BEYOND
ARZARETH ( Note:
This story was first published in the RELIEF SOCIETY magazine [Salt Lake
City, Utah] in the October 1919 -
July 1920 issues, and was titled 'BEYOND ARZARETH'. It later appeared in SEARCH
magazine in serial format, in the Summer 1980 - Fall 1980 - Winter 1980-81
issues. Whether this story is true or based on someone's fertile imagination [my
own personal opinion/belief - although I may be wrong], it nevertheless does not
contradict scripture - or rather, the para-scriptorial 'Apocryphal' texts, or
the non-cannonical books of the Bible which consist of historical, traditional,
poetical, etc... books that are in a different classification than the books of
the TORAH itself, or the 66 books of the Bible which have been determined to be
not just divinely 'inspired', but divinely WRITTEN, or 'God-Breathed' Words...
which is all the more important in that the Logos, the Son, the Christ, Jesus,
is said to be the LIVING WORD [the 'Word' or 'Logos' of God which created the
Omniverse] ... and it is THIS
collection of books which have been imputed with the 'Bible Codes' such as those
found here:
https://www.angelfire.com/ut/branton/codes.html -- So regardless of its
true origin, the following work is a very interesting read to say the least... -
BRuce AlaN walTON [BRANTON] ) *******
******* ******* presented
by JOHN BRINGINGHAM from the Diary of Lon Merton INTRODUCTION I
have just returned from a trip to Spitzbergen, the group of islands lying well
into the Arctic ocean north of Europe. I have been in the employ of an American
company interested in developing the coal deposits of those
islands. The
season was late when we were through with our business, and just as we emerged
from Advent Bay on our return trip, we were caught in a storm, driven northward
along the west coast of Prince Charles Foreland until we met a big ice field in
which we were caught. For three months we drifted about in the ice before we
finally got free and again into the open sea. During this time we had many
thrilling experiences which it is not my purpose to set down here. Only
as
pertains
to the accompanying manuscript does this present writing concern
itself. One
day when we had been held close to land for some time we ventured out to see if
we might find some game. On a small, wind-swept plateau, we found the remains of
a large aeroplane. We dug the broken parts out of the snow. Men or any signs of
human beings were nowhere to be seen. That the plane had fallen not so long ago
was evident. We uncovered some tools, and found a wicker box containing remnants
of food; also we found a small
package,
well wrapped in a sort of tatter-proof cloth. We
carried some of these findings back to the ship. On unwrapping the package under
the light of the cabin lamp, we found a roll of manuscript written on an
ordinary note book, such as we used to have in school. The ink on the first part
of the manuscript was beginning to fade. Water had also reached parts of it. We
read it during the long periods of inactivity to which we were forced. And as
time hung heavily on my hands I undertook to copy the whole story on the ship's
paper. I followed the author word for word where that was possible. I corrected
some of the spelling and did not copy his glaring grammatical errors; but as a
whole, my manuscript is a near duplicate of the original. When
this work was completed, I had aroused in me a renewal of my love for the
reading of the Bible. I had always been quite a student of the Scriptures, but
lately I had neglected my reading. Now, however, aroused by this strange
manuscript story, I read again my Bible, especially those parts bearing on the
House of Israel and the tribes which had been lost to the world. I found
frequent references in the prophets to the tribes of Israel being driven to the
"North lands," from whence they should some day return. One particular part of
the apocryphal book of II Esdras, thirteenth chapter, attracted me as having a
bearing on the lost tribes, and it is from that passage that I took a name which
I used in the heading to this narrative. Here is the
passage: "And
whereas thou sawest that He gathered another peaceable people unto
him. "Those
are the Ten Tribes which were carried away captive out of their own land in the
time of Oseas the King whom Salmanaser the King of the Assyrians took captive,
and crossed them beyond the river; so they were brought into another
land. "But
they took this counsel to themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the
heathen, and go forth unto a further country where never man
dwelt. "That
they might there keep their statutes, which they never kept in their own
land. "And
they enter in at the narrow passage of the River
Euphrates. "For
the Most High then showed them signs, and stayed the spring of the flood till
they were passed over. "For
through the country there was a great journey, even of a year and a half, and
the same region is called Arsareth. "Then
dwelt they there until the latter time, and when they come forth again, the Most
High shall hold still the springs of the river again that they may go through;
therefore sawest thou the multitude peaceable." The
whereabouts of the so-called lost Ten Tribes, I know, has been a matter of much
speculation and conjecture. Why could not this narrative solve the problem? But
did not Captain Cook say he reached the North Pole, as also Lieut. Peary? And
they found no such people or conditions as
here
described. Admitting all this, there is still a possibility that what this Lon
Merton tells us is true. If the reader will examine a map of the polar regions
marked with all that explorers have done, he will see there is yet a vast
stretch lying between the Pole and the northern coast of Siberia marked
"Unexplored Region," measuring a thousand miles across; so much for the
possibilities. For the rest, the public will have to take the account which I
have named "Beyond Arsareth" for what it is worth. Another
comment which just occurs to me. The great World War is over; but strife and
contention and wickedness among nations, as well as among individuals, are not,
by any means, over.' Is it not possible that if the so-called civilized world is
ready to fall to its destruction, that there is held in
reserve
a people, made pure and strong by a long period of training amid the poverty of
the North country, isolated from the vanities and the wealth of the world-a
people which, in the "nick of time," shall come to the rescue of the
world? Signed:
John
Bringingham