SIGNS OF THE SECOND COMING CONCERNING WAR

(Taken from The Old Testament Student Manual, beginning on page 292 – only a small part is included here).

“At the very moment of the Second Coming of our Lord, all nations shall be gathered against Jerusalem to battle. The war of Armageddon, covering the entire area from Jerusalem to Megiddo (about 60 miles) and perhaps more, will be in progress. Then Christ will come as a thief, meaning unexpectedly. .. It is the battle described by Ezekiel as the war with Gog of the land of Magog. Gog is a symbolic name for the leader or leaders of this great evil power that will arise in the last days…an army of 200 million.

Obviously, this is an event of great importance to the world and the Lord has given a wealth of detail so that those who will listen can be prepared and comforted as the greatest war in the history of the world begins to unfold…Satan and Gog will be highly disciplined in warfare and virtually invincible. It will be partly through the aid of false religionists working miracles that so many people join in this unholy alliance…

On the Lord’s side will be two important participants in these great events. Bruce R. McConkie said, ‘No doubt they will be members of the Council of the Twelve or of the First Presidency of the Church…They shall have power like Elijah who called down fire from heaven.’ Isaiah called these prophets ‘two sons’ and said they were the only hope of deliverance for Israel because they would be ‘full of the fury of the Lord.’

The Apostle John showed that eventually the two prophets will be captured and killed by the opposing army and their bodies will be left in the streets of Jerusalem for three days and a half…During that time the army will ravage the city of Jerusalem and the remaining population of Israel…


In what will be one of the blackest moments of Israel’s history, just as it appears that they are about to be annihilated, the Lord’s fury will be unleashed upon the kingdoms of the world…the two prophets will be resurrected in the sight of the people and they will ascend up to heaven in a cloud with their enemies beholding them.

An earthquake will strike the earth, affecting the whole world. Earth’s land masses shall unite. Islands and continents shall become one land and the great deep shall return to its place in the north and the earth shall be like it was in the days before it was divided. The area around Jerusalem, which is now very hilly and steep, will be smoothed out and become like a plain. The Mount of Olives will be split in two, providing an avenue of escape for the house of Israel.
The armies of Gog will turn upon each other, perhaps in the panic and confusion of the great earthquake.

A great rain of fire and hail will shower down upon Gog with hailstones that will weigh a talent or about 75 pounds each. A plague will strike the army causing terrible disease and calamity. The result will be that only about one-sixth of the invading army will survive the Lord’s judgments and their power to make war will be destroyed. In Jerusalem itself, 7000 will be slain and one-tenth of the city destroyed.

So great will be the devastation that for seven years Israel will be able to live off the spoils of war left behind. It will take seven months to bury the dead. Armageddon signals the end of the world which is defined as the destruction of the wicked, but it prepares the way for the ushering in of the millennial reign of Christ and the era of peace that will endure for a thousand years.

Mankind will enter a remarkable period of righteousness, health, education, prosperity and security. The millennial era could not begin without the widespread destruction of the wicked. Therefore, while the battle of Armageddon is in and of itself a thing horrible to contemplate, it is necessary because of the wickedness of the world and ultimately it will play an important part in the Lord’s plan for the redemption of the earth.”

GOD DIRECTS HIS CHURCH

From the book, To the Rescue, The Biography of Thomas S. Monson, by Heidi S. Swinton, previously cited, page 411, we read:

“…Elder Monson designated a mission assignment for a young man, only to return back to it several times. Still not feeling right, he asked Elder Carlos Asay, a member of the Seventy who was assisting him in the assignment meeting, to read to him the whole file. In the initial review they had somehow missed the information that the young man had learned Spanish ‘at his mother’s knee.’ Elder Monson assigned him to a Spanish-speaking mission and the Spirit said, ‘Yes.’

‘It never ceases to amaze me how the Lord can motivate and direct the length and breadth of His kingdom,’ Elder Monson has said, ‘and yet have time to provide the inspiration on the call of a single missionary.’”

And then we read from page 422 of the same book:

“Elder Monson was assigned to the committee to handle Elder (Bruce R.) McConkie’s funeral, ‘quite an undertaking, with many aspects, all the way from security to flowers to speakers to funeral processions. One of those attending a planning meeting was Ronald D. John, new manager of Temple Square.

At the close of the meeting, Elder Monson called on one of the security men to say the prayer and asked if anyone in the room had heard what the weather forecast might be on Tuesday, the day of the funeral. It was the consensus opinion that the weather would be bad. He said to the man giving the prayer, ‘It can’t rain on Bruce’s funeral; please take care of that in your prayer, will you?’

Brother John later described his feelings in a letter: ‘Elder Monson, I have been a first counselor to two bishops; I’ve been a bishop two times; I’ve served on two high councils and I’m currently serving as the first counselor in a stake presidency. I’ve had some special experiences, but never have I felt what I felt in that room at that time. I never understood childlike faith until that moment. I had come to me an absolute knowledge that the elements would obey.’

He raced home and called his best friend, local television weatherman Mark Eubank and asked: ‘What will the weather be on Tuesday?’ Mark answered that the pattern of bad weather would stay for at least four or five more days. I then told him of my experience in your office…On Monday evening Mark alone forecast clear and warm weather until at least 3:00 PM on Tuesday.

You and Elder Packer were the last two to leave the cemetery. As you drove away, the large awning we had set up for the family almost blew down…As I looked toward the west, the black clouds were coming across the lake. Elder Monson, it wasn’t the sign that was the teacher but your example of absolute faith that I shall never forget.’”

A COINCIDENCE…I DON’T THINK SO…THERE ARE NO COINCIDENCES

You need to read the book entitled, To the Rescue, The Biography of Thomas S. Monson, by Heidi S. Swinton. Here’s a sample from page 165:

“One October the three members of the Temple View stake presidency were attending general priesthood meeting in the Tabernacle. They arrived two hours early, hoping to find good seats and were among the first to sit down. While they waited, President Percy K. Fetzer related an experience from his missionary days in Germany.

He told his counselors that one rainy night, when he and his companion were presenting a gospel message to a group assembled in a school house, a number of protestors showed up, threatening violence. At a critical moment, an elderly widow stepped between the elders and the angry crowd and said, ‘These young men are my guests and are coming to my home now. Please make way for us to leave.’

The challengers stepped back and the missionaries with their benefactress walked unharmed to her modest home. She prepared a meal and then the elders taught her the gospel. Her young son refused to join them, skulking behind the kitchen stove where it was warm.

‘While I don’t know if that woman ever joined the Church,’ said President Fetzer. ‘I’ll be forever grateful for her kindness that rain-drenched night thirty-three years ago.’
The Tabernacle benches had been filling as he had talked. Two brethren sitting directly in front of them were chatting like old friends, though they had just met.

‘Tell me how you came to be a member of the Church.’ Tom (Monson) overheard one ask the other. The brother responded and the three on the bench behind him heard his story:

‘One rainy night in Germany, my mother brought to our house two drenched missionaries whom she had rescued from a mob. Mother fed the elders and they presented to her a message concerning the work of the Lord. They invited me to join the discussion, but I was shy and fearful, so I remained secure in my seat behind the stove.

Later, when I once more heard about the Church, I remembered the courage and faith, as well as the message, of those two humble missionaries and this led to my conversion. I suppose I’ll never meet those two missionaries here in mortality, but I’ll be forever grateful to them. I know not where they were from. I think one was named Fetzer.’

At this point, the two counselors turned to look at President Fetzer. Tears were streaming down his cheeks. President Monson remembers that President Fetzer tapped the man on the shoulder and said, ‘I’m Bruder Fetzer. I was one of the two missionaries whom your mother befriended that night. I’m grateful to meet the boy who sat behind the stove - the lad who listened and who learned.”

Cecelia Peek Story (From a Talk given Nov 9th 2010 at BYU)

This is just a short paraphrase of her story which took about 30 minutes to tell. Sis Peek is now a BYU Professor of Classics and Ancient History, married and the mother of 4 children. The talk is entitled, "Yea. They May Forget, Yet I Will Not Forget Thee."

Many details of this story have been eliminated in order to save space. For those who want the full and complete account, I would refer you to the BYU Campus Devotionals at BYU/TV.org.

Sis Peek stated that when she was in high school, she knew that she wanted to serve a full time mission and believed that she would be sent to Germany and, in fact, was sent there.

When she arrived at the Frankfurt Germany Mission, she felt impelled to discover whether Cologne, Germany was part of her mission and indeed it was. It was at that point that she knew something important waited for her there, but she did not know what.

Her missionary companion said there were some family members of friends she had known in another part of Germany and that they should go to Cologne and visit them. Their last name was Moss. They did so several times on a street called Ruine Strasse, in a city of well over a million people, but the family was not home, despite visiting at various times of the day and night.

She and her companion finally decided to give up going there but the next day; in the mail they got a referral for Cologne, once again on Ruine Strasse.

They thought this was an unusual coincidence and discovered that the people of the referral were no longer interested and rather forcefully evicted them from their residence. Details of this departure were not remembered except that it involved a broom.

Since they were in the area, they tried the Moss family again, but they were not home. Once again the sister missionaries returned to their apartment but again, the next day, got another referral for another family on Ruine Strasse in Cologne only to discover that the referral had since moved to Israel. Yet again they returned to the Moss residence and found them, this time, at home.

When Sis Peek first saw Mr. Moss she suddenly understood that she knew him very well, but she couldn’t imagine how at first. After some discussion the Moss family agreed to visit the Church the following Sunday but when Sunday came they did not show up. Sis Peek was disappointed but a short time later they got a phone call from Mr. Moss, who said there had been a death in the family and they had not been able to meet them Sunday because of it.

Mr. Moss then said, “You know what I’m feeling don’t you?” “I do,” said Sis Peek, we have known each other before, as if we made a covenant in the pre-existence that whoever was favored with the Gospel in this life would share it with the other.” “Yes,” he said, “but I am afraid to read the Book of Mormon.” “Why,” she asked. “Because, every time I pick up the Book, I feel on fire, as if the Book was burning.”

After teaching the lessons to the family they were subsequently baptized and she has never forgotten the experience. It has given her a deep conviction that the Gospel is true. God remembers each of us and we lived in the pre-existence before we came to earth.

Paradise

The LDS Bible Dictionary reads: Paradise is a Persian word meaning a garden. It is not found in the O.T. In the N.T. it occurs in Luke 23:43, 2 Cor. 12:4, and Rev. 2:7. See also 2 Ne. 9:13; Alma 40:12, 14; 4 Ne. 1:14; Moro. 10:34; D&C 77:2, 5; cf. A of F 10.

Paradise is that part of the spirit world in which the righteous spirits who have departed from this life await the resurrection of the body. It is a condition of happiness and peace.

However, the scriptures are not always consistent in the use of the word, especially in the Bible. For example, when Jesus purportedly said to the thief on the cross, “To day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43), the Bible rendering is incorrect. The statement would more accurately read, “Today shalt thou be with me in the world of spirits” since the thief was not ready for paradise (see HC 5:424–25).

Possibly 2 Cor. 12:3-4 should also not use paradise in the sense of meaning the spirit world, as much as meaning the celestial kingdom.

3. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;)

4. How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

The “paradisiacal glory” of A of F 10 refers to the glorified millennial state of the earth rather than the spirit world.

10. We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.