Adversity – Last Days Decoded

A Feast of “Fat Things”

When we think of the coming events of the Last Days, how many of us think it will be a “Feast of Fat Things”? Not many – if any – but the book of Isaiah is clear about the Lord’s promises to His faithful:

Isaiah 25: 3-4, 6, 8-9:
1 O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
3 Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee.
4 For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
6 ¶ And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people A FEAST OF FAT THINGS, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.
8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it.
9 ¶ And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

But aren’t these amazing promises? They’re echoed a little differently in D&C 58:1-21, but with still powerful reassurance. This doesn’t mean that the phrase “Great and Dreadful Day of the Lord” is only GREAT. It will also be DREADFUL and we can see many signs of those times coming at a gallop. The reason for this dichotomy is that Satan and God/Christ are at war, have very different methods, and provide us with opposition in all things (2 Nephi 2:11).

Satan works by FEAR and the Lord works by FAITH (see related BLOG). The Lord creates boundaries for how far Satan can go in each of our lives and nations, although it doesn’t usually feel like it. If people who experience near-death experiences can be believed, we all at least agreed to the adversities we would face in this life and some probably even volunteered for them, for added glory in the next life (implied in Revelation 20:4). And if you carefully study God’s “appointed times,” you will see how He also regulates the flow of history to create a beginning and end to global adversities. See my related blog posts: God’s “Appointments” With Man and God’s “Appointments” For Great Events. If the Lord could exactly time the events of the last week of Christ’s life to match the 3 celebrations around Passover, how much more can He orchestrate events and their timing in our lives?

To reiterate from my recent talk, Approaching Adam-ondi-Ahman, at the Book of Mormon Evidence Conference on April 6, 2023, we in America only get to the “Feast of Fat Things” at Adam-ondi-Ahman, grace for grace just as Christ did in His early life (D&C 93:18-20). At the last minute, the Spirit directed me to the image below, which speaks powerfully about our climb from the darkness of the Telestial world up our own individual progression to the Celestial glory in the Church of the Firstborn (D&C 76:52-54). We then end up qualified to be there when Christ comes to the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman. With each victory, we stand on higher ground, in greater light.

We are symbolically in an enclosed stone tower and, if we’re lucky, we’ll have a few small windows looking out on the promised glory, to keep us going in this relatively drab and often very scary world. So I want to share some of the “dishes” that will be served up to us at the final feast – hopefully for you to store away and trot out when you need a dose of hope!

Our Symbolic *Upward* Journey to Adam-ondi-Ahman
Inside the **Arc de Triomphe**, Public Domain Image

When we finally get to the top, we find where our own personal tower of growth and suffering ends: in a high place of glory, and literally at the coming of Christ at Adam-ondi-Ahman (D&C 88:95-98). In that promised glory, we will witness and assist in the great gathering of the 12 Tribes, symbolized by the 12 roads leading to this Paris landmark, the renowned Arc de Triomphe, and where this dark stairway actually goes, up onto its roof:

Aerial view of Arc de Triomphe, Paris – Licensed for use by shutterstock.com

Compare the long climb up that dark tower with the wonder and glory of emerging on top of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, built to commemorate France’s great military victories of the past, symbolic of our own personal triumphs.

Not only will you be crowned with deliverance, glory, and eternal rewards at Adam-ondi-Ahman, but you will be in a spiritual leadership position to see the entire gathering of the 12 Tribes of Israel, to participate in the building of the New Jerusalem, and then watch Zion spread out across America, then North America, safe in God’s protective care. While the rest of the world battles it out during Armageddon and is pummeled by the Abomination of Desolation, faithful seekers are rescued out of them by the 144,000, then brought to us, their nursing mothers and nursing fathers (1 Nephi 21:22-23). It’s hard to imagine a more glorious ending to our mortal Telestial struggles. Then read how an early Patriarch, Charles D. Evans describes Life in Zion:

The light of the gospel, which had but dimly shown because of abomination, now burst forth with a luster that filled the earth.
Cities appeared in every direction, one of which, in the center of the continent, was an embodiment of architectural science after the pattern of eternal perfections, whose towers glittered with a radiance emanating from the sparkling of emeralds, rubies, diamonds and other precious stones set in a canopy of gold and so elaborately and skillfully arranged as to shed forth a brilliancy which dazzled and enchanted the eye, excited admiration and developed a taste for the beautiful, beyond anything man had ever conceived.
Fountains of crystal water shot upward their transparent jets in the brilliant sunshine . . . .
Gardens, the perfections of whose arrangement confound all our present attempts at genius. . . .
Schools and universities were erected, to which all had access; in the latter Urims were placed, for the study of the past, present and future . . . .
All learning was based on eternal certainty.
Angels brought forth the treasures of knowledge which had lain hid in the womb of the dumb and distant past.
(published in The Contributor magazine in 1894; full version at www.NoFearPreps.com and in her book, The Great Gathering, pp 50-52)

Under Christ, Ephraim will manage the world’s government from the New Jerusalem and in spiritual partnership with tribe of Judah in the old Jerusalem – 2 capital cities. Finally the abuses and excesses of “wickedness in high places” will be vanquished, and one Mighty and Strong will lead us:

Isaiah 2:3 – 2 Capitals during the Millennium:
. . . Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
(See also Micah 4:2 and 2 Nephi 12:3)

D&C 85:7:
7 And it shall come to pass that I, the Lord God, will send one mighty and strong, holding the scepter of power in his hand, clothed with light for a covering, whose mouth shall utter words, eternal words; while his bowels shall be a fountain of truth, to set in order the house of God, and to arrange by lot the inheritances of the saints whose names are found, and the names of their fathers, and of their children, enrolled in the book of the law of God;

We have this and many other promises of eternity to anticipate:

From the Prophet Brigham Young:
Let me here say a word to console the feelings and hearts of all who belong to this Church. Many of the sisters grieve because they are not blessed with offspring. You will see the time when you will have millions of children around you. If you are faithful to your covenants, you will be mothers of nations. You will become Eves to earths like this, and when you have assisted in peopling one earth, there are millions of others still in the course of creation. And when they have endured a thousand million times longer than this earth, it is only as it were at the beginning of your creation. Be faithful and if you are not blessed with children in this time, you will be hereafter. (Deseret News, Vol 10, p 306, Oct 14, 1860)
And guys, you will be needed too . . . creating whole worlds, together with your own Eve!

For more inspiration, watch Michael Rush’s wonderful video on YouTube: Reality is Not What You Think It is . . . FYI: The second half contains most of the meat.

Finally, remember the words of an old man who suddenly stood up at the back of his Sunday School class that was criticizing the Willey and Martin Handcart companies for “foolishly” leaving for Utah so late in the year: You know nothing about it. What I experienced to come to know my Savior was WORTH IT, and I would do it again. That silenced the critics, and are “words to remember” when times look extra dark. God’s purpose is to refine us enough to qualify for all His promised blessings.

So onward and upward – Listen to some of my favorite music to put some pep in your step when you feel down, then add your own links in the Comments section:

Savior, Redeemer of My Soul – Dallyn Bayles and Jenny Oaks Baker
The Prayer – Tabernacle Choir with Katherine Jenkins and intro by composer David Foster
Come Go With Me – Kenneth Cope
Ye Elders of Israel – Priesthood Conference choir
Hope of Israel – Sung by us ordinary singers in General Conference
Nearer, My God, to Thee – Vocal Point
Mozart: Ave Verum Corpus– The Romanian Foundation for Excellence in Music, International Music Festival 2014 – a reminder that we have many brothers and sisters not yet gathered – and a benediction on you all!

The Half Hour of Silence

In the past year, I’ve discovered a new toy, a Gospel toy. Instead of relying on other spiritual teachers almost exclusively, I’ve learned to search my Church’s website, then learn directly from the scriptures – by topic. The Half Hour of Silence referred to in scripture has prompted a lot of theories about when it occurs and its length in real time. Here’s are the scriptures directly referencing it:

Revelation 8:1
Introduction: John sees fire and desolation poured out during the seventh seal
and preceding the Second Coming.
1 And when he had opened the seventh seal,
there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.

Doctrine and Covenants 88:95-98
95 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;
96 And the saints that are upon the earth, who are alive, shall be quickened and be caught up to meet him.
97 And they who have slept in their graves shall come forth, for their graves shall be opened; and they also shall be caught up to meet him in the midst of the pillar of heaven—
98 They are Christ’s, the first fruits, they who shall descend with him first, and they who are on the earth and in their graves, who are first caught up to meet him; and all this by the voice of the sounding of the trump of the angel of God.

Doctrine and Covenants 38:9-12
9 Wherefore, gird up your loins and be prepared. Behold, the kingdom is yours, and the enemy shall not overcome.
10 Verily I say unto you, ye are clean, but not all; and there is none else with whom I am well pleased;
11 For all flesh is corrupted before me; and the powers of darkness prevail upon the earth, among the children of men, in the presence of all the hosts of heaven;
12 Which causeth silence to reign, and all eternity is pained, and 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.

What do we learn in these scriptures?

The Half Hour of Silence begins right after the Seventh Seal is opened (Revelation 8:1).
The heading to Revelation 8 clearly states that the Seventh Seal is opened before the Second Coming and the beginning of the Millennium. This is supported by the fact that the rest of this chapter describes the “dreadful” events preceding Christ’s final Second Coming, but after the Seventh Seal is opened.
Christ comes immediately after the Half Hour of Silence, as well as those resurrected or translated at that time (D&C 88:95).
The Silence reigns because of wickedness on the Earth, and the angels in heaven are restrained from “reaping down the Earth” (D&C 38:12). My thought on why the angels are restrained: Satan and his minions must have their day, so that their final judgment will be just. FYI, the entire Chapter 38 is well worth reading and digesting.

And here’s a final tidbit, found embedded in those same search results, with the link to the scriptural topic, “Silence, Silent” and it provides counsel to “the prudent” that we might well remember when the time comes:

Amos 5:12-15:
12 For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right [the wicked, distinguished from “the prudent” below].
13 Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.
14 Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.
15 Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph [that’s us, folks].

Now we come to the ongoing discussion about how long this Half Hour lasts. I have encountered two theories:

Option 1: Quoting Jst 2 Peter 3:8: But concerning the coming of the Lord, beloved, I would not have you ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
If we figure this out in a literal sense, this is the math:
1 day = 24 hours; 48 “half hours” = 1 day; 1,000 years ÷ 48 half hours = 20.83 years
Option 2: Quoting Daniel 9:27: And he shall confirm the covenant with many for ONE WEEK [here, one hour]: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
[NOTE that the Lord will “confirm the covenant” for the whole week (7 years), but the Antichrist will put a stop to public religious worship halfway through it. I take this to mean that neither he nor Satan himself can stop our inner spiritual growth – it’s beyond their power – even if they shut down all Christian worship services.]
Here One Week is “the Hour” which = 7 of something. It could be 7 days in the literal sense of a week, as in Revelation 3:10 and John 2:4 where Christ’s “Hour” = 7 days of the last week of His life. He came to Jerusalem on a Monday, was crucified on Friday, and resurrected “3 days and 3 nights later” on the next Monday, or over the course of 1 week.
Since we don’t think our time of severe tribulation will last only 3 1/2 days, we then consider that “the Hour” can also = 7 Years of Tribulation, foreshadowed by Pharoah’s dream of 7 years of plenty, followed by 7 years of famine.
So a Half Hour = 3 1/2 years, with this logic. This also lines up with some numbers in Daniel and Revelation: 1260 or 1290 days, 42 months or time, times, and half a time. These numbers paired with meaningful Hebrew Feast days are major ways the real timeline is defined, and this Half Hour of Silence fits into its progression of events perfectly.

A fuller explanation of these two options is given in Farrell Pickering’s video, Daniel’s Hour and the 1/2 Hour of Silence or available on a DVD at propheticappointments.com. He also makes the point that if 20.83 years was really the length of this very destructive time, no one would survive. So I agree with his analysis that 3 1/2 years is the actual time span, and that the Lord buried His messages even deeper in the scriptures than the scripture in 2 Peter, so that future religious leaders wouldn’t omit or alter it in the scriptures, as has been done with many other doctrines. This is also comparable to the Savior’s style of teaching in parables so that only those spiritually prepared to hear that truth and be accountable for living it would understand His message.

Where this fits in a sequence of events is shown clearly on Brother Pickering’s full timeline, and I’ll be addressing it in my upcoming book, hopefully finished by June this year. But this Half Hour (3 1/2 years) will be the time of The Great Tribulation where God’s true followers will be refined in their own personal fire of tribulation and then, if one stays faithful, he or she will emerge with their garments made white, being pure and spotless before God. . . (Alma 13:12). And this is when we all can belong to the Church of the First Born and enjoy the Lord’s Feast of Fat Things in Zion preparing for the glorious Millennium where missionary work and a fuller gathering of Israel continues, with Eternity beckoning beyond that. See the end of my previous post for a preview of this this coming glory.

Buckle your seatbelts, keep the faith, stay in the boat, and hang on for the ride!

Hell Hath An Exit

My Institute of Religion instructor in Boise emailed us voluminous notes and quotes after each class, and one quote in particular stuck in my memory. But when I went to find it, I couldn’t, thinking it was from Elder Boyd K. Packer. So I googled it and finally found it. The author was actually by Elder James E. Talmadge, speaking in General Conference in 1930! Here’s the quote:

To hell there is an exit as well as an entrance. Hell is no place to which a vindictive judge sends prisoners to suffer and to be punished principally for his glory; but it is a place prepared for the teaching, the disciplining of those who failed to learn here upon the earth what they should have learned.
True, we read of everlasting punishment, unending suffering, eternal damnation. That is a direful expression; but in his mercy the Lord has made plain what those words mean. ‘Eternal punishment,’ he says, is God’s punishment, for he is eternal; and that condition or state or possibility will ever exist for the sinner who deserves and really needs such condemnation; but this does not mean that the individual sufferer or sinner is to be eternally and everlastingly made to endure and suffer.
No man will be kept in hell longer than is necessary to bring him to a fitness for something better. When he reaches that stage the prison doors will open and there will be rejoicing among the hosts who welcome him into a better state.
(April 1930 General Conference Report, p. 97)

Why do people make destructive choices, destructive enough to consign them to this Spirit Prison? President Brigham Young gives us some insight:

I know very well that, whether we are active or not, the invisible spirits are active. And every person who desires and strives to be a Saint is closely watched by fallen spirits that came here when Lucifer fell [EVIL SPIRITS], and by the spirits of wicked persons who have been here in tabernacles and departed from them [UNCLEAN SPIRITS], but who are still under the control of the prince of the power of the air.
Those spirits are never idle; they are watching every person who wishes to do right, and are continually prompting them to do wrong. This makes it necessary for us to be continually on our guard – makes this probation a CONTINUAL WARFARE. (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses Vol 7:239)

Now I’ll combine those thoughts with what “Spencer” saw in Visions of Glory, about how we are surrounded by both the dark spirits described above and those filled with light. They all want our attention and especially obedience. Read this for yourself, starting in Chapter 6, section “In the Bar” (p. 107 in the original edition and p. 97 in 5-Year Anniversary version – very few differences, just smaller print). Here are some excerpts that describe how they operate better than I can, organized by type of spirit:

I next found myself inside [the bar]. There were many people tightly packed on the dance floor, dancing closely, drinking, and smoking. I could hear their thoughts, which were a continual stream of obscenities, rationalizations, and sexual lusts. . . . They looked liked normal people on a dance floor. If they could have heard each other’s thoughts, there would have been no restraint at all, but an ensuing scene of bestial acts. . . . the evil spirits were focused on specific people, those who were thinking and feeling the greatest lust and thrall. They grew more aggressive in urging them to think darker thoughts and have stronger lusts. . . . Some were looking for sexual fantasy, some for intoxication, some for drug-induced euphoria, some were seeking violence and domination. When the humans reached a certain state of intoxication, or when they abandoned themselves to the instructions of the evil ones, an opening occurred near the crown of their heads. When it opened, it looked to me like a black tear in their spirit . . . . The closest spirit rushed at them and entered like fog being sucked into a vacuum . . . . The evil spirits wanted to spiritually destroy their targets so that they could obtain permanent control over them and cared nothing for the experience of the mortals. (The disembodied [unclean spirits] delighted in the physical sensations of the mortals, but had no desire to dominate, only to prolong the experience. . . .) From the evil spirits‘ perspective, having a mortal yield to their temptations gave them power over the mortal. If they suggested an act, and the mortal did exactly that, they set their hooks a little deeper. They were not after the thrill; they were after dominion of the soul, and eventually, lifelong control . . . . their real goal was to gain enough control that they could keep the Holy Spirit from having any influence in the person’s life at all. They weren’t just trying to control behavior; they were trying to ensnare these people in the chains of hell . . . . I saw that people who had already been entrapped by them could hardly hear their own thoughts . . . . Once these evil spirits had total control, they then desired that the mortal should quickly depart mortality, so that their possession became permanent. They thereafter urged them to risky behavior, acts of violence, and suicide to hasten the day of their mortal death.

The disembodied [unclean] spirits were waiting for specific feelings to arise in the humans . . . . The disembodied spirits were waiting for specific feelings to arise in the humans . . . . They were not trying to harm the humans so much as to share in their physical thrills and addictions.

Here are the [race] track, the good angels were few in attendance, being kept away by the mortals yielding their will to the evil ones, but there was a greater opportunity for good angels to intervene. Here, some people were praying . . . . Even a thought of God, prayer, a request, an intention to do good, an act of regret or kindness, brought the good angels. They could then surround the person, protecting them from the evil ones for as long as that attitude persisted. There had to be some act of free will to invite the good spirits. (NOTE: Some sentences were combined out of order for clarity.)

I saw inside movie theaters and . . . where people were watching TV. I saw . . . amusement parks, casinos, and large sports events. I saw people listening to music from stereos and earphones. I saw people laughing at parties and endlessly hanging out with their friends. I thought these were everyday things of no spiritual significance . . . . [but] these were all the ways people unknowingly moved themselves away from the Spirit of the Lord. I realized in each of these scenes that the good angels were absent or pushed away some distance. The people in these scenes were so involved in the entertainment that they weren’t listening to the Holy Spirit . . . they were willingly isolating themselves . . . . I saw people obsessed with eating, with not eating, with dieting, with acting, with dancing or performing, with fashion or beauty, with sports, with dating, or with school – none of which were inherently evil. They were just so focused upon these things that the voice of the Holy Spirit, as I saw being delivered by the good angels, was pushed far away . . . .

Spiritual Gifts: We choose evil gifts by obeying the temptations of the evil spirits . . . we are creating a spiritual link . . . and when we allow this to happen over and over, we are changed, darkened, and dragged down, until we become the servants of darkness, and we receive our wages from the master of darkness. I observed that there are many people who are governed by the voice of Jesus Christ, who are like lanterns being carried through darkness. They push the darkness away by their approach, and the dark angels must depart. Evil beings are powerless to penetrate it and are compelled to depart. [Sound familiar?] The same thing is true of people who are ruled by evil. They become lamps of darkness and push the light away. They become a force of darkness, even while walking in the brightness of spiritual day. Everyone who associates with them is darkened by them, and the good angels are powerless to penetrate it – until that person by an act of free will asks for help or prays for guidance.

At last I realized that this was the message of this whole experience, to see how darkness infests mortality through evil “angels,” and how light is amplified in our lives through obedience to God and the ministry of angels of light. I started seeing glimpses of how people’s choices were making this happen. . . . This may explain why some families have been royalty for hundreds of years, or wealthy and oppressive from the beginning of time, or any other dark familial trait. It may also explain why prophets and apostles tend to be related and greatness runs in families.

So we see here two “escalators”: one going DOWN into darkness, the other UP into greater light, both influencing both our descendants and even our ancestors! We make this choice daily, even minute by minute, not just once. So how can we get on the UP escalator, or back on it, and then stay there, in the real world? Here are a few of my thoughts:

First, simply command negative thoughts to leave, then keep rejecting them every time they show up. Don’t invite them in, give them the best seat in the house, and offer them a meal, entertaining them!
Even better, heed the old saying, An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, which are great words to live by and lead to the next point.
Study, then practice, this scripture, Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of the God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distill upon they soul as the dews from heaven (D&C 121:45).
So Be proactive:
For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. (Galatians 6:8-9)
Finally, look forward to the sure fulfillment of God’s promises, described in Doctrine and Covenants, chapter 58:
3 Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation.
4 For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand. . . .
7 And also that you might be honored in laying the foundation, and in bearing record of the land upon which the Zion of God shall stand;
8 And also that A FEAST OF FAT THINGS might be prepared for the poor; yea, a feast of fat things, of wine on the lees well refined, that the earth may know that the mouths of the prophets shall not fail;
9 Yea, a supper of the house of the Lord, well prepared, unto which all nations shall be invited.
10 First, the rich and the learned, the wise and the noble;
11 And after that cometh the day of my power; then shall the poor, the lame, and the blind, and the deaf, come in unto the marriage of the Lamb, and partake of the supper of the Lord, prepared for the great day to come.
(D&C 58:3-4, 7-11; also see Isaiah 25:6-9)

And here are just some of what’s being served at that FEAST OF FAT THINGS:

And verily I say unto you, I give unto you a sign, that ye may know the time when these things shall be about to take place—that I shall gather in, from their long dispersion, my people, O house of Israel, and shall establish again among them my ZION; (Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 21:1)
We will be escorted to Zion by the returning “Remnant of Jacob” or remnant of the Lost 10 Tribes:
22 But if they will repent and hearken unto my words, and harden not their hearts, I will establish my church among them, and they shall come in unto the covenant and be numbered among this the remnant of Jacob, unto whom I have given this land for their inheritance;
23 And they shall assist my people, the remnant of Jacob, and also as many of the house of Israel as shall come, that they may build a city, which shall be called the New Jerusalem.
24 And then shall they assist my people that they may be gathered in, who are scattered upon all the face of the land, in unto the New Jerusalem.
25 And then shall the power of heaven come down among them; and I [Christ speaking] also will be in the midst.
(Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 21:22-25)
Description of the glorious ZION, spreading across our continent after the New Jerusalem described above, from a dream by Patriarch Charles Evans:
Charles D. Evans Dream (published in The Contributor magazine in 1894, Excerpts, or read the more complete version for free on: https://www.nofearpreps.com/ in her book, The Great Gathering, pp. 50-52):
The light of the gospel, which had but dimly shown because of abomination, now burst forth with a luster that filled the earth. Cities appeared in every direction, one of which, in the center of the continent, was an embodiment of architectural science after the pattern of eternal perfections, whose towers glittered with a radiance emanating from the sparkling of emeralds, rubies, diamonds and other precious stones set in a canopy of gold and so elaborately and skillfully arranged as to shed forth a brilliancy which dazzled and enchanted the eye, excited admiration and developed a taste for the beautiful, beyond anything man had ever conceived.
Fountains of crystal water shot upward their transparent jets in the brilliant sunshine . . . .
Gardens, the perfections of whose arrangement confound all our present attempts at genius. . . .
Schools and universities were erected, to which all had access; in the latter Urims were placed, for the study of the past, present and future . . . .
All learning was based on eternal certainty. . . .
Angels brought forth the treasures of knowledge which had lain hid in the womb of the dumb and distant past. . . “Out of Zion the perfection of beauty God shineth.”
Brigham Young gave a similar promise:
The business of the Elders of this Church (Jesus, their elder brother, being at their head), is to gather up all the truths in the world pertaining to life and salvation, to the Gospel we preach, to mechanisms of every kind, to the sciences, and to philosophy, wherever they may be found in every nation, kindred, tongue and people, and bring it to Zion. The “Gathering” was to be not only a bringing together of people, but of all the treasures surviving in the earth from every age and culture; Every accomplishment, every polished grace, every useful attainment in mathematics, music, in all science and art belong to the Saints, and they rapidly collect the intelligence that is bestowed upon the nations, for all this intelligence belongs to Zion. All the knowledge, wisdom, power, and glory that have been bestowed upon the nations of the earth, from the days of Adam till now, must be gathered home to Zion. What is this work? The improvement of the condition of the human family. (Hugh Nibley quoting Brigham Young in Why I Believe, a collection of essays, published by Bookcraft, SLC, 2002; originally from Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints, 1994, emphasis added)
Now a final quote from Brigham Young, written originally for the childless women of his day: Let me here say a word to console the feelings and hearts of all who belong to this Church. Many of the sisters grieve because they are not blessed with offspring. You will see the time when you will have millions of children around you. If you are faithful to your covenants, you will be mothers of nations. You will become Eves to earths like this, and when you have assisted in peopling one earth, there are millions of others still in the course of creation. And when they have endured a thousand million times longer than this earth, it is only as it were at the beginning of your creation. Be faithful and if you are not blessed with children in this time, you will be hereafter. (Deseret News, Vol 10, p 306, Oct 14, 1860)
This quote is capped by a YouTube video by Michael Rush, titled: Reality is not what you think it is – it is far more awesome than you can imagine! The last half or so is the meatiest part; fast forward if you’re short on time.
And finally, if we don’t make choices that send us to “Hell,” we’ll have no need of an “Exit”!

So when your “perfect brightness of hope” dims a little, please direct your attention to the great “Feast of Fat Things” the Lord promises all through the scriptures and in the personal experiences of us mere mortals, because His “tender mercies” surround us every day, especially when we look for them, call them forth with faith, reject the influence of dark spirits, and live worthy of increasing light – keep the faith now and forever!

Making Decisions When It Counts

It’s a gray day here but with very large and very white snowflakes floating leisurely down from heaven, putting me in quite a reflective mood. I had wanted to build on my Sunday energy, after working on my Online Institute course and attending church, and work on my upcoming book by the same name as this website: Last Days Decoded. I was about to start throwing content into it when my energy simply deserted me. I know when I’m licked, so I “clocked out” and rummaged through my videos, finally deciding on a marvelous mini-series, Winds of War, continuing the first episode I started a few days ago. Today I saw Natalie Jastrow and Byron Henry plunge into Poland, to visit her Jewish uncle Berel Jastrow and other long-lost relations, just before Germany invades.

They are driving into her father’s hometown when Natalie spots a road sign: Oświęcim. She comments on it and says, “That’s where my father and Aaron [her other uncle] studied the Talmud as boys. It had a different name then under the Austrians. What was it?”

Berel: “Auschwitz.”

Talk about foreshadowing! The producer and director of this series, Dan Curtis, was the very first to get approval to film in the actual Auschwitz location. They had to rebuild the railroad track entering under the famous guard tower in order to film the scene, “The Last Train to Auschwitz,” where many of the extras on that train had actually been interned there as children. They volunteered for this job in order to stare down the ghosts of their past. It was filmed at the exact location where it had really happened, and in the middle of winter, in the middle of the night. Filmed technically in color, it was foggy, gray, black and white. I felt cold just watching it. German guards practically dragged Jews off the trains or stood at rigid attention holding back ferociously barking German Shepherds. Herman Wouk, the author of the original novels, and Producer Director Dan Curtis were watching from the sidelines and commented he believed this was exactly how it must have really been. The extras confirmed it, and the Assistant Director had been one of them, arriving there at age 13. He survived two years in the work camp, then dedicated his life to making films about the Holocaust. His name: Branko Lustig and he went on to direct Schindler’s List.

The story follows two American families’ experience all through the war from the early 1939 build-up, to war’s end in 1946. One family is Jewish (the Jastrows) and one Christian (The Henrys). They bump up against one another with life-changing results, much of it shaped by events of the war. Not only is their personal story engaging, but this is also a serious lesson in contrasting decision-making styles:

Some characters were clear-minded, seeing reality for what it was, and decisive. So they almost always had a better outcome. Others struggled with cloudy, even wishful thinking, becoming paralyzed mentally. They were then pushed along by circumstance to often disastrous consequences. These two groups present different archetypal styles we see in life today: those who take charge of their circumstances – to the degree they can – and those whose circumstances take charge of them.

In graduate school, I took a course called The Psychology of Learning where we mostly studied lab mice and rats. In one experiment, rats soon learned to push a lever to get a food pellet. The experiment’s goal was to see what happened when this positive reinforcement was given a negative component. The lever was wired to deliver a relatively mild but definitely unpleasant electric shock. The rats’ responses were fascinating: most found the relative strength of the positive and negative reinforcers to be about equal. Usually they just froze in front of the lever unable to make a decision, unless they were very hungry. We see this ambivalence, even paralysis, in others and, if we look, we can probably see it in ourselves when presented with a situation that both attracts us and causes us real pause. We can’t let that normal human reaction, though, control our decisions when the consequences might mean life or death. We have to consciously break that log-jam.

In this series, we see how both types process decisions in light of a grim new reality which challenges each one to examine their deepest identity and goals, see their choices clearly, then act decisively in line with those values. Those characters who couldn’t do this, and who didn’t understand the patterns of history, usually paid a heavy price.

Other movies to watch or books to read containing the same lesson: Woman in Gold (a movie based on a true story about art restitution in Austria), Eleni (a book detailing a true story of escape from Nazi-controlled Greece during WWII), and Coming Out of the Ice (another true story in book form) about a family who was sent by Ford Motors to Stalin-controlled Russia in the late 1930s, against the intuition and better judgment of the mother. They should have listened. All perished except the son Victor who survived 18 years in Siberia – a riveting read.

Author Herman Wouk manned a minesweeper ship in the Pacific, and he had begun writing for the Navy in the war. He came home and wrote Caine Mutiny taken from his war experiences for which he won a Pulitzer. Then thinking there was a bigger novel behind this cataclysmic event, he estimated it would probably take three years of research and end up about 800 pages long. Eventually calling it The Main Task, he didn’t start until 1960. It ended up as 2,000 pages in 3 volumes and took 14 years! It topped the best-seller list, and he had many offers to turn it into a TV miniseries. But since he hated what had been done with previous books, The Caine Mutiny, Marjorie Morningstar, and others, he refused to entertain any of them. But Dan Curtis promised him the moon, including writing the screenplay and having a voice in sponsors and casting. The result: a gorgeous production totally true to the original story, with top actors, filmed in 10 countries, using over 40,000 extras, and costing ABC many millions. It’s a never-to-be-repeated miracle of film-making, not a sanitized account of the Holocaust, and a must see!

Winds of War takes our story from March 1939 to Pearl Harbor and runs 18 hours. War and Remembrance starts there and ends in 1946 and runs 30 hours. I tell people that Winds is the appetizer and War. . . is the meal! Two couples who watched the whole thing, at my recommendation, all said, “This was LIFE-CHANGING!” Winds of War broke viewing records at the time (1983, then War. . . in 1988) and for good reason: They’re both excellent start to finish and top to bottom, pulling no punches about the harsh realities of the Holocaust.

But finally, it is simply wonderful story-telling about what war does to people and to their lives. Romance was involved and as attention grabbing as that was, at the end of the day, both I and one of those other viewers said that the character with the most impact was Aaron Jastrow. He and his cousin Berel had grown up and studied the Talmud together in the town that later became Auschwitz. But they took different paths in life. Berel stayed faithful to the religion of their fathers, while Aaron became disaffected as a teenager, migrated to America, and excelled as an academic. His book, A Jew’s Jesus, was so successful that he bought a villa near Sienna, Italy and was working on his next book, The Arch of Constantine, with the help of his niece Natalie Jastrow, armed with a Master’s Degree from an East Coast women’s college and an attitude of privilege.

Aaron also hires Byron Henry as a research assistant, an American and a Christian, whose father, Victor Henry, is the American naval attaché to Germany in early 1939. Natalie is played by a young Allie McGraw and the role of Aaron is filled by John Houseman in Winds and John Gielgud in War. Byron falls hard for Natalie and so begins a long story line. His father has problems in his marriage with a complicated ending. As compelling as those stories are, the trajectory of Aaron Jastrow has real staying power. He started out as a cultural Jew who came up against the realities of his Jewishness in extreme circumstances that challenged him to decide where his true identity and allegiance lay. His story was so brilliantly told and acted, it is simply one of the best performances I’ve ever seen, by an actor in his 80s! For a rich taste of John Gielgud’s talent, watch his performance telling his fellow Jews the story of Job, in this YouTube clip from War . . . HERE, then keep viewing the follow-up interviews and readings by Herman, even after age 100! As Latter-day Saints, we have some further comfort to offer Aaron and his fellow Jews. They will all come to a unity of the faith after Christ rescues them at the Mount of Olives. And what stories they will have to share!

Both mini-series are available in most library systems and to purchase reasonably on Amazon: Winds HERE and War HERE. These are what I bought, but there are multiple versions. Be sure to buy one that plays on N. American DVD/Blu-Ray players (NTSC format).

Every story in this amazing saga was different and every ending unique. Someday we’ll have our own stories to tell about experiences in the Great Tribulations coming to Gentile America, both the trials and the miracles that we’ll share at Adam-ondi-Ahman with all the other faithful followers of Christ. Viewing or reading stories like this can make it all so much more real, and prepare us for our own hard decisions. And finally remember: our righteousness doesn’t protect us from adversity but qualifies us for spiritual, even miraculous help to get through it.

Now YOU have a decision to make: Will you deliberately choose to look the gathering storm in the eye? Will you study the wartime adversities of others and put yourself “in the picture”? Are you willing to set aside your comfortable world for a time, step into another, and then suffer vicariously to lessen your suffering in the tribulations ahead? We cannot change the actual reality predicted by the scriptures and confirmed by our growing knowledge of the immense evil awake on our planet. Just as the last good witch in Sleeping Beauty cannot undo Maleficent’s curse on the baby princess Aurora, we cannot undo the curse upon mankind because of sin, greed, and the fall.

“But,” in her words, “. . . I can soften it. Instead of dying, the princess will sleep 100 years and then wake from the kiss of true love.” So we too can also soften the impact of what’s to come: by preparing mentally and emotionally for hard times, and remembering that the Lord matches the size of His miracles to the depth of our adversity and need.

Then we can end up at the GREAT day we’re all looking forward to: Adam-ondi-Ahman and the New Jerusalem with our beloved Savior healing our wounds and sorrows – the symbolic “kiss” of true love between Christ, the ultimate Bridegroom, and His Bride, the Church.

Inspiration from the Life of Corrie ten Boom

Most people are still stressed because of economic worries, long pandemic restrictions, family worries, or just wondering, “What’s happened to our world”?

And I’m squarely in that camp. In February 2021, I signed up for a Church History tour that July that I wasn’t able to fully anticipate because it might be cancelled due to COVID restrictions. In normal times, I could have signed up and enjoyed months of happy anticipation, but I couldn’t allow myself that pleasure because it would just set me up for a bigger disappointment should it be cancelled.

This made me both sad and angry, mostly angry. Somebody STOLE our future! I’m not alone in that feeling and have heard others’ frustrations expressed in many forms: indignation, anxiety, negativity – abnormal for those people in better times. I tried all my usual emotional “bandaids” – good chats with uplifting people, doing service, watching escapist TV, and reading good novels – but finally turned to inspirational reading.

I got one of my favorites off the shelf: The Hiding Place, a memoir by Corrie ten Boom, a Dutch survivor of the WWII women’s concentration camp Ravensbruck where she and her sister were sent because her family helped Jews escape the Nazi net in Holland. She also lost her father after only 10 days in prison, a beloved nephew, and a brother who died soon after being released from their local prison.

Why did a Christian family put themselves in harm’s way? They could have just sat out the war safely repairing clocks, all while enjoying their large, happy family and many friends. Corrie’s father Casper ten Boom was a devout Christian who put his faith into action and gave a message of hope and faith to everyone he met.

He loved the Jewish people because of their great destiny and heritage. While out walking with Corrie during the German occupation of their town, Corrie commented on the many people forced to wear a yellow star marking them as Jewish: Father, those poor people!

Her father replied: Those poor people. But to Corrie’s surprise she saw that he was looking at the soldiers now forming into ranks. I pity the poor Germans, Corrie. They have touched the apple of God’s eye [the Jews]. He really lived the commandment to Love Your Enemies, a lesson Corrie would have to work hard to master later on.

Casper was also a wise father and knew how to teach difficult lessons. After Corrie had accompanied her mother and older sister to a family grieving the death of an infant, she was invited to touch a small, cold hand. Corrie was shocked by her sudden introduction to the physical reality of death. Later that night, she burst into tears upon seeing her beloved father, declaring, You can’t die! You can’t. I need you! Her father wisely counseled her:

Corrie, when you and I go to Amsterdam – when do I give you your ticket?
Corrie: Why, just before we get on the train.
Exactly. And our wise Father in heaven knows when we’re going to need things, too. Don’t run out ahead of Him, Corrie. When the time comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need – just in time.

And isn’t that how our Heavenly Father works with us? We are expected to move forward in faith, believing that we’ll “get our ticket” just when we need it. Many of us gaze into the future and try to see what’s coming. While it is good to be prepared, there comes a time to turn the future over to God – a burden only He can really carry – trusting Him to give us our ticket when we really need strengthening, direction, or protection.

An example from my own life: I sometimes worry excessively about my children and grandchildren before they take a long trip or when my son goes mountain biking on rough terrain. During one of his outings, I couldn’t control my anxiety for him, so I remembered God’s promise to quiet our inner storms (2 Corinthians 1:3-7). Then I knelt and said a formal prayer asking that my fears be removed and peace descend. As I arose, that peace did appear and anxiety didn’t return. Sharing my concerns with my son when he returned for his hero’s breakfast, he replied, Don’t worry, Mom, I’m careful and I don’t want to die!
But it would have helped if he hadn’t sent me videos of a true dare-devil on that same trail! In any case, I got my ticket from an understanding God just when I needed it!

Corrie always looked up to her two sisters, Nollie and Betsie, as well as her father as model Christians, living their beliefs every day. But she acknowledged her own struggles to match their faith. In Ravensbruck, they spent many hours in a room infested with fleas that caused much discomfort. Betsie counseled her to be thankful in all things, even in this.

1 Thessalonians 5:18:
In every thing give thanks:
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Corrie couldn’t believe that meant being thankful for fleas, but they proved a blessing when they could teach their fellow prisoners from a hidden Bible, unmolested by the guards who wouldn’t go into that room!

In her follow-up book, Tramp for the Lord, the Years after The Hiding Place, Corrie feels called by the Lord to travel the world and teach the Christian lessons from her childhood and years of Nazi oppression. Each short chapter teaches another lesson she learned from almost 40 years of learning to trust the Lord to lead her in her travels and ministry.

Called reluctantly to return to post-war Germany with a message of hope and God’s love, she wrote:

The Germans had lost face in defeat. Their homes had been destroyed and when they heard the enormity of Hitler’s crimes (which many Germans knew nothing about), they were filled with despair. As they returned to their Fatherland they felt they had nothing to live for. . . . Then in a refugee camp, Corrie spotted an elderly woman who had been a concert pianist. Finding a broken-down piano, she played the Chromatic Fantasy of Bach beautifully. Tears came to Corrie’s eyes as she thought of wounded Germany, left with only the remnants of the past, but still able to play beautiful music. Such a nation will survive to create again, she thought.

Then Corrie told this woman what she had learned in Ravensbruck: Love still stands when all else has fallen. In the concentration camp; they took all we had, even made us stand naked for hours at a time without rest, but they could not take Jesus from my heart. Ask Jesus to come into your life. He will give you riches no man can take away from you.

While it was hard for Corrie to face a return to Germany, it was harder still to face a former guard, who came forward after one of her speeches on God’s love and forgiveness. Here’s her account of that meeting:

“It came back with a rush: the huge room with its harsh overhead lights; the pathetic pile of dresses and shoes in the centre of the floor; the shame of walking naked past this man. I could see my sister’s frail form ahead of me, ribs sharp beneath the parchment skin. Betsie, how thin you were! The place was Ravensbruck and the man who was making his way forward had been a guard – one of the most cruel guards. Now he was in front of me, hand thrust out. A fine message, Fraulein! How good it is to know that, as you say, all our sins are at the bottom of the sea!

“And I, who had spoken so glibly of forgiveness, fumbled in my pocketbook rather than take that hand. He would not remember me, of course . . . but I remembered him and the leather crop swinging from his belt . . . You mentioned Ravensbruck in your talk. I was a guard there. But since that time, I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well, Fraulein – again the hand came out – will you forgive me?

“And I stood there – I whose sins had again and again been forgiven – and could not forgive. Betsie had died in that place – could he erase her slow terrible death simply for the asking?”

But she knew that God’s offer of forgiveness has a prior condition: that we forgive those who have injured us. If you do not forgive men their trespasses, Jesus says, neither will your father in heaven forgive your trespasses. Corrie saw many war victims and commented: Those who were able to forgive their former enemies were able also to return to the outside world and rebuild their lives, no matter what the physical scars. But those who nursed their bitterness remained invalids. It was as simple and horrible as that.

“And still I stood there with the coldness clutching my heart. But forgiveness is not an emotion – I knew that too. Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart. Jesus, help me! I prayed silently. I can lift my hand. I can do that much. You supply the feeling. And so woodenly, mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me. And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes.

“I forgive you, brother! I cried. With all my heart. . . . I realized it was not my love. I had tried, and did not have the power. It was the power of the Holy Spirit as recorded in Romans 5:5: because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”

And the promise of God’s strengthening grace is given to us in all circumstances when our own powers are inadequate. I remember when I was asked only a day before Father’s Day to fill in for a speaker in my church’s Sacrament Meeting the next morning. I thought, “this isn’t hard.” We have the greatest Father of all in God, plus the great ancient patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But no matter how I approached this talk, nothing came together. Everything I wrote came out sounding like an essay or lesson, not a tribute to everyday fathers. Finally, I just gave it back to the Lord and walked into church knowing He would help me and “give me my ticket” just as I needed it. I sat on the stand completely relaxed, smiling at the congregation anticipating along with them what message the Lord would have me share!

When my turn came, I walked calmly to the podium, never looked at my notes, and quietly heard words from God: Stand aside, your talk’s rubbish. I’ll take it from here. And He did. It suddenly came to me to pay tribute to my earthly father, then my great-great grandfather who was the last Christian in the Kent line to that point (a human spiritual father look up to), and finally to my son, a devoted dad to my two grandchildren. The talk flowed easily. I enjoyed it and several people later told me that they did too.

In many years of living, I’m slowly learning that God will fill our gaps. Gaps of courage, of faith, of inspiration, of direction when we truly need it and ask for it. I just have to keep reminding myself of that: to ask. And the more we exercise our faith muscles, the stronger they grow. The Christian road is often hard but there is a paradise waiting at the end. And not just in the next life but also at the end of every struggle, every challenge!