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THINGS AS THEY ARE, WERE ARE TO COME

The Keys to Prophecy

ANTHONY E. LARSON

THINGS AS THEY ARE, WERE ARE TO COME

The Keys to Prophecy

Copyright 2004 Anthony E. Larson

Part of the mystique surrounding prophecy are the curious, symbolic images and phrases that seem to show up over and over. Whether in the writings of Ezekiel or the writings of Joseph Smith its almost like being a prophet included being a poet with a strange vocabulary. What if those symbolic images were based on things seen the world over in ancient times and Joseph Smith could offer us a key to unlock them?
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An Introduction
Thanks to modern revelation, Mormons understand quite well what the prophets taught. The gospel has been made very plain due to the restoration and the ministering of modern prophets. But there is one exception to that rule: prophecy. It seems that the imagery of prophecy is still, to a great extent, an enigma to us. Visions such as those of John in Revelation, Daniel, Ezekiel and Isaiah just to name a few are loaded with symbolism that mystifies us. Even some of Joseph Smiths prophecies have these same, symbolic features. Sections 88 and 133 of Doctrine and Covenants are a case in point. The fact that Joseph Smith used imagery consistent with that of the ancient prophets is a powerful verification of his calling as a prophet, but it still does little to help us interpret the mystifying symbolism of prophecy either ancient or modern. There has been no shortage of those who claim to have the answers to prophecy. A whole host of books attest to the sad fact that anyones guess is as good as anothers. A survey of the multitude of present offerings suggests that very nearly all of it is guesswork and hunches,

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1 An Introduction

since none of it actually gives the reader the tools to interpret prophecy. Each interpretation depends on its founders own approach. Of course, anyone can open the scriptures, turn to a prophetic passage and hazard a guess at the meaning of the inspired imagery found there. And many do. Warning of this very practice, Peter wrote, No prophecy of the scripture is of private interpretation. In fact, such guessing is at the heart of the confusion that reigns in Christendom where prophecy is concerned. The would-be interpreters either avoid the most mysterious imagery, or they try to interpret it by turning to speculation. The basic, underlying supposition of most analysts is that the Old Testament prophets, upon seeing our technologically advanced world in vision, were at a loss for words. Hence, they turned to imagery to describe what they saw in revelations. For example, an atomic bomb became a pillar of fire and smoke, or an attack helicopter firing missiles became locusts with stings in their tails. However, research suggests that the prophets were using traditional imagery of their time, talking about natural events of which we know little or nothing. Well see that we are oblivious to the the things that they took for granted. Most damaging is that modern expositors interpretations take to be literal what was meant to be imagery and metaphor. Contrarily, they also resort to the opposite device, making symbolic what was meant to be literal. Thus, they almost entirely sabotage the original meaning of the prophets words. What analysts universally fail to see is that there are numerous hints keys if you will found in the scriptures, modern revelation and ancient history that all move us closer to understanding prophecy. By letting the prophets speak for themselves, rather than interpreting their words, we discover those keys. There are hints everywhere in ancient cultures that the images of scriptural prophecy were customary, traditional images, common to all early peoples. Thus, the study of ancient iconography or symbolism becomes an invaluable interpretive tool in our quest to discern the meaning of prophetic imagery.

1 An Introduction

This article is the introduction to a series that identifies and explains the various keys to prophecy. Some are found in scripture, some in the words of modern prophets, some in science and some in comparative mythology. Singly, they are curiously insightful; jointly, they make a powerful case for a truly novel method of interpreting prophecy. Like fitting the pieces into a puzzle, each key adds a little to our understanding of prophecy, making the picture more complete. When all the pieces are in place, we see the big picture. They produce a comprehensive explanation of prophetic symbolism. They make prophecy plain and understandable for anyone. Hence, Joseph Smiths statement, Revelation is one of the plainest books God ever cause to be written. In subsequent installments in this series we will carefully search out and examine each of these clues as we unravel the mysteries of prophecy. But what may be even more exciting and enlightening is that this quest will also allow us to better understand all the ancient imagery found in the Bible and even in modern revelation. It will explain otherwise enigmatic statements by Joseph Smith and other modern prophets since his timestatements that have been neglected or dismissed by many lds scholars because of their seeming irrelevance or lack of substantiation. Still more remarkable is the discovery that this analysis will reveal uncommon knowledge about temples ancient and modern from the icons that adorn their exteriors and interiors to the very purpose of the rituals enacted within and what they are meant to teach us. It will also explain Joseph Smiths interest in things Egyptian and the revelations, such as the book of Abraham, which came from that study. So, as it turns out, this effort is fundamentally about understanding the gospel itself rather than just the narrow confines of prophecy. Indeed, this study will lead us to understand more clearly even the first principles and ordinances of the gospel, the very foundations of our faith. Only a study of correct principles could have such sweeping and profound implications and ramifications.

anthony e. larson, 2004

Joseph Smiths Marvelous Key

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Joseph Smiths Marvelous Key

The first and perhaps most crucial key to prophecy was revealed in this dispensation by Joseph Smith when he spoke on the subject of scriptural imagery. The prophets do not declare that they saw a beast or beasts, but that they saw the image or figure of a beast. Daniel did not see an actual bear or a lion, but the images or figures of those beasts. The translation should have been rendered image instead of beast, in every instance where beasts are mentioned by the prophets. (History of the Church, p. 343.) Josephs use of the term image makes his meaning clear. Similar terms used by todays scholars are icon, or symbol. In this context, all three words mean the same thing. That is, the images they saw were icons, not representations or pictures of the actual animals or creatures. Rather, what they saw were substitutes for the animals or beasts named. An example of these beasts from Daniel, cited by Joseph Smith, may help to clarify. The first was like a lion, and had eagles wings and was made stand upon the feet as a man . (Daniel 7:4.) Here is that very image of a beast that conforms to Daniels description. It is a lion with wings and it stands erect. It is the mythical Babylonian monster Tiamat, which, coincidentally, corresponds to Daniels Babylonian era. So, these images Joseph referred to are the icons of ancient cultures. When the prophets speak of seeing beasts in their visions, they mean

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Joseph Smiths Marvelous Key

that they saw the images, they being types to represent certain things. (Ibid., p. 343.) The profound importance of this bit of information becomes clear when we consider that images were the very things that the ancients venerated. When we look at Hebrew, Egyptian or Babylonian religious art, we are confronted by nothing but images and symbols. They are everywhere in ancient cultures, overwhelming and mysterious. Beasts arent the only images in prophecy. We read of kings, stars, mountains, highways, temples, locusts and women as well, to name just a few. Drawing on Josephs statement, we can infer that all these are meant to convey meaning and not depict real creatures, individuals or objects. Instead, they are meant to symbolize or represent cultural gods and traditions that were well understood by the people of their era. Open the quintessentially prophetic book of Revelation, and what leaps out at us, given this new perspective, are some of the same images we see on the walls of ancient temples and monuments. This is a key to scriptural iconography that almost everyone has missed, even though Joseph Smith made the connection, albeit obliquely. For example, in that same sermon, the prophet mentioned Daniels vision of a four-headed beast. One looked like a lion, another a bear and the third a leopard. The fourth he described as a dreadful and terrible, beast with ten heads. John apparently described seeing the same beast, although his description varies slightly from Daniels. And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. (Revelation 13:1.)

Joseph Smiths Marvelous Key

Further, John also described seeing aspects of the leopard, bear and lion in his beast. (Revelation 13:2.) This suggests that they were describing the same images. And John added this peculiar detail: And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. (Revelation 13:3.) Astoundingly, this beastwounded head and allwas depicted in Mesopotamian cylinder seal art hundreds of years before John and Daniel described seeing them in vision. Here we see the Babylonian dragon Tiamat, clearly the archetype of Johns and Daniels beast, doing battle with Marduk. Note that this illustration predates John and Daniel, meaning that these images were borrowed by the Hebrew prophets. Other examples of this link between ancient imagery and prophetic imagery are found in Ezekiel, Revelation and Abraham. Ezekiel also saw a creature with four heads, listed as that of a man, a lion, an ox and an eagle. (Ezekiel 1:10.) John listed the four as well as a man, a lion, a calf and an eagle. (Revelation 4:6, 7.) Most stunning of all to Latter-day Saints is that these same four beasts can be seen in Facsimile No. 1 in the Pearl of Great Price, where Joseph describes them as idolatrous gods, further confirming our thesis. S ome beasts of prophecy are virtually identical to the four images on Egyptian funerary jars, seen here beneath the couch on the Joseph Smith papyri. We tend to think of

3 The Prophets Language

scriptural imagery as unique, something completely separate and apart from that of other cultures and religions. But the above examples, and many more like them, amply demonstrate that this is not so. The prophets sacred imagery drew its symbolism from the same sources as the idolatrous imagery of the pagans, hence the conspicuous similarities between mythological imagery and scriptural imagery. As it turns out, we have been repeatedly exposed to these images. We simply failed to recognize them in the scriptures because our mindset told us they were images of things from the future, not the past. Thus, we see that while the visions of the prophets may have been about the future, the imagery they employed was already ancient in their day. So it is that we must first look backward in time to learn the meaning of those ancient symbols before we can properly attempt to interpret their use in visions of future events. This is likely what Peter meant when he wrote, We have also a more sure word of prophecy . (2 Peter 1:19.) That is to say, the images of prophecy were well established and understood in his day. Then, for clarity, he added, Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. (2 Peter 1:20.) In other words, guessing the preferred method of modern interpreters is out. Of course, to know the meaning of these symbols, they being types to represent certain things, as Joseph said, we must learn their source and what they meant to those who held them sacred.

anthony e. larson, 2004

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The Prophets Language

The bizarre and mystifying images employed by the prophets by all ancient cultures, in fact are derived from one common source: the heavens of antiquity. We have only to look at Hebrew history to determine this, though it is universally true of ancient cultures. Israel strayed into the same practices as their neighbors, though their prophets strove mightily to curb that idolatry. And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, and

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The Prophets Language

made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. (2 Kings 17:16) King Josiah attempted to put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven. (ibid. 23:5, italics added.) Clearly this host or group was not comprised of God and his angels, and the heaven spoken of is not Gods residence. The prophets referred to astral or cosmological bodies, as is specifically stated: the sun, moon, planets and stars. And the heaven spoken of is the vault of the sky over the Earth where all such astral bodies reside. This concept is key to understanding the meaning of the prophets. Pay particular attention to the fact that planets are listed, along with the sun and the moon, among the things designated as the host of heaven. Note that calves, cows and bulls were intrinsic symbols employed in their worship and the implication long recognized by scholars that Baal was an astral or cosmological deity. Likewise, illustrations of the Egyptian goddess Hathor always depict her either as a cow with what is called a sun disk between her horns or as a queen wearing a disk and horns on her head. In fact, it was the worship of astral images that the Lord, speaking through Moses, condemned lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them . (Deuteronomy 4:19.) So, the Israelites worshipped the stars and the planets in identical fashion to their neighbors the Babylonians, the Assyrians and the Egyptians. Scholars who study antiquity have long asserted this.

The Prophets Language

Joseph Smith, too, emphasized that the Egyptians gods represented planets and stars when he produced his explanations of his Egyptian papyri. It is no great leap of logic, therefore, to assume that the language of the prophets, immersed in Israelite culture, reflected that astral worship reverence for the stars, moon, sun and planets even though they condemned the practices associated with it. So it is that when we turn to the scriptures, we see an abundance of such cosmological imagery in prophetic declarations especially those concerning the last days. Tellingly, the same imagery can be found in other biblical pronouncements, illuminating their origins for us. Lets look at just one example. And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. (Revelation 12:1.) This woman, described by John, is the same woman worshipped by the idolatrous Israelites, their Queen of Heaven. But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem . (Jeremiah 44:17.) Sumerians also called their sky goddess, Inanna, the Queen of Heaven. She was the Babylonians Ishtar, the Assyrians Astarte and the Egyptians Hathor (Athyr), Isis, or Sekhmet. Of particular importance is that the very names of this goddess, Astarte, Ishtar and Athyr (the s is aspirated), have the same root as our word star, betraying their astral origin. They were all star goddesses. More familiar names for the same star goddess would include the Greek Aphrodite, Athena, and Artemis, or the Latin Venus, Minerva, and Diana. As we learned in the previous installment in this series, Joseph Smith indicated that such symbols are representations. When the prophets speak of seeing beasts [a woman in this case] in their visions, they mean that they saw the images, they being types to represent certain things. (History of the Church, p. 343.) In the case of the Egyptian papyri, Joseph explained that those images that did not represent some spiritual concept such as God or

4 Of Beasts and Men

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the priesthood, instead represented stars and planets. This is key. Like most Egyptian icons, the woman represents a star or a planet. Of course, in the ancient mind, both words can apply to the same image in the sky because they looked alike, mere pinpoints of light. But the archetype, the original image for these goddesses, was a planet. Joseph was emphatic about that. Yet another connection is provided by the fact that Hathor, who nearly all scholars agree represented the planet Venus, was a celestial calf or heifer the very same calf goddess worshipped by idolatrous Israelites, as we have seen. This lets us look at the woman of Revelation with new eyes. Substitute the word planet for woman, in the above verse, and you have a more relevant, understandable image that fits better with the sun, moon and stars imagery. The same kinds of connections can be made for nearly all prophetic images, such as the beasts, the mountain, the kings, horses and other creatures, further strengthening this assessment.

anthony e. larson, 2005

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Of Beasts and Men

Ancient monuments, temples, tombs and sacred texts are replete with strange, mysterious symbols and creatures. By comparing those symbols to the verbal imagery of prophecy, we learn that they gave rise to even more bizarre language. In order to understand the symbolism of the scriptures, we must allow ancient images to illuminate the texts, beliefs and traditions of the past, while permitting the texts, beliefs and traditions to illuminate the images. This is one key to understanding the strange language used by the prophets. A comparison will allow us to see how one gave rise to the other. Take the vision of John, for example, in Revelation. He described seeing four distinct creatures. And in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. (Revelation 4:6, 7.)

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4 Of Beasts and Men

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Ezekiel, too, saw four creatures in a similar setting. As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle. (Ezekiel 1:10.) The lists of creatures are identical, save that Ezekiel named an ox where John listed a calf. This is understandable given that the two prophets were separated in time by about 600 years, allowing for a slight shift in cultural symbolism. Of course, the universal mistake made by Bible scholars of all epochs is to assign some fantastic meaning to these symbolic creatures especially in Johns vision because he says these creatures surround the throne of God in heaven. In truth, the two prophets are probably describing something far more mundane, but quite remarkable, as we shall see momentarily. Most revealing is the fact that these four creatures are not unique to the Israelite religious tradition. They figure prominently in the religions of neighboring cultures the Egyptian, for example, where we meet them face-to-face in funerary art. They are called canopic figures. Curiously, human figures with the heads of beasts dominate Egyptian art. They are one of the most obvious features of their religious iconography. Named after Canopus, an area in the Nile delta region, these jars were funerary furniture used to house various organs of the deceased during internment rites. The four creatures were said to be the sons of Horus. The Egyptians employed the heads of a baboon and a jackal rather than the Israelite ox (calf) and lion. This variation is typical from culture to culture and across time, just as the names of the same gods varied. But there is no mistaking that the four creatures seen in prophetic vision also adorned the burial art of Egyptians for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years.

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Ezekiel is more specific in his description of the four. Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man. (Ezekiel 1:5.) So, these four looked like men with the heads of beasts, which is exactly what we see here. Anthropomorphic creatures animals with the body and limbs of humans figure prominently in Egyptian religious art. Curiously, this is the same thing the prophets describe seeing in their visions. Ezekiel described them as living creatures with the likeness of a man, which is exactly what we see here. Israelite tradition prohibited the use of such symbolic masks, thanks to the Ten Commandments, so these did not exist in the Israelite culture. Nevertheless, these four creatures figured prominently in their traditions, as weve seen in the visions of John and Ezekiel. More interesting still is the fact that these same four creatures are also found in the Pearl of Great Price. Two of the facsimiles copied from the Joseph Smith papyri show these same four canopic figures, described as four idolatrous gods. Significantly, most of the images for which Joseph provides explanations turn out to be planets and stars, suggesting that these four also represent celestial objects. This, as it turns out, is a key that will be explored in a subsequent installment in this series. As we have seen previously, the Israelites often strayed into pagan beliefs and practices. It should hardly be surprising that these four

5 Stars and Planets

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gods of their neighbors should show up in the system of symbols Israelites held sacred. What is not generally acknowledged is that the language of prophecy also draws on these types of well-known images from antiquity. While this explains the imagery of only a few passages of scriptural prophecy, these two, Revelation and Ezekiel, are among the most mysterious. This comparison clearly points out the mechanism of describing sacred images in narrative form: prophetic imagery is drawn from ancient images or idols. While this may be a surprising turn of events, this takes some of the mystery out of prophetic imagery.

anthony e. larson, 2005

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Stars and Planets

Up to this point in our examination of the many clues to the extravagant images of prophecy, we have learned that we need not look to mystical texts or veiled mysteries for our answers. Nor have we found that the answers lie in interpreting prophetic imagery with modern eyes. Instead, we have found the answers in a more mundane source, in the scriptures and in ancient history evidence that has been hiding in plain sight all along. We discovered that the dragons, man-beasts, women, kings, angels, stars and other odd images encountered in the scriptures are but descriptive word pictures of the images that the ancients worshipped, the same icons seen in ancient temples, tombs and monuments. We have seen that the imagery of prophecy and mythology spring from the same, ancient source, hence their similarities. The next step is a bit larger leap of logic, but a crucial one: What do those images represent? Looking at the Egyptian gods, we often see large circular icons on their heads, what scholars call sun disks. The juxtaposition of the disks and the gods is extremely meaningful. For example, in a common Egyptian theme or motif, Ra (Re) is pictured seated in a bark or ship with a disk above his head. This same

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scene can be seen on Facsimile No. 2, Figure 3, in the Book of Abraham. Scholars explain that the ancients were sun worshippers, so those disks must represent the sun. However, Joseph Smith contradicted that assumption when he gave us another key, and it has been before our very eyes for generations now. As Joseph repeatedly asserts in his explanations of the Pearl of Great Price facsimiles, those disks and creatures represented planets and stars, not the sun. The only exception is in Figure 5 in Facsimile No. 2, first called by Joseph a governing planet. He then adds the comment that the Egyptians called it the Sun, which is true of the late, corrupted Egyptian traditions his papyrus represented. But according to the earliest beliefs, her name designates this cow goddess as a star. The cow depicted in Figure 5 was called Hathor, as we have seen. Along with her equivalents in other cultures Astarte, Aster and Ishtar her name bore the root s-t-r sound of our word star (the s and t were pronounced with the th sound in Hathor.) Keep in mind that the ancients designated all celestial objects as stars. The word planet (derived from the Greek planeta, meaning wanderer) is a recent invention, thanks to the telescope that allows us to differentiate between stars and planets. Hence, Joseph Smiths designation of a s-t-r goddess as a planet is symbolically consistent and extremely meaningful. He thus implies that the stars they worshipped were actually planets, the very thing the juxtaposed disks suggest. Putting both the creature and the disk togethercommon practice in early Egyptian religious artwas symbolically accurate and a proper way to emphasize that they both represented the same thing, a planet or star. In fact, this was a functional way to label the figures, since most people were illiterate. Instead of text that read star, those pagan gods often carried or wore a symbol that bespoke their astral origin.

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Some of the more elaborately rendered disk images, painted and rendered in relief, look to be nearly virtual snapshots of planets, a few complete with a sun-lit crescent. Joseph Smiths explanation of disk images such as these was that they represented planets, which is what all such Egyptian disk images resemble. Lets look closely at how emphatic Joseph Smith was in his explanations of these disks and creatures. Kolob is said by Abraham to be the greatest of the stars (Kokaubeam), but it is represented in Facsimile No. 2, Figure 1 by a figure Egyptologists identify as Amon-Re or Khnum, the creator-god, thus implying that the god was an astral body. The baboons on either side have what scholars call moon disks, presumably because of the crescent beneath the disk, placed over their heads in the traditional Egyptian manner. But these disks do not represent the moon any more than others represent the sun. Joseph insisted that they are stars in his explanation of Figure 5. What becomes clear from this seeming contraction is that the objects the early Egyptians called stars would be called planets in our time. What we see, then, in the disk illustrations are not stars, but planets, complete with crescents. Only planets have sun-lit crescents, as depicted in ancient art, not stars. Joseph Smith understood. He did not confuse the issue, as modern scholars do. Indeed, one can suggest that what looks like confusion at first blush was no mix-up at all. By freely substituting the two terms, Joseph honored the ancient tradition. He acknowledged the ancients reality that some of todays stars, now mere pinpoints of light, were actually great, nearby planets in antiquity, which dominated Earths heavens and were worshipped by their ancestors as gods. Indeed, this hypothesis fits much better with Abrahams vision of the ancient heavens and Joseph Smiths explanations of the facsimile images than any current view.

anthony e. larson, 2005

6 A Great Star

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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 Smiths hints that the gods, goddesses, beasts and other images of antiquity all found their inspiration in Earths ancient heavens, some of the most mysterious icons suddenly appear to be virtual snapshots of what the ancients saw in Earths 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.

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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

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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 iconographyall seen in the Joseph Smith papyri as well as in apocalyptic and prophetic imagery. If the planetary gods 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, on the other hand, the planetary gods 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 and clarity, again the planetary disk is set between the horns. If the planets crescent appeared to be a ship carrying the planet around heaven, then the god with a disk over his head, naturallywould 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

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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 auroralike 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 commandsplits apart great mountains. An illustration taken from an Akkadian cylinder seal shows Ishtar (star) and her symbol, a planet with aurora-like streamers. The wheel symbol of the Babylonian god Shamash 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

7 A New Heaven, a New Earth

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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!

anthony e. larson, 2006

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A New Heaven, a New Earth

Our culture knows nothing of the incredible changes wrought in the heavens anciently. This is so because of our scientific view that there have been no significant changes in the solar systems arrangement during recorded history. But the scriptures and the prophets are insistent, in spite of our beliefs: The heavens have repeatedly changed throughout ancient history. This is a primary message the ancients and the prophets sought to convey to us across the millennia. The result: Our modern ignorance of the true past blinds us to the unanimous declarations of our distant ancestors. The concept of sweeping changes in the sky and the earth are found everywhere in the scriptures. For example, in the Doctrine and Covenants we read, 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 all old things shall pass away, and all things shall become new, even the heaven and the earth, and all the fullness thereof, both men and beasts, the fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea. (Doctrine and Covenants 29:23, 24.) Also, 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.) Perhaps the apostle Peter said it best when he spoke of the Deluge, explaining that it was the defining event that changed the old heavens

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A New Heaven, a New Earth

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into the sky we see today. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water. Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: 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. (2 Peter 3:5-7.) Then, he went on to further explain that a similar change was in store for us in the last days. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. (Ibid. 3:10.) We read the same sort of language in the texts of all ancient cultures, where we find the pervasive, ever-present fear that something terrible that happened in the past would repeat itself in the future. Indeed, all ancient cultures relate that there have been dramatic changes in the heavens, calling the epochs in between ages or suns. The Greek philosopher Hesiod associates these ages with various metals, as does Daniel in his Old Testament vision of the statue with a head of gold, a torso of silver, belly and thighs of brass and legs of iron. These fearsome changes were universally attributed to stars or planets in the form of gods, goddesses, beasts or serpents. Surely, then, Joseph Smith was correct to call these images of the ancients stars and planets, as we have seen. Even our language retains this key. The words for world-changing cataclysms are catastrophe (cat-astro-phe) and disaster (dis-aster). Both bear the same astr root as the names of the primary goddess/ stars of antiquity: Aster, Astarte, Ashtoreth or Hathor. In fact, one interpretation of the word disaster is literally from the star. This the ancients feared above all: destruction from the stars that changed everything. No wonder they were fiercely dedicated sky watchers, including prophets like Abraham, preoccupied with the motions of planets and stars. No wonder they endlessly adorned their texts, temples and tombs with symbols and metaphors of star gods, goddesses and beasts derived from the appearance of those planets. But because our culture and science turn a blind eye to these declarations, Latter-day Saints frequently fail to appreciate the many statements by Joseph Smith that echo the beliefs of the ancients: Planets and

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stars are the origins of almost all scriptural and prophetic imagery. Thats why those images dominate the exterior of lds temples, just as they did their ancient counterparts. Our temples reflect both realities, the past and the present heavens. Stars and planets on the Salt Lake Temple reflect an ancient, customary obsession with the heavens. On the west wall buttresses, near the bottom of the photo are Sunstones. In the middle are the stars of the constellation Ursa Major, the Big Dipper. Immediately above those is a repeated pattern of circles within a ring, called Saturnstones by Brigham Young. The prophets, both ancient and modern, understood this key. So should we.

anthony e. larson, 2005

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The Grand Sign

Major changes in the planetary order, some involving earth-threatening catastrophes, have occurred within human memory, and they were recorded by the survivors on the billboards of antiquitytemples and monuments as well as in sacred texts of all religions. This is a crucial key to understanding scriptural symbolism not only in prophecy, but also throughout sacred texts. For our culture, these are found in Old Testament events such as the Creation, the Deluge, the Tower of Babel, Sodom and Gomorrah, the Exodus, Joshuas Long Day, Elijahs fire from heaven, and many other such strange and mysterious accounts. The latter-day revelations, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price, reflect that same perspective with numerous accounts of world-changing events connected with

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heavenly objects or signs, casting Joseph Smith in the same cosmological role as all the biblical prophets. By every means at their command, cultures around the world attempted to communicate their experience to future generations to us. Through texts, myth, ritual and art, on parchment and stone, they sought to preserve a record of these tumultuous events. We fail to recognize them for what they are because we see nothing in our heavens even remotely similar to their accounts. The first institutions of civilization arose from ritual practices honoring, imitating and memorializing these events and the planetary powers involved. Those monuments, institutions and practices are remarkably preserved in our cultures even to this day, yet we fail to recognize them for what they are. Why, then, should it surprise anyone that the prophets would recall and employ the symbolism generated in their cultures by the physical phenomena associated with past planetary sky pageants to rehearse identical types of events they had foreseen in our future? Indeed, this is the crux of the story and a truth that Latter-day Saints should readily acknowledge. They knew it would happen again. The prophets knew that the interplanetary phenomena of past planetary catastrophes, complete with the myriad manifestations that fill ancient texts and adorn crumbling temple walls images, symbols and icons would once again be reinstated in the heavens at a future time they called the last days. This approach alone explains some peculiar revelations given through the prophet Joseph Smith in this dispensation. 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 this sign, as Joseph Smith implied, will be a planet that looks and behaves like a giant comet. Thats what all the heavenly signs in the past were. But what makes this planet most unusual is that it will make a close approach to the Earth close enough to instigate all the natural disasters outlined in the beginning of the prophets

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statement. (For a more thorough explanation of this concept, see Modern Signs.) The above quote from the prophet, as with all prophecy and ancient history, has little meaning unless seen from the perspective outlined in this series. Only from this point of view does it become truly meaningful, much more than a colorful metaphor. Now we see it for what it truly is: a completely understandable declaration of fact. The same is true with many revelations given to Joseph Smith. They are littered with such declarations. there shall appear a great sign in heaven, and all people shall see it together. Doctrine and Covenants 88:93, italics added.) I will rend their kingdoms; I will not only shake the earth, but the starry heavens shall tremble. 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 . (Ibid., 84:118, 119.) the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall be turned into blood, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and there shall be greater signs in heaven above and in the earth beneath; (Ibid., 29:14.) Modern revelation brings us the truth: knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come. (Ibid., 93:24.) This is a fundamental key. We have but to open the eyes of our understanding to receive it.

anthony e. larson, 2004

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Apollyon, the Destroyer

Like the histories of all ancient cultures, that of the Hebrews the Old Testamenttells the very same story of sky-spanning marvels and manifestations that profoundly and directly impacted their culture and beliefs. Comparing the names of the pagan gods they worshipped supports this conclusion, as we have seen. Having made that connection, we can now turn to the scriptural record to see how well that knowledge helps our comprehension of symbolism that otherwise seems unfathomable. For example, Baal, a figure we see often in the Old Testament, was the god of the Canaanites, sometimes neighbors and enemies of the

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Israelites. From time to time in their history most Israelites worshipped him as well, to the dismay of the prophets. Apollo was the Greek equivalent of Baal. In fact, the name is the same, altered only by linguistic preferences. The Greeks added an antecedent a (a-baal), softened the hard b sound to a p and then added an o ending (a-paal-o). The conclusion: The Greeks worshipped the same sky god as the Canaanites and the apostate Israelites. Although the Greeks god Ares is more typically associated by scholars with the Roman war god, Mars, others insist that Apollo (Apollon/ Apollyon) was also a Greek equivalent. For that reason, Apollo was virtually adopted intact from the Greek into the Roman pantheon. So, as we make cross-cultural connections of these gods, we learn that the Old Testament god Baal is the same as the Greek Apollo and the Roman god of war, Mars. The planets in our solar system, such as Mars, were not arbitrarily assigned the names of mythical gods, as most suppose. The nine known planets bear the names of Roman gods and goddesses because some of them were the gods that once stood near to or passed perilously close to the Earth, illuminating and dominating the ancient heavens as well as occasionally raining destruction on the worlds civilizations. In fact, Revelations Apollyon is usually translated destroyer, a fitting description of Apollos Roman counterpart, the warrior god Mars. These connections become particularly useful when we consider the following enigmatic passage from Johns vision. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. (Revelation 9:11.) Earlier in that same chapter, it is a star that opens the bottomless pit. Of course, weve learned in earlier installments in this series that the ancients commonly called planets that once hovered near the Earth stars.

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Can you see where this is leading? John implied that, this king, angel or star Apollyon was the planet Mars. This is the key. Thus, we learn many things from Johns carefully worded explanation in these few verses. Foremost, we learn that this king, which is also the angel of the bottomless pit and the star that fell to the earth, is a planet. Thus, we must conclude that other references to kings, angels, beasts, stars and creatures in Johns account may be references to planets as well. This tendency to use common images to describe celestial objects is still practiced today where star constellations are given names like Great Bear, Lion and Archer, and where the greatest star cluster is called the Milky Way. Its a cultural tradition from antiquity, employed by John, which we preserve in the present. It also fits perfectly with Joseph Smiths teaching that the beasts seen by prophets in heavenly visions are not beasts at all but images meant to represent something else. (For clarification of this, see Joseph Smiths Marvelous Key.) We can also now see that John drew upon traditions common to all cultures around the Mediterranean to describe the future. This practice of drawing on the past to describe the future is a common literary device used by the prophets Nephi and Isaiah, for example one that John employed throughout his record. Also implied is the idea that the imagery of the entire vision draws heavily upon the cultural traditions of Johns time, employing the sacred, mythical stories of those pagan cultures of the seven churches which are in Asia that John addressed in Revelation to explain the place of Christ in those traditions as well as events of the last days. Thus, the images or icons embodied in those ancient cultural traditions are the keys to interpreting all the imagery of Johns enigmatic vision, Revelation. And so it is, too, with all the visions of the prophets recorded in scripture. Armed with these keys, which are an understanding of the meaning of that imagery, the most mysterious symbolism of the scriptures becomes easy reading. In order to properly understand all these mysterious, symbolic references, we must know both what these traditions were and their origins. We cannot simply guess at their meaning, as do most modern expositors of prophecy. Such gratuitous speculation is commonplace, though dangerously misleading.

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In order to grasp the meaning of prophecy, we must know as much about the past as we do the present.

anthony e. larson, 2005

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What Joseph Taught

Certainly, some will say that discussions of ancient myths, gods, goddesses and pagan beliefs have little to do with the restored gospel. To others, perhaps all this analysis of prophetic symbols, planets, stars, beasts and dragons seems a bit tedious and removed from core gospel principles. Most Saints pay little heed to such things in their gospel study, seeing it as irrelevant and therefore largely valueless. After all, they reason, if reading the scriptures and praying are sufficient to understand the gospel, why not leave the study of planets and stars to the astronomers and analysis of pagan gods and goddesses to the mythologists? The reply to such dismissive notions is the evidence that Joseph Smith diligently studied and taught these things. It was Joseph who first wrote and spoke of planets and stars in connection with both ancient and prophetic events. It was Joseph who placed the Egyptian documents alongside modern revelation and then included explanations. It was Joseph who gave the pattern for those icons collocated on modern temple walls not as mere dcor, but as teaching tools. Isnt that incentive enough to look into these keys? Indeed, the fact that Joseph taught these things makes it incumbent upon every Latter-day Saint to learn all they can about them. If he deemed them important enough to reveal, we ignore them at our own peril. These keys bear directly upon otherwise arcane aspects of the restored gospel, successfully explaining what has heretofore remained a mystery to most Saints things such as temple symbols, the Pearl of Great Price facsimiles and a uniform system for interpreting prophecy. Who would have thought that a systematic approach to the symbolism of prophecy would also explain such divergent elements as temple icons and Egyptian facsimiles? A few examples that amplify one theme should suffice to convince us.

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We have already seen Josephs planet, comet description of the grand sign of the last days and the second coming, recorded in his own journal, History of the Church. That puts cosmic phenomena squarely under the prophecy heading. In keeping with Josephs statement, in a 1951 General Conference talk, Elder LeGrand Richards reinforced the concept, saying that the latter-day signs will be caused by some great phenomenon in the heavens, (a) misplacement of planets . An interview with Homer M. Brown, a past Patriarch of the Granite, Utah, Stake, father of Elder Hugh B. Brown and grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Brown, who gave Joseph Smith sanctuary from a mob in Nauvoo one evening, more fully explains the role of this misplaced planet and its effect on our Earth. According to Patriarch Brown, these are Josephs words to his grandparents regarding a future encounter between a rogue planet and our Earth. Now, let me ask you what would cause the everlasting hills to tremble with more violence than the coming together of the two planets? Now, scientists will tell you that it is not scientific, that two planets coming together would be disastrous to both. But, when two planets or other objects are traveling in the same direction and one of them with a little greater velocity than the other, it would not be disastrous because the one traveling faster would overtake the other. Corroboration comes from the journal of another early Saint, Samuel Hollister Rogers. He paraphrases the prophet thusly: Not that the planets will come squarely against each other, in such case both planets would be broken to pieces. But in their rolling motion they will come together which will cause the earth to reel to and fro. Further confirmation is found in the Charles Walker journal, wherein he recounts learning from Eliza R. Snow that Joseph had taught her the coming together of these two bodies or orbs would cause a shock and make the Earth reel to and fro like a drunken man. From these few samples, we begin to see that the prophet obviously

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elaborated on this theme on many occasions, as we learn from yet another journal. Wandle Mace described the same planetary conjunction scenario, adding this anecdote from the prophet: Some of you brethren have been coming up the river on a steamboat, and while seated at the table, the steamboat (ran) against a snag which upset the table and scattered the dishes. So it will be (when these planets come together). It will make the earth reel to and fro like a drunken man. Without the keys presented in this series, such remarkably consistent statements, attributed to Joseph Smith by early church members, have been discounted as extravagant and speculative by lds scholars and all but forgotten in recent years by church members. Yet, when seen in the proper context, they become corroborative of our thesis. They argue eloquently for Josephs view of the role that a vagabond planet will play in our future.

anthony e. larson, 2005

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Prophecy and the Restored Gospel

This series has identified several keys to prophecy in the restored gospel. When we let our scriptures speak for themselves, without imposing our own modern, scientific preconceptions upon them, an entirely different picture of the past emerges than the one weve been taught. It was in Earths ancient heavens the Creators most spectacular canvas that all ancient imagery originated. It is there we must look for the source of all the symbols used by the ancients to depict their gods, even the true God. Thus we see that the imagery of the scriptures as well is reflected in the religious, astral icons of the past. The symbolic icons give meaning to the scriptural imagery, and the scriptural imagery gives meaning to the symbolic icons, as is the case with the Egyptian facsimiles and Abraham. They complement and illuminate one another. With that revised picture, ancient texts become accurate, eyewitness records of marvelous astronomical manifestations that we can only remotely comprehend. The images carved on the walls of ancient tombs, temples and monuments come alive with meaning.

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With this improved perspective, explanations of prophecy, offered by Joseph Smith and all the prophets, turn from metaphorical niceties to accurate, detailed descriptions. The only way that planets or stars could so profoundly influence peoples of the ancient world an influence sufficiently strong to give rise to the religious traditions and symbolism of their cultures is if those orbs were manifestly closer than they are today. Unlike the mere pinpoints of light we see in our night sky, they must have stood in overwhelming proximity, dominating the ancient sky watchers view, giving rise to the primary symbolic themes of those past cultures. If we allow the traditions, symbols and rituals of the past to speak for themselves, that is the message they convey. Thus we see that the stories from ancient cultures the world over of astral gods and goddesses who performed marvelous feats and engaged in heaven-spanning battle may have been based in the appearance and movements of these same planets in a near-Earth environment a concept flatly denied by modern science and rejected by orthodox Christianity, yet supported by Joseph Smiths observations. The reason all these images are an enigma to us can be found in relatively recent history when our culture swerved away from their use and adopted a rational view of ancient history, as is taught in educational institutions everywhere in the world today. Cultural, religious traditions that once taught of recent, dramatic changes in the heavens accounts held sacred by our ancestors became myths and fairy tales. We divorced ourselves from our cultural roots. We cut ourselves off from the message the ancients struggled to convey, the one they assumed would be universally understood: They had seen marvelous works and wonders in the heavens. The odd thing is that we dont understand that. In fact, we believe just the opposite: the heavens have always appeared as they do now. That flawed, myopic belief prevents us from seeing what the ancients sought mightily to convey. Also, this is why the imagery of prophecy and mythology are remarkably similar. They derive from the same source: our early cultural and religious tradition from which we divorced ourselves in the Age of Enlightenment. It is for this reason that the Bible was rejected by

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the emerging cult of science and scholasticism. In so doing, we threw the baby out with the bath water. The oddity in all this is that the guardians of religious traditions fell victims to the same thinking. They rejected that same imagery, saying that it was pagan, that it had nothing to do with the proper practice of Christianity. That left us without the touchstone we need to interpret the imagery of prophecy throughout the scriptures, until Joseph Smith restored that knowledge. To unravel the mystery that is prophecy, you must first learn the symbolism of antiquity and the cosmological images from which it sprang prodigious, heaven-spanning displays of awe-inspiring plasma phenomena generated in a neighboring conjunction of planets that produced a monumental sound and light show seen the world over. This dramatic celestial phantasmagoria dominated Earths skies in the earliest epoch of history and indelibly impressed itself on the mind and spirit of all early cultures. This illustration is stunning evidence that Joseph believed this. According to Philo Dibble, Joseph Smiths bodyguard, this is the prophets illustration of the planetary arrangement that existed in Earths ancient heavens. This stacked arrangement in common, polar alignment caused them to appear stationary in the heavens. The prophet even included the apparent connections between planets caused by the plasma phenomenon, as depicted in this artists conception. These astral events gave rise to the cryptic icons that adorn the walls of ancient monuments, temples and tombs virtual snapshots, in many cases, of things seen in those an-

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cient skies. Appropriately, they also decorate modern temples a testament in stone to the restoration of truth. The metaphorical language of the prophets also arose from those events. The rhetorical counterparts of those enigmatic symbols fill the revelations of both ancient and modern prophets. They are the keys to most scriptural symbolism. Knowing this makes prophecy plain and easy to understand, as Joseph Smith said. It also touches on every point of doctrine in the restored gospel revealed through him in these latter days.

anthony e. larson, 2005

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The Gospel Litmus Test

A chemist can determine the pH of any substance by dipping a bit of colored paper into it. Called litmus paper, its color changes depending upon the acidity or alkalinity of the compound in question one color if it is acidic, another if it is basic. Its a fundamental and uncomplicated test. There is a similar such test to determine the extent of our gospel comprehension, to determine how well we study and comprehend the scriptures. Its called prophecy. Most Latter-day Saints are likely to dismiss such a notion out of hand, since they consider prophecy to be a rather esoteric and narrow part of the gospel and thus the least likely candidate for such a gauge or standard. After all, prophetic symbolism seems to have little to do with the day-to-day, practical application of our religion. So, how can one possibly construe prophecy to be a test for anything, much less the depth of our gospel understanding? It is precisely because the colorful and peculiar imagery of prophecy permeates all of scripture, not just prophetic visions. It is the symbol and imagery-laden language of the prophets. The beasts seen in Ezekiels and Daniels visions as well as those seen by John in Revelation are the same beasts that are seen on Joseph Smiths facsimiles and those described in Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price.

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The miracles of the Exodus are the same as the signs in Revelation, and they corroborate and illuminate Joseph Smiths statements about the nature of latter-day signs in his journal, History of the Church. The planets, stars and other enigmatic symbols that adorn our latter-day temples are also found in our sacred texts, and the explicitly symbolic nature of the rituals and fixtures found within those hallowed walls point us to the lofty value that latter-day prophets placed on that imagery, however obscure it may seem to us. Perhaps more telling is the fact that after the heavens were effectively sealed for centuries, of all the choice scripture that the angel Moroni could have chosen to quote to the young Joseph Smith when he first appeared to him in 1823, he quoted prophecy Malachi, Isaiah, and Joel. Its message is that important. Prophecy is at the heart of our religion, though we seem reluctant to acknowledge that truth. The gospel was restored and the church was subsequently founded on the notion of Adventism, the doctrine that the second coming of Christ, in the wake of a worldwide destruction called the apocalypse, is near at hand. Instead, we almost universally focus on the spiritual message of the scriptures, disregarding the imagery as mere poetic affectation. In doing so, we overlook fully half of the information in the scriptures. Like the proverbial forest in the trees, it is virtually invisible to us. As a result, our gospel comprehension suffers. We cannot make sense of the bizarre imagery of prophecy. We also fail to see much of what the sacred texts were meant to convey. We go through temple sessions without grasping the profound enormity of the message that the imagery we see there represents. When we look at Joseph Smiths facsimiles, we see them only as oddities and curiosities that once entertained the passing interest of a prophet rather than the very keys to gospel comprehension. In making all these omissions, we dismiss as inconsequential the message God and his prophets have carefully placed before us. We dismiss a vital part of the gospel of Jesus Christ as mere decorative glitter. If the spiritual message of salvation is the gospels heart and soul, then the imagery and symbolism are its bone and sinew. Thats why its found everywhere in the restored church, from the scriptures, to the temples, to the discourses of modern prophets.

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This is our litmus test: To the extent to which we do or do not understand the imagery of prophecy, we also fail to understand the rest of scriptural imagery. Our casual acquaintance with our own gospel betrays a lack of study and dedication to its comprehension. We do not search the scriptures, as weve been counseled to do. We skim through them. We read, but without comprehension. Hence, we get repeated pleas from the brethren to read our scriptures the most recent: Read the Book of Mormon. Thus, our comprehension of prophecy is a clear indication of our overall gospel understanding. This being the case, most of us fail the gospel litmus test, since for most Latter-day Saints prophecy is a mystery, wrapped in a conundrum, couched in an enigma.

anthony e. larson, 2005

For more essays from this series: http://mormonprophecy.blogspot.com/ For online classes, videos, newsletters and published books exploring this material in depth: http://www.mormonprophecy.com/ Your questions or comments are welcome: anthonyelarson@gmail.com