Source Report Card
Chapter 23: Lights Out, Then the Sign: Sun, Moon, Stars, and the Half Hour of Silence
| Source | Who | When | Chain | Rung | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JS–Matthew 1:33, 36; D&C 88:87-110; 45:42; 63:53; 77:12-13 | The Lord, through Joseph Smith | 1831-1843 | 1st-hand | 1 | A+ |
| Joel 2:31; 3:14-15; Revelation 8:1-2; 2 Peter 3:8 | Joel; John; Peter | ancient | 1st-hand | 1 | A+ |
| D&C Student Manual (2017) on 88:93 ("does not reveal") | The Church (manual) | 2017 | 1st-hand | 2 | A |
| D&C Student Manual (2001) on 88:93-95 (sign headed "Son of Man"; great church defined by behavior; "21 years" as an "if") | The Church (manual) | 2001 | 1st-hand | 2 | A |
| Newsroom, "Church Responds to Inquiries About Preparedness" (no blood moons) | The Church | 26 Sept 2015 | 1st-hand | 2 | A |
| Joseph Smith journal (meteor storm) | Joseph Smith | 13 Nov 1833 | 1st-hand | 4 | B |
| Times and Seasons letter (Redding rebuke) | Joseph Smith | printed 1 Mar 1843 | 1st-hand | 4 | B |
| 1843 sermon, both notes: sign explained away as natural | Willard Richards (then an apostle) & James Burgess (a member) | 6 Apr 1843 | 2nd-hand, two notes | 4 | B |
| Same, Richards only: "a planet, a comet" | Willard Richards (then an apostle) | 6 Apr 1843 | 2nd-hand, single | 4 | C |
| Same, Richards only: dark sun, blood moon still future | Willard Richards (then an apostle) | 6 Apr 1843 | 2nd-hand, single | 4 | C |
| Same, Burgess only: "small at first" | James Burgess (a member) | 6 Apr 1843 (copied after 12 Apr) | 2nd-hand, single | 4 | C |
| Mormon Doctrine review and 1966 revision | Prince & Wright (historians), citing McKay's office diary | 1959-1966 (book 2005) | 2nd-hand | n/a | B |
| Journal of Discourses 16:328 ("we do not know") | Orson Pratt (then Quorum of the Twelve), reported by David W. Evans | 28 Dec 1873 | 2nd-hand | 4 | C |
| "21 years" as an actual length | Math on 2 Peter 3:8 | n/a | n/a | n/a | D (a guess) |
| Mormon Doctrine 1st ed. (Catholic identification) | Bruce R. McConkie (then First Council of the Seventy) | 1958 | 1st-hand | 4 | C (gone by 1966; we found no sign he restated it as an apostle) |
| Four Blood Moons | John Hagee (evangelical pastor) | 2013-2015 | 1st-hand | Not a Latter-day Saint source | F (as a sign of the end) |