the thinker

Lost Ten Tribes


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“We believe in the literal gathering of Israel.”

- Articles of Faith, #10, see History of the Church, v. 4, pp. 535-541

“… the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north [North Pole].”

- Doctrine and Covenants 110:11

[The North Pole is] “containing thousands of millions of Israelites.”

- W.W. Phelps, “Letter No. 11,” Latter-day Saints' Messenger & Advocate, October 1835, v. 2, no. 1, p. 194

“I was then really ‘the bosom friend and companion of the Prophet Joseph.' … Sometimes when at my house I asked him questions relating to the past, present and future; … one of which I will relate: I asked where the nine and a half tribes of Israel were. ‘Well,' said he, ‘you remember the old caldron or potash kettle you used to boil maple sap in for sugar, don't you?' I said yes. ‘Well,' said he, ‘they are in the north pole in a concave just the shape of that kettle. And John the Revelator is with them, preparing them for their return.;:

- Benjamin Johnson, My Life's Review, 1947, p. 93

“At the same time he [Joseph] described the shape of the earth at the poles as being a round elongation and drew a diagram of it.”

- Oliver B. Huntington, “The Inhabitants of the Moon,” The Young Women's Journal, 1892, v. 3, p. 264

“I have heard Joseph say that ‘John was among the Ten Tribes beyond the North Pole.”

- Oliver B. Huntington Journal, under January 13, 1881; see Abanes, One Nation Under Gods, p. 528, footnote 100

“President Young said he heard Joseph Smith say that the Ten Tribes of Israel were on a Portion of Land separated from this Earth.”

- Prophet Wilford Woodruff, Wilford Woodruff's Journal, September 8, 1867, reprinted in Susan Staker, ed., Waiting for World's End, The Diaries of Wilford Woodruff, 1993, p. 291

“The evening was spent in conversing upon the subject of the Ten tribes in the North Country…. [A] potion of the North Country Containing the ten tribes may be separated from the Earth. O[rson] Hyde & others believed they would soon return.”

- Prophet Wilford Woodruff, in Susan Staker, ed., Waiting for World's End, The Diaries of Wilford Woodruff, p. 238

“I heard Joseph Smith preach baptism for the dead…. I heard him say, ‘the Ten Tribes were not on this globe, but a portion of this earth had cleaved off with them and went flying into space, and when the time comes when the “earth reels to and from like a drunken man and the stars from heaven fall,” it would join on again.'”

- Bathsheba W. Smith, “Recollections of the Prophet Joseph Smith, The Juvenile Instructor, June 1, 1892, v. 27, p. 34

“The Prophet Joseph [Smith] once in my hearing advanced his opinion that the Ten Tribes were separated from the Earth; or a portion of the Earth was by a miracle broken off, and that the Ten Tribes were taken away with it, and that in the latter days it would be restored to the Earth or be let down in the Polar regions. Whether the Prophet founded his opinion upon revelation or whether it was a matter of mere speculation with him, I am not able to say.”

- Apostle Orson Pratt, Letter Box of Orson Pratt, LDS Church Historian's Office, letter to John C. Hall, December 13, 1875; see Abanes, One Nation Under Gods, p. 529, footnote 101

“[Joseph Smith] will go forth toward the north, and by the power of his word shall the deep begin to give way: and the ice melt before the Sun. By the keys of the kingdom shall he lead Israel into the land of Zion, while the house of Jacob shouts in the dance and in the song.”

- Patriarchal Blessing from Oliver Cowdery to Prophet Joseph Smith, in Oliver Cowdery, “A Patriarchal blessing given by Oliver Cowdery to the Prophet Joseph Smith at Kirtland,” September 22, 1835, reprinted in Collier, ed., Unpublished Revelations, 1979, 2nd edition, 1981, v. 1, p. 76

“… the spot was chosen for the garden of Eden was Jackson County, in the State of Missouri; where Independence now stands.”

- Apostle Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses, v. 10, p. 235, June 27, 1863