Matt Lohmeier give a talk in June at a conference up in Stanley, Idaho for the group associated with Denver Snuffer. His talk can be found at the Restoration Archives website. It's a talk that concerns the historical context of the new Temple that they plan to build.
I'm not closely associated with that group, but that's true for my engagement with just about everyone since I had my records removed from the LDS Church. I have a very small social circle of people who have varied relationships with different iterations of Mormonism.
Nevertheless, I think their movement is the closest thing there is to what the original aim was for the Restoration initiated by Joseph Smith. They have sought out a Covenant from the Lord, and they claim to have received one.
They have also endeavored to restore the scriptures as they were originally intended by publishing the Joseph Smith Translation of the bible without footnotes or appendices, and have just recently released a modern English version of the Book of Mormon. They have additional scriptures pertaining to their covenant and open canon, received by Denver Snuffer.
I have deep respect for what they are trying to do. I pay attention to what they are up to online, and I listen to their recorded talks when I can.
Mr. Lohrimer's two-part talk caught my attention, as he shared journal entries from Wilford Woodruff's archives.
One of those journal entries concerned a dream Joseph Smith had, recorded by Woodruff on Feb 3, 1844:
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I was standing on a peninsula in the midst of a vast body of water whare their appears to be a large harbor or a peer built out for boats to Come into. I was surrounded by my friends & while looking at this harbor I saw a Steem boat approaching the harbour. Their was bridges on the peer for persons to cross & there came up a wind & drove the steem boat under one of the bridges & upset it. I run up to the boat expecting the persons would all drowne. And wishing to do sumthing to assist them I put my hand against the side of the boat & with one surge I shoved it under the bridge & righted it up & then [I] told them to take care of themselves. But it was not long before I saw them starting out into the channel or main body of the water again. The storms were raging & the waters rough. I said to my friends that if they did not understand the signs of the times & the spirit of Prophecy they would be apted to be lost. It was but a few moments after when we saw the waves break over the boat & she soon founderd & went down with all on board & perished.
The storm & waters were still vary rough. Yet I told my friends around me that I believed I could stem those waves & storm & swim in the waters better than the steem boat did & at any rate I was determined to try it. But my friends laughed at me & told me I Could not stand the storm at all but should be drouned. The waters looked Clear & beautiful though exeeding rough, & I said I believed I could swim & I would try it anyhow. They said I would drown. I said I would have a frolic in the water first if I did & I dove of into the raging waves.
I had swum but a short distance when a towering wave overwhelmed me for a time but I soon found myself on the top of it & soon I met the second wave in the same way & for awhile I struggled hard to live in the midst of the storm & waves. But I soon found I gained upon evry wave & stemmed the torrent better & better & I soon had power to swim with my head out of water so the waves did not break over me at all & I found I had swam a great distance & in looking about me I saw Br Samuel by my side. I asked him how he liked it. He said first rate & I thought so to. I was soon enabled to swim with my head & Sholdiers out of water & I Could swim as fast as any steem Boat, & in a little time it becaim calm & I Could rush through the water & ownly go in to my loins & so[n?] I ownly went in to my knees & finally could tread on the top of the water & went almost with the speed of an arrow & I said to Samuel see how swift I can go & I thought it was great sport & pleasure to travel with such speed & I awoke.
What the interpetation of the foregoing dream was the spirit of God or time must determin.
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I do not speak by the spirit of God. But it was immediately obvious to me that this dream was a reference to Asherah, the goddess known to Mormons as Heavenly Mother.
Asherah was known to ancient Israel as "the goddess who walked the sea". Just like Joseph, she was given a bad rap sheet by the churchmen and political leaders of the time.
If you look up biblical scholar Margaret Barker and start reading her work, you will discover that El's wife in King Solomon's Temple was singular (not plural), was regularly worshiped as a female deity (which included ritual bread baking), was associated with weaving textiles, and (until 623 BC) had her own set of sacred implements in the Holy of Holies.
Barker's research provides crucial context to the miracle that Jesus performed on the Sea of Galilee.
Demonstrating the power of faith to Peter and the other apostles on the boat is a worthy subplot. But if you zoom out to view Christ's miracles in the context of Israel's history leading up to his ministry, it becomes clear on a symbolic level that this miracle was likely also about legitimizing Her.
This symbolism is inextricably tied to the power of creation because of water's role from the very beginning in the creation of the earth, the creation of children, and the way it bookends the ministry and life of Jesus Christ.
Everything he did (from his baptism, the miracle at the marriage at Cana, the bread he feeds the masses with, and his final wound on the cross) is wrapped up in associations with Asherah. The Atonement itself is an homage in toto to her delegation of creative power to both God the Father and to her daughters.
The original temple was all about creation, and that Jesus would identify people as temples simply underscores a fact of Heaven that is inescapable when pondering temple theology:
Without Her, no one else wields that power. So it follows that without Her, there is no temple to speak of.
The relationship that exists between this dream of Joseph Smith's and a new, authentic temple has the potential to legitimize the Restoration in a way that that goes all the way back to temple worship as practiced in the First Temple.
Mr. Lohmeier may not have mentioned Asherah by name in his presentation. But he most certainly referenced her reputation indirectly with the remitting of this dream.
Anyone who commonly equates this group of people with the Brighamite tradition is not paying adequate attention.
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