Statements by Church leaders related to the identity of the Lamanites

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Statements by Church leaders related to the identity of the Lamanites

Summary: A collection of all known statements made by Church leaders regarding the identity of the Lamanites

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• Statements by Church leaders regarding the Lamanites: 19th century
• Statements by Church leaders regarding the Lamanites: 20th century
• Statements by Church leaders regarding the Lamanites: 21st century

Statements by Church leaders regarding the Lamanites: 19th century

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• 1831: "The Holy Bible professes to be a history of the peopling of the old continent–the Golden Bible of the new continent"
• 1833: "We are glad to see the proof begin to come"
• 1834: "There will be tens of thousands of Latter-day Saints who will be gathered in the Rocky Mountains and there they will open the door for the establishing of the Gospel among the Lamanites"
• 1835: "he said the indians were the literal descendants of Abraham"
• 1837: "a remnant of the branches or seed of Joseph are represented as crossing the sea, and settling this continent of North and South America"
• 1841: "I conducted them to the meeting grounds in the grove, and instructed them in many things which the Lord had revealed unto me concerning their fathers"
• 1842: "The city was in some region on the South of what is called at this time, North America"
• 1842: "the American Indians were once an enlightened people and understood the arts and sciences, as the ruined cities and monuments lately discovered fully prove"
• 1844: "Found a book, which told me about your fathers & Great spirit told me"
• 1852: "Four-fifths, or perhaps nine-tenths of the vast population of Peru, as well as of most other countries of Spanish America, are of the blood of Lehi"
• 1853: "they have driven us into the midst of the Lamanites, where we can preach the Gospel unto them"

Statements by Church leaders regarding the Lamanites: 20th century

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• 1923: "We beseech Thee, O Lord, that Thou wilt stay the hand of the destroyer among the descendants of Lehi, who reside in this land"
• 1925: "And we also pray that we may see the beginning of the fulfilment of thy promises contained in the Book of Mormon to the Indian of this land, who is a descendant of Lehi"
• 1926: "The day will come when the Lamanites here will get the chance. The South American Mission is to be a power in the Church"
• 1927: "All Indians Are Not the Descendants of Lehi"
• 1927: "the descendants of Lehi who reside in this land"
• 1928: "Small numerically as this source of inspiration must have been, it may conceivably have been the seed from which sprouted the great achievements of Peru and Central America"
• 1929: "The Book of Mormon...does not tell us that there was no one here before them"
• 1930: "South America. Then we saw the day when it would go to the fifteen million of Father Lehi's children who are in that land"
• 1938: "the Book of Mormon deals 'only with the history and expansion of three small colonies which came to America and it does not deny or disprove the possibility of other immigrations'"
• 1938: "the descendants of Father Lehi...these millions who are in Mexico, Central America and South America"
• 1940: "as a complete history of all pre-Columbian peoples. The book does not claim to be such an history, and we distort its spiritual message when we use it for such a purpose"
• 1950s: "the Book of Mormon is not a history of all of the people who have lived on the continents of North and South America in all ages of the earth"
• 1954: "The dark-skinned people who occupied this land of America from that time on were called 'Lamanites'"
• 1957: "part of a record, both sacred and secular, of prophets and peoples who (with supplementary groups) were among the ancestors of the American 'Indians'"
• 1958: "We express gratitude that to these fertile Islands Thou didst guide descendants of Father Lehi"
• 1959: "There are probably sixty million of you on the two continents and on the Pacific Islands, all related by blood ties. The Lord calls you 'Lamanites'"
• 1971: "The term Lamanite includes all Indians and Indian mixtures, such as the Polynesians, the Guatemalans, the Peruvians, as well as the Sioux, the Apache, the Mohawk, the Navajo, and others"
• 1975: "Thou didst acknowledge the role of the Lamanite, especially in this temple"
• 1977: "One of the first efforts of the Prophet Joseph Smith was to take the gospel to the Lamanites"
• 1983: "Bless thy Saints in this great land and those from other lands who will use this temple….Most have in their veins the blood of Father Lehi"
• 1983: "Jacob, son of Lehi, declared anciently: 'Great are the promises of the Lord unto them who are upon the isles of the sea.'"
• 1984: "It has been the position of the Church that Polynesians are related to the American Indians as descendants of Father Lehi"
• 1984: "Thou kind and gracious Father, our hearts swell with gratitude for Thy remembrance of the sons and daughters of Lehi"
• 1986: "We are particularly mindful this day of the sons and daughters of Lehi"
• 1992: "Archaeological evidence from all New World areas where the early Nephites and Lamanites could have lived makes clear that peoples who descended from the Jaredite era also lived during the time of Lehi’s descendants"
• 1993: "This temple will be used by many of the sons and daughters of Father Lehi"
• 1997: "May there come about a reconciliation of feelings between the descendants of Lehi and those who have come to reside in these valleys"
• 1997: "It was difficult to hold back the tears as we mingled with these sons and daughters of Father Lehi"
• 1999: "May the sons and daughters of father Lehi grow in strength and in fulfillment of the ancient promises made concerning them"

Statements by Church leaders regarding the Lamanites: 21st century

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• 2000: "We invoke Thy blessings upon this nation of Mexico where so many of the sons and daughters of Father Lehi dwell"
• 2000: "May Thy eternal purposes concerning the sons and daughters of Lehi be realized in this sacred house"
• 2002: "We are grateful that this Thy house will be available to the sons and daughters of Lehi who live nearby"
• 2011: "Thou kind and gracious Father, our hearts are filled with gratitude for Thy remembrance of the sons and daughters of Lehi"