Decision Days Ahead?

by John P. Pratt

Reprinted from Meridian Magazine (21 Jun 2006).
©2006 by John P. Pratt. All rights Reserved.

Index, Home

Contents

1. The Golden Calf

2. Choose Ye This Day

2.1 Joshua's Birth and Death Dates

2.2 Moses' Birth and Translation Dates

3. Elijah: God vs. Baal

4. Noah's Decision Days

4.1 Fall of Satan

4.2 Dove Days

5. Adam and Eve

5.1 Fall of Eve

5.2 Beginning of Time

5.3 Fall of Adam

6. Joseph Smith

7. Conclusion

Notes

Each of us needs to choose, as in the times of Moses and Elijah, whether we will serve false gods or the one true God.

With every passing day, we are being more pressured to choose whether or not we will serve the true and living God. The days of fence-sitting seem to be swiftly drawing to a close. The U.S. Senate just voted on whether the people of the United States of America believe in supporting the God-given institution of marriage. When the Twin Towers were destroyed on 11 Sep 2001, many people suddenly remembered God and news programs even encouraged public prayer rather than reminding us that such had been ruled unconstitutional.

We often try to serve two masters. We love to live in Babylon, enjoying excessive sensual pleasures and worshiping the god of comfort, often forgetting that sacrifice and service are the Lord's path. We know that the city of Zion in Jackson County, Missouri, can only be built on the law of consecration (D&C 105:5) and yet we have rejected every attempt by our prophets to prepare us for that lifestyle, including business co-ops, the united order, and even buying locally produced goods in stores which close on the sabbath.

But the Lord makes it clear that he will not allow us to attempt to serve two masters forever. The scriptures speak of coming days in which everyone will be required to choose whether or not we personally will serve God. One step in that direction is that the Bible is now being classified as "hate literature" because it teaches not to sin, which view is no longer "politically correct." We have been convinced to stop praying in public. Will we also agree to stop reading scriptures? How far can we be pushed before we take a stand?

The seven-headed Beast from Revelation

The Book of Revelation speaks of a time when a powerful Satanic kingdom will have an outspoken leader for three and a half years who will blaspheme the name of God and require everyone to worship him (Rev. 13:1-8). Those who refuse to worship the image of the beast will be executed. Everyone will need to have the mark of the beast implanted in the hand or forehead in order to buy or sell (Rev. 13:15-17).

How about you? What would you do if faced with the decision of worshiping the image of the beast and receiving his mark, or refusing and being executed? In case you haven't decided yet, here are two more pieces of information to help you choose. First, those who opt to follow Satan and receive the mark shall "drink of the wine of the wrath of God" and be "tormented with fire and brimstone" (Rev. 14:10). Secondly, everyone is going to die anyway. The purpose of life is not to avoid death, but rather to serve God even at the peril of death.

There have been many times in history that decisive events occurred when professed followers of God had been sinning by worshiping false gods, when they were finally forced to decide one way or the other. For example, when the Israelites were worshiping the golden calf, Moses required of them, "Who is on the Lord's side?" (Ex. 32:26). Years later, when the people again were slipping into sin, Joshua demanded, "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve" (Josh. 24:15). And Elijah asked, "How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him" (1 Kings 18:21). He then set up an amazing contest between God and Baal to help them decide. Let us review these and other events in detail, and the dates on which they occurred, to see if there is a pattern which has been provided for us to understand.

Moses and the Golden Calf.

1. The Golden Calf

On what day did the Golden Calf event occur? The day accepted in Hebrew tradition is 17 Tammuz which is a day of repentant fasting in the summer. That is near the time that it happened, but a careful reading of Exodus shows that it could not have been the actual day. In an earlier paper, I proposed an exact day for the Golden Calf incident, which turns out to be the Hebrew day 24 Tammuz.^[1] That was not a special holy day at the time, nor is it a holy day now on the traditional Hebrew calendar. But on my proposed Perpetual Hebrew calendar, it is indeed a minor holy day, being one of a set of "Decision Days," for reasons which will be presented below.

2. Choose Ye This Day

Joshua had a large stone erected to record Israel's covenant.

When did this happen? The Book of Jasher, which is an excellent source for dates,^[2] tells us that it occurred two years before Joshua's death, and agrees with the Bible that he died at age 110 (Josh. 24:29, Jasher 90:32, 47). It also provides another clue, which is that Joshua was 82 years old when he passed over the Jordan River (Jasher 88:9). That is just barely enough information for me to sometimes propose precise dates for those events. As has been shown in my past work, great prophets are sometimes born on holy days on sacred calendars, and if so, then there is usually a synchronism between their birth and death date on at least one calendar. Moreover, as another witness, there is usually a synchronism with a key event in their life.

2.1 Joshua's Birth and Death Dates

Table 1. Proposed Key Dates in the Life of Joshua.

Event	Gregorian BC	Hebrew	Sacred Round	Venus	Mercury
Birth	Mon 16 Sep 1504	15 Tishri	1 Flint	1 Birth	1 Creation
Cross Red Sea	Tue 14 Apr 1462 pm*	21 Nisan	1 Wind	1 Birth	1 Creation
Enter Canaan	Sat 3 Apr 1422	1 Nisan	1 Light	1 Birth	1 Creation
Cross Jordan	Mon 12 Apr 1422	10 Nisan	—	—	—
Death	Fri 14 Mar 1395 pm*	10 Nisan	1 Wind	1 Creation	1 Creation

Looking two years before the death of Joshua for the "Choose Ye This Day" event leads us to the date of Tue, 24 Jul 1397 BC, being 2 Ab (PHC), 1 Dragon (SR), 1 Lord (V), 1 Res (M), and 1 Midsummer (Enoch). The day 2 Ab always falls exactly one week after 24 Tammuz on the Hebrew calendar, but it is not recognized as a holy day. Nevertheless for reasons described below, it is proposed that it is one of four minor holy days, being "Decision Days" in the summer.

Moses is taken out of the water.

2.2 Moses' Birth and Translation Dates

Magnified view of Venus and Saturn (with moons) on Wed 22 Jan 1542 BC.

As for his translation date, the Bible actually gives it to the very day. In Deut. 31:2 Moses declares that on that very day he was 120 years old. Then he spoke to them and wrote a song on that "same day" (Deut. 31:22), and then he finished writing the book of the law. Then he gathered the elders and spoke to them and quoted another song. Then the Lord spoke to Moses on "that selfsame day" and called him up to the mountain (Deut. 31:48). He went up into the mountain and did not return to them. Hebrew tradition is that his death occurred early in the month of Adar, but I propose that these words of Deuteronomy be taken literally, and that Moses was translated on his 120th birthday. That would have been Fri 15 Jan 1422 BC pm*, being 15 Shebat (PHC), 1 Temple (SR), 1 Creation (V), 1 Birth (M). The Book of Deuteronomy was begun to be revealed on 1 Shebat (Deut. 1:3), which was Sat 2 Jan 1422 BC, being 1 Dog (SR), 1 Lord (V), End Watering (Jubilee), 14 Winter (Enoch) and 1 Mijamin (Priest). Thus, from his birth to the giving of Deuteronomy complete an exact number of cycles on the Venus calendar (1 Lord to 1 Lord) and Mercury calendar, whereas his translation date completed exactly 120 years on the Perpetual Hebrew calendar.

Table 2. Three Proposed Key Dates in the Life of Moses.

Event	Gregorian BC	Hebrew	Sacred Round	Venus	Mercury
Birth	Tue 21 Jan 1542 pm*	15 Shebat	1 Flower	1 Lord	14 Quick
Deuteronomy	Sat 2 Jan 1422	1 Shebat	1 Dog	1 Lord	14 Quick
Translation	Fri 15 Jan 1422 pm*	15 Shebat	1 Temple	1 Creation	1 Birth

3. Elijah: God vs. Baal

Elijah calls upon God.

When they had clearly failed in the eyes of all, Elijah repaired the altar of the Lord and put twelve stones around it. He placed the offering thereon and had several barrels of water poured on it, and a trench around the altar was also filled with water. When he called upon God, fire immediately came down and consumed the offering, the wood, and even the stones and water in the trench. "And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The Lord, he is the God; The Lord, he is the God." (1 Kings 18:39). The 450 priests of Baal were then executed.

The event was a climax to a long drought which had begun with the word of Elijah some three and a half years earlier (1 Kings 17:1; Luke 4:25). Shortly after the execution, when the first little cloud was seen, he had his servant tell Ahab to get started home before the rains prevented him from doing so (1 Kings 18:44). Thus, the arm of the Lord was made bare before the people with both fire and with a downpour, all happening on the same day.

So just when was that day? This date has eluded me for decades because the year in the reign of Ahab is not given, and even the year of the beginning of his reign is not known with certainty. If I do not have a least a year to begin searching for a day, it is usually too hard to pinpoint. As stated above, it is best when there are two or three witnesses.

In preparing this article, it occurred to me to check historical records from neighboring countries, for surely the drought was widespread and mentioned elsewhere. Sure enough, it is mentioned in the Assyrian records. Those records are precisely correlated to our calendar because they mention a total eclipse of the sun, which occurred on Mon 7 Jun 763 BC. The outstanding event for the year 882 BC is that the king brought his people home after the end of the great drought. E.W. Faulstich, the researcher whose work pointed that out to me, placed the ending of the drought in the previous year.^[5]

Elijah prays for the drought to end.

Given that year, and the above pattern that the event was very similar in nature to the Golden Calf episode, the first date I checked in 883 BC was 24 Tammuz. It was such a perfect bull's-eye, that it seems worthy of proposing even without other corroborating dates. The proposed date is Tue 9 Jul 883 BC, being 24 Tammuz (PHC), 13 Temple (SR), 0 Prime (V) and 0 Resurrection (M). Moreover, it was a jubilee year, completing 11 jubilees of 49 years each since entering the Promised Land in 1422 BC. Those are sufficient alignments to make the date jump out as significant. Thus, we have another vote here for 24 Tammuz as being a "Decision Day."

4. Noah's Decision Days

First, let's review the traditional Hebrew interpretation of those days. There are two fast days in the summer which are somber occasions for remember disastrous past occasions, namely the fall of Jerusalem (17 Tammuz) and the destruction of the temple (9 Ab). Those dates refer to both the time of Nebuchadnezzar (587 BC) and also of Titus (AD 70).^[6]. The two dates are separated by exactly three weeks. They are sometimes referred to simply as "The Three Weeks."^[7] The entire period is a time of soberness where weddings and festivities are avoided. But as far as I know in Jewish tradition, it is only the first and last days of that period which are considered minor holy days. The Lord himself refers to the fasts of the fourth and fifth months (Tammuz and Ab) (Zech. 8:19).

This article proposes that two other minor holy days should be added to the list, namely 24 Tammuz and 2 Ab, which are the week-markers between the first and last holy days of the Three Weeks. Moreover, at least the first three of those days appear to be "Decision Days," whereas the last day (9 Ab) may symbolize the result of a poor decision made on the earlier days.

My reason for proposing that the first three are "Decision Days" comes directly from the revealed history of Noah and the Great Deluge in Genesis. The dates of the various events have been discussed in detail in an earlier paper, but there were four events which were skipped over quickly because their meaning was not clear.

Noah released a raven on a day which was 40 days after 150 days after 40 days after the rain began (Gen. 7:17; 8:3, 6, 7). Hebrew tradition places that day on 10 Tammuz, which appears to be correct. One needs only to count the days from 17 Heshvan, when the rain was said to begin to fall.^[8]. The raven went "to and fro in the earth" and did not return. Now, why was that detail included?

Dove returns with Olive Leaf on 24 Tammuz.

As was suggested in an earlier paper about the Jubilee calendar, the Deluge was apparently the baptism of the earth, and symbolized a "rebirth." Thus, the various events noted, such as the mountains first appearing, apparently are reminiscent of the birth of the earth, when the land first broke out of the water and began to breath the breath of life of the atmosphere.^[9] So what does a raven have to do with the birth of the earth?

4.1 Fall of Satan

4.2 Dove Days

Now, what is this dove episode all about? In the former article on the Jubilee calendar, while I listed all of these precise dates in a table, it was not clear what the purpose of these doves dates were. I merely noted them in passing, but none of them were significant on the other sacred calendars. The dove often symbolizes the Holy Ghost, but if that is the intended symbolism this time, then it is not at all clear to me what the meaning is.

Before going further, it was this episode which helped me pick the name "Decision Days" as a name for this group. Clearly, Noah was making a decision on each of the three dove days. Also, it would explain the days of Moses, Joshua, and Elijah above, when the people were all challenged to make the decision of whether or not to follow God. But there must be something deeper. Let us now turn to the history of Adam and Eve for a possible symbolism of the dove days.

The temptation portrayed by Michelangelo.

5. Adam and Eve

That might sound like a rather speculative interpretation, but let us see where it leads. First of all, it certainly would fit with the idea of three very important "Decision Days" which affected all of the rest of us every since. If there ever were archetypal "Decision Days," those would have been some of the greatest examples with the most far reaching consequences.

So let us look to see if there were any days on the sacred calendars which might support this proposal. Searching a few years before the proposed date for the expulsion from the Garden of Eden (Sun 9 Apr 4001 BC)^[12] leads to two dates which are so loaded with symbolism that they had to be included in this article.

Mars tempts Venus on 17 Tammuz.

5.1 Fall of Eve

As has been pointed out in earlier papers, all of the planets are like hands on a great clock in the sky. The twelve zodiac constellations through which all the planets move are like the 12 numbers on the face of the clock. The slowest hands, like hour hands, are the planets Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.^[13] It turns out that during the year proposed here for the Fall of Adam and Eve, all three of these planets are very near the star Regulus at the Heart of Leo, the Lion. That very star is the "12 o'clock star", so the clock is set nearly perfectly for the "beginning of time." But what about the faster moving hands, like Venus and Mars, which are like the minute hands? It turns out that on the very day proposed here for the Fall of Eve that Venus and Mars are very near to each other (in conjunction). They were separated only by 11 arc minutes, which is about a third of the apparent diameter of the moon. In mythology, Venus is female and Mars is the god of war, so this conjunction seems fitting symbolism for the day on which Satan tempts Eve.

The slowest moving planets all near the "12 o'clock" star Regulus.

5.2 Beginning of Time

5.3 Fall of Adam

Eve Tempts Adam.

Then Adam thinks it over for an entire week. Then he chooses also to partake of the forbidden fruit on 2 Ab, being Sat 26 Jul 4004 BC, which is not only a holy day on five other sacred calendars, but all of the particular holy days seem significant. The day was 1 Storm on the Sacred Round, appropriate for representing the later consequence of being driven out from the Garden. It was also 1 Adult on the Venus Calendar, symbolizing his loss of innocence and youth. It was 1 Death on the Mercury calendar, symbolizing partaking of the seeds of death. Moreover, it was the first day of the Priest cycle (1 Jehoiarib), the same as the proposed day of his birth.^[15] Finally, it was the Last Day of the Vine (Grape) Harvest on the Jubilee calendar. The significance of that comes when one learns the Hebrew tradition that the grape was the forbidden fruit.^[16] Thus, the fact that the very day indicated by our speculative interpretation of Noah's decision days just happens to lead to two amazing days for the Fall of both Adam and Eve, is to me compelling evidence that the interpretation is correct.

The following table summarizes the proposed "Decision Dates."

Table 3. Proposed Key Decision Dates in the Old Testament.

Event	Gregorian Date BC	PHC	Sacred Round	Venus	Mercury
Fall of Eve	Sat 12 Jul 4004	17 Tammuz	13 Serpent	—	0 Prime
Fall of Adam	Sat 26 Jul 4004	2 Ab	1 Storm	1 Adult	1 Death
Golden Calf	Thu 16 Jul 1462	24 Tammuz	2 Jaguar	2 Adult	2 Lord
Joshua	Tue 24 Jul 1397	2 Ab	1 Dragon	1 Lord	1 Res
Elijah	Tue 9 Jul 883	24 Tammuz	13 Temple	0 Prime	0 Res

6. Joseph Smith

The Prophet Joseph Smith.

Martin Harris, who had transcribed the first part of the Book of Mormon, was anxious to show it to his wife and friends. He had the Prophet Joseph ask the Lord for permission, but the Lord refused. At his insistence, Joseph asked again and received the same response. One final time Joseph asked, whereupon the Lord allowed it. Martin bound himself with a solemn oath that he would only show certain people. The oath was broken and he failed to return to Joseph. Finally, Joseph went to his parents' home in Palmyra and sent for Martin. When Harris arrived, Joseph received the disastrous news that the 116 pages had been lost. According to the prophet's mother, Lucy Mack Smith, a blight descended on Martin's wheat field that day, such that he lost most of his crop, whereas a neighbor had no problem.^[17]

The LDS Church has never recovered from this great loss; we still do not have the translation of the Book of Lehi. The next day, Joseph received D&C 3, which chastised him for trampling the counsel of God under foot (D&C 3:15). Clearly it was a time in which the Prophet had to think deeply about whether or not he would henceforth obey the counsel of God perfectly.

What was the day when this occurred? In the official church history, we are told that the 116 pages were completed on Sat 14 Jun 1828.^[18] Apparently Martin left with the manuscript that evening because the prophet's mother tells us that "shortly after Mr. Harris left, Joseph's wife became the mother of a son" who lived only a few hours.^[19] That child was born Sun 15 Jun 1828. The evening of 14 Jun began the day 1 Tammuz (PHC), the same day the Prophet's son was born.

The Egyptian Anubis was like the Dog on the Sacred Round.

Emma nearly died also and Lucy states that Joseph cared for her until Harris had been gone nearly three weeks. A few days afterward, Emma was well enough that Joseph went to Palmyra to find out what had happened to Martin, which would have been about one week into July. Checking the sacred calendars at that time leads to a date which matches the symbolism of both the Golden Calf day and also of Elijah's contest very closely. The day Tue 8 Jul 1828 was 24 Tammuz, the same Decision Day as proposed for both of those events. Moreover, it was 13 Dog on the Sacred Round, where the Dog represents the day of greatest suffering for sins.^[20] It was also 0 Death on the Mercury calendar. Thus, because of this excellent fit, it is proposed that this Decision Day of the Prophet followed the same pattern set by the ancient prophets.

Moreover, the prophet tells us that "a few days" later, after he had made his decision, that the angel restored the Urim and Thummim to him, and he received D&C 10 and was back in good standing before the Lord. When did that occur? If it fit this same pattern, then the likely date would have been Tue 22 Jul 1828, 9 Ab, which was also 1 Dragon (SR) and 1 Resurrection (M), and 1 Midsummer (Enoch). If so, then it would tend to confirm the proposal that 9 Ab is not necessarily a bad day, but rather the day on which the consequences are received for the former decisions. In this case it was a wonderful day, for the Prophet had been reinstated to his position. The symbolism on the Mercury calendar of 1 Death for the error and 1 Resurrection for the correction seems especially fitting.

7. Conclusion

Notes