The following contains my notes and commentary after watching the video presentation The Book of Mormon as Ascension Text by Adrian Larsen. The following is meant to supplement and expand upon Larson's video presentation which I recommend one views first.
Adrian Larsen begins by quoting the following Restoration Scriptures which portrays God's energy or sacred spirit (or the fluid nooma) being given to empower one to become enlightened and/or experience an ascension experience. The ascension experience in brief is where one experiences in a vision the transportation of their soul or spirit to the third tier of heaven where they behold the glory (splendor) of Jehovah on his throne; which illuminates them and thus deifies them (i.e. begins the process of theosis). For more details see James Tabor's essays here and here, and this excellent video here, which video I recommend being watched along with Larson's video before reading the following.
Adrian Larsen explains how The Book of Mormon functions as a manual for achieving a similar ascension experience as did the apostle Paul, Lehi, Nephi, and the Brother of Jared (in the Book of Ether), etc. He begins by quoting The original doctrine of the LDS Church as found in The Lectures on Faith, Lecture 2:25 that reads (emphasis added):
...though our first parents were driven out of the garden of Eden, and were even separated from the presence of God, by a vail, they still retained a knowledge of his existence, and that sufficiently to move them to call upon him. And further, that no sooner was the plan of redemption revealed to man, and he began to call upon God, than the Holy Spirit was given, bearing record of the Father and Son.
Thus we see the vail (veil) separates but the sacred nooma, when gifted, unites one with the Divine Source. He also references Genesis 3:5 (EXB) where Adam and Eve are told:
[For] God knows that if you eat the fruit from that tree [from it], [your eyes will be opened and] you will learn about [experience; know about] good and evil and you will be like God!”
He then references Moroni 7: 32-33 (emphasis added):
... the Lord God prepares the way that the residue of men may have faith in Christ, that the Holy Ghost may have place in their hearts, according to the power thereof; and after this manner brings to pass the Father, the covenants which he has made unto the children of men. And Christ has said: If you will have faith in me you shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me.
Adrian Larson then quotes from the Third Lecture on Faith (emphasis added):
2 Let us here observe, that three things are necessary, in order that any rational and intelligent being may exercise faith in God unto life and salvation.
3 First, The idea that he actually exists.
4 Secondly, A correct idea of his character, perfections and attributes.
5 Thirdly, An actual knowledge that the course of life which he is pursuing, is according to his will.—For without an acquaintance with these three important facts, the faith of every rational being must be imperfect and unproductive; but with this understanding, it can become perfect and fruitful, abounding in righteousness unto the praise and glory of God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The original LDS Scriptures had a very clear, concise and simple course of life. Adrian Larson then puts on the screen Joseph Smith's religion in a nutshell through two concepts:
- Individually: Ascent
- Community: Zion
At 24 minutes he discusses repentance and asks "What do we have to repent of?" He then points out that in the Book of Mormon it's false traditions that we need to repent of by quoting Alma 12 and how a curse of God had fallen upon them because of the destructive traditions of their fathers. His presentation seeks to replace false traditions with the true path of acension; which he considers the actual knowledge of the right course of life in accordance with God's will, as recorded in the Scriptures.
Ascending to God's Throne
Larson goes on to explain that there is a consistent description of of the ascension path: starting with a various descriptions in Scripture of a corridor to the divine realm or God's throne, such as the pillar of fire from the tabernacle tent in the Old Testament (as depicted below in these screen shots of his presentation):
He then summarizes the symbolism and metaphors of such an ascent experience described in Scripture:
Click Image to Enlarge
Note that this is the emphasis in the Seventh Lecture on Faith, that of becoming a holy (set-apart) being and Christ is the prototype of a holy being. A holy being is simply one who can stand in the fiery presence of the divine Father who is a personage of glory (splendor) and firey power per Lecture 5. In other words, the whole message of Genesis to Revelation in the Bible is how to return to God's fiery presence through various modes of ascension to the heavenly throne room of God. So that the Book Mormon acts as an additional manual on ascension in that it elaborates on the ascension method that Christianity in general provides through faith and baptism into Christ.
Christ was the First Fruits to Ascend so that we too could ascend to the Father's throne
I point out in my Godhead series that the prototype of Christ is the duplicate genome of the personage of the Father-Jehovah as a radiant Sun-like personage of spirit (noomatic matter), glory (splendor) and fiery power. In other words, the Deity of Lecture 2, as the only Bupreme Being -- "in whom all fulness and perfection dwells, who is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient" (Lecture 2:2) -- molded for Himself a body as Father-Jehovah, a personage of spirit (noomatic matter), in the form of the future earth-born Jesus of Nazareth; as the future earthly form of Jesus was foreseen before the earth was even formed and before Jesus' birth through the Deity's omniscience (see Lecture 2:2). In other words, the Deity as a Sun-like omnipresent Intelligence, Light, or Divine Mind, formed Himself into a personage of noomatic splendor like the fiery Sun as the Father-Jehovah (see Lecture 5). The Father's personage of fiery splendor is why a person must be born again (see Mosiah 5:6-7; 27:25-26; Alma 7:14), i.e. reborn of God's Monogene, in order to be in the Father's presence and behold his splendor (glory) by receiving the luminous genetic genome of the personage of the Father-Jehovah through Jesus, the Only Begotten (Unique Monogene). This is why Moses's face shined after experiencing being in the presence of Father-Jehovah, as it was like being engulfed in divine fire and God's radiant presence basically rubbed off on him for some time. Then on earth Jehovah duplicated his radiant genome by generating the Only Begotten (i.e. Unique Monogene) so that all who are born of God's duplicate genome can become the children (genus) of Christ and thus dwell in Jehovah's fiery presence.
So that because the earth-born Jesus receives the fulness of the glory (splendor) of the Father, Jesus is spoken of as the Light (the light of Christ) who in 3 Nephi shines on his disciples so they shine as white in brightness as Jesus who is a Sun-like tabernacled personage of glory (splendor) and power; as Jesus is a duplicate of the personage of the Sun-like Father, as a personage of tabernacle (resurrected flesh) that is illuminated by the full splendor of the Father (see D&C 93 and Lecture 5); and thus Jesus is the protype of a human body becoming the same Sun-like species or genus as the personage of the Father-Jehovah (as explained in Lecture #7).
This is why in the King Follet Discourse, Joseph Smith said you have got to learn how to be God yourselves and dwell in everlasting burnings. He is referring to the Sun-like splendor (glory) of the Father-Jehovah who is a fiery luminous presence, and how in order to be able to see and be near God one must be like Him by undergoing noomatic gene therapy; and receive the same fiery Divine DNA through the baptism of fire and the refiner's fire; which begins metamorphosizing one's genetic code into the divine code of a luminous being. All of this is accomplished simply through one's baptism and reception of the Holy Ghost, and/or it is experienced through the path of ascension. In other words, certain persons in the Book of Mormon experience visionary experiences where they ascend to be in the presence of God and are transformed into the same kind of divine body as Jesus in order to be in the presence of Jehovah; meanwhile, others receive the transformation and the beginning process of spiritual metamorphosis or theosis (deification) through the simple method of faith and the baptism of fire.
The Ascension Experience as Confirmation of being Saved by Grace (i.e. Gifted with a Celestial Body)
Just as the apostle Paul's ascension experience confirmed to him that the baptism of fire removed the need or necessity of the Mosaic Law Code for Gentiles (who also experienced the baptism of fire); so too, modern Mormons can rightly feel assured that their own sincerely recieved baptism of fire (in any Christian church), removed any need for any ongoing works-based man-made traditions or policies in the Brighamite sect or any other sect or religious institution.
If this is true, however, what do we do with doctrines and practices that developed in the 1840s about needing to go to the temple and receive a celestial marriage? I will address this questions in Part (4).
Shared Beliefs About Theosis in Christianity
This video on Eastern Orthodox theology, when combined with the video presentation on the Book of Mormon as an Ascension text here, combined with the research of Denver S. and his emphasis on seeing the Lord face to face, one finds a continuity of views on theosis and the Divine Light. It's clear from this that Joseph Smith was providing the Book of Mormon as a manual for deification by receiving the illuminating Light of Christ; so that one is deified and becomes one of the sons of God and partakers of the heavenly gift.
The Path of Ascension as Seeing the Lord Face to Face as He Is
Returning to the Book of Mormon as an ascension text, we read in Lecture 2:5 (emphasis added):
Let us here observe, that after any portion of the human family are made acquainted with the important fact that there is a God who has created and does uphold all things, the extent of their knowledge, respecting his character and glory, will depend upon their diligence and faithfulness in seeking after him, until like Enoch the brother of Jared, and Moses, they shall obtain faith in God, and power with him to behold him face to face.
Adrian Larson then states in his presentation:
... the Book of Mormon is a record by and about, those who made the ascent and returned to Christ's presence while yet mortal. It is a lesson manual and a how-to-guide for those who wish to similarly ascend and meet our Lord face to face.
Larson then talks about how the text of the Book of Mormon is about "moving from less holiness to greater holiness as a mystic guide." Again, this "holiness" he speaks of would be the deification process described in Lecture on Faith #7.
Adrian Larson then explains that the Doctrine of Christ is basically the method of how to
return to God's presence (the ascent). Faith is to see and act on the situation. Repentance is to change course. Baptism is to go down into the depths, cross water, meaning a new condition on the other side. Then the Holy Ghost and the baptism of fire makes a change.
Larson then quotes 2 Nephi 32:5 (emphasis added):
For behold, again I say unto you that if you will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what you should do
In other words, you are being divinized with the sacred nooma, which teaches you what to do in all things, not the arm of flesh (religious leaders) who's dictates may go against "the dictates of our own conscience" (see Articles of Faith 1:11).
He then talks about a corridor, as in a connection between realms through the veil.
Larson says that in 1 Nephi 1, Lehi "prayed unto the Lord" and "there came a pillar of fire and dwelt upon a rock before him, and he saw and heard much. .. thus overcome with the [nooma], he was carried away in a vision ... and he thought he saw God sitting upon his throne" ... [and he] "beheld his glory" and was "encircled about eternally in the arms of his love." Compare how Alma says, “Methought I saw, even as our father Lehi saw, God sitting upon his throne” (Alma 36:22).
Larson then says that later on in 1 Nephi 10, Nephi talks about how "the mysteries of God shall be unfolded to them by the power of the Holy Ghost ..." just like "in times of old ... Wherefore, the course of the Lord is one eternal round." I interpret this as, just as we see in Moses' experience that the Lord and his countenance (face) glowed like the Sun, today's Christians are to also experience God's fiery glory and also have their countenance changed through the baptism of fire; which divinizes our bodies so that we are capable of seeing the Lord face-to-face without any religious barriers and instead having direct contact with God. Thus, again, we read in Lecture 2:5 (emphasis added):
Let us here observe, that after any portion of the human family are made acquainted with the important fact that there is a God who has created and does uphold all things, the extent of their knowledge, respecting his character and glory, will depend upon their diligence and faithfulness in seeking after him, until like Enoch the brother of Jared, and Moses, they shall obtain faith in God, and power with him to behold him face to face.
Adding to Larson's presentation, Scripture explains that you cannot see the Lord face to face unless you're transformed from a mortal body into a glorified (celestial/starry) body, either temporarily in a visionary state or permanently through the divine DNA. This is the message of the Book of Mormon, that deification (or glorification, i.e. becoming holy through a noomatic "fulness" per Lecture 5) comes only through the merits of Christ and his gifting you (the grace gift of) the divine DNA through the baptism of fire: which transforms you from a "natural man" with an adamic body into a noomatic "personage of glory and power" (per Lecture 5 & 7). So that just like the resurrected Jesus as the "Lord of glory" (1 Cor. 2:8), as the prototype of a holy (glorious) being per Lecture 7, the Christian becomes a holy (divinized) being and thus deified as a personage of holiness by adoption through the seed of Christ (see Isaiah 53:10; Mosiah 15:10-13), thus becoming "begotten sons and daughters unto God" (D&C 76:24), as it is "written, they are gods, even the sons of God" (D&C 76:58).
Larson goes on to explain that in Alma chapter 36, Alma the younger says that after praying for mercy that he could remember "his sins no more" and "what joy and what marvelous light I did behold." This would be the partaking of the divine nature (gift) from the Father of lights through the Son as the resurrection and the Light; with the Light of Christ (the glory of the Lord) as the nooma, had transformed Alma in that moment so that he was able to dwell permanently in God's everlasting burnings. Another example Larson gives of the fiery glory of the Lord deifying a person is later on in Helaman 5 when Lehi and Nephi and the sons of Helaman are "encircled about as if by fire ... and when they saw that they were encircled about with a pillar of fire and that it burned them not, their hearts did take courage. .. and behold, they did shine exceedingly, even as the faces of angels." This is what we would expect to read if the Book of Mormon is about deification or theosis, or the transformation of an adamic body (natural man) into a glorious noomatic body that upon resurrection shall fully shine like the stars and capable of dwelling in the presence of Jehovah's everlasting burnings.
This made me think of the First Lecture on Faith where faith is defined as a principle of action which is based on the belief that God will redeem you and transform you into a luminous personage of holiness (set-apart luminous body of glory) like Christ per Lectures 5 & 7.
Adrian Larson then quotes 3 Nephi, where Jesus speaks to the multitude and the "heavens open" and "they are encircled about with fire." This fire would again be the fiery glory of the Lord, the divine nooma, the omnipresent Mind of the Father and Son, the shared noomatic Glory (radiant Light and Intelligence) of the Father-Jehovah and Christ, as described in Lecture 5 and D&C 88.
Larson then says that the take-home points on how do you know you're on the Ascension Path? He says it starts with the doctrine of Christ in the Book of Mormon, which is simply repentance (changing course) unto baptism and then the baptism of fire (gift of the Holy Ghost implanting the divine seed and fluid nooma). He points out that none of this is a works-based ordinance, but a process of a humble receptiveness to the indwelling divine nooma.
Larson then makes a good point by quoting Joseph Smith on the Book of Mormon being the "keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book." I never thought of that quote before as being about somebody would get nearer to God as meaning it is a book on how to get closer to God's actual divine presence; as a method of transformation in order to become like God and thus are able to be in His presence with a new divinized body.
As one person writes online named Josh h, on May 9, 2021:
... much of what we [as Brighamite Mormons] are told to believe has very little to do with the Book of Mormon but is instead sourced from the temple, D&C, Pearl of Great Price, and General Conference talks. That seems strange to me given that we consider the Book of Mormon to be the most correct book ever.
Even when I was a True Believing Mormon [in the Brighamite sect], I couldn’t understand why the Book of Mormon was so incomplete. Why would the Lord go to all the trouble of preserving for us a record that really has so little to do with [Brighamite] Church teachings and practices? ... (Source)
Now we know why this person was led to think the Book of Mormon was incomplete. This is because today's Brighamite Church Leaders don't want its original meanings to be taught, as it often contradicts the teachings of the Brighamite Brethren. The Book of Mormon is an ascension text which teaches one how to bypass churches and clergyman and have their own ascension experience and face to face encounter with God, either objectively in a vision or subjectively (internally) through a transformation of the heart and being born again. For example, in the Book of Mormon in Alma 32, a religious community is told they don't need to meet together once a week in a synagogue (a church-like indoor assembly of believers) after being kicked out of their own "church" community because of their poor attire, and instead they are told that they can access God anywhere and everywhere. Joseph Smith himself was unwelcomed by the Methodists at one point and so his experience in the woods and seeing a divine Light was I think for him like Paul's ascension to the third heaven; and so Joseph's Book of Mormon is in my view a midrash on the New Testament, designed to help a person, as Joseph puts it, "get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts ...” (History of the Church, 4:461); that is nearer to the fiery throne of God and His splendorous energy; as in, anyone can have direct access to God and receive the baptism of fire and partake of the divine gift (donation) of grace (i.e. deification) through the merits of Christ, by being reborn of God as children (the genus) of Christ (their spiritually genetic Father), without the need for any clergyman or membership in a sect. For, in the Book of Mormon, the authority to baptize and receive the fiery nooma, was simply gifted directly from God and was not handed down from a priesthood line of succession or any church tradition. God Himself simply gave them the power and authority to baptize and give the gift of the Holy Spirit (Sacred Nooma). In other words, just as the apostle Paul sidestepped the "authority" of the "super apostles" and the Jerusalem Church led by James, through his direct access to God and his fiery transformation to a noomatic body (theosis); and Paul's teaching Gentiles how to get nearer to God apart from the Temple Elites and those who sit in Moses' seat of authority prescribing the meaning of the Mosaic Law Code; so too,
Joseph Smith sidestepped the requirement of a seminary education to minister and Catholic priesthood authority claims, through his own ascension experiences which led I think to his teaching how anyone can get near to God through the Book of Mormon as an ascension text.
Ascending beyond the Shame Cycle
Again, Larson explains that in Alma chapter 36, Alma the younger says that after praying for mercy that he could remember "his sins no more" and "what joy and what marvelous light I did behold." What is most intriguing to me is that the Spencer W. Kimball and Boyd K. Packer mentality of turning everything into sexual guilt and shame is completely debunked with this more correct understanding of what the Scriptures are actually saying and meaning. Rather than Alma the younger experiencing religious shame and the need to go to a clergyman for absolution -- to do a kind of Catholic-like penance and receive quasi-absolution from another guy in a tie or robe based on the whims and personality of a priest or bishop -- what the Scriptures are actually talking about is an instant removal of all sin permanently; that is the very capacity to sin, for Paul explains the only an adamic body can "sin" (i.e. break the Mosaic "moral" code in Leviticus, or the Kosher prescriptions and circumcision, etc); but a person who supernaturally dies to their Adamic flesh in baptism and receives the genus of Christ through the fluid nooma, is no longer subject to the Mosaic moral law code but follows the ethical code of Christ. For the Christian undergoes a permanent infusion of the noomatic fullness of the Father's divine genes and partakes of His divine nature (DNA). This is why I think he could remember his sins no more, because he passed from death to life (from the "natural man" to a divinized man), being gifted the genes of a life of divine fullness/abundance): as his adamic body began the process of noomatic gene therapy into a luminous noomatic body.
This is a radically different message than the shame and tame cycle of chasing a "worthy" label (in fear of being labeled unworthy) in the Brighamite sect and in Catholicism for example. This is the "born again" concept, but a better and more accurate understanding of being born anew through the fiery nooma: that burns away all Adamic limitations through the power of the divine Light; so that you become unspotted instantly and redeemed upon baptism through the fiery refining inpouring of the divine nooma. Now that is glad tidings!
Adrian Larson then suggests that repentance should be redefined as basically course-correcting away from the path of foolish errors and man-made traditions and false beliefs, and turning toward the path of scriptural truths and divine wisdom and basically a conscience illuminated by the Light of Christ.
Larson points out that in Alma it is about not being led away after the tradition of their brethren. He then discusses 2 Nephi and how Christ says to come unto him and you shall partake of the fruit of the tree of Life in Alma.
The Refiner's Fire
The main insight I had listening to Adrian Larson's presentation was that the pillar of fire and the people in Book of Mormon being encircled and enveloped by fire, and not burning, is about the refiner's fire. What I see is that basically the Book of Mormon is describing a burning away, or the beginning of the process of burning away the natural man (one's adamic nature) which means mankind's natural proclivity to be cowardly, arrogant and selfishness, with a propensity to blindly conform and follow the arm of flesh into false traditions; and instead, as one partakes of the divine nature (genus) through the baptism of fire and does what Jesus said and did (as found in the simple new covenant commandments in 3 Nephi), they are glorified and gifted a celestial body; beginning an ongoing process of deification through enduring hardship and ordeals with courage until at their death and resurrection they resurrect into a fully formed celestial body; which process Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 15 as the Adamic/natural-man body metamorphosizing into a celestial/noomatic body. As the Book of Mormon puts it (emphasis added):
Alma 5:62:
I speak by way of command unto you that belong to the church; and unto those who do not belong to the church I speak by way of invitation, saying: Come and be baptized unto repentance, that you also may be partakers of the fruit [see 2 Peter 1:3-4; 1 Nephi 8: 10-12, 24, 35 and 3 Nephi 19:30] of the tree of life [compare Alma 32: 37-41, where the "tree" therein is a metaphor of a growing celestial/noomatic body seeded by faith in the implanted divine Word
which is Christ as the fruit (or genus) of gifted eternal life per John 10:10].
4 Nephi 1:3:
And they had all things in common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift.
From the Ascension Path to the "Covenant Path"?
President Nelson has popularized the idea of being on the covenant path, which basically means following every step and works-based requirement set fourth by the Brighamite First Presidency: in order to earn a so-called "worthy" status and required temple recommend, in order get into the highest degree of heaven. However, a careful reading of the original Mormon Scriptures points to not a covenant path, but an ascension path through the refiner's fire (illuminating nooma) and the simple path of the Doctrine of Christ.
All the monkish austerity, all the sadness and reserve, all the unsocial feelings and doings of priests, and monks, and nuns; all the long-facedness, unsocial sadness, groanings, sighs, and mortifications of sectaries, whether of ancient convents, where men and women retire from all the busy scenes and pleasures of life, to live a life of celibacy, self-denial and devotion; or whether in the more modern and fashionable circles of the camp meetings, or the “mourners bench.”
Larson then explains how this happened in the illustration below, as he mentions how Brighamite leaders slowly garnered more power overtime and basically re-wrote Joseph Smith's religion with their own man-made traditions. Even gutting the original Scriptures by removing the doctrine portion of the Doctrine and Covenants (The Lectures on Faith) and for example re-interpreting the Word of Wisdom to now meaning by command and constraint while the scripture itself actually says the opposite: as in, their attitude became, "You will obey us and be behavior-controlled if you want to go to the temple and gain your exaltation and be sealed to your family." In other words, accept our reinterpretation of D&C 89 and other scriptures, or else no priesthood for you or no temple recommend for you, i.e. no seeing your daughter get married in the temple or being able to baptize your son, etc. So he explains in his illustration below, which is to be read from left to right, how Brighamite Leaders overtime moved away from the original meanings of the Mormon Scriptures, and developed their own man-made traditions:
At the 31 minute mark, he makes some important comments on the true meaning of a prophet, seer and revelator, and the real meaning of priesthood; and the importance of Scripture over blind obedience to the arm of flesh. At 35 minutes, he points out that a common theme in all Scripture is the error (sin) of man-made false traditions that are odds at odds with the inspired canonized Scripture.
[The Holy Spirit] quickens all the intellectual faculties, increases, enlarges, expands, and purifies all the natural passions and affections, and adapts them, by the gift of wisdom, to their lawful use. It inspires, develops, cultivates, and matures all the fine-toned sympathies, joys, tastes, kindred feelings, and affections of our nature. It inspires virtue, kindness, goodness, tenderness, gentleness, and charity. It develops beauty of person, form, and features. It tends to health, vigor, animation, and social feeling. It invigorates all the faculties of the physical and intellectual man. It strengthens and gives tone to the nerves. In short, it is, as it were, marrow to the bone, joy to the heart, light to the eyes, music to the ears, and life to the whole being.
As Alma explains, "There were many which were ordained and became High Priests of God ... and were sanctified, and their garments were washed white, through the blood of the Lamb. ... And there were many, exceeding great many, which were made pure, and entered into the rest of the Lord their God" [Alma 13: 10-12].
