(Historical day of week calculator**)
Just wondering if we should be calculating prophetic fulfillment according to God's “evening and morning” day?1
Some2 have observed how the equinoxes, solstices,3 and holy days (including start-of-the-week Sundays: being resurrection day, being the beginning of something new) seem to play a pivotal role in restoration and prophetic timing, so would we achieve more accuracy by using “and the evening and the morning were the [new] day” instead of our 12 AM to 11:59 PM secular standard?
Undoubtedly, others have noted this “time-jog,” but I have not come across anyone yet discussing it, so I present three related examples here and encourage deeper researchers to pursue further proofs, if any can be observed.
● If Joseph Smith, Jun. reported five visits4 of the angel Moroni on the evening of Sunday, September 21 and Monday September 22, 1823 per the 12 AM to 11:59 PM standard, might that not place Joseph squarely on the autumnal equinox of September 23, 1823 (in New York state) when he first viewed the Book of Mormon records, if that equinox day had begun the prior evening pursuant to God's time?
I propose that it works like this: considering the amount of time on September 22, 1823 for Joseph to proceed to his daily morning labors; for his exhaustion to be noted by his father; to lay unconscious “for a time”; to listen to another full repeat of Moroni's instructions; to return to his father and repeat the “whole matter”; to travel to the hill; to scrape earth from the edges of a large, partially visible stone, and to find a lever5; thus, sufficient time might have passed such that early evening had come, putting Joseph's first view of the plates on the autumnal equinox of September 23, 1823?
● Apparently Joseph's subsequent annual September 22 visits to the hill were done just after midnight on each September 22 of 1824, 1825, 1826, and 1827 because:“The angel had commanded Joseph to come to the hill on September 22. To be precise in his compliance and still to throw off meddlers who knew of the date, Joseph chose to go to Cumorah in the dead of night, almost the minute September 22 arrived.”6Since the autumnal equinoxes for these years were 1824 - 22 Sept.; 1825 - 23 Sept.; 1826 - 23 Sept.; 1827 - 23 Sept., then 1824 was the only year to appear7 to fall on the precise autumnal equinox. But does any of this matter? Was there something special about the 22nd — the day before the autumnal equinox? I don't know, except God is the Great Mathematician (amongst His other attributes) Who has counselled us to study, pay attention, and watch.
● If the records of Joseph's mother, Lucy Mack Smith8 and a few others are accurate, Joseph received the Book of Mormon plates (in New York state) sometime between midnight and early morning of 22 September 1827. JS hid the plates in the hollow of a log near the hill, then rejoined his wife Emma who was waiting nearby. They returned home early AM to begin making arrangements for the security of the plates. Apparently the next morning9 (September 23 - equinox), Joseph was taken off to an unexpected job. Either that day or the next (it's unclear to me in the records), he was called from his well digging to retrieve the plates in order to find greater security for them and was assaulted three times before safely reaching his parent's home. Again, an autumnal equinox coincidence?As to Joseph's birth:
● I'm not aware of any records setting the exact time of Joseph Smith's birth on December 23, 1805 in Sharon Vermont. From the historical charts (Eastern USA), the December solstice for 1805 had occurred the previous day, December 22, when the sun paused in its southern track and turned once again northward, thus December 23 would have been the day after the solstice and the first full day of return motion. Does God want us to observe and care about such possible “bread crumbs”?I have not researched when the day shift happened from evening to 12 AM midnight, but as history proves, men have frequently sought to “improve” on God. Daniel warned us millennia ago:
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.And as we see, even in 2022, time is still being manipulated:
25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.10
After Senate Passes Permanent Daylight Saving Time Bill, Where Does House Stand? Nearly a dozen states across the U.S. have already standardized daylight saving time.11When studying prophecy, what might we discover if we used the evening to evening model set out at creation? Over time, it will prove itself, or not.
ASIDE: Has this fiddling with time effected our own birthdates and birth times? Does it make any difference? So many mysteries12 and "bread crumbs"!
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Assuming the historical Equinox / Solstice charts have escaped the corruptions and obfuscations that the adversary of all Good has spent his existence conniving and dreaming up:
* Historical chart for Eastern US | New York: https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/seasons.html?year=1800&n=179 | Question: Do the official AM / PM times of the equinoxes impact dates and times?
https://www.weather.gov/cle/seasons
https://www.britannica.com/story/whats-the-difference-between-a-solstice-and-an-equinox
**https://www.dayoftheweek.org/
1. Old Testament | Genesis 1:5
And the evening and the morning were the first day. (etc. KJV Genesis 1: 5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31; JST Genesis 1: 8, 11, 17, 21, 24, 33; PGP Moses 2: 5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31; PGP Abraham 4: 5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/526873/jewish/The-Jewish-Day.htm
https://www.yeshiva.co/ask/7469
https://www.jtsa.edu/torah/the-day-begins-with-night/
Other view: https://www.andrews.edu/library/car/cardigital/Periodicals/AUSS/2008/2008-2/2008-2-03.pdf
2. https://latterdaysaintmag.com/why-did-so-many-key-events-of-the-restoration-happen-on-the-equinox/
3. Historical chart for New York: https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/seasons.html?year=1800&n=179
Others:
http://neoprogrammics.com/equinoxes_and_solstices/Equinoxes_and_Solstices_Calculator.php
https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/seasons.html?year=1800&n=179
https://www.weather.gov/dvn/Climate_Astronomical_Seasons
4. Five Visits per Pearl of Great Price | JS-History 1:30, 44, 46, 49, 53
1st Visit: Pearl of Great Price | JS-History 1:29-30
29 In consequence of these things, I often felt condemned for my weakness and imperfections; when, on the evening of the above-mentioned twenty-first of September [1823, v. 27], after I had retired to my bed for the night, I betook myself to prayer and supplication to Almighty God for forgiveness of all my sins and follies, and also for a manifestation to me, that I might know of my state and standing before him; for I had full confidence in obtaining a divine manifestation, as I previously had one.
30 While I was thus in the act of calling upon God, I discovered a light appearing in my room, which continued to increase until the room was lighter than at noonday, when immediately a personage appeared at my bedside, standing in the air, for his feet did not touch the floor.
5. Pearl of Great Price | JS-History 1:47-52
47 After this third visit, he again ascended into heaven as before, and I was again left to ponder on the strangeness of what I had just experienced; when almost immediately after the heavenly messenger had ascended from me for the third time, the cock crowed, and I found that day was approaching, so that our interviews must have occupied the whole of that night.
48 I shortly after arose from my bed, and, as usual, went to the necessary labors of the day; but, in attempting to work as at other times, I found my strength so exhausted as to render me entirely unable. My father, who was laboring along with me, discovered something to be wrong with me, and told me to go home. I started with the intention of going to the house; but, in attempting to cross the fence out of the field where we were, my strength entirely failed me, and I fell helpless on the ground, and for a time was quite unconscious of anything.
49 The first thing that I can recollect was a voice speaking unto me, calling me by name. I looked up, and beheld the same messenger standing over my head, surrounded by light as before. He then again related unto me all that he had related to me the previous night, and commanded me to go to my father and tell him of the vision and commandments which I had received.
50 I obeyed; I returned to my father in the field, and rehearsed the whole matter to him. He replied to me that it was of God, and told me to go and do as commanded by the messenger. I left the field, and went to the place where the messenger had told me the plates were deposited; and owing to the distinctness of the vision which I had had concerning it, I knew the place the instant that I arrived there.
51 Convenient to the village of Manchester, Ontario county, New York, stands a hill of considerable size, and the most elevated of any in the neighborhood. On the west side of this hill, not far from the top, under a stone of considerable size, lay the plates, deposited in a stone box. This stone was thick and rounding in the middle on the upper side, and thinner towards the edges, so that the middle part of it was visible above the ground, but the edge all around was covered with earth.
52 Having removed the earth, I obtained a lever, which I got fixed under the edge of the stone, and with a little exertion raised it up. I looked in, and there indeed did I behold the plates, the Urim and Thummim, and the breastplate, as stated by the messenger.
6. See Bushman footnote 4 at https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/knowhy/how-did-emma-smith-help-bring-forth-the-book-of-mormon | Richard Lyman Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling (New York, NY: Knopf, 2005), 59:
7. But since the September 22, 1824 equinox for New York state has a time-stamp of 9:50 PM, a new day, Sept 23 would have started at circa 6 PM, so all Joseph's September 22 midnight visits would have been on the day before the equinox days. (Presuming I am understanding and calculating all this correctly, which may not be the case. Always check things out.)
-------------------------------------/
Assuming the historical Equinox / Solstice charts have escaped the corruptions and obfuscations that the adversary of all Good has spent his existence conniving and dreaming up:
* Historical chart for Eastern US | New York: https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/seasons.html?year=1800&n=179 | Question: Do the official AM / PM times of the equinoxes impact dates and times?
https://www.weather.gov/cle/seasons
https://www.britannica.com/story/whats-the-difference-between-a-solstice-and-an-equinox
**https://www.dayoftheweek.org/
1. Old Testament | Genesis 1:5
And the evening and the morning were the first day. (etc. KJV Genesis 1: 5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31; JST Genesis 1: 8, 11, 17, 21, 24, 33; PGP Moses 2: 5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31; PGP Abraham 4: 5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/526873/jewish/The-Jewish-Day.htm
https://www.yeshiva.co/ask/7469
https://www.jtsa.edu/torah/the-day-begins-with-night/
Other view: https://www.andrews.edu/library/car/cardigital/Periodicals/AUSS/2008/2008-2/2008-2-03.pdf
2. https://latterdaysaintmag.com/why-did-so-many-key-events-of-the-restoration-happen-on-the-equinox/
3. Historical chart for New York: https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/seasons.html?year=1800&n=179
Others:
http://neoprogrammics.com/equinoxes_and_solstices/Equinoxes_and_Solstices_Calculator.php
https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/seasons.html?year=1800&n=179
https://www.weather.gov/dvn/Climate_Astronomical_Seasons
4. Five Visits per Pearl of Great Price | JS-History 1:30, 44, 46, 49, 53
1st Visit: Pearl of Great Price | JS-History 1:29-30
29 In consequence of these things, I often felt condemned for my weakness and imperfections; when, on the evening of the above-mentioned twenty-first of September [1823, v. 27], after I had retired to my bed for the night, I betook myself to prayer and supplication to Almighty God for forgiveness of all my sins and follies, and also for a manifestation to me, that I might know of my state and standing before him; for I had full confidence in obtaining a divine manifestation, as I previously had one.
30 While I was thus in the act of calling upon God, I discovered a light appearing in my room, which continued to increase until the room was lighter than at noonday, when immediately a personage appeared at my bedside, standing in the air, for his feet did not touch the floor.
5. Pearl of Great Price | JS-History 1:47-52
47 After this third visit, he again ascended into heaven as before, and I was again left to ponder on the strangeness of what I had just experienced; when almost immediately after the heavenly messenger had ascended from me for the third time, the cock crowed, and I found that day was approaching, so that our interviews must have occupied the whole of that night.
48 I shortly after arose from my bed, and, as usual, went to the necessary labors of the day; but, in attempting to work as at other times, I found my strength so exhausted as to render me entirely unable. My father, who was laboring along with me, discovered something to be wrong with me, and told me to go home. I started with the intention of going to the house; but, in attempting to cross the fence out of the field where we were, my strength entirely failed me, and I fell helpless on the ground, and for a time was quite unconscious of anything.
49 The first thing that I can recollect was a voice speaking unto me, calling me by name. I looked up, and beheld the same messenger standing over my head, surrounded by light as before. He then again related unto me all that he had related to me the previous night, and commanded me to go to my father and tell him of the vision and commandments which I had received.
50 I obeyed; I returned to my father in the field, and rehearsed the whole matter to him. He replied to me that it was of God, and told me to go and do as commanded by the messenger. I left the field, and went to the place where the messenger had told me the plates were deposited; and owing to the distinctness of the vision which I had had concerning it, I knew the place the instant that I arrived there.
51 Convenient to the village of Manchester, Ontario county, New York, stands a hill of considerable size, and the most elevated of any in the neighborhood. On the west side of this hill, not far from the top, under a stone of considerable size, lay the plates, deposited in a stone box. This stone was thick and rounding in the middle on the upper side, and thinner towards the edges, so that the middle part of it was visible above the ground, but the edge all around was covered with earth.
52 Having removed the earth, I obtained a lever, which I got fixed under the edge of the stone, and with a little exertion raised it up. I looked in, and there indeed did I behold the plates, the Urim and Thummim, and the breastplate, as stated by the messenger.
6. See Bushman footnote 4 at https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/knowhy/how-did-emma-smith-help-bring-forth-the-book-of-mormon | Richard Lyman Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling (New York, NY: Knopf, 2005), 59:
7. But since the September 22, 1824 equinox for New York state has a time-stamp of 9:50 PM, a new day, Sept 23 would have started at circa 6 PM, so all Joseph's September 22 midnight visits would have been on the day before the equinox days. (Presuming I am understanding and calculating all this correctly, which may not be the case. Always check things out.)
8. https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/lucy-mack-smith-history-1844-1845/69
https://www.ldsliving.com/8-things-you-may-not-have-known-about-joseph-smith-obtaining-the-gold-plates/s/89082
Pearl of Great Price | JS-History 1:59
59 At length the time arrived for obtaining the plates, the Urim and Thummim, and the breastplate. On the twenty-second day of September, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven, having gone as usual at the end of another year to the place where they were deposited, the same heavenly messenger delivered them up to me with this charge: that I should be responsible for them; that if I should let them go carelessly, or through any neglect of mine, I should be cut off; but that if I would use all my endeavors to preserve them, until he, the messenger, should call for them, they should be protected.
https://www.ldsliving.com/8-things-you-may-not-have-known-about-joseph-smith-obtaining-the-gold-plates/s/89082
Pearl of Great Price | JS-History 1:59
59 At length the time arrived for obtaining the plates, the Urim and Thummim, and the breastplate. On the twenty-second day of September, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven, having gone as usual at the end of another year to the place where they were deposited, the same heavenly messenger delivered them up to me with this charge: that I should be responsible for them; that if I should let them go carelessly, or through any neglect of mine, I should be cut off; but that if I would use all my endeavors to preserve them, until he, the messenger, should call for them, they should be protected.
9. https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/lucy-mack-smith-history-1844-1845/62
10. Old Testament | Daniel 7:24-25
11. https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/after-senate-passes-permanent-daylight-saving-time-bill-where-does-house-stand/2804188/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permanent_time_observation_in_the_United_States
https://kdvr.com/news/local/permanent-daylight-saving-time-possible/
12. For those who object to mysteries:
10. Old Testament | Daniel 7:24-25
11. https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/after-senate-passes-permanent-daylight-saving-time-bill-where-does-house-stand/2804188/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permanent_time_observation_in_the_United_States
https://kdvr.com/news/local/permanent-daylight-saving-time-possible/
12. For those who object to mysteries:
Book of Mormon | 1 Nephi 10:19
19 For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, as well in these times as in times of old, and as well in times of old as in times to come; wherefore, the course of the Lord is one eternal round.
Book of Mormon | Mosiah 1:5
5 I say unto you, my sons, were it not for these things, which have been kept and preserved by the hand of God, that we might read and understand of his mysteries, and have his commandments always before our eyes, that even our fathers would have dwindled in unbelief, and we should have been like unto our brethren, the Lamanites, who know nothing concerning these things, or even do not believe them when they are taught them, because of the traditions of their fathers, which are not correct.
● In addition to the above two references, review the 44 references to mysteries in a scripture word search.
19 For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, as well in these times as in times of old, and as well in times of old as in times to come; wherefore, the course of the Lord is one eternal round.
Book of Mormon | Mosiah 1:5
5 I say unto you, my sons, were it not for these things, which have been kept and preserved by the hand of God, that we might read and understand of his mysteries, and have his commandments always before our eyes, that even our fathers would have dwindled in unbelief, and we should have been like unto our brethren, the Lamanites, who know nothing concerning these things, or even do not believe them when they are taught them, because of the traditions of their fathers, which are not correct.
● In addition to the above two references, review the 44 references to mysteries in a scripture word search.
