3 Curious Legends Of Other Nations Visited By Christ
OK these
are pretty weird – and not doctrinal in the slightest. But they are
interesting. They are interesting because of what Jesus said here – after his
resurrection and just before his old-world ascension:
John 10:16: “And other sheep I have, which are not of this
fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be
one fold, and one shepherd.”
The people
in the Book of Mormon were those other sheep – Christ said so himself. And then
he said he had yet other sheep to
visit:
3 Nephi 16:1: “And
verily, verily, I say unto you that I have other sheep, which are not of
this land, neither of the land of Jerusalem, neither in any parts of that land
round about whither I have been to minister.”
Of these other sheep we have no record. Yet. We certainly know they
were visited, but do we know who they were?
No way no how. But here
are some interesting legends of Christ visitations. To be sure there are scores
of accounts of a ‘light-skinned, bearded God visiting people – especially in
the Americas. But that white god is assigned different names. In these next
three accounts he is specifically identified as Jesus.
Two of the three accounts
here definitely do not show Christ descending arrayed in glory. Instead they
show him escaping the resurrection and living out his days elsewhere.
But do these stories stem
from accounts that used to be more accurate?
I have no idea!
Japan
“On the flat top of a steep hill in a distant corner of
northern Japan lies the tomb of an itinerant shepherd who, two millennia ago,
settled down there to grow garlic. He fell in love with a farmer’s daughter
named Miyuko, fathered three kids and died at the ripe old age of 106. In the
mountain hamlet of Shingo, he’s remembered by the name Daitenku Taro Jurai. The
rest of the world knows him as Jesus Christ.
“It turns out that Jesus of Nazareth—the Messiah, worker of
miracles and spiritual figurehead for one of the world’s foremost religions—did
not die on the cross at Calvary, as widely reported. According to amusing local
folklore, that was his kid brother, Isukiri, whose severed ear was interred in
an adjacent burial mound in Japan…
“Having run afoul of the Roman authorities,
Jesus was arrested and condemned to crucifixion for heresy. But he cheated the
executioners by trading places with the unsung, if not unremembered, Isukiri.
To escape persecution, Jesus fled back to the promised land of Japan with two
keepsakes: one of his sibling’s ears and a lock of the Virgin Mary’s hair. He
trekked across the frozen wilderness of Siberia to Alaska, a journey of four years,
6,000 miles and innumerable privations. This alternative Second Coming ended
after he sailed to Hachinohe, an ox-cart ride from Shingo.
“Upon reaching the village, Jesus retired to a life in exile,
adopted a new identity and raised a family. He is said to have lived out his
natural life ministering to the needy.” (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-little-known-legend-of-jesus-in-japan-165354242/)
I told you it was weird.
But did it stem from stories that were more in line with the New Testament and
the Book of Mormon? If it happened – were miracles wrought and Beatitudes taught?
India
“I was
sitting in Hemis, in Northern India, when the abbot of the Buddhist monastery
said to me “You know Jesus studied here…”
“I
thought I had misheard the monk. I said “Excuse me? Who studied here?” He
clarified. “Issa. You know him as Jesus, we refer to him as Issa. This is the
monastery he spent ten years at.” I thought I had misunderstood him until I did
the research…
“What
makes the “Life of St. Issa” notable (there is a copy in Hemis, the original is
in Lhasa, according to a scholar I asked) is that many people have seen it,
examined it; it’s a traditional Tibetan text written on blocks of paper, so
each story is limited to the characters that can fit on a particular page…
“Later,
there are other accounts of this same fellow, post crucifixion making his way
back to India. Those accounts include the story of Yuz Asaf “the anointed one”
who was traveling with his mother “Mary of virgin birth.” This fellow Yuz Asaf
is buried in Srinigar, and a caste of his supposed feet (hard to imagine when
that occurred) is next to his tomb and shows someone whose feet had been nailed
at some point in that man’s life…
“Yes, there is a body of evidence that Issa traveled to India,
Kashmir and Tibet. There are reports of Yuz Asaf preaching in Persia, where a
local King erected a statue to him, with the quote “I am the way and the light.” The Qu’ran mentions that Issa
“survived the crucifixion and went to preach in India” - as well as mentioning
Issa more often than it does Mohamed. So if that’s news, then I would suggest
checking into it further.
“But anyone who says that there is no evidence of his appearing
in India, Kashmir or Tibet hasn’t looked at the books cited above. I include in
that canon the “Gospel of Thomas” from the gnostic gospels - where Thomas
claims that during his trip to India, he met with Jesus again at a wedding
(years later)…” (https://www.quora.com/Did-Jesus-Christ-ever-visit-or-live-in-India-Tibet-or-Kashmir)
What I
like most up there is the line “I am the way and
the light.” I like it because it sounds so much like this reference where
Christ refers to himself as light in the Bible:
John 9:5: “…I am the light of the world…”
And then
Christ and some of his prophets reference him as the light a bunch of times in
the BOM:
Mosiah 16:9: “He is the life and light of the world…”
Alma 38:9: …Behold, he is the life and the light of the
world…”
3 Nephi 9:18: “I am the light and life of the world…”
3 Nephi 11:11: “…I am the light and the life of the world…”
3 Nephi 18:16: “…Behold I am the light…”
D&C 10:70: “And now, remember the words of him who is the
light and life of the world, your Redeemer, your Lord and your God…”
And here’s my favorite – probably because it smells so much more
like the 3 Nephi visitation:
Russia
“But I couldn’t take my eyes off of the cover
of the phonograph record he had given me as a token of his respect to me for my
lecture on free agency and enterprise. The Berlin Wall had fallen, Gorbachev
had instituted a radical restructuring (perestroika) and openness (glasnost).
As part of this awakening in the USSR I had been invited by the recently
retired Deputy Minister of Higher Education to speak some of the leading new
businessmen and women in Moscow, Russia.
“To hold that phonograph record and see the
painting on the front left me speechless.
““Who painted this,” I asked him.
““A great painter for our church about 1900;
Mikhail Nestorov who painted so much canvases of faith,” he smiled so broadly
as our translator proclaimed the history. “His Holy Rus is a favorite of all of
us and it hangs today in the Russian Gallery in Leningrad.”
““What does it depict?”
““Our Savior visiting ancient Russia or Rus.”
The translator didn’t wait for the priest to provide the history. “We all know
this story…”
“Later in 1992 I was invited to have lunch with
a person they called the Metropole Peterim, the highest authority of the
Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow, and chairman of the ruling council of the
entire church. This gentleman is similar to president of the quorum of 12
apostles in the LDS church.
“After the lunch and tour of his headquarters,
I asked him if he knew of a painting where Christ seemed to be appearing to the
ancient Slavic people. He said that he did, that it had been used for a special
phonograph record cover and that the original was in their private archives. I
asked him where the artist got the idea of such a scene.
“He replied solemnly that it was “inspired by
an ancient folk tale that said after Christ’s death he visited the Slavic
people, ancestors of the Russians, to bring his gospel. The people who listened
to Christ were the humble and lowly in the farms and countryside. They took
upon themselves his name which when written phonetically in our characters
rather than Cyrillic is Kristiany. The word for peasant in Russian is
Kristiany. Those who believed in Him took upon themselves His name.”
“I asked the Metropole if he believed that
Christ actually came to the lands of present day Russia and Ukraine. He nodded,
stroking his beard.
““It could very well have been…”” (https://ldsmag.com/did-jesus-visit-russia-after-his-resurrection/)
Everyone who has ever lived has an equal shot at heavenly
redemption. Christ personally taking his gospel to people all over the world
is a piece of that. I can’t vouch for these three specific examples – but I’m willing
to bet there’s a real written record somewhere.
Thanks for this post. You may find the book He Walked the Americas very interesting. It is a collection of the verbal histories as passed down by the ancient inhabitants of North and South America as well as some of the pacific islands. It also has some allusions to his posible visits to scandinavia afterwards. It goes right along with the sighted scriptures above and is presented by a non LDS author.
ReplyDeleteSmells? Well, I hope my odor didn't bother you too much. I did write the article, I did see what is obvious in the painting, and I did interview the Metropolitan Peterim in Moscow and he confirmed the painting from about 1901 was painted by a Russian Orthodox painter, M. Nesterov from a Russian folk tale.
ReplyDeleteMark Stoddard
There are also other legends/accounts of Christ visiting the Lake Baikal region of Russia.
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Baikal#Historical_traditions
https://archive.org/details/travelsinregion00atkigoog/page/n406/mode/2up
Thank you for your very interesting post. I was wondering the same things when I read 3 Nephi 16 and searched the net for further perspectives. Yes, "And did those feet in ancient times, walk upon England's mountains green....." I am English, though now live in Arizona with my family from England!
ReplyDeleteMaybe the sealed portion of the BOM will reveal much more on this when it is opened!
Thank you and best wishes for 2023! My name is Mike Turvey, and I don't want to fiddle around with the Google profile stuff and mess thing up , so it looks like I'm anonymous !!