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Art of Herb Roe, depicting a native North American earthwork complex
"Mound-Builder" Genre Textual Analysis
A.I. and the Authentic Literary Setting of
Crossing Sidon (YouTube) Journey along the line Bountiful (YouTube)
How could all those travels, settlements and battles have been in a land so small?
Wait – are we talking about the Book of Mormon or the Bible?
With nothing more than the Bible, and
the location of mount
Moriah,
we can deduce that the Mediterranean has to be
“the great sea westward”
neighboring the lands of
With nothing more than the Book of Mormon, and the location of Cumorah, we can deduce that Great Lake Erie has to be the “west sea” bordering Nephite and Lamanite lands!
Olive's Near Cumorah Setting by Deduction and Best Fit
Targeting Book of Mormon Geography Scapegoats!
The 344 Day Voyage of the Jaredites
The river SIDON Scriptural IQ Test
Ethan Smith and the Authentic Literary Setting for the Book of Mormon
Lies - Darned Lies and Statistics
Joseph Smith, Josiah Priest and the
Beware Mark Hofmann’s Anthon Transcript Forgery!
Messianic Message of the Stones of Memorial
Did Professor Anthon and Doctor Mitchell Actually
Read Some Book of Mormon Characters?
A Book of Mormon Place Name Found in the Eastern United States
The Title of Liberty Restored in Pre-exilic Hebrew
What Many Cannot Tell, Modern Demographics Can!
&
Meanings of ISRAEL - ישראל
IN CANADA AND THE NORTHEASTERN UNITED STATES
Nearly NAKED WARRIORS in winter?
With Clarifying Comments
Resolving the "six hundred years" Problem of the Book of Mormon
"LAMONI" Didn't Mean CROCODILE
Yes, there’s a place named “Lamanai” in
Where was Eden? Where is the Garden of God?
Abraham in Egypt and the Papyrus Solar Ferry
The IlElusive Kirtland Papyrus
"I cracked the Shulem cryptogram ... !"
Ah-meh-strah-an Resymbolization
Relativity of Simplicity
"Heartland as Hinterland" - Nice Try!
Who Originated the Heartland Model?
"Zarahemla" and a verse from Torah
"I'm the guy who made the biggest, most expensive film (The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints) has ever made, and I put it in the wrong
place."
Image obtained from veimages.gsfc.nasa.gov
a land northward
“And it came to pass that they did multiply and spread, and did go forth from the land southward to the land northward, and did spread insomuch that they began to cover the face of the whole earth, from the sea south to the sea north, from the sea west to the sea east.” (Helaman 3:8)
There truly is a northern land in the region where the Book of Mormon came forth, that is bordered by bodies of water in each of the cardinal directions. This was not the covenant land of liberty that Lehi's descendants originally inherited, but a “desolate” land across from the land of Desolation, and from thence “northward”. (Helaman 3:3-6, Ether 2:7, Alma 63:5) The seas mentioned in the Book of Mormon are real. Inland bodies of water are commonly called seas in ancient scripture. (Joshua 12:3; 15:5, Ether 2:7) The expression “the whole earth” doesn't necessarily mean global or planet-wide. In ancient scripture, “the whole earth” can simply mean the full extent of a local land or region. (Exodus 10:14-15, Alma 38:7) The expressions “sea south”, “sea north”, “sea west”, “sea east”, tell us the directions of bodies of water from a location indicated in scripture. These expressions alone do not tell us the names of the seas. As you carefully read Helaman 3:8 (cited above), you may discover that the reference frame for the seas mentioned in this verse, is in “the land northward”. In other words, from a location in this particular “land northward”, “sea west” simply means the sea that is west from that location. In the Book of Mormon, “sea west” means sea on the west. Similarly, the meaning of “sea east” is sea on the east, etc. (Alma 22:27)
The Book of Mormon “west sea” and “east sea”, on the other hand, are proper nouns - that is, they are the actual names of bodies of water that situate on the west and on the east respectively, of the lands of Zarahemla and Nephi. These principal Book of Mormon lands are southward from “the land northward” mentioned in Helaman 3:8. (Alma 50:8) The “west sea” and “east sea” also name inland bodies of water in the directions of sunrise and sunset in Old World Jerusalem. (Joel 2:20) The Hebrew name translated “utmost sea” (KJV) can also be translated “west sea”.
The Book of Mormon does not say that the entire land northward resides in land occupied by the United States of America. Traveling from the land of Desolation in the north (still on prophetic U.S. soil), to “the land southward”, we encounter the principal Book of Mormon lands of Bountiful, Zarahemla, and Nephi. These covenant lands are in the borders of the prophetic United States of America. (Alma 46:17) A more distant land northward, surrounded by seas in each of the cardinal directions matches perfectly Ontario Canada.
Image derived from Google Earth, © Copyright
Google
An Ancient Covenant Land of Liberty in the United States of America (Alma 46:17)
“And now, it was only the distance of a day and a half's journey for a Nephite, on the line Bountiful and the land Desolation, from the east to the west sea; and thus the land of Nephi and the land of Zarahemla were nearly surrounded by water, there being a small neck of land between the land northward and the land southward.” (Alma 22:32)
The Book of Mormon land of Zarahemla and “a land among many waters” by Cumorah, are so near each other, that travelers from the south mistook one region for the other. (Mosiah 8:7-8; 21:25-26, Ether 9:3; 15:8-11) This overlooked fact proves many proposed "Book of Mormon" maps false! See Distances in the Book of Mormon's American Setting.
Though the principal lands named in the Book of Mormon are comparable in size to the biblical land of Israel, there is no scriptural reason to believe that Lehi's covenant land of liberty is limited to only these (i.e. the lands of Nephi, Zarahemla, and Bountiful on the coast of “the west sea” - Lake Erie). (Helaman 6:10, Ether 13:4-8) The “south countries”, south of Lake Erie (referred to by the Lord in Doctrine and Covenants 75:8, 17) fit the Book of Mormon “south countries”. (Mormon 6:15, 8:2) A temperate climate conducive to keeping the seasonal ordinances of the Mosaic Law, would have been the chief constraint on the extent of Lehi's inheritance.
“Then will I remember my
covenant...and I will remember the land.” (Leviticus 26:42)
To God and
Israelites, Covenant Lands Matter!
The
“stick of
LDS scripture
clearly connects the Book of Mormon with
“the
record of the stick of Ephraim [son of Joseph]”
(Doctrine and Covenants 27:5)
Ephraim (pronounced “Efrayim”,
אֶפְרָיִם) means
double fruit.
The
Bible likens the separation of Joseph's posterity, to fruitful branches extending
beyond a barrier. (Genesis 49:22)
Latter-day Saints interpret this
barrier or
“wall” to mean the Ocean.
Inheriting the rights of the firstborn
(Genesis 48:3-5,
18-20,
1 Chronicles 5:1-2),
the descendants of Ephraim are entitled to double portions,
including lands of inheritance.
(Deuteronomy 21:17;
33:13-17,
Jeremiah 31:8-9,
16-21,
Genesis 49:26,
Isaiah 61:6-7)
One of Ephraim's inheritances is in
the land of Israel, but, where is there another Promised
Land given to Joseph’s posterity? We learn the general
whereabouts of this other covenant land from LDS scripture
and statements made by the Prophet Joseph Smith. We learn of Israelites who were led out of
For many of Israel's descendants, the importance of knowing the
location of covenant lands is more than a desire to satisfy an
intellectual curiosity. The subject is not just about geography or a
need to tie scriptural sagas with accurate settings and genuine
maps. It is about covenant inheritances and heritage. It is about
blessings, responsibilities and penalties associated with lands of
promise and posterity. To the Israelite mind, identifying, the
God of the land, the covenant people and the covenant land
is paramount. These, of course, are topics that the Book of
Mormon is keen to address repeatedly. Needless to say, the God
of Jacob would not leave his ancient covenant people without ways of
identifying the general locations of their lands of promise. We
might expect scripture to contain vital keys.
So where is the
Promised Land of the Book of Mormon? Both the Prophet
Joseph and LDS scripture describe a land choice above all others, a
land of liberty, a land and people delivered, prospered and lifted
up by the power God above all other nations. In Nephi's own
prophetic words to his brethren - after arriving in the Promised
Land: “ ...the
Lord God will raise up a mighty nation among the Gentiles, yea, even
upon the face of this land ...” (1 Nephi 22:7)
Additionally the Book of Mormon mentions particular kinds of
animals, the climate, forests, great works of earth and timber,
large bodies of water and many other details indicative of its true
American setting. The following segments distinguish between the
best sources and sources that are dubious at best. There is really a
preponderance of evidence available identifying Joseph’s choicest
inheritance - in a land occupied by a mighty nation “above all other
nations”.
(1 Nephi 13:30)
Pick a subject
from the menu below:
Promised Lands
Among the very best sources are the scriptures and
verifiable
About So Much More Than Geography!
A A new book by LDS author Vincent Coon (MS
Physics, Hebrew language background): Download Click the above image to go to official web site of
Seasons
Species
Earth & Timber
Israelite Compass
Articles & Quotes
Gross Geographies
Feasible Voyage
P.C. Olive
Questions & Answers
Broad Neck
statements by Joseph Smith
Kindle readers, the extended e-book
edition, with linked table of contents, footnotes, references
and index,
is available at a bargain price:
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
to order a free copy of the Book of Mormon.