Doug Tales 40: From Eternity to Eternity

Doug Mendenhall teaches in his books about an astronomical term called, “the Precession of the Equinox” and its spiritual name, “from eternity to eternity.” Much longer than days, seasons, or years, the Precession of the Equinox movement of our planet Earth through the Zodiac star constellations takes almost 26,000 years. This immense span of time changes time from an arrow in a straight line into time as an endless circle, a cycle of regression and progression, a cycle of creation, fall, redemption, judgment and re-creation for ever.

There are practical and spiritual reasons for understanding “the Precession of the Equinox,” which is not common knowledge in our modern society. The following introduction to the topic is from Doug’s Conquering Spiritual Evil, Volume Two (2020) on pages 7-9, 15-16:

My sighted friend [wrote] in the book I See…Arise!, “The Precession of the Equinox is necessary to keep the appointed times before us, to give hope and guidance. The various ‘stars’ were arranged to allow for teaching purposes and keeping truth within our sight.” (p. 379)

After teaching about the Precession at many workshops for nearly five years, I finally put together the understanding that the “wobble” takes about 25,920 Earth years to make a complete circle of the pole stars… I also came to realize that it takes about the same amount of time for our Solar System to leave the Celestial realms on its journey out through that kingdom, through the Terrestrial kingdom to the Telestial kingdom and then back again through the Terrestrial on its final destination to the Celestial kingdom. We also wrote about this in the previous book. (A complete explanation is on pages 369-379 in I See…Arise!)…

In scripture vernacular this is called “From Eternity to Eternity.” This made perfect sense to me since the Gods of Light live in eternal glory or burnings in the center of our galaxy, the Celestial kingdom. Our Solar System left Eternity and is on its way back to Eternity, a process that also takes 25,920 years, more or less. This would also be going down Jacob’s ladder and back up again. Anciently it was also called the Hero’s journey, the Wheel of Life, the Great Year, and other names. Daniel’s dream could also be part of this interpretation.

I mentioned that our three previous books discussed many important concepts that are quite pertinent and lay a foundation to the discussion of overcoming spiritual evil. This volume will go deeper into the discussion of why all of this is important and how it all plays out together. Consider these questions: Why does a Solar System do a regression and progression called “From Eternity to Eternity”? Who exactly is Satan and how does he fit into this program we are on? What about those three groups of people mentioned in Abraham 3? Who are they? What about Snuffer’s statement “The economy of heaven…”? What is the economy of heaven?…What will happen as our Solar System gets closer to the Terrestrial kingdom? Anything? What is the difference between “Ascension” and “Translation”? Will we all “ascend”? What happens if we don’t? How will evil be overcome? Can we do more now?…

The Precession of the Equinox in spiritual terms is called “one eternal round” because it takes the axis of the Earth approximately 25,920 years to complete the circle. The statement “one eternal round” is found is several places in the Book of Mormon and modern scripture—Alma 7:20, Alma 37:12, D&C 3:2, and D&C 35:1 are good examples. I particularly like the one below from Nephi:

“For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, as well in these times as in times of old, and as well in times of old as in times to come; wherefore, the course of the Lord is one eternal round.” (1 Nephi 10:19)

It talks about the mysteries of God being unfolded to those that diligently seek. While working out this concept I thought it was pretty cool that I was told to study the Precession of the Equinox which then led to so much more that fit nicely into the gospel as it was being revealed to me. It gave understanding as to why Joseph Smith showed Philo Dibble that picture of stacked planets with our earth being in the middle and why it is not that way now. It thrilled my soul…

As I studied, I realized there were other things to be taken into account that I had heard bits and pieces of but had never understood. People would talk about cycles of time, going from a golden age to a silver, brass, and eventually down to an iron age. But then it would cycle back up again. This really made no sense to me.

The Hindus talk about this system of going down and coming back up or a descending and an ascending cycle. It is called the Yugas. It is interesting that the entire Yuga or cycle lasts for 25,920 years or the same as the Precession of the Equinox. Do you think they are talking about the same thing? Could be, I thought. But I also knew that the Mayans have clocks within clocks describing time and Biblical writers mention wheels within wheels. Could they all be discussing similar things or a similar thing?

Ancient documents, myths, and legends all discuss how this earth had a golden age, that when people first came here, they knew much more, had greater technology, lived much longer, etc. than we do now. What is that all about?