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THINGS ASTHEY ARE,WERE
ARE TO COME
Understanding
Section 133ANTHONY E. LARSON
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THINGS AS THEY ARE,WERE AND ARE TO COME
Understanding Section 133Copyright 2004 Anthony E. Larson
Section 133 of the Doctrine and Covenants describes events immediatelypreceding the second coming of Jesus Christ. Without a grounding in the an-
cient imagery on which the prophecy is made, however, we, along with our
Christian cousins will continue to misunderstand these remarkable events.
he acquisition o vital inormation rom catastrophists and com-parative mythologists about the traditional, cultural archetypesthat dominate our scriptures and the inormation contained in an
anecdotal story related by Patriarch Homer M. Brown o his grandpar-ents encounter with Joseph Smith one evening in Nauvoo now allowus to turn our attention to one o the more symbol-laden, latter-dayrevelations about uture events given to the prophet.
In Doctrine and Covenants, Section 133, the Lord reveals much
about the changes in the heavens and the earth that will be seen one
day. But in order to ully understand what is recorded there, we must
combine our understanding o the Saturn traditions and the conceptsJoseph Smith communicated to Benjamin Brown.
A new reading
We turn our attention to the verses in Section 133 that ocus on
a series o events seen to occur prior to the second coming. For
behold, the Lord God hath sent orth the angel crying through the
midst o heaven, saying: Prepare ye the way o the Lord, and make
his paths straight, or the hour o his coming is nigh
. (Doctrine &Covenants 133:17.)
Tis verse sets the scene. We are about to be told o events that
will transpire immediately prior to the second coming. Tus, we now
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Te lamb in the polar conguration was the small, red planet,
Mars, the son o the sire, the ram, Saturn. Te use o this imagery
became highly anthropomorphisized in Egyptian art and was rendered
accordingly, as seen above.Given that imagery, it is iconographically correct to reer to the son
o the ram god as a lamb, an oen-used allusion in ancient symbol-
ism.
Naturally, the prophets would immediately see the symbolic valueo reerring to the Savior, the Son o God, as a lamb. It was an as-sociation that anyone steeped in ancient symbolism would easily
understand. So, the phrase Son o God became the Lamb o God.Once made in antiquity, the connection would persist to become parto the language o the prophets and the scriptures, right down into
New estament times.
Te act that revelations produced by Joseph Smith display the
proper use o such ancient iconography speaks eloquently or their
authenticity. False prophets in this day and age have no grasp o such
idiographic relationships and thus ail to use them properly, i at all.
Mount Zion
Looking urther, we see that Mount Zion mentioned in verse 18 is,
o course, the axis mundi, the world or cosmic mountain upon which
the polar conguration, the temple or city o god, appeared to stand,
answering to the this archetypical image.
Tis mountain is the basis or temple imagery the world over
Olympus in the Greek culture, Jeru-salems Mt. Moriah in the Israelite
culturewhere temples are oen ei-
ther designed to resemble a moun-
tain, mound or pyramid, or set on
top o one or next to one. It is also
the basis or a similar allusion inthe scriptures where the temple is
described as the mountain o the
Lords house.
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The 144,000
So, too, is the hundred and orty-our thousand named in verse
18. Tat symbolically derived number (12 x 12 x 1000) is simply a
metaphoric means o saying more than you can count. It was nevermeant to express a xed number, as it is so oen misinterpreted in
modern prophetic schemes.
Tese individuals are also prominently mentioned in Revelation
where they stand with a Lamb and are part o mount Sion. Joseph
Smith and the scriptures depict them in symbolic terms, as though
they were individuals, servants o God or priesthood holders. Origi-
nally, they were based in the thousands o illuminated prominencesthat radiated outward rom the edge o the celestial planet/god/city,
as seen in this exploded view.
Tey were characterized in tradition
and mythology as the inhabitants o the
celestial city, and as such are iconograph-ically useul in depicting those saved or
exalted souls who will stand with Christ
at the nal judgment, as John and Joseph
Smith explained.
The returning hero weds
Te next verses introduce a new di-
mension to our investigation, allowing
us to see the origins o Christian symbol-
ism in the more ancient cultural and religious usages.Whereore, prepare ye or the coming o the Bridegroom; go ye,
go ye out to meet him. (Ibid., v. 19.)
While the reerence to the Bridegroom, as every Christian knows,
is clearly an allusion to Christs role as husband to the church, this
reerence goes back to a more ancient, cosmological tradition.
During the evolution o the polar conguration, Mars was seen
to move away rom the center. In doing so, it seemed to the ancientsto wander about heaven and grow much larger as it engaged in a
variety o metamorphoses in a planetary dance that engaged both
Venus and the Earth.
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Tese phases o the planetary epic spawned a multitude o myths
and traditions about cultural heroes who wandered away rom home,orphaned or dispossessed, who then engaged in a series o misadven-
tures, challenges or contests in which they perormed miraculously
and then nally returned home to discover their heritage, roots or
exalted station in lie. Tese mythical archetypes are recognizable tomodern eyes, or example, in recent incarnations such as the story o
Aladdin, the Prince and the Pauper, the story o King Arthur or the
tales o Hercules.
Eventually, Mars returned to the center place aer several eventul
excursions. Tis return was seen as a marriage ceremony wherein the
two planets, the warrior/hero Mars and the goddess/queen Venus,
were joined or wed aer the wanderers long absence rom the
center place or home.So the early Christian church ad-
opted this cultural tradition to de-
scribe the returning Christ, coming
to initiate the Millennium aer his
long absence rom the Earth. Hence,the Christian imagery o the bride-
groom and the bride, as used by theLord and Joseph Smith in Doctrine
and Covenants, nd their roots inancient planetary imagery.
Bigger than life
Te next verse leaves the impression that the Lords return will
see him as a giant standing on the Earth, with one oot on the Asian
continent and the other on the American continent. For behold, he
shall stand upon the mount o Olivet, and great deep, and upon the
islands o the sea, and upon the land o Zion. (Ibid., v.20.)
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Once again, such imagery is based on ancient symbolism spawned
in the Saturn conguration o planets when it assumed the prototypical
image o the heaven man with its arms stretched heavenward and
its eet planted on the limb o the Earth, as seen in this illustration.Tis Egyptian glyph, below, is perhaps the best example o the
heaven man archetype and a reminder that the primary symbols were
occasionally portrayed most precisely in ancient art. More than most,
this example approaches an accurate portrayal o the archetypicalsymbol derived rom the polar conguration and serves as strong
evidence that this symbol was the origin o much biblical imagery.
In this instance, the planet Venus,seen to sit in the center o Saturn, wasconsidered the head, Saturns crescent
ormed the outstretched arms, Mars at
the top o the column became the chest
or torso and the pillar the legs o theheaven man or angel archetype.
While the return o the Savior will
undoubtedly be a magnicent manies-tation, just as it was when he descended
rom heaven aer his resurrection toappear beore the Nephites, his stature
will not assume epic proportions as this
verse implies.
A celestial metaphorIndeed, it is the thesis o this presentation that these verses are not
at all meant to be descriptive o the Saviors coming, as it is commonly
supposed. While it is symbolically correct to apply these metaphors
to his advent, the imagery tells us more. It betrays a celestial scene
based in cosmological origins.
I we return to the rst verse quoted in this monograph, we nd
that we were introduced to an angel crying through the midst oheaven. Ironically, it is the very heaven man image rom which theancients derived the angel icon. Tus, this icon is likely the origin
o the angel image o prophecy, used by so many prophets.
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Tis opens the door to a more meaningul or amplied reading
o these verses. It is the concept that what is described here is not
Christs advent at all, but a planetary encounter between the Earth
and another planetary body
the harbinger o the second coming orlast grand sign o the Saviors advent. And, in act, when we consult
Joseph Smiths pronouncements as recorded in the Brown account
regarding these very verses, we nd that, indeed, he spoke plainly o
a planetary encounter.
Aer re-entering the house, the Prophet said, Brother Brown,I noticed when I came in that you were reading the Doctrine
and Covenants. Will you kindly get it?He did so. 125he Prophet turned to Section 133 and read,
commencing at the 26th verse and throughout to the 34th verse.He said, aer reading the 31st verse, Now, let me ask you whatwould cause the everlasting hills to tremble with more violencethan the coming together o the two planets? (Scriptural andSecular Prophecies Pertaining to Te Last Days, pp. 89, 90.)
What better way to impress on the reader the planetary nature othe events described in these verses than to couch them in symbolic
terms reminiscent o ancient times when Earth was a satellite o a gas
giant and a companion to other planets? I what will be seen in Earths
heavens just prior to the Saviors adventJosephs planet, cometis
a planetary display akin to that seen anciently, why not use all the
traditional metaphors to memorialize that act? o do otherwise
would be inconsistent with prophetic convention. Anyone well versedin the ancient traditions, such as a prophet, would be inclined to usethe proper and correct symbolism and metaphor. And, indeed, that
is what we see done in these once enigmatic verses.
Moreover, approaching these verses with this in mind, we nd im-
mediate clarication o the imagery. All that is needed is knowledge
o how these icons were employed anciently and we have the proper
interpretation. Or as Peter put it, No prophecy o the scripture iso any private interpretation. Prophecy is meant to be interpreted
systematically, using the imagery known in the times o the ancient
prophets who spoke these words, imagery common to all ancient
cultures. It is we moderns, who esteem this imagery as myth, that
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have stripped it rom our culture and our traditions, leaving us unable
to grasp its meaning when we encounter it.
Returning planet imagery
Looking back at the verses examined thus ar rom Section 133,we nd that, indeed, all the imagery has its basis in ancient planetary
imagery, just as the ollowing verses. And he shall utter his voice out
o Zion, and he shall speak rom Jerusalem, and his voice shall be
heard among all people; And it shall be a voice as the voice o many
waters, and as the voice o a great thunder, which shall break down
the mountains, and the valleys shall not be ound. (op. cit., vs. 21, 22.)
Sound was an integral part o the ancient events. Electrically en-
ergetic planets in close proximity were easily capable o generating
a multitude o electromagnetic oscillations that became audible in
Earths atmosphere, rom the most subtle to excruciatingly loud. It
is proper to reer to the sounds as coming rom a geographical loca-
tion he shall utter his voice out o Zion, and he shall speak rom
Jerusalembecause the sound or voice would seen to emanate rom
there since the entire Earth would become a planet-sized transducer orspeaker, oscillating in response to electromagnetic waves propagated
by nearby planets.
Tunder and crashing water are probably only somewhat remi-niscent o those sounds since they were heard to accompany the
tremendous shaking o the ground, as alluded to in these verses.
Furthermore, it is appropriate to connect these colossal sounds with
the transormation o Earths topography
which shall break downthe mountains, and the valleys shall not be oundbecause theylikely went hand in hand.
Te next verse urther conrms our thesis. He shall command the
great deep, and it shall be driven back into the north countries, and
the islands shall become one land. (op. cit., v. 23.) Lets learn what
this means in Josephs own words rom the Patriarch Brown account.
Relative to the waters rolling back to the north, i you take avessel o water and swing it rapidly around your head, you wontspill any. But i you stop the motion gradually, it will begin topour out.
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Now, he said, Brother Brown, at the present time this earthis rotating very rapidly. When this planet returns it will makethe Earth that much heavier, and it will then revolve slower. Tat
will account or the waters receding rom the Earth or a greatwhile, but it has now turned and is proceeding rapidly eastward.(op. cit., p. 91.)
Here we see yet another anticipated eect o the Earth joining in
a polar orbit with another, larger body. Joseph was exactly right in
assessing that our planets rotation might slow when electromagneti-
cally joined with a new neighbor, thus signicantly diminishing the
centriugal orces that maintain an equatorial bulge at the equator.Tis would have the efect o raising the ocean levels at the poles and
diminishing or depressing those around the equator.
But there would be another, even greater reason or this oceanic
migration that may not have occurred to Joseph: tremendous tidal
action due to gravity, which would also serve to draw Earths oceans
into gigantic tides, the primary one centered on the North Pole and
the secondary or reexive tide on the South Pole.A consequence o such permanent
polar tides would be the appearance oheretoore submerged land bridges be-
tween many o the continentsespecially
at the equatorial latitudes where the efect
would be the most dramatic. Water levelsin some places might subside hundreds o eet in great, worldwide
tsunamis as the oceans raced to the poles, thus receding rom theEarth. Imagine a ring o dry ground girding the equator, joining all
the continents.
Tus, we would see the literal ulllment o verse 23. the great
deep shall be driven back into the north countries, and the islands
shall become one land.
A planetary docking maneuver
Having introduced the concept o intersecting planets, the com-
ing together o the two planets, Joseph next reers to a circumstance
that has no meaning except in a universe governed by electromag-
netic orces.
Tidal Bulges
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Now, he said, scientists will tell you that it is not scientic,that two planets coming together would be disastrous to both.But, when two planets or other objects are traveling in the same
direction and one o them with a little greater velocity than theother, it would not be disastrous because the one traveling asterwould overtake the other.
In act, the perception by science o such an event has not changedsince Josephs day. Scientists still speak, hypothetically, o such eventsas collisions, insisting that they would be, as Joseph said, disastrous.
Te Roche limit is the orbital distance at which the gravity o the
larger planet will begin to tidally tear apart the smaller planet asthey approach one another. Even i, as Joseph proposed, the planets
were traveling in the same direction or sharing a similar orbit as one
gradually overtook the other, their approach would eventually bring
them within the Roche limit, which would be utterly disastrous to the
smaller orb. It would be summarily sundered into so many chunks.
Yet, Josephs scenario sees no such outcome. Saying emphatically
that it would not be disastrous, he seems to understand what or-
thodox science denies to this day: Tere are greater orces at work insuch a scenario than gravity. Tese electromotive orces would serve
to both prevent an outright collision or dismemberment and, at the
same time, lock the two planets together in a tandem orbit.
In act, proponents o the electric universe theory insist that elec-
tromagnetic plasma layersonce called VanAllen belts but now called
Langmuir sheathssurrounding both approaching planets would pull
the planets together at a distance, yet also prevent them rom collidingby holding them apart as the distance between them diminished. In
eect, the two planets approach would rst be cushioned, then the
two would electromagnetically couple, held in stasis at a distance rom
one another, neither driing apart nor colliding. And while the tidal
efects would be tremendous, pulling the oceans to the poles, they
would be insufcient to destroy either planet.
Josephs prophetic insight
Joseph Smiths scenario, as we have read, suggests just such a cir-
cumstance. Yet, how could he know o this? Even today science denies
such a possibility. Indeed, electricity was only a novelty in that day.
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Tus, its role in creating electromagnetic efects was virtually unknown.
In act it still has no acknowledged role in planetary science even today.
Clearly, Joseph had learned through revelation that Earth was once
held in juxtaposition with another planet anciently beore being sepa-rated, even i he did not completely understand the mechanics o such
a coupling. For this reason he speaks o it returning in conjunctionwith the events described in Section 133.
Indeed, this is the only context in which these statements haveany meaning.
And this is the point: In the context o modern scientic notions,
Josephs statements in the Brown account sound like the anciul in-ventions o a ertile imagination. However, when seen in the context
o the Saturn traditions and the electric universe, it is a stunningly
accurate depiction and a testament to the prophetic prowess o Joseph
Smith. Moreover, the Brown account allows a much more meaningul
interpretation o Section 133.
Seen in the light o our new perspective on ancient history, we can
see that the next verse rom the 133rd Section has been grossly mis-
construed by Latter-day Saints. And the land o Jerusalem and theland o Zion shall be turned back into their own place, and the earth
shall be like as it was in the days beore it was divided. (op. cit., v. 24.)
Continents do not drift
Tis verse does not describe the popular geologic notion o conti-
nental dri. As we have seen, Joseph does not speak o shiing land-
masses in his interpretation o Section 133. However, he does speak oshiing oceans that will permanently reveal great tracts o land, thus
reversing the division o the Earth in Pelegs day.
More signicant still is the reerence to Jerusalem and Zion being
turned back into their own place. While such a statement might be
construed to be an indication o continents in motion to our ears, seen
through the lenses o ancient tradition, it tells a very dierent story.
Latter-day Saints tend to think o Zion as a people, or so it is used
in modern parlance. We also think o Jerusalem as an earthly city in
the Middle East. However, anciently this was not so. Te archetype o
the holy city, Jerusalem was the Saturn conguration, and Zion (Sion)
was the name o the heaven-spanning mountain that both held up
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the celestial city and connected it to the Earth. Tus, i the heavenly
city and its sacred mountain are turned back in their own place, the
phrase reers to the return o that grouping o planets that gave rise
to that imagery anciently.Tis verse, then, is not about earthly cities. It is, as is consistently
done in these verses, an allegory based in celestial constructs. And, inact, the return o a planet is what Josephs instruction to the Browns
was all about, lending urther credibility to this idea.
Te proposed explanation o these verses extends to yet another
verse in the 133rd Section. And they who are in the north countries
shall come in remembrance beore the Lord; and their prophets shallhear his voice, and shall no longer stay themselves; and they shall smitethe rocks, and the ice shall ow down at their presence.
Josephs explanation o the melting ice is as ollows:
Now, what would cause the mountains o ice to melt quickerthan the heat caused by the riction o the two planets comingtogether?
And then he asked the question, Did you ever see a meteor allingthat was not red hot? So, that would cause the mountains o ice to
melt. (op. cit., p. 91.)
Once again, we see an explanation that not only supports the
contention that Joseph viewed these prophesied events as planetary
catastrophes, we also a reiteration o the joining planets theme.
Also, in this same passage, we come to one o the most misunder-
stood prophecies in all scripture in that many claim the they in thisverse means the en Lost ribes o Israel.
Not about the Lost Tribes of Israel
Because ancient tradition connected to the disappearance o the
Lost ribes tells o them disappearing into the north countries,
modern Saints have interpreted this verse to reer to those en Lost
ribes because o the identical reerence.
Once again, however, when we look at Josephs statement, we getthe picture o a returning planet.
He continued, Now, as to their coming back rom the northernwaters, they will return rom the north because their planet willreturn to the place rom whence it was taken. (op. cit., p. 91.)
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Tat is, their planet will once again take up its historic, traditional
position in the north. Tis, o course is indicative o the uniquepolar orbit posited by albott and illustrated in the Dibble acsimile,
as drawn by Joseph Smith.Note that nowhere in the Brown
account does the Prophet suggest that
the en ribes would come rom thatplanet, only that it was thought to be
their planet or the one that was con-nected to them by tradition.
Since Joseph attributes all the otherphenomena in this account to efectsgenerated by the return o the old
celestial or heavenly order, it seems
likely that he meant to convey thatsame point in this instance rather
than reerring to the return o any group o people. In act, placing the
en ribes interpretation on this solitary verse in an entire sequence
dedicated to planetary symbolism seems completely out o place. A
more sensible approach would seem to be to allow the verse to be seen
as complementary to the rest o the passage rather than interpreting
it as a parenthetical comment.
It bears mention at this point that many early Saints attribute to
Joseph Smith the belie that the Lost ribes inhabited another planet.
Tis, o course, is impossible to veriy since there is no direct state-
ment to that eect recorded by the Prophet.From the standpoint o the polar conguration o planets illustrated
above, such a circumstance would seem to be patently impossible.
First o all, no known mechanism would allow people to relocate rom
Earth to Mars or Venus, the two planets most proximate to Earth in
the Polar Conguration. Te natural orces unleashed in those events
would have been too traumatic to humans to see the Lost ribes sur-
vive the transit
even i a transport mechanism could be identied.Secondly, the distances were similar to those that separate the Earth
and its moon today. Bridging such a hostile gap would appear to be
even more o an impossibility.
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Since the traditions tell o no other, habitable planets parking in
a polar orbit above the Earth anciently that might have served as a
reuge or migrating Israelites, the Lost ribes interpretation o this
verse ails.Furthermore, space probes to those two planets have returned
no evidence that they are inhabited. Indeed, the environments onMars and Venus today could not support human beings, except one
imagines some supernatural intervention to miraculously preserve
them alive. Even i these two planets were to return to their ormer
location near the Earth, there could be no people living there to re-
turn. Tereore, the interpretation o these verses as the return o aninhabited planet also ails.
Te most likely explanation or the belie o many early Saints that
Joseph taught such an idea can only be considered a uniorm mis-
interpretation based on the way the prophet explained the concept.
Indeed, since the return o the Lost ribes will coincide with these
latter-day catastrophes, the two are closely connected in prophecy
and easily mistaken one or the other.
A celestial highway
Moving on, we see another, traditional aspect o the polar con-guration reused in the description o the coming event as recorded
in Section 133. And an highway shall be cast up in the midst o the
great deep. (op. cit., vs. 27.)
Once again, Joseph claries the revelation.
And relative to the great highway which should be cast up whenthe planet returns to its place in the great northern waters, itwill orm a highway and waters will recede and roll back.
Tis highway was also Mt. Sion support-
ing the holy city at its apex where it appears
to split into twin peaks.
In this phase o the congurations career,
the pillar or mountain could easily be con-strued as a road or path. It is the origin o the
symbolic notion that the streets o heaven arepaved with gold. It is the reason many ancient temples were accessible
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