Looking For the Good

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints wrote the First Presidency Message in the March edition of the Ensign Magazine. This month, Pres. Uchtdorf's message is focused on being peacemakers, looking on the bright side, and seeing the Good in everything around us. With the increase in evil, and adversity around, this skill will become much needed.

Pres. Uchtdorf says:"Have you ever noticed that people can usually find whatever they are looking for? Look hard enough, and you can discover both good and bad in almost anyone and anything." Pres. Uchtdorf warns members against the temptation to criticize, to hold grudges, gossip and to find fault with others. “for where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work” (James 3:16).

Instead, Pres Uchtdorf reminds us of the scriptures that teach the followers of Christ to be “pure, … peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.” For those who make peace, “the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace” (James 3:17-18). Pres. Uchtdorf concludes: "we have a choice. We can seek for the bad in others. Or we can make peace and work to extend to others the understanding, fairness, and forgiveness we so desperately desire for ourselves. It is our choice; for whatever we seek, that we will certainly find."

This wise Counsel reminds me of the words of Alma to his son Corianton in the Book of Mormon about the Law of the Harvest and the meaning of the word restoration:

For that which ye do send out shall return unto you again, and be restored; therefore, the word restoration more fully condemneth the sinner, and justifieth him not at all. (Alma 41:15)

Fukushima Reactor a False 3rd Trumpet?

The LDS Church has no official doctrine with regard to the exact timing of the Second Coming nor of specific fulfillment of any specific apocalyptic scriptures except that generally speaking we are in the Last Days, we aught to be spiritually and temporally prepared, and the calamities that are occurring are signs of the times and will continue unless we repent.

While Elder Bednar and Elder Holland have spoken about trumpets sounding in recent LDS General Conferences, the following does not necessarily represent official LDS Doctrine. And, at this point, it doesn't really matter what trumpet and seal we think we are on, as long as we all agree that the trumpets are sounding or are about the sound. And I am sure most Christians are getting the sense that we are in the Last Days and summer is nigh.

Seven Trumpets:
1st Trumpet: Hail, Fire and Blood burn 1/3 trees and all grass
2nd Trumpet: Mountain in the Sea turns to blood and kills 1/3 fish die and 1/3 ships
3rd Trumpet: Woomwood star contaminates 1/3 rivers and 1/3 springs
4th Trumpet: 1/3 part of Sun, Moon, Stars hidden
5th Trumpet: Another star falls, Sun is dark by smoke and Scorpion Locusts torment man 5 months
6th Trumpet: Armageddon kills 1/3 man, 2 Witnesses prophesy and call plagues
7th Trumpet: Christ Appears and wrath unleashed

The Fall of Rome followed the 7 Trumpets Pattern:
1st Trumpet: Alaric leads Goth attack by land
2nd Trumpet: Gaiseric leads Vandal attack by sea
3rd Trumpet: Attila the Hun conquers by river valley
4th Trumpet: Odoacer leads Germanic Foeterati in Insurrection (empire fractured)
5th Trumpet: Arabs (locusts) invasion
6th Trumpet: Ottoman siege of Constantinople
7th Trumpet: Wrath = Plagues of Dark Ages

Latter-Day 7 Trumpets:
1st Trumpet: Goldman Sachs Derivative Financial Crisis (Financial Empire)
2nd Trumpet: BP Gulf Oil Spill and Fish Kills (Water to Blood)
3rd Trumpet: Fukushima Nuclear Accident (Wormwood = Chernobyl)
4th Trumpet: Insurrection, Civil War (America Fractured)
5th Trumpet: Invasion of Locusts (China, Russia, Mexico)
[google George A Smith vision]
6th Trumpet: Armageddon, WW3, 2 Witnesses Prophesy
7th Trumpet: 7 Vials of Wrath Poured Out

If trumpet #3 involves Fukushima or some other similar nuclear release, then the next trumpet to sound (#4) would seem to involve the failure of local, state, and national governments due to civil unrest, civil war, and insurrection which we are already beginning to see. The collapse of government into tribes is what occurred in the Book of Mormon in 3Nephi5-7 and is a type of the last days. Quarterly earnings reports which determine Stock Prices following the Fukushima disaster and high gas prices are due about July.

I personally interpret the 1/3 part of the Sun, moon, and stars being darkened as referring to the failure of 1/3 part of national, state, and local governments. We are already seeing insurrections, and the failure of governments now. Every day the American people are loosing more and more faith in their government, in law enforcement, and in the military until eventually some trigger event could happen like in 3 Nephi 5-7, and the people could abandon the government and American and other nations could divide up into tribes just like the Book of Mormon.

The 6th Seal in Revelation speaks of the darkening of the Sun, moon and stars which refers to the Apostasy and the it speaks of the Restoration that occurred from 1000 ad - 2000 ad. This reference to the sun, moon, and stars darkening referred to all spiritual light going out. It is in this sense that the sun, moon, and stars appear on the Salt Lake Temple.

The 4th Trumpet also refers to the the failure of the sun, moon, and stars. But unlike the 6th Seal, only a 1/3rd of the sun, moon, and stars fail. I believe if the Book of Mormon and Revelation speak of the same things, that this could refer to the failure of national, state, and local governments.

It seems with all the civil unrest all over the world, bailouts and bankruptcies, we are already beginning to see the failure of governments.

The 5th trumpet would be invasion of the locusts (heathen armies) (see Joel 1-3) (1st Woe)
The 6th trumpet is Armageddon (2nd Woe)
The 7th trumpet is the pouring out of the 7 Vials of wrath. (3rd Woe)

The thing about the trumpets and woes I believe that this could refer to the fact that Trumpet 1 (Goldman Sachs fraud/bankruptcy), Trumpet 2 (BP oil spill), Trumpet 3 (Fukushima), Trumpet 4 (government failures) may not necessarily significantly negatively affect the majority of the righteous. This will probably not necessarily be the case for trumpets 5-7. Well, we hope we are gathered in Zion before Trumpet 7 and the 7 vials of wrath.

Let me also say, that I am not necessarily convinced that the Goldman Sachs, BP, and Fukushima events are necessarily the official Trumpets of Revelation. I am of the opinion that these events were engineered or at least set up to fail. But I also think that these events could be put out there as false trumpets to get us thinking 3 years too early. Satan has gone through a lot of trouble to "change the times and the laws". Accordingly, scholars claim Christ was born 3BC, and Daniel's 7o years begins with the UN declaration of the State of Israel in 1947. Consequently, some are being led to believe that the 7 years of the Tribulation will proceed from 2010-2017.

However, I remember the situation in the Book of Mormon where the non-believers rounded up the believers and told them that the time had already passed when the scriptures predicted the coming of Christ into the world. It is possible that Mormon included this detail because history will repeat itself in the Last Days. So, these false trumpets could be a way to fool people into accepting a false timeline. If Christ were born 1BC, and Daniel's 70 weeks begins with the "Law of Return" in 1950, then it may well be that we haven't even entered the Tribulation period yet until 2013-2020.

Trumpets 5-7 constitute the 3 Woe Judgments. Number 5 involves the invasion of the locusts which is likely involves the Abomination of Desolation and the Invasion of Heathen Armies. Joel 1-3 describes the burning of Babylon and invasion of heathen armies which will likely be a nuclear first strike and invasion by Russia, China, and Mexico. Since Daniel says the Abomination of Desolation will occur in the midst of Daniel's final 7 years, which are the Tribulation years, then I think it safe to conclude that all 7 Trumpets will sound within the Tribulation years.

So, are we actually in the Tribulation, or does someone want us to think we are? The tell-tail evidence to knowing where we are, will be the Abomination of Desolation. This event which Pres. Benson, Elder McConkie described as thermonuclear, and which was described by Joel, Daniel, and John, was seen in vision by Pres. George Albert Smith. It will be unmistakable. Thankfully, Pres. Smith gave us a key to know when this dire event was to occur. Pres. Smith said that this event would occur after the election and before the inauguration of the President of the United States following a "Greek" President (google Pres. George Albert Smith Vision). "Greek" was a euphemism in 1930's Utah for a person not of Northern European descent. Since, an inauguration is only needed when there is a change of President; we could expect to be in the midst of the Tribulation in 2012 if Pres. Obama loses the election. If Pres. Obama wins, then we will have an additional 4 years. I am not going to vote for Pres. Obama, but I am "in a way" rooting for him.

Real or false, we are seeing signs of Trumpet #4. This trumpet points to social unrest and a failure or darking of 1/3 sun, moon, and stars. I interpret this to mean that we could expect to see civil unrest, civil war, martial law, bankruptcy, and failure of local, state, and national governments on the horizon. In fact, I think we are already beginning to "hear" the warning sound of this trumpet. Many have predicted that the unrest and riots that we have seen in foreign countries will be coming shortly to America.

This warning of social unrest reminded me of the new phenomenon called the "Flash Mob". A flash mob is a group of people, connected via Twitter and Facebook, who come together at one location for some purpose. To this point, flash mobs (see YouTube), engage in various good natured and fun activities like signing and dancing. However, I am sure it is only a matter of time before we start seeing the dark side of this phenomenon where people come together to protest, trespass, riot, vandalize, etc. That is when the riot police get called in and things begin to escalate leading to martial law and gun confiscation.

Another false fulfillment of John's 3rd Trumpet could be the failure of the Fort Peck Dam in Montana. There are 6 Dams on the Missouri, up-river from Kansas City and St. Louis. Fort Peck Dam is the more vulnerable. Already at record lake levels, with record snow pack ready to melt and surge into the Lake, the Fort Peck Dam, Like the Teton Dam, is an earth dam build on a poor shale foundation. If the Fort Peck Dam were to fail, like a series of falling dominoes, the surge of water would take out the other 5 dams, numerous nuclear power plants, and several major cities along the way. If this failure occurs, we would really see a curse of the rivers, together with serious nuclear contamination.

D&C 121:33 As well might man stretch forth his puny arm to stop the Missouri river in its decreed course, or to turn it up stream, as to hinder the Almighty from pouring down knowledge from heaven upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints.

A Day of Warning

RECENT CONFERENCE TALKS WITH WARNING
Pres. Thomas S. Monson "The Divine Gift of Gratitude," (October 3, 2010): Develop an attitude of gratitude. Quotes Aldous Huxley here and Alice in Wonderland later.
Pres. Thomas S. Monson "Till We Meet Again," (October 3, 2010): "We live in a troubled world, a world of many challenges. We are here on this earth to deal with our individual challenges to the best of our ability" (i.e. our job is not to contentously take on the NWO, Christ will fight for Zion, we are to lift up an ensign of peace, D&C 105:14, 39).
Elder Dallin H. Oaks "Two Lines of Communication," (October 3, 2010) "some seek to have their priesthood leaders make personal decisions for them, decisions they should make for themselves by inspiration through their personal line."
Pres. Dieter F. Uchtdorf "Two Principles for Any Economy," (October 3, 2009): Hard Work and Learning will relieve anxiety, develop our character, provide for family and save our souls.
Pres. Thomas S. Monson "School Thy Feelings, O My Brother," (October 3, 2009): Beware of anger and the MSM.
Elder David A. Bednar "Watching with All Perseverance," (April 3, 2010): We live in a day of warning. Those who bare testimony of the warning in the Book of Mormon will be "blessed with eyes that can see afar off and with ears that can hear the sound of the trumpet . . . [and] will enable you to stand as watchmen on the tower for your families—”watching … with all perseverance”
Elder Dallin H. Oaks "Healing the Sick," , (April 3, 2010): "I will concentrate my remarks on healing blessings involving the power of the priesthood. We have this priesthood power, and we should all be prepared to use it properly. Current increases in natural disasters and financial challenges show that we will need this power even more in the future than in the past."
Pres. Thomas S. Monson "He Is Risen!," (April 4, 2010): "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away" (Rev 21:4).
Pres. Thomas S. Monson "Examples of Righteousness," (April 5: 2008): As bearers of the priesthood, we have been placed on earth in troubled times. We live in a complex world with currents of conflict everywhere to be found. Political machinations ruin the stability of nations, despots grasp for power, and segments of society seem forever downtrodden, deprived of opportunity, and left with a feeling of failure. We who have been ordained to the priesthood of God can make a difference. When we qualify for the help of the Lord, we can build boys, we can mend men, we can accomplish miracles in His holy service. Our opportunities are without limit. Ours is the task to be fitting examples." Later quotes President N. Eldon Tanner who is known to have tempered then Elder Ezra T. Benson.

ARE THEY AWAKE?
Some here have been questioning whether LDS Leadership is AWAKE and what will say and will not say to warn the people. Yes. I cannot imagine how Pres. Monson, who was counselor to Pres. Benson is not well versed in all things conspiratorial.

WILL THEY WARN US?
They have been all along. Pres. Hinckley's warning of a "portent of stormy weather" and to "get out of debt" and "get our houses in order" was so right on. Pres. Hinckley was so out in front of the housing fraud it was miraculous. However, according to church statistics, LDS consumer debt doubled after the warning. Not enough of us listened. Too many of us went in the exact opposite direction of what the prophet directed.

CONSEQUENCES
I am not sure we realize the consequences of not listening. I am not sure anyone saw the recent documentary "Inside Job" that played in theaters. Here you have the NWO documenting many details of how the whole banking/mortgage fraud happened. Interspersed throughout the film are comments by IMF/NWO leaders George Soros and Dominique Strauss-Kahn smugly saying in effect "look how your wickedness and excess and corruption has hurt the developing world." What they don't tell you was that these very NWO leaders who set this whole thing up. In fact is the the Bank of International Settlement Basil II Accords in late 2007 that tightened fractional reserve requirements and popped the housing bubble.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzrBurlJUNk

RAMIFICATIONS
However, the market downturn in the US is just the tip of the iceberg as far as ramifications go. Many countries were defrauded by the banking scandal; not just America. Our New York Banks hurt a lot of people out there. Furthermore, because the US dollar is the world reserve currency, as it is being devalued through TARP and QE1, QE2, commodity prices are going up throughout the world and people in developing countries are going hungry, protesting, and rioting.

THE UGLY AMERICAN
The significance of this is that these NWO/IMF people are blaming the US for it all. In addition, the leaders of many countries are are fed up with continual US interference through our self-proclaimed role as world policeman and our extensive and intrusive CIA blackops programs. We are being framed in a way. Even though we may have good intentions in what we do, that is not how other countries may interpret our actions.

ALEX JONES MISDIRECTION
If anything could prove the fraud of Alex Jones, it is his interview with Charlie Sheen. I couldn't stand listening to it. The global big brother control grid hype/police state is very misleading. A total Singapore-like police state is not what the NWO want for the US necessarily. What they want is for the US to become divided, and then when we are divide, they want the US and our Constitution to be discredited in the eyes of the world and then to be destroyed.

THE REAL END GAME
It is my opinion that what the NWO is trying to do is, lay the blame on the US for the global economic crisis, the riots in the Middle East, the drug trade in Afghanistan, and Columbia, and overstepping of our military, and the many BlackOps programs in many countries. True or not, the reality is, despite our giving for disasters, many foreign countries are getting fed up with America. Because of HAARP, true or not, many are being convinced the US is causing natural disasters or that we are contributing to global climate change.

As I see it, what the NWO is trying to do, is convince whoever has his finger on the nuclear button, to push it. And when that person pushes the doomsday button, the other countries of the world will mourn, but not that much. They won't lift a finger and will let it happen. The world leaders will come together, if they haven't already and will agree that the US is so corrupt, and intrusive and dangerous that we should be invaded and split up and that the US Constitution and Constitutional government is a failure and should disappear into the history books as a failed experiment. (google George A. Smith Vision, Albert Pike letter to Muzzini)

NO SHRILL CRITICISM
To this point, the LDS Church has been happy to keep its head down. When NWO leaders come to BYU to speak, they generally comment what "useful little soldiers/sheep/idiots" we are. The Doctrine and Covenants instructs us to befriend our enemies. And so far we have done a good job of that. And thanks to this policy, the LDS church has been able to build temples and expand its missionary reach into much of the world. I am not sure how productive being vocally shrill critics would be? What the NWO wants is division, and it is when the US is divided when they most likely plan to strike.

WARNING VOICE
I thought it was an interesting point of discussion whether our LDS Leadership where giving talks within talks or communicating messages to those of us who are AWAKE without directly coming out and saying things that would be alarming to those who are remain in their state of BLISS. I don't think this is true. I just think that they are awake, and are giving clear, principle-based counsel that will be useful to membership whether we are awake or not.

Doctrine and Covenants 105: 14; 38-39 For behold, I do not require at their hands to fight the battles of Zion; for, as I said in a former commandment, even so will I fulfil—I will fight your battles. . . . And again I say unto you, sue for peace, not only to the people that have smitten you, but also to all people; And lift up an ensign of peace, and make a proclamation of peace unto the ends of the earth;

Kyiv Ukraine Temple Youth Celebration

Last year, an LDS Temple was dedicated in Kyiv, Ukraine. This temple will serve the youth and families of many Eastern European countries. This video shows excerpts from a cultural celebration by LDS youth from surrounding countries to commemorate the dedication of the Temple. I love how this short video captures a glimpse of their faith and testimony of Jesus Christ and His restored gospel.