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"For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, as well in these times as in times of old, and as well in times of old as in times to come; wherefore, the course of the Lord is one eternal round." (1 Nephi 10:19) Dear LDS Marco
I would like to share with you an experience I had last year in relation to your 'the time is now video.'
On Thursday 20 July 2017 I was studying 1 Nephi 10 and when I read verse '19' the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said that night I would have a dream and I am to write down the things that I see.
The dream was as follows:
I saw in front of me a table and on this table rolled out before me was a type of blueprint map. I compare it to the construction worker blueprint maps that are commonly used. In my mind, I knew it represented Heavenly Father's timeline for the earth. I couldn't see the start of the timeline only the end. It read like a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet with a cell grid style. Each column had 7 boxes down and then a new column would start. At the very top right corner, I saw was the world's current stage on the timeline. Beneath were 5 boxes and then the last box had in it clearly "19 minutes until the Lord's return."
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As I pondered this dream I was impressed to turn to the Book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price, and as I was reading I came across Abraham 3:4
"And the Lord said unto me, by the Urim and Thummim, that Kolob was after the manner of the Lord, according to its times and seasons in the revolutions thereof; that one revolution was a day unto the Lord, after his manner of reckoning, it being one thousand years according to the time appointed unto that whereon thou standest. This is the reckoning of the Lord’s time, according to the reckoning of Kolob."
to which I wrote down the following equation.
1 day to the Lord is equal to 1000 years (365,000 days)
365,000 ÷ 24(hrs) = 15,208 days
15,208(days) ÷ 60(min) = 253 days
*253 days on earth is equal to one minute in heaven
253(1 min) x 19(min) = 4807 days
4807(days) ÷ 365(days) = 13 years
This projected me to the year 2030
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I thought I would share with you and yes I'm aware no man knows the day or the hour
What is the most exciting thing you can imagine happening next year? Our Heavenly Father knew that the child of men would be anxious to know about the future. However, his primary purpose in revealing the unfolding of spectacular events which no one could have anticipated is so that we can better prepare ourselves. That is the primary purpose of this presentation. As you will see, there is much for which we need to be prepared, and the Lord says “If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear.”
WE TURN TO THE REVELATION OF THE APOSTLE JOHN
The marvelous reve1ation to the Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos is sometimes difficult to analyze because he recorded events which he saw in heaven right along with things which he saw happening on earth. Sometimes it is difficult to tell which sphere is being discussed. For example, he talks about the 144,000 being sealed in their foreheads during the sixth seal 8 but seven chapters later he speaks of the 144,000 performing their great mission on earth after the opening of the seventh seal. 9
Is this a contradiction?
We have reason to believe that the first reference to the 144,000 during the sixth seal is referring to the selection and sealing up of these choice servants IN THE SPIRIT WORLD before they came into the earth. That there were such foreordinations in the spirit world is described by Alma:
“And this is the manner after which they were ordained – being called and prepared from the FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD according to the FOREKNOWLEDGE OF GOD. “10
And we also have the words of Joseph Smith who said:
“Every man who has a calling to minister to the inhabitants of the world was ordained to that very purpose in the Grand Council of heaven before this world was. I suppose that I was ordained to this very office in that Grand Council.”11
“Question: What are we to understand by the angel ascending from the east is he to whom is given the seal of the living God over the twelve tribes of Israel
“Answer: If you will receive it this is Elias which was to come to gather together the tribes of Israel and restore all things.
“Question: What TIME are the things spoken of in this chapter to be accomplished?
“Answer: They are to be accomplished in the sixth thousand years or the opening of the SIXTH seal.
“Question: What are we to understand by sealing the one hundred and forty-four thousand out of all the tribes of Israel – twelve thousand out of each tribe? [the opening of the seventh seal and the gathering of the Ten Tribes]?
“Answer: We are to understand that those who are sealed… to administer the everlasting gospel; for they are ordained out of every nation [THE ANGELS to whom is given power over the nations of the earth, and bring as many as will come to the church of the Firstborn.” 12
“Question: When are the things to be accomplished, which are written in the 9th chapter of Revelation [the cleansing of the earth]? They are to be accomplished after the opening of the SEVENTH seal, before the coming of Christ.”13
From these scriptures it is quite clear why we have the foreordination and sealing up of the 144,000 in the spirit world as described in the seventh chapter of Revelation, and a description of the subsequent ministry of the 144,000 among the children of men in Revelation, chapter fourteen.14
JOHN BEGINS DESCRIBING MODERN TIMES AFTER THE OPENING OF THE SEVENTH SEAL
Now John is ready to transfer his attention from the five chapters outlining the preparations in heaven for the Second Coming and concentrate on the unfolding of these events on earth. All of these events are controlled by the factor of “time.” He therefore defines the period in which these events will occur. John says:
“And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.” 15
This immediately raises four highly significant questions. For example:
#1. According to OUR calendar, when will the seventh seal be opened, and the half-hour of silence begins in heaven?
Until 1582 A.D. our calendar was not at all accurate, but Pope Gregory employed a group of mathematicians and astronomers to restructure the calendar. They set up the new calendar so that it was in perfect harmony or calibration with the sun. To make it completely accurate they had to add one day every four years and that is how we got our “leap year.”
But even with all that restructuring, how are we certain that it is completely accurate? The best answer to that question is in the Doctrine and Covenants. On two occasions the Lord used the Gregorian calendar in such a way that it seemed to clearly imply his approval of it.
In Section 20 the Lord said he wanted the Church established on the sixth day of April because it would be “one thousand eight hundred and thirty years since the coming of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the flesh.” 16
In the very next section we are told the Church was set up by Joseph Smith under the guidance of the Holy Ghost and then it says:
“Which church was organized and established in the year of your Lord eighteen hundred and thirty, in the fourth month, and on the sixth day of the month which is called April.” 17
So if our calendar is accurate and apparently approved by the Lord, there is no question about the date of the opening of the seventh seal and the half hour of silence in heaven. It will commence in the year 2000 AD .
#2. Why is there suddenly “silence in heaven” when the SEVENTH seal is opened?
Apparently there is a great deal of furious activity in heaven right up to the time the seventh seal is opened. The Priesthood of this dispensation are required to work at a tremendous pace to get ready for the Second Coming. This was explained to Wilford Woodruff the last time he was allowed to see Joseph Smith in the spirit world. He says:
“Joseph Smith continued visiting myself and others up to a certain time and then it stopped. The last time I saw him was in heaven. In the night vision I saw him at the door of the temple in heaven. He came and spoke to me. He said he could not stop to talk with me because he was in a hurry. The next man I met was Father Smith; he could not talk with me because he was in a hurry. I met a half a dozen brethren who had held high positions on earth and none of them could stop to talk with me because they were in a hurry. I was much astonished. By and by I saw the Prophet again, and I got the privilege to ask him a question. ‘Now,’ said I, ‘I want to know why you’re in a hurry. I have been in a hurry all through my life but I expected my hurry would be over when I got into the kingdom of heaven, if I ever did.’ Joseph said, ‘I will tell you, Brother Woodruff, every dispensation that has had the Priesthood on the earth and has gone into the celestial kingdom, has had a certain amount of work to do to prepare to go to the earth with the Savior when He goes to reign on the earth. Each dispensation has had ample time to do this work. We have not. We are the last dispensation, and so much work has to be done and we need to be in a hurry in order to accomplish it.’ Of course, that was satisfactory with me, but it was a new doctrine to me.” 18
Joseph Smith made it plain to Wilford Woodruff that the Priesthood of this dispensation are working under a fantastic deadline to teach everyone who has died without the gospel since the apostolic times. This task has to be completed by the time of ‘the opening of the seventh seal when the hosts of heaven will have a new task connected with the final preparation and cleansing of the earth for the Second Coming.
#3. DO WE KNOW WHEN THE HALF HOUR OF SILENCE ENDS?
From a modern revelation we learn when the half hour of silence ends. Here is what the Lord says:
“And there shall be silence in heaven for the space of half an hour, and IMMEDIATELY after shall the curtain of heaven be unfolded, as a scroll is unfolded after it is rolled up, AND THE FACE OF THE LORD SHALL BE UNVEILED; and the saints that are upon the earth, who are alive, shall be quickened and be caught up to meet him.” 19
Obviously we are talking about the Second Coming. So this tells us when the half hour of silence ends. It is just before the Second Coming.
#4. CAN WE calculate THE ACTUAL DURATION OF TH HOUR OF SILENCE?
Since we know the half hour of silence begins at 2,000 A.D. when the seventh seal is opened and since we know from a modern revelation that the half hour of silence ends with the Second Coming, can we calculate in terms of years the length of time which will elapse between these two monumental events? In other words, can we determine about how long the half hour of silence lasts?
One of the apostles felt that such a calculation was possible. Here is the way Elder Bruce R. McConkie suggested it could be done. After talking about the half hour of silence, he says:
“If the time here mentioned is ‘ Lord’s time’ in which one day is a thousand years, the haft hour would be some twenty-one of our years.”
Elder McConkie reached this conclusion based on the following scriptures:
“A day with the Lord after his manner of reckoning, it being 1000 years according to the time appointed to that [ whereon thou standest.”
And again:
“But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that ONE DAY is with the Lord as a THOUSAND YEARS, and a thousand years as one day.”
The next step was to divide 1,000 years by 24 to determine what an hour would be according to God’s time. It turned out to be 41.66 years or just under 42 years. This means that a half hour of God’s time would be ? 7 years or nearly 21 years. This would clearly suggest that this is the duration of the half hour of silence in heaven and the period of time when the angels undertake the calamitous preparation of the earth for the Savior’s second coming.
WHAT HAPPENS IN HEAVEN DURING THE HALF HOUR OF SILENCE?
In the next five chapters John tells us of the careful and precise assignment of the angels in heaven so the earth can be cleansed of all wickedness and prepared for the Second Coming.
Here is a brief summary of each of these chapters.
Chapter 8. After the seventh seal is opened, the first four angels receive their assignments to cleanse certain portions of the earth.
Chapter 9. The fifth and sixth angels are assigned their ministry of cleansing the earth but they are not ‘to torment or destroy those who have the “seal of God in their foreheads.” (verse 4) This probably refers to those who are under the Lord’s covenant, or members of the church. However, all others will be tormented until they “seek death and shall not find it.” (verse 6) But in the end over a third of mankind will be destroyed. (verse 15) During the raging wars over two hundred million men will be under arms. (verse 16) There is an amazingly accurate description of the highly mechanized instruments of war that will be employed. (verses 17-19) Nevertheless, in spite of all this period of turmoil and bloodshed the people not only refuse to repent but become more depraved and debauched than ever. (verse 20-21)
It will be recalled that when Joseph Smith was asked the specific time when the 144,000 would be foreordained and sealed he said: “In the sixth thousand years or the opening of the sixth seal.” 23but later Joseph Smith was asked, “When are the devastating things to be accomplished which are written in the 9th chapter,” he replied: “After the opening of the seventh seal, before the coming of Christ.” 24 as we shall see later, the coming of the ten lost tribes and the ministry of the 144,000 to every nation just before the Second Coming, all occur after the opening of the seventh seal.
Chapter 10. The seventh angel (identified in verse 7) holds up a little book whereupon seven thunders roar out a message which John was forbidden to record. (verse 4)
When Joseph Smith was asked what this little book represented, he said:
“We are to understand that it was a mission, and an ordinance, for him to gather the tribes of Israel; behold, this is the Elias, who, as it is written must come and restore all things.” 25
During the June Conference of 1831 Joseph Smith revealed that John the Beloved was already among the ten tribes of Israel who had been led away by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, to prepare for their return from the long dispersion. 26
This is not referring to the remnants of Israel scattered among the various nations, but that supremely righteous segment of the Ten Tribes whom Moses said eventually would be gathered in from the “outmost parts of heaven.” 27
chapter 11. This is a heavenly vision of the climax to the second worldwide dictatorship. It will culminate in the great battle of Armageddon which we will discuss later.
chapter 12. This chapter provides the background for the fall of Lucifer and his hosts after the war in heaven. John says it was there that the righteous fought against Satan “by their word and their testimony” trying to persuade the confused and uncommitted spirits to support Christ’s gospel plan. In the end, two-thirds rallied behind Jehovah but one-third supported Satan and were cast out into the mortal earth. (verses 7-11)
John depicts the Saints of God as being like “a woman clothed with the sun.” (verse 1) John looks back through the centuries and realizes that because of Satan’s persecution of God’s kingdom there would be “a time and times and half a time” (verse 14) when the woman would have to flee into hiding. This would be off and on throughout the 3,500 years incorporated in the dispensation of Joseph, Moses and the apostles. John saw that not until 1,830 A.D. would the woman of the Church of Jesus Christ come forth in all her power and glory. Then John says:
“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed (God’s servants in the latter days] which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” (verse 17)
It will be appreciated that the previous five chapters are describing the elaborate structure of the angelic forces in heaven to prepare for the mighty contest that will take place on the earth after the opening of the sixth and seventh seals. John wants us to know that during this contest Satan will lay the foundation for two worldwide dictatorships. Now we are ready for Revelation, chapter thirteen.
History of the Church, Joseph Smith 1:315 And now I am prepared to say by the authority of Jesus Christ, that not many years shall pass away before the United States shall present such a scene of bloodshed as has not a parallel in the history of our nation; pestilence, hail, famine, and earthquake will sweep the wicked of this generation from off the face of the land, to open and prepare the way for the return of the lost tribes of Israel from the north country.
Journal of Discourses, Joseph Smith 20:41 Were we surprised when the last terrible war took place here in the United States? No; good Latter-day Saints were not, for they had been told about it. Joseph Smith had told them where it would start, that it should be a terrible time of bloodshed and that it should start in South Carolina. But I tell you today the end is not yet. You will see worse things than that, for God will lay his hand upon this nation, and they will feel it more terribly than ever they have done before; there will be more bloodshed, more ruin, more devastation than ever they have seen before. Write it down! You will see it come to pass; it is only just starting in. And would you feel to rejoice? No; I would feel sorry. I knew very well myself when this last war was commencing, and could have wept and did weep, over this nation; but there is yet to come a sound of war, trouble and distress, in which brother will be arrayed against brother, father against son, son against father, a scene of desolation and destruction that will permeate our land until it will be a vexation to hear the report thereof.
Journal of Discourses, Orson Pratt 20:18 And the Lord also made a similar decree, recorded, too, in the same book, in regard to the present great populous nation called the people of the United States. They must perish, unless they repent. They will be wasted away, and the fullness of the wrath of Almighty God will be poured out upon them, unless they repent. Their cities will be left desolate. A time is coming when the great and populous city of New York–the greatest city of the American Republic, will be left without inhabitants. The houses will stand, some of them, not all. They will stand there, but unoccupied, no people to inherit them. It will be the same in regard to numerous other cities, or, in the words of the Lord, “I will throw down all their strongholds, and I will execute vengeance and fury upon them, even as upon the heathen, such as they have not heard.” It will all be fulfilled. But there will be a remnant who will be spared. It will be those who repent of their sins; it will be those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and are willing to obey his commandments, willing to hearken to his voice, willing to be baptized for the remission of their sins, willing to be born of the spirit, or receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, willing to walk uprightly and honestly with all men, and justly one with another.
Journal of Discourses, Orson Pratt 20:18 But what about the American nation. That war that destroyed the lives of some fifteen or sixteen hundred thousand people was nothing, compared to that which will eventually devastate that country. The time is not very far distant in the future, when the Lord God will lay his hand heavily upon that nation. … It will be a war of neighborhood against neighborhood, city against city, town against town, county against county, state against state, and they will go forth destroying and being destroyed and manufacturing will, in a great measure, cease, for a time, among the American nation. Why? Because in these terrible wars, they will not be privileged to manufacture, there will be too much bloodshed–too much mobocracy–too much going forth in bands and destroying and pillaging the land to suffer people to pursue any local vocation with any degree of safety. What will become of millions of the farmers upon that land? They will leave their farms and they will remain uncultivated, and they will flee before the ravaging armies from place to place; and thus will they go forth burning and pillaging the whole country; and that great and powerful nation, now consisting of some forty millions of people, will be wasted away, unless they repent.
Scriptural Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith :161 I saw men hunting the lives of their own sons, and brother murdering brother, women killing their own daughters, and daughters seeking the lives of their mothers. I saw armies arrayed against armies. I saw blood, desolation, fires. The Son of Man has said that the mother shall be against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother. These things are at our doors. They will follow the Saints of God from city to city. Satan will rage, and the spirit of the devil is now enraged. I know not how soon these things will take place; but with a view of them, shall I cry peace? No; I will lift up my voice and testify of them. How long you will have good crops, and the famine be kept off, I do not know; when the fig tree leaves, know then that the summer is nigh at hand.
People who lived through the cyclone that passed over the South Pacific island of Vanuatu in 2015 describe the frightening experience and how they learned to have faith in the Lord. They also describe how they worked to become physically and spiritually self-reliant.
Elder Stevenson sits down with Vanuatu residents to talk about the aftermath of the natural disaster and about our relationship with our Heavenly Father—how He cares for us, strengthens us, and helps us through the unexpected trials in our lives.
“As we are dependent on [Jesus Christ], we begin to develop our own spiritual and temporal strength and independence. We get a gospel perspective and we can really see the hand of the Lord helping us, even in the midst of trials and afflictions.” –Elder Stevenson
