3 Nephi 21-24(and a little 25, 26 and 30, too)

Prophecies

3 Nephi 21

Signs of the Times

What does each of these signs mean?

3 Nephi 21

Signs of the Times

What are signs used for?

3 Nephi 21

Signs of the Times

Why is it important that a sign be posted properly and that the message on the sign be easy to understand?

3 Nephi 21

Signs of the Times

The scriptures speak of the “signs” of the times. Why would it be important to know about these signs?

What evidences do we have that an Apostasy occurred?3 Nephi 26:9-10

APOSTASY OR RESTORATION EVENTS

0 Christ born30 Began ministry33 Crucified33-96 Apostles taught and were killed off320 Constantine holds council at

Nicea785 Second Nicean Council- Saint

Worship1000 Pope Joan (?)1100 Great Schism

APOSTASY OR RESTORATION EVENTS (con’t)

1200 Pope Innocent III – Indulgences / Printing Press

1300 Renaissance 1492 Columbus 1515 Martin Luther1523 Martin Luther excommunicated 1534 Henry VIII – Episcopalian

Church1540 John Calvin - Presbyterians1560 John Knox – Puritans1575 Bartholomew Day

APOSTASY OR RESTORATION EVENTS (con’t)

1620 Puritans move to Boston1776 Revolutionary War – 3 Nephi 21:41805 Joseph Smith born1820 First Vision1829 The Priesthood is Restored - 3 Ne 29:1-21830 The Church is Restored - 3 Ne

21:5,7

APOSTASY OR RESTORATION EVENTS (con’t)

1836 - (3 Ne 25:5-6)1844 - (3 Ne 21:9-10)1846 - (3 Ne 21:23-25)1947 - (3 Ne 21:26-28)2013 - (3 Ne 24:8-11, $7B)2012 - (3 Ne 22:2, Sierra Leon)TODAY - (3 Ne 30:2)

Who has a testimony of the Apostasy and Restoration?

Only True God, Jeffrey R. Holland, Oct. 2007

Signs of the TimesBased on commentary made by

Elder Bruce R. McConkie(Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 2d ed. [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1966], 734.)

1. SPIRIT TO BE POURED OUT ON ALL FLESH. This promise was made by Joel and renewed by Moroni when he appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith on Sept. 21, 1823. (Joel 2:28-32; Jos. Smith 2:41, D. & C. 84:44-48.)

Working in the hearts of men in the dark ages, it caused them to seek light, to translate the Bible. This is the spirit inspiring good men and honest truth seekers in every nation, which has led to the great discoveries, inventions, and technological advances of our modern civilization.

2. DISCOVERY AND USE OF PRINTINGPerhaps no important discovery in world history ever faced such intense and bitter opposition as arose over the use and spread of printing. "We must root out printing," said the Vicar of Croydon from his pulpit, "or printing will root us out." (Progress of Man, pp. 206-215.) Real freedom of the press itself was not assured for any reasonable segment of mankind until the final adoption of the Constitution of the United States in 1789.

3. PROTESTANT REFORMATION AND AGE OF RENAISSANCEBeginning in the 14th century, the Lord began to prepare those social, educational, religious, economic, and governmental conditions under which he could more easily restore the gospel for the last time among men. The spirit of inspiration rested upon Wycliffe, Huss, Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Knox, and others, causing them to rebel against the religious evils of the day and seek to make the Bible and other truth available to all who would receive such.

4. DISCOVERY AND COLONIZATION OF AMERICAThis land is "choice above all other lands" (Ether 2:7-12). Nephi noted the spirit, “wrought upon other Gentiles; and they went forth out of captivity, upon the many waters." Nephi saw the Revolutionary War, with the new inhabiters of this new land being delivered by "the power of God," while the wrath of God rested upon "their mother Gentiles." (1 Ne. 13:1-19.)

5. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE AMERICAN NATION.We know by revelation that the United States was established so that the Book of Mormon, containing as it does the fulness of the gospel, might come forth with its message of salvation and so that the Lord's true Church might be set up again on earth, It was to be a nation in which no kings would be raised up, a nation which would be fortified "against all other nations," so that all who fought against it "shall perish. For he that raiseth up a king against me shall perish." (2 Ne. 10:9-19.)

6. TRANSLATION AND PRINTING OF BIBLE.During the dark ages reading, writing, and a knowledge of the scriptures were confined, almost without exception, to church leaders. Because the people lacked the knowledge of the truth they were more easily kept in bondage. The translation and printing of the Bible became a mighty force opening the door to progression and advancement in every field.

7. ESTABLISHMENT OF U.S. CONSTITUTION

"No government can exist in peace, except such laws are framed and held inviolate as will secure to each individual the free exercise of conscience, the right and control of property, and the protection of life." (D. & C. 98:4-10; 134.) And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood." (D. & C. 101:76-80.)

8. LATTER-DAY REVELATIONThe Father and the Son appeared personally to the Prophet. Angels again minister to the faithful. The gift of the Holy Ghost is poured out on thousands of righteous church members. Visions, revelations, gifts of the Spirit abound. By all these means the predictions of the ancient scriptures as pertaining to the last days are being fulfilled.

9. COMING FORTH OF THE BOOK OF MORMONThe price in faith, toil, and blood which brought forth this record in our day is incalculable. Many prophets foretold events surrounding its preparation, preservation, and final coming forth in the latter-days as a sign that the restitution of all things had commenced. (Isa. 29; Ezek. 37; 2 Ne. 3; 27; 29; 3 Ne. 21; Morm. 8.)

10. OPPOSITION TO THE BOOK OF MORMONStrange as it may seem to present day enemies of the truth, their very opposition to the Book of Mormon is one of the signs of the times. "A Bible! A Bible! We have got a Bible, and there cannot be any more Bible," brings forth this severe rebuke from the Lord: "Thou fool, that shall say: A Bible, we have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible. ... Wherefore murmur ye, because that ye shall receive more of my word?" (2 Ne. 29.)

11. RESTORATION OF KEYS AND PRIESTHOODThe priesthood and its keys becomes a sign that the work reserved for the dispensation of dispensations has commenced. John the Baptist, Peter, James, and John, Michael, Gabriel, Elijah, Elias, Moses, and Moroni have all come restoring their keys, powers, and authorities. (D. & C. 13; 27; 128.)

12. RESTORATION OF THE GOSPELIsaiah devoted so many whole chapters to the great era of restoration (Isa. 2; 4; 5; 10; 11; 13; 18; 24; 29; 33; 34; 35; 51; 52; 54; 60; 63; 64; 65; 66.)

The promised restoration, destined to come by revelation and angelic ministration, was seen by John as taking place just before the day of judgment. (Rev. 14:6-8; D. & C. 133:36-41.)

13. MESSENGER TO PRECEDE SECOND COMING"Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me," (Mal. 3:1-6.) Both John the Baptist and the Prophet Joseph Smith have ministered in our day in fulfilment of this ancient prediction (D. & C. 45:9.)

14. CHURCH AND KINGDOM SET UP AGAINThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the kingdom of God on earth. It is the kingdom set up in the last days. (Dan. 2:31-45.) The keys of the kingdom were given to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in June, 1829, and the formal organization of the kingdom took place on April 6, 1830. (D. & C. 20; 128:20.)

15. GROWTH OF THE CHURCHThe newly established kingdom would break in pieces all earthly kingdoms and would remain forever. (Dan. 2:44 and Moses 7:60-66.)

There will be an eventual millennial day when every living soul on earth will come to Christ, for the knowledge of God shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea (Isa. 11:9; Hab. 2:14).

16. GATHERING OF ISRAELThe apostles asked: "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" In reply the Lord said: "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power." (Acts 1:6-11.) In other words, the promised gathering of Israel was yet future;  The keys of that gathering were conferred upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery by Moses on April 3, 1836, in the Kirtland Temple (D. & C. 110:11), and since that day the scattered remnants of Jacob have been leaving friends and temporal pursuits in all nations, and with the spirit of gathering resting mightily upon them.

17. TEN TRIBES TO RETURNThe gathering of Israel has been limited primarily to the scattered Ephraim who had the birthright, and to Manasseh, Judah and other tribes. But the time is near when the lost tribes "who are in the north countries shall come in remembrance before the Lord," and shall come to Zion "with songs of everlasting joy," to be crowned with blessings by those of Ephraim who stand at the head. (D. & C. 133:26-34.)

19. RETURN OF JUDAH TO JERUSALEMJudah is commanded to flee to Jerusalem in the last days (D. & C. 133:13), and their return is given as one of the signs that the times of the Gentiles is being fulfilled. (D. & C. 45:25.)

20. JEWS TO BEGIN TO BELIEVE IN CHRIST.Much of the old Jewish bitterness against Christ has ceased; many now accept him as a great Rabbi, though not the Son of God. Those able to abide that day will ask: "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." (D. & C. 45:51-52; Zech. 12:8-14; 13:6.)

21. BUILDING OF LATTER-DAY TEMPLESIsaiah foretold that the house of the Lord would be established in the tops of the mountains just before the Second Coming. (Isa. 2:1-5.) Micah repeated the same prophecy. (Micah 4:1-7.) Ezekiel foretold the placing of a similar holy sanctuary (Ezekiel 37).

22. LORD TO COME SUDDENLY TO TEMPLEMalachi promise that the Lord would suddenly come to his temple in the last days prior to the great and dreadful day of the Lord, an event which actually took place, as far as the Kirtland Temple on the 3rd of April in 1836. (Mal. 3:1; D. & C. 110:1-10.)

23. SPIRIT OF ELIJAH AND GENEALOGICAL RESEARCHSince the coming of Elijah, the hearts of people everywhere, both in the Church and out, have turned to their fathers. The time when genealogical societies were first organized constitutes relevant evidence that Elijah actually came.

24. PERSECUTION OF THE SAINTSWhere the gospel is, there will be opposition and persecution, for Lucifer will not stand idly by while the work of God rolls forward. The saints have been tormented, pushed about, persecuted, reviled; when men join the Church, it begins; when they leave the truth, their persecutors become their friends.

25. PERSECUTION OF THE JEWSThe Lord said that thou "shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. ... And thou shalt become a byword among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee." (Deut. 28).In Germany, Russia, Poland, and many nations, they have been slaughtered, burned, driven, and scourged; yet they have maintained their distinctive race and are now and will continue to return to Jerusalem. Indeed, their very persecutions have helped cause them to flee unto Jerusalem

26. TRUE GOSPEL TO BE PREACHED IN ALL THE WORLDMissionaries work a modern miracle in carrying again to the world the same identical gospel preached by Christ and his apostles. (Jos. Smith 1:31; D. & C. 133:37.) Where else is there any church or organization which can call upon scores of thousands of its members to volunteer two or three or more years of their lives, pay their own expenses, and go forth carrying a message to the world?

27. WORLDLY KNOWLEDGE TO INCREASE

Never in the entire history of the world has there been anything to compare with the great flood of worldly knowledge that has swept the globe in modern times. Every field — scientific, historical, sociological, artistic, medicinal, governmental, economic, inventive, atomic, judicial.At "the time of the end," said Daniel, "many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." (Dan. 12:4.) However, "in the last days," said Paul, men shall be "Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth," that is, the truth about God and salvation. (2 Tim. 3:1-7.)

28. SCIENTIFIC AND INVENTIVE PROGRESSWe have already seen the discovery and world-wide use of radio, television, telephones, and wireless; of steam engines, automobiles, airplanes, and railroads; of electricity, atomic energy, and destructive weapons; of medicinal advances, surgical achievements, and wonder drugs. Some of the ancient prophets were even permitted to see the latter-day use of airplanes and armored tanks (Rev. 9:5-10), of trains and automobiles (Nah. 2:3-5), and perhaps other achievements, and to make records of their visions in such descriptive terms as were then available to them.

29. DISEASE, PLAGUE, PESTILENCE TO SWEEP EARTH

Men's hearts shall fail them. (Luke 21:26.) New and unheard of diseases will attack the human system. After the times of the Gentiles comes in there shall be an overflowing scourge, and "a desolating sickness shall cover the land." (D. & C. 45:31.) The plagues and pestilences of the past will be as nothing compared to what is yet to be as the great winding up scene approaches.

30. ELEMENTS IN COMMOTION“There shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places" (Jos. Smith 1:29; D. & C. 45:33); when there shall be "the testimony of earthquakes, that shall cause groanings in the midst of her [the earth], and men shall fall upon the ground and shall not be able to stand." This is the day when we shall hear "the testimony of the voice of thunderings, and the voice of lightnings, and the voice of tempests, and the voice of the waves of the sea heaving themselves beyond their bounds." (D. & C. 88:89-90.) In our day there are to be dust storms, whirlwinds, tornadoes, floods, and "a great hailstorm sent forth to destroy the crops of the earth." (D. & C. 29:16.)

31. DISASTERS AND CALAMITIES TO ABOUND"There are many dangers upon the waters, and more especially hereafter. For I, the Lord, have decreed in mine anger many destructions" (D. & C. 61:4-5, 14-15.)

32. STRIKES, ANARCHY, VIOLENCE, TO INCREASEThe Lord's decree for this age is: "The whole earth shall be in commotion." (D. & C. 45:26.) Signs of this commotion are seen daily in the untempered strikes and labor troubles that rock the economic world; in the violence, compulsion, and destruction; in an overthrow of the governments of the world by force and violence.

33. LATTER-DAY WICKEDNESS"Iniquity shall abound" (Jos. Smith 1:30). Murder, robbery, rape, whoredoms, every form of sex immorality, and all forms of crimes against persons and property truly abound. And all these iniquities receive anything but deterrence from the common run of movies, radio and television broadcasts, comic books, and other cheap and degrading so-called literary efforts.

34. SPIRIT CEASING TO STRIVE WITH WICKED

“I am holding my Spirit from the inhabitants of the earth" (D. & C. 63:32), "for my Spirit shall not always strive with man, saith the Lord of Hosts." (D. & C. 1:33.)When men rebel, the spirit ceases to strive with them; they are left entirely to their own devices and to the influence of the devil, and then they are ripe for destruction. "The Spirit of the Lord had ceased striving with them, and Satan had full power over the hearts of the people; for they were given up unto the hardness of their hearts, and the blindness of their minds that they might be destroyed." (Ether 15:19.)

35. PEACE TAKEN FROM EARTHThe Lord said: "The hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand, when peace shall be taken from the earth, and the devil shall have power over his own dominion." (D. & C. 1:35.) Later Elder George A. Smith said: "Peace is taken from the earth, and wrath and indignation among the people is the result; they care not for anything but to quarrel and destroy each other.” (Journal History, Sept. 23, 1855.) Never again will there be peace on earth until the Prince of Peace comes to bring it.

36. ANGELS NOW REAPING THE EARTH"The angels are waiting the great command to reap down the earth, to gather the tares that they may be burned; and, behold, the enemy is combined." (D. & C. 38:12.)

President Wilford Woodruff said: "Calamities and troubles are increasing in the earth, and there is a meaning to these things. ... Great changes are at our doors. The next 20 years will see mighty changes among the nations of the Earth." (Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, p. 230) It is interesting to note that almost 20 years later to the day, June 28, 1914, the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated, thus initiating the first World War

37. WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS"I have sworn in my wrath, and decreed wars upon the face of the earth," the Lord has said as pertaining to our day, "and the wicked shall slay the wicked, and fear shall come upon every man." (D. & C. 63:33.)

Warfare as we know it, modern warfare, commenced with the Civil War. Probably there has not been a day since April 12, 1861, when the first shots were fired on Fort Sumpter. When a shaky peace comes in one place, blood begins to flow in another, which condition will continue until it is climaxed by the great war.

38. FAMINES, DEPRESSIONS, AND ECONOMIC TURMOIL

There will be depressions, famines, and a frantic search for temporal security. We may expect to see the insatiable desire to get something for nothing result. Economic inequalities cause riots, bloodshed, hunger, commotion, turmoil, and panics. These are all signs of the times.

39. APOSTATE DARKNESS COVERS EARTHAs Paul wrote to Timothy: "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come(2 Tim. 3:1-5.) By modern revelation we are told: "Darkness covereth the earth, and gross darkness the minds of the people.” (D. & C. 112:23-24.) 

40. MANY FALSE CHURCHES IN LATTER-DAYS.

"There shall also arise false Christ, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch, that, if possible, they shall deceive the very elect, who are the elect according to the covenant." (Jos. Smith 1:22; Rev. 13:13-14.) “There shall be many who will say, Do this, or do that, and it mattereth not, for the Lord will uphold such at the last day. But wo unto such for they are in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity (Morm. 8:26-41.)

41. REFUSAL OF MEN TO BELIEVE SIGNS OF TIMES"There shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were?" (2 Pet. 3:3-4.) That is, in effect, these scoffers are saying, "Why be so gullible as to believe that earthquakes, floods, famines, pestilence, wars, iniquity, and all similar conditions are signs of the last days? Have not these same conditions existed from the beginning of time?"

42. SIGNS ON EARTH AND IN HEAVENS"And they shall behold blood, and fire, and vapors of smoke. And before the day of the Lord shall come, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon be turned into blood, and the stars fall from heaven." (D. & C. 45:39-42; Joel 2:30-31.) Perhaps atomic and hydrogen bombs are a prelude to a yet greater fulfilment of this revelation. Certainly modern wonders as now seen in the heavens and on earth.

43. LAMANITES TO BLOSSOM AS THE ROSE"Before the great day of the Lord shall come, the Lamanites shall blossom as the rose. Zion shall flourish upon the hills and rejoice upon the mountains, and shall be assembled together unto the place which I have appointed." (D. & C. 49:24-25.)