The Pilgrim Hypothesis

I love Tim Ballard's two previous books The Lincoln Hypothesis and The Washington Hypothesis, and last night I stayed up until 1 AM reading his new book. And I spent every spare moment today continuing to read The Pilgrim Hypothesis ~ I ended on page 208 today, 40 more to finish the book which I will finish tomorrow.

I am loving this book and wanted to share a few parts I liked. So, in a sentence, in this book Tim Ballard invites us to look further into American history through America's connection to Ancient Israel, and to explore America's role in the Abrahamic Covenant. He suggests that the pilgrims were of covenant Israel, specifically the tribe of Joseph, and that they knew it and they were led by God to America. He talks of more of the miracles that led to America's foundation and freedom, from miraculously finding corn in Plymouth and Squanto to the frozen Dutch river that trapped Napoleon's war fleet. The Lord is aware of and watching over America. Some things off the top of my head that I liked:

1) Learning where the words Britain and British come from (page 103 - it's Hebrew!) In the book he says the word for covenant is "Bertith" (and/or "Beriyth" or "briyt") but in Hebrew they take out vowels when spelling and also the H is also silent, so it's BRIT in it's anglicized form! Also, the Hebrew word for man is "ish" and "ain" is land! So British is "Covenant man", Britain is "Covenant land"! It's Timothy Ballard hypothesis that descendants of Joseph migrated to England. There are also clues to this in the Royal Coat of Arms with the Lion=Judah and Unicorn=Joseph, only Joseph is in a chain, page 105 "Joseph is in captivity, that is the message. And only God can unlock the chains, liberate him, then bring him to the lands of his inheritance (America!) There is a very cool video of Tim Ballard with Stephen Spykerman and language and linquistics professor at SUU Terry Blodgett, I'll try to find the link.

2) What a miracle the Louisiana Purchase was, and how indebted the world is to the slaves who fought for their freedom in Haiti - defeating Napoleons army (p. 184-190). Toussaint Louverture was a martyr and a hero. "In overthrowing me, you have cut down in Saint Domingue only the trunk of the tree of liberty. It will spring up again from the roots, for they are numerous and they are deep." I am so excited for Ethan to go to the Dominican Republic!

3) The Iriquois Nation Symbol is the Tree of Peace (p. 148) and there are two arrows buried in the dirt under the tree! The Iroquois constitution states "Into the depths of the earth, down itno the deep... we cast all weapons of strife. We bury them from sight forever and plant again the tree." (p 149) There could be a Anti-Nephi-Lehi comparison there! Alma 24: 16-18

4) I loved the story of Willford Woodruff's mentor and Pilgrim descendant Robert Mason (Mason's dream on 156-57, Willford's memories of Mason on p. 159) There is so much proof to me that the Restoration is true and real! I am so grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ!

5) I have a Family Search account and pedigree and with that I checked Relative Finder to see if I was still related to Edward and Samuel Fuller and George Soule. (I'm not doing work on my pedigree right now, but other people do and might make corrections and so sometimes the family tree changes). This time I didn't lose anyone, and it was fun that few more pilgrims showed up this time as my direct ancestors!

Through my mother's mother's line, I'm related to James Chilton, his wife, and their daughter Mary Chilton who was 13 at the time of the Mayflower voyage.

That's all I'll share, you'll have to go get it and read it. But you can get a good taste of what the book is about by watching this live fireside he did last Friday. We listened to that during our date night last Friday. It was so good.

In another video I watched with Tim Ballard, he poses the question "What is your Mayflower?" and before reading the book, I at first thought it meant like "What is the big sacrifice you will make for God" (like how they all suffered that first winter in 1620) but now I think he actually means "What is God calling you to do?" They stayed and suffered because they knew God had called them to come, and they had to see it through. So basically, what is your mission? What is my mission? What part am I willing to play in this grand story?

And that leads to my last take away from the book, was the importance of ONE person - like each person plays such an important role in shaping those around them to fulfill their missions! Like how John Adam's speech converted his opponents to support independence (p. 214). Or how Columbus' father in law influenced him. He had loved the ocean and had kept a large collection of notes and artifacts that were passed on to Columbus. As Columbus pored over the material, his life's mission became clearer and clearer (p. 40).  Another example from The Lincoln Hypothesis, Ballard mentions how after the death of Willie, Abraham Lincoln was inspired by the example of Rebecca Pomeroy who relied upon God in her sufferings (two of her children had died and her husband). There are so many moving parts in the world, but God's hand is outstretched and ruling over all of us. He is in control of the elements and inspires and intervenes when necessary, but he lets our individual agency drive the machine. He will use us to accomplish great things. I loved this quote by Rebecca Pomeroy: as she worked through difficult and ceaseless trials, she nevertheless felt "very happy in mind, still have hold of my Savior's hand, and believe he has yet a great work for me to do." God had a great work for the Pilgrims and he has a great work for each of us. Will we seek it out? "What is your Mayflower?"