Ogden Utah Temple Tour

                      The west side of the Ogden Temple, with its reflecting pool.


I went on a tour through the newly renovated Ogden Utah Temple.
Here are my observations/thoughts:

-Fabulous marble floors and lots of dark interior wood. It is like waking inside some heavenly mansion. Seems far more elaborate than the original Ogden Temple. 
(This contrast may also mean the Provo Temple will someday be redone like the Ogden Temple. Both the inside and outside of the Ogden Temple were lacking compared to most other temples.)

-The west lobby of the Ogden Temple is very similar to the lobby at the Bountiful Temple.

-Oodles of stained glass windows everywhere (whereas the former Ogden Temple relied on narrow windows and drapes.

-At least 2 of the 6 ordinance/endowment rooms are very, very tiny. Seems like that shortcoming could equal a longer wait for an endowment session, though. Sure, the former Ogden Temple also had six ordinance rooms, but none were undersized.

-This temple has 7 sealing rooms, with some again very, very small ones.

                                    The main, or east entrance to the Ogden Temple.

-This Temple looks to have 2 operating entrances, an east side and a west side. If you enter from the east side, there is a pullout/drop off half-circle off Washington Boulevard at center block. The west entrance will be by far the busier entrance, with all the parking nearest.

-The reflecting pool on the west side of the temple is likely to be a popular photo op.

-We didn't see the regular dressing rooms on the tour. You went through the bridal dressing areas and got a glimpse of the cafeteria, though.

-The cornerstone is now on the southeast side, (I know for a fact the actual cornerstone and time capsule of the original temple were kept intact.) However, the original Ogden Temple's cornerstone was on the NORTHEAST side and so it was moved. Also, the plaque now has the same wording, but is NOT the original plaque from the old temple.

-One BIG disappointment for me was a lack of artwork of any LOCAL scenes. I know the Calgary, Canada Temple has some paintings of area scenes, so does the Brigham City Temple, the Idaho Falls Temple and others.
The Ogden Temple contains at least one waterfall painting, but it is NOT of Waterfall Canyon or the mouth of Ogden Canyon. There may be several paintings of the local Weber or Ogden River, but they were poorly defined, so who can tell for sure? (Ben Lomond Peak would have made a great inside painting, for example.) 

Query: Why do some temples rate local paintings and others don't?

-Since much of downtown Ogden around the temple has been revitalized, the entire area has a much brighter look and feel.

-The remodeled Ogden Temple looks MORE like a temple than the previous version, that was like something out of a Star Trek scene. This new Temple looks more like a stately monument pointing to heaven, than one that could blast off (previous version of the temple). 
Even non-church members have told me the new version looks like a temple, whereas the former one was simply odd.

                     The temporary tent to host visitors to the Temple Open House.

-The OGDEN TABERNACLE was also refurbished at the same time as the temple. It has nice blue seats now and the walls in general and especially the balcony walls look redone. Looks more like a 21st Century Tabernacle inside than the previous version.
-Also, the weird Tabernacle seating space at the southwest corner, where pillars blocked views, has been totally deleted, so there is likely LESS seating in the Tabernacle than before, say 50-100 seats less.
-A steeple-less Tabernacle still looks odd -- and not as stately or striking as it could be ...


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.

Fresh water seas in the Millennium?

This is just my personal opinion, with no real supporting doctrine  -- But ....

As I visited and enjoyed the Pacific Ocean recently, I could not help but wonder if the ocean and all the seas will not change to fresh water in the millennium.
I'm just not seeing salt water as a component on a terrestrial world.

I think all sea creatures could be transformed to handle fresh water in a Garden of Eden type environment, just as a lamb and lion can lie down together in peace.

(--Also, on a related note, when the biggest earthquake of all time hits, just before the Second Coming of Christ, I wouldn't want to be on a beach or live anywhere near one. Tidal waves will occur all over the planet when this world-wide earthquake hits.)

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.

God, Man and the Universe has no Beginning and No End!

Eternity is forever and we, as mortals, cannot grasp that endless concept.
Whenever I try to ponder eternity, my mind rebels and lets me know it can't comprehend that idea.

However, the Prophet Joseph Smith taught: "That which has a beginning will surely have an end, take a ring, it is without beginning or end -- cut it for a beginning place and at the same time you have made an ending place ... so it is with God." ("Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, page 181.)
Thus, there has always been a God.
Our God, the Father, has his own Father and so forth backward into eternity. There is a plurality of endless Gods.
There's no "Big bang" needed here -- that's man's cop out for understanding.
Somehow, a "God" has always existed. If not, there will be an end.
The universe has always been here in some degree.
Joseph Smith also stated that "God himself could not create himself." And, he stated that the spirit of man has always existed.
(Joseph Smith Teachings, page 354.)
Somehow God can stop light and create matter. Since he can likely also produce endless light, there's endless matter around. He just adds "intelligences," when needed to the mix, to create life, though there may be life to some degree in all matter.
This concept of "no beginning" is what makes my head spin and even rebel at the concept ... it is currently beyond my understanding.

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 will never be huge before the Millennium

                                 The Church Office Building.

THE number of full-time missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) increased by 41 percent in 2013.
However, the number of converts to the Church increased by just 4 percent in 2013.
Some church members seem troubled, or worried about this disparity.
However, nowhere in the Scriptures does it indicate that the Church will be "large" in the last days.
In fact, the Book of Mormon indicates that the Church will be world-wide in the last days and yet its members "few" because of the wickedness of the world (1 Nephi 14:12). 
So, this isn't about "failure" in any way.
It may well be that the Lord is doing one last surge in preaching, before conditions really get bad before the Second Coming.
Eventually, the full-time missionaries will be called home and then the Lord preaches his own sermons with natural disasters (Brigham Young in Journal of Discourses, 8:123).
Just because a missionary may not convert, or baptize someone on their mission doesn't mean he or she is a failure.
Noah likely converted relatively few in his years of preaching (and any he did left by way of the translated City of Enoch).
The Lord gives everyone a chance to hear the truth, though accepting it is becoming an all-too rare occurrence in these, the last days.

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.

Ogden Temple -- The Background Paradox

Many artists do not seem to favor the background of the Ogden Temple -- the original version, or even the new structure.
I saw one of the new Ogden Temple paintings for sale already in stores today (May 5) and it has changed the temple's background dramatically -- and to absolutely pure fiction.
The painting has the new temple sitting right by the Wasatch Mountains and with tall trees all around it -- instead of it sitting in downtown Ogden -- in an urban setting -- that's really the actual background.
This is one of several paintings I've seen over the years, where the different artists prefer a different background setting for Ogden's Temple, including the original version of the Temple.
The Ogden Temple could have been built originally on the mountainside (like the Provo Temple) and such paintings are proving that point ... though it's not like its actual location is really going to ever change.
Historically, Church leaders did plan at first that the Ogden Temple was to be built just south of today's Weber State University Campus.
Then, downtown Ogden business leaders pleaded for the Church to reconsider and to build the Temple downtown, on the Tabernacle site, to help revitalize the area.
Just inspect various paintings of the Provo and Salt Lake Temples and you will discover that their backgrounds are altered only slightly in their many artistic renditions.

     Copy of a drawing by Keith Wilcox of the original Ogden Temple, set far closer to the mountains.

It seems it is ONLY the Ogden Temple where the landscape changes so drastically.
So, there's the paradox. Unlike the Provo or Bountiful temples, where they sit on a lofty mountainside with scenic backgrounds, the Ogden Temple lacks that.
On the other hand, the Ogden Temple sits in the center of town, among the central business district -- and has thus become a part of that city center, something the Provo or Bountiful temples lack.
--If you want to see the new Ogden painting, cut and paste this link and go to:
http://ldsartco.com/ogden-temple-plaque-personalized/

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.

Church Beliefs on the Great Flood of Noah's Time

MEMBERS of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints may be entertained by the new Hollywood movie, "Noah," (2014) but many of their beliefs on the Great Flood and Noah differ a lot from the rest of the Christian and Jewish world.
Here's a list of some LDS beliefs on Noah and the Great Flood:

1. Noah was Gabriel the Angel who visited Zacharias to announce the birth of John the Baptist. He also appeared to Mary to announce the upcoming birth of Jesus. ("Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pages 157-158). Thus Noah stands next to Adam in the authority of the priesthood.

2. Noah and his family WEREN'T the only ones saved from the Great Flood.

Righteous people -- nearly all the faithful members of the Lord's Church -- were translated and taken from Earth. Noah and his family had to remain to perpetuate the human race. Thus. they weren't really the only righteous people left. (Moses 7:27, Mormon Doctrine, page 804).
God also had Noah preach to the wicked for repentance, but to no avail.

3. The entire planet Earth is one great living entity and the Great Flood was its baptism -- it was all covered by water.
Elder John Taylor said all that water needed came from sources unknown to man -- the fountains of the great deep were broken up. That's also where the excess water returned. (Journal of Discourses 26:74-75.)

4. Before the flood, all land on the Earth was centered in one great mass or continent. During the flood, great changes were made to the face of the earth. The land at the time was in the process of division into 7 continents and some islands. Thus, Noah and the Ark probably floated from somewhere near the Garden of Eden (center of the U.S.) and ended up on Mount Ararat, possibly in Turkey -- the other side of the world. (From Joseph Fielding Smith, "Answers to Gospel Questions," 2:94).

Because the land surface was changed so dramatically during the Flood, it is likely that Mount Everest and the like didn't exist before. With possibly much more moderate mountains in height, they were more easily covered by water. Everest likely came AFTER the flood. Even if Everest did exist at the time of the Flood and somehow it was not covered by water still gave no people hope for survival. Even today, humans can't live high up on Everest for very long -- above 26,000 feet in elevation is a kill zone ultimately.

The Prophet Joseph Smith said on Jan. 5, 1841:

"This earth was organized or formed out of other planets which were broken up and remodeled and made into the one on which we live." (From A Compendium of the Doctrine of the Gospel, by Elder Franklin Dewey Richards & James A. Little.)

Hence it is possible that some fossils on high mountain peaks were part of those earlier worlds. (This could also be why carbon dating is non-conclusive in many respects.)

5. The Flood was an act of mercy, not God's anger. With the Flood, God halted the wicked's rule and their sinful effect on future generations. The world started again with a new slate. (John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, 19:158-159).

6. An immense number of people could have been living on Earth when the Great Flood started. Cleon Skousen in his "First 2,000 Years" book estimated that as many as ONE BILLION people might have been alive at the start of the flood. That's because people were living lifespans in hundreds of years.

7. Noah got drunk after the Flood and cursed Canaan?
Sorry, I don't believe Noah ever got drunk. I believe that part of Genesis was incorrectly translated, or even purposely rewritten that way so as to degrade Noah's character.
There is at least one second-hand reference from a Church member's diary of Joseph Smith supposedly teaching that Noah was in a trance, having a vision and not drunk at all. (Diary of C. L. Walker, 12 May 1881),
That makes more sense.
Noah also didn't curse Ham just because he saw his father naked. Ham may have stole the Priesthood garment from Noah and thus defiled the priesthood. ("Lehi in the Desert and the World of the Jaredites," pages 160-162.)
Otherwise, consistent with the "Vision of God" idea, rather than Noah being drunk, did Ham look upon Noah during his divine vision, while his two brothers did not? A curse from that transgression is possible too.

8. People were very wicked at the time of the Great Flood. However, the world in general today is as wicked, or even more so than at the time of the Flood.

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.

Age of the Grand Canyon?

THERE was a scientific debate in the news recently over the age of the Grand Canyon.
The debate was some new, still inconclusive evidence, that might show some of the Grand Canyon to be less than 6 million years old, vs. the traditional 70-million plus age.
Science can have their day, but Gospel of Jesus Christ-wise, the Grand Canyon might be less than 2,000 years old!
Following the death of Jesus Christ in about 34 A.D., the whole face of the Earth changed in the Americas.
Read 3 Nephi Chapter 8 in the Book of Mormon and verses 10, 12 and 17-18 in particular talk about the Earth being deformed and of cracks and even mountains rising up on level ground.
When the Lord wants change, it can come quickly.
The Grand Canyon could have been created then, or at least deepened considerably.
Man's science is believed to be advanced, but it is not. It just at the caveman level to God.
For example, the entire Earth is one giant living thing (Doctrine and Covenants 88). Find one scientific concept based on that eternal Gospel truth!
You can't, yet it is true and so man's science is nowhere near absolute and correct.

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.