Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Latter-day Saint
History and Religion
The Muslims are coming!

The Muslims are coming!

Last updated on: December 29, 2025 at 8:26 pm by Dan Peterson

0 Comments

The Muslims are coming! 2025-12-29T20:26:20-07:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A photograph, taken with my iPhone, of a carpet in a Marriott in Las Vegas. Those are actually my authentic feet — or, anyway, my genuine shoes — at the bottom of this skillfully rendered (and obviously professional) image.

We stayed in downtown Las Vegas on Saturday night, and I was mildly amused to notice that the floor carpet in our bedroom bore an Islamicate geometric design that I’ve seen previously at the Alhambra in Spain, in various places in Cairo, in the gardens of the Taj Mahal complex in India, and in probably two dozen other places during my travels.

An illustration of the common Islamicate “star pattern”

It’s yet more evidence, I suppose, of the way we’re being infiltrated and overrun by Muslims. You can put it in your files along with still other sinister examples of covert Muslim influence — such as Arabic numerals, the concept of zero, and loan words like admiral, sugar, Aldebaran, zenith, nadir, azimuth, alcohol, lemon, Betelgeuse, yoghurt, algebra, kiosk, algorithm, arsenal, turquoise, alfalfa, checkmate, almanac, artichoke, and punch.

The San Diego California Temple (image from LDS Media Library)

I’ve also seen components of the star pattern on the exterior of the San Diego California Temple. Which suggests that Islamic infiltration has penetrated far deeper than we had thought. Which, in turn, reminds me of a joke that I ran across some time ago:

A Kennedy-assassination conspiracy theorist dies and goes to heaven. When he arrives at the Pearly Gates, God is there to receive him. “Welcome,” says the Lord. “You are permitted to ask me one question, which I will answer truthfully.”

Without hesitating, the conspiracy theorist asks, “Who really shot J0hn F. Kennedy?”

The Lord replies, “Lee Harvey Oswald shot him from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository. Oswald had no accomplices. He acted alone.”

The conspiracy theorist pauses, briefly ponders what the Lord has told him, and then says to himself, “Amazing! This goes even higher up than I had imagined!”

Details on the exterior of the San Diego California Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Steve and Marilyn Rizley have been friends of ours for quite a few years now, and generous supporters of the Interpreter Foundation for many of those. When we first met them, he was an executive with a large American digital cable television provider, telecommunications, and home automation services company, and, if I’m not mistaken, was also serving as the president of the Scottsdale Arizona Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Since that time, they’ve served in a number of other leadership positions in the Church — including periods spent presiding over the Ukraine L’viv Mission and, later, over Nauvoo Historic Sites — and, at present, they chair the Jesse and Amanda Knight Society. I was pleased to see them featured in the current issue of Y Magazine. Since not everybody out there is an alumnus of Brigham Young University and, thus, a recipient of the magazine, and since I really like the stories that they told, I hope they won’t mind my reproducing their accounts here:

A photo of Stephen and Marilyn Rizley for “Y Magazine,” taken by Jaren Wilkey. I hope that this can be justified as “fair use,” and that the Rizleys will be okay with my using it. If not, I hope that someone with standing will contact me — at which point I’ll replace the image above with the photograph of a sunset, a puppy, or a kitten.

A Truth Learned Early. “Even though I wasn’t raised in the gospel, I knew that I was a child of God. [My family] would go camping on the weekends. Friday after work we would drive at night in our camper. I would lie in my sleeping bag looking out a window at the mountain roads.

“One night, when I was supposed to be asleep, I heard a voice that said, ‘Marilyn, get in the cab.’ So I climbed into the cab between my mom and dad. My dad said, ‘What are you doing here? Get back in the camper and go to sleep.’ I said, ‘No, you told me to come up here.’ And just then a very large bird went flying through the window, shattering the glass right where my eyes had been looking out at the country road. Glass was on my pillow, and the bird was in the sink of our camper.

“I grew to know my Heavenly Father was watching out for me, and that is why I have my eyes today. As a freshman at BYU in 1974, I received my patriarchal blessing, which tells me my Heavenly Father has been kind to me. And I know that to be true.” (Marilyn Rizley)

A Powerful Family Story. “I grew up going to a wonderful church, but it was not The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My mother’s father had been a bishop in the Church for many years in southeastern Arizona. One day, in 1923 or 1924, he was out plowing a field when a great big summer thunderstorm came up. He ran under a tree, the only tree in the field, and lightning struck him, straight through his head and out his left leg. It blew both of his boots off, and he fell over into the furrow.

“During that period of time, he had an experience. He went before Heavenly Father and said, ‘My family is destitute. I can’t leave my wife and my 10 children. I need time to go back.’ The water in the furrow stanched the burns and actually revived him. In the meantime, he took a handkerchief out of his overalls. All he could move was his arm, and he lay in the middle of a field waving the handkerchief. The Mangum family was driving in their old Ford a half mile away, and Sister Mangum said, ‘I hear someone calling, stop the car!’ They went back and found him.

“These stories, which my mother told me, opened the door for me to allow the missionaries to teach me.” (Stephen Rizley)

Posted from San Diego, California

History and Religion

Travel and Religion

Previous Post

December 28, 2025

Controversial Jeffrey Holland

Next Post

December 30, 2025 From "On the Banks of the River Styx"

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"DP: “But Mr. Sutherland worries about the fact that our time, when we can communicate ..."

Theodore Brandley

Learning more about a region of ..."

"Another class of memories are of individuals who previously lived. Some of these remembered individuals ..."

PlasmaMiasma

Accounts of Premortality?

"Sutherland's lecture sounds interesting. He seems to restate the Washington consensus that trade brings peace ..."

B. Wilson

Learning more about a region of ..."

"In a meeting today, I learned another important reason why accurate (or at least as ..."

the PROBLEM

From Serbia’s “White City,” Belgrade

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What did King Nebuchadnezzar order everyone to worship?

Select your answer to see how you score.

A lion A golden statue The sun His crown