"Brit-Am Now"-1035
Contents:
1. Comments on Baptists and Torah-Learning
2. Francis Hynds:
The Ulster Tartan
3. Question Concerning Brit-Am and the Mormons
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Hi Yair,
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the fastest growing and most influential (powerful) religious organization that has ever started on American soil (nearly all American Christian religions began in Europe or are comparatively weak). Leo Tolstoy predicted that this Church would soon become the strongest power this world has ever seen, and his prediction is coming true. Their assets surpass 30 billion dollars and are growing exponentially, along with their membership (14 billion and counting).
Interestingly, one of key tenets of this Church is that they are descendents of the Northern Tribes of Israel, and that their role is the role of Joseph- to use the both the stick of Judah (Bible) and the stick of Ephraim (Book of Mormon) to gather Israel in preparation for the coming of the Messiah- and this Messiah is the same Messiah that some Jews await. The early leaders of this church, in fact, traveled to Israel to dedicate it for the return of the Jewish people years before Theodore Herzl began to publicize his idea that the time for aliyah had come. This Church further believes that they have been given the authority necessary to build temples and to administer in the ordinances thereof, and that they will one day help the Jewish people to build their temple in Jerusalem, prior to the coming of the Messiah.
Right now in America, there is quite a stirring about whether the Church's founder, Joseph Smith, was actually a Prophet as he claimed- like Moses, or whether he was merely an imposter. The interesting thing is that if he were an imposter, it would become hard to explain the Church's phenomenal health and growth, coupled with the fact that the Church has 1) a higher rate of education than any other group of people except Jewish people and non-affiliates and 2) a record of prospering and blessing people wherever it goes. For example, the nation of Brazil just formally honored the Church's work in its country for this very accomplishment.
I was wondering, what do you think of this people/Church? (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) I think your opinion is important because many of your researched facts seem to support the long-existing doctrines of this Church... (one example being the Brit-Am connection to the Tribe of Joseph- the bulk of this Church's early membership came from Britain and from the freedom-loving founding fathers' of the United States; another connection is the many parallels between the life of the Prophet Joseph Smith Jr., the son of Joseph Smith Sr. and the Jewish prophecies of Messiah Ben Joseph, or the great Prophet Joseph, the son of Joseph, who would restore temple worship in the latter days...)
Grateful for your time,
Shaun
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Reply:
Shaun Shalom,
Brit-Am does not engage in inter-faith dialogue. Nor can we really offer
opinions concerning the
relative value of any denomination.
Any time anyone writes anything of value from a Brit-Am standpoint we do our
best to acknowledge it.
We would days that the aims and beliefs as you have described them above and the
fact that they
have been accepted by many of Israelite origin according to our understanding
help confirm Brit-Am conceptions.
Terry Blodgett is a Mormon and he has done valuable research work,
see:
"The Hebrew Sources of Northern Tongues"
http://www.britam.org/tongues.html
Terry is also a friend and supporter of ours.
Nevertheless, apart from Terry and yourself and some others we feel that your
group has not been
as overwhelmingly appreciative of Brit-Am as it perhaps should have been. As you
say there is a community of
interest between Brit-Am and yourselves. Brit-Am helps affirm through research
and propagation-activity major points that are common to
us and also correspond with your beliefs.
Considering all this, it could be that the existence of Brit-Am should have
become more widely publicized
in your areas and consequently have gained more support than it has.
God bless you
Yair Davidiy