“It is very difficult for us to communicate to the churches all that God has revealed to us, in consequence of tradition; for we are differently situated from any other people that ever existed upon this earth; consequently those former revelations cannot be suited to our conditions; they were given to other people, who were before us; but in the last days, God was to call a remnant, in which was to be deliverance, as well as in Jerusalem and Zion. Now if God should give no more revelations, where will we find Zion and this remnant? The time is near when desolation is to cover the earth, and then God will have a place of deliverance in His remnant, and in Zion.” —Joseph Smith, Jr.
Zion is The New Jerusalem
“Because of his faithfulness and integrity, Joseph received greater blessings than the progenitors of Jacob, and was rewarded with the land of Zion. His brothers, with malicious intent, separated him and cast him out from among them. The Lord, in rewarding him, separated him from his brothers — the other tribes of Israel — and gave him an inheritance in a land that is choice above all other lands, which, we have learned from the Book of Mormon and modern revelation, is America… We are informed in the revelations given to Joseph Smith the Prophet, that the city of Zion and the New Jerusalem is one and the same. In a number of revelations the Lord speaks of the New Jerusalem which is to be built…” Zion and Jerusalem by Joseph Fielding Smith, Improvement Era Vol. 22 JULY 1919
“I would that all men could believe in the destiny of America as did the early pioneers: that it is the land of Zion; that the founders of this nation were men of inspired vision; that the Constitution as written by the inspiration of heaven must be preserved at all costs. “I make a further plea that the citizens of this favored land live righteously that they might enjoy the fruits of their righteousness in this land of promise.” Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled Gordon B. Hinckley of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles Oct. 29, 1974
The location of Lamanites has nothing to do with where the events of the Book of Mormon began. Today the blood of the Lamanites is all over North and South America.
Hopi, Navajo, Aztec and Mayan all have Asian DNA. Only the North American Tribes near the Great Lakes have Jewish blood. See National Geographic link at the end of the post.
The Mayans and Aztecs are not Jewish as the BofM says the Lamanites are in the scriptures that follow. Experts and Historians have shown that the people all along the west coast of the United States from Alaska to California have Asian markers. The same is true of the Mesoamerican and Central and South American Natives.
Research into DNA studies continues to show new evidence that many Native Americans east of the Mississippi have the same Haplogroup X as many in western Eurasia. As the experts continue to try and explain away this evidence, the more I become excited about it. Those in the scientific arena continually want to push the narrative of their great theories about Evolution, Climate Change, Old Earth, Noah’s Flood Myth, etc. With the new information from our recent Book, The Annotated Edition of the Book of Mormon, I am excited to continue the path of learning. I am finding some amazing things about DNA and a connection between the Lamanites and the Jews. It just makes sense that they are related as we know the Mulekites were Jewish and they surely left evidence of the Native Americans in North America didn’t they? We have also found many evidences of the Hebrew language and Hebrew artifacts in North America. See my blog with additional articles here, here, and here.
The Jews and the Natives east of the Mississippi have similar DNA and were smitten and scattered, and driven during the “Trail of Tears.” No such scattering by the Gentiles towards the South American Natives has occurred.
“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
“Which is my word to the Gentile, that soon it may go to the Jew, of whom the Lamanites are a remnant, that they may believe the gospel, and look not for a Messiah to come who has already come.” D&C 19:27
“And then shall the remnant of our seed know concerning us, how that we came out from Jerusalem, and that they are descendants of the Jews.” 2 Nephi 30:4
We need to look no further than the scriptures to know the Lamanites ARE DESCENDANTS of the JEWS.
D&C 57:1 “Hearken, O ye elders of my church, saith the Lord your God, who have assembled yourselves together, according to my commandments, in this land, which is the land of Missouri, which is the land which I have appointed and consecrated for the gathering of the saints.
2 Wherefore, this is the land of promise, and the place for the city of Zion.
3 And thus saith the Lord your God, if you will receive wisdom here is wisdom. Behold, the place which is now called Independence is the center place; and a spot for the temple is lying westward, upon a lot which is not far from the courthouse.
4 Wherefore, it is wisdom that the land should be purchased by the saints, and also every tract lying westward, even unto the line running directly between Jew and Gentile;” D&C 57:1-4
At that time the Lamanites (or Jews) lived on the west and the Gentiles (or Whites) lived on the east. In this way you may interpret D&C 57:1-4 as separating the Jews and Gentiles or the Lamanites and Whites
Lamanites a Branch of the House of Israel
“I would say to the Lamanites, if I could speak to them understandingly, that you are also a branch of the house of Israel, and chiefly of the house of Joseph, and your forefathers have fallen through the same examples of unbelief and sins, as have the Jews, and you, as their posterity, have wandered in sin and darkness for many generations; and you, like the Jews, have been driven and trampled under the foot of the Gentiles, and put to death through your wars with each other, and with the white man, until you are almost destroyed. But there is still a redemption and salvation for a remnant of you in the latter days. It is time for you to cease shedding each other’s blood or making war upon your fellow-man. Cease to destroy one another, learn to cultivate the earth, and raise your food therefrom; call upon the Great Spirit to protect you and deliver you from bondage and darkness, and the Great Spirit will hear you and deliver you, and a remnant of you will again become a delightsome people as your forefathers were when they kept the commandments of God.”
Wilford Woodruff History of His Life and Labors AS RECORDED IN HIS DAILY JOURNALS PREPARED FOR PUBLICATION BY MATTHIAS F. COWLEY Salt Lake City, Utah 1909
Native Americans are Middle Eastern & Hebrew.
“The laboratory immediately stumbled into a scientific hornet’s nest. That Cherokee princess in someone’s genealogy was most likely a Jewish or North African princess. Its scientists have labeled the Cherokees not as Native Americans, but as a Middle Eastern-North African population. Cherokees have high levels of test markers associated with the Berbers, native Egyptians, Turks, Lebanese, Hebrews and Mesopotamians. Genetically, they are more Jewish than the typical American Jew of European ancestry. So-called “full-blooded” Cherokees have high levels of European DNA and a trace of Asiatic (Native American) DNA. Their skin color and facial features are primarily Semitic in origin, not Native American.” Source:
Heber J Grant in London
“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
Who, then, are the Jews?
“Who, then, are the Jews, and what part shall they yet play in the gathering of Israel and the return of their King? There is a maze of fuzzy thinking and shoddy scholarship, both in the world and in the Church, that seeks to identify the Jews, both ancient and modern, and to expound upon what they have believed and do believe. It is not strange that the divines of the day-not knowing that the kingdom is to be restored to Israel at that glorious day; not having the Book of Mormon and latter-day revelation to guide them-it is not strange that they come up with false and twisted views about the mission and destiny of the Jews. It is a little sad that church members sometimes partake of these false views and of this secular spirit so as to misread the signs of the times.
The term Jew is a contraction of the name Judah, but the Jews are not the members of the tribe of Judah as such. After the reign of Solomon, the Lord’s people divided into the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Judah. Nearly ten tribes served Jeroboam in Israel and two and a half tribes served Rehoboam in Judah. The Levites were scattered among all the tribes. Judah, Simeon, and part of Benjamin comprised the kingdom of Judah. In actual fact, and considering blood lineage only, both kingdoms had in them people from all of the tribes. Lehi, who lived in Judah and was a Jew, was of the tribe of Manasseh. The Jews were nationals of the kingdom of Judah without reference to tribal ancestry. Thus the descendants of Lehi, both the Nephites and the Lamanites, were Jews because they came out from Jerusalem and from the kingdom of Judah. (2 Ne. 33:8.)
The Jews today are also those whose origins stem back to the kingdom of their fathers. Clearly the dominant tribe-dominant, however, only in the sense of political power and rulership-was Judah. As to the bloodlines, who knows whether there are more of Judah or of Simeon or of Benjamin or of some other tribe among the Jews as we know them? Paul, a Jew, was of the tribe of Benjamin. The name Judea, now used as a noun, is actually an adjective meaning Jewish and is the Greek and Roman designation for the land of Judah.
Since the Ten Tribes were taken into Assyria and lost from the knowledge of their fellows more than a century before the Jews went into Babylonian captivity, the prophets began to speak of Jews and Gentiles and to consider as a Gentile everyone who was not a Jew. This classifies Ephraim and the rest of scattered Israel as Gentiles. Everyone, in this sense, who is not a Jew is a Gentile, a concept that will enable us, in due course, to set forth what is meant by the fulness of the Gentiles.” (The Millennial Messiah: The Second Coming of the Son of Man, p.221-222) Bruce R. McConkie
Missouri Cherokee Tribes Proclaim Jewish Heritage
“The Northern Cherokee Nation of the Old Louisiana Territory has recently shocked the world by claiming their ancient Oral legends tell of a Cherokee migration made to America from the area known as Masada.
This startling evidence is being offered to the public by Beverly Baker Northup whom is the spokesperson for their organization. The evidence offered in support of this connection to Cherokees escaping the mountain *fortress of Masada (Details about Masada below) is based in part of what Northup claims is stories passed down from elders and the similarity between ancient words.
Beverly Baker Northup believes there is a connection between these two peoples based on evidence of Jews of the region around Masada during Roman times wearing braided hair and the similarities that the spokesperson attributes to Hebrew language. In explaining this connection Beverly Baker Northup is quoted as saying:
“The story has been kept alive among our Cherokee people that the Sicarii [More below*] who escaped from Masada, are some of our ancestors who managed to cross the water to this land, and later became known as Cherokees. (Please note the phonetic resemblance of Si’cari’i and, Cherokee or Tsa’ra-gi’.)”
*The Sicarii (Modern Hebrew: סיקריים siqariyim) were a splinter group of the Jewish Zealots who, in the decades preceding Jerusalem’s destruction in 70 CE, strongly opposed the Roman occupation of Judea and attempted to expel them and their sympathizers from the area.[1] The Sicarii carried sicae, or small daggers, concealed in their cloaks.[2] At public gatherings, they pulled out these daggers to attack Romans and Hebrew Roman sympathizers alike, blending into the crowd after the deed to escape detection.
The Sicarii are regarded as one of the earliest known organized assassination units of cloak and daggers, predating the Islamic Hashishin and Japanese ninja by centuries.[3][4] The derived Spanish term sicario is used in contemporary Latin America to describe a hitman working for a drug cartels.” Source
Northup claims that the famous scholar Josephus wrote that there were escapees from Masada in which the spokesperson for the Northern Cherokee states that this is evidence that gives credence to this connection between the Cherokee Indians and the Jews.
In addition to other startling claims, there is also the belief by the Northern Cherokee that a rock that was uncovered in Tennessee in 1889 that is named the Bat Creek Stone, proves a transatlantic connection to Jews.
Northup believes that the scratched writings on the rock indicate that the stone is evidence of a first century Atlantic Crossing to America by these escaped Jews that later became known as the Northern Cherokee Indians.
The Northern Cherokee attempted to gain full legislative recognition in the State of Missouri in 1985 that was eventually vetoed by Governor John Ashcroft. Governor Ashcroft made the following statement concerning his decision to veto the recognition of the Northern Cherokee:
“The Federal Government has traditionally exercised authority with respect to Indian Affairs. I am not persuaded that the state has such a substantial interest in this area that it should become involved in the recognition of Indian tribes.”
Sources among some federally recognized Indian Tribes have stated that Mr. Ashcroft’s comments were 100% correct and should be referred to from time to time.”
From Free Republic @ http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/848921/posts
Native American Jews? A Fulfillment of Prophecy? By HaRav Ariel Bar Tzadok
Submitted by Quest-News-Service on Wed, 05/18/2011
In 1650, Rabbi Menashe Ben Israel, Chief Rabbi of Amsterdam recorded an incredible story in his book Mikveh Yisrael. He relates a conversation that he had with a Jewish Dutch explorer of the Americas.
The explorer related how he made contact with the Native Americans but after trying to communicate with them in every possible European language, he had no success. Being a Jew, as was his first mate, these two began to talk amongst themselves in Hebrew. To his utter amazement, upon hearing him speak Hebrew to his first mate, the Native American chief responded in kind and stated, “Shema Yisrael.”
This is only one of the very numerous instances that seem not only to suggest, but to actually prove that indeed, somehow, in some way, a number of Biblical Israelites managed to leave the Holy Land, over two thousand years ago and by the Hand of G-d found their way to the shores of what today we call the Americas. It was known in Talmudic times that the world was indeed round and some Sages suggest that there is hints to the existence of what today we call the Americas in some of the oldest Rabbinic literature.
Archeological evidence to establish this claim is rather significant and wide spread. There are numerous archeological artifacts that have been found throughout the Americas, specifically here in the United States that are clearly thousands of years old and written in either Biblical Hebrew or later block (modern) Hebrew script. These include full inscriptions of the Ten Commandments, etched in stone and written in Ktav Ivrit (original pre-Babylonian Biblical Hebrew script). There is even one claim made that an ancient pair of Tefillin have actually been found buried in an Indian burial ground.
In 1775, Englishman James Adair, after living with Native Americans for 40 years, recorded his experiences and published a book about them in London entitled, “The History of the American Indians.” Almost his entire work is dedicated to document and prove that the Native American tribes of the central and southern territories, soon to become the U.S.A. were definitively of Jewish origins and to his day maintained a sizable amount of their ancient Israelite heritage. He goes so far as to say that the tribes that he knew worshiped a single God Creator who they called in their language Ye’ho’wah.
Adair’s book created quite a stir and was widely read.
Even President Thomas Jefferson in 1803 was aware of Adair’s book and made mention of it in one of his letters to John Adams. Jefferson quotes Adair’s belief that, “all the Indians of American to be descended from the Jews: the same laws, usages; rites and ceremonies, the same sacrifices, priests, prophets, fasts and festivals, almost the same religion, and that they all spoke Hebrew.”
The belief of the Native American/Israelite connection proliferated widely in the early 1800s. Even a new religion was founded upon the belief. We have all heard of the Mormons, famously of Utah. But many (non-Mormons) do not know that Mormon founder Joseph Smith was originally from the North East and proclaimed that his “Book of Mormon” (which serves as a Mormon Bible) claims to tell the history of a family of Jewish refugees who fled Jerusalem prior to the Babylonian exile. Smith claims that this history was revealed to him from special writings given to him by an angel. Yet, regardless of Mormon theology, the Native American/Israelite concept was alive and thriving at that time and many believed it, not needing Joseph Smith to establish a religion based on it.
I will leave it to my readers to explore the evidence for themselves. James Adair’s book, The History of the American Indians, written in 1775 is still available today. A copy of the original London publication can be found on Amazon.com. I also recommend to everyone a very interesting DVD also available from Amazon.com entitled Lost Civilizations of North America. This production also claims that DNA testing’s have shown a positive match between certain Native Americas and inhabitants of Holy Land from over 2000 years ago. One can also do a web search for the Los Lunas Ten Commandments Stone in New Mexico. One can further see that certain websites presenting themselves as teaching Cherokee
Spiritual Traditions certainly look suspiciously similar to ancient Torah teachings.
In these days, when we believe Biblical prophecies are being fulfilled around us and how in the End of Days many of the “lost tribes” would rejoin the Jewish nation, I would love to pursue the possibility of locating those Native American elders who may still have safeguarded their ancient and sacred histories and who may be able to shed some light on this wondrous revelation.
I once spoke with an elder of a southwestern Native American tribe. He told me how during the Second World War he had served in the armed forces, which brought him for the first time in his life to New York City. While there having time to look around, he related to me how in one set of buildings he recognized what for him were ancient Native holy symbols. He concluded that there must be a lost segment of his “Indian” tribe in New York. He told me the symbol that convinced him of such is what we know as the Menorah and the set of buildings he mentioned were synagogues. The Lost Civilizations of North America does show an ancient Native symbol which, in my opinion could be nothing other than a menorah. So, apparently the Native chief knew something 70 or more years before the producers of the DVD did.
Rabbi Menashe Ben Israel understood the discovery of lost Israelites to be a clear and immanent sign that we are living close to the days of the coming of Mashiah. While I cannot say with certainty that all Native Americans are of Israelite stock, nonetheless the way they suffered under the dominion of European oppressors certainly makes them no different from Jews who lived in European lands for centuries. Both Jews and Native Americans suffered similar oppression under the boot of Europeans.
The similarities of our sufferings under the boot of the same oppressors certainly adds to the evidence that not only are these people historically Israel, but they remain spiritual Israel to this day, suffering as all Jews do. Maybe their Jewish identity may be lost to our eyes, but apparently it is not lost to the eyes of Heaven.
I am presently conducting an in-depth study into the ancient spiritual traditions of the Native peoples whose land I presently inhabit. I want to learn everything about them, good or bad, Israelite or otherwise. If there is any real connection between our peoples, if we truly are one, then I believe we should make every effort to discover this, validate it and proceed from there to reach out to our lost family and help reintroduce them to the Boreh Olam, Creator of the Universe (the Great Spirit?) and to reunite them with their lost ancient past and their even better most promising future.
If any of my readers know any leaders among the Native American elders who would be willing to meet with and dialogue with me as an Orthodox Rabbi, I would love the opportunity to hold such a meeting and see where we can build common foundations and from there, see what Heaven has in mind. I do believe we are ever so close to the dawn of a new era in human history where our old idols and self deceptions will finally be broken forever. Maybe by finding lost family and reuniting with them, we can move this great process along. At least, that is my hope. Copyright © 2010 by Ariel Bar Tzadok. All rights reserved. Complete Article here
I invite anyone reading this to say hi to this Rabbi as I have done and tell him all you know about the Book of Mormon. He also quotes from our fellow member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Steven E. Smoot who is the author of “Lost Civilizations of North America” which the Rabbi is fascinated by. You can purchase Steven Smoot’s book here:
The Rabbi can be reached by email here: [email protected]
Native Americans and Jews: The Lost Tribes Episode
The American Indian: Descended From The Ten Lost Tribes? (Part I)
The American Indian: Descended From The Ten Lost Tribes? (Part II)
