The Back Story on a Fabulous Painting inside the Brigham City and the Layton Temples

 

                                                          The Brigham City Temple.

 If you happen to be a Latter-day Saint and go to the Layton Temple, or the Brigham City Temple, there’s a fabulous painting inside of Native Americans being baptized in 1873. Below is the back story on that artwork, that was prompted by the legendary “Three Nephities” --

The U.S. military wiped out more than 300 Native Americans – even women and children -- near Preston, Idaho on January 29, 1863. Now known as the Bear River Massacre, it was the largest loss of life for Native Americans in any military battle.

The survivors, part of the Northwestern Shoshone tribe, faced poverty and poor conditions for years afterward.

Sagwitch, a Shoshone Chief, was one of the few survivors of the that Massacre. In 1873, one of his fellow chiefs had a vision in which three white men visited him. One of the men told him “that the Mormon’s God was the true God … that he must be baptized, with all his Indians … stop Indian life, and learn to cultivate the earth and build houses.”

(The three white men were almost certainly the "Three Nephites.")

All the other chiefs believed the dream was true. They searched for George Washington Hill and found him in Ogden. Hill had been a missionary to the Native Americans, was trusted by them and even spoke their language. As the “Man with Red Hair,” they wanted him to preach to the tribe.

Hill was able to obtain President Brigham Young’s permission to preach to them. So, on May 5, 1873, Hill boarded a train in Ogden for Corinne and then walked 12 miles to their camp. By the day’s end, he had baptized 102 people.

Later, some of the tribal chiefs met with President Young and were soon ordained as elders. By 1875, some received their endowments in the Salt Lake Endowment House.

During the next four years, almost 1,200 members of the tribe had been baptized, buried their weapons and started a new way of life farming and ranching.

 

                                        The Layton Temple's east side.

Prior to the dedication of the Brigham City Temple in 2012, artists Linda Christensen and Mike Malm, with help from Cheryl S. Betenson, painted a mural depicting missionaries and a group of Indians during a baptismal confirmation on the banks of the Bear River in the 1870s.

The colorful mural now hangs in the Brigham City Temple baptistry – and a copy of it is in the Layton Temple baptistry too -- as a fitting tribute to the Native Americans and missionary work. (In the Layton Temple, this painting is directly east of the Baptistry Office.)

“The painting is a beautiful work of art,” Christensen said. “It represents the cooperation of two peoples in the settlement of Box Elder County and the establishment of service in the temple in northern Utah. It’s a wonderful, full-circle moment to see that event from the 1870s acknowledged in that temple, which is located just a few blocks from the Northwestern Shoshone tribal headquarters.”

SOURCE: Based on a January 24, 2013 article in the Deseret News by Trent Toone, titled, “Bear River Massacre's unexpected aftermath includes forgiveness and hope.”

 NOTE: This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and opinions only.

The Church's disappearing Statue -- the 'Mortal Moroni' in Manti

This "Mortal Moroni" statue in Manti used to be in a small park west of the Manti Temple, from 1983 to about 2010. Why was it removed and where is it now?                       (Photograph is from Pinterest.)

HAVE you ever heard of any statues disappearing over the decades in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?

Statues of Joseph and Hyrum Smith sat originally in two alcoves (starting in 1893) on the east side of the Salt Lake Temple, along the entrance steps. Those statues are not there now, but they were simply relocated to another location on Temple Square, some decades later.

However, take Manti, Utah.

From 1983 to about 2010, there was a 9-foot-tall bronze statue of Moroni, from the Book of Mormon, sitting in a small "meditation garden," west of the Manti Temple. This statue was not the Angel Moroni, as atop many temples, but rather this was a unique version of the Scriptural character, as in "Mortal Moroni."

"Unveiling Saturday for 'Mortal Moroni' statue" was a July 14, 1983 headline in the Manti Messenger newspaper.

Seed money by the late R. Clair Anderson started the project to create a bronze representation of Moroni, in his final years of mortal life. (He is shown holding a box of gold plates in the statue representation.)

None other than Dr. Avard Fairbanks created this one-of-a-kind Moroni statue. (Fairbanks produced more than 100 sculptures during his long career, including the Three Witnesses, Tragedy at Winter Quarters and several Angel Moroni statues atop temples.)

The "Mortal" title was used to distinguish the statue from the Angel Moroni statues that grace the top of some temples.

According to some Manti residents, the Mortal Moroni statue was removed from the site about 2010 and no one seems to know exactly where it went. Speculation is that it was moved to a church warehouse in Salt Lake City.

Why was statue removed? No one in Manti appears to know for sure, but the area where it was located was being renovated at the time of the state's removal and expanded into today's "Pioneer Heritage Gardens," that opened in June of 2012.

                     The reflective pool in Manti's Pioneer Heritage Gardens, in 2021.

Some Manti residents believe the Church had been questioning the accuracy of a lone, second-hand historical account that states that Moroni wandered the continent in his final years and dedicated various future temple sites, including the Manti Temple site. Thus, is this account accurate? 

Notwithstanding, the cost of the "Mortal Moroni" statue may have been at least $12,000 and some Manti residents said they or family members dedicated to that fund. back in the early 1980s. These residents maintained that no church funds were used in the creation of the statue either.

Even the Angel Moroni statue atop temples has come into restrictions. No temple announced after 2019 will have such an angel atop it. This change comes as the Church strives to stress Jesus Christ more and less for other, even prominent scriptural characters, like Moroni.

(The Author only found out about this Moroni statue in about 2015, when he was contacted by some Church members in Manti, who were concerned that a possible, future renovation of the Manti Temple would lead to a loss of many interior pioneer era features and paintings. They knew what the Logan Temple lost during a 1970s renovation and feared the worst. They also mentioned the loss of the "Mortal Moroni" statue and how bewildered they were on that removal. Since the Author had first visited the Manti Temple area in 1981 and not again until 2021, he had never seen the unique Mortal Moroni statue. The Manti Temple was remodeled from 2021 to 2024 and didn't end up losing most of what local Church members feared it would.)

                          This is another view of the park that is west  of the Manti Temple.

According to an article by H. Donl Peterson of the BYU Religious Studies Center (and in "Life of Heber C. Kimball," by Orson F. Whitney, Salt Lake City, Bookcraft, 1967):

"At a conference held in Ephraim, Sanpete County, June 25th, 1875, nearly all the speakers expressed their feelings to have a temple built in Sanpete County, and gave their views as to what point and where to build it, and to show the union that existed, Elder Daniel H. Wells said “Manti,” George Q. Cannon, Brigham Young, Jr., John Taylor, Orson Hyde, Erastus Snow, Franklin D. Richards, Lorenzo Young, and A.M. Musse said “Manti stone quarry.” I have given the names in the order in which they spoke. At 4 p.m. that day President Brigham Young said: 'The Temple should be build on Manti stone quarry.' Early on the morning of April 25, 1877, President Brigham Young asked Brother Warren S. Snow to go with him to the Temple hill. Brother Snow says: 'We two were alone: President Young took me to the spot where the Temple was to stand; we went to the southeast corner, and President Young said: 'Here is the spot where the prophet Moroni stood and dedicated this piece of land for a Temple site, and that is the reason why the location is made here, and we can’t move it from this spot; and if you and I are the only persons that come here at high noon today, we will dedicate this ground.'” 

That's the lone reference for Moroni dedicating the Manti Temple site. 

Sometimes Church officials frown on historical accounts that rely on a single reference and so that may be the reason for the statue's removal?

 NOTE: This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and opinions only.

Are the Mass Drone Sightings part of Signs in the Heavens?

                               A pair of F-35 jets soaring in a U.S. Air Force photograph.

 WHAT are Latter-day Saint Church members to ponder about the mass drone (or whatever they are) sightings at the end of 2024?

 Could they be at least a minor part of the latter-day prophecy regarding signs in the heavens?

Doctrine and Covenants section 45:

38 "Even so it shall be in that day when they shall see all these things, then shall they know that the hour is nigh.

39 And it shall come to pass that he that feareth me shall be looking forth for the great day of the Lord to come, even for the signs of the coming of the Son of Man.

40 And they shall see signs and wonders, for they shall be shown forth in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath."

  Scriptures often have multiple meanings, or layers of fulfillment.

  There have also been UFO sightings for decades, as well as a steady increase in airline travel too. The skies are not empty and haven't been for over a century.

 NOTE: This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and opinions only.

Is a One-hour Church Block Meeting Time on the Horizon?

 

IS a one-hour LDS Church meeting block time coming?

Several second-hand reports about a Syracuse, Utah ward currently (as of December 2024) conducting a pilot program on a 60-minute total meeting on Sunday makes one wonder so.

Apparently, the first Sunday is just a one-hour fast meeting and then the other Sundays of the month include passing the sacrament and a 30-minute or less weekly of rotation of the auxiliary meetings afterward.

While such a meeting reduction is possible, it is the ramifications, and the reasons for it that are the most important. For example, is the world going to erode so much in the coming months or few years that such a meeting streamline is necessary?

The Church was ahead of the Chinese virus epidemic, thanks to inspiration and one can assume the same for future calamities. And, the world is definitely in the end times now.

(A one-hour block would actually not mean more wards could be crammed into a building, as you'd still need at least 90 minutes to separate each ward's sacrament meeting -- if sacrament meeting was one hour long. You'd have to lower sacrament meeting length below one hour to cram more wards into a building than on the current two-hour block.)

Additionally, such a meeting time reduction would put gospel teachings and study clearly into the hands of families -- at home. Plus, socializing in the church would diminish even more than it is now.

 NOTE: This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and opinions only.

"Hie unto Kolob" -- The most unique, imaginative and thought-provoking hymn of all

 "HIE unto Kolob" (page 284) is probably the most unique, as well as the most imaginative and thought-provoking of all hymns in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

 More than a century before "Star Trek" or "Star Wars," in 1856, the hymn's author, William W. Phelps, created a tune about outer space, vast distances, eternity and infinity.

  The hymn begins with the premise of a person traveling to Kolob (nearest star to God's residence) "in the twinkling of an eye," (faster even than warp drive, or light speed) and then alluding that even with such vast velocity that one could still not find the beginnings of eternity and the universe (as the universe is limitless and unending).

   Of all the concepts in existence, "eternity" or "limitless" are perhaps concepts that mortal man just cannot fully comprehend!

  The first verse also states "Gods" in the plural, as an endless chain of generations of "God the Fathers" (alluding to LDS belief in plurality of Gods).

  No other hymn in the church delves into such deep doctrine.

  The hymn also uses various scriptural terms, like "one eternal round," to state how the universe and Gods continue to expand in endless harmony, on continuing cycles of existence.

  The hymn stresses that no one can see outside the curtains that God has put in place (probably meaning we cannot see outside the bounds of what God lets us see in the universe).

  "There is no end to matter: There is no end to space; "There is no end to spirit; There is no end to race (or mankind)," Verse 3 states.

  Later verses continue to stress the limitless nature of other factors too, like light, priesthood, love, virtue, truth, youth, wisdom and more.

  The hymn concludes by declaring there is no end to being or (life) and that death does not exist "above" (meaning beyond mortal life).

  You could almost have a course of meta physics on the verses of this hymn.

  Now, I've noted a few shortcomings in this hymn in past blog posts. For example, "Hie" is probably not doctrinally correct, as in Old English, it means "to quickly, hasten, hurry," according to Webster's Dictionary. "Hie" is also NOT found in the Book of Abraham.

"Nigh" means "nearly, almost," according to Webster. "Nigh" is found in the Book of Abraham.

  So, the title of the hymn to be more correct should likely be "Nigh unto Kolob" (also the title of this blog).

  But, wait, there's more -- in the third line of the first verse, it states about "continue onward" (beyond Kolob). Thus, for complete accuracy, the title and premise of the song should be "Nigh beyond Kolob," as Kolob is NOT the ultimate destination mentioned in the hymn.

 It is likely that too many church members appear to incorrectly believe Kolob is WHERE God actually dwells.

In fact, Kolob is simply the name of a great star that is NEAREST where God dwells (Abraham 3:3) and not actually the place where God dwells.
(We are given no specific name as to God's residence, except perhaps highest level of the Celestial Kingdom.)

  How many singers of this hymn actually ponder the words in the verses?

 (None in Spanish do, as this hymn is NOT in that version of the LDS Hymn book...)

  -William Phelps wrote dozens of other early LDS hymns too. He was also excommunication a few times, but always returned to the church. He was a gifted poet and his poetic language is visible in his works. "The Spirit of God Like a Fire is Burning" is perhaps his other, most famous of hymns.

   An early 20th Century photograph from archives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

 -In addition, there was an astronomical observatory located on Temple Square, for decades -- right next to the Salt Lake Temple -- confirming the church's strong interest in outer space, especially in the 19th Century.

  NOTE: This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and opinions only.

What did Jesus Christ do from age 12 to about age 30?

 

                                 Christ will return in red apparel for his "Second Coming."

  

JESUS Christ didn't begin his preaching of the gospel, at least to large groups, until he was about age 30. (At age 12 he had shown in the Temple that he was already an astounding person.) So, what did Christ do for about 18 years?

   The Scriptures don't contain details on that.

  (In fact, I think some accounts were originally in the New Testament on Christ's missing 18 years, but were taken out by corrupt Christians over the centuries.) 

  Elder Bruce R. McConkie stated in his "Mortal Messiah" book series:

"We cannot doubt that the youthful Jesus . . . was himself now beginning to teach and to testify. HIS FORMAL AND LEGAL MINISTRY cannot begin for another eighteen years. For the time being he is to go back to Nazareth and be subject to Joseph and Mary. He is to mature and grow in the Spirit and find favor with God and man. HE IS TO PARTAKE OF THE NORMAL LIFE OF JEWISH MEN, DOING WHAT THEY DID, ENJOYING THE FAMILIAL ASSOCIATIONS THAT WERE PART OF THEIR CULTURAL, and gaining all the experiences he would need for the arduous hours of his formal ministry." (Volume 1, pages 378-379).

  Now according to Alfred Edersheim's, Sketches of Jewish Social life in the Days of Christ, 1876, Elder McConkie writes the following: "Men married at sixteen or seventeen years of age, almost never later than twenty; and women at a somewhat younger age, often when not older than fourteen. THESE AGES APPLIED TO ALL, Joseph and Mary included" (p. 223). 

  So, Jesus undoubtedly got married in his teens. Perhaps raising his family (yes, with children) was his primary focus for those missing years. 

 Joseph Fielding Smith wrote: "The Lord doesn't reveal all His truth to men . . . We are often asked if Christ was married. If you say yes, you get into a heap of trouble. I've got a habit of saying the scriptures don't tell us and let it go at that . They wouldn't understand it if you tried to tell them . . ." (Joseph Fielding Smith, President of the Twelve, An Address to Seminary and Institute Faculty, August 28, 1954, The Origin of Man, p. 23). 

   The Jews would NOT have listened to Christ at all, if he was not married. That was the Jewish way.

  Also, for one who was baptized to fulfill all righteous, does not the command in Genesis to "multiply and replenish the earth" also apply to him?

  Yes, there are key questions remaining -- who were his wife or wives? Who were his children and what happened to them?

  As difficult as a successful marriage can be, it is comforting to know that Jesus was married and had children too. That way he is certainly the ultimate example to us.

Jobs that may be extinct in the Millennium

 

                                         A farm in southeast Idaho.

AFTER Jesus Christ's "Second Coming," the 1,000-year Millennium premieres and the Earth switches from Telestial to Terrestrial world.

As such, certain parameters change in a Terrestrial world.

For example, there will likely be no meat eating and no alcohol, or weeds, or disease.

As such, here are some jobs/professions/companies that will, in my opinion, no longer exist during the Millennium (and most people on Earth then might be farmers/temple workers):

-Butcher/meat cutter

-Cattle rancher

-Zoo Keeper

-Bar tender/drink mixer

-Football coach/player. 

-Boxer

-Casino employee

-Insurance agent

-Mortician (after all the dead are buried from latter day wars.)

This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and opinions only.