Heavenly Father has always warned His children of dangers ahead. Are we paying attention? As General Conference approaches next week let us take time to pray and ask what dangers may lie ahead and how can we respond and prepare for those things which are coming. The scriptures are very specific.
Luke 21 warns:
- Ye shall hear of wars and commotions
- Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom
- Great earthquakes shall be in divers places
- Famines
- Pestilences
- Betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends
- Hated of all men for my name’s sake
- Jerusalem compassed with armies
- Men’s hearts failing them for fear
We have already seen so many of these come to pass and we know more will come. Our Heavenly Father has warned us through the scriptures and latter-day prophets. Why do we act as though this won’t happen to us?
Remember, the Pharaoh dreamed a dream and sent for Joseph to interpret the dream. Before interpreting Joseph told pharaoh: “It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.” Genesis 41:16
Pharaoh was told the answer would bring him peace. We have also been told being prepared will bring peace.
“I tell you these things because of your prayers; wherefore, treasure up wisdom in your bosoms, lest the wickedness of men reveal these things unto you by their wickedness, in a manner which shall speak in your ears with a voice louder than that which shall shake the earth; but if ye are prepared ye shall not fear.” D&C 38:30
Joseph then….
“This is the thing which I have spoken unto Pharaoh: What God is about to do he sheweth unto Pharaoh. Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt: And there shall arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine shall consume the land; And the plenty shall not be known in the land by reason of that famine following; for it shall be very grievous”. Genesis 41: 28-31
The Pharaoh listened and his people and Joseph’s people were spared the calamity that would have followed if he refused to heed the warning.
The Lord has always warned of adversity to come. Consider Jonah.
Jonah 3: 1-4 “And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying,
Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.
So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.”
The people listened and were spared.
You are the captain or your ship, the expert for your family. You can know how to prepare and where to find help and reliable answers. Now is not the time to rely on charts found on the internet, it is time to rely on the Lord.
“My dear brothers and sisters, you have as much access to the mind and will of the Lord for your own life as we Apostles do for His Church. Just as the Lord requires us to seek and ponder, fast and pray, and study and wrestle with difficult questions, He requires you to do the same as you seek answers to your own questions.” Russel M. Nelson
Consider Noah. He was told the earth would be flooded and the people destroyed and he needed to build a boat and collect animals of every kind and food to nourish them.
Genesis 6: 13-22 “And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.
But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them. Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.”
Can you imagine being given those directions, being 500 years old, with the help of only your three sons while the rest of the world pointed fingers and laughed? No matter our circumstances the Lord always provides a way.
“When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest, in that moment God will endow us with power”. Ezra Taft Benson
We have been warned. It is our responsibility to prepare for all our family’s needs.
Brigham Young warned of a day when:
“The time will come that gold will hold no comparison in value to a bushel of wheat.”
Many of us saw that prophecy fulfilled during the pandemic as store shelves were empty and people where desperate for bread and the flour to make it.
“Recent surveys of Church members have shown a serious erosion in the number of families who have a year’s supply of life’s necessities. Most members plan to do it. Too few have begun… it is our sacred duty to care for our families, including our extended families.” President Thomas S. Monson
“If you are without bread, how much wisdom can you boast, and of what real utility are your talents, if you cannot produce for yourselves and save against a day of scarcity those substances designed to sustain your natural lives?”
Brigham Young Journal of Discourses 8:68
President Kimball counseled us to become self-reliant because the prophecies of old are coming to pass. He said: “Now I think the time is coming when there will be more distresses, when there may be more tornadoes and more floods, … more earthquakes. … I think they will be increasing probably as we come nearer to the end, and so we must be prepared for this” Conference Report, Apr. 1974.
Oh my…a prophet warned us in 1974 of exactly what we have seen come to pass the past few years.
Howard W. Hunter’s words: “Surely the Lord loves, more than anything else, an unwavering determination to obey his counsel” October General Conference, 1982.
President Hinckley suggested ” the time has come to get our houses in order. . . . There is a portent of stormy weather ahead to which we had better give heed” Conference Report, Oct. 1998
How many times does Heavenly Father have to warn us?
Some Church members opine that emergency plans and supplies, food storage, and 72-hour kits must not be important anymore because the Brethren have not spoken recently and extensively about these and related topics in general conference. But repeated admonitions to prepare have been proclaimed by leaders of the Church for decades. The consistency of prophetic counsel over time creates a powerful concert of clarity and a warning volume far louder than solo performances can ever produce.” David A. Bednar October General Conference 2020
Jonah had to be swallowed by a big fish before he would listen. Joseph was thrown into a well and endured prison. Noah was tasked with building an ark and collecting animals and food while being mocked. We all have mountains to climb either due to our own choices or because God is teaching us and asking us to return to putting Him first.
What will it take for us to prioritize and prepare for the things God has warned us are coming instead of focusing on earthly pleasures and pursuits. What use will a fabulous wardrobe or perfectly decorated home or amazing boat be when the crisis comes? We are told it’s not just “emergency preparedness” but rather “emergency preparedness and response”. Are we looking at the warnings we have received as gifts or are we making excuses?
“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 will somehow be set aside because of the righteousness of the saints, are deceived and will rue the day they harbored such a delusion.” Ezra Taft Benson October 2020
We are familiar with the revelations. Are we acting upon them or do we not believe them? Are we smugly being deceived or are we showing the Lord we are grateful to know of things to come by actively working, a little bit each week, preparing to protect our family and others when the day arrives and the trial is upon us and the day for preparation has passed?
For help in meeting all your self-reliance goals join Carolyn at http://facebook.com/TotallyReady or her blog at Totallyready.com. Help with weekly challenges for preparing and storing food and disaster preparation are available on both sites. Carolyn’s Totally Ready Emergency Binder is available to purchase and download at Totallyready.com and can be purchased complete or one section at a time. Message Carolyn at the Totally Ready or Operation Ornaments Facebook page.
