Congratulations, you have a legal right to the bishopric!

Are there any known cases of a Mormon bishop actually claiming to be a literal descendant of Aaron?

Well, not me, and not a bishop, but (appropriately enough) a high priest 50 years ago.

He was Dr. Irving H. Cohen, a convert from Judaism to Mormonism, who was a dentist in Schenectady and Scotia, NY. He was on the high council of what was then the Cumorah Stake.

I forget if he flew to SLC for the purpose, or just happened to meet a couple General Authorities in the SLC airport, but believe it or not, he did press exactly that claim. I dunno if he would have settled for a seat in the Presiding Bishopric (haha) or what. Of course they didn't do anything for him.

I once exchanged emails with somebody on this board who remembered Dr. Cohen. I forget whom, but it was somebody retired in Florida, and the main thing we emailed about was to reminisce about the parents and family in Glens Falls NY of some recent BYU basketball star.

I have no Jewish background, but a humorous claim to this. I had a hammertoe, and my PCP referred me to a podiatrist who did outpatient surgery. As part of the paperwork, I had to sign an OK that when the surgery was finished, my toes, through no fault of the podiatrist, and due to a congenitally missing ligament, would be splayed in the shape of the "Live Long and Prosper" handshape. He was right, that's exactly how they look now. A competing podiatrist on the same street was named Dr. Cohen, and I could not resist asking my surgeon if he should refer me to Dr. Cohen haha.

Star Trek's Leonard Nimoy was such a descendant.

Google Image will show you some tombstones of some hereditary Kohanim who have that handshape etched on their tombstone.

A link about Dr. Irving H. Cohen, although it says nothing about his claim:

http://www.ldsconverts.com

And a link about Kohanim in general:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kohen

Check out Dr. Irving H. Cohen's son David!

http://woodyoubelieveit.blogspot.com/2009/01/cohen-fireside-second-coming.html

I think now he thinks he is some pseudo-prophet-messiah?

http://denversnuffer.blogspot.com/2010/07/1-nephi-14-14.html?showComment=1278976268798#c298366540037390364

Apparently, he could according to The Doctrine and Covenants claim the Presiding Bishopric.

https://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/107.76

I guess he wouldn't have built The Mall in SLC but The Temple in Jerusalem??? LOL!

"The Brethren" are weighed down by their own D&C. They are institutionally "unsound" to say the least.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/2014 02:42PM by Elder Berry.