Continuing with the previous
post regarding one of our readers sending us information of a blog and asking
our opinion and comments. In the last post, we suggested the need to know what
land the record refers to when discussing the Land of Promise.
In that blog, the writer tries
to claim that Church leaders have suggested that the land of promise spoken of
in the Book of Mormon was limited to the United States; however, there are
numerous quotes to the opposite, some of which appear below:
Joseph Smith stated “…speaking of
the Land of Zion, It consists of all
North & South America
but that any place where the Saints gather is Zion, which every righteous
man will build up for a place of safety for his children…The redemption of Zion
is the redemption of all North & South America.” (“Joseph
Smith’s July 19, 1840 Discourse,” Brigham
Young University Studies 19:3 (Spring 1979), p392)
Joseph
Smith in 1844 made this solemn proclamation: “The whole of America is Zion
itself from north to south,” and according to Ezra Taft Benson, this included
North America and South America (The Teachings of Ezta Taft Benson, 1988, p123,
referring to the Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith p362; Doctrines of Salvation, vol 3, 1956,
pp73-74).
Orson
Hyde (left) in referring to the Land of Promise stated: “This land means both North
and South America, and also the families of islands that geographically and
naturally belong and adhere to the same” (JD 7:108).
A North and South America
Promised Land was also taught by several modern Prophets and leaders like
Wilford Woodruff who stated: “This land, North and South America, is the land of Zion; it
is a choice land—the land that was given by promise from old
father Jacob to his grandson and his descendants, the land on which the Zion of
God should be established in the latter days” (Journal of Discourses, 12
January 1873, 15:279).
Ezra Taft Benson, who stated: “This
is our need today—to plant the standard of liberty among our people throughout the Americas… the struggle for
liberty is a continuing one—it is with us in a very real sense today right here
on this choice land of the Americas” (Conference
Report, October 1962, pp. 14–15); “To the peoples who should
inhabit this blessed land of the Americas, the Western Hemisphere, an ancient
prophet uttered this significant promise and solemn warning” Conference Report, October 1944, p.
128).
Orson
Pratt said: “And the Lord gave unto them the whole
continent, for a land of promise….” (Conference Report April 1947, p. 67).
Ezra
Taft Benson, said: “To the peoples who should inhabit this blessed land of the
Americas, the Western Hemisphere, an ancient prophet uttered this significant
promise and solemn warning: "Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever
nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and
from all other nations under heaven if they will but serve the God of the land,
who is Jesus Christ . . .” (The Lords Base of Operations, Conference Report,
April 1962, pp103-106)
President
Joseph Fielding Smith explained that all of North and South America is a choice
land: “The Book of Mormon informs us that the whole of America, both North and
South, is a choice land above all other
lands, in other words—Zion. The Lord told the Jaredites that he
would lead them to a land ‘which is choice above all the lands of the earth’
[Ether 1:42 (Doctrines of Salvation,
comp. Bruce R. McConkie, 3 vols. [1954–56], 3:73).
Spencer
W. Kimball, speaking about 1 Nephi 13:13-15, regarding more gentiles would come
to the Promised Land and would scatter the Lamanites, said, “This could also
refer to the Spaniards who came to different parts of North and South America”
(quoted by Matthew Roper, “Losing the Remnant,” January 2011 BYU’s Maxwell
Institute).
Elder
Joseph Fielding Smith linked an Old Testament prophecy to the Americas when he
suggested that Isaiah’s declaration of “Woe to the land shadowing with wings”
(Isa. 18:1) would be better translated, “Hail to the land in the shape of
wings” (Signs, 51).
President Spencer W. Kimball tied all these thoughts together as he reminded
the Saints in Brazil and Argentina that “Zion was all of North and South America,
like the wide, spreading wings of a great eagle, the one being North and the
other South America” (Kimball, Spencer W. Conference Report (April 1975): 3-9.)
Orson
Pratt and John Taylor (left), in a pamphlet written by Orson Pratt in 1851, Liverpool,
in which is recorded a discussion on the “divine authenticity of the Book of
Mormon,” held in France between Elder John Taylor of the Quorum of the 12, and
three reverend gentlemen of different orders in 1843: “The western world,
including both North and South America, is the land of promise to the remnant
of Joseph”
Orson
Pratt, in Divine Authority or the
Question Was Joseph Smith sent of God? 1852, p11: “According to the Book of
Mormon, all of the great western continent, with all the valleys, hills, and
mountains, riches, and resources pertaining thereunto, was given to the
remnant of Joseph, as their “land of promise.” The Almighty sealed this
covenant and promise by an oath, saying, that the land should be given unto
them for ever. The western world, including both North and South America, is
the ‘land of promise,” to the remnant of Joseph, in the same sense that the
land of Palestine is a promised land unto the twelve tribes of Israel.”
Another
argument presented is the idea that Columbus came to America, to the Nephite
Land of Promise, which is the United States, using a scripture in 1 Nephi as
their basis: “And I looked and beheld a
man among the Gentiles, who was separated from the seed of my brethren by the
many waters; and I beheld the Spirit of God, that it came down and wrought upon
the man; and he went forth upon the many waters, even unto the seed of my
brethren, who were in the promised land” (1 Nephi 13:12); however, the fact
is, that Columbus never set foot on any land that is part of the present United
States, nor did he set foot on North America at all. His visits were to the
islands of the Bahamas, Honduras in Central America and to South America. The
Indians he saw and dealt with, often quite poorly and even barbarically, were
the Arawak/Taino of the Dominican Republic and Haita, what Columbus called
Hispaniola.
On
their blog is also stated: “Obviously, if one of the models answered all the questions presented
by the scriptural text, there would be consensus on where the Book of Mormon
history actually occurred" (Roger Terry, Senior Associate Editor, BYU
Studies).
Response: Well, we have seen that
this is not true since one site, Andean South America, as has been shown on
these pages over the past 5 years and in two books, Lehi Never Saw Mesoamerica (2009), and Who
Really Settled Mesoameria (2010), have shown, however, there is no rush to accept
that which flies in the face of other people’s models and beliefs.
In fact, the South American
model, first presented fairly accurately by Venice Priddis (far left) in 1975,
and by Art Kocherhans (left) even more accurately, in 1989, and our book Lehi
Never Saw Mesoamerica, which matches 65 different scriptural and Jewish
criteria of the Book of Mormon and our blog which has matched more than 40,
showing exact responses to the scriptural statement without any alterations
whatsoever.
Yet, the bottom line is that our
Andean South America maps, and scriptural matches, and exact usage of the
scriptures of the Book of Mormon, though all over the internet and certainly
available to anyone, including the answering of any and all questions in print,
which now totals more than 200, there is not one mention among any of the Land
of Promise theorists, which only goes to show that the comment of Roger Terry,
Senior Associate Editor, BYU Studies, is both naive and ill founded. The fact
of the matter is, and always has been, once someone, especially an academician,
historian or self-thought expert states his or her belief on a matter, there is
no moving that person from his or her stance no matter how much proof one
presents.
As was stated on their blog, “The Mesoamerican model started
from a faulty premise and has disintegrated into mere correlations." This is not only true, but can be seen from any
approach one wants to make at the lack of scriptural descriptive accuracies in
the model—yet, it is the major belief among LDS, the standard of belief at BYU
within the Archaeology and Anthropology departments, and the triumphant
foundation of FARMS and now the Neil A. Maxwell Institute.
(See the next post, “America is
the Land of Promise—But Where is America? – Part IV,” for answers to those two
questions and know where overall the Land of Promise is located and to what
land the Prophets have spoken and the Lord indicated)
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