Introduction: A new perspective...
Of all the artifacts that are
thought to exist or of those found over time, there is none greater than that
of the Ark or the Covenant. It is the
greatest prize of the archaeological world even with those who do not believe
in the very writings which give testimony of it. Whenever a topic of
investigation comes to me, I always want to see what the orthodox belief is,
and in these times, the best way is to see what the all-knowing WIKI writers
are saying… I am absolutely surprised that the word “Mythical” does not appear
a dozen times or more in the wiki write-up. In the Wiki ditty you will find
some of the basics concerning the Ark, and a majority of the theories as to
where it may have disappeared to which are full of conjecture and
mis-information.
The first photo found in the WIKI
article shows a painting from 1900, a rendition depicting Moses and Joshua
“bowing” before the Ark of the Covenant. The Artist I suppose just didn’t
understand that Moses and Joshua would NEVER bow in worship of or to an
inanimate object, not even the ark, to do so would be in violation of the FIRST
of the NINE Commandments, “Ye shall not make Idols” but the Ark was not built
to serve as an Idol, so why do men make it such?
The first thing to overcome if
you really want truth, is to overcome and accept the fact that you have been
taught to believe, taught to believe a certain way or even behave in a
particular manner. Why are so many concern with what the rest of the world is
believing, thinking or doing? The majority of car or truck owners buy Ford, I
personally wouldn’t have one, sorry Ford owners, but I am an old school
mechanic, I wouldn’t have one if I could avoid it. Another example of being
taught to behave a certain way is the majority of men who cannot live without
their football, baseball or basketball. Don’t get me wrong, I use to love
participating in the sports, but I just don’t understand the idea of watching
it and not being a part, it is like watching someone buy a Ford.
When searching for truth, one has
to consider all possibilities, many would disregard certain sources just
because of what they have been taught to believe.
Although I do not adhere to any
current orthodox religious belief system, I consider them all because they had
to start somewhere but I know without a doubt that each has been changed and
tailored to satisfy the weakness of men, many of them bear little resemblance
to what they began as and others are full of justifications as to why these
changes are made even though it is a complete contradiction to the core belief!
Anyway… maybe some of you will understand why I have brought this up.
Of all the theories regarding the
Ark of the Covenant, ideas based upon conjecture, self-appointed, speculation
and/or just plain poor research, a majority derive at their conclusions with or
including Ignorance. Some things just don’t fit into their taught belief
system, religious or academic, and without any thought it is cast out.
I am going to tell you another
hypothesis of the Ark of the Covenant, one that no matter what I say, many will
not consider, and frankly I don’t care.
It would seem almost everyone is
in agreement that the Ark was in Jerusalem around 600 BC, a majority would also
agree that it just disappeared and often blamed upon the events of 587 BC when
the Babylonians laid waste to Jerusalem, as a result it is speculated that the
Ark was carried away by the Babylonians, I mean, where else could it have gone?
One source even states that at the same
time prior to this conquest, one of their great prophets and his family just
one day up and disappeared, he is identified by this source as Lehi of Beit
Lehi. I don’t know how much more of a hint the historians would need. This
event of the destruction of Jerusalem is where all speculations and conjecture
begins. However, this hypothesis to follow involves a source which comes from a
certain belief system, I strongly consider this written source not because I
was taught to believe, but because of waking up and realizing many years ago
that I too was taught to believe, this source material was my primary focus,
with only an agenda to prove it or disprove it, I only wanted the truth, in
short I’ve done the time, so with this said, let me continue.
There is a source few will
consider and many will never consider and that is their right within their
agency, that source is none other than what is called the book of Mormon.
Within this book which is a plausible history, is a story which is told that parallels
evidences being found today, just as the plausible history of the Bible.
In this book is the story which
is the beginning and the basis of the entire history which follows it. This
departing from Jerusalem can be read in 1st Nephi Chapter 1-4 of the
Book of Mormon.
When Lehi was instructed to leave
Jerusalem he was told to go to Laban, a powerful man in the city, who was in
possession of what is termed as “the Brass Plates.” I don’t think anyone with
knowledge would argue that the Brass Plates are the first five books of Moses.
I think the reason this has gone unseen for so long is due to this name given
by another people to a book mentioned in the other plausible history, the
Bible. This book was called The Book of the Law of Moses which is also the
first 5 books of Moses also known as the Torah. What I am suggesting is that
the Brass Plates of the Mormon book and the Book of the Law of the Bible are
the same book. Moses was instructed to put the “testimony” or book of the Law in
the Ark and nowhere have I found where in anyone was instructed to separate the
book from the Ark.
Exodus
Chapter 25 16 And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give
thee.
And later after Moses writes the
Testimony or Law…
Deuteronomy 31:9
9 ¶ And Moses wrote this law, and delivered
it unto the priests the sons of Levi, which bare the ark of the covenant of the
LORD, and unto all the elders of Israel.
Deuteronomy 31:25-26
25 That Moses commanded the Levites, which
bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying,
26 Take this book of the law, and put it in
the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there
for a witness against thee.
If
the Brass Plates were in fact the same as the testimony or Book of the Law
which was placed in the Ark, when Nephi and his brother went to get the Brass
Plates they would have had to have been taken out of the Ark of the Covenant.
In reading of the event you will notice that Laban, the possessor of the Plates,
does not go to get the plates himself, but he sends his servant Zoram whom I
would suspect was of Levitical decent.
If
Nephi was instructed to obtain the plates to be taken to the Promised land for
their benefit and the benefit of their posterity, why would they leave the Ark
behind, KNOWING well and good that its final purpose will be here upon this
land at the final gathering of Israel?
Did
the Ark travel to this continent with Lehi and his sons? Let’s look a little
further into the text of this plausible history.
Without
checking, Lehi with his people had been here for about 35-37 years when Nephi
received notice that his enemy the Lamanites were plotting to kill him. He was
told to gather in his families and belongings and leave the place they were in
the middle of the night. They traveled many days Northward, a journey which was
about 360 miles and eventually stopped at the place that that would become the
city of Nephi which today, is where the
Newark earthworks, ruins or mounds are found. They had not been there long and they
built a temple for a specific purpose.
12 And I, Nephi, had also brought the records which were engraven
upon the aplates of brass; and also the bball, or ccompass, which was
prepared for my father by the hand of the Lord, according to that which is
written.
13 And it came to pass that we began to
prosper exceedingly, and to multiply in the land.
14 And I, Nephi, did take the sword of Laban,
and after the manner of it did make many swords, lest by any means the people
who were now called Lamanites should come upon us and destroy us; for I knew
their hatred towards me and my children and those who were called my people.
15 And I did teach my people to build
buildings, and to work in all manner of wood, and of iron, and of copper, and
of brass, and of steel, and of gold, and of silver, and of precious ores, which
were in great abundance.
16 And I, Nephi, did build a temple; and I
did construct it after the manner of the
temple of Solomon save it were not built of so many precious things; for
they were not to be found upon the land, wherefore,
it could not be built like unto Solomon’s temple. But the manner of the
construction was like unto the temple of Solomon; and the workmanship thereof
was exceedingly fine.
Now
I do not know how many bible thumpers we have out there, but each of them
should know one of the main reasons the Temple of Solomon was built. It was
primarily built to house the Ark of the Covenant and my first question after
reading the contents of 2nd Nephi chapter 5 is, why would they do
this if they did not have the Ark? After this event the Mormon scriptures seem
to go silent as to where the Brass plates have gone.
One
of the greatest archaeologic hoaxes? But who got hoaxed?
From the all knowing WIKI:
In
October 1890, James O. Scotford of Edmore, Michigan, claimed that he had found
a number of artifacts, including a clay cup with strange symbols and carved
tablets, with symbols that looked vaguely hieroglyphic. The find attracted
interest and eager looters arrived to look for more artifacts. Many more
elaborate discoveries were made in the area around Wyman in Montcalm County,
Michigan following Scotford's original discovery. Scotford was a well-known
digger and sign painter in the area of Wyman. He and his company "would
dig until they located an artifact, and then the dignitaries who sponsored the
work were invited to remove that artifact". Within the first year of
Scotford's initial discovery a syndicate was formed in Montcalm County of
interested parties. The syndicate purchased many of the artifacts and attempted
to exploit the finds financially for the region.
By 1907,
Scotford joined forces with Daniel E. Soper, former Michigan Secretary of
State, and together they presented thousands of objects made of various
materials, supposedly found in 16 counties across Michigan. Soper had resigned
as Secretary of State for the State of Michigan after being accused of
embezzlement. The objects included coins, pipes, boxes, figurines and cuneiform
tablets that depicted various biblical scenes, including Moses handing out the
tablets of the Ten Commandments. On November 14, 1907, the Detroit News
reported that Soper and Scotford were selling copper crowns they had supposedly
found on heads of prehistoric kings, and copies of Noah's diary. Scotford often
arranged for a local person to witness him "unearthing" the objects.
Scotford
and Soper had many trusting customers who strongly believed in the relics. In
1911, one John A. Russell published a pamphlet, "Prehistoric discoveries
in Wayne County, Michigan," in which he argued for their authenticity.
James Savage, former pastor of the Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in
Detroit, bought 40 of the objects. Savage believed them to be "remains
relevant to the descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel," and continued
to believe in the relics until his death.
It is said the artifacts were immediately
deemed as a hoax by archaeologists and historians. Later it would seem that the
artifacts found their way to James Talmage in about 1909 and in 1911, 3 years
later he published a book rendering them to be a fraud. To this day I would
like to know how Mr. Talmage was qualified to render 30,000 artifacts found
over a period of nearly 300 years from over 1100 mounds as fake or was it his
intent to render them as a fraud for another purpose? These were some very
ambitious hoaxers indeed. What you will find on the internet today is a one
sided version of the story.
It has also been reported: Latest
studies of professor of anthropology Richard B. Stamps of the Michigan
Historical Museum indicate that the artifacts were made with contemporary
tools. My question would be: Contemporary? as in the technology
has somehow changed since the time the chisels which were also found among the
artifacts were made and those of today? The following image is one of the
tablets found that was among the Michigan Tablets. Also is a picture of brass
or copper Contemporary Tools some of many which was among the artifacts.
As it would seem, no one was trying to hide the fact that these were made with “Contemporary tools.”
Ark
of the Covenant?
(Notice
the Modern Archaeologist Tag at the bottom on a fake artifact yet)
The
next image is the reverse side of the tablet shown above.
A
Temple in the manner of Solomon’s?
Interestingly
enough, a very skeptical Ute friend of mine (not only skeptical of certain
artifacts but also of the whole Mormon story), once asked me if I had ever
wondered why he never gave me any criticisms towards these artifacts which he
was accustomed to doing in several other cases. I responded with, well, now
that you mentioned it, why haven’t you? Then he told me a story of when he was
in his younger years he happened upon a cave somewhere in south Ouray Utah and
in it he found several stones bearing the exact same inscriptions found upon
the Michigan artifacts, the Burrows Stones and Brewers find in Manti Utah. Upon
showing a few of them that he brought to his Grandfather his Grandfather
slapped them out of his hands and scolded him and telling him to return
them and never go there again! It is the cave of death! Those Hoaxers
were indeed very, very busy. I knew this man very well and he was no liar.
In
the next photo one might want to ask, “If these Hoaxers made these things with
Contemporary tools, why would these hoaxers also manufacture ancient tools?”
Like
I said, over 30,000 artifacts! Written off as a hoax, why? A few reasons as I
see it, One, the whole idea lends credence to the existence of a God and is a
strong evidence against the theory of Evil-ution and from certain people of the
Neil Maxwell Institute, it is evidence which is STRONGLY in opposition of their
Mesoamerican theory. The short of it is, PRIDE.
But
the strongest reasons I see as to why so much effort was placed in rendering
these artifacts as a hoax is, ONE: If these artifacts were deemed as authentic,
this would give immense credibility to the Mormon story, and we just can’t have
that. TWO: the most plausible reason for me is, by this time in 1890 to 1910,
it was WELL known the power of Smithsonian to just make thing disappear,
anything lending credence to a GOD or heaven forbid, the Mormons… would just
disappear. If the Mormons sent a representative to definitively express that
they too felt the artifacts were a hoax, it would saved them from being wisped
away, hidden from all or even being destroyed.
As
far as I am concerned what happens with these artifacts over the next 80 some
odd years the handling of them etc… shows that they were much more than fake
artifacts. If they were in fact fake, why didn’t they just throw them away?
Ancient
Contemporary tools? Someone please show me the differences in my sledge hammer
and chisel and these tools?
After James Savage died in 1927 he bequeathed
his collection of the relics to the University of Notre Dame. While at Notre
Dame, the relics sat dormant until the 1960s when Milton R. Hunter, president
of the New World Archaeological Foundation, the research institute of the
Mormon Church, uncovered the relics. Hunter spent the rest of his life
attempting to use the relics to prove the historicity of the Book of Mormon.
Hunter connected the relics to the "Michigan Mound Builders," which
he deemed to be the Nephites from the Book of Mormon. Hunter's rhetoric and
work with the Michigan Relics perpetuated pseudoarchaeology in religion, with
efforts to prove pre-Columbian contact and the myth of the mound builders.
Notre Dame gave Hunter the collection in the 1960s and before his death in 1975
he deeded the collection to the LDS Church. Following Hunter's death, the
Church kept the collection in their museum in Salt Lake City, Utah for decades.
In 2001, the Church had the relics examined by Professor of Anthropology
Richard B. Stamps, of Oakland University and found that the artifacts were made
with contemporary tools.
There
is so much that you have not been told about these incredible finds of the
Michigan Collection. The purpose of the foregoing in case you did not notice,
if these artifacts are authentic, where did these mound builders ever see a
rendition of the Ark of the Covenant and supposed rendition of a Temple like
unto Solomon’s? Continued in....
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