The Foundation for Indigenous Research and Mormonism presents...

The FIRM Foundation is excited to announce that at 3:00 PM TODAY Glenn Beck will have a large segment on his TV show (FOX NEWS) on the newly released documentary The Lost Civilizations of North America by award winning filmmaker Rick Stout and producer Steve Smoot with musical score by Merrill Jenson ... 

 (Click the image below to watch the trailer) 

 The Lost Civilization of North America

Greetings!

For several months we have anxiously awaited the re-release of this paradigm shattering new documentary film.  With well over a dozen non-LDS, mainstream, archaeologists, anthropologists, museum directors, geneticists, historians, authors and Native Americans, The Lost Civilization of North America is an incredibly compelling new film that finally answers the question of why most Americans (and Latter-day Saints) have never heard about the tremendous, highly advanced civilization that once existed anciently in the 'Heartland' of the North American continent and why theories about its origins have been deliberately and systematically erased from American history.
 
I hope that you will take a moment to watch the video trailer of this fundamentally important film to all those interested in learning about and finding evidences for the Book of Mormon as a literal historical record of real people, places and things. You can also watch two clips of the revised film as well.  Just go to  http://www.bookofmormonevidence.org/video_gallery.php and click on the Lost Civilizations icons. 
 
This one hour and ten minute film will forever change your view about the strength of the claims of the Book of Mormon relative to where it may have taken place.  Nowhere has this level of evidence been provided by mainstream, non-LDS scholars from so many fields of expertise as you will find within this extraordinarily well done film.  This is truly the 'must see' film of 2010 for every Book of Mormon believer and skeptic alike!  It has been said that Joseph Smith believed that someday the 'Gentiles' would prove out the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon...could it be that today is that day?  Watch this film and see what you think!
 
 
Sincerely,
Rod L. Meldrum
President - The FIRM Foundation
 
 Changes from original Version 1 to Version 2
 Many have asked what the differences are between the original version of documentary The Lost Civilization of North America and the newly revised version, now called The Lost Civilizations of North America.  I asked the producer that question and this is what he told me: 
"Overall, the content and speakers are quite similar, and the first twenty minutes or so are almost identical.  The film retains what I'd guess is about 75-80% of the original interview segments and content but re-edited and with some new context. 
 
The primary differences seem to be:
1.      A more clear distinction between mainstream scientists and those who are termed "diffusionists".  Diffusionists are those who see significant evidence that ancient Native Americans either had contact with or perhaps even originated from peoples from other parts of the world.
2.      An expanded DNA section with an additional DNA scientist added - Donald Yates.  This section is also placed in the context of the mainstream/diffusionist conflict.
3.      The film takes a more objective perspective, using something of an historian's voice. "
As I see it, while this is not an LDS film, and while the scientists and researchers in the film do not necessarily agree with Mormonism's claims, there is much in this film that supports a North American setting for the Book of Mormon.  The film was re-edited in such a way that it more clearly illustrates the difference in thought between archaeologically accepted theories such as the Bering Strait hypothesis, and "Diffusionist" evidences to the contrary.  For those still wondering what 'Diffusionism' means, it is the idea that ancient peoples travelled extensively by boat, and did not need to await an ice age to walk between continents.  If you believe in the Book of Mormon as history, you are, by default, a "Diffusionist."    
 
Edited Out:  A few segments were edited out, including:
1.       Kenneth L. Feder PhD's information about the Norse incursion into the America's.
2.       Alice Kehoe PhD's discussion about being able to submit a paper that would go against the current dogma because she "had a husband to support her."
3.       The segment that included the archaeological finding of the 'Temple in Tennessee' by Wayne May.  The producers could not obtain enough documented evidence of Rendel Harris' assessment of the site to feel comfortable enough including it in the film.  
 
Added In:
Several new segments have been added, including:
1.     Robert Fox, PhD discusses early thoughts about artifacts and sites suggesting Hebraic influence in North America, and the scientific, religious and political agendas that influenced how these were viewed.
2.     Dr. Roger Kennedy talks of the conflict between science and religion.
3.     Terry A. Barnhart, PhD discusses how John Wesley Powell had an agenda to dismiss the "moundbuilder myths" that the moundbuilders may have had European (or middle eastern) origins. 
4.     Donald N. Yates, PhD tells the story of the Bat Creek stone, having ancient Hebrew writing. 
5.     National Geographic, June 18, 2010 article about the controversy surrounding haplogroup X2 and how it arrived in North America.
6.     Donald N. Yates, PhD founder of DNA Testing Systems, and also a Cherokee Indian, talks of incredible new DNA evidence linking his people with haplogroup X to their origins "in the hills of Galilee." 
A very powerful and entirely new ending has been arranged with new comments from Sonya Atalay, PhD, Alice Kehoe, PhD, and Director Roger Kennedy.
 Share this Film!
 
The Lost Civilization of North America is not an LDS-oriented film, which makes it perfect for introducing non-members to the evidences of the Book of Mormon without being 'preachy' with your non-member family member, friends and associates. It is very professionally done and is being submitted to the Discovery Channel for inclusion in their TV programming.
 
This film may open many tens of thousands of doors for missionary work as people  around the world learn of the amazing DNA connections between this ancient civilization in North America and the ancient Semitic peoples of the Mediterranean, just as would be expected from the Book of Mormon account.
 
This is the most profound level of evidence for the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon by non-LDS sources ever assembled and you will be astounded by its robustness as this lineup of world-class experts share their combined knowledge with you.
 
You will witness video footage of interviews with each of the following experts in this film.
 
Roger G. Kennedy, Director Emeritus
Smithsonian National Museum of American History
Author, Hidden Cities: The Discovery and Loss of Ancient North American Civilization
 
Alice Beck Kehoe, PhD
Anthropology, Harvard University
Author, The Land of Prehistory, A Critical History of American Archaeology
 
Sonya Atalay, PhD
Anthropology, University of California - Berkley
Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Indiana University
 
Donald N. Yates, PhD
University of North Carolina
, Chapel Hill, 
Owner, DNA Testing Systems, Phoenix, AZ
 
Wayne N. May
Publisher
Ancient American Magazine
 
Terry A. Barnhart, PhD
Professor, Department of History, Eastern Illinois University
Author, Ephraim George Squier and the Development of American Anthropology
 
Shane Mountjoy, PhD
Dean of Students, Associate Professor of History at York College
Author, Manifest Destiny
 
Bruce Porter, PhD
History of Religion and Ancient Cultures, Brigham Young University, Ancient Languages and Religions
 
Robert Fox, PhD
Texas Tech University
Anthropology and Population Biology of Ancient Populations
 
Bradley T. Lepper, PhD
Ohio State University
Curator of Archaeology, Ohio Historical Society
 
Susan Fryer
Executive Director
Great Licking County Convention and Visitor's Bureau
 
Patti Malenke
Director, Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum
Coshocton, Ohio
 
Deborah A. Bolnick, PhD
University of California - Davis
Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of Texas - Austin
 
Rod Meldrum
DNA Author and Meta-Researcher
President, The FIRM Foundation
 Own this Film on DVD!
 
"...wandering over the plains of the Nephites, recounting occasionally the history of the Book of Mormon, roving over the mounds of that once beloved people of the Lord, picking up their skulls and their bones, as a proof of its divine authenticity,..."
 
So wrote the Prophet Joseph Smith in a letter to his wife, Emma while on Zion's Camp march, which would take him nearly 1000 miles across Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri.
 
Where are the evidences of Joseph's words?  Where are the physical manafestations of this "once beloved people"?  Where are the archaeological corroboration that would confirm that an ancient Israelite people once roamed this land?  And if these evidences do exist, why have we not heard about them? 
 
An authoritative new film, The Lost Civilization of North America answers these questions. Roger Kennedy, former Director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, explains how very few experts "were conscious of the immensity of a place like Monk's Mound in Cahokia, opposite the city of St. Louis, which is bigger in its footprint than the Great Pyramid of Giza."
 
He, together with Harvard PhD anthropologist Alice Kehoe, reveals the racist and religiously bigoted perspectives that developed within the early 1800's scientific community.  In the film, Kennedy and Kehoe explore the development of theories of cultural evolution and how these theories influenced Lewis Henry Morgan who would become president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS today) and John Wesley Powell, who became Director of the Bureau of Ethnology at the Smithsonian Institution.
 
Historian Terry Barnhart and publisher Wayne May carry us through the exploration, surveying and mapping of the great earthworks and other structures that dotted the landscape of the middle and eastern United States by anthropologist Ephraim George Squier.  They explain how the doctrine of Manifest Destiny encouraged the "wanton destruction" of so many of these structures and the hiding away and discrediting of artifacts found within them.
 
Anthropologist and Native American Sonya Atalay explains how Native Americans have been robbed of much of their history, because what was found conflicted with the scientific notions of the day, which were that they were "isolated savages".  Atalay, and ancient language expert Bruce Porter, reveals the ancient written language of her people, which has been compared with ancient Egyptian, stored in copper tubes and written on birch bark scrolls, now locked away in museums.
 
With emotion Sonya Atalay describes her experience as she first visited the Great Octagon and Circle earthworks in Newark, Ohio, as Brad Lepper, Curator of Archaeology at the Ohio Historical Society describes the amazing knowledge of astronomy and mathematics which it took to build such a magnificent structure.  He tells about the Hopewell people who are believed to have built the Earthworks and lived upon this land from 300 years BC to AD 500, right in alignment with the time frame of the Book of Mormon Nephite civilization.
Lost Civilization shows many of the artifacts that have survived, the written stone tablets, the copper and iron tools and weapons and others that reveal an origin for these people that was purposely hidden away.  We go with the film to the Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum in Coshocton, Ohio where the Director of the museum describes the controversy behind the "Holy Stones", upon which are written the entire Ten Commandments in block Hebrew, purportedly found within the Newark Earthworks.
 
Anthropologist and DNA scientist Deborah Bolnick, who took and analyzed DNA samples from Hopewell remains, describes the DNA tracings of these people. Together with DNA meta-researcher and author Rod Meldrum, Lost Civilization traces these DNA lineages back to their middle-eastern origins.
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Lost Civilization Cover GraphicThe Lost Civilization of North America
The compelling account of the wanton destruction
 of an ancient history
  Order your copy today!
Click on the cover graphic at the right ---------------------------------------->
 
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