LDS Podcast "Latter-Day Lights" - Inspirational LDS Stories

Decoding Heavenly Messages & The Second Coming of Christ: Ilyan Lavanway's Story - Latter-Day Lights

• Scott Brandley and Alisha Coakley

Share episode

If you witnessed an unmistakable sign from Heaven, would you share its meaning with the world?

During two consecutive late-summer nights in 2019, Ilyan Lavanway—a former Air Force veteran, author, and dedicated family man—encountered ancient symbols appearing in the sky; an awe-inspiring sight that would forever impact his perception of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. With a background marked by service and sacrifice, he knew he couldn't simply let go of the unique characters beaming through the clouds. Describing the glyphs as "carved by the finger of God," he sensed an urgent call to spread the word.

Refusing to dismiss this phenomenon as chance, Ilyan turned his curiosity into a quest for deeper faith. He studied the ancient letters, sketched them in detail, and soon felt prompted to publish his findings. Now, he’s committed to living what he calls a “temple-going lifestyle,” sharing how these divine signs and personal revelations fuel his testimony of Christ’s imminent return.

Ilyan’s story is a remarkable journey of faith and revelation. Join us as we discover how even the most unexpected observations can ignite a renewed determination to gather the members of the Church, serve others wholeheartedly, and trust that when Heavenly Father speaks—even through the celestial realm—there’s always a message worth heeding.

*** Please SHARE Ilyan's story and help us spread hope and light to others. ***

To WATCH this episode, visit: https://youtu.be/oh5EBD3psCY

-----

To CONTACT Ilyan, email him at: ilyanlavanway@gmail.com

To GET A COPY of Ilyan's books, visit:
https://www.amazon.com/author/ilyan

To READ "Knowing The Godhead" by Jeffrey R. Holland, visit: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2016/01/knowing-the-godhead?lang=eng

To JOIN Ilyan's Facebook group "Second Coming of Christ" visit: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1057094728941519

To FOLLOW Ilyan on Facebook, visit: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100084374781932

-----

Keep updated with us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/latter.day.lights/
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/latterdaylights

Also, if you have a faith-promoting or inspiring story, or know someone who does, please let us know by going to https://www.latterdaylights.com and reaching out to us.

Scott Brandley:

Hi everyone, I'm Scott Brandley.

Alisha Coakley:

And I'm Alisha Coakley. Every member of the church has a story to share, one that can instill faith, invite growth and inspire others.

Scott Brandley:

On today's episode we're going to hear how signs from the heavens are building one man's testimony of the second coming of Christ and helping him to be prepared to gather Israel. Welcome to Latter-day Lights. Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of Latter-day Lights. We're so glad you're here with us today and we have a really special treat for you. We'd like to welcome to the show Ilyan Kai-Levanwe Ileon welcome, thank you.

Ilyan Lavanway:

Thank you for having me on your show. I appreciate it.

Alisha Coakley:

Yeah, thanks so much for reaching out to us. Well, I think actually we had like a weird reach out thing. It was like I answered a question about a podcast from another someone somewhere and then you commented on it, and then you saw my comment and reached out that way and right, it was like a. Yeah, it was kind of an indirect opportunity.

Ilyan Lavanway:

It's, yeah. I think Heavenly Father just arranged events to be in the right place at the right time. I agree. Here we are. I'm grateful for that.

Alisha Coakley:

Yeah, so there's a. There's a message to our guests. Just think, even if you haven't listened to our show yet, heavenly Father will get you somewhere.

Ilyan Lavanway:

Yeah, he will. I promise you that Awesome.

Scott Brandley:

Well, Ilyan, your name is quite interesting. Do you want to explain to us what that means?

Ilyan Lavanway:

Yeah, ilyan actually has origins in several different countries. It has Persian and Bulgarian origins. It's also Hebrew, a Hebrew name for Elijah, which means my God is Yahweh, or my God is Jehovah, jesus Christ, and it also has Arabic origins, meaning the Most High or Exalted. That gives me a lot to live up to. So, especially as a covenant-keeping member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, my parents must have been inspired, because they were not members of the church, didn't know anything about the church, when they named me.

Ilyan Lavanway:

They were baptized when I was about three years old. They got baptized and then, of course, I got baptized when I was eight years old. But yeah, they had no knowledge of any of the restored gospel at the time that they named me. That's cool, it's a miracle to me.

Alisha Coakley:

Nice. Yeah, that's super cool. I thought it was funny because when we were on the phone and you pronounced your name for me, so for our future guests, we always do like a little preliminary phone call first, you know where I get to kind of talk to you and hear a little bit of your story and stuff like that. And so when I was doing that with ilian and he pronounced his full name, I said, well, scott's gonna have fun with that one. My poor scott. He, he has a hard time some, sometimes, not all the time. You actually did way better this one like on Millions Name than I thought you would. So good job, scott.

Scott Brandley:

I did mess that up twice and we had to cut that, so you didn't get to hear that part, but nobody needs to know we're in for a bit no worries, maybe one day down the road we'll have bloopers for the show. And then you guys can see how much Scott and I don't get why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself, my friend Well?

Ilyan Lavanway:

I'm 57 years old. I was born in Washington State. Like I said earlier, I was baptized when I was eight years old by my dad and I've been an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ever since I served a full-time mission in Argentina for two years and served in the Air Force as a missile launch officer for seven years and then as an academic instructor for another seven years and I was medically retired.

Ilyan Lavanway:

So I'm a disabled vet and my family is. I have a small family my wife, baby girl Minchi Levanwe and my son, emmanuel Iron Levanway. My son just turned 20 this month and he has Down syndrome and autism, so he's taught me lots about patience. He's taught me lots about Heavenly Father's love and how deeply he cares about every person, no matter their circumstances.

Ilyan Lavanway:

I love that. I like to spend my time writing books about things that the Lord teaches me as I study the scriptures and the words of living prophets and apostles and Latter living prophets and apostles and latter day prophets and apostles, and through things that he teaches me through personal experiences. And I also love going to the temple. If I'm not on a temple trip, I plan on my next temple trip and I and I think that's actually one of the things that seeing these signs in the heavens has started to teach me as I pondered them and and written about them is the imperative urgency of going to the temple. President Nelson is very, very strong about urging us to go to the temple, to spend time in the temple as much as possible, and I feel that sense of urgency and I know the blessings that come from doing that. So that's part of the experience of having seen these things in the sky. It's urged me to do that even more.

Alisha Coakley:

That's neat, are you like? So I know some, I know some couples who are making it a goal to try to like go to every temple in the United States or like do you guys have any like big dreams like that one day?

Ilyan Lavanway:

Well, when we were first married. We've always liked road trips. We've been married 24 years now and we road tripped all over the United States. Baby girl's from Philippines and I brought her. We were pen pals for three years and I wrote to her for three years straight. We wrote back and forth. I went to visit her in her mama's house once a year for three years and then the third year I brought her back to america and we were sealed in the seattle temple for the church of jesus christ, the latter saints.

Ilyan Lavanway:

So, and then, four years later, our son emmanuel, was born. And so it, yeah, it's been. We love road tripping and emmanuel loves road tripping. So I take baby girl to the temple. She goes in the temple and I watch emmanuel in the truck and he just loves it the whole day walking around seeing the fountain. They're at Kansas City Temple. They've got a fountain. He just loves playing in it. He'll walk into the temple. He'll go over to the waiting area and sit in the chairs for a while. He'll come back outside and play some more.

Ilyan Lavanway:

It's a road trip for him. It's a time for baby girl to go serve in the temple and then when I go I usually let she watches him at home and I go in in a smaller vehicle. It gets better gas mileage.

Ilyan Lavanway:

I just go over there, work all day myself, come back wow yeah, it's, but we've decided ourselves, amongst ourselves, that we wanted to live a temple going lifestyle. That's that's what we decided to call it. We want to live a temple going lifestyle. We I've taken her to a lot of the different temples around the country, but not all of them. We might not. They're building temples faster than we can travel, so they're. Yeah, we won't see all of them before jesus christ comes again, but we will keep going to the ones that we can reach as often as we possibly can.

Alisha Coakley:

Wow, that's really cool.

Scott Brandley:

That's a good bumper sticker, Alisha.

Alisha Coakley:

Live a temple going lifestyle. I love that. We really do need to just start compiling a whole bunch of them. You, all of our guests, are just genius marketers here. Well, cool. Well, mr Lee, and what we're going to do is we're going to turn the time over to you. We're going to let you kind of tell us. I know you have maybe a few different little stories possibly that you're going to want to share, but there's one main one. So why don't you just, you know, start wherever you want to start, okay.

Ilyan Lavanway:

Well, basically, the experience that I wanted to talk about is something I saw in the sky on two consecutive nights about five years ago. It was mid-August 2019. We had just moved into this old fixer-upper house that we had purchased online. Baby Girl found it online. We bought it cash. We had just enough in savings to buy it cash and it is a real fixer upper. So it's, but it's a roof over our heads. It doesn't leak, so we just live in it and we're grateful for it. But we moved in on Independence Day of 2019. And in mid-August of 2019, we were outside in the wee hours the 17th and 18th, and the only reason we'd even be outside in the wee hours like that is because our son, emmanuel, likes to go outside and play out and just look around and be outside at all hours.

Ilyan Lavanway:

So we have to be out there, and the first night I looked up in the sky and thought, wow, look at that, that's interesting. There was an image in the sky there were clouds and there was a image in the in the sky there are clouds and there was a full moon behind the clouds, and it's like the lord had taken his finger and drawn in the clouds part of the clouds, to let the moonlight shine through like a backlit keyboard the only way I know how to describe it like images on a backlit keyboard. And there was a an image of what looked like to me a dove. I called it a dove. It was a bird-like figure and then there was a carpenter square with a triangle underneath it. From my perspective looked like it was pointing downward. And those three images appeared on the first night, the 17th, in the wee hours. I believe it was of August 2019.

Ilyan Lavanway:

The very next night, or later that night, or the wee hours of August 18th, we were outside again and in those wee hours, another set of symbols appeared, completely distinct, but again it's like the Lord had taken his finger and written in the clouds, letting the moonlight shine through like a backlit keyboard. Three of those four symbols that appeared on that second day are are hebrew symbols, and I didn't know anything about hebrew. Uh, I, I mulled these things over in my mind as the days went by, for you know a few days, and after had this and just thought about it was like that was really interesting to see things like that in the sky for two nights in a row. And then the holy ghost prompted me sketch those things before you forget what you saw. And so I did. I sketched them at very well, it was too clear in my mind sketched them down on a couple pieces of paper and set them aside and they got lost, put in a box or something. And five years later, this earlier this year, around March or May, somewhere in between March and May, I came across those symbols again in the sketches. I came across those sketches that I put in a box and again I got a strong prompting from the Holy Ghost Write a book about this, research what they mean, write a book about it and don't wait until you have a perfect understanding of everything that they mean, but just get a basic understanding.

Ilyan Lavanway:

Write about it and start sharing it. And do it now. And so I did. The 22nd of May I published a book called Signs in the Heavens over Lehigh Kansas and it's my beginning basic understanding of what those things meant to me personally and to my family. It's my beginning basic understanding of what those things meant to me personally and to my family.

Ilyan Lavanway:

Some of it is too sacred to share publicly, but some of it I can share because it points to the scriptures. It points to covenants we've made with Jesus Christ. It points to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. It points specifically to the Godhead and to Jesus Christ and his role as our Savior the Godhead and to Jesus Christ and his role as our savior. And it's it's fascinating to me that he would put something like that right over my house. We live in a small town, lehigh Kansas, less than 200 people. It's a very rural area. There's. The next town over is six or seven miles away, maybe it's Hillsborough. It's another small town. Probably were the only two people that saw this my wife and I, and she might not even remember that much about it because it struck me very, very deeply.

Alisha Coakley:

I don't know how, how deeply it struck her, but it really made an impression on me and it's interesting to me that the oh, go ahead, sorry, yeah I was gonna say will you I don't know like will you tell us, like, when you got this, this, uh, this prompting to start doing research and stuff like that, like what did that? What did you do? What did that look like? What'd you find?

Ilyan Lavanway:

well, I, I didn't know what language they were, or if they were even a language at all. So I I tried to think in my mind okay, let me think of languages that have ancient looking characters, probably felt kind of like joseph smith looked at it, stuff that he didn't know what it was, and I don't have a year of a thumb, so I you know. But anyway, I can't compare myself to joseph smith. That's not what I'm trying to do. I'm just saying that they looked ancient, of some kind of ancient characters to me and I didn't know where to start. So I started thinking, well, are they Russian, are they Japanese, are they Chinese, are they Korean, are they Hebrew? And I thought, well, start looking with Hebrew.

Ilyan Lavanway:

And sure enough, three of those four symbols on the second night are Hebrew symbols and they all represent Jesus Christ. And I didn't know at the time. But Hebrew is read right to left, the opposite of the way we read English, so it doesn't particularly spell out a word, but they have meanings by themselves and in conjunction with each other in different combinations. The first letter on the right, it looks like kind of like a seven. It's called Resh, I think, if I'm pronouncing it right, but it refers to the head or chief, or the most important or the most high, and that's Jesus Christ the chief cornerstone. It refers to Jesus Christ, the chief cornerstone.

Ilyan Lavanway:

The next two symbols are respectively Tau and Aleph, I think, or they're both Tau in different histories of Aramaic and Jesus spoke Aramaic, but they're both the first and the last, both of them. In whichever order you put them in, they could represent the first and the last of them. In whichever order you put them in, they could. They could represent the first and the last, which is jesus christ, and then the third symbol, I mean the fourth symbol. It looks kind of like a t with pearls on the on the top part of it. I have never seen that in any language and all the languages that I've looked at trying to figure out this uh, what they mean? It doesn't look like it's part of any language. It does look similar to something that appears on the outer rim of the facsimile 2 in the book of Abraham about the 7 o'clock position, and I don't know what it means in the context of the book of Abraham. That part hasn't been translated yet and that will only be, translated by the prophet.

Ilyan Lavanway:

I have no authority to even speculate on what it means in the book of Abraham, but to me it has some specific meanings. One of them references if you turn it upside down, it references the vertical covenant that a married couple makes with God.

Ilyan Lavanway:

And the horizontal covenant or the lateral covenant that a husband and wife make with each other when they're sealed in the temple. So we have a lateral covenant with husband and wife and a vertical covenant with God sealing ordinance, and that's significant to me, that this, this is important and it also has other meanings that I didn't really talk about in the book but I've learned since that just through inspiration and ideas that have come to me. As it's shown in the sky like a T but with curls on the edge, it kind of represents the heavens being open, the parting of the veil and revelation from God coming down, like we have in the last days. These are the days of the restoration, of the fullness of the gospel, and so the heavens are open, and it also seems to be the parting of the Red Sea, where the Israelites walked through on dry ground because they were obedient to God. Moses was able to part the Red Sea so they could escape their enemies and follow the path to where they needed to go. Sea, so they could escape their enemies and follow the path to where they needed to go.

Ilyan Lavanway:

To me that's forward-looking. It's like foreshadowing If we walk the covenant path, the Lord will part the waves of darkness for us. He'll literally part the heavens and part the waves of darkness and part the efforts of the adversary against us. And we can walk that covenant path. And if we walk that path, we cannot fall. That's a promise given to us. Walk in the covenant path. You cannot fall as long as we stay on it.

Alisha Coakley:

Right.

Ilyan Lavanway:

And that is a lot of significance to me. It encouraged me to keep going on the covenant path.

Alisha Coakley:

What was that like when you discovered that? Like the first symbol that you had sketched out and that you saw was was something. You know what I mean. Like, like when you had that first piece of evidence, like wait a minute, this is Hebrew or this is, you know, like this is what this means.

Ilyan Lavanway:

Well, it was the second set of symbols that I saw, the symbols that I saw on the second night, that three of them look like Hebrew, or what I discovered was actually Hebrew, and that was very exciting to me because it's like, wow, hebrew is the ancient language of the gospel of Jesus Christ and it has biblical origins and it has significance to the Jews and a lot of the things that I've come to discover as I mulled this over and pondered. This is that why would the Lord write in the sky? Obviously he meant this to be shared because he wrote it in the sky. If he, if he, meant it just for me only to keep private and never talk about it with anybody, he would just give me a dream or a vision or something that would just be and nobody else would know about. But he put it in the sky on two separate nights. So that tells me that there's some of the meanings in this that he wants me to share as my personal testimony. And the fact that he wrote it in Hebrew, or part of it in Hebrew, suggests that I should be thinking about how much he loves the Jews and that this has something to do with him coming to the Jews and the fulfilling of prophecies about Jesus Christ coming to the Jews in the last days, splitting them out of olives, which is one of the meanings of that T symbol.

Ilyan Lavanway:

If you think about it, it's like you turn it upside down. It's like the splitting of a mountain or the valley going straight through and leading to Jesus Christ. And at that time, when that happens, christ will be there and the Jews will flee into that valley and he will recognize who he is and they'll start converting to him. And that, I feel, is something that we, as members of the church, need to be ready for. I'm speaking for myself, but to whoever else might feel the same, that's a big event, and that event of Christ coming to the Jews happens before he comes to the whole world and burns all the wicked. It starts his millennium, the millennial reign. His coming to the Jews is like a clarion call for us members of the church. We, I think we need to be ready for that yeah, yeah, for sure and I think that what this oh go ahead.

Scott Brandley:

Yeah, this is a little crazy, but when, when you started talking about it, I remember. Um. So Alisha mentioned, before we got on the podcast, that that I went on an excursion in Illinois and I found petroglyphs cool. Well, this was what I was just looking up on my phone. This is one of the petroglyphs we found. I don't know, if you can see that it's the bird. It's the bird. It's almost like exactly the same bird.

Alisha Coakley:

I have booster bumps.

Ilyan Lavanway:

That's interesting.

Alisha Coakley:

That looks so similar to the drawing, I'll put a picture of it.

Scott Brandley:

Yeah, I'll put a picture of it on yeah, but like that's almost the exact bird that you drew on your picture. It's even got the big tail in the back, like yeah, on the back, like yours has, cool. Anyway, I'll put a picture on there in the podcast once it goes live. But I I, when you, when you're talking, I'm like looking at the picture that you drew, I'm like I've seen that before. That's cool. It's on a petroglyph in illinois, that's interesting thank you for telling me that that's.

Ilyan Lavanway:

That's very encouraging yeah, I don't.

Ilyan Lavanway:

I don't know how to interpret petroglyphs, but I do know that the meanings that I understood from what I saw is that that first set of symbols I saw that the first night which was the bird, and they like the carpenter square, like an upside down l and that little triangle upside down. When you take those together, to me it represents the godhead, the bird, of course. The dove to me represents the Holy Ghost, and then the carpenter's square represents to me Heavenly Father, elohim, the architect of the plan of salvation. And then Jesus Christ is the focal point of the plan of salvation. He's the fulcrum, the pivot point. Everything revolves around and centers on Jesus.

Scott Brandley:

Christ, you want to see something else crazy. Right next to that bird picture was this no, I can't see it.

Alisha Coakley:

It's like a cross.

Scott Brandley:

It's a cross and it looks like Christ, with his arms open, right next to it.

Alisha Coakley:

It's like this one that you drew.

Ilyan Lavanway:

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's pretty that is interesting.

Scott Brandley:

That's right.

Ilyan Lavanway:

That was right next to the bird yeah wow, I'm just saying like there's a lot of correlation here picture I just showed you yeah, that is so interesting heebie-jeebies I love it yeah, oh, please send me pictures of the. Send me those pictures too, so that I can. Yeah, I will have them and ponder them. Yeah, that's interesting, that's real. I did not know that those things existed.

Alisha Coakley:

Well, we're going to have to take a detour real quick, scott, you're going to have to tell everyone, like, like a little cause there's a little more context to that story where you found those petroglyphs right like, was that the do you want to share? Yeah?

Scott Brandley:

I don't want to, I don't want to take the. Well, I just think it's, I just think it's cool. I went on that. So just so you know, ellian. Um, yeah, a few years ago it was in 2019 I went on an excursion with oh wait, let me stop you right there.

Ilyan Lavanway:

2019, that's the year that I saw these symbols in the sky 2019. And you went on that excursion in 2019. That's interesting. That's not a coincidence. In fact, we just had a state conference today and our state president said there are no coincidences it was in September of 2019.

Scott Brandley:

coincidences, it was in September of 2019.

Ilyan Lavanway:

That's interesting A month after I saw these things no-transcript.

Scott Brandley:

So, yeah, I went on an excursion with Wayne May. I don't know if you know who that is, I've heard of him. Yeah, yeah, he took us to a bunch of places that hardly anyone knows about and we went to this location and we saw those petroglyphs and I took pictures of them. Oh, the other thing, right next to those is right next to the bird and the picture looks like Christ on the cross. Next to those is right next to the bird and the picture looks like Christ on the cross next to it. Right next to that is a picture with a hand with a hole in the palm.

Ilyan Lavanway:

Interesting.

Scott Brandley:

Yeah. So I took these pictures. I didn't like it didn't connect, like what, what I was actually looking at at the time until we went to another location and we found hands. We found more hands with holes in the palms, and then there were circles with crosses in the middle of them and I'm like what the heck's going on? And then I, I, we kind of put it together that us, if you were like to draw a, um, a picture of the resurrection, you would put a cross with a circle around it, because the circle is the sun and the cross is death.

Ilyan Lavanway:

Interesting.

Scott Brandley:

Yeah, right.

Ilyan Lavanway:

Yeah, that's that's interesting. Yeah, I hadn't thought about that.

Scott Brandley:

Yeah. So then there was those circles, the circles with the cross right next to hands, with holes in the palms etched into the rock. And there were two, two palms that were out with the thumbs out like this, and we're like what the heck? What's going on? And they both had holes in their palms and so I had my uncle. I'm like, hey, john, go put your hand, go do what that rock is doing. And he went, and he went like this, and we're like, holy crap, that's what Christ did. Right, he put his hands out, but the thumbs were opposite, because you think, like people would like engrave it this way, right, and a lot of the, a lot of the palms were, a lot of the hands were were like this, with the hole in the palm. But these ones were out like this, and they were etched into the rock. Oh, it was freaking.

Scott Brandley:

Anyway that was a side tangent, I'm sorry, oh no.

Ilyan Lavanway:

That actually educates me even more to the significance of these things that I saw, because they not only point to Christ's relationship with the Jews and our covenant path as members of His restored church, but it also points to the truth of the Book of Mormon, another testament of Jesus Christ. Because those areas that Wayne May took you to see are likely Book of Mormon historical areas where the people that lived in the Book of Mormon times here in ancient America they put those there. They have significance to Jesus Christ and to the restored gospel all the way back then.

Ilyan Lavanway:

It was forward-pointing for our day gets to Jesus Christ and to the restored gospel all the way back then. Yeah, it was forward pointing for our day. Yeah, that's. Thank you for sharing that. Yeah, you bet.

Alisha Coakley:

Well, that's something that you you and I had talked a little bit about over the phone too, when, when we spoke earlier, ilyan was the fact that you knew that you just needed to get it out there and get started, and that the lord would like guide you to more revelation, more inspiration.

Ilyan Lavanway:

you know that the more you did the research, the more he would send confirmation and affirmation and direction and stuff like that it's kind of cool that we just got to see it play out a little bit where it's like you just, you just got to be part of that process happening and I'm grateful that you were part of that, yeah scott literally knew nothing about this yeah, like anything until he got on to get recording and stuff like that.

Alisha Coakley:

That's like the first that he's he's heard of this, so that was just cool that is.

Ilyan Lavanway:

That is uh, that's the lord arranging. Remember? I was telling you earlier, when we were talking at the preliminary phone call to tell me how this works and everything I was mentioning that I have received how do I say this, getting tongue-tied? The Godhead is represented by those first three symbols that I saw. Heavenly Father, jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are three separate, distinct individuals and we can have a personal relationship with each one of them so that we can know how they each operate in our lives and how they each communicate and interact with us. And Elder Holland is giving a talk. I don't remember the name of the talk right now, but he had said in his talk that we are to get to know these three beings and do everything we can to become like them, to love them and do everything we can to become like them.

Alisha Coakley:

Right.

Ilyan Lavanway:

And that reiterates to me that they are individual beings and they do have personal relationships with us, each one individually. One of the ways I recognize when Heavenly Father is operating or communicating with me is he arranges events in my life. He puts things in my path for me to discover cover, and if he speaks to me with words, he usually addresses me as son, because he's the father of my spirit, so I'm one of his sons, so he, you know, I know it's my father speaking to me because he addresses me as son. He uses words, but usually he doesn't speak to me with words. Usually he gives me experiences or arranges events in my life. So it can be something as simple as finding a parking space open when I'm in a hurry and I'm going somewhere, like a medical appointment or a church meeting or something, and I need to get in there just in the right time. And lo and behold, there's a place in a full parking lot. There's one spot left. That's one simple example, and there's other large examples of the series of miracles that he worked for me to find baby girl in the Philippines all the way on the other side of the planet, and all the miracles it took to bring her to America and get her citizenship and be sealed in the temple. That's a whole string of miracles. It's still ongoing and those are all things that Heavenly Father has operated and placed in my life.

Ilyan Lavanway:

When Jesus is communicating with me, I know it's Him, because it involves a change of heart.

Ilyan Lavanway:

If I feel a change of heart or a softening of my heart about something, that's Jesus, because he atoned for me. He's the one who wants us to change our heart and repent. And if I have ideas that just come to me, or understanding that opens up, or clarity of thought about something, or a feeling of comfort or peace during a time of turmoil, I know that's the Holy Ghost, because he is the comforter and he's the testifying agent in the Godhead. He's the one that brings truth, teaches truth and he testifies of the Father and the Son. So I can recognize how each one of them operates in my life. I have a personal relationship with each one, but I have to emphasize the fact that of course, we know we only pray to Heavenly Father. We pray to Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ and then the Holy Ghost confirms whatever it is they want us to know. That's important to know that we pray to Heavenly Father in the name of His Son, jesus Christ. We live by the whisperings of the Holy Ghost.

Alisha Coakley:

The name of that talk was Knowing the Godhead by Jeff Jarrett. That's it. Yeah, I sent it, and then I forgot that. I forgot.

Ilyan Lavanway:

Yeah, please, please, do link it in the in the pod tech. Yeah.

Alisha Coakley:

We can go through that and I I love that because it's funny. Um, I feel like I've always known that there was a distinction between the Godhead that we had, god, the father, jesus Christ and the Holy ghost, like that, honestly, is the big, is one of the biggest separators of members of our church with mainstream Christian, uh, members, right Is is the fact that we don't. We don't follow what the council of Nicaea declared was the divinity of, you know, the Trinity we have. We have those personal relationships and the different duties of each member of the Godhead and stuff like that.

Alisha Coakley:

And I, we had a Sunday school class not too long ago where the, the Sunday school teacher she's this you know young little return missionary, you know and she talked about how, on her mission, she had a companion and the companion and her were talking about testimony and relationships and all that kind of stuff and she was struggling with something and the companion said to her she said, um, me and Jesus are tight. And she said me and heavenly father, we got some, we got some things we got to work out and and it was so you know, it's kind of like a funny little thing but at the same time it's sort of like how many times have me and my siblings been like buddy buddy and we've been like irritated with our parents?

Alisha Coakley:

You know what I mean and I'm like there really, there really is a different relationship with each one.

Ilyan Lavanway:

You know, that's a good point. Yeah, that's a good point too, because Jesus is our sibling. That's a good point. Yeah, that's a good point too, because Jesus is our sibling, he's our elder brother, he's the firstborn of the father.

Alisha Coakley:

So it makes perfect sense to me when you mentioned that. I'm like, huh, how many times did I receive inspiration or something symbolic or some direction or something like that reprimand, whatever it was, where I just attributed it to the Holy ghost? And I didn't get it right and I didn't understand, like wait a minute, like why is the Holy ghost, why does it talk to me this way this time and then that way that time? And I'm like, oh, maybe it's because he doesn't, maybe it's just the Holy ghost this time. And then this is when Christ is kind of like hey, sis, and then, and then there's like heavenly father. It's like, oh, sweetheart, like maybe it's a different thing.

Alisha Coakley:

So it for me, just since our phone call, I was like thinking more about I really want to pay more attention to who's saying what, when you know like I just think that would help me build my relationship with each one of them individually and I don't know it with each one of them individually, I don't know. It's just a really cool concept that I hadn't thought about. So I appreciate you bringing that up.

Scott Brandley:

No problem, along that line. I don't remember who he appeared to, but he said he was I'm your advocate with the Father.

Alisha Coakley:

Yeah.

Scott Brandley:

That kind of goes along with what you guys are saying. Like he's your person, he's the one that's going to you know, back you up and support you and and be there for you and put in a good word for you know, when we do get upstairs to the pearly gates with heavenly father, right, he's going to be there for us. That's right.

Ilyan Lavanway:

We know nobody comes to the Father except through Jesus Christ. In fact, we learn in the book of Hebrews even that the veil in the temple represents Jesus Christ, because we can't get to the Father without going through Jesus Christ. That's a unique understanding that I didn't know until the latest changes in the endowment session explained it so clearly, and that's in the book of Hebrews. So I'm not revealing something that shouldn't be revealed from the temple. That's in the book of Hebrews. The veil represents Jesus Christ.

Alisha Coakley:

And if you don't know what we're talking about right now, it's time you go make an appointment to the temple we're talking about right now.

Ilyan Lavanway:

It's time you go make an appointment to the temple. Yeah, I wanted to actually point that out, that one of the things I want to invite everyone to do is, if you haven't been to the temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, please find out what you need to do to go to the temple and enter. Find out what you need to do to have a temple recommend. Make the changes in your life that you need to make and please go make covenants with God in the temple. There will be blessings in your life that cannot come to you any other way, and I promise you that. I know by experience that there are things that you can receive from heavenly father in the temple that you cannot receive any other way or any other place and even president Nelson has said that that spending time in the temple will bless you in ways that nothing else can nothing.

Ilyan Lavanway:

He emphasizes it very clear and I know that from experience.

Alisha Coakley:

Yeah, well, I think it's cool too, cause, like the temple, we have those, we have ordinances and all of these things that come from ancient times.

Ilyan Lavanway:

You know, and and when you think about it, they go all the way back to Adam.

Alisha Coakley:

And I think about just even just like the Hebrew language right, like how everything was really symbolic. You know, like they didn't have the same type of communication that we have today. And so sometimes when you go through the temple like we're we're actually my oldest is getting prepared to go through the temple, you know, to receive his endowments so that he can go on his mission soon, and you know it's, it's interesting all of the symbolism that's in there and I feel like it's just such a um, distinct way of communication that heavenly father has with us and there's so sometimes there are so many different meanings to one symbol. Sometimes there's a lot of personal, like there's there's like an overall for the general population and then there's like even more distinct personal ordinances and stuff.

Ilyan Lavanway:

There are layers and layers of meanings. It's like layers of an onion.

Alisha Coakley:

Yeah, so it's like you go to temple and you learn one thing and then later on you go back, and you go back, and you go back and you just keep learning and learning and Heavenly Father keeps compounding knowledge on you and then, in these circumstances, right and, and then, and these circumstances right, like, gave you and Scott both an opportunity to see symbols in different ways, you know, like on a rock or on a hill, you know in the, in the sky, and I think he just kind of like keeps giving you these little. We had another guest, devin Cummings, that would call him God winks, gives you these little God winks and I love that. I'm like, oh, so cool, like Heavenly Father does that, and so it.

Alisha Coakley:

Yeah, when you go through the temple, sometimes, especially the first time out, it could feel so different, almost weird. I'm going to, I'm not gonna lie Like that was my experience anyway. I was like I don't know, like cause it's just not how we normally communicate anymore, like it's just a different feeling, but it's like the more understanding I have of it, the more peace and beauty and, you know, building of my testimony, that happens in and through it, you know. So it's like I don't know.

Ilyan Lavanway:

Yeah, the symbols are. There's so much symbolism in the temple and it's designed that way. It's designed because there are things that can be taught in multiple layers of meaning, Like you were saying. There are some general meanings that are available, obviously to everyone, and then there are very deeply personal meanings that are specific to different individuals in their own personal lives, their own personal spiritual development. And through symbols, the Lord's able to speak to all his children in the way that they need to be spoken to so that they can understand his love for them and make the covenants, and understand the covenants that they're making with him. And even the artwork in the temple is filled with symbolism. I mean, I don't even. I can only scratch the surface trying to ponder it all. Everything, the artwork, the pictures, the designs in the windows, the designs on the carpet it all represents something that points Jesus Christ, the heavenly father, to our relationship with them and to what the potential is for us to become like them and do what they do.

Alisha Coakley:

Yeah.

Ilyan Lavanway:

And be eternal families. It all points to eternal families and the tying together of eternal families. It's it's amazing and it's comforting.

Scott Brandley:

I think that's a good segue into my next question, which would be, as you've pondered these things that you saw in the sky those couple nights, what are your thoughts? Why do you think God showed those things to you?

Ilyan Lavanway:

I think, as far as what I am allowed to share publicly, I think that he wanted me to, yeah let's share what you feel comfortable.

Scott Brandley:

Yeah, share what you think sharing right.

Ilyan Lavanway:

But I think that he wanted me to wake up spiritually, more than I already was, and understand the significance of Jesus Christ's return to the Jews and how imminent that is. I think he wanted me to gain a personal understanding and a personal testimony of how important it is to know that Christ is going to come to the Jews and how that we, as covenant keeping members of the church, are going to be active participants in that event. That's not just something that happens over there and we can just say, oh yeah, don't worry about that, that's it's not our call yet. Yeah, that is our call.

Ilyan Lavanway:

We need to be ready, for that's me speaking. I'm not speaking for the church, I'm not trying to be an apostle or a prophet I'm not. But me speaking for myself is that the Lord was trying to tell me, and tell me to share, that I need to be ready, and perhaps I need to share the idea, the urgency, that we all need to be ready for the for Christ to come to meet the Jews. That's a big event and that it shows how much he loves the Jews. It shows, and if he loves them that much, after all that they've done to him all that he's endured at their hands and the rejection he's faced for 2,000 years in their nation, he still loves them and he's still going to appear to them in person. We should love our fellow men, all our fellow men, that much.

Ilyan Lavanway:

And one of the things that's interesting to me is I don't remember any time in history where Jesus Christ has personally visited an entire nation of unbelievers. But he will visit the nation of the Jews. He will visit them as a people. Even though they're in their gross state of unbelief and not accepting who he is, he's still going to visit them. He's going to give them what they've always wanted a decisive victory over their enemies. He's going to give them what they've always wanted a decisive victory over their enemies. He's going to give them a military victory over their enemies, and then he's going to teach them the fullness of the gospel of his Father, and he's going to receive them with open arms and a forgiving heart. So how much more should we do the same?

Alisha Coakley:

I love that.

Alisha Coakley:

It's kind of interesting because I feel like there's always been some people in talk of like the second coming, you know, being close and the signs and all that kind of stuff.

Alisha Coakley:

But I feel like there's been this massive flood of interest in it lately across all all faiths, right, like there are so many people that are doing the research and they're you know, they're they're looking into what are the signs and what are the things that have to happen in Jerusalem and what are the things that have to happen in America and what are the things that have to have to happen within the church and whatever else. And and we're starting to see all of this um information, that's like compiling it together. And while, yes, we don't know the exact day or hour that Christ will return, it also speaks in the scriptures about you know, if you knew that a thief was going to come in the night, you would stay up and watch and you would be ready for it, right. So, like, while you may not know the exactness, you will know as it's getting closer and closer, and I feel like we're starting to see a lot of things come forth that just show evidence of you know, I think that it might be closer than we realize.

Ilyan Lavanway:

I think it is. I feel that I can feel when President Nelson speaks. Ever since he became the prophet five years ago, every time he speaks he speaks with a sense of urgency and I know he speaks. He speaks kindly and he speaks gently, so some people miss the urgency. But if you look at his face and listen carefully to what he says and the whisperings of the Holy Ghost, he is speaking with dire urgency. He even said time is running out, and he said that a few years ago. Yeah, he said something to the effect of of do the spiritual work necessary to find out for yourself, and please do it now. Time is running out. Yeah, and that was, that was a few years ago.

Alisha Coakley:

He said that yeah, I don't remember that. Well, and then there's things and and I'm not. So I'm not picking a date, guys, I'm yeah, and me either.

Ilyan Lavanway:

Yeah, we don't know the dates, but we right even a certainty?

Alisha Coakley:

I don't know because I haven't done as much research as what I'm sure a lot of other people have done, but I have seen things that make me go. Hmm, for example, have you heard of the Featherstone letter that was put in the Georgia temple, the Atlanta Georgia temple time capsule?

Ilyan Lavanway:

I've heard about it. I don't know what it was.

Alisha Coakley:

So this was April 6th of 1983. Um, and when the Atlanta temple was was being built, uh, um, members of the, of the presidency and stuff like that, were able, like apostles and everything, were able to put things in this time capsule to be opened in 50 years, which would be um 33, right, 2033. Is that 50 years? Yeah, so, um, so in 2033, this is supposed to be open. They have copies of the things that, like the letters and stuff that were written and put in there, and Featherstone's letter, and this all has had to be approved, um, before it was in there, right In Featherstone's letter I had to look it up real quick there's this part that's like oh, my goodness.

Alisha Coakley:

So he says those of you who read this letter meaning when it's opened, in 2033, witnessed the second coming of Christ, the day for which we have long awaited. What a glorious experience to live in, the day when our Lord, our Redeemer, the very son of God, is reigning personally upon the earth. We can imagine what general conference must be like to have the savior address the people. Oh, what a blessed generation you are and must be Like. It's 2024. I probably still be alive in 2033. You know what I mean. It's like sometime in that time period, what if that second coming really really happens? We look at the wars that are happening over there and we look at where Israel's at.

Ilyan Lavanway:

You know, and you're like no, my personal feeling is that Christ is going to come to the Jews and rescue them and split the Mount of Olives, and that's a major event, I mean that will be publicly known after it happens, if not while it happens. Because that's a massive earthquake to split that mountain and move it into a valley.

Alisha Coakley:

We're going to feel that everywhere, out of the city, right.

Ilyan Lavanway:

It was part of the revelation.

Alisha Coakley:

Say again I think part of the revelation was that it's going to basically open up a gate or something like that. It's a big valley.

Ilyan Lavanway:

Yeah, it opens up a big valley, and the Jews are almost to be wiped out by their enemies that are surrounding them. They have no place to go, so they flee into that valley that results from Christ's bleeding out of all of them.

Ilyan Lavanway:

And then they meet Jesus Christ in there and they ask him what are these marks in your hands, in your feet? And he tells them. He says I am the son of God. That's in the Doctrine and Covenants, section 45, I think. But I have a feeling, or I feel personally this is just me personally that he's going to come to the Jews very soon and that we know from the scriptures that he comes to the Jews before, considerably before, he comes to the whole world and burns all the wicked and ushers in his millennial reign. So it's possible that his, that that letter might've been referring to his coming to the Jews, because that is part of his second coming. The second coming, as the apostles have recently told us, is a process. It's not one singular event, it's a process.

Ilyan Lavanway:

And there's his coming to New Jerusalem, to his temple, which New Jerusalem's not even built yet, and then, there's coming to Adam-ondi-Ammon which, as far as I know, hasn't happened yet, but it's probably getting close which, as far as I know, hasn't happened yet, but it's probably getting close. And then there there's the major public event that affects the world is is coming to the jews. That will be a major event, and then, of course, after that, he comes to the entire world. Everyone sees him and the wicked are burned and the the people that are living the good and honest lives are all lifted up, and the day is tolerable even for the heathen nations who know no law.

Ilyan Lavanway:

They'll be lifted up in mercy and caught up to meet him. But his coming to the jews happens first, and that's a big event and I believe that we members of the church, we need to be looking for that, because who's going to baptize the jews when they start converting? Right isn't going to do it all himself, he wants. He's going to baptize the jews when they start converting. Christ isn't going to do it all himself, he wants he's going to. Somebody has to organize wards and stakes among them as they convert. Somebody has to build a temple with them and administer the ordinances to them you know and call temple workers among them. Somebody has to help with that.

Ilyan Lavanway:

Well, us members of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints we're the only ones in the world that have authority to do that.

Ilyan Lavanway:

So I would imagine and I'm not saying I'm not revealing anything for the church, I can't do that, but I'm asking the question.

Ilyan Lavanway:

It's more of a question do we need, as members of the church, do we need, to be prepared to be lifted up before, to meet christ and receive instructions and assignments from him before he descends to the jews and the doctrine covenant, section 45, verses 45 through 52, it actually mentions these are they who descend with him first. These are the first fruits who are christ. Well, descend with him first to me means descending to the Jews, because when he comes to the temple in New Jerusalem or when he comes to Adam on the Alman, he isn't necessarily bringing the hosts of heaven with him or a whole entourage of people. He's coming in a relatively small setting. But when he comes to the Jews, he's coming to an entire nation and he's bringing people with him who can minister to them the ordinances of salvation and exaltation. Who else is that other than us and the ancient people that are resurrected that come with too? But we're we're coming to be members of the church, we that's our job to gather israel right. We're supposed to be part of that.

Alisha Coakley:

So we I think we need to be ready for that I agree, yeah and yeah, and I think you know it's, it's. It can be so interesting and maybe a little scary and exciting at the same time, to do all this research and to to put your guesses in and, you know, to be like this was a sign and that was a sign, what about this? And it's great to do all of that, but ultimately, like, if it stops us from doing the work, right then we're doing it wrong.

Alisha Coakley:

We need to keep doing the work we need to stick on an active covenant path.

Ilyan Lavanway:

Yeah, seeing these signs in the heavens and seeing the events unfold that are prophesied should actually be spurring us onward to be more diligent in the work, instead of sitting back speculating about, oh, it's going to be this day or that day, no, let's just go do the work. Let's let the Lord find us serving in our families, serving in our callings, serving in the temple, sharing the gospel every way we possibly can. Let's let him find us doing his work. And one of the things I wanted to point out was that Jesus Christ, all through his ministry and ever since, everything, even in the scriptures, in his life, always points to the fullness of his Father. He always said go to the Father. He even said there's none good but the Father. He said I've come to declare the gospel. It's not my gospel, it's the gospel of the Father who sent me, gospel of the father who sent me. He wants us to offer to the people of the world the fullness of his father, the highest degree of glory, which is celestial glory, and the covenant path that we have access to through the temples is something we're supposed to invite the whole world to partake of. That he never, jesus christ never said stop at me, I'm enough enough. He said no. Go to my Father, to the fullness of my Father, make the covenants with him, receive eternal life and exaltation as families, sealed together as families. And he showed us the covenant path and how to do that.

Ilyan Lavanway:

If we stop at just Jesus, we're inheriting a terrestrial degree of glory, and that's. Some people only want that, and that's better than telestial. But christ's charge to us is to invite everyone to celestial glory, and not only celestial glory, but to exaltation, which means as families inherit the fullness of the father, as families sealed in the temple and covenant, keeping people all the way, way through. And that's burned into my soul, that's written in the fleshy tables of my heart and I feel an urgency to share it with anyone who will listen, and even sometimes with people who won't listen. I mean, what other purpose do we have right now? This is the gathering of Israel. President Nelson, the living prophet, has said there's no more important work on the earth right now than the gathering of Israel. And that's what we're doing. We're trying to do that with every fiber of our being.

Alisha Coakley:

Yeah.

Scott Brandley:

Well, ilyan, you're definitely a deep thinker and we really appreciate your thoughts and and your experiences. It's really cool how we kind of had similar, uh similar experience. Well, we found kind of similar things in our adventures in life that we weren't expecting right um, and how they kind of relate to each other.

Ilyan Lavanway:

That's, that's a really cool. That is cool. I'm very grateful that you shared that with me.

Alisha Coakley:

That taught me a lot too. Yeah.

Scott Brandley:

Yeah, I think you're right, Alisha. What you were saying is, you know, even though certain you know, sometimes things like that happen. We have to learn from those experiences and from those things and and continue to strive to be closer to God and, and you know, not get too distracted from them but, uh, redouble our testimonies and our efforts to do what God wants us to do. So, um, is there any other thoughts, ilyan, before we wrap things up, that you would like to share with everybody?

Ilyan Lavanway:

Well, I suppose the the main takeaway I got from this, from this experience, and that I want to emphasize to the world, is that everyone that will listen and those that won't, is that Jesus Christ coming to the Jews is a major event and that happens before he comes to the whole world, and it's a testament of how much he loves the Jews.

Ilyan Lavanway:

And if he loves the Jews that much, then we should love all our fellow man. We want to be like Jesus, so we learn to be forgiving and learn to build other people up instead of tearing them down, whatever. In any way we can try to build up people and point them to Christ and point them to the fullness of his Father. I want to tell you that I know by experience, I know through the witness of the Holy Ghost, that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true and living church on the earth. It has a quorum of 12 apostles, just like Jesus organized. It has the priesthood authority to administer the ordinances of the gospel, salvation and exaltation in the highest degree of glory, which is exaltation or godhood in the celestial kingdom that can't be found anywhere else. I testify of that in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Alisha Coakley:

Amen, wow. Well, thank you so much, ilyan, for you know, being open to coming on and sharing you know, your story and your thoughts and stuff. I I always love hearing stories, but I also love having conversations, and so this was just super edifying and kind of little little, another little fire under me to like, hey, yeah, like, start looking into this stuff more you know, but also start doing more you know. Just I I love what you said in the beginning of the show was that you're, you're living this, you know, temple going lifestyle.

Alisha Coakley:

I think that's just the coolest thing, um, and I think, as long as we keep going and we keep, you know, looking for ways, ways to build our testimonies to draw closer to the Savior, that we'll be able to recognize when Christ is here and what exactly he needs for us to do before, during and after his arrival, whenever that may be Maybe it'll be before 2033. I don't know, but maybe between now and then we just keep, you know, doubling our efforts as much as we can to share light and gather Israel and just be an example of him as much as we can, until he can come and show everyone how it's done the right way. All right, well, elian, thank you again for coming on today.

Ilyan Lavanway:

Thank you for having me on. It's been a real blessing. It's a miracle to me. It's an answer to prayer and fasting for years that you were available and willing to do this. I appreciate it very much. Thank you, you're good.

Scott Brandley:

Thanks, man, and thank you everyone for tuning in to another episode of Latter-day Lights. Let's do some missionary work, five-second missionary work. Go, hit that share button. Let's get this out there so that other people can hear it and be edified from Ilyan's story.

Alisha Coakley:

Yep, absolutely. And to our guests who are listening, remember we are always looking for more stories to share, so if you have one, we want to hear from you. Head over to LatterdayLightscom and you can fill out a form at the bottom of the page or you guys can email us at LatterdayLights at gmailcom. And also be sure to check out the description, because we're going to have some links of Ilians. We're going to include some pictures that you guys can take a look at. He's got his book up. If you want to go grab yourself a copy, you know you can reach out to him If you have any.

Ilyan Lavanway:

Actually, one thing I wanted to mention real quick is that I'm willing to send free PDF copies to anyone that asks for it. I want to make this available. It's that important. I'm not here to make money on this. I want to make people's that important. I'm not here to make money on this. I want to make people's lives improve. I want their testimonies to grow. I want them to get on the covenant path and stay there and be blessed by the Lord in every way possible. Awesome, you can email me. You can put my email in there if you want. Ilyanlevanway at gmailcom. They can email me. I'll send a free PDF copy. Also, I sent you some links that you can add to my Facebook group. They can download free copies right off my Facebook group. It's called Second Coming of Jesus Christ and there's links for that you can put there.

Alisha Coakley:

Okay.

Ilyan Lavanway:

Yeah, I want this to be available to everyone.

Alisha Coakley:

Awesome, and if anyone has like another affirmation for Ilyan, maybe you saw your own petroglyphs, or maybe all means teach me.

Ilyan Lavanway:

I'm open to insights. Teach me more.

Alisha Coakley:

Very cool.

Scott Brandley:

All right. Well, thanks again, alien, for being on the show and thanks for everyone tuning in, and we will see you next week with another episode. Tell them, take care. Bye-bye, thank you, bye-bye.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Scott Brandley

Host
Head Shot

Alisha Coakley

Co-host