Below is another very interesting post by Dean Mansfield proposing
alternative geography for the Book of Mormon account. Here he proposes
that Coleman Texas corresponds to the New Jerusalem of the Lamanites.
The most compelling aspect of his model is the idea of the parallel between
the Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, and the relative position of the
Land of Israel versus Coleman Texas.
My personal belief is that the city of Enoch that was taken up left behind
what is now the Gulf of Mexico; and that the city of Salem that was taken up
with Melchizedek left behind what is now the Mediterranean Sea. In plate
tectonics, the current land masses fit together like a puzzle, except for the
huge gaps in these two bodies of water.
As far as parallel geographies, I still believe the Great Salt Lake - Dead
Sea; Jordan River - Jordan River; Utah Lake - Sea of Galilee parallel (except
for a reversal of North and South directions) is extremely important.
With the introduction of Dean's model, playing along for kicks, I wonder if
perhaps there isn't a Rome-Israel parallel to Salt Lake City-Coleman, in a
sort of "first shall be last, and last shall be first" chiastic
geographical-political arrangement.
Another thing I found quite interesting is that the skip sequence for
Coleman is 144 (e.g. 144,000). Also of great significance, in my
opinion, is Dean's discovery that this skip sequence match-up is in that
portion of the Bible that speaks of Jacob fleeing from Laban.
A question I would pose to Dean is what the 531 signifies next to
"Lamanite" in the skip sequence table. Is it a second skip
sequence? There are 531 pages in the Book of Mormon.
Certainly presents food for thought.
We have to forgive Dean for his lack of respect for some of the other great
things that Joseph Smith accomplished beyond the Book of Mormon, such as the
D&C and JST. His Jewish slant, despite some of its skepticisms,
presents a look that is refreshing, I think.
Sterling D. Allan
www.greaterthings.com
From: "Dean J Mansfield" <mansfielddj@hotmail.com>
To: <sterlingda@greaterthings.com>
Cc: <dabar@metalliving.com>
Sent: Sunday, May 06, 2001 12:32 PM
Subject: Locating Book of Mormon Lands
Shalom Aleichem! (Peace to Everyone!)
Sometimes I feel like Doubting Thomas, in that "the substance of
things hoped for and evidence of things not seen" need to exceed the
minimal for me to believe. I think that a healthy skepticism, however, is
often a good thing and even necessary for faith--even for minimal faith.
For me, as much as I might want to believe, the Book of Mormon has
presented problems that in "pondering these things in your heart"
have prevented me from full acceptance. One major block has been WHERE? Where
did the Book of Mormon events take place?
If there is no definite location, then the book remains in the sphere of
imagination or parable. Another major block has been WHO? Who are the
descendants of the Lehites, if such exist?
So I have spent a great amount of time these last few years in trying to
find a working hypothesis that would answer these two questions. This has
corresponded with my previous conversion to Judaism and study of Kabbalah and
Bible Code. I would not have returned to consider my religious heritage
(Mormonism) were it not for my study in these areas and reading Harold Bloom's
book, THE AMERICAN RELIGION, which devotes many of its pages to the Mormon
phenomena. It had been many years since I had considered Mormonism in any way
a viable option. I was glad to be rid of it, as I thought, and held a grudge
against the apostles because of their encouragement of our participation in
the Vietnam War, saying that it was necessary to fight communism, etc. Be that
as it may, I was intrigued by certain points made by Bloom in his book,
including the correspondences to Kabbalah that seem to come up in the thought
system of Joseph Smith.
I have postulated several theories as to WHERE, and each time I have tried
to find substantial evidence, eventually the theories seemed to fall flat.
Also, I have known from the outset that the theories that place BoM events in
South and Central America were wishful thinking and grasping at straws. Also,
it is obvious that neither Joseph Smith nor any of his early disciples had the
slightest idea where BoM events took place, though Joseph often tried to
"wing it" and pose as an expert. If it were not for the warning to
him in the Book of Commandments not to assume that he had any other gift than
to translate, I would not have taken up the subject again. Too many of his
teachings go contrary, not only to common sense, but to common morality. For
the longest time the LDS had to carry quite a stigma because of the need to
cover Joseph Smith's sexual immorality. Polygamy was their naive, innocent way
of doing this. Then there was "blood atonement," which was not so
naive and innocent. But the Utah Saints managed to cast off these things, at
least in practice, and survive. So, to consider the BoM, I had to separate it
from the career of Joseph Smith, except for his being used as a seer to
translate the book. He had the gift of mediumship in this regard. It was an
extraordinary gift. As long as he stayed within the bounds that were
prescribed for him, he was safe. The most stable and the most believable of
the witnesses was David Whitmer, who, when he saw Joseph going way off course,
separated himself. Yet he continued to believe in his own experience of seeing
the plates and the heavenly being who testified to them. That has been helpful
to me.
With that introduction, I may now say that I have come up with another
theory as to WHERE. This theory shows more promise than any other and conforms
more with the difficult requirements to be met. It is also the most obvious,
something that has been right under our noses. Where to begin in describing
this?
Okay. TEXAS. It is where I now currently live. Though I, myself, have never
visited the Bible lands, I know a number of people who have, including Jewish
people who have lived in Israel. They all say that it reminds them of Central
and West Texas. That should not be too surprising. For example, the city of
Coleman, Texas, has the exact same latitude as Jerusalem: 31:47:00 N. Texas
also has the Gulf of Mexico, which has a similar climatical effect as the
Mediterranean Sea has on the region of Israel. There are large desert
wildernesses in the Southwest. There could have been some large lakes which no
longer exist that might have formed the various seas mentioned in the BoM. The
Sea of Galilee, for example, is only a lake yet called a sea. But to continue,
. . .
" . . behold Aaron took his journey towards the land which was called
by the Lamanites, Jerusalem, calling it after the land of their fathers'
nativity; and it was away joining the borders of Mormon." (Alma 21:1)
The thought occurred to me that there might be a strange synchronicity in
this fact. What if the Lamanite Jerusalem was located at the same latitude in
the New World as the one "of their fathers' nativity?" Also, what if
BoM lands were of the same dimension as old Israel? Would it not be only
natural for the Lehites to be directed to a land which would have a similar
landscape and climate to which they could readily adapt themselves?
What if Coleman, Texas, which has the same exact latitude as old Jerusalem,
is the place of the Lamanite Jerusalem? In trying to see if anything might
come up in the Bible Code, I found in Genesis, chapters 30 & 31, the
following (using a matrix of 133):
Finds Skip Translation
Ha-Eer (twice) 133 The City
LMNIT 265 Lamanite 531
JRUShLM 399 Jerusalem
Ha-Arets 263 The Land 15
Ha-Arets ha-Zot 1 (P/T) "This Land"
COLEMAN 144 Coleman
TECSAS 277 Texas
COLEMAN is completely spelled out thus: KAF,VAV,LAMED,HEY, MEM,ALEF,NUN. So
is TEXAS: TAV,HEY,KAF,SHIN,ALEF,SHIN. In this range COLEMAN shows up at a
3.53% probability. TEXAS at a 11.7% probability. JRUShLM shows up also at a
skip of 31, thus showing up twice at a 11.5% probability. What does this mean?
(It is interesting that the text of these chapters has to do with the birth
of Jacob's sons and his work for Laban and then being warned to flee from
Laban with his family and flocks.)
I think it possible that Jung's principle, in terms of our so- called
"collective unconscious mind," of "causeless
synchronicity" is being affirmed by the Bible Code in this case: There is
some- how a correspondence or correlation among three things:
1) Old Jerusalem 2) Lamanite Jerusalem 3) Coleman, Texas
Old Jerusalem and Coleman, Texas, are at the exact same North Latitude.
Could it be, then, that Coleman, Texas, is the location of the Lamanite
Jerusalem? If so, what would that mean?
It could mean quite a bit. In fact, it could be the key to locating the
Book of Mormon lands. The main river, for example, that courses through this
general area, is the Colorado River. The Colorado River basin could be, then,
the defining feature, corresponding with the River Sidon. (From this I have
tentatively located Ballinger, Texas, as the City Bountiful.) And the distance
from Coleman to Abilene is approximately the same as the distance of Jerusalem
to Meggido (Armageddon). Also, the same general direction. This area, then,
might quite naturally correspond to the Land of Desolation and the Hill
Cumorah (Har-Meggido, Mount Meggido or the Aramaic Ar-Mageddon.)
Another thing is the prophecy of Isaiah concerning Ariel. "It shall be
unto me AS ARIEL: And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege
against thee with a garrison, and I will raise forts against thee."
(Isaiah 29)
Ariel is Jerusalem. It shall be AS ARIEL. In this same area of Texas is a
whole system of forts and garrisons that were raised against Native Americans.
These forts still exist as monuments today. Which Americans specifically are
we talking about? The Shoshone--Comanche and Apache branches and the Kickapoo.
The latter I believe to be surviving Nephites. They became Lamanites but kept
a few of their Nephite customs as well as Hebrew words. That is why Barry Fell
identified their language with a Semitic tongue: ancient Punic. But in reality
it was ancient Nephite. The Kickapoo are very small in number and remain
isolated and in a very closed society. There is a reservation for them near
Del Rio, Texas.
So the door is open for me again to continue with BoM research. I have also
spent many hours in prayer along with this research. Just recently, after
praying nearly all night, I had a dream. I was on a hill overlooking a
beautiful vista. Then I saw fountains of water of clear, pure water. The next
day some friends invited me to go to a folk music festival in Ballinger,
Texas. Afterwards we drove past a hill, where someone had made a massive
monument to Christ's resurrection. It is called THE CROSS and is in the form
of a huge cross that can be seen for miles and miles. The CROSS is built above
a roofed patio that has the stations of the cross pictured in beautiful
paintings. Then there is the resurrected Christ portrayed in the last
painting. From this point, one sees the vista below of the city of Ballinger
and surrounding environs. One of my friends, a Greek Christian, had been to
Israel one summer to do archaeo- logical research. He commented, "this
looks like Israel. In fact, this looks like a view from the Mount of
Olives." I then told him what I had just uncovered in the Bible Code that
made me believe Ballinger might be the place of ancient Bountiful. To my
amazement, he was not skeptical, but interested in the Book of Mormon. All of
us had a very awesome feeling that day. Could this be the very place Christ
appeared to the Nephites? The man who had this monument built, left a message
that it was for all, of whatever denomination, who believed in Christ. He was
a wealthy business man, obviously Catholic, who felt inspired to do this.
There is also a tiny chapel built of rock for quiet meditation, and a small
pathway down to a shrine to St. Francis. The little pathway, in particular,
reminded my friend of the Mount of Olives, along with the Juniper trees, which
are so common in the Holy Land.
It is also part of my theory that the LORD has covered up the remains of
the Nephites because of the very strong occult practices that they had become
involved in, which call upon demonic forces. This is another subject, but I
will say, the two relics which I discovered using the Bible Code, I now
believe to be Nephite. One I was told to cover up again. The other crumbled
when we extracted it, and it appears that a workman at the storage place where
I was keeping it tossed it out. I sent a fragment to Yatzi Rosenberg to be
analyzed by a scientist friend of his, but it appears it was never done and
the fragment was lost. It could be for the good. In the discovery of both
relics, there was an "other dimensional" reality involved of a
negative force or power.
That about covers it for now. I thought y'all might be interested. Again,
peace to all. Dean.
Preface:
