Abraham's Vision of the Lord's Timepiece

by John P. Pratt

Is the universe ruled by intelligence or chance? Modern science in enamored with the theory that chance rules the universe, from the microcosms of quantum mechanics to the macrocosm of the Big Bang. The Lord, however, has made it clear that intelligence governs; but even for believers, the question arises, "Just how much of a role does chance play?" For example, did our solar system form naturally according to God's laws from a condensing cloud of interstellar matter with planets having more or less random periods of rotation and revolution, or was it designed as a precision timepiece? This article proposes that Abraham's vision on astronomy is the key to understanding not only that the Lord designed our solar system to be a Great Timepiece, but also that he uses it as a calendar for scheduling certain events.

When the anti-Christ Korihor refused to believe in God, Alma used the high degree of order found in the solar system as a proof of the existence of a Creator. Alma refuted Korihor's agnostic teachings by declaring, "all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator" (Alma 30:44). Many people today would not be convinced by Alma's argument because most scientists believe that our solar system formed naturally. Indeed, scientists have discovered many wonderful natural laws such as Kepler's laws and Newton's laws which the planets all faithfully follow. Computer studies have shown how a random collection of particles could form into a solar system, with a sun and planets very much like our own. So how would Alma's argument fare today, with new-age atheists claiming that the solar system simply created itself, according to these apparently self-existent laws of physics? Should the witness of the planets be relegated to an unenlightened age during which Korihor was forced to remain mute only because he didn't have today's scientific responses at the tip of this tongue? If Korihor had lived today, and had quoted all the modern laws of physics and principles of self-organization, would Alma have had an answer for him?

This article proposes that Alma could respond today that the solar system is far more orderly than the known laws of physics would predict, and hence a Creator is still required to explain it. This order leads to the proposal that the solar system is indeed a Great Timepiece, designed to display time very much like an ordinary clock. This huge clock in the sky is a testimony that there is indeed a Watchmaker who created it. Moreover, as we shall see, it appears that the Watchmaker is using his Watch, as one would expect, to time key events.

The Lord has prophesied that

And also, if there be bounds set to the heavens or to the seas, or to the dry land, or to the sun, moon, or stars--

All the times of their revolutions; all the appointed days, months, and years, and all the days of their days, months, and years, and all their glories, laws, and set times, shall be revealed in the days of the dispensation of the fulness of times--

According to that which was ordained in the midst of the Council of the Eternal God of all other gods before this world was, that should be reserved unto the finishing and the end thereof...

D.&C. 121:30-32

This passage makes it clear that the times of revolutions of the sun, moon, and stars have not only been appointed, but that their "set times" shall be revealed in this dispensation. Moreover, even the timing of when those set times would be revealed was planned in the great Council before this world was created. Modern astronomers have discovered the periods of rotation and revolution of the planets in our solar system to a very high precision, which seems to qualify as partially fulfilling this prophecy that their times of revolutions would be revealed in our days. The keys to discovering the incredible order and precision of the solar system, however, and each of the "set times," is given in the great revelation on astronomy in the Book of Abraham.

Let us begin by discussing some of the ways that scientists recognize intelligent forces in action, review some examples of order found in our solar system, and then begin to explore in detail how the Book of Abraham unfolds the workings of the Lord's timepiece. That, in turn, will lead to the discovery that the Lord is still using this precision chronometer.

Law and Order

When order is observed in nature, it usually indicates to a scientist one of three things: either 1) there is a natural law which explains it, 2) it is the result of blind chance, or 3) there is an intelligence which created the order. For example, if a lot of acorns are found at the foot of an oak tree, the law of gravity most likely was influential in arranging them on the earth's surface. If acorns are found in a hole in the tree, where no natural law is known to explain it, then one might argue that the arrangement is the result of mere chance. In many cases the probability of a certain arrangement can be calculated, and a simple appeal to reason can be made. In this case, the chance that the wind just happened to blow several different acorns into the hole as they fell is so improbable that the third alternative of an organizing intelligence, such as a squirrel, is preferable.

Of course, when scientists make the distinction between an intelligence and a natural law, they usually forget to ask, "Who wrote the laws of nature?" The scriptures answer that question: "God ... hath given a law unto all things, by which they move in their times and their seasons" (D.C. 88:41-42). Thus, in reality, at least two of the three explanations of order actually involve intelligence because God wrote the laws of nature.

Let us now discuss some of the higher order found in the solar system, and decide for ourselves whether or not it should be attributed to "natural laws," to mere chance, or to the hand of the Creator (D.C. 59:21).

A Flat, Rotating Solar System

The solar system is composed of the sun, a number of planets which revolve around it, their moons, and other miscellaneous objects including comets and asteroids. One of the greatest signs of order in the solar system is that the sun and all of the principal planets are located nearly in a plane1 and all revolve around the sun in the same direction. A similar phenomenon is seen throughout our universe: there are many flattened disks of stars, which apparently are nearly all revolving in orbits in the same direction around a center. Statistically, that is so incredibly unlikely to have happened by chance that either a law or an intelligent ordering is clearly indicated.

Science and scripture agree on the explanation of this ordering: orbiting bodies all follow a law (DC 88:42). Newton's laws of motion and his law of gravity explain all but the tiniest deviations in their orbits, and Einstein's modification to the law of gravity accounts for the rest. Thus, these laws greatly simplify God's creative work, because his law is a self-organizing principle. That is, even if one starts with a random accumulation of particles, there will almost always be some amount of spinning of the group as a whole. As the particles interact with each other, they will tend to fall into the plane of rotation and stay there in an orbit as the gravitational force toward the center is balanced by the centrifugal reaction away from it.

Kepler's Three Laws

Three other regular motions discovered in the solar system were articulated by Kepler. His first law is that the planets do not move in perfect circles around the sun, but in mathematical curves called ellipses. His second law is that the speed of the planet revolving around the sun is slower when it is farther away from the sun and faster when it is closer, according to a precise mathematical law. His third law is that a planet's orbital period is determined solely by an average distance from the sun, again according to a mathematical law, and not by its size, shape or mass. When Newton arrived on the scene, he showed that all three of these laws were derivable from his three laws of motion and his law of gravity. These self-organizing natural laws provide for a very orderly universe.

Bode's Law

Another observation of order in the solar system is called Bode's Law, which states that the distances of the planets from the sun tend to approximately follow a mathematical equation. When the planet Uranus was later discovered, it also was found to obey this law. By using this rule, astronomers predicted that there should be a planet between Mars and Jupiter, where no planet was known. The discovery of Uranus increased the trust in this law enough to begin a search for another planet at the indicated distance, resulting in the discovery of the asteroids precisely at the predicted distance from the sun.

This result has been harder to explain as being the result of Newton's laws because the equations of motion are much harder to solve when many bodies are involved. As the moons of other planets were discovered, it was noticed that they often followed a similar pattern. Computer studies have now shown that Bode's Law also seems to follow from Newton's laws.1..2 These studies have not only shown that naturally forming planets tend to be spaced according to a form of Bode's Law, they also tend to lock into orbits which are approximately small integer multiples of each other. For example, Jupiter has an orbital period of about 12 years which is about 2/5 as long as Saturn's period of about 30 years. These ratios are not exact, but do constitute an approximate self-ordering principle.

The order of the solar system just reviewed comprises most of the ordering that has been noticed by scientists in the solar system. It can all be achieved by beginning with a random set of particles governed by the known laws of physics. Hence, no compelling evidence for including a Creator in the history of the formation of the solar system has been scientifically required.

There are two important areas, however, where most scientists have not noticed any order and therefore have not needed to explain it. Those areas are in 1) the periods of rotation of the planets upon their axes,2..3 and 2) the precise periods of revolution of the planets around the sun. Both the earth's period of rotation (the day) and of revolution (the year) have been assumed to be simply random periods of time, determined by whatever chance initial angular momentum our planet happened to have. Similarly, the periods of revolution of all of the planets are thought to be essentially random numbers, except for being within the approximate ratios indicated by Bode's Law. Interestingly, those are precisely the areas where the Lord revealed to Abraham that there is a high degree of order designed into our system. Let us now look in detail at what is contributed to this subject by the Book of Abraham.

Abraham's Laws

Even as we have Kepler's laws, Newton's Laws, and Bode's Law, the Lord revealed to Abraham what could be called "Abraham's Laws." These three laws differ somewhat from the others in that they each have to do with design principles for the solar system, rather than deduced mathematical relationships. Most other scientists have not had the privilege of being invited to see the design of the entire system, as taught by the Designer himself. Let us review just what the Lord showed Abraham in that marvelous vision, and restate the results as Abraham's Three Laws.

Abraham's First Law

Abraham gazed into the Urim and Thummim and describes the following marvelous vision:

And I saw the stars, that they were very great, and that one of them was nearest unto the throne of God; and there were many great ones which were near unto it;

And the Lord said unto me: These are the governing ones; and the name of the great one is Kolob, because it is near unto me, for I am the Lord thy God: I have set this one to govern all those which belong to the same order as that upon which thou standest.

And the Lord said unto me, by the Urim and Thummim, that Kolob was after the manner of the Lord, according to its times and seasons in the revolutions thereof; that one revolution was a day unto the Lord, after his manner of reckoning, it being one thousand years according to the time appointed unto that whereon thou standest. This is the reckoning of the Lord's time, according to the reckoning of Kolob.

Abraham 3:2-4

Here we are given a great truth, directly from the Creator, who told us what would otherwise be incredibly hard to discover by ourselves. The period of one earth year (365.242 days) is not a random number at all, but was designed to be such that 1,000 of our years is equal to a day of the Lord. Scientists may not have even discovered Kolob yet, much less its period of revolution. And if we had, how could we know that the earth's orbit was designed such that 1,000 years is one revolution of Kolob, rather than it just being a chance coincidence. The place where the Lord's revelations are the most important seems to be in areas where man could never discover those truths by himself.

Although we have been told elsewhere that a day unto the Lord is as a thousand years (2 Peter 3:8), one could get the impression that a "day of the Lord" might be a vague term which means simply a "long time." When Abraham actually saw Kolob, and heard the Lord explain the design, he must have clearly understood that one revolution of Kolob precisely determines one day of the Lord, even as one rotation of the earth determines one day on earth.

Kolob, which governs all of the stars of the order to which we belong, apparently also is the master clock the entire order. It is "first in government, the last pertaining to the measurement of time" (Fac. 2, Fig. 1). As an example of Kolob being a time standard, we are told that, "Oliblish, which is the next grand governing creation" has a time period "which is equal with Kolob in its revolution and in its measuring of time" (Fac. 2, Figs. 2, 4). Thus, Kolob is like the heart of the order of stars to which we belong. It both governs the order, and its heartbeat rate is the time regulator even as a quartz crystal regulates our watches.

Thus, let us summarize this information into Abraham's First Law:

One revolution of Kolob, which is one day unto the Lord, equals 1,000 earth years .

The significance is that the length of the year is not a random unit of time, but was designed to be 1/1,000th of one day of the Lord. We are not told the precision of this statement, so it is not clear whether a revolution of Kolob is 365,242 earth days, or perhaps 365,000. The important point is simply that the length of our year is not a random number but was carefully designed.

The fact that the Lord has synchronized the earth's orbit with one day on Kolob suggests that the Lord might actually be using the earth's orbit for measuring time. That is, when someone goes to the trouble to synchronize his watch with someone elses, it is usually because he has an appointment with them, and wants both parties to be on time. Why make a clock if it is not going to be used?

Abraham's Second Law

But what about the other planets in the solar system? Are their periods just random numbers, or were they also designed? The Lord told Moses that the lights in the firmament, which includes the stars and planets, were designed to be "for signs and for seasons" (Gen. 1:14), but that could mean only that they are useful for reckoning time, but that any periods might do. Let's look more at Abraham's revelation to find out.

The Lord showed Abraham more of the workings of our solar and stellar systems. Abraham was given to know the "set times" of the sun, moon, and earth:

And the Lord said unto me: The planet which is the lesser light, lesser than that which is to rule the day, even the night, is above or greater than that upon which thou standest in point of reckoning, for it moveth in order more slow; this is in order because it standeth above the earth upon which thou standest, therefore the reckoning of its time is not so many as to its number of days, and of months, and of years.

And the Lord said unto me: Now, Abraham, these two facts exist, behold thine eyes see it; it is given unto thee to know the times of reckoning, and the set time, yea, the set time of the earth upon which thou standest, and the set time of the greater light which is set to rule the day, and the set time of the lesser light which is set to rule the night.

Abr. 3:5-6

Let us restate this as Abraham's Second Law:

There are set times for the earth, moon and sun, as viewed from the earth, which	were designed to reckon time.

What does "set time" mean? Grant Athay, one of the first L.D.S. astronomers to attempt any interpretation at all of the Book of Abraham, tentatively proposed a meaning for the set times of the earth, moon and sun. He said he suspected that the set time of the earth refers to the day, the set time of the moon to the lunar month, in which the moon completes its cycle of phases, and the set time of the sun to the tropical year, in which the sun makes its annual excursion through the north and south parts of the sky, causing the seasons. However, he took that interpretation no further, noting that, "Those parts of the Book of Abraham that discuss set periods of time for the sun, moon, and planets do not invoke a strong interest from astronomers."3..4 He must be correct, because very few other trained astronomers have commented at all on the Book of Abraham.

It appears that Athay's proposed interpretation for the set times of the earth, moon and sun is correct for the reason that those three periods form the basis of the lunisolar calendar, which the Lord later commanded Moses to use. It is called "lunisolar" because its months are determined by the phases of the moon (luni = "moon") and the years are determined by the seasons of the sun (solar = "sun"). Of course, the year is determined by the earth's orbital period around the sun, but it can also be thought of as the length of the sun's apparent annual circuit through the twelve constellations of the zodiac into the north part of the sky, and then into the southern, causing the seasons. In other words, even though we know the earth is in orbit around the sun, it appears from the earth that the sun is in orbit around the earth, and hence the year can be referred to as the set time of the sun. As we will see throughout this article, the Great Timepiece of our solar system was designed to be viewed from the earth, as if the earth were at rest, as implied in the revelation to Abraham.

The fundamental unit of the Hebrew calendar is the solar day, which begins in the evening, and which is determined by the earth's rotation. The month begins at the new moon, and the civil year begins in the fall. Thus, the "set times" of the earth, moon and sun, which were designed for reckoning time, most likely refer to the fundamental periods of the lunisolar calendar. The Hebrew calendar also includes the time interval of the week of seven days built into it. The year can only begin on a Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday. If the phase of the moon indicates one of the other days, then the beginning of the civil year in the fall is postponed one day. This creates more order to the calendar by allowing more realignments of months and years with the week. It also prevents most of the holy days from occurring on a Friday or Sunday, but helps them to align with Saturday, the weekly Hebrew sabbath day.

Mathematically, the 7-day week is the best interval for measuring both the month and the year because a month is nearly 4 weeks and a year is nearly 52 weeks. Again, this shows the consistency of the Lord in telling Moses to use 7-day weeks and also to use a lunisolar calendar.

The importance of Abraham's second law is that no one needs to apologize for the Hebrew calendar being more complicated than our simple solar calendar. It is the result of design, not chance. Moreover, the Designer seems to be using such a lunisolar calendar, as we would expect. That is, many key events in religious history have occurred on days of the Hebrew calendar which the Lord has designated as holy. For example, the Savior most likely was born on the eve of the day indicated on that calendar for the Passover Feast,4..5 and was crucified at the very time the Passover lambs were being sacrificed.5..6 In modern times, the angel Moroni delivered the plates to the Prophet Joseph Smith at the Feast of Trumpets on Sat 22 Sep 1827,6..7 and the long awaited return of Elijah occurred on Sun 3 Apr 1836, a rare realignment anniversary on the Hebrew Calendar of the likely date of the resurrection of the Savior.7..8

The set time of the Earth. The set time of the earth apparently refers to the mean solar day. The day is a very stable unit of time because the rotating earth is such a good clock that it only slows down by about 1.5 milliseconds (thousandths of a second) per century.8..9

The set time of the moon. The Lord stated that Abraham knew the set time of the moon. The value for the average length of the lunar month on which the Hebrew calendar has long been based is 29.530594 days.9..10 That value is far better than any other used in antiquity, and can hardly be improved upon today.10..11 It has never been clear where this incredibly accurate ancient value came from because it seems beyond their ability to measure, but this revelation to Abraham might explain it. It is also possible, however, that the value had been known by Enoch, and was contained in the records in Abraham's possession (Abr. 1:31). The revelation states only that he knows it, not that it was being revealed at that time. Because it is so close to the modern estimate of the historical average, and because it is not clear just what kind of average to use, the calculations in this article use the traditional Hebrew value.

The set time of the sun. Abraham also knew the set time of the sun, which apparently means the length of the seasonal year. A modern estimate for a historical average is 365.2425 days,11..12 which is the value used in our modern Gregorian calendar. It is because our Gregorian calendar is so accurate throughout history that dates given in this article use that calendar.

The length of the year is not nearly as fixed as the length of the lunar month, although it is still a very precise unit of time. The current value for the length of the year is 365.2422 days, which shows a variation of 0.0003 days from the average value of 365.2425. In contrast, the current value for the length of the month is 29.530588 days, which shows a deviation of only 0.000006 days from the historical average value of 29.530594. That means that a calendar based on a fixed length for the cycle of the moon, as is the Hebrew calendar, is a much more accurate calendar than one based on a fixed length for the sun's seasons, like our Gregorian calendar.

The reason for this difference in stability might be worth noting because it again suggests design in the solar system. Various frictional effects, especially the tides, cause the earth to slow down in its rotational speed very slightly, causing the day to lengthen by about 0.0015 seconds every century. That effect causes the length of the year as measured in days slowly to decrease because the number of rotations of the earth is less in every orbital revolution, meaning a smaller number of days per year. There is also another effect equally as important to the length of the year. As the earth encounters frictional drag from encountering particles in its path as it speeds around the sun, it loses energy and the distance to the sun sightly decreases (by less than an inch), which also causes the length of the year to shorten by about the same amount caused by the lengthening of the day. Thus the two effects combine to double the shortening of the length of the year as measured in mean solar days.

On the other hand, as the tides slosh around, they tend always to rotate ahead of the moon which is causing them, and this effect actually accelerates the moon in its orbit around the earth, causing the moon slowly to recede from the earth. This effect slowly increases the length of the month and tends to compensate for the lengthening of the day. In other words, even though the length of the month is getting longer, so also is the length of the day, so that the number of days in a month is nearly constant. Hence, the month is a much better length of time on which to base a calendar than is the sun, which again points to the Hebrew lunisolar calendar as being inspired by the Designer.

Hebrew Calendar Shortcomings. Now that we have applauded the Hebrew calendar, we must note that the version which is used today has some shortcomings, which indicate that some of the features may have been lost since the time of Abraham and Moses. All of these shortcomings, however, can be corrected. The length of the year on the modern Hebrew Calendar is based on inserting 7 extra lunar months every 19 years, which leads to an average of 365.2468 days.12..13 That value is not nearly as accurate as 365.2425 days, which leads to a serious long-term drift of about one day every 240 years. Another weakness of the modern Hebrew calendar is that it has no repeating pattern; each year is determined by calculations. This author sees that as a failing, because one of the purposes of a calendar is to replace astronomical calculations with a simple pattern. It was because of the difficulty of finding a simple repeating pattern for the lunisolar calendar that it was finally abandoned by Julius Caesar in 45 B.C. and replaced with his simple solar calendar like we use today. The Julian Calendar, named for him, is still regarded as a great breakthrough in science because it was discovered that the cycles of the sun and moon would never come out even, and hence no perpetual lunisolar calendar could be possible. That conclusion, however, is erroneous: there is a realignment interval for the sun and moon, and it is based on how the Lord told Moses to reckon years.

A Perpetual Hebrew Calendar. In order to have a perpetual Hebrew calendar, which would have no long-term drift through the seasons, one must find a time interval which is very nearly an exact number of weeks, and of lunar months, and of years. After such an interval, the calendar could begin to repeat because everything would be realigned, as when the hands of a clock all point to the 12. This author has found such an interval and is currently working on designing a perpetual Hebrew calendar using it, which also employs a simple repeating pattern.

The proposed realignment interval for the Hebrew calendar is 738,885 days, which yields both an average lunar month of 29.530594 days, and an average year of 365.2422 days. Besides the surprising accuracy of this interval in realigning these cycles, further evidence that this interval was indeed designed is that the number of years is also a exact number of "weeks" of years. The Lord told Moses to count years in weeks of seven (Lev. 25:3-4), in the same manner as days are counted in weeks, and this interval equals 289 weeks of years. Thus, the very existence of this interval, which so accurately realigns the lunar month and solar year, becomes further evidence that the sun/earth/moon system was designed to repeat exactly in weeks of days and weeks of years.13..14

Abraham's Third Law

The revelation to Abraham continued, revealing perhaps the most important concept. The Lord told Abraham, as they talked face to face,

"Now the set time of the lesser light is a longer time as to its reckoning than the reckoning of the time of the earth upon which thou standest.

And where these two facts exist, there shall be another fact above them, that is, there shall be another planet whose reckoning of time shall be longer still;

And thus there shall be the reckoning of the time of one planet above another, until thou come nigh unto Kolob, which Kolob is after the reckoning of the Lord's time..."

Abr. 3:7-9

Let us restate this concept more briefly as Abraham's Third Law:

The planets form a progression of increasing set times, designed to reckon time, beginning with the earth and moon and ending with Kolob.

One key point is that the progression starts from the earth, from which it was clearly designed to be viewed. When the Lord told Abraham to begin at the earth and to count the moon as second in the progression, he was not implying that the earth is fixed nor that is in the center of the universe. He was simply explaining the design of the solar system, namely that there is a progression of planets designed to keep time. In that progression of "one planet above another" the moon "standeth above the earth" because it "moveth in order more slow" meaning the earth is first and the moon, in the slot above it, being second in the order of increasing periods. The Lord implied that the sun stands above the moon in this progression because its period (the year) is greater than the moon's (the lunar month). While it might look to some as if the Lord is describing an earth-centered system, that is clearly not the case. Abraham was shown the governing stars near to the throne of God, and they were a long way away from the earth. The prophets have long known that "it is the earth that moveth and not the sun" (Hel. 12:15). Rather, the Lord was most likely explaining that the Great Timepiece of the solar system was designed to be viewed from the earth. The remainder of this paper will take a close look at the planetary progression in our solar system, referred to in Abraham's Third Law, and then continue the progression with stars, until we come nigh unto Kolob.

The Planetary Progression

Now let us begin to relate the set times of all of the visible planets to the set time of the earth (the day) as described in Abraham's Third Law and also to the year, which Abraham's First Law tells us is tied to the revolutions of Kolob. Thus, the set times of other planets are also tied to the reckoning of the Lord's time on Kolob.

Synodic or Sidereal? There are two principal orbital periods for each of the planets which are candidates to be called the "set time" for that planet. The first is the "sidereal" period, which is the one usually given as the orbital period for the planet. The sidereal period is the orbital period relative to the stars, meaning the average interval between successive orbital passings of the planet near the same star. The other period is called the "synodic" period. It is the period relative to the sun rather than to a star. That is, it is the interval between successive risings (or settings) of the planet with the sun.

These two periods can be very different. For example, consider the planet Venus. It orbits the sun 13 times while the earth orbits the sun 8 times, that is, in 8 years. Thus, it's sidereal period is 8/13 of a year, or about 225 days. But suppose we consider the earth to be at rest, and ask, "How many times will Venus appear from the earth to orbit the sun in 8 years?" The answer is that as we orbit the sun 8 times, Venus must pass us 5 times in order for it to finish its 13 orbits. Thus, it will appear on earth that Venus has 5 (synodic) cycles, of about 584 days each, in 8 years. Thus, the sidereal period of 225 days is very different from its synodic period of 584 days.

So which one is more likely to be the "set time" of the planet? Before proposing an answer, let us remember that the set time for the earth and moon are based on different motions, the earth being the rotation of the earth and the moon being its synodic period, that is, the period of its phases with the sun. If these identifications are correct, it means that different motions might be used for different planets to be the "set time" for that planet.

With that in mind, what planetary period makes the most sense to be called the "set time" for each planet? The planets can be divided into two groups: the inner and the outer planets. The planets Mercury and Venus are nearer to the sun than is the earth and hence are called "inner" planets. Because they must always stay near the sun, they can only be seen shortly after sunset or before sunrise. Hence, they are both called evening and morning "stars." (Note that throughout the Book of Abraham and also in this paper, the words "star" and "planet" can be used almost interchangeably). They often can be seen in the twilight before stars are even visible. Thus, for the inner planets, as for the moon, the synodic period relative to the sun seems to be the more important, and will be used for their set times.

On the other hand, it can be argued that the more important period for the outer planets is the sidereal period because they are usually only visible at night when the stars are visible. Moreover, the way the "star clock" seems to work, is that the twelve zodiac constellations are like the twelve numbers on the face of a clock, and the planets are like "hands" on the clock face which move around the clock at different rates to tell time. Thus, it is proposed that the important period for the outer planets is the sidereal period, because it is relative to the stars.
With that in mind, let us now consider each of the visible planets in order of their set times.

Mercury

After the moon, the next shortest planetary period in our solar system is that of the planet Mercury. The average synodic period of the planet Mercury over historical times is nearly 116 earth days (115.877538 days14..15), which is proposed to be the "set time" of Mercury. Let us see just how that period realigns with one year of the earth, and how it can be used to reckon time. In fact, let us see how it appears that the Designer of the Great Timepiece is using it for his own purposes.

The first realignment of Mercury's cycle with the sun's occurs after seven years, being approximately equal to 22 cycles of Mercury. That implies that there are 11 Mercury cycles in about 3.5 years,15..16 which sometimes aligns well with the holy days on the Hebrew lunisolar calendar. For example, the Savior was most likely baptized on the Day of Atonement (10 Tishri on the Hebrew Calendar) because that was the set time in the law of Moses for making covenants of reconciliation with God. Being that holy day would explain why the crowd had gone out to hear John the Baptist, and why many would have been baptized that day. If Jesus was baptized in the year the Romans called the 15th year of Tiberius (Luke 3:1), then that day was most likely Saturday, 6 Oct. A.D. 29.

If one counts 11 cycles of Mercury as an evening and morning star (1,274 days) from that proposed baptism date, one comes to Saturday, 2 April A.D. 33. That day was the Passover feast day that year (15 Nisan on the Hebrew calendar), the day celebrating the liberation of the captives from the bondage of Egypt. That Saturday would have been the day after the Savior's death (John 19:14), on which he declared liberation to the captives in the spirit world who were expecting him at that very time (D. C. 138:16-18). The point here is that because the Savior's baptism and visit to the spirit prison were separated by 11 Mercury cycles, they would have occurred on the same day on a Mercury calendar.

Another realignment interval of the cycles of Mercury with the earth's year occurs in 33 years, or 104 Mercury cycles. Again, this example fits dates proposed for the Savior's life. If the birth of the Savior was on the evening preceding Thu 6 April 1 B.C.,5 then it would have been on the same day of a Mercury calendar as the day of the Savior's "rebirth" at his resurrection about 33 years later, before the sunrise of Sun, 3 Apr. A.D. 33. Thus, three birth-like events in the Savior's life apparently all occurred on the same day of a Mercury calendar: his birth, his baptism and his resurrection.

The "merc." There is a unit of time which seems to be useful to measure the cycles of all the visible planets for calendrical purposes. The unit is exactly 117 days, which is one of the many cycles on the Mayan calendar.16..17 It is approximately equal to the synodic period of Mercury of 115.88 days, so let us refer to it as a "merc" because the proposed set time of Mercury is nearly one merc. The proposed time from the Savior's birth to his resurrection is an exact number of mercs. That is, the period of 12,051 days beginning on 6 Apr 1 B.C. and ending on 3 Apr A.D. 33 not only equals 104 cycles of Mercury, but it is equal to exactly 103 mercs of 117 days each.

The Saros Century. A far better realignment interval of Mercury and the year occurs in 1,803 years. The technical definition of a "realignment interval" means that there is no shorter period which better aligns the cycles,17..18 which in this case are the set time of Mercury and the set time of the sun. The surprising thing here is that this interval of 658,532 days is exactly the period which has been called the "saros century" because it is both a realignment interval for the Hebrew calendar and also equals 100 saros eclipse cycles.8 Thus, the saros century realigns the Hebrew calendar with the planet Mercury (see Fig. 1). Hopefully the hand of the Designer is becoming more apparent because there is no astronomical reason 1) why 100 saros eclipse cycles should realign the Hebrew calendar, and 2) why that the exact same interval should also be best realignment of the year with the synodic period of Mercury.

The Watchmaker uses his Watch. What makes the hand of the Lord most apparent here is that the Lord seems to be using these calendars. That is, the Savior's birth, baptism, and resurrection were apparently all timed according to both the cycles of Mercury as well as the holy days of the Hebrew calendar. Moreover, the saros century is exactly the interval between one of the dates believed to be the date of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Sunday, 3 April A.D. 33, and the completion of the restoration of the Church with the return of Elijah on Sunday, 3 April 1836 (see Fig. 2). The fact that the date of the restoration occurred on such an exceeding rare realignment of those calendars implies that the Lord is still using those calendars. It is also a witness that the proposed dates for the birth, baptism and resurrection of the Savior are correct, because they can be linked so precisely to a date in modern history about which there is no question (Sun. 3 Apr. 1836). To this author, these cycles do not appear to be the results of blind chance, but rather the precision craftsmanship of a brilliant Designer.

New Chronological Tool. The discovery of the these cycles of Mercury, as well as those of other planets yet to be described in this paper, provides a new chronological tool which can be used to decide between competing theories in dating events from religious history. For example, there have been two dates proposed for the resurrection of Jesus Christ: Sunday, 3 April A.D. 33 and Sunday 7 April A.D. 30, both of which fulfill most of the Biblical criteria. The fact that Mercury aligns on the A.D. 33 date with the known modern date of the restoration of the temple, and also with the traditional L.D.S. birth date for the Savior on 6 Apr 1 B.C., is an added witness to their correctness. Another witness comes from the lunar eclipse at the Savior's crucifixion, when the moon turned to blood (Acts 2:20), which has been considered to be the deciding event because there was such an eclipse on Friday, 1 April A.D. 33.18..19 The fact that the saros century is also 100 eclipse cycles adds yet another testimony because eclipses are apparently involved. If these many witnesses are not sufficient, the planet Venus will add its testimony also.19..20 Any one or two of these alignments could be simply chance coincidences, but as the number of alignments increases, it becomes strong evidence that the dates are correct. Indeed, we have been told that all things in heaven were created to bear record of Jesus Christ (Moses 6:63).

Now let us look in detail at the planet Venus, to which the Savior apparently referred, when he identified himself as the "bright and morning star" (Rev. 22:16).

Venus

The average synodic period of Venus is its evening and morning star cycle of nearly 584 days (583.92166 days15). This proposed set time for the planet Venus is much easier to understand than that of Mercury, so it will be used here as an example to show how to construct a Venus calendar.

Eight Years. The relationship to the earth's year is very simple: there are approximately five Venus cycles every eight years. To show the accuracy, note that 8 x 365 days exactly equals 5 x 584 days. The period of eight years also realigns the moon. Thus, if a child is baptized on her eighth birthday on our Gregorian calendar, she will be "reborn" near her birthday on the Hebrew Calendar, and also on a Venus calendar.

The ratio of Venus to Mercury cycles is about five to one. When the period of Mercury is approximated for calendrical purposes as one merc (117 days), and the Venus cycle approximated as 5 mercs (585 days), then this ratio is exactly 5 (585 = 5 x 117).

Forty Years. An excellent realignment interval of all three set times of Mercury, Venus, and the year occurs after forty years. Forty years of 365 days = 25 Venus cycles of 584 days and also completes 126 Mercury cycles. Some of the periods of forty years mentioned in the scriptures, especially those determined by the Lord, such as the wandering of the Israelites after the exodus (Num. 14:34), may have occurred when these cycles aligned with the Hebrew Calendar.

A Perpetual Venus Calendar. In order to construct a long-term calendar to track the cycles of any celestial body, it is necessary to add "leap" intervals occasionally to realign the cycles. For example, we add a leap day about every four years to our Gregorian Calendar so that 3 years of 365 and 1 year of 366 days will average 365.25 days, which is close to the correct value of 365.242 days. We skip the leap year in three out of four centuries so that the Gregorian year averages 365.2425 days.

In the case of Venus the first realignment interval occurs after 12 Venus cycles. The period of Venus is about 583 11/12 days, so after 12 cycles, it comes out approximately even: 12 Venus cycles equals nearly exactly 7,007 days (7,007/12 = 583.92). Thus, one way to construct a Venus calendar would be to use 11 cycles of 584 days followed by one of 583, for a total of 7,007 days in 12 cycles. If one prefers the Mayan cycles of 13-days, which work well with the merc, it might be preferable to use 11 cycles of 585 days followed by one of 572 days, so that every cycle would align at the beginning of a 13-day cycle (7,007 is also divisible by 13). The size of the "leap" unit being one day or 13-
days is not important, as long as the calendar is as accurate as needed.

A Miniature of History. It turns out that 7,007 days is exactly seven periods of 1,001 days, each of which is in turn divisible by 7 (1,001 = 7 x 143). Evidence for design is suggested when the intervals divide exactly into units which the Lord seems to prefer. For example, we have been told the temporal existence of the earth will be 7,000 years, or 7 days of the Lord (D.C. 77:6). We also know that the Lord also divides periods into 12 parts, such as 12 hours in a day (John 11:9) or 12 months in a year. We know that all of history is also divided into 12 "hours" and that we are living in the eleventh hour (Mat. 20:6-9, D.C. 33:3).20..21 Thus, the earth's temporal history of 7,000 years (perhaps including a little season at the end) is divided into 12 periods.

The Lord sometimes counts one year to a day. For example, in Joshua's day, when the spies returned from their 40-day mission, the Lord consigned Israel to the wilderness for 40 years, counting a year to a day of their journey (Num. 13:25, 14:34). Another example was when the Lord told Ezekiel to lay on his side for 40 days, and also for 390 days, to represent historical periods of 40 and 390 years (Ezek. 4:4-6). If we miniaturize the interval of a 7,000-year history divided into 12 parts, by counting one day to a year, then we arrive at exactly the pattern shown us by the cycles of Venus. That is, 12 cycles of Venus require 7,007 days to complete just as the 12 hours of the earth's temporal history require 7,000 years to complete (See Fig. 3). The fact that the numbers 7 and 12 both occur, which the Lord uses in his priesthood quorums as well as for measuring time, along with the exact ratio of one year to a day, which he also uses, strongly argues that the orbit of Venus was carefully designed to reckon time, as was implied in the revelation to Abraham, rather than being a random remnant of the "Big Bang."

This is the kind of order which argues most strongly that the solar system was created to be a precise timepiece. The atheist can continue to claim that all such alignments are all chance coincidences, but such a posture becomes extremely unlikely, and much harder to believe than simply accepting that it was designed.

A Perpetual Venus Calendar. The Venus Calendar requires one more correction in order to be accurate throughout history. When one calculates the realignment intervals of Venus with earth's day, there is one that far outshines all the others: the interval of 126,711 days. That period yields an average synodic period to the entire accuracy that we know today. That is, 126,711 days divided by 217 cycles gives an average of 583.92166 days, which is exact to every place of accuracy.

Again, an argument for design is suggested by the nature of the number 126,711 itself. First of all, it is equal to an exact number of mercs; that is, 126,711 = 1,083 x 117. That means that it fits perfectly with the Venus calendar based on the merc. After 18 cycles of 7,007 days each, if one more cycle of 585 days is added, for a total of 126,711, then the calendar is not only extremely accurate, but it also would again begin on an exact cycle of mercs.

The second argument for design comes from recognizing the pattern of such a calendar. The Lord has told us that we may know the truth of all things by looking at the patterns he has given us (D.C. 52:14). There are traditions among the Native Americans of Central America that the calendar which they used was given to them by the god who visited them, whom the called the Feathered Serpent. Several authors have concluded that the Feather Serpent was none other than Jesus Christ, when he visited the Nephites after his resurrection.21..22 A detailed study of their calendar is beyond the scope of this article; for our purposes, let us merely entertain the speculation that the calendar of Central America might have been inspired. As was already mentioned, the unit of the merc came from that calendar.

The pattern for the year on the calendar of Central America is 18 periods of 20 days each, with a little season of 5 days at the end, for a total of 365 days. That is exactly the pattern of the Venus calendar: 18 units followed by a little season at the end. Thus, the fact that the realignment interval for Venus happens to come out even in mercs, added to the fact that the pattern of the calendar is the same as that which Native Americas have claimed was divinely given, constitutes evidence that the orbit of Venus was designed.22..23

Which came first, Calendar or Creation? The fact that some planets, such as Venus, have such a simple, orderly perpetual calendar suggests that perhaps the solar system was created to fit the calendar, rather than the calendar being designed to fit the solar system. That was precisely the Mayan belief. They introduced one tradition thus, "This is a song of how the uinal came to be created before the creation of the world."23..24 The uinal is the fundamental 20-day cycle of the Mayan calendar. The legend goes on to explain that the Lord God created something on each day of the cycle. A moment's reflection shows that our scriptural account in Genesis also implies that the calendar was created before the earth. That is, it implies that the week existed first because the Lord worked for six days and rested on the seventh. The more one thinks about it, the more logical it becomes. First there was a council in which the earth was planned, including a Fall, and a Savior. Then a time table would have been established, and then a huge clock created in the sky which everyone could see, which would be "for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years" (Gen. 1:14).

So is the Lord actually using such a Venus calendar? There are several indications in scripture that indeed he is.

Enos. One indication that he is can be found in an otherwise very strange verse of scripture. When the Lord is telling us the lineage of the patriarchal priesthood, he gives us the age of one patriarch in both years and months. We are told that Enos, the grandson of Adam, was ordained to that priesthood at the age of 134 years and 4 months (D.C. 107:44). Why should it be important that we be told he was 4 months past his birthday? If we are familiar with Venus cycles, an answer suggests itself. Seven cycles of 7,007 days equals 134 years plus 4 lunar months. Thus, by simply adding the detail of 4 extra months, the Lord might be indicating that Enos was both born and ordained on the same day of the Venus calendar. He might even be telling us enough information for us to deduce both his exact birthday and ordination day.

430 Years. Another example of a Venus cycle is the use of 430 years which occurs several times in scripture (either directly as in Gen. 11:17, or indirectly as in Ezek. 4:5-6). The Bible makes a point of informing us that the total length of the sojourn of Israel at the exodus from Egypt, was 430 years to the very day (Ex. 12:41). What is the significance of such accuracy? Moreover, the Prophet Joseph Smith corrected the length of the life of Enoch as given in Genesis to be 430 years rather than 365 years (Gen. 5:23, Moses 8:1). Does the length of his life really matter? What are we supposed to learn from that correction?

It turns out that 430 years is a realignment of the Hebrew calendar with the cycles of the planet Venus. After 157, 073 days the Hebrew calendar can repeat to be on the same day of the week and the year, and also completes 269 cycles of Venus. These realignments do not occur over every interval of 430 lunisolar years because the interval is about three weeks longer than 430 solar years. It requires that the Hebrew date which begins the interval start in a year when the date falls early in the season and ends with a date falling late in the season. If the number 430 does indeed indicate a Venus interval, then this requirement tells us about which years are possible for the endpoints of the 430-year interval.

The resurrection of the Book of Mormon. One modern day example of the use of both the Mercury and Venus calendars occurred on the date of the "resurrection" of the Book of Mormon, when it began to speak to the world from the dust. The Book of Mormon went on sale during the week between March 19, 1830, when it was announced that it would be ready during the following week, and March 26 when the weekly Sentinel announced that it was already on sale.24..25 The Mercury and Venus calendars, combined with the Hebrew Calendar indicate a precise time for to be the "official resurrection date" for the book. It is Thu, 25 March 1830, which was New Year's Day for the sacred year on the Hebrew calendar (1 Nisan).25..26 That day was the same day on the Mercury calendar as the proposed day of the Savior's resurrection on Sun 3 Apr A.D. 33, and, as already mentioned, the same day as of the "resurrection of the temple" on Sun 3 Apr 1836. This day, however, was a double realignment, because it was also on the same day on a Venus calendar as the day of the Savior's resurrection (see Fig. 4).26..27

It is also important just which day of the Venus cycle it was. The Native Americans associated the planet Venus with their god, the Feathered Serpent (Quetzalcoatl), who appears to have been none other than Jesus Christ. They associated the birth of the Feathered Serpent with the rising of Venus in the west as an evening star, and his death with its setting in the west as an evening star. During the period during which Venus is invisible before it rises as a "bright and morning star" (Rev. 22:16), which averages eight days, they believed he dwelt in the underworld. The subsequent rising of Venus in the east as the dawn star represented his resurrection. An important source for this tradition is found in the Anales de Quauhtitlán:

"at the time when the planet was visible in the sky (as evening star) Quetzalcoatl died. And when Quetzalcoatl was dead he was not seen for 4 days; they say that he dwelt in the underworld, and for 4 more days he was bone (that is, he was emaciated, he was weak); not until 8 days had passed did the great star appear; that is, as the morning star. They said that then Quetzalcoatl ascended the throne as god"27..28

Thus, the Native Americans of Central America believed that when the Feathered Serpent resurrected, the morning star was rising in the east as a bright morning star. That is where it was both on the proposed day of the resurrection of Christ (Sun 3 Apr 33), and also at the resurrection of the Book of Mormon (Thu 25 Mar 1830). Thus, the planets Mercury and Venus both bear record to the accuracy of that resurrection date because their cycles tie that date to similar resurrection symbolism in our times.

The Outer Planets

The outer planets can often be seen most of the night, so it makes sense to talk about the sidereal period for them, which is the period relative to the stars. Let us now look at the outer planets, to consider how each might play its part in the Lord's Great Timepiece.

Mars. The sidereal period of Mars is 687 days (686.99576 days15) and the synodic period of 780 days (779.93651 days15). There are arguments for the set time of Mars to be either the synodic or the sidereal period.28..29 It is somewhat of a transition planet between the inner planets for which the synodic period is still important, and the outer planets of Jupiter and Saturn for which the sidereal period is clearly more important. For the purposes of this article, and to show the design of the solar system and planetary progression, let us use the synodic period as the set time of Mars.

We have already mentioned a 117-day cycle on the Mayan calendar. A far more important cycle on that calendar is the 260-day sacred round.29..30 The synodic period of Mars of 780 days is exactly three sacred rounds of 260-days.

The synodic period of Mars is basically in a 4:3 ratio with Venus. When the 585-day approximation to Venus' synodic period is used, then it is exact: 3 x 780 = 4 x 585 = 2,340 days. This also is exactly the period on the Mayan calendar when the cycles of the merc (117 days) and the sacred round (260 days) realign: 9 x 260 = 20 x 117 = 2,340 days. These coincidences add to the arguments for the design of the solar system, as well as supporting the Mayan belief that the solar system was created according to the calendar.

Jupiter. The sidereal period of the planet Jupiter is nearly 12 years (4,332.8486 days15). Similarly, the earth's year is about 12 lunar months. The ancient sky was divided into twelve zodiac constellations, which are like the 12 numbers in fixed positions on the face of clock. The planets always move around the plane of these constellations; they can be thought of as hands of a clock that move through the 12 zodiac constellations to keep time. Even as the sun spends about one month in each zodiac constellation, so also does Jupiter spend about one year in each. The Chinese calendar is based on a cycle of twelve years, which derives from the cycles of Jupiter.

As for being commensurate with the other orbits, the orbital period of Jupiter of nearly twelve years is within four days of being exactly 37 mercs.

Saturn. The sidereal period of Saturn is about 29.5 years (10,764.44 days15). As already mentioned, the Lord has explicitly stated that he sometimes counts one day to a year. The moon's cycle of phases takes approximately 29.5 days, and the orbital period of Saturn is about 29.5 years. Thus, Saturn is counting in years as the moon is counting in days, in the same way that the Lord says he reckons. Taken by itself, it appears to be a chance coincidence, because there is no obvious reason that the moon should be calendrically related to Saturn. The argument against this merely being chance is that there is a long series of such coincidences that form a pattern. That list is already growing, as in the case of Venus cycles apparently having been crafted to be a miniature model of history on a scale of one day to a year.

The orbital period of Saturn of nearly thirty years is exactly 92 mercs, to the very day. That means that all five of the bright planets have periods that come out approximately even when measured in mercs: Mercury = 1 merc, Venus = 5 mercs, 3 Mars = 20 mercs, Jupiter = 37 mercs and Saturn = 92 mercs. These orbital relationships are summarized in Table 1 and visually in Fig. 5.

Planet	Period (days)	Approximate Period

(1 merc = 117 days)	Realignment
Mercury	115.88	117 = 1 merc	22 Mercury = 7 years

Venus	583.92	585 = 5 mercs	5 Venus of 584

= 8 years of 365

1 Venus = 5 Mercury
Mars	779.94	780 = 3 sacred rounds

3 cycles = 20 mercs	3 Mars of 780

= 4 Venus of 585
Jupiter	4,332.85	4,329 = 37 mercs	Jupiter = 12 years

(like year = 12 months)
Saturn	10,764.4	10,764 = 92 mercs	Saturn = 29.5 yrs

(like Moon = 29.5 days)

2 Saturn = 5 Jupiter

Table 1. Orbital periods and realignments. Those in bold are accurate to the very day. Orbital periods for Mercury, Venus and Mars are relative to the sun (synodic), Jupiter and Saturn are relative to the stars (sidereal). Average values over historical times are given.

Uranus. The planet Uranus is not usually considered to be one of the visible planets, but it can be seen by a trained observer with the unaided eye in a dark sky. It has an orbital period of 84.01 years. Because 84 = 12 x 7, this means that Uranus spends 7 years in each of the twelve zodiac constellations. That is exactly how the Lord told Israel to count years: by sevens (Lev. 25:1-4). The orbital period is so close to being exactly 84 years that it serves to count weeks of years all through history with no corrections needed at all.

Neptune. Neptune is never visible to the unaided eye. When this author began this study, it was not clear at all whether Neptune and Pluto should be included in a clock designed to be viewed from earth. The preliminary results at this time are that Neptune is definitely part of the clock, even though its precise use is not clear at this time. On the other hand, Pluto does not seem to be part of the timepiece at all. There are many who now argue that Pluto should no longer even be counted as a planet because there are numerous other objects of comparable size in the outer part of the solar system, such as Chiron, which we do not include as planets. Pluto is still officially a planet, but it does not appear to be part of the time piece.

As for Neptune, which takes 164.79 years to orbit the sun, the most that can be offered at this time, is that Neptune, as a hand on the Great Timepiece, seems to be pointing to the numbers on the clock on many of the key dates in history. More research on Neptune is required.

The Great Timepiece. Let us now combine the results for the sun, moon, and planets to begin to see how they form a great clock. There are twelve constellations in the zodiac, through which the sun, moon, and all the planets appear to move. These 12 zodiac constellations serve as the twelve numbers on a clock face, through which the planets move around clockwise, like the hands on a clock.

It is important to note that the position of this paper is that the stars and planets form a Great Timepiece, but not that the clock is governing our lives or influencing anyone to do anything. Astronomy is the scientific study of celestial objects, including their motions. On the other hand, astrology includes the belief that the stars are affecting your life, for which there is no accepted scientific basis. Ancient nations compounded the problem by worshipping the clock, believing that the hands (planets) were "gods." That all appears to be Satan's perversion of the truth.

The Origin of the Constellations. Hebrew tradition attributes the origin of the constellations to the antediluvian patriarchs,30..31 especially to Enoch. Their origin of the set of 48 constellations preserved for us by the Greeks can be dated by modern scientific methods to have been about 2900 B.C at about 36° north latitude,31..32 which corresponds well to the Hebrew tradition that the signs of the constellations date back to Enoch. The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch), which was accepted by the Savior's disciples as having been written by Enoch himself (Jude 1:14), declares that an angel revealed the "signs" to Enoch: "Thus, the signs, the durations of time, the years, and the days were shown to my by the angel Uriel" (Enoch 75:3).32..33 Here "signs" almost certainly refers to the constellations, as elsewhere in the scriptures (Gen. 1:14; Rev. 12:1,4 JST).

There are several indications that the first sign in the zodiac is Virgo, the Virgin (the number 1) and the last is Leo, the Lion (the number 12). One clue is the tradition that the sphinx is the head of Virgo and the body of Leo, suggesting that the circle has its head (beginning) with Virgo and tail (end) with Leo.33..34 Moreover, anciently, Leo ruled over the constellations. It has been noted that, "Being the so-called 'King of Beasts,' the Lion was originally placed in this exalted position at the zodiac's highest location."34..35 Leo could be counted as the last and hence greatest of the constellations, even as the number 12 dominates the face of a clock at its highest location. The popular notion that Aries is the first sign of the zodiac is based on reckoning from when the sun was in Aries at the spring equinox, which was true in the two millennia before the birth of Christ. That is not a permanent designation; the sun is currently in Pisces at the spring equinox.

Setting the Clock. A detailed study of the use of this clock is beyond the scope of this paper, but perhaps one illustration would be sufficient to show the idea. There are nine hands on the clock, being the moon, the sun, and seven planets: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The Bible implies that there are 4,000 years of history before the birth of Jesus Christ, which is what led to Bishop Ussher to date the creation in 4004 B.C., exactly 4,000 years before what he believed to be the birth date of the Savior.35..36 Bishop Ussher's creation date is held up for derision in many beginning texts on geology, and even astronomy. In his defense, and in defense of the account in Genesis, let us take a look at the clock about that time. Fig. 6 shows that on the summer solstice, Wed 21 Jun 4001 B.C., the sun and moon and all seven of the planets are very near to the number 12, very much as one might expect to find at the beginning of time. To understand just how rare that alignment is, there is no other year in history where just the three planets Saturn, Uranus and Neptune cluster so near to the "12 o'clock" line separating Leo and Virgo, much less having all nine planets be so tightly packed.36..37

Nigh Unto Kolob. If one counts 12 revolutions of Uranus of 84 years each, one comes to a period of 1,008 years, which brings us nigh unto Kolob's period of reckoning of 1,000 years. Thus, the visible planets do form a time progression starting from the earth, then the moon, and continuing up through Uranus, which, in fact take us up to the reckoning of Kolob.

In summary, the planets do, in fact, form a progression of precisely determined increasing time periods which the Lord appears to be using to determine the timing of important religious events. From the rapidly moving Mercury, according to which many events in the Savior's short life apparently were timed, to the long term Uranus, which serves as a long-term marker for the seven-year weeks of years which the Lord commanded Moses to count. This precision timepiece requires not only that the set times of the planets be precisely determined, but also the position of each of the planets in its orbit. Moreover, the Lord appears to continue using his Great Timepiece, as at the restoration of the Book of Mormon, and the restoration of the temple. Truly the planets do testify of Christ and even bear record of key dates in his life.

The Stellar Progression

Although it is not mentioned in the main text, the Book of Abraham names some of the fixed planets or stars which apparently continue the progression of governing bodies up through Kolob. Let us look at the stars in our galaxy to see if we can identify any of these stars.

Star or Planet? At this point it might be appropriate to comment on the difference between stars and planets. The Book of Abraham uses the two words almost interchangeably, whereas most of us probably think of them as very different. In particular, we think of stars as very distant suns (which they are) and we think of planets as only our near neighbors in the solar system which do not shine by their own light, but only reflect to the sun's light to us. While both of those concepts are correct, in another sense there is only one difference between a star and a planet, and that is size. For example, if someone kept adding more and more material to the earth, so that it increased continually in size, it would slowly turn into a star. That is because its own gravity would cause it to shrink and heat up, so that eventually it would heat up enough to shine like the sun. In fact, that is where astronomers believe the sun came from, namely from the contraction of a huge cloud of particles, which continued to heat up while contracting.

The planet Jupiter is about ten times the diameter of the earth and about one tenth the diameter of the sun. Jupiter is large enough that it is giving off about 2.5 times as much light as it receives from the sun, and so it is in some respects like a tiny star. The light it gives off, however, is not visible to the eye but is invisible infrared light; all the light we see is reflected from the sun. Thus, there is really a continuum between stars and planets, and that is exactly what the Book of Abraham seems to be saying.

The Book of Abraham also speaks of one planet or star "borrowing" its light from its governing star. That is clearly true for the planets of our solar system, whose light is reflected light originating from our governing star, the sun. On the other hand, modern science is unaware of any process by which the sun might borrow its light from another star.

Our Solar Neighborhood

The text of the Book of Abraham tells us about a progression of planets leading up to Kolob. Kolob governs all of the stars which Abraham saw, which were as numerous as the grains of sand. In particular, Fig. 5 in Facsimile 2 of the Book of Abraham states that the sun borrows its light from Kolob through the medium of Kae-e-vanrash, which is the grand key or governing power which governs fifteen other fixed planets or stars, as also the moon, the earth and the sun in their annual revolutions.

Apparently that means that a star named Kae-e-vanrash governs a group of fifteen stars, including our solar system. So do we have any hope of identifying Kae-e-vanrash in the sky? Because it apparently only governs fifteen stars, it sounds as if it is our local solar neighborhood leader. Let's take a look at our local neighborhood of stars.

Sirius. The sun is not in a star cluster, but there is a local neighborhood of stars. It turns out there are about 15 stars in our area (See Fig. 7). The dominating star of the group is the brightest star in the sky, namely Sirius, the "Dog Star" in our winter southern sky. There are several indications that Sirius might be Kae-e-vanrash, the neighborhood governing leader of our stars.

Abraham was commanded to teach his knowledge of astronomy to the Egyptians (Abr. 3:15). Thereafter, the Egyptians had a very interesting calendar, in that it was tied to the rising of Sirius. That is, the first day of their year was determined by the sun rising together with the Sirius (the so-called "heliacal" rising). So Sirius "governed" their calendar. Another indication of this information having been known anciently is the discovery of a native African tribe which knows an incredible number of things about Sirius which have only been discovered in modern times, such as its having an invisible, heavy companion star with a fifty-year orbital period.37..38

Modern astronomy tells us that Sirius not only is the brightest star in the sky, it is one of the closest and largest of the nearby stars. Because it is the dominant star of our neighborhood, and because natives have knowledge about it which is best explained by revelation, it seems very likely that Sirius is the star which Abraham said governs our local neighborhood of stars, namely Kae-e-vanrash.

Procyon. Another star in our area that is a prime candidate also to be a governing star is Procyon, the brightest star in the constellation of the Little Dog. It is very similar to Sirius, and closer to Sirius than any star is to the sun. That is, it is only about three light-years away from Sirius, and the nearest star to the sun is over four light years away. Both Sirius and Procyon have tiny white dwarf stars in orbit with them, so they are very similar. Sirius, however, is clearly the dominant star of our local neighborhood. Hence it is proposed that Sirius is Kae-e-vanrash.

The Orion Arm of the Galaxy

The organization of our Milky Way galaxy of some 100,000,000,000 stars is such that most of the stars are found in what are called "spiral arms." All of the nearby stars, along with millions of others are located in one spiral arm of our galaxy, called the Orion Arm. There is an arm further from the galactic center called the Perseus arm and one closer to the center called the Sagittarius arm (see Fig. 8). Most of the stars in the constellation Orion, which is the brightest constellation in the sky, are in our local arm.

Rigel. If there are other stars in the progression between Kae-e-vanrash and Kolob that govern intermediate sized areas, then Rigel is a prime candidate to be one of them. Rigel, which is the bright blue star that is the left foot in the constellation of Orion, dominates our entire arm of the galaxy. It appears in our sky as the fifth brightest star in the northern skies, even though it is nearly two hundred times farther away than Sirius (about 1500 light years). Other stars in Orion, such as Betelguese and the three belt stars are also major beacons. One could also note that in the constellations, Sirius and Procyon are in the two hunting dogs of the great Hunter Orion, also suggesting that they are subservient to governing stars in Orion.

The Galactic Center

There are several good reasons to believe that Kolob is located at the center of the galaxy. Our galaxy contains at least 100,000,000,000 stars. Could Kolob be the governing that many stars?

The first reason to believe so is that Abraham said that when he saw all the Lord's creations, that he could not see the end of them. The Lord compared the number of his descendants to the number of stars he had seen, and compared that number to the number of grains of sand (Abr. 3:12, 14). A number comparable to grains of sand would be like 100,000,000,000. After seeing so many stars, Abraham was then told that Kolob was the greatest of them all (Abr. 3:16). So wherever Kolob is, it governs a number of stars comparable to an entire galaxy.

The second clue is that the Lord told Abraham that Kolob in near his throne, and he has revealed to us where his throne is. He tells us that God "sitteth upon his throne, who is in the bosom of eternity, who is in the midst of all things" (D.C. 88:13). Taken literally, that would imply that his throne is at the center of his creations. Supporting evidence for this interpretation includes the fact that he often physically locates governing bodies at the center, such as Independence being called the "center place" (D.C. 57:3), and the Tree of Life being located in the "midst" of the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:9, 3:3). If he lives in the "midst" of his creations, and if our Milky Way galaxy comprises his creations, then Kolob would be located at the center of the galaxy. In contrast, trying to locate Kolob in our local arm of the galaxy would be harder, because it has no apparent center, as also there is no apparent center to a cluster of galaxies.

Astronomers are sometimes asked, "Is the sun in orbit around another star, and than one in orbit around another star, as the moon is in orbit around the earth and the earth around the sun?" The answer is, "No, the sun is in only orbit around the center of the galaxy." About three fourths of the gravitational force that the sun feels is from the galactic center. Hence, the "governing" stars of the sun, gravitationally speaking, are located in the center of the galaxy. This is another reason to conclude that Kolob is most likely located there.

Another indication of Kolob being in the galactic center is that the Lord stated that Kolob governed the "order" of stars to which the solar system belongs. A galaxy certainly seems to qualify as a possible meaning for an "order" of stars, as would any star cluster. The modern astronomer would say, however, that the sun is not really a member of any cluster or other "order" of stars other than our arm of the galaxy or the entire Milky Way galaxy. As one sweeps a telescope through the vastness of the universe, the "galaxy" certainly appears to be the dominant "order" of stars observed.

A final indication that Kolob might be located at the center of our Milky Way galaxy depends on the tradition that the constellations originated with Enoch, who had a knowledge of the true organization of the heavens as did Abraham. It happens that the location of the galactic center is right at the tip of the arrow of the zodiac constellation of the Archer, Sagittarius (see Fig. 9). We cannot see the center directly because it is obscured by interstellar clouds of matter, but conveniently someone formed the Archer's arrow from visible stars such that it is pointing right to the invisible galactic center. That coincidence supports both the proposal that the constellations were inspired and also that Kolob is located in the galactic center.

In conclusion, the astronomy contained in the Book of Abraham becomes a key to using modern astronomical orbital data to discover the hitherto unrecognized high degree of organization of our solar system, and especially its use to reckon time. Moreover, it appears that the Designer of this Great Timepiece has not only used it in the past, as for the birth, baptism, and resurrection dates of the Savior, but that he is continuing to use it today for important dates in the restoration of the Book of Mormon and of the Church. Truly, the modern-day Korihors can still be refuted by Alma's same declaration, "all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator" (Alma 30:44).

Figure 1. The Saros Century. The interval separating the proposed resurrection date of the Savior, Sun 3 Apr A.D. 33 from the restoration of the temple keys on Sun 3 Apr A.D. 1836 is the best realignment in history of the Hebrew lunisolar calendar with the synodic period of Mercury.

Figure 2. Mercury Cycle and "Birth-like" Events. The proposed dates for the birth, baptism, and resurrection of the Savior, all derived from the Hebrew Calendar, all align with the same day on the Mercury calendar, and with the restoration of the temple in 1836.

Figure 3. Venus: A Miniature of History. Venus cycles are divided in the same way as the earth's temporal existence, counting one day for each year. There are 12 "hours" in the 7,000 years of history, and there are 12 Venus cycles in 7,007 days.

Figure 4. The Resurrection of the Book of Mormon. The interval from the proposed resurrection date of the Savior, Sun 3 Apr A.D. 33 to the "resurrection" of the Book of Mormon when it was ready for sale on Thu 25 Mar 1830 occurred on the same day on both a Venus calendar and also a Mercury calendar, when Venus was actually in its "resurrection" phase.

Figure 5. The Gears in the Lord's Timepiece. The set times of the planets are nearly whole number multiples of each other, which can work together like gears in a precision timepiece.

Figure 6. Setting the Clock. All nine hands on the Great Timepiece were very near the "12 o'clock" position between Leo and Virgo at the summer solstice on Wed 21 Jun 4001 B.C.38..39

Figure 7. Sirius Dominates our Stellar Neighborhood. The Dog Star (Sirius) is the dominant star near to the sun, and may be the star Kae-e-
vanrash mentioned in the Book of Abraham.

Figure 8. The Milky Way Galaxy. Our sun is in the Orion Arm of our galaxy of some 100,000,000,000 stars. The star Rigel is one of the dominant stars of our arm.

Figure 9. The Archer points to the Galactic Center. Sagittarius' arrow is pointing right at the center of our galaxy, where Kolob may be hidden behind obscuring clouds. Note that this figure from the Egyptian temple at Dendera39..40 has two faces and the same crown as Oliblish in Fac. 2 from the Book of Abraham.

NOTES