If Pope Benedict took his name because he KNOWS that the Knights Templars are the only thing that stands between western civilization and Mohammed, then it will be interesting to see how he treats the Mormons. If I am right and the Mormons were created by the Templars, then I expect to see an olive branch extended to the Mormons.
One of the things I was told by my sources in Faction 2 was Brigham Young and Joseph Smith were Templars, and the Golden tablets, on which the book of Mormon is based, was a Templar document that was found in King Solomon's Temple. It was part of the treasure that was originally hidden on Oak Island.
The reason that I have even a little knowledge of this connection is because I am descended from a man named Thomas Rhoads. According to family "legend", he was Joseph Smith bodyguard... which meant that he killed the people that wanted Smith dead.
One other thing that my grandfather did was bring in the gold that financed the building of the Temple. He did this in two different ways. One of factual and there are records of it. It was a "gold train" from California. When I use the word "train", I mean covered wagons.
Two of Thomas Rhoads sons, Daniel and John, were on the wagon train with the Donnor Party. The wagonmaster was the mayor of th town in Missouri that burned out and hung all Mormons. My ancestors fled to Illinois and then onto California. I don't remember when they hooked up with the Donner Party. But since they didn't want their former enemy to find them and kill them, they left the wagon train and went over the mountains near Lake Tahoe. They were headed to Sutter's fort. It was a settlement owned by a friend of their father's, Johann Sutre... Americans know him as John Sutter. My family and Sutter were friends in Germany.
Shortly after my relatives arrived, gold was discovered. Word also reached them that the Donner Party was stranded in the snow. My direct grandfather and his brother, John Rhoads dried meat and packed as many provisions as they could, and they set out to rescue the Donner Party.
My relatives were the first rescue party in. As a result of what these two young men did, they were honored in California. Both of them concealed their Mormon bankground. The only thing I know of that they did for the Mormon church was help their father, Thomas, fill a wagon train with gold, to take back to Salt Lake City.
After they did that, both brothers created successful lives for themselves in California. We did not find out about their Mormon history until many members of the family came together and shared their common histories.
One of the stories that is told about Thomas Rhoads is about his "gold mine". This is the one in Utah. It was from this gold mine that legend says he funded the creation of the Mormon church.
(And NO ... I am NOT Mormon ... I will NOT belong to any church that will NOT allow me to become the HEAD of it... not that I want to be the HEAD of anything ... I just don't believe that any religion that does not have both the feminine and the masculine in high positions of power, is balanced!)
I know that the Templars had a "vault" somewhere in western United States. It's my belief that this "gold mine" that my grandfather "found", was that "Templar vault".
If Pope Benedict took his name because he KNOWS that the Knights Templars are the only thing that stands between western civilization and Mohammed, then it will be interesting to see how he treats the Mormons. If I am right and the Mormons were created by the Templars, then I expect to see an olive branch extended to the Mormons.
Here is an old post by one of our old RMNews Agents...
TemplarScribe. She is a historian who is researching the Knights Templars.
THOMAS RHOADS AND MORMON MONEY
Posted By: TemplarScribe
Date: Wednesday, 20 March 2002, 5:00 p.m.
In Response To: TEMPLARS, MORMONS, JESSE JAMES AND HEARST CASTLE (Rayelan)
Dear Raye,
Hello....ran across a bit more here on Thomas Rhoades! I'm very very
busy right now w/meeting a deadline, but ran across this in a book by Kerry R. & Lisa Boren about early Mormon history, that a friend had recommended to me in the past, ages ago.
Here's what I could find on Thomas Rhoades, from several
sources, including one of Boren's books. This does seem rather
fascinating:
Quoting --
Late in the fall of 1849, at about the same time Isaac Morley led the
first colonizers to Sanpete Valley nr. Manti in Utah, Thomas Rhoades (a
member of the Mormon Battalion) arrived from Calif. and paid a tithing of
$17,000 in gold dust gleaned from Sutter's Mill. With this gold dust from
T. Rhoades, Brigham Young bagan the coinage of gold coins, best known as
'Mormon Money'. John M. Kay and Willard Richards, under the supervision of
Thomas Bullock, established the 'Deseret Mint' in the home of Dr. Wm. Sharp,
a dentist. The gold coins were cast in the values of $2.50 to $20.00, &
were engraved on one side w/an emblem of 'clasped hands', surrounded by the
official engraving title and value amount, while the obverse was engraved
with the "all-seeing eye", surrounded by the logo. 'Holiness To the Lord'.
These are all masonic (or, as some believe, such as the Borens, "Templar")
symbols. By late in 1850, & for a few years after, a good number of these
types of coins began to circulate & there was much speculation about the
'source' of the metal used. The Mormon Church remained silent and has
continued to be silent on the subject ever since (acc. to the Borens)
On 7 July 1850, Isaac Morley officiated at the dedication of a new
bowery in Manti, at which the Ute Chief Walker attended with over 200
members of his tribe. After his speech, about 120 Utes became Mormons and
were baptized. According to Morley's journal (as state the Borens)
eventually Ute Chief Walker allowed gold to be taken from the mines in the
area that they guarded, but that the location of them would be given to only
one person --- not even B. Young himself was said to know exactly where it
was. The penalty of death would be inflicted on anyone who would come near
them, or try and follow the 'chosen' person to retrieve the gold. Isaac
Morley was this man, as he clearly had a special relationship with Chief
Walker, and had somehow managed to convince him that he was the 'one' to be
trusted with such confidential information that the Utes had known for
centuries.
But in May of 1852, Brigham Young again visited the Manti settlement. He
brought with him the man chosen to bring gold from the mines ---Thomas
Rhoades. Rhoades was (Mormon) Church Treasurer
and had brought the gold (dust) from Sutter's Mill in 1849. B Young and
Rhoades met with Isaac Morley and Chief Walker, and it was agreed that
Rhoades was a man mutually trusted for this secret task.
Rhoades made his
first trip to the mines shortly thereafter, taking 14 days and retrieving 62
pounds of pure gold.
The rest of this story is in a book I do not have, entitled
"Footprints in the Wilderness: A History of the Lost Rhoades
Mines",
by Kerry Ross Boren & Gales Rhoades,
Publishers Press, Salt Lake City, 1971.
This book might be available in the U.S. & doesn't seem to be
available here. You might try to get a copy, or maybe someone in your
family might already have a copy. Obviously, one would need to get their
books and also consult with Mormon experts to take this further, as they
would know far more about it. I would also say that, with all due respect
to other people's religious views, I do not necessarily want to irritate
(or insult) the Mormon hierarchy, digging around re: areas of research that
I am not honestly qualified to research, or, to imply certain things about
B. Young, etc.! (One can only imagine how they may feel about that!) But,
this is at least a starting point.... perhaps someone in your family may
know someone who lives in Utah, closer to the primary sources? Just a
thought.
It would be good to get their feedback on this....
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/archive.cgi?read=18228
TemplarScribe