No, it's Saturn that's in the telestial kingdom; its rings are composed of all tthe lost singlesods d
Stephen Beecroft wrote: > Interesting post on AML Tuesday, which you can read in the AML archives > at > http://www.xmission.com/pub/lists/aml-list/archive/v01.n839 > > I know that Steven and a couple others are John Pratt fans. I find his > writings to be extreme left-field stuff (except for his puzzles, which > are pretty cool, and remind me of Microsoft interview questions -- > interviewing at Microsoft can actually be a lot of fun). His musings > remind me of the "Jupiter-is-the-terrestrial-kingdom" doctrine I heard > being whispered about in my mission. Now, I don't know Eric Samuelsen or > what his religious/social views are, but we apparently share a viewpoint > on John Pratt. The difference is that his viewpoint is based on direct > experience with a Pratt seance^h^h^h^h^h^h meeting, rather than just > looking through his web site, which is how I formed my opinions. Anyway, > in case anyone cares. > > Stephen > > Date: Tue, 24 Sep 2002 09:57:21 -0600 > From: "Eric R. Samuelsen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [AML] Feeding Your Inner Gnostic > > I know when the world will end. I know the date of the day of judgment, > the specific moment in which the seventh seal will be opened, leading to > the Second Coming, the binding of Satan, and the Millennium. In fact, > it happened already. Sept 22, 2002 is the day of days, the beginning of > the end. The Enoch Calender makes it clear. I know this, because I was > there, one of the 144 lucky souls who heard, and saw, and partook of the > sublime ritual of the Feast of Trumpets. > > At least, I think so. It's all very confusing. > > Okay, what I'm about to tell you about really happened. I may not have > understood it all; in fact, I'm pretty sure I missed a lot. But I > swear, I'm not making anything up. This post is part theatre review, > though what I saw isn't theatre, and it's part book review, though I > haven't read the book, and it's very large parts cultural study. > > So Friday night, I get a call from my sister-in-law--wife's sister--and > it turns out she has an extra ticket to this thing, because her husband, > my brother-in-law, suddenly can't go, and so, what did I think, did I > wanna go? My wife didn't, but hey, there was a dinner involved, with > carrot cake, followed by a lecture, I was told, on the Enoch Calender, > which I've never heard of. It sounded potentially fun and possibly very > strange, and so I went, met L, my sister-in-law, at this rec center in > Orem. Turns out it was very important that I go, not just because L had > forked out fifteen bucks for the ticket her husband now would not be > able to use, but also because there had to be exactly 144 people at this > thing. They were counting. > > Seems there's this guy, a computer geek/calender expert guy named John > Pratt. Very pleasant, genial fellow, looked maybe 55-60. We're all > there in the room and we're told we're there to participate in the > Hebrew Feast of Trumpets, only the Hebrew Feast of Trumpets was actually > a couple weeks ago, this is the Feast of Trumpets according to the Enoch > calender. This is a calender found in the Book of Enoch, not the > truncated version we get in Moses in the P of GP, but the apocryphal > work Hugh Nibley got us all excited about twenty five years or so ago. > Now, I'm gonna try and explain Pratt's beliefs, but I feel like I'm > describing a movie to you that I actually showed up an hour late for, > and left after watching it for fifteen minutes. Most of the people in > the room (the other 143) have clearly been followers of Pratt for years, > while I've heard one brief presentation, plus spent a couple hours on > his website. > > Basically, the stars form a giant celestial calender. God does things > according to a very specific chronology, which can be ascertained by > carefully watching patterns in the sky. A key to understanding all this > can be found in the Book of Enoch, in the calender described therein. > And the most important dates in the history of the world have all > coincided with holy days in the Enoch calender, usually, I gather, on > the holy day of a holy year. > > There is, of course, a word for the practice of looking at the stars and > figuring out the future. That word is astrology. Pratt acknowledges > this on his website, but points out that ancient practices have their > roots in ancient truths. > > So, based on this stuff, it turns out the First Vision actually took > place on 26 March, 1820, which is nifty because there are weather > records that suggest that was the only nice day in the Spring of that > year. And it also turns out that 22 Sept. 2002 is a big day, the Feast > of Trumpets day in the Year, Feast of Trumpets. Unless I'm going deaf, > or crazy, Pratt said directly that 22 Sept (yesterday, that is) was the > day, der tag, the day the seventh seal was opened, though he did point > out that we might not notice much change immediately, and that we still > had ten years to repent. > > We then got to see a play. It wasn't a play; it was a mimetic > representation of divine events, which according to our latest Victor > Turner driven understanding of such things means it was actually a > ritual. It certainly looked like a ritual. Program went as follows: > > 1) Pratt's wife sang 'Yo Ho, that I were an Angel." > 2) Seven young guys wearing white shirts, slacks and robes came out, and > each blew a trumpet, or pretended to. They were Peter, the angel Uriel, > sounding the trump for the Celestial resurrection, Moses, the angel > Raguel, sounding the trump for the Terrestrial resurrection, Abel, the > angel Sariel, sounding the trump for the Telestial, Enoch, the angel > Raphael, trump sounding for the resurrection of the Sons of Perdition > (that dude got all the thankless tasks), Joseph Smith, the angel > Phanuel, sounding trump for the Gospel being sent to all, Noah, Gabriel, > tooting for the destruction of the wicked, and Adam, Mike, sounding > taps. I gotta say, BTW, I dig the names. Raguel--an absolutely divine > pasta sauce. And Phanuel, on the premise, I guess, that we're all > Mormons and hence members of the Joseph Smith phanuel club. > 3) We all got to listen to a recording of Handel's The Trumpet's Shall > Sound. > 4) Angels came back and pronounced individual blessings on us. > 5) Satan showed up. Young dude dressed in tan slacks, a dark colored > shirt and tie, and a black robe, basically what I wear to teach Gospel > Doctrine, only without the black robe. Anyway, he showed up and mocked > 'em all for awhile (insert your own joke here), and then they took out a > key and a chain and locked him symbolically up and cast him out, hauled > him off. > 6) We heard a recording of the Hallelujah chorus. > 7) We all performed the Hallelujah shout. This is performed by shouting > Hallelujah three times, and . . . well, I can't tell you what else. > Suffice it to say that at least some of the people accompanied the shout > with an action. All I can say is that as an endowed member of the > Church, I found the action inappropriate in this context. > 8) Closing prayer, and book sales. > > Yes, there's a book. It's called Divine Calenders: Astronomical > Witnesses of Sacred Events. It was on sale for twenty five bucks, so I > didn't get it. There's also a website: www.johnpratt.com I checked it > out, and read a few of the articles contained therein. > > A few comments. > > This isn't theatre, it's a ritual. And I thought it was pretty creepy. > I got a strong feeling this whole thing is veering into a cult type > thing. > > I read some of the articles. Pratt cultivates an air of superior > knowledge, and of esoteric knowledge, which, if you mastered it, would > make you, well, smarter, more in-the-know than other folks. Would it > make you somehow special, extra holy, extra spiritual? I'm sure he would > disavow any such intention. > > I think one of the reasons these kinds of things flourish in Mormonism > is that we all have a need to feed our inner gnostic. But when you read > Pratt carefully, you can see the special pleading, the quick dismissal > of inconvenient facts, the wresting of evidence, the questionable > assumptions assumed to be factual. To the degree that I'm still a > scholar, it's pretty horrid scholarship. > > They're all real nice folks, I'm afraid. Whole room full of pleasant > LDS folks. I sort of felt right at home, and also weirded out. My > sister-in-law is really into this, and that worries me; like, they've > canceled their life insurance, because, hey, if the Second Coming is > really in ten years, what's the point? Satan was ritually bound on > Friday, but this morning, I checked out CNN.com, and I don't see much > sign of it; no peace in the Middle East, violence abounds, Dubya's still > President. > > I undoubtedly misunderstood quite a bit. Anyone here ever heard of this > guy? But one final comment: the Media depicts Mormons as very white > bread, bland, conservative, buttoned down, more than a little corporate. > If only they knew the deep and all abiding weirdness that lurks under > the surface of much of Mormon culture. > > Eric Samuelsen > > - -- > AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature > <http://www.aml-online.org/list/index.html> > > ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// > /// ZION LIST CHARTER: Please read it at /// > /// http://www.zionsbest.com/charter.html /// > ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// > -- Marc A. Schindler Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada -- Gateway to the Boreal Parkland "The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark." --Michelangelo Buonarroti Note: This communication represents the informal personal views of the author solely; its contents do not necessarily reflect those of the author�s employer, nor those of any organization with which the author may be associated. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// /// ZION LIST CHARTER: Please read it at /// /// http://www.zionsbest.com/charter.html /// ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ==^^=============================================================== This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?aaP9AU.bWix1n Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^^===============================================================
