The End of the World!!!

Actually, this title is more literal than you probably all realize. This has been on my brain for the last long while and since this is the only "journal" I have, I'm going to write it here. I'll try to make this as not obnoxious as possible.
Okay so I'm going to use a talk by President Benson as reference, so please don't think I'm just smart and I know all this stuff. The Benson talk was given in the New Era in 1982. It's called "Prepare yourself for the great day of the Lord." If your interested in the signs of the second coming, this is a great talk because it's for the youth, which means another good title for it would be, "Signs of the Times for Dummies." Anybody could understand this talk. So we're going to go through this talk together, and it's going to be really fun. Ready? (There will be a prize at the end of this shpeel.)
So in D&C 45: 28-30 it talks about the "Times of the Gentiles". President Benson says that's the time when the gospel is restored to the Earth to the Gentiles to the time that the Gentiles reject it (remember if you are an active believing member of the church you are no longer considered a Gentile) and it is preached to the Jews. So that's the times we are in now. When the "Times of the Gentiles" are fulfilled then Jesus is already here.
Now here are the signs that denote the end of the "Times of the Gentiles" is at the doorstep:

1. And in that day shall be heard of wars and rumors of wars, and the whole earth shall be in commotion, and men’s hearts shall fail them, and they shall say that Christ delayeth his coming until the end of the earth.
“And the love of men shall wax cold, and iniquity shall abound.” (D&C 45:26–27.)

Joy's thoughts: Do we really need to discuss this sign. Everybody is in agreement that this is already happening and have been agreeing with it since WWI. We just didn't realize during that time it would get as bad (and therefore obvious) as it is now and we don't know how bad it can still get.

2. “And again, this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come, or the destruction of the wicked” (JST, Matt. 24:32).

Joy's thoughts: Now this is worth discussing. Everybody in the church (or maybe it's just a Taiwan mission thing) likes to talk about the time that China is going to be opened up so we can get our missionaries in there and start preaching. Well I don't know if ya all know what's going on in Mainland China (because I never knew anything about the rest of the world when I was in the States), but it's crazy. First of all, there's the Olympics of course. Then there was the Tibetan riots which has raised more awareness and protests that are affecting the Chinese government (please don't think I think it's good that people are using the Olympics as a protest move. I think that's crappy. If you want to protest China's government, I'm totally behind you, but leave the Olympics out of it. Too many people have worked too hard to get there for it to be ruined by the Chinese government). Now there's this whole Myanmar crisis. The Myanmar government has just gotten in trouble with foreign governments because of some demonstrating Monks (how the news got out of the country that some monks were protesting, I don't know) that mysteriously dissappeared, and now the cyclone that has killed more than 100,000 people. Their government has never given visas out before, and now they're being forced to (although they are still resisting the United States. I wonder how many of those 100,000 people died because of the cyclone and how many died because the government cares more about saving face than saving their people). Is anybody else seeing what I'm seeing. China is more quickly than slowly being forced to open up to the outside world. Of course I could be wrong, but...
And just as an added point, here is a direct quote from Presiden Benson on the subject, "Satan, that great adversary to all men, is attempting to destroy all we hold dear. The greatest system of slavery ever devised by the forces of evil—communism—has been imposed on over one billion of the earth’s inhabitants." so there you go.

3.“For after your testimony cometh the testimony of earthquakes, that shall cause groanings in the midst of her, and men shall fall upon the ground and shall not be able to stand.
“And also cometh the testimony of the voice of thunderings, and the voice of lightnings, and the voice of tempests, and the voice of the waves of the sea heaving themselves beyond their bounds.
“And all things shall be in commotion; and surely, men’s hearts shall fail them, for fear shall come upon all people.” (D&C 88:89–91.)

Joy's comments: Let's just look at some of the major events that have happened from 2004 to 2007. (These are all copied from another website, so once again, not my work)

year 2007

Nov.14
Chile

Thousands homeless after quake Map of Tocopilla Chile
Thousands may have to sleep in the streets after a 7.7 magnitude earthquake rattled the north part of the country, killing at least 2 people
There are 1,200 houses, at least, that were totally flattened


Aug.15
Peru Deadly earthquake strikes
All but one of the deaths were in the coastal province of Ica, about 165 miles south of Lima
The earthquake struck at 18.4 and lasted for several minutes. In Lima, buildings shook violently, prompting residents to take to the streets


Apr.1
Solomon Islands
13 dead from tsunami 2 earthquakes and a tsunami hit the western part of the island-chain nation. 10 to 20 people were missing

Mar.6
Sumatra
Quake kills at least 70 A powerful 6.3-magnitude earthquake is injuring hundreds more as buildings collapsed. The quake followed by strong aftershocks

Year 2006

Jul.17
Indonesia
650 dead as quake triggers tsunami A 7.2 earthquake off the coast of Java and a tsunami has killed 37 people, but the death toll is expected to rise

May.27
Indonesia
Java quake kills 6,000
20,000 people have been hurt and 200,000 left homeless. The quake hit at 0554 local time. The quake, measuring 6.3, is hitting a densely-populated area on the southern coast. People fled as their homes collapsed around them.

Year 2005

Oct.7
Pakistan
Major quake kills thousands
A magnitude 7.6 earthquake epicenter was 60 miles north-northeast of Islamabad and 6 miles below the surface. Most of the dead were in the Pakistani-controlled part of Kashmir, followed by the North-West Province

Mar.28
Indonesia
Quake kills at least 300 on island of Nias A major earthquake struck off the west coast of Indonesia but fears of another tsunami have faded

Year 2004


Dec.26
Indonesia
Asia quake death toll 13,000 Massive tsunamis triggered by the largest earthquake to shake the planet in more than 40 years wiped out coastal areas
Sri Lanka
Asia quake death toll tops 4,700
Aceh
9.0 Quake leaves 212,000 dead
People across Asia are flocking to morgues seeking lost loved ones after tsunamis swept across the Indian Ocean. A great undersea earthquake occurred at an epicenter off the west coast of Sumatra. The earthquake triggered tsunamis along the coasts of landmasses bordering the Indian Ocean, killing large people and...
(I remember this one. There wasn't anybody here that wasn't affected)

These are just earthquakes. I haven't even gotten into storms or floods (need we be reminded of Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans? and do I really need to bring up Myanmar again?).

4. “And there shall be men standing in that generation, that shall not pass until they shall see an overflowing scourge; for a desolating sickness shall cover the land.
“But my disciples shall stand in holy places, and shall not be moved; but among the wicked, men shall lift up their voices and curse God and die.
“And there shall be earthquakes also in divers places, and many desolations; yet men will harden their hearts against me, and they will take up the sword, one against another, and they will kill one another.” (D&C 45:31–33.)

Joy's comments: Now there grantedly have been a lot of scourges in the land over the past 20 years (i.e. AIDS, Bird flu, SARS, Remember that killer bee thing?) I think to some extent this is what this prophesy is talking about, but lets talk about Myanmar again for a second. I believe what is killing most of those people is not the cyclone but the aftermath; not enough food, and more important, not enough water. No medical supplies. They say the air stinks there because of the smell of decomposing bodies. That can't be a healthy environment even if you do have the water you need. Is this not a scourge. Point # 3 talks about all the calamitiest that are going to be happening. Think of the scourges left in their wake. And isn't it interesting that God says, "But my disciples shall stand in holy places and shall not be moved." What does that mean? His disciples are the ones who follow his commandments. Their home is a holy place when they are doing what they are supposed to be doing. (There is a point to all this.) Does anyone else feel right now that the church is pushing food storage, 72 hour kits, and money management more now than they ever have before? I mean we're talking the ten virgins right now. Speaking of which, has that story bothered anyone else besides me? It used to kill me that they wouldn't share even a little bit of their oil. I mean, aren't they Christian? And I appreciate the fact that this parable is about spiritual preparation and you can't give your faith to someone when the time is up, but is it just about spiritual preparation? Let's say there were two members of the church living in Myanmar when this crisis happened. One member had prepared 72 hour kits for his family and one had not...lets go one step further and say you were the one that had not, would you feel comfortable asking the person who was prepared for a portion of their water? What if you were the one prepared? You don't know how long you will be in this crisis and if you help one person, everyone would want the help. Would you be willing to sacrifice your family so no one would servive, including the one's you helped? You wouldn't be able to share even if you wanted to.

5. And they shall see signs and wonders, for they shall be shown forth in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath.
“And they shall behold blood, and fire, and vapors of smoke.
“And before the day of the Lord shall come, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon be turned into blood, and the stars fall from heaven.” (D&C 45:40–42.)

Joy's comments: Honestly I have no new or interensting insights into this. It's a rare occasion that I ever get to see the sky because of the pollution around here...which may actually be an insight in and of itself.

Those are pretty much the signs that President Benson's talk talks about. Then he talks about the three "comings" of Christ. The first is going to be to His people in Adam-Ondi-Ahmen (I don't know if that's spelled right). That's right. If you don't want to be right in the middle of the wars that are going to be going on, you are going to have to head for Adam-Ondi-Ahmen because that's the only place where there's not going to be fighting. There will be one secret meeting for Christ and the leaders of the church and then one for the rest of us and I've already got my place picked out. I can't wait!

Once someone I know told me there wouldn't be a second coming. Said person said to me, "They've been talking about the end of the world for years and years and it's never happened." I realized this week that I have this attitude. They've been talking about 72 hour kits for years and years, but we haven't used them. It can wait for a few more months. They've been talking about food storage for years and years, but there's never been a time that I couldn't get food when I needed it. This probably isn't urgant. But today my co-worker was just telling me that in Washington State (and maybe all the states for all I know) grains are being rashioned. You can only buy so many bags of rice (and it's incredibly expensive rice) at one time. Other foods are getting more and more expensive. In Haiti there's a famine. Jobs are becoming more and more scarce. The stock market is worse than it was when the great depression happened...

Conclusion?: Aaaaaaah!

As for the prize...patience is a virtue. I'll be editing this post with it tonight.