Dreams and Visions of the Last Days
by Roger K Young [100 pgs]
Contents:
The purpose and intent of this book is actually very simple. It is to perhaps convince a few more people to follow the living Prophet a little more closely, and to prepare themselves and their families for the events which lie in the (near?) future by preparing Spiritually (getting temple recommends and using them often), Physically (obtain a minimum one year supply of food, clothing, shelter and other necessities), and Mentally. And as part of this preparation to perhaps come to understand some of the events that they will likely have to pass through. Elder Oaks recently in the April 2004 General Conference encouraged all members of the Church throughout the world to “accelerate our own preparation and try to influence the preparation of those around us.” This is a small effort to comply with that counsel.
Dreams and Visions of the Last Days will be approximately 100 pages and covers....
Chapter 1, WHY?
Chapter 2, NOBODY KNOWS
Chapter 3, DREAMS AND VISIONS
Chapter 4, EARLY CHURCH VISIONS & PROPHECIES 180 YEARS AGO
Chapter 5, DREAMS & VISIONS FROM 80-100 YEARS AGO
Chapter 6, DREAMS & VISIONS FROM 30-60 YEARS AGO
Chapter 7, RECENT DREAMS & VISIONS
Chapter 8, SUMMARY & CONCLUSION
The following is an Excerpt from the first few pages of Chapter 1, and is offered to give you a taste of what is contained in this new book.....
CHAPTER I, WHY?
WHY IS IT that over the last few years our beloved living prophet, President Hinckley, along with members of the Quorum of the Twelve and other General Authorities have continued emphasizing the nearness of the last days along with spiritual and physical preparation for those events? To list a few:
- President Hinckley, Oct 1998 General Conference, “To the Boys and Men”
- President Hinckley Oct General Conference 2001, “The Times In Which We Live”
- Jan 2002 First Presidency letter on food storage directing the obtaining of 1 year minimum food storage to be taught in every stake, district, ward and branch throughout the world.
- Feb 2002 President Packer letter ...(Including food storage emphasis for stake conference Saturday Evening Sessions)
- Jan 2003 World Wide Relief Society Visiting Teaching Message: “If Ye Are Prepared Ye Shall Not Fear”
- President Hinckley, April 2003 General Conference, “War and Peace”
- President Packer...BYU J. Reuben Clark Law Society Devotional,"On the Shoulders of Giants” 2/28/2004"
- Elder Oaks, April 2004 General conference...”Preparation For The Second Coming”
- President Hinckley, April 2004 General Conference “I Was an Hungered, and Ye Gave Me Meat”
- Elder Eyring...Jan 25, 2005 BYU-Idaho Devotional, “Raise The Bar”
- Elder Wirthlin...Oct 2005 General conference, “Journey To Higher Ground”
- President Hinckley ...Oct 2005 General Conference, “If Ye Are Prepared Ye Shall Not Fear”
It is interesting to note that prior to his call as Prophet, President Hinckley rarely talked about food storage or events of the 2nd coming/last days. However, since 1998 he has emphasized both those subjects continually. In the Priesthood session of General Conference 1998 he surprised everyone when he read from the story of Joseph in Egypt, Pharaoh’s vision of the fat and lean cattle and its interpretation of seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine and then said, “...I am suggesting that the time has come to get our houses in order... The economy is a fragile thing... There is a portent of stormy weather ahead to which we had better give heed....I urge you, brethren, to look to the condition of your finances. I urge you to be modest in your expenditures; discipline yourselves in your purchases to avoid debt to the extent possible. Pay off debt as quickly as you can, and free yourselves from bondage...This is a part of the temporal gospel in which we believe. May the Lord bless you, my beloved brethren, to set your houses in order... That's all I have to say about it, but I wish to say it with all the emphasis of which I am capable.” A few weeks later the stock market lost over 1000 points in a few days.
After the attacks on Sept 11, 2001 President Hinckley talked extensively about the last days, quoting from Matthew 24 and D&C 112:24, and preparing for the terrible events of the last days by getting out of debt and getting a years supply of food storage. Three months later the First Presidency issued another letter to the world wide church membership emphasizing food storage...including for the very first time ever, an outline of a bare minimum food storage per person. (This talk is in the Appendix.)
Seven years later, almost to the day, in another General Priesthood session (Oct 2005), in a talk entitled, If Ye Are Prepared Ye Shall Not Fear, President Hinckley again mentioned Pharaoh’s dream of the seven good years followed by the seven lean years, twice...and emphasized again food storage, getting out of debt, and spiritual preparation. He also read from Matthew 24 as well as other scriptures about terrible calamities and destructions. He concluded by saying, “Let us never lose sight of the dream of Pharaoh concerning the fat cattle and the lean, the full ears of corn, and the blasted ears; the meaning of which was interpreted by Joseph to indicate years of plenty and years of scarcity. (This talk is included in the Appendix.)
There have been more talks on the last days, spiritual and physical preparation (including obtaining one year food storage, listening to the spirit better, temple attendance) over the last 6 years, by the Church leadership than ever before. Additionally, it includes the first time ever that the Church officially outlined a minimum of a one year supply of food that every member of the Church should obtain. Again, one might ask the question, “Why?” Are they trying to tell us something and perhaps too many of us are not listening? Perhaps President Benson answered that question when he said to the Church membership:
“Too often we bask in our comfortable complacency and rationalize that the ravages of war, economic disaster, famine, and earthquake cannot happen here. Those who believe this are either not acquainted with the revelations of the Lord, or they do not believe them. Those who smugly think these calamities will not happen, that they somehow will be set aside because of the righteousness of the Saints, are deceived and will rue the day they harbored such a delusion. The Lord has warned and forewarned us against a day of great tribulation and given us counsel, through His servants, on how we can be prepared for these difficult times. Have we heeded His counsel?”
I have been told by many that this book is probably too late, anyway, and it won’t do much good. But, never-the-less, here it is. I have contemplated publishing this book for several years. Only recently have I made the decision to do so in the hope that it might perhaps convince a few more members of the Church that very dangerous, chaotic dark times are just ahead...perhaps within a very few short years (even though the Savior’s actual return to the earth might be many years away), and that they need to prepare for these events both spiritually (attending the temple often, among other things) and physically (getting at least a basic one year supply of food and other necessities.) In essence, I believe that President Hinckley’s continued emphasis on preparation over the last few years is for a reason. I also believe that the recent catastrophic natural calamities, which appear to be increasing in frequency and destructive strength, (as prophesied) are but heralds to the real reason for a one year minimum supply of food and necessities, that of a period of at least one year of sudden, complete famine in the land. Which has also been prophesied.
Unfortunately, it has been my personal experience that often those who disagree about the need to prepare (often declaring that it’s too far away to worry about) will go to great pains to denounce such a book like this, declaring that people like me have no authority to write about such things since we are not a general authority of the Church nor a trained CES employee. (Yes, I have actually been told that only LDS Church General Authorities, BYU Professors, or CES employees should write such books.) And yet even as recent as April 2004 conference, Elder Oaks encouraged all members of the Church to “accelerate our own preparation and try to influence the preparation of those around us.”
Interestingly enough, I have learned over the past almost 15 years of teaching food storage and preparation that the topic of preparation itself has increasingly become a “topic of controversy,” especially when tied in with needing such preparation in order to survive some of the events of the 2nd Coming of Jesus Christ. Many Church members, including a few ward and stake leaders, don’t want to discuss it or even hear about it...and over the last few years have become strikingly opposed to its discussion. Often giving the reason that the topic “upset too many members.”
This is not uncommon. President Joseph Fielding Smith complained several times that even during his day the members of the Church didn’t want to hear about the events of the last days. Forty years ago he said:
“President Wilford Woodruff and the Prophet Joseph Smith declared that it was their duty and should be the duty of every righteous man to raise the warning voice and proclaim the fact that these calamities are at our doors, and I have been condemned because I have done that. I heard one good man say, "There are too many good things to think about without talking about these troubles, these plagues, or worrying about the coming of the Lord." Here is what the Lord says in Section 45 of the Doctrine and Covenants, verses 39 to 43.
"And it shall come to pass that he that feareth me shall be looking forth for the great day of the Lord to come, even for the signs of the coming of the Son of Man.
"And they shall see signs and wonders, for they shall be shown forth in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath.
"And they shall behold blood, and fire, and vapors of smoke.”
“Now, when the Lord says that, don't you think I am justified in raising my voice and do you think I am doing wrong when I am (warning about) watching the signs of the times and these calamities and troubles that are coming? Am I doing wrong? And yet one good brother said, “Too many things to do. We haven't time to worry about the coming of Christ.” Now, here is something from President Brigham Young:
"Do you think there is calamity abroad now among the people?…All we have yet heard and all we have experienced is scarcely a preface to the sermon that is going to be preached. When the testimony of the Elders ceases to be given, and the Lord says to them, 'come home; I will now preach My own sermons to the nations of the earth,' all you now know can scarcely be called a preface to the sermon that will be preached with fire and sword, tempests, earthquakes, hail, rain, thunders, and lightnings and fearful destruction. What matters the destruction of a few railway cars? You will hear of magnificent cities, now idolized by the people, sinking in the earth, entombing the inhabitants. The sea will heave itself beyond its bounds, engulfing mighty cities. Famine will spread over the nations, and nation will rise up against nation, kingdom against kingdom, and states against states, in our own country and in foreign lands; and they will destroy each other, caring not for the blood and lives of their neighbors, of their families, or for their own lives. They will be like the Jaredites who preceded the Nephites upon this continent, and will destroy each other to the last man, through the anger that the devil will place in their hearts, because they have rejected the words of life and are given over to Satan to do whatever he listeth to do with them. You may think that the little you hear of now is grievous; yet the faithful of God's people will see days that will cause them to close their eyes because of the sorrow that will come upon the wicked nations. The hearts of the faithful will be filled with pain and anguish for them."
“Why is the Lord angry? Why are all these things coming upon the world? President Young said in this article that I read and the Lord says in the revelations I have read to you, it is because they have turned away from the Gospel of Jesus Christ, because they have rebelled against God, and because they have refused to hear the testimony of those who have been sent to preach the Gospel to them. That is why. They have rejected the message. The nations are full of iniquity.”
Another reason for publishing this book is that over the last few years there have been a few who have taught and written contrary to the teachings of the current and past Prophets and Apostles that we need not worry about such preparations at this time. They teach that the 2nd Coming of the Savior is 50-100 years away, often using the excuse that fulfillment of ‘missionary work to the whole world’ prophecies indicate that this is so. It is the “all is well in Zion” belief and is specifically mentioned in the scriptures. (2nd Nephi 28)
However, it is my belief that very shortly the world and society we know will drastically and suddenly change. The time is shortly coming which has been prophesied and seen in dreams and visions since the world began. The material contained in this book is one of the reasons I believe that this is so. However, the reader is presented with the material herein, so that they may consider and ponder and make up their own mind.
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