In a kind of follow-up of Quetzalcoatl/Christ connections, Meridian has an article today about "the claims of the Hebrew prophets of Mesoamerica," where Bruce W. Warren and V. Garth Norman approvingly cite as corroboration a 1975 book about aliens from other planets visiting the Aztecs:
http://www.ldsmag.com/bookofmormon/071228evidence.html
Brant Gardner weighs in on Warren's previous use of this book in his online "Quetzalcoatl Papers:" "The most disappointing use of secondary sources comes from Warren and Ferguson's
The Messiah in Ancient America:"
Gardner is referring to a "translation" of "a Mesoamerican tradition" told to the Spanish that resembles the Book of Mormon account of Jesus Christ's visit to the Nephites which Warren and Ferguson make much of in their book and the recent summaries featured in Meridian.
"This story is amazing, and is the best example of a parallel between Christ's appearance in the Americas and a remembered tale. It purports to be the record of an early Spaniard. The particularly interesting part of the quotation is the clear indication of a being descending in a beam of light from the sky. This is obviously close to the Book of Mormon description of Christ's arrival, and this quotation is the only example of a report of a being appearing in light, descending from the sky.
The story is too good, however, and very suspicious. While the mention of a deity teaching the people fasting and the sacred calendar are Mesoamerican elements, as is the evidence of a miracle being recorded in a rock, the rest of the text has no support in either the native sources nor any of the later Spanish authors. Where does this passage come from? The source is Tony Shearer's
Beneath the Moon and Under the Sun.
While the passage is introduced as a translation of a text from one Juan de Córdova, this is an unknown source, and is undocumented in Shearer's work. This is not unusual for Shearer, however. He is not a scholar translating a text, but a poet. His works include Mesoamerican themes, and he is obviously well read in Mesoamerican literature...None of his works are footnoted, so where does this citation come from?
In Larry S. Ferguson's introduction to Warren and Ferguson's book, he relates an incident told by Shearer, where Shearer indicated that he kept "the Book of Mormon next to my bed and read it almost daily." (Warren and Ferguson, 1987, viii.) Although Shearer is not LDS, he clearly knows the Book of Mormon, and just as clearly used the Book of Mormon as one of his sources for this passage which he attributes to a Spaniard. In the context of Shearer's work, this is well within poetic license. In the context of a scholarly attempt to use the passage as evidence for Christ's appearance in the America's is the most ironic of circular reasoning."
http://frontpage2000.nmia.com/~nahualli/LDStopics/DigQ/16Secondary.htmFrom the Ernest L. Wilkinson Diaries: "ELW dreams he's spattered w/ grease. Hundreds steal his greasy pants."