April 8 2024, US Eclipse

This is the second in a pair of total solar eclipses.  The first occured seven years ago (6 years, 6 months, 6 weeks, 6 days) on Aug 21, 2017. There was also 2 annular eclipse in 2021 and 2023 in between. The October 14, 2023 annular eclipse passed through Oregon, Utah and Texas. The eclipses also pass over several LDS Church history sites. 

Some point yo this eclipse as a "sign of the times".  Some claim the second eclipse coincidentally will pass over over near several cities naked Ninevah in several US states, Canadian provinces as well as Jonah, Texas.  I think it interesting that the X point near Marion, Illinois at the head of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers may represent the center of Nephites lands in the Book of Mormon according to Heartland geography.  This would be the place in the "center" of Nephite lands where King Lachoneus gathered the people to defend themselves against the wicked Gadianton Robbers and King Men before the Coming of Jesus Christ. 

List of Salem Cities (Aug 21, 2017):

1. Salem, Oregon. (total)

2. Salem, Idaho. (total)

3. Salem, Nebraska (total)

4. Salem, Missouri  (partial)

5. Salem, Illinois. (partial)

6. Salem, Kentucky. (total)

7. Salem, South Carolina. (total)

List of Ninevah Cities (April 8, 2024):

1. Jonah, Texas.  (total)

2. Ninevah, Texas  (partial)

3. Ninevah, Missouri  (partial)

3. Ninevah, Indiana (total)

4. Ninevah, Ohio  (total)

5. Ninevah, Virginia  (partial)

6. Ninevah, Pennsylvania (partial)

7. Ninevah, New York  (partial)

8. Ninevah, Victoria, Nova Scotia, Canada (partial)

Matt 12:38-40

38 ¶ Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. 39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: 40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Hinge Point

Rome Temple dedicated March 10-12, 2019.
162 hinge point
162 x 2 = 324

3/2024
188 dedicated temples
183 operating temples
5 renovation
53 construction
94 announced
335 total dedicated and announced

188 + 53 = 241 dedicated and construction

Hebraisms in the Book of Mormon

Hebraisms:

1. And it came to pass = vayahi, literary marker used because Hebrew didnt have punctuation. KJV has "and it was so" "and it happened" "thus" "and" similar to bofm. 

2. Plural Amplification: plural nouns like bloodsheds, condescentions mights, etc (see Abel "bloods").

3. Seidel's Law = inversion of quotations Ez 34:27/Lev 26:4.  Alma 5:19/Psalm 34:3.

4. Cognate Accusative: dreamed a dream, worked a work, built a building

5. Prophecy in Past Tense = as if it already happened (see Jarom 1:11)

6. Chiasmus, = DCBABCD construction. 

7. Anapodoton = Alma 36:9 "If thou wilt of thyself be destroyed, seek no more to destroy the church of God." interrupted fragment sentences.

8. If-And conditionals.

9. Dramatic prophecy: acting out prophecy.

10. creating names by suffixing -on to the tri-consonantal root. Jershon = y-r-sh = "to inherit". (Yerusha).

11. Merismus: list, ABCDEF. summerized AEF (2 Ne 33:4).

12. Numbers:1 Nephi 3:31, command fifty. 

13. Colophones: I, Nephi 

14. Antenantiosis: "despise not the revelations of God" (Jacob 4:8) emphasize by opposite. "if ye do this, and endure to the end, ye will in nowise be cast out" (Mormon 9:29),

15. Preposition instead of Adverb: "with patience" instead of patiently (Mosiah 24:15)

"with much harshness" instead of very harshly (1 Nephi 18:11).

16. Because-That Clause: Because/that,  after/that. before/that. "And because that they are redeemed from the fall" (2 Nephi 2:26)

Donald Perry from BYU has a book listing 30 destinct categories.  This list comes from a combination of sources like FAIR, Maxwell Institute and Book of Mormon Central. 

Newark Ohio Earthworks

Ancient Depiction of the Plan of Salvation

Right Lower Circle- Pre-mortal Existance

Right Middle Square- Earth

Right Upper Oval- Spirit Prison

Left Octagon- Jesus Christ/Melchizedek 

Left Lower Circle- Celestial Kingdom

Square- Telestial Kingdom, Stars

Octagon- Terestial Kingdom, Moon

Circle- Celestial Kingdom, Sun

Liberty Ohio Earthworks

Square, Octagon, Circle

Milford Ohio Hanukkiah Mound

Sign of Compass, Square, Oil Lamp, Menorah

The Wrong Jesus?

LDS are criticized/condemned for believing in the "wrong Jesus" and for following "our heart" (what we believe is the Holy Spirit). Yet, Matt 12:32 says all blasphemy against Christ will be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not.

Matt 12:31-32

"Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come."

So. even if LDS get it wrong about some of the details about Jesus Christ who we accept as Lord and Savior, and who we believe rose from the dead.  And even if we got it wrong about the Book of Mormon which testifies that the same Jesus of Nazareth in the Bible is the Christ, the promised Messiah, and divine Son of God. LDS follow the Holy Spirit's direction with regard to correct interpretation of God's Word and accepted additional gifts from the Holy Spirit with regard to additional scripture, priesthood authority, and revelation.  We cannot, nor dare, speak against the Holy Ghost, which validates our worship of Jesus Christ. 

And if another person claims to be following their conscience in their belief of Jesus Christ, but their belief is a little different; I cannot speak against them either, lest I be in danger of speaking against the Holy Ghost also. 

AofF 1:11

"We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may."

At the end of the Day, Romans 10:9 says to be considered Christian and to he saved, requires the believer to confess that Jesus is Lord, and that Jesus Christ was physically resurrected from the dead.  That's it. All the other details are also important, but to be saved and to be considered Christian, according to God's Word, this is the minimum requirement. 

Rom 10:9

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.