Dreams & Visions of the Last Days
PURPOSE of Dreams and Visions (from Roger)
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 appx 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.
