I've been thinking about how tricky satan is. It seems like we are hearing weekly in the news about a natural disaster. And every time I hear about a new earthquake I think to myself "its a sign of the second coming of Christ, I need to get my life in order." And then I get distracted and waste my time doing something else.
So here are some of the signs (there are lots more) that I believe are happening right now (from LDS.org):
"The prophets have warned that the earth will experience great turmoil, wickedness, war, and suffering. The prophet Daniel said that the time before the Second Coming would be a time of trouble such as the earth has never known (see Daniel 12:1). The Lord said, “The love of men shall wax cold, and iniquity shall abound” (D&C 45:27). “And all things shall be in commotion; and … fear shall come upon all people” (D&C 88:91). We can expect earthquakes, disease, famines, great storms, lightnings, and thunder (see Matthew 24:7; D&C 88:90). Hailstorms will destroy the crops of the earth (see D&C 29:16).
Jesus told his disciples that war would fill the earth: “Ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars. … For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom” (Matthew 24:6–7). These wars will continue until a great and final war, the most destructive the world has known. In the midst of this war the Savior will appear. (See Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 732.)
Many of these signs are being fulfilled. Wickedness is everywhere. Nations are constantly at war. Earthquakes and other calamities are occurring. Many people now suffer from devastating storms, drought, hunger, and diseases. We can be certain that these calamities will become more severe before the Lord comes."
Here's an article on some Science & Technology website that I read today:
"There has been a "dramatic" rise in natural disasters during the past decade, the director of the Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) said on Thursday.
"The number of events have gone up very, very dramatically," CRED Director Debarati Guha-Sapir said in Geneva.
During the 2000 to 2009 period, there were 385 disasters, an increase of 233 percent since 1980 to 1989, and of 67 percent since 1990 to 1999, according to CRED data.
Though earthquakes made up 60 percent of natural disasters from 2000 to 2009, climate-related events, such as droughts, storms and floods, have made up the majority of disasters overall, increasing tenfold since data was first collected in 1950."
There are signs all around us. Not just natural disasters. Look at the state of our nation? Joseph Smith prophesied that the government "would hang by a thread." And there are lots of good signs... the gospel will spread to all nations, the restoration of the church, the coming forth of the Book of Mormon.
So why are we (I) so complacent? I'm blaming Satan....ok, and my own laziness. But I never really thought about it alot, but Satan uses distraction as a tool. There are lots of distractions, even good ones, like a giggling two year old. But I let myself get distracted by movies, TV, hobbies, internet, cell phones, whatever. It seems like I let myself get distracted by anything and everything before I'll spend an hour of my day studying the scriptures, doing my church calling, serving my neighbors, praying, etc. But its so important, especially now, to be doing what I know I should. The signs are there, Christ will be coming to the earth again soon, and I'm not ready. Now is the time to get our lives in order!
2 comments:
"These wars will continue until a great and final war, the most destructive the world has known."
It may seem like these wars all over the world are destructive, however compare to the ancient wars between Rome and Carthage (264-201 BC). The 1st and 2nd Punic wars were some of the biggest ugliest wars this planet has ever seen. The armies consisted of hundreds of thousands one each side and it was standard practice to loose tens of thousands per battle. One of the worst battles say the romans loosing 80,000 soldiers in just ONE day. There did exists 3 large cities, that have been wiped off the map thanks to these wars. Namely the city of Carthage (north africa). Population near 1 million and most dead after the Roman Armies sacked the city, killing and raping everyone. The city was laid to waste.
Imagine a city like miami, or san diego being attacked like that and hundreds of thousands dyeing. So far over the last 9 years since 9-11, we've lost 6432 soldiers (that's both Afghanistan and Iraq) and estimates have the other side loosing around 100,000 to date. A lot of people to be sure, but a drop in the bucket in comparison.
Lets not forget the two cities in Japan that were destroyed. This world has known destruction like we in this generation can't even fathom. There needs to be some serious escalation before we get to the level of biblical prophesy.
Anonymous-
You are probably right. And yes, I can't fathom the world getting much more evil. I read the newspaper and read about chid molesters and children getting sold as sex slaves and I can't imagine ANYTHING worse. I'm sure it exists and it will get worse, but that is all the more reason to be making ourselves better people. To fight against all the horrible things in the world. To prepare ourselves and our families to survive in a world that is getting more violent and morally corrupt.
Thanks for your comment- you obviously know alot more about war than I do.
Post a Comment