Last Days

[nbent412]

I know that there is, of course, no official knowledge of exactly when the Second Coming is going to happen, and I know that everyone has differing opinions on this: do you think that the Second Coming will happen in your lifetime?

[LeSellers]

I think it will be soon. I am old, but I think that I will see it before I die. But, whether I do or do not, it won't make a great deal of difference. I hope I am prepared either way.

Lehi

[nbent412]

I think so too. I'm not old, but I also think it is coming soon.

[Guest]

I hope so, but then I don't feel ready. 

[nbent412]

Even in my relatively short lifetime I've seen the world falling into evil more and more

[Guest LiterateParakeet]

Not mine but perhaps my husband and children's.

[mirkwood]

The Second Coming?  No.  A lot of the major events that precede it?  Yes.

[mrmarklin]

Not in my lifetime nor my children's. A lot of things must happen according to the prophecies.

[Guest]

I was thinking it could happen really soon, then we had a lesson on it yesterday (Gospel Principles Class) and the manual mentions Jesus leading the Church government in Missouri and then I thought that's not happening anytime soon.

[Guest]

As far as I'm aware, everything that needs to happen prior to the advent of Armageddon could easily take place within a 5 year period.  Armageddon has only one timeframe I'm aware of and it could be over within another 5 years.

 

So, it could be in as little as 8 years.

[Blackmarch]

No idea I both wish for it and not for it to be quite yet.

[omegaseamaster75]

As far as I'm aware, everything that needs to happen prior to the advent of Armageddon could easily take place within a 5 year period.  Armageddon has only one timeframe I'm aware of and it could be over within another 5 years.

 

So, it could be in as little as 8 years.

Heck why don't you pick a date for us...

[Blackmarch]

As far as I'm aware, everything that needs to happen prior to the advent of Armageddon could easily take place within a 5 year period.  Armageddon has only one timeframe I'm aware of and it could be over within another 5 years.

 

So, it could be in as little as 8 years.

I'd wager it could take less than that.

IMO i'm tending to lean toward that the fire spoken of is going to be nuclear in nature.

[NeedleinA]

My grandfather (very active, Stake President, etc) was confident he would be alive for it. He passed away 6-7 years ago. Oops. I think it is a subject that generates anxiety for a lot of folks and there have been people for generations thinking they could be around for it. 

 

Using evil in the world or frequency of natural disasters as a measure of the impending end makes me giggle.

 

Like others have said. Either way if it comes in my lifetime or not, doesn't really matter to me. I'll never be as prepared as I think I should be, so I'm not going to beat myself up over it. 

Edited December 7, 2015 by NeedleinA

[Guest]

Heck why don't you pick a date for us...

 

Sure.  Jan 21st 2025   Just call me Harold Camporending.

 

Seriously, the poll is just an "I wonder" anyway.  I don't know why you're choosing to get your nose bent out of shape the issue.  The point I was making is that while none of us know when it will be, it is an invalid argument to say that "too much still needs to happen".  Things can happen very quickly if need be.

Edited December 7, 2015 by Guest

[zil]

All humans are immortal.  Therefore, our lifetime consists of eternity past through eternity future, without beginning or end.  Therefore, yes, the second coming will occur within my lifetime (unless it doesn't occur at all, but that's just silly).

 

Alternately, I think the second coming began in the early 1800s, so I think the proper question is whether it will finish in my lifetime.  For the answer to that, see above and below.

 

Finally, I think the second coming (for me) will get a whole lot closer in the moment I die or shortly thereafter (assuming it doesn't happen before I die).  So even if it doesn't "finish" in my mortal lifetime, it'll come close enough (for me) to make no difference.

 

:)

[JojoBag]

There is no question that we are one or two short years away from the judgments of God being unleased.  Here is an excerpt from the prophecy, "A Dream."

 

 

"Son, I perceive thou hast grave anxieties over the perilous state of thy country, that thy soul has felt deep sorrow for its future. I have therefore come to thy relief and to tell thee of the causes that have led to this peril. Hear me attentively. Seventy-one years ago, after an awful apostasy of centuries, in which all nations were shrouded in spiritual darkness, when the angels had withdrawn themselves, the voice of prophets hushed, and the light of Urim and Thummim shone not, and the vision of the seers was closed, while heaven itself shed not a ray of gladness to lighten a dark world, when Babel ruled and Satan laughed, and church and priesthood had taken their upward flight, and the voice of nations, possessing the books of the Jewish prophets, had ruled against vision and against Urim, against the further visits of angels, and against the doctrine of a church of apostles and prophets, thou knowest that then appeared a mighty angel with the solemn announcement of the hour of judgment, the burden of whose instructions pointed to dire calamities upon the present generation. This, therefore, is the cause of what thou seest and the end of the wicked hasteneth."

My vision now became extended in a marvelous manner, and the import of the past labors of the Elders was made plain to me. I saw multitudes fleeing to the place of safety in our mountain heights. The church was established in the wilderness. Simultaneously the nation had reached an unparalleled prosperity, wealth abounded, new territory was acquired, commerce extended, finance strengthened, confidence was maintained, and peoples abroad pointed to her as the model nation, the ideal of the past realized and perfected, the embodiment of the liberty sung by poets, and sought for by sages.

"But," continued the messenger, “Thou beholdest a change. Confidence is lost. Wealth is arrayed against labor, labor against wealth, yet the land abounds with plenty for food and raiment, and silver and gold are in abundance. Thou seest also that letters written by a Jew have wrought great confusion in the finances of the nation which, together with the policy of many wealthy ones, has produced distress and do presage further sorrow."

Factions now sprang up as if by magic; capital had entrenched itself against labor throughout the land; labor was organized against capital. The voice of the wise sought to tranquilize these two powerful factors in vain. Excited multitudes ran wildly about; strikes increased; lawlessness sought the place of regular government. At this juncture I saw a banner floating in air whereon was written the words Bankruptcy, Famine, Floods, Fire, Cyclones, Blood, Plague. Mad with rage men and women rushed upon each other. Blood flowed down the streets of cities like water. The demon of bloody hate had enthroned itself on the citadel of reason; the thirst for blood was intenser than that of the parched tongue for water. Thousands of bodies lay untombed in the streets. Men and women fell dead from the terror inspired by fear. Rest was but the precursor of the bloody work of the morrow. All around lay the mournfulness of a past in ruins. Monuments erected to perpetuate the names of the noble and brave were ruthlessly destroyed by combustibles. A voice now sounded aloud these words, “Yet once again I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word yet once again signifies the removing of things that are shaken, as of things that are made; that those things that cannot be shaken may remain."

Earthquakes rent the earth in vast chasms, which engulfed multitudes; terrible groanings and wailings filled the air; the shrieks of the suffering were indescribably awful. Water wildly rushed in from the tumultuous ocean whose very roaring under the mad rage of the fierce cyclone, was unendurable to the ear. Cities were swept away in an instant, missiles were hurled through the atmosphere at a terrible velocity and people were carried upward only to descend an unrecognized mass. Islands appeared where ocean waves once tossed the gigantic steamer. In other parts voluminous flames, emanating from vast fires, rolled with fearful velocity destroying life and property in their destructive course. The seal of the dread menace of despair was stamped on every human visage; men fell exhausted, appalled and trembling. Every element of agitated nature seemed a demon of wrathful fury. Dense clouds, blacker than midnight darkness, whose thunders reverberated with intonations which shook the earth, obscured the sunlight. Darkness reigned, unrivalled and supreme.

Again the light shone, revealing an atmosphere tinged with a leaden hue, which was the precursor of an unparalleled plague whose first symptoms were recognized by a purple spot which appeared on the cheek, or on the back of the hand, and which, invariably, enlarged until it spread over the entire surface of the body, producing certain death. Mothers, on sight of it, cast away their children as if they were poisonous reptiles. This plague, in grown persons, rotted the eyes in their sockets and consumed the tongue as would a powerful acid or an intense heat. Wicked men, suffering under its writhing agonies, cursed God and died, as they stood on their feet, and the birds of prey feasted on their carcasses.

I saw in my dream the messenger again appear with a vial in his right hand, who addressing me said: “Thou knowest somewhat of the chemistry taught in the schools of human learning, behold now a chemistry sufficiently powerful to change the waters of the sea.”

He then poured out his vial upon the sea and it became putrid as the blood of a dead man, and every living soul therein died. Other plagues followed I forbear to record.

A foreign power had invaded the nation which, from every human indication, it appeared would seize the government and supplant it with monarchy. I stood trembling at the aspect, when, lo, a power arose in the west which declared itself in favor of the constitution in its original form ; to this suddenly rising power every lover of constitutional rights and liberties throughout the nation gave hearty support. The struggle was fiercely contested, but the stars and stripes floated in the breeze, and, bidding defiance to all opposition, waved proudly over the land. Among the many banners I saw, was one inscribed thus: "The government based on the Constitution, now and forever;" on another “Liberty of Conscience, social, religious, and political."

  The Contributor, Aug 1894

 

It's easy to figure out where we are now.

[Crypto]

I'd wager it could take less than that.

IMO i'm tending to lean toward that the fire spoken of is going to be nuclear in nature.

Global warming is an alternative. A bit less exciting though.

[zil]

Global warming is an alternative. A bit less exciting though.

I dunno, the earth spiraling into the sun sounds pretty exciting.

[Sunday21]

I don't think it will happen in my lifetime. The crime rate in my country has fallen dramatically. Such a trend is a good sign. My students are actually more concerned with ethics and treating others well than my generation.

[mrmarklin]

As far as I'm aware, everything that needs to happen prior to the advent of Armageddon could easily take place within a 5 year period. Armageddon has only one timeframe I'm aware of and it could be over within another 5 years.

So, it could be in as little as 8 years.

You're forgetting the prophecy in Daniel that states that before the day the gospel will fill the whole world. We're a long way from that IMNSHO.

[Guest]

You're forgetting the prophecy in Daniel that states that before the day the gospel will fill the whole world. We're a long way from that IMNSHO.

 

I'm afraid we've read differing interpretations of that prophecy.  Scriptures do not say that the stone will fill the whole earth PRIOR to the Millennium or prior to Armageddon.  Do you know of a quote by general authorities that say it will?

 

What we HAVE been told is that the gospel will be PREACHED in all nations of the earth.  And that has already happened.  Not every nation has accepted it.  But it has been preached in every nation and tongue to every kindred on the earth.

 

If I'm wrong, ok.  How long before we could have at least one stake in every nation on earth? Not long.  If the Lord wills it, entire stakes could be moved into new nations within a month.  I'd say a stake in every nation counts.

 

As of today, there remain maybe a dozen nations on earth that do NOT have a stake in it.

Edited December 8, 2015 by Guest

[Crypto]

I dunno, the earth spiraling into the sun sounds pretty exciting.

HAHA 

Maybe more terrifying than exciting           

Edited December 8, 2015 by Crypto

[nbent412]

I'm afraid we've read differing interpretations of that prophecy.  Scriptures do not say that the stone will fill the whole earth PRIOR to the Millennium or prior to Armageddon.  Do you know of a quote by general authorities that say it will?

 

What we HAVE been told is that the gospel will be PREACHED in all nations of the earth.  And that has already happened.  Not every nation has accepted it.  But it has been preached in every nation and tongue to every kindred on the earth.

 

If I'm wrong, ok.  How long before we could have at least one stake in every nation on earth? Not long.  If the Lord wills it, entire stakes could be moved into new nations within a month.  I'd say a stake in every nation counts.

 

As of today, there remain maybe a dozen nations on earth that do NOT have a stake in it.

As of right now the church does not have a presence in 33 countries. That is not including countries like Afghanistan, that only have 1 branch. So its a bit more than a dozen. And the majority of those countries are Islam dominated and lacking very much religious freedom. But some of those countries do have a few members in them, just not any congregations. So if you take those countries out, it's probably closer to a dozen.

Edited December 8, 2015 by nbent412

[Guest]

Actually, there are more than are publicly known.  There are several countries that have "effectively" a stake or more.  But due to some nation's laws, we're not allowed to publicly advertise them.  And due to some logistical issues that arise from them, they cannot be formally categorized as a stake.  But in number of people and functionality, they are very close to a stake.

 

Many of the Muslim nations have such congregations.  They do not show up on the church meetinghouse locator.  But they are there. I know because I was about to move to one area that had such a congregation.  Other friends I know have also either "almost gone" or did actually go.