Joseph Smith, Mormons, Knights Templar
Much mystery surrounds the Knights Templar. After the first crusade in 1099, in which Jerusalem was captured, many Christian pilgrims began to travel to the “Holy Place” as they had referred to Jerusalem. Situated in the Holy Land was the Temple Mount, which was believed to have been built directly on top of King Solomon’s Temple. Jerusalem was under tight control and therefore relatively safe, yet much of the land that was being deferred was not. Bandits abounded and pilgrims were routinely captured, robbed and slaughtered while traveling from Jaffa to the Holy Land.
Around 1119, two veterans of the First Crusade, Hugues de Payens and a relative, Godfrey de Saint-Omer, formed a monastic order for the protection of these loyal travelers.
The crusaders thus took the name of “Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon”, or Knights Templar. Being true to their name, the nine knights had very little financial resources, so they depended on donations to survive. Emphasizing his poverty, his emblem became that of two knights mounted on a single horse.
Suddenly, after their first stay on the Temple Mount and returning to Europe, the Templars suddenly began to gain wealth and prestige. In a very short time, the Knights Templar had become the richest group in Europe, if not the world. Legend has it that they found something in the basement of the Temple of King Solomon, some secret or treasure through which they acquired knowledge that allowed them to acquire this tremendous fortune.
They soon became richer than most governments and attracted the envy and anger of the French Pope, who had henceforth been their ally and supporter. The church, having been through difficult times, needed money. Therefore, the Pope began to hatch a way to acquire the fortunes of the knights.
False moral and ethical charges were soon brought against the Templars, for which most were arrested and executed on Friday the 13th, 1307. Therefore, Friday the 13th has been designated as an unlucky day ever since.
Some were able to escape to Scotland and points beyond. Legend has it that some may have even made it to North America and settled in what is now New York State, and some may have traveled as far west as Minnesota.
This is entirely possible, as they had a knowledge of the world that the common man could not access and would have been able to make the journey across the Atlantic Ocean. Suppose the most knowledgeable settled in upstate New York and buried their “treasure” somewhere in the woods.
Fast forward 500 years, a spiritual youth enters who seeks enlightenment. Following the instructions of his God, this young man, after much prayer and meditation, was deemed worthy, and from there he discovers some gold plates near Palmyra in the woods of New York. Following the instructions of God and Jesus, Joseph Smith founded the Mormon Church, joined the Masonic Lodge, and became one of the great spiritual leaders of modern times.
The gold plates contained the Book of Mormon, which according to Joseph Smith was written in “Reformed Egyptian.” Along with the Book of Mormon were two stones that allowed Smith to decipher the plates.
Perhaps the Knights Templar actually found this treasure on the Temple Mount, used the knowledge to gain their fame and wealth, and in the following years they made their way to upper New York and thus buried the plates so that only they will discover them in some future generation. one that would be able to get the job done. The Templars would have actually migrated from Jerusalem, so there might be some credibility to the legend.
America is believed by many to be the “City on a Hill,” the “New Jerusalem,” that “Bourne” from which no traveler ever returns. In the same general area, a Jewish rabbi once tried to establish a Jewish state in upstate New York near Niagara Falls.
Who knows, maybe everything is related. There are no coincidences in life.