- Well, welcome, we've finally
come to the conclusion.
Where we're just gonna kind of summarize
what we've learned in this presentation.
(bagpipe music)
So, here's what we've
talked about, in general.
And Now, the conclusion, the summary.
First of all, let's summarize
what the Book of Mormon is not.
It is not a record of
others from Jerusalem,
besides the Lehites and the Mulekites.
There's a whole lot of other records
of people that are not
included in the Book of Mormon.
It is also not a complete history
of the Lehites and the Mulekites.
We need the large plates of Nephi,
to get a more complete history.
It is not also an account of the peoples
who populated the land northward
to an exceeding great distance
with large bodies of water and many rivers
from 55 BC and on.
Mormon is the one who tells us this.
He had no way to include
the record of these people
into the abridged account that he made,
that we now call The Book of Mormon.
It also,
not an account of the righteous
Nephite civilization for 300 years
following the coming of Christ.
That record is so bare, that
there is essentially nothing
to learn from it, other than
that the people enjoyed peace
because they lived righteously.
(coughs)
Another thing we need to
think about and remember is
who were the Nephites?
Well, from The Book of Mormon,
it appears that these
are true when we speak
of who the Nephites were.
They were followers of the Prophet Nephi,
who founded their civilization in America.
They followed Christ and, or adhered
to the principles of liberty.
They were not supportive of kings.
They kept religious records
and also other records.
They moved their faith
and their Liberty culture
steadily North to preserve
it from Lamanite kings.
As very clear from the
Book of Mormon record.
They were abandoned by large groups,
such as the Zoramites, the
Amalikites, and the Kingmen.
All of whom went over to the Lamanites.
So, we understand then, that the Nephites
were a minority community
due to defections,
except for the time after
Christ visited in 33 AD.
And for that period, from 33 AD
to 300 AD,
when their religious
culture became dominant
throughout Central,
North, and South America,
that Christian culture.
They were frequently under
attack from Lamanite kings.
Some of whom were previously
Nephites themselves,
such as Amalickiah.
We also know that they
kept their genealogy.
That they may have been very
strict about marrying believers
and within the lineage of Nephi.
For example, the
descendants of Nephi include
Mosiah I, Benjamin, Mosiah II,
Alma Senior, Alma the Junior,
Helaman, Nephi, and then
Nephi the Disciple of Christ,
and Lehi his brother.
Mormon also prided himself as
being a descendant of Nephi
and this seemed to place him
in high regard in Nephite society,
where he was named Chief
Captain of the army.
We also know that they
maintained their Liberty,
and their more advanced technology,
particularly in military affairs,
and their dominant social position
until they became completely wicked.
Then they were destroyed by
the Lamanite King Aaron in 385 AD.
We also need to remember
that the Book of Mormon
is primarily a historic record that occurs
predominantly in the Land South,
as referred to by Mormon.
What is that Land South?
Well we can see from the
timeline at the bottom there,
the books of the Book of Mormon,
that the land Nephi
we have the record of Nephi and Jacob
in the lands First Inheritance
and the land of Nephi.
And we have Enos, Jarom,
Omni, Words of Mormon,
which covers a pretty big
period with not much said.
And then we have the
majority of the record
from about 150 BC up to the
time of the coming of Christ.
And we have the King Mosiah,
Alma, we have Helaman
and we have Third Nephi.
We also learn about
these migrations North.
And here we have this
minuscule Four Nephi record
And we have the Mormon and Moroni books
which themselves also where quite small.
So the land north consisted
of Desolation and many lands
but the majority of the record
is of those lands that where
south from the narrow pass.
We also learned that
the Metals in abundance
that are recorded in The Book of Mormon
and their locations are
specifically First Inheritance,
with it's gold, silver and copper.
The land Nephi which was east and up
from there which had gold, silver, copper
and must have had zinc,
because they where talking
about brass, and iron.
And then in the land of Zarahemla north,
beyond a narrow strip of
wilderness and a small neck of land
between the West Sea and the East Sea,
then had gold and silver.
And then in the next area
of Metals in abundance,
we have is the Jaredite kingdom of Moron,
with metals similar to
those of the land Nephi.
And remember again that this orientation,
only had one interpretation that worked.
Where we had the land
of First Inheritance,
being down here in Ecuador,
The Land of Nephi being in Columbia,
The land of Zarahemla,
somewhere in the Central American area.
Land of Moron up around
Guadalajara in Mexico.
And so this is how that
plays out on our map,
showing the various relationships.
We also remember that
this Metals Map matches
the description of the
Prophet Joseph Smith
that was recorded in his editorials
in the Times and Seasons.
With Zarahemla being in
Guatemala, the Lehi landing
south of the Isthmus of Darien
or the Isthmus of Panama
and so it matches in those regards also.
We also had tumbaga the
development of that metal,
which was a combination of copper and gold
and its migration north. We
also have the reality that
Nephi's expansion to the north,
took time, almost 200 years
and caused Captain Moroni around 72 BC
to establish a border. We also discussed
Alma's miraculous journey
which may be a new discovery,
with respect to The Book of Mormon.
Because we discovered
that The Book of Mormon
supports both a normal
four to five month journey,
but also that Alma's
journey with the church
must have been miraculous.
We know that the Book of Mormon is true,
so the account is true.
Therefore the explanation
can only be a miraculous
journey such as that of Moses,
Lehi and his people, the Jaredites,
and we also refer to that
recent rediscovered account
of the Wise Men - the twelve Wise Men
and their journey from the east.
So that presents a new perspective
because it is Alma's
twelve to twenty one day
journey which has constrained
the supporters of the Mesoamerican model
to constrain all of these
lands into Central America.
But this now, this thought
perhaps opens that up
and allows us to consider
a much broader geographic perspective.
As I said it took about 200
years for the land of Nephi
to expand far enough
north to become a threat
and require Captain Moroni
to establish that border.
We also saw a possible
solution to the River Sidon
which springs up in the east
and travels westward and
then turns northward.
We're not giving it's
direction out to the sea.
We have seen how that could match
to the River Copan in Honduras
which becomes a River Rio
Grande de Zacapa in Guatemala.
We also saw how this
interpretation matches very nicely
with a very detailed battle
description of Moroni's battle
with the Lamanite army in the
vicinity of the city of Manti,
and how that matches very
closely with the geography
that we've described for the River Sidon.
And perhaps matches
Manti to the city Copan.
We've also seen that the
Metals Map also allows us
to match The Jaredites with the Olmecs,
the Mulekites and the
Nephites with the Maya,
and the Lamanites with the
Isthmo-Colombian Culture.
We have those two significant boundaries,
Captain Moroni's 72 BC boundary,
and we have the narrow pass
going into the land north
there in Central Mexico,
South Central Mexico.
We also saw how that
marries up quite nicely
with the perspective of those cultures.
We also saw how the Metals
Map matches the Nephites
and the Maya, sorry the
Nephites with not only the Maya
but also the Teotihuacan
Religious Culture,
which was established and reigned supreme,
that's probably wrong terminology
but culturally dominated
as a religious culture for
a period of almost 300 years
and seems to match real closely
The Book of Mormon period
that we know of as Fourth Nephi.
And we saw the significance
of the lands north,
showing that the Nephites and
even Lamanites and Mulekites,
did in fact migrate
north in great quantity,
both up the West Coast
and also by land, and Mormon
describes in only minor detail
the retreat of the Nephites to the north.
accumulating more and more to the army,
gathering there more and
more of their people together
but ultimately being defeated
up in the land Cumorah
and hiding the records
in the Hill Cumorah.
So in conclusion, the
Metals Map seems to support
the continental view of being
not just in Central America,
not just in South America,
not just in North America
or the Heartland, but indeed
all of North and South America
and that view being held by
the Prophet Joseph Smith,
Brigham Young, John Taylor
and Wilford Woodruff.
So we have essentially
Lehi coming into the South,
Mulek coming into Central America,
and others probably coming in
because of the trade route
connection into Lake Superior
and the copper resources there
bringing the Jewish culture
into the Ohio area and the Eastern areas.
Also we looked at the retreat
of the Nephite culture.
We see this consistent
throughout The Book of Mormon account,
We see about 580 BC
after Lehi lands down in the south,
we see Nephi retreating
with the records up to
and establishing the land of Nephi.
But then in 280 BC, Mosiah
has to retreat again,
and these retreats are
significant in distance,
they didn't just move over the hill
that wasn't going to separate them.
And they needed to move
a substantial distance
to separate them from their enemies.
And so we see Mosiah moving
up to the North in 280 BC.
And then there is evidence
that around 100 AD
the Prophet and the records have moved up
to an area that we now
know as Teotihuacan.
And then of course Mormon
himself who retreat with
the records further north
ultimately up to Cumorah.
So thank you all for your attendance
and hope that this
presentation has been helpful,
stirs some interest and perhaps
stirs some greater study
into The Book of Mormon
geography and also, in my view
supports strongly that the
Prophet Joseph Smith was correct,
his integrity stands with
respect to the editorials
that he wrote in the Times and Seasons.
And it is my testimony that Joseph Smith
was indeed a Prophet of God
and that The Book of Mormon is true.
I leave that with you
in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.
