Many years ago I sat at my mother’s knee listening to her teach my siblings and I about specific events which prophets, both ancient and modern, said would come to pass in our lifetimes. Using the scriptures and words of the prophets, my mother encouraged her children to give heed to these warning voices and to watch closely and carefully for their fulfillment. She instructed us plainly, and spoke of these things often so that we not only knew of these signs, but that we understood their context. Her hope was that when we saw the events happening, we would recognize them as the specific events preceding Christ’s return, and not just random events in society and nature.
As a youth, I found many of these prophecies very troublesome to think about, and not very exciting to look forward to: earthquakes in diverse places, seas heaving themselves beyond their bounds, famines, pestilence, drought, and disease. My mother spoke of a prophesied time when only good members of the Church would be willing to have children, of Salt Lake City becoming one of the wickedest cities, of the Saints and other righteous people being persecuted for believing in God and choosing to live by righteous principles.
At the same time, mother also spoke of great blessings preceding the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ: the spreading of the gospel to every continent, the priesthood being available to every people, of temples dotting the land, of scriptures coming forth that we did not currently have, of disciples growing in their faith to the point where their faith in Christ alone would be the defense against the raging storms that would swirl about us.
I listened, and wondered. I pondered, and considered. I watched, and waited, and life moved forward.
The desire to study these prophecies for myself didn’t fully mature until I had a loving wife to mother children of our own. Their safety and their protection factored heavily into the warnings the Lord had provided. I had questions, like “Do we have to go through these terrible things?” “Are all people to be destroyed?” “Is there anything we can do to avoid these terrible events?”
I knew I wasn’t ready to address many of the prophesied challenges on my own. But, I also knew that the Lord is merciful to them that seek him. With the gentle encouragement of prophets, apostles, and faithful leaders, I took my concerns to the Lord.
I asked the Lord to help me to understand the things I had been taught. I asked him to help me recognize the signs he had prepared. I asked him to show me the scriptures the signs pertained to. I asked him to help me to hear any new warnings provided in my own time. And slowly, the Lord began to open the answers to these questions up to my view.
The more I read the scriptures, and words of the latter-day prophets, the more plain the signs and warnings have become. The more I asked him for clarity, and understanding, the more he continued to reveal, and confirm specific prophecies by the witness of the Holy Ghost.
While not always fun to consider (as some of these latter-day events are very troublesome), the understanding and confirmations have been a blessing to my life and family. They have provided comfort, in knowing that the Lord has a plan, and that if we strive to heed his counsel, He will lead us forward and through these Latter-Day challenges. It may not be in the way we expect (How many Israelite’s envisioned walking through the bottom of the Red Sea as their escape route?), but if we are humble, faithful and submissive, He will lead us through it all.
This is not to imply that there will not be challenges, tests, pain, suffering, or loss of life, or loved ones. These elements have always been a part of our mortal sojourn, and will continue to school and refine us along the way. But what it does mean, is that in understanding His will, His plan, and His blessing, we can, and will have peace even in the midst of the storms that will be raging around us.
Many of the above mentioned prophesies have been fulfilled, in varying degrees. Some are in process of being fulfilled, even as this is being written. And some further have yet to be fulfilled, but who’s foundations appear to be right on our doorstep.
At the focal point of all of these signs, past, present and future, is the loving, outstretched hand of our Lord, and Savior, Jesus Christ.
It was His mission, for which the Father prepared Him from the beginning.
It was His sacrifice, to which every righteous offering pointed, prior to His birth.
It was His birth, to which all His early prophets looked and foretold.
It was His coming, for which all Israel watched and hoped for their deliverance.
It was His life, which showed us each how to live.
It was His teachings, which guide us carefully along life’s path
It was His atonement, which paid the price for all our sorrows, and brings us back into the presence of our Heavenly Father once more.
It was His death, which broke the bands of death itself, that we might live again.
It was His resurrection, which gives us the promise that we too will rise again.
It is His Father, to whom He leads us now, and to whom we give glory, praise, and honor, for all these marvelous preparations in our humble behalf.
Through these God given signs, the Lord marks our progress, and beckons us ever forward to greater faith, hope and charity. Through these signs, the Lord comforts and leads His children, as the testimony of the Holy Ghost bears undeniable witness.
As the Prophet Joseph Smith mentioned on one occasion: “We shall… do well to discern the signs of the times as we pass along, that the day of the Lord may not ‘overtake us as a thief in the night.'”
The study of these signs, has blessed my life greatly, and has testified, (and continues so to do) that the Lord has not left his children alone, nor will He as the darkness intensifies. As the Savior put it:
“Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; they walls are continually before me.”
Even so, the fulfillment and prevalence of these prophesies testify (nearly every day now) that the Lord has not forgotten His children! There are challenges and difficulties ahead, yes, but the messages he is sending, and the light that waits just beyond them cannot be denied.
My hope is that sharing my testimony in some of these subjects will be of help to others with similar questions. And that The Light which has been shared with me, may be shared with all of God’s children.
That Light, is Jesus Christ.
Jared