The Scriptures and an Electric Universe - Part 4
15. The Cosmism Manifesto
Part 1
Part 2
PART 4: THE TABERNACLE TO JOSHUA’S LONG DAY
We continue to explore how our restored-cosmism perspective sheds additional light and depth to the witness of the scriptures.
In Part 1 we explored general scriptural events on a timeline from Creation to Abraham.
In Part 2 we explored the same continuing on down from Abraham to Moses, where we stopped after the Red Sea.
In Part 3 we covered topics from the ‘shadow of death’ that accompanied Israel in their wanderings to the golden calf and their immediate temptation in planetary idolatry.
Here in Part 4 we will visit:
The Face of Moses Shown
The Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant
Seraphim and the Bronze Serpent
Joshua’s Long Day
THE FACE OF MOSES SHOWN
One of our fundamental framework assumptions is that Celestial and transfigured bodies are filled with and powered by light (electromagnetism) rather than by blood - this episode of Moses descending from Sinai glowing is an obvious and powerful evidence. We read in Exodus 34:
In verse 29, it says “that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him” - the footnote there for wist reads ‘knew’. He didn’t realize he was glowing as he spoke with the Lord, or even as he came down the mount with the stone tablets.
But then the fear expressed by Aaron and the camp as Moses approached surely clued him in. He resolved to covered his face with a veil as he conveyed the Lord’s message to Israel, helping them to focus on the message - and not just his Transfigured appearance. But that very miraculous appearance witnessed to the authority and validity of the calling bestowed upon Moses. It was another visible miracle given to Israel to soften their hard hearts and prepare their minds to be led along unto exaltation.
Moses is classically depicted as having horns during this event. It’s likely that there wasn’t a perfect word for ‘rays of light’ so horns of light were used because they too symbolically expresses the same visual phenomenon - but it also stacks onto (or is like) the sacred bull of heaven symbolism of the larger electromagnetic manifestation happening in heaven. Horns above, horns below. Rays of light above, rays of light below. The Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven1.
Here are some classical interpretations:
Here’s one I created that is my personal favorite Moses depiction:
We will explore this concept with other scriptural events like the ‘cloven tongues like as of fire’ at Pentecost which are a similar manifestation of the Spirit of Revelation - being bodies filled with Truth and Light.
This same physical light phenomenon around the crown of a person is where we get the visual motifs of both the ‘halo’ above the head of an inspired or pure (heart) individual as well as the visual of a light-bulb above the head of a person with an inspired idea. A revelation.
Moses appeared to them as God - a Holy, Sanctified Man - for the Presence and power of God accompanied and abode with him.
This manifestation to Israel was a mercy. They were not worthy to see the Lord for themselves, but they were given to witness Moses Transfigured so as to have greater confidence that he was indeed being instructed and led by the Lord. All of this on top of what they had already witnessed coming out of Egypt. Manifestations to match the extreme circumstances.
THE TABERNACLE AND THE ARK OF THE COVENANT
Along with the 10 Commandments, Moses received very specific directions from the Lord to construct a Tabernacle, a physical (yet temporary) structure to represent the body and presence of the Lord amidst His people. It would be a physical structure to represent a shining Moses they had just witnessed. It would also be the place to where God would require their sacrifices and ordinances to be performed, and from where the Law of God would emanate - just as at Sinai.
They were to build a House/Tent for the Lord so that his presence could come down and dwell/abide with Israel, to endow them with the light needed for their desired transformation. Jehovah was now the King of a developing daughter of Zion and required a throne and mercy seat so as to establish her in his strength through covenant by ordinance.
Here is a diagram of the Tabernacle I found with an image search:
Here’s a link to review the Bible Dictionary’s definition of the Tabernacle. Let’s do that at this point.
I like the last line of that entry in context of our macro perspective into this.
“Isaiah uses the figure of the tabernacle as a foreshadowing of Zion and the holy city of Jerusalem when it is built up at the Lord’s Second Coming (Isa. 33:20).” Read Isaiah 33 Chapter heading, then read from verse 13 to the end of the chapter. Note the use of bread, water, heart (white stone grouping) - then he transitions to the vision of Millennial Zion as the permanent version of the Tabernacle.
Tabernacle = Temporary = Mortality = Wandering
Zion/New Jerusalem = Permanent = Immortality = Millennial Promised Land (Paradisical>Celestial Earth)
This tracks and stacks with the White Stone Thesis - which points our vision to the resurrection and our goal of preparing a body (work) that is capable of receiving Celestial Glory, and it is through the Lamb of God that we SEE those promised blessings flow. The very Savior who transfigured and made Moses to glow and who is commanding them to build the Tabernacle. It is His House - a similitude of the Paradise that was lost in Eden where Man could walk with and talk with God, face to face.
This commandant to build a Tabernacle is a direct parallel positive to the negative episode of the golden calf and Israel’s overzealous worship of what they were witnessing in heaven above them. Consider that the symbols of the ox and pillars and cherubim and golden items were still incorporated into the building up of the approved Tabernacle (and later the Temple) and new pinnacle of sacrifice and worship in their life. As we previously discussed, the golden calf was Israel’s attempt at worship through the casting of an image. They made a graven image that reflected what they saw in heaven and on Earth - and they worshipped it.
They did not know the true object of their worship.
Read the full commandment regarding images - verse 4 ends with a colon, not a period.
The golden calf and pillar where a likeness of the Shechinah [Shekinah] - this very plasma display (pillar of fire and a cloud) that our cosmic layer sheds waves of light upon.
Medieval Jewish monk Maimonides regarded the Shechinah “as a light created to be an intermediary between God and the world”. In the online Jewish Encyclopedia it is also described like this:
“Although the Shekinah was enthroned in heaven, it observed and scrutinized mankind. The Tabernacle was erected in order that the Shekinah might dwell on earth and it actually entered the Holy of Holies. Wheresoever the Israelites went in exile the Shekinah accompanied them; and when they were redeemed it likewise was released.”
PERSONIFICATION OF THE TABERNACLE - HEAVEN MAN LAYERS
The Tabernacle helped Israel in the correction of their worship. It was itself, in the very design given by the Lord, a personification of not only the true object of their faith [Jesus Christ and his Body and Throne], but at the same time a personification of His purpose, His ‘Work and His Glory’, the Plan of Salvation [To bring to pass the immortality and Eternal Life of Man (Moses 1:39)]. We begin as Adam, cursed unto death and fallen from Heaven to Earth - but in process of time we are clothed, fed, given further light and knowledge, and eventually endowed and perfected through Christ back to immortality. Christ is the Man who brings us back to Heaven. The Temple personifies all of that and more!
The Tabernacle, with all it’s parts together and the ordinances performed therein, did not only embody a more correct representation of what the Shechinah appeared to be, but it was a landing pad and a literal place for it to dwell, to abide, to stay. Heaven (the Shechinah/Light/Presence) would come down and rest upon it - a witness to it’s proper construction.
I’m talking about stacking symbolic layers on the Tabernacle. From an aerial perspective the Tabernacle was organized as the human body. We’ve already hinted at this in previous essays - its’s even more evident in the construction of the Temple of Solomon (images below are of that Temple) but the concept is the same starting with the tent of skins in the lone and dreary wilderness under the direction of Moses.
And here’s a more explicit representation of the Son of Man (Heaven Man) in the arrangement of the Tabernacle furnishings. Remember, we covenant with the Lord to take HIS NAME upon us - we are trying to be like Him - we seek to be perfect even as he is, and as such we must become swallowed up in his TEMPLATE to receive a resurrected and glorified immortal body like His.
All of the layers that stack on the Tabernacle and the Temple point our reconciliation to Eternal Life. To know and be like Jesus Christ and the Father.
Making and keeping of ‘Temple’ Covenants with God is the only authorized path to elect or choose for ourselves the type of Glorified Resurrected Body (‘Temple’) we will gain in eternal Judgment after death (and sometimes still in time, i.e. Translation). This is our ability through agency to seek for an ETERNAL name and city, our divine inheritance! Eternal Life is the greatest gift God can give!
As we’ve touched upon throughout this Manifesto, this idea of seeking for a name and a city is a common theme among nearly all world civilizations and their mythologies and traditions. All spirits who are embodied on this planet spiritually yearn for our Paradise Lost, our Celestial environment. Death, physical and spiritual, are simultaneously the obstacles and the requirements for redemption in our fallen and cursed state. Only through Christ’s Atonement do we overcome according to the law we live.
Consider how we use the words ‘Covenant’ and ‘Testament’ interchangeably.
See the Bible Dictionary definition of ‘Covenant’:
What were ‘the severe consequences to Ananias and Sapphira’?
It was death!
Our Covenants with God to secure Eternal Life transcend mortality and thus require death. Death of the carnal man.
We symbolically enact this ‘death’ with our baptism as we are buried in the water by immersion and lifted up to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost and to be confirmed a member and unified to Christ’s body(Church). The baptism by fire and the Gift of the Holy Ghost is the constant companionship and life-support or access that we are given to learn the truth of all things including the Celestial Laws required for a Celestial body and Temple.
Notice how our covenant path starts with death - this baptismal water death is only the gate that leads to the Tabernacle/Temple. Inside the Lord’s House and body, more ordinances of unification and resurrection and the endowment of glory and power are made available by virtue of the restoration of the Priesthood. We are washed and initiated into the covenants and ordinances that bind and anoint and endow us with knowledge and wisdom to become like Jesus Christ.
These ordinances bring our mind and heart to focus on mortal death and Eternal life, on the spirit world and the promise of a Celestial resurrection. Consider Alma’s wise counsel - notice the Temple language and the themes of (death/mortality/spirits, etc.):
All of God’s children will have a fair opportunity to choose our ultimate destination. The timing of our literal mortal death, only the Lord knows - at the funeral of Elder Richard L. Evans (of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles) President Joseph Fielding Smith said,
“..no righteous man is taken before his time. In the case of the faithful Saints, they are simply transferred to other fields of labor. The Lord’s work goes on in this life, in the world of spirits, and in the kingdoms of glory where men go after their resurrection.”
Circling back to a covenant and how we also call it a testament - take a peek at the definition and etymology.
We use this word today in the legal sense when talking about creating and leaving a ‘last will and testament’. In this context, a will and testament is a legal document that specifies how an individual's assets should be distributed when they die.
Let's recall that Christ is the “appointed heir of all things”, inheritor of all things.
And we, by becoming an adopted part of his body and his tent and his Temple, are to be crowned joint-heirs with HIM!
And what is an heir?
Like we explored in the essay Of Kings and Kingdoms, and yes - I’m beating a repetitive drum - the Celestial inheritance is what our Temple covenants give us access to through Jesus Christ and our faithfulness. It's how we return home. Our Temple covenants are the steps on the stairway to Heaven - they are the rungs on Jacob's Ladder as we previously identified.
In the New Testament, when Nathaniel meets Jesus for the first time and proclaims that He is the Son of God, Jesus responds with a related metaphor to confirm Nathaniel's conviction of who He is and what He provides.
Verse 51 is an allusion to Jacob’s Ladder where Christ identifies HIMSELF as the ladder/stairway/Temple that the angels of God ascend and descend upon - in this context he is affirming his claim that He is the connection between Heaven and Earth, the Atonement, the Heaven Man. He’s pointing forward to the Heavenly Temple of the Millennium - the Transfiguration of the Earth2.
We have these body/tabernacle/temple layers that we must stack together:
Our individual body as Tabernacle/Temple (ours)
Tabernacle/Temple as literal building on Earth
Tabernacle/Temple personified as Christ and His Body (Ascending to Heaven through embrace [wrestle] with Him)
Tabernacle/Temple personified as the process (work and glory) of the Plan of Exaltation
Cosmic Tabernacle/Temple as Earthy reflection (type) of Heavenly Temple/Throne (a unified configuration of worlds, or a system/body of planets/stars where Earth is the footstool)
The Temple truly is the axis upon which all things true pivot. I invite you to ponder these stacked layers of symbolism that the building we give service and worship in represents as you seek to progress here in the quest to become like Jesus, to be healed by this shine.
TABERNACLE AS THE BODY
I will provide a highlight-style list of certain symbolic correlations that I feel powerfully support this association we are painting of the Tabernacle/Temple as a personified body. Did you know that it took Moses and the Israelites about 40 weeks, or 9 months to complete the construction of the Tabernacle? The normal gestation period for a mother is 9 months. Wow, very interesting! But that could just be a coincidence, right?
The Tabernacle as temporary - the Temple as permanent. Mortal to Immortal body parallel - one is made of skins and used while wandering in the lone and dreary world, the other is made of stone and fixed in the inherited city, the Promised Land. This historical transition reflects our temporal transition from mortality to immortality, and especially in the context of our Celestial goal (to end up with a Celestial Body & Glory = Eternal Life). Consider one of the promises to him that overcometh from the Revelation of Christ by John. Our own Temples(bodies) will he make become a pillar, which would imply by the pattern above that we would have permanent inheritance with the Lord in his House in the Eternal Kingdom of God.
12 is a number of construction, a symbol of Priesthood and “its power and right to govern” (Gaskill, The Lost Language of Symbolism p. 134). We can find 12 most obviously in how the camp of Israel was arranged around the Tabernacle when it camped - and later with the Temple of Solomon we find it under the laver where 12 oxen facing the cardinal directions are placed. Is it any wonder that Christ, called round about himself 12 Apostles to whom he gave the Priesthood and authority to govern His Church Body and to judge the House of Israel?3
Mormon 3: 17-19 There exist 12 main governing Systems of the Body - apart from the literal positioning of the 12 Tribes of Israel around the Tabernacle, you will find most of these systems analogous in the Tabernacle’s construction, ritual instruction, and in the items and their functions commanded to be placed within.
One example - there are four layers of skin in our body’s integumentary system: dermis, epidermis, subcutaneous, and the hair.
The Tabernacle was also constructed with four layers of covering - skins.
4 Different types of skins/coverings 
Another - there are three main muscle groups in the body - the smooth muscles (organs), the cardiac muscles (heart), and the skeletal muscles (bones/structure).
When the Tabernacle had to be moved, it was moved by three different groups of Levite Priests - See Numbers 4. Gershon was in charge of the fabrics and outer things, Merari carried the structural elements, and Kohath was in charge of the most sacred inner items.
The posts and boards of the Tabernacle are analogous to the skeletal system, and so on. You can get very detailed comparing biology to theology and construction in the Tabernacle/Temple.
We'll use the 7 primary items or vessels within the Tabernacle as a blanket introduction to this concept and study.
1) [Outer Court] Altar of Sacrifice as Altar of Consumption (we are bodies of consumption), representative of the digestive system. Where what we consumed is burned up and absorbed and turned into energy. The large intestine makes a square with the different colon parts - the small intestine acts as the grate where the burning up takes place.
What happens to the waste?
It is evacuated without (outside) the body/camp through the gate.
2) [Outer Court] After the bloody sacrifice (and during initiation: think about our initiatory ordinance in the Temple today, it’s all about receiving a body and washing and anointing it’s parts/organs and then coving it with new skin [garment/robes]), the priests would wash in the Laver of Cleansing in the court round about. This is analogous to the renal system - where the blood and water of the body is daily filtered, purified, and regulated.
Apart from the daily rituals - all of these vessels/organs/furniture-pieces were anointed with oil too to sanctify them before official priestly use.
Here are some depictions of the laver
3) [Inner Court] The Table of Showbread - moving into the Inner Court, the Lord commanded Israel to build a table, ‘crowned’ with gold to hold 12 loaves of “the Bread of the Presence” made with fine flour. This is the Bread (and wine sometimes) of Life! This is the heart, the cornerstone and circulator of blood/life within the body. The circulatory system.
A 4 cornered table ‘crowned’ with gold
A 4 chambered heart - ‘crowned’ by 4 coronary arteries
The word "coronary" comes from the Latin "coronarius," which means "of a crown." This terminology is used because of the way these arteries encircle the heart in a manner reminiscent of a crown
The 12 loaves were placed in 2 stacks/lines of 6. I see the 12 loaves being representative of the 12 systems of the body that are powered by the blood/heart or Tribes of Israel that are nourished and enlivened by the bread of life. A division of half, just as the heart is divided into two sides - also just as 2 bodies joined in eternal matrimony (cleaved together) are the construction of a Celestial Body of the highest glory. President Nelson said in his ‘Think Celestial’ address, “The Lord has clearly taught that only men and women who are sealed as husband and wife in the temple, and who keep their covenants, will be together throughout the eternities.”.
On certain occasions drink offerings of wine and/or oil were given and the cups and dishes for those were also made of gold and placed on the Table of the Presence. This fits consistently with the sacrament/consumption archetype. Consuming something to charge ourselves more sacred, to become more like He whose flesh and blood we eat and drink symbolically. We literally are what we eat/consume.
Last thing I want to point out - frankincense was placed on top of the bread. See Leviticus chapter 2:
Remember what smell and fragrance accompanied the miraculous bread that fell from Heaven(manna)!? I don’t have to contrive any of this at all. It’s there in plain sight and has been all along - connecting these dots in my mind brings further detail to my own testimony of the awesomeness of God.
4) [Inner Court] The Menorah or Candlestick - staying within the Inner Court, we move across the room to where the golden lampstand stood. The 7 armed Menorah was made in likeness of the pattern shown to Moses on Sinai - but even perhaps the very pattern he experienced at the burning plasma bush.4 The Menorah is bodily-analogous to the lungs and respiratory system. Think about how the lungs and heart work and situate together within the inner chest.
The lung is fed by a single column (trachea) and y-cleaved in two halves/branches - even the alveoli appear as fruits as on the candlestick The lungs take in oxygen - but they also burn off carbon dioxide. The very flame at the tips of the candlestick arms is a plasma flame. Let’s not forget the electric tie-in - that the pillar of fire as a plasma phenomenon would have had similar branching morphology at times to the same ancient forms that would have been witnessed universally all the way back to the Saturnian/Antediluvian Age.
Menorah-like plasma discharge and petroglyph 
Consider how this provides the continuous thread needed to tie together the more esoteric/mystical parts of the menorah tradition where the 7 stems are said to also represent the 7 planets which took turns ‘governing’ the world through the ages to octave, or renewal. This ties in the cosmic body, or the reality of the reconfiguration of Heaven and Earth into Millennial/Paradisical form as part of the Marvelous Work and a Wonder of the Messiah of Israel.
5) [Inner Court] Altar of Incense - just before the veil to the Holy of Holies was the altar of incense. As incense represents the prayers and voice of the people rising up to God - this piece of furniture functions and is situated to be the trachea and voice box of the human body. It is through our mouth/throat that we consume both air (which goes to our lungs and into our blood) and sustenance (which is synthesized to our body and blood) - it’s also with our voice that we can “ask” and “knock”5 to part the veil.
Consider where the true order of prayer takes place in our Temples - right in front of the veil.
6) The Veil - separating the inner court (holy place) from the most holy place was the veil of the Tabernacle.
The veil of the Tabernacle represented both a physical and a spiritual boundary. It was a sacred divider, symbolizing separation between the divine and the mortal. The veil physically separated the Holy of Holy and the Ark of the Covenant from the rest of the Tabernacle; a separation that reinforced the concept of God’s transcendence and the reverence and holiness required to approach His presence. Only the High Priest could pass beyond this veil, and then only once a year on the Day of Atonement - to make atonement for Israel’s sins. Alone, the veil and the High Priest represent or symbolize Jesus Christ as our only way to make it to the Father - He is our Mediator. But the focus here is on the Tabernacle as the Body of Christ collectively.
The previous furnishings we’ve analogized all relate to the life of the body and the blood and spirit that sustains it. A quick rundown: a blood/meat offering is made on the altar of sacrifice/consumption. The stomach and loins digest and process and cleanse what is consumed and transform it into nutrients that are absorbed into the body and assist in the production of blood within the marrow of the bones. That blood is placed in the care of the heart and lungs to be oxygenated and circulated throughout the body and up to the brain. Our central command center, the seat of our own judgement. The Holy of Holies and the Ark of the Covenant represent the brain, we’ll explore that next, but just as the veil of the Tabernacle separates the divine from the mortal, or the pure from the impure - the blood brain barrier serves as a selective barrier around brain blood vessels that only allow essential nutrients into the brain environment.
The red blood cells don’t make it through - to me this is also a supporting allusion to the White Stone Thesis and/or a transfigured or resurrected body that does not have blood being the final destination of our Covenant Resurrection to a body of Celestial Glory. Consider 1 Corinthians 15:50 (read full context), it’s not that flesh and bone can’t withstand the presence of God when glorified (like Moses upon Sinai) - it’s specifically the blood that is the corruptible element of mortality.
And just to further support this, here’s Joseph Smith, “for the Blood is the corruptible part of the tabernacles-”:
7) [Holy of Holies] Ark of the Covenant - the brain - central nervous system. We arrive at the peak/pinnacle of the Tabernacle, the Most Holy Place. While the heart is the cornerstone of our body and drives our life and desires, the mind of man is where his thoughts are manifested and communicated to the rest of the body. In the mind is where he first begins to repent. Within this most sacred room was placed the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat. The Ark was the box that held the Law (Tablets) - the Mercy Seat was the lid and Cherubim atop. From Exodus 25:10-12, 17-22.
Replica of the Ark and Mercy Seat found in Seminary/Institute material on Church website Now consider the brain:
So we have:
4 rings for 4 corners of the Ark and 4 lobes of the brain.
2 rings on one side, 2 rings on the other, 2 cherubim atop the Mercy Seat facing opposite each other - just like the brain is divided into 2 hemispheres, a bisection as above reveals their wing-like form
The ‘Corpus Callosum’ (tough/hard body) which allows the two sides to communicate (mediator) forms what can be perceived as both a cross and and Y shape.
Several sacred artifacts were placed within the Ark: the Rod of Aaron that budded, a pot with manna preserved, and the two stone tablets of the Law that were written at the Lord’s hand. Some have associated Aaron’s Rod with the spinal column. Consider how the spine could be like a budding rod, the plumbline of the body - keeping it rectified (upright) and balanced in structure while simultaneously distributing the fruit/light of the central nervous system to the rest of the body. Sounds a lot like a function of Priesthood too.
7 Chakras & 33 vertebrae in the spine = 40 The pot of manna is often correlated to the skull (think of Moriah and Abraham - where the Ram/Flesh was provided - the same Golgotha [place of the Head/Skull] and the Bread of Life’s Crucifixion), and the two tablets of stone as either the two sides of the brain (again) or two different glands within the brain that regulate body functions (Law). I’ll admit here that body anatomy and physiology are not areas of knowledge that I’m very well versed in personally, so these more specific body-Tabernacle allusions (and many I’ve left out) become somewhat disconnected and seemingly arbitrary to me at a certain point.
Between the Cherubim on the Mercy Seat - the Lord would manifest his presence. There was a literal manifestation of light - a spark, an arc, or a connecting light that enabled communication and atonement with the Divine. Take a look at some depictions:
This is comparable to the electrical activity in the brain which is home to our central nervous system.
Each communication between neurons is like a tiny spark, creating a network of understanding and consciousness. Just as the light between the Cherubim symbolized a mortal connection to the divine, so too does the synaptic activity in our brains represent the miraculous interplay or connection of thought, emotion, and reasoning between the heart and external input. A coming together of light like a pinch into material action.
A body-comparison perspective clearly offers significant insights into the Tabernacle/Temple, but even more so particularly through a detailed understanding of the rituals and ordinances performed within. I encourage you to take a deeper study of these things to your own home office or temple. Studying the Temple brings the Spirit of the Lord.
I’m going to leave the personification here and focus again on our electromagnetic and cosmic filter.
ARK OF THE COVENANT AS TRANSFORMER
Remember now our existence (and the Tabernacle) as a process. Think body doctrine again. We are eternal intelligences going through a process of exaltation, becoming new creatures6 in Christ. Said another way, we are eternal manifestations of light going through a process of transformation - from one degree of power(glory), to another. The Tabernacle and the Ark [arc] of the Covenant follow this pattern of transformation not just in a metaphorical sense, but also in a physical parallel to literal electrical power. The Temple is the Holy Place where the spiritual and physical are one in the same. Physically, our body is powered by electricity (or energy from the Sun/Son) just like everything else.
How do we receive electrical power now into our homes (think Tabernacle, Temple - because your home is one)?
We’re connected to a mechanical power source that transforms energy that is originally too powerful for our bodies and our devices to properly use to a lower degree of power that can be safely utilized to our benefit. These objects are called transformers. Transformers step down the power and make it usable for man. Here’s a practical short video showing how they work.
Jesus Christ is the source of the Priesthood power and the glory and light of God we need to become like Him and have Eternal Life. The Temple (his body personified) is that very transformative object that can step down the power from heaven available and make it accessible to the Children of God through the atonement, connection, judgment, mercy, justification and grace of Jehovah. All of these words imply the bridging of the gap between heaven and earth. Like an arc bridges a gap.
Through the ordinances of the Temple we are charged and empowered from On High as a Zion-society. We are sealed and welded together by the arc of the Priesthood to God and to our spouses and families in the Holy Temple. In the process of rearing up our own Tabernacles, we are born again in Spirit and water, we acquire and grow in Spirit, we mature and are endowed with gifts and power, and ultimately we are cleansed and purified through our faithfulness during process of this Covenant Path - able to return back into the presence and mind of God, free from the corruptible blood of this fallen world.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is transformative, it is exalting, elevating, enlightening! Through these ordinances we take upon ourselves His name, because The Only Begotten Son of God in the flesh was capable of performing an infinite atonement over death, only through becoming like Him by following his commandments and covenants can we receive a resurrection (inheritance) to His same Celestial Glory.
Consider how the Pillar of Fire - a very real manifestation of the power and energy from Heaven rested upon the Ark and the Tabernacle of the Lord like a sealing crown upon it’s completion.
This crowning Transfiguration(transformation) of the Tabernacle before the Children of Israel is reflection of Moses coming down from Sinai transfigured with a shining face. This time it was the personified Tabernacle of the Lord that radiated the light of God from its face, the Holy of Holies. The Tabernacle became a portable Sinai, the Ark as the seat of the swirling Birkeland current that led them through the wilderness for 40 years.
ARK OF THE COVENANT AS CAPACITATOR
Consider this: with each new name and title we receive on our pathway to exaltation, we increase our spiritual capabilities, our capacity to receive light and knowledge. We store that light and knowledge and share it with others according to our capacity, all things done in order - not running faster than we have strength or capacity.
Wiki defines electrical Capacitance as “the capability of material objects or devices to store electric charge. It is measured by the charge in response to a difference in electric potential.” Christ has gone below and above all things, his capacity and capability to store and transform energy is infinite. No matter what the difference is between our spiritual state now and our Celestial potential, Christ can elevate our state - if we exercise faith.
Let’s recall how the Ark was constructed. It was to be made of Shittim (Acacia) wood, then overlayed with gold both within and without.
This pattern is how capacitors are made - you place an insulator (the wood) between two conductive metals and charge is gathered or accumulated onto the surfaces and stored, until discharged. Here is a relevant Wiki blurb:
Let’s also soak in the reality of the electrical conductivity of gold. Not only is it one of the best conducting metals (along with silver and copper) but gold is also the most chemically inert (pure) - meaning it doesn’t corrode or oxidize when exposed to air like other metals. There’s little doubt in my mind that the ark was indeed a capacitor of some sort beyond it’s symbolic and ritual function. In an electric universe - it is obvious. Especially considering the more puzzling details and episodes involving the ark. For example:
Strict rules for moving the Ark
Apart from using the poles to carry the Ark - it was required that the veil of the Tabernacle and other skins be wrapped around the Ark. This requirement of covering the ark in the different types of skins could provide insulation against electrical discharge. If the Ark were electrically charged, the coverings could help prevent accidental contact with the charged surfaces and mitigate the risk of electrical shocks. Consider Numbers 4:5-6.
Uzziah - Electrocuted for steadying the Ark
This idea is further supported in the later story of Uzzah who is struck dead when he attempts to steady the Ark as they travel. In 2 Samuel 6:6-7 we read, “Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God.” If the ark was electrically charged - the physical contact with the ark made by Uzzah without being properly grounded would have discharged through him. From the Bible Dictionary:
Here’s a depiction I laughed at for fun:
The Ark used to part the Jordan River
After Moses is translated7, Joshua takes over and the Lord promises to show wonders and accompany him just like he did Moses. All of Israel is camped near the Jordan river just on the other side of the Promised Land. The Lord instructs Joshua to use the ark of the Covenant like Moses’ staff to part the river Jordan to enable them to again pass through a river on dry ground. Here in Chapter 3, Joshua instructs the people:
Note the command to keep space of about 2000 cubits from the ark. If we’re saying a cubit measures 18 inches then 2000 cubits is roughly 1000 yards. 10 Football fields distance.
Here’s something else to consider - Velikovsky, in Worlds in Collision writes that the orbit of Venus in it’s comet-like form brought it within catastrophic distance (or at least in a very visible form) to Earth on about a 50-52 year orbital cycle.
I’m going to include two sections from Worlds in Collision that connect this idea with the timeframe of the Exodus (40 years wandering) and the above event at Jordan and the subsequent conquest of Canaan as the Israelites entered the promised land (which Velikovsky cites Augustine as having described it as a nearly 14 year endeavor). This is also provided as an explanation for the institution of the Jubilee.
Let’s hear Velikovsky’s case:
What do I extrapolate from this? The general idea restated simply is this - the same newly birthed cometary Venus that devastated Egypt and parted the Red Sea for Moses on an erratic orbit, began it’s next close approach to the Earth about 50-52 years later as Joshua leads Israel over Jordan and into Canaan.
The Ark used to siege Jericho
When Israel was commanded to take the city of Jericho, they compassed or moved their whole army around the city once a day for 6 days - then on the 7th day, the ark was marched around the city of Jericho 7 times with 7 trumpets being blown ahead of it. This is a clear allusion to the Creation, 6 days of work, then the Lord’s day of Rest, or resolution on the 7th. The Trumpet sounds are also a clear allusion to the Lord’s condescension on Sinai.
Just as the Lord declared, it was so:
Here’s a depiction. Most depictions illustrate the charged nature of the ark:
Some argue that even carrying the ark across the ground was a way to charge it. You would have two negatively charged surfaces moving against each other like this:
Velikovsky identifies the primary cause of the fall of the walls of Jericho to that of an earthquake.
This could explain how circling the city with an instrument capable of pairing with an atmospheric/celestial Birkeland - may cause enough electromagnetic build-up to induce a localized earthquake that struck the city, collapsing the walls. Remember, that in an electric universe - most natural disasters and even regular weather phenomena are fundamentally electromagnetically driven.
Within our paradigm it is not surprising that a sound of ‘trumpets’ seemingly came from the earth beneath or from the atmosphere above before the event/earthquake at Jericho. We have documented proof today of eerie trumpet sounds and booms (and even lights) from the sky and earth that can be experienced before earthquakes. Our synthesis of an electromagnetic understanding of all things once again renders more understandable an otherwise perplexing mystery to ‘mainstream’ understanding.
Here’s a fun website to explore some strange sounds recorded in the sky.
The event at Jordan and later at Jericho could very well be part of Venus’ next closest approach or perigee to Earth after the Red Sea pass-over. Similar events are repeated as with Moses.
We will explore Joshua’s “long day” here shortly which witnesses to this 2nd Passover of Venus and its possible described affects on Earth in the Scriptures in the days of the conquests of Canaan.
Keep in mind that Moses gets translated before this Passover8.
In Joshua Chapter 5, the inhabitants of Canaan upon hearing of Israel’s miraculous crossing of Jordan - are reminded of the fate that befell Egypt during and after a similar sign. Notice also, the pattern of circumcision and then the timing of the celebration of the ‘Passover’ again matching these events. Just like with Moses and their exit from Egypt.
Another electrical note in that Chapter in verses 13-15, an Angel who identifies himself as the ‘captain of the host of the Lord’ appears before Joshua and commands him to remove his shoes, “for the place whereon thou standest is holy”. Once again, a Moses/burning bush parallel for Joshua where he receives instruction on the capture of Jericho. We’ve already discussed the electrical grounding that removing shoes provides.
SERAPHIM AND THE BRONZE SERPENT
Let’s jump back in time just a bit back into the wandering before we move on. The event of the seraphim (or fiery/poisonous serpents) and the bronze serpent of Moses is another story of the scriptures that seems enlarged by and in harmony with our catastrophic and electric paradigm. Let’s explore how and why - starting with some baseline definitions. We will read the scriptural account, check our definitions - then bring in Velikovsky and our Cosmism filter to recap.
We find the event recorded in the book of Numbers Chapter 21 verses 4-9.
We understand that the symbol of the Serpent is one of dual nature. It represents both Christ and Lucifer - a connection to heaven and healing, but also an allusion to deception and the underworld. Satan transforms and distorts into the very thing he covets most - but he was not chosen as the Messiah, the Only Begotten and Heir to the Throne. The true Light Bearer and mediator between our probation and eternal judgment is Jesus Christ.
For further elaboration I highly recommend this article by Dr. Andrew Skinner titled Serpent Symbols and Salvation in the Ancient Near East and the Book of Mormon. Here’s the abstract:
I’ll include a few paragraphs from his Conclusion:
It seems clear that enough evidence exists from a wide range of sources to establish the dual nature of serpent symbols in the ancient Near East—representing both gods and demons, good and bad, life and death. Furthermore, the Bible exhibits this same dualism. But even more important for our present purposes, we may say that the Book of Mormon also presents this same theological understanding of serpent symbolism and is a record perfectly at home in the cultural milieu of the ancient Near East.
Evidence from all sources (scriptural, cultural, historical, and prophetic) leads us to believe that the serpent symbol appeared first in the Garden of Eden when Satan adopted the form of a snake, which was intended to point to the true Messiah. Over time, its true meaning became corrupted not only as it became established through natural observation—the snake shedding its skin and so on—but also as the symbol passed through many cultures down through the ages. The result, of course, was the appearance of the dual nature of serpent symbolism in the various civilizations of the Near East and elsewhere.
From the Bible Dictionary, the entry for ‘fiery serpents’:
And the entry for the Brazen Serpent:
It is notable that this event is referenced in the New Testament and in the Book of Mormon a number of times. The message and imagery of this sign and healing/teaching method of the Lord when centered correctly on Jehovah/Christ is very powerful, so this is expected and glorious!
In fact, Nephi and the Book of Mormon add more context to what might have been happening as he notes that these fiery serpents were also FLYING. See 1 Nephi 17:41:
“..He sent fiery flying serpents among them; and after they were bitten he prepared a way that they might be healed; and the labor which they had to perform was to look; and because of the simpleness of the way, or the easiness of it, there were many who perished.”
What the? If Joseph Smith were inventing the text of the Book of Mormon, why would he complicate an already strange biblical event by inserting imagery or details that increase the incredulity of the message to a modern reader?
I know that he didn’t invent the text and our paradigm doesn’t bat an eye at the enhanced and even strange added context that the poisonous and fiery serpents were also flying.
Most members only consider that these snakes were ‘poisonous’ and place the idea that they may have also been flying into a metaphorical box. Kind of like this:
While I love this explanation, and it even helps and supports our position by tying in the Egyptian-imagery/angle and the Passover as the appearance of the wheel-throne of God (with accompanying seraphim) as we’ve been exploring, our cosmism synthesis enhances our understanding of what is literally happening when this event takes place. We don’t need to always trend blindly towards a nebulous and metaphysical interpretation of imagery. Reevaluating it through our electric filter unlocks an ever wider view that unabashedly embraces the idea that these serpents or creatures were in fact airborne or that they originated from heaven (above), as had the hot stones of hail (barad), the red dust, the oil and pitch and other elements, the manna and milk and honey, the very pillar and cloud of fire and smoke.
Where these creatures electric in some way? Was their ‘sting’ and ‘bite’ one of paralysis and electrocution in stead or in addition to toxic venom?
Speaking of the dual nature of the serpent - let’s remind ourselves of the Greek mythological Gorgon, Medusa - who modern comparative mythologists have identified as beautiful Venus in her ‘terrible aspect’.
Here’s a quick Wiki recap:
Then a word from the Thunderbolts:
So ‘Medusa’ (of the much later Greek retelling of Venus’ close encounters with Earth) is a protector and a destroyer - and the seraphim or fiery serpents were protectors of the throne of God.
The overlap is obvious from our advantage.
In the previous essay (episode 14) when we explored the golden calf, we touched on the transmogrifying visual nature of Venus in the sky during the inaugural Passover as both a cow/bull/goat (or horned figure) and also as a dragon or serpent. This is a good place to once again bring in Velikovsky in Worlds in Collision; from the section titled “Worship of the Morning Star”:
Velikovsky points out the connection between the word(s) Naga/Nagah/Noga/Nogah as snake/serpent/dragon to the same definition of comet and the planet Venus in cultures across the globe at the same time - which (cometary Venus) was the source and cause of the pillar of cloud and fire. Here are some of the references from the above section:
Here is the paragraph from Amos 5 cited - notice again the explicitly stated connection of the tabernacle and it’s images (including the brazen serpent) to a star in heaven and how Israel fell into idolatry through centering them on something other than the Lord.
This note is interesting as it pertains to the brass serpent and the curative properties it possessed:
Velikovsky, being primarily a psychiatrist, appropriately notes the possibility of a psychosomatic (defined as: of, relating to, involving, or concerned with bodily symptoms caused by mental or emotional disturbance) relationship between the image and ‘looking’ or gazing and the healing that took place.
As Velikovsky again points out, in antiquity snakes were worshipped - they were powerful symbols of protection, of regeneration, healing, and wisdom. Let’s remember the Greek healer Asclepius, or the Caduceus of Hermes.
In Greek mythology, Asclepius was a god of healing and medicine. The Rod of Asclepius, featuring a single snake coiled around a staff, is a symbol traditionally associated with healing and medicine. According to mythology, Asclepius was able to heal the sick and bring the dead back to life using his magical powers. The snake, which sheds its skin and thus symbolizes renewal and rejuvenation, became linked to this healing aspect. Caduceus is a staff with two snakes wrapped around it, topped with wings. It is associated with Hermes, the Greek messenger god. Like the Rod of Asclepius, the Caduceus even today is still associated with healing and medicine. Consider these modern symbols of pharmacy (sorcery/magic consumption-prescriptions).
I think the rest of the section from the book is worth consideration.
It's full of further correlation between the planetary idolatry of the surrounding cultures and the same primary agent of the Exodus - the planet/comet Venus. It is planetary idolatry that tempts and ultimately scatters Israel through their unfaithfulness to the Lord and their conversion to the pagan rites and worship from the pressure of their surrounding environment.
Just as the symbol of the Serpent is both a representation of Jesus Christ and of Lucifer - so too is the symbol of the Morning Star both a representation of Christ and his sacrificial atonement/resurrection/rejuvenation to Celestial glory as well as of Lucifer and his terrible aspect of the fallen divine, the forked tongue of the underworld.
Here’s a few excerpts from the book Sacred Walls by Gerald E. Hansen Jr. that reinforce this connection of Christ as the Morning Star (Venus) on the Nauvoo Temple.
Here is a depiction of what the following quote is describing.
"The inverted star above it [the sun bursting forth from the three cloud-veils or triple mountain as I like to call it], pointing [down] to the sun, is the morning and evening star, the first and last star to appear in the sky at daybreak and dawn, a symbol of Christ (see Revelation 2:28; 22:16). It is literally the planet Venus, which reflects the light of the sun, just as Christ points the way to and reflects the light of the Father.
The stained-glass windows with the inverted pointed stars surrounded by the twelve stones also represent Christ as the central focus for all of Israel, just as the tabernacle of Moses, positioned at the center of the camp of Israel, surrounded by the tents to the twelve tribes on all sides, also signified the centrality of God (see Numbers 2:1-34)."
Page 54
I love the Restoration.
JOSHUA’S LONG DAY
We fast-forward back to Joshua’s day, shortly after Israel has miraculously crossed the river Jordan with the Ark of the Covenant to enter into the promised land. As they go to war with the inhabitants of Canaan - a large coalition of the Amorites and rulers of the land form against a large city and ally that Israel has made in Gibeon. The Lord tells Joshua that he has delivered them into his hand, and to ‘fear them not’.
So Joshua and the squad go up to battle and chase them back - then in verse 11 we see that the Lord casts down ‘great stones from heaven’ upon their enemies that kill more men than the swords of Israel. These stones are a precursor to what happens next.
Many religious scholars and theologians view this account as a miracle in the sense of a divine intervention where natural laws are suspended by God. Some suggest it may be a poetic or symbolic description rather than a literal historical event. Others consider it a narrative device used to emphasize the importance of the event and God's support for Israel. Latter-day Saints aren’t afforded these escapist interpretations; because the Book of Mormon also witnesses to a literal cosmic event and we understand the nature of ‘miracles’ is not a suspension of laws but a more perfect and righteous use of them. In Helaman 12:13-15 we learn that it is the earth that can slow in rotation or be moved in such a way as to make it appear unto man that the sun is standing still - to lengthen the time of day, as we read in Joshua.
This event of Joshua’s long day is a central theme in Velikovsky’s Worlds in Collision. Remember how Carl Sagan mocked him for this. It was his proposal that Venus was the planet/star/comet that passed over at Passover - and which orbitally returned about 52 years later to engage the earth in similar phenomenon during the conquests of Joshua, the most spectacular of which was to cause a change in the Earth’s rotation/position so as to make it appear to man that the sun and moon stood still to one hemisphere, and they were suspended from rising in another.
If only Velikovsky would have considered the Book of Mormon account in Helaman and 3rd Nephi of Samuel the Lamanite and his prophecies of Christ’s birth and “one day and a night and a day, as if were one day and there were no night” (Helaman 14:4) where,
5 And behold, there shall a new star arise, such an one as ye never have beheld; and this also shall be a sign unto you.
6 And behold this is not all, there shall be many signs and wonders in heaven.
And also his prophecies of Christ’s death - and the sure destruction and planetary catastrophe that is recorded on this hemisphere by a remnant of Israel and the seed of Joseph over the wall by the well. Samuel prophecies of 3 days where the sun and moon are darkened while Christ is in the tomb.
The same literal calamities that accompanied the deliverance of Israel from Egypt and also into the Promised Land after the wandering were manifested at the Lord’s victory over death and our deliverance from it’s grasp through his atonement and Resurrection. This is a powerful and harmonious witness from the Book of Mormon. These same signs of physical and cosmic upheaval and Passover will accompany the Lord’s glorious final return in power when he delivers Israel once again from the Kingdoms of the World and moves them into their Promised Lands.
Remember our oft repeated Joseph Smith prophecy of the 2nd Coming that,
“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, etc. 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 [see Joseph Smith—Matthew 1:26].”9
Anthony Larson has a wonderful older video that illustrates this all very well. Let’s watch that now.
Matthew 6:10 - Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Articles of Faith 10 : We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.
Matthew 10:1-6 - 1 And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.
2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;
3 Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphæus, and Lebbæus, whose surname was Thaddæus;
4 Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.
5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:
6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Exodus 25:40 - 40 And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount.
3rd Nephi 27: 28-29 - 28 And now I go unto the Father. And verily I say unto you, whatsoever things ye shall ask the Father in my name shall be given unto you.
29 Therefore, ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; for he that asketh, receiveth; and unto him that knocketh, it shall be opened.
Mosiah 27:24-26 - 24 For, said he, I have repented of my sins, and have been redeemed of the Lord; behold I am born of the Spirit.
25 And the Lord said unto me: Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters;
26 And thus they become new creatures; and unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.
See Bible Dictionary passage for Moses : “As was the case with many of the ancient prophets, Moses’ ministry extended beyond the limits of his own mortal lifetime. In company with Elijah, he came to the Mount of Transfiguration and bestowed keys of the priesthood upon Peter, James, and John (Matt. 17:3–4; Mark 9:4–9; Luke 9:30; D&C 63:21; HC 3:387). From this event, which occurred before the Resurrection of Jesus, we understand that Moses was a translated being and had not died as reported in Deut. 34 (Alma 45:19). It was necessary that he be translated, in order to have a body of flesh and bones at the time of the Transfiguration, since the Resurrection had not yet taken place. Had he been a spirit only, he could not have performed the work on the mount of giving the keys to the mortal Peter, James, and John (see D&C 129).
Moses came again to the earth on April 3, 1836, to the temple in Kirtland, Ohio, and conferred the keys of the gathering of Israel upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery (D&C 110), so that the keys of authority would once more be operative among men on the earth.”
See the Bible Dictionary entry for “Moses” - it confirms he was Translated and taken up to Zion, or the Bosom of the Lord as was Elijah and preserved to participate in the Mount of Transfiguration and also the Restoration of Keys in these latter-days (and in my - Leiland’s - opinion here, as a possible prime option for one of the two prophets sent to Jerusalem in the last days - perhaps again here shortly).
History of the Church, 5:337; from a discourse given by Joseph Smith on Apr. 6, 1843, in Nauvoo, Illinois; reported by Willard Richards. [Quoted here in Lesson 21 of Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith]
Ok. This has raised the bar in the series. Came back to it today and I now think it's my favorite.
The tabernacle as body - especially the 12 systems was completely new to me.
Ark as transformer and capacitor was great. The last Larson video has to be at least 30 years old. It is great to see him younger and less weighed down. Old graphics but the discussion and idea conveyed still hold.
Thank you.
This is a treasure box of spiritual gems. Well done.