The Forgotten Promise.pdf

7/27/2019 The Forgotten Promise.pdf

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THINGS ASTHEY ARE,WERE

ARE TO COME

Te

Forgotten PromiseANTHONY E. LARSON


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THINGS AS THEY ARE,WERE AND ARE TO COME

Te Forgotten PromiseCopyright 2013 Anthony E. Larson

In the Book of Mormon the ancient American prophet, Moroni, makes a

startling promise: when we remove the veil of unbelief that traps us in a

state of wickedness and blindness of mind then remarkable, hidden things

will be revealed, including the meaning of the enigmatic Book of Revelations.

We may have overlooked a signifcant promise given us by a prophet

o God.

Moroni, writing his own observations in the Book o Ether, had

is o say o us, mmbs o modn cuc:

Com uno m, O y ous o Isal, and i sall b

made maniest unto you how great things the Father hath

laid up or you, rom the oundation o the world; and it

a no com uno you, bcaus o unbli.

Behold, when ye shall rend that veil o unbelie which

doth cause you to remain in your awul state o wicked-ness, and hardness o heart, and blindness o mind, then

sall ga and mavlous ings wic av bn

hid up from the foundation of the world from youya,

wn y sall call upon Fa in my nam, wi a

broken heart and a contrite spirit, then shall ye know

that the Father hath remembered the covenant which

mad uno you as, O ous o Isal.And then shall my revelations which I have caused

to be written by my servant John be unfolded in the eyes

of all the people. Remember, when ye see these things,


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ye shall know that the time is at hand that they shallb mad manis in vy dd. (ether 4:1416, ialics

addd o mpasis.)

In s vss, Mooni sms o b saying a day will comwhen Johns enigmatic Revelation in the New estament, also known

as Apocalyps o Jon, will b ully undsood.

Is a possibl? Wll, i Mooni is o b blivd, i mus b.

Tat begs the question, is it understood now? Some Mormons

might be tempted to say yes, that Christian ministers and teachers,

including some LDS scholars who say essentially the same things, have

managed to wrest the intended meaning rom Johns peculiar imagery.Certainly, numerous eorts have been made down through the

yas o dcip mssag Jon pnnd wo cnuis ago. And

despite the seeming unanimity Christian scholars appear to have

developed regarding its interpretationincluding concepts such as

Rapu, Bal o Amagddon and Anicis ac

remains that the avior told Joseph mith in his First Vision that none

o i acings w coc. I a was so n, i is qually unow. Furthermore, consensus should never be mistaken or correctness.

till, ar too many church members have ailed to perceive that the

ods condmnaion o Cisian docin in a Fis Vision also

includes their popular interpretation o Johns prophecy. Again, i they

w wong abou popcy in Josp mis day, y mus sill b

wrong today because their interpretations o it have changed little. In

is auos opinion, mos o m av bn misguidd.I av lsw nod a many cuc mmbs and scolas

have imprudently adopted the mainstream Christian or Millennialist

viw o Rvlaion. Tis as akn LDS inking on subjc down

a dad nd pa. Rvlaion is o as muc a sald book o

us as i is o any Cisian scola.

Tat leaves thoughtul atter-day aints to wonder when and how

Moronis prophecy will be ulflled. Will the time come when we canread and ully understand the meaning behind Johns curious and

smingly unaomabl imagy?

Until recently, no methodology has been proposed that would allowanyon o uly unold Jons nigmaic wiings. Bu a way o do


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so may now b a and. Claly, Josp mi undsood book.

H calld i plains book.

et me make this bold assertion: One need not be a prophet to read

and understand the revelations o the prophets

both ancient andmodn, Jons includdwi all i acan and biza imagy.

Anyone can read those revelations as easily as they read a newspaper

o magazin, givn pop aining.

How is a possibl, you say? s look a is og.

Curiously, the only way to properly and understandingly read Johns

writing is, in this authors opinion, with a thoroughgoing comprehen-

sion o the cosmological metaphors he employs. Te very element wesee as a stumbling block is the key to deciphering the text. Tis is my

assertion: All the enigmatic imagery John used in his great Apocalypse(Rvlaion) in Nw samn is basd in cosmic imagy,

common dnominao in all ancin culus and ligions.

We see this cosmic symbolism everywhere in ancient cultures, romi mys and lgnds o i sacd adiions and ligious ico-

nography. Certainly, it is on display or all to see in their monuments,temples and texts. o our eyes, it looks like paganism, the worship o

cosmic gods and goddsss, caos monss and wold aning

dragons. But a careul parsing o those riotous images and confict-ing imagery, looking back into the past at the original archetypes and

mois insad o la vaiaions and laboaions, w discov a

commonality that is otherwise hidden. Tat commonality became

common dnominao o popic imagy.As it turns out, Johns seemingly indecipherable book is a missionarytract, intended or investigators and new converts. John rehearsed allthe primary themes o ancient religious lore rom his day to illustrate

ow i ino nw ligion o Cis and o lay claim o ancin

roots or the new Christian religion. It was a conversion tool, used

o psuad pagans wo ld s cosmic adiions as sacd a

Christianity honored, respected and incorporated their ormer beliesand adiions, a y w all inndd o poin o and culmina

in Cis.

Revelation, then, is more o a rehearsal o past catastrophic events

and cosmic imags a wn wi m an i is a pdicion o


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the uture. Teres where mainstream Christianity went wrong. We

bliv Jon was looking pimaily o uu in is om, wn

was, insad, looking o sacd, cosmic adiions o pas.

o, Nibley was right. Cosmisim, as he dubbed it, is a key compo-nn o Rsod Gospl, jus as i is in Jons Rvlaion. Upon

sious considaion, ow could i b anying lss? W ncoun

cosmic imagy a vy un in Momonism: in ocin and Cov-

nans, in T Pal o Ga Pic (spcially ), in Book o

Momon, in acing o Josp mi and on xio walls

o ou modn mpls and in ou sacd ndowmn. I is cos-

mological sid o Rsod Gospl.Yet todays Mormons eye the concept o sacred symbolism with

suspicion and misgivings. ike their Christian cousins, todays church

mmbs, o mos pa, s sacd, cosmological symbolism as

either inconsequential, having no real merit, or a satanic eort todistract us rom the teachings o Christ, a perversion o truth, oreign

o gospl o Jsus Cis and anisis o Cisianiy.

o in that context, would it be heretical to suggest that the revisedview o prophetic pronouncements espoused by this author, using

cosmological imagy om oay aniquiy, is vy mcanism

by wic, as Mooni dclad, Jons Rvlaion will b unoldd in

ys o all popl? T is only on way o know o su:

Pu i o s. udy s concps and n apply m.

And then shall my revelations which I have caused to be written by

my servant John be unfolded in the eyes of all the people.Isnt it a bit curious, in light o Moronis words, that most Mormonsstill do not understand Johns Revelation? Yet, with the cosmologicalkey, the book becomes the plainest book, as Joseph mith declared

i o b. I can n b ad lik any o documn, wod by wod,

vs by vs, wi naly compl compnsion.

I know is muc: On nd no b a pop o ad and und-

stand the revelations o the prophets, with all their arcane and bizarre

imagery. Anyone can read Revelation as easily as they read a newspaper

o magazin, as long as y mploy a knowldg o acyps

and mois o ancin cosmological imagy.


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Tere are hundreds o atter-day aints who can now do so because

y av akn im and mad fo o mas imagy

and symbolism o ancins and pops.

Would you ca o b on o m?

Fo mo ssays om is sis:p://momonpopcy.blogspo.com/

For online classes, videos, newsletters and published books exploringis maial in dp:

http://www.mormonprophecy.com/prophecy,_ancient_history_and__sod_gospl_002.m

You qusions o commns a wlcom:[email protected]
http://www.mormonprophecy.com/http://www.mormonprophecy.com/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.mormonprophecy.com/

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The Forgotten Promise.pdf