LDS Quotes on the Second Coming
Signs of the Second Coming are all around us and seem to be increasing in frequency and intensity. . . . While we are powerless to alter the fact of the Second Coming and unable to know its exact time, we can accelerate our own preparation and try to influence the preparation of those around us. We need to make both temporal and spiritual preparation for the events prophesied at the time of the Second Coming.
| “Preparation for the Second Coming,” Ensign, May 2004, pp. 7-9
“The great and crowning advent of the Lord will be subsequent to these two appearances [to his Temple and on the Mount of Olives]; but who can describe it in the language of mortals? The tongue of man falters, and the pen drops from the hand of the writer, as the mind is rapt in contemplation of the sublime and awful majesty of his coming to take vengeance on the ungodly and to reign as King of the whole earth.”
| “The Second Advent,” Millennial Star, 10 Sept. 1859, pp. 582-83; Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual, p. 340
What if the day of His coming were tomorrow? If we knew that we would meet the Lord tomorrow – through our premature death or His unexpected coming – what would we do today? What confessions would we make? What practices would we discontinue? What accounts would we settle? What forgivenesses would we extend? What testimonies would we bear?
If we would do those things then, why not now? Why not seek peace while peace can be obtained? If our lamps of preparation are drawn down, let us start immediately to replenish them.
We need to make both temporal and spiritual preparation for the events prophesied at the time of the Second Coming. And the preparation most likely to be neglected is the one less visible and more difficult – the spiritual. A 72-hour kit of temporal supplies may prove valuable for earthly challenges, but, as the foolish virgins learned to their sorrow, a 24-hour kit of spiritual preparation is of greater and more enduring value.
| Ensign, May 2004, pp. 8-9
The coming of the Son of Man never will be, never can be, till the judgments spoken of for this hour are poured out, which judgments are commenced. . . . All this must be done before [the] Son of Man will make his appearance: wars and rumors of wars, signs in the heavens above [and] on the earth beneath, [the] sun turned into darkness [and the] moon to blood, earthquakes in diverse places, oceans heaving beyond their bounds, then one grand sign of the Son of Man in heaven. But what will the world do? They will say it is a planet, a comet, and so forth. Consequently, the Son of Man will come as the sign of [the] coming of the Son of Man.
| Discourse of 6 April 1843, recorded by Willard Richards; WJS, p. 180
In the Millennium, when the Kingdom of God is established on the earth in power, glory and perfection, and the reign of wickedness that has so long prevailed is subdued, the Saints of God will have the privilege of building their temples, and of entering into them, becoming, as it were, pillars in the temples of God, and they will officiate for their dead. Then we will see our friends come up, and perhaps some that we have been acquainted with here. If we ask who will stand at the head of the resurrection in this last dispensation, the answer is – Joseph Smith, Junior, the Prophet of God. He is the man who will be resurrected and receive the keys of the resurrection, and he will seal this authority upon others, and they will hunt up their friends and resurrect them when they shall have been officiated for, and bring them up. And we will have revelations to know our forefathers clear back to Father Adam and Mother Eve, and we will enter into the temples of God and officiate for them. Then man will be sealed to men until the chain is made perfect back to Adam, so that there will be a perfect chain of Priesthood from Adam to the winding-up scene.
| Discourses of Brigham Young, 116
President Joseph Fielding Smith wrote: “If . . . the earth is to be restored as it was in the beginning, then all the land surface will again be in one place as it was before the days of Peleg, when this great division was accomplished. Europe, Africa, and the islands of the sea including Australia, New Zealand, and other places in the Pacific must be brought back and joined together as they were in the beginning.”
| Answers to Gospel Questions, 5:74) — Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual, p. 340
“When Jesus was on the earth, he said to his people, ‘How oft would I have gathered you, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but ye would not; therefore, behold, your house is left unto you desolate.’ (Matt 23:37-8) And if the Saints of this dispensation do not listen to the call of the good Shepherd, and gather according to the holy commandment, the time is not far distant, when the representatives of the Saviour now on earth, may have occasion to say, as he said, ‘Your house is left unto you desolate;’ for plagues, famine, pestilence, and death are beginning to circumscribe the earth; and where will safety be but in Zion – the land of God’s appointing – the home of the Saints; a land choice in products and government above all other lands; therefore, we say unto you, Arise and come forth, and tarry not, for the great day of the Lord is at hand, and who shall abide His coming?”
| Messages of the First Presidency, April 1852, vol. 2, p. 99
“The day of the coming of the Lord is near. I do not know when . . . . I sincerely believe it will come in the very day when some of us who are here today [April 5, 1936] will be living upon the earth. That day is close at hand. It behooves us as Latter-day Saints to set our houses in order, to keep the commandments of God, to turn from evil to righteousness, if it is necessary, and serve the Lord in humility and faith and prayer.”
| Doctrines of Salvation, 3:2-3
There will be here and there a stake for the gathering of the Saints. Some may have cried “Peace!” but the Saints and the world will have little peace from henceforth. Let this not hinder us from going to the stakes, for God has told us to flee, not dallying, or we shall be scattered, one here, another there. There your children shall be blessed, and you [shall be] in the midst of friends where you may be blessed. The gospel net gathers of every kind. I prophesy that the man who tarries after he has an opportunity of going will be afflicted by the Devil. Wars are at hand; we must not delay. . . .We ought to have the building up of Zion as our greatest object. When wars come we shall have to flee to Zion. The cry is to make haste. The last revelation says, “Ye shall not have time to have gone over the earth until these things come” [cf. Matt. 10:23]. It will come as did the cholera-war, fires burning, earthquake, one pestilence after another.
| Discourse of summer of 1839, recorded in Willard Richards’ “Pocket Companion;” WJS, p. 11
“Man who thinks he is a Jesus Christ, or INRI Cristo: “He regularly preaches on YouTube and on Facebook Live, on which he has over 330,000 followers. His disciples edit the videos at the compound in New Jerusalem. But a messiah in the age of social media also invites far more critics, reviews, and anonymous commenters than the original Jesus had to contend with. INRI’s status on Facebook as a “public figure” means he can be reviewed by the masses, much like a restaurant or musician, and collectively, they give him 3.3 out of five stars. People who leave five-star reviews seem to enjoy his message and charisma. But the one-star reviews often accuse him of being the kind of false prophet warned about in the New Testament. As one woman wrote in January this year: “Delete this page and repent!”