Part 1
Part 2
PART 3: THE SHADOW OF DEATH TO THE GOLDEN CALF
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 Lord had delivered Jacob’s seed and Joseph’s bones out of captivity through the hands and faith of Moses and Aaron through the Red Sea.
With the Egyptian army devoured and tossed up - and the song of Moses being sung by the caravan, we jump back into the scriptural timeline.
Recently I indulged in a Sunday binge to catch up on Season 3 of The Chosen. In Episode 8, I was hit extremely hard by a rendition they present of Psalm 77 as spoken word performed before the throne of David and his Queen as a sort of reoccurring flashback during the episode. Not only was I struck in my heart as a poet by the beauty of the poetry with the choir of hums and vocalizations and the mood/setting, but the psalmist is remembering the very works of God here at the Red Sea that we’ve just been exploring.
The imagery remembered highlights the catastrophic and electric nature of the event. I clipped out the sections from the episode here, let’s watch and listen:
The layered use of ‘right hand’ and ‘thine arm’ and ‘arrows’ as the power and extension of God’s intervention at the Red Sea fits our cosmic plasma archetypes (remember that a passing body and it’s plasma veil may appear as the arm or hand of a celestial being, or even as a broomstick or a sword or an arrow or a spear). The ‘right hand’ archetype also layers onto other proxies, both in the Prophet deliverers Moses and Aaron (as pointed out in the final verse) as well as in the future Deliverer of all creation and the proxy of the Father, Jesus Christ.
Notice how the last stanza parallels the Lord’s ‘arrows’ with lightning explicitly.
He led them through the sea on dry land - but they did not see his footsteps.
Here’s what we’ll cover in this Part 3.
Part 3: The Shadow of Death to The Golden Calf
The Shadow of Death
Quail and Manna and Water from the Rock
War with Amalek - the Arms of Moses
The Template of a Mighty Nation
El Shaddai is Coming Down - Mt. Sinai
The Golden Calf - Planetary Idolatry
THE SHADOW OF DEATH
Keep this constantly open in your mind as you consider the events of the Exodus - Israel traveled in what is referred to as ‘The Shadow of Death’. This phrase is used both literally and figuratively.
Literally - it was a seemingly collapsed sky or the hazy and misty mingling atmospheres of the planetary Passover and global disasters triggered by the wandering star (volcanoes/earthquakes/winds/etc.). Remember that one of the initial plagues before Israel left Egypt was of a thick darkness that could be felt for 3 days.
Literal darkness is already plainly associated with this ancient deliverance, expand now your consideration to see their entire journey as being under the literal shadow of a heavenly shroud or storm pavilion - a cloud by day, a pillar of fire by night. A celestial garment.
Figuratively, it was a trial of their faith. They were in spiritual darkness and apostasy and were led out of that shadow and into the Lord’s light like a Shepherd leads his flock. When we pass through our own valleys of the ‘shadow of death’ (or said another way, the shadow of mortal life), we are also being refined and led by the Lord’s light just as the Israelites - if we follow the Prophet and the Word of the Lord and seek to enter into his Temple/Tabernacle through repentance and sacrifice.
Let’s bring in some witnesses. From David:
Another Psalm, 107, hearkens back to this cosmic Exodus event:
Jeremiah’s lamentation is another witness:
Let’s bring in Velikovsky here to help us further incorporate the idea that in reality the Passover event - that initiated the Exodus - caused literal darkness to plague the earth over a prolonged period. He leads in with 3 distinct instances of precedent where cataclysmic events caused a darkening of the sky before addressing the gloom and shadow of the Exodus. From Worlds in Collision in a chapter titled “The Shadow of Death”:
From the wiki on the 1883 Krakatoa eruption:
From the wiki on the 1783 eruption mentioned:
And indeed there is a ‘Caesar’s Comet’ wiki entry:
Back to Velikovsky:
He brings us into a logical meditation - if a single volcano like Krakatoa or what happened in Iceland (or like we know with the Tambora eruption of 1815 that forced Joseph Smith Sr. to move to New York from Vermont) can affect the globe - how much darker could the sky be if there were prolonged eruptions from many volcanoes and also the intruding dust of the tail of a comet into our atmosphere? It would be blackened, collapsed.
I want to add a few clips and images to reinforce the Tambora eruption in Indonesia having a direct affect on the Restoration of the Church in the Latter-days.
So they moved from Vermont to Palmyra NY - and the First Vision happens right on the border of Palmyra and Manchester, above the Finger Lakes.
Velikovsky continues:
I just want to interject here that one of the scriptures referenced in footnote 19 above is Psalm 105:39: “He spread a cloud for a covering”
Velikovsky continues to make his point by drawing yet more accounts that support his assertions globally.
Understanding all of these additional details of the Exodus and the contemporary witnesses paints a better picture of the global and cosmic context in which it all took place - it helps me to better appreciate the repeated and constant references back to this era of deliverance and the giving of the law by so many of the Prophets since. Especially the Son of God Jesus Christ, who is the very same Jehovah and Angel of the Host, the giver of the Law to Moses and Israel.
Moses is also in effect a prototype (likeness) of Christ as the ultimate Deliverer and Mediator.
This is why they sought to cast him off of a high place when he declared that he was the very Giver of the Law to Moses - the Promised Cosmic Messiah. He was just the carpenter’s son - he brought no heavenly chariot or cosmic arm to fight Rome as Jehovah did with Egypt and the heathen nations of the Exodus to the Promised Land… it was blasphemy to them who were looking beyond the mark. They who did not understand the scriptures.
QUAIL AND MANNA AND WATER FROM THE ROCK
Having been born out of the womb of Egypt through the waters of the Red Sea, Israel cries as a babe - hungry. They yearn for the meat and bread of Egypt. The Lord responds and provides in a miraculous way. Let’s explore these miracles from our cosmic lens.
The Lord then promises to ‘rain bread from heaven’ for them. Instructions for gathering and Sabbath collection are top of mind for the Lord. Moderation of consumption is both a safety and a test.
The Lord's glory is promised to be shown to Israel. Quail are provided at evening for meat, and the in the morning the dew precipitates into a bread - literally from heaven.
And as the Lord spoke it - so it happened.
An electromagnetic note on the flocking of quail into and around the camp - here’s a short middle school level article from the Smithsonian that states that modern science has determined that birds can see and navigate by magnetic fields.
Considering that the Israelites were walking beneath and in the wake of a plasma jet (pillar of fire and cloud of smoke) from a passing celestial body - the same power that had just parted the Red Sea and dried up the floor, holding the water in a heap - it is again easily harmonious to imagine that the magnetic fields around Israel were being disrupted or affected in such a way as to direct the birds toward the camp.
Here’s a standard depiction of the ‘glory’ that appeared in the cloud mentioned in 16:10:
Getting back to the bread from heaven, let’s continue in Exodus chapter 16 from verse 31:
So quail in the evening and a strange bread called manna in the morning.
A note here: a portion of manna was commanded to be placed in a pot and put near the 'Testimony' of the covenant (the Ark) - this manna in the pot was preserved and not consumed miraculously. This was the first iteration of the hidden manna (Revelation 2:14) that we earlier identified in the white stone thesis as the 2nd Comforter and physical presence of the Resurrected Jesus Christ.
Both the quail and the manna provided represented the ability of Christ/Jehovah to sustain the needs of their physical bodies (the flesh element of the sacrament) as they followed and trusted in him and his messenger Moses. The blood/water element comes right after with the miracle of the water and the rock.
Before we move on though, let’s zoom in on our consideration of miraculous bread from heaven and speak of it as ‘carbs’ or carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are made up of the elements Carbon (C), Hydrogen (H), and Oxygen (O). These elements being the same ones present in the hydrocarbon compounds we discussed previously (oil/liquid/naphtha/gas). Here’s a current AI response to the question ‘what is a carbohydrate’?
Here is where we will tap back in Velikovsky to further enhance our understanding of this whole scenario from the planetary Passover point of view.
Velikovsky again from Worlds in Collision:
When the manna hit water or liquified - it would become as milk and honey.
Israel didn’t only murmur and want for bread and flesh - but also for water. Enter in our blood element of the work and glory elements of the Exodus sacrament. We read in Exodus 17:1-7:
Commentary from the Old Testament Institute Manual:
Here’s the referenced Paul commentary from his first letter to the Corinthians:
WAR WITH AMALEK - THE ARMS OF MOSES
The first war the Israelites have after the Red Sea victory is with the Amalekites and their wannabe king Amalek [Think Nimrod archetype like as with Pharaoh, Moses being the avatar of King Jehovah]. These were mentioned earlier by Velikovsky, as they were also following the cloud, poking at the outside lines of Israel’s camp.
Let’s read the account in Exodus 17:8-16:
I don’t know how or why this works, but I just want to point out the symbolic ‘Ka arms’ upraised depicted here. Like two supporting pillars beside his face like the triple-mountain/Godhead/Paradise/Temple symbolism we’ve already gone over. Standing atop the hill, Moses was proxy, acting as the connecting arc (think ark of the covenant) of power between heaven and earth.
Somehow, this connection between Jehovah and Moses provided transmission of the presence and energy and blessing of the Lord in battle to the Israelite warriors against the Amalekites.
Commentary from Institute Manual:
I want to insert a link to a thread that I wrote from Twitter in 2021 that ties D&C 88 into this same symbolic echo that I feel implies both cosmic order and heavenly connection but also divine Kingship and coronation. I’ll expand on that thread here.
'Arms upraised' are in the likeness of cloven tongues (like of the Pentecost) - or the horns or crescent of Celestial Heaven and all of the pillar[s]/rod/tree/ark of the covenant symbolism that is connected that we explore.
This connection of power we’re exploring at the battle with Amalek is the same representation as the crafted Mercy Seat that the Tabernacle and later the Temple is built around. We’re talking about vessels that draw down and are filled with the Lord’s glory/Spirit - be it the bodily Temple of a pure hearted individual, or the stone Temple of the House of the Lord.
The endowment of power from God through atonement.
While the very design of the Ark of the Covenant (and other parts of the Temple/Tabernacle) portrays this same arms/wings upraised symbolism, so do the ritual actions of the Priests in their administrations of sacrifice or at the veil.
Here’s one for example where Aaron lifts up his arms to bless the people and again fire comes down from heaven to consume the offering.
This is a common occurrence in scripture. It’s depicted in not just Hebrew worship but universally in most traditions - which again, makes sense when it is properly tethered to the Old Heavens and the Old Paradise of Earth that had fallen from a different planetary configuration. One that perpetuated a constant polar tree and pillar of light between heaven and earth. This same pillar phenomenon is what is being experienced on a more local level during the planetary encounter of the Exodus Passover. But it’s all a harken back to the ancient tree of worlds - the Tree of Immortal Life - a remembrance of atonement.
The sacrificial Atonement of Jesus Christ (Jehovah come down in flesh) provided us the ultimate upraised arms and connection between worlds.
Not only is he unifying and raising the souls of all through Repentance and Resurrection - but He continued and expanded on his own governmental and spiritual framework to build (raise) Zion society and his Kingdom on Earth through the seed of Abraham and through Adoption into his Church, the Children/Tribes of Israel.
We correctly use the upraised arms in our most sacred rites before the veil of the Temple (the face and body of Christ) today. Think about what “true order” may imply in the context of a cosmic paradise-lost. This is powerful evidence to me that Joseph Smith is a true Prophet of God and that the Church is true. All of these things connect to ancient orders and most of the membership is lamentably blind and oblivious to it - though they sense it and they feel it. The eternal nature of it all is self evident to the honest seeker and knocker, he who has a pure heart and a contrite Spirit and seeks to be obedient in all things.
Now back to Section 88, it is packed full of amazing Temple doctrine. Let’s read the heading to get a snapshot view into this amazing revelation.
I note that a lot of our cosmic/apocalypse themes are touched upon in this section, but let’s focus on the greeting that is described for the School of the Prophets in verses 130-36. The School of the Prophets was in many ways a precursor to the Temple Endowment (in The House of God). Keep that in mind. The upraised arms are again instituted in proper prophetic use and even presented with language that matches our symbolic interpretation.
With uplifted arms to heaven - a salute and a token or remembrance of the everlasting covenant, to be received into a fellowship that is FIXED, IMMOVABLE, and UNCHANGEABLE. This imagery and language is parallel to depictions of the lost Saturnian Golden Age - where the unmoved mover sat fixed in the North. (I’ve linked a thread where I dive into the topic of the ‘unmoved mover’ a bit).
In ancient kingship rites - the King-to-be is crowned by raising the Crown high up into the air with both hands and lowering it down to the head THREE TIMES saying; "Long live the King!"
"Long live the King!"
"Long live the King!"
A school of Prophets - a school of Priests and Kings.
While wicked and worldly kings rule this fallen earth today and pretend to moral/priesthood authority - that won’t always be the case. We are being prepared as Children of God and the Earth is being prepared for the Lord’s grand 2nd Coming in Glory - where the thrones of the worldly kings will be cast down and the Throne of God’s everlasting Kingdom will be set up.
Because of the Restoration of the Gospel and especially the Temple through Joseph Smith in these Latter-days, we can all go up to the Mount of the Lord like Moses to receive our own endowment of power, to see the Lord’s face, to be anointed to become prophets, high-priests, and kings in the Kingdom of God.
THE TEMPLATE OF A MIGHTY NATION
Jesus Christ is the ultimate Nation builder and Covenant keeper - his Kingdom rules all of Heaven and will eventually rule all of Earth once the building is complete.
We are currently in the Exodus, where Jesus (then as pre-mortal Jehovah) is beginning to train this newly birthed nation of Israel to become a Zion-society like Melchizedek and Enoch before. He wants to fulfill the covenants he made with the Fathers - to use Israel to bless ALL nations of the Earth.
The unfolding of this covenantal design begins with Abraham and continues on even now and will culminate at the Lord’s 2nd coming in power.
When the Lord came at the Meridian of time - he upgraded his Church and Law to Israel and instituted a missionary system to cast a wider Gospel/Nation-building net to the whole of both mortal and spirit worlds. He made the resurrection a reality - and he promised to return.1
The Restoration of that same Church of Jesus Christ but in these Latter-days after the Great and prophesied apostasy of the Meridian Church - is the continuation of that same building project by the Lord promised to Abraham.
The Lord Jehovah had previously covenanted with Enoch and his Zion society who were taken up - that his seed (through Noah), or a remnant thereof would be always “found among all nations, while the earth should stand”. This section will be a tie-back directly to our Of Kings and Kingdoms essay.
Let’s remember that Priesthood and Kingship are administrative titles and roles - one to administer the word and ordinances and tithing of the Gospel to the Church and the other to administer the law and order and economy to the state as a whole. Ecclesiastical and Governmental. This should be a reminder.
A Zion/Celestial society is the perfect synthesis of both ecclesiastical and political administrations - the ideal state.
Focus back now on the historical episode at hand: Israel, this promised Nation of approximately 3 million of the seed of Abraham and of Noah and of Enoch was just powerfully delivered from a corrupt Pharaoh (Ruler’s Law/form of government) in Egypt. The violence of the Red Sea was a fractal ‘casting down’ of the worldly throne and kingdom of Pharaoah/Egypt, and the ‘setting up’ of the Divine Throne and Kingdom of Jehovah/Israel.
From here on out - the scriptures tell the story of how this people were given a new (renewed) word and law and led to promised land by God to prepare them and to become a Zion society - like Enoch and his people. The Nation-building project begins in earnest.
With our 20/20 hindsight we know that they fail over and over again - only Moses makes it to translation (Zion) after 40 years wandering2, the rest are left to reset and retry as often as they repent. We’re still pride-cycling even after the 1st Advent of the Savior and His Meridian Church structure and then the subsequent great apostasy and the glorious Restoration and coming forth of the Book of Mormon, and we’ll continue to be tested until the doors of the wedding feast of the Bridegroom are shut and locked at his Glorious finale.3
In Exodus chapter 18 we find a pivotal training session for Moses in the government of Israel, from his father-in-law and the High Priest Jethro.
Moses was only ever trained in Pharaoh’s court of Ruler’s Law where all the power is concentrated in the ruler - he was trying to perform all of the tasks listed in the image below by himself.
Here is how Jethro responded after witnessing the inefficient administration of Moses. He instructs Moses in the manner in which he should organize the people and delegate responsibilities.
So under Ruler’s Law, government assumes all power and imposes its will on the people, top-down.
But what Jethro is teaching Moses is to invert the pyramid and spread the responsibility and the power to the people.
In W. Cleon Skousen’s book The Making of America (and in several of his other works), he outlines the evidence for how the Founding Fathers drew major inspiration for laying the foundation of this American Nation from the governing principles taught in the Old Testament to Moses from the Lord. The Founders saw their mission to establish a Nation of Liberty (freedom) as tied to the Old Testament covenants that God made with the seed of Abraham.
We know that these men were inspired to set up a nation in which the freedom of religion and the Restoration of the Gospel in the last days could germinate and take final root. It is an echo and similar to how the Israelites needed to be liberated from a tyrannical Monarch first before being led to a promised land where they could attempt to practice the given Laws from God to build up a Zion society.
In Chapter 4 of another one of Skousen’s books titled The Cleansing of America, he breaks down the administrative instructions given to Moses as the “Seven Steps in Setting Up God’s Law” - or to keep things coherent here, the steps needed to set up this Zion-like Society and Nation-state, his Kingdom.
He uses them as a parallel to the Latter-day building going on now in America. They are as follows:
Census of Families (Numbers 1:24)
Divide them (10s, 50s, 100s, 1000s) - delegates/representatives
Organize self-governing wards
Set up a system of Judges
Make certain everyone knows the law
Put the people under covenant to obey the law
The indispensable task of raising up a virtuous people
His writings highlight that these are the same principles and the guiding framework that the Fathers of America also build by. Look at both the Meridian Church and the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and their structure and focus. The Living Prophets are entirely focused on steps 5-7 right now. This will be a repeat from previous essays, but again - consider this from Elder Christopherson’s 2019 October General Conference address titled, “Preparing for the Lord’s Return”:
In the future, we’ll continue to elaborate on this comparison between the history of Israel in the old testament and in the Book of Mormon to the history of the Latter-day Church and gathering of Israel happening now.
This episode with Israel in the wilderness is the initial training and building up of a Zion-society - the future scattering will spread Israel all over the 4 quarters of the Earth - and today, we are living in the final dispensation and promised gathering and harvest of all those scattered and chosen roots.
God will not forget his covenant promises to Jacob, to Isaac, to Abraham - and we are in the ‘winding up scene’ of the Lord’s return. From President Nelson in 2019:
You are sons and daughters of God.
You already know this. You have sung about it since you were toddlers. But let me clarify a distinguishing characteristic about your identity. You are the children whom God chose to be part of His battalion during this great climax in the longstanding battle between good and evil—between truth and error. I would not be surprised if, when the veil is lifted in the next life, we learn that you actually pled with our Heavenly Father to be reserved for now.
I would not be surprised to learn that premortally you loved the Lord so much that you promised to defend His name and gospel during this world’s tumultuous winding-up scenes. One thing is certain: You are of the house of Israel and you have been sent here to help gather God’s elect.
Moving on to Exodus 19.
The Lord covenants with Israel to make them a peculiar treasure, a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. We also again see fire, smoke and a thick cloud, the sound of trumpets, and earthquakes accompany theophany, or the condescension of heaven to the mount and associated with the presence of God. He invites them all to come see Him - but he sets boundaries of ‘safety’ around the mount.
I’d like to make a cosmic/tetramorph note on verse 4. When the Lord says “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles wings, and brought you unto myself.”
Here’s my artistic rendition.
Quick reminder of the Tetramorph we explored in Part 1 - the Eagle is one aspect of the chariot/throne of God. The same Y shape of the wings of symbol of the eagle are the horns of the bull of heaven they idolize with the golden calf while Moses is upon the mount.
EL SHADDAI IS COMING DOWN - MT. SINAI
El Shaddai is a name of God that translates to “God Almighty”. The connotation is one of the destruction of Egypt and Pharaoh.
I like this name because of that connotation and how it compliments the Exodus is Apocalypse theme of our paradigm. We look forward to the great and terrible day of the Lord’s Second Coming in flesh (Glorified) - where the destruction of Mystery Babylon and the banishment of Satan will be the modern Deliverance in parallel.
While the actual name El Shaddai doesn’t appear in Exodus 19 - but I believe the event described is exactly type of display of heavenly power and awe that the name God Almighty should evoke. That’s why I’ve titled this section so. Also, I want to share a song I wrote that is relevant and goes by the same title.
This year with my friends Adam and Tyson, we released our first collaborative album titled “Come and See” as a music project called Sons of Ephraim. The style is a fusion of my trap rap poetry and Adam’s Kolobyte-EDM style with Tyson’s guitar glitter magically sprinkled in. It is definitely an uber-niche genre almost unto itself, so I’ll only be slightly offended if you don’t like the album. Regardless of how it’s received - it has been a spiritual blast to work with other talented Latter-day Saint indie artists to create beautiful and Christ-centered things.
Here’s the song “El Shaddai”:
Lyrics:
El Shaddai Sons of Ephraim Written By Leiland Out on the Mountain waiting Out on the Mountain waiting Out on the Mountain waiting Out on the Mountain waiting Pray, with the voice out loud You'll know what to Say Then climb that Rock Grip that Rod Praise, with the voice out loud And watch the waters raise In the name of the Great In the name of the I am I! Out on the mountain waiting El Shaddai is coming down! Out on the mountain waiting Down from the Narrow Way! Out on the mountain waiting El Shaddai is coming down! Out on the mountain waiting Coming for his Throne to claim! Like Pangaea, bring it all together Put Christ in the middle As the Tree of Life in the Center Hey, and I can walk with the Angels Planets arrive and other worlds are entangled Hey, and it's home sweet home though! Living on the Footstool of the King's Throne! I can see into eternity - But many a brother had never even ever heard of me I can travel to the Mountain Dance up the River to the Source of the Fountain One Rock - many different places Many different kingdoms Many different spaces Out on the Mountain waiting Out on the Mountain waiting Out on the Mountain waiting Out on the Mountain waiting Pray, with the voice out loud You'll know what to Say Then climb that Rock Grip that Rod Praise! With the voice out loud And watch the waters raise In the name of the Great In the name of the I am I! Out on the mountain waiting El Shaddai is coming down! Out on the mountain waiting Down from the Narrow Way! Out on the mountain waiting El Shaddai is coming down! Out on the mountain waiting Coming for his Throne to claim! Holy! God of the Heavens is Holy! Angel of Amun Re! Holy! God of the Mercy Seat, Save us! Come hear your Children - we stand Out on the mountain waiting El Shaddai is coming down! Out on the mountain waiting Down from the Narrow Way! Out on the mountain waiting El Shaddai is coming down! Out on the mountain waiting Coming for his Throne to claim! El Shaddai is coming down! Down from the narrow way! El Shaddai is coming down! Coming for His Throne to claim!
The Lord comes down (El Shaddai is coming down) in glory to Sinai in Chapter 19 of Exodus and Israel is invited to be sanctified and see and hear for themselves. Let’s read through the event and then highlight the timeline. We will consider the catastrophic display of power that frightens Israel - this is a point positive in our acid test. Recognizing the symbolism associated with this planetary encounter will help to decode the recurring use of the same symbols in prophecy and Temple iconography.
19:9 - "I come unto thee in a thick cloud"
10-11 - Instructions to sanctify the people, wash their clothes, prepare for the 3rd day
12-13 - Boundary around the Mount enforced by penalty of death, signal to come up and see the Lord is long trumpet blast
14-15 - Moses sanctifies the people, washes their clothes, and prepares them for the 3rd day
16 - 3rd day morning
Thunders and lightning 🌩️⚡
Thick cloud
The voice of the trumpet, exceedingly loud
Caused fear in the camp
17 - Moses brings the people up - they stand at the foot of the Mount
18 - Sinai is altogether on a smoke because the Lord came down in fire - the whole mount quaked greatly
19-21 - The sound of trumpet waxes long so Moses goes up - the Lord tells him not let Israel up, for they are wicked
Here is the 21a footnote for gaze - the Privilege of Seeing God. It points to the JST of Exodus 33:20 where the wickedness of Israel is detected and identified by the Lord to Moses.
Looking at the Institute Manual’s commentary on this episode
Following the first two references in the second paragraph above - here are the hints as to why they weren’t allowed up.
Consider this warning from then Elder Nelson in his April 2016 Priesthood Session address titled “The Price of Priesthood Power”:
And this one more recently from now President Nelson in his October 2021 General Conference address titled “The Temple and Your Spiritual Foundation”:
…
The Lord and his Prophet are preparing this Latter-day people to become the prophesied Zion-society of all dispensations that helps to prepare the world for His 2nd Coming.
I would add here the witness of the Book of Mormon, in 3rd Nephi Chapters 8-15+ (click through and read the chapter headings of each) we get the epitome of the name El Shaddai on full display in the Americas. There is catastrophic destruction, and there is deliverance and organization of the righteous. The righteous survivors of the catastrophe are blessed to see and feel and witness the Lord God Almighty in flesh, come down upon the Temple mount - to deliver a new law face to face (think Sermon on the Mount and his declaration that the Law of Moses is fulfilled in Him).
That Sermon on the Mount - especially the Book of Mormon account - are a direct tie-back to this episode of El Shaddai coming down upon Sinai to deliver the law for a Zion-society to Moses.
We know that this righteous society that Jesus instructed went on to be as Zion for over 200 years. Then, the pride-cycle again reared its ugly face and Moroni was forced to bury up in the earth their book of the Gospel and those witnesses.
THE GOLDEN CALF - PLANETARY IDOLATRY
We know the story. Moses is with the Lord atop Sinai for 40 days. During that period, Aaron and Israel cast an idol of worship, a golden calf, in direct disobedience to the Lord’s commandments they had previously covenanted to keep.
The Seminary Manual has this to add:
“Even though the Israelites had recently made a covenant to keep the Lord’s commandments, they soon violated that covenant by disobeying the commandments and focusing their worshipful attention and devotion on something other than the Lord—usually the Egyptian gods. For Moses, it was a far greater challenge to get Egypt out of Israel than it was to get Israel out of Egypt.”
Anthony Larson does a great job speaking to this correlation in his book And the Moon Shall Turn to Blood in chapter 4 - I’m going to read several pages from that chapter here. This is from pages 41-43:
Velikovsky’s thesis concerning the ancient heavenly manifestations may explain why nearly all ancient religions commonly reverenced two images: The cow and the serpent. It may also serve to increase our understanding of scriptural references to these two objects. Although the Prophets decried idol worship, they repeatedly used imagery of both the serpent and the cow: the symbols of the ox and the snake were both used by Moses according to the Lord’s Instructions.
They Worshipped what they saw:
The Worship of the cow or bull may have begun with the appearance of Venus after its expulsion from Jupiter.
According to Velikovsky, many ancient civilizations referred to Venus as once having been a comet of great and imposing appearance. For an indeterminate period of time prior to the Exodus, Venus moved on an elongated elliptical orbit that carried it across the paths of the inner planets between Jupiter and the sun. In that orbit, it must have been an imposing sight-a sign in heaven-with a tail that sometimes seemed to stretch the entire length of the sky! Apparently, from time to time, the comet appeared to take the form of a bull’s head.
Velikovsky wrote:
“… the coma [tail] of Venus changed its form with the position of the planet. When the planet Venus approaches the earth now, it is only partly illuminated, a portion of the disc being in shadow; it has phases like the moon. At this time, being closer to the earth, it is most brilliant. When Venus had a coma, the horns of the crescent must have been extended by the illuminated portions of the coma. It thus had two long appendages and looked like a bull’s head.” (Worlds in Collision, p.175)
Aaron was a man who had worked hand in hand with the Prophet Moses. He had been called by God to be a spokesman for that Prophet. Yet Aaron condescended to fashion a golden calf for the children of Israel that they might worship it-contrary to explicit directions from Moses.
It seems curious that the children of Israel would wish to worship a golden calf, in light of the fact that God had so severely punished the idol-worshipping Egyptians. Hadn’t the Israelites been delivered just as Moses had promised? Hadn’t they witnessed the power of God in their deliverance? More than anyone else, didn’t they have good reason to be true to God’s commandments?
Velikovsky’s explanation of the unusual appearance of the comet Venus in the days before and after the Exodus seems to account, in part, for the idolatry of the Israelites: The children of Israel forged an idol in the form of the image which they had seen in the heavens, rather than worshipping the true God of Heaven who controls all the elements. The Lord Himself, speaking through the Prophet Amos hundreds of years later, rebuked members of the House of Israel for chronic idol worship. “But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.” (Amos 5:26) That statement from Amos seems to leave little doubt that the image the Israelites worshipped had some relation to a star or planet. (Planets were commonly referred to as stars because of their appearance in the heavens.)
Here are some images I generated to emphasize this visually. “The children of Israel forged an idol in the form of the image which they had seen in the heavens”.
I remember the first several commandments deal with this tradition of making idols out of things seen in heaven - so this was a severe oversight committed in apathy/carelessness. It’s as if the Lord had anticipated this and that’s why he wrote a little extra about the graven images up front in the 10 commandments. Even the command of not taking the Lord’s name in vain is directly related to this initial breaking of covenants with the Lord by Israel.
This is the root of idolatry - placing natural things as our central pillar and focus of worship instead of placing Jesus Christ there. Whether those natural things be planets and stars and/or nature herself, or whether they be lusts and desires of the natural/material man inside of us all. Placing anything above the Lord is in direct violation of the very first commandments required for salvation.
I want to continue on with Larson in chapter 4 - continuing here from page 43-45:
The queen of heaven:
Later, the Prophet Jeremiah attempted to eradicate the despicable practices of idol worship among the exiled Jews after Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Babylonians. But the Jews were adamant in their sacrilegious, idolatrous practices. They replied to Jeremiah:
“As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee.
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: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.” (Jeremiah 44:16,17; italics added)
The ‘queen of heaven’ that the Jews spoke of here is the same deity that was worshipped throughout the ancient world-the comet-planet Venus. The primary aspect of the “queen of heaven” was the sacred cow, known by various titles: the celestial cow, Athene (Venus), al-Uzza, Anat, Astarte, Ishtar, Isis or Apis. (See Worlds in Collision, pp.188-190
There seems to be little room for doubt here. Venus became the horned god of the ancient world, represented by the ox, the bull, the calf, or the cow, depending on how a particular group of people perceived the sign displayed in the heavens. A horned god which gored the world, spilling blood onto the earth, would have been considered a male deity; but when the same god fed earth’s surviving inhabitants with bread from heaven (manna) and caused the streams of the earth to flow with milk and honey -in effect, suckling the people of the earth-the horned god could then also be considered a female deity-the queen of heaven. Hence most of the gods worshipped in antiquity had both a male and a female aspect. This concept was carried so far in some cases that a few of the gods were considered to be at once both male and female-hermaphrodites.
Even the Israelites, led by a Prophet of God, succumbed to the awe-inspiring heavenly manifestation. They built an idol-a golden calf-so that they might venerate the sign in heaven. Not only that, but the above statements (together with others from Amos, Jeremiah and Acts) clearly indicate that the Israelites continued to worship idols for many centuries, contrary to the counsel of the Prophets.
Prior to the presentation of Velikovsky’s theories, many scholars had sought to explain the parallel development of these ideas in many religions through a process called diffusion. They speculated that a religious concept was carried from one culture to another in the course of normal, everyday interaction between cultures. In order for the idea of cattle worship-or any other religion-to spread from one culture to another, however, a respectable amount of time must elapse. Contrary to the diffusion theory, most evidence indicates that this form of idol worship originated almost simultaneously in all cultures. Hence, Velikovsky’s explanation more accurately fits the evidence than does the theory of diffusion.
Let’s also now pepper in some Velikovsky. Here’s from Worlds in Collision pp.124-5:
Here are some points for clarity.
‘Bull of Heaven’ and ‘pillar’ archetypes goes back to the Saturnian Golden Age when Venus was the ‘heart’ or inner-flame of the Heaven Man
The ‘Horns/Wings/Arms’ are horns of light/plasma
Venus exhibited horns and a pillar during the Passovers of the 4th Seal5/Exodus+
While Velikovsky contends that Venus was born from Jupiter at some point during the primeval dissolution - the Thunderbolts project has a different ‘birth of Venus’ take that bridges this gap between planetary manifestations (static in polar configuration to animated in inner-solar system Passovers). It may be that there’s some truth in both takes. Here’s a good video that speaks to this from the Thunderbolts Project, from their Discourses on an Alien Sky series/playlist, here’s #25 The Great Comet Venus. Worth the watch. Episodes #13, #26 and #27 are also relevant to this discussion.
Here is current day supporting evidence for cometary plasma/light ‘horns’:
I want to include another section from Anthony Larson’s And the Moon Shall Turn to Blood book - on pages 55-57 he writes:
Astronomy, astrology and idolatry:
Because several close planetary encounters have occurred in the past, we find that at various man has worshipped the several agents of those destructions. These are the planetary gods, worshipped by pagans (as they were called by early Christians). The Prophets called such pagans “idol worshippers,” because they made and reverenced images or idols of their planetary gods.
The ancients anxiously followed the movements of heavenly bodies, knowing that irregular planetary motions could portend renewed cataclysms on Earth. That fear of the planets may explain why astronomy was so important to the ancients. Their temples, pyramids, and great monoliths served as astral observatories as well as centers for religious rites and rituals. Much time and labor was spent in constructing those tremendous structures and in watching the planets march across the sky. Those who best understood astronomy rose to a high status in such communities.
This may also be the reason why the religions of the ancients were so intimately associated with astronomy. Celestial bodies were the focus of ancient religion. Fear of renewed destruction wrought by the planets/gods impelled men to render obeisance to the images that represented those fearful forces, and over time human characteristics were attributed to the celestial events. For example, covering one’s self with ashes as did the Israelites, or painting one’s body red as some American Indians did, or sacrificing humans in bloody rituals as pagans did the world over, or rituals of “passing through the fire,” all entail re-enactments of elements of past destructions. In addition, the ancients exhibited intense interest in the movement of the planets; hence, the astronomers also served as the religious directors, or priesthood of their communities.
Where the Prophets held sway with their teachings, the line between worship of God and cosmological idolatry was clearly delineated. Abraham worshipped the true God, and yet he was a great astronomer, as witnessed by his writings. But where the people rejected the Prophets, the line between religion and cosmology became less distinct. Much to the distress of holy men of God, the planets themselves became objects of worship, along with the natural elements which became the destructive agents of the “celestial gods.” Rather than perceiving the planets as agents of the Creator, the idol worshippers chose to worship the planets themselves as gods. This was an integral part of the mission of the Prophets: to teach and preach against the perverted worship of planetary gods (in the form of idols).
Astrology also appears to have originated from ancient cataclysms. Astrologers attempted to augur the fate of man from the heavenly positions of the planets. This logic seems reasonable considering that in past encounters man’s destiny was profoundly altered by the direct intervention of the planets. In the time since the last planetary encounter, astrology has degenerated to become a parlor game, an amusing pastime, but at one time it was a form of worship. Naturally, ancient astrology was steeped in mysticism and mystery.
It seems safe to say that without the guidance provided by the Prophets, the ancients mistakenly looked for guidance to the planets rather than to God Himself, the great Architect of the Universe. In so doing, they deluded themselves and subsequently fell into futile, perverted and self-destructive practices.
It was a constant battle for Israel - the temptation to shift focus from the Lord Jehova to other lords, especially planetary ones anciently, was overwhelming for the nation as a whole. Eventually, this apostasy would be the reason for the scattering of Israel.
Consider Deutoronomy Chapter 4 from basically verses 1-40, read them all in context and given what we have gone over in this essay.
In many other places throughout the Old Testament - this refrain against worshipping the planets/stars is evident once your heart and mind have been trained to consider the proper context of the times.
Planetary idolatry was punishable by stoning - death.
See 2 Kings 17:6-23:
See wicked King Manasseh in 2 Kings 21:
Then you have King Josiah who plays the Uno Reverse on the planetary idolatry for a time in 2 Kings 23:
Jeremiah condemns Jerusalem for these same previous sins/tendencies of worshipping the ‘host of heaven’ in Jeremiah 8:
Ezekiel in Chapter 8 sees a vision of the wicked idolatry of his people and even the worship of the host of heaven in the Temple.
Amos in Chapter 5 calls out the planetary idolatry:
We can even open the more obscure books like Zephaniah 1 and see plainly what is being said in this broader planetary idolatry context:
Chemarims = idolatrous priests
Malcham = Milcom Or Milkowm {mil-kome'}; from melek for Molek/Moloch; the national idol of the Ammonites
These are just a few of the scriptural passages that can be found that are supportive of this underlying battle for the mind and heart (attention/worship) of Israel between the Lord Jehovah and his Prophets and the pagan planetary idolatry will all the associated feasts and whoredoms of the surrounding nations.
We will end this Part 3 here and pick up with the Tabernacle in Part 4. I’ve skimmed over a ton of really good information that I encourage you to find and dig up for yourself if you read Worlds in Collision by Velikovsky or Larson’s Prophecy Trilogy.
Thank you for your time and may God bless you!
Matthew 24:30-31 - 30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Alma 45:19 - Behold, this we know, that he was a righteous man; and the saying went abroad in the church that he was taken up by the Spirit, or buried by the hand of the Lord, even as Moses. But behold, the scriptures saith the Lord took Moses unto himself; and we suppose that he has also received Alma in the spirit, unto himself; therefore, for this cause we know nothing concerning his death and burial.
Numbers 1:2-3 - Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers, with the number of their names, every male by their polls;
3 From twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel: thou and Aaron shall number them by their armies.
I’m referencing Revelation 6:7-8 - but also in the context and synthesis of our understanding of dispensations and solar ages of catastrophism.
Wonderful. I have always loved the name "El Shaddai", especially when translated as "God of the Mountain" because of the number of times The Lord invites his prophets and people up the mountain (temple). Also reminiscent of the first mountain- the first land to poke from the waters of chaos at creation, echoed by the mountain on which the ark landed- the first land from the flood.