our early history cannot be told too often. I believe a true miracle has happened. First on August 22, 1877 when the Founders and prominent men and women were baptized for the dead in the St George Temple. Just one week later on August 29, 1877, in the same temple 85 Native American Chiefs were baptized.

“It is with great pleasure that I can report all of the eighty-five Chiefs’ ordinances, including sealings, were completed by the 25th of Aug. 2017, four days before the deadline that I had set. I cannot begin to tell all the incredible spiritual events that I experienced and the many others that were reported to me. It further testifies of the great importance that the Lord has placed on this noble work.

What a glorious feeling it was to know that these illustrious Indian Chiefs can now go and teach their people in the spirit world. It thrills me to think of how many Lamanites will be ready to have their temple work done when the millennium is ushered in. Additionally, these Indian Chiefs now have the ability to influence those here on earth as well. Oh, the joy one is continually immersed in when engaged in the Lord’s work is indeed reward enough. And those who have helped in the vicarious work of these honorable Chiefs will know that it is partly due to their efforts along with the labors of the above mentioned Lamanite Chieftains that so many will be brought into the Lord’s fold.” Delores Kahkonen Cayuga Iroquois Native. See Delores’ own story here.

Canassatego-Great Iroquois Chieftain

“The deep understanding of the proper role and procedures in good government exemplified by Canassatego in his discourses with many of the Founding Fathers may have contributed to his being included in a little-known account in the history of the Church. I have recounted many times this story of how a Native American Chief by the name of Canassatego had instructed some of the Founding Fathers during a particularly difficult negotiation, thereby being an instrument in establishing the inspired Constitution of the United States. Many Latter-day Saints are aware that in August 1877 at St. George, Utah, Wilford Woodruff, the temple president, and his recorder received visions that vicarious temple ordinances for the Founding Fathers and other eminent men and women were to be performed. On August 21, 1877, temple ordinance work was undertaken for them.

Purchase Today

However, few church members are aware that baptisms by proxy were also performed for 85 Native American Chieftains. That was done August 29, 1877, only a few days following the ordinance work that had been done for the Founders. One of the historically significant chieftains of that illustrious group was Canassatego. The death of President Brigham Young on that same day resulted in the temple presidency leaving for Salt Lake City with only the chieftains’ baptismal work accomplished. Their remaining temple work seems to have been accidentally forgotten until I showed images of the temple registry during a presentation at St. George.

In that audience was Delores Kahkonen, a Cayuga of the Six Nations/Iroquois. She literally jumped from her chair exclaiming, “Those are my people!” During the next two years she would be instrumental in researching each of those chieftains and facilitating the completion of their temple ordinance work including sealings to their spouses.” (January 26, 2019 email to Rian Nelson from Rodney Meldrum.) As written in “Joseph’s Remnant” by Allen Christiansen Purchase here:

In just a short time, Delores called Rod Meldrum on the phone and asked him to come down to St George to do some temple work for the 85 Chiefs. Wen he arrived to do some work to for these names from Delores, Rod glanced down and read the name on his endowment card which said, Canessetego. Rod and Delores couldn’t stop crying and hugged each other for a very long time. Now the door was opened for this great man, Canessetego, to exercise the Priesthood Keys for his people on earth and in the Spirit World. What a blessing.

“On the same day that the Iroquois appeared in Congress and named John Hancock, plans for a confederation based on Franklin’s Albany Plan of Union were formulated in committee. Twenty two years after the Albany Plan had been formulated with Iroquois advice, the image of the American Indian held by founders such as Franklin, Jefferson and Paine was helping shape the ideas that kindled the American revolution. Within a month, Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence would demand the same rights for the colonists that prominent Americans, as well as European savants, had seen illustrated in the native.” David T. Ratcliffe


Eminent Men and Women, and Native Americans Baptized in the St. George Temple

Temple work was performed on behalf of the following well-known and respected men and women in the St. George Utah Temple in August 1877 Compiled By Glen W. Chapman- January 2002)

Founding Fathers: William Hooper(NC), Joseph Hewes (NC), John Penn(NC), Button Gwinnett(GA), Lyman Hall(GA), George Walton(GA), Edward Rutledge(SC), Thomas Heyward Jr.(SC), Thomas Lynch(SC), Arthur Middleton(SC), Samuel Chase(MD), William Paca(MD), Thomas Stone(MD), Charles Carrol(MD), George Wythe(VA), Richard Henry Lee(VA), Thomas Jefferson(VA), Benjamin Harrison(VA), Thomas Nelson Jr.(VA), Francis Lightfoot Lee(VA), Carter Braxton(VA), Robert Morris (PA), Benjamin Rush(PA), Benjamin Franklin(PA), John Morton(PA), George Clymer(PA), James Smith(PA), George Taylor(PA), James Wilson(PA), George Ross(PA), Caeser Rodney(DE), George Read(DE), Thomas McKean(DE), Philip Livingston(NY), Francis Lewis(NY), Lewis Morris(NY), Richard Stockton (NJ), John Witherspoon(NJ), Francis Hopkinson(NJ), John Hart(NJ), Abraham Clark(NJ), Josiah Bartlett(NH), William Whipple(NH), Matthew Thornton(NH), Samuel Adams(MA), John Adams(MA), Robert Treat Paine(MA), Elbridge Gerty(MA), Stephen Hopkins(RI), William Ellery(RI), Roger Sherman(CN), Samuel Huntington(CN), William Williams(CN), and Oliver Wolcott(CN).

Note: Temple work was not done for John Hancock or William Floyd as it had already been completed previously.

Presidents of the United States: George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James Knox Polk, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, Abraham Lincoln, and Andrew Johnson.

Note: Temple work was not done for James Buchanan, Martin Van Buren, or Ulysses S. Grant. Buchanan, and Van Buren were not found to be honorable to be baptized at that time and Ulysses S. Grant was living at this time and not able to have ordinance work done yet.

Other eminent men baptized by Wilford Woodruff in the St. George Utah Temple in August 1877 include: Sir Edward Gibbon, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Oliver Goldsmith, Henry Grattan, Humboldt, Alexander von Irving, Washington Jackson, Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Johnson, Samuel Ju~rez, Benito Pablo Kemble, John Philip Liebig, Baron Justus von Livingstone, David Macaulay, Thomas Babington Nelson, Lord Horatio O’Connell, Daniel Peabody, George Powers, Hiram Reynolds, Sir Joshua Schiller, Johann Christoph Friedrich von Scott, Sir Walter Seward, William Henry Stephenson, George Thackeray, William Makepeace, Vespucci, Amerigo Webster, Daniel Wesley, John Wordsworth, William Parepa, Count Dimitrius, Martha Washington and her family, John Washington(Great Grandfather of George Washington), Sir Henry Washington, Lawrence Washington (Brother of George Washington), Augustine Washington (Father of George Washington), Lawrence Washington (Father of Augustine), Lawrence Washington, Daniel Park Custis, John Park Custis (Son of Daniel and Martha Parke Custis), and Martin Luther.

Eminent Women baptized include: Jean Armour (1767—1834) of Scotland, Jean Armour Burns (Wife of Robert Burns) (1759—1796), Jane Austen (1775—1817) of England, novelist, Mary Ball (1708—1789) of America, Mary Ball Washington (Mother of George Washington) (1732—1799), Sarah Bernard (1800—1879) of England, Sarah Barnard Faraday (wife of Michael Faraday (1791—1867), Charlotte Bronte (1816—1855) of England, novelist, Felicia Dorothea Browne (1793—1835) of England, Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806—1861) of England, poet, (wife of Robert Browning) (1812—18?), Martha Caldwell Calhoun (d. 1802) of America (mother of John Caldwell Calhoun) (1782—1850), Martha Parke Custis (1755—1773) of America (Daughter of Martha Washington) (1732—1802), Martha Dandridge Washington (1732—1802) of America (wife of George Washington) (1732—1799),  Rachel Donelson Jackson (1767—1828) of America (wife of Andrew Jackson (1767—1845), and Abigail Eastman Webster (1737—1816) of America (mother of Daniel Webster (1782—1852), to name but a few. Temple work was performed for a total of 70 eminent women.


85 Indian Chiefs baptized Aug 29, 1877 at the St. George Temple, one week after the Founding Fathers. Read the Annotated Book of Mormon by David Hocking and Rod Meldrum page 554.

Detailed story at my blog here:https://www.bofm.blog/85-native-american-chiefs-baptized-at-the-st-george-temple/

Photo copy of page 196 St George Temple Baptisms Aug 29, 1877. Picture taken by Rod Meldrum

See Annotated Book of Mormon

Mesoamerican Pictures in My Book of Mormon?

Why are Mesoamerican Pictures in My Book of Mormon?

Why did many of the previous copies of our Book of Mormon’s contain pictures, art, and artifacts that were always about Mesoamerica? What was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints telling us? That the Book of Mormon events began in Mesoamerica? It seemed that way.

For over 40 years of my life I had been looking to validate that seeming claim of the church for a Mesoamerican beginning. The sad thing is, I could never really find any connection, so I stopped looking. I couldn’t square the fact, that how could Moroni carry so many plates, swords, Liahona, and breastplates over 3,500 miles from Guatemala to New York(See cartoon below). I could not understand why the Maxwell Institute and FARMS and Book of Mormon Central could tell me there was a Hill Cumorah in Mexico and one in New York. For what purpose? These scholars also told me that the final battles could not and did not happen on the New York hill which I thought was ridiculous. Nothing fit, and I remained confused for most of my life.

I finally gave up my search when I convinced myself that the Lord probably moved the plates from Mexico to New York for Mormon and Moroni. That never answered things for me, but that’s all I could come up with.

When I met Rod Meldrum in 2011 at an art exhibit I was holding, he showed me one of his books and I didn’t think much of it for several months. Rod had advertised his book (Below), in one of my Art Magazines, so Rod was basically a client of mine. He became a great friend as well. 

One day Rod was at my home discussing my magazine and his ad that he would put in it, and we began discussing where the location of the Book of Mormon happened. He pointed to the picture on his book above and said, (pointing at the mound on the cover), “these Indian Mounds are all over North America, many are larger than any pyramid in Egypt or Mesoamerica, which shows the Book of Mormon people could be from right here in North America.” 

When Rod left my home, I immediately went to my computer and began searching for these “so-called” mounds in North America. To my surprise, Rod was correct and my journey of research into the real location of Nephi and Lehi was here to stay. I began finding many logical validations, that indeed the Book of Mormon events began in the Heartland of the USA. What a wonderful journey that has been for these past 11 years or more. I now believe strongly that there is only One Cumorah and it makes absolute sense to me. 

Why Guatemala?

My 1975 Copy


My intent is not to pit the USA vs Guatemala, when it comes to which is or is not a Promised Land, but contrast them in the Lord’s eyes and why He chose the United States and not Guatemala, or Baja, or Chile or any other place. I ask those of other theories to come to the table and realize that a second hill in Cumorah makes no sense and there is no scriptural reason for it.

I think the following quote from Orson F. Whitney gives great commentary about why the Lord chose the USA as a Chosen Land. “…in culmination of the grand scheme of schemes, this great nation, the Republic of the United States, might be established upon this land as an asylum for the oppressed; a resting place, it might be said, for the Ark of the covenant, where the temple of our God might be built; where the plan of salvation might be introduced and practiced in freedom, and not a dog would wag his tongue in opposition to the purposes of the Almighty. We believe that this was His object in creating the Republic of the United States; the only land where his work could be commenced or the feet of his people find rest. No other land had such liberal institutions, had adopted so broad a platform upon which all men might stand. We give glory to those patriots for the noble work they did; but we give the first glory to God, our Father and their Father, who inspired them. We take them by the hand as brothers. We believe they did nobly their work, even as we would fain do ours, faithfully and well, that we might not be recreant in the eyes of God, for failing to perform the mission to which He has appointed us.” Bishop Orson F. Whitney, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, April 19, 1885. Reported by John Irvine. Journal Discourses Volume 26  Page 201

Learn below about the Colonization of Guatemala and our 1957 Book of Mormon


“America… it is God’s land”

Mark E. Petersen said, “You from other lands don’t need to become jealous of America. Who is jealous of Palestine, where Jesus was born? We are not jealous of the country; we merely recognize the hand of God in sending him there. We must also recognize the hand of God in sending the gospel to this land. We learn to love America because it is God’s land!”

Now, I think The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church on the earth and I love the Church with all my heart. I also know people in the Church are not perfect and make mistakes, but our Historians, Intellectuals, and Publishers have made some real silly and reckless mistakes. Take for example the Book of Mormon that was published during my mission to the great people of Fiji, and of the Kiribati Islands, and many more Islands. While on my mission in 1975 we of course had those light blue copies of the Book of Mormon, (picture above left) with the large Angel Moroni on the cover. (Similar to the one in this article but this one in the article was the larger edition and the 1957 version which meant I was 1 year old when printed. My Father-in-law Robert Mehl, today 90 years old gave me this 1957 version.) I do remember my 1975 edition had many of the same pictures you will see in this 1957 edition which was printed in 1976.

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1957 Version of the Book of Mormon printed in 1976

Why is the House of the Magician Uxmal, Yucatan, Mexico-Temple Crowned Pyramid, pictured in color in our Church published 1957 copy of the Book of Mormon? (Picture Below)

You can see some of the art above and also inside was art of Arnold Friberg’s famous paintings, mostly in the setting of Central America. The Church had pictures in our copies of the Book of Mormon of Chechen Itza and gold plates found in Mexico and pearls and trinkets from Central America which all indicated a belief, that our Church thought the events of the Book of Mormon happened in Mesoamerica. It seemed to me the Church was not neutral but actually presenting a Mesoamerican probability for the events of the Nephites and Lamanites.

Why were the Arnold Friberg Paintings (which by the way I love and they are beautiful), show a Central American location for the Book of Mormon, printed in our church published 1957 Book of Mormon? (Pictured Below)

During my time after a mission I would look everywhere to find the connection of the Book of Mormon with Central America, and I finally gave trying as to where the Book of Mormon events happened and I turned to ignoring the entire situation for over 20 years. In about 2011 I met Rod Meldrum and him just mentioning in passing about an ancient mound site in North America that ties to Book of Mormon time frames, is all I needed to begin this wonderful discovery that I now believe deeply. The events of the Book of Mormon happened in the United States, that Joseph Smith did indeed tell his wife while in Illinois during Zion’s Camp in 1834 that he was on the Plains of the Nephites, and in D&C 125 the Lord in a Revelation to Joseph told him that Montrose, Iowa was indeed Zarahemla and the inspiration of Joseph telling us about Zelph in Illinois as a great warrior who fought in one of the last great battles of the Book of Mormon, and hundreds of Prophets and Apostles witnessing and revealing (Quotes Here) that the Hill Cumorah of NY is the only place the final battles of the Nephites and Jaredites happened. My common sense and spirit say all of this is true, and Mesoamerica is simply a man made idea that makes no sense anymore.

Joseph Fielding Smith said it best, “…This modernistic theory of necessity, in order to be consistent, must place the waters of Ripliancum and the Hill Cumorah some place within the restricted territory of Central America, notwithstanding the teachings of the Church to the contrary for upwards of 100 years. Because of this theory some members of the Church have become confused and greatly disturbed in their faith in the Book of Mormon. It is for this reason that evidence is here presented to show that it is not only possible that these places could be located as the Church has held during the past century, but that in very deed such is the case… It is known that the Hill Cumorah where the Nephites were destroyed is the hill where the Jaredites were also destroyed. This hill was known to the Jaredites as Ramah. It was approximately near to the waters of Ripliancum, which the Book of Ether says, “by interpretation, is large, or to exceed all…

It must be conceded that this description fits perfectly the land of Cumorah in New York, as it has been known since the visitation of Moroni to the Prophet Joseph Smith, for the hill is in the proximity of the Great Lakes and also in the land of many rivers and fountains. Moreover, the Prophet Joseph Smith himself is on record, definitely declaring the present hill called Cumorah to be the exact hill (See Letter VII Here) spoken of in the Book of Mormon. Further, the fact that all of his associates from the beginning down have spoken of it as the identical hill where Mormon and Moroni hid the records, must carry some weight. It is difficult for a reasonable person to believe that such men as Oliver Cowdery. Brigham Young, Parley P. Pratt, Orson Pratt, David Whitmer, and many others, could speak frequently of the Spot where the Prophet Joseph Smith obtained the plates as the Hill Cumorah, and not be corrected by the Prophet, if that were not the fact. That they did speak of this hill in the days of the Prophet in this definite manner is an established record of history.” Doctrines of Salvation Joseph Fielding Smith Chapter 12

Why is a Gold Breastplate and Jewelry from the Guatemala National Museum pictured in our 1957 Book of Mormon? And, why do we also see pictured Gold Objects taken from Ancient Peruvian Tombs from The National Museum of Lima, Peru? (Below)

Yes I agree with Joseph Fielding Smith which says, “It is difficult for a reasonable person to believethat they (Church Leaders) did speak of this hill in the days of the Prophet in this definite manner is an established record of history.” This Meso theory has been perpetuated by the maps of LE Hills of the RLDS Church since 1917, by a statement of Orson Pratt or others about landing in Chile at 30 degrees, by Benjamin Winchester who put articles in the Times and Seasons about how the new book from Stephens and Catherwood said they found ancient pyramids in Central America so they MUST be related to our Book of Mormon. Winchester simply wanted hard proof and evidence that he could tie some real pyramids to our book even though those pyramids dated at 800 AD long after the Nephites were destroyed.

How did this picture of an “Elephant or Mammoth Skeleton from the Denver Museum” (Picture below bottom left) get in the Book of Mormon? It isn’t from Mesoamerica. Did our church editors get it correct when including the North American Animal? We know there were no elephants, in Mesoamerica as there were no animals to practice the “Law of Moses” either. There were no sheep, goats, rams, bullocks, doves, wheat, barley or wine in Mesoamerica during the times of the Nephites. We know the Nephites practiced the Law of Moses but they didn’t have the necessary animals, plants or wine to perform their rituals. There were no horses or elephants or mastodons or mammoths in Mesoamerica. Isn’t that a witness of it’s own that the Book of Mormon events had to happen in North America where all of these animals were available? Of course!

 

If you look at the picture above in the bottom left corner, you will see something unusual in my opinion. What is a picture of a Mammoth in Denver Colorado doing in our Book of Mormon surrounded by Mesoamerican pictures? It seems so out of place doesn’t it? What are the Church Historians telling us?

Neutrality

First of all I hope you realize our church is neutral on where they say Book of Mormon events took place. They just say “Somewhere in the Americas.” Our Church is also neutral about the age of the earth, age of dinosaurs, evolution, and type of instruments used for the translation of the Book of Mormon. I am not neutral, as I have a strong belief that the Book of Mormon events began in North America, the Prophet Joseph used “these stones fastened to a breastplate”, JSH 1:35 to translate the plates, Dinosaurs lived at the time of Adam, the age of the earth is thousands of years not millions, humans cannot evolve from apes, and the material of the earth was not and never could be created out of nothing. If the Church told us these things it would be too easy, and not allow each of us an opportunity to grow and exercise our free agency. I am thankful I know these things by personal revelation and I never depend on historians or intellects, and I also validate any personal opinion of the brethren through the spirit.

Our church hires historians and educators and then allows them to suggest their opinions on matters of secondary importance to the doctrine of the Church. In other words, our wonderful Prophet and Apostles trust the opinions of good people they have hired. However I do have a quote from a very ideological Book of Mormon Central employee that shows me why I can’t trust many of the opinions of these so-called historians. This Ideologue said, “The Church hires us to help them guide the church.” That is egotistical and sad. This man thinks a lot of himself, and that is why I trust my own research and then a confirmation with the spirit for truth. 

Why Keep the Fantasy Going?

The entire early church and historians figured in a “Hemispheric Model” for the Book of Mormon originally, in thinking all of North and South America were Nephite lands. They reasoned that all of South America was the home of the Lamanites and all of North America was the land of the Nephites and Panama was the narrow neck of land. (almost all church members Meso and Heartlanders, began believing this ridiculous idea without facts, just speculation, including me). That speculation was around for years until both of those on the side of Mesoamerica and those on the side of the Heartland, both agreed that the Hemispheric model just doesn’t work because of the vast distances of travel. In about 1978 John Sorensen in his book “An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon” began saying the Hemispheric Model didn’t work any more. Heartlanders as well believed in a “Limited Geography Theory” Between Iowa and New York down to Florida. This is also called The Hinterlands idea. We believe the area of the Nephites is pictured in the map below in green:

Defining Hinterlands

“Hinterlands is defined here as meaning the unknown area of North and South America that are not within the scope of the writings of the Book of Mormon. In other words, since we believe main events of the Book of Mormon happened in a limited area of North America around the Great Lakes  in the east,  and Ohio, Indiana, Iowa and Missouri to the west, and south in Tennessee, West Virginia, Georgia, and Florida, all other areas will be discussed as “The Hinterlands”. We propose that Mesoamerica is the Hinterlands along with many other areas of the continent. As Mormon has said, “…I shall take from the plates of Nephi; and I cannot write the hundredth part of the things of my people (Words of Mormon 1:5).  There are many people in South and Central America that are Lamanites and part of the Hinterlands.” Jonathan Neville

 

The Meso groups say today all events began in Mesoamerica somewhere, probably Guatemala and those Natives of North America were simply offshoots or remnants of the original Nephites in Guatemala. On the other side, those of us in the Heartland movement conclude that the events of the Book of Mormon began in Florida and Tennessee then to Missouri, and Indiana, and to Ohio and finally to Cumorah in NY. (The same trail as the Hopewell Culture) and some Nephites in South America have migrated there or through marriage and curiosity went other places to establish. Isn’t is amazing that Archaeologists and Historians all over the world and not of our faith know as a fact that the Hopewell Culture abruptly ended near the Great Lakes in about 400 to 500 AD. Coincidence? No. What does common sense say?

Below is the BYU fantasy map and the old 1917 LE Hills map of the RLDS that Mesoamericans have used. Below it also shows how the Meso map had continued to rotate so the new fantasy map shows a direct N to S configuration like the Book of Mormon talks about. Their old Meso map is configured E to W and never fit the dialogue in the Book of Mormon, which is why they rotated it 45 degrees.


THE HOPEWELL CULTURE (100 BC TO AD 400)

“Great new inspirations marked the coming of Ancient Ohio’s “Golden Age.” People began to assemble over many generations, creating complex earthworks, enormous in scale, precise in geometry, and often aligned with celestial events. And beneath carefully mounded layers of earth they left elaborate burials and beautifully crafted objects, evidence of their artistic skill and the great reach of their trade networks. This culture is called “Hopewell” because its richest ceremonial site was part of Mordecai Hopewell’s farm, just west of Chillicothe, at the end of the 19th century. From its southern Ohio heartland, Hopewell practices and interactions spread across much of North America. By about AD 400, forests were reclaiming the geometric earthworks, and the communities’ focus shifted from these vast ceremonial centers to growing villages, and new ways of life.” Ohio Earthworks Timeline.

Here is the bottom line. Believe what you would like. The Church is neutral which is just fine. They are also neutral on Evolution and Adam-God Theory, and DNA, and dates of dinosaurs, which is just fine. Knowing the answer to many of these so-called controversies will not determine whether I receive exaltation, but they will tell me more “truth of all things”, that Moroni promised me from the Lord. Today, you know where the Savior grew up, and where Abraham was told to sacrifice Isaac, and I now feel strongly I know where Nephi grew up and where Moroni fought and it was not in Mexico, it was in the Heartland and near Hill Cumorah the place Joseph said it was, and the place Prophets and Apostles have testified of, over and over again.

I love and respect those good members of the church who believe differently than I do about the location of the Book of Mormon. Until the next life or unless the Brethren receive geographical revelation, I know there is only one Hill Cumorah and that is just how it is. The silliness of two Cumorah’s is like the great cartoon of my dear friend Val Chadwick Bagley below. One Cumorah just makes sense!

By Val Chadwick Bagley

President Russell M. Nelson

“Does God really want to speak to you? Yes! “As well might man stretch forth his puny arm to stop the Missouri river in its decreed course … as to hinder the Almighty from pouring down knowledge from heaven upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints.”

You don’t have to wonder about what is true. You do not have to wonder whom you can safely trust. Through personal revelation, you can receive your own witness that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, that Joseph Smith is a prophet, and that this is the Lord’s Church. Regardless of what others may say or do, no one can ever take away a witness borne to your heart and mind about what is true.

I urge you to stretch beyond your current spiritual ability to receive personal revelation, for the Lord has promised that “if thou shalt [seek], thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things—that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal.” Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives by President Russell M. Nelson (Bold and italic added)

By Val Chadwick Bagley

Prophets Quotes

“I do not believe that the classrooms or the pulpits of our Church are for laboratory purposes in which to experiment with new doctrines and speculative notions. They are exclusively for the use of those who are willing to convert men and women and boys and girls to the truth. . . . I do not believe we should give credence to the highly speculative theories about Book of Mormon geography. I do not believe that there were two Hill Cumorahs, one in Central America and the other one up in New York, for the convenience of the Prophet Joseph Smith, so that the poor boy would not have to walk clear to Central America to get the gold plates. I do not believe we can be good Latter-day Saints and question the integrity of Joseph Smith. I do not believe we can be good Latter-day Saints and question the testimony of the eleven witnesses of the Book of Mormon. I do not believe you have a testimony of the truth if you question the accuracy of the translation of the Book of Mormon.” Mark E. Petersen LDS Conference Reports, Sunday afternoon, April 5, 1953 (Color and italics added)

“I will give you a lesson today that the Lord has taken great pains to bring to us… In the western part of the state of New York near Palmyra is a prominent hill known as the “hill Cumorah” (Mormon. 6:6). [There] perished at the foot of Cumorah the remnant of the once mighty Jaredite nation, of whom the Lord had said, ‘There shall be none greater… upon all the face of the earth’ (Ether 1:43, p. 461). “As I contemplated this tragic scene from the crest of Cumorah and viewed the beautiful land of the Restoration as it appears today, I cried in my soul, how could it have happened?… This second civilization to which I refer, the Nephites, flourished in America between 600 B.C. and A.D. 400. Their civilization came to an end for the same reason, at the same place, and in the same manner as did the Jaredites…I bear you my personal witness that I know that the things I have presented to you today are true—both those pertaining to past events and those pertaining to events yet to come.” (President Marion G. Romney of the First Presidency 145th Semiannual Conference, Saturday Morning Session, October 4, 1975; emphasis added.)

“The Lord gave a divine promise to the ancient inhabitants of this favored country (the United States): ‘Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ” (Ether 2:12). “Our Heavenly Father inspired the leaders of…the United States of America, that they might together, under His direction, having been raised up by God for the purpose, establish the Constitution of this country and…Bill of Rights, that by the year of our Lord 1805 [there would be] a climate where our Heavenly Father could send into  this period of mortality a choice spirit who would be known as Joseph Smith, Jr.” Monson, Thomas S., Teachings of Thomas S. Monson, 2011, pp. 14-15, 157-158

I Believe Joseph Smith and the Prophets and Apostles, not Historians and Intellectuals!

As you read this interesting article below about Guatamala, think to your self, does this sound like the Nephite people and does it look and sound like places and cities and buildings of the Nephites?

Hugh Nibley said, “The Book of Mormon is a history of a related primitive church, and one may well ask what kind of remains the Nephites would leave us from their more virtuous days. A closer approximation to the Book of Mormon picture of Nephite culture is seen in the earth and palisade structures of the Hopewell and Adena culture areas than in the later stately piles of stone in Mesoamerica…

Though such piles as the great pyramid-temple of Chichén Itzá yield to few buildings in the world in beauty of proportion and grandeur of conception, there is something disturbing about most of these overpowering ruins. Writers describing them through the years have ever confessed to feelings of sadness and oppression as they contemplate the moldy magnificence—the futility of it all: “They have all gone away from the house on the hill,” and today we don’t even know who they were

The great monuments do not represent what the Nephites stood for; rather, they stand for what their descendants, “mixed with the blood of their brethren,” descended to. But seen in the newer and wider perspective of comparative religious studies, they suggest to us not only the vanity of mankind and the futility of man’s unaided efforts, but also something nobler; the constant search of men to recapture a time when the powers of heaven were truly at the disposal of a righteous people.” Ancient Temples: What Do They Signify? By Hugh Nibley September 1972

The Colonization of Guatemala by Christopher Minster

The ruin of a convent in colonial Antigua
Christopher Minster

June 08, 2019

The lands of present-day Guatemala were a special case for the Spanish who conquered and colonized them. Although there was no powerful central culture to contend with, such as the Incas in Peru or the Aztecs in Mexico, Guatemala was still home to the remnants of the Maya, a mighty civilization that had risen and fallen centuries before. These remnants fought hard to preserve their culture, forcing the Spanish to come up with new techniques of pacification and control.

Guatemala Before the Conquest

The Maya Civilization peaked around 800 and fell into decline shortly thereafter. It was a collection of powerful city-states who warred and traded with one another, and it stretched from Southern Mexico to Belize and Honduras. The Maya were builders, astronomers, and philosophers with a rich culture. By the time the Spanish arrived, however, the Maya had degenerated into a number of small fortified kingdoms, the strongest of which were the K’iche and Kaqchikel in Central Guatemala.

Editor’s Note: The DNA of those in Central and south America and even those of the Western United States is Asian, not Hebrew as you would expect a Nephite of Lehite to be. DNA of Native Americans has been found to match West Eurasian’s. See blog here, and I believe the Mayans are from India. See my blog here:

The Conquest of the Maya

The conquest of the Maya was led by Pedro de Alvarado, one of the top lieutenants of Hernán Cortés, and a veteran of the conquest of Mexico. Alvarado led fewer than 500 Spanish and a number of native Mexican allies into the region. He made an ally of the Kaqchikel and warred upon the K’iche, whom he defeated in 1524. His abuses of the Kaqchikel caused them to turn on him, and he spent until 1527 stamping out various rebellions. With the two strongest kingdoms out of the way, the other, smaller ones were isolated and destroyed as well.

The Verapaz Experiment

One region still held out: the cloudy, misty, north-central highlands of modern-day Guatemala. In the early 1530s, Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, a Dominican friar, proposed an experiment: he would pacify the natives with Christianity, not violence. Along with two other friars, Las Casas set off and did, in fact, manage to bring Christianity to the region. The place became known as Verapaz, or “true peace,” a name it carries to this day. Unfortunately, once the region was brought under Spanish control, unscrupulous colonists raided it for enslaved people and land, undoing just about everything Las Casas had accomplished.

The Viceroyalty Period

Guatemala had bad luck with provincial capitals. The first, founded in the ruined city of Iximche, had to be abandoned due to persistent native uprisings, and the second, Santiago de los Caballeros, was destroyed by a mudslide. The present-day city of Antigua was then founded, but even it suffered major earthquakes late in the colonial period. The region of Guatemala was a large and important state under the control of the Viceroy of New Spain (Mexico) until the time of independence.

Encomiendas

Conquistadores and governmental officials and bureaucrats were often awarded encomiendas, large tracts of land complete with native towns and villages. The Spaniards theoretically were responsible for the religious education of the natives, who in return would work the land. In reality, the encomienda system became little more than an excuse for legalized enslavement, as the natives were expected to work with little reward for their efforts. By the 17th century, the encomienda system was gone, but much damage had already been done.

Native Culture

After the conquest, the natives were expected to give up their culture to embrace Spanish rule and Christianity. Although the Inquisition was forbidden to burn native heretics at the stake, punishments could still be very severe. In Guatemala, however, many aspects of native religion survived by going underground, and today some natives practice an odd mishmash of Catholic and traditional faith. A good example is Maximón, a native spirit that was sort of Christianized and is still around today.

Editor’s Note: The Native Americans of North America are very religious and only believe in one God, The Great Spirit. They have been compared to the Lost 10 Tribes and the Jews. Those of South America just don’t fit this mold. See my blog here It is about my belief that the Native Americans are descendants of the Jews.

The Colonial World Today

If you’re interested in the colonization of Guatemala, there are several places you might want to visit. The Mayan ruins of Iximché and Zaculeu are also sites of major sieges and battles during the conquest. The city of Antigua is steeped in history, and there are many cathedrals, convents and other buildings that have survived since colonial times. The towns of Todos Santos Cuchumatán and Chichicastenango are known for their blending of Christian and native religions in their churches. You can even visit Maximón in various towns, mostly in the Lake Atitlán region. It is said that he looks with favor on offerings of cigars and alcohol!

Minster, Christopher. “The Colonization of Guatemala.” ThoughtCo, Aug. 29, 2020, thoughtco.com/the-colonization-of-guatemala-2136330 https://www.thoughtco.com/the-colonization-of-guatemala-2136330

Preserving the Western Hemisphere by Mark E. Petersen

There was no religious freedom for many years, and God knew that. But he knew also that this restoration of the gospel was to come, and he prepared for it by reserving the Western Hemisphere as a place where he would work out the conditions under which the gospel could be restored. He did not allow any colonization of the Western Hemisphere until he was ready for it.

We know that various explorers discovered America anciently, well before Christopher Columbus. The Norsemen came over to what they called Vinland, as you remember, and there were others. It is interesting to read about them, but, mark you, not one of them established permanent colonies. God would not allow them here. Colonization was reserved for the people whom the Lord himself would bring to this country. Even though there were earlier discoveries of America, none of them counted so far as God was concerned because he had his eye upon Columbus.

I hope that when you read the Book of Mormon you will read carefully the last chapter of first Nephi, which refers to the day in which we are living. In this chapter Nephi talked about this land and the gentiles who in latter days would be brought here. Then he said:

And it meaneth that the time cometh that after all the house of Israel have been scattered and confounded [the scattering of the ten tribes and the Jews to all parts of the world], that the Lord God will raise up a mighty nation among the Gentiles, yea, even upon the face of this land [the United States]; and by them shall our seed be scattered. [Through the Indian wars the Indians were scattered by the early Americans.]

And after our seed is scattered the Lord God will proceed to do a marvelous work among the Gentiles, which shall be of great worth unto our seed; wherefore, it is likened unto their being nourished by the Gentiles and being carried in their arms and upon their shoulders.

And it shall also be of worth unto the Gentiles; and not only unto the Gentiles but unto all the house of Israel, unto the making known of the covenants of the Father of heaven unto Abraham, saying: In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. [1 Nephi 22:7–9]

What does that language mean? It means that in the latter days upon this Western Hemisphere a great nation of the gentiles would be established and that from this nation of the gentiles the true restored gospel would be taken to all the house of Israel all over the world. The Savior said essentially the same thing, and I would like to read just one verse that he said in regard to this subject. He also was talking about the gentiles who would occupy this land in these latter days:

For it is wisdom in the Father that they [the gentiles] should be established in this land, and be set up as a free people by the power of the Father, that these things [the gospel] might come forth from them unto a remnant of your seed, that the covenant of the Father may be fulfilled which he hath covenanted with his people, O house of Israel. [3 Nephi 21:4]

Here is the Savior of the world talking to these Nephites in America after his resurrection, telling them that in the latter days many gentiles would come to this land and that the Lord God would establish a mighty nation among them here in this land for one purpose: that these gentiles to whom the gospel would be restored would take it to the rest of the world. Isn’t this significant scripture? The Great Prologue by Mark E. Petersen.

E. Cecil McGavin and Willard W. Bean 

E. Cecil McGavin and Willard W. Bean argue that the Hill Cumorah and the Hill Ramah as geographical locations in the Book of Mormon were located in upstate New York. It therefore challenges the theory that the Hill Cumorah was located somewhere in Latin America. In the preface we find the following: “In recent years there has been a tendency among certain students of the Book of Mormon to orientate Book of Mormon cultures far to the south. Many students of the subject are convinced that the three colonies that came to America had their existence in Central America and Mexico. They are thought to have lived within a radius of a few hundred miles of Zarahemla, never pushing northward many miles, certainly not thrusting out their branches as far north as the Great Lakes along our Canadian border. . . .

Most students who accept this theory do not consider the Hill Cumorah in western New York as the hill where the gold plates were originally deposited, nor the area immediately south of the Great Lakes as the site of the Jaredite and Nephite battlefields. This theory leads to the assumption that Moroni buried the gold pates in a hill in Middle America known as Cumorah. After Joseph Smith’s family moved to Palmyra, New York, it is thought that the Angel Moroni took the plates from the Hill Cumorah in Central America and deposited them in the largest hill near the Smith homestead in western New York. .

The following pages are a plea in defense of the old theory–the interpretation of Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Orson Pratt, and a countless number of the Authorities of the Church. It is our humble opinion that there is no occasion to fling aside the old interpretation and accept the new, thus restricting the Book of Mormon races to the restricted confines of Central America.

We are indebted to Elder Mark E. Petersen, of the Quorum of the Twelve, for reading the manuscript and encouraging us to hasten its publication. He wrote these lines after reading it:” “I greatly enjoyed my perusal of your manuscript, and was very much impressed with the array of information you have gathered together from archaeological and other sources to prove your points. I recall that many of our people who have made studies in the region of the Hill Cumorah in western New York are convinced that the Nephites and Lamanites fought their last battles there because of the discovery of so many evidences of an ancient battle in that region. I am glad for anything that strengthens the faith of our people, and I believe that this new book will do that, particularly with respect to their attitude toward the Book of Mormon. I hope many people will read it and enjoy it as I did.” E. Cecil McGavin and Willard W. Bean 

As our colleague Wayne May says often, “We report, you decide”. USA or Mesoamerica, or somewhere else? Review, Study and Pray.

 

Two Cumorah’s, has Greatly Disturbed Faith-

According to Bruce R. McConkie and Joseph Fielding Smith, “Because of this theory [2 Cumorah’s] some members of the Church have become confused and greatly disturbed in their faith in the Book of Mormon.”

How is your faith? I truly believe there is only ONE Hill Cumorah and it is in Ontario, County, NY. Unfortunately in my opinion, many in our midst are very confused and looking in the wrong place for Cumorah or are not looking at all. If you are one who says it doesn’t matter where the actual hill Cumorah is located, you are free to feel that way of course. I however, believe with a strong witness that the final battles of Cumorah happened near Hill Cumorah, NY and not in Mexico as many intellectuals at Book of Mormon Central and FAIRLDS think.

I have always known by the Spirit, that the Book of Mormon is true, and now with secondary evidences, I believe that Spirit as much as I ever have. I also know that the Promised Land of the Book of Mormon is the Unites States of America as Elder Perry said, “The United States is the promised land foretold in the Book of Mormon—a place where divine guidance directed inspired men to create the conditions necessary for the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Elder L. Tom Perry Ensign Dec. 2012

Not Mesoamerica

Joseph Smith has never said that Cumorah was in Mexico, but Joseph during Zion’s Camp near Atlas, Illinois on June 2, 1834 in a letter to his wife Emma, said this: “The whole of our journey, in the midst of so large a company of social honest and sincere men, wandering over the plains of the Nephites, recounting occasionally the history of the Book of Mormon, roving over the mounds of that once beloved people of the Lord, picking up their skulls & their bones, as a proof of its divine authenticity… During our travels we visited several of the mounds which had been thrown up by the ancient inhabitants of this country-Nephites, Lamanites, etc.” Joseph Smith Papers Letter to Emma Smith, 4 June 1834 Page 56

Wow, this quote says Everything!

Joseph Fielding Smith said, “Within recent years there has arisen among certain students of the Book of Mormon a theory to the effect that within the period covered by the Book of Mormon, the Nephites and Lamanites were confined almost entirely within the borders of the territory comprising Central America and the southern portion of Mexico—the isthmus of Tehuantepec probably being the “narrow neck” [Picture left] of land spoken of in the Book of Mormon rather than the Isthmus of Panama (See Alma 50:34; 52:9; 63:5; Mormon 2:29; 3:5). This theory is founded upon the assumption that it was impossible for the colony of Lehi’s to multiply and fill the hemisphere within the limits of 1,000 years, or from the coming of Lehi from Jerusalem to the time of the destruction of the Nephites at the Hill Cumorah. Moreover, they claim that the story in the Book of Mormon of the migrations, building of cities, and the wars and contentions, preclude the possibility of the people spreading over great distances such as we find within the borders of North and South America.

“If we are willing to accept the Bible record, which is confirmed by the Doctrine and Covenants, the entire civilization of the earth was destroyed in the flood except Noah and his family (See Gen 6; 7; 8; Moses 7:36–43). Moreover, this destruction took place less than 5,000 years ago, and today the population of the earth, notwithstanding wars and destructions, is estimated [in 1954] at over 2,000,000,000 souls [2018 population estimated at 7,600,000,000, has nearly quadrupled in just 64 years]. The population of Europe, based upon the best records available, is vastly increased over that at the time of the discovery of America; yet upon this hemisphere are to be found hundreds of millions of people, descendants of European and Asiatic ancestors who knew nothing of this land before the discovery by Columbus. The rapid increase of posterity is known to every genealogist who has traced the record of the early settlers in this western country.

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This is a replica of the flag placed at NY Cumorah in 1923 by President Heber J. Grant See here.

“This modernistic theory of necessity, in order to be consistent, must place the waters of Ripliancum and the Hill Cumorah some place within the restricted territory of Central America, notwithstanding the teachings of the Church to the contrary for upwards of 100 years. Because of this theory some members of the Church have become confused and greatly disturbed in their faith in the Book of Mormon. It is for this reason that evidence is here presented to show that it is not only possible that these places could be located as the Church has held during the past century, but that in very deed such is the case. It is known that the Hill Cumorah where the Nephites were destroyed is the hill where the Jaredites were also destroyed. This hill was known to the Jaredites as Ramah. It was approximately near to the waters of Ripliancum, which the Book of Ether says, ‘by interpretation, is large, or to exceed all’ – Ether 15:8. Mormon adds: ‘And it came to pass that we did march forth to the land of Cumorah, and we did pitch our tents round about the hill Cumorah; and it was in a land of many waters, rivers, and fountains; and here we had hope to gain advantage over the Lamanites,’ (Mormon 6:4)” – Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, Edited by Bruce R. McConkie, Vol. 3 [1999] 232–243. As stated on page 441 SPECULATION ABOUT BOOK OF MORMON GEOGRAPHY
Read complete Chapter here:

Wow, this 2nd quote says Everything the first Quote didn’t

Elder Mark E. Petersen also said,I do not believe that the classrooms or the pulpits of our Church are for laboratory purposes in which to experiment with new doctrines and speculative notions. They are exclusively for the use of those who are willing to convert men and women and boys and girls to the truth. . . . I do not believe we should give credence to the highly speculative theories about Book of Mormon geography. I do not believe that there were two Hill Cumorahs, one in Central America and the other one up in New York, for the convenience of the Prophet Joseph Smith, so that the poor boy would not have to walk clear to Central America to get the gold plates. I do not believe we can be good Latter-day Saints and question the integrity of Joseph Smith. I do not believe we can be good Latter-day Saints and question the testimony of the eleven witnesses of the Book of Mormon. I do not believe you have a testimony of the truth if you question the accuracy of the translation of the Book of Mormon.” Mark E. Petersen LDS Conference Reports, Sunday afternoon, April 5, 1953

Lehi Landed in Florida

There exists many differences of opinion about the landing site of Lehi. There has been general agreement that Lehi probably began his exodus to the Promised Land near Khor Karfot, Oman before sailing to the New World. Those who believe in the Mesoamerican theory (M2C) think they sailed east towards India. Those of the Heartland Model (HM) feel Lehi sailed west toward the tip of Africa. You will see more about the discussion below. Those of M2C think Lehi landed somewhere on the west coast of South America and the HM think they landed near Florida. Those of M2C feel Lehi landed amongst a large population of Mayans. They also believe the Mayan civilization absorbed the Lehites and that is why today you find only Asian DNA amongst those people of South America. Those of us in the HM feel that Lehi landed amongst a few native hunter gathers in North America. We also believe there has been found Hebrew DNA in the Natives near the Great Lakes.

As the scripture says, “this land should be kept as yet from the knowledge of other nations; for behold, many nations would overrun the land, that there would be no place for an inheritance.” 2 Nephi 1:8. This is why the Vikings and others were not allowed to remain upon the land. We would expect a smaller group that Lehi would greet. I can’t imagine how Nephi could be a King amongst just a few of Lehi’s people, if there was a large contingency of natives on the land previously.

Mound City Group Chillicothe, OH

Mound City Group in Ohio

Before reading the quote below about “how many mounds”, understand definitions. “A Mound” does not necessarily mean one clump of dirt. Sometimes there are 5-50 mounds in one group that is designated as a mound, a group, a system, a culture etc. There are 23 mounds at the Mound City Group in Ohio.

“Mound City Group is the only fully restored Hopewell earthwork complex. As such, it is a national treasure. Here, visitors who walk quietly through the enclosure and among the mounds can still experience a sense of what it may have been like to gather at a Hopewell ceremonial site two thousand years ago.

This earthwork consist of a 13-acre rectangular earth enclosure with at least 23 mounds. The height of the earth walls of the enclosure is about 3 to 4 feet, with an entrance or gateway on both the east and west sides. All the mounds are dome shaped except for one that is elliptical. The largest mound of the group was described by early explorers as 17.5 feet high and 90 feet in diameter. There are two additional mounds just outside the enclosure. All the walls and mounds have been reconstructed and are clearly visible.” Source:

How Many Mounds Existed? (Millions)

“The most common question that is asked about mounds is, “How many exist?” In the 1800’s the Smithsonian sponsored many expeditions to identify mound sites across America. A map (shown below) was produced by Cyrus Thomas in 1894 in a Bureau of Ethnology book. They found approximately 100,000 mound sites, many with complexes containing 2 to 100 mounds. The figure of 100,000 mounds once existing— based on Cyrus Thomas map revealing 100,000 sites—is often cited by others, but that estimate is far, far too low. After visiting several thousand mounds and reviewing the literature, I am fairly certain that over 1,000,000 mounds once existed and that perhaps 100,000 still exist. Oddly, some new mound sites are discovered each year by archaeological surveys in remote areas. But in truth, a large majority of America’s mounds have been completely destroyed by farming, construction, looting, and deliberate total excavations” – Gregory L. Little, Ed.D., The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Native American Mounds & Earthworks, Eagle Wing Books, Inc., Memphis, TN [2009]. Gregory L. Little, Ed.D., is the author of over 30 books, including Edgar Cayce’s Atlantis and The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Native American Indian Mounds and Earthworks. His research has been featured on the National Geographic Channel, MSNBC, Discovery, and the History Channel. He lives in Collierville, Tennessee.

Thomas Jefferson the Father of American Archaeology

The Mesoamerican Theorists constantly tell me that there are thousands of civilizations and millions of people in the Mesoamerica area and North America offers not even one civilization so large. They mention the large Cahokia Earthworks near St Louis but it was begun around 1,000 AD so they accurately say that Cahokia existed way after the Nephites. Yes that is correct. I don’t include Cahokia in the quotes in this blog. Archaeologists, Scientists and others agree that the Hopewell and Adena Cultures in North America contain many thousands of occupants. The difference between Mesoamerica and the Hopewell Mounds, was when each was discovered by Archaeologists, and how much publicity they received at that given time. The big book for the Mesoamerica Theory was the book in 1842 called “Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan” by John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood. It was a best setter in that time. However did you know that Thomas Jefferson is called Father of American Archaeology? He first discovered thousands of Indian Mounds in Virginia in about 1774. Article here: Just think if we Americans knew about Jefferson before the Catherwood book of 1842. We would be talking about Nephite mounds in America and not pyramids in Mesoamerica.

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The Catherwood book was the one Benjamin Winchester used to try and prove that those Mesoamerican ruins were proof of Book of Mormon people. We know Winchester started out as a great and zealous missionary and ended up as Joseph Smith predicted, with a rotten heart. See details in Jonathan Neville’s Book we call “The Smoking gun of Book of Mormon Geography called “The Lost City of Zarahemla”, purchase here:

See my blog on Thomas Jefferson here:


“Over 1,000,000 Mounds Once Existed”

Land of the Book of Mormon

Blog Here: Scriptural Evidence of North American Geography

Lamanite, A North American Indian

Lamanite, A North American Indian

“I think it’s important to realize that the title page of the Book of Mormon says, “written to the Lamanites. That’s one of the very first things it says. I think Latter-day Saints today think well, the Book of Mormon is written for us. Well it was, written for the entire world, but of course Mormon, Moroni in their understanding of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, they fully realized that this book, this record, would eventually come forth to their descendants to the descendants of Lehi, and his family. And, this is clear to Joseph Smith. There’s no question in my mind that Joseph Smith knows from the very beginning this record needs to be received and given to and accepted by Lamanite descendants. And in 1830, to Joseph Smith and the Church members, a Lamanite meant to them, a North American Indian. There’s just no question.Alexander L. Baugh BYU Church History Department; transcribed from the documentary “History of the Saints” Mission to the Lamanites Part 1.

The White Man

“As yet I know of no species that was exterminated until the coming of the white man … The white man considered animal life just as he did the natural man life upon this continent as “pests.” There is no word in the Lakota vocabulary with the English meaning of this word … Forests were mown down, the buffalo exterminated, the beaver driven to extinction and his wonderfully constructed dams dynamited … and the very birds of the air silenced … The white man has come to be the symbol of extinction for all things natural in this continent. Between him and the animal there is no rapport and they have learned to flee from his approach, for they cannot live on the same ground.” Chief Luther Standing Bear, Land of the Spotted Eagle, Houghton Mifflin, Boston & New York, 1933.

I truly believe the Spirit of Christ was given to all men and women as we each chose to live on this earth. Our challenge is, who will live up to that “Great Spirit’s desires which He has for each of us, and who will not? 

We are all equal in God’s eyes, both male and female, bond and free, black and white, and I believe the Lord’s greatest desire is to see all of His children live together in love and peace. It’s unfortunate how the White Man has treated the Native American and their descendants the Hebrews. As you read below, you will come to realize the true Spirit contained within these special Lamanites of North America and all other nationalities on this beautiful Earth. I share the quote below as a tribute to Mike and Betty LaFontaine who truly know they are people from the East.

Thankful to the East

“We are thankful to the East because everyone feels good in the morning when they awake, and sees the bright light coming from the East; and when the Sun goes down in the West we feel good and glad we are well; then we are thankful to the West. And we are thankful to the North, because when the cold winds come we are glad to have lived to see the leaves fall again; and to the South, for when the south wind blows and everything is coming up in the spring, we are glad to live to see the grass growing and everything green again. We thank the Thunders, for they are the Manitou’s that bring the rain, which the Creator has given them power to rule over. And we thank our mother, the Earth, whom we claim as mother because the Earth carries us and everything we need.” Charley Elkhair, quoted in M. R. Harrington, Religion and Ceremonies of the Lenape, Indian Notes and Monographs, Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, vol 19 (1921).

1830

“The Book of Mormon was published the same year the Indian Removal Act passed. It gave Church members a different perspective on the past history and future destiny of American Indians. The early Saints believed that all American Indians were the descendants of Book of Mormon peoples, and that they shared a covenant heritage connecting them to ancient Israel. They often held the same prejudices toward Indians shared by other European Americans, but Latter-day Saints believed Native Americans were heirs to God’s promises even though they now suffered for once having rejected the gospel. This belief instilled in the early Saints a deeply felt obligation to bring the message of the Book of Mormon to American Indians.

Within months of the founding of the Church in 1830, Latter-day Saint missionaries journeyed to Indian Territory, on the borders of the United States. Parley P. Pratt reported that William Anderson (Kik-Tha-We-Nund), the leader of a group of Delaware (Lenape) who had relocated to the area near Independence, Missouri, warmly received the missionaries, and an interpreter told Oliver Cowdery that the “chief says he believes every word” of the Book of Mormon. However, a government agent soon barred them from further evangelizing among Indians in the area because they had not secured proper authorization. Latter-day Saint interactions with American Indians remained sparse for the next few years, though Pratt and others still spoke of a day when Indians would embrace the Book of Mormon.” Church History Topics

Lamanite Tradition

“We can learn much from the Native Americans. At one time they each had the true gospel with the priesthood in their homes. We know through transgression they lost those blessings, but retain many of the oral traditions of the gospel.

We have heard it said “the first shall be last and the last shall be first”. What can we learn from the Native Americans? I have always known the Native American believe in only one God. They worship the Great Spirit. They are a humble and proud people with a wonderful sense of humor. They only allow their High Priest to speak the sacred things of God.

“It is interesting to note, in closing, that I know of no Indian language in which one can take the name of the Lord in vain. Indeed, I do not know of an Indian language in which they can even swear. They have to learn English or some white man’s language before they can defile the name of Deity.” LAMANITE TRADITION by Golden R. Buchanan PRESIDENT, SOUTHWEST INDIAN MISSION IMPROVEMENT ERA APRIL 1955 SPECIAL LAMANITE ISSUE

Turtle Island

Artistic interpretation of an island growing atop a turtle’s back.

For some Indigenous peoples, Turtle Island refers to the continent of North America. The name comes from various Indigenous oral histories that tell stories of a turtle that holds the world on its back. For some Indigenous peoples, the turtle is therefore considered an icon of life, and the story of Turtle Island consequently speaks to various spiritual and cultural beliefs.

Origin and Definition

Turtle Island is the name many Algonquian- and Iroquoian-speaking peoples mainly in the northeastern part of North America use to refer to the continent. In various Indigenous origin stories, the turtle is said to support the world, and is an icon of life itself. Turtle Island therefore speaks to various spiritual beliefs about creation and for some, the turtle is a marker of identity, culture, autonomy and a deeply-held respect for the environment.

Story of Turtle Island

The story of Turtle Island varies among Indigenous communities, but by most accounts, it acts as a creation story that places emphasis on the turtle as a symbol of life and earth. The following versions are brief reinterpretations of stories shared by Indigenous peoples. In no way do these examples represent all variations of the tale; they merely seek to demonstrate general characteristics and plots of different stories. Source


North American Indians: the Spirituality of Nature

Every seed is awakened and so is all animal life. It is through this mysterious power that we too have our being and we therefore yield to our animal neighbours the same right as ourselves, to inhabit this land. Sitting Bull

The environmental wisdom and spirituality of North American Indians is legendary.

Animals were respected as equal in rights to humans. Of course they were hunted, but only for food, and the hunter first asked permission of the animal’s spirit. Among the hunter-gatherers the land was owned in common: there was no concept of private property in land, and the idea that it could be bought and sold was repugnant. Many Indians had an appreciation of nature’s beauty as intense as any Romantic poet.

Religious beliefs varied between tribes, but there was a widespread belief in a Great Spirit who created the earth, and who pervaded everything. This was a panentheist rather than a pantheist belief. But the pantheistic tone was far stronger than among Christians, and more akin to the pantheism of William Wordsworth. It was linked to an animism which saw kindred spirits in all animals and plants.

The Indians viewed the white man’s attitude to nature as the polar opposite of the Indian. The white man seemed hell-bent on destroying not just the Indians, but the whole natural order, felling forests, clearing land, killing animals for sport.

Of course, not everything that every Indian tribe did was wonderfully earth-wise and conservation-minded. The Anasazi of Chaco Canyon probably helped to ruin their environment and destroy their own civilization through deforestation. In the potlatch the Kwakiutl regularly burned heaps of canoes, blankets and other possessions simply to prove their superiority to each other; the potlatch is the archetypal example of wanton overconsumption for status. Even the noble plains Indians often killed far more bisons than they needed, in drives of up to 900 animals.

In other words, the Indians were not an alien race of impossibly wonderful people. They were human just like the rest of us. And in that lies hope.

Wisdom derives from way of life, and is as fragile as nature. Many Indians shared their animism, their respect for nature and their attitude to the land with other hunter-gatherers. But when ways of life change, beliefs change to support them. The advent of agriculture and then industry brought massive shifts in attitudes to nature (see How we fell from unity.)

Beliefs can also change ways of life. Our present way of life is laying waste to the environment that supports us. New beliefs can help us to change that way of life, and in arriving at those beliefs, we can learn immensely from the beliefs of the North American Indians. Source North American Indians: the spirituality of nature

Our Brothers and Sisters: 5 Sacred Animals and What They Mean in Native Cultures

Marco Crisari/Thinkstock The turtle is but one of many sacred animals throughout Native cultures.

Indian Country Today Vincent Schilling 2014

Indigenous cultures carry precious knowledge about the world around us, including human relationship with animals.

Without a doubt, animals are a huge part of Native culture. They are considered our brothers and sisters, among our winged, four-legged and swimming family members. They are part of our creation stories, they are messengers to the ancestors and the Creator, and they are our teachers on this world.

In an attempt to give a bit of respect to our sacred animals, we have compiled a bit of cultural information about our brother and sister brethren. Here are six sacred animals and what they mean.

The Eagle

Because the eagle is the animal that flies the highest in the animal kingdom, many tribes have believed they are the most sacred, the deliverers of prayers to the Creator. Additionally, the eagle feather as a gift is considered the highest honor to be given.

The eagle is an animal of leadership, and in most cultures it is considered a dishonor to kill one. As a certain Cherokee legend demonstrates, you simply don’t mess with an eagle. One night, according to The Eagle’s Revenge as recounted on the website FirstPeople.us, a hunter kills an eagle that he finds eating a deer hung on the drying pole. The following day seven warriors are felled mid-dance by seven whoops from a warrior who enters in the middle of the ceremony. The tribe later learns that it was the eagle’s brother, come to avenge the death.

The Coyote

Most commonly viewed as the trickster by many tribes, the coyote figure is also called Isily by the Cahuilla, Yelis by the Alsea and Old Man Coyote by the Crow Tribe, which views the animal as both creator and trickster. Regarded by some tribes as a hero who creates, teaches and helps humans, the coyote also demonstrates the dangers of negative behaviors such as greed, recklessness and arrogance in other tribes.

Overall, the coyote is often referred to as a creature of both folly and intelligence that seeks to fulfill its own needs at the expense of others. The coyote is also known as a master of disguise.

The Buffalo

As one of the most important life sources for the Plains tribes, the American buffalo, or bison, is a sacred and strong giver of life. Their horns and hides were used as sacred regalia during ceremony. They are also tied to creation, medicine and bringers of sacred messages by the ancestors such as White Buffalo Calf Woman, the bearer of the peace pipe to the Lakota people.

In an Apache story, a powerful being by the name of Humpback had always kept the buffalo from the tribes of Earth, thanks to Coyote, who tricked Humpback and his son into believing that he was a dog, waited for them to fall asleep and then barked to scare the buffalo. The buffalo in turn trampled Humpback’s house flat, which allowed the bison to roam the Earth and feed the people.

The Raven

Another trickster, the raven is a big part of many tribes including the Tlingit of Alaska, who tell many stories about how the raven created the stars and the moon. The raven is the creator god of Gwich’ in mythology—mischievous and loud, and in many ways a sarcastic troublemaker, he is also known as a thief.

In one Tlingit story the raven changes himself into a small piece of dirt, and a young girl, the daughter of a rich man, swallows the transformed raven in a drink. The girl has a child, who cries until bundles are opened to create the stars and the moon. Finally the child takes the bundle, which is in fact daylight, and the raven is revealed.

In the trickster vein, this one hilarious, the Raven places dog feces near the rear end of his brother-in-law in order to trick him. While he is distracted, the Raven takes all of the water in his brother-in-law’s nearby spring.

The Turtle

Known as the carrier of Turtle Island by the Great Spirit, the turtle plays a fundamental role in the creation stories of many East Coast tribes. The name Turtle Island is literal: Having placed a large amount of dirt on a great turtle’s back in order to create North America, the Creator designated the turtle as its eponymous caretaker.

While Plains tribes associate the turtle with long life and fertility, other tribes associate the turtle with healing, wisdom, spirituality and patience. The Hopi know the turtle spirit as Kahaila, while it is Mikcheech to the Micmac and Tolba to the Abenaki.

Ancient bobcat buried like a human being

Science Magazine By David Grimm Jul. 2, 2015

A bobkitten, perhaps resembling the one Native Americans buried 2000 years ago. ROBERT SHANTZ/ALAMY

About 2000 years ago in what is today western Illinois, a group of Native Americans buried something unusual in a sacred place. In the outer edge of a funeral mound typically reserved for humans, villagers interred a bobcat, just a few months old and wearing a necklace of bear teeth and marine shells. The discovery represents the only known ceremonial burial of an animal in such mounds and the only individual burial of a wild cat in the entire archaeological record, researchers claim in a new study. The villagers may have begun to tame the animal, the authors say, potentially shedding light on how dogs, cats, and other animals were domesticated.

“It’s surprising and marvelous and extremely special,” says Melinda Zeder, a zooarchaeologist at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. But Zeder, who was not involved in the study, says it’s unclear whether these people treated the bobcat as a pet or invested the animal with a larger spiritual significance.

The mound is one of 14 dirt domes of various sizes that sit on a bluff overlooking the Illinois River, about 80 kilometers north of St. Louis. Their builders belonged to the Hopewell culture, traders and hunter-gatherers who lived in scattered villages of just a couple of dozen individuals each and created animal-inspired artwork, like otter-shaped bowls and ceramics engraved with birds. “Villages would come together to bury people in these mounds,” says Kenneth Farnsworth, a Hopewell expert at the Illinois State Archaeological Survey in Champaign. “It was a way to mark the area as belonging to your ancestors.”

Ancient Native Americans buried these bone pendants and shell beads together with the bobcat. KENNETH FARNSWORTH

Archaeologists rushed to excavate the mounds in the early 1980s because of an impending highway project. When they dug into the largest one—28 meters in diameter and 2.5 meters high—they unearthed the bodies of 22 people buried in a ring around a central tomb that contained the skeleton of an infant. They also discovered a small animal interred by itself in this ring; marine shells and bear teeth pendants carved from bone lay near its neck, all containing drill holes, suggesting they had been part of a collar or necklace. The Hopewell buried their dogs—though in their villages, not in these mounds—and the researchers assumed the animal was a canine. They placed the remains in a box, labeled it “puppy burial,” and shelved it away in the archives of the Illinois State Museum in Springfield.

Decades later, Angela Perri realized that the team had gotten it wrong. A Ph.D. student at the University of Durham in the United Kingdom, Perri was interested in ancient dog burials and came across the box in 2011 while doing research at the museum.  “As soon as I saw the skull, I knew it was definitely not a puppy,” says Perri, now a zooarchaeologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. “It was a cat of some kind.”

When Perri analyzed the bones, she found that they belonged to a bobcat, likely between 4 and 7 months old. The skeleton was complete, and there were no cut marks or other signs of trauma, suggesting to Perri that the animal had not been sacrificed. When she looked back at the original excavation photos, she saw that the bobcat had been carefully placed in its grave. “It looked respectful; its paws were placed together,” she says. “It was clearly not just thrown into a hole.”

When Perri told Farnsworth, he was floored. “It shocked me to my toes,” he says. “I’ve never seen anything like it in almost 70 excavated mounds.” Because the mounds were intended for humans, he says, somebody bent the rules to get the cat buried there. “Somebody important must have convinced other members of the society that it must be done. I’d give anything to know why.”

Perri, who reports the discovery with Farnsworth and another colleague this week in the Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology, has her suspicions. The pomp and circumstance of the burial, she says, “suggests this animal had a very special place in the life of these people.” And the age of the kitten implies that the villagers brought it in from the wild—perhaps as an orphan—and may have tried to raise it. Bobcats, she notes, are only about twice the size of a housecat and are known to be quite tamable. The necklace seals the deal for her. She thinks it may have been a collar, a sign that the animal was a cherished pet. “This is the closest you can get to finding taming in the archaeological record,” says Perri, who believes the find provides a window into how other animals—whether they be dogs or livestock—were brought into human society and domesticated. “They saw the potential of this animal to go beyond wild.”

That’s certainly possible, Zeder says. “Taming can be a pathway to domestication.” But she cautions against reading too much into one find. “It’s just a single specimen in a very special context. Talking about domestication might be stretching it.” If the Hopewell really viewed the bobcat as a pet, she says, they would probably have buried it in the same place as their dogs. Instead, she suspects that the cat may have had a symbolic status, perhaps representing a connection to the spiritual world of the wild. “This could be more of a cosmological association.”

Jean-Denis Vigne, a zooarchaeologist at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, calls the find “a very unique and important discovery.” He says it reminds him of hunter-gatherer societies in South America that bring young monkeys and other wild animals into their homes, rearing and sometimes breastfeeding them as a way to thank nature for bountiful game and crops. Still, Vigne says he’s not aware of people burying these animals. “There’s a lot that still needs to be explored.”

Unfortunately, further work on the bobcat may not be possible. The museum where the bones are housed is facing a shutdown due to state budget cuts, and Perri says she can no longer access the samples. Public groups and museum staff are fighting hard to stop the closure, she says.” Science Magazine 

Joseph Smith Historically Verifies a North American Geography

“The Lord gave a divine promise to the ancient inhabitants of this favored country (the United States): ‘Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ” (Ether 2:12).

“Our Heavenly Father inspired the leaders of…the United States of America, that they might together, under His direction, having been raised up by God for the purpose, establish the Constitution of this country and…Bill of Rights, that by the year of our Lord 1805 [there would be] a climate where our Heavenly Father could send into this period of mortality a choice spirit who would be known as Joseph Smith, Jr.” Teachings of Thomas S. Monson by Thomas S. Monson 2011 (Ordained an Apostle, 1963; ordained President of the Church, 2008)

My Questing Spirit

“I admire men and women who have developed the questing spirit, who are unafraid of new ideas as stepping stones to progress. We should, of course, respect the opinions of others, but we should also be unafraid to dissent – if we are informed. Thoughts and expressions compete in the marketplace of thought, and in that competition truth emerges triumphant. Only error fears freedom of expression.”

“And while all members should respect, support, and heed the teachings of the authorities of the church, no one should accept a statement and base his or her testimony upon it, no matter who makes it, until he or she has, under mature examination, found it to be true and worthwhile; then one’s logical deductions may be confirmed by the spirit of revelation to his or her spirit, because real conversion must come from within.” – Apostle Hugh B. Brown, “A Final Testimony,” from An Abundant Life, 1999

My questing spirit says, the Book of Mormon events began in the heartland of the United States of America. There is only one Hill Cumorah and it is in Ontario, New York, Dinosaurs lived during the time of Adam. Concerning evolution, a dog cannot ever become a cat, Socialism and Communism are evil, and Joseph used the spectacles and breastplate found with the gold plates to translate as scripture says, “these stones, fastened to a breastplate” JSH 1:35, Joseph Smith never used a stone in a hat to translate. I urge you to seek for your own personal revelation on these and any other subjects you seek answers to. The doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true, and I know this is the Lord’s only true church, and the Book of Mormon is the word of God. 

Joseph Smith’s Historically Verifiable Written Statements

“Nearly all those familiar with the early statements by the Prophet touching on potential Book of Mormon lands know that he clearly indicated them to be in North America. This is evident in the historically verified accounts wherein he declared revelation such as in the Wentworth Letter, the American Revivalist Account, the Zelph Accounts and Joseph’s handwritten letter to Emma while on Zion’s camp. In addition, the prophet revealed a Nephite altar at Adam-ondi-Ahman, mentioned the land of Manti was near Huntsville, Missouri, and revealed that this land was “the borders of the Lamanites” (see D&C 54:8). Furthermore he received revelation from the Lord for the location of Zarahemla (see D&C 125:3) and New Jerusalem (see D&C 84:1-6) which Christ Himself declared to be on Book of Mormon lands (3 Nephi 20:22), both of which are absolutely located in North America. These accounts and their indications are not speculation based, but historically documented.” By Rod Meldrum

Faithful Question

Let me ask you a question. If you have a great great… grandfather (Let’s call him Bill), who lived during the time of Joseph Smith, and Bill personally knew and loved Joseph as a true prophet of God, wouldn’t that be exciting to explore the relationship of Bill and Joseph? Maybe some of you already have that relative. As you researched and find out about the close relationship that Bill has with Joseph and the other Apostles, and Bill’s testimony of these men, wouldn’t you be so pleased to find out all you could know about their relationship? (I know some of your relatives maybe didn’t like Joseph but we are not talking about those relatives).

What if you found out Bill was present with Wilford Woodruff in Nauvoo when he told Bill, as Wilford pointed out a spot to on the opposite side of the Mississippi River about a mile and a half above Montrose, IA, and said “there would be a city and a temple built there and the place would be called Zarahemla.” Would you believe Bill? Of course you would, as you had studied and found out Bill was a good active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and had prayed about it. What if it was Bill’s witness after Joseph had passed away, that he saw the countenance of Brigham Young as “it appeared that Joseph had returned and was speaking to the people?” Bill said, As Brigham Young commences speaking, hundreds in the audience believein every possible degree it is Joseph’s voice, and his person, in look, attitude, dress and appearance it is Joseph himself, personified.” You want want to and probably would believe Bill after prayer correct? Let’s say you prayed earnestly about that fact, and you received a personal witness that you indeed know that Bill believed Wilford Woodruff and Bill was present at the talk by Brigham Young and Bill knew that Brigham was to be the next Prophet. Is that even possible? Of course it is. I can hear the non-believers say, “I don’t believe Bill”, or “he was lying”, or “Joseph didn’t mean it was a Book of Mormon city”, or “I still believe Zarahemla was somewhere in Mesoamerica.” What is the difference between you believing Bill and others not believing him? Is it because you are related to Bill and you are biased. Or is it because you have prayed about it and studied it out and you thought it was very important to know, and you believed what Moroni told you and that you could “know the truth of all things?”

Why do many people in the Church today not want to believe Bill, or Edward Phillips, or D&C 125? Why is their heart so hard? Why is it that you believe so strongly in Bill and Joseph and others in the church don’t? It’s probably because you want to believe, and you pray in faith to believe and others may only think of their bias that Zarahemla was in Mexico or some other place. You see, to believe it takes faith, study, and prayer. This is what I believe, that the Zarahemla of the Book of Mormon was indeed across the river near Montrose, Iowa. It is a part of my testimony and I don’t have a relative named Bill, but through faith I really believe this.

Now you know The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has not spoken on whether the Zarahemla of D&C 125 means it was a city in the Book of Mormon, but some of the General Authorities and many members believe personally that Iowa is the place of the ancient Zarahemla. In other words knowing this is not church doctrine but it is true all the same. Is it that important you know the answer? Maybe. To me it is very important as I look for additional evidences of the Book of Mormon not just my witness of the spirit, but as Elder Holland said, “Truth borne by the Holy Spirit comes with, in effect, two manifestations, two witnesses if you will—the force of fact as well as the force of feeling. In the same talk Elder Holland said, “but not to seek for and not to acknowledge intellectual, documentable support for our belief when it is available is to needlessly limit an otherwise incomparably strong theological position and deny us a unique, persuasive vocabulary in the latter-day arena of religious investigation and sectarian debate.The Greatness of the Evidence By Elder Jeffrey R. Holland August 16, 2017

I believe the Book of Mormon Zarahemla is near Montrose, Iowa, just as I believe there is only one Hill Cumorah in upstate New York.

City Opposite of Nauvoo

Below is a revelation, not a statement, not an idea, not conjecture, a revelation. If the Lord planned the name Zarahemla as just another name and not one in the Book of Mormon, the Lord may have called it in D&C 125 the New Zarahemla, signifying a different location as in the city of the New Jerusalem.

D&C 125:3-4

Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Nauvoo, Illinois, March 1841, concerning the Saints in the territory of Iowa.” (Heading of D&C 125)

“Let them build up a city unto my name upon the land opposite the city of Nauvoo, and let the name of Zarahemla be named upon it.

And let all those who come from the east, and the west, and the north, and the south, that have desires to dwell therein, take up their inheritance in the same, as well as in the city of Nashville, or in the city of Nauvoo, and in all the stakes which I have appointed, saith the Lord.” D&C 125:3-4

Zarahemla According to Neville

“When Joseph Smith purchased the land for Nauvoo, he actually purchased far more land across the river in Iowa, as this map (left) from the Joseph Smith papers shows. If this area–designated in the 1800s as the “half-breed tract”–was the location of the ancient city of Zarahemla, the location could explain why the people were wealthy and why they had problems with pride, etc. (Of course, every human society has problems of pride, envy, etc.

However, Alma focuses particularly on this when he’s in the city of Zarahemla.) People ask if there is archaeological evidence for a city in this area. There is archaeological evidence of settlements along the river, north and south of this site, that date to Book of Mormon times, but nothing that can be identified as the city of Zarahemla, per se. The city of Zarahemla and its inhabitants were burned (3 Nephi 8:8). Later, the city was built again (4 Nephi 1:8) but the city is not mentioned afterward. It could have been destroyed again, of course. The river could have flooded the city, deposited sand over it, or any number of other possibilities.”

[The Heartland Research Group headed by Wayne May, John Lefgren PhD, and Kevin Price PhD, has been doing research near Nauvoo and Montrose, Iowa for several years now looking for evidence of Zarahemla. They have found evidence for ancient fires pits in the area and a possible location of a temple mound. See their website here: https://zarahemla.site/]

Neville continues, “For now, I note that it’s a location that seems to fit the text nicely. Another consideration is that D&C 125 hints at this site as the location of ancient Zarahemla. Another interesting aspect of Alma 5 is the mention of sheep, shepherds, and wolves. There must have been sheep in the city of Zarahemla. We’ve already stipulated that, because the Nephites “strictly” observed the Law of Moses, but Alma emphasizes the point is repeated here.

v. 37: ye that have professed to have known the ways of righteousness nevertheless have gone astray, as sheep having no shepherd, 
v. 38: ye are not the sheep of the good shepherd.
v. 39: And now if ye are not the sheep of the good shepherd, of what fold are ye?
v. 59: For what shepherd is there among you having many sheep doth not watch over them, that the wolves enter not and devour his flock? 
v. 60: if you will hearken unto his voice he will bring you into his fold, and ye are his sheep; and he commandeth you that ye suffer no ravenous wolf to enter among you, that ye may not be destroyed.

These metaphors would be ineffective if the people living in Zarahemla did not have sheep. In verse 59, Alma abandons the metaphorical use and speaks directly to actual shepherds. Some species of sheep that are indigenous to North America have survived to the present day, including the Bighorn and Dall. Anciently, their populations were in the millions. Although confined mainly to the western US, Canada, and northern Mexico. Wolves are indigenous to North America and were ubiquitous throughout North America before the Europeans arrived. They were part of Native American Indian legends and mythology. Their devastating impact on domesticated animals led to federal government programs to eradicate wolves from grazing areas. See this article.

Because Alma discussed wolves in this sense, I think it’s possible that whatever domesticated sheep the Nephites had–whether related to the other indigenous North American species or species Lehi brought with him–were killed off after the destruction of the Nephite society. The situation could be similar to that of horses, where recent research has shown the traditional explanation for horses–that the Spanish brought them all–is not consistent with the actual records. See excellent article on horses: https://byustudies.byu.edu/system/files/pdfs/54_3JohnsonHard.pdf.”

Source: 2016 Gospel Doctrine Resource by Jonathan Neville

Law of Moses

No Sheep, Goats, Bullocks, Rams, Doves, Wheat, or Barley in Mesoamerica during the time of the Nephites. They couldn’t practice the Law of Moses unless they lived in North America.

“If my insistent harping on central Asia annoys you, let me remind you again that the book of Ether gives us no choice. It never lets us forget that what the Jaredite kings did was a conscious imitation and unbroken continuation of the ways of “the ancients,” of “them of old” on the other side of the water. This, incidentally, is another indication that we are not to regard the Jaredite migration as taking place immediately after the flood, for the fall of the tower saw the destruction of an ancient and established order. The Jaredites left their homeland driving great herds of cattle before them in the immemorial Asiatic manner, and even if they had never been nomads before, they certainly lived the life of the steppes during those many years before they set sail (Ether 3:3), and when they embarked, they crammed all they could of their beasts into their small boats, “flocks and herds” and other beasts (Ether 6:4), and upon reaching the New World continued to cultivate “all manner of cattle, of oxen, and cows, and of sheep” just as their ancestors had in the old country (Ether 9:18). Now you know, how the Nephites could have had sheep in North America brought to this land by the Jaredites. The Nephites could continue practicing the Law of Moses in the land of The New Jerusalem.” (2 Nephi 25:24 Mosiah 2:3) Hugh Nibley from Lehi in the Desert; The Great Open Spaces

3 Essential Truths about Nephite Observance of the Law of Moses

By Kendra Burton

First Truth: Not only did the Nephites “strictly” keep the law of Moses (as indicated in 37 verses in the Book of Mormon (see Alma 30:3, Mosiah 13:29-30, Jarom 1:5), but they did so with delight as it was seen by them as both a collection of types of Christ and a means of coming unto Him. Occasionally even the Lamanites were known to “strictly” observe the law (Hel. 13:1).  Second: In “observing to keep the commandments of the Lord in all things, according to the Law of Moses” (2 Ne. 5:10), the Nephites would have necessarily observed all the feasts or “holy days” given to Moses by Jehovah. These are recorded in Exodus and Leviticus and are known as “holy convocations” or “rehearsals” and they typify the life and mission of Jesus Christ in profoundly beautiful ways. Third: It was absolutely essential for these Jewish Lehites to be brought to a land that would provide an abundance of all the plants and animals required to keep the Law of Moses, with its concomitant Holy Days or festivals. Based on the latest archeological findings, it can now be irrefutably shown that the Heartland of North America is the only location in the Western Hemisphere where all ten of the essential items were found anciently including; lambs, oxen, goats, doves, barley, wheat, grapes, and altars made of stacked, unhewn stones. These aforementioned items have not been found in the archaeological record of the pre-Columbian peoples of Mesoamerica.” Amberli Nelson MBA Hebrew/Jewish Symbology Expert

Edward Phillips- Saint and Witness of Zarahemla

“I was one of the forty-six preachers that Brother Woodruff speaks of in his “Leaves of My Journal.” The forty-six were baptized except one, that was Phillip Holdt. Brother Woodruff baptized me at Hill Farm where he baptized six hundred. He told me not long ago, that less had apostatized out of that lot than any other of the same number in the church.” Edward Phillips

“I was standing by the temple talking to Brother Woodruff and he pointed out a spot to me on the opposit[e] side of the river about a mile and a half above Montrose, and said there would be a city and a temple built there and the place would be called Zarahemla.” Edward Phillips. More from his autobiography below.

Mesoamerican Theories of Zarahemla

Mesoamerica “Book of Mormon Lands” tour promoter Dr. John L. Lund, released a historically incorrect and misleading article in a newsletter and paid advertisement eblast (http://ldsliving.com/e/2012/db02_29_2012.html ) published Feb. 29, 2012. Lund’s piece, Joseph Smith Identified Zarahemla as Being in Guatemala, proclaims that an article appearing in the Times and Seasons on October 1, 1842 in Nauvoo, Illinois was emphatically “written by Joseph Smith.” Read more here:

In March 1841, a revelation known as Section 125, gave a name and location of a city. While the Lord had previously named Adam – ondi – Ahman and the New Jerusalem as being in the state of Missouri, perhaps this revelation has named yet another city in ancient America. The Lord said to Joseph: “Let them build up a city unto my name upon the land opposite the city of Nauvoo, and let the name of Zarahemla be named upon it”. We first learned of the name Zarahemla in the Book of Mormon. However, very early in Church History documents, the name Zarahemla was disassociated with the revelation. Writers of the history of this period began to attribute the naming of Zarahemla to other persons who were contemporary with the Prophet Joseph or even to the Prophet himself rather than to the Lord and they made it appear that the word Zarahemla was used pre-1841 when the Lord actually gave the revelation to Joseph. We have learned from historic and current Church History publications the following clarifications about the naming of Zarahemla:

1. Joseph Smith DID NOT use the word Zarahemla in 1839. (Joseph Smith Papers, Journals, vol. 1, p. 336)

Read more 5 more example here under the title “The Naming of Zarahemla”

Thus, we have learned, that any use of the name Zarahemla prior to March 1841 is not correct and was inserted in historical accounts after 1841. Surely, further investigation is warranted as to why the Lord used such a name in the revelation.

Again do you remember Bill? Read study and pray and you will know the truth.

Autobiography of Edward Phillips (1813-1896)

This sketch was written by Sylvia Phillips, then a fourteen year old granddaughter of Edward Phillips, as he dictated it to her in the year 1889. Italicized portions are apparently Phillips’ corrections/additions. Typescript in hands of family.

Edward Phillips, son of William and Mary Phillips, born in Oxenhall Parrish [Parish], Glouscestershire [Gloucestershire], England, April 2, 1813. He was christened April 3, 1813.

When [I was] six months old my father moved to Leigh, Worcestershire, Upper Sandlin, and there rented a farm of one hundred acres for three years. From there moved to Black House, Creadley, Herefordshire, and rented a farm of seventy-five acres for four years then returning to Upper Sandlin and rented that farm again for three years. From there he moved to Creadley and rented another farm. While working there he was taken sick and died at Longley Groen [Green], Suckley, Worcestershire, November 29, 1825, at the age of sixty-two. He married Mary Ann Pressdee in Worcestershire, being about ten years her senior. She was the mother of eleven children. From that time I employed myself farming and learning blacksmithing. I joined the society called the “United Brethern” whose president and leader was Thomas Kington. Everything worked well with us until within a year of the time Brother Wilford Woodruff arrived in our neighborhood. It seemed to me that we had come to a precipice and could not go any farther until Brother Wilford Woodruff placed a bridge over that precipice and we went on with glad hearts rejoicing. I went to hear him preach at Ridgeway Crossing on or about March 15, 1840. A day or two following I went to Hill’s Farm to hear him speak. When I started my good old mother said, “Edward, I should think you will not come back without being baptized.” I obeyed this council. I was the only male member of my father’s family who received the gospel. My sister Susan followed suite. I was one of the forty-six preachers that Brother Woodruff speaks of in his “Leaves of My Journal.” The forty-six were baptized except one, that was Phillip Holdt. Brother Woodruff baptized me at Hill Farm where he baptized six hundred. He told me not long ago, that less had apostatized out of that lot than any other of the same number in the church.

I[n] a few days after I was baptized, I was ordained a priest and put in charge of two branches, Ashfield and Crocutt, with George Brooks as my addistant [assistant]. This was near Sherrage, Leigh, Worcestershire. In the fall of that year, I was ordained an elder at the conference, under the hands of Brother Woodruff, and was sent to preach the gospel with Elder John Gaily to the Forest of Deane and Glouscestershire [Gloucestershire]. There I had the privilege of visiting my father’s family. We traveled and preached nearly a year and many were brout [brought] into the church under our administration. My mother embraced the gospel about this time under the hands of Brother Woodruff at a place called Moorings Cross, Maythen Parrish [Parish], Herfordshire [Herefordshire], 1841.

I left my home to emigrate to America. I went to Gloucester and in company with one hundred saints went to Bristol and boarded the “Carolina” for America. We set sail for Quebec, August 8th, 1841. We had a tedious voyage of eight weeks and three days, but landed safely. Thomas Richardson was our President. We set sail for Quebec, from Quebec we went to Montreal by steamer, and from Montreal through the lock to Kinston and then we sailed along Lake Ontario to Lewiston. We had a fine view of the city of Toronto. From Lewiston we boarded the train (which was drawn by mules) from Niagara Falls.

The next day we boarded the train for Buffalo and arrived at that place after dark. We put up at the Farmer’s Exchange for a week because of sickness. We then boarded the Chespeake [Chesapeake] for where now stands the great city of Chicago. We hired a man there to take us to Nauvoo with a team which contract he filled. We arrives [arrived] at Nauvoo in the latter part of October, 1841, on Saturday. On Sunday, I was anxious to see the Prophet. I attended meeting there and saw him for the first time. I did not need an introduction for I knew him the moment I saw him. He preached the gospel of salvation to us that morning which caused my heart to rejoice. Next day, Monday, I went to work in quarrying rock for the temple, (that was my first days work in America) near the upper Stone House on the Mississippi River. I continued to work on the temple and the Nauvoo House, most of the winter. I boarded with an old friend by the name of Jenkins, a shoemaker. There I fell in love with my present wife, who had preceeded [preceded] me a few weeks to America. On the 2nd of August of the next year, being one year from the time I left home, we were married by Heber C. Kimball near Camp Creek in Hancock County. She bore me fifteen children, nine of whom are still living, three of whom were born in Illinois, and the two first, a boy and a girl, died there. We were driven from their graves at the point of a bayonet, which was very grievous to us. I had some land and made me a nice home near where they were buried. I was working in the field near the house when the news came that the Prophet and his brother were killed at Carthage Jail. This made me shed bitter tears for I felt they were two good friends and I knew Joseph was a true prophet of God. He had said that he would go and die for the people. I was under arms in Nauvoo when he gave himself up to die for the people. He discharged us and told us to go home and he would go and die for us. We would gladly have gone and stood between him and death, but he would not let us. I was ready and willing to go. We were quartered at the tithing yard and slept in the Nauvoo Exposition Building. We went one day for foliage for our horses, and met Gen. Joseph Smith with his staff in the street. He cheered us and said, “Well done, boys.” We had been out inspecting the ground where we expected to meet our enemies. Word came to our Captain one night that the pickett guard was driven in and we were ordered out in the dead of night to go and meet the mob. I was determined to go and assist, so I borrowed a horse from a boy who did not like to go himself. Nevertheless this proved to be a false alarm and I went back disappointed. The prophet said he would go and die for us. He did and was butchered in cold blood. I was not there when he was killed, but I went later and took my wife with me to show her the well, curb, and the window where he jumped out when he was shot.

I have a Patriarchal blessing hanging in a frame in my room, which was pronounced upon my head by the prophet and patriarch, Hyrum Smith, in the fall of 1844[1843?], which is worth more than gold to me – Gold is no name for it. The predictions are being literally fulfilled every day. I know if I prove faithful it will all come to pass. I knew then and also know now that Joseph was a true prophet of God, and that the mantle of Joseph fell on Brigham Young who was his legal successor.

We all thought Joseph had come back to us!

I was present at the meeting when this took place (Read about that meeting below with the *) and heard with my own ears and saw with my own eyes. We all thought Joseph had come back to us although we knew he was in his grave. I was standing by the temple talking to Brother Woodruff and he pointed out a spot to me on the opposit[e] side of the river about a mile and a half above Montrose, and said there would be a city and a temple built there and the place would be called Zarahemla. I was at Nauvoo when the temple was finished and dedicated. I went up into the tower and wrote my name there. As I understand, the wicked have burned that temple to the ground and it is all destroyed like the Jerusalem temple. But I expect to see that temple re-erected and the one built on the opposite side of the river to match. Source Here and Here

Art by Ken Corbett and Rian Nelson

*Is there evidence for the transfiguration of Brigham Young?

James F. Stoddard IV and Aaron R. Halsell

“The day is Thursday, August 8, 1844. Six weeks to the day have passed since the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith on June 27, 1844. The majority of the Twelve Apostles have recently returned from missions1 and some are still stunned and disheartened by the loss of their Prophet. Upon their arrival they find “Sidney Rigdon busy among the Saints, trying to establish his claim to the presidency of the Church.”2 According to a report issued by the Times and Seasons:

[A] special meeting of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, convened at the stand in the city of Nauvoo, President Brigham Young, called the audience to order, and arranged the several quorums according to their standing, and the rules of the church. The meeting had been previously called, as stated, to choose a guardian, or trustee for said church.3

Sidney Rigdon
Sidney Rigdon

Opinions differ,4 either Sidney Rigdon, former First Counselor in the First Presidency,5 or the Quorum of the Twelve with Brigham Young at their head. The audience is divided as the polished and eloquent Sidney Rigdon commences his message. The old gentleman is charismatic and the arguments are compelling to some of the flock.6

Brigham Young, a man fiercely loyal to the Prophet Joseph Smith, current President of the Twelve and later to become known as the “Lion of the Lord”, takes the stand. Suddenly, the people arise “en-masse to their feet astonished.”7 One eyewitness later remembered, “it appeared that Joseph had returned and was speaking to the people.8 As Brigham Young commences speaking, hundreds in the audience believe “in every possible degree it [is] Joseph’s voice, and his person, in look, attitude, dress and appearance [it is] Joseph himself, personified”.9 William Hyde later remembers:

[Brigham Young] then called upon the saints to know if they would receive the Twelve and let them stand in their place as the First Presidency of the Church in the absense of Joseph. The vote was unanimous in the affirmative. On this day it was plainly manifest that the mantle of Joseph had rested upon President Young.10 James F. Stoddard IV and Aaron R. Halsell

Here are other evidences to pray about as you decide where the Book of Mormon Events happened. I believe the events happened right here in the USA.

Nephitish Altar

“…The remains of an old Nephite altar’” read from the sign at Adam-Ondi-Ahman

“George W. Robinson, a scribe of Joseph Smith who was with him at the time, writes: “We next kept [traveling] up the river mostly in the timber for ten miles, until we came to Colonel Lyman Wright’s who lives at the foot of Tower Hill. A name appropriated by President Smith in consequence of the remains of an old Nephitish Altar and Tower where we camped for the Sabbath.” (Scott H. Faulring ed., An American Prophet’s Record: The Diaries and Journals of Joseph Smith, SLC: Signature Books, 1989, p. 184.) 1838 Joseph Smith, Jr. History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 3:34-35 Quoted in Step by Step through the Book of Mormon by Alan C. Miner

“So what did Robinson mean when he said they discovered the remains of a “Nephtish” structure? It is important to note that the early Latter-day Saints clearly believed that the native North American tribes were descendants of the earlier Nephite-Lamanite civilization. With this belief, Robinson probably used the word “Nephitish” to indicate that the structure or altar was built by, or originated with, the North American Indians. He may have also used “Nephitish” to mean that the altar was of ancient origin. Therefore, what Robinson was attempting to describe were the remains of what appeared to be a sacred altar structure erected by early Native Americans.” (Alexander L. Baugh, “Joseph Smith in Northern Missouri,” in Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer, ed. Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Kent P. Jackson (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2010), 291–346.) See article here about other Altars

Hopewellian Stone Tower

We have been to Adam-Ondi-Ahman, and there are large stones scattered around on top of Tower Hill that are the remains of a structures, so it was apparently a Hopewellian stone tower or altar as indicated by Joseph.  In connection with this, George W. Robinson in 1838 also wrote: “President Smith and myself . . . returned to the camp in Robinson’s Grove .  We next scouted west in order to obtain some game to supply our necessities but found or killed none.  We [found] some ancient antiquities about one mile west of the camp, which consisted of stone mounds , apparently laid  up in square piles, though somewhat decayed and obliterated by the almost continual rains.  Undoubtedly these were made to seclude some valuable treasures deposited by the aborigines of this land.” Faulring, Scott H. ed., 1989, An American Prophet’s Record: The Diaries and Journals of Joseph Smith, Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books, p. 185, spelling corrected 

Zelph of Zarahemla

Zelph a Man of God by Ken Corbett

“Before breaking camp the morning of June 3, the Prophet Joseph Smith, accompanied by several of the men, went to observe a large mound which was located approximately one mile below the Phillip’s Ferry crossing. It was of unusual size and lay within the proximity of a number of smaller mounds. Heber C. Kimball and Wilford Woodruff recorded in their journals that the mound was one hundred feet high and three hundred feet above the level of the river. The height of the mound enabled the men to look over the tops of the trees and view the surrounding area. At the crest of the mound, human bones were strewn around the base of what appeared to be a three-tiered altar. Heber C. Kimball wrote that the arrangement of the stones resembled the ancient order or altars..

Zelph in vision by Ken Corbett

The men were curious about the area, the mounds, and particularly about the scattered bones.  As they began to descend  the mound, Joseph Smith suddenly stopped, pointed to the ground, and said, “Brethren, dig in there.”  When the earth had been removed to the depth of one or two feet, the men found the skeleton of a large man.  Journal accounts state that, “the bones were all there and in a good state of preservation.”  Buried in the backbone, between the ribs of the man was a stone arrowhead which Milton Holmes took.  Examining the skeleton more closely, it was noted that one of the thigh bones had been previously broken and knitted together.  The thigh bones and the arrowhead were taken back to camp and placed in Wilford Woodruff’s wagon.  The skeleton was unusually large .  It was estimated to be over eight feet tall.” James L. Bradley, Zion’s Camp 1834: Prelude to the Civil War (Salt Lake City: Publishers Press, 1990), p. 207.

Letter to Emma by Ken Corbett

“The whole of our journey, in the midst of so large a company of social honest and sincere men, wandering over the plains of the Nephites, recounting occasionally the history of the Book of Mormon, roving over the mounds of that once beloved people of the Lord, picking up their skulls & their bones, as a proof of its divine authenticity… During our travels we visited several of the mounds which had been thrown up by the ancient inhabitants of this country-Nephites, Lamanites, etc.” Joseph Smith Papers Letter to Emma Smith, 4 June 1834 Page 56

“On the top of the mound were stones which presented the appearance of three altars having been erected one above the other, according to the ancient order; and the remains of bones were strewn over the surface of the ground. The brethren procured a shovel and a hoe, and removing the earth to the depth of about one foot, discovered the skeleton of a man, almost entire, and between his ribs the stone point of a Lamanitish arrow, which evidently produced his death. Elder Burr Riggs retained the arrow. The contemplation of the scenery around us produced peculiar sensations in our bosoms; and subsequently the visions of the past being opened to my understanding by the Spirit of the Almighty, I discovered that the person whose skeleton was before us was a white Lamanite, a large, thick-set man, and a man of God. His name was Zelph. He was a warrior and chieftain under the great prophet Onandagus, who was known from the Hill Cumorah, or eastern sea to the Rocky mountains. The curse was taken from Zelph, or, at least, in part-one of his thigh bones was broken by a stone flung from a sling, while in battle, years before his death. He was killed in battle by the arrow found among his ribs, during the last great struggle of the Lamanites and Nephites.” Joseph Smith Papers History, 1838–1856, volume A-1 [23 December 1805–30 August 1834], Page 483

Book of Mormon City Manti

The camp passed through Huntsville, in Randolph County, which has been appointed as one of the stakes of Zion, and is the ancient site of the City of Manti…” Millennial Star, vol. 16, p. 296 “September 25, 1838. We passed through Huntsville, Co, seat of Randolph Co, Pop. 450, and three miles further we bought 32 bu. of corn off one of the brethren who resides in this place. There are several of the brethren round about here and this is the ancient site of the City of Manti, which is spoken of in the Book of Mormon and this is appointed one of the Stakes of Zion, and it is in Randolph County, Missouri, three miles west of the county seat.” Journal of Samuel D. Tyler, filed in Church Historian’s Office. Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation 3: 239  History of Joseph Smith page 296

“We came through Huntsville, the county seat of Randolph county . . . A mile and a half west of Huntsville we crossed the east branch of Chariton (River), and one and a half miles west of the river we found Ira Ames and some other brethren near the place where the city of Manti is to be built, and encamped for the night on Dark creek, six miles from Huntsville. Traveled this day seventeen miles. Distance from Kirtland, seven hundred and fifty-five miles.” Joseph Smith Documentary History of the Church, 3:10:144:1

Joseph Smith accompanied several Church members in exploring the area around Lyman Wight’s northern Missouri home. In his journal, A. Jenson wrote: “The [Kirtland] camp passed through Huntsville, in Randolph County, which has been appointed as one of the stakes of Zion, and is the ancient site of the City of Manti.A. Jenson, Historical Record, Book 1, p. 601 Millennial Star 16:296

Indians that now Inhabit this Country

“In this important and interesting book the history of ancient America is unfolded, from its first settlement by a colony that came from the Tower of Babel at the confusion of languages to the beginning of the fifth century of the Christian era. We are informed by these records that America in ancient times has been inhabited by two distinct races of people. The first were called Jaredites and came directly from the Tower of Babel. The second race came directly from the city of Jerusalem about six hundred years before Christ. They were principally Israelites of the descendants of Joseph. The Jaredites were destroyed about the time that the Israelites came from Jerusalem, who succeeded them in the inheritance of the country. The principal nation of the second race fell in battle towards the close of the fourth century. The remnant are the Indians that now inhabit this country…” Wentworth Letter reprinted in Ensign July 2002

Joseph said that “the Book of Mormon is a record of the forefathers of our western tribes of Indians . . . By it we learn that our western tribes of Indians are descendants from that Joseph that was sold into Egypt, and that the land of America is a promised land unto them.” Joseph Smith’s Letter to The American Revivalist Feb 2, 1833 (Quoted in Dean C. Jessee, The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1984), p. 273)

“He told me of a sacred record which was written on plates of gold, I saw in the vision the place where they were deposited, he said the Indians were the literal descendants of Abraham…” Joseph Smith Journal, November 9, 1835; The Joseph Smith Papers: Journals Volume 1:1832-1839 (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2008), 88-89.

“Wherefore, it is an abridgment of the record of the people of Nephi, and also of the Lamanites—Written to the Lamanites, who are a remnant of the house of Israel;” BofM Title Page

You shall go unto the Lamanites and preach my gospel unto them;… and no man knoweth where the city Zion shall be built, but it shall be given hereafter. Behold, I say unto you that it shall be on the borders by the Lamanites. D&C 28:8-9

The Lamanites that were first taught the gospel, as Parley Pratt says were the Native American Indians of the United States. There were two tribes of the Iroquois, Wyandot, and Cattaraugus, and two from the Algonquian, the Delaware or Leni Lape, and the Shawnee.

“Once the red men were many; they occupied the country from sea to sea — from the rising to the setting sun; the whole land . . .  Thousands of moons ago, when the red men’s forefathers dwelt in peace and possessed this whole land the Great Spirit talked with them, and revealed His law and His will and much knowledge to their wise men and prophets.  This they wrote in a Book . . . written on plates of gold and handed down from father to son for many ages and generations. It was then that the people prospered and were strong and mighty; they cultivated the earth, built buildings and cities and abounded in all good things, as the pale faces now do . . . This Book, which contained these things was hid in the earth by Moroni, in a hill called by him Cumorah, which hill is now in the state of New York, near the village of Palmyra, in Ontario county . . .  Thus ended our first Indian mission, in which we had preached the Gospel in its fullness and distributed the record of their forefathers among three viz.: the Cattaraugus Indians, near Buffalo, N.Y., the Wyandots, of Ohio and the Delawares, west of Missouri.” Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, pp. 56-6; Documentary History of the Church Vol 1: Footnotes 183:2-18 

Thus ended our first Indian mission, in which we had preached the Gospel in its fullness and distributed the record of their forefathers among three tribes… west of Missouri.” Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, p 56-61

“Now, to my story again. Besides the Delawares, Shawnees, Kickapoos, Wyandots, Pottowattomies, Senecas, Osages, Choctaws, Cherokees, Kaskaskias, Kansas, &c. &c. which our nation and the missionaries are domesticating as they are gathered, upon the southern limits of the land of Israel, the Pawnees, the Sioux, the Rickarees, the Mandans, the Nespersees, the Blackfeet, the Sacs, the Foxes, and many other tribes, rove and hunt from prairie to prairie, from river to river, from hill to hill, and from mountain to mountain, and live, and are blessed before the face of heaven daily as well as their contemporary whites; and, perhaps I may add, are as justifiable before God, as any people on the globe, called heathens. No church bell from its elevated steeple, rings “Go to meeting; it is Sunday,” while a dozen lesser ones, for stages and Steam boats, peal a ding dong “for parties of pleasure, as a holiday,” among these rude sons of the west.—And it is a difficult matter to make one soul of them believe the Great Spirit ever said, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy,” while they know, that the majority of the white nation, use it for a holiday. No politicians boast of freedom and equal rights, while thousands are imprisoned for debt, or are in bondage: No; when the tribes are at peace, the Indian is free; his land is free; his game is free; his time is free, and all is free.” LETTER NO. II. From WW Phelps to Oliver Cowdery Liberty, Mo. Nov. 6, 1834

“I accordingly went down, and met Keokuk, Kis-Ku-Kosh, Appenoose, and about one hundred chiefs and braves of those tribes (Sac, Fox), with their families.” … and instructed them in many things which the Lord had revealed unto me concerning their fathers, and the promises that were made concerning them in the Book of Mormon.” Joseph Smith Papers; History, 1838–1856, volume C-1 Addenda page 10-11

Joseph Knew where the Book of Mormon took Place

“From this time forth, Joseph continued to receive instructions from the Lord, and we continued to get the children together every evening, for the purpose of listening while he gave us a relation of the same. I presume our family presented an aspect as singular as any that ever lived upon the face of the earth–all seated in a circle, father, mother, sons, and daughters, and giving the most profound attention to a boy, eighteen years of age, who had never read the Bible through in his life: he seemed much less inclined to the perusal of books than any of the rest of our children, but far more given to meditation  and deep study… During our evening conversations, Joseph would occasionally give us some of the most amusing recitals that could be imagined. He would describe the ancient inhabitants of this continent, their dress, mode of traveling, and the animals upon which they rode, their cities, their buildings, with every particular; their mode of warfare; and also their religious worship. This he would do with as much ease, seemingly, as if he had spent his whole life with them.” Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845 Book 4 Joseph Smith Papers

One Cumorah

“I do not believe that the classrooms or the pulpits of our Church are for laboratory purposes in which to experiment with new doctrines and speculative notions. They are exclusively for the use of those who are willing to convert men and women and boys and girls to the truth. . . . I do not believe we should give credence to the highly speculative theories about Book of Mormon geography. I do not believe that there were two Hill Cumorahs, one in Central America and the other one up in New York, for the convenience of the Prophet Joseph Smith, so that the poor boy would not have to walk clear to Central America to get the gold plates. I do not believe we can be good Latter-day Saints and question the integrity of Joseph Smith. I do not believe we can be good Latter-day Saints and question the testimony of the eleven witnesses of the Book of Mormon. I do not believe you have a testimony of the truth if you question the accuracy of the translation of the Book of Mormon.” Mark E. Petersen LDS Conference Reports, Sunday afternoon, April 5, 1953

“…This modernistic theory of necessity, in order to be consistent, must place the waters of Ripliancum and the Hill Cumorah some place within the restricted territory of Central America, notwithstanding the teachings of the Church to the contrary for upwards of 100 years. Because of this theory some members of the Church have become confused and greatly disturbed in their faith in the Book of Mormon. It is for this reason that evidence is here presented to show that it is not only possible that these places could be located as the Church has held during the past century, but that in very deed such is the case… It is known that the Hill Cumorah where the Nephites were destroyed is the hill where the Jaredites were also destroyed. This hill was known to the Jaredites as Ramah. It was approximately near to the waters of Ripliancum, which the Book of Ether says, “by interpretation, is large, or to exceed all…

It must be conceded that this description fits perfectly the land of Cumorah in New York, as it has been known since the visitation of Moroni to the Prophet Joseph Smith, for the hill is in the proximity of the Great Lakes and also in the land of many rivers and fountains. Moreover, the Prophet Joseph Smith himself is on record, definitely declaring the present hill called Cumorah to be the exact hill spoken of in the Book of Mormon. Further, the fact that all of his associates from the beginning down have spoken of it as the identical hill where Mormon and Moroni hid the records, must carry some weight. It is difficult for a reasonable person to believe that such men as Oliver Cowdery. Brigham Young, Parley P. Pratt, Orson Pratt, David Whitmer, and many others, could speak frequently of the Spot where the Prophet Joseph Smith obtained the plates as the Hill Cumorah, and not be corrected by the Prophet, if that were not the fact. That they did speak of this hill in the days of the Prophet in this definite manner is an established record of history.” Doctrines of Salvation Joseph Fielding Smith Chapter 12

The United States is the Land of the Book of Mormon

“The United States is the promised land foretold in the Book of Mormon—a place where divine guidance directed inspired men to create the conditions necessary for the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Elder L. Tom promised Ensign Dec. 2012

“The Lord gave a divine promise to the ancient inhabitants of this favored country (the United States): ‘Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ” (Ether 2:12).

“Our Heavenly Father inspired the leaders of…the United States of America, that they might together, under His direction, having been raised up by God for the purpose, establish the Constitution of this country and…Bill of Rights, that by the year of our Lord 1805 [there would be] a climate where our Heavenly Father could send into this period of mortality a choice spirit who would be known as Joseph Smith, Jr.” Teachings of Thomas S. Monson by Thomas S. Monson 2011 (Ordained an Apostle, 1963; ordained President of the Church, 2008)

President Monson believes the United States is the Promised Land of the Book of Mormon. Why do Mesoamericanists believe the entire continent of the Americas is the Promised land? You mean Greenland, Guatemala, and the Northwest Territories are the Promised Lands? I love all of God’s children in the entire world and God loves us all the same, but seriously? If a person from Greenland comes to the United States legally as a citizen that person can also live in the Promised Land, correct? I’m sure Greenland has much beauty on its own, but it is not the Promised Land, is it? I am not belittling other lands. I’m just making a factual statement. Why is the United States and Israel the two Promised Lands? Because Christ said so. See 3 Nephi 20:22,29 Rian Nelson

Gadianton Robbers

“Upon one occasion President Brigham Young was in the Tabernacle at St. George and was speaking on the spirit world.  He stated that it was not far from us and if the veil could be taken from our eyes there wouldn’t be either a man, woman or child who would dare go out of “this tabernacle as the spirits of the Gadianton robbers were so thick out there.  This is where they lived in these mountains,” said he.” Crowther, Duane S., 1967, Life Everlasting, Bookcraft, SLC, UT, p. 165, as quoted from N. B. Lundwall, Temples of the Most High, p. 89. 

“Of course, the significance of this statement makes sense only in light of the land of Zarahemla being in the United States.  The Nephites wouldn’t have gone all the way from Mexico into the United States to hunt the Gadianton Robbers, nor would the Gadiantons have gone into the United States to hide from Nephites in Mexico.  It is clear that since the Gadianton Robbers were hiding out in Utah in the St. George region, the Land of Zarahemla must have been in the United States as well.  The “mountains” mentioned in the following scriptures, therefore, are the Rocky Mountains of the United States.” Josephsmithacademy.org

D&C 3 with the Urim & Thummim Identifies Lamanites

Who are the Nephites, Jacobites, & Zoramites and the Lamanites, Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites?

16 Nevertheless, my work shall go forth, for inasmuch as the knowledge of a Savior has come unto the world, through the testimony of the Jews, even so shall the knowledge of a Savior come unto my people—
17 And to the Nephites, and the Jacobites, and the Josephites, and the Zoramites, through the testimony of their fathers—
18 And this testimony shall come to the knowledge of the Lamanites, and the Lemuelites, and the Ishmaelites, who dwindled in unbelief because of the iniquity of their fathers, whom the Lord has suffered to destroy their brethren the Nephites, because of their iniquities and their abominations.
19 And for this very purpose are these plates preserved, which contain these records—that the promises of the Lord might be fulfilled, which he made to his people;
20 And that the Lamanites might come to the knowledge of their fathers, D&C 3:16-20

They “among the American Indians and the Polynesians who are mostly the descendants of the Lamanites, is also a sprinkling of the descendants of the Nephites who may have escaped” D&C 3:19 D&C Commentary Page 22

FIRST PRESIDENCY 1923- ABOUT BOOK OF MORMON GEOGRAPHY

The First Presidency in 1923 of Heber J Grant, Charles W. Penrose and Anthony W. Ivins and again in 1950 The Publication Committee of  Joseph Fielding Smith, Harold B. Lee and Marion G. Romney, assigned by Pres George Albert Smith, approved some historical information from Church History that has much to do with Book of Mormon Geography. The last edition of the commentary was also published in 1978 by Deseret Book and approved by Pres Spencer W. Kimball, N. Eldon Tanner and Marion G. Romney. Other BofM geography items about the Cave at Cumorah and the visit of Nephi to Joseph in the wagon headed to Fayette, are found in my other blog here.

Between 1913 and 1916 Hyrum Smith of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles along with Elder Janne M. Sjodahl articulated a commentary of the Doctrine of Covenants which was approved by these two Presidencies as accurate and approved history as contained in the D&C Commentary of 1923 and 1950.

[The Doctrine and the Covenants Commentary] “A doctrinal and exegetical commentary on the book of scripture, known as the “Doctrine and Covenants” (the “D&C”), sacred to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” The Doctrine and the Covenants Commentary by Hyrum M. Smith (Picture left)

Exegetical Definition:

The message finds its sole source in Scripture. The message is extracted from Scripture through careful exegesis. The message preparation correctly interprets Scripture in its normal sense and its context. The message clearly explains the original God-intended meaning of Scripture. The message applies the Scriptural meaning for today.

The Doctrine and Covenants Containing Revelations Given To Joseph Smith, Jr., The Prophet, with an Introduction and Historical and Exegetical Notes By Hyrum M Smith, of the Council of the Twelve Apostles. And Janne M. Sjodahl.

“Commentaries on the Doctrine and Covenants follow the pattern of many biblical commentaries, supplying the historical context, that is, the time, circumstances, and situation of the revelations. In the most recent (1981) edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, headnotes for each section have been added or enlarged, with a brief synopsis of the historical setting. Additional notes and explanations are provided by the various separately published commentaries discussed here. Commentaries written by members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are given special consideration. Others are recommended as helps to the membership of the Church to provide historical insight to their study of the scriptures.

An early (1916) and still useful one-volume commentary was written by Hyrum M. Smith, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and Janne M. Sjodahl. Doctrine and Covenants Commentary contains the text of the Doctrine and Covenants and gives historical background and commentary for each section. It is extensively footnoted with exegetical notes. The volume was later supplemented and expanded under the direction of Joseph Fielding Smith, Harold B. Lee, and Marion G. Romney of the Quorum of the Twelve in 1950.” Doctrine and Covenants Commentaries Author: Garrett, H. Dean

Preface To the Revised Edition of the Doctrine and Covenants Commentary

In the preface to the 1950 Revised Edition of the Doctrine and Covenants Commentary, we find the following:

“While laboring in the European Missions, Elder Hyrum M. Smith, of the Council of the Twelve Apostles, and Elder Janne M. Sjodahl, were impressed very fervently with the desire to prepare a commentary dealing with the revelations given by the Lord to the Prophet Joseph Smith. In their odd moments, when not otherwise engaged, during the years 1913-1916, these brethren carried on a careful research and study and prepared this volume which has met with popular favor.

For a number of years, the commentary has been out of circulation, and because of the increasing demand for it, the First Presidency instructed the Publication Committee to take the matter in hand and revise the volume ready for a re-printing. This the committee has done and after many months of labor has fulfilled the assignment given.

Since the time of the first publication many world-wide events of the greatest importance have occurred many of which have a bearing on the fulfillment of the prophecies found in the Doctrine and Covenants; these have been noted. The Doctrine and Covenants is a sacred volume of Scripture, and in the revision and preparation of the book, the members of the committee have felt their weakness in commenting on these sacred commandments and revelations coming from the Lord.”

The Urim and Thummim WAS Returned to Joseph

Most of the Mesoamerican theorists and revisionist historians say that when Joseph had the Urim and Thummim taken from him because of losing the 116 pages, it was never returned and Joseph then used the peep stone. Wrong!

I quote: “During this period Joseph made a short visit to his parents in Manchester, New York, and then returned again to Pennsylvania. “Immediately after my return home,” he recounted, “I was walking out a little distance, when, behold, the former heavenly messenger appeared and handed to me the Urim and Thummim again for it had been taken from me in consequence of my having wearied the Lord in asking for the privilege of letting Martin Harris take the writings, which he lost by transgression and I inquired of the Lord through it, and obtained the following [section 3]” (Smith, History of the Church, 1:21-22).

So in July 1828 Joseph received Section 3 of the D&C as a Revelation with the use of the very Urim and Thummim which had been lost. Why then would Joseph use a peep stone.? He wouldn’t. He received the Urim and Thummim again to continue to translate.

The Lord tells Joseph to continue the translation here. “Nevertheless, it is now restored unto you again; therefore see that you are faithful and continue on unto the finishing of the remainder of the work of translation as you have begun.” D&C 10:3

Read the 6-page article above of the proper translation, using the correct instruments found in Hill Cumorah.

Annotated Book of Mormon Information about a page 117?

After Joseph finished translating the original Book of Mormon Plates that were found in the stone box, Joseph asked if he should re translate the 116 lost pages and he was told, “Now, behold, I say unto you, that because you delivered up those writings which you had power given unto you to translate by the means of the Urim and Thummim, into the hands of a wicked man, you have lost them. And you also lost your gift at the same time, and your mind became darkened. Nevertheless, it is now restored unto you again; therefore see that you are faithful and continue on unto the finishing of the remainder of the work of translation as you have begun. D&C 10:1-3

“And now, because the account which is engraven upon the plates of Nephi is more particular concerning the things which, in my wisdom, I would bring to the knowledge of the people in this account— Therefore, you shall translate the engravings which are on the plates of Nephi, down even till you come to the reign of king Benjamin, or until you come to that which you have translated, which you have retained.* And behold, you shall publish it as the record of Nephi; and thus I will confound those who have altered my words. D&C 10:40-42

*Retained: Joseph apparently retained some of what he translated with Martin Harris; i.e., page 117. This may be Words of Mormon 1:12-18, which flow into Mosiah 1. The current Mosiah 1 was originally Mosiah 3; i.e., the first chapter and a half of Mosiah was included on the 116 pages that were stolen.” Annotated Book of Mormon by David Hocking and Rod Meldrum page xxxi (Also, see Appendix, “Two Sets of Plates,” p. 557.) Blog here

Quotes from D&C Commentary 1950

D&C Sec 3:19 Page 22 Commentary

The First Presidency in 1923 of Heber J Grant, Charles W. Penrose and Anthony W. Ivins and again in 1950 The Publication Committee of Joseph Fielding Smith, Harold B. Lee and Marion G. Romney, assigned by Pres George Albert Smith, approved some historical information from Church History that has much to do with Book of Mormon Geography. The last edition of the commentary was also published in 1978 by Deseret Book and approved by Pres Spencer W. Kimball, N. Eldon Tanner and Marion G. Romney.


Notice what D&C 3:19 says“And for this very purpose are these plates preserved, which contain these records—that the promises of the Lord might be fulfilled, which he made to his people;”

Notice what the Commentary from these inspired Prophets says:

(See Left) 19. For this very purpose) The Book of Mormon plates were preserved and translated in order that all these should be brought to a knowledge of the Savior. It may be concluded, then, that among the American Indians and the Polynesians who are mostly the descendants of the Lamanites, is also a sprinkling of the descendants of the Nephites who may have escaped the general destruction. D&C Sec 3 page 22 Doctrine and Covenants Commentary by Sjodahl and Smith

So the plates were preserved and translated in order that the Lamanites should be brought to a knowledge of the Savior and we understand that among the American Indians, not the South American or the Central American Indians, but the “American Indians” which lived right in the area of the Heartland during the restoration, were Lamanites.

Who were some of the Lamanites?. Those in the Pacific among the Maori’s.

Mormon missionaries in Māori village

“Polynesians are descendants of Lehi and blood relatives of the American Indians.” Peterson, Mark E., General Conference, April 1962.

“I would like to say to you brethren and sisters from New Zealand, you are some of Hagoth’s people, and there is no perhaps about it!” Joseph F. Smith As written in Robert E. Parsons, “Hagoth and the Polynesians,

“The best known and most important prophecy, as far as most New Zealand members of the Church are concerned, is that from Paora Potangaroa. In March 1881, Elder Matthew Cowley reported, a large convention was held among the Ngatikahungunu tribe. Many Maori chiefs assembled at Te Ore Ore, near Masterton, to discuss political, social, and religious problems. The established churches were well represented, but the chiefs shared a feeling of discontent about the lack of unity among them. Why, the natives asked, were there so many different churches within the bounds of Christianity?

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Kamariera Te Hau Takiri Wharepapa

Which one should the Maoris join so that unity could again be restored among them? After considerable debate and discussion, the chiefs decided to place the questions—specifically “Which of the churches is the church for the Maori race? Which of them should we join?”—before the most respected and wisest chief among them. This was Potangaroa, who, when asked the questions, answered with one word, “Taihoa,” which means “wait.” He retired to his own home and meditated, fasted, and prayed about the problem for three days. When he returned to the convention, he addressed his people, saying: “My friends, the church for the Maori people has not yet come among us. You will recognize it when it comes. Its missionaries will travel in pairs. They will come from the rising sun. They will visit with us in our homes. They will learn our language and teach us the gospel in our own tongue. When they pray they will raise their right hands.”Potangaroa then asked Ranginui Kingi to write his words as he continued to answer the questions which had been put to him. He called the transcription of his words “A covenant for remembering the hidden words which were revealed by the Spirit of Jehovah to Paora Potangaroa.” We again quote from Elder Cowley, who translated the document:

“First, this is the day of the fulness (1881).” Brother Cowley points out that later that year the fulness of the gospel was taken to the Maoris. Actually, President Bromley and his colleagues first visited a Maori village, Orakei, on March 6, 1881, ten days before the “covenant was given to the Maoris at Te Ore Ore. “Second, the year 1882 would be the year of the ‘sealing’ (or the year they would learn the sealing ordinances). Third, the year 1883 will be the year of ‘the honoring’—of ‘great faith’—as it is written: ‘render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.’ (Rom. 13:7)” In that year the Maoris began to honor the true God by rendering their dues to him and entering The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Members of the Ngatikahungunu tribe, especially, began to enter the Church in large numbers. The Te Ore Ore Branch was organized on December 16, 1883.The document concludes in these words: “This covenant is to be remembered by the generations which follow after us. And the fruits of that which is set forth above [in the covenants] are—we are the lost sheep of the House of Israel. [We will learn of] the scepter of Judah; of Shilo; of the king of peace; of the day of judgment; of the kingdom of heaven; of the sacred church with a large wall surrounding; of the increase of the race; of faith, love, peace, patience, judgment, unity. All this plan will be fulfilled by the people of Ngatikahungunu Tribe during the next forty years. “March 16, 1881Ranginui Kingi ”New Era 1981 by by R. Lanier BritschSee my blog here:https://www.bofm.blog/maoris-you-are-some-of-hagoths…/

Proof of the Existence of the Plates and the Urim and Thummim

D&C Sec 5 Page 30 

(See bottom of picture right) “31. Except Thou do this] Unless the Prophet followed the instructions here given, the plates and the sacred instrument would be taken from him.

This is a remarkable Revelation. It furnishes an irrefutable proof that the Prophet Joseph actually had the plates. He promised that Martin Harris, on certain conditions, which he could easily comply with, should obtain a view of them. Such a promise, if the records had not been in existence, would have been impossible to redeem. It would have been mere buffoonery. The fraud would have been detected at once. The promise was repeated a few months later (Sec 17) to two more witnesses. Joseph had the plates and the Urim and Thummim, and this Revelation proves the truth of that assertion.D&C Sec 5 Page 30 


A Clear Message- NO SEER STONE

“Cowdery Wrote the Entire Book (Save a few pages)by the means of the Urim and Thummim, or, as it is called by that Book, ’Holy Interpreters‘…”

D&C 6 Page 32-33

“According to his own statement at Council Bluffs on October 21st, 1848, Oliver Cowdery wrote the entire Book (save a few pages) as the words fell from the lips of the Prophet, “as he translated it by the gift and power of God, by the means of the Urim and Thummim, or, as it is called by that Book, ’holy interpreters.’” So that the testimony of Oliver Cowdery was as firm in 1848, two years before his death as it was in 1829, when he first accepted the gospel, although he had been outside the Church for eleven years. When Joseph and Oliver had been engaged on the Book of Mormon a few days, this Revelation was received.” So section 6 of the D&C was also received through the Urim and Thummim along with many other sections.

This is proof itself that Joseph could not only translate using the gift and power of God using the Urim and Thummim, but he did receive revelation as well. If you also look at section 7 in the preface it says, “Revelation given to Joseph Smith the Prophet and Oliver Cowdery, at Harmony, Pennsylvania, April 1829, when they inquired through the Urim and Thummim as to whether John, the beloved disciple, tarried in the flesh or had died. The revelation is a translated version of the record made on parchment by John and hidden up by himself.D&C 7: Preface. It says “they inquired“, did Oliver and Joseph both see this revelation using the Urim and Thummin? Who knows!

In the preface to the Original Edition, we find the following:

Before laying aside the pen, I may be permitted to express my grateful acknowledgment of the services rendered by Elder Orson F. Whitney and Elder Joseph Fielding Smith, of the Council of the Twelve, who, together with Elder Hyrum M. Smith, carefully read the manuscript of this Commentary before it was given to the printer; also to Elder George F. Richards, of the Council of the Twelve and President of the European mission, and to Elders John E. Cottam, George F. Richards, Jr., and Junius F. Wells, fellow-laborers int he British mission, for most valuable assistance.

Liverpool, May 1, 1919. J. M. Sjodahl.

Janne M. Sjodahl Deseret News Press, 1923, 1932. Reprinted in 1950, 1951, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1971, 1978.

Remember several other BofM geography items about the Cave at Cumorah and the visit of Nephi to Joseph in the wagon headed to Fayette, are found in my other blog here. A North American Setting fot the Book of Mormon is everywhere.

“Certain lands were given to Israel for an inheritance in time and in eternity. America is the land of Joseph; it was the home of Nephite Israel, who were of Joseph, for a thousand years, and it is the headquarters of the Church in this final dispensation in which the church and kingdom of God are in the lands of Ephraim.” 1985 – Elder Bruce R. McConkie

President Monson believes the United States is the Promised Land of the Book of Mormon. Why do Mesoamericanists believe the entire continent of the Americas is the Promised Land. You mean Greenland, Guatemala, and the Northwest Territories are the Promised Lands? I love all of God’s children in the entire world and God loves us all the same, but seriously??? If a person from Greenland comes to the United States legally as a citizen that person can also live in the Promised Land? I’m sure Greenland has muc beauty on its own, but it is not the Promised Land, is it? Please respondents be respectful. I am not belittling other lands. I’m just making a factual statement. Why is the United States and Israel the two Promised Lands? Because Christ said so. See 3 Nephi 20:22,29 By Rian Nelson

“The Lord gave a divine promise to the ancient inhabitants of this favored country (the United States): ‘Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ” (Ether 2:12).
“Our Heavenly Father inspired the leaders of…the United States of America, that they might together, under His direction, having been raised up by God for the purpose, establish the Constitution of this country and…Bill of Rights, that by the year of our Lord 1805 [there would be] a climate where our Heavenly Father could send into this period of mortality a choice spirit who would be known as Joseph Smith, Jr.” Teachings of Thomas S. Monson by Thomas S. Monson 2011 (Ordained an Apostle, 1963; ordained President of the Church, 2008) See my blog here about “Carefully Selected” Land

“The Position of this Church on the Subject of Communism has Never Changed”

Your vote today to save our Constitutional Republic, is needed now more than ever. Please vote for righteous, value driven candidates. This is a fight of God vs. Satan. The Lord will win, but we need to do our part or He can’t bless us.

Communism: A Statement of the Position of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by David O. McKay

Communism: A Statement of the Position of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsA statement by President David O. McKay concerning the position of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Communism.

“In order that there may be no misunderstanding by bishops, stake presidents, and others regarding members of the Church participating in nonchurch meetings to study and become informed on the Constitution of the United States, Communism, etc., I wish to make the following statements that I have been sending out from my office for some time and that have come under question by some stake authorities, bishoprics, and others.

Church members are at perfect liberty to act according to their own consciences in the matter of safeguarding our way of life. They are, of course, encouraged to honor the highest standards of the gospel and to work to preserve their own freedoms. They are free to participate in nonchurch meetings that are held to warn people of the threat of Communism or any other theory or principle that will deprive us of our free agency or individual liberties vouchsafed by the Constitution of the United States.

The Church, out of respect for the rights of all its members to have their political views and loyalties, must maintain the strictest possible neutrality. We have no intention of trying to interfere with the fullest and freest exercise of the political franchise of our members under and within our Constitution, which the Lord declared he established “by the hands of wise men whom [he] raised up unto this very purpose” (D&C 101:80) and which, as to the principles thereof, the Prophet Joseph Smith, dedicating the Kirtland Temple, prayed should be “established forever.” (D&C 109:54.) The Church does not yield any of its devotion to or convictions about safeguarding the American principles and the establishments of government under federal and state constitutions and the civil rights of men safeguarded by these.

The position of this Church on the subject of Communism has never changedWe consider it the greatest satanical threat to peace, prosperity, and the spread of God’s work among men that exists on the face of the earth.” Latter-day Conservative

Intellectuals and Scholars

Why is it that many intellectuals and scholars in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints seem to promote many Liberal ideas? (I also acknowledge many other Universities and Churches do the same). There are of course some uneducated or less educated members that do the same, but being smart makes it easier it seems to me to be part of that Great and Spacious building. I am not trying to cause contention, I am trying to awaken many of we who are, less educated members, scholarly speaking not spiritually speaking, of the true Church. Even though I don’t posses a college degree I believe I am a huge believer in common sense. You don’t need college education to feel in your heart right from wrong. The Holy Ghost has guided me all my life. Our education system has been overrun by cabals, and communists and agenda driven organizations. I include the liberal organization called the NEA.

It seems to me, “we have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion. D&C 121:39. This is one of the most true statements I have ever heard. I have struggled with being judgmental and seeking for glimpses of power at times in my life, and I fully understand the danger the Lord is speaking about. We must all remain repentant of wrong doing.

Drifting Towards Apostasy – Education in America and the Church
by Russ Barlow-

You will receiving fantastic insight to the challenges our world is having with what our children are being taught. Our friend Russ Barlow, gave an outstanding talk on the subject at our just completed conference.

All October presentations were recorded, and some are available now, and a few every week will be added. Subscribe or watch all 800 Current Videos NOW!

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Communism and a Holy Ghoster?

To me, Communism is included in many common evils in the world. It is in politics, business, families and governments. Communism is rampant in our education system and is the Gadianton robbers of our day. Why don’t we listen to our Prophets? Why is it that many think that the Prophet Joseph Smith, Pres Benson, Pres Kimball, Pres McKay and others are too conservative and simply as Leonard Arrington says, a “Holy Ghoster”, which means a silly conservative, or a religious zealot or something like that. They also claim David O. McKay, Joseph Fielding Smith, and other spiritual men are “Holy Ghoster’s”. (See the James and Hannah Stoddard Books on Faith Crisis 1 and Faith Crisis 2)

There is a new “Latter-day Saint Radical Orthodoxy” a Manifesto- WHAT? It’s a new liberal document created by many intellectuals. The “manifesto” says, “This polarization is driving members of the Church to spiritually dangerous extremes, tempting some Latter-day Saints to reduce fidelity to knee-jerk traditionalism and others to abandon fidelity for worldly philosophies.” I think good old traditionalism should be adhered to far more (90-10) than worldly philosophies. I am afraid that a 50/50 split with both has a better chance of making you a worldly philosophizer than keeping you as a wonderful traditionalist.” Latter-day Saint Radical Orthodoxy a Manifesto

This manifesto reminds me of what Elder Packer said, “To you who may have lost your way, come back! We know how that can happen; we have walked that path of research and study. Come help us!—you with your scholarship and your training, you with your bright, intelligent minds, you with your experience and with your academic degrees.” The Mantle Is Far, Far Greater Than the Intellect Elder Boyd K. Packer

Traditionalists vs Progressives

“Traditionalists believe that progressives are destined to inherit ignorance because they reject revelation. Progressives believe that traditionalists are mired in ignorance because they do not fully accept and embrace the philosophies and teachings of the learned. Regardless of which position one takes, nearly all agree—an unbridgeable gulf separates the two.” FAITH CRISIS: Did the LDS Church Lie? (Part 1) We Were NOT Betrayed! By James and Hannah Stoddard” One-Footers” vs Traditionalists

Do you want to hear an amazing Traditionalist’s podcast? His name is Jaren O’Driscoll and he will be a special guest at our FIRM Foundation Conference. He will have a vendor table and will be interviewing many of you at his table. He is a true Mormon Traditionalist. His amazing podcast can be heard here: https://mormon-traditionalist-podcast.simplecast.com/episodes/episode-1-is-this-for-you

Jaren is a fellow Heartlander and one who loves the Lord and refutes the belief of the Mesoamerican theory and to those who believe it as “one footers” One foot in the gospel and one foot in Progressivism. You will love his humor and candor.

Mormon Traditionalist Podcast

“In relation to the Kingdom of God-the devil always sets up his kingdom at the very same time in opposition to God…” Joseph Smith Jr. Satan wasted no time in setting up his kingdom of lies and deception as God began to establish His. He has corrupted the mainstream narrative of the restoration of the gospel, Joseph Smith’s character, Book of Mormon Geography, history and science. He twists all of these topics by avoiding proper context through lies of omission to draw people from the truth. And the engine he has selected to run his assault in the last days is progressivism.

Prophets of the Book of Mormon exposed the values of Progressivism as evil and modern day prophets have called out the progressive movement as evil directly. Socialism. Communism. Humanism. Darwinism. All labeled as evil by God’s chosen mouthpiece in the latter days, yet still promoted by many church members and even taught unapologetically at BYU. Alma testified that all things denote that there is a God. The evidence is there for everyone to see. But you have to be willing to see it. And you better be bold and stand for that truth when you find it, especially when the mainstream narrative (Satan’s narrative) attacks it. “The devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built…” Helaman 5:12 The truth is increasingly unpopular, and members of the church are far too often eager to compromise their beliefs to appease the views of others. It’s time for members to decide what’s more important to them, the gospel or their world view?” Jaren O’Driscoll

Ezra Taft Benson

The Ezra Taft Benson talk from 25 Oct 1966, at a BYU Devotional  is a sobering reminder of some evil people in the church with an agenda (revising church history by quoting the intellectuals and apostates and ignoring the prophets). Ezra Taft Benson said to avoid being deceived, look to the Prophet. Listen to his entire talk at https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/ezra-taft-benson/immediate-responsibility/

At the 32:07-33:02 mark, just before the above quote, President Ezra Taft Benson states the following.

“We all have stewardships for which we must account to the Lord. Unfortunately, some men who do not honor their stewardships may have an adverse effect on many people. Often the greater the man’s responsibility, the more good or evil he can accomplish. The Lord usually gives a man a long enough rope and sufficient time to determine whether that man wants to pull himself into the presence of God or drop off somewhere below. There are some regrettable things being said and done by some people in the church today. As President Clark so well warned, the ravening wolves are amongst us. From our own membership and they more than any others are clothed in sheep’s clothing because they wear the habiliments of the priesthood. We should be careful of them.”

A question for the Elders 55 Years Ago

“For years we have heard of the role the elders could play in saving the Constitution from total destruction. But how can the elders be expected to save it if they have not studied it and are not sure if it is being destroyed or what is destroying it.Ezra Taft Benson

Do we Love and Understand our Role as Enos did?

“…I began to feel a desire for the welfare of my brethren, the Nephites; wherefore, I did pour out my whole soul unto God for them.

And while I was thus struggling in the spirit, behold, the voice of the Lord came into my mind again, saying: I will visit thy brethren according to their diligence in keeping my commandments. I have given unto them this land, and it is a holy land; and I curse it not save it be for the cause of iniquity; wherefore, I will visit thy brethren according as I have said; and their transgressions will I bring down with sorrow upon their own heads.

And I had faith, and I did cry unto God that he would preserve the records; and he covenanted with me that he would bring them forth unto the Lamanites in his own due time. Enos 1: 9-10, 16

Are Gadianton’s Among Us?

“The Book of Mormon teaches that secret combinations engaged in crime present a serious challenge, not just to individuals and families but to entire civilizations. Among today’s secret combinations are gangs, drug cartels, and organized crime families. The secret combinations of our day function much like the Gadianton robbers of the Book of Mormon times. They have secret signs and code words. They participate in secret rites and initiation ceremonies. Among their purposes are to “murder, and plunder, and steal, and commit whoredoms and all manner of wickedness, contrary to the laws of their country and also the laws of their God.”

If we are not careful, today’s secret combinations can obtain power and influence just as quickly and just as completely as they did in Book of Mormon times.” M. Russell Ballard Standing for Truth and Right

The warnings below from Elder Benson are unbelievably accurate. Who better to learn from than a Prophet of God who also served in our government? In this article when Elder Benson speaks about 1966, I add something from 2021 which is an amazing 55 years ago. Both the counsel from Elder Benson and the news I share today are the same. If they were and are problems at both times, then it means now in 2021 we are more evil than ever before. Why haven’t we heeded the warnings? How can we improve?

Our Immediate Responsibility Ezra Taft Benson 1966

“President Wilkinson, distinguished members of the faculty, members and friends of this great student body, my brothers and sisters. This is a signal honor, a very great pleasure and a challenging responsibility. Humbly and gratefully I stand before you this morning.

Personal Convictions

Because of the nature of the message I bring to you, I have committed most of it to writing. I shall speak to you frankly and honestly. What I shall say are my personal convictions born out of an active life which has taken me into some forty-five nations and brought me close to the insidious forces that would destroy our way of life in this choice land. I express these convictions and warnings today because of my love for you and our beloved country.

Insidious describes something as being sneaky or being secretly dangerous or harmful. Insidious also describes something as being corrupting or intending to entrap. The word insidious is used to describe something as being stealthy, treacherous, or operating in the shadows. Dictionary.com

A Message of Warning

“The message I bring is not a happy one, but it is the truth – and time is always on the side of truth. I take as my theme the words of President David O. McKay, God’s mouthpiece on the earth today, a Prophet of God,

“The position of this church on the subject of communism has never changed. We consider it the greatest satanical threat to peace, prosperity and the spread of God’s work among men that exists on the face of this earth.” (Conference Report, April, 1966, p. 109.)

“No greater immediate responsibility rests upon the members of the church, upon all citizens of this republic and of neighboring republics than to protect the freedom vouchsafed by the Constitution of the United States.” (The Instructor, August, 1953)

In the days of the Prophet Noah, men had no greater immediate responsibility than to repent and board the Ark. Now in our day, the day of the Prophet David O. McKay, he has said that we have no greater immediate responsibility than to protect the freedom vouchsafed by the Constitution of the United States.

At the last general conference of the church (October 1966), President McKay, in his opening address, said,

“Efforts are being made to deprive man of his free agency – to steal from the individual his liberty…. There has been an alarming increase in the abandoning of the ideals that constitute the foundation of the Constitution of the United States.” Ezra Taft Benson

Does BYU Teach Truth or Theory? Both!

“I do not know all of the providences of the Lord, but I do know that he permits false doctrine to be taught in and out of the Church and that such teaching is part of the sifting process of mortality.” Bruce R. McConkie, McConkie’s 1981 letter to BYU

See the blog here

LDS Lawyer- Nephites in North America: New DNA

Lenet Hadley Read

Get ready to be blown away. More evidence has come forth about Hebrew DNA in North America. You know our wonderful FIRM Foundation presenter named Lenet Hadley Read? Now meet her amazing son. Read about Lent’s article, How the Bible Came to Be.

Lenet Hadley Read is well known for her articles in the Ensign, especially her eight-part series on the Bible that ran from January to September 1982. Her first published article won the Silver Award for Religious Literature competition offered by Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. In high school and college, the author was an active debater, winning the state high school debate championship and competing and placing in regional and national tournaments. In 1959 she received a B.A. in English from Brigham Young University.

This Is My Sign: Seven Heavenly Signs Manifest It Is “The Last Days”

David Read JD law, Patent Attorney,  Judge

Presentation Just completed Oct. 22, 2022
“Why Lehi’s Y-Chromosome DNA was Likely Y-DNA Haplogroup Q or R, and What that Means for the Book of Mormon”

Look for it to be on our streaming site in a few weeks here: bookofmormonevidence.org/streaming
Also see his talk called, Nephites in North America: New DNA Evidence”

Despite popular belief, the currently available DNA evidence supports the Book of Mormon. Critics who attempt to rely on DNA evidence to attack the truth of the Book of Mormon misinterpret or misconstrue what the DNA evidence actually shows.

In his presentation, Mr. Read will present more DNA evidence that has recently come to light supporting Book of Mormon claims. As one example, Mr. Read will discuss further scientific studies which again confirm that mitochondrial DNA haplogroup X (previously publicized by Rod Meldrum) is found among Native Americans and originated in the Middle East. Indeed, one recent study found a variety of haplogroup X in Egypt that is just one mutation away from the type found in Native Americans, which undermines the critics’ previous claims that Native American haplotype X2a has “too many mutations” from the haplogroup X haplotypes found in the Middle East to fit a Book of Mormon time frame for a migration from the Middle East to the Americas.

Mr. Read will also present new DNA evidence regarding Y DNA haplogroup R, which is a second non-Asian DNA type found in large numbers among some Native American groups. Mr. Read will present evidence showing that this non-Asian DNA type also predates Columbus and has a distribution pattern in common with haplogroup X. This means that there is now a second and separate line of DNA evidence that corroborates the haplogroup X information and is again consistent with the Book of Mormon. Finally, Mr. Read will explain the significance of recent findings about an ancient Native American skeleton known as Kennewick Man, whose DNA is haplogroup X, but whose carbon dating has been commonly reported as being over 8,000 years old. Because of the reported carbon dating, Kennewick Man is now often used by critics to argue that haplogroup X in the Americas predates Book of Mormon timeframes. However, this again misconstrues the evidence. Mr. Read will demonstrate that a more complete analysis of the carbon dating for Kennewick Man shows that his correct age is within Book of Mormon time frames and once again supports the DNA evidence in favor of the Book of Mormon.

David possesses many intellectual interests. Before finishing his Juris Doctorate in law and becoming a patent attorney and later a judge, he earned undergraduate degrees in chemistry and philosophy. Over the past 10 years, he has completed a considerable amount of research into the historical authenticity of the Book of Mormon with a particular emphasis on DNA evidence related to the Book of Mormon. Through this research, he has recently uncovered additional DNA evidence that corroborates and supports the historical authenticity of the Book of Mormon.

David is an accomplished researcher. Over his career as a patent attorney, he has collaborated with inventors in numerous scientific fields. These include pharmaceuticals, medical devices, firearms, computer software, hybrid vehicles, battery technologies, pollution control technologies, textile manufacturing equipment, diesel and gasoline engines, chemical testing equipment, agricultural chemicals, turbocharging systems, fuels, coal gasification, and power plant technologies. In each of these areas, he researched and came up to speed on the state-of-the-art knowledge in the field to thoroughly understand the new invention and the scientific consensus, interacted with experts in that field, and assessed and argued whether an invention was new or would be obvious to other experts in that scientific field. His work required him to reliably evaluate the state of established scientific knowledge in various scientific fields. He has taken that experience and applied it here to the DNA evidence related to Native Americans.

David lives in Michigan. He and his wife Barbara have five children: Amy, Charlotte, Sarah, Seth, and Matthew. David currently serves as the Sunday School President in his ward.

David Read  Face of a Nephite Kennewick Man Has Haplogroup X DNA

Purchase Here

“Nephites in North America: New DNA Evidence”
Despite popular belief, the currently available DNA evidence supports the Book of Mormon. Critics who attempt to rely on DNA evidence to attack the truth of the Book of Mormon misinterpret or misconstrue what the DNA evidence actually shows. In this presentation, Mr. Read will present more DNA evidence that has recently come to light supporting Book of Mormon claims.

As one example, Mr. Read will discuss further scientific studies which again confirm that mitochondrial DNA haplogroup X (previously publicized by Rod Meldrum) is found among Native Americans and originated in the Middle East. Indeed, one recent study found a variety of haplogroup X in Egypt that is just one mutation away from the type found in Native Americans, which undermines the critics’ previous claims that Native American haplotype X2a has “too many mutations” from the haplogroup X haplotypes found in the Middle East to fit a Book of Mormon timeframe for a migration from the Middle East to the Americas.

Mr. Read will also present new DNA evidence regarding Y DNA haplogroup R, which is a second non-Asian DNA type found in large numbers among some Native American groups. Mr. Read will present evidence showing that this non-Asian DNA type also predates Columbus and has a distribution pattern in common with haplogroup X. This means that there is now a second and separate line of DNA evidence that corroborates the haplogroup X information and is again consistent with the Book of Mormon.

Finally, Mr. Read will explain the significance of recent findings about an ancient Native American skeleton known as Kennewick Man, whose DNA is haplogroup X, but whose carbon dating has been commonly reported as being over 8,000 years old. Because of the reported carbon dating, Kennewick Man is now often used by critics to argue that haplogroup X in the Americas predates Book of Mormon timeframes. However, this again misconstrues the evidence. Mr. Read will demonstrate that a more complete analysis of the carbon dating for Kennewick Man shows that his correct age is within Book of Mormon timeframes and once again supports the DNA evidence in favor of the Book of Mormon.
David possesses many intellectual interests. Before finishing his juris doctorate in law and becoming a patent attorney and later a judge, he earned undergraduate degrees in chemistry and philosophy. Over the past 10 years, he has completed a considerable amount of research into the historical authenticity of the Book of Mormon with a particular emphasis on DNA evidence related to the Book of Mormon. Through this research, he has recently uncovered additional DNA evidence that corroborates and supports the historical authenticity of the Book of Mormon.
David is an accomplished researcher. Over his career as a patent attorney, he has collaborated with inventors in numerous scientific fields. These include pharmaceuticals, medical devices, firearms, computer software, hybrid vehicles, battery technologies, pollution control technologies, textile manufacturing equipment, diesel and gasoline engines, chemical testing equipment, agricultural chemicals, turbocharging systems, fuels, coal gasification, and power plant technologies. In each of these areas, he researched and came up to speed on the state-of-the-art knowledge in the field to thoroughly understand the new invention and the scientific consensus, interacted with experts in that field, and assessed and argued whether an invention was new or would be obvious to other experts in that scientific field. His work required him to reliably evaluate the state of established scientific knowledge in various scientific fields. He has taken that experience and applied it here to the DNA evidence related to Native Americans.

David lives in Michigan. He and his wife Barbara have five children: Amy, Charlotte, Sarah, Seth, and Matthew. David currently serves as the Sunday School President in his ward.