Signs of the Times

Today I read Luke 21 which is the Savior telling His Apostles about the destruction of Jerusalem and His Second Coming. It got me thinking, why does His Second Coming need to be proceeded with such destruction? The scriptures state that there will be wars, rumors of wars, famines, nature in upheaval and all sorts of unhappy things occurring. And it got me wondering, why does it need to be that way? Obviously, Heavenly Father could have the world be anyway He wants it to be and while He may not be able to control the influence Satan has over the people of the world and so He may not be able to stop the wars and things that are caused by the evil of people, but He surely could stop the natural disasters if He desired. So why does it need to be this way?

I think it has to do with the caliber of people that are currently inhabiting the earth. I am a firm believer in opposite emotions being very similar. What I mean by that is, the people who are most good, have the most propensity for evil. I do believe that Satan used to be one of the nicest people in all of creation before he fell. This is partially on my own observations. As any of my closest friends or family will tell you, I am one of the most laid back, calm and nicest people you could ever hope to meet. But as my former room mates will tell you, when I lose my temper, I have a vicious streak a mile wide that is not pretty, I actually really scared one of my room mates the first time it happened. When I realized that, it got me thinking about this very thing, opposite emotions, almost like two sides of the same coin. I think that the stronger one is in a certain emotion, they have a strong likely hood to be just as strong in the other direction, be it for good or for bad. I bring this up because the world is currently more crazy than it has ever been. Sin is everywhere and it can be a truly scary place. And I think it is because of who is here on the earth at this time.

We have been told by General Authorities that we have been saved for these latter-days of the earth and that we are some of the strongest the church has ever seen. That is both good, and bad. I do not believe that God would save both His choicest and worst spirits for the same time period. I think that unfortunately, some that should be doing what is right, have given in to their basest desires and because they were some of the strongest, they have fallen the hardest and so are causing atrocities. Of course there is always the theory that these things have always been going on throughout time but we now have the technology to track and hear about it all the time. I'm really not sure but I personally believe that things were not always this bad and that it has to do with the type of people that are here on the earth at this time.

So that brings us to the more controllables, the weather. Now, there are those who would deny that the weather is actually not worse than it was years ago, even some Latter-day Saints whether from some form of denial or some other reason, I don't know. But I can tell you that I remember what the weather was like 20 years ago as a child and it is very different today. I can remember rainstorms that would go on for hours as a child, thunderstorms that would rock me to sleep as surely as my mother singing a lullaby. These days the thunderstorms are violent and scary with winds that can quite literally push your car off the road. Last night alone as I was preparing to leave work the wind was so violent that we all thought a tornado was headed our way and at one point I could not get the door open at work the wind was so strong!

Now, some organizations that exist to save the planet might argue that we have done this to ourselves, and they might be right. I remember how things were before my mission in my home state of Kentucky and how they were afterwards and after college and they were very different, especially in the amount of wind. It may seem like a small thing, but when I returned home from college there was a LOT more wind on a daily basis than there ever was before I left for my mission. I believe that is because of cutting down forests to develop more land and build more homes. So some of it is the natural consequences of our own actions. But what about all the earthquakes that have been happening in recent years and the tsunamis and the tornadoes? I never remember hearing about devastating earthquakes as a child and a teenager, but in the past 10 years it seems there is at least 1 per year in places you would never hear of having an earthquake 20 years ago. The fact of the matter is, nature is in upheaval and it is a sign of the times, per Jesus Himself.

The good news is, if we are prepared we need not fear. Now, this does NOT mean we will be protected. Far from it, the scriptures are full of stories of righteous people meeting an untimely demise. What it means is, if we are called home to meet God, if we are prepared, we need not fear the judgement and our lot in the eternities, we will be prepared for whatever comes our way. If we are living the Gospel as we should, then we do not need to fear whatever comes our way because this life is meant to be temporary and prepare us for what is next. And if you think about it, that is a comforting thought. Until tomorrow.