The Parable of the Redemption of Zion (D&C 101: 43-62), Take Two: a Purely Planetary/Plasma Interpretation

Prophecy = Planetary Movements

It is my understanding that the heavenly precedes the earthly and that prophecy takes as its template what happens in the heavens: the movements of planets. Prophecy is merely the description of these movements and the plasma interactions that result from them.

The 1^st Key

All true prophecy follows the same pattern: every element is some celestial body or plasma display—a star, a planet, a comet, etc.–and the imagery in the prophetic story is imagery seen in the heavens. So, for example, if the prophecy mentions a sword, it doesn’t mean that there is a real sword in the heavens (the sky or outer space) but that there are planetary movements and plasma formations that, when seen from Earth, create the image of, or look like, a sword. Again, it is merely the image of a sword, not a real, earthly sword. This is a key to understanding prophecy.

So, any prophecy is merely the movements of the planets and the resulting plasma interactions, converted into a story. To understand the prophecy, one must convert the story back into the planetary movements and plasma interactions.

Prophets Prophesy of the Heavenly

In any true prophecy of the future, the prophet is explaining what is going to occur in the heavens: the movements and plasma interactions of the planets.

Prophets Prophesy of the Earthly

After the planets go through their motions, fulfilling the elements of the prophecy, the same story then plays out here on Earth.

The 2^nd Key

A second key, then, to understanding prophecy is that first comes the heavenly fulfillment followed by an earthly fulfillment.

Elements and Their Order: The 3^rd Key

For a prophecy to be fulfilled, every element of it must be present, in the correct sequential order. If any element is missing or if any two elements are out of order, the prophecy is not fulfilled. This is a third key to understanding prophecy.

Why D&C 101: 43-62 is still future

When applying these three keys to the parable of the redemption of Zion, it becomes clear that this parable, which is a prophetic story, has not been fulfilled in any way.

Most people who comment on the parable assign a strictly earth-based meaning to it. Not possessing the first two keys, they fail to examine the past and present astronomical history to see if the heavenly aspect of it has been fulfilled. Had they used these keys, they would have quickly noticed that nothing even remotely similar to the parable has occurred in the heavens. This would halt their search for any earthly fulfillment, because the earthly must follow the heavenly.

By forcing an earth-only fulfillment, commentators must use the third key alone, but even here they often don’t turn it. If a prophecy contains exactly 10 elements, they will often accept 9 as its “fulfillment.” If the order is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, they will often accept 1, 2, 4, 3, 5, 6 and call it “fulfilled.” Coming close is their standard, not exactness.

For example, many people still believe that the first part of this parable (D&C 101: 43-51) was fulfilled in Independence, Missouri or in Nauvoo, Illinois, because the parable speaks of a failed attempt to build a tower, which everyone interprets as a temple, and the Missouri saints failed to build a temple. In the case of Nauvoo, some people also believe that the Nauvoo temple was not completed (either entirely or in the time designated by the Lord to be completed).

A simple look at the parable will show that neither interpretation is correct. Notice the sequential order and the number of elements:

• 1^st, the servants of the Nobleman plant 12 olive-trees, which Joseph Smith interpreted as being 12 stakes. (A tree is a stick of wood sticking straight out of the ground. A stake is a stick of wood sticking straight out of the ground.  To the prophetic mind, they are the same.) This never occurred during Joseph’s lifetime. (A number of stakes were established, but not 12.)
• 2^nd, the servants build a hedge around the 12 trees (stakes). This also never occurred.
• 3^rd, the servants set watchmen upon the hedge. This also never occurred.

The first three elements are completely missing from the Missouri and Nauvoo histories. There is no way around this, so interpreters merely ignore these elements and start with the 4^th.

• 4^th, the servants begin to construct a tower but get no farther than laying its foundation. Joseph interpreted the tower as an observatory, distinct from a temple, but everyone else combines them together. His design for the Nauvoo temple called for a tower to be built on top of (in addition to) the temple. The parable only mentions a tower, not a temple. So, tower does not equate to temple, yet people routinely mix these elements up.

These first four elements of the parable are sufficient to show that neither Missouri nor Nauvoo fulfills the parable/prophecy. There are similarities to past and current events for some elements, but coming close is not the same as fulfillment. For example, some will see the City Creek Development as fulfillment of D&C 101: 49 (“Might not this money be given to the exchangers?”) Prophecy is based upon true patterns, so sure we’ll see aspects of prophecy repeated among men, but we shouldn’t be so quick to declare that “this is prophecy being fulfilled before our very eyes.” When we take one element of a 10-element prophecy out of context, it sets us up to miss the real event.

About this post

In my previous post, I attempted to interpret the parable of the redemption of Zion using key #3 alone, as an earth-only fulfillment. Halfway through my examination, I realized that the entire thing was evidently speaking of the planets and I thought to scratch out what I was writing and start all over again, this time applying the three keys, but I didn’t because I found the exercise fun and also because the information I had drawn out of the text interested me. Despite my attempt at using only the third key, I still couldn’t come up with a strictly earth-bound interpretation because my mind kept seeing the heavens move about and I ended up with a mixed bag: half earth-bound, half planetary. I found the post strange and wonderful at the same time, if not wholly accurate, and felt compelled to hit the publish button.

The very next day, I re-interpreted it according to the three prophetic keys and wrote out this post. Unfortunately, I had computer/Internet connection problems and I wasn’t able to publish this until today. What follows is what I believe to be the actual meaning of the parable, the real celestial events that the parable’s story was placed over. Unlike the previous post, these aren’t musings, but consist of my scriptural exposition of this parable.

Parable of the Redemption of Zion

And now, I will show unto you a parable, that you may know my will concerning the redemption of Zion.

The Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE

A certain nobleman

Nobleman is the massive Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE.

Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE owns Our Solar System

had a spot of land, very choice;

The very choice land is the empty space that makes up Our Solar System, such as the field that a man had, “and he sent forth his servants [planets] into the field [Our Solar System] to dig in the field [Our Solar System]” (D&C 88: 51.)

Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE speaks to Servant Planets; i.e., Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE discharges Interplanetary Thunderbolts to the Servant Planets

and he said unto his servants:

Servants are planets located in the empty spaces between the various Solar Systems.

Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE commands Servant Planets to go to a Solar System

Go ye unto my vineyard,

Vineyard is any of the Solar Systems, where the bulk of the fruit (planets) are located. Servant Planets are to travel to one of these Solar Systems.

Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE commands Servant Planets to go to Our Solar System

even upon this very choice piece of land,

Servant Planets are to travel to Our Solar System.

Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE commands Servant Planets to plant Twelve Planet/Plasma Trees

and plant twelve olive-trees;

Servant Planets are to discharge plasma and/or rearrange the objects of Our Solar System, creating the visual image of olive-trees in twelve locations around Our Solar System. To do this, the trees must be “planted” on the Planets of Our Solar System. When the Planets of Our Solar System are properly arranged, they discharge plasma, creating the visual image of a tree coming from their poles. This can be accomplished with a minimum of six planets (two trees per planet, one out of each pole.)

Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE commands Servant Planets to set Moons around Twelve Planet/Plasma Trees

and set watchmen round about them,

Servant Planets are to discharge plasma and/or rearrange the objects of Our Solar System, creating the visual images of watchmen around the olive-tree plasma formations. The visual images of watchmen are moons that circle a planet.

Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE commands Servant Planets to build an Interplanetary Plasma Tube

and build a tower,

Servant Planets are to discharge plasma and/or rearrange the objects of Our Solar System, creating the visual image of a tower (plasma tube). The visual image of a tower can be formed by a stack of planets with a plasma tube connecting them.

so that a Planet Sun, set upon the Interplanetary Plasma Tube, can illuminate the space surrounding Our Solar System

that one may overlook the land round about, to be a watchman upon the tower,

Servant Planets are to discharge plasma and/or rearrange the objects of Our Solar System, creating the visual image of a watchman upon the tower. The visual image of a watchman upon a tower can be formed by a planet sitting atop a plasma tube.

so that when the Disruptive Planets Not From Our Solar System come, they don’t destroy the plasma and planetary formations

that mine olive-trees may not be broken down when the enemy shall come to spoil

The enemy are Disruptive Planets Not From Our Solar System.

and capture the Planets of Our Solar System

and take upon themselves the fruit of my vineyard.

The fruit of the vineyard are the Planets of Our Solar System. If the Servant Planets have not accomplished their work by the time the Disruptive Planets Not From Our Solar System enter Our Solar System, these Disruptive Planets Not From Our Solar System will break up the plasma and planetary formations of the olive-trees, hedge, watchmen, tower, and watchman upon the tower and will capture the Planets of Our Solar System.

Servant Planets enter Our Solar System

Now, the servants of the nobleman went and did as their lord commanded them,

The Servant Planets enter Our Solar System.

Servant Planets form Twelve Planet/Plasma Trees

and planted the olive-trees,

The Servant Planets discharge plasma and/or rearrange the objects of Our Solar System, creating the visual images of twelve olive-trees around Our Solar System.

Servant Planets form Planetary Rings around Twelve Planet/Plasma Trees

and built a hedge round about,

The Servant Planets discharge plasma and/or rearrange the objects of Our Solar System, creating the visual image of a hedge around the twelve olive-tree plasma formations. The visual image of a hedge is a planetary ring, such as the rings of the planet Saturn. It could also be an asteroid belt.

Servant Planets set Moons upon the Planetary Rings

and set watchmen,

The Servant Planets discharge plasma and/or rearrange the objects of Our Solar System, creating the visual image of a hedge around the plasma formations of the twelve olive-trees and also creating the visual image of watchmen upon the hedge. The visual image of watchmen upon the hedge is of moons orbiting the planet, on the outskirts of the planetary rings, as if the moons were set upon the rings. It can also be of planets skirting the edge of the asteroid belt.

Servant Planets form a Partial Interplanetary Plasma Tube

and began to build a tower.

The Servant Planets discharge plasma and/or rearrange the objects of Our Solar System, creating the visual image of the foundation of a tower. The visual image of a tower is of a plasma tube connecting two (or more) planets. A plasma tube between two planets that only goes part of the way up from only one of the planets (it doesn’t actually connect the planets) will look like the foundation of a tower and not a completed tower.

Servant Planets discharge Interplanetary Thunderbolts after forming Partial Interplanetary Plasma Tube

And while they were yet laying the foundation thereof, they began to say among themselves:

After the foundation of a tower image is formed, the Servant Planets discharge plasma between themselves, creating interplanetary thunderbolts (celestial sound/thunder).

Servant Planets discharge Interplanetary Thunderbolts

And what need hath my lord of this tower?

The Servant Planets discharge plasma between themselves, creating interplanetary thunderbolts (celestial sound/thunder).

Servant Planets discharge Interplanetary Thunderbolts for a long time

And consulted for a long time,

The Servant Planets continue discharging plasma between themselves, creating interplanetary thunderbolts (celestial sound/thunder) for a long time.

Servant Planets discharge Interplanetary Thunderbolts

saying among themselves:

The Servant Planets discharge plasma between themselves, creating interplanetary thunderbolts (celestial sound/thunder).

Servant Planets discharge Interplanetary Thunderbolts

What need hath my lord of this tower, seeing this is a time of peace?

The Servant Planets discharge plasma between themselves, creating interplanetary thunderbolts (celestial sound/thunder).

Servant Planets discharge Interplanetary Thunderbolts

Might not this money be given to the exchangers?

The Servant Planets discharge plasma between themselves, creating interplanetary thunderbolts (celestial sound/thunder).

Servant Planets discharge Interplanetary Thunderbolts

For there is no need of these things.

The Servant Planets discharge plasma between themselves, creating interplanetary thunderbolts (celestial sound/thunder).

Servant Planets discharge Interplanetary Thunderbolts

And while they were at variance one with another

The Servant Planets discharge plasma between themselves, creating interplanetary thunderbolts (celestial sound/thunder).

Servant Planets slow down their rotation and celestial movements

they became very slothful,

The Servant Planets begin to rotate and move in their orbits much more slowly, slowing down to a near standstill.

Servant Planets stop forming the Interplanetary Plasma Tube

and they hearkened not unto the commandments of their lord.

The Servant Planets no longer go through the spatial movements necessary to finish the creation of the visual image of a tower (a plasma formation).

Servant Planets stop discharging; afterward Disruptive Planets enter Our Solar System

And the enemy came by night,

The Servant Planets stop discharging interplanetary thunderbolts between themselves, so that there is no more celestial sound/thunder. The watchmen (moons) upon the hedge move off and away. The only visual images that remain when one looks upon into the sky are the twelve olive-trees, the hedge and the foundation of a tower. But even these displays of plasma are reduced in power, so that everything seems like it is nighttime and the heavens are asleep. In this setting, the Disruptive Planets Not From Our Solar System enter Our Solar System.

Disruptive Planets break down Planetary Rings (that have no Moons skirting their edges)

and broke down the hedge;

The Disruptive Planets Not From Our Solar System break down the hedge (planetary rings/asteroid belt).

Servant Planets begin discharging and leave Our Solar System

and the servants of the nobleman arose and were affrighted, and fled;

The Servant Planets begin to discharge wildly and begin moving again, leaving Our Solar System.

Disruptive Planets destroy planetary/plasma formations of Servant Planets

and the enemy destroyed their works,

The Disruptive Planets Not From Our Solar System destroy all the plasma/planetary formations created by the Servant Planets.

Disruptive Planets break down formation of Twelve Planetary/Plasma Trees

and broke down the olive-trees.

The Disruptive Planets Not From Our Solar System remove the plasma formation of the olive-trees.

Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE discharges Interplanetary Thunderbolts to the Servant Planets

Now, behold, the nobleman, the lord of the vineyard, called upon his servants, and said unto them,

Outside of Our Solar System, plasma discharges occur between Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE and the Servant Planets.

Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE discharges Interplanetary Thunderbolts to the Servant Planets

Why! what is the cause of this great evil?

Outside of Our Solar System, plasma discharges occur between Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE and the Servant Planets.

Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE discharges Interplanetary Thunderbolts to the Servant Planets

Ought ye not to have done even as I commanded you, and—after ye had planted the vineyard, and built the hedge round about, and set watchmen upon the walls thereof—built the tower also,

Outside of Our Solar System, plasma discharges occur between Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE and the Servant Planets. In this “conversation,” the Servant Planets are chastised for not completing the plasma tube (tower).

Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE discharges Interplanetary Thunderbolts to the Servant Planets

and set a watchman upon the tower,

Outside of Our Solar System, plasma discharges occur between Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE and the Servant Planets. In this “conversation,” the Servant Planets are chastised for not setting a planet atop the completed plasma tube (tower).

Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE discharges Interplanetary Thunderbolts to the Servant Planets

and watched for my vineyard,

Outside of Our Solar System, plasma discharges occur between Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE and the Servant Planets. In this “conversation,” the Servant Planets are chastised for not keeping the watchmen (moons/planets) upon the hedge (rings/asteroid belt).

Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE discharges Interplanetary Thunderbolts to the Servant Planets

and not have fallen asleep, lest the enemy should come upon you?

Outside of Our Solar System, plasma discharges occur between Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE and the Servant Planets. In this “conversation,” the Servant Planets are chastised for going into a low power mode, slowing down their orbits and rotations, reducing the energy field of Our Solar System.

Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE discharges Interplanetary Thunderbolts to the Servant Planets

And behold, the watchman upon the tower would have seen the enemy while he was yet afar off;

Outside of Our Solar System, plasma discharges occur between Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE and the Servant Planets. In this “conversation,” the Servant Planets are told that had a planet been set atop the plasma tube (tower), it would have discharged, illuminating the space surrounding Our Solar System so that the approaching Disruptive Planets Not From Our Solar System would have been seen.

Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE discharges Interplanetary Thunderbolts to the Servant Planets

and then ye could have made ready

Outside of Our Solar System, plasma discharges occur between Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE and the Servant Planets. In this “conversation,” the Servant Planets are told that then Our Solar System would have gone into high energy mode, creating a strong plasma double layer.

Hannes Alfvén described a double layer as, “…a plasma formation by which a plasma, in the physical meaning of this word, protects itself from the environment. It is analogous to a cell wall by which a plasma, in the biological meaning of this word, protects itself from the environment.” (Source.)

Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE discharges Interplanetary Thunderbolts to the Servant Planets

and kept the enemy from breaking down the hedge thereof,

Outside of Our Solar System, plasma discharges occur between Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE and the Servant Planets. In this “conversation,” the Servant Planets are told that then Our Solar System would have gone into high energy mode, creating a strong plasma double layer, which would have repelled the Disruptive Planets Not From Our Solar System.

Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE discharges Interplanetary Thunderbolts to the Servant Planets

and saved my vineyard from the hands of the destroyer.

Outside of Our Solar System, plasma discharges occur between Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE and the Servant Planets. In this “conversation,” the Servant Planets are told that then Our Solar System would have gone into high energy mode, creating a strong plasma double layer, which would have repelled the Disruptive Planets Not From Our Solar System.

Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE discharges Interplanetary Thunderbolts to Servant Planet Joseph

And the lord of the vineyard said unto one of his servants:

Outside of Our Solar System, plasma discharges occur between Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE and one of the Servant Planets called Joseph.

Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE discharges Interplanetary Thunderbolts to Planet Joseph

Go and gather together the residue of my servants,

Outside of Our Solar System, plasma discharges occur between Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE and Planet Joseph. In this “conversation,” the Planet Joseph is told that it is to capture other Servant Planets in the area.

Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE discharges Interplanetary Thunderbolts to Planet Joseph

and take all the strength of mine house, which are my warriors, my young men, and they that are of middle age also among all my servants, who are the strength of mine house,

Outside of Our Solar System, plasma discharges occur between Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE and Planet Joseph. In this “conversation,” Planet Joseph is told that it is to capture small and medium sized Servant Planets in the area.

Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE discharges Interplanetary Thunderbolts to Planet Joseph

save those only whom I have appointed to tarry;

Outside of Our Solar System, plasma discharges occur between Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE and Planet Joseph. In this “conversation,” Planet Joseph is told that it is to not capture some of the small and medium sized Servant Planets in the area.

Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE discharges Interplanetary Thunderbolts to Planet Joseph

and go ye straightway unto the land of my vineyard,

Outside of Our Solar System, plasma discharges occur between Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE and Planet Joseph. In this “conversation,” Planet Joseph is told to take the captured small and medium sized Servant Planets in the area to Our Solar System.

Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE discharges Interplanetary Thunderbolts to Planet Joseph

and redeem my vineyard;

Outside of Our Solar System, plasma discharges occur between Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE and Planet Joseph. In this “conversation,” Planet Joseph is told that it is to liberate Our Solar System from the Disruptive Planets Not From Our Solar System.

Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE discharges Interplanetary Thunderbolts to Planet Joseph

for it is mine; I have bought it with money.

Outside of Our Solar System, plasma discharges occur between Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE and Planet Joseph. In this “conversation,” Planet Joseph is told that the Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE owns Our Solar System.

Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE discharges Interplanetary Thunderbolts to Planet Joseph

Therefore, get ye straightway unto my land;

Outside of Our Solar System, plasma discharges occur between Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE and Planet Joseph. In this “conversation,” Planet Joseph is told to leave at once for Our Solar System with the captured Servant Planets.

Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE discharges Interplanetary Thunderbolts to Planet Joseph

break down the walls of mine enemies;

Outside of Our Solar System, plasma discharges occur between Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE and Planet Joseph. In this “conversation,” Planet Joseph and captured Servant Planets are to break down the walls of the Disruptive Planets Not From Our Solar System. This could be synonymous with planetary rings and/or the asteroid belt, or it could be referring to strong plasma double layers (which are like cellular walls) that have been formed by the Disruptive Planets Not From Our Solar System. Whatever the planetary configuration or plasma formation they consist of, when viewed from Earth they will appear to man as walls in the heavens above.

Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE discharges Interplanetary Thunderbolts to Planet Joseph

throw down their tower,

Outside of Our Solar System, plasma discharges occur between Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE and Planet Joseph. In this “conversation,” Planet Joseph and captured Servant Planets are to break up the interplanetary plasma tube that the Disruptive Planets Not From Our Solar System have formed.

Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE discharges Interplanetary Thunderbolts to Planet Joseph

and scatter their watchmen.

Outside of Our Solar System, plasma discharges occur between Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE and Planet Joseph. In this “conversation,” Planet Joseph and captured Servant Planets are to scatter the moons (remove them from their orbits) of the Disruptive Planets Not From Our Solar System.

Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE discharges Interplanetary Thunderbolts to Planet Joseph

And inasmuch as they gather together against you,

Outside of Our Solar System, plasma discharges occur between Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE and Planet Joseph. In this “conversation,” it is learned that the Disruptive Planets Not From Our Solar System may gather together, presenting themselves as a barrier to Planet Joseph and the captured Servant Planets.

Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE discharges Interplanetary Thunderbolts to Planet Joseph

avenge me of mine enemies,

Outside of Our Solar System, plasma discharges occur between Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE and Planet Joseph. In this “conversation,” Planet Joseph is told that it and the captured Servant Planets are to scatter any of the gathered Disruptive Planets Not From Our Solar System, removing them from Our Solar System.

Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE discharges Interplanetary Thunderbolts to Planet Joseph

that by and by I may come with the residue of mine house and possess the land.

Outside of Our Solar System, plasma discharges occur between Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE and Planet Joseph. In this “conversation,” Planet Joseph learns that immediately after the Disruptive Planets Not From Our Solar System are removed from Our Solar System, the massive Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE and all its captive planetary entourage (planets, moon, comets, etc.) will enter Our Solar System and take control of it.

Planet Joseph discharges Interplanetary Thunderbolts to Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE

And the servant said unto his lord: When shall these things be?

Outside of Our Solar System, plasma discharges occur between Planet Joseph and Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE.

Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE discharges Interplanetary Thunderbolts to Planet Joseph

And he said unto his servant: When I will;

Outside of Our Solar System, plasma discharges occur between Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE and Planet Joseph.

Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE discharges Interplanetary Thunderbolts to Planet Joseph

go ye straightway, and do all things whatsoever I have commanded you;

Outside of Our Solar System, plasma discharges occur between Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE and Planet Joseph.

Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE discharges Interplanetary Thunderbolts to Planet Joseph

and this shall be my seal and blessing upon you—a faithful and wise steward in the midst of mine house, a ruler in my kingdom.

Outside of Our Solar System, plasma discharges occur between Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE and Planet Joseph. Planet Joseph will be located in the center of the group of planets that will make up Our Solar System, and will become a ruling planet (a sun).

Planet Joseph captures the Servant Planets, enters Our Solar System and scatters the Disruptive Planets and their plasma/planetary configurations

And his servant went straightway, and did all things whatsoever his lord commanded him;

After many days all these planetary movements/plasma formations come to pass

and after many days all things were fulfilled.

What all this means

There are four groups of planets that are to enter our Solar System in the future.

Group One: The Servant Planets

These planets will cause great changes to our Solar System. After this group arrives we will see trees, a hedge and watchmen in the heavens, as well as the foundation of a tower, but no watchman upon the tower. In other words, they will not complete the Interplanetary Plasma Tube and ignite a Sun at the top of that tube.

Group Two: The Disruptive Planets

These planets will break up whatever has been formed by the first group and will cause the first group to leave our Solar System. This group will create an Interplanetary Plasma Tube but there will be no plasma trees and possibly no hedge, though there will be plasma walls erected. They will also cause watchmen to appear, though there will likely be no watchman upon the tower, as none is mentioned in the parable. So, like the first group, there will be no ignited Sun at the top of the tube.

Group Three: Planet Joseph and the Servant Planet Army

When this group enters, they will scatter the second group’s watchmen, break up the walls and throw down the Interplanetary Plasma Tube. They will cause the second group to leave our Solar System. The parable does not mention that this group builds anything, only that it will sweep away what encumbered the spot (the Disruptive Planets and their works.)

Group Four: Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE and entourage

The fourth and final group will enter Our Solar System and take possession of it, meaning that the massive Planet ^EEAA_OOAA^EE will capture everything found within the confines of our Solar System, including Planet Joseph and the Servant Planet Army which will be there awaiting the arrival of the fourth group.

Conclusion: this parable is a future prophecy

Group one needs to arrive and start doing its thing before the earthly part of the prophecy can even begin to be fulfilled. This group has not, yet, arrived. This parable, then, in its entirety, pertains to the future.

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The Noachian Flood, Part Two: Electrically manufacturing OH

Continued from part one.

There didn’t seem to be a whole lot of interest in The Noachian Flood, Part One: The role of plasma, so I held off on writing and releasing Part Two. In fact, so much did I hold off, that I totally forgot about Part One and the promised Part Two, until I started recently to go through all the old posts, re-assigning tags, linking articles, etc. It was then that I saw, and re-read, Part One and realized that I had yet to publish Part Two. As Anthony E. Larson has now joined this blog and recently published a slew of articles on plasma theology, it may be the ideal time to return to this topic. So, without further adieu, here is Part Two. (Hey! That rhymes!)

Death of a Comet (not of a Salesman)…

A few years back, a comet called Schwassman-Wachmann 3 disintegrated as it made its routine appearance. This particular comet, also known as Comet 73P, comes by every 5.4 years and normally does not put on spectacular displays. It was discovered in 1930 and has been tracked ever since, so astronomers are fairly familiar with its normal behavior. However, when it appeared in 1995, it was so bright that astronomers thought it was a new comet. They soon realized their mistake and kept an eye on the newly brightened object, discovering in 1996 that it had broken into at least 3 pieces, the beginning of the disintegration process. In its next pass, in the year 2000, it had brightened even more and now there were more cometary fragments. Finally, in the latest pass, in the year 2006, dozens of fragments were discovered, due to Hubble’s imaging capabilities.

… and of a Theory

Current cometary theory posits that comets are gigantic chunks of dirty ice or icy dirt and that the brilliant displays they put on are nothing more than ice sublimating from the Sun’s rays.

Unbeknown to most of the population, with the advent of modern, observational, astronomic and analytic technology and its focused use on comets, as new comets have entered our solar system and have been observed and analyzed, current cometary theory has also disintegrated, much like Comet Schwassman-Wachmann 3 has. A whole lot of contradictory information has come out which invalidates these mainstream cometary theories. However, the mainstream astronomers continue with their dogma, despite the evidence to the contrary, looking for a comet, any comet, that will prove their theories correct. As usual, none of our high school or college texts are ever updated with the new contradictory information and another generation of children and young adults are taught the already invalidated theories.

What comets really are

One particular non-mainstream theory is that comets are charged (rocky) bodies moving in the weak electric field of space which can and does results in plasma discharges and plasma structures, making the coma, tail, hydrogen bubble, jets, etc. This theory is both highly accurate in its predictions and also validated more and more with each new comet that enters our system and is analyzed by our technology.

The following PDF document explains the electric comet model and how it measures up compared to all the new cometary information that is coming in, as well as compared to the standard, mainstream model.

The Electric Comet

Comet Schwassman-Wachmann 3’s “water” production was really OH production

Comet 73P’s disintegration allowed astronomers to finally get a peek at the inside of a comet and of course they expected to see lots of ice and water, which, of course, they didn’t.

At the heart of comet theory is the astronomers’ unsubstantiated claim that cometary displays are largely a result of water evaporation. In contrast, electrical theorist Wal Thornhill and his colleagues have repeatedly predicted that the required water levels in the nucleus will not be found. (See summaries here and here; facts already in hand virtually preclude abundant ices on the nuclei of most comets.)

But when astronomers view the comas of comets spectroscopically, their own preconceptions deceive them. They are not seeing water. (If it were there, it would not be visible.) What they actually see is the hydroxyl radical (OH), which they assume to be a residue of water (H2O) as it is broken down by the ultraviolet light of the Sun. This assumption is not only unwarranted, it requires a speed of “processing” by solar radiation beyond anything that can be demonstrated experimentally.

The explanation for the OH in cometary comas will be found in the energetic exchange between the electrically charged comet and the oppositely charged solar wind. The point was stated in an earlier Picture of the Day: “In the electric model, negative oxygen ions will be accelerated away from the comet in energetic jets, then combine preferentially with protons from the solar wind to form the observed OH radical and the neutral hydrogen gathered around the coma in vast concentric bubbles. The reactions simply confirm the energetic charge exchange between the nucleus and Sun.”

The fragmentation of comet nuclei provides a telling opportunity to see if the ices that standard theory expects are actually there. But the time to look is in the early stages of an explosive outburst, before charge exchange with the Sun deceives astronomers. The electric model would anticipate that, with each outburst, observatories may record a decline in the relative abundance of water, before they report an increase in water (their interpretation, due to the presence of OH). As recent missions to comets have shown, water is consistently missing from the nuclei of comets but supposedly present in the comas. If the OH is, in fact, being manufactured through reactions with the solar wind, the contradictions are resolved.

(Taken from Comet Schwassman-Wachmann 3 Disintegrates (2).)

Another quote along the same line of reasoning:

When astronomers view the comas of comets spectroscopically, what they actually see is the hydroxyl radical (OH), which they assume to be a residue of water (H2O) broken down by the ultraviolet light of the Sun (photolysis). This assumption is not only unwarranted, it requires a speed of “processing” by solar radiation beyond anything that can be demonstrated experimentally.

The mysteries find direct answers electrically—in the transaction between a negatively charged comet nucleus and the Sun. In the electric model, negative oxygen ions are accelerated away from the comet in energetic jets, then combine preferentially with protons from the solar wind to form the observed OH radical and the neutral hydrogen gathered around the coma in vast concentric bubbles. These abundances simply confirm the energetic charge exchange between the nucleus and the Sun.

The electric model thus resolves two problems for the standard theory:

1. Cometologists have never verified that the assumed photolysis is feasible on the super-efficient scale their “explanation” requires.
2. Neutral hydrogen is far too plentiful in the coma to be the “leftover” of the hypothesized conversion of water into OH. But if the negatively charged nucleus provides the electrons in a charge exchange with the solar wind, the dilemma is resolved and the vast hydrogen envelope is a predictable effect.

(Taken from The Electric Comet as quoted in Evidence Confirms Electric Comet Model.)

Some facts about OH (the hydroxyl radical)

Here on Earth (or rather above us, in the troposphere) OH production is largely a result of photolysis of ozone, which is the mechanism that astronomers assumed was taking place on comets. However, if comets can electrically generate OH, Earth can do the same.

Currently, tropospheric hydroxyl radical concentration is pretty low. The electric state of the planet (and all the planets we observe in the solar system) is also pretty low, making Earth production of OH chiefly by photolysis. But if the electrical state of the Earth were amplified, OH production through electrical means could vastly and quickly increase the hydroxyl radical concentration, just as it happens on comets.

OH is highly reactive, forming water and some other radical, such as an alkyl radical, a peroxy radical, etc. As a result of these reactions, hydroxyl radicals are short-lived.

The Stacked Planets Scenario

Assuming that the planets were once stacked (and will be again) and that there was a pillar or plasma tube connecting the planets at their poles, the removal of the planets to their current positions would have caused electrical disruptions up and down the “totem pole” of planets. This augmented electrical state could have electrically manufactured, like comets, a vast quantity of highly reactive OH in the atmosphere, which, upon reaction with other compounds, would have produced a torrent of water and caustic substances that would have rained down hot, “burning” water upon the inhabitants of the Earth.

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. (Genesis 7: 11)

The plasma columns connecting the various planets could be thought of as the world axis, a great mountain, trees of life, or as fountains of living water. As there would be more than one “fountain of living water” (plasma column) because there were more than two planets connected, the break up of these fountains of the great deep means that the planets were scattered from their stacked positions, and, as explained above, massive OH production possibly would ensue, causing the “windows of heaven” to open.

There’s more coming in part three…

Next Plasma Theology article: The Noachian Flood, Part Three: Oceans above, below and within

Previous Plasma Theology article: The Noachian Flood, Part One: The Role of Plasma

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The Signs of the Times

1,610 words

© Anthony E. Larson, 2002

 The Signs of the Times

Hoping to confound the Savior by asking him to perform an impossible miracle for a mere man, the Pharisees and the Sadducees of his day asked that “he would shew them a sign from heaven.” His answer was profound – for them and for us – especially when we consider that we live at a time in history that is equally pivotal to the days of Christ’s ministry. Hence, modern Christians, and especially Mormons, who have been given much more knowledge than the rest of the world, would do well to pay special heed to his reply to those early Jews.

“He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring.  O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?” (Matthew 16: 2, 3.)

In other words, in the Savior’s mind it should have been as easy to discern the signs of the times as it was to predict the weather. Since predicting the weather has been a popular pastime of the human race since Adam, and continues to preoccupy us even today, the Savior’s recrimination is particularly stinging.

Implied in the Savior’s response was the accusation that the very sign of the times they asked for had already been given; it stood before them in his own person, since he was the promised Messiah they awaited. In effect, he was saying that the answer was as plain as the nose on their face.

Meteorology has come a very long way since the Savior uttered those words approximately 2,000 years ago. We have dramatically improved our ability to prognosticate the weather, thanks to remarkable technological advances. Yet, sadly, the confusion and controversy that seems to abound among modern Christians, and Saints in particular, regarding the signs of our times, betrays a woeful ignorance that may equal that of the contemptible Pharisees and Sadducees.

The implication of the Savior’s reply for us is that we should be able to foresee his second coming as easily as one predicts the weather – that the answer is as plain as the nose on our face.

Yet, the Saints seem to struggle with this issue. More lamentable is the fact that most church members seem to have adopted popular views on the interpretation of prophecy held by most Christians – like those of Hal Lindsay, for example – which are most surely misguided because they lack the inspiration of latter-day prophets from Joseph Smith to the present.

When Latter-day Saints ponder the clues to the Savior’s second advent, they would do well to note that we should be more discerning of his coming than the Jews were, else we risk making a fatal error similar to theirs. We should look to the words of modern prophets for guidance in this matter, not to contemporary Christianity.

Joseph Smith gave us the clue needed to answer the question, but we have systematically ignored it because it seemed extravagant in that it flew in the face of accepted scientific dogma. During a sermon given by the Prophet in the General Conference “convened on the floor of the (Nauvoo) Temple” of April 6^th, 1843, he read from Revelation and Hosea, prophecies of the last days. He then said, “The coming of the Son of Man never will be – never can be – till the judgments spoken of for this hour are poured out.” (History of the Church, Vol. 5, p. 336.) That makes clear the subject of this sermon: the second coming; it also sets forth the order of events: first the judgments or natural disasters, then the Savior appears – the same order noted in the Book of Mormon for his coming to the Nephites, which may turn out to be a prophetic model for events yet to occur in our time.

Joseph went on to quote Paul, “Ye are the children of the light, and not of the darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief in the night,” meaning that the Saints should be far more aware of and prepared for the Savior’s coming than the rest of the world. Put in the Savior’s terms, we Saints should be able to discern the signs of the times as readily as we can predict the weather.

The Prophet then went on to explain himself more precisely in an unequivocal statement as to what the signs of the second coming will be so there might be no room for confusion on our part.

“It is not the design of the Almighty to come upon the earth and crush it and grind it to powder, but he will reveal it to His servants the prophets. Judah must return, Jerusalem must be rebuilt, and the temple, and water come out from under the temple, and the waters of the Dead Sea be healed. It will take some time to rebuild the walls of the city and the temple, &c.; and all this must be done before the Son of Man will make His appearance. There will be wars and rumors of wars, signs in the heavens above and on the earth beneath, the sun turned into darkness and the moon to blood, earthquakes in divers places, the seas heaving beyond their bounds; then will appear one grand sign of the Son of Man in heaven. But what will the world do? They will say it is a planet, a comet, &c.  But the Son of Man will come as the sign of the coming of the Son of Man, which will be as the light of the morning cometh out of the east.” (History of the Church, Vol. 5, pp. 336-7; italics added.)

This statement is highly informative as to what we might expect to see occur prior to the second coming.  Most of it is self-explanatory. However, part of it deserves further commentary.

Joseph’s reference to the “grand sign” as a planet or comet is often misconstrued to mean that the sign is not a comet or a planet. However, a careful reading of the text says otherwise. Indeed, the Prophet meant that the world’s assessment would be a correct one, that the sign would, indeed, be “a comet, a planet,” but that the Saints should see it as a “grand sign” – perhaps the same sign referred to in a revelation from the Lord that says, “And immediately there shall appear a great sign in heaven, and all people shall see it together.” (Doctrine & Covenants 88:93.) Joseph’s addendum that the sign would come out of the east “as the light of the morning” reinforces the idea that it will be all three: a planet that looks and behaves as a comet, yet is also a sign from the Creator.

Connected to both the Savior’s statement and that of Joseph Smith is one made by Elder LeGrand Richards in a 1951 General Conference address on the subject of the last days. “The newspapers might announce some great phenomenon in the heavens, misplacement of planets, that have caused consternation, and scientists will have their explanation to make of it, and unless they have faith in the living God, unless as Jesus said, they can read the signs of the time, they may not know anything about what is (actually) going on in the world.” (Conference Report, April, 1951, pp. 40-1; italics added.)

This statement puts a lock on it. Elder Richards specifically refers to the Savior’s statement and alludes to that made by Joseph Smith on the subject of the grand sign, then brings them together in a modern context. Though such pronouncements are admittedly rare, the latter-day prophets are on the record with unmistakably lucid statements as to what the signs of the last days, prior to the second coming, will be. It appears, from the above statements, that a planet-sized body that will look and behave like a comet will threaten us – that is, it will be brilliant, have a great tail and move on an elliptical path that will bring it dangerously close.

These declarations are particularly noteworthy given the recent scientific revelations that cometary impacts, such as that which destroyed the dinosaurs, can cause all the natural disasters listed by Joseph Smith – who directly connects them, and accurately so, to the appearance of the comet/planet/sign – earthquakes all over the world at once (“earthquakes in divers places”), a dust or soot filled atmosphere causing darkness nearly worldwide (“the sun turned into darkness”), tsunamis of epic proportions that will inundate and destroy thousands of miles of coastlines where there are large population concentrations (“the seas heaving beyond their bounds”), a spectacularly illuminated moon (“the moon to blood”) and numerous other catastrophic manifestations in the heavens and here on the earth (“signs in the heavens above and on the earth beneath”). We can surmise that the effects exerted by a planet passing close by the Earth would be even more pronounced than those of a mere comet. Of course, the distance and size of the body would be the determining factors.

Once again, the inspiration and vision of latter-day prophets of God have anticipated scientific discoveries while revealing remarkable truth. Latter-day Saints should no longer be in doubt about this subject nor should they fall victim to the misleading interpretations of prophecy offered by our Christian cousins. We have our own, inspired view, given by revelation, which should allow us to predict the events of the second coming with considerable accuracy – as easily as we predict the weather.

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Modern Signs

1,452 words

© Anthony E. Larson, 2003

Modern Signs

Joseph’s most profound and enlightening sermon on the signs of the last days, given on the temple grounds at Nauvoo in April, 1843, demonstrates his views of the origin and nature of those signs, as well as our ability to recognize them for what they are.

“There will be wars and rumors of wars, signs in the heavens above and on the earth beneath, the sun turned into darkness and the moon to blood, earthquakes in divers places, the seas heaving beyond their bounds; … ” (History of the Church, 5:337.)

Of particular interest is his addition of a truly remarkable sign to the customary list – one to which Latter-day Saints should give special heed.  “… then will appear one grand sign of the coming of the Son of Man in heaven.” (Ibid.) This is clearly a reiteration of the Savior’s statement in Matthew 24 wherein he said, “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven …” 

Until this last dispensation of the gospel, no other prophet or passage of scripture had added the superlative “grand sign.” Typically, all the signs are given equal weight or value; none is designated as special or more notable.  Indeed, the only other mention is found in modern revelation wherein a slightly altered version of the term is used. Speaking of the last days, the Lord declared to Joseph in December 1842, “And immediately there shall appear a great sign in heaven, and all people shall see it together.”  (Doctrine & Covenants 88:93.) 

Indeed, Joseph may have intended that this sermon, given a mere four months after the revelation recorded in Doctrine & Covenants, reaffirm and amplify on that revelation since Section 88 is remarkable for its catalog of latter-day signs.

On that occasion, Joseph continued his sermon by explaining what that marvelous sign might be. “What will the world do?  They will say it is a planet, a comet, &c.  But the Son of Man will come as the sign of the coming of the Son of Man, which will be as the light of the morning cometh out of the east.”  (Ibid.)

It is a stunning statement, when carefully considered. The greatest or grandest of signs will be a comet or planet. Assumably, this comet or planet will be doing something well out of the ordinary to attract special attention.

Note that the Prophet is not saying the world’s assessment is incorrect, as some have supposed. Rather, he is merely noting that the worldly or scientific terminology for this eye-catching sign would be “a planet, a comet, &c.”

In light of what modern science has discovered in recent years about rogue comets and asteroids, this observation by Joseph Smith is striking. Mention of this great or grand sign is unique to this dispensation and is therefore worthy of special attention by Mormons – especially in light of what occurred in the heavens a decade ago.

In July 1994, fragments of comet Shoemaker-Levy repeatedly slammed into the planet Jupiter, as forecast by astronomers. At least one of those impact sites left a pockmark on Jupiter’s face that was larger than the Earth. Estimates were that the first fragment alone struck with the force of 200,000 mega­tons of explosive power! Nineteen more followed, leaving visible impact scars around Jupiter’s southern hemisphere.

This was an unprece­dented, historic, celestial event. Nothing even remotely as spectacular has occurred in our solar system since Galileo invented the tele­scope.

From Joseph Smith’s time forward, scientists had utterly dismissed the possibility that comets or asteroids might menace the Earth. Even the prominent astronomer Carl Sagan denied the likelihood of cometary impact. As far as science was concerned, such nonsense was “impossible.”

Due to comet Shoemaker/Levy, the scientific community did a con­ceptual about-face that was as dramatic as it was sweeping. They had been treated to a celestial visual aid of cosmic pro­portions; the “impossible” had occurred before their very eyes. There was no denying catastrophic impacts any longer.

As a result, today the idea of an impact dramatically altering Earth’s ecosystem is well accepted. Cosmic collisions do occur, scientists acknowledge, as in the instance of the dinosaurs’ extinction. Moreover, if it can happen to Jupiter, it can happen to the Earth.

Almost overnight, scientists began speaking of the threat posed by Earth-crossing asteroids and comets. NASA pro­posed a program and sought funding to find and track any ob­ject that might collide with the Earth. 

A cosmic collision could result in a range of conse­quences, much like those signs listed by Joseph, from something no greater than any local disaster – as in an earthquake, flood or famine – to a worldwide event with long-term implications. The models proposed by re­searchers differ only in scale.

Even a mod­erate size impactor could ultimately lead to the death of at least one-fourth of the world’s population. A near collision by a planet passing nearby us could be as devastating or worse, depending upon the proximity of the intruder.

The extent of the damage would be determined by the size, composition, incoming ve­locity, angle and location – ocean or land, populated or un­populated – of the impactor. For example, if the Tunguska me­teorite of 1902, which exploded in the upper atmosphere without every hitting the ground, were to fall on Moscow today, the death toll would be about 9 million dead!

Especially significant is the fact that the “grand sign,” – making an impact in the case of a comet, a very close pass or near miss in the case of a planet – would cause all the signs listed by Joseph Smith in his discourse. That is, the “grand sign” would be the direct cause of the other signs listed by the Prophet, as well as by the scriptures.

Everyone on the planet would be in peril.

The location of a strike would ultimately determine the nature of the after­math; a close planetary pass would cause uniform but devastating destruction worldwide. If the impact were an ocean strike, it would generate a tsunami ranging in size from a few feet up to hundreds of feet in height, with the potential of destroying up to 100 million people worldwide. A close pass would raise prodigious ocean tides drawn up by the gravitational pull of the offending planet, with very nearly the same effect as an ocean impact. This would be “the seas heaving beyond their bounds” Joseph described.

If it were a landfall, the shock wave would cause global geological stress that would certainly gen­erate massive “earthquakes in divers places,” as would a close pass by gravitational “tugging” at the landmasses.

The ejecta from the impact or from colossal volcanic eruptions in the event of a planetary near miss would take the form of gas, dust and stones, which would be blown high into the atmosphere. The debris would fall back to earth in showers of hot stones, like so many artillery shells. Widespread rains of these hot stones would almost immedi­ately create hemisphere-wide fires and destruction.

The dust would be transported around the Earth by high-altitude winds, casting the world into near-total gloom – “the sun turned into darkness” – followed by freez­ing cold, leading to the suppression of photosynthesis for months, even years.

The gas released would eventually cause intense acid rain and destruction of the ozone layer, signs suggested elsewhere in scripture. Agriculture would collapse, resulting in famines, as suggested in prophecy, and the breakdown of global economic, social and political structures would result in “wars and rumors of wars,” among other things.

Latter-day Saints’ opinion on the subject of potential impacts, past and present, differs little from that of the gen­eral public. They see it as very unlikely. Yet, that probably should not be so, given the scriptural certainty of the last days and Joseph Smith’s enlightened statement regarding the last great sign being a comet or planet. He clearly held a view of his­tory and prophecy that included disasters emanating from the heavens, which would have devastating effects here on Earth.

When we consider the magnitude and import of seeing a comet impact Jupiter in our own time as we approach the second coming, one wonders if this astronomical visual aid might not have been God’s way of making a point, just as he gave a celestial sign to the Nephites prior to the Savior’s first coming. Have we been forewarned, just as were our Nephite cousins? Could it have been meant to awaken us from our apathetic complacency about the times we live in and the planet we live on? Should not Latter-day Saints – the “children of the light” – be the first to recognize the true import of this “sign?”

Remember, Joseph Smith placed great store in the validity of latter-day signs, especially those that can be described as planets or comets.

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The Forgotten Commandment: Watch the Heavens!

4,742 words

© Anthony E. Larson, 2007

The Forgotten Commandment: Watch the Heavens!

Part I – The Commandment

Section 84 of the Doctrine & Covenants is a pivotal revelation for Latter-day Saints, or should be.

The preamble to this section says, “The Prophet designates it a revelation on priesthood.” In it, the Lord explains some of the roles of priesthood bearers, including a thorough explanation of missionary work and how it might be carried out.

 “And this revelation unto you, and commandment, is in force from this very hour upon all the world, and the gospel is unto all who have not received it.” (verse 75.)

This makes it plain that this “revelation” is not only a disclosure of information, but it also carries a “commandment.”

In the process of explaining this mandate to teach the gospel, the Lord touches on an aspect of priesthood responsibility that is entirely overlooked in the church today when he gives this added command. “Nevertheless, let the bishop go unto the city of New York, also to the city of Albany, and also to the city of Boston, and warn the people of those cities with the sound of the gospel, with a loud voice, of the desolation and utter abolishment which await them if they do reject these things. (verse 114.)

Reading carefully, we see that this directive carries two parts. The first, is to teach the gospel: “warn the people … with the sound of the gospel.” The second is to tell them “of the desolation and utter abolishment” that might befall them.

Clearly, the first directive refers to missionary work, a mandate church members have heeded and apparently fulfilled rather well, given the remarkable growth of the church in the latter half of the 20^th century. But, the second reference seems quite vague. What is the “desolation” referred to? What is “utter abolishment?”

Webster’s Dictionary defines ‘desolate’ as “barren or laid waste … without inhabitants, deserted.” It also defines ‘abolish’ as “to do away with, to put an end to.”

Since the Lord applied these terms to three major American cities, a rather grim picture emerges. Without equivocation, God seems to be talking about reeking havoc in a catastrophe great enough to entirely wipe the cities of New York, Albany and Boston off the map, complete with all their inhabitants, if they do not accept the gospel.

But that is not all. To clarify and amplify, God reiterates the commandment. “And verily I say unto you, the rest of my servants, go ye forth as your circumstances shall permit, in your several callings, unto the great and notable cities and villages, reproving the world in righteousness of all their unrighteous and ungodly deeds, setting forth clearly and understandingly the desolation of abomination in the last days.” (verse 117.)

So, we learn that this mission was not exclusive to Bishop Whitney; verse 117 extends this commandment to all priesthood holders, “the rest of my servants.” We also learn that they should visit not just the three cities first named, but many others also, “the great and notable cities and villages.”

Then, the Lord repeats his charge that they teach about possible, impending destructions, “the desolation of abomination.”

This presents a problem for today’s priesthood bearers. Which of us can even begin to explain the “desolation” and “utter abolishment” the Lord referred to? What do those terms mean? What could cause such devastation?

While every general conference of the church has one or more talks about the vital importance of missionary work, where are the talks explaining or elucidating the second part of the commandment: teaching “clearly and understandingly the desolation of abomination?” More importantly, we must ask why this part of the commandment has not been acknowledged? How is it that we have focused so well and appropriately on missionary work without also teaching the other half of the equation, the promised devastation?

If we’ve not been instructed in these things or discovered them for ourselves, how are we to teach them, as we were commanded to do? How are we going to teach something we do not understand? In that case, how are we going to fulfill the Lord’s charge to teach it at all, let alone do so plainly?

As a matter of fact, any discussion of prophetic destructions has been almost completely banned from our discourse in the church. Over the last half-century, the subjects of prophecy and catastrophe in church discussion have become increasingly taboo. Where once they were central to our very character as Latter-day Saints, they have been almost completely marginalized in our day and age.

Our instruction manuals for teaching in the church almost entirely skirt around the subject of the last days and their associated destructions. The subject is almost never addressed from the pulpit, and even then it is treated in such an oblique manner as to avoid any substantive handling of the subject.

Yet, given the wording of this section, it would seem that we are under as great an obligation to teach about the impending destructions as we are to do missionary work.

So, let’s reverse this trend. Let’s more fully perform our duty as priesthood bearers. Let’s look at this once again to see if we might regain some lost ground and thereby properly fulfill this commandment from the Lord.

One might begin by asking, what is the “desolation and utter abolishment” of which the Lord spoke? What is the “desolation of abomination in the last days” that all priesthood bearers, “the rest of my servants,” are herein commanded to “set forth clearly and understandingly?”

A clue to those questions lies a little further on in that section. “For, with you saith the Lord Almighty, I will rend their kingdoms; I will not only shake the earth, but the starry heavens shall tremble.” (verse 118.)

The keywords in these verses are “rend their kingdoms,” “shake the earth” and “the starry heavens shall tremble.” Anyone schooled in the nature of planetary catastrophes that have punctuated Earth’s past and the prophetic metaphors they gave rise to will recognize what the Lord intended. These same metaphors have been used by the prophets to describe numerous episodes in Earth’s past when the entire world came to the brink of destruction-episodes such as Noah’s Flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the Exodus and numerous other such widespread catastrophes.

The references are subtle but unmistakable. The metaphors “desolation of abomination,” or “desolation and utter abolishment” are coded expressions for planetary catastrophes of the most devastating kind where nature goes on a rampage, where almost all the works of mankind crumble in worldwide earthquakes while oceanic super-tsunamis rush in upon continents, wiping vast areas of the globe clean of any vestige of life, all as the heavens appear to reel about as a result of our planet’s wobbling on its axis of rotation.

As if to put a lock on his meaning, God added this unmistakable declaration. “For I, the Lord, have put forth my hand to exert the powers of heaven; ye cannot see it now, yet a little while and ye shall see it, and know that I am, and that I will come and reign with my people.” (verse 119.)

It is the powers of heaven that wreck destruction and havoc on the Earth, a frequent scriptural theme.

And just to clarify, the Lord says that there is nothing unusual to see in the heavens just now, “ye cannot see it now.” But the time will come when we will all see and know what the desolation of abomination is. That is, “yet a little while and ye shall see it.”

Finally, as a warning against dismissing the importance of this knowledge and its conveyance, the Lord said, “And your minds in times past have been darkened because of unbelief, and because you have treated lightly the things you have received-

“Which Vanity and unbelief have brought the whole church under condemnation.” (verses 54 and 55)

Make no mistake. Ignoring or dismissing this aspect of our priesthood callings by failing to obey the Lord’s commandment in this regard has brought condemnation upon us all. Perhaps not coincidentally, these are the very verses President Ezra Taft Benson quoted when he counseled church members to repent of their doubt and pride, saying also that the whole church was under condemnation.

Part II – Watch the Heavens

To assure the reader that the above is not a strained interpretation of a few obscure and selected verses, we should take a moment to learn why the Lord might want his priesthood to understand the cause and nature of planetary catastrophes.

In all ancient cultures, the priestly class dominated the religious life of any culture, including the symbolic center of their religious tradition: the temple. All ancient cultures had temples wherein the priestly class administered rites and rituals of salvation, whether or not they had the true priesthood.

We learn from Abraham that this was certainly true of the Egyptians. “Pharaoh, being a righteous man, established his kingdom and judged his people wisely and justly all his days, seeking earnestly to imitate that order established by the fathers in the first generations …. Now, Pharaoh being of that lineage by which he could not have the right of Priesthood, notwithstanding the Pharaohs would fain claim it from Noah, through Ham ….” (Abraham 1:26, 27.)

We know from archeology and research into the Egyptian religion that they not only had temples, but they performed resurrection rituals, much as we do in our temples today. Thus, as Abraham implies, they obviously sought to imitate true priesthood orders and rituals. (See Hugh Nibley’s extensive writings on this subject.)

Some temples were elaborately constructed edifices, such as the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. Others were merely groups of standing stones, such as Stonehenge. In the Americas, pyramids were the temples of choice, as were the ziggurats of Mesopotamia. Native Americans in the southwestern United States constructed kivas. All these are easily identified as temples because of the rituals practiced therein.

But the temples weren’t only ritual centers. They were observatories, and their architecture abounds in astral alignments. Research has shown us that they assiduously tracked the movements of the heavenly bodies. As we have seen, they were absolutely obsessive about fixing and tracking the points where these bodies rose over the horizon, most especially the Sun during the summer and winter solstices.

A fundamental part of priestly responsibility was to watch the skies by tracking the movements of the Sun, the Earth, the Moon, the planets and the stars, which they accomplished with a variety of ingenious methods.

Most common among these ancient sky watchers was the practice of aligning stones or architecture such that the first rays of light from the Sun as it rose in the morning would fall on a well-marked spot on another stone or marker within a building. Thus, they could track the Sun’s rising on the horizon throughout the year as it varied, moving slightly more north or south each day until it reached its most extreme positions at the winter and summer solstices. This, then, was a simple but effective way of ascertaining that the Earth, not the Sun, was moving in its normal, prescribed path. Any deviation would easily be discerned.

This proclivity has long puzzled archeologists and anthropologists. Why did the ancients seem preoccupied with astronomy? Why did they track the movement of astral bodies? Why was astronomy so important to them that they practiced it and incorporated it into their most sacred shrines, their temples?

This was as true of God’s authentic prophets and priests as it was of the pretenders. We learn this from Abraham, for example. “But the records of the fathers, even the patriarchs, concerning the right of Priesthood, the Lord my God preserved in mine own hands; therefore a knowledge of the beginning of the creation, and also of the planets, and of the stars, as they were made known unto the fathers.” (Abraham 1:31.)

This notion is further confirmed when Abraham is shown stars and planets through the Urim and Thummim. It seems to be God’s desire that the prophets have an intimate knowledge of things astronomical. But to what end, if not to watch for irregularities in the skies?

This is reflected in our modern temples, where astral symbols abound, as they also did in ancient temples. This was and is information about the Sun, the Moon and the many stars or “great lights, which were in the firmament of heaven”-the very icons we find adorning the walls of our sacred temples.

But, what does astronomy have to do with religion and priesthood? It’s really quite simple.

God always warned the world’s inhabitants of impending planetary disasters. The scriptures are replete with such accounts. Adam and Noah warned of the coming Great Flood; Abraham warned Lot to flee Sodom and Gomorrah; Moses warned the Israelites, Pharaoh and the Egyptians of the plagues that would shortly befall them; and Samuel the Lamanite warned the Nephites of the destructions to accompany the crucifixion of the Savior.

Not only that, there are an even greater multitude of warnings regarding identical destructions and devastations in the last days, before the second coming. John wrote extensively in his Revelation. Isaiah, Malachi, Zechariah, Habakkuk, Nahum, Joel and even the Savior himself told of these planet-wide catastrophes as a “desolation of abomination.” Hence, there are a multitude of past and future warnings from the prophets in our scriptures of the “desolation and utter abolishment” that awaits the world in our day, just as they occurred in the past.

 It is only natural, then, that God would charge his priesthood with the sobering task of watching the heavens to discern any change in the motions of the Earth, Sun, Moon or the planets. Alterations in any of those would likely portend trouble.

So, this is the easily discernable reason why all ancient cultures, including those led by prophets, were so invested in watching the heavens. Any deviation in the movement of the stars or planets meant almost certain disaster for Earth’s inhabitants. So, tracking them was the sure way to know at the earliest possible moment if something went awry.

A rather practical, down-to-earth approach for such an esoteric discipline as astronomy, wouldn’t you say?

Since modern astronomy denies the possibility of any deviation in the orbits of the Earth, the Sun and the other planets in our solar system, they are left with no basis for understanding the ancients’ preoccupation with the heavens. They chalk it up to superstition, and that’s where it ends.

But ancient and modern revelation, along with all the texts left behind by other ancient cultures, repeatedly and compellingly insist that the order of the heavens was altered in historic times, in spite of the insistence to the contrary by modern science.

The prophets repeatedly spoke of a change so great, so sweeping that it completely alters both the heavens and the Earth. “But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. … Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth ….” (2 Peter 3:7, 13.) “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.” (Revelation 21:1.)

This principle is most clearly enunciated in latter-day revelation. “And the end shall come, and the heaven and the earth shall be consumed and pass away, and there shall be a new heaven and a new earth.

“For old things shall pass away, and all things shall become new, even the heaven and the earth ….” Doctrine and Covenants 29: 23, 24.)

All this being true, then it only makes sense that God would want to reestablish this practice of watching the heavens among his priesthood in the latter days. And knowing this explains why the priesthood was assigned the duty of “watchmen” in the “watchtowers.” While a watchtower in a fortress or walled city might be useful in spotting an army of approaching foes, an astronomical observatory might effectively be thought of as a “watchtower” and the priesthood as “watchmen” where the possibility of planetary disorder exists.

Hence, the Lord implores his people, and especially those ordained to the priesthood to “Watch, therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.” (Matthew 24:42.)

Also, “Gird up your loins and be watchful and be sober, looking forth for the coming of the Son of Man, for he cometh in an hour you think not.” (Doctrine and Covenants 61:38.)

This, then, is a duty traditionally assigned to God’s priesthood bearers. That he would again restore this assignment to the priesthood in these latter days is perfectly natural and in harmony with the ancient pattern. That means that this is information and understanding that every latter-day priesthood holder should master, as we have been commanded, in order to fully discharge our sacred duties.

Not only can we better fulfill our callings through this study and practice, this information will further enhance our gospel understanding to a considerable degree, allowing us to better understand the scriptures, the words of the prophets and the symbolism of our temples. This is true because the symbolism that dominates the gospel actually originated in ancient astral events.

 Part III – The Reiteration

Lastly, in order to better understand the 84^th Section, we must turn to the 88^th Section, where the Lord reiterates in much more detail what he gave in the earlier revelation. Read this revelation with the counsel and commandment of the 84^th Section in mind to bring greater clarity and meaning to the Lord’s expressions.

Let’s review Section 88 verse by verse, beginning about half way through.

“77 And I give unto you a commandment that you shall teach one another the doctrine of the kingdom.”

God here referred to the same commandment he already gave in Section 83, as will be plainly seen as we proceed.

“78 Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you, that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand ….”

This is the very instruction needed to prepare a teacher to explain what the desolation of abomination is, how to watch for it and how to explain it. While we are presently doing a good job of teaching gospel principles and law, we have fallen down in the other two named categories: theory and doctrine. Otherwise, the knowledge of these planetary destructions would be common among us. Since they are not, this is prima fascia evidence of our ignorance.

And what are those things that we have failed to study and fully understand?

“79 Of things both in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass … and the judgments which are on the land ….”

 You see, it is in studying the “things both of heaven and in the earth” that we discover the changes wrought by past planetary catastrophes, because those changes are explicit in ancient history or “things which have been.” Of course, by studying “things which are,” we find a basis for comparison with the past. In so doing, we learn that our world and its heavens are vastly different than they were. Additionally, in studying “things which must shortly come to pass,” we learn that coming planetary disorder will be nearly identical to past catastrophes, giving us yet another basis for comparison and a vivid idea of what the future holds for this world when planetary disorder once again nearly destroys our planet, causing “desolation and utter abolishment.”

“80 That ye may be prepared in all things when I shall send you again to magnify the calling whereunto I have called you, and the mission with which I have commissioned you.”

This is the heart of the matter. We cannot be fully prepared to “magnify the calling” we’ve been given if we have not prepared ourselves with this vital knowledge, which we now utterly lack.

“81 Behold, I sent you out to testify and warn the people, and it becometh every man who hath been warned to warn his neighbor.”

This is a restatement of the mission: We must “clearly and understandingly” tell them of the “desolation and utter abolishment” that awaits this world.

“84 Therefore, tarry ye, and labor diligently, that you may be perfected in your ministry ….”

Without this knowledge of planetary catastrophe, we cannot be “perfected” in our knowledge. And we cannot properly teach if our knowledge is incomplete or incorrect. Hence the Lord’s counsel to “tarry” while we “labor diligently” to learn these concepts.

 “… to go forth among the Gentiles for the last time, as many as the mouth of the Lord shall name, to bind up the law and seal up the testimony, and to prepare the saints for the hour of judgment which is to come; …”

Notice here that this mission to teach of planetary catastrophe is not only necessary to teach the nonmembers or “Gentiles,” it is needful “to prepare the saints for the hour of judgment.” Thus, this mission is as much to the members of the church as it is to potential converts. This is the second part of the commandment, which we have completely overlooked.

“85 That their souls may escape the wrath of God, the desolation of abomination which awaits the wicked, both in this world and in the world to come.”

Just to clarify that both sections 84 and 88 are talking about the same things, notice that the Lord once again cites the “desolation of abomination,” while yet further defining it as the “wrath of God.”

And here’s the payoff. So that we might be certain of what he’s talking about, the Lord describes the desolation’s most prominent elements.

“87 For not many days hence and the earth shall tremble and reel to and fro as a drunken man; and the sun shall hide his face, and shall refuse to give light; and the moon shall be bathed in blood; and the stars shall become exceedingly angry, and shall cast themselves down as a fig that falleth from off a fig-tree.”

It is these variously described, symbolic elements that are seen to comprise the effects that accompany a planetary disaster.

In Section 84, he cited another such symbolic, yet very real, element. ” I will not only shake the earth, but the starry heavens shall tremble.”

It is the comprehension of these metaphors, and the many other symbolically described elements, that are crucial to one’s understanding of the very things we’ve been commanded to teach, that is “set forth clearly and understandingly.” It is these elements of planetary catastrophe that we must master in order to teach them to others.

“88 And after your testimony cometh wrath and indignation upon the people.”

The Lord said the same thing with more obscure language in Section 84 when he said, “For, with you saith the Lord Almighty, I will rend their kingdoms.”

That is to say, first comes the priesthood’s warning, then comes the destruction. It’s the same pattern followed throughout world history: God calls a prophet to warn the people of impending disaster and call them to repentance. That done, the promised destructions are poured out.

For good measure, the Lord then lists many more elements of a planetary encounter.

“89 For after your testimony cometh the testimony of earthquakes, that shall cause groanings in the midst of her, and men shall fall upon the ground and shall not be able to stand.

“90 And also cometh the testimony of the voice of thunderings, and the voice of lightnings, and the voice of tempests, and the voice of the waves of the sea heaving themselves beyond their bounds.

“91 And all things shall be in commotion; surely, men’s hearts shall fail them; for fear shall come upon all people.”

Again, it is these natural phenomenon that constitute the prophesied desolation.

Next is an entirely metaphorical narrative that cannot be understood until one is thoroughly schooled in the prophetic tradition that arose from past planetary calamity. It is coded language, symbolic allusions to very real things that will be seen and heard.

“92 And angels shall fly through the midst of heaven, crying with a loud voice, sounding the trump of God, saying: Prepare ye, prepare ye, O inhabitants of the earth; for the judgment of our God is come. Behold, and lo, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.”

It is in the decoding of such metaphors or symbolic language that a corrected view of ancient planetary catastrophe becomes vital. With it, we can see what such allegorical declarations truly mean.

Now comes the “piece de resistance” of this revelation.

“93 And immediately there shall appear a great sign in heaven, and all people shall see it together.”

It is this “great sign” that is the cause of these overwhelming natural phenomenon that will sweep the Earth.

Some have supposed that since the word “sign” is used here that there would be some stunning, symbolic manifestation in the heavens that would signal the onset of the destructions. But, the training and education that comes with studying past planetary encounters tell us otherwise.

Joseph Smith explained in more explicit terms what that “great sign” would be.

 “There will be wars and rumors of wars, signs in the heavens above and on the earth beneath, the sun turned into darkness and the moon to blood, earthquakes in divers places, the seas heaving beyond their bounds; then will appear one grand sign of the coming of the Son of Man in heaven.  What will the world do?  They will say it is a planet, a comet, &c.”  (History of the Church, 5:337.)

Of course, the entire world will call this sign a planet or a comet because that’s exactly what it will be-a planet-sized orb that also looks and behaves like a tremendous comet.

And just so there are no loose ends to this exposition, make note that Joseph connects this “sign” with all the same devastating natural destructions as the two revelations we’ve been considering. That can lead to only one, inescapable conclusion: The planet or comet is not only a sign, it is the very agent-the single cause-of all the natural destructions that are part of God’s desolation.

 Epilogue

 After all this exposition, these points are worth making one last time: It is the Lord who decreed that the priesthood’s role is to be the conservators and expositors of this knowledge among church members. Not only that, they were charged with watching the heavens for deviations that might portend renewed catastrophes.

Sadly, present-day priesthood holders not only do not understand these things, they are inclined to discount and suppress them, thinking they are too fantastic or bizarre to be credible. Most elders in the church know nothing of the simplest aspects of astronomy, thinking it something entirely and completely foreign to the gospel of Christ. Yet, a survey of teachings by general authorities from Joseph Smith on forward has revealed that these subjects have been amply treated and clarified in this dispensation, to say nothing of the preponderance of evidence found in our scriptures and the other records we have from the past.

Today’s priesthood holders have no concept of such a mandate from the Lord, even though it is plainly stated in latter day revelation. Neither have they properly searched our scriptures, otherwise these things would have been self evident. Therefore, today’s priesthood holders are unable to comply with the Lord’s mandate to teach these truths “clearly and understandingly.”

Perhaps its time we stopped treating prophecy and prophetic imagery as the redheaded stepchild of the gospel. Maybe it’s time we reversed our course by taking seriously this commandment. By admitting our oversight, we can begin to correct it.

Remember God’s counsel: “And your minds in times past have been darkened because of unbelief, and because you have treated lightly the things you have received-

“Which Vanity and unbelief have brought the whole church under condemnation.” (Section 84:54, 55.)

Will we allow this to continue?

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The Keys to Prophecy VI: A Great Star

790 words

© Anthony E. Larson, 2006

The Keys to Prophecy VI:

A Great Star

If we look closely at the images venerated by the ancients from the point of view that they may have been inspired by planets standing in close proximity to the Earth, we see them with new eyes.  And because we adopt this view, we can read the explanations of symbols on Egyptian papyri by the prophet Joseph Smith with a fresh perspective that also gives an entirely new dynamic to the imagery of prophecy.

This key is crucial because ancient sky gazers the world over drew remarkably similar pictures and offered stunningly similar descriptions of things that do not exist in our sky, though this vital truth has not been generally recognized.

Amazingly, when we heed Joseph Smith’s hints that the gods, goddesses, beasts and other images of antiquity all found their inspiration in Earth’s ancient heavens, some of the most mysterious icons suddenly appear to be virtual snapshots of what the ancients saw in Earth’s skies.

The star-in-crescent symbol, for example, so dominant in ancient symbology, appears to be a combination or blending of two astral elements: One is the sunlit limb of a planet; the other is an aurora-like discharge from another planet.

These images of “stars” look nothing like things seen in our present heavens.  Yet, Joseph Smith implied that these are the planets and stars of antiquity.

Hence, the confusion of a star/planet symbol with the moon and stars is natural.  The only heavenly object we see today with a bright crescent is the moon.  But if other planets hovered near the Earth anciently, they would have also manifested this same crescent feature.

Certainly, the lighted crescent on the limb of neighboring planets became the basis for a multitude of symbols: the horns of a bovine, the crescent-shaped ship of heaven or the outspread wings of a bird, three of the most common symbols in ancient iconography-all seen in the Joseph Smith papyri as well as in apocalyptic and prophetic imagery.

If the planetary god’s crescent looked like outspread wings, then it could properly be described as a great heavenly bird and subsequently illustrated as a hawk or eagle.

Of course, its planetary disk is displayed over its head as well so there is no mistaking where the image originated.  This is precisely what we see in the ancient symbols.

If the planetary god’s or goddess’ crescent was seen as horns, he or she could be depicted as the bull or cow of heaven, a commonplace description in ancient texts of gods and goddesses.  For emphasis, again the planetary disk is set between the horns.

If the planet’s crescent appeared to be a ship carrying the planet around heaven, then the god-with a disk over his head, naturally-would be depicted sitting on the ship of heaven.  This, too, was a nearly universal depiction in Egyptian iconography.

Significantly, these same images, and many more like them, can be seen in the Joseph Smith Facsimile No.2, where they are most often called stars or planets.

Moreover, there must have been much more involved anciently than the simple, pacific presence of large orbs in the sky.  They must have been active, changing, interacting and dynamic powers to evoke the expressions they inspired.

For example, Sumerian texts celebrate the “terrifying glory” of Inanna (Ishtar, Astarte, Venus), invoking the goddess as “the Light of the World,” “the Amazement of the Lands,” “the Radiant Star,” “Great Light,” and “Queen of Heaven.”  The texts depict the goddess “clothed in radiance.”  And it was said that the world stood in “fear and trembling at [her] tempestuous radiance.”

Thus, we get the picture from the texts and the illustrations of a discharging planet, emitting aurora-like rays that form the basis for all ‘star’ imagery of antiquity.

The Sumerian “Exaltation of Inanna” says, “I want to address my greeting to her who fills the sky with her pure blaze, to the luminous one, to Inanna, as bright as the sun, to the great queen of heaven.

“You make the heavens tremble and the earth quake.  Great Priestess, who can soothe your troubled heart?  You flash like lightning over the highlands; you throw your firebrands across the earth.  Your deafening command…splits apart great mountains.”

An illustration taken from an Akkadian cylinder seal shows Ishtar (star) and her symbol, a planet with aurora-like discharge.

The wheel symbol of the Babylonian god Shamash (Sun) looks nothing like the Sun and further illustrates the discharge streamer or star idea.

Both the texts and the images of the ancients tell the same story, each complimenting the other.

In fact, this more fully explains why stars and planets were interchangeable in the ancient mind: In antiquity, a great, nearby planet metamorphosed into a brilliant, awe-inspiring object that earthlings chose to call “star.”  This alone explains the graphic language and the myriad star symbols used by the ancients for their star goddesses.

This also explains why all the ‘star’ icons, familiar to cultures worldwide, look nothing like the mere pinpoints of light in the night sky that we designate as stars.

No wonder Joseph explained that all these archaic images were either stars or planets.  They were!

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Stars, Planets, Moons and Temples

1,383 words

© Anthony E. Larson, 2002

Mormonism is unique among Christian denominations for many reasons. One of the things that make it so distinctive was its founder’s interest in bringing ancient texts to light. Another was the instigation of temple use, a practice thought to be largely pagan and thus suspiciously sacrilegious by normative Christianity.

While it may not be readily apparent at first, upon closer inspection we will see that ancient sacred texts and temple use are closely related.

While the rest of Christianity contented itself with the Bible, Joseph Smith endeavored to establish the Book of Mormon as an equally important ancient, sacred record. Indeed, he tried to impress on modern Christianity the value of ancient records, beyond the Bible, to the practice of true religion.

Public interest in things from Egyptian antiquity has always been high, but it was far more than mere curiosity that compelled the latter-day prophet to purchase the Egyptian papyri that ultimately resulted in the Pearl of Great Price and the facsimiles therein.

At present, much is written and said by Latter-day Saints about the Book of Mormon, its origins in antiquity and its advent in modern times via angelic ministrations. Surprisingly, little dialog is devoted to the Pearl of Great Price, even less to the Egyptian elements found therein to which Joseph dedicated considerable time and effort. Perhaps that is so because it deals with some topics—stars, planets and moons—that seem largely foreign to religion, as is commonly supposed, topics that seem better suited to cosmology, astronomy or archeology. In fact, Joseph Smith and the church he founded have taken criticism from both science and religion over the years because he ventured into these areas.

Stars, planets and moons are seldom foremost in the minds of Latter-day Saints when contemplating the gospel. Indeed, modern Christianity as a whole has long since divested itself of nearly all such references since discussions of such objects is more typically thought to be the purview of either ancient pagan religions or modern science. Ministers and evangelists in Joseph Smith’s day were horrified by the prophet’s penchant for discussing such things in the context of the gospel. The stigma of being a “cult,” attached to Mormonism by orthodox Christianity, stems partly from these associations.

All this begs the question that nearly all Saints avoid: What seemed so vital about documents from the Egyptian culture and its religion that a prophet of God would dedicate so much time and effort to explaining their meaning and symbolism, as seen in the Pearl of Great Price facsimiles? One can easily see the value of translating the books of Moses, Enoch and Abraham for the doctrines contained therein, but what value can be gleaned from studying Egyptian hieroglyphs? Did Joseph include them simply to establish his credentials as a bona fide translator of ancient texts? Or was he pointing the way to a subject helpful in a thoroughgoing understanding of the gospel?

The answer to those questions may be provided by considering the other part of the equation cited at the outset of this article: modern temples.

The two primary temples of this era, the Nauvoo and the Salt Lake, were liberally decorated with icons of stars, planets and moons. This they have in common with both ancient texts and the temples of yesteryear, those erected by all ancient cultures. Those temples, too, were decorated with symbols of stars, planets and moons, along with illustrations of their gods, goddesses and a multitude of other religious icons peculiar to each culture.

Scholars readily acknowledge the strong and pervasive influence of astral beliefs at the heart of those ancient religions, reflected in the astronomical alignments and astrological references built into those edifices—from Angkor Wat to Tiahuanaco, from Teotiuacan to Stonehenge, from Karnak and the pyramids at Geza to Solomon’s temple and those erected by all Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cultures, including the Greeks and the Romans. They all venerated the heavens and the orbs they saw there. It is for that reason, for example, that our modern names for the planets come from the Roman pantheon.

Thus, the Prophet not only pointed to the use astronomical imagery in ancient texts by exploring the meaning of the icons he found on the Egyptian papyri that came into his hands, he also employed similar astronomical imagery in modern temples. Indeed, as in ancient temples, it is astral imagery that almost exclusively dominates modern temple iconography. In so doing, Joseph Smith, and Brigham Young after him, simply authenticated or validated the connection between the restored gospel and ancient beliefs.

The iconography and rhetorical imagery of the restored gospel stand side by side with those of ancient cultures as reflected in their writings and their art.

All this is as it should be if, as Joseph Smith maintained, his was a restoration of the original gospel, which was taught universally by inspired prophets anciently. The true religion should retain and display those same ancient traditions, rhetoric and icons.

But it also suggests an extraordinary value in studying ancient history to understand what the ancients knew and what a modern prophet knew about the past that compelled them to make astral iconography, past and present, an integral part of religion and temple iconography. After all, such imagery is not employed simply to keep authors and artisans busy writing and chiseling.

Perhaps the clue as to why knowledge of the heavens is a vital part of the true religion and how that knowledge spawned a multitude of icons in ancient cultures the world over can be found in several passages of scripture, each of which say essentially the same thing: the heavens and the earth we know now are not the heavens and earth the ancients knew; and conversely the heavens and the earth we know now will be replaced by “new heavens and a new earth.” (Isaiah 65:17; 2 Peter 3:7, 13; Revelation 21:1; Ether 13:9; Doctrine & Covenants 29:23.)

Such dramatic language suggests radical changes in our solar system anciently. These sweeping and dynamic changes would have caused tremendous natural disasters, paroxysms of nature, wiping out large populations and dramatically altering Earth’s environment—changes that would have left few survivors to experience entirely “new heavens and a new earth,” changes that compelled the ancients to include them in their religious and cultural traditions.

Indeed, one school of thought suggests that the ancients were consumed with rehearsing the celestial drama that brought about those sweeping changes, that they made every attempt to preserve that knowledge in rite, ritual, architecture, art, text and religion since they considered it sacred as well as historical.

This would explain the compulsive use of cosmological imagery in ancient temples by their builders. Temples were specifically designed by the ancients to reflect, recall and reconstruct a lost cosmology, one that existed before the heavens and the earth suffered dramatic, sweeping changes.

Thus, our modern temples become living repositories of ancient wisdom and tradition, as well as venues for making sacred covenants.

This view would also explain the admixture of two distinct cosmologies seen in those same edifices, leading to confusion among modern scholars about their meanings and use. Temple iconography juxtaposed the present cosmology and that of the past, combining both in one presentation. To those who understood the profound transformation in the heavens and the earth anciently, such juxtaposition was proper and correct, not confusing and mysterious. Only modern man, divested of his cosmological heritage, would be perplexed by this coincidence.

And those two facts explain why a modern prophet would resurrect the use of that same imagery in modern temples, they being a restoration of ancient convention.

The marvel and the tragedy is that we, their posterity, have confused, denied and ultimately rejected that part of the record bequeathed us, that we consider it mere exaggerated myth and legend. Even the inspired efforts of a latter-day prophet to bring these ideas to light have gone largely ignored by those who practice the religion he founded.

The fact that Latter-day Saints almost universally discount such a possibility, even though statements of their prophet, their revealed scriptures and their temple iconography indicate otherwise, reveals a fatal flaw in their comprehension of the legacy they inherited from Joseph Smith in the magnificent revelation that comprises this latter-day restoration of the gospel.

 

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The hollow earth theory, the plasma model and Mormon theology

I haven’t thought or spoken about the hollow earth theory in six to eight months. When I understook to write a draft article on this topic on the last day of November and then decided not to publish it, as I wasn’t happy with what I wrote, I was surprised to receive an email the very next day (December 1st) from one of the hollow earth researchers I mentioned in the article. So, I’m taking it as a sign 😉 that this subject needsto be addressed now.

However, I’ve been at a loss as to what to say about it. I’ve re-written my draft article several times now, trying to get the words right. You see, we’ve all been taught that the solid earth theory is fact, so mentioning the hollow earth theory is sure to stop people from reading or paying any more attention to this blog. How can I address a topic “so obviously incorrect and absurd” and still retain any credibility? And yet, I can’t help myself, I must mention it. There are future articles I wish to get to which can only be understood if a person understands the evidence for the hollow earth model.

Yes, you read correctly. There is evidence, lots of it, TONS OF IT, that the hollow earth theory is correct and that the solid earth theory is false. Being the curious cat I am, I investigated both models and found that the evidentiary scales tipped waaaay in favor of the hollow earth theory. But it is not my intention to present the evidence in this post. There’s too much of it. The two top hollow earth researchers I mention below have each written a 600 page book on the topic. I’m listing them so that you can get the research presented in detail, purity and at full strength, instead of the diluted version I could offer.

Now, let me tell you what I believe. I believe that the Earth, the moon, the planets, their moons, the Sun and the stars are probably all hollow spheres, with inner suns most likely at their centers. I believe that polar openings likely exist on all these globes. I believe that the conditions for life are naturally contained within each sphere, on the inner surfaces with the inner suns shining, and not on the outer surfaces, with an outer Sun shining. This is similar to how we build houses, to be inhabited on the inside, people living within the walls of the house, not outside of those walls, exposed to the elements. In like manner, all these worlds, including ours, are made as habitations for God’s children and his other creations.

Nephi said, “Behold, the Lord hath created the earth that it should be inhabited; and he hath created his children that they should possess it.” (1 Ne. 17: 36)

Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon said, “For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father—that by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God. (D&C 76: 23-24)

So, when I look out at those other worlds, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, etc., which mainstream science tells me are too harsh to contain life, as the outer surface is unfit and as there is no inner surface, for, the scientists tell me, they are all solid or liquid or gas balls, I think of the above scriptures that tell me that worlds are created to be inhabited and that there are inhabitants on the worlds that are (present tense.) This is a major contradiction to the mainstream science I’m receiving.

But then along comes the hollow earth model which corrects the errors and suddenly the scripture makes sense. There are inhabitants on these worlds, living on the inner surfaces of these spheres, bathing in the light of inner suns. What, did you think Joseph and Sidney were shown non-local, extra-solar system worlds that were inhabited and that the Lord skipped over the “uninhabited” local planets? Surely not! Prophets are shown only what pertains to them and their sphere of existence, they are shown what pertains to their locality. They were shown the worlds that exist in this solar system and referred to the inhabitants of these worlds. (I’ll write more on this later in another article.) So, men living in the moon (see here and here) or people living in the Sun may not be just crazy 19th century Mormon ideas.

Speaking of our immediate locality, the Earth, I believe that the Lord has plenty of places to hide people, plants, animals and things. He can place them on the Earth, in the Earth and under the Earth.

The Lord said, “And behold, all things have their likeness, and all things are created and made to bear record of me, both things which are temporal, and things which are spiritual; things which are in the heavens above, and things which are on the earth, and things which are in the earth, and things which are under the earth, both above and beneath: all things bear record of me.” (Moses 6: 63)

I believe that if the solid earth theory were true, it would reveal or bear record of the stupidity of the Lord. Think about it. What an incredible waste of space, what an incredible waste of material, to have such large (inhabited) spheres completely filled with matter, so that man walks on and uses only a minute fraction of it. The thought of God accumulating all that matter into a solid ball just so that there is enough gravity for man to walk and run on less than .0001% or so of it is just plain crazy. If we take into account the supposed uninhabited worlds just floating around for no purpose whatsoever, it becomes an even greater waste and an even crazier concept. God has got to be smarter than that.

I believe that God is smarter than that, and that he has created hollow spheres (shells) that can be inhabited by men on the outside surfaces, inside surfaces and even within the crusts of those shells.

The over-reliance by mainstream scientists on the relatively weak energy of gravity as the sole cause of all that is seen requires lots of mass to accomplish everything, whether we are talking about huge balls of matter called planets or huge balls of matter called “black holes.” As they discount the role of plasma discharge (electricity) in creation, everything takes billions and billions of years and requires lots of mass to accomplish anything. Because of the disconnect of the role of the much more powerful energy of electricity, scientists can’t, or won’t, accept a hollow earth theory, despite the fact that the evidence in favor of it is overwhelming. In truth, there is very little propping up the solid earth theory, other than the blind belief of virtually everyone on the planet.

The hollow earth and plasma models both confirm, correct and complement each other. When looking at plasma cosmology or plasma geology through a hollow earth theory lens, you see the hollow shell, inner suns and polar opening that most likely are there. When looking at plasma mythology, you recognize archetypes that obviously refer to inner earth regions. When plasma cosmologists talk of galaxies “giving birth” to new galaxies by ejecting quazars from their poles, or planet/stars “giving birth” to new planets by polar ejection, the polar holes of these objects come firmly into view via the hollow earth model. When looking at the hollow earth model through a plasma lens, you see that the inner sun is not the standard, mainstream model, but an arc lamp suspended at the center of the vacuum that exists within the shell of all these worlds. When hollow earthers talk of how planets/stars were created in rotation, you get the deeper understanding of a whirling vortex of electrically discharging plasma, throwing the matter out to the sides, leaving matter “stuck” in the very center, to become the inner sun, and creating polar markings (holes), just like a concretion. (I will come back to concretions, in a moment.)

Mormon theology also confirms, corrects and complements both the hollow earth and plasma models. When either model is viewed through the lens of Mormon theology, suddenly the hand of God stands out like a sore thumb and all things start to bear witness that “the Creator made me!” In other words, it appears that everything is a construct and not a coincidence. With these views we suddenly are able to see that concessions no longer need to be made to mainstream scientists and that LDS can now accept their scriptures EXACTLY as they are. Suddenly creation can happen quickly, planets can be hollow, electro-gravity can be a possibility, legendary, mythical stories can contain actual truths, the Lord can literally hide 10 tribes of Israel on planet Earth, worlds can be inhabited, dinosaurs can still exist (I’ll address this in another post), the location of the divisions of the Spirit World can now be known, etc., etc.

The rest of this post presents two hollow earth researchers: one non-member, one LDS. As I wrote above, each one has written a 600+ page book: one a printed book, one an ebook. Each one presents a plethora of evidence in favor of the hollow earth. And each one does so without the benefit of the plasma model. (Imagine what they could have done had they been aware of the plasma model!)

Hollow Earth Researcher #1: Non-LDS Jan Lamprecht

Lamprecht’s book, Hollow Planets, a 600+ page tome, is a feasibility study of possible hollow worlds. It asks the question, “Could the planets Mercury, Venus and Earth be hollow?” His web site url is the following:

www.hollowplanets.com

[2012 update: the above web site now hyperlinks to the archive.org snapshots of the site since it is no longer works.]

Lamprecht, at one time, attempted to organize an expedition to the north polar opening. He has since abandoned that effort due to the political climate in his home country. Although Lamprecht no longer updates his web site, nor does he give interviews anymore, as he is devoting his full time to the situation in South Africa, his web site still stands and the book is still available for purchase. There is still plenty of freely available information on the web site about his research, such as chapter summaries of his book (in the table of contents), reviews, interviews, news items, etc.

[2012 update:  There is now a video of Jan Lamprecht giving a lecture on the hollow earth theory on YouTube, which I will embed into this post.]

Hollow Earth Researcher #2: LDS Rodney M. Cluff

Another hollow planets researcher, this one LDS, is Rodney M. Cluff, who has written an ebook entitled World Top Secret: Our Earth is Hollow! Cluff’s web site is the following:

www.ourhollowearth.com

I have looked over Cluff’s research and writings extensively and his take on the hollow earth theory is very convincing. He tries to tie everything back to the scriptures. The evidence he cites for polar openings and a hollow earth, including earthquake calculations, etc., is weighty. Despite the fact that he does not appear to be cognizant of the plasma model, which allows for easier explanations and corrections of erroneous, mainstream asumptions, his logic is hard to argue against, at least from an LDS perspective. He and others are currently trying to organize an expedition to find the north polar opening.

It is not my intention to present all the evidence that these researchers have dug up, evidence which indicates that Earth and other planets probably are hollow. You can read their web sites, purchase their books and come to your own conclusions. Cluff has a page in which he summarizes some of the data that can be a good primer. He also has The Smoky God online, which can be freely read. The Smoky God is a book about a man (Olaf Jansen) who claims to have gone with his father to the inner surface of the planet when he was but 19 years old.

The Concretion Link

Now, I said I’d talk of concretions. Concretions tie the plasma model to the hollow earth model. Here is how:

Recent pictures of Saturn’s moon Iapetus, taken by the Cassini probe, show a few puzzling things. One is a very large crater on such a small moon, that, had it been formed by impact, should have destroyed the moon. Another is the strange darkness and brightness of the terrain, the leading half being extremely dark and the trailing half very bright. But perhaps most bizarre of all is the very tall and very long equatorial ridge that is found there.

Many people have tried to explain these anomalies in interesting ways. For example, when the pictures first came out, Richard Hoagland of EnterpriseMission.com put out a six part paper, attempting to show that the evidence indicated that Iapetus was not a naturally made moon, but was an artificially modified moon, or moon spacecraft. However, it may not be necessary to go to such extreme thinking in order to account for these new pictures.

In one of the Thunderbolts Pictures of the Day (TPOD), called Equatorial Ridge of Iapetus, a comparison is shown between the picture of Iapetus, with its curious equatorial ridge, and concretions, which are found on Earth. Some of the TPODs that talk of concretions include “Blueberries” Could Redefine Martian Geology, Blueberries on Mars, China’s Stone Eggs and Martian “Blueberries” in the Lab.

Geologists identify “concretions” as spheroidal masses usually occurring in sedimentary strata. They are often composed of minerals different from the primary constituent of the stratum in which they lie. Many concretions are formed from carbonates, but others of iron ore or silica are not uncommon, and still other varieties occur as well. Formations identified as “spherical concretions” can be as large as 10 feet in diameter. They are often layered like an onion. Inside their spherical shells, some are hollow, others contain crystals, sandstone, or even petroleum. (“Blueberries” Could Redefine Martian Geology, TPOD, March 28, 2005.)

Some other defining characteristics of concretions are an equatorial ridge*, polar markings and the inside being pressurized, so that when you cut into one that contains oil, it spurts out under pressure. Plasma science can easily explain concretions as electrically formed spheres. Plasma discharge is totally scalable, so that you can make something a micron in size and also the size of a galaxy, just by having the same ingredients and environment and using more electricity. Thus, an Earthly concretion and Iapetus may have more in common than astronomers think. In fact, they may have been formed by the same electrical process.

The most curious aspect, though, of concretions, are the polar markings and that many concretions are hollow. If concretions (and Iapetus) were made within a “whirling vortex of electrically charged plasma,” the tendency would be to create hollow spheres with polar markings (or openings), depending upon the amount and type of material, the size of the sphere, and the greatness of the electrical discharge. An example of what happens when material is spun rapidly can be seen in one’s washing machine. Pack the machine full of clothes and then watch what happens to the position of the clothes when on the spin cycle. Inevitably, you will see clothing clinging to the inner surface of the spinning tub and clothing clinging to the post in the middle of the tub, and the gap between the two locations will contain no clothes.

Plasma discharge creates spheres in extremely high speed vortices and it does so quickly, not requiring exhorbitant amounts of time to form materials into shape. All that is required is sufficient energy, or a sufficiently large discharge, and a planet can be formed, just like concretions, in a layered manner, as a hollow sphere with either polar markings or polar openings. Additionally, there is the tendency to have material form into a ball or sphere at the very center of the larger sphere. So, if concretions are, indeed, formed by plasma discharge, and if they were scaled up, you could get a hollow sphere the size of Iapetus, our own Moon, the Earth, Saturn, Jupiter, the Sun or any of the other globes we see.

Now, this has already been demonstrated in the laboratory, using plasma discharges. Concretion-like spheres have been created and many of them are hollow with polar markings, or depressions. As stated above, plasma is scalable, so making planets and stars in this way is not outside of the limits of possibility.

End Note:

* Iapetus appears to be the only celestial object we’ve seen so far with an equatorial ridge. However, that doesn’t mean that other planets and moons do not have a ridge, only that we haven’t seen it, yet. (Here on Earth, there is the mid-ocean ridge that spans the breadth of the globe, though it does not hug the equator like the ridges of Iapetus and concretions do. Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean that its current position and length, 50,000 miles long, hasn’t changed since the Earth was first formed. For all we know, it is the original equatorial ridge.)

Next Plasma Theology article: Monson and his constipated physics redux; or, how electric gravity makes hollow earthers happy

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The Noachian Flood, Part One: The Role of Plasma

As stated in a previous post, there has been a lot of new discussion in the LDS cyber-community over the Noachian Flood due to a recently published article in Dialogue JOURNAL. However, none of this discussion included the plasma science and plasma mythology viewpoint. It is the purpose of this post to show that plasma science throws additional light upon this subject.

Rens van der Sluijs wrote some excellent articles on plasma mythology, which are published on the Thunderbolts.info web site, one of which addressed the Noachian Flood. (See The Flood from Heaven.) According to van der Sluijs, there have now been collected “several hundred versions” of flood myths “from all parts of the world.” Although he admits that not all of these versions are related, the earliest ones all “derive from a common source and form a true literary tradition.”

He explains that some of these stories probably commemorate local floods. (This is a common interpretation of the Noachian Flood among LDS.) Yet, he also says that “the myths that speak of a universal inundation” tend to have a common feature: “the cosmic axis in the center of the world.” Apparently, few researchers have ever explored this feature.

The axis mundi is important in plasma science because Earth and all other celestial objects are charged bodies and can exhibit double layers, or plasma sheaths, as well as plasma columns, connecting one charged body to another charged body. A recent article and photo of a plasma column connecting Jupiter to one of its moons is demonstrative. Plasma exhibits many other types of behavior, all demonstrable in the laboratory.

From plasma mythology, we begin to see a picture of a stack of fixed planets, one on top of another, connected through their poles by visible plasma columns, with the topmost planet (or “most high” planet) exhibiting the wing-like formations of plasma shock. The plasma column connecting Earth to the planet above it (whichever one it was) over time is recounted in the mythology as being a world mountain, a cosmic tree and so on. This reminds me of a scripture:

Abraham said, “And I, Abraham, had the Urim and Thummim, which the Lord my God had given unto me, in Ur of the Chaldees; and I saw the stars, that they were very great, and that one of them was nearest unto the throne of God; and there were many great ones which were near unto it; and the Lord said unto me: These are the governing ones; and the name of the great one is Kolob, because it is near unto me, for I am the Lord thy God: I have set this one to govern all those which belong to the same order as that upon which thou standest. And the Lord said unto me, by the Urim and Thummim, that Kolob was after the manner of the Lord, according to its times and seasons in the revolutions thereof; that one revolution was a day unto the Lord, after his manner of reckoning, it being one thousand years according to the time appointed unto that whereon thou standest. This is the reckoning of the Lord’s time, according to the reckoning of Kolob. And the Lord said unto me: The planet which is the lesser light, lesser than that which is to rule the day, even the night, is above or greater than that upon which thou standest in point of reckoning, for it moveth in order more slow; this is in order because it standeth above the earth upon which thou standest, therefore the reckoning of its time is not so many as to its number of days, and of months, and of years. And the Lord said unto me: Now, Abraham, these two facts exist, behold thine eyes see it; it is given unto thee to know the times of reckoning, and the set time, yea, the set time of the earth upon which thou standest, and the set time of the greater light which is set to rule the day, and the set time of the lesser light which is set to rule the night. Now the set time of the lesser light is a longer time as to its reckoning than the reckoning of the time of the earth upon which thou standest. And where these two facts exist, there shall be another fact above them, that is, there shall be another planet whose reckoning of time shall be longer still; and thus there shall be the reckoning of the time of one planet above another, until thou come nigh unto Kolob, which Kolob is after the reckoning of the Lord’s time; which Kolob is set nigh unto the throne of God, to govern all those planets which belong to the same order as that upon which thou standest…If two things exist, and there be one above the other, there shall be greater things above them; therefore Kolob is the greatest of all the Kokaubeam that thou hast seen, because it is nearest unto me. Now, if there be two things, one above the other, and the moon be above the earth, then it may be that a planet or a star may exist above it; and there is nothing that the Lord thy God shall take in his heart to do but what he will do it. (Abraham 3: 1-9, 16-17)

(It is important to understand that the Egyptians used the word “star” to mean both what we call stars and planet. A planet to us was a star to them. A star to us was also a star to them. So, each time in the above scripture it reads star, it is talking about a planet. In fact, in plasma cosmology, as all celestial bodies are charged bodies moving in a sea of plasma, they are all capable of discharging in glow mode, like stars do, given the right set of circumstances. So, the Egyptian use of the word stars when talking of planets is, technically, correct.)

In the Noachian Flood, the clues of plasma mythology and the existence and destruction of the axis mundi, which “was a stupendous high-energy plasma discharge tube with a semi-permanent character,” paint a picture that the tube’s “existence was terminated amid catastrophic circumstances.” In other words, Earth become cut off from the other planets in the stack, and eventually the other planets also broke away to wander in their current paths around our present Sun.

With the “disruption of this plasma column,” the Flood ensued. Many of the flood myths record that “the flood comes down from the sky.” The water of the flood may have been both water and discharging plasma. Also, according to van der Sluijs, “a significant number of flood myths insist that the water was no ordinary water, but a different substance – hot and fiery. Jewish legend had it that the rain was hot, scalding the skin of the sinners. The Makah of Washington, the Quileute, the Chimakum, the Salinan of California and the Ipurina of Brazilian Amazonia agreed that the earth was overwhelmed by a hot flood coming down from the sky.”

For more information on plasma mythology and the plasma formations that the ancients saw in the sky from their vantage point, read the following articles found on the Thunderbolts.info web site: The Naval Stone, The Mountain of the Gods, The Vortical Tree, The Bifurcated Mountain, The Pedestal of the Sun, Electric Universe: Part IV Plasma and World Mythology, Mystery of the Cosmic Thunderbolt (1), Prediction #5: Plasma Formations in the Ancient Sky, Plasma in the Lab and in Rock Art, Electric Universe: Part III The Nine Steps to Heaven, Mystery of the Cosmic Dragon, Origins of Rock Art.

So, plasma science opens up the possibility that a global flood did occur, since the breakaway of Earth from the rest of the stacked planets would cause world-wide catastrophe. The resulting plasma discharges, which might last a long time, would have very varied effects, but eventually they would die down until the planet settled into its new, free-floating environment. We also learn that the water covering the earth might not have been just the plain, ordinary kind, but might also have been, in fact, plasma.

Now, one of the principal arguments against a global flood is that there isn’t enough water to cover the entire planet. Plasma science solves this problem. I will explain this next.

Next Plasma Theology article: The Noachian Flood, Part Two: Electrically manufacturing OH

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The sun “borrows” its light and the planets or stars were “fixed”

According to Facsimile 2 in the Book of Abraham, Joseph Smith interpreted Figure 5 this way:

Joseph Smith said, “Is called in Egyptian Enish-go-on-dosh; this is one of the governing planets also, and is said by the Egyptians to be the Sun, and to borrow its light from Kolob through the medium of Kae-e-vanrash, which is the grand Key, or, in other words, the governing power, which governs fifteen other fixed planets or stars, as also Floeese or the Moon, the Earth and the Sun in their annual revolutions. This planet receives its power through the medium of Kli-flos-is-es, or Hah-ko-kau-beam, the stars represented by numbers 22 and 23, receiving light from the revolutions of Kolob.” (Abraham Facsimile 2, Figure 5)

Modern, mainstream science teaches us that the Sun is a giant nuclear fusion reactor. Millions of tons of hydrogen are converted through this reaction into millions of tons of helium and gamma rays each day. (Visit nineplants.org for additional, mainstream information on the Sun. Most of the Sun’s anomalies, though, are left out.) We are also taught that the Sun’s energy source comes from itself, not from outside sources.

In contrast, Mormonism teaches that the planet Enish-go-on-dosh (the Sun) borrows its light from Kolob through the medium of Kae-e-vanrish, which is the governing power. It also teaches that this planet receives its power (Kae-e-vanrish) from two other stars (or planets), which in turn receive their light from Kolob. (I will reserve discussion of Kolob for another article.)

Other LDS scriptures also teach that the universe is connected together to, shall we say, “power lines” (Kae-e-vanrish, the governing power) and that through this outside source of power or light, all things remain in their present state, giving light or power to each other. (See D&C 88: 4-13, 42-47.) So, Mormonism teaches that the Sun’s power comes from an outside source, whereas mainstream science teaches that the Sun’s power comes from an inside source.

The mainstream scientific view is one of individual, isolated bodies, radiating their inner energies outward. The LDS scriptural view is one of a connected circuit, each body receiving power from the previous one or ones and sending on the power to the next one or ones in line, but none of the bodies being the central power source (God being that source.)

Another interesting aspect of Figure 5’s interpretation by Joseph Smith is that the planets in Abraham’s day were fixed. The Lord stated that in Joseph’s day the courses of the planets were fixed (D&C 88: 43.) But in Abraham’s day, not just their courses were fixed, but the planets themselves were fixed. Currently, when we look at the planets of our solar system, we see nothing fixed. Before continuing, it may be helpful to look up the word fixed in Noah Webster’s 1828 dictionary, which was the dictionary in use at the time of the Abrahamic facsimile interpretation:

FIX’ED, pp. Settled; established; firm; fast; stable.

Fixed stars, are such stars as always retain the same apparent position and distance with respect to each other, and are thus distinguished from planets and comets, which are revolving bodies.

(from http://1828.mshaffer.com/d/word/fixed)

So, these fifteen planets, during the time of Abraham, were fixed, meaning that these planets always retained the same apparent position and distance with respect to each other, just as stars do now today. I stress that these were planets, not stars, in a fixed position, which does not correlate to what we see today.

Mainstream science would call our scriptures fantasy, as they don’t harmonize with the mainstream scientific theories about the planets and stars, nor with the assumed-to-be-true, mainstream history of this solar system. So, let’s turn to plasma science and plasma mythology to see if there is harmony with LDS scriptures.

First off, plasma cosmology teaches that the Sun’s power comes from outside, not inside. (See Solar Power, Internal or External?.) Plasma cosmology also teaches that all bodies in space are connected to each other via electrical circuits. (See The Electric Universe: Part 1, Bodies and Circuits.) Secondly, plasma mythology teaches that in antiquity the planets were not as far away as they now are. This is one of the reasons why the ancients knew so much about these now distant bodies, knowledge that is impossible to obtain without either the technology we now have or the planets themselves being much closer to Earth. Plasma mythology also teaches that anciently, there was a giant plasma column at the poles, which probably connected a stack of fixed planets. (See Saturn in Ancient Times and Stacked Ancestors.)

Note: None of these plasma researchers are LDS. Yet, their research shows that our LDS scriptures may, in fact, be descriptions of real plasma events and formations that occurred in the past and that will occur in the future.

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