Christopher Columbus is an LDS High Priest
This Columbus Day I’d like to share with you some interesting information about Christopher Columbus…
Did you know that the angel Moroni appeared to him?
Did you know that Christopher Columbus is an LDS High Priest?
Here are some excerpts from various LDS articles/quotes that mention Christopher Columbus:
Now let me tell you a little something, an interesting story, that some of you may not have heard. In the early days of the Church, Orson Hyde was called to be one of the original Twelve Apostles by the Prophet Joseph. He served under three presidents of the Church–the Prophet Joseph, Brigham Young, and John Taylor. He was one of the great Apostles of this dispensation of time. He gave a talk in the Salt Lake Tabernacle on July 4, 1854. That’s only seven years after they came into the valley. (Now, it’s not the Tabernacle we know now, but the one they originally built.) That talk was a patriotic talk about America. He called Moroni the “guardian angel of America.” He said, “That same angel of God that appeared to Joseph Smith presides over the destiny of the United States of America.” Elder Hyde said that he [Moroni] was in the camp with George Washington. He [Moroni] helped George Washington when he had trouble. He said that same angel was with Christopher Columbus and gave him deep impressions and dreams and visions respecting the new world. He said that same angel was with Columbus on the stormy deep. He guided his frail vessel to the desired haven, and he calmed the troubled elements. (The Angel Moroni by Elder Glen L. Rudd. Brigham Young University-Idaho Devotional, March 11, 2003 )
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The temple work for the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence and other Founding Fathers has been done. All these appeared to Wilford Woodruff when he was president of the St. George Temple. President George Washington was ordained a high priest at that time. You will also be interested to know that, according to Wilford Woodruff’s journal, John Wesley, Benjamin Franklin, and Christopher Columbus were also ordained high priests at that time. When one casts doubt about the character of these noble sons of God, I believe he or she will have to answer to the God of heaven for it. Yes, with Lincoln, I say: “To add brightness to the sun or glory to the name of Washington is . . . impossible. Let none attempt it. In solemn awe pronounce the name and in its naked deathless splendor, leave it shining on.”
If ever this country needed the timeless wisdom of the father of our country, it is today. How much our country could benefit by following the wisdom of our country’s first president. Here are a few among many maxims:
“Let the reins of government then be braced and held with a steady hand, and every violation of the constitution be reprehended. If defective, let it be amended, but not suffered to be trampled upon whilst it has an existence.” (Ezra Taft Benson. A Letter to Henry Lee, October 31, 1786, Writings 29:34.)
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The General Constitution of our country is good, and a wholesome government could be framed upon it, for it was dictated by the invisible operations of the Almighty; He moved upon Columbus to launch forth upon the trackless deep to discover the American Continent; he moved upon the signers of the Declaration of Independence; and he moved upon Washington to fight and conquer, in the same way as he moved upon ancient and modern Prophets, each being inspired to accomplish the particular work he was called to perform in the times, seasons, and dispensations of the Almighty. God’s purpose, in raising up these men and inspiring them with daring sufficient to surmount every opposing power, was to prepare the way for the formation of a true Republican government. They laid its foundation; but when others came to build upon it, they reared a superstructure far short of their privileges, if they had walked uprightly as they should have done. (Brigham Young. JD 7:13)
And they shall cry from the dust; yea, even repentance unto their brethren, even after many generations have gone by them. And it shall come to pass that their cry shall go, even according to the simpleness of their words.
(Book of Mormon | 2 Nephi 3:20)
While I believe Moroni may have influenced Columbus, I cannot accept the authenticity of the Orson Hyde talk. Not because Hyde became apostate, but because he describes Moroni as having been with Columbus on the “stormy deep” and calming “troubled elements”. In the accounts of Columbus’s founding of the Americas, I have read that the seas were actually quite calm.
I’m still searching to find something to verify the rumor that Columbus had any angelic visions or visitations. Columbus always writes that it’s the Holy Ghost that inspired him and directed him. He does say the “hand” of God and he did produce a drawing with Angels in it but I don’t recall him saying anything.
But regardless, he WAS specifically referred to by Nephi. He was destined to be the one to usher in the restoration and this last dispensation.
But if anyone has any info on Columbus and Angels please send them to me.
I didn’t know that we believed in guardian angels????
Reading this nearly brings tears to my eyes. I know Moroni has power and authority from the throne of God, and it brings me to tears almost to consider his overseeing what is taking place on this land, of his helping Columbus leave the “captivity” of Europe, as the prophet Nephi foresaw, to move out with courage upon the waters. That same Moroni, now works to bring forth great works, and his statue symbolically atops now over a hundred holy temples dedicated to the Most High God, for Moroni is His angel who has brought back the restored gospel, and it is Moroni who gave us those vital last messages as he closed the record (Book of Mormon) written to us, for our day, warning of a secret combination seeking to overthrow the freedom of all nations, lands, and countries, and which now has it’s “evil influence and control” over America and the entire world, as Ezra Taft Benson testified in 1988 just after a very pivotal gadianton robber and murderer was elected President of the United States.
Section Six 1843-44, p.304
I am going to take up this subject by virtue of the knowledge of God in me, which I have received from heaven. The opinions of men, so far as I am concerned, are to me as the crackling of thorns under the pot, or the whistling of the wind. I break the ground; I lead the way like Columbus when he was invited to a banquet where he was assigned the most honorable place at the table, and served with the ceremonials which were observed towards sovereigns. A shallow courtier present, who was meanly jealous of him, abruptly asked him whether he though that in case he had not discovered the Indies, there were not other men in Spain who would have been capable of the enterprise? Columbus made no reply, but took an egg and invited the company to make it stand on end. They all attempted it, but in vain; whereupon he struck it upon the table so as to break one end, and left it standing on the broken part, illustrating that when he had once shown the way to the new world nothing was easier than to follow it.
http://www.boap.org/LDS/Joseph-Smith/Teachings/T6.html
I doubt this, as Christopher Columbus was responsible for pillaging, killing, raping, cutting the hands off Native Americans. Was this how Moroni inspired him? Honestly? The native Americans he met were peaceful and Loving and he introduced Gods word to them with murder and slavery. LDS need to stop putting their religion to fit into every even that happened. All Christopher Columbus did was open up ways for slave trade, not pave the way for the Gospel. Moroni had nothing to do with this.
From: Kevin A. Miller’s, “Why Did Columbus Sail?” in Christian History, Issue 35 (Vol XI, No 3) we read:
“Who can doubt that this fire was not merely mine, but also the Holy Spirit who encouraged me with a radiance of marvelous illumination from his sacred Scriptures, . . . urging me to press forward?’. . . . With a hand that could be felt, the Lord opened my mind to the fact that it would be possible . . . and he opened my will to desire to accomplish that project . . . The Lord purposed that there should be something miraculous in this matter of the voyage to the Indies.”
Here’s another article for some added insight on this topic.
https://scripturenotes.com/was-christopher-columbus-led-by-god-to-the-new-world