tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87636153184133425352024-03-05T19:58:03.984-08:00Things as They Are, Were and Are to ComeAn anthology of published and unpublished monographs by Anthony E. Larson, written for Latter-day Saints (Mormons) who wish to better understand their scriptures, their prophets and the temple experience.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892013499410269737noreply@blogger.comBlogger106125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763615318413342535.post-22736377898480540652017-05-01T15:50:00.002-07:002017-05-01T15:50:59.658-07:00An Announcement
ANNOUNCEMENT
A new series of videos present a quick introduction to my research. The series, "Cosmism in the Restored Gospel" presents a series of novel approaches that will answer most of your questions.
You can watch them all here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwlu8RdjcrVo5Zg9hdAEkjHDLEAjp68vyGive your gospel knowledge and comprehension a big boost, while strengthening Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892013499410269737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763615318413342535.post-25704883949962081172016-01-05T14:09:00.003-08:002016-01-05T14:15:55.056-08:00
Guest Post
By
Kevin Merrell
In Need of a Revelation About the Book of Revelation
Once
we take the Book of Revelation seriously, what are we to make
of the casserole of curious metaphors that populate it?
Container or contents?
In the
movie, The Princess Bride, Wallace Shawn plays Vizzini, a self–important
little boss in a trio of bumbling outlaws. Mandy Pitinkin plays another of the
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892013499410269737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763615318413342535.post-55910720151498388082015-09-05T05:42:00.000-07:002015-09-05T05:45:17.093-07:00What Is This?
The typical
reaction of church members when first exposed to Joseph Smith’s use of
cosmological imagery is one of disbelief. “You mean there is more to the gospel
of Jesus Christ than I have been taught?” is a typical reaction. This is mostly
due to the fact that their previous gospel education or belief system did not
include this aspect of gospel study. It was one of the first concepts lost Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892013499410269737noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763615318413342535.post-78284041382935935822013-10-23T14:04:00.000-07:002015-07-29T03:36:29.240-07:00The Forgotten Promise
We may have
overlooked a significant promise given us by a prophet of God.
Moroni, writing his
own observations in the Book of Ether, had this to say to us, the members of
the modern church:
Come unto me, O ye house of Israel, and it shall be
made manifest unto you how great things the Father hath laid up for you, from
the foundation of the world; and it hath not come unto you, because of
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892013499410269737noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763615318413342535.post-85428653360626765242013-06-26T11:32:00.001-07:002013-06-26T11:37:10.659-07:00The Prophecy Enigma Solved
Decoding the
Prophets’ Symbolism
You may have heard of the Bible Code. This is not about
that. In fact, the Bible Code, as portrayed in Christian and pop literature, is
a fallacy.
This essay is about a very real code, though it was never
meant to be such. It happened quite by accident. You are probably very aware of
it, though you’ve probably never thought of it as a code.
This is Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892013499410269737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763615318413342535.post-89611895799331517502013-05-11T01:54:00.003-07:002013-06-26T11:44:30.547-07:00Author's Note:
This article was published on KSL.com in June, 2012. I thought readers of this blog would be interested in the relevance to pop culture and its influence on the motion picture industry.
SALT LAKE CITY — It’s official, apparently. The movie “The Avengers” has broken all box office records, making it the all-time, most popular movie. Audiences are blown away by the action-packedAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892013499410269737noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763615318413342535.post-65364810471258391942012-11-24T01:06:00.000-08:002012-11-24T01:18:06.188-08:00The Voice of the People
We’ve reached a milestone in American history. Emotions are
running high. Liberals are elated; conservatives are disheartened.
This past election was a watershed moment in time. Everyone,
on both sides of the political spectrum, is in agreement about that, but for
very different reasons. Everything has changed.
Until recent decades, the majority of Americans stood
steadfastly for Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892013499410269737noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763615318413342535.post-53690205216129352502012-08-27T21:45:00.000-07:002012-08-27T21:45:32.873-07:00Like Unto the Nephites
Drought grips the country. Over half the
counties in the lower 48 have been declared disaster areas. Wildfires erupt
intermittently in forests and urban areas. Record temperatures in the heartland
ad to the misery index. Water flows in the Mississippi have dropped to record
low levels, restricting barge traffic and driving up transportation costs. The
price of food and other commodities are on Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892013499410269737noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763615318413342535.post-12370198784655737372011-11-28T12:02:00.000-08:002012-08-27T23:04:50.338-07:00The Missing Writings
The statements of the Lord to Nephi in the Book of Mormon present today’s Latter-day Saints with a significant conundrum. Let’s take a close look to see what it’s all about.
We begin by quoting the germane passages from 2nd Nephi, chapter 29, in an order that clarifies and lends weight to the Lord’s vital message:
“Know ye not that . . . I bring forth my word unto the children of men, yea, Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892013499410269737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763615318413342535.post-16721877017663935422011-11-21T08:46:00.001-08:002013-02-18T15:22:15.587-08:00Why Cosmology?
I get that question all the time.
"Why study all this cosmology and symbolism stuff when today's prophets and apostles emphasize gospel principles? Isn't that an indication of where we should spend our time and efforts?"
I respond:
Yes. The brethren focus on the basics for the benefit of potential converts and the newest church members because their mission is worldwide conversion and the Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892013499410269737noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763615318413342535.post-39656739695880691972010-04-02T16:09:00.000-07:002010-04-06T02:16:23.011-07:00Prophecy for Dummies
<!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 <![endif]--> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-update:auto; mso-style-parent:""; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0in; text-indent:.5in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} h1 {Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892013499410269737noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763615318413342535.post-13359641555328381002009-12-09T08:39:00.000-08:002009-12-09T09:05:57.027-08:00Living the Nephite Nightmare(An Open Letter to all Latter-day Saints)The Book of Mormon is a prophecy for our time.This has been my thesis since the mid-1980s, when I wrote Parallel Histories: The Nephites and The Americans. It was written over 20 years ago in response to then church president Ezra Taft Benson’s call to carefully and diligently re-examine the Book of Mormon. It was my effort to comply with his earnest Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892013499410269737noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763615318413342535.post-4317028020328429712009-11-09T08:04:00.000-08:002009-11-09T18:31:38.103-08:00Proof that the Church Is TrueAbstract: LDS temple tradition provides the strongest argument for the claim that Mormonism is the only true religion. Though we do not see it as such, our temple tradition has the virtue of providing physical evidence, empirically verifiable, that the church is a restoration of the ancient order, held sacred by all ancient cultures. Its existence in Mormon sacred tradition is long established, Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892013499410269737noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763615318413342535.post-54605246745920255392009-06-30T08:06:00.000-07:002012-08-27T23:09:51.070-07:00What Does Cosmology Have To Do With My Salvation?
When addressing Latter-day Saints, I often observe that cosmology — the study of planets and stars, suns and moons — and its attendant mythology was not just an affectation of Old Testament peoples. It was also an important, integral part of the gospel taught by Jesus Christ and embraced by the primitive church or early Christian religion. In his essay “Unrolling the Scrolls – Some Forgotten Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892013499410269737noreply@blogger.com49tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763615318413342535.post-53242997104677861072009-06-10T18:18:00.000-07:002009-06-10T18:32:05.380-07:00More on the Electric UniverseEinstein got it wrong … and so did Newton, for that matter.Electricity was an unknown item, except as a novelty, in Newton’s day. Hence, his speculations on gravity did not take electricity and it’s considerable power into account. Einstein knew of electricity and charge, but as a mathematician, he discounted them in his calculations.Even today, given the practical application of electricity’s Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892013499410269737noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763615318413342535.post-4764396709867825582009-05-31T12:59:00.000-07:002009-08-02T23:59:47.197-07:00The Human Body in an Electric Universe“From the smallest particle to the largest galactic formation, a web of electrical circuitry connects and unifies all of nature, organizing galaxies, energizing stars, giving birth to planets and, on our own world, controlling weather and animating biological organisms. There are no isolated islands in an electric universe.” David Talbott and Wallace Thornhill, Thunderbolts of the GodsPlasma Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892013499410269737noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763615318413342535.post-42339816789411790712009-02-13T15:29:00.000-08:002009-02-14T01:30:40.044-08:00It's Not Easy Being GreenAt the risk of being ridiculed or scoffed at for being too open, let me briefly pull back the author/researcher curtain to let you see the inner mulling and musing of the mind behind all these “peculiar” notions.To put it simply, I’m at the end of my rope. And I have been for some time.Kermit the Frog sings a woeful little tune that best characterizes my predicament. “It’s not easy being green,” Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892013499410269737noreply@blogger.com40tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763615318413342535.post-40197244018479438452009-02-05T04:35:00.000-08:002009-02-14T02:21:35.083-08:00The Circle of Meaning and ComprehensionThere is a great body of ancient texts that scholars like Hugh Nibley classify as ascension literature. It’s called that because each of the various authors, who are implicitly prophets, ascend to heaven to see a marvelous vision. The best examples in modern revelation are the books of Moses, Abraham and Enoch in the Pearl of Great Price.The ascensions were very real, and they were marvelously Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892013499410269737noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763615318413342535.post-89796833378174099952009-02-03T21:18:00.000-08:002009-02-04T12:08:40.286-08:00What The Prophets SawIt’s this author’s contention that all the prophets saw the same vision: Ezekiel, Daniel, John, Lehi, Nephi, Moses, Abraham and even Joseph Smith. It’s the “One Vision” given to all who qualify, as near as I can determine.We mistakenly assume they each had a different revelation because each account seems unique. Not so. They saw the same things, but described them in different terms or focused Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892013499410269737noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763615318413342535.post-17433287836542877392009-01-21T20:18:00.000-08:002009-01-21T20:38:50.485-08:00Mares Eat Oats ...Do you remember that old song that says, “Mares eat oats and does eat oats, and little lambs eat ivy; a kid’ll eat ivy too, wouldn’t you?” For years, as a child, I sang that song as a string of nonsense syllables, seeing absolutely no meaning in the words I muttered. I would sing, “Mairsy dotes and dozy dotes, and liddil amb zee divvy; a kiddle e dyvie two, wouldn’t you?” That’s what I thought Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892013499410269737noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763615318413342535.post-87336878259976977682009-01-04T16:42:00.000-08:002009-01-04T17:23:36.063-08:00The "One Story"The mythology, traditions and religions of ancient cultures the world over and across all time are based in singular astral objects and events observed by the earliest inhabitants of this planet. That’s the basis of what one comparative mythologist called “the One Story told around the world.”This is a novel concept, but one that is central to deciphering almost all the mysteries from the past. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892013499410269737noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763615318413342535.post-35790959992164838192008-12-21T00:22:00.000-08:002008-12-21T00:44:04.278-08:00Prop 8 and a Warning From Our Past“Those who can not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” George Santayana, American philosopherRecent political events have focused considerable negative attention on the LDS church, designating Mormons as the primary opponents to same-sex marriage initiatives across the country. Battle lines were drawn in California’s ballot initiative, Proposition 8, restricting the definition of Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892013499410269737noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763615318413342535.post-66150237586908531252008-12-19T01:09:00.000-08:002012-08-27T23:11:07.757-07:00Caution!Reading the essays on this blog may be detrimental to your view of the past, present and future. The ideas presented within are, in some ways, a departure from current, mainstream LDS thought.
But, you should also know that there is nothing presented here that is contrary to the Restored Gospel and the words of our modern-day prophets. In fact, this author’s theories rely heavily upon the Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892013499410269737noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763615318413342535.post-15132916328516990042008-12-15T09:14:00.000-08:002008-12-15T10:05:40.031-08:00Documenting a Paradigm ShiftThis past summer saw the release of two dramatic motion pictures — “Deep Impact” and “Armageddon” — both dealing with fictional events surrounding the impact of an asteroid or comet here on our home planet, Earth. Additionally, the Learning and Discovery channels have recently presented numerous documentaries touching upon the same subject.While all this is very entertaining and informative, the Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892013499410269737noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763615318413342535.post-55390411234837514922008-12-02T23:56:00.000-08:002008-12-04T18:57:07.948-08:00Prophets and Plasmas“It is the thunderbolt that steers the universe,” wrote the Greek philosopher Heraclitus. Today’s scholars and scientists dismiss such statements as simpleminded nonsense, based in ignorance.But, as we have seen, electricity probably plays a far greater role in the universe than modern science recognizes. What if Heraclitus actually knew much more than we do about the nature of the power that Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892013499410269737noreply@blogger.com5