1) The Fall and Resulting Curses Upon Earth & Her Inhabitants
2) Millennial Conditions
3) Cleansing of Earth Prior to the Millennium
4) Personal Preparations for the Millennium
5) Recommended Reading

This article is mainly the result of study and research.  This paper in no way pretends to be a full treatment on the subject of the millennium.  There are many excellent books which have been written about the last days and the millennial period.  This paper is intended mainly as a brief summary and warning to others that we are living in a time of tremendous transition.  For further references, see recommended reading at end of paper.

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1) The Fall and Resulting Curses Upon Earth & Her Inhabitants

When God first created the earth, it was beautiful to behold--moderate, temperate, peaceful, a true paradise.  God placed Adam and Eve in the garden, where fruits of every kind of tree were available to them.  They were surrounded by beauty and pleasant conditions.  There was no death or killing in the world, everything was peaceful and harmonious.

Since the day that Adam and Eve ate of the fruit and were expelled from the Garden of Eden, various curses have fallen upon the earth.  Some of the curses and changes that have fallen upon the earth and its inhabitants include:  the division of earth into different continents, climate changes (weather extremes--winters with cold and snow, summers with unbearable heat), the ground was cursed with weeds, thorns and thistles (Gen. 3:17-19), deserts and swamps; women were cursed with sorrow in childbirth and less than equal status with their mates (Gen. 3:16); different skin colors, different languages, division into different tribes, nations and classes, killing and bloodshed, conflict and war, eating of flesh for food instead of the fruits of the earth, sickness, shortened life span, ignorance, error, wickedness, crime, greed, pride, selfishness, love of money, division into rich and poor, poverty, bondage, theft, family disunity and lack of love, corrupt law, tyranny, and injustice (just to name a few).

The Prophet Isaiah stated: "The earth is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant."  He warns us of terrible desolation if men do not repent:  "Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left."  (Isa. 24:5-6)  However, in Revelations 22:3, we are promised the day where "there shall be no more curse."

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2--Millennial Conditions
Joseph Smith Jr. prophesied that the earth, during the Millennium, would be returned to its original glory:  "We believe that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory." (Article of Faith #10).  D&C 84:99 declares that "The Lord hath gathered all things in one."  (see also Eph. 1:10)  Indeed, the Lord will not only restore the earth to its original garden-like condition as when it was created, but he will unify the world by drawing all the continents into one, by returning the people to one language, and the people will be "one" or unified by their obedience to moral principles.  Many scriptures declare that this Millennial period of peace is to last for one thousand years.  As the Sabbath is the one day in seven in which man was to rest from his labors and worship the Lord, so the Millennium (the 7th thousand year period of the earth) is the Sabbath "Year" of the Lord.  For one thousand years, the earth will rest from wickedness, and all creation will rejoice and worship the Lord.  During this glorious time, the scriptures tell us that Christ will personally reign over the earth.  Not only will Christ appear to the people, but his laws will hold rule.  Satan will be bound and people will live in righteousness.  Peace will cover the earth.

Some of the changes which will occur to bring the earth back to its original condition include:
1) People to return to one pure language.
2) A new heaven...
3) And [a new] earth.
4) 10 Tribes to return.
5) Jews to be reconciled to Christ, to realize he is the long awaited Messiah.
6) People and animals to return to the Adamic (vegetarian) diet.
7) Animals to live safely, no more killing.
8) A time of peace.
9) A time of rejoicing.
10) A time of health and longevity.
11) Christ will reign personally over earth, his government and law will bear rule.
12) There will be two world capitols: the New Jerusalem on the American Continent and Old Jerusalem in the Middle East.
13) Satan to be bound.
14) The place of men and women restored
15) People to enjoy the fruits/rewards of their own labors--no one will cheat them out of the rewards of their labors.
16) Extensive Temple Work during the Millennium.
17) Knowledge of Secret Things, Hidden Things, True History and Knowledge, to be Revealed.
The Knowledge of God will Cover the Earth.

These changes (return to the original state) will be explained in a little more detail below.

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Millennial Changes
1) People to return to one pure language (Adamic).
Gen. 11:1 tells us that in the days of Adam, "the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech."  This unity in language was broken at the tower of Babel (Gen. 11:7-9).  As the children of Noah went out in colonies to cover the earth, hundreds of different languages developed.  The world today remains in this condition, divided into many different nations and languages.  In Zeph. 3:9, the Lord promises to "turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent."

2) A new heaven.... (Isa. 65:17)
After the Fall of Adam, "the earth no longer retained its standing in the presence of Jehovah; but was hurled into the immensity of space; and there to remain till it has filled up the time of its bondage to sin and satan." ("The Millennium," Part I, Times & Seasons, Vol. 3, No. 7, Nauvoo, Illinois, February 1, 1842; for "The Millennium," Part 2, see Vol. 3, No. 8).

At the glorious second coming of the Savior, "so great shall be the glory of His presence that the sun shall hide his face in shame, and the moon shall withhold its light, and the stars shall be hurled from their places." (D&C 133:49, see also Matt. 24:29)  Isaiah 13:13 tells us that "the earth will remove out of her place."  Since we know that the entire populated portions of the earth during the Millennium will enjoy a pleasant, moderate temperature, which will enable men to grow fruits and crops all year round, it is probable that the axis of the earth or position of the earth in relationship to the heavens will be altered."  "New heavens" may refer to different stars which will be seen in the sky after the earth is placed in its new position in the universe/galaxy.

3) And [a new] earth (Isa. 65:17)

(a) Earth to again become united as it was before the flood.
In the beginning, the earth was "one".  The scriptures record, briefly, that in the days of Peleg (approximately five generations from Noah after the Flood), "was the earth divided" (Genesis 10:25).  Modern scriptures inform us that the waters will be "driven back into the north countries, and the islands shall become one land: and the land of Jerusalem and the land of Zion shall be turned back into their own place, and the earth shall be like as it was in the days before it was divided" (D&C 133:23-24).  Isaiah refers to this union as a marriage: "thy land shall be married"  (Isa. 62:4).

(b) Earth to become a garden place.
Article of Faith #10 tells us that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.  The mountains shall be leveled, the valleys raised--(Rev. 16:20, Isa. 40:4, Ps. 97:5).  Afterwards, the land that previously was made desolate shall become like a garden (Ezek. 36:35).  "For the Lord shall comfort Zion: He will comfort all her waste places; and He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody." (Isa. 51:3)

After the upheavals of the last days, "the whole earth is at rest, and is quiet; they break forth into singing," (Isa. 14: 7).  Isaiah goes on to say that even the trees rejoice at the coming of Christ, for they are allowed to grow and live. (v. 8)

"Having restored the earth to the same glorious state in which it first existed; leveling the mountains, exalting the valleys, smoothing the rough places, making the deserts fruitful, and bringing all the continents and islands together, causing the curse to be taken off, that it shall no longer produce noxious weeds, and thorns and thistles......Thus, having cleansed the earth and glorified it with the knowledge of God, as the waters cover the sea, and having poured out his Spirit upon all flesh, both man and beast becoming perfectly harmless as they were in the beginning, and feeding on vegetable food only, while nothing is left to hurt or destroy in all the vast creation...." (Parley P. Pratt, A Voice of Warning)

4) Ten Tribes to Return
Anciently, God promised Abraham and his descendants the land of Canaan (Palestine).  God promised to bless the world through the descendants of Abraham.  Abraham's grandson was named Jacob or Israel, who had twelve sons.  After their escape from the land of Egypt, they were planted in the land of Canaan  (Palestine, or Israel), each of the twelve tribes receiving a portion of the land.  In the days of King Solomon's son, the tribes divided into two groups--the Northern Kingdom of Israel, or the Ten Tribes, and the Southern Kingdom of Judah.

In the days of Nebuchadnezzer, King of Babylon, the Northern Tribes of Israel were taken into captivity.  After residing in Babylon for a number of years, the tribes escaped northward during a time of political upheaval, and were not heard from again.  They became known as "The Lost Ten Tribes."

Article of Faith #10 states that "We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes."  In the Kirtland Temple, the Prophet Moses appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith and committed to him "the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north" (D&C 110:11).  D&C 133:26 informs us that "They who are in the north countries shall come in remembrance before the Lord; and their prophets shall hear his voice, and shall no longer stay themselves; and they shall smite the rocks, and the ice shall flow down at their presence" (see also Isa. 43:6 and Isa. 49:12).  The Ten Tribes will then come to Zion, where they will be received by the tribe of Ephraim who currently administer the affairs of the Lord's kingdom on the earth, they are the Saxons.  (D&C 133:32)

The breach and division between Judah and Ephraim (Isa. 9:21), which has existed since their division into the two kingdoms, shall be healed (Isa. 11:13).

5) Jews to be reconciled to Christ, to realize he is the long awaited Messiah.

In the meridian of time, God sent his son, Jesus Christ to the earth.  He was the Messiah whom the prophets had testified of since the beginning of time.  (I Nephi 10:4, Gen. 49:10, Ps. 1:6-7, Ps. 22:1, Matt. 27:46, Ps. 22:18-18, Matt. 27:35, Ps. 69:21, Matt. 27:34)  Although His coming in these last days will be in glory with power, during his mortal ministry, the Prophet Isaiah predicted that He would be rejected by men (Isa.53:3, Ps. 118:22, see also I Nephi 15:17), that he would suffer (Isa. 50 & 53), of his crucifixion (Isa. 22:22-25), and that he would be the Redeemer (Isa. 44:22).

The Jews who demanded his crucifixion declared "Let his blood be upon us, and upon our children." (Matt. 27:25)  No prophecy has been so literally fulfilled throughout history, as the Jews have suffered the wrath of the gentile nations, who have persecuted and killed them from generation to generation.

The Apostle John Taylor explained that "The Jews are cursed nationally, on account of their fathers' transgression, and cannot remove that curse, as a nation, until the time come.  As individuals, they can receive the gospel as well as others.  Their fathers committed grievous national offenses against God for some length of time, and finally filled up the measure of their iniquity, in rejecting, and crucifying the Son of God.  If they killed the prophets, and stoned those whom God sent, how could He treat ...them? He could act no other way consistently than to "destroy those husbandmen, and give the vineyard to others."  For if God be the proprietor of the vineyard, and has a right to confer national blessings for obedience, He has also a right to visit them with national curses for disobedience.  A nation rejecting God and his ordinances, and killing his prophets, and still professing to be his people, act hypocritically, and impose a great curse upon posterity.  And if men will not acknowledge God, how can they expect Him to acknowledge and bless them?"

Taylor then continues on to say that the curses upon the Jews will be reversed: "For nationally, the conduct of fathers has a great influence over their children, as well as in a family capacity.  Hence, the Jews will be blessed as a nation, in consequence of the promises made to Abraham..."  (John Taylor, The Government of God).

The ancient American Prophet Nephi taught his people about the prophecies of Isaiah "concerning the restoration of the Jews, or of the house of Israel; and after they were restored they should no more be confounded, neither should they be scattered again." (I Nephi 15:20).
Nephi prophesied that "it shall come to pass that the Jews which are scattered also shall begin to believe in Christ; and they shall begin to gather in upon the face of the land; and as many as shall believe in Christ shall also become a delightsome people" (2 Nephi 30:7).  It was also prophesied that the Lord will remember the covenant that he made with the Jews and with the House of Israel, and that "he will do unto them according to that which He hath sworn." (3 Nephi 29:8).

Two sources tell us about the turning of the Jews to Christ after His coming in the last days.  One source is from the Old Testament, the other from the Doctrine and Covenants.  After the Jews experience the tribulation of the last days, and many of them are destroyed, with the more faithful among them preserved, "And then shall the Jews look upon Me and say: What are these wounds in thine hands and in thy feet?  Then shall they know that I am the Lord; for I will say unto them: These wounds are the wounds with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.  I am he who was lifted up.  I am Jesus, that was crucified.  I am the Son of God.  And then shall they weep because of their iniquities; then shall they lament because they persecuted their king." (D&C 45:51-53)  (See also Zech. 13:6 and Zech. 12:10-11)

"And they also of the tribe of Judah, after their pain, shall be sanctified in holiness before the Lord, to dwell in His presence day and night, forever and ever."  (D&C 133:35).

6) People and animals to return to the Adamic (vegetarian) diet, AND
7) Animals to live safely, no more killing.

In the Garden of Eden, God gave man the fruits of the trees, and the beasts were given every green herb "for meat" (that is, for food) Gen 1:29-30.  There was no eating of flesh in the garden.  Expelled from the garden, Adam was directed to till the earth and raise crops (Gen 3:19).  After the flood, God allowed men to eat animal flesh, prohibiting the consumption of blood. (Gen. 9:3-5, see also Deut. 12:15-16).  Whereas Adam and Eve had lived peacefully with the animals in the garden, after the flood, it was declared that "the fear of you, and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth." (Gen. 9:2).

The Jews were given a dietary law by God, cautioned against eating certain foods. (Deut. 14).  The dietary law was not only given for health purposes (the heathen's eating habits being far worse than the limitations the Lord gave to the Jews), but it was also given to set them apart as a peculiar people, a people set apart to serve the Lord.

After Christ paid the price for sin, and appeared as a resurrected being unto the Nephites, he told them that his death and atonement had put an end to sacrifice by the shedding of blood:  "And ye shall offer up unto me no more the shedding of blood, yea, your sacrifices and your burnt offerings shall be done away, for I will accept none of your sacrifices and your burnt offerings." (3 Nephi 9:19, see also 3 Nephi 15:5).  Yet man continued to shed blood.

It was God's intent to help men prepare for the return to the Adamic diet by giving them a period of learning and transition.  Only three short years after the gospel was restored, God revealed the Word of Wisdom, a code of diet and health, to the Prophet Joseph Smith (1833, at Kirtland, Ohio).  In this revelation, the Saints were warned against the use of wine or strong drink, tobacco, and hot drinks.  They were encouraged to eat wholesome herbs, grains, and fruits grown under and above the ground.  They were cautioned to use meat sparingly (the flesh of beasts and fowls), the Lord telling them that it would please Him if they did not use flesh foods except in times of winter, cold, or famine, in other words, in times of need.  (D&C 89).

The Latter day Saints were slow in implementing the Lord's counsel, clinging to their dietary traditions.  It took several generations to wean them off alcohol, tobacco and coffee.  Today, the majority of the Saints still do not observe the counsel to eat meat sparingly, and are suffering the health consequences for ignoring the Lord's counsel.

God tells us that obedience to every law brings blessings (D&C 130:20-21), and disobedience, the forfeiture of blessings.  God revealed the Word of Wisdom not solely as a code for physical health, but because He knew that when man's body is free from contaminating, debasing or degenerating elements, his spirit is more open and receptive to receiving truth.  Saints who rationalize their noncompliance with this code are not cheating God, but themselves, out of great blessings and spiritual enlightenment.  (D&C 89:19).

Hyrum Smith, the brother of the Prophet Joseph Smith, wrote that God is "acquainted with the spring of health...He knows what course to pursue to restore mankind to their pristine excellency and primitive vigor and health; and He has appointed the Word of Wisdom as one of the engine to bring about this thing, to remove the beastly appetites, the murderous disposition and vitiated taste of man; to restore his body to health and vigor, promote peace between him and the brute creation...Why is it that we are frequently so dull and languid?  It is because we break the Word of Wisdom, disease preys upon our system, our understandings are darkened, and we do not comprehend the things of God; the devil takes advantage of us, and we fall into temptation...Let men attend to these instruction, let them use the things ordained of God; let them be sparing of the life of animals; it is pleasing saith the Lord, that flesh be used only in times of winter or of famine...Let these things be adhered to...we shall be healthy, strong and vigorous, we shall be enabled to resist disease; and wisdom will crown our councils, and our bodies will become strong and powerful, our progeny will become mighty, and will rise up and call us blessed: the daughters of Jesus will be beautiful, and her sons the joy of the whole earth; we shall prepare ourselves for the purposes of Jehovah for the kingdom of God for the appearance of Jesus in His glory,  "out of Zion the perfection of beauty,"  God will shine: Zion will be exalted, and become the praise of the whole earth." (Hyrum Smith, discourse, Times and Seasons, Vol. 3, No. 15, Nauvoo, Illinois, June 1, 1842).

But what will God do during the Millennium?  "And in that day, the enmity of man, and the enmity of beasts, yea, the enmity of all flesh, shall cease from before my face." (D&C 101:26).
"And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely."  (Hosea 2:18)  God establishes a covenant of peace, not only with people, but with the animals!

The prophet Isaiah explains this transition by linking traditional enemies (the predators and the prey), showing them at peace with one another:  "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.  And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox  And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.  They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain...." (Isa. 11:6-9, see also Isa. 65:24).  We are also informed that "the enmity between beast and beast shall be taken away, and they will eat vegetable food only, and no more devour the inferior beast to satisfy their appetite." (Times & Seasons, Vol. 3, No. 7, February 1, 1842.)

Apostle Parley P. Pratt summarizes the changes as follows:  "Next, we learn from Genesis 1:29,30--'And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree, yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.  And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat; and it was so.'  From these verses we learn, that the earth yielded neither nauseous weeds nor poisonous plants nor useless thorns and thistles; indeed, every thing that grew was just calculated for the food of man, beast, fowl and creeping thing; and their food was all vegetable; flesh and blood were never sacrificed to glut their souls, or gratify their appetites; the beasts of the earth were all in perfect harmony with each other; the lion ate straw like the ox--the wolf dwelt with the lamb--the leopard lay down with the kid--the cow and bear fed together, in the same pasture, while their young ones reposed, in perfect security, under the shade of the same trees; all was peace and harmony and nothing to hurt nor disturb, in all the holy mountain."
--Parley P. Pratt, Voice of Warning.

8) A time of Peace
The Millennial peace will be a welcome relief after the turbulent cleansing period of the last days, which will be highlighted by wars, pestilence, earthquake, lightning and fire.

Speaking of the cessation from war, Isaiah says: "and they shall beat their swords into plowshares [plows--for gardening] and their spears into pruninghooks; nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."  (Isa. 2:4, see also Psalm 46:9).  "Violence shall no more be heard in the land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates, Praise."  (Isa 60:18).

"Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them. (Psalm 119:165).

9) A time of rejoicing
"I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.  And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people; and the voice of weeping shall no be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying."  (Isa. 65:19).

10) A time of health and longevity
Children will no longer die prematurely in their infancy.  Isaiah tells us: "There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days; for the child shall die an hundred years old..." (Isa. 65:20).  "Wherefore, children shall grow up until they become old; old men shall die; but they shall not sleep in the dust [grave], but they shall be changed [resurrected] in the twinkling of an eye." (D&C 63:51, see also D&C 101:30-31).

Orson Pratt, speaking of the Millennium, declared that it would be a time "when sickness, pain and sorrow are banished from the earth, when darkness and error shall pale, when gold is used for paving streets, when men shall walk in pure white linen, and eat and drink of the fruits of the earth only, instead of flesh; when flowers bloom in eternal spring, and fruits ripen in profuse succession every month of the year; when children are born without pain and reared without sin....(Orson Pratt, Prophetic Almanac for 1846, New York: Messenger office, (1846?), No. 2.)
 

11) Christ to reign over the earth
"We believe...that Christ will reign personally upon the earth..." (Article of Faith #10).
"And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and His name one."   (Zech. 14:9).
"And the Lord, even the Savior, shall stand in the midst of his people, and shall reign over all flesh." (D&C 133:25, see also Isa. 12:6).
"In time ye shall have no king nor ruler, for I will be your king and watch over you" (D&C 38:21)
"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, of the increase of His government, and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David [Christ being a descendant of King David], and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever...." (Isa 9:6-7).
"The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice!"  (Psalm 97:1)

(a) The Second Coming of Christ

At his glorious Second Coming, Christ shall be dressed in red apparel.  (Isa. 63:2, D&C 133:48).  Red has at least dual (if not multiple) symbolism here.  (1) It is symbolic of his atoning sacrifice, in which he took upon himself the sins of all mankind, and so great was his agony, that he sweat blood from every pore (D&C 19:18).  (2) It is symbolic of blood and destruction, or the removal of the wicked before his appearance in glory. (D&C 88:106, D&C 133:48-51, Isa. 63:1-4)  The Second Coming of the Lord is prophesied to be "A Great and Dreadful Day." It will be a great day for the righteous, but a dreadful day for the wicked, who will be swept off the earth. (see below: "Pre-Millennial Cleansing of the Earth")  What is the message of the Lord unto all that dwell on the earth?  "Therefore, I command you to repent--repent, lest I smite you by the rod of my mouth, and by my wrath, and by my anger, and your sufferings be sore--how sore you know not, how exquisite you know not, yea, how hard to bear you know not."  (D&C 19:15), "and surely, every man must repent or suffer (D&C 19:4), for behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent, but if they would not repent, they must suffer even as I..." (D&C 19:16-17).  "For though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow." (Isa. 1:18).  God doesn't put conditions on repentance, he doesn't limit his forgiveness to certain degrees of sin--He is willing to forgive all who repent (D&C 58:42).  It is the unrepentant who will suffer the wrath of God.  (Isa. 1:20)

(b) During the Millennium, Christ and His Saints will reign upon the earth.

Throughout the ages of men, kingdoms have been founded by force and by the sword, by contention and bloodshed.  Men have usurped power to rule which did not belong to them.

George Bush, writing in 1832, identified the Dragon or Serpent mentioned in the scriptures, as Satan, and "Satan's seed" as "a vast society of wicked men," those who persecute the righteous and who have caused "untold sufferings of the mass of men...in all ages."  He explained that Satan uses "an array of organized instrumentalities in the form of tyrannical [despotic] governments, backed by false religions"[which he identified as corrupt and pagan religions], which are "upheld by the terrors of the sword, the rack, the block, and the dungeon." (George Bush, Treatise on the Millennium, New York: J & J Harper, 1832).

In contrast, God's government is characterized by freedom, agency, and liberty of conscience; by righteousness, justice and mercy.

The apostle John Taylor contrasts God's perfect government with the chaotic rule of man:  "The Kingdom of God is the government of God on the earth or in the heavens.  The earth, and all the planetary systems, are governed by the Lord; they are upheld by his power, and are sustained, directed, and controlled by His will...If the planets move beautifully and harmoniously in their several spheres, that beauty and harmony are the result of the intelligence and wisdom that exist in His mind."

"There are two kinds of rule on the earth...In God's government, there is perfect order, harmony, beauty, magnificence, and grandeur; in the government of man, confusion, disorder, instability, misery, discord, and death..  In the first, the most consummate wisdom and power are manifested; in the second, ignorance, imbecility, and weakness.  The first displays the comprehension, light, glory, beneficence, and intelligence of God; the second, the folly, littleness, darkness, and incompetency of man...."  (John Taylor, The Government of God)

Apostle Taylor continues on to explain that "Our systems, our policy, our legislation, our education, and philosophy, are all wrong...Our fathers have left God, his guidance, control, and support, and we have been left to ourselves; and our present position is a manifest proof of our incompetency to govern...."

"God never gave man unlimited control of the affairs of this world; but always speaks of man as being under His guidance, inhabiting His territory, and responsible to Him for his acts.  The world is His vineyard, and man is the agent.....This earth is not Satan's inheritance; it is the Lord Jesus Christ's, He is the rightful owner and proprietor.... and He only has right to rule; but Satan has subverted the ways of God, deceived the human family, introduced misery,  and confusion, and blighted this beautiful creation with his contaminating curse.  As a usurper, it would be unjust to permit him to rule..."

Mr. Taylor asks:  "Shall tyranny, oppression, and iniquity forever rule?" Shall the neck of the righteous always be under the feet of the ungodly?  No, echoes the voice of all the prophets...the time shall come when the Saints shall possess the Kingdom....'And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day there shall be one Lord, and His name one.' (John Taylor, The Government of God, quoting Dan. 7:18 and Zech. 14:9)

Satan knows that he is about to lose his power over the earth, and is not going to go down without a tremendous fight, as he attempts to retain his usurped power.

"Satan has held the dominion for some time, and the Lord now comes to dispossess him, to take possession of His rightful inheritance, and to rule his own kingdom.  In order to do this, He issues his mandate, makes a proclamation, lifts up a standard....Now a standard, or ensign, is a nation's colours, flag, or rallying point...here the God of Heaven sets up a standard....and invites all to join it...Those who do may be considered as his servants, as the citizens of His kingdom.."
[Ensign: see Zech. 9:16 and D&C 64:41-42]

"The Kingdom of God....is the government of God, whether in the heavens or on the earth.  Hence Jesus taught his disciples to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth, as it is done in heaven."  And when the kingdom of God is established on the earth, and prevails universally, then will the will of God be done on earth, and not till then... It is this reign we are speaking of, a reign of righteousness...."  (John Taylor, The Government of God)

When the kingdom of God is established upon the earth and the laws of Jesus Christ hold sway, Christ's servants will rule (legislate) in righteousness.  The result will be peace and harmony, righteousness, justice, freedom and liberty among all nations who choose to be governed under the direction of the kingdom of Christ, for his laws are just, and his laws are for the good and for the blessing of all mankind.

"We do not wish to be understood that Christ during the Millennium will be perpetually confined to this earth; but the idea is, He will subject the earth to himself, that it shall be wholly under his control of jurisdiction, and He will go and come as will be necessary; and the patriarchs, prophets, and immortal saints shall reign as kings and priests under him" ("The Millennium," Times and Seasons, Vol. 3, No. 7, Nauvoo, Illinois, February 1, 1842).

Throughout the ages, Satan has used force and the sword to coerce men to accept one or the other religions or governments.  God does not operate in such a fashion.

"If there has been oppression, fraud or tyranny in the earth, it has been the result of the wickedness and corruptions of men and has always been opposed to God and the principles of truth, righteousness, virtue, and all principles that are calculated to elevate mankind..." (John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 23, April 9, 1882)

"I preach the gospel to the world--what is it?  Force, tyranny, and oppression?  No!  It is all free grace, and it is all free will.  Is anybody coerced?  Did anybody coerce you, Latter day Saints,  Are any of you forced to continue Latter day Saints if you do not want to?....We know of no such principle of coercion; it is a matter of choice..." (John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 23, April 9, 1882).

During the Millennium, Zion will be established, and the gospel of Jesus Christ will be preached to the nations of the world, but as in all ages, God gives men their agency to believe or not, God does not use coercion.

Speaking of the nations of the world, the Prophet Brigham Young explained:  "They will be drawn to Zion by the great wisdom displayed there, and will attribute it to the cunning and craftiness of men.  It will be asked, "What do you want to do, ye strangers from afar."  "We want to live our own religion."...They will ask, "If I bow the knee and confess that He is that Saviour, the Christ, to the glory of the Father, will you let me go home and be a Presbyterian?" "Yes." "And not persecute me?" "Never." "Won't you let me go home and belong to the Greek Church?" "Yes." "Will you allow me to be a Friend Quaker or a Shaking Quaker?" "O yes, anything you wish to be, but remember that you must not persecute your neighbors ...When you have paid this tribute to the Most High, who created you and preserves you, you may then go and worship what you please...if you do not infringe upon your neighbors." (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 2, July 8, 1855)  [See also Zech. 8:23].

"And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever" (Rev. 11:15).

12) There will be Two World Governments--
New Jerusalem (Zion) to be built upon the American Continent;
Old Jerusalem to remain in Middle East.
"And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the Lord shall reign over them in Mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever." (Micah 4:7)

During the Millennium, there will be two world capitols: the New Jerusalem on the American Continent and Old Jerusalem in the Middle East.  Bruce R. McConkie wrote: "in the great day of restoration, there will be two world capitals, both called Zion, both called Jerusalem.  One shall be the seat of government, the other the spiritual capital of the world, 'for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem' " (Bruce R. McConkie, The Mortal Messiah, Vol. I; the quote is Isa. 2:3 and 2 Nephi 12:3).  The two seats of world government are symbolically akin to a husband and wife who rule their household with love and righteousness.  As the husband has one role (leader, guide, protector, etc.) and the woman another (nurturer, supporter, advisor, etc.), so the two governments will support one another and work together for the good and blessing of all men on the earth.  (See also Ps. 6:7 and Ps. 108:8.)

The scriptures tell us that after the glorious return of Jesus Christ to the earth, that all nations will go up to Jerusalem to worship him (Zech. 14:16).  "And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth, unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain" (Zech. 14:17).  Why will the Lord withhold rain from the nations who refuse to acknowledge Him?  Is it because He is cruel or dictatorial?  No, it is to teach the nations that He is the Lord over the whole earth, the creator of the earth, and that He has power over the elements, and that all nations are dependent upon Him as the source of their blessings.  Therefore, all nations will learn to look to God as the source of their blessings.

We already know that the city of Old Jerusalem is in Palestine.  Because the land of Palestine is currently filled with both the righteous and the wicked; the people in Palestine, like the other people throughout the world, will go through a cleansing process, with the wicked being eliminated. (Zech.14:1-4).  In the meantime, before the Second Coming of the Lord in great glory, the other capitol, Zion or the New Jerusalem, will be established in America.  (D&C 42:9)  Its location has already been established.  (D&C 57:1-4).  The Saints will acquire the lands through purchase.

Probably due to wars or pestilence or other calamities, the area intended for the New Jerusalem will be cleansed prior to the return of the Saints and Lamanites who will build the city under heavenly direction.  Remember, it is by the wicked that the wicked are slain (Mormon 4:5, D&C 63:33); the righteous are commanded not to shed blood, that is, not to make belligerent acts of aggression against others (that is, to take the offensive position); the righteous are allowed to defend themselves.  It will either be by natural or supernatural catastrophes or the wicked acts of men that these events will take place, the righteous will not participate in harming their neighbors, and the scriptures warn us that the days will come that those who will not lift up their sword against their neighbors will have to flee to Zion for safety (D&C 45:68).  While God often allows the wicked to carry out their destruction of the unrepentant, God eventually will bring even the destructive nations to judgment, and their power will be stayed.

A great temple of huge proportions and great magnificence and beauty will be built at New Jerusalem (D&C 84:4 and Ezek. 40:5).  A temple will also be built by the Jews in Jerusalem (Zech 6:13).

People will also learn to put their faith and trust in the Lord instead of in the false teachings of men and the imperfect governments of men. (see Zeph. 3:11-12)  Thus, false teachings and false government will be replaced by true teachings and righteous government, the laws of Jesus Christ replacing the corrupt laws of men. (D&C 38:22, D&C 45:59)

"Therefore, the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away." (Isa. 51:11).

A Note of Warning:  Satan, the great counterfeiter, will try to destroy God's plan for a holy and righteous government to be set up under Christ by the Saints of God. In many ages, he has replaced the government of God with his own corrupt substitutes.  In the last days also, Satan will offer a false imitation.  He will try to imitate God's government by offering at first what appears to be a peaceful government, set up by the nations of men, which offers peace and security and false unity to the nations of the world. (Ezek. 6:14, Micah 3:5, Rev. 13, Rev 16-18, Rev 19:20).

"Satan plans to destroy liberty--economic, political, and religious--to set up in its place the most complete tyranny that has ever oppressed men.  He is working in such disguise that many do not recognize either him or his methods." (Heber J. Grant, Messages of the First Presidency, Conference Report, October 1942).  Know the difference.  It is the responsibility of the Latter day Saints to repent and establish Zion prior to the Second Coming of the Lord, that the righteous may find refuge, and that the nations of the earth may have an ensign, an example to look to in their government.

13) Satan to be bound
The result of Satan being bound will be high obedience to moral, spiritual, and civil law and low crime rates.  It will result in peace and righteousness.

(a) Satan will be bound during the Millennium (Rev. 20:2, D&C 43:30-31, D&C 84:100, D&C 88:110).  He loses his power to deceive the nations (Rev. 20:3), "and in that day...shall not have power to tempt any man" (D&C 101:28).

(b) Obedience of people to laws of God will contribute to the binding of Satan.
"And because of the righteousness of his (the shepherd's) people, Satan has no power; wherefore, he cannot be loosed for the space of many years, for he hath no power over the hearts of the people, for they dwell in righteousness, and the Holy One of Israel reigneth" (I Nephi 22:26).

(c) Children to grow up without sin unto salvation (D&C 45:58).
"We talk about Satan being bound.  Satan will be bound by the power of God; but he will be bound also by the determination of the people of God not to listen to him, not to be governed by him.  The Lord will not bind him and take his power from the earth while there are men and women willing to be governed by him.  That is contrary to the plan of salvation.  To deprive men of their agency is contrary to the purposes of God."  (George Q. Cannon, Gospel Ideals, Vol. I).

(14)  The Place of Men and Women Restored
Parley P. Pratt, referring to the creation of man, said, that man was "formed of noble principles, and bearing in his godlike features the emblems of authority and dominion."  (Parley P. Pratt, The World Turned Upside Down).  Adam and Eve were the children of God (Luke 3:38), our Heavenly Father, and our Heavenly Mother, who placed them in the garden upon earth as a test and trial of their faithfulness in keeping the commandments of God.  Man, in the beginning, was created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26), in other words, man, the child of God, is heir not only to the physical form but also the spiritual, social, emotional, and intellectual attributes of God.  It is God's desire that his children progress to become like him.  It is Satan's desire to destroy man, and since the day that men rebelled against God, men became carnal, brutal, selfish and devilish, the very opposite which God intended them to become.

After eating of the tree of good and evil, which God commanded them not to eat, certain "curses" were pronounced upon Adam and Eve.  Adam was to live by the sweat of his brow.  Previously, things had grown in the garden without effort.  Now he would have to work to plant, till, weed, water, and reap the crops.  Eve's "curse" was that she should have "sorrow" in childbirth (did this mean difficulty or pain?) and that her husband should "rule" over her.  This pronouncement did not give men permission to harshly, dictatorially or unjustly rule over their wives.  As a friend of mine once shared with me, it was simply God's prophetic announcement of what would occur because of the fall--the fall foreshadowing a diminishment of knowledge, since they had left the presence of God.  Once man rebels against God and leaves His presence and rejects His truths, all kinds of errors start to appear.  Man's treatment of woman was one of these errors.  In the garden, Adam and Eve walked side by side; they were partners.  Eve was said to have been taken "from the side of Adam."  I believe this signifies that they were in the womb together.  Symbolically, as a wonderful poem teaches, Woman was not taken from man's head to be above him, nor from his feet to be trampled by him, but from his side, to be equal with him, and near his heart, to be loved by him.

After leaving the garden, Adam and Eve were faithful and obedient to the commandments which God gave them, and they taught their children the truth.  Some of their children believed and were obedient, becoming known as sons of God, while other children rejected the truth and chose to live lives of sin, selfishness, and disobedience.  As the descendants of Adam and Eve began to rebel against the truth, women's position in life slowly sank.  In some nations, she became the chattel (property) of man, to be treated by him however he desired.  In other nations, she was his servant or slave.  Some degenerate nations have sought to make women into whores, treating her without respect or privilege, denying her the right to husband, children, and home.  Other nations have simply treated her as a second class citizen, denied the same rights given to men.

In any day of enlightenment, the position of women has improved. Since the restoration of the gospel in 1830 (the church being officially organized at Fayette, New York), the position of women has improved greatly. In 1842, at Nauvoo, Illinois, the Prophet Joseph Smith officially organized the women of the church into the Women's Relief Society Organization, intended to be a benevolent and charitable organization in which women could not only help the poor, but uplift one another.  At the same time, the Prophet Joseph Smith bestowed upon women the keys to the companionship of angels, if they would live worthy of it.  (see also Alma 32:23)

An elder of the church recently shared the following thought with me:  "Women can have the presence of the Lord."  My comments: When the scriptures refer to "men" being able to obtain the "presence of God," they are referring to the race of men, or men and women, not just men alone.  One of the curses of the Fall was that Adam and Eve, who formerly walked and talked with God in the Garden, lost the presence of God (Gen. 2:15-17, Moses 4:31, Alma 42:7, Helaman 14:16).  The righteous who are pure in heart (whether men, women or children) are promised that they can seek the face, or presence of God, even while still in mortality (Psalm 140:13, Matt. 5:8, Ether 3:13, D&C 38:8, D&C 67:10, D&C 88:68, D&C 93:1, D&C 93:20, D&C 103:20, D&C 107:19, D&C 130:3).  Sanctification is the process that prepares us to see and speak with Christ face to face while still in mortality (Ex. 19:5-11, D&C 84:21-24.)  It comes when we yield our hearts to God (Hel. 3:35).  (See also Ether 4:7, Moroni 10:33, D&C 118-119, D&C 105:31-37, D&C 133:62).  D&C 84:33-34 talks about the necessity of magnifying our callings as part of the sanctification process.  Some people would unwisely limit this scripture solely to the fulfilment of our church callings/assignments.  This is not the full meaning of the scripture.  It is speaking of the fulfilling of our earthly callings or life missions (See "Stewardship" in Bible Topical Guide.  See "Stewardship" in article "The Traditions of Men Vs. the Standards of God," by this author.  See "Bringing to Pass Much Righteousness: Discovering our Life Mission" by this author.  For examples of men who valiantly fulfilled their life callings while on earth (other than prophets or spiritual leaders), see The Other Eminent Men of Wilford Woodruff by Vicki Jo Anderson).

"There has come a day of calling, but the time has come for a day of choosing; and let those be chosen that are worthy. And it shall be manifest unto my servant, by the voice of the Spirit, those that are chosen; and they shall be sanctified" (D&C 105:35-36)  The scriptures explain that "many are called, but few are chosen" (Matt. 20:16, Matt 22:14).  "And why are they not chosen?  Because their hearts on set so much upon the things of this world, and aspire to the honors of men (D&C 121:34-40) and because they fail to keep the commandments (D&C 95:5,6,12).

This elder then quoted many other scriptures to me.  "Neither is the woman without the man, nor the man without the woman, in the Lord" (I Cor. 11:11).  The Millennial generation will be righteous because "Women in the Lord" will be raising the children. [Who are "Women in the Lord"?  Righteous women who have obtained the presence of God through sanctification.]  Abraham was counseled to listen to the advice of his righteous wife, Sarah (Gen 21:12).  He retold the parable of the Good Samaritan to me in a different way, with the inn representing the woman, who provides the sanctuary and refuge for the man (her husband), who is "beaten up" because he has to deal with the problems of the world.  The man who preaches the gospel to the world often experiences rejection.  After he shared these words with me, it became clear to me in a new way why women have been commanded by latter day prophets to get out of the workplace and to be in the homes with their children, because this provides a refuge from the world for her, and she can then provide the comfort that her children and husband are in need of (D&C 25:5, which he also quoted to me: wife to comfort her husband).  This elder also shared D&C 25:14 with me: the woman is to delight in her husband and believe in his potential and future glory.  I believe this applies to men who are striving to live righteously, not to wicked men.  (Note:  Parables have many depths of meaning.  Because this elder helped me to see the Parable of the Good Samaritan as it could be applied towards women, does not in any way negative the first or primary level of the parable, which is that we should be loving and helping our neighbors, not ignoring them and passing by like the supposedly religious Levite and Priest did.  Not only is Christ symbolized by the Good Samaritan as the one who heals our wounds, but each one of us who reaches out to help a neighbor is acting as the Good Samaritan.)

It is my personal feeling that every righteous woman deserves a righteous husband (and vice versa), and I do not believe any woman is required to remain married to a man who persists in living wickedly and who fails to repent, because such men spiritually destroy themselves first, and secondly, they attempt to pull their wives and children down to their own degenerate level; their wicked choices result in spiritual, emotional, and physical abuse to their families.  Brigham Young once said that the Lord never expected any woman to follow her husband to hell.  I believe that among the many reasons that Joseph Smith was persecuted, one reason was the jealousy of wicked men.  Men in those days had the freedom to abuse wife, children, or slaves without any legal consequences.  In Nauvoo, Illinois, Joseph Smith allowed women their freedom to choose to remain with or to leave a wicked man.  Women were never forced to stay with a wicked man, because he would corrupt his entire family.  Wicked men were incited against Joseph because they knew that their wives would never by personal choice (except for the constraints of society) remain with them.  These men did nothing to earn the love or respect for their wives.  Therefore, in the world to come, these wicked men will have neither wives nor children, as all righteous women who are entitled to exaltation will be given the agency to join themselves to a righteous man.  Wicked men--and wicked women--will not be exalted nor married in the world to come, all their covenants end at death in mortality.  Christ referred to these people as "the children of this world" (Matt. 22:30, Luke 20:34-36), in other words, the worldly, who fail to retain their marriages in the world to come.  In stark contrast, the children of the Kingdom (Christ's seed--the faithful and obedient), are made joint-heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:16-17).

In the above paragraph, I have limited my comments to speaking about the consequences upon wicked men and women.  I have not said anything about people who are living moral lives who have not yet fully committed themselves to Christ.  If a man or woman is an unbeliever, but has a good heart and is open to the spirit, he/she can be influenced by good and drawn towards God by a faithful, believing, loving spouse (see I Cor. 7:14-16 and D&C 74:1-7).  I am not in any way encouraging divorce or separation.  God has set marriage without divorce or separation as an ideal for us to try to achieve, and for most couples, this should be the goal, especially in the cases where both spouses are making mistakes, but trying to repent and to serve God.  However, in the case of the wicked and unrepentant, their divorces will come naturally, as their criminal or abusive acts result in legal separation from family in this life and permanent separation from loved ones in the world to come, as God will separate the righteous to one reward and the wicked and unrepentant to another.

Orson Pratt pointed out the connection between righteousness and the ability to love, and wickedness and hatred for others.  He said:  "If we should inquire what constitutes the misery of the fallen angels, the answer would be, they are destitute of love; they have ceased to love God; they have ceased to have pure love one towards another; they have ceased to love that which is good.  Hatred, malice, revenge, and every evil passion have usurped the place of love; and unhappiness, wretchedness, and misery are the results.  Where there is no love, there will be no desire to promote the welfare of others.  Instead of desiring that others may be happy, each desires to make all others miserable like himself.....As love decreases, wickedness, hatred and misery increase; and the more wicked individuals or nations become, the less capable are they of loving others and making them happy; and vice versa, the more righteous a people become, the more they are qualified for loving others and rendering them happy.  A wicked man can have but little love for his wife, while a righteous man, being filled with the love of God, is sure to manifest this heavenly attribute in every thought and feeling of his heart, and in every word and deed.  Love, joy and innocence will radiate from his very countenance, and be expressed in every look.  This will beget confidence in the wife of his bosom, and she [if she is willing to receive his love] will love him in return, for love begets love; happiness imparts happiness; and these heaven-born emotions will continue to increase more and more, until they are perfected and glorified..." (Orson Pratt, The Seer).

First, in regards to the above quote about the ability to love, I do not wish to condemn those people who may struggle to love as they attempt to overcome negative or abusive backgrounds.  We should be assured that God knows the desires of our hearts (Alma 29:4-5, Alma 41:5).  If we live righteously and desire to please the Lord, God will eventually help us to overcome our weaknesses (Ether 12:27) and will magnify our ability to love.  Second, I wish to point out that some people associate righteousness with church attendance.  Attendance at church is meant to help us become righteous, but just because a person attends church, he is not necessarily a righteous person, for many hypocrites and liars attend church along with the righteous and the repentant.  Attendance at church, by itself, is not a sign of righteousness unless the person attending is striving to incorporate into his life those Christlike principles which he learns.

It is interesting that once God opens the door for people on the earth, how other things begin to change.  Only six years after the establishment of the Women's Relief Society Organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, the first woman's suffrage movement was held in the United States in 1848 at Seneca Falls, New York.  Led by the tireless efforts of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and many other women, it took years until women not only succeeded to getting the right to vote for themselves, but also the right to hold property, to attain a college education or a profession, to achieve child custody rights, etc. ("Not for Ourselves Alone," televised broadcast, produced by Ken Burns and Paul Barnes, 1999.)

The apostle Parley P. Pratt, who lost his beloved wife, Thankful, after the birth of their first child, had these words to say about women:  "From the bosom, or rather, from his side, emanated woman.  She became more exquisitely fine, beautiful and delightsome; combining in her person and features the noble and majestic expression of manhood, with the soft and gentle, the modest and retiring graces of angelic sweetness and purity, as if destined to grace the dignity of manhood, to heighten the charms of domestic life, to delight the heart of her lord, and to share with him the enjoyments of life, as well as to nourish and sustain the embryo, and rear the tender offspring of her species. and thus fill the earth with myriads of happy and intelligent beings...." (Parley P. Pratt, The World Turned Upside Down).

When men embrace and live the principles of the gospel, the gift of the Holy Ghost works with them and helps them to refine their characters and dispositions until they become godly men, men who are leaders among men, men who treat their wives and children with respect, men who honor themselves and live honestly, faithfully, and courageously, men who desire to confer the blessings of God upon all their fellowmen, treating all with respect and equality in opportunities.

When women live the gospel, they become women of God, queens and priestesses, the glory of their husbands (I Cor. 11:7), a refuge and sanctuary for their families, and raise their children in righteousness.

15) People to enjoy the fruits/rewards of their own labors

Today, and throughout the history of the earth, men have been placed in positions of inequity with one another, divided into the owner and the slave, the rich and the poor, and in some cases, a middle class.  These types of inequities are unknown when people are obeying the principles of the gospel and desire to bless the lives of their neighbors  (I Cor. 10:24) instead of hoarding wealth and prosperity to themselves or to an elite few.  Some have been forced to slave their lives away in the support of the rich, while for their hard labor, they achieved only constant serfdom and poverty.  This is a form of robbery, a robbery of just wages, just the same as if a man who had owned property had it stolen from him.  Often, laborers have been forced to work long hours for miserable wages, some barely able to sustain their families.  Those who have been on the bottom end of the economic scale are expected to be self-sufficient, but are robbed of the means of being so.  Often unable to own property, or owning property at great sacrifice, and dependent upon the wages of others, their inability to establish a meaningful life for themselves, to accumulate property or independence, breeds a deep sense of futility and hopelessness.

The scriptures prophesy that during the Millennium, no one will cheat any man out of the rewards of their labors (D&C 101:101, Isa. 65:21-23).

16) Extensive Temple Work during the Millennium, to link families together, and provide ordinances for those who lived upon the earth who did not have access to such ordinances during their lifetimes.

"Instead of a time to rest, the Millennium is to be a time for all to labor [But what kind of labor?]  The Saints will be kept busy in the temples which shall be built in all parts of the land.  In fact, so busy, will they be, that the temples will be occupied most of the time." (Joseph Fielding Smith, The Way to Perfection).

Doctrine & Covenants 128:18 reveals that the earth will be cursed "unless there is a welding link of some kind...between the fathers and the children..."  This scripture explains how generations will once more be welded together (united) through the temple work which "the children" (descendants) will perform for their ancestors.  Since God himself set the requirement that "except a man be born of water [baptism] and of the spirit [gift of the Holy Ghost], he cannot enter the Kingdom of God," (John 3:5), then in order to be just and fair (one of the attributes of God), God must provide a way for ALL of his children to have the opportunity to receive or reject his ordinances, in order that all who desire may have an equal opportunity to enter his kingdom and receive of his blessings.  God has provided this way for all in temple work for the "dead" (i.e., the spirits of those people who have departed this earthly mortal life, and whose spirits wait in paradise or spirit prison prior to their judgment and assignment to a kingdom).

If you would like to learn more about this subject, please see I Cor. 15:29, D&C 124:28-39, and sections 128, 137, and 138 of the Doctrine and Covenants.  (See also The Vision, or The Degrees of Glory, compiled by N. B. Lundwall.)

17) Knowledge of Secret Things, Hidden Things, True History and Knowledge, to be Revealed; The Knowledge of God will Cover the Earth

Throughout the ages, men have often succeeded in hiding their crimes and wicked deeds.  During the Millennium, secret or hidden things will be revealed.  D&C 88:108-109 tells us that the secret acts of men during different ages of the earth will be revealed (compare D&C 1:13--the sins of men to be spoken of upon the house tops (another good reason to repent before the great and dreadful day of the Lord).

God will also provide us with knowledge by his spirit, things which have not been revealed before this time.  (D&C 121:26-32, see also D&C 128:18).  "When the Lord shall come, He shall reveal all things--things which have passed [true history], and hidden things which no man knew [all types of mysteries and unanswered questions], things of the earth [geological mysteries], by which it was made, and the purpose and the end thereof--things most precious [this speaks not only of hidden treasures of gold, silver and precious metals and gems, but hidden treasures of knowledge and divine truths], things that are above, and things that are beneath, things that are in the earth, and upon the earth, and in heaven.  (D&C 101:32-34).  Imagine having the secrets--the answers to questions we have been unable to understand--revealed to us.

Isaiah 54:13 declares that "all thy children shall be taught of the Lord..."  Righteous people during the Millennium will teach their children the correct principles about Christ and godliness.  Not only that, but Christ himself (because of the obedience of those who live on the earth) will walk among the people (Zech. 2:10, Zeph. 3:17, D&C 45:59).  What will be the result of this teaching?   "And great shall be the peace of thy children."

The unfortunate story in many of today's schools is one of our children being exposed to drugs and crime, to immoral practices and atheistic beliefs.  Many modern day schools are turning our children into heathens (unbelievers) and gentiles (the worldly).  Instead of our children being exposed to true and uplifting principles, in many cases, they instead graduate from school addicted to vices, believing in the false theories and degenerating practices of men.  As a result, many who retain these degenerate practices into adulthood have lives of misery, their lives broken by drug usage, crime, and wrecked marriages.  During the Millennium, this trend will be reversed.

Currently, so many people are so caught up with business and with the pursuits of their everyday lives that few (speaking comparatively) take the time to study the scriptures, pray, and develop a close and personal relationship with their Heavenly Father, who desires to guide them and help them.  Other people attend church faithfully, but rely on their ministers to read and interpret the scriptures for them.  During the Millennium, "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." (Isaiah 11:9).  The phrase "as the waters cover the sea" is symbolic of the fullness or completeness of the spread of knowledge.  Instead of relying on others to teach them, people will take personal responsibility for their own salvation, relying on the Savior and the merits of His atonement to save them after all they can personally do.

People will have such open access to the truths of God and will be so willing to live these principles that they will advance rapidly in righteousness.  The result of this will be that "they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord:' for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." (Jere. 31:34).

The gift of the Holy Ghost is available to people even in our present day after they exercise faith in Christ, repent of their sins, and are baptized into the true church of God by one who possesses the Holy Priesthood and who is authorized by God to perform this ordinance.  This gift will spread to even more people as they decide (freely--without coercion) to repent and embrace the true gospel of Jesus Christ.  It is after people have gone through these steps and received the Holy Ghost in their lives that the Spirit leads them step by step closer to God (2 Nephi 28:30, Isa, 28:9-10, D&C 98:12), and they become godly people, filled with the peace and joy and knowledge of God.  The Holy Ghost (the Comforter) "shall teach you all things." (John 14:26).

Instead of using their talents to degrade their fellowmen, to drag them into vice, immorality, crime and sin (Matt. 12:34-35), people during the Millennium will use their gifts and talents to praise the Lord (Psalm 150) and to bring glory to His name (Matt. 5:16).  The rocks, streams and trees will join in praise of the Lord during the Millennium.  People will not only be using their gifts to glorify God, but also to lift and edify their fellowmen, for when we are in the service of our fellowmen, we are in the service of our God.  (D&C 46:11-12,  D&C 82:19, Mosiah 2:17-18).

During the Millennium, people will learn to overcome the false precepts of men which teach men to seek self-aggrandizement and to accumulate wealth at the expense and impoverishment of others.  This harmful attitude will be replaced by a spirit of unity, cooperation and concern for the welfare and good of others. (D&C 38:26-27)

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3--Pre-Millennial Cleansing of the Earth in Preparation for the Sanctification of the Earth

1) The Lord's Kingdom re-established on earth
In 1820, the Lord appeared in vision to Joseph Smith, Jr.  Joseph Smith, Jr. was called by the Lord, directly by revelation, like the prophets of old, to restore the Lord's apostolic church to the earth.  The church was officially restored, organized at Fayette, New York, on April 6, 1830.  (See The Restoration of All Things by Joseph Fielding Smith.)  Since this paper is not about the restoration of the gospel, the reader who would like to learn more is encouraged to read The Book of Mormon, the ancient American record translated by the prophet Joseph Smith, in order to prayerfully gain his own testimony of this work.

The Latter day Saints believe in the words of the prophets in both the Bible and The Book of Mormon.  Ezekiel told us that these two records are to become one in testifying of Christ: "Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, for Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions [the Bible], then take another stick, and write upon it, for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, [the Book of Mormon] and for all the house of Israel his companions; And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand" (Ezek. 37:16-17).

The Prophet Nephi recorded the resentment with which some people would receive further revelations from the Lord--"A Bible! A Bible!  We have got a Bible, and there cannot be any more Bible.  But thus saith the Lord God; O fools, they shall have a Bible, and it shall proceed forth from the Jews, mine ancient covenant people.  And what thank they the Jews for the Bible which they receive from them?  Yea...Do they remember the travails, and the labors, and the pains of the Jews, and their diligence unto me, in bringing forth salvation unto the Gentiles?  O ye Gentiles, have ye remembered the Jews, mine ancient covenant people? Nay; but ye have cursed them, and have hated them, and have not sought to recover them....Thou fool, that shall say: A  Bible, we have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible...Know ye not that there are more nations than one?  Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea; and that....I bring forth my word unto the children of men, yea, even upon all the nations of the earth?  Wherefore murmur ye, because ye shall receive more of my word?  Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another?  Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another. And when the two nations shall run together, the testimony of the two nations shall run together also...And I do this that I may prove unto many that I AM THE SAME yesterday, today and forever; and that I speak forth my words according to mine own pleasure."  (2 Nephi 29:3-9)

Nephi also revealed that after their return, we will also have the "word" (scriptures) of the Ten Tribes (2 Nephi 29:13).

What was the purpose of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ in these last days prior to His Second Coming in glory?  To prepare the people for the second coming (D&C 1:12-14), that they may repent before that day.  For the purpose of "building up my church and kingdom on the earth, and to prepare my people for the time when I shall dwell with them, which is nigh at hand"  (D&C 104:59).  That man might learn not to "counsel his fellowman, neither trust in the arm of flesh, but that every man might speak in the name of God the Lord, (D&C 1:19-20), "That faith also might increase in the world (D&C 1:21), "That mine everlasting covenant might be established," (D&C 1:22), "that the fulness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the weak and the simple unto the ends of the earth..." (D&C 1:23)

The Lord also declared that He sent forth his gospel "to prepare the weak for those things which are coming on the earth..." (D&C 133:57-58, see also D&C 29:8).

2) The Gospel preached to the nations of the earth as a warning to repent before the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
The gospel, restored in the United States, was then taken to other nations, beginning first with Canada and England.  Missionaries were then sent to the isles of the Pacific, to Europe, and as means opened up, to Asia and Africa and the other nations of the earth.  The gospel has been preached to the nations in these latter days, to date, for 170 years.

The gospel of Jesus Christ shall be preached in all the world before the end comes. (Matt. 24:14).  Currently the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is being preached in hundreds of nations throughout the world, on every continent, by thousands of missionaries.

The faithful and the righteous are drawn to the gospel of Jesus Christ.  "And he gathereth his children from the four quarters of the earth, and he numbereth his sheep, and they know him, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd; and he shall feed his sheep, and in him they shall find pasture"  (I Nephi 22:25).

3) Babylon (darkness, wickedness and error) to be destroyed.
God has declared that He will destroy Babylon (wickedness) in the last days. "Retaining all power, even to the destroying of Satan and his works at the end of the world..." (D&C 19:3).

What is Babylon?  It is both a place and a state of being wicked.  The Lord has declared that "the proud, and all they that do wickedly," shall be destroyed. (Mal. 4:1)  He has also declared that the worldly and the materialistic (those who love their possessions and wealth more than God) are in the midst of Babylon:  "They seek not the Lord to establish His righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon, even Babylon the great which shall fall." (D&C 1:16).  Bruce R. McConkie identified Babylon as "the church of the devil; it is the world with all its evil and carnality; it is every organization of every kind, sort and form--whether religious, civic, political, fraternal, or otherwise--which espouses a philosophy or promotes a cause which leads men away from salvation..." (Bruce R. McConkie, Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, Vol. 3).

He has commanded us:  "Go ye out from among the nations, even from Babylon, from the midst of wickedness, which is spiritual Babylon" (D&C 133:14).  "But after today cometh the burning, this is speaking after the manner of the Lord, for verily I say, tomorrow all the proud and they that do wickedly shall be as stubble; and I will burn them up, for I am the Lord of Hosts; and I will not spare any that remain in Babylon." (D&C 64:24).

What does it mean to remain in Babylon?  First, it means to remain personally in wickedness (failing to repent and live righteously); and secondly, to remain living among, fraternizing with, trading with, supporting and upholding the wicked.  "Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul; be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the Lord's vengeance; he will render unto her a recompense." (Jere. 51:60).  Faith in God, love for God, and the desire to please Him, is the motivating factor to repentance.  Those who lack faith in God will fail to repent of their sins and will remain in Babylon, and therefore suffer the desolation which will come upon her.  (D&C 35:11).

The Lord has commanded his people to "Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon.." (Jere 51:12) that the righteous may flee out of her.  In other words, it is the responsibility of the Saints of God to both set an example of righteousness and to preach the gospel throughout the world so that those righteous people may escape out of Babylon, or wickedness, and that they may gather with the righteous.

What has God declared will happen to Babylon and ultimately to those who remain in her?  "And Babylon...shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah..." (Isa. 13:19).  "I will send unto Babylon fanners, that shall fan her, and shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about." (Jere. 51:1).  "As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth." (Jere 51:49).  "And there followed another angel, saying Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." (Rev. 14:8)  "and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath." (Rev. 16:19).  "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.  For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." (Rev. 18:2-4).

"Then [in the days of Noah], the world was destroyed by a flood, now it is to be destroyed by war, pestilence, famine, earthquake, storms and tempest, the sea rolling beyond its bounds, malarious vapors, vermin, disease and by fire and the lightnings of God's wrath poured out for destruction upon Babylon.  The cry of the angel unto the righteous in this dispensation is, "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues."  (Joseph Fielding Smith, Gospel Doctrine)

a) Darkness and Error Dispelled
False institutions, corrupt and erroneous principles and practices will all be destroyed.

"For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people; but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.  And the Gentiles shall come to thy light..."  (Isa. 60:2).

"And He will destroy in this mountain [in Zion, or in the restored gospel] the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over the nations." (Isa. 25:7)

"And it shall come to pass that all lying, and deceivings, and envyings, and strifes, and priestcrafts, and whoredoms, shall be done away" (3 Nephi 21:19, see also I Nephi 22:22-23).

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b) The wicked will be swept off the earth.

Parley P. Pratt said that the restoration of the earth to its original glorious garden-like state will not occur until after "there is a general destruction poured out upon man, which will entirely cleanse the earth, and sweep all wickedness from its face." (Parley P. Pratt, A Voice of Warning).  The Lord warns us in D&C 29:9 that "the hour is nigh and the day soon at hand when the earth is ripe; and all the proud and they that do wickedly shall be as stubble; and I will burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that wickedness shall not be upon the earth" (see also D&C 34:6-9).

Joseph Fielding Smith said:  "When the reign of Jesus Christ comes during the millennium, only those who have lived the telestial law will be removed." (Answers to Gospel Questions, Vol. I).

According to D&C 76:103, telestial people include:  "liars, sorcerers (drug-dealers and practicers of witchcraft; see also Isa. 47:12-14), [unrepentant] adulterers, whoremongers, and whosoever loves and makes a lie."  I wish to note here that whoremongers not only include prostitutes, those who visit prostitutes, pimps, and those who force others into prostitution, but also includes fornicators, adulterers, rapists, pedophiles, practicers of incest, voyeurs who steal the privacy of others and unlawfully gratify the lusts of their minds, as well as those who practice other forms of debauchery, fraud and deceit.  A whoremonger is also anyone who exercises unrighteous power or dominion over others without permission or by compulsory means, who takes advantage of others for personal gain, who contaminates, adulterates, poisons, pollutes, hurts, damages or destroys people and other living things.

Lies include not only deceitful communication from our speech or writing, but wicked and deceitful acts are also lies.  A lie can be communication or actions which are dishonest, or words withheld, which if spoken, would have served the truth instead of error.  (See also Prov. 12:22, Isa. 32:7, Ezek 13:22, 2 Nephi 28:8).  The apostle John informs us that anyone who claims to know God but disobeys the commandments is a liar (I John 2:4).

Rev. 9:20-21 includes the following category of men who will be destroyed: those who worship devils and idols of gold and silver, brass and stone, murderers, sorcerers (drug-dealers/users), fornicators, and thieves.  Malachi 3:5 repeats the warning: "I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers and against false swearers and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, [that oppress] the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right [rights], and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts."

After his crucifixion, the resurrected Christ appeared to the Nephites.  Earthquakes had devastated the land at the time of his death.  He told the people who remained alive that they were spared because they were more righteous than the rest--they had not stoned or killed the prophets (or missionaries) who had come to warn them to repent (3 Nephi 10:12), they had not shed the blood of the Saints.

"What is meant by the mystery of God? [Rev. 10:7] God has permitted Satan for 6,000 years to wrap his coils around the world.  To work evil and mar the work of God...Is it not a mystery why God allows evil to go unpunished and His own to be crushed on every hand? This is the mystery of God.  God bears with evil till the hour of judgment comes, then He will avenge His elect that cry day and night unto Him (Luke 18:7).  The mystery of God will then be at an end.  Christ is here just ready to take things into His own hands." (Ibzan Dean, The Coming Kingdom--Goal of Prophecy).

John Taylor also states: "Satan has had his dominion, and has deceived, corrupted, and cursed the human family; but then his dominion will be destroyed, and he will be cast into the bottomless pit; men will no longer be under the influence of his spirit, be decoyed by his wiles, or imposed upon by his deceptions." (John Taylor, The Government of God)

"According to the justice of the Lord, all who have not violated the right to remain will not be consumed...We are informed that these, although they may not be members of the Church [of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints], who are entitled to the blessings of the Terrestrial Kingdom, will be spared.  Therefore, there will be millions of people on earth during the Millennium who have not received the gospel.  Missionary work will continue with greater vigor." (Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions)

"Some members of the Church have an erroneous idea that when the Millennium comes, all of the people are going to be swept off except righteous members of the Church.  That is not so.  There will be millions of people, Catholics, Protestants, agnostics, Mohammedans, people of all classes, and of all beliefs, still permitted to remain upon the face of the earth, but they will be those who have lived clean lives, those who have been free from wickedness and corruption." (Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, Vol. I)

Latter day Judgments will fall in the following order:
First, upon the Latter day Saints, to separate out the wicked from the righteous, next upon the land of America, unless the people repent of their wickedness and serve the Lord, and then upon the other nations of the world.
 

a) Latter-day Saints
The Lord has told us that judgment will begin at his own house (I Peter 4:17, D&C 112:24-26, Isa. 33:14, Ezek. 9:4-7), that is, among those people who call themselves by His name.  Trials will come which will separate out the wicked and the hypocrites from the righteous among the Latter day Saints (D&C 50:6-8, D&C 63:54, 2 Nephi 30:10, Isa. 33:14).  The Lord has warned us that He will have a repentant people.  The Book of Mormon reminds us that it is better to choose to be humble than to be compelled to be humble (Alma 32:13-16).  The Lord has declared that "whosoever repenteth and cometh unto me, the same is my church" (D&C 10:67).  He rejects the proud, the arrogant, the rebellious, and the wicked.  (James 4:6, Prov. 6:16-19, Isa. 2:12, Mal. 4:1).

"The Son of Man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom, all things that offend, and them which do iniquity..." (Matt. 13:41).  "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind [the good or righteous and the bad or wicked]; which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away, so it shall be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just... (Matt. 13:47-49)  The Lord allows the tares (the wicked) to grow up alongside the righteous (the wheat) until the day of separation (Matt. 3:12, Matt. 13:24-30, D&C 86:1-7).

Then will be fulfilled the word of the Lord concerning the Ten Virgins (Matt. 25:1-13, D&C 45:56-57, D&C 63:54), for five were ready when He came, and five were not, for five put oil in their lamps, that is, they had the Holy Ghost, and were obedient to the Lord's counsel, and five had not and were not (see Orson Pratt on the Parable of the Ten Virgins, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 21, June 20, 1880).  And then will be fulfilled concerning the sheep and the goats (Matt. 25:32-46), wherein he separated the sheep (those who follow their Master Jesus Christ and who love and help their fellowmen), from the goats (those willing to follow anyone, who put their trust in man or the arm of flesh instead of in God, who not only neglect to help their fellowmen, but even worse, who rob their neighbors of their rights and blessings), and the separation of the wheat (the righteous) from the tares (the wicked).

"Where shall these great and severe judgments begin? Upon what people does the Lord intend to commence this great work of vengeance?  Upon the people who profess to know His name and still blaspheme it in the midst of his house.  They are the ones designated for some of the most terrible judgments of the latter days.  This should be a warning to the Latter day Saints..." (Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 15, January 26, 1873).

Apostle Orson Pratt warns against blaspheming.  The dictionary describes to "blaspheme" as "to speak of or address with irreverence, revile, abuse," and "blasphemy" as "the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence for God," or "irreverence toward something considered sacred or inviolable."  Therefore, blaspheming is more than the act of taking the Lord's name in vain.  It is showing contempt for God by disobedience or violation of sacred covenants (D&C 132:27 explains the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost; and in D&C 104:4-6, God explains that covenant-breakers mock Him).  This group includes people who have lied in order to obtain temple recommends, who have broken the sacred covenants they made before the Lord, who are living in wickedness.  Instead of humbling themselves and going to their bishops for help in repenting, these people are maintaining an image of public morality and spotlessness, lying to themselves, their bishops, their fellow Saints and the Lord, while continuing to offend the Lord by their wicked deeds.  They are liars and covenant breakers.  Liars are one of the groups of people whom the Lord will sweep off the earth in these latter days.

Harold B. Lee declared: "We have tight places to go...with this church, there will be, as President Tanner has said, "Hypocrites, those professing, but secretly are full of dead men's bones."  We will see those who profess membership but secretly are...trying to lead people not to follow the leadership the Lord has set up to preside in this church.." (Harold B. Lee, Improvement Era, December 1970).

Many of the Saints do not fall into the category named above, nevertheless, by their lives and choices, they are failing to help the Lord establish Zion.  The Lord will chasten his people (the Latter day Saints) until they learn to be obedient (D&C 105:6).  People who are baptized into the Lord's church have made a covenant with the Lord.  They have made a covenant to live on a higher level than they were once living, to repent of their sins (this is a process) and to become Christlike.  Entrance into the Lord's kingdom by baptism is not a static affair.  One does not obtain the highest glory and reward by remaining complacent after initial acts of faith, repentance and obedience at baptism.  The Lord has commanded the Saints to take his nature upon themselves; He has commanded them to become like Him (Alma 5:14, 3 Nephi 12:48).  It is in setting our eyes and hearts single to the glory of God, instead of to the building up of ourselves, that we begin working to help establish his truths and his kingdom on the earth (D&C 59:1-2, D&C 82:19, D&C 88:67).

Orson Pratt warned: "therefore, if Zion sin, if her people suffer pride to arise in their hearts, and follow after the foolish fashions of the Gentiles who come into their midst, and are lifted up one above another, the rich and wealthy looking down upon the poor with scorn and derision because they cannot clothe themselves in the same costly apparel as the rich, and begin to make distinctions of classes among themselves, behold, the Lord will visit Zion according to all her works, and He will purge her and pour forth his judgments upon her, according to that which He has spoken" (Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 15, January 26, 1873).

"The Lord has told us...that He would scourge this people, and would not suffer them to go on in wickedness as He does the world.  He will make a difference in this respect between those who profess His name and the world.  The world may prosper.  They have not the religion of Heaven among them; they have no revelators and prophets among them; they have not the baptism of the Holy Ghost, nor the gifts and blessings of God among them, and consequently though they transgress the revealed word of God, He suffers them to go on, apparently without checking them, until they are fully ripened in iniquity, then he sends forth his judgment and cuts them off, instead of chastening them from time to time.  Not so with the Saints.  God has decreed, from the early rise of the Church, that we should be afflicted by our enemies, and by various affliction, and He would contend with this people and chasten them from time to time until Zion should be clean before Him..." (Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 15, January 26, 1873).

"Unless the Latter day Saints live according to the light which God has revealed to them, they cannot escape.  If God sends judgments upon the nations, He will send them upon us...If He visits the inhabitants of the earth with pestilence and blood, He will visit us in a similar manner unless we keep his commandments.  If the inhabitants of the earth who know not God are to perish because of their wickedness, how much more will He visit those who have greater light and knowledge if they will not keep His commandments?  The Lord sent forth the destroyer in ancient times to lay waste the firstborn of the Egyptians, pointing out the means by which his people might escape, and those who failed to do as they were commanded had no promise of being preserved; so in these last days when judgments come, they will begin among his Saints, and those who have not attended to the Word of Wisdom and the laws of life that He has pointed out and have no claim to mercy and favor, God is no respecter of persons.  They who have great light and yet sin will endure tribulation and indignation from his hand unless they repent.  (Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 15, January 26, 1873).

Daniel H. Wells explained it this way:  "We are here...to gather out from Babylon.  But if we are going to partake of her sins in Zion, and to nourish and cherish the wicked and ungodly, what better shall we be for gathering?  Shall we escape her plagues by so doing?  No, there is no promise to that effect, but if we practice the sins and iniquities of Babylon here in Zion, we may expect to receive of her plagues...." (Daniel H. Wells, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 18, October 7, 1875).

"If God...establishes Zion, and He makes them a holy nation, a kingdom of priests, a peculiar people...it will not be by our clinging to Babylon and her foolish ways, and imitating the evil and foolish things of the world."  (Erastus Snow, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 19, June 3, 1877).  (For a discussion of the contrast between the ways of the world (Babylon) and God's standard (Zion), see article by this author entitled "The Traditions of Men Vs. the Standards of God.")

"But if you Latter day Saints who have received the message of the everlasting gospel, and who have, in obedience to the voice of heaven, gathered out of Babylon, if you pollute yourselves by turning again to the vanities, wickedness, and corruptions of the people from whose midst you have been delivered, then, says the Lord, "Behold, judgment shall begin at the house of God," it shall begin with you Latter day Saints, and then will go forth to the nations and kingdoms of the earth..." (Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses,  Vol. 18, August 26, 1876).

John Taylor repeated the warning, saying..."But the judgments will begin at the house of God."  (John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, April 13, 1879.)  See also discourse by Orson Pratt, "Latter day Judgments," Journal of Discourses, January 26, 1873; and Parley P. Pratt, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 3, April 7, 1856; and Ezra Taft Benson, Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, pp. 341.

What is the purpose of these trials coming to the Latter day Saints?  Does God chasten a Zion people?  No!  God chastens a disobedient people in order to bring them up to the standards He has declared.  See D&C 95:1 and D&C 101:2-8.  The Lord has warned the Saints that He would chasten them until they learned to be obedient to these principles (D&C 105:2-6).

What were some of the sins for which the early Saints were guilty, for which they forfeited the opportunity to establish Zion? D&C 105:3-4 names selfishness, neglect of the poor, and a failure to be united.  D&C 121:34-40 adds aspiring to the honors of men, having our hearts set upon the things of the world, hiding our sins, pride, vain ambition, the attempt to exercise control or dominion or compulsion over others, and unrighteous dominion.  D&C 98:20 identifies pride, covetousness, and failure to observe (practice) the word of God.  D&C 101:6-8 also names jarrings, contentions, envyings, strifes, lustful and covetous desires, slow to be obedient (see also D&C 103:4).  "Slow to be obedient" or being doubtful of the word of the Lord, and rationalizing why we don't need to be fully obedient, is one of the failures of the Saints explained more fully in D&C 101:46-50.  What people will be successful in establishing Zion?  Read D&C 101:62.

"Do you suppose that God will reveal his power among an unsanctified people, who have no regard nor respect for His laws and institutions, but who are filled with covetousness?  No"!  (Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 15, March 9, 1873).

Why does the Lord chasten his people?  That he may establish a pure people, who are prepared to serve him in righteousness (D&C 100:16), and that they may establish Zion (D&C 45:65-68, D&C 97:18-26).  Unless the Saints are prepared to establish Zion, which will be a refuge to the righteous of all nations, they are like salt that has lost its savor, and henceforth good for nothing, but to be tossed out (D&C 101:39-40, D&C 103:10, Matt 5:13).  The Saints cannot be of service to their fellowmen unless they become the peculiar people they were meant to be, which means that they must be living on a higher level than the rest of the world.  (See also article by this author entitled "Let Us Be One, or Becoming a Zion People.")

"The prophecies concerning Zion....these...promises are conditional....They will be fulfilled if we place ourselves in a position to merit their fulfillment...If Zion fails to come up to the requirements which God has made, then the fulfillment of these glorious promises will undoubtedly be deferred.  It is therefore of importance that the Latter Day Saints should come up to the standard that God has given unto us..." (George Q. Cannon, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 26, August 26, 1883).

"This is the land of Zion; but we are not yet prepared to go and establish the Center Stake of Zion.  The Lord tried this in the first place.  He called the people together to where the New Jerusalem and the great temple will be built, and where He will prepare for the City of Enoch.  And He gave revelation after revelation; but the people could not abide them, and the Church was scattered and peeled, and the people hunted from place to place, till finally, they were driven into the mountains, and here we are.  Now it is for you and me to prepare to return back again...to return East...to build up the Center Stake of Zion.  We are not prepared to do this now, but we are here to learn until we are of one heart and of one mind in the things of life.  Do all the Latter day Saints arrive at this?  No; they have not...of the great many who have been baptized into the Church, but few have been able to abide the word of the Lord, they have fallen out on the right and on the left, and have floundered by the way, and a few have gathered together.  Will these be prepared to enter the Celestial Kingdom?  Some of them will be...but not all of these, only a portion of them.  They do not know what to do with the revelations, commandments and blessings of God.  Talking for instance, about everyday things, how many do we see here that know what to do with money and property when they get it?  Are their eyes single to the building up of the kingdom of God?  No; they are single to the building up of themselves" (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 11, February 10, 1867).

"If we keep the commandments of The Lord we shall prosper, we shall be blessed; the plagues, the calamities that have been promised will be poured out upon the peoples of the earth and we shall escape them, yea, they shall pass us by.  But remember the Lord says if we fail to keep his word, if we walk in the ways of the world, they will not pass us by, but we shall be visited with floods and with fire, with sword and with plague and destruction.  We may escape these things through faithfulness.  Israel of old might have escaped through faithfulness, but they refused to keep the commandments of the Lord and they were not saved."  (Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference Report, April 1929)

"We, the members of the Church...must make and keep ourselves fit by obedience for the mission assigned us--the regeneration of the world.  It is a call to every member of the Church.  As we obey the commandments, so will the strength of the Church be.  As we fearlessly live the law, the influence of the Church will cover the earth and prepare it for peace.  Delay and vexation, sorrow and bloodshed, will overtake us if we surrender our convictions, and enter into compromise with the world.  It is better to observe the law, even in its lesser details." (John A. Widtsoe, Conference Report, April 1941).

"Zion will have to be redeemed by our children, who may be more worthy, while we may be kept, like the children of Israel, wandering in the wilderness...until we have suffered the penalty of neglected, broken and unfulfilled covenants." (Joseph F. Smith, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 19, April 2, 1877).

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b)  The Land of America
D&C 101:89-92 God will vex the nation and cut off its wicked and unjust stewards.
D&C 136:34-36 Nation to come to calamity if it persecutes the Saints.
Isaiah 28:1  Drunkards of Ephraim.
Isaiah 10:6  Hypocritical Nation.
Isaiah 1:4-7  Sinful nation will be desolated.
D&C 45:63  Wars prophesied for America
Moroni 8:27  Pride of Nation will prove their destruction unless they repent.
Ether 2:12  Promise of safety and freedom to Americans if they worship Christ and obey His laws
Ether 8:22  Nations that uphold secret combinations (which murder, lie, steal, commit  fraud, etc. to obtain power), will be destroyed.
Ether 2:9-12  America is a land of promise, people to serve God, or He will sweep them off the land when they are ripened in iniquity.
Alma 10:19  Ripe in Iniquity (see also Helaman 5:2, Ether 2:9, Mosiah 29:27)

Idolatry, the worship of other gods other than the Lord, is one of the primary reasons for which nations have been destroyed in the past.  Idolatrous people love Satan more than God.  They love their possessions and their wicked choices more than they love obeying God.  The sins of idolatry include the following: (1) The worship of other gods besides the Lord (Ex. 20:3-5), which includes making other priorities more important than our allegiance to God and to his principles).  (2) Falsehood (Jere 51:17).  Falsehood includes, but is not limited to lying, cheating, fraud, extortion, false representation, and all kinds of evil, as evil itself is a lie.  (3) Fornication, Uncleanness, Inordinate Affection and Evil Concupiscence (which includes homosexuality, lesbianism, incest, adultery, fornication, prostitution, pornography, etc.), and Covetousness (one can covet and steal the possessions of others, but one can also covet one's own property and value the property more than the commandments of God)  (Col. 3:5, D&C 19:26), (4) Materialism, or worshipping the products of our own hands, including trusting in our own products and devices to save us instead of God (Deut. 4:28, Ps. 135:15, Dan 5:23, Ezek. 20:32, Matt. 6:24, 2 Nephi 9:30), (5) Sorceries (which includes drug abuse), idolatry, idleness, babblings, envyings, strife, costly apparel, pride, persecuting, lying, thieving, robbing, committing whoredoms, murdering (Alma 1:32), (6) Murder or abortion of the unborn (Ps. 106:37-38, Jere. 7:31).

The American nation, originally founded by a Christian people, is today a nation filled with adulterers and idolators, pornographers, murderers, thieves, drug-users and drug-sellers ("sorcerers") people who have largely rejected Christian principles.  Americans abort millions of their unborn babies every year.  Secret combinations which deal in drugs, murder, theft and power fill our nation from the east coast to the west (Ether 8:19-26).  God will not allow our nation to continue under its current conditions.  We must either choose repentance and reform or sin and destruction.

The Book of Mormon is a set of records specifically picked out and compiled by the ancient American Prophet, Mormon, after he was shown, in vision, the land of America in the latter days (our days).  Because this prophet knew the challenges and difficulties we would face, he picked out particular segments from the history of his own people to include in the record called The Book of Mormon, which he felt would be helpful to us in the latter days.  Mormon included in this account, the record of two nations who lived upon the land of America in ancient times, which nations were swept off the land in great battles as a result of the pride and wickedness of the inhabitants.  This testimony was given to us as a witness that the modern nation of the United States of America could be the third nation to be swept off this continent unless we are more obedient than the previous two, and are willing to repent and serve the Lord.  God spared Nineveh when the inhabitants repented at the preaching of Jonah--Nineveh was destroyed in a later generation which returned to wickedness.

The apostle John Taylor issued the following warning to the inhabitants of America:  "This nation and other nations will be overthrown, not because of their virtue, but because of their corruption and iniquity.  The time will come, for the prophecies will be fulfilled, when kingdoms will be destroyed, thrones cast down, and the powers of the earth shaken, and God's wrath will be kindled against the nations of the earth, and it is for us [the Latter day Saints] to maintain correct principles, political, religious, and social, and to feel towards all men as God feels."  (John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, Feb. 1, 1874.)
 

c) The Nations of the World

Following the judgments on the land of America, the rest of the nations will come up in judgment before the Lord.  The gospel will be preached to them.  They will have the opportunity to accept or reject the gospel.  They will probably also be challenged with the mark of the beast, that is, no man will be able to buy or sell (thus, sustain himself) without this mark, compliance being demanded by a government which will be ruled by an anti-Christ. (Rev. 13:15-17)  The Lord cautions the faithful to reject the mark of the beast (Satan's government) (Rev. 14:9-12; Rev. 18:4).  (See "Mark of the Beast" below)

The "Lord...shall come down in judgment upon Idumea, or the world" (D&C 1:36, see also D&C 45:47) .  "For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places.  All these are the beginning of sorrows..." (Matt. 24:7-8).  "Verily, thus saith the Lord concerning the wars that will shortly come to pass, beginning at the rebellion at So. Carolina [the Civil War], and the time will come that war will be poured out upon all nations, beginning at this place. (D&C 87:2, 6).  The Lord will scourge the nations for their wickedness until those that are left acknowledge Him and are obedient to His principles (D&C 84:96-98).

"Call ye upon them with loud proclamation...that they may be left without excuse, and that I may visit them in the day of visitation, when I shall unveil the face of my covering, to appoint the portion of the oppressor, among hypocrites, where there is gnashing of teeth, if they reject my servants and my testimony...For the day of my visitation cometh speedily, in an hour when ye think not..." (D&C 124:3-11).  "The Lord who shall come down upon the world with a curse to judgment; yea, upon all the nations that forget God, and upon all the ungodly among you." (D&C 133:2).

"He [Moroni] informed me [Joseph Smith Jr.] of great judgments which were coming upon the earth, with great desolations by famine, sword, and pestilence; and that these grievous judgments would come on the earth [beginning] in this generation..." (Joseph Smith Testimony 1:45).  "And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin..." (John 16:8, see also D&C 87:6).  "Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints [I believe this refers to those saints who lived on the earth during previous dispensations, who are now returning with Christ as resurrected beings--see D&C 45:45], to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." (Jude 1:14-15).

"Four angels were loosed...the army...by these...was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone...and the rest of men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship idols, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass and stone and wood [meaning materialism, force and power--loving and trusting one's wealth, buildings, lands, possessions and armaments more than God.  Spencer W. Kimball identified some of the gods of stone and metal as our fortifications, ships, planes and projectiles. (Spencer W. Kimball, "The False Gods We Worship," Ensign, June 1976, and Spencer W. Kimball, Conference Report, April 1960.)]...neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts." (Rev. 9:15-21).  "And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.  And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped...And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress..." (Rev. 14:15-16).

And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.  And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image...for they have shed the blood of saints and prophets...and the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire...and the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast, and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain and blasphemed the God of Heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds..."  (Rev. 16:1-11).

"Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty...Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate; and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it...and I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease..."  (Isa. 13:6-11).  "I have cut off the nations...their cities are destroyed...for the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy." (Zeph 3:6).

Many nations will be drawn to battle against Jerusalem in the Middle East.  Though the armies of the adversary will prevail for a time, Jesus Christ will eventually stand on the Mt. of Olives and appear to those who remain.  As Christ stands on the Mt. of Olives, a great earthquake will occur.  (D&C 45:48, Zech. 14:1-8, Zech. 12:1-14, Zech. 13:6)  The Dead (Salt) Sea will be thrust up and living waters will flow out of it, a symbol that the Jews will live through acceptance of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, who was referred to as the Living Waters (as he is the gate to eternal life).

Mark of the Beast
Although the mark of the beast may prove to be a singular event still in the future, symbolically it has been a sign of the followers of Satan throughout the ages.  Rev. 13:15-17 informs us that no man was able to buy or sell unless he had the mark of the beast in his hand or in his forehead.

Sterling Sill explains: "the beast goes down on all fours and thus his vision is cast upon the ground [i.e., to temporal, physical and sensual matters instead of the spiritual], but man stands upright in the image of his Maker that he may look up to God our Eternal Father." (Sterling W. Sill, Improvement Era, June 1970).

As man was made in the image of God, so Satan tries to conform man to his own evil image instead.  As God has counseled man to take upon him "his countenance (Alma 5:14), so when men follow Satan, they receive his mark, or his image in their countenances.  "As the servants of God have their calling and election made sure when they are "sealed...in their foreheads" (Rev. 7:2-8), so the Great Imitator [Satan] places a mark in the right hand or foreheads of those who follow him.  Figuratively, this means they receive blessings [advantages]--if his rewards lawfully may be so named--from under his hands..." (Bruce R. McConkie, Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, Vol. 3).

In other words, throughout the ages, there have been men who have compromised godly morals and principles in order to succeed in the world (often to enable them to succeed in the business world--hence the reference to the "mark in the hand," as money is often exchanged for graft, bribes, and personal gain, or in the forehead--in order to obtain the lusts of their minds and hearts, which they were not able obtain lawfully because of their lack of righteousness).  They have made a deal with Satan, or embraced his wicked principles, or taken his mark and image upon themselves in order to obtain the success which they desired.

Bruce R. McConkie explains:  "False worship brings damnation."  "...Those in Babylon shall suffer the fires of eternal torment....Why?  Their fate befalls them because they worshipped--not the Father, in the name of the Son, by the power of the Spirit--but the beast and his image.  They sacrificed at evil altars.  Theirs was a worldly way of life.  They did not overcome the world, and put off the natural man, and become saints through the atonement of Christ the Lord.  They dwelt in Babylon..." (Bruce R. McConkie, The Millennial Messiah).

On the other hand, it is the Saints of God, those who take the image of God upon their countenances, who embrace and live godly principles, and who refuse the devil's bargain by not compromising righteous principles in order to achieve an end.  Rev. 20:4 informs us that these Saints will have part in the first resurrection, because they did not receive the beast's (Satan's) mark...They were not of the world, but chose God's way.  We are told that some of them, because they testified of Christ and refused to compromise with evil, were "beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God..."

George Q. Cannon explains:  "The reason we are hated today is because of these very things.  If we would be like the rest of the world, we would have no opposition from the world.  Jesus said to His disciples, "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you."  It is just the same today.  If we were like the world, the world would love us; but because God has chosen us out of the world, therefore the world [the worldly] hates us; and we shall be hated as long as we preserve these virtues and contend for them, as long as we refuse to partake of the cup of fornications which the mother of abominations hold out to us; as long as we refuse to have the mark of the beast upon us, so long shall we have this opposition to contend with, until Babylon is overthrown and destroyed from the face of the earth....If we would drink of that cup which that great mother of abominations holds in her hands, opposition would cease, for we would then be like them, we would be of them..." (Collected Discourses, George, Q. Cannon, February 23, 1890).

For other ideas on the mark of the beast, see "Forms of Bondage" also by this author.
 

Prophesied Destructions are Conditional
All prophecies which promise blessings for obedience or curses for disobedience are conditional upon the compliance or non-compliance of those to whom they are directed (D&C 130:20-21).  Thomas Marsh was promised great opportunities if he was faithful in his calling (D&C 112:4,7).  These promises were lost, however, due to his disobedience and apostacy and shall be given to another in his stead.  God promised the Israelites blessings for obedience (Deut. 11:13-15, Deut. 28:2-4, Deut. 30, Lev. 26:3-13), but cursings for disobedience (Deut. 28:15-68, Deut. 29:22-25, Lev. 26:14-39).  Similarly, in our day, the prophesied curses and destruction upon the Latter day Saints (D&C 41:1), the Americans, and other nations of the world, are conditional upon their obedience or disobedience to godly principles.  The people of Nineveh were spared when they repented at the preaching of Jonah (Jonah 3:5-10), while the Jews went into captivity when they failed to repent at the preaching of Jeremiah, Lehi, Urijah, and other prophets.

The Latter day Saints are promised that curses and destructions will come upon them if they fail to repent (D&C 84:54-59, D&C 97:23-26, D&C 103:8,14), however, the righteous among them, and those who repent are given great promises of both preservation and success in establishing Zion (D&C 21:4-6, D&C 35:14, D&C 61:10, D&C 88:83-85, D&C 97:23-25, D&C 103:5-6,18, I Nephi 22:17, 3 Neph 22:17).

Likewise, the Lord promises that the American people will enjoy freedom, liberty and safety if they serve Jesus Christ (Ether 2:12), and that the nations of the world will dwell in safety if they repent (I Nephi 22:28, see also D&C 39:18, 3 Nephi 30:1-3, 2 Nephi 30:2).

5) Earthquakes will rend and tear apart the continents as they are returned to their original place.

Isa 2:19--"when He ariseth to shake terribly the earth."
Isa. 13:13--"Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place."
Rev. 6:12--"When he had opened the sixth seal...lo, there was a great earthquake."
Rev. 16:18-20--"And there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great...and every island fled away, and the mountains were not found."
D&C 45:48--earthquake, followed by the earth trembling, and reeling to and fro.
D&C 88:87--"the earth shall tremble and reel to and fro as a drunken man..."

Parley Pratt said that prior to the advent (return) of Jesus Christ, that "the earth will be terribly convulsed; the mountains will sink, the valleys will rise, the rough places become smooth; while a fire will pass over the surface of the earth, and consume the proud and all that do wickedly... and thus after the earth is cleansed by fire from all its wicked inhabitants, as it once was by water, and after its mighty convulsions have restored it to its former shape and surface....The Jews behold their long expected Messiah, and come to the knowledge that he is Jesus whom their fathers crucified...they are cleansed from their sins through his precious blood....'Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.'  This promise made by the Savior while on the Mount, will then be fulfilled.  (see also 37 Psalm; Ezekiel 37)  The curses which came upon the earth by reason of sin will then be taken off.  It will no longer bring forth thorns and thistles, but its productions will be as they were before the fall.  The barren deserts will become fruitful, the thirsty land will abound with springs of water...Nations shall learn war no more...the very beasts of prey will then lose their thirst for blood...The lion will eat herbs instead of preying upon flesh, and all the animal creation will become perfectly harmless as they were in the beginning, while perfect peace will cover the earth; while all the ancient prophets, apostles, saints and martyrs...will be on the earth, with their glorified immortal bodies--This is the first resurrection! This is the great Sabbath of creation, the 1,000 years of rest and peace, the long expected Millennium." (Parley P. Pratt, The World Turned Upside Down, or Heaven on Earth, Liverpool, 1842 (BYU Special Collections)

The Record of John
The earth was created in a series of periods of time, long before it was ready for man to be placed on its surface (God refers to these seven time periods as "days" to simplify the creation for the understanding of men).  Man, since Adam, has existed on the earth's surface for approximately six thousand years.  There were approximately four thousand years from the Fall of Adam to Jesus Christ, and two thousand years from Christ to the present day (end of year 2000).  The Book of Revelations speaks of seven seals being opened (Rev. 8).  In the year 2001, we are at the time for the opening of the seventh seal, or the beginning of the seventh thousand years (D&C 77:12, D&C 76:41).  This period of time begins with "silence in heaven about the space of half an hour (Rev. 8:1).  Some people interpret this to mean a literal thirty-minute time period, but others believe that it is symbolic of a half an hour of the Lord's time (one day being like a thousand years for Him), and thus believe that it will be a certain number of years.  Whatever the length of time of this particular prophesy, it does represent a period of time.  The prophesied desolations upon the unrepentant will take place after this "half hour of silence."

Rev. 6:1-11 briefly mentions events of the first five seals, or the first five thousand years.  Rev. 6:9 deals not only with the Christian martyrs who were persecuted and killed by the unbelieving nations, particularly by the Roman Empire during the first few centuries A.D., but also the Christian martyrs who perished during the Inquisitions of the Middle Ages (compare Rev. 13:7, 17:6 and 18:24).

Then something unusual happens in the Book of Revelations.  The events of the sixth seal appear to be missing or altered.  Some of the events named in Revelations chapter 6, verses 12-17 (stated to be sixth seal events) have been misplaced and should fall under the seventh seal instead.  We know this because the great earthquake, which will cause all the islands to disappear, and the lands to join together, is an event which I believe will take place during the seventh seal, but just prior to the Millennial era of peace.  It is for this reason that I believe this portion of John's record (The Book of Revelations) has been altered.

I state this as my opinion, and I may be right or wrong (we won't know until the original record of John is returned), but I personally believe that Revelations chapter 7 describes events of both the sixth and seventh seal--I do not believe that the sealing of the faithful from every tribe has yet happened (unless it has happened without our knowledge), and will not happen until after the return of the Ten Tribes, although the sealing of men and women from every tribe has already been occurring in the last one hundred and fifty eight years with the sealings that occur in the Latter day Saint temples.  But I do not believe that the temple sealings alone are the complete fulfillment of the "sealing of the 144,000".

Revelations chapters 8-11 continue with more seventh seal events which will precede the second coming of Jesus Christ.  What happened to the events of the sixth seal (A.D. 1000-2000)?  They should have referred to such events as briefly mentioned in Rev. 14:6.  I believe that some of the information about events to take place during the sixth seal may have been intentionally removed, since they would have testified not only of an apostacy and Dark Ages, which occurred after the death of Christ's original apostles, but also of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the latter days.  The Apostle John was shown the future in a vision, and he was also shown that people would tamper with the scriptures, and attempt to alter his record.  See his warning to those who attempted to alter his revelation in Rev.22:18-19.  The prophet Nephi reported that certain scriptures of the Bible would be tampered with (during the Great Apostacy) (I Nephi 13:20-29 and I Nephi 14:20-23).  One day we shall receive the original (untampered with) revelation of John!  (I Nephi 13:39-40, I Nephi 14:26-27, Ether 4:13-16, D&C 93:6,18)  Then these missing parts will be supplied and altered portions corrected.

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4--How We Can Prepare Ourselves for the Millennium

1) Spiritual Preparedness--Repent of your sins. (Isa. 1:18, Micah 7:18)  Live righteously so that you won't be among the burnt offerings that will be barbequed and swept off the earth.  Study the scriptures. Be prayerful.  Accept and live the principles of the gospel, do so valiantly, not half-heartedly.  Live so that you have the Spirit of God with you that when the Spirit directs you to be somewhere, you will listen and promptly respond, and so that you can shun wicked or misguided directors (Matt. 24:23-31).  Gather your family history and genealogy.

The Lord has commanded us to "Go ye out from among the nations, even from Babylon, from the midst of wickedness, which is spiritual Babylon." (D&C 133:14), and has also commanded us to "stand in holy places" (D&C 45:32, D&C 87:8), which not only refers to living righteously and physically being in righteous places (Ezra Taft Benson identified our homes, chapels, stakes and temples as holy places), but also refers to gathering together with the righteous (D&C 101:22, D&C29:8).  Boyd K. Packer warned: "Don't be deceived--if there is any gathering, it will be announced by those who are...ordained" (Boyd K. Packer, Ensign, Nov. 1992).  (See also D&C 101:13-18, D&C 115:4-6, I Nephi 17:38, I Nephi 22:17-25, 2 Nephi 14:5, 3 Nephi 21:26-29, Moses 7:61-62, Matt. 24:11,24).  Remember, there have always been both true and false prophets upon the earth.  God warns us only against the false prophets (see my paper "Many Prophets").

Some of the righteous may lose their lives during these sweeping changes.  They will be received by God and enjoy glorious blessings.  The most important thing, whether or not your physical life is preserved, is whether your spiritual life is wholesome, so that whether you die and return to God, or live to remain during the Millennium, you will enjoy the blessings God has promised to all those who repent of their sins and live righteously. (3 Nephi 15:1)

2) Physical Health Preparedness--It would help you if you prepared your body by consuming a more healthy and more plant-oriented diet, as we will eventually be returning to the Adamic diet during the Millennium.  A healthy diet will also help prepare you physically when the scourges come in the last days. (D&C 89:2)

3) Economic Preparedness --The prophets have warned us to get out of debt and to pay our tithing. They have also warned us to maintain a year's supply of food and to grow gardens.  Learn how to be good and righteous stewards over your families, crops, and your other responsibilities.  Make sure if you are a business owner that you are not oppressing the hireling in his wages, etc. (Mal. 3:5)  Brigham Young warned the Saints that if they did not become economically independent from the gentiles, and develop home industry and manufacture, that the day would come that they would regret it, because they would be cut off from the manufacturers of Babylon, and experience extreme shortages (Journal of Discourses).
 

5--Recommended Reading about the Last Days and the Millennium:

(1) The Old and New Testaments, The Book of Mormon, The Doctrine & Covenants
(2) The Book of Revelation Today by Farley Anderson.
(3) Behold, I Come Quickly by Hoyt Brewster.
(4) Prophecy--Key to the Future by Duane Crowther.
(5) Preparing & Protecting the Saints (Vol 1), Desolation & Destruction in the Last Days (Vol 2), and Zion Established, the Second Coming & Millennium (Vol 3), compiled by Arlene K. Butler.

10/2000
1/2001-2/2001
3/2001

Attachment: Note to Christians

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Note to Christians:

I have quoted many Latter day Saint writers in this paper, but have also quoted a couple of general Christian writers.  Both Latter day Saints and large numbers of Christians of all denominations are aware, from prophecy, that we are living in the latter days prior to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

I have one issue which I would like to clarify for Christians of all denominations.  Some of their leaders and ministers, while warning their followers about the last days, have also led some Christians erroneously to believe that before these troubled times come, that they will miraculously be "raptured up" into the presence of God (I Thes. 4:16-17, D&C 88:96), thus avoiding all the tribulations of the last days.  This is a false promise of peace.

"Thus saith the Lord of Hosts: "Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord.  They say still unto them...The Lord hath said, Ye shall have peace...I have not sent these prophets....I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied..." (Jere. 23:16, 21).

The Lord, on the other hand, has spoken to His living prophets today through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints.  These prophets, knowing the tribulations and trials to come, have warned the people to repent, to obtain a year's supply of food, and to be prepared in many other ways.  You may choose either to put your faith in men who have not been called of God (who, although many may have the best of intentions, and may teach their followers other important truths, still do not understand the complete will of God concerning these latter days), or you may choose to put your faith in God and in the words of his inspired latter day prophets (Amos 3:7).

But what will you say to your families and children in the days of tribulation, when there is no food in your house, or you have not gathered as the prophets have directed?  How will you explain to them that you are not prepared to last through these trials because you put your faith in man instead of in the Lord's inspired counsel?

The Lord tells us that the blessings come AFTER the trials (Ether 12:6).  Many of the righteous will experience the trials of the last days, as the Lord separates out the righteous from the wicked (Dan. 12:10, 2 Nephi 30:10).  Then will the Lord direct many of the righteous to safety.  (Ps. 27:5, Prov. 28:28, Omni 1:7), but they must first prove their faithfulness to the Lord.  Doctrine and Covenants 88:83-96 describes the events that will occur prior to the righteous being caught up.  (See also Matt. 24, esp. v. 29-31.)  The promise is that the righteous will be caught up before the earth is burned by fire, but not before many other important preparatory events take place, including the separation of the righteous from the wicked.

"Watch, therefore, that ye may be ready..." (D&C 50:41-46, D&C 45:44, Matt. 24:40-42)