Chapter 30 "Master Smith and the Angel"
We have seen many instances in which religious agitation and revivalism were associated with the UFO phenomenon: the Hebrew rebellions in Egypt under Moses, the Christian agitations under Jesus, the Islamic militancy under Mohammed, and the religious activism during the UFO-plagued years of the Black Death.
In the early 20th century, a particularly interesting bout of intense religious fever overtook some communities in British Wales. This incident is known as the Welsh Revival of 1904-05, in which a preacher driven by "inner voice" electrified the countryside with his sermons. People were reporting all manner of unusual phenomena during the Revival years, including bright moving lights in the sky that we would today label UFOs.
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The Welsh Revival was not an isolated event. It followed a similar occurance in New York state almost a century earlier. The events in New York included a vision leading to the founding of the Mormon Church by a teenaged youth named Joseph Smith. His story is worth looking into.
Joseph Smith described it as a beautiful clear day in the spring of 1820. Master Joseph was 14 to 15 years of age and his mind was in a state of confusion. In his hometown of Manchester, New York, intense quarreling had broken out between various Christian sets, all of which were vying for members. To sort out the controversies in his mind, Joseph climbed a lonely hill near his home, prayed aloud, and hoped that God would answer him. What happened next was probably more than he had bargained for:
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"....immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as I were doomed to sudden destruction."
- Joseph Smith 2:15.
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Just as Joseph was about to give in to despair he saw:
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"...a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.
"It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spoke unto me, calling me by name, and said, pointing to the other - This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!"
- Joseph Smith 2:16-17
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So began a series of appearances by an "angel" whose reported dictates and pronouncements are the foundation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, also known as the Mormon Church. This church is, without a doubt, an important institution. Its membership in 1985 totaled approximately 5.8 million people and the Church as extensive business and land holdings. Beginning with a teenaged boy on a hill in New York State, the Church has grown to influence the lives of many people.
Joseph's vision on the hill was the first of several visits that he would receive from his "angel" friend. The second visit occurred three and a half years after the first. Joseph Smith had just gone to bed, was in the act of praying, when:
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"I discovered a light appearing in my room, which continued to increase until the room was lighter than noonday, when immediately a personage appeared at my bedside, standing in the air, for his feet did not touch the floor.
"He had on a loose robe of ost exquisite whiteness beyond anything eartthy I had ever seen; nor do I believe that any earthly thing could be made to appear so exceedingly white and brilliant."
- Joseph Smith 2:30-31
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The figure in Joseph's room had naked hands, wrists, feet and ankles. It also had a bare head, neck and exposed chest. The figure introduced itself as Moroni, the angel of a man who had lived centuries earlier. The resurrected "Moroni" imparted a message to Joseph consisting of quotes from Final Judgment prophesies in the Old Testament. Moroni stated that the prophesies were about to be fulfilled. Moroni also informed Joseph about the existence of ancient metal plates which contained some of the history of the early North American continent. Joseph was told that he must later dig up the plates, have them translated, and present the translation to the world. After this message, the image of Moroni vanished in a unique way:
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"I saw the light in the room begin to gather immediately around the person of him who had been speaking to me, and it continued to do so until the room was again left dark, except just around him; when instantly I saw, as it were, a conduit open right up into heaven, and he ascended til he entirely disappeared...."
- Joseph Smith 2:43
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Joseph did not have long to ponder the curious phenomenon. The mysterious light and visitor soon re-entered his room. Of this second visit that night, Joseph relates:
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"He [the angel] commenced, and again related the very same things which he had done at his first visit, without the least variation; which having done, he informed me of great judgments which were coming upon the earth, with great desolations by famine, sword, and pestilence; and that these grievous judgments would come on the earth in this [Joseph Smith's] generation. Having related these things, he again ascended as he had done before."
- Joseph Smith 2:45
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The apparition in Joseph's bedroom came and went repeatedly the full night. On the following the day, while he was out in the field, the exhausted young Smith abruptly lost his strength while trying to climb a fence and fell unconscious to the ground. upon regaining awareness, Joseph observed above him the same angel repeating the same message. A new postscript had been added however; the angel instructed Joseph to tell his father of the visions.
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Joseph's angel, Moroni, was different than the angels described by Ezekiel and John in the Bible. Smith's angels did not wear tiems that could be interpreted as a helmut and boots. Moroni was a figure in a true robe. However, Joseph appears to have been looking at a recorded image projected through the window into his room. The clue to this lies in Joseph's words that Moroni had repeated the second message "with the least variation." This suggests a recorded message. The manner in which Moroni disappeared indicates a projected light image from a source in the sky outside the house. When Moroni returned for a third time that same night, Smith "heard him rehearse or repeat over again....the same things - as before...." (Joseph Smith 2:48-49.) If Smith's account is accurate and UFO-related, there would be tremendous humor in it. Today we can go to Disneyland and marvel at remarkable, life-like, projected images of talking heads in the Haunted House ride. A similar projection viewed by a young country bumpkin in the 19th century would no doubt be considered nothing less than a true vision from God. Certainly young Smith's narrative resembles earlier Custodial [alien] encounters in many respects: a bright light descends from the sky followed by the appearance of "angels." Joseph's testimony that he felt seized and unable to move is identical to several modern UFO close encounters in which eyewitnesses report being immobilized, especially before an abduction."
