References:

[1] “What is a Prophet?” followtheprophet.net.

[2] “Bill Nye vs. Ken Ham Debate Simple Transcript,” Creation Museum, February 4, 2014.

“Legacy Hall at the Creation Museum, Petersburg, KY February 4, 2014, Moderated by Tom Foreman, CNN, Debate Topic: “Is Creation a viable model in today’s modern Scientific era?”

[3] Any quoted text without other endnote references are from the transcript of the debate.

[4] Dave Urbanski, “Bill Maher & Bill Nye Team Up Against Creationism and Ken Ham,” www.theblaze.com, February 15, 2014.

“Maher said doubt and not knowing answers to eternal questions terrifies religious people, which is why they hold on to their faith. Nye noted his concern over what students are being taught in schools. If we raise a generation of students (that is) scientifically illiterate, we’re not going to have the next iPhone, we’re not going to have the next innovation.'”

[5] “Jesus Christ,” Media Library.

[6] In the debate, Bill Nye brought up the question of what happens to those who do not hear the gospel in this life.

During the discussion of a question as to whether belief in divine creation could allow one to produce a useful product came this exchange.

“Mr. Ham: Any scientist out there, Christian or non-Christian, that is involved in inventing things, involved in scientific method, is using creation. They are, because they are borrowing from a Christian worldview. They’re using the laws of logic; I keep emphasizing that. I want Bill to tell me in a view of the universe that’s a result of natural processes, explain where the laws of logic came from. Why should we trust the laws of nature? I mean, are they going to be the same tomorrow as they were yesterday? In fact, some of the greatest scientists that ever lived – Isaac Newton, James Clerk Maxell, Michael Faraday – were creationists. And as one of them said, you know, he’s thinking God’s thoughts after Him.”

“Mr. Nye: It sounds as though you believe your world view, which is a literal interpretation of most parts of the Bible, is correct. Well, what became of all those people who never heard of it, never heard of you? What became of all those people in Asia? What became of all those First Nations people in North America? Were they condemned and doomed?”

RPMNote: Since Ken Ham went first on answering this question there was no further response on Bill Nye’s additional question.

[7] “Elijah appearing in the Kirtland Temple,” LDS Media Library.

[8] “Mormonism and temples / Elias and Elijah at the Kirtland Temple,” Fair Mormon Answers.

Bruce R. McConkie, Millennial Messiah: The Second Coming of the Son of Man (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1982), 102-104.

“There is no valid reason for confusion as to the identity and mission of Elias. There was a man named Elias who came to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery on April 3, 1836, in the Kirtland Temple to restore “the gospel of Abraham.” (D&C 110:12.) Whether he was Abraham himself or someone else from his dispensation, we do not know. Elias is one of the names of Gabriel who is Noah, and it was in this capacity that Gabriel visited Zacharias the father of John the Baptist. (D&C 27:6-7.) Elias is the Greek form of the Hebrew Elijah, and in this sense has reference to the prophet from Tishbe. Elias is also the title or name of a forerunner who goes before to prepare the way for someone who is greater; this is the doctrine of Elias, and in this sense John the Baptist was both Elias and an Elias. John came in the way that Gabriel (who is Elias) promised, that is, “in the spirit and power of Elias, . . . to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:17.)… But, as we have seen, there is also an Elias of the Restoration, meaning that there is also a doctrine of Elias that pertains not to preparation alone, but to restoration. Christ was Elias in his day because he restored the gospel for those then living. In our revelations the Lord says that Gabriel (Noah) is the “Elias, to whom I have committed the keys of bringing to pass the restoration of all things spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets since the world began, concerning the last days.” (D&C 27:6.) The one who holds the keys is the one who directs the work; keys are the right of presidency. Thus Gabriel, who stands next to Michael (Adam) in the heavenly hierarchy, has a great directing and supervising work in connection with the restoration of all things.”

[10] “Ocean’s Depth and Volume Revealed,” livescience.com, 2010.

“The Earth’s oceans are among the most mysterious places on the planet, but scientists now have at least figured out how deep the oceans are and just how much water they hold. A group of scientists used satellite measurements to get new estimates of these values, which turned out to be 0.3 billion cubic miles (1.332 billion cubic kilometers) for the volume of the oceans and 12,080.7 feet (3,682.2 meters) for the average ocean depth. Both of these numbers are less than many previous estimates of the ocean’s volume and depth.”

“Noah’s flood – What does the Evidence Say?” Epic Idiot Creation, Evolution, and Intelligent Design, 2010.

“How much water would it take? 4.530,488,766 km3“

This site is a good example of summarizing many of the issues. From the introduction it is obvious that the author considers it such a waste of time to answer such an obviously false assertion that there could be a Great Flood as described in the Bible. Superstition, mythology, religion as an opiate of the people-all of those seem to be the author’s attitude toward literal interpretations of the flood.

[11] Paleontology Gallery, “Dinosaur National Monument: scientists excavating fossils from a quarry wall,” Encyclopedia Britannica.

Dinosaur National Monument is located by the Green and Yampa rivers and the concentrations of fossils are attributed to the history of these rivers over millions of years.

[12] “The Tsunami of Deep Impact‘,” SpaceMika, Creative applications of Real Science to Fictional Situations.

“For a bit of bonus good science, Deep Impact successfully depicted a tsunami near shore as a wall of water (akin to an incredibly rapidly rising tide) instead of the more typical Hollywood image of a plunging breaker perfect for surfing.”

[13] “Quotes on Noah,” Mormon Media Network.

President John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, 26:74-75.

“I would like to know by what known law the immersion of the globe could be accomplished. It is explained here in a few words: “The windows of heaven were opened,” that is, the waters that exist throughout the space surrounding the earth from whence come these clouds from which the rain descends.That was one cause. Another cause was “the fountains of the great deep were broken up” – that is something beyond the oceans, something outside of the seas, some reservoirs of which we have no knowledge, were made to contribute to this event, and the waters were let loose by the hand and by the power of God; for God said He would bring a flood upon the earth and He brought it, but He had to let loose the fountains of the great deep, and pour out the waters from there, and when the flood commenced to subside, we are told “that the fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained, and the waters returned from off the earth.

” Where did they go to? From whence they came. Now, I will show you something else on the back of that. Some people talk very philosophically about tidal waves coming along. But the question is – How could you get a tidal wave out of the Pacific ocean, say, to cover the Sierra Nevadas? But the Bible does not tell us it was a tidal wave. It simply tells that “all the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered. Fifteen cubits upwards did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.” That is, the earth was immersed. It was a period of baptism.”

[14] Bob Janiskee, “Ice age floods trail commemorates floods of unimaginable ferocity,” National Parks Traveler, June 23, 2009.

“The Missoula Floods, a series of several dozen immense floods resulting from the sudden draining of a giant ice-dammed lake many thousands of years ago, scoured vast amounts of sediment and rock from the eastern Washington scablands, created many unique landforms, and carved the impressive Columbia River Gorge. And all of this was done so quickly it defies the imagination.”

“It was a pretty awesome system that stored enough energy to do this work. Glacial Lake Missoula, which formed in western Montana at various intervals during a period extending from about 13,000 to 15,000 years ago, was perhaps the largest of all the ice-dammed lakes we now of. It formed when lobes of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet that extended southward from Canada and along the spine of the Rockies blocked the Clark Fork River with ice dams soaring 2,000 feet high. The 200-mile long lake that backed up behind three ice dams contained about 500 cubic miles of water, or about half the volume of present-day Lake Michigan.

“When the dam was breached, an event that is thought to have happened about every 40 to 140 years during the span of two millenia, the immense torrents of water that gushed out were some of the biggest floods this planet has ever produced. The largest of the floods discharged an estimated 2.6 billion gallons of water per second. Each of the great floods packed enough kinetic energy to accomplish, in a mere geologic eye blink, erosion that would take normal geologic forces many thousands of years to accomplish.”

[15] “Ancient Lake Missoula and the Missoula Ica Age Floods,” geology.isu.edu, 2005.

“When the roof of the ice tunnels collapsed the dam failed and suddenly Lake Missoula flooded. This happened at a water depth of about 2000 feet, when the dam failed catastrophically. Water from Lake Missoula burst through the base of the dam, at a rate of ten times the combined flow of all the rivers in the world! Calculated flood speeds reached almost 65 miles per hour. At this rate, the lake would have drained in only a couple of days.”

[16] “Amazing Niagara Falls Facts,” Niagara Falls State Park, 2012.

“3,160 tons of water flows over Niagara Falls every second. This accounts for 75,750 gallons of water per second over the American and Bridal Veil Falls and 681,750 gallons per second over the Horseshoe Falls.”

“Facts about Niagara Falls,”

Picture: Panoramic view of American Falls, Bridal Veil Falls and Canadian Falls.

American and Bridal Veil Falls:

Length of brink: 1060 feet /323.08 meters

Height: 176 feet / 53.6 meters (due to rocks at the base actual fall is 70 feet/ 21.3 meters)

Volume of water: 150,000 U.S. Gallons / 567,811 Liters per second

Canadian (Horseshoe) Falls:

Length of brink: 2600 feet / 792.4 meters

Height: 167 feet / 50.9 meters

Volume of water: 600,000 U.S. gallons / 2,271,247 liters per second

“Niagara Falls Photos,” niagrafallslive.com, 2013.

[17] “Great Cathedral Mystery: Master craftsmen explore how Florence’s monumental dome was built nearly 600 years ago,” PBS Nova program aired February 12, 2014.

“The dome that crowns Florence’s great cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore-the Duomo-is a towering masterpiece of Renaissance ingenuity and an enduring source of mystery. Still the largest masonry dome on earth after more than six centuries, it is taller than the Statue of Liberty and weighs as much as an average cruise ship. Historians and engineers have long debated how its secretive architect, Filippo Brunelleschi, managed to keep the dome perfectly aligned and symmetrical as the sides rose and converged toward the center, 40 stories above the cathedral floor. His laborers toiled without safety nets, applying novel, untried methods. Over 4 million bricks might collapse at any moment-and we still don’t understand how Brunelleschi prevented it. To test the latest theories, a team of U.S. master bricklayers will help build a unique experimental model Duomo using period techniques. Will it stay intact during the final precarious stages of closing over the top of the dome?”

[18] “Duomo Florence Italy,” Wikipedia commons picture,

“Il Duomo, in Florenece, Italy seen at night from Michelangelo’s Piazza.”

[19] “Noah’s Ark vs. Jaredite Barges,” A Pondering Place, Blog, November 2012

[20] “Wyoming (schooner),” Wikipedia, 2014.

“Wyoming was a wooden six-masted schooner, the largest wooden schooner ever built. She was built and completed in 1909 by the firm of Percy & Small in Bath, Maine.”

[21] Noah’s Ark: Working Replica of Noah’s Ark,” Schagen, Netherlands,

“Of course, it’s only a replica of the biblical Ark , built by Dutch Creationist Johan Huibers as a testament to his faith in the literal truth of the Bible.”

“The ark is 150 cubits long, 30 cubits high and 20 cubits wide. That’s two-thirds the length of a football field and as high as a three-story house. Life-size models of giraffes, elephants, lions, crocodiles, zebras, bison and other animals greet visitors as they arrive in the main hold. A contractor by trade, Huibers built the ark of cedar and pine –

“Biblical Scholars debate exactly what the wood used by Noah would have been. Huibers did the work mostly with his own hands, using modern tools and with occasional help from his son Roy.Construction began in May 2005. On the uncovered top deck – not quite ready in time for the opening – will come a petting zoo, with baby lambs and chickens, and goats, and one camel.Visitors on the first day were stunned.’It’s past comprehension, ‘ said Mary Louise Starosciak, who happened to be bicycling by with her husband while on vacation when they saw The ark looming over the local landscape. ‘I knew the story of Noah, but I had no idea the boat would have been so big.

‘ There is enough space near the keel for a 50-seat film theater where kids can watch a video that tells the story of Noah and his ark.

“Huibers said he hopes the project will renew interest in Christianity in the Netherlands , where church going has fallen dramatically in the past 50 years. ”If You Need Help, Ask God. If You Don’t, Thank God”… ‘Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.’ Psalm 23:6″

[22] “Quotes on Noah,” Mormon Media Network.

“Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith,” pp. 157-158.

“Genesis 7:19-20 states, All the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered . . ; and the mountains were covered.’ These verses explicitly state that all of earth’s high mountains (“hills” should read “mountains” here; Hebrew harim) were covered by the waters. Lest one believe that the statement “under the whole heaven” is figurative and can be read or interpreted in different ways, a scriptural search through the entire Old Testament reveals that the phrase is used elsewhere only in a universal sense, as it is here; the phrase does not refer to a geographically restricted area (see Deut. 2:25; Deut. 4:19; Job 28:24; Job 37:3; Dan. 9:12). For instance, Job 28:24 also uses the phrase when referring to God’s omniscience, which is certainly not restricted to a specific geographical region on the earth. – Donald W. Parry, “The Flood and the Tower of Babel,” Ensign, Jan. 1998, p. 37

“Genesis 7:21 states, All flesh died that moved upon the earth, . . . every creeping thing . . . every man.’ The phrase all flesh’ refers to all land animals, creeping things, and fowls and all of humanity, with the exception of those in the ark (see Gen. 7:23). The entry every in the Oxford American Dictionary reads: each single one, without exception.’ Moses is clearly trying to let us understand that the Flood was universal. . . . Taken altogether, these statements should convince every believer in the Bible that the great Deluge was a worldwide event, not a localized flood that filled only the Mesopotamian or some other region. – Donald W. Parry, “The Flood and the Tower of Babel,” Ensign, Jan. 1998, p. 37

“One of Noah’s first acts after the flood was to build an altar and offer sacrifices in similitude of the coming sacrifice of the Lamb of God. After his day the gospel continued as it had after Adam’s day. Each was the father of all living in his day, and their faithful descendants hearkened to their words and continued to worship Him who is eternal. Thus, pure religion was preserved through the flood, and men continued to work out their salvation as they had before the wicked and ungodly were destroyed in earth’s one great deluge. – Elder Bruce R. McConkie, The Mortal Messiah, Vol. I, p. 35”

“. . . The Lord decreed that [the earth would be cleansed] by water, a worldwide deluge. Therefore, from among his premortal spirit children, God chose another great individual – His third in line, Gabriel – to resume the propagation of mankind following the flood.” (Mark E. Petersen, Noah and the Flood [1982], 1-4)

See also: Ezra Taft Benson, “Prepare for the Days of Tribulation,” General Conference, October 1980.

“The revelation to produce and store food may be as essential to our temporal welfare today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah.”

[23] “And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat. This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents.And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less. And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating.

“And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning. Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them. And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted. And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein. And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a sabbath unto the Lord: to day ye shall not find it in the field. Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none.

“And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? See, for that the Lord hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.” (Exodus 16:14-29)

“And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.” (Exodus 16:35)

“And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick: But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes.And the manna was as coriander seed, and the colour thereof as the colour of bdellium. And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil.  And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it.” (Numbers 11:4-9)

RPMNote: The ending of the 40 years or manna was equally amazing. The start and the end of a miracle like this is also a good indicator of the hand of the Lord in the process.

  They are some of the “boundary conditions” of the process. A sudden start related to the situation with the children of Israel and revealed to Moses. A sudden stop related to the new situation of the children of Israel entering Canaan and also revealed to the prophet Joshua.

Further witnesses can be found with the sacred calendar holy days that also happened on the start and end days of this miracle. See John Pratt, “Exodus Date Testifies of Christ,” Meridian Magazine, 2003. “Exactly one month after they left, they arrived at the wilderness of Sin and were out of food (Ex. 16:1). Beginning the next day, the Lord provided manna, a miraculous food which appeared on the ground each morning for six days, with a double portion on the sixth (Ex. 16:18, 29) and then none appearing on the seventh (Ex. 16:25-26), when they were commanded to rest. That proof of God’s providing for them continued for forty years, so that the rising generation had a weekly reminder of the existence of God (Ex. 16:35).” 

See Also: John Pratt, “Venus Calendar Patterns Testify of Scriptures,” 26 April 2013,

“The good news is that 1 Birth on the Venus Calendar did in fact fall on a day that is explicitly mentioned in the Book of Joshua. It was the day on which the manna ceased to fall, 16 Nisan (Josh. 5:11-12), which was Fri 16 Apr 1422 BC. The Venus Calendar has many series of 40-year Venus cycles, which can begin and end in the same month of the year. The children of Israel were in the wilderness for 40 years. The beginning of the 40-year cycle occurred at the parting of the Red Sea, the day (Tue 14 Apr 1462 BC) being 1 Birth on the Venus Calendar with the evening beginning the Last Day of Passover. The current updated version of the Venus Calendar shows that the 40-year period ended just after the crossing of the Jordan River, on Fri 16 Apr 1422 BC during Passover week, the very day on which the manna ceased.”

“And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.” (Joshua 5:12)

[24] Ronald P. Millett, “The Stunning Self-Correcting DNA Information Molecule,” Meridian Magazine, April 23, 2013. 

James E. Talmage, Jesus the Christ, Salt Lake City, 1915. Pp. 148-149.

[25] “How could Noah fit the animals on the ark and care for them?” answersingenesis.org,

“To answer this question, we must first ask how many animals were actually on the ark. Critics have fantasized the presence of millions of animals overloading the ark. In actuality, the Bible makes it clear that the cargo was limited to landbreathing vertebrate animals-corresponding to modern birds, mammals, and reptiles, as well as their extinct counterparts.”

Marcus Ross, “No Kind Left Behind: Recounting the animals on the ark,” AnswersInGenesis.org, 2012.

This is the article that contains the illustration of the counts of various “kinds” that might need to be on the ark.

“So far, the current estimate of living and extinct vertebrate families is about 950. While we will continue to evaluate these families to see if they should be split up or combined with other families for our final estimate of the “kinds,” 950 families is a good approximation. Given that most animals were brought onto the Ark by twos, while “clean” birds and mammals were brought by sevens, this means that Noah cared for approximately two thousand land-dwelling vertebrate animals.”

[26] “How many planes are in the air at any given time?” ask.com.

“At any given time, there are a great number of planes in the air over the United States. Depending on the particular time of day you?re looking at, the number of aircraft can range from fifteen hundred during evening and dark hours to over forty-five hundred during a rush hour type of activity in the day time. This includes all commercial airliner flights as well as cargo shipment, military planes, and private and corporate planes.”

[27] “The Global Flood,” Rational Wiki, 2013.

“The global flood is a fairly self-descriptive, catastrophic, mythical event found in the book of Genesis.”

“The conventional flood story states that the flood waters came from rain that lasted 40 days and 40 nights. Rain appears when the atmosphere can no longer support water in the vapor phase and it becomes saturated. Normally, the atmosphere is on the brink of saturation, and the variations in temperature and pressure caused by weather fronts are capable of altering the threshold at which precipitation will form quite easily. What about the amount of water vapor suspended in air needed for the 4.5 billion cubic kilometers of water needed for the global flood? The water vapor currently in the air is only around 2-3% on average, with a maximum of 4% limited by temperature and pressure. The change in atmospheric conditions required to support enough vapor for 112 million cubic kilometers of rain per day – about 120,000 times more than the current daily rainfall worldwide[5] – would have rendered the air unbreathable.

“Indeed, the atmosphere really couldn’t sustain that much water even under the most extreme temperature and pressure conditions the planet can produce. If the conditions were right for that much water to be in the atmosphere, humans and virtually every other animal would have drowned through the simple act of breathing, as well as turning the earth into the equivalent of a pressure cooker with atmospheric pressure at nearly a thousand psi instead of the standard 14.7 or so that we have today. Barring the goddidit escape hatch’ (a tried and tested fallback for creationists everywhere), this is impossible.”

Elizabeth Dohrer, “Mariana Trench: The Deepest Depths,” LifeScience, September 21, 2012.

“The Mariana Trench, sometimes called the Marianas Trench, is the deepest point in the earth’s oceans. The crescent-shaped trench is located in the Western Pacific, just east of the 14 Mariana Islands, near Guam. Its depth has been measured at 36,201 feet (11,034 meters). By comparison, Mount Everest stands at 29,026 feet (8,848 meters), meaning the deepest part of the Trench is 7,175 feet (2,186 meters) deeper than Everest is tall. Similarly, the Trench is 1,580 miles (2,542 kilometers) long – more than five times the length of the Grand Canyon. However, the trench is only 43 miles (69 km) wide.”

“The water pressure on the floor of the trench is more than 8 tons per square inch … the equivalent of having 50 jumbo jets piled on top of a person.Most of the trench is completely dark.”

RPMNote: Although deeper than Everest is tall, this information on the Mariana Trench shows what the pressure would be like for a plant at sea level if Everest was covered by water during the flood.

[28] “How did Freshwater Fish Survive the Flood?” Noah’s Ark: Beyond Flannelgraph, Defending Genesis.org, 2011.

“Some have suggested that freshwater fish, the ones that lived in lakes and rivers, would have died in the salt water of a worldwide flood.

  They’ve further suggested that freshwater fish would either have to have been on the Ark, or that freshwater fish would have had to have been re-created afterward. Both suggestions are clear violations of Scriptural revelation.”

RPMNote: At least that would be a “violation” of a particular reading without the benefit of modern prophets to guide us. Reformation is not enough. Restoration is required.

“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” (Acts 3:19-21)

[29] “Noah and the Ark with Animals,” Gospel Art Picture Kit, artist: Clark Kelley Price, 2002.

“Because of the righteousness of Noah and his family, the Lord told Noah to build an ark so that his family would be safe during the flooding of the earth. The Lord also commanded Noah to gather each type of animal, male and female, so that they would not be destroyed. All kinds of animals, birds, and creeping things went into the ark. The rains and floods lasted many days. When the water had gone down and the land was dry again, Noah brought the animals out of the ark to multiply upon the earth.”

[30] “After this communication, I saw the light in the room begin to gather immediately around the person of him (Moroni) 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 till he entirely disappeared, and the room was left as it had been before this heavenly light had made its appearance.” (Joseph Smith-History 1:43)

[31] Ronald P. Millett, “Planetary Peekaboo: Finding Worlds without Number,” Meridian Magazine, May 9, 2013.

“At least 8.8 billion Earth-size, just-right planets found, study says,” Fox News from Associated Press, November 05, 2013.

“Space is vast, but it may not be so lonely after all: A study finds the Milky Way is teeming with billions of planets that are about the size of Earth, orbit stars just like our sun, and exist in the Goldilocks zone — not too hot and not too cold for life. Astronomers using NASA data have calculated for the first time that in our galaxy alone, there are at least 8.8 billion stars with Earth-size planets in the habitable temperature zone.”

[32] John P. Pratt, “The Restoration of Priesthood Keys on Easter 1836, Part 1: Dating the First Easter,” Ensign 15, No. 6 (June, 1985), pp. 59-68.

“On Easter Sunday, 3 April 1836, the Savior, Moses, Elias, and Elijah appeared in succession in the Kirtland Temple and restored priesthood keys required for the dispensation of the fulness of times. (See D&C 110.) Elijah’s coming had been prophesied more than twenty-two centuries earlier by Malachi. (See Mal. 4:5; D&C 110:14.)

This is the first of two articles that discuss the importance of this restoration and suggest that it occurred on an Easter day chosen in part because of its symbolic significance.”

“The Restoration of Priesthood Keys on Easter 1836, Part 2: Symbolism of Passover and of Elijah’s Return,” Ensign 15, No. 7 (July, 1985), pp. 55-64.

“On Easter Sunday, 3 April 1836, the Savior, Moses, Elias, and Elijah appeared in succession in the Kirtland Temple and restored priesthood keys required for the dispensation of the fulness of times. (See D&C 110.) Elijah’s coming had been prophesied more than twenty-two centuries earlier by Malachi. (See Mal. 4:5; D&C 110:14.)

“This article reviews the importance of that restoration and suggests that it occurred on a day chosen in part because of its symbolic significance. To help us appreciate this symbolism, it will be shown that even the timing of the Lord’s death and resurrection was foreshadowed in the Passover ceremony. Then the return of Elijah, which the Jews have long anticipated at Passover, will be discussed, as well as the symbolism of the day Elijah returned in 1836.”

[33] “But behold, I will show unto you a God of miracles, even the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and it is that same God who created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are. … and now, O all ye that have imagined up unto yourselves a god who can do no miracles, I would ask of you, have all these things passed, of which I have spoken? Has the end come yet? Behold I say unto you, Nay; and God has not ceased to be a God of miracles. … Who shall say that it was not a miracle that by his word the heaven and the earth should be; and by the power of his word man was created of the dust of the earth; and by the power of his word have miracles been wrought? And who shall say that Jesus Christ did not do many mighty miracles? And there were many mighty miracles wrought by the hands of the apostles. And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles.” (Mormon 9:11, 15, 17-19)

[34] Moroni, the “angel ]flying] in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,” gives a powerful witness of what would happen if miracles ceased. (Revelation 14:6)

“And now, my beloved brethren, if this be the case that these things are true which I have spoken unto you, and God will show unto you, with power and great glory at the last day, that they are true, and if they are true has the day of miracles ceased?

“Or have angels ceased to appear unto the children of men? Or has he withheld the power of the Holy Ghost from them? Or will he, so long as time shall last, or the earth shall stand, or there shall be one man upon the face thereof to be saved?

“Behold I say unto you, Nay; for it is by faith that miracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men; wherefore, if these things have ceased wo be unto the children of men, for it is because of unbelief, and all is vain.

“For no man can be saved, according to the words of Christ, save they shall have faith in his name; wherefore, if these things have ceased, then has faith ceased also; and awful is the state of man, for they are as though there had been no redemption made.” (Moroni 7:35-38)