Don't Trust In the Arm of Flesh-Do Your Own Research

"They have cradled you in custom. They have primed you with their teaching. They have soaked you with convention through and through. They have put you in a showcase. You're a credit to their teaching. But don't you hear the truth? It's calling you."











Sunday, August 31, 2008

Book of Mormon Prophecied Biblically

The Book of Mormon Prophecied Biblically
And Proven True By Holy Bible

Many have said the Book of Mormon has no archaeological basis for it's claims. That's not what the Bible says. Not only does the Bible say a Book shall come forward in the lasts days which should be considered scripture, It gives the date, time and place. The Bible also tells you the sign of the time and events which shall happen proving the Book of Mormon is here. The Bible has been proven to be God's word. It has been haled by world universities as being a prophetic, archaeological marvel.
Thousand of archaeological digs have proven the Bible is true, it is accurate, and yes even a perfect book, in as much as it has been translated correctly.
It is astounding how Protestant Christians will claim the Book of Mormon false, yet never admit the Bible foretells the coming of the Book of Mormon in Prophecy. What is wrong with this picture? Why are the Churches not teaching Prophecy and Church history.
Psalms 85 Say's " truth shall spring for the earth". Isaiah Chapters 28-30, speak of a Prophet to come who stumbles in speech, speaking a language foreign to the Hebrew speaking Jews. Ezekiel 37 speaks of two different Books, one descending form Judah, ( our Bible ) The other Book to come from the descendants of Joseph of Egypt. That a testimony of two nations shall run together, and no more shall there be two books or two nations anymore. But One book and one nation.

Most people and denominations ridicule The Book of Mormon because of Joseph Smith. They say he's the devils servant, a fraud, that he perpetrated the biggest religious hoax of the millenia. Maybe those people, saying these terrible things about Joseph Smith are right!!! Or maybe not........ The Odds and true facts are Joseph Smith told the truth. Yet the theologians of Smith's day, were either ignorant or Antichrist in their doctrinal teachings of scriptural. Let me list for you why.........

The common Christian man or women In Joseph Smith's day and in our day, knew very little about how God Himself worked and communicated with ancient Israel. Most Bible stories tell tails like Moses parting the red sea, Moses and the burning bush, Frogs stampeding Egypt to death. Israelites plastering lambs blood on the lentils of their doors to ward off the Angel of Death. Yet no Book of Mormon stories.

We hear About Jesus Christ being born of a virgin, raising the dead, healing the sick. Helping the blind to see. We marvel at the priest who was stupid enough to touch the Ark of the Covenant, being struck dead for his pains. Or Samson playing the idiot, letting Delila cut his hair and loosing his strength. Story after story after story. But few are the stories we hear in our Bibles about the Book of Mormon. It's as if the Book of Mormon was not spoken of in the Bible. Yet it is!!! Why isn't it spoken of? I honestly Don't know.
The Urim and Thummim Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith.
Book of Samuel 28:5-6 Urim and Thummim


God communicated His commandments to King Saul by way of Urim and Thummim. Joseph Smith claimed to have translated the Book of Mormon from ancient Reformed Egyptian using the Urim and Thummim. If King Saul and the Ancient Hebrew Priests could communicate with God, using the Urim and Thummim as an oracle, why could not Joseph Smith have translated the plates by the same power? Why can't Joseph's story be true? Has anyone made a scriptural study, to see if Joseph Smith has told the truth? What are the chances he was a real Prophet? He lived like one, and died like one......
Why are people so quick to forget many if not most of God's Prophets die in the line of duty?

Book of Mormon Story Starts In the Bible

Remember the Tower of Babel in Genesis? Jared and the Brother of Jared? Has anyone ever read what happened to those people according to the bible? The bother of Jared pleaded to God for his peoples life and language. God spared them, confounded not their language and commanded them to travel east, through Asia. Their story ends in the Bible, and is continued in the Book of Mormon.
The Book of Mormon tells their story, tells how they built boats and crossed the Pacific Ocean in the Book of Ether, and Omni in the Book of Mormon.

Book of Mormon Proven True By DNA and Book of Mormon Expose CD


The Book of Mormon has been proven true by Protestant efforts to discredit it. The DNA and the Book of Mormon CD expose is correct. Many of the Lamanites did come from Asian DNA strains. It took the Jaredites over 40 years ( according to the Book of Mormon ) to travel through Asia. They married and intermarried as they traveled. Today's Protestant Churches in their ignorance of the Book of Mormon's content, assembled faulty information..... They are right about the Native American DNA strain being from Asia. They are wrong about Joseph Smith being a fraudulent Prophet and Liar. 180 years before DNA and the Book of Mormon CD Expose was created by man, God using Joseph Smith his servant translated recorded accounts in the Book of Mormon of three different peoples who traveled here from Asia.
So where is Smith a liar? Not to mention DNA Testing didn't even exist till the 1970's.
Book of Mormon Cannot Be Discredited
To Discredit Book of Mormon, You Must Discredit Biblical Cannan
It matters not what argument man presents, man cannot discredit the Book of Mormon. Why??? Because to discredit the Book of Mormon you must first say the Bible is not God's Holy Word and Revelation to His people. While many men have stated there are no archaeological artifacts testifying to the truth of the Book of Mormon, they are mistaken. The Bible has been proven archaeologically true. Hundreds, even thousands of prophecies in the Bible have been proven to have come true. Last but not least, the Book of Mormon Prophecies. The Bible has been proven historically sound, not just by churches, but by University authorities, researchers and explorers. The Dead Sea Scrolls ( 900 different fragmented books ) have proven the books in the Bible are true ancient scripts. Explorers and Archaeologists, have found the place where Moses parted the Red Sea, by the amount of chariots buried under water. Isaiah chapter 30 prophesied 911, the fall of the Twin Towers in New York City at the time of the Great Slaughter.
If our Bible can and has prophecied 911, then surely if the Book of Mormon is true, God speaks about it also?
Surley if God is an unchangeable God, then He continues to work today as in latter years.
As I said, the Bible has been proven God's word or revelation and instruction to us. God Himself tells us
Isaiah 42:9
9 Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.
John 16:12-13 Jesus Christ said:

12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.

Christians today have little regard for Jesus Christ's true words. They steadfastly insist they have the whole truth and they need no more truth because they have the bible.

13Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

It is clear the Bible says God is not finished doing His work nor giving us More truth and revelation. We've not seen all there is to see. Yet today, there is an idea taught that the Bible is all there is, their ain't no more to come. The assumption is allowed that the Bible speaks of no other prophetic scripture of Prophecy or Revelation. That is not true. A huge lie has been perpetrated either by design or mistake. There is much more to come....

Arrival of Book of Mormon in Biblical Prophecy

In Isaiah chapter 28 God clearly tells us " through stumbling lips and another tongue I will speak to this people". Isaiah at that time was writing to the Jews, and he himself a Hebrew, so Hebrew could not be the other tongue. Nor could Isaiah be speaking of Jesus Christ, who's lips and whit were so agile the Pharisees were left breathlessly wordless, unable to reply.
Isaiah writes further, how the priest and prophet are out of the way, they error in Judgement, they stagger with strong drink. Giving very good reason for God to resort to giving another book of scripture.
Isaiah writes of a time in the last days, when men posing as God's shepherds of the sheep, shall teach after their own understanding, denying the Holy Spirit's power and right to instruct His people.
Book of Mormon Comes As A sealed Book.
Isaiah chapter 29 speaks about " a vision of all to come as a book that is sealed" later giving the sign of the times so we might know when this sealed book of scriptural revelation had appeared so the world might read it. That sign is the greening up of Lebanon after a near 2000 years of being a dry desert. The rains started to fall once more around 1855.

Book of Mormon Prophecy
Revelations 14:6 Angel Will Preach Ever Lasting Gospel In Last Days

6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,

Many people from the very beginning condemned Joseph Smith for his story. He claimed an angel came to him not once but many times. Telling Joseph Smith not only to prepare for the work the Lord was going to do with Him but to repent and sanctify himself before God. This angel also began to teach Joseph Smith doctrine, preaching to him the gospel according to Joseph's personal testimony. Later after several years of preparatory work, and angelic visitations, Joseph was shown the the location of the Book of Mormon gold plates burried in the earth.
Book of Mormon Springing From the Earth
Psalms 85 King David Prophecies Book of Mormon Coming Forth
King David Psalms 85 asks God, " when wilt though restores us O Lord"? David later prophecies " truth shall spring from the Earth, and rightiousness shall look down from heaven"!
Many people have scoffed at the Joseph Smith Story as anti Biblical, Antichrist. Yet the Bible says in Psalms 85, Isaiah 29, and Ezekeil 37 about a record that shall speak as from the dead, a record which shall speak out of the dust.
Ezekiel the ProphetWrote: Ezekiel37: Confirms Coming of Second Book of Scripture, From Tribe of Joseph

Ezekiel chapter 37 speaks of the testimony of two different books. One coming from a Judah and his descendants. The other coming from Joseph of Egypt and His descendants. That the Restoration of God's everlasting covenant might be made known to his covenant people, the house of Israel. The Testimonies of two books and two nations shall run together. And they shall become one book and one nation.

Lebanon Turns Green in Response to Isaiah 29 Prophecy

These are stories foretold. Prophecies which have come true. And we know because the earth does the bidding of God the Father and his son Jesus Christ. Just as Prophecy foretold Jesus Christ's birth and the heavens gave sign with a star, so shall the earth tell the arrival of the new book of scripture to come. That book is here. The Book of Mormon. If you doubt the Book of Mormon as a book of scripture biblically, you've only to research when in History Lebanon greened up. Compare your research with with the Isaiah 29 prophecy of the greening of Lebanon and you have your prophetic Biblical confirmation of the Book of Mormon being a true book from God.
Or if you're a cynical person, do the reverse process.
Lebanon has turned green, the Book of Joseph is here. If the Book of Mormon is not the Book of Joseph biblically prophesied to come, what book is it? And where is this Book of Joseph? Who has it? It has to be here, God's word says so.
The earth says so.......

Book of Mormon

BelieversMade An Offender For A Word or Belief

Isaiah 29 speaks of the Greening of Lebanon as a sign of the Book of Mormons arrival. More pointedly men who believe the Book of Mormon shall be made an offender for a word or belief. Bible passage continues on, saying the believers in this sealed book, shall persecuted, despised and shunned. The idea that God would do His own work to retrieve His own people from bondage, makes men who truly believe this biblical passages as God's truth, bad men in the eyes of the world.

Book of Mormon and the
Character Assassination of Joseph Smith
Further fulfillment of Isaiah 29

There has been much hyper-boil told about the Book of Mormon. Much Character assassination against Joseph Smith by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints which is unwarranted. They flat lied about Joseph Smith. Smith didn't do what the Mormon church claimed he did. The LDS church claimed Smith was a Polygamist, not mentioning court cases Joseph Smith himself executed against men in the Joseph Smith era LDS Church who said he taught the doctrine of polygamy. Joseph Smith won his court cases, shaming those men legally and publicly. Men whom Smith proved they fraudulently claimed he taught polygamy in a court of law.
Defection Of Smith Personal Secretaries
Because Smith was such a lightening rod for negative attention, men conspired constantly to use his actions and words against him, Smith hired 4 personal secretaries to record in every detail of his daily movements the last few years of his life. Sadly and ironically, after Smith's murder, all four secretaries took Smith records with them to Salt Lake City. Years later, when Joseph Smith's sons traveled to Salt Lake to Petition the LDS Church for those records to prove their father innocent of polygamy, they were denied. Worse still, the records that were release years later, were tampered with and changed according to Joseph Smith's Family.
Book of Mormon Condemns Polygamy

8 years after Brigham Young conspired with other men to murder Joseph Smith in 1844, Young pulled a Revelation from his desk claiming in 1843 Joseph Smith had given this revelation from God the Saint's should practise polygamy. This revelation was the revelation that Polygamy was of God. Biblically we know polygamy is not of God. But what about the Book of Mormon? What does the Book of Mormon say? The Bible says we can judge a man by the fruit he bares. So what fruit did the work of Joseph Smith bare?
The Book of Jacob chapter 2 ,in the Book of Mormon condemns polygamy. For more roundly than the bible has ever done. If the Book of Mormon is not of God, then Joseph Smith by his works and words believed Polygamy to be wrong. If the Book of Mormon is of God, It confirms the Bibles condemnation of this heinous sin.
Proclaiming that a women's heart is of ultimate importance to God and she should only have one husband and he one wife as He God created it to be, beginning with Adam and Eve...... So why did Smith get the blame for Polygamy?

Smith Set Up For Polygamy Blame

Men who were around Smith, but apposed to him, set him up for a scape goat. Brigham Young and others, performed a hostile take over of the Original LDS church Smith started. They effectively locked Joseph Smith out of church leadership.
Much of this began to happen in 1835, which is why the Church of Christ Temple Lot, believe they are still the one true church to this day. Brigham Young and others in 1835 began removing revelation from the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants not handy toward their agenda's. Unknown to Smith, Revelation and Commandments were secretly removed from the D&C while it was arranged for Joseph to sign off certifying the Doctrine in Covenants was accurate in it's entirety.
Very few Salt Lake Mormons know Brigham Young had already started his own church years earlier, leading a double life.
This was known by Joseph Smith, his family and close friends. Years earlier Brigham Young and others had gone to meet with Jacob Cochran who had started his own denomination about 1816. Cochran had introduced polygamous practises into his church. Some of his polygamous practices were later adopted by Apostles Brigham Young, John Taylor, Heber C. Kimball, Parley P. Pratt, Orson Hyde, and others. These Church leaders secretly practiced polygamy in Nauvoo before Joseph's death, without his approval.
In time Joseph Smith was murdered. Brigham Young assumed leadership of the LDS Church. Being their leader and married to multiple wives already, led 10,000 members to Salt Lake City using lies and deceit. Leaving (remnants) of the original church 140,000 members strong to blow away in the wind. It would not be till 1864, that the original LDS church would manage to reorganize as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints lead by Joseph Smith son,
Joseph Smith III.
DNA Search For Joseph Smith's Polygamous Children
Many Churches Including the Mormon church claimed Joseph Smith started the whole polygamy mess. And I supposed he could have, yet his works say he did not. His actions say say he did not.
Ironically The Salt Lake Mormon church must agree. The Salt Lake Mormon Church has a doctrine called spiritual wifery. Where people can be married to a man or woman after they have died. And with Joseph Smith, that is exactly what they did.
But more pointedly, DNA tests have been performed recently. Brigham Young's many children have been found. As have the children of other known Joseph Smith era led polygamists. Ironically to this day, ( or should I say so far ) of the 2000 people claiming to be a direct descendant of Joseph Smith via polygamy have been tested. None of Smiths these supposed descendants other than those he sired through Emma Smith have been found to this day.
Emma Smith and The Reorganized Church
In my research I've run across a weird anomaly in historical LDS claims about Emma Smith. After Joseph Smith's murder, Brigham Young worked to persuade Emma Smith to follow him to Utah. She refused. All the land Joseph and Emma Smith owned was in the care of the LDS church, including their house. Upon Emma Smith's refusal to follow Brigham Young, She lost almost everything, her land and all she possessed. Brigham Young left Emma penniless.
What does this story have to do with Emma and the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints? Loads actually. A story from early post Joseph Smith, early Brigham Young led LDS history, claims Emma either fell away or left the Salt Lake LDS Church. Not true! Emma Smith never went to Utah to begin with. Nor was Emma ever a Salt Lake LDS Mormon. More telling is Emma Smith, raised Joseph Smith III and in 1864 the left over remnants of 140,000 Latter Day Saints who chose not to go to Salt Lake City, instead became the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The Church Emma Smith was to remain a member of till here death.
Protestant Churches have told lies, either by default or by purpose I know not. But the Salt Lake LDS also has told or allowed untruths to be assumed. Both will be held accountable before the Judgement seat. All will have to answer for denying Biblical truth, or using biblical truths against Christs doctrine in order to excuse sin. But this is happening as it has been written Biblically. There must come a falling away in the last times. That the man of sin, the son of perdition will be revealed.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Joseph Smith And Urim and Thummim

Preface

Dear reader, Joseph Smith claimed he translated the Book of Mormon plates by using the Urim and Thummim. An instrument used by the ancient Old Testament priesthood to communicate with God. I have for your reading and research pleasure, an article written by Rabbi Geoffrey W. Dennis. He knows his stuff and I advise you read his article and you judge if Joseph Smith might have been able to translate the plates using said instrument.


Above: Joseph Smith Led To Stone Box where Book of Mormon plates, the Urim and Thrummin and Breastplate were kept.


To read more about Joseph Smith's Personal Testimony, how he came to have the Book of Mormon plates, and translated them using the Urim and Thummim click link.
http://restorationbookstore.org/articles/testimonies/joseph-ownstory/part1.htm



Urim and Thummim

by Rabbi Geoffrey W. Dennis
Meaning uncertain, possibly "Light and Perfection" or "Perfect lights"). A method for inquiring of the God of Israel that was kept part of the priestly garments. Little is truly known about the Urim and Thummim; even the name has been subjected to wildly different translations. The Rabbis understood the Urim and Thummim to be part of the Breastplate of the High Priest and that its oracular function came from light shining through the twelve gemstones mounted on the breastplate. This was achieved by having a plate inscribed with the Tetragrammaton inserted behind the gemstone mounts. Supernal light radiating from the divine name would illuminate different stones. Since each stone was inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes, the Talmud teaches that it functioned as a kind of ouija board, with messages being spelled out for the High Priest. Some believe the Urim were the lights, while the Thummim was a device or code that helped in interpreting the message.
Other interpreters suggest that the Urim and Thummim were separate objects that were both kept in a pouch on the breastplate. In the Bible we read about one individual who made a counterfeit breastplate for his personal cult. For his breastplate he substituted teraphim for the Urim and Thummim (Judges 17-18; Hos. 3:4). This is a tantalizing but frustrating bit of data, because we know even less about the teraphim then we do about the Urim and Thummim. Consequently, the association of the two objects does not shed much light on either, no pun intended. The best evidence is that the two may have both been made of light-reflecting stone; Mesopotamian sources also mention an elmeshu stone used by the gods for oracular purposes.
The context for its mention in Scripture indicates the Urim and Thummim was only used for questions of grave importance, usually connected to the function of the state, such as whether and when to go to war, though there is one passage in Numbers that hints at the possibility it was used for more mundane questions, such as resolving difficult legal questions. The answers given by the Urim and Thummim recorded in the Bible were full sentences, suggesting either that the device was merely an aid to oracular prophecy, or that the Rabbis were correct in their claim that it spelled out messages from the letters on the breastplate.
Mention of the Urim and Thummim ceases early in the history of Israel, indicating that it was no longer in use at the rise of classical prophecy (8th Century BCE). There is some indication that it was reintroduced briefly during the Persian period, but it quickly disappears from the records. Since then it has become part and parcel of Western occult lore; Joseph Smith claimed to have used the Urim and Thummim to read the "Reformed Egyptian" language of the golden book given him by the angel Moroni. (DDS 4QQ376, 4QpIsa; Antiquities; B. Yoma; Exodus Rabbah; Number Rabbah; Sifrei Numbers; Targum Pesudo-Jonathan; PdRE; Zohar; Ramban on Ex. 28).
Article copyright 2004 Geoffrey Dennis.




Urim and Thummim Part 2

In ancient Israelite religion and culture, Urim and Thummim (Hebrew: האורים והתומים, Standard haʾUrim vəhaTummim Tiberian hāʾÛrîm wəhatTummîm) is a phrase from the Hebrew Bible associated with the Hoshen (High Priest's breastplate), divination in general, and cleromancy in particular. Most scholars suspect that the phrase refers to specific objects involved in the divination. [1]
Contents[
hide]1 Name and Meaning
2 Form and Function
3 History of Use
4 Latter Day Saint movement
5 References by popular culture
6 See also
7 Notes and citations
8 External links

[edit] Name and Meaning
תּוּמִים (Thummim) is widely considered to be derived from the
consonantal root תּמִם (t-m-m), meaning faultless[2][3][4], while אוּרִים (Urim) has traditionally been taken to derive from a root meaning lights; these derivations are reflected in the Neqqudot of the masoretic text[5]. In consequence, Urim and Thummim has traditionally been translated as lights and perfections (by Theodotion, for example), or, by taking the phrase allegorically, as meaning revelation and truth, or doctrine and truth (it appears in this form in the Vulgate, in the writing of Jerome, and in the Hexapla)[6].
However, although at face value the words are plural, the context suggests they are pluralis intensivus - singular words which are pluralised to enhance their apparent majesty
[7]. The singular forms - ur and tumm - have been connected by some early scholars with the Babylonian terms urtu and tamitu, meaning oracle and command, respectively[8]. Many scholars now believe that אוּרִים (Urim) simply derives from the Hebrew term אּרּרִים (Arrim), meaning curses, and thus that Urim and Thummim essentially means cursed or faultless, in reference to the deity's view of an accused - in other words that Urim and Thummim concern the question of innocent or guilty?[9][10].
[edit] Form and Function
A passage -
1 Samuel 14:41 - in the Books of Samuel is regarded by biblical scholars as key to understanding the Urim and Thummim[11]; the passage describes an attempt to identify a sinner via divination, by repeatedly splitting the people into two groups and identifying which group contains the sinner. In the version of this passage in the masoretic text, it merely describes Saul and Jonathan being separated from the rest of the people, and lots being cast between them; the Septuagint version, however, states that Urim would indicate Saul and Jonathan, while Thummim would indicate the people. In the Septuagint, a previous verse[12] uses a phrase which is usually translated as inquired of God, which is significant as the grammatical form of the Hebrew implies that the inquiry was performed by objects being manipulated; scholars view it as evident from these verses and versions that cleromancy was involved, and that Urim and Thummim were the names of the objects being cast[13].
The description of the clothing of the
Jewish high priest in the Book of Exodus portrays the Urim and Thummim as being put into the sacred breastplate, worn by the high priest over the Ephod[14]. Where the Bible elsewhere describes an Ephod being used for divination, scholars presume that it is referring to use of the Urim and Thummim in conjunction with the Ephod, as the these seem to be intimately connected with it[15]; similarly where non-prophets are portrayed as asking Yahweh for guidance, and the advice isn't described as given by visions, scholars think that Urim and Thummim were the medium implied[16]. In all but two cases[17], the question is one which is effectively answered by a simple yes or no[18]; a number of scholars believe that the two exceptions to this pattern, which give more complex answers, were originally also just sequences of yes/no questions, but became corrupted by later editing[19].
There is no description of the form of the Urim and Thummim in the passage describing the high priest's vestments, and a number of scholars believe that the author of the passage, which
textual scholars attribute to the priestly source, wasn't actually entirely aware of what they were either[20]. Nevertheless, the passage does describe them as being put into the breastplate, which scholars think implies they were objects put into some sort of pouch within it, and then, while out of view, one (or one side, if the Urim and Thummim was a single object) was chosen by touch and withdrawn or thrown out[21]; since the Urim and Thummim were put inside this pouch, they were presumably small and fairly flat, and were possibly tablets of wood or of bone[22]. With the view of scholars that Urim essentially means guilty and Thummim essentially means innocent, this would imply that the purpose of the Urim and Thummim was an ordeal to confirm or deny suspected guilt; if the Urim was selected it meant guilt, while selection of the Thummim would mean innocence.
According to Islamic sources, there was a similar form of divination among the
Arabs prior to the beginning of Islam[23]. There, two arrow shafts (without heads or feathers), on one of which was written command and the other prohibition or similar, were kept in a container, and stored in the Kaaba at Mecca[24]; whenever someone wished to know whether to get married, go on a journey, or to make some other similar decision, one of the Kaaba's guardians would randomly pull one of the arrow shafts out of the container, and the word written upon it was said to indicate the will of the god concerning the matter in question[25]. Sometimes a third, blank, arrow shaft would be used, to represent the refusal of the deity to give an answer[26].
According to
classical rabbinical literature, in order for the Urim and Thummim to give an answer, it was first necessary for the individual to stand facing the fully dressed high priest, and vocalise the question briefly and in a simple way, though it wasn't necessary for it to be loud enough for anyone else to hear it[27]. The Talmudic rabbis, argued that Urim and Thummim were words written on the sacred breastplate[28]; according to someone[citation needed], the breastplate had to be activated by taking a parchment with the Tetragrammaton inscribed upon it, and inserting the parchment into a slot in the breastplate[citation needed]. Most of the Talmudic rabbis, and Josephus, following the belief that Urim meant lights, argued that divination by Urim and Thummim involved questions being answered by great rays of light shining out of certain jewels on the breastplate; each jewel was taken to represent different letters, and the sequence of lighting thus would spell out an answer (though there were 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, and only 12 jewels on the breastplate)[29][30][31]; two Talmudic rabbis, however, argued that the jewels themselves moved in a way that made them stand out from the rest, or even moved themselves into groups to form words[32].
[edit] History of Use1 Samuel 28:6 states that God refused to answer Saul by dreams, by Urim, or by prophets. Saul was a Benjamite; his 'yes' was Thummim. A priest is a Levite; his 'yes' is Urim. Six tribes were on one stone, and six tribes were on the other.[citation needed]
A passage of the
Books of Samuel mentions three methods of divine communication - dreams, prophets, and the Urim and Thummim[33]; the first two of these are also mentioned copiously in Assyrian and Babylonian literature, and such literature also mentions Tablets of Destiny, which are similar in some ways to the Urim and Thummim[34]. The Tablets of Destiny had to rest on the breast of deities mediating between the other gods and mankind in order to function[35], while the Urim and Thummim had to rest within the breastplate of the priest mediating between Yahweh and mankind[36]. Marduk was said to have put his seal on the Tablets of Destiny[37], while the Israelite breastplate had a jewelled stone upon it for each of the Israelite tribes, which may derive from the same principle[38]. Like the Urim and Thummim, the Tablets of Destiny came into use when the fate of king and nation was concerned[39]. According to a minority of archaeologists, the Israelites emerged as a subculture from within Canaanite society, and not as an invading force from outside, and therefore it would be natural for them to have used similar religious practices to other Semitic nations[40], and scholars suspect that the concept of Urim and Thummim was originally derived from the Tablets of Destiny[41].
The first biblical reference to Urim and Thummim is the description in the Book of Exodus concerning the high priest's vestments
[42]; the chronologically earliest passage mentioning them, according to textual scholars, is in the Book of Hosea[43], where it is implied, by reference to the Ephod, that the Urim and Thummim were fundamental elements in the popular form of the Israelite religion[44], in the mid 8th century BC[45]. Consulting the Urim and Thummim was said to be permitted for determining territorial boundaries, and was said to be required, in addition to permission from the king or a prophet, if there was an intention to expand Jerusalem or the Temple in Jerusalem[46][47][48][49]; however, these rabbinical sources did question, or at least tried to justify, why Urim and Thummim would be required when a prophet was also present[50]. The classical rabbinical writers argued that the Urim and Thummim were only permitted to be consulted by very prominent figures such as army generals, the most senior of court figures, and kings, and the only questions which could be raised were those which were asked for the benefit of the people as a whole[51].
Although
Josephus argues that the Urim and Thummim continued to be used until the era of the Maccabees[52], Talmudic sources are unanimous in agreeing that the Urim and Thummim were lost much earlier, when Jerusalem was sacked by the Babylonians[53][54][55]. In a passage from the part of the Book of Ezra which overlaps with the Book of Nehemiah, it is mentioned that individuals who were unable to prove, after the Babylonian captivity had ended, that they were descended from the priesthood before the captivity began, were required to wait until priests in possession of Urim and Thummim were discovered[56]; this would appear to confirm the Talmudic view that the Urim and Thummim had by then been lost[57][58][59]. Indeed, since the priestly source, which textual scholars date to a couple of centuries prior to the captivity, doesn't appear to know what the Urim and Thummim looked like, and there is no mention of the Urim and Thummim in the deuteronomic history beyond the death of David, biblical scholars suspect that use of them decayed some time before the Babylonian conquest[60], probably as a result of the growing influence at the time of prophets[61].
[edit] Latter Day Saint movement
Main articles:
Urim and Thummim (Latter Day Saints) and Seer stone (Latter Day Saints)
Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, said he used "interpreters" in order to translate the Book of Mormon from the Golden Plates. The "interpreters" he described as a pair of stones, fastened to a breastplate joined in a form similar to that of a large pair of spectacles. Smith later referred to this object as the Urim and Thummim. In 1823, Smith said that the angel Moroni, who had told him about the Golden Plates, also told him about the Urim and Thummim, "two stones in silver bows" fastened to a breastplate, and the angel intimated that they had been prepared by God to aid in the translation of the Golden Plates.[62] Smith's mother, Lucy Mack Smith, described these Urim and Thummim as being like "two smooth three-cornered diamonds."[63]
Joseph Smith and his early Mormon contemporaries also referred to a separate "seer stone", also used for translation;
[64] but in some cases it is unclear whether Smith's contemporaries are referring to the Urim and Thummim or to the seer stone, because they seem to have used the terms interchangeably. Smith also said he used these devices to assist him in receiving other divine revelations, including some of the sections of the Doctrine and Covenants and portions of the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible. Although many of Smith's associates said they saw him use the devices, only Oliver Cowdery seems to have attempted to use them to receive his own revelation.[65] Mormons believe that Smith's Urim and Thummim were functionally identical to the biblical Urim and Thummim, but there is no evidence that the latter were ever used to translate unknown texts.[66]

[edit] References by popular culture
In accordance with the traditional view that Urim and Thummim should be translated as "Light and Truth", the Latin equivalent of this latter phrase — Lux et Veritas — has been used for several university mottoes. Lux et Veritas is the motto of
Indiana University and the University of Montana; similarly, Northeastern University's motto is Lux, Veritas, Virtus (Light, Truth, Virtue). Though Urim and Thummim itself is emblazoned across the open book pictured on the Yale University coat of arms (a legacy of Yale College president Ezra Stiles), Lux et Veritas appears below on a banner.
The Urim and Thummim are also afforded some value as
artifacts in some modern fiction:
A treasure hunt for the Urim and Thummim forms the central plot of the
John Bellairs novel The Revenge of the Wizard's Ghost
Their apparent desecration by an unknown vandal is a theme in the
Arthur Conan Doyle short story The Jew's Breastplate.
In the Christian fiction novel The Face of God, by
Bill Myers, the pastor Daniel Lawson and terrorist Ibrahim el-Magd race to find the Urim and Thummim, as well as the twelve stones of the sacred breastplate, in order to hear God's voice.
In the novel
The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho, the king of Salem gives the main character Santiago two stones that the king calls Urim and Thummim. One of the stones is white, which is said to signify no, and the other is black, said to signify yes; a significance applicable when the stones are asked an appropriate question and drawn from a bag. The king himself had removed the stones from his shining golden breastplate.
The traditional rabbinical descriptions of the function of Urim and Thummim — transmitting messages by glowing — has been claimed by some proponents of
paleocontact hypothesis to be evidence in support of that hypothesis.





Sunday, August 17, 2008

Oklahoma Leader of Light Petroglyph

Dear Reader,
I have provided the Viewzone link for your further research pleasure. There are many men who contradict Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon and Biblical scripture saying the Bible is the only word of God. Yet you see pictoglyph writings, that openly support Joseph Smith's claims there was a people in the America's of Hebrew decent. Why else would these stones say what they do. Who is the Lord ( Leader ) of Light as quoted in Biblical scripture? Who is the serpent as represented in Genesis?
Many Christains Forget Ezekiel's prophecy, Ezekiel 37, that there will be two Scriptural whitnesses of Jesus Christ. One Whitness shall come from the Tribe of Juda. The Other Whitiness shall decend from Joseph, and be in the hands of Ephraim...... That their are two Books and Two nations according to God Himself.

Christians today need to think outside the box. We have to get over someone else being our crutch, our personal expert whom we refer to. Instead as Christians, as believers in Christ, we must need study Christ's words. We must become expert in the words of Jesus Christ. Not just Christ, but his immediate apostles as well.
People must also note, that Christ and his apostles gave prophetic warning, saying there were men who were involved in religious espionnage, who were ordained to this condemnation, who will pervert Christ's original doctrine and teachings. And that we must preserve the original teachings. Holding fast to them till Christ's return. We must also note in Biblical scripture Christ said He would build His church. He didn't say man would help build His church, or that man would convert other men and build His church by preaching and exhortations.
In another Post I will quote these scriptures in detail . For now I will let these rocks speak for themselves, letting your mind wonder.
James Brian Marshall
Discovery of Writing in Oklahoma, U.S.A.



This is a portion of the long petroglyph mural that was discovered just to the South of the Purgatory River in Colorado. The petroglyph was chalked by professor Weisendanger and his associates from Tulsa University in the 1940s, and then photographed in black and white from a large negative. The only surviving print is in the "No Man's Land Museum" in Goodwell, Oklahoma, pictured at the bottom of this page.
This section represents about five feet of a carefully executed narrative, reading from right to left, which runs about 80 feet in total length. Areas of the petroglyph were worn with age and water erosion and were not chalked. But what is enhanced is clear enough to translate, and the results are reproduced here for scrutiny.
One of the many curious observations that we have been able to make concerns the arrangement of multiple concentric circles. At first, we did not imagine these as ligatures. The arrangement has been shown to result in meaningful translations when taken as a double-Tsadeh ligature. Some examples of the concentric circle ligatures can be seen in these petroglyphs.
NTN = "give, allow, let..." (A)YL ="...the leader,
ram..." L[horizontal]= preposition "to, for, of, from..." AR = "...light..." LN ="...to pray..."
The last LN segment appears to be part of a longer ligature; however, a section of uncarved rock breaks this ligature from the adjoining one while maintaining an illusion of design continuity.
BY = "...entreating, invoking..." AL ="EL (God)" SLS = "...the serpent..." LR ="to be attentive, to take notice..." L[horizontal]= preposition "to, for, of, from..." SN ="tongue, language..." V ="and" TsTs ="to appear, blossom, emerge..."
This could possibly be a reference or prohibition against using the name of the God, "El" or "Yah," in vain because it also allows the "serpent" to be invoked. More translations of the wall could provide some further explanation.










Viewzone Link
http://www.viewzone.com/oklahoma11.html








Friday, August 8, 2008

Book of Mormon Peoples Early European And Ancient American History of the Cross

Swastika
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This article is about the symbol. For the town, see Swastika, Ontario.

The swastika in a decorative Hindu form. The Hindu swastika was copied and used as an official emblem of the Nazi Party, a use sometimes continued by modern Neo-Nazis.
The swastika (from Sanskrit: svástika स्वस्तिक ) is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing (卐) form or its mirrored left-facing (卍) form. The swastika can also be drawn as a traditional swastika, but with a second 90° bend in each arm.

Archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates from the Neolithic period. An ancient symbol, it occurs mainly in the cultures that are in modern day India and the surrounding area, sometimes as a geometrical motif (as in the Roman Republic and Empire) and sometimes as a religious symbol. It was long widely used in major world religions such as shamanism

Though once commonly used all over much of the world without stigma, because of its iconic usage in Nazi Germany, the symbol has become controversial in the Western world.

Contents [hide]
1 Etymology and alternative names
2 History
2.1 Origin hypotheses
2.2 Archaeological record
2.3 Historical use
2.4 Reintroduction of the swastika in the West
3 Geometry and symbolism
4 Art and architecture
5 Religion and mythology
5.1 Hinduism
5.2 Buddhism
5.3 Jainism
5.4 Abrahamic religions
5.5 Other Asian traditions
5.6 Native American traditions
5.7 Pre-Christian Europe
5.7.1 Baltic
5.7.2 Celtic
5.7.3 Finnic
5.7.4 Germanic
5.7.5 Sami
5.7.6 Slavic
6 As the symbol of Nazism
7 Use in Western countries
7.1 Brazil
7.2 Belgium
7.3 European Union
7.4 Germany
7.5 United States
7.6 Satirical use
7.7 Controversy over Asian products
8 Contemporary usage
8.1 Finland
8.2 India, Nepal and Sri Lanka
8.3 Tajikistan
8.4 Canada
8.5 New religious movements
8.5.1 Theosophical Society
8.5.2 Raëlian Movement
8.5.3 Ananda Marga
8.5.4 Falungong
8.5.5 Neopaganism
9 Image Gallery
10 See also
11 Notes
12 References
13 External links



[edit] Etymology and alternative names

Seals from the Indus Valley Civilization (from around 3000–1500 BC). The first one appears to show a swastika.The word swastika is derived from the Sanskrit svastika (in Devanagari, स्वस्तिक), meaning any lucky or auspicious object, and in particular a mark made on persons and things to denote good luck. It is composed of su- (cognate with Greek ευ-, eu-), meaning "good, well" and asti, a verbal abstract to the root as "to be" (cognate with the Romance copula, coming ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *h1es-); svasti thus means "well-being." The suffix -ka intensifies the verbal meaning or confers the sense of 'beneficial', and svastika might thus be translated literally as "that which is associated with well-being," corresponding to "lucky charm" or "thing that is auspicious."[1] The word first appears in the Classical Sanskrit (in the Ramayana and Mahabharata epics).

The Hindu Sanskrit term has been in use in English since 1871, replacing gammadion (from Greek γαμμάδιον).

Alternative historical English spellings of the Sanskrit word include suastika, swastica and svastica. Alternative names for the shape are:

crooked cross
cross cramponned, ~nnée, or ~nny (in heraldry), as each arm resembles a crampon or angle-iron (German: Winkelmaßkreuz)
ugunskrusts (fire cross), also pērkonkrusts (thundercross), kāškrusts (hook-cross), Laimas krusts (Laima's cross), fylfot, is a central element in jewelry, national clothes in Latvian, Lithuanian, Old-Prussian culture, symbolizing as a element of life. It is used in a Latvian Seven-Day Ring. The ring is with 7 symbols, each representing a day of the week, where fire-cross being as a symbol for Thursday, and it's motto being: "Domā un rīkojies krietni" (Think and do honorable actions.)
double cross, by Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, on the April 6, 1941 edition of his radio program The Catholic Hour, not only comparing the Cross of Christ with the swastika, but also implying that siding with fascism was a "double-crossing" of Christianity
fylfot, possibly meaning "four feet", chiefly in heraldry and architecture (See fylfot for a discussion of the etymology)
gammadion, tetragammadion (Greek: τέτραγαμμάδιον), or cross gammadion (Latin: crux gammata; Old French: croix gammée), as each arm resembles the Greek letter Γ (gamma)
hook cross (German: Hakenkreuz);
sun wheel, a name also used as a synonym for the sun cross
tetraskelion (Greek: τετρασκέλιον), "four legged", especially when composed of four conjoined legs (compare triskelion (Greek: τρισκέλιον))
Thor's hammer, from its supposed association with Thor, the Norse god of the weather, but this may be a misappropriation of a name that properly belongs to a Y-shaped or T-shaped symbol[2]. The swastika shape appears in Icelandic grimoires wherein it is named Þórshamar.
The Tibetan swastika is known as nor bu bzhi -khyil, or quadruple body symbol, defined in Unicode at codepoint U+0FCC ࿌.

[edit] History

Greek helmet with swastika marks on the top part (details), 350-325 BC from Taranto, found at Herculanum. Cabinet des Médailles, Paris.The motif seems to have first been used in Neolithic India. The symbol has an ancient history in Europe, appearing on artifacts from pre-Christian European cultures. In antiquity, the swastika was used extensively by the Indo-Aryans, Persians, Hittites, Celts and Greeks, among others. In particular, the swastika is a sacred symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Mithraism, religions with a total of more than a billion adherents worldwide, making the swastika ubiquitous in both historical and contemporary society. The symbol was introduced to Southeast Asia by Hindu kings and remains an integral part of Balinese Hinduism to this day, and it is a common sight in Indonesia. It is also used by several Native American cultures.

In the Western world, the symbol experienced a resurgence following the archaeological work in the late 19th century of Heinrich Schliemann, who discovered the symbol in the site of ancient Troy and associated it with the ancient migrations of Proto-Indo-Europeans. He connected it with similar shapes found on ancient pots in Germany, and theorized that the swastika was a "significant religious symbol of our remote ancestors", linking Germanic, Greek and Indo-Iranian cultures.[3][4] By the early 20th century, it was widely used worldwide and was regarded as a symbol of good luck and success.

The work of Schliemann soon became intertwined with the völkisch movements, for which the swastika was a symbol of "Aryan" identity, a concept that came to be equated by theorists such as Alfred Rosenberg with a Nordic master race originating in northern Europe. Since its adoption by the Nazi Party of Adolf Hitler, the swastika has been associated with Nazism, fascism, racism (white supremacy), the Axis powers in World War II, and the Holocaust in much of the West. The swastika remains a core symbol of Neo-Nazi groups, and is used regularly by activist groups to signify their opinion of supposed Nazi-like behavior of organizations and individuals they oppose.


[edit] Origin hypotheses
Main article: Swastika origin theories
Although the Swastika seems to have first been used in Neolithic India, the ubiquity of the swastika symbol is easily explained by its being a very simple shape that will arise independently in any basket-weaving society. The swastika is a repeating design, created by the edges of the reeds in a square basket-weave. Other theories attempt to establish a connection via cultural diffusion or an explanation along the lines of Carl Jung's collective unconscious.

The swastika may have been transferred to North America by an early seafaring civilization in Eurasia, but it is considered more likely that its use in the Americas arose independently[citation needed].

The genesis of the swastika symbol is often treated in conjunction with cross symbols in general, such as the "sun wheel" of Bronze Age religion.

Another explanation is suggested by Carl Sagan in his book Comet. Sagan reproduces an ancient Chinese manuscript (the Book of Silk) that shows comet tail varieties: most are variations on simple comet tails, but the last shows the comet nucleus with four bent arms extending from it, recalling a swastika. Sagan suggests that in antiquity a comet could have approached so close to Earth that the jets of gas streaming from it, bent by the comet's rotation, became visible, leading to the adoption of the swastika as a symbol across the world.[5]

In Life's other secret, Ian Stewart suggests the ubiquitous swastika pattern arises when parallel waves of neural activity sweep across the visual cortex during states of altered consciousness, producing a swirling swastika-like image, due to the way quadrants in the field of vision are mapped to opposite areas in the brain.[6]

Still another explanation may be visible spiral galaxies before industrial light pollution.


[edit] Archaeological record

This Iranian necklace was excavated from Kaluraz, Guilan, first millennium BC, National Museum of Iran.The earliest consistent use of swastika motifs in the archaeological record date to the Neolithic, though an isolated late Paleolithic artifact containing the shape exists. The symbol was found on a number of shards in the Khuzestan province of Iran and as part of the "Vinca script" of Neolithic Europe of the 5th millennium BC. In the Early Bronze Age, it appears on pottery found in Sintashta, Russia.

Swastika-like symbols also appear in Bronze and Iron Age designs of the northern Caucasus (Koban culture), and Azerbaijan, as well as of Scythians and Sarmatians [7]. In all these cultures, the swastika symbol does not appear to occupy any marked position or significance, but appears as just one form of a series of similar symbols of varying complexity. While this sign has been found in many cultures it is referred to as Swastika only in Sanskrit and related languages.


[edit] Historical use
The symbol rose to importance in Buddhism in the Mauryan Empire and in Hinduism with the Decline of Buddhism in India in the Gupta period India.

With the spread of Buddhism, the Buddhist swastika reached Tibet and China. The use of the swastika by the indigenous Bön faith of Tibet, as well as syncretic religions, such as Cao Dai of Vietnam and Falun Gong of China, is thought to be borrowed from Buddhism as well.


[edit] Reintroduction of the swastika in the West
Main article: Western use of the Swastika in the early 20th century

The aviator Matilde Moisant (1878–1964) wearing a swastika medallion in 1912. The symbol was popular as a good luck charm with early aviators.The discovery of the Indo-European language group in the 1790s led to a great effort by archaeologists to link the pre-history of European people to the ancient "Aryans" (variously referring to the Indo-Iranians or the Proto-Indo-Europeans). Following his discovery of objects bearing the swastika in the ruins of Troy, Heinrich Schliemann consulted two leading Sanskrit scholars of the day, Emile Burnouf and Max Müller. Schliemann concluded that the Swastika was a specifically Indo-European symbol. Later discoveries of the motif among the remains of the Hittites and of ancient Iran seemed to confirm this theory.[when?] This idea was taken up by many other writers, and the swastika quickly became popular in the West, appearing in many designs from the 1880s to the 1920s.

These discoveries, and the new popularity of the swastika symbol, led to a widespread desire to ascribe symbolic significance to every example of the motif. In many European countries, examples of identical shapes in ancient European artifacts and in folk art were interpreted as emblems of good-luck linked to the Indo-Iranian meaning.

Western use of the motif, along with the religious and cultural meanings attached to it, was subverted in the early 20th century after it was adopted as the emblem of the Nazi Party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei). This association occurred because Nazism stated that the historical Aryans were the forefathers of modern Germans and then proposed that, because of this, the subjugation of the world by Germany was desirable, and even predestined. The swastika was used as a conveniently-geometrical and eye-catching symbol to emphasize the so-called Aryan-German correspondence and instill racial pride. It was also adopted by some German militants in the March 1920 Kapp Putsch.

The swastikas on the Order of the White Rose designed in 1918 by Akseli Gallen-Kallela remained in use until 1963.


[edit] Geometry and symbolism

A right-facing swastika may be described as "clockwise"... ...or "counter-clockwise".
Geometrically, the swastika can be regarded as an irregular icosagon or 20-sided polygon. The arms are of varying width and are often rectilinear (but need not be). However, the proportions of the Nazi swastika were fixed: they were based on a 5x5 grid.[8]

Characteristic is the 90° rotational symmetry (that is, the symmetry of the cyclic group C4h) and chirality, hence the absence of reflectional symmetry, and the existence of two versions that are each other's mirror image.

The mirror-image forms are often described as:

left-facing and, as depicted across, right-facing;
left-hand and right-hand;
clockwise and counterclockwise.
"Left-facing" and "right-facing" are used mostly consistently. In an upright swastika, the upper arm faces either the viewer's left (卍) or right (卐). The other two descriptions are ambiguous as it is unclear whether they refer to the direction of the bend in each arm or to the implied rotation of the symbol. If the latter, whether the arms lead or trail remains unclear. However, "clockwise" usually refers to the "right-facing" swastika. The terms are used inconsistently (sometimes even by the same writer), which is confusing and may obfuscate an important point, that the rotation of the swastika may have symbolic relevance, although little is known about this symbolic relevance.

Nazi ensigns had a through and through image, so each version was present on one side, but the Nazi flag on land was right-facing on both sides and at a 45° rotation.[9]

Seen as a cross, the four lines emanate from the center to the four cardinal directions. The most common association is with the Sun. Other proposed correspondences are to the visible rotation of the night sky in the Northern Hemisphere around the pole star.

The name "sauwastika" is sometimes given to the left-facing form of the swastika (卍), based on D'Alviella (1894),[10] though the term is merely an alternate spelling of swastika. Indians of all faiths sometimes use the symbol in both orientations, mostly for symmetry. Buddhists outside India generally use the left-facing swastika rather than the right-facing swastika, although both can be used. Claims to the effect that the left-facing swastika has inauspicious or "evil" connotations are without substance, most likely based on the stigma of left handedness. In particular, the left-facing swastika is often carved in a see-through lattice in entrance doors of Buddhist temples in China. When exiting the temple, one sees the reverse side of this lattice on the same door, which looks like a right-facing swastika.


[edit] Art and architecture

Swastika-type designs on the peplos of an Archaic kore, Acropolis Museum. The intersections of lines defining a solid repeated motif on the edge of a depicted piece of cloth resemble a swastika.The swastika is common as a design motif in current Hindu architecture and Indian artwork as well as in ancient Western architecture, frequently appearing in mosaics, friezes, and other works across the ancient world. Ancient Greek architectural, clothing and coin designs are replete with single or interlinking swastika motifs. Related symbols in classical Western architecture include the cross, the three-legged triskele or triskelion and the rounded lauburu. The swastika symbol is also known in these contexts by a number of names, especially gammadion. [11]

In Chinese, Korean, and Japanese art, the swastika is often found as part of a repeating pattern. One common pattern, called sayagata in Japanese, comprises left and right facing swastikas joined by lines.[12] As the negative space between the lines has a distinctive shape, the sayagata pattern is sometimes called the "key fret" motif in English.

The swastika symbol was found extensively in the ruins of the ancient city of Troy and can also be found in some of the mosaics in the ruins of Pompeii.

In Greco-Roman art and architecture, and in Romanesque and Gothic art in the West, isolated swastikas are relatively rare, and the swastika is more commonly found as a repeated element in a border or tessellation. The swastika often represented perpetual motion, reflecting the design of a rotating windmill or watermill. A meander of connected swastikas makes up the large band that surrounds the Augustan Ara Pacis. A design of interlocking swastikas is one of several tessellations on the floor of the cathedral of Amiens, France.[13] A border of linked swastikas was a common Roman architectural motif,[14] and can be seen in more recent buildings as a neoclassical element. A swastika border is one form of meander, and the individual swastikas in such a border are sometimes called Greek keys.[15]


Swastika on geometric pottery, National Archaeological Museum of Athens.Swastikas have also been found on pottery in archaeological digs in the area of ancient Kush. Swastikas were found on pottery at the Gebel Barkal temples as well as in digs corresponding to the later X-Group peoples. [16]


A mola showing a swastika, based on the Kuna flag.Ceramic tiles with a swastika design have appeared in many parts of the world including the United States in the early 20th century. The tiles typically are, however, a minor decorative element. Some of the pre-World War II swastikas have become controversial after Jewish groups demanded they be removed. A number of the buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places or as Unesco World Heritage sites, and are considered worthy of historical preservation. See Western use of the Swastika in the early 20th century for specific examples.

The Primate's Palace in Bratislava has security grills on the ground floor that incorporate swastikas in their design. (See Image of the Primate's Palace)


[edit] Religion and mythology

Swastika on the doorstep of an apartment in Maharashtra, India.
[edit] Hinduism
In Hinduism, the two symbols represent the two forms of the creator god Brahma: facing right it represents the evolution of the universe (Pravritti), facing left it represents the involution of the universe (Nivritti). It is also seen as pointing in all four directions (north, east, south and west) and thus signifies stability and groundedness. Its use as a sun symbol can first be seen in its representation of the god Surya. The swastika is considered extremely holy and auspicious by all Hindus, and is regularly used to decorate items related to Hindu culture. It is used in all Hindu yantras and religious designs. Throughout the subcontinent of India, it can be seen on the sides of temples, religious scriptures, gift items, and letterheads. The Hindu god Ganesh is often shown sitting on a lotus flower on a bed of swastikas.

The swastika is found all over Hindu temples, signs, altars, pictures and iconography where it is sacred. It is used in Hindu weddings, festivals, ceremonies, houses and doorways, clothing and jewelry, motor transport and even decorations on food items such as cakes and pastries. Among the Hindus of Bengal, it is common to see the name "swastika" (Bengali: স্বস্তিক sbastik) applied to a slightly different symbol, which has the same significance as the common swastika, and both symbols are used as auspicious signs. This symbol looks something like a stick figure of a human being.[17] "Swastika" (স্বস্তিক Sbastik) is a common given name amongst Bengalis[18] and a prominent literary magazine in Kolkata (Calcutta) is called the Swastika.

The Aum symbol is also sacred in Hinduism. While Aum is representative of a single primordial tone of creation, the Swastika is a pure geometrical mark and has no syllabic tone associated with it. The Swastika is one of the 108 symbols of Lord Vishnu and represents the sun's rays, without which there would be no life.


[edit] Buddhism
The symbol as it is used in Buddhist art and scripture is known in Japanese as a manji (literally, "the character for eternality" 萬字), and represents Dharma, universal harmony, and the balance of opposites. When facing left, it is the omote (front) manji, representing love and mercy. Facing right, it represents strength and intelligence, and is called the ura (rear) manji. Balanced manji are often found at the beginning and end of Buddhist scriptures (outside India).

Buddhism originated in the Indian subcontinent in the 5th century BC and inherited the manji. These two symbols are included, at least since the Liao Dynasty, as part of the Chinese language, the symbolic sign for the character 萬 or 万 (wàn in Mandarin, man in Korean, Cantonese and Japanese, vạn in Vietnamese) meaning "all" or "eternality" (lit. myriad) and as 卐, which is seldom used. A manji marks the beginning of many Buddhist scriptures. The manji (in either orientation) appears on the chest of some statues of Gautama Buddha and is often incised on the soles of the feet of the Buddha in statuary. Because of the association of the right-facing swastika with Nazism, Buddhist manji (outside India only) after the mid-20th century are almost universally left-facing: 卍. This form of the manji is often found on Chinese food packaging to signify that the product is vegetarian and can be consumed by strict Buddhists. It is often sewn into the collars of Chinese children's clothing to protect them from evil spirits.


The swastika is a holy symbol in Jainism.In 1922, the Chinese Syncretist movement Daoyuan founded the philanthropic association Red Swastika Society in imitation of the Red Cross. The association was very active in China during the 1920s and the 1930s.


[edit] Jainism
Jainism gives even more prominence to the swastika than does Hinduism. It is a symbol of the seventh Jina (Saint), the Tirthankara Suparsva. In the Svetambar Jain tradition, it is also one of the symbols of the ashta-mangalas. It is considered to be one of the 24 auspicious marks and the emblem of the seventh arhat of the present age. All Jain temples and holy books must contain the swastika and ceremonies typically begin and end with creating a swastika mark several times with rice around the altar.

Jains use rice to make a swastika (also known as "Sathiyo" in the state of Gujarat, India) in front of idols in a temple. Jains then put an offering on this swastika, usually a ripe or dried fruit, a sweet (mithai), or a coin or currency note. In 2001, India issued a 100-rupee coin to commemorate the 2600th anniversary of the birth of Mahavir, the 24th and last Jainist Tirthankara; the design includes a swastika.[19]


[edit] Abrahamic religions
The swastika was not widely utilized by followers of the Abrahamic religions. Where it does exist, it is not always portrayed as an explicitly religious symbol, and is often purely decorative or, at most, a symbol of good luck. One example of scattered use is the floor of the synagogue at Ein Gedi, built during the Roman occupation of Judea, which was decorated with a swastika.[20]


A mandala-like meditative image from the Kabbalistic work "Parashat Eliezer"An unusual swastika, composed of the Hebrew letters Aleph and Resh, appears in the 18th century Kabbalistic work "Parashat Eliezer" by Rabbi Eliezer Fischl of Strizhov, a commentary on the obscure ancient eschatological book "Karnayim", ascribed to Rabbi Aharon of Kardina. The symbol is enclosed by a circle and surrounded by a cyclic hymn in Aramaic. The hymn, which refers explicitly to the power of the Sun, as well as the shape of the symbol, shows strong solar symbolism. According to the book, this mandala-like symbol is meant to help a mystical adept to contemplate on the cyclic nature and structure of the Universe.

In Christianity, the swastika is sometimes used as a hooked version of the Christian Cross, the symbol of Christ's victory over death. Some Christian churches built in the Romanesque and Gothic eras are decorated with swastikas, carrying over earlier Roman designs. Swastikas are prominently displayed in a mosaic in the St. Sophia church of Kiev, Ukraine dating from the 12th century. They also appear as a repeating ornamental motif on a tomb in the Basilica of St. Ambrose in Milan. A proposed direct link between it and a swastika floor mosaic in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Amiens, which was built on top of a pagan site at Amiens, France in the 1200s, is considered unlikely. The stole worn by a priest in the 1445 painting of the Seven Sacraments by Roger van der Weyden presents the swastika form simply as one way of depicting the cross. Swastikas also appear on the vestments on the effigy of Bishop William Edington (d.1366) in Winchester Cathedral.

The Benedictine choir school at Lambach Abbey, Upper Austria, which Hitler attended for several months as a boy, had a swastika chiseled into the monastery portal and also the wall above the spring grotto in the courtyard by 1868. Their origin was the personal coat of arms of Abbot Theoderich Hagn of the monastery in Lambach, which bore a golden swastika with slanted points on a blue field.[21] The Lambach swastika is probably of Medieval origin. The Lambach depiction, in the Hindu style, did not inspire Hitler to use the symbol, as the Nazi Party's use of it stems from the Thule Society and previous occult societies.

The Muslim "Friday" mosque of Isfahan, Iran and the Taynal Mosque in Tripoli, Lebanon both have swastika motifs.


[edit] Other Asian traditions

A swastika crossed by two arrows, within a shield and surmounted by a royal crown on an orange background was used as the coat of arms of the samurai Hasekura Tsunenaga in the early 17th century.Some sources indicate that the Chinese Empress Wu (武則天) (684–704) of the Tang Dynasty decreed that the swastika would be used as an alternative symbol of the sun. As part of the Chinese script, the swastika has Unicode encodings U+534D 卍 (pronunciation following the Chinese character "萬": pinyin:wàn); (left-facing) and U+5350 卐 (right-facing).[22]

The Mandarin "Wan" is a homophone for "10,000" and is commonly used to represent the whole of creation, e.g. 'the myriad things' in the Dao De Jing.

In Japan, the swastika is called manji. Since the Middle Ages, it has been used as a family coat of arms. On Japanese maps, a swastika (left-facing and horizontal) is used to mark the location of a Buddhist temple. The right-facing manji is often referred as the gyaku manji (逆卍, lit. "reverse manji"), and can also be called kagi jūji, literally "hook cross".


[edit] Native American traditions

Native American basketball team in 1909.The swastika shape was used by some Native Americans. It has been found in excavations of Mississippian-era sites in the Ohio valley. It was widely used by many southwestern tribes, most notably the Navajo. Among various tribes, the swastika carried different meanings. To the Hopi it represented the wandering Hopi clan; to the Navajo it was one symbol for a whirling winds (tsil no'oli'), a sacred image representing a legend that was used in healing rituals (after learning of the Nazi mimic "whirling winds" the Navajo rejected the symbol).[23] A brightly colored First Nations saddle featuring swastika designs is on display at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Canada.[24]

A swastika shape is an ancient symbol in the culture of the Kuna people of Kuna Yala, Panama. In Kuna tradition, it symbolizes the octopus that created the world; its tentacles, pointing to the four cardinal points.[25]

In February, 1925, the Kuna revolted against Panamanian suppression of their culture, and were granted autonomy in 1930; the flag they adopted at that time is based on the swastika shape, and remains the official flag of Kuna Yala. A number of variations on the flag have been used over the years: red top and bottom bands instead of orange were previously used, and in 1942 a ring (representing the traditional Kuna nose-ring) was added to the center of the flag to distance it from the symbol of the Nazi party.[26]


[edit] Pre-Christian Europe
In Bronze Age Europe, the "Sun cross" (a cross in a circle) appears frequently, often interpreted as a solar symbol. Swastika shapes have been found on numerous artifacts from Iron Age Europe (Greco-Roman, Illyrian, Etruscan, Baltic, Celtic, Germanic, and Slavic).


[edit] Baltic
The swastika is one of the most common symbols used throughout Baltic art. The symbol was known as the Pērkonkrusts, or the "Thunder cross" and was mainly associated with Pērkons, the god of Thunder. It was also occasionally related to the Sun, as well as Dievs (the god of creation), Laima (the goddess of destiny and fate).[citation needed] The swastika is featured on many distaffs, dowry chests, cloths and other items.[citation needed]


[edit] Celtic

Variation of tursaansydänThe bronze frontspiece of a ritual pre-Christian (ca 350-50 BC) shield found in the River Thames near Battersea Bridge (hence "Battersea Shield") is embossed with 27 swastikas in bronze and red enamel.[27] An Ogham stone found in Anglish, Co Kerry (CIIC 141) was modified into an early Christian gravestone, and was decorated with a cross pattée and two swastikas.[28] At the Northern edge of Ilkley Moor in West Yorkshire, there is a swastika-shaped pattern engraved in a stone known as the Swastika Stone.[29]


[edit] Finnic
In Finland the swastika was often used in traditional folk art products, as a decoration or magical symbol on textiles and wood. Certain types of symbols which incorporated swastika were used to decorate wood; such symbols are called tursaansydän and mursunsydän in Finnish. Tursaansydän was often used until 18th century, when it was mostly replaced by simple swastika. [30]


[edit] Germanic

Alemannic or Bavarian brooches (Zierscheiben) incorporating a swastika symbol at the center with a varying number of rays.[31]The swastika shape (also called a fylfot) appears on various Germanic Migration Period and Viking Age artifacts, such as the 3rd century Værløse Fibula from Zealand, Denmark, the Gothic spearhead from Brest-Litovsk, Russia, the 9th century Snoldelev Stone from Ramsø, Denmark, and numerous Migration Period bracteates drawn left-facing or right-facing.[32]

The pagan Anglo-Saxon ship burial at Sutton Hoo, England, contained numerous items bearing the swastika, now housed in the collection of the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.[33] The Swastika is clearly marked on a hilt and sword belt found at Bifrons in Kent, in a grave of about the sixth century.

Hilda Ellis Davidson theorized that the swastika symbol was associated with Thor, possibly representing his hammer Mjolnir - symbolic of thunder - and possibly being connected to the Bronze Age sun wheel.[33] Davidson cites "many examples" of the swastika symbol from Anglo-Saxon graves of the pagan period, with particular prominence on cremation urns from the cemeteries of East Anglia.[33] Some of the swastikas on the items, on display at the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, are depicted with such care and art that, according to Davidson, it must have possessed special significance as a funerary symbol.[33]


[edit] Sami
An object very much like a hammer or a double axe is depicted among the magical symbols on the drums of Sami shamans, used in their religious ceremonies before Christianity was established. The name of the Lappish thunder god was Horagalles, thought to be derived from old man thor (Þórr karl'). Sometimes on the drums, a male figure with a hammer-like object in either hand is shown, and sometimes it is more like a cross with crooked ends, or a swastika.[33]


[edit] Slavic

The Boreyko Coat of Arms.The swastika shape was also present in pre-Christian Slavic mythology. It was dedicated to the sun god Svarog (Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian Сварог) and called kolovrat, (Polish kołowrót, Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian коловрат or коловорот) or swarzyca.[citation needed] In the Polish first Republic the symbol of the swastika was also popular with the nobility.[citation needed] According to chronicles, the Rus' prince Oleg, who in the 9th century attacked Constantinople, nailed his shield (which had a large red swastika painted on it) to the city's gates. Several Polish noble houses, e.g. Boreyko, Borzym, and Radziechowski from Ruthenia, also had Swastikas as their coat of arms. The family reached its greatness in the 14th and 15th centuries and its crest can be seen in many heraldry books produced at that time.

For the Slavs the swastika is a magic sign manifesting the power and majesty of the sun and fire. It was often used as an ornament decorating ritualistic utensils of a cult cinerary urns with ashes of the dead.[citation needed] It was the symbol of power (the swastika seen on the coins of Mieszko I).[citation needed] The power both lay and divine, because it was often placed on altars in pagan temples.[citation needed] After Christianization and the destruction of pagan holy places, pieces of sculptures of pagan gods with swastikas were built into walls of churches.[citation needed] Examples can find found on the Kruszwica cathedral and in churches in Inowroclaw, Strzelno and Lowicz.

At the start of the Renaissance, swastika ornaments disappeared from utensils but swastika continued being used by Slavs. It became a popular ornament on Easter eggs and in wayside shrines in folk culture.[citation needed] This ornament still existed in 1940-50. The Swastika was also a heraldic symbol, for example on the Boreyko coat of arms, used by noblemen in Poland and Ukraine. In the 19th century the swastika was one of the Russian empire's symbols; it was even placed in coins as a background to the Russian eagle. The swastika was used by the nationalistic and neopagan "Zadruga".[citation needed]

In the Czech Republic the swastika was a cognizance of the Czech National-Socialist Workers' and Peasants' Party of M.Mlococh (so called Green swastikas).[citation needed] The was also a symbol of the Tatra Highlands' Riflemen (to the year 1940), and of 1st Mot. Art. Regiment of the Polish Armed Force (to the year 1947).[citation needed]


[edit] As the symbol of Nazism
Further information: Nazism

Since World War II, the swastika is often associated with the flag of Nazi Germany and the Nazi Party in the Western world. Prior to this association, swastikas were used throughout the western world.In the wake of widespread popular usage, the Nazi Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP) formally adopted the swastika (in German: Hakenkreuz (hook-cross)) in 1920. This was used on the party's flag (right), badge, and armband. It had also been used unofficially by its predecessor, the German Workers Party, Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (DAP).

In his 1925 work Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler wrote that:

I myself, meanwhile, after innumerable attempts, had laid down a final form; a flag with a red background, a white disk, and a black swastika in the middle. After long trials I also found a definite proportion between the size of the flag and the size of the white disk, as well as the shape and thickness of the swastika.

When Hitler created a flag for the Nazi Party, he sought to incorporate both the swastika and "those revered colors expressive of our homage to the glorious past and which once brought so much honor to the German nation." (Red, white, and black were the colors of the flag of the old German Empire.) He also stated: "As National Socialists, we see our program in our flag. In red, we see the social idea of the movement; in white, the nationalistic idea; in the swastika, the mission of the struggle for the victory of the Aryan man, and, by the same token, the victory of the idea of creative work, which as such always has been and always will be anti-Semitic." (Mein Kampf).[34]

The swastika was also understood as "the symbol of the creating, acting life" (das Symbol des schaffenden, wirkenden Lebens) and as "race emblem of Germanism" (Rasseabzeichen des Germanentums) [35].

The use of the swastika was associated by Nazi theorists with their conjecture of Aryan cultural descent of the German people. Following the Nordicist version of the Aryan invasion theory, the Nazis claimed that the early Aryans of India, from whose Vedic tradition the swastika sprang, were the prototypical white invaders. It was also widely believed that the Indian caste system had originated as a means to avoid racial mixing.[citation needed] The concept of Racial purity was an ideology central to Nazism, even though it is now considered unscientific. For Rosenberg, the Aryans of India were both a model to be imitated and a warning of the dangers of the spiritual and racial "confusion" that, he believed, arose from the close proximity of races. Thus, they saw fit to co-opt the sign as a symbol of the Aryan master race. The use of the swastika as a symbol of the Aryan race dates back to writings of Emile Burnouf. Following many other writers, the German nationalist poet Guido von List believed it to be a uniquely Aryan symbol.


A Thule Society emblem featuring a Swastika.Before the Nazis, the swastika was already in use as a symbol of German völkisch nationalists movements (Völkische Bewegung). In Deutschland Erwache (ISBN 0-912138-69-6), Ulric of England (sic) says:

[…] what inspired Hitler to use the swastika as a symbol for the NSDAP was its use by the Thule Society (German: Thule-Gesellschaft) since there were many connections between them and the DAP … from 1919 until the summer of 1921 Hitler used the special Nationalsozialistische library of Dr. Friedrich Krohn, a very active member of the Thule-Gesellschaft … Dr. Krohn was also the dentist from Sternberg who was named by Hitler in Mein Kampf as the designer of a flag very similar to one that Hitler designed in 1920 … during the summer of 1920, the first party flag was shown at Lake Tegernsee … these home-made … early flags were not preserved, the Ortsgruppe München (Munich Local Group) flag was generally regarded as the first flag of the Party.

José Manuel Erbez says:

The first time the swastika was used with an "Aryan" meaning was on December 25, 1907, when the self-named Order of the New Templars, a secret society founded by [Adolf Joseph] Lanz von Liebenfels, hoisted at Werfenstein Castle (Austria) a yellow flag with a swastika and four fleurs-de-lys.[36]

However, Liebenfels was drawing on an already established use of the symbol.

On 14 March 1933, shortly after Hitler's appointment as Chancellor of Germany, the NSDAP flag was hoisted alongside Germany's national colors. It was adopted as the sole national flag on 15 September 1935 (see Nazi Germany).

The swastika was used for badges and flags throughout Nazi Germany, particularly for government and military organizations, but also for "popular" organizations such as the Reichsbund Deutsche Jägerschaft (German Hunting Society).[37]

While the DAP and the NSDAP had used both right-facing and left-facing swastikas, the right-facing swastika was used consistently from 1920 onwards. However, Ralf Stelter notes that the swastika flag used on land had a right-facing swastika on both sides, while the ensign (naval flag) had it printed through so that you would see a left-facing swastika when looking at the ensign with the flagpole to the right.[38]

Several variants are found:

a 45° black swastika on a white disc as in the NSDAP and national flags;
a 45° black swastika on a white lozenge (e.g., Hitler Youth[39]);
a 45° black swastika with a white outline was painted on the tail of aircraft of the Luftwaffe;
a 45° black swastika outlined by thin white and black lines on a white disc (e.g., the German War Ensign[40]);
an upright black swastika outlined by thin white and black lines on a white disc (e.g., Adolf Hitler's personal standard in which a gold wreath encircles the swastika; the Schutzstaffel; and the Reichsdienstflagge, in which a black circle encircles the swastika);
small gold, silver, black, or white 45° swastikas, often lying on or being held by an eagle, on many badges and flags.[41]
a swastika with curved outer arms forming a broken circle, as worn by the SS Nordland Division.[42]
There were attempts to amalgamate Nazi and Hindu use of the swastika, notably by the French writer Savitri Devi who declared Hitler an avatar of Vishnu (see Nazi mysticism).


[edit] Use in Western countries

The Soviet War Memorial in Treptower Park in Berlin. The statue depicts a Soviet soldier cradling a German child, while standing on a broken Swastika.Because of its use by Hitler and the Nazis and, in modern times, by neo-Nazis and other hate groups, the swastika is largely associated with Nazism and white supremacy (see Western use of the Swastika in the early 20th century). As a result, its use as a Nazi or hate symbol is legally prohibited in some jurisdictions. Because of the stigma attached to the symbol, many buildings that have contained the symbol as decoration have had the symbol removed. Westerners whose family originates from India, including religions such as Jain, Hindu and other Indian religions, still use the swastika as a religious symbol, with no connection to Nazism.


[edit] Brazil
The use of the swastika in conjunction with any other Nazi allusion, and also its manufacture, distribution or broadcasting, is a crime as dictated by law 7.716/89 from 1989. The penalty is a fine and two to five years in prison.


[edit] Belgium
A controversy arose in Maasmechelen, Belgium, when Google Earth users found that a 27 year old fountain at the city council office looks like a swastika from the air[43]. As a result the mayor said he would replace it.


[edit] European Union
The European Union's executive Commission proposed a European Union wide anti-racism law in 2001, but European Union states failed to agree on the balance between prohibiting racism and freedom of expression.[44] An attempt to ban the swastika across the EU in early 2005 failed after objections from the British Government and others. In early 2007, while Germany held the European Union presidency, Berlin proposed that the European Union should follow German Criminal Law and criminalize the denial of the Holocaust and the display of Nazi symbols including the swastika, which is based on the Ban on the Symbols of unconstitutional Organisations Act. This led to an opposition campaign by Hindu groups across Europe against a ban on the swastika. They pointed out that the swastika has been around for 5,000 years as a symbol of peace.[45][46] The proposal to ban the swastika was dropped by Berlin from the proposed European Union wide anti-racism laws on January 29 2007.[44]


[edit] Germany

Plane of Ernst Udet used for acrobatic shows held during the 1936 Summer Olympics on display in the Polish Aviation Museum.The German (and Austrian) postwar criminal code makes the public showing of the Hakenkreuz (the swastika) and other Nazi symbols illegal and punishable, except for scholarly reasons. It is even censored from the lithographs on boxes of model kits, and the decals that come in the box. It is also censored from the reprints of 1930s railway timetable published by Bundesbahn. The eagle remains, but appears to be holding a solid black circle between its talons. The swastikas on Hindu and Jain temples are exempt, as religious symbols cannot be banned in Germany.

A German fashion company was investigated for using traditional British-made folded leather buttons after complaints that they resembled swastikas. In response, Esprit destroyed two hundred thousand catalogues.[47][48]

A controversy was stirred by the decision of several police departments to begin inquiries against anti-fascists.[49] In late 2005 police raided the offices of the punk rock label and mail order store "Nix Gut Records" and confiscated merchandise depicting crossed-out swastikas and fists smashing swastikas. In 2006 the Stade police department started an inquiry against anti-fascist youths using a placard depicting a person dumping a swastika into a trashcan. The placard was displayed in opposition to the campaign of right-wing nationalist parties for local elections.[50]

On Friday, March 17, 2006, a member of the Bundestag Claudia Roth reported herself to the German police for displaying a crossed-out swastika in multiple demonstrations against Neo-Nazis, and subsequently got the Bundestag to suspend her immunity from prosecution. She intended to show the absurdity of charging anti-fascists with using fascist symbols: "We don't need prosecution of non-violent young people engaging against right-wing extremism."

On March 15, 2007, the Federal Court of Justice of Germany (Bundesgerichtshof) reversed the above-mentioned verdicts, since the crossed-out symbols were "clearly directed against a revival of national-socialist endeavors", hereby settling the dispute for the future.[51] [52] [53]

The relevant excerpt[54] of the German criminal code reads:

§ 86 StGB Dissemination of Means of Propaganda of Unconstitutional Organizations (1) Whoever domestically disseminates or produces, stocks, imports or exports or makes publicly accessible through data storage media for dissemination domestically or abroad, means of propaganda: 1. of a party which has been declared to be unconstitutional by the Federal Constitutional Court or a party or organization, as to which it has been determined, no longer subject to appeal, that it is a substitute organization of such a party; […] 4. means of propaganda, the contents of which are intended to further the aims of a former National Socialist organization, shall be punished with imprisonment for not more than three years or a fine. […] (3) Subsection (1) shall not be applicable if the means of propaganda or the act serves to further civil enlightenment, to avert unconstitutional aims, to promote art or science, research or teaching, reporting about current historical events or similar purposes. […] § 86a StGB Use of Symbols of Unconstitutional Organizations (1) Whoever: 1. domestically distributes or publicly uses, in a meeting or in writings (§ 11 subsection (3)) disseminated by him, symbols of one of the parties or organizations indicated in § 86 subsection (1), nos. 1, 2 and 4; or 2. produces, stocks, imports or exports objects which depict or contain such symbols for distribution or use domestically or abroad, in the manner indicated in number 1, shall be punished with imprisonment for not more than three years or a fine. (2) Symbols, within the meaning of subsection (1), shall be, in particular, flags, insignia, uniforms, slogans and forms of greeting. Symbols which are so similar as to be mistaken for those named in sentence 1 shall be deemed to be equivalent thereto. […]


[edit] United States
The swastika symbol was popular[55] as a good luck or religious/spiritual symbol in the United States, prior to its association with Nazi Germany. The symbol remains visible on numerous historic buildings, including sites that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It also appeared on tiles, lampposts, metal valves, tools, surfboards, stock certificates, brand names, place names, medals, commercial tokens, postcards, souvenirs, rugs and clothing; see Western use of the Swastika in the early 20th century.

The shoulder patch of the 45th Infantry Division, a National Guard unit from the Southwestern US, was originally a yellow swastika on a red diamond, in the context of a religious/mystical symbol of the Native American tribes of that region. As war with Nazi Germany became imminent in the late 1930s, the swastika was replaced by a yellow thunderbird emblem; this may have been done as a simple tactical move to avoid confusion and friendly fire incidents as much as due to the political stigma of the symbol and its association with Nazism.


Members of the LaRouche movement in Stockholm protest the Treaty of Lisbon with pictures rearranging the stars of the Flag of Europe into a swastika.On November 8, 2004 Microsoft released a "critical update" to remove "unacceptable symbols" from the Bookshelf Symbol 7 font. An analysis of the unpatched and patched fonts shows the symbol deemed unacceptable to be a swastika, and possibly a six-point star.

In September of 2007 the United States Navy announced it would spend $600,000 to "camouflage" a barrack at the Naval Amphibious Base Coronado near San Diego, so that it would no longer resemble a swastika from the air.


[edit] Satirical use
The powerful symbolism acquired by the swastika has often been used in graphic design and propaganda as a means of drawing Nazi comparisons; examples include the cover of Stuart Eizenstat's 2003 book Imperfect Justice,[56] publicity materials for Costa-Gavras's 2002 film Amen,[57] and a billboard that was erected opposite the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, Cuba, in 2004, which juxtaposed images of the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse pictures with a swastika.


[edit] Controversy over Asian products
In recent years, controversy has erupted when consumer goods bearing the symbol have been exported (often unintentionally) to North America. In 2002, Christmas crackers containing plastic toy pandas sporting swastikas were pulled from shelves after complaints from consumers in Canada. The manufacturer, based in China, explained the symbol was presented in a traditional sense and not as a reference to the Nazis, and apologized to the customers for the cross-cultural mixup.[58]


[edit] Contemporary usage

The Unit Colour of the Finnish Air Force Academy features the swastika as a central element.
[edit] Finland
The swastika was adopted by the Finnish Air Force after 6 March 1918, when Eric von Rosen donated an aeroplane adorned with swastikas which was his personal good luck symbol from Sweden to the Finnish white army. The swastika was officially adopted as the nationality marking on the Finnish Air Force planes on 18 March 1918.

The roundel was used until late 1944 when a substitution for a blue on white roundel was made. Existing decorations and unit flags of the Finnish Air Force were not altered, and they still feature the traditional blue swastika within a white circle.

The president of Finland is the grand master of the Order of the White Rose. According to the protocol, the president shall wear the Cross of Liberty with Chains on formal occasions. The original design of the chains, decorated with swastikas, dates from 1918 by the artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela. The Grand Cross with Chains has been awarded 11 times to foreign heads of state. To avoid misunderstandings, the swastika decorations were replaced by fir-crosses at the request of President Kekkonen in 1963.


Colour of Finnish Utti Jaeger Regiment has a swastika on it, symbolizing its airborne transport by helicoptersAlso a design by Gallen-Kallela of 1918, the Cross of Liberty has a swastika pattern in the arms of the cross. The Cross of Liberty is depicted in the upper left corner of the flag of the President of Finland.[59]

In December 2007, a silver replica of the WWII Finnish air defences relief ring became available through Rautasormus.fi.[60] The original war-time idea was that the public swap their precious metal rings for the State air defences relief ring, made of iron.

Traditional symbol that incorporates a swastika, tursaansydän, is used by scouts in some instances [61] and a certain student organization[62]. Village of Tursa uses tursaansydän as a kind of a certificate of genuineness of products made there. [63] Traditional textiles are still being made with swastikas as a part of traditional ornaments.


[edit] India, Nepal and Sri Lanka

The logo of the Indian State of Bihar incorporates a swastika.In South Asia, the swastika remains ubiquitous as a symbol of wealth and good fortune. In India and Nepal, electoral ballot papers are stamped with a round swastika-like pattern (to ensure that the accidental ink imprint on the other side of a folded ballot paper can be correctly identified as such), so that this variant of the symbol is connected with political elections. Many businesses and other organisations, such as the Ahmedabad Stock Exchange and the Nepal Chamber of Commerce[64], use the swastika in their logos. The red swastika was suggested as an emblem of International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in India and Sri Lanka, but the idea was not implemented [3]. Swastikas can be found practically everywhere in Indian cities, on buses, buildings, auto-rickshaws, and clothing.


[edit] Tajikistan
In 2005, authorities in Tajikistan called for the widespread adoption of the swastika as a national symbol. President Emomali Rahmonov declared the swastika an "Aryan" symbol and 2006 to be "the year of Aryan culture," which would be a time to “study and popularize Aryan contributions to the history of the world civilization, raise a new generation (of Tajiks) with the spirit of national self-determination, and develop deeper ties with other ethnicities and cultures.”[65]


[edit] Canada
The town of Swastika, Ontario, founded in 1908, got its name from a former mine of the same name, and inhabitants refused to have it changed during and after the Second World War.


The seal of the Theosophical Society.
[edit] New religious movements

[edit] Theosophical Society
The Theosophical Society uses a swastika as part of its seal, along with an Aum, a hexagram, a Star of David, an Ankh and an Ouroboros. Unlike the much more recent Raëlian movement (see below), the Theosophical Society symbol has been free from controversy, and the seal is still used. The current seal also has English [66].


[edit] Raëlian Movement

Versions of the Raëlian symbol.The Raëlian Movement, who believe that Extra-Terrestrials originally created all life on earth, use a symbol that is often the source of considerable controversy: an interlaced Star of David and a Swastika. The Raelians state that the Star of David represents infinity in space whereas the swastika represents infinity in time i.e. there being no beginning and no end in time, and everything being cyclic [67]. In 1991, the symbol was changed to remove the Swastika, out of respect to the victims of the holocaust, but as of 2007 has been restored to its original form [68].


[edit] Ananda Marga

The emblem of Ananda Marga.The Tantra-based religious movement Ananda Marga uses a motif similar to the Raëlians, but in their case the apparent star of David is defined as intersecting triangles with no specific reference to Jewish culture.

According to Ananda Marga:

External or physical service acted out through the motor organs is symbolised by the triangle pointing upwards. Internal or spiritual service done through channelizing of mental energy to the mantra is symbolized by the triangle pointing downwards...Attaining that state of oneness with the Generator, Operator and Destroyer of this universe is symbolised by the swastika which means victory.[69]


[edit] Falungong
The Falungong qigong movement uses a symbol that features a large swastika surrounded by four smaller (and rounded) ones, interspersed with yin-and-yang symbols. The usage is taken from traditional Chinese symbolism, and here alludes to chakra-like portion of the esoteric human anatomy, located in the stomach (see Dantien).


[edit] Neopaganism
The Odinic Rite claims the "fylfot" as a "holy symbol of Odinism", citing the pre-Christian Germanic use of the symbol.


[edit] Image Gallery

A swastika on a Buddhist temple in Korea.

Reconstructed colour scheme of the entablature on a Doric temple, decorated with swastika designs .

A swastika on a Roman mosaic.

A Swastika Drug Company medication box.


A part of the Book of Silk from 400 BC.

A swastika shown painted inside the nosecone of the Spirit of St. Louis.

The swastika on a comb found in the Danish bog Nydam Mose, from around 300.

The swastika shape on the Danish Snoldelev Stone, from around 800.


Interlocking swastika design in pavement of Amiens Cathedral.

The tombstone of abbot Simon de Gillans (-1345), with a stole depicting swastikas. Musée de Cluny, Paris.

Stećak with swastika from Medieval Bosnia.

Detail of The Seven Sacraments (1445) by Roger van der Weyden. The crosses on the priest's stole are alternately in swastika and in "patent" form.



[edit] See also
Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging
Brigid's cross
Celtic cross
Fascist symbolism
Forest swastika
Karl Haushofer
Lauburu or Basque cross
The Red Swastika Society (China)
Rodło
Sauwastika
Solar symbols
Sun cross
Swastika curve
Swastika Laundry
Triskelion, including the three-legged badge of the Isle of Man
Tursaansydän
Western use of the Swastika in the early 20th century

[edit] Notes
^ "The Swastika." Northvegr Foundation. Notes on the etymology and meaning of Swastika
^ Wilson,[page # needed]
^ Schliemann, H, Troy and its remains, London: Murray, 1875, pp. 102, 119–20
^ Sarah Boxer. "One of the world's great symbols strives for a comeback". The New York Times, July 29, 2000.
^ Sagan, Carl; Ann Druyan (1985). Comet. Ballantine Books, 496. ISBN 0-345-41222-2.
^ Stewart, Ian. Life's Other Secret: The new mathematics of the living world 1999 Penguin
^ [1]
^ "Swastika Flag Specifications and Construction Sheet (Germany)". Flags of the World.
^ Centred vs. Offset Disc and Swastika 1933-1945 (Germany)
^ D'Alviella, The Migration of Symbols (1894)
^ Perseus:image:1990.26.0822
^ "Sayagata 紗綾形". Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System.
^ Robert Ferré. "Amiens Cathedral". Labyrinth Enterprises. Constructed from 1220 to 1402, Amiens Cathedral is the largest Gothic cathedral in France, a popular tourist attraction and since 1981 a UNESCO World Heritage Site. During World War I, Amiens was targeted by German forces but remained in Allied territory following the Battle of Amiens.
^ Gary Malkin. "Tockington Park Roman Villa". The Area of Bristol in Roman Times. December 9, 2002.
^ Lara Nagy, Jane Vadnal, "Glossary Medieval Art and Architecture," "Greek key or meander", University of Pittsburgh 1997–98.
^ Dunham, Dows "A Collection of 'Pot-Marks' from Kush and Nubia," Kush, 13, 131-147, 1965
^ Subhayu Banerjee. "Shubho Nabobarsho". Bengal on the Net. April 16, 2001
^ Times of India article
^ "Commemorative Coins, Mumbai Mint". India Government Mint, Mumbai.
^ "Ein Gedi: An Ancient Oasis Settlement". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. November 23, 1999.
^ Dutch article in wikipedia "Swastika";Holocaust Chronology
^ "CJK Unified Ideographs"PDF (4.83 MB), The Unicode Standard, Version 4.1. Unicode, Inc. 2005.
^ Dottie Indyke. "The History of an Ancient Human Symbol." April 4, 2005. originally from The Wingspread Collector’s Guide to Santa Fe, Taos and Albuquerque, Volume 15.
^ Photo and text,"Why is there a Swastika on the saddle in the First Nations Gallery?", Royal Saskatchewan Museum
^ Chants and Myths about Creation, from Rain forest Art. Retrieved February 25, 2006.
^ Panama - Native Peoples, from Flags of the World. Retrieved February 20, 2006.
^ The Battersea Shield British Museum
^ CISP entry
^ IMAGE In the figure in the foreground of the picture is a 20th century replica; the original carving can be seen a little farther away, at left center. [2]
^ Ilmar Talve: Suomen kansankulttuuri (1989, 1990) Online:Pieni tietosanakirja: Hakaristi
^ Left image: Bavarian, Haag museum; right image: Bronze zierscheiben, 6th to 8th century, from Fützen (Blumberg), Jadu article.
^ Margrethe, Queen, Poul Kjrum, Rikke Agnete Olsen (1990). Oldtidens Ansigt: Faces of the Past, page 148. ISBN 9788774682745
^ a b c d e H.R. Ellis Davidson (1965). Gods and Myths of Northern Europe, page 83. ISBN 978-0140136272, p. 83
^ "Chapter of Mein Kampf discussing the symbolism of the flag." April 3, 2006
^ Walther Blachetta: Das Buch der deutschen Sinnzeichen (The book of German sense characters); reprint of 1941; page 47
^ José Manuel Erbez. "Order of the New Templars 1907". Flags of the World. January 21, 2001.
^ Santiago Dotor and Norman Martin. "German Hunting Society 1934–1945 (Third Reich, Germany)" Flags of the World. March 15, 2003. The flag of the Reichsbund Deutsche Jägerschaft
^ Mark Sensen, António Martins, Norman Martin, and Ralf Stelter. "Centred vs. Offset Disc and Swastika 1933–1945 (Germany)". Flags of the World. December 29, 2004.
^ Marcus Wendel et al. "Hitler Youth (NSDAP, Germany)". Flags of the World. January 17, 2004.
^ Norman Martin et al. "War Ensign 1938–1945 (Germany)". Flags of the World. The "Reichskriegsflagge"
^ Flags at Flags of the World:
^ Nordland HQ
^ Google Earth reveals swastika water feature
^ a b Ethan McNern. Swastika ban left out of EU's racism law, The Scotsman, 30 January 2007
^ Staff. Hindus opposing EU swastika ban, BBC online, 17 January 2007
^ Staff (source dgs]/Reuters)Hindus Against Proposed EU Swastika Ban Der Spiege online, January 17, 2007
^ "Fashion firm under investigation for swastika design", European Jewish Press, October 19, 2006
^ "Prosecutors drop probe into swastika buttons", dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH German News Service, October 19, 2006.
^ Le Journal Chrétien, "Stuttgart Seeks to Ban Anti-Fascist Symbols"
^ (German) Tageblatt September 23, 2006
^ Bundesgerichtshof, decision (Urteil) of the 15/03/2007, file reference: 3 StR 486/06
^ Bundesgerichtshof press statement No. 36/2007
^ Der Spiegel, 03/15/2007
^ IUSCOMP The Comparative Law Society
^ "USA - Coca Cola Swastika lucky watch fob"
^ Harry Kreisler. "Conversation with Stuart E. Eizenstat." Conversations with History. Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley. April 30, 2003.
^ "Swastika film poster escapes ban." BBC News. February 21, 2002.
^ CBC News December 30, 2002: Toy pandas bearing swastikas a cultural mix-up
^ The President of Finland: Flag
^ Swastika ring at R-Kioski
^ Partiolippukunta Pitkäjärven Vaeltajat ry
^ Kainuun Kerho
^ Tursan Sydän
^ ::nepalnews.com daily picture (News from Nepal as it happens)::
^ [Tajikistan: Officials Say Swastika Part Of Their Aryan Heritage] - [Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty © 2008]
^ The Theosophical Society-Adyar - Emblem
^ Pro-Swastika
^ Raelianews: The Official Raelian Symbol gets its swastika back
^ The Process of Tantra, by Acarya Pranakrsnananda Avadhuta

[edit] References
Aigner, Dennis J. (2000). The Swastika Symbol in Navajo Textiles. Laguna Beach, California: DAI Press. ISBN 0-9701898-0-X.
Clube, V. and Napier, B. The Cosmic Serpent. Universe Books, 1982
Enthoven, R.E. The Folklore of Bombay. London: Oxford University Press, 1924 (pp. 40–45).
Gardner, N. (2006) Multiple Meanings: The Swastika Symbol. In Hidden Europe, 11, pp. 35–37. Berlin. ISSN 1860-6318.
Lonsdale, Steven. Animals and the Origin of Dance, Thames and Hudson Inc., NY, 1982 (pp. 169–181).
ManWoman. Gentle Swastika: Reclaiming the Innocence, Cranbrook, B.C., Canada: Flyfoot Press, 2001. ISBN 0-9688716-0-7
MacCulloch, C.J.A. Canon, John A. (Ed.) Mythology of all Races. vol. 8 ("Chinese Mythology" Ferguson, John C.) Marshall Jones Co. Boston, MA 1928 (p. 31).
Morphy, Howard (Ed.). Animals into Art (ONE WORLD ARCHAEOLOGY; vol. 7) Unwin Gyman Ltd., London, 1989 (chapt. 11 Schaafsma, Polly).
Roy, Pratap Chandra. The Mahabharata, Munshiram Manoharlal, New Delhi, 1973 (vol. 1 section 13–58, vol. 5 section 2–3)
Schliemann, Henry. Ilios Harper & Brothers, Franklin Square, NY, 1881 (pp. 334–353).
Tan Huay Peng. (1980–1983). Fun with Chinese Characters. Singapore: Federal Publications. ISBN 981-01-3005-8.
Whipple, Fred L. The Mystery of Comets Smithsonian Inst. Press, Washington, DC 1985, (pp. 163–167).
Wilson, Thomas (Curator, Department of Prehistoric Anthropology, U.S. National Museum) (1896). The Swastika: The Earliest Known Symbol, and Its Migrations; with Observations on the Migration of Certain Industries in Prehistoric Times. In Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution
Norman Martin et al. "Standard of the Leader and National Chancellor 1935–1945". April 9, 2004. Hitler's personal flag;
Marcus Wendel, Jaume Ollé, et al. "Schutzstaffel/SS" December 14, 2001;
Jaume Ollé, Željko Heimer, and Norman Martin. "State Flag and Ensign 1935–1945" December 29, 2004. The "Reichsdienstflagge"
"A critical update to remove unacceptable symbols from the Bookshelf Symbol 7 font". Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 833407. November 8, 2004
"Clarence House issues apology for Prince Harry's Nazi costume". BBC News. January 13, 2005.

[edit] External links
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More spoken articlesWikimedia Commons has media related to:
Swastikasgeneral
History of the Swastika (US Holocaust Memorial Museum)
The History of the Swastika (About.com)
The Origins of the Swastika BBC News
Good overview of the Swastika ProSwastika
Sites presenting versions of Wilson's The Swastika
The Swastika
The Swastika (a scan of the original publication)
The Swastika, the Earliest Known Symbol (DjVu) and layered PDFPDF (16.2 MB) (a searchable facsimile at the University of Georgia Libraries)
Dharmic religions
"The Swastika", Lawrence Waldron, Chan Magazine, Summer 2000.
Swastikam - Symbol of Auspiciousness (chapter 7 of Vishayasuchi by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami)
Hindus opposing EU swastika ban (BBC)
swastika-info.com.
early Western use
Windsor's "Swastikas" Hockey Teams 1905–1916
Finnish uses of the swastika
[4] US Army Air Corp (USAAC) Boeing P-12C with 55th Pursuit Squadrons swastika-insignia in 1930s. The USAAC became the United States Air Force in 1941.
Nazi use
Documentary about the use of the swastike in the Third Reich
The Swastika and the Nazis by Servando González
From Flags of the World:
Origins of the Swastika Flag (Third Reich, Germany) (collection of links and comments)
Neonazi flags (links to other FOTW pages)
miscellaneous
Comets and the Bronze Age Collapse by Bob Kobres
Swastika Gallery
The Swastika Stone on Ilkley Moor in England
Reclaim the Swastika
Navy to mask Coronado's swastika-shaped barracks

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White Indians In America?

White Indians In America?
Book of Mormon Speaks of the Nephites " White Indians " and Lamanites " Dark Skinned Indians " living in America. South American Murals give evidence the Book of Mormon is an ancient record.

White Skinned Indians Part 2

White Skinned Indians Part 2

White versus Dark Skinned Indians Part 3

White versus Dark Skinned Indians Part 3
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Bearded god carved in stone, found in the 24 square mile ruins of Monte Alban in Southern Mexico. Note the figure seems to be in prayer.

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NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAYAN MURALS OF DAILY LIFE DEPICT WHITE AND DARK SKINNED PEOPLE.
Mural clearly depicts people of different skin colors living together, as Book of Mormon claims. National Geographic does not comment upon the skin color, but does tell us where mural came from. To read more click photo!

Monte Alban Mexico

Monte Alban Mexico
Egyption Coptic Cross. Southern Mexico

JESUS CHRIST IN AMERICA BEFORE HERNADO CORTEZ OR CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS?

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Latin style cross tombs of Mitla Mexico. Photos taken from The Cruciform Structures of Mitla and Vicinity (1909), copyright expired, public domain.

Evidence Native Americans Knew About Jesus Christ Before the Spanish Inquisition of South America.

Evidence Native Americans Knew About Jesus Christ Before the Spanish Inquisition of South America.
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Wheels of Ancient America
A 2000-year old pre-Columbian wheeled artifact displayed at the Museum of Pre-Columbian Art in Santiago, Chile.

Wheels of the Book of Mormon

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Dear reader. To read text articals pertaining Book of Mormon archaeology, scroll half way down.

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Latter Day Saint's everywhere need not hang their heads when questioned about Joseph Smith's teaching and practice of polygamy. IT NEVER HAPPENED! Read the legal and historical evidences how men closest the prophet lied in order to justify Utah Mormon Polygamy. Click picture link to read more and decide for yourself if this book will fit your library.

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THE BIBLICAL CHRIST CARRYING A SHEPHERDS STAFF
In the Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi testifies Christ came to America. Christ, in Gospel of Luke is asked a question by the Apostle Peter most people miss. Peter ask Christ who He was, Christ's reply was, who do YOU/THEY say that I am. Luke 9:20. Native Americans record a white god who walked among them. When asked who He was, His reply was to ask, WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM? In ( 1964 ) Pierre Honore wrote a book who's title speaks for it'self. In Quest of the Fair God Pierre Honore illustrates a white God among the Native America, who was named many different names where ever He went. Mr. Honore says, " The legend of a particular white God has survived to our day from all ancient civilizations of Central and South America. The Toltecs and Aztecs of Mexico called Him Quetzalcoatl, the Incas called Him Viracocha To the Maya he was called Kulkulcan who brought them all their laws, and also their script, and was worshiped like a God by the entire people. To the Chibchas, he was Bochica, the white mantle of light. To the Aymara of Peru he was Hyustus, and to this day they will tell you he was fair and had blue eyes. Everywhere in the Indian states of Central and South America the legend of the White God is known, and always ends in the same way. The White God left his people with a solemn promise that he would one day come back."

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Can there be Hebrews in America? What does the Bible say?



Matthew 15:24



But He ( Jesus ) answered them and said, I am not sent but unto the LOST SHEEP of the house of the house of Israel



Jesus told us He must minister to Israelites " other sheep I have not of this fold then also must I bring ", ( John 10:16 KJV ).



Ezekiel 34:6;11;12-13 declares:



6My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.



11For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.



12As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day** that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.



** ( in the day means during Christ earthly ministry 2000 years ago )



13And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.



For the Book of Mormon to be a valid history of an ancient people long dead, there must be Biblical evidence such a people exist. The words of Christ and Ezekiel confirm such a people are scattered world wide.

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TEMPLE OF THE BEARDED WHITE GOD
Picture taken from a wall carving from this temple in Chichen Itza, in the Yucatan peninsula. How could the natives know of a " Bearded White God " if they had never seen one?

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JOSEPH SMITH AND THE GOLD PLATES A FABLE?
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Old Negev Alphabet With Corresponding Hebrew Words

Old Negev Alphabet With Corresponding Hebrew Words
Old Negeve Alphabet Translation Sheet

Book of Mormon Evidense? Red Bird Monogram First Century

Book of Mormon Evidense? Red Bird Monogram First Century
"Jesus Christ Son of the Father"

Book of Mormon Claims and the Red Bird Stone

Book of Mormon Claims and the Red Bird Stone
An Ogam rebus in the Gaelic language it means " The Right Hand of God "

Can Book of Mormon be a true ancient record? Los Lunas New Mexico Ten Commandment Stone

Can Book of Mormon be a true ancient record? Los Lunas New Mexico Ten Commandment Stone
Los Lunas Decologue Stone

Medicine Wheel Sedona Arizona

Medicine Wheel Sedona Arizona
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The Darius Plates

The Darius Plates
Keith Garner of Menlo Park, California, holding one of two gold tablets excavated from the foundation walls of the Audience Hall ( the Apadana ) of the palace of King Darius the great King of Persia ( 521- 486 B.C. ).

The Darrius Plates

The Darrius Plates
Critics say Joseph Smith was a fool to claim he translated the Book of Mormon from gold plates. Discovery of the Darius Plates show ancient man indeed did write upon metal plates. Archaeology has proven the brass plate very well could have come from the far east as the Book of Mormon claims in 1st Nephi in Book of Mormon.