These are days never to be Forgotten

As Oliver Cowdery said "these are days never to be forgotten..." I don't say this solely because of the Sept 23rd "end of the world prophecy", but I do say that partially in response to it. We live in a day when the waters have heaved itself beyond their bounds, earthquakes have been racking Mexico weekly if not daily (triggering a volcano that took out a church), wild fires destroying property across the West, Pres Uchtdorf comparing Republicans and Democrats to Israelis and Palestinians, not to mention comparing current practices to those of Nazi Germany. I realize he was talking about villianizing your opponents makes it easier to enact violence against them. But it doesn't change the fact that we, here in this nation, were compared to nationalities who face violence in their streets almost daily and who enacted awful pogroms against other races. We cannot keep our heads in the sand, there is violence in our society, there are acts of hatred, corruption abounds and the media distracts us with pettiness and irony instead of things of real import.

Yes I do realize there is good in the world, there are acts of charity, there is service, kindness and love. But for every act of goodness you can bet there is an equal and opposite force of darkness. We are living in days likened unto the Book of Mormon, Pres Packer said years ago that there is nothing occurring in Sodom and Gomorrah that isn't occurring in our world (and I would say in our country) today.

I'm not saying this to be a negative Nelly or to say that the sky is falling, but I do say this to beg us to pay attention to the signs all around us. Heavenly Father said that He created stars to show signs in the heavens...and we are to pay attention to the signs of the times. I'm not saying the world is ending, because just as the rest of you noticed the sun did rise today and it will continue to rise until Heavenly Father halts the earth, no amount of men's predictions can do that. But just because a man or men do not interpret a sign incorrectly doesn't mean the sign doesn't exist, it just means we missed the point. Please take some time to seek the Spirit, it doesn't matter whether the end comes tomorrow or years away, we know it is coming and we are seeing prophecy fulfilled, ask the Spirit what you can do to be a disciple of Christ, to prepare the world for His coming, to help make the world a place of greater light.

These are days never to be forgotten, there are great changes coming to the earth, don't be distracted or misled into believing that these days are of no import. Listening to the Women's Session of General Conference tells us that, they called us to be distinct from the world, to be innovative, to learn to follow the Spirit so we can walk with our Savior (because He is nearer than we think), we are called to not believe the lies of the adversary, but to be strong and hold to our divine nature as children of God. We are the ones preparing the earth for the Second Coming of our Savior. Last year Sis Nelson taught us how to not be overwhelmed by despair, but to hold to light and to faith. Pres Nelson taught us that the true meaning of millenials are those who are to prepare the earth for the coming of the Lord and His millennial reign.

We of this latter-day saint generation have that which millennia of generations have waited for, we have the power to enter into the presence of the Lord. When we enter the temple we have the gift of being cleansed and sanctified so that we can enter to be with our Lord. Millennia of the House of Israel could only take a sacrifice to the Tabernacle or to the Temple in Jerusalem and give it to a priest that did a work for them (whether a sin, redemption or atoning offering), we through the power of the New and Everlasting Covenant of the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ enter the temple to become priests and priestesses unto the Most High and do the work, not just observe it.

These are days never to be forgotten, we live in a time with more power then has ever been on the earth before, we have the Gospel of Jesus Christ and covenants to sanctify us, we have the ability to change the course of the earth, let us seek for our part to play in this great drama, to learn what we have covenanted to do to help the Lord fulfill His glorious work, let us learn what we can do to bring light and spark a light in others to do this work.

These are days never to be forgotten and how blessed we are to live in them.