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GLOSSARY
Ariel Disclosure
See: Alvin Smith, Ariel, Joseph Smith, Dispensationalism
Context
In 2007, a public address was given by Archie D. Wood, Sr. (aka Azrael Ondi-Ahman), later deemed the “Ariel Disclosure”. During the event, Wood provided details surrounding the death of Alvin Smith and the mortal identity of Ariel, the Arch-Angel who, according to Wood’s writings, was foreordained to establish the fifth and most previous dispensation. In conjunction with Wood’s speaking event, revisions were made to passages in the 1st Endowment.
Prior to 2007, students of Wood’s writings often inquired about the identity of the Arch-Angel Ariel, who, according to the Song of God, was foreordained to establish the fifth (and most previous) dispensation of God (B:24:51-54). The original version of the 1st Endowment (written in 1997) contained passages which vaguely addressed the issue by presenting Ariel as the intended leader of the 5th dispensation, but that he was almost turned aside by the powers of darkness, and all but failed as a dispensational leader. The passages presented Ariel as one whose heart was “filled with pride” (1:2:27 - original version), and who was “greatly tempted because of the delusions of this life” (1:3:46 - original version). While the identity of Ariel remained unconfirmed, readers were left with many questions, for example:
• If a dispensational leader can be deluded to such an extent as to nearly fail in his role as a teacher and ambassador for God, how are believers to maintain faith and trust that God and goodness will prevail?
• If one such as Ariel can fail, how does that bode for the rest of God’s children struggling on this world?
• Who was the mortal embodiment of the Arch-Angel Ariel? Was it Joseph Smith Jr?
Despite frequent inquiries and requests for clarity about the supposed near failure of Ariel and the fifth dispensation, Wood refused to elaborate on the issue. For years, students were left to speculate about the ideas put forth in the 1st Endowment regarding the mortal identity of Ariel, the collapse of the fifth dispensation, and the resulting ascendancy of the powers of evil.
Ariel Disclosure — Summary
In a public address given on November 4, 2007, later deemed the “Ariel Disclosure”, Archie D. Wood, Sr. (aka Azrael) revealed the mortal identity of Ariel, the Arch-Angel foreordained to establish the fifth dispensation on this earth. Wood claimed that Ariel incarnated as Alvin Smith (1798-1823), the eldest son of Lucy and Joseph Smith Sr., and the older brother of Joseph Smith Jr., founder of the Latter-Day Saint (Mormon) religious movement.
According to Wood, Alvin Smith was the mortal manifestation of Ariel the Arch-Angel, and foreordained to establish the fifth dispensation of God (B:24:51-54). However, the dispensation was hijacked and corrupted, beginning with the murder of Alvin Smith at the age of twenty-five, a tragedy which was premeditated and orchestrated by Joseph Smith, Sr.
Wood provided an alternate history pertaining to the biological parenthood of Alvin Smith, and the events leading to his death in 1823. Wood claimed Alvin’s death was neither an accident nor the result of natural causes, both common reasons given for Alvin’s untimely demise. According to Wood, Alvin’s death was a premeditated event contrived by Joseph Smith Sr. after Alvin began sharing his experiences of being visited by an angel.
Wood purported Alvin’s illness was initially caused by a poisonous elixir administered by Smith Sr., who had convinced Alvin it would assist him in communicating with spirits and seeing treasures in the earth. Fearing the poison wasn’t working, Joseph Sr. purposefully over-administered the popular remedy, mercury chloride (calomel), under the guise of trying to heal Alvin of his ailment.
Smith Sr's dark motives were driven by deep and long-held resentments toward Alvin. According to Wood, Alvin was not Joseph's biological son, but rather, was conceived during an affair between Lucy Mack Smith and a man named Silas Toliver (sp?). When Alvin began sharing his experiences of being visited by divine beings, Smith Sr. was enraged that his illegitimate son was favored by God and had the ability to see spirits. According to scripture, behind the death of Alvin moved the dark designs of both Shaemdiel (Lucifer) and the Demiurge (1:2:26-30; 1:3:44-48).
Ariel Disclosure — Details
On November 4, 2007, a small group gathered in Pocatello, Idaho for what Wood (aka Azrael) called a “special lesson”. He proceeded to explain how information was revealed to him in 1981 regarding the identity of Ariel, but was told not to discuss any of it or include it in the “Song of God” because, as he stated: “Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother didn’t want me to get killed before I wrote the scriptures.” Since the scriptures were near completed, Wood apparently felt justified in sharing this long-held information. Wood continued with a detailed yet unverified account of events surrounding the Smith family, the death of Alvin, and the rise of Joseph Smith Jr. as a religious figure. The following presents a summary of what was discussed.
Prior to his marriage to Lucy Mack, Joseph Smith (Sr) swindled a man named Silas Toliver (sp?). Toliver was a Canadian trapper, a dangerous man, a brute and a drunkard. Toliver was unsuccessful in seeking legal recourse against Smith because he was not an American citizen (and he was suspected of being a Tory).
Joseph Smith (Sr) moved from town to town to escape the law (because he scammed a lot of people out of their money and they were seeking prosecution) and to avoid Silas Toliver, who was following Joseph around seeking reconciliation of some sort.
Joseph Smith (Sr) marries Lucy Mack (1796). Lucy conceives and gives birth to a son, who dies soon after his birth (1797). Joseph is often away from the farm seeking new ways to get easy money. Toliver takes advantage of Joseph’s absence by introducing himself to Lucy Mack, who is unaware of the history behind Toliver and Joseph. Lucy, grieving the death of her child and coping with loneliness, has an affair with Toliver and becomes pregnant.
Smith and Silas Toliver cross paths at a tavern where Toliver proceeds to taunt Smith, bragging about having seduced Lucy and how she was pregnant with his (Toliver’s) child. Joseph confronts Lucy, who admits to the affair. Smith repeatedly beats Lucy hoping she will miscarry, but she carries the child to term (1798). The boy is named Alvin. Alvin was never accepted or truly loved by Joseph Smith Sr.
When Lucy became pregnant again, Toliver would taunt Joseph, claiming Lucy was carrying his (Toliver’s) second child. Lucy denied any involvement with Toliver since the initial affair, but Joseph doubted her faithfulness. Prior to the child’s birth, Joseph was hunting in the woods for squirrels and rabbits when he spies Toliver through the trees checking his traps. Joseph shoots and kills Toliver, whose body is never recovered.
Soon after Smith kills Toliver, Lucy gives birth to a boy (February, 1800). In spite of Lucy’s assurances, Joseph is still in doubt as to whether or not the child was his. Joseph named the son Hyrum.
Lucy gives birth to a daughter (1803), then another son (1805). Confident that the son is his (because Toliver was already dead by the time of the child’s conception), Smith gives his third infant son his own name: Joseph Smith Jr. (1805).
Smith Sr. always resented Alvin, who was often the victim of unwarranted beatings and unfair treatment from Joseph. Alvin grew up wanting nothing more than to please his father.
When Alvin was twenty-four or twenty-five, he began receiving visitations from a representative of the Elohim. For Alvin was foreordained to establish the fifth dispensation of God upon the earth, and preparations were being made to this end. When Alvin told his family about communing with an angel, his younger brothers were fascinated but his father was inwardly enraged. Joseph Sr. felt insulted that his bastard son was the one favored by God and had the ability to communicate with spirits.
Soon after Alvin began sharing his experiences, Smith Sr. devised a plan to murder him. With the help of Hyrum and Joseph Jr., Smith made a poisonous elixir and convinced Alvin it would help him see spirits and treasures in the earth. Unaware of his father’s intent and wanting desperately to please him, Alvin drank the potion and soon fell ill. Worrying the poison wouldn’t kill Alvin, Joseph Sr. purposefully over-administered the medicine mercury chloride under the guise of trying to heal Alvin of his ailment. Alvin died at the age of twenty-five on February 19, 1823.
Joseph Sr. was darkly inspired by Alvin’s stories of communing with an angel. Together with his sons, Hyrum and Joseph Jr., he contrived the seed of what would later become the LDS / Mormon religious movement. In the years after Alvin’s death, Joseph Jr. began telling stories of seeing an angel.
According to Wood, Alvin Smith was the mortal manifestation of the Arch-Angel Ariel, and the intended leader of the fifth dispensation. Wood also revealed that Joseph Smith Jr. was the mortal manifestation of the eldest son of Shaemdiel, an individual he referred to as “Emerel the prince”. Wood correlated this individual to the figure referred to in the 6th Endowment 8:19-20. With the murder of Alvin, the fifth dispensation was usurped and hijacked. According to scripture, the Elohim countered this tragedy with special measures, successfully petitioning for the assistance of the Mighty One in leading the 6th dispensation (1:2:29-41; W:16:51; W:20:4-5).
Revisions to Scripture
In the days that followed the public address (November 2007), Azrael made changes to passages in 1st Endowment, shifting accountability from Ariel to Joseph. Azrael confirmed that the ‘Joseph’ being referred to in these passages is Joseph Smith Jr., founder of the LDS (Mormon) religious movement.
1st Endowment 2:26-29
(Original Version - prior to November 2007)
26. And throughout each succeeding dispensation did Jehovah-Yahweh twist and bend the words of God whereby he might establish a great confusion while yet our Shaemdiel continued to seek out the children of God, to fill them with all manner of weariness.
27. Evensomuch that in the days of Ariel did the darkness some greater hold take, and the heart of Ariel was filled with pride, and had it not been by some greater effort, even he would have fallen away into Shaemdiel’s keeping.
28. Yet did Ariel, in the last days of his sojourn, remember well his calling and by some noble effort plant deep in the heart of all his following the seed that leads to exaltation.
29. Thus, Most Holy Father, did the dispensations of our design go from greater to lesser; for that which Michael established in strength did even our own Ariel barely achieve through weariness; for evil did multiply and grow more heavy upon the children of God, evensomuch that many did fall away, being exhausted in both mind and spirit.
1st Endowment 3:44-48
(Original Version - prior to November 2007)
44. Thus did the children of men go from taking joy in the dispensations of God to that of murder and deceit, until the coming forth of Ariel, conspiring and corrupting continually for the sake of their own power the very blessings of God.
45. Still, Most Holy Father, do I rightly know this need for opposition; for without the darkness, how would we know the light? Without evil, how could we discern the good? For in the comparing of one thing against another do we perceive most clearly those things which come from God.
46. Yet over this one thing do I greatly puzzle, for in the coming of Ariel was he greatly tempted because of the delusions of this life, evensomuch that even so great a one as he was almost turned aside.
47. Tell me, therefore, how this could be, that evil should be so great as to cause the very elect to stumble upon the way.”
48. Such did I speak unto The One concerning the evils which pressed hard against us in the world beyond all beginnings; and when I was concluded, the Light within the light grew strangely still, and all Heaven did anxiously wait the coming of the word. (Gnosis to be revealed)
1st Endowment 2:26-29
(Revised / Current Version - after November 2007)
26. And throughout each succeeding dispensation did Jehovah-Yahweh twist and bend the words of God whereby he might establish a great confusion while yet our Shaemdiel continued to seek out the children of God, to fill them with all manner of weariness.
27. Evensomuch that in the days of Ariel did the darkness some greater hold take, for the heart of Joseph was filled with pride, and had it not been by some greater effort, even Joseph would have fallen away into Jehovah’s keeping forever.
28. Yet did Joseph, in the last days of his sojourn, remember well the days of his instruction and by some noble effort plant deep in the heart of all his following the seed that leads to exaltation.
29. Thus, Most Holy Father, did the dispensations of our design go from greater to lesser; for that which Michael established in strength did even Joseph barely achieve through weariness; for evil did multiply and grow more heavy upon the children of God, evensomuch that many did fall away, being exhausted in both mind and spirit.
1st Endowment 3:44-48
(Revised / Current Version - after November 2007)
44. Thus did the children of men go from taking joy in the dispensations of God to that of murder and deceit, regardless of the coming forth of Ariel, conspiring and corrupting continually for the sake of their own power the very blessings of God.
45. Still, Most Holy Father, do I rightly know this need for opposition; for without the darkness, how would we know the light? Without evil, how could we discern the good? For in the comparing of one thing against another do we perceive most clearly those things which come from God.
46. Yet over this one thing do I greatly puzzle, for in the presumptions of Joseph was Joseph greatly tempted because of the delusions of this life, evensomuch that so great a prince as he was almost turned aside forever.
47. Tell me, therefore, how this could be, that evil should be so great as to cause this Joseph to stumble upon the way.”
48. Such did I speak unto The One concerning the evils which pressed hard against us in the world beyond all beginnings; and when I was concluded, the Light within the light grew strangely still, and all Heaven did anxiously wait the coming of the word. (Gnosis to be revealed)
Conclusion
The revised passages (1:2:26-29; 1:3:44-48) offer a significant shift in the narrative, distinguishing Ariel and Joseph as separate individuals. While the Arch-Angel Ariel is vindicated from direct involvement in a botched dispensation, Joseph (presumably Joseph Smith Jr.) is identified as one who was ‘greatly tempted’ and who ‘stumble[d] upon the way’.
It is speculated the revised passages are meant to convey a common dilemma, a dilemma encountered not only by the ex-Mormon author, but by both critics and apologists of the Mormon church founder, Joseph Smith Jr. The dilemma is summarized in the following question:
How does one reconcile the LDS Church’s claims that Joseph Smith Jr. was a dispensational leader and true prophet of God, while various factors could be seen to indicate otherwise—namely Smith’s fraudulent character, his dubious methods of scripture translation, the uninspiring nature of his revelations, and his practice of polygamy (to name a few)?
The revised passages address a certain predicament shared by many who are familiar with the early history of the LDS Church: If Joseph Smith Jr. was indeed a predestined prophet and one foreordained by God to bring about the designs and will of Heaven: how could it be “that evil should be so great as to cause this Joseph to stumble upon the way” (1:3:47)? The predicament is somewhat resolved with the alternate and unverified history revealed by Wood in the Ariel Disclosure [1]:
• Ariel was the foreordained leader of the fifth dispensation, and incarnated on the earth as Alvin Smith, not Joseph Smith, Jr.
• Alvin was not the biological son of Joseph Smith Sr., but was conceived during an affair between Lucy Mack and Silas Toliver. Lucy confirmed the affair took place.
• Joseph Smith Sr. knew Alvin was not his son, and never truly loved him.
• After sharing with his family that an angel had been communicating with him, Alvin was poisoned to death at age twenty-five by Joseph Smith Sr., who resented Alvin for being the one chosen by God and capable of communing with spirits.
• Alvin (Ariel) was killed before he was able to begin the fifth dispensation.
• Subtly influenced by nefarious, archetypal forces, Smith Sr. and his sons Hyrum and Joseph Jr. used Alvin’s stories as source material for what would become the LDS religious movement. The fifth dispensation was usurped and the power of Shaemdiel and the Demiurge grew stronger.
• Joseph Smith Jr. was not the mortal embodiment of a dispensational leader, nor was he acting as a representative of the Elohim. According to Wood, Joseph Smith Jr. was the mortal embodiment of one of the Fallen, the mortal manifestation of Emerel the prince, the eldest son of Shaemdiel (6:8:19-23).
Background
Archie D. Wood, Sr. (aka Azrael Ondi-Ahman), author of the Song of God, was raised as a Southern Baptist but later converted to Mormonism while serving in the Vietnam War (see Personal Testimony). Wood’s experiences (and subsequent disappointment) in the LDS church provided context behind his journey into the Uinta Wilderness of Utah in June of 1979, where he asserts to have communed with God for four days and three nights. According to Wood, after seven years of instruction, he was commissioned by God to write a new book of scripture that would initiate the beginning of a new dispensation and serve as a true restoration of gnosis. Those familiar with Mormon discourse know that Joseph Smith Jr. (Alvin’s younger brother) also claimed to be ushering in a new dispensation, “the dispensation of the fulness of times” (D&C 128:18).
According to the Song of God, the knowledge of God is revealed and restored upon the earth through the operation of seven dispensations, each initiated and overseen by one of seven chief Arch-Angels of the Council of Elohim. The names of the seven Arch-Angels are identified in scripture, as well as their mortal names corresponding with their incarnation as dispensational leader (Beginnings 24; Wisdom 16:51-55; 1st Endowment chapters 2-3).
Notes/References:
(Michael to Emmanuel — in a meeting of the Council of Elohim prior to Abraham’s awakening)
Therefore, if the children of men shall seek earnestly the Lord their God, then shall I cause to walk among them the Arch-Angel Ariel.
And he shall restore to them the fullness of blessings; even the priesthood of God shall he make known to many.
And as many as shall desire to know God shall he fill to overflowing, for he shall reveal to all who will the mysteries of Heaven.
For his desire shall be to restore to the righteous the fullness of the Father. For he shall bring forth to the children of men the fullness of my word, that he might establish before all the people the promise of God, wherein you shall go again unto the earth clothed in great majesty and power.
Beginnings 24:51-54
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[1] It is interesting to note the parenthetical “(Gnosis to be revealed)” at the conclusion of 1st Endowment chapter three. Was the Ariel Disclosure the fulfillment of this foretelling? If so, why did Wood (Azrael) not remove the parenthetical text when he made the revisions?