Book of Mormon Evidence

Heber J Grant in London

“I rejoice in the work that is being accomplished both at home and abroad. I rejoice in the manifestations of the Spirit of God, that come to each and every one of our elders who faithfully perform the duties devolving upon them. I rejoice in the fact that God opens the way and prepares the hearts of the honest in every land and clime, wherever this Gospel of Jesus Christ has gone. It is also a source of joy and satisfaction to me that, in all my journeys at home and abroad, wherever I go, wherever I mingle with people, I am constantly receiving additional evidence and testimony regarding the divinity of this work in which we are engaged, As I journeyed away from home, and as I mingled with people, I would feel sorrowful if I had constantly been finding objections to the plan of life and salvation, that required exertion on my part to explain away. It would be a source of regret if I were constantly finding obstacles in the path, regarding the divinity of the work of God, which we have espoused. But, I have never found any such obstacles: I have never found anything that needed to be explained away: everything points to the divinity of the work.

“While listening to the remarks of Brother Ivins, referring to a book that was written by one of our enemies, in which the statement is made that there is not a particle of evidence to show that there is any trace of the Hebrew among the people who anciently inhabited this country, and that there is no evidence that would go to prove that the Book of Mormon is true. I was reminded of a little item of evidence that came under my observation while I was in the City of London. A gentleman there, to whom a very dear friend of mine, Col. Alex. G. Hawes, had given me a letter, kindly invited a number of newspaper men to his home to meet me. I am very sorry that the newspaper men declined the honor; but I had the privilege of meeting with this man and his family, and a few friends, and conversing with them. One of his friends had been a member of the British legation at Constantinople and had spent a considerable portion of his life there. He had traveled all over the holy land and was familiar with the people and their customs. Among other things, he said: “Mr. Grant, I was astonished beyond measure, when I visited Canada, to find there oriental patterns woven in beads, by the American Indians. They were the same patterns that were woven in rugs, in the oriental countries. I have traveled extensively, and I had never seen those oriental patterns in any part of the world except in the holy land, until I found them among the North American Indians. Those patterns have been handed down for hundreds of years, from generation to generation ; they are kept in families, and can be found nowhere else; and how under the heavens those Indians, who have no connection with the people of the holy land, should have the same patterns is a mystery to me.” “Well, mv friend,” I said, “if I were to inform you that the forefathers of these American Indians came from the city of Jerusalem, that would explain it, wouldn’t it?” He replied, “Well, of course, it would.” I asked him if he had ever read the Book of Mormon. He said, “No.” “Well, it will be my pleasure to send you a copy, and from it you will learn that the forefathers of the American Indians came from Jerusalem.” “Well,” he said, “that explains the mystery; I am much obliged for the book.” Now, the one thing for us to do, as Latter-day Saints, is to be loyal, to be true, to be patriotic, to be honest with God; then we need have no fear of what the world may say about us. We have the truth, and we know it, thank God; we know it, though the world may not know it. Let us follow the admonition of the Savior, and let our light so shine that other men seeing our good deeds shall glorify God.” ELDER HEBER J. GRANT 79th Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints April 4th, 5th, and 6th, 1909, page 111-113

“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

THE AMERICAN INDIAN (UH-NISH-IK-NA-BA) by ELIJAH M. HAINES

From this book, THE AMERICAN INDIAN (UH-NISH-IK-NA-BA) by ELIJAH M. HAINES we will show the similarity in some of the Indian languages, to the Hebrew, and that the former must have been derived from the latter. I have edited just one chapter of over 833 pages which focuses on Chapter IV, Affinity with the Jews. This may be a lengthy blog, but it is amazing how much information you will receive about the similarities of our Book of Mormon Lamanites with the Tribe of Judah from Israel. You will also enjoy some of the old pictures which come from this amazing book.

You will also enjoy the online links to other wonderful books written long ago about the Native Americans of the United States. I know they are the honored brothers of Manasseh and it is our duty as Ephraim to bring us together again with the Book of Mormon. To Purchase the Annotated Book of Mormon Click Here!

THE AMERICAN INDIAN (UH-NISH-IK-NA-BA).
The Whole Subject Complete in One Volume Illustrated with Numerous Appropriate Engravings. By ELIJAH M. HAINES. CHICAGO: THE MAS-SIN-NA’-GAX COMPANY, 1888. Page 99-114

The subject of the American Indian has ever been one of peculiar interest to the ethnologist and student of history; but at no time since the discovery of America has it attracted so much attention as is being given to it at the present day. Volumes upon volumes have been written concerning it in its varied relations, but still it is not exhausted; and indeed the changing circumstances of the American race present at this day a phase of this subject, calling for its renewed presentation in more complete and comprehensive form.

Amidst the vast number of books published concerning this mysterious people since the discovery of America, there seems to be none now in print presenting their history in a succinct classified form, at the same time reaching out and taking in every phase of the Indian subject, to the satisfaction of the general reader.

This book has therefore been prepared with reference to this long felt want, and is such a work as the public mind and student of history now seem to demand. As the title indicates, it comprises ‘the whole Indian subject in complete and comprehensive form. In other words, it is a sort of cyclopaedia on the subject of the’ American Indian in all its phases and bearings as shown by the table of contents following; grouping together in condensed form, and within such limited space as the subject will admit of, the varied information comprised in that vast field of research in American history, not to be found in any single work of this kind heretofore published, containing many special features, which are highly interesting and valuable to the general reader.

https://archive.org/stream/americanindianu01haingoog/americanindianu01haingoog_djvu.txt

Photograph (Left) of Elijah M. Haines, Illinois politician from Lake County and former Speaker of the Illinois House.

CHAPTER IV. AFFINITY WITH THE JEWS.

Opinion of James Adair-The Indians Descended from the People of Israel-He Assigns Twenty-three Arguments for this Opinion— Similarity Between the Languages — Comparison of Words and Sentences— Opinion of Be v. Jedidiah Morse— Similarity of Religious Customs— Dr. Boudinot Favors this Theory— Rev. Ethan Smith— Evidence in Favor of this Theory— The Indians Acknowledge but One Great Spirit like the Jews— Father Charlevoix Presents Evidence in Support of this Theory— Indians Were Never Known to Worship Images— Evidence of William Penn — Features of the Face like the Hebrews — And so with Dress t Trinkets and Ornaments— Their Fasts and Feasts, like the Jews— They Reckon by Moons and Count Time like the Hebrews— Have their Prophets— Abstain from Unclean Things — Salute the Dawn of Morning by Devotional Ceremony — In their Lodge Tales and Traditions Twelve Brothers are Spoken of— Custom in Mourning for the Dead, like the Jews— Have a Custom of Burnt Offerings— Had a Custom like the Jews of Anointing the Head— The Indian Medicine Lodge Corresponded to the Jewish Synagogue — Had a Secret Order Resembling that of the Jews— Their Medicine Man Corresponded to the “Wise Men,” Matthew II, 1 — The Bow and Arrow was Common to the Jews— The Indian Tent was like that of the Jews — Lived in Tribes like the Jews.

Many writers have given special attention to an inquiry into the subject of the American aborigines, with reference to discovering an affinity of this people with the Jews, or people of Israel.

Among the class of writers aforesaid is Mr.James Adair, who resided forty years among the American tribes, and who wrote a book (here) on the subject, which was published about the year 1775, in which he, without hesitation, declares that the American aborigines are descendants from the Israelites, and so complete is his conviction on this head, that he declares he finds a perfect and undisputable similitude in each. He says: “From the most accurate observations I could make, in the long time I traded among the Indians of America, I was forced to believe them lineally descended from the tribes of Israel.”

AFFINITY WITH THE JEWS. Page 99

Among the early authorities cited, to show that the American Indians are descendants from the Israelites, Mr. Adair seems to be the principal one, and since his time, all writers who have favored his views, refer with unreserved confidence to the evidence furnished by him to this end.

One of the earnest writers in support of this theory in later times, is Rev. Ethan Smith, of Poultney, Vt , as shown in his book entitled “ View of the Hebrew, or the Tribes of Israel in America,” published in 1825, wherein he undertakes to prove, citing Mr. Adair and others, that the American Indians are descendants from the Lost Tribes of Israel.

Mr. Smith sums up the arguments of Mr. Adair that the natives of this continent are of the ten tribes of Israel, to the following effect: 1. Their division into tribes. 2. Their worship of Jehovah. 3. Their notions of a theocracy. 4. Their belief in the administration of angels. 5. Their language and dialects. 6. Their manner of counting time. 7. Their prophets and high priests. 8. Their festivals, fasts and religious rites. 9. Their daily sacrifice. 10. Their ablutions and anointings. 11. Their laws of uncleanliness. 12. Their abstinence from unclean things. 13. Their marriage, divorces and punishments of adultery. 14. Their several punishments. 15. Their cities of refuge. 16. Their purifications and preparatory ceremonies. 17. Their ornaments. 18. Their manner of curing the sick. 19. Their burial of the dead. 20. Their mourning for the dead. 21. Their raising seed to a deceased brother. 22. Their change of names adapted to their circumstances and times. 23. Their own traditions; the account of English writers ; and the testimonies given by Spaniards and other writers of the primitive inhabitants of Mexico and Peru.

Many of those who contend for Jewish origin of the American Indian insist that evidence of this fact is found in the languages of the Indians, which appear clearly to have been derived from the Hebrew. This is the opinion expressed by Mr. Adair, in which Dr. Edwards having a good knowledge of some of the Indian languages, concurs and gives his reasons for believing this people to have been originally Hebrew.

The languages of the Indians and of the Hebrews, he remarks, are both found without prepositions, and are formed with prefixes and suffixes, a thing not common to other languages; and he says that not only the words, but the construction of phrases in both are essentially the same. The Indian pronoun, as well as other nouns, he remarks, are manifestly from the Hebrews. The Indian laconic, bold, and commanding figures of speech, Mr. Adair notes as exactly agreeing with the genius of the Hebrew language.

THE AMERICAN INDIAN. 100

Relative to the Hebraism of their figure, Mr. Adair gives the following instance from an address of a captain to his warriors, on going to battle: “I know that your guns are burning in your hands; your tomahawks are thirsting to drink the blood of your enemies ; your trusty arrows are impatient to be upon the wing ; and lest delay should burn your hearts any longer, I give you the cool refreshing words: Join the holy ark; and away to cut off the devoted enemy”

A table of words and phrases is furnished by Dr. Boudinot, Adair and others, to show the similarity, in some of the Indian languages, to the Hebrew, and that the former must have been derived from the latter. The following is an example afforded from the sources quoted:

Rev. Jedidiah Morse, in big tour among the Western Indians, says of the Indians language: “It is highly metaphorical; and in this and other respects they resemble the Hebrew.” ” This resemblance in their language” he adds, “and the similarity of many of their religious customs to those of the Hebrews, certainly give plausibility to the ingenious theory of Dr. Boudinot, exhibited in his interesting work, the Star in the West”

Dr. Boudinot speaks of some Indians at a place called Cohocks, who called the high mountain at the west Ararat He says that the Penobscot Indians called a high mountain by the same name ; that he himself attended an Indian religious dance, concerning which he remarks:

“They dance one round; and then a second, singing hal-hal-hal, till they finished the round. They then gave us a third round, striking up the words le-le-le. On the next round it was the words, lu-lu-lu, dancing with all their might During the fifth round was yah-yah-yah. Then all joined in a lively and joyful chorus, and sung halleluyah ; dwelling on each syllable with a very long breath, in a most pleasing manner.” And he says, “there could be no deception in all this. Their pronunciation was very gutteral and sonorous, but distinct and clear.”

Rev. Ethan Smith, in his book before mentioned, remarking on this circumstance, says: “How could it be possible that the wild native Americans, in different parts of the continent, should be found singing this phrase of praise to the Great First Cause, or to Jah —exclusively Hebrew, without having brought it down by tradition from ancient Israel ? The positive testimonies of such men as Boudinot and Adair are not to be dispensed with nor doubted. They testify what they have seen and heard. And I can conceive of no rational way to account for this Indian song, but that they brought it down from ancient Israel, their ancestors.”

Dr. Boudinot further says of the Indians: ” Their languages in their roots, idioms and particular construction, appear to have the whole genius of the Hebrew; and what is very remarkable have most of the peculiarities of that language, especially those in which it differs from most other languages.”

It is also insisted by many, as further evidence showing the Jewish origin of the American Indian, that they have had their imitation of the ark of the covenant in ancient Israel. Rev. Ethan Smith says, that different travelers, and from different regions, unite in this, and refers to the fact that Mr. Adair is full in his account of it. He describes it as a small square box, made convenient to carry on the back; that the Indians never set it on the ground, but on rocks in low ground where stones were not to be had, and on stones where they are to be found. Mr. Adair, in reference to this matter, says:

“It is worthy of notice that they never place the ark on the ground, nor set it on the bare earth when they are carrying it against an enemy. On hilly ground, where stones are plenty, they place it on them. But in level land, upon short logs, always resting themselves (i. e. the carriers of the ark) on the same materials. They have also as strong a faith of the power and holiness of their ark as ever the Israelites retained of theirs. The Indian ark is deemed so sacred and dangerous to touch, either by their own sanctified warriors, or the spoiling enemy, that neither of them dare meddle with it on any account. It is not to be handled by any except the chieftain and his waiter, under penalty of incurring great evil; nor would the most inveterate enemy dare to touch it. The leader virtually acts the part of a priest of war, pro tempore, in imitation of the Israelites fighting under the divine military banner.”

It is said that among all the aboriginal tribes and nations of both North and South America, whatever may have been said by the Spaniards to the contrary, they acknowledged one, and only one God, and this again is taken by the advocates of the Jewish origin of the American Indians as further proof that this people are descendants of the Jews. Dr. Boudinot says of the Indians, that they were never known, whatever mercenary Spaniards may have written to the contrary, to pay the least adoration to images or dead persons, to celestial luminaries, to evil spirits, or to any created beings whatever ; in which Mr. Adair concurs, adding that none of the numerous tribes and nations, from Hudson Bay to them Mississippi, have ever been known to attempt the formation of any image of God. On this subject Rev. Ethan Smith says:

“Du Pratz was very intimate with the chief of those Indians called ‘ The Guardians of the Temple,’ near the Mississippi (Book Here). (He inquired of them the nature of their worship. The chief informed him that they worshipped the great and most perfect Spirit, and said: * He is so great and powerful, that in comparison with him all others are as nothing. He made all things that we see, and all things that we cannot see.’ The chief went on to speak of God as having made little spirits, called free servants, who always stand before the Great Spirit, ready to do his will. That ‘ the air is filled with spirits, some good, some bad, and that the bad have a chief who is more wicked than the rest.’ Here, it seems, is their traditional notion of good and bad angels, and of Beelzebub, the chief of the latter. This chief, being asked how God made man, replied that ‘ God kneaded some clay, made it into a little man, and, finding it was well formed, he blew on his work, and the man had life and grew up.’ Being asked of the creation of the woman, he said that ‘ their ancient speech made no mention of any difference, only that the man was made first Moses 9 account of the formation of the woman, it seems, had been lost 1 “

Charlevoix, speaking of the Indian traits and religious customs, and in reference to their resembling the Jews, says: ” The greatest Part of their Feasts, their Songs and their Dances, appear to me to have had their Rise from Religion, and still to preserve some Traces of it; but one must have good eyes, or rather a very lively imagination, to perceive in them all that some travelers have pretended to discover. I have met with some who could not help thinking that our savages were descended from the Jews, and found in everything some affinity between these barbarians and the people of God. There is, indeed, a resemblance in some things, as not to use knives in certain meals, and not to break the bones of the beast they ate at those times, and the separation of the women during the time of their usual infirmities. Some persons, they say, have heard them, or thought they heard them, pronounce the word Hallelujah in their songs. But who can believe that when they pierce their ears and noses they do it in pursuance of the law of circumcision ? On the other hand, don’t we know that the custom of circumcision is more ancient than the law that was given to Abraham and his posterity. The feast they made at the return of the hunters, and of which they must leave nothing, has also been taken for a kind of burnt offering, or for a remain of the passover of the Israelites ; and rather, they say, because when any one cannot compass his portion, he may get the assistance of his neighbors, as was practiced by the people of God, when a family was not sufficient to eat the whole Paschal Lamb.”

Rev. Ethan Smith, in his book before mentioned, refers to a letter from Mr. Calvin Cushman, missionary among the Choctaws, to a friend in Plainfield, Mass., in 1824, in which he says:

” By information received from Father Hoyt respecting the former traditions, rites and ceremonies of the Indians of this region, I think there is much reason to believe they are descendants of Abraham. They have had cities of refuge, feasts of first fruits, sacrifices of the firstlings of the flock, which had to be perfect, without blemish or deformity, a bone of which must not be broken. They were never known to worship images, nor to offer sacrifices to any God made with hands. They all have some idea and belief of the Great Spirit Their feasts, holy days, etc., were regulated by sevens, as to time, i. e., seven sleeps, seven moons, seven years, etc They had a kind of box containing some kind of substance which was considered sacred, and kept an entire secret from the common people. Said box was borne by a number of men who were considered pure or holy (if I mistake not, such a box was kept by the Cherokees). And whenever they went to war with another tribe they carried this box; and such was its purity in their view that nothing would justify its being rested on the ground. A clean rock or scaffold of timber only was considered sufficiently pure for a resting place for this sacred coffer. And such was the veneration of all of the tribes for it, that whenever the party retaining it was defeated and obliged to leave it on the field of battle, the conquerors would by no means touch it. “ The celebrated William Penn, who saw the Indians of the eastern shore of the continent before they had been affected by the ill-treatment of the white people, in a letter to a friend in England concerning this people, says:

” I found them with like countenances with the Hebrew race; and their children of so lively a resemblance to them that a man would think himself in Duke’s place, or Barry street, in London, when he  sees them.” Here, without the least previous idea of those natives being Israelites, that shrewd man was struck with their perfect resemblance of them, and with other things which will be noted. He speaks of their dress and trinkets as notable like those of ancient Israel ; their earrings, nose jewels, bracelets on their arms and legs (such as they were), on their fingers, necklaces made of polished shells found in their rivers and on their coasts, bands, shells and feathers ornamenting the heads of females, and various strings of beads adorning several parts of the body.

Mr. Penn further adds that the worship of this people consists in two parts, sacrifices and cantos (songs). The first is with their first fruits, and the first buck they kill goes to the fire; and that all who go to this feast must take a piece of money, which is made of the bone of a fish. (” None shall appear before me empty.”) He speaks of the agreement of their rites with those of the Jews, and adds:

“They reckon by moons; they offer their first ripe fruits; they have a kind of feast of tabernacles; they are said to lay their altars with twelve stones; they mourn a year; they have their separation of women; with many other things that do not now occur.” Here is a most artless testimony given by that notable man, drawn from his own observations and accounts given by him, while the thought of this people’s being actually Hebrew was probably most distant from his mind. William Penn visits the Indians

Mr. Adair says that the southern Indians have a tradition that their ancestors once had a sanctified rod, which budded in one night’s time, which is held by some to be a tradition of Aaron’s rod. Some tribes of Indians, it is said, had, among their numerous feasts, one which they called the hunter’s feast,answering, it is claimed by some, to the Pentecost in ancient Israel, and which is described as follows:

“They choose twelve men, who provide twelve deer. Each of the twelve men cuts a sapling ; with these they form a tent, covered with blankets. They then choose twelve stones for an altar of sacrifice. Some tribes, he observes, choose but ten men, ten poles, and ten stones. Here seems an evident allusion to the twelve tribes, and also to some idea of the ten separate tribes of Israel. Upon the stones of their altar they suffered no tool to pass. No tool might pass upon a certain altar in Israel.”

In their feasts of first ripe fruits, or green corn, the custom of the Indians is to eat none of their corn or first fruit till a part is given to God. In the Indian feasts they had their sacred songs and dances, singing Hallelujah, Tohewa, in syllables which compose the words, and it is asked what other nation besides the Hebrews and Indians ever attempted the worship of Jehovah.

Mr. Adair, in further support of his theory, says: “As the nation had its particular symbol, so each tribe has the badge from which it is denominated The sachem of each tribe is a necessary party in con- veyances and treaties, to which he affixes the mark of his tribe. If we go from nation to nation among them we shall not find one who doth not lineally distinguish himself by his respective family. The genealogical names which they assume are derived either from the names of those animals whereof the cherubim are said in revelation to be compounded, or from such creatures as are most familiar to them. They call some of their tribes by the names of cherubimical figures that were carried on four principal standards of Israel.”

The Indians count time after the manner of the Hebrews. They divide the year into spring, summer, autumn and winter. They number their years from any of those four periods, for they have no name for a year, and they subdivide these and count the year by lunar months, like the Israelites who counted by moons. They begin a year at the first appearance of the first new moon of the vernal equinox, according to the ecclesiastical year of Moses. Till the so-called captivity the Israelites had only numeral names for the solar and lunar months except Abib and Ethamin ; the former signifying a green ear of corn, and the latter robust or valiant, and by the first of these the Indians (as an explicative) term their Passover, which the trading people call the green corn dance.

In conformity to, or after the manner of the Jews, the Indians of America have their prophets, high priests and others of a religious order. As the Jews had a sanctum sanctorum (holy of holies), so in general have all the Indian nations. There they deposit their consecrated vessels, none of the laity daring to approach that sacred place. Indian tradition says that their fathers were possessed of an extraordinary divine spirit, by which they foretold future things and controlled the common course of nature ; and this power they transmitted to their offspring, provided they obeyed the sacred laws annexed pertaining thereto.

Mr. Adair, it must be remembered, in referring to words in the Indian languages, has reference to those tribes which at that day were living in the southern colonies, classed by ethnologists as the Appalachians, and who were the Choctaws, Chickasaws, Cherokees, Seminoles and Muscogees. In speaking with reference to these Indians he says, Ishtoallo is the name of their priestly order, and their pontifical office descends by inheritance to the eldest. There are some traces of agreement, though chiefly lost, in their pontifical dress. Before the Indian Archimagus officiates in making the supposed holy fire for the yearly atonement for sin, the Sagan (waiter of the high priest) clothed him with a white ephod, which is a waistcoat without sleeves. In resemblance of the Urim and Thummim, the American Archimagus wears a breast plate made of a white conch shell with two holes bored in the middle of it, through which he puts the ends of an otter skin strap and fastens a buck-horn white button to the outside of each, as if in imitation of fche precious stones of the Urim.

[More about Ishtoallo here:  SIMILARITY OF CUSTOMS OF THE ISRAELITES AND NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. To the Editors of the Jewish Expositor. The Jewish Expositor, and Friend of Israel]

7. In conformity to or after the manner of the Jews, the Indian Americans have their prophets, high priests, and others of a religious order. As the Jews had a sanctum sanctorum, [Holy of Holies) so have all the Indian nations. There they deposit their consecrated vessels; none of the laity daring to approach that sacred place. The Indian tradition says, that their forefathers were possessed of an extraordinary divine spirit, by which they foretold things future, and controlled the common course of nature: and this they transmitted to their offspring, provided they obeyed the sacred laws annexed to it. Ishtoallo is the name of all their priestly order; and their pontifical office descends by inheritance to the eldest. T here are some traces of agreement, though chiefly lost, in their pontifical dress. Before the Indian Archimagus officiates in making the supposed holy fire for the yearly atonement of sin, the Sagan clothes him with a white ephod, which is a waistcoat without sleeves. In resemblance of the Urim and Thummim, the American Archimagus wears a breast-plate made of a white conch-shell, with two holes bored in the middle of it, through which he puts the ends of an otter-skin strap, and fastens a buck horn white button to the outside of each, as if in imitation of the precious stones of the Urim.”— Upon this statement (says Mr. Faber,) I may observe, that Ishtoallo may perhaps be a corruption of Ish-di-Eloah, a man of God, (see 2nd Kings iv. 21, 22, 25. 27. 40. et alibi,; and that Sagan is the very name by which the Hebrews called the deputy of the high priest, who supplied his office, and who performed the functions of it in the absence of the high priest, or when any accident had disabled him from officiating in person. (See Calmet’s Diet. vox Sagan.)

“It is generally thought that Elohim is derived from eloah, the latter being an expanded form of the Northwest Semitic noun ’il.[5] The related nouns eloah (אלוה) and el (אֵל) are used as proper names or as generics, in which case they are interchangeable with elohim.)” Wikipedia Quote Here K. van der Toorn, Bob Becking, Pieter Willem van der Horst (eds), Dictionary of deities and demons in the Bible (revised 2nd edition, Brill, 1999)

In this statement, Rev. Ethan Smith thinks Mr. Adair exhibits evidence of which he himself seems unconscious, saying that the general name of all their priestly order is Ishtoallo, and the name of the high priest waiter is Sagan. It is thought by some that the former word is a corruption of Ish-da-elvah, a man of God ; see 2 Kings, iv, 21, 22, 25, 27, 40, and other places. That the latter word Sagan is the very name by which the Hebrews called the deputy of the high priest, who supplied his office, and performed the functions of it in the absence of the high priest.

The ceremonies of the Indians, in their religious worship, says Mr. Adair, were more after the Mosaic institutions than of Pagan imitation; which could not be if a majority of the old nations were of heathenish descent They were utter strangers to all the gestures practiced by the Pagans in their religious rites.

Mr. Adair further speaks of the sacred adjuration of the Indians by the great and awful name of God; the question being asked, and the answer given, Yah, with a profound reverence in a bowing posture of body immediately before the invocation of To-he-wah; this he considers to be Hebrew, adjuring their witnesses to give true evidence.

Jle says it seems exactly to coincide with the conduct of the Hebrew witnesses even now on like occasions.

Mr. Adair, in likening the Indians to the Jews on account of their abstinence from unclean things, says that eagles of every kind are esteemed an unclean food, likewise ravens, crows, bats, buzzards, swallows and every species of owl. This he considers as precisely Hebrew, as also their purifications of their priests, and purification for having touched a dead body or any other unclean thing. He further says that before going to war, the Indians have many preparatory ceremonies of purification and fasting, like what is recorded of the Israelites.

Bev. Mr. Chapman, missionary of the United States Foreign Missionary Society, at the Union Mission, in a letter of March 24th, 1823, gives an account of some of the manners and customs of the Osage Indians, which would seem to have some bearing on the question under consideration. He went with a large company of these Indians, whose object was to form a treaty of peace with the Cherokees, to Fort Smith. The evening before they arrived on a hill, the chiefs announced that in the morning they must make their customary peace medicine (a religious ceremony previous to a treaty) for the purpose of cleansing their hearts and securing their sincerity of thinking and acting. Ten of the principal warriors, including the priest of the Atmosphere, (a name of one of their clans) were selected and sent beneath a ledge, to dream or learn whether any error had been committed thus far, or (as they express it) to “watch the back track.” In proceeding to describe their ceremonies, prayers, sacred painting, anointings, etc, Mr. Chapman says: “About two feet in advance, and in a line with our path, were three bunches of grass, which had been cut and piled about three feet apart, as an emblem of him whom they worshipped.

“Here the priest stood with his attendants, and prayed at great length. Having finished his prayer, he again ordered the march on foot. The Indians from the right and left entered the path with great regularity, and, on wheeling forward, every individual was compelled to step upon each bunch of the grass. The company proceeded about forty rods, then halted and formed as before. The priest now ordered his senior attendant to form a circle of grass about four feet in diameter, -and to fix a handsome pile in the centre. By this he made another long prayer. Then stepping on the circle, and followed in this by his attendants, they passed on.”

Mr. Chapman further says: “It is a universal practice of these Indians to salute the dawn every morning with their devotion.” This custom, it may be remarked, seems to be universal among all the American tribes. In regard to the ceremonies which Mr. Chapman describes, he adds: “Perhaps the curious may imagine that some faint allusion to the lost ten tribes of Israel may be discovered in the select number of dreamers (they being ten), to the Trinity in Unity in the bunches (and the circle) of grass, to the Jewish anointings and purifications in their repeated paintings, to the sacred rite of the sanctuary in their secret consultations, and to the prophetic office in the office of their dreamers.”

A religious custom is related by Maj. Long, which some think goes to prove that the Omaha Indians are of Israel. He relates that from the age of between five or ten years their little sons are obliged to ascend a hill fasting once or twice a week, during the months of March and April, to pray aloud to Wahconda. When this season of the year arrives, the mother informs the little son that the u ice is breaking up in the river, the ducks and geese are migrating, and it is time for you to prepare to go in clay.” The little worshipper then rubs himself over with whitish clay, and at sunrise sets off for the top of a hill, instructed by the mother what to say to the Master of Life.

From his elevated position he cried aloud to Wahconda, humming a melancholy tune, and calling on him to have pity on him and make him a great hunter, warrior, etc.

This, it is urged by some, has more the appearance of descending from Hebrew tradition than from any other nation in the earthy teaching their children to fast in clay as “in dust and ashes,” and to cry to Jah for pity and protection.

In part second of Mr. Schoolcraft’s general work on the Indian tribes of the United States, p. 135, is an article written by Mr. Wm. W. Warren, on the oral traditions respecting the history of the Ojibway nation. Mr. Warren, as Mr. Schoolcraft remarks, was a descendant, on his mother’s side, of one of the most respectable Indian families- at the ancient capital of this nation.

In this communication, Mr. Warren is inclined to the opinion, from the information derived from the manners and customs of the Ojibways, that the red race of America are descendants of the lost tribes of Israel, and he asserts that this is the belief of some eminent men and writers, and mentions this belief to say that he has noted much in the course of his inquiries that would induce him to fall into the same belief, besides the general reasons that are adduced to prove the fact Referring to the Ojibways, he says:

“I have noticed that in all their principal and oldest traditions and lodge tales, twelve brothers are spoken of that are the sons of Getube, a name nearly similar to Jacob. The oldest of these brothers

is called Mudjekeewis, and the youngest Wa-jeeg-e-wa-kon-ay, the name for his coat of fishers 9 skins, with which he resisted the machinations of evil spirits. He was the beloved of his father and the Great Spirit; the wisest and most powerful of his twelve brothers.”

The tradition in which also originated Ke-na-big-wusk, or snake-root, which forms one of the four main branches of the Me-da-win, is similar in character to the brazen serpent of Moses that saved the lives of the afflicted Israelites. In the Indian tradition, the serpent is made to show to man a root which saved the lives of the people of a great town, which was being depopulated by pestilence. Not only in these instances is the similitude of the Ojibway oral traditions and the written history of the Hebrews evident and most striking, but in part first of Mr. Schoolcraft’s work aforesaid, page 259, is some information by Mr. Thomas Fitzpatrick, a government agent of the higher Platte and Arkansas. In this, reference is made to the fact of a resemblance in the manners, customs and habits of the Indians with that of the Jews or Israelites, in which he says: “In regard to the manners, customs, habits, etc., of the wild tribes of the western territory, a true and more correct type than any I have ever seen may be found in the ancient history of the Jews or Israelites after their liberation from Egyptian bondage. The medicine lodge of the Indian may be compared to the place of worship or tabernacle of the Jews, and the sacrifices, offerings, purifications and anointings may be all found amongst and practiced by those people.”

It is to be noted, however, that Mr. Fitzpatrick is not inclined to adopt these evidences as proof that the Indians are descended from the Jews, but considers them as mere coincidences, liable to occur among the natives of any portion of the globe.

In an interview which the writer had several years ago with Rev. John Johnston, a native educated Ottawa Indian, and a minister of the gospel of the Episcopal Church among the Ojibways at White Earth Agency, Minn., he expressed his belief quite firmly that the aborigines were descendants from the Jews, and cited instances of their manners, customs and habits in support of this opinion.

There is a marked similarity between the customs of the Indians and the Jews in their mourning for the dead. Like the Jews, the Indians had a time or season for mourning for the dead. A custom among the Jews of loud lamentation over the dead was also a peculiar custom of the American tribes. In Gen. xxxii, 34, it is said that *’ Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.” This is suggestive of a like custom among the American Indians. Among the Indians the friends of the deceased visited the graves of their departed relatives and there resumed their custom of weeping and shrieking. This was also a prominent custom among the Jews, as noticed in John xi, 31 : ” She goeth out to the grave to weep there.” The custom of engaging women to mourn over the bodies of the dead, which prevailed among the American tribes, was also a custom among the Jews, as mentioned in Jer. ix, 17 : ** Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, consider ye, and call for the mourning women that they may come.”

Among the Indians it was a custom for the bridegroom to make presents to the father or parents of the bride as a consideration in the transaction. This custom also prevailed among the . Jews; Jacob gave a term of service as a consideration for Eachel. Gen. xxix, 20.

Among the Jews, parents negotiated marriage between sons and daughters. Hagar chose a wife for Ishmael. Gen. xxi, 21. Judah selected a wife for Er. Gen. xxxviii, 6. The like custom prevailed among the American Indians.

The marriage ceremony among the American tribes was much the same as with the Jews. In Gen. xxiv, 67, it is said ” Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Eebekah, and she became his wife.” Rev. James Freeman, in his book entitled ” Manners and Customs,” says there is no evidence of any special religious forms in these primitive marriages. The marriage ceremony consisted of the removal of the bride from the father’s house to that of the bridegroom, or that of his father. The marriage ceremony among the American tribes was of like simplicity, and very much the same.

The Indians, like the Jews, had a custom of burnt offerings, as that of the burning of tobacco, as an offering to the Great Spirit They had also a custom like that of the meat offering of the Jews. See Lev. vi, 14. They also, like the Jews, had a sacrifice of animals. Num. xix, 2. Instead of the red heifer without a spot, as with the Jews, it was a white dog without a spot or blemish.

Like the Jews, they had their feasts for various occasions. Amongst others was a feast of first fruits, such as the strawberry feast of the Iroquois. The harvest feast was universal with all tribes who raised the Indian corn or zea maize. This corresponded to the like custom among the Jews. Ex. xxiii, 16.

Dancing on various occasions was a custom practiced among the American Indians as with the Jews, although not precisely in the same form. Dancing was performed at first among the Jews on sacred occasions only. Among the Hebrews it was joined with sacred songs and was usually participated in by the women only. When the men danced it was in company separate from the women. When Jeptha returned from his conquest over the Ammonites, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances. When the men of Benjamin surprised the daughters of Shiloh, the latter were dancing at a feast of the Lord. Judges, xxi, 19-21. A corresponding custom of dances among the Hebrews, as given in scripture, is found among all the American tribes, the occasion for many of which is precisely the same.

The Israelites used the mortar for beating their manna. Num. xi, 8. It was by this means that the Indians of America from time immemorial beat their corn and thus prepared it for use.

The custom prevailing among the Jews of anointing the head, and in using oils on other parts of the body, also prevailed among the American tribes.

Sign language, so common among the American tribes, is also marked as a mode of communication among the Jews. In Proverbs, vi, 13, it is said “He speaketh with his feet; he teacheth with his fingers.”

The Indians, at the close of their speeches in council, used a word of like signification as the word Amen, common among the Jews as stated in 1 Chronicles, xvi, 36. U A11 the people said Amen, and praised the Lord.” Amen literally means firm, from Aman, to prop, to support Its figurative meaning is faithful ; its use is designated as affirmatory response, and the custom is very ancient among the Jews. See Num. v, 22, Deui xxvii, 15-16. The Iroquois, in closing their speeches, used the word Hiro, of the like import of the Jewish word Amen. The Pottawattamies, a tribe of the Algonquin group, used the word Hoa.

The Indian medicine lodge or council-house corresponds much to the ancient Jewish synagogues, which were originally places of instruction rather than of worship, and wherein, it is said, the Jews read and expounded the law. We find Christ publicly speaking in the synagogues, and so also the Apostles in their missionary travels addressing the people in the synagogues.

The secret order of medicine men and prophets of the Indians had a corresponding institution among the Jews called “sons of the prophets,” forming a peculiar order, whose mission seems to have been to assist the prophets in their duties, and in time to succeed them. 2 Kings, ii, 3-12; vi, 1.

A personage corresponding to the Indian medicine man is found in the ”wise men” or Magi of the Jews, spoken of in Mathew, ji, 1. We find in the Old Testament several references to the Magi. In Jer. xxxix, 3, 13, Nergal-sharezer is said to have been the Rab-mag, that is, the chief of the Magi. In Daniel’s time the Magi were very prominent in Babylon. In Dan. ii, 2, “magicians,” “astrologers,” “sorcerers,” and “Chaldeans” are mentioned, while in the twenty-seventh verse of the chapter “soothsayers” are named.

Some tribes of Indians had a custom of making images or a kind of idols, not as an object of worship, but to imitate or personate some particular spirit or god, to whom they paid some kind of adoration. A like custom seems to have prevailed among the Jews, mentioned in 1 Samuel, vi, 5.

A custom prevailed among western Indian tribes, who lived in villages of dirt houses, of assembling on the tops of their dwellings on festive or public occasions; this was likewise a custom among the Jews. See Judges, xvi, 27, wherein it is said, “there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport”

The Indians felt that menial service was degrading. Service of this kind among them was performed by the women. The same idea prevailed among the Jews, who considered it a degradation to be hewers of wood and drawers of water. Josh, ix, 21.

The bow and arrow, the common and efficient weapon with the primitive American Indian, was also in common use among the ancient Jews. See 2 Kings, xiii, 15.

The ancient Israelites lived in tents in the style of the most of the American tribes.

In notions of dress there was a striking similarity between the American Indians and the Jews, especially in regard to the outer garment thrown over the shoulders or wrapped around the body. The Indian medicine man or prominent chief possessed a peculiar vanity in regard to their dress, which was frequently gaudy and fantastic, and so with the high priests among the Jews where display in dress was a peculiar feature in Jewish custom among those high in authority. It was a custom among the Jews to sleep in their garments, Deut. xxiv, 12-13, and so with the American Indians.

The name Dorcas, Acts, ix, 36, it is said, means antelope or gazelle. According to some writers the Jews had a custom of giving to their daughters poetic names, or names significant of beauty or beautiful objects. This was a marked custom with the American Indians.

According to Mr. Freeman, it was an ancient custom among the Jews to give names to families from animals. This found a corresponding custom among the Indians, in adopting their totems to mark their families, as the bear, the deer, the elk, and the like. The custom is continued among the Israelites down to the present time, as found in the name of Wolf, Bear, Lion and other names from animals.

It was a custom among the Jews to give names to persons that have some special signification, as Reuben, ” See a Son.” This custom likewise prevailed among other eastern nations. This was a universal custom among the American Indians, as Sheeshebanee (Ojibway), “little duck.”

The change of names of persons in after life on particular occasions was a custom of the Jews. 2 Chron. xxxvi, 4; Gen. xxxii, 28 ; xxxv, 10. It was also a custom among the American Indians.

By an ancient mode of declaring war, practiced amongst the Jews, a herald came to the confines of the enemy’s territory, and, after observing certain solemnities, cried with a loud voice, ” I wage war against you,” at the same time giving reasons therefor. He then shot an arrow or threw a spear into the enemy’s country, which was significant of warlike intentions. The custom among the Indians, in declaring war, was to send a bundle of arrows to some representative chief of the enemy.

The Indian practice of lying in ambush to surprise an enemy, it seems, was also a practice to some extent among the Jews. In Judges, v, 11, is the following: “They that are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water, there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the Lord.” This, it is said, refers to the practice of lying in ambush near wells and springs for the purpose of seizing flocks and herds when brought thither for water.

When a war party of Indians returned to their villages after the victory, it was customary for the women and children, with the old men remaining behind, to assemble and express their great joy by singing, shouting and other demonstrations. This was likewise a custom among the Jews, as appears 1st Sam. xviii, 6: “It came to pass as they came, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of music.” See also Ex. xv, 20. Judges, xi, 34.

The war club and other weapons of the Indians were like those of the Jews. Jer. li, 20. With the Jews, the same as with the Indians, these weapons were buried with the dead. Ezek. xxxii, 27.

The custom of wearing buffalo horns by distinguished warriors, attached to their head dress, seems to have existed also among the Jews. In 1st Kings, xxii, 11, it is said ” the false prophet Zedekiah made him horns of iron,” and in Ps. lxxv, 5: ” Lift not your horns on high; speak not with a stiff neck.”

Rev. Peter Jones, an educated Ojibway Indian, in the appendix to his book, entitled “History of the Ojibway Indians,” quotes approvingly the following from a recent publication which he considers good authority, and wherein is summed up in general terms the most striking analogies between the American tribes and the ancient Israelites:

“They (the Indians) are living in tribes, with heads of tribes; they all have a family likeness, though covering thousands of leagues of land, and have a tradition prevailing universally that they connect that country at the northwest corner. They are a very religious people, and yet have entirely escaped the idolatry of the Old World. They acknowledge one God, the Great Spirit, who created all things seen and unseen. The name by which this being is known to them is Ale, the old Hebrew name of God; he is also called Tehowah, sometimes Yah, and also Abba; for this great being they possess a high reverence, calling him the head of their community, and themselves his favorite people. They believe that he was more favorable to them in old times than he is now; that their fathers were in covenant with him, that he talked with them, and favored them. They are distinctly heard to sing, with their. religious dances, Hallelujah and praise to Yah; other remarkable sounds go out of their mouth as shilu yo, shilu he ale yo he-wah, yohewah, but they profess not to know the meaning of these words, only that they learned to use them on sacred occasions. They acknowledge the government of a Providence overruling all things, and express a willing submission to whatever takes place. They keep annual feasts, which resemble those of the Mosaic ritual ; a feast of first fruits, which they do not permit themselves to taste until they have made an offering of them to God; also an evening festival, in which no bone of the animal that is eaten may be broken ; and if one family be not large enough to consume the whole of it, a neighboring family is called in to assist; the whole of it is consumed, and the relics of it are burned before the rising of the next day’s sun. There is one part of the animal which they never eat, the hollow of the thigh. They eat bitter vegetables, and observe severe feasts, for the purpose of cleansing themselves from sin ; they also have a feast of harvest, when their fruits are gathering in ; a daily sacrifice and a feast of love. Their forefathers practiced the rites of circumcision, but not knowing why so strange a practice wag continued, and not approving of it, they gave it up. There is a sort of jubilee kept by some of them. They have cities of refuge, to which a guilty man, and even a murderer, may fly and be safe.”

Rev. Jabez B. Hyde, a minister of the gospel, of prominence in Western New York, and of considerable experience among the Seneca Indians, writing in 1825 concerning his information derived from the aforesaid people on the subject of their manners and customs, says that of the meaning of words they used in their dances and divine songs, they were wholly ignorant They used the words T-O-He- Wah and Hal-le-lu-yak as represented of other Indians. Speaking further in regard to their apparent affinity with the Jews, he says: “In all their rites which I have learned from them, there is certainly a most striking similitude to the Mosaic rituals; their feast of first fruits; feasts of ingathering; day of atonement; peace offerings; sacrifices. They build an altar of stones before a tent covered with blankets ; within the tent they burn tobacco for incense, with fire taken from the altar of burnt offering.” Mr. Hyde further remarks that these Indians had formerly places like cities of refuge existing among them, and that an old chief had shown him the boundaries of one of them.

On this subject the testimony of Mr. George Catlin may be considered as important, he having spent eight years amongst the wildest and most remarkable tribes then existing in North America, commencing in the year 1832, as an artist and student of Indian history and manners and customs. He describes at length and in detail the manners and customs of these tribes, in concluding which, he says:

“Amongst the list of their customs, however, we meet a number which had their origin, it would seem, in the Jewish ceremonial code, and which are so very peculiar in their forms, that it would seem quite improbable, and almost impossible, that two different people should ever have hit upon them alike, without some knowledge of each other. These I consider go farther than anything else as evidence and carry in mind conclusive proof that these people are tinctured with Jewish blood.”

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Native Americans are Remnants of the Jews

 “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 29:26-27

“A great nation (the United States of America) shall be set up… by the power of God, so that the gospel may be restored, the Book of Mormon come forth, its message go to the American remnant of Jews, that the eternal covenants of the Lord with his people might be fulfilled.” “The remnant of Jacob, including the Lamanites in the Americas”, will assist in the gathering of Israel to the promised land  New Jerusalem.” McConkie, Bruce R., Mortal Messiah, Book 4, 1981, pp. 348-349, 358

“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.]” The Great Prologue by Mark E. Petersen.

Below is an amazing article by our friend David W. Allan. His witness to the divinity of the Savior is his greatest quality. Rod Meldrum and I asked him to share his feelings about the Book of Mormon and its historicity. This blog post contains his detailed feelings about this topic. He recently shared the following letter to his family and friends.

Dear family and friends,

“The Bible has had more influence for good for this nation than any other. The United States Constitution and Declaration of Independence were influenced more by this book than any other — making this the greatest Christian nation on the planet. Our founding fathers and mothers new this was the “Promised Land.” They spoke of the native tribes being part of scattered Israel and that the New Jerusalem would be built here.

Now, 93% of the leading American scientists believe the Bible is a myth and atheism is growing with our education system permeated with the false tradition of organic evolution, which I prove to be false in Chapter 6 of my book using profound experimental evidence of Steven Meyer’s and others. Logically, you cannot prove a theory true, but you can prove it false if you have experimental evidence saying so.

The importance of this nation repenting and turning back to the God of this land, who is Jesus the Christ is critical. The message of the Book of Mormon, as well as the Bible, is fundamental in this regard. I have researched and written the following article in this regard. https://itsabouttimebook.com/book-of-mormon-geography/ Rod Meldrum and Rian Nelson have asked me to talk about this article at the next Book of Mormon Evidence Conference in April. I believe there is a lot of well researched meat here. I have gotten a lot of excellent feedback in writing it, which I deeply appreciate.

The absolute best thing we can do is live the gospel of Jesus Christ and share it; as Elder Neil Maxwell has well said, “If we are not sharing the gospel, we are not living the gospel.” I pray that we may, and that this article will help. I share it with love and hope in my heart.”

David (Dad, Grandpa Allan)

Where Does The Book Of Mormon Really Take Place and Does It Matter?
By David W. Allan

God’s Basic Premise

It matters greatly because the Lord has said through the prophet Moroni, who saw our day: “For behold, this is a land which is choice above all other lands; wherefore he that doth possess it shall serve God or shall be swept off; for it is the everlasting decree of God. And it is not until the fullness of iniquity among the children of the land, that they are swept off.” (Ether 2:10; bolding is mine throughout the text) If we believe the Book of Mormon record, let us give serious attention to the Lord’s everlasting decree.

An Apostle of the Lord, Elder L. Tom Perry, has proclaimed, “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is truly a world-wide Church.  Nevertheless, it is important to realize that the Church could never have become what it is today without the birth of a great nation, the United States of America.  The Lord prepared a new land to attract the peoples of the world who sought liberty and religious freedom…

“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. It was the birth of the United States of America that ushered out the Great Apostasy, when the earth was darkened by the absence of prophets and revealed light.  It was no coincidence that the lovely morning of the First Vision occurred just decades after the establishment of the United States.”

If Elder Perry is right, and I believe he is, then it is critical that the people of the United States repent and serve God, or they will be “swept off. “How much clearer can it be?  Yet many say the geography for the Book of Mormon doesn’t matter. https://itsabouttimebook.com/americasgreatestneedrepentance/

In my early years in the Church, I believed like most of the members that Mesoamerica explained the geography of the Book of Mormon.  Decades ago, our son Sterling first woke me up that it could be otherwise and that the Great Lakes area had a large number of artifacts consistent with the Book of Mormon geography.  Since then, I have gotten to know many researchers who have opened my eyes to the Heartland model for Book of Mormon historicity, archeology, and geography.  I could make a very long list, but the work and research of the following have been enormously valuable and much of what I share here is from their research efforts; for them I am extremely grateful: Wayne May (who is a convert to the Church), Rod Meldrum, Amberli Nelson, Jonathan Neville, Timothy Ballard, Ryan Fisher, Richard Moats (a non-member), and many others showing the consistency of the Heartland model while giving evidence that the Mesoamerica model doesn’t match the historicity, the geography, or the archeology of the Book of Mormon message.

How Can You Know Something is True?

Because of the importance of Elder Perry’s bold proclamation as a prophet, as a scientist and as a devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I have studied the evidence around his statement.  You cannot prove a theory or hypothesis is true, but you can prove it false, if you have sound experimental evidence to the contrary.  We learn this from logic.  So, we have a sure way to know if something is false.  Only if God reveals it can we know something is true.

In studying the evidence, I have used reasoning — both deduction and induction.  I extract the following from my book: www.ItsAboutTimeBook.com.

My good friend, Paul Rimmasch, author of the book, The Lost Stones, has shared the following useful perspective. Paul is an expert forensic scientist and crime scene investigator. Basically, there are two different ways for a scientist to ascertain the Truth of something: deduction and induction.

Deduction is a top-down approach: one has an idea, a theory, or a hypothesis and then from experiments one observes whether the data fit or not. There is a danger with the deductive approach. If one has a pet theory, then there may be a tendency to pick the data so that they fit the theory. We see that integrity here is extremely important and to not be prone to cater to our pet ideas. If we know God’s word is true and trust in it — and we will give you very good evidence that you can trust in His word — then this knowledge helps in the deduction approach. The deduction approach will be used where we know or strongly believe we can trust the theory or hypothesis.

The Savior is suggesting the deductive approach to us in John: “If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out… my teaching comes from God.” “If ye continue in my word, ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free… If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed,” respectively. (John 7:17 (NIV) and 8:31-36 (KJB). These scriptures are true for individuals and for nations.

Induction, on the other hand, is a bottom-up approach. One observes all of the relevant data and then after patterns, trends, or reasonable models seem to fit all of the data, then an idea modeling the data, a hypothesis or theory that seems appropriate is developed that fits all of the data. We can then look at the implications of this theory or hypothesis. This process often allows us to refine the theory or hypothesis.

Induction is the approach the Savior suggests when he tells us how to know false prophets: “You will know them by their fruits… every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.” (Matthew 7:15-20 (NAS)) In this remarkable scripture we have both a necessary and a sufficient condition to know if a prophet and his teachings are true or false.  For me, using the Savior’s criteria Joseph Smith is a prophet of God.

The induction approach is also very powerful in ascertaining Truth.

Deduction is the main approach in science today with the theory of evolution and the big-bang theory being very important cases in point. In forensics, they use induction to avoid the danger of unfounded biases coming from the high level of emotions involved with those associated with a crime scene.

Based on deductive and inductive reasoning, we can make the following truth table:

*Again, correlated evidence does not give validation of a theory

**Next I list examples of data showing the Mesoamerica Model to be false:

Evidences Showing the Mesoamerica Theory to be False**

There are numerous evidences proving the Mesoamerica theory for the Book of Mormon historicity and geography to be false.  Realize, it only takes one reliable source of data to prove a theory false, but here I share several poignant ones:

• The DNA of the aborigine Mesoamerica peoples are mainly Asian.  House of Israel DNA shows up mainly in North America’s Heartland.
• The Book of Mormon peoples practiced the Law of Moses; the necessary items to observe this law didn’t exist in Mesoamerica.
• Mesoamerica is not a “choice land, saith God unto me, above all other lands.” (2 Nephi 10:19)
• Mesoamerica did not produce the promise that the, “Lord God will raise up a mighty nation among the Gentiles, yea, even upon the face of this land; and by them shall our seed be scattered.” (1 Nephi 22:7) This clearly was the United States.
• Mesoamerica has never been, “A chosen land, and the land of liberty.” (Alma 46:17) The Statue of Liberty is a USA symbol.
• Mesoamerica has never been promised the New Jerusalem that after the flood “this land… became a choice land above all other lands, a chosen land of the Lord; wherefore the Lord would have that all men should serve him who dwell upon the face thereof; And that it was the place of the New Jerusalem.” (Ether 13:2-3)
• In the dedicatory prayer for the Kirtland Temple, Joseph Smith identifies the United States as the “Gentile Nation,” and Nephi prophesies that England will fight against us (the Revolutionary War).  This violates the Mesoamerica theory. (1 Nephi 13:17)
• Nephi prophecies that the Bible was to be carried forth to this Gentile nation, and the Bible was the most important book for the creation of the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution. (1 Nephi 13:18-25) Again, this does not fit the Mesoamerica theory.
• Nephi further prophecies, “these things [The Book of Mormon] shall be hid up, to come forth unto the Gentiles [USA], by the gift and power of the Lamb.” (1 Ne. 13:37) This happened with the Hill Cumorah, and clearly did not happen in Mesoamerica.
  

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The Scriptures Provide a Way to Prove a Prophet

If God reveals something, then we can know it is true.  We have the sure promise in the scriptures: “And whoso treasureth up my word, shall not be deceived, for the Son of Man shall come, and he shall send his angels before him with the great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together the remainder of his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (JS-M 37) He is the word (John 1:1), and I have a whole chapter in my book, “What is God’s word?”  We live in a world where credentials seem to be more important than inspiration. Well did Jacob counsel: “O that cunning plan of the evil one!  O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think the are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not, and they shall perish.  But to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God. (2 Nephi 9:28-29)

Perspectives from Our Prophets

• Joseph Smith, Jr., in describing the Book of Mormon in the famous Wentworth letter, states, “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.  This book also tells us that our Savior made His appearance unto this continent after His resurrection; that He planted the Gospel here in all its fullness, and richness, and power, and blessing,” (Joseph Smith Jr. Time and Season, 1 March 1842, vol. 3, no. 9 p. 707).  So, Joseph Smith, a prophet of God, who better than anyone else knew where the Book of Mormon took place, is clearly sharing that it is “this continent” (North America) where the resurrected Savior appeared as described in the Book of Mormon.
• In a letter Joseph wrote to Emma while they were traveling in Zion’s Camp,he stated, ”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 and their bones, as a proof of its divine authenticity, and gazing upon a country the fertility, the splendor and the goodness so indescribable, all serves to pass away time unnoticed.” (Letter to Emma Smith [4 June 1834, 57 The Joseph Smith Papers) This 900 mile march from Kirtland, Ohio to Clay County, Missouri included the “plains of the Nephites.”
• On that trip they unearthed a burial on a mound and “discovered the skeleton of a man, almost entire, and between is ribs the stone point of a Lamanitish arrow, which evidently produced his death… subsequently the visions of the past being opened to my understanding by the Spirit of the Almighty I discovered that the person whose Skeleton we had seen 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 eastern sea, to the Rocky Mountains…  He was killed in battle, by the arrow found among his ribs, during a great struggle with the Lamanites. (The Joseph Smith Papers, History. 1838-1856, Volume A-1 [23 December 1805 – 30 August 1834], 482-483.)  Eight others in Zion’s Camp wrote in their journals of this experience and how the Spirit of revelation showed in Joseph’s countenance as he shared this fascinating piece of history.  It is now called Zelph’s Mound; we have been there.  The Church has the “stone point” in their archives.
• Letter VII was written by President Oliver Cowdery of the First Presidency with the assistance of Joseph Smith, Jr.  And we read from it the extremely important message regarding Book of Mormon geography, as Oliver is describing the view to the west of the Hill Cumorah: “At about one mile west rises another ridge of less height, running parallel with the former, leaving a beautiful vale between.  …when one reflects on the fact, that here, between these hills, the entire power and national strength of both the Jaredites and Nephites were destroyed… Moroni… deposited… all the records in this same hill, Cumorah.”
• “By commandment from God,” the Prophet Joseph Smith wrote a letter to Noah C. Saxton, 4 January 1833, stating, “The Book of Mormon is a record of the forefathers of our western tribes of Indians… 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 that was sold into Egypt, and that the land of America is a promise land unto them.” (The American Revivalist, and Rochester Observer,Rochester, New York, [2 Feb. 1833])
• President Marion G. Romney profoundly testifies, “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) On July twenty-fifth of this year, as I stood on the crest of that hill admiring with awe the breathtaking panorama which stretched out before me on every hand, my mind reverted to the events which occurred in that vicinity some twenty-five centuries ago – events which brought to an end the great Jaredite nation… Thus 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)  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, 145^th Semiannual Conference, Saturday Morning Session, October 4, 1975)
• More recently, President Ezra Taft Benson proclaimed, “This was the place where Adam dwelt: this was the place where the Garden of Eden was; it was here that Adam met with a body of high priests at Adam-ondi-Ahman shortly before his death and gave them his final blessing, and the place to which he will return to meet with the leaders of his people (D&C 107:53-57).  This was the place of three former civilizations: that of Adam, that of the Jaredites, and that of the Nephites.  This was also the place where our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, appeared to Joseph Smith, inaugurating the last dispensation.  The Lord has also decreed that this land should be ‘the place of the new Jerusalem which should come down out of heaven and the holy sanctuary of the Lord (Ether 13:3. Here is our nation’s destiny!” (October 1979 General Conference.)
• As if the above were not enough, finally by way of testimony I share the words of our current living Prophet, Russell M. Nelson, “The Book of Mormon reveals the inheritance of Joseph, son of Israel, who was not forgotten when land was distributed to the tribes of Israel.  This was promised in the Abrahamic covenant.  Because… Joseph’s inheritance was to be a land choice above all others.  Choice because it was chosen to be the repository of sacred writing on golden palates from which the Book of Mormon would one day come.  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 was a land of liberty for those who worship the Lord and keep His commandments.” (Yes, Mormons are Christians, Legends Library [2017], 60)

Why do some members Believe in the Mesoamerica Model for Book of Mormon Geography?

Physical, historical, and archaeological evidences are now accumulating rapidly that North America is the Promised Land.  Why, in the past, have so many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believed otherwise?  Jonathan Neville uncovered the reason why.

Read Jonathan E. Neville’s books, Brought to Light (24 Dec.2015), The Lost City of Zarahemla, (1-11-16). Neville gives convincing evidence that the Mesoamerica theory for where the Book of Mormon took place started on a false premise, and the Prophet Joseph tried to stop it.  The Prophet Joseph Smith taught and never said otherwise than that the Book of Mormon history took place in the heartland of America – the Promised Land and the place of the restoration.

Here I share Neville’s insightful perspective:

In 1842, a zealous, committed Mormon [Benjamin Winchester] invented a way to gain
more converts. All he had to do was link the Book of Mormon to popular books,
including a national bestseller, about Mesoamerica. This proof would be irresistible to the public. Except the prophet disagreed with the tactic. Convinced he was right, he battled Joseph Smith. Formally suspended and silenced, he fought back. He arranged for the publication in the Times and Seasons of articles that specifically linked the Book of Mormon to Mesoamerica. The consequences? Joseph Smith resigned from the paper. The champions of the Mesoamerican theory apostatized from the Church. And the Mesoamerican theory would undermine faith in Joseph Smith’s role as prophet, seer and revelator for the next 174 years. This man’s zeal and subterfuge have remained a secret despite the devoted efforts of historians, educators, and church leaders to uncover the truth. Until now.

If all the saints were to read Jonathan Neville’s books, I believe we would make major progress toward understanding and being united as regards Book of Mormon geography and historicity.

Scholars have spent enormous amounts of money and time authenticating the geography and historicity of the Bible with great success. We are on the verge of giant strides in this regard for the Book of Mormon, which will also validate Joseph Smith as the Lord’s prophet of the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times when, as Peter and Paul share, there will be a restitution of “all things.” (Acts 3.21; Ephesians 1:10)  That is happening “as we speak.”

Hugh Nibley summarized the situation well:

What most impressed me last summer on my first and only expedition to Central America was the complete lack of definite information about anything Book of Mormon. (Hugh Nibley, The Prophetic Book of Mormon [Salt Lake City and Provo: Deseret Book Co., Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1989], 265.)

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. (Hugh Nibley, The Prophetic Book of Mormon
[Salt Lake City and Provo: Deseret Book Co., Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1989], 272.)

Respectively, the Hopewell and Adena cultures mirror the Nephite and Jaredite cultures well in timeline (historicity), in archeology, and in geography.

Data giving further evidence, I share the following:

We have the Nephite Altar identified by the Prophet Joseph and witnessed by others at Adam-ondi-Ahman. We have interesting inductive evidence witnesses in three occurrences of the Ten Commandments being found in North America written in ancient Hebrew. My wife’s cousin, James Saline, made an imprint of the one in New Mexico. Near Newark, Ohio, in 1860 David Wyrick and others excavated a mound in the center of twelve other mounds and found a stone in a box along with a large skeleton. On the stone is inscribed the Ten Commandments around a figure with the translated name of Moshe (the ancient name of Moses). The writings are readable by Rabbis in ancient “block Hebrew.” We visited the museum in Ohio where this stone is kept. There, we also saw the “Holy Stone.” The translations of the inscriptions, also in ancient Hebrew, on the four sides of this stone are, “Laws of Yahweh, Holy-of-Holies, Word of Yahweh, and King of the Earth.”  The stone is pointed, and the angle of its sides is 23.5 degrees, which is the inclination of the earth’s spin axis to its orbital plane.

Not only is the United States of America the Promised Land, but the “Promised Land” given to the Jaredites and to the Lehites. Rod Meldrum has outlined from the scriptures, that this Promised Land was determined in premortal time to be a sacred and special place.

• The place for the Garden of Eden;
• The place where Adam and Eve began the human family;
• The place where Adam (at Adam-ondi-Ahman), three years prior to his death, bestowed “his last blessing” upon his faithful patriarchal sons and others of the faithful;
• The place where the Adamic language has been spoken more than any other place – for more than 3,000 years with Adam’s family and the Jaredites;
• The Promised Land where the Jaredites, Lehites and Mulekites were led by the Lord; The place where a free nation (The United States of America) was born to bless all the nations of the earth;
• The place where the fullness of gospel was restored;
• The place where Adam will return and where the keys of the Kingdom will be given back to Christ to reign as King of kings and Lord of lords for a thousand years;
• The place where the New Jerusalem will be built; and
• The place from whence shall go forth the Law during the great millennial epoch.

It is important to realize that the Jaredites lived here for over 1600 years and the Lehites for nearly a thousand years. When we look at what has happened in the 400 years since the Pilgrims first came to America, we should not be surprised to see evidence of both Jaredite and Lehite peoples throughout the Americas. Both Mormon and Moroni said they only could write a hundredth part of the history of their people.

Recently, a friend of ours, Duane Erickson, was in our home. He has been promoting the Heartland Model for decades; he shared with us and showed us pictures of the work of two scientists who have found evidence in Utah that the Aztecs left from Utah. (Cicilio Orosco of California State University, Fresno, and Alfonso Rivas-°©‐Salmon,a respected Mexican anthropologist at the Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara, show Aztec origin to be Utah with migration occurring about 502 B.C.)  For their inheritance, the Lord gave the seed of Joseph the land of the “everlasting hills,” (North, Central, and South America, see Genesis 49:22-26 and JST Genesis 50:24-38).

When Duane learned that I had been invited to St. Petersburg, Russia, to give a talk at an International Navigation Conference, he drove all the way down from Evanston, WY, to let me borrow a stone that had been given to him by Russell E. Burrows, who discovered the Burrows cave in Illinois.  Experts say the findings there are a hoax, Burrows not being an expert archeologist.  Duane knew Russell and can vouch for him.  On one side the stone showed the nail marks on the Savior’s hand and wrist; on the other was a face profile of the Savior.  In addition, the mystic symbol was inscribed, as shown below, which is interpreted to be the name of their God, “Yod Hey Vau.” (Jehovah).

Regardless of what people say, from the data, because I have seen several occurrences of this kind of stone in the Heartland from the research efforts of those mentioned above, it gives one the feeling that these are folks who witnessed the Savior’s visit and made these stones in memory of that sacred event.  I showed this stone to my colleagues at the conference in St. Petersburg that they might know Christ had visited America after His resurrection.  Some say the five nails in the mystic symbol represent the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost talking to prophets to redeem fallen man.  Five nails were used to crucify Christ.

There is also a large amount of evidence of ancient Christian activity in Central and South America that is totally consistent with the Jaredites and Lehites landing in North America given the amount of time their civilizations existed. For example, read the book, He Walked the Americas by L. Taylor Hansen.

Wayne May’s This Land five volume set validating Mormon and Moroni’s writings in the Book of Mormon have sold 35 thousand copies, and his Book of Mormon Geography DVDs have sold 45 thousand copies.  Rod Meldrum’s work has been extremely helpful as well in addressing the question of validating the historicity and geography of the Book of Mormon. His book, The Book of Mormon in the Heartland, has sold well over 40,000 copies, and he has sold around 250,000 DVDs acquainting people with the Heartland model. In 2010, my wife and I were privileged to go on one of his tours, and it was a life-changing experience.

Keith Merrill, the writer and director of the profound movies Legacy and The Testaments, went on Rod Meldrum’s tour and had a change of heart from the Mesoamerica model to the Heartland model. He would love to redo the movie The Testaments in the correct place.

The new “Annotated Edition of The Book of Mormon” edited by David R. Hocking, Rod L. Meldrum, with contributions from Jonathan Neville, Boyd J. Tuttle, Rian Nelson, Amberli Nelson, and several others, is having great success since being published in 2018 with several thousand copies being sold already.  The five thousand printed for the September 2018 Book of Mormon Evidence conference sold out almost immediately.  There is a significant shift in acceptance of the general Church membership of the Heartland model as evidenced in the new book (2019), “…most scholars support a Mesoamerican setting for the Book of Mormon.  But the general membership of the Church, those who actually take an interest, seem to have an affinity for this North American theory – what has become known as the ‘Heartland Theory.’

“This theory, set mainly in the eastern United States, has probably the largest ‘following’ of your average everyday Latter-day Saint.  In their favor they have had a lot of press and exposure in recent years.  And, also in their favor they have this little hill in New York that a long-standing tradition says is the actual hill Cumorah that we read about in the Book of Mormon.” (CUMORAH, The Journal of Book of Mormon Geography, p 41)

For me, the model that Rod laid out for us on our tour, over those two weeks, fits hand in glove with what we read in the Book of Mormon. Everything from the “Waters of Mormon” to Zarahemla, the River Sidon, and the Land Bountiful felt right and looked right. It was like when we visited the Holy Land with Dan Rona and had the Bible story laid out before us in a most inspiring way – including details of the Savior’s life and where He worked out the infinite atonement. We have also been privileged to see some of the ruins in Central America, and we fully agree with Huge Nibley’s assessment quoted above.

I have heard several of Wayne May’s talks and have his five-volume set of books entitled, This Land. The Hebrew relics he has shared and the Book of Mormon evidence he has compiled are most compelling, as well, for North America being the Promised Land where both the Jaredites and the Lehites first landed.

Bruce Porter’s book entitled, An Everlasting Decree – Ensuring a Title of Liberty for the Promised Land, has direct scriptural evidence that North America is the Promised Land. He further shows that it matters greatly to know that and for all of us to help bring about the repentance so critically needed that she may fulfill her destiny of helping to prepare the Bride to meet the Bridegroom at His coming.

The DNA studies, mentioned above, also point to North America being the land of the Lehites, where haplogroup X2 – common among the Hopewell Native Americans — ties back to the Middle East. When the first studies of DNA were made on Native Americans, scientists labeled them A, B, C, and D, which tie back to Asia and Siberia. The anti-Mormons picked up on this immediately and propagated the tale that the Book of Mormon is false because the people in Mesoamerican were not Israelite DNA.

That there were other populations present in the Americas seems evident from current data. In the DVD Lost Civilizations of North America by Steven E. Smoot, is documented that anciently there was significant commerce between the continents. A couple of fun examples are: 1) I was in one of Rod Meldrum’s special meetings, and a Navajo leader shared that he had his DNA tested and he was from Mongolia. Someone else in the room spoke up and said their grandson had served his mission in Mongolia and came back speaking Navajo; and 2) when the Scots came to America speaking Gallic, the Cherokees could understand them.

The Book of Mormon clearly tells of the Savior visiting other groups. As He went from the Promised Land to visit them, so now our missionaries go from the Promised Land to share the gospel with remnants of Israel, which is one of the main signs before the Lord’s coming. (Matt. 24, JS-M)

We read in apocryphal literature that when the Ten Tribes were taken captive by the Assyrians around 721 BC they subsequently traveled into the north – including both Europe and Asia. There is other evidence including scriptures that support this hypothesis. I was on a three-week lecture tour in mainland China. While in Xian, they took me to one of the oldest museums in the world. One building had nothing but stele. On one of these stones, I saw an image that reminded me very much of the resurrected Savior. For example, the Hebrew-looking-robed man had a staff over his shoulder with a knapsack on it denoting travel. His feet were bare, and He was standing over water. The image was old, but I could detect what looked like the marks of the nails in his feet.

I asked my guide if she could read the Chinese inscriptions with it, and she said she couldn’t; they were in ancient Chinese. Indications are that China will open up soon to the preaching of the gospel, and the predictions are that we will see large numbers of the Chinese come into the fold of God. The Christians have already done a great job. According some estimates, about 5% of China is now Christian.  The message of the Book of Mormon will resonate with their souls; I had some great conversations with them while there.  I shared with some of my colleagues the Book of Mormon story, and they were intrigued.

Another good friend of ours, Keith Chandler, served his mission in Finland. He shared with us that the Fins have an oral tradition that lines up beautifully with the Savior anciently having visited them as well. In that regard, it is interesting that haplogroup X, which is also found among the Hopewell Indians, ties to Finland, Italy and the Holy Land. In some of Rod Meldrum’s original research, he has a picture of a Native American who looks much like an Italian.

The Lord Turns Evil into Good to Draw Us Closer to Him and Believe in His Word

Everything the Lord does is in the loving intent to help us draw closer to Him. If we ask, “Why did the Lord instruct the Prophet Joseph to name the city, across from Nauvoo, Zarahemla?”, (D&C 125:3) we arrive at some interesting answers. It is particularly interesting that the Lord gave Joseph a map of how the city was to be laid out, which included a temple facing the Nauvoo Temple – like book ends across the Mississippi (Sidon) River. Recently, Wayne May has found plausible evidence of an ancient temple facing the Nauvoo Temple in the area the Lord so designated.

The Lord’s promise in D&C 121:26-32 “Which our forefathers have awaited with anxious expectation to be revealed in the last times, which their minds were pointed to by the angels, as held in reserve for the fulness of their glory” is rapidly coming about. It is also interesting, that before the Des Moines dam was built, Nauvoo was the first place one could cross the Mississippi River on foot.  One hypothesis is the Mulekites navigated up the Mississippi to this point and settled Zarahemla.

I find it fascinating that the revelation, (D&C 125:3) naming a city Zarahemla to be built across from Nauvoo, was given by the Lord just before the controversy began between the Prophet Joseph and Benjamin Winchester regarding Book of Mormon geography. It is as if the Lord — anticipating this controversy – gave the revelation to bring understanding and harmony to those who had eyes to see and ears to hear His word. Winchester persisted and would not leave the Mesoamerica model alone for the geography of the Book of Mormon.  This controversy is well documented in Jonathan Neville’s most recent books, The Lost City of Zarahemla, and Brought to Light.

Joseph prophesied that Winchester had “a rotten heart” that he would “apostatize and injure the Church as much as he could.”  That is exactly what happened, but the Lord will turn all of that into good, as we will see.

My wife, Edna, has a fascinating idea regarding the perspective by the general church membership that the Book of Mormon took place in Mesoamerica. The Lord knew what would happen and that the general acceptance of the Mesoamerica model would dominate LDS thinking for 174 years. He knew the Church members would take the gospel to the folks in Central and South America with more vigor believing this model than they would have otherwise. He loves all of His children. Now it is time for the true Lamanites to blossom as a rose as the First becomes the Last in preparation for the Lord’s coming. (See Chapter 23 of my book, (http://ItsAboutTimeBook.com)

I taught institute for the Moroni Stake for eleven years following our mission to the Ivory Coast (’97-’99), where we also saw evidence of the scattered tribes of Israel. It was interesting to me to see the change in the Book of Mormon institute manual during those eleven years. The old manual had many pictures from Mesoamerica; the new manual has none. Recently, the Church released a new film following General Conference depicting the Savior’s coming to America following His resurrection. The old film depicted it occurring in Mesoamerica; the new one (called Scriptures Legacy), depicted it amongst the mounds of the Hopewell Indians – many of which are in the Mississippi drainage – the great Sidon River – and consistent with the Heartland model.

For me, as a scientist, the data are very convincing. Watch the DVD, Lost Civilizations of North America. Beginning in 1991, Dr. Roger Kennedy, then director of the Smithsonian, became aware of what he calls, “Hidden Cities.” Like him, the more you learn of it the more you will be astounded. Experts estimate that there were some 200,000 mounds and structures built by the Hopewell civilization along the Ohio and Mississippi drainages. The ancient city of Cahokia, IL, across from St. Lewis, was larger than London or Rome. Chillicothe, Ohio, is a Shawnee word for “big town.”  Only about 1,000 of these mounds remain (0.5%). The rest have been destroyed because of the colonizer’s attitude of “manifest destiny” – feeling the natives were savages, and to redeem these lands from them was their right as a superior-evolved race.

As an example, the Great Octagon and Great Circle are part of a larger Newark, Ohio Earthworks complex which is about 4 ½ square miles. The octagon portion of the Great Octagon is large enough to house 4 Roman coliseums and it combined with the other portions of this complex make it the largest and most sophisticated earth mound structure on earth. The angle of the Great Pyramid at Giza from the baseline to the apex is 51.8 degrees. The angle of the Great Octagon through the centers of the Octagon and adjoining circle to true North is also 51.8 degrees. Encoded in the eight nodes of the Great Octagon are all eight of the moons lunar alignments over its entire 18.6 year cycle – consistent with Hebrew calendar dating. Dr. Bradley T. Lopper, curator of the Ohio historical society says, “This is as inspiring as sending a man to the moon,” and rivals any other architectural achievement.”

The 51.8 degrees angle forms what is called “The Divine ratio.” If you measure the distance from the base of the Giza Pyramid to the apex divided by the distance from the edge of the base to the center of the base, you obtain the Divine ratio. The Divine ratio is also found in the five-pointed star, as illustrated. The ratio of b/a can be shown equal to (b+a)/b uniquely for the five-pointed star, which is the Divine ratio.

The Great Octagon has been carbon dated to about 100 to 150 AD and was evidently a time of great peace and of a highly sophisticated civilization with science and religion integrated, as there were no defense networks around it. From Rodney Meldrum’s work, this correlates with the “Land Bountiful” in the Book of Mormon, which is where the Savior appeared to them. It clearly was a very sacred place for them. This civilization ended about 400 AD according to archeologists – matching the Book of Mormon account.

The Fibonacci series asymptotes to the Divine ratio in the ratio of the last number to the next to the last number. The series is given by: 1.1.2.3.5.8.13.21.34.55… In other words, you add up the last two numbers to get the next one. One sees these Fibonacci numbers are replete in nature as is the Divine ratio. As an example of the Divine ratio in the human body, the distance from the top of your head to the tip of your nose divided by the distance from the tip of your nose to your chin is the Divine ratio. You find the same ratio similarly in the ratio of the distance from the tips of your fingers to your elbow to your shoulder, and in the distance from the top of your head to the navel and then to your feet. There are several other instances. The Hopewell’s, apparently understood all of this as we find it imbedded in their structures and architecture. It is evident in these archeological findings that they were constructed in reverence to their God.

Amberli Nelson (Hebrew symbology expert interprets Plan of Salvation above), points out, when studied carefully, this amazing 4 ½ square-miles of earth works shown below maps out God’s plan of salvation. (Documented by Squire and Davis in 1848) For example, the 30-acre circle at the bottom has a water trench on the inside denoting a womb – representing where we were born as spirit children of our Heavenly Parents. Note, the birth canal, going from the circle toward the square, is larger than the birth canal attached to the square; the latter denotes our physical birth into mortality. The symbolism shows us being given physical birth into the 20-acre square area (denoting the four corners of the earth). Note additionally that by the ratio of the areas (30 acres/20 acres) represents the third part of the children of God who also came to earth but were denied physical bodies – the angels who fell following Lucifer. Not to elaborate further here, but other details of Heavenly Father’s perfect plan of happiness can be seen. Amberli’s research gives further evidence that this was the Land Bountiful and was very sacred to them. REJOICE, as we see God’s truths unfold as inspiring signs of the times.  I have found 21 correlations in these earth works documented by Squire and Davis with the Plan of Salvation.  I feel these folks had constructed these amazing representations of the Plan of Happiness in deep gratitude for the Savior’s visit to them and sharing how to be a Zion, pure-in-heart, society, which they were for over 200 years, and inviting us to do the same.

Let us Take the Evidence, Build our Faith, and Come to Christ

We see from the words of the Prophets and from logic for both the believer and the unbeliever that the United States is the “Promised Land” spoken of in the Book of Mormon – exactly as Elder Perry stated.  Unfortunately, The United States, the Promised Land, has turned her back on God with enormous consequences because the “Everlasting Decree” is in place, and her people will be “swept off” unless there is massive repentance. Hence, we see the great importance both of knowing that this is the “Promised Land,” and of sharing the vital message of the gospel to bring this people and all people back to the God of this land, who is Jesus Christ with the goal to come to know the Father and the Son, which is Eternal Life – the greatest of all the gifts of God.  https://itsabouttimebook.com/americasgreatestneedrepentance/

NOTICE! All the above pictures, maps, books and DVD’s were added to Brother Allan’s article by myself. To see his original article in pdf format for you to download or print is found HERE!

David W. Allan “Warrior for the Lord”

Hear David’s live presentation of this article at the FIRM Foundation Expo April 11-13, 2019 at the Davis County Conference Center in Layton, Utah Directions Here!

David W. Allan has spent 58 years researching time and related topics. He helped develop the nation’s official atomic-clock timing system during his 32 years in Boulder, CO, at the National Bureau of Standards (now National Institute of Standards and Technology). For 25 of those years, his research group was responsible for generating official time for the United States and helping with official time for the world. During that time he spent several man years helping in the development of GPS.  Atomic clocks are the heart of GPS, and the folks developing GPS came to Boulder to learn how to best use them being taught by Allan and his colleagues at NBS.

His 1965 master’s thesis became the international standard for how to characterize and use atomic clocks, and his work is as well known in the time and frequency, navigation, telecommunication communities as any other when it comes to how to best use precise timing devices. In 2016, he was given the highest award given by the Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers with the citation: “For seminal work… regarding time determination, time prediction, time-dissemination and timekeeping through contributions to atomic frequency standards, space-based navigation, time and frequency stability analysis, time-scale algorithms, and timekeeping devices.”  In 2018 he was given the coveted the IEEE Keithley Award with the citation, “For leadership in time determination and precise timing instruments.”  The IEEE publishes more scientific papers than any other organization. His algorithm is still being used to generate time for the United States.  During November 2018, the IEEE came to his home and spent two days documenting his life’s history because of the many significant contributions he has made to the world timing community; they will put this information on-line during 2019.

As a faithful Latter-day Saint, he has served as a bishop, stake president, and in the Denver Mission Presidency, and his recent book, www.ItsAboutTimeBook.com , gives a grand harmony between science and religion. LDS Living has carried an excerpt from it, http://www.ldsliving.com/The-Powerful-Book-of-Mormon-Phrase-We-Always-See-but-Never-Think-About/s/81070 , and his Amazon reviews are excellent. He is pleased that the book’s web site is receiving international and growing interest, as it is his gospel outreach.  Several of his talks are on youtube and on his book’s website: “David W. Allan”.

Most of us in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints love the Wentworth Letter that Joseph Smith wrote in 1842 to John Wentworth, editor and proprietor of the Chicago Democrat. It outlined the history of the Church and included the 13 Articles of Faith. Read the entire Wentworth Letter Here

The Prophet Joseph Smith shared with us important information regarding the Lamanites spoken of in the Book of Mormon and how they were the Native Americans of this land of North America. (See bold orange text further down the page).

Below in quotes and in normal black text is a portion of the Wentworth Letter. When you come to the orange text this is the part of the Wentworth Letter that was omitted from the lesson manual titled Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith Chapter 38 page 441.

“I was also informed concerning the aboriginal inhabitants of this country [America] 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 [also] 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. The angel appeared to me three times the same night and unfolded the same things. After having received many visits from the angels of God, unfolding the majesty and glory of the events that should transpire in the last days, on the morning of the 22nd of September, A.D. 1827, the angel of the Lord delivered the records into my hands.

These records were engraven on plates which had the appearance of gold. Each plate was six inches wide and eight inches long, and not quite so thick as common tin. They were filled with engravings, in Egyptian characters, and bound together in a volume as the leaves of a book, with three rings running through the whole. The volume was something near six inches in thickness, a part of which was sealed. The characters on the unsealed part were small, and beautifully engraved. The whole book exhibited many marks of antiquity in its construction and much skill in the art of engraving. With the records was found a curious instrument, which the ancients called “Urim and Thummim,” which consisted of two transparent stones set in the rims of a bow fastened to a breastplate. Through the medium of the Urim and Thummim I translated the record by the gift and power of God.

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. This book also tells us that our Savior made His appearance upon this continent after His Resurrection; that He planted the gospel here in all its fulness, and richness, and power, and blessing; that they had apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, and evangelists—the same order, the same priesthood, the same ordinances, gifts, powers, and blessings, as were enjoyed on the eastern continent; that the people were cut off in consequence of their transgressions; that the last of their prophets who existed among them was commanded to write an abridgment of their prophecies, history, etc., and to hide it up in the earth; and that it should come forth and be united with the Bible for the accomplishment of the purposes of God in the last days. For a more particular account I would refer to the Book of Mormon, which can be purchased at Nauvoo, or from any of our traveling elders.” Portion of the Wentworth Letter by Joseph Smith 

To see this edit in the “Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith” see Chapter 38 page 441, here.

It is my opinion that this important text about the Native Americans today in the United States being descended from the Lamanites of the Book of Mormon may have been left out on purpose by those over seeing the printing of this Church manual. It is not my opinion that the leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints edited this book or had any wrongdoing in leaving portions of the Wentworth Letter out. I love the Brethren of the Church and support them in all that they do.

Is it possible that employees at the Church left this portion of the Wentworth Letter out of the lesson manual on purpose, based on their opinion that the Book of Mormon speaks about events in Mesoamerica? I will let you decide. I don’t bring this up for the sake of contention, but to be sure we understand the full context of this important paragraph. I would hope those in the Church Correlation Department or relevant departments would dialogue with myself, Jonathan Neville or Rod Meldrum about this. As of today we have had no takers to discuss this information. (Sept 3, 2018)

Jonathan Nevilles Blog Below

“If we were living in the United States in 1842, right about now we’d be receiving our copy of the March 1, 1842, Times and Seasons. This issue contains the Wentworth letter, which contains the Articles of Faith.

You can find this issue online here: http://www.centerplace.org/history/ts/v2n09.htm

You can also see the entire letter here: https://www.lds.org/ensign/2002/07/the-wentworth-letter?lang=eng.

There’s an excellent historical introduction here: http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/church-history-1-march-1842/1#historical-intro
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I have a 40-page chapter on the Wentworth Letter in my book called, The Editors: Joseph, William, and Don Carlos Smith. It was released April, 2017. You can order it here:

Here’s an excerpt from that chapter:

“The Wentworth letter relates to the authorship of the 900 words because it is a crucial piece of evidence regarding Joseph Smith’s thinking at a critical time. Recall that the thank-you note to John Bernhisel was written and mailed in November, 1841. This is the note that supposedly endorsed a Mesoamerican setting for the Book of Mormon. If Joseph had anything to do with the Bernhisel note (which I don’t think he did), than one would expect him to be consistent in March 1842. Instead of explicitly rejecting Orson Pratt’s hemispheric model, Joseph would have embraced it, or at least limited it to Central America. He could have condensed it and still kept Pratt’s original concept.

But he didn’t.

Instead, he replaced it with the clarification that the “remnant” of the Book of Mormon people are “the Indians who now inhabit this country.”

Because this point is so crucial, some promoters of the Mesoamerican theory have insisted that when Joseph wrote to Mr. Wentworth and referred to “this country,” he actually meant all of North and South America. That debate is beyond the scope of this book, but there are plenty of online references for anyone interested in following it.

For my purposes here, it seems unlikely that Joseph was thinking about how someone trying to promote a Mesoamerican setting in the twenty-first century might interpret the phrase. He was writing to a fellow resident of Illinois, knowing the article was intended for publication in the United States. Certainly Mr. Wentworth would understand the phrase to refer to the country in which he and Joseph both lived. If Joseph wanted to convey a hemispheric idea to Wentworth, he would have written “the Indians who live in North and South America” or similar words.” The Editors: Joseph, William, and Don Carlos Smith by Jonathan Neville

The Wentworth letter is an amazing accomplishment, and not only because of the Articles of Faith. It is a succinct explanation of the history of the Church and Joseph’s own experiences.

Where you can’t see the entire letter is in the lesson manual Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith. The reason: the manual edited the Wentworth letter to omit Joseph’s explanation that the Lamanites are the American Indians living in “this country.”

I discussed the Wentworth letter here, in the context of Orson Pratt’s pamphlet about Church history: http://www.lettervii.com/2016/08/letter-vii-in-histories-volume-1.html

Source: Book of Mormon Wars by Jonathan Neville

Below is the actual article by Jonathan Neville that I have copied in this blog. Jonathan and I would like our readers to understand the importance of our Church history especially regarding the Lamanites of this land of North America. http://www.moronisamerica.com/the-wentworth-letter/