The Men In The Moon |
The Prophet Brigham Young, in a vision, saw men on the Moon. Young wrote that "...the Moon-Men dress like [winged] Quakers and must have the true gospel revealed to them by missionaries from the Earth, in the fullness of time". Documents locked up in the vaults of the Mormon church show that the Prophet, Seer and Revelator David O. McKay knew in 1969 that the time was nigh to fulfill the prophesy from a hundred years before. McKay sought out the non-Mormon space man James B. Irwin.
Irwin, aged 39, could not remember a time when he did not have a burning interest in outer space. He was chosen in 1970 to become the eighth man to walk on the Moon (Apollo 15). As Prophet, McKay, of course knew this would happen. So it came to pass that McKay sent seven missionaries to the home of Irwin in 1970 to pray with the Irwin family. The missionaries' task was to convert Irwin to Mormonism so that Irwin, the astronaut, could contact the Quaker Moon-Men in 1971, for the purpose of restoring to them the gospel of Jesus Christ of Earth. But Irwin could not understand the basics of Mormonism completely and he did not trust these young missionaries. He rejected the truth, but this episode started him thinking about spiritual matters.
Being scientifically inclined (M.S. in aeronautical and instrumentation engineering, University of Michigan, 1957) his mind pondered if it would be possible to communicate telepathically across the vast distances of space -- from the moon to the earth. Double blind experiments were set up, but the results turned out ambiguous.
Irwin died in August of 1991. But his experience with the missionaries made a lasting impression on his spirit. He never fully accepted Mormonism, but he also did not reject it.
Irwin resigned from NASA and from the Air Force in 1972 to form and lead a religious organization, High Flight Foundation, in Colorado, USA. He led several expeditions to Mt. Ararat to photograph Noah's Ark. He has even retrieved some six thousand year old timbers from it, which his wife and four children donated to the Mormon Church in 1993.
James C. Fletcher (1919-1991) was a physicist, research scientist, lecturer, writer, Mormon, University of Utah
President, and director of NASA. http://www.lib.utah.edu/spc/mss/ms202/202.html
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But Joe was sensitive to the popular notions ... the big bang theory had not yet been articulated so he chose the steady-state for the universe and gods he fabricated. Very ‘with it’ for his day don’tchaknow.
Where are they now?
I hope they didn't make it to some Boy Scout campfire!