BREAKING NEWS _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Esteemed Senior Apostle, Boyd K. Packer, of the LDS Church's Council of the Twelve announced a prophecy yesterday during the Church's semi-annual General Conference. Here is some of what the Salt Lake Tribune quoted - -
"The end is not near," senior LDS apostle Boyd K. Packer said Saturday.
Today’s youths can look forward to "getting married, having a family, seeing your children and grandchildren, maybe even great-grandchildren," Packer told more than 20,000 Mormons gathered in the giant LDS Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake City.
This is monumental. Church leaders (who virtually never claim any specific revelations from God) have made very few prophecies in recent decades. This is a rather remarkable development. Mormon faithful will fawn over this surprising prediction. Depending on how old you are, you can presume that Packer is envisioning the "end" coming about in approximately 65 years. Who knew??? Gosh, I figured that the mere re-election of Obama would single-handedly cause the world to break in half . . . . .
The gratifying element in this prophetic surprise is that we can now all relax, right? What better way to lull the already wayward saints into lethargic complacency. It's kind of like the "All is well in Zion" reassurances. I'm not completely sure what Packer is alluding to when he refers to "the 'end'" (being decades away). I rather think of the Millennium as a beginning. It certainly won't terminate our Earth. It will, however, put an end to much iniquity and the smooth sayings of false prophets. Of the people of this day, Isaiah (in Chapter 30) said, --
9. That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord:
10. Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
Jeremiah agreed, prophesying (in Chapter 23), --
16. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord.
17. They say still unto them that despise me, The Lord hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.
18. For who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?
19. Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.
I am truly offended that this guy would be so pompous and disingenuous as to try to get us to believe that he has recently gained some special, insider knowledge, while at the same time he fails to quote the verbatim words of God to support such a prophecy. I will give his senility the benefit of the doubt. I am more dismayed that naive Mormons everywhere will gobble this up as a divine proclamation and then not "trim" their "lamps".
Equally galling was the renewed repudiation of polygamists (and fundamentalist Mormons) by Elder Russell Ballard. "They are", he says, "not affiliated with the Church" (other than having founded it [and the Salt Lake Valley], I guess).
In closing, let me comment that today's announcement of the construction of two new temples in Africa (Republic of the Congo, and South Africa), will hopefully not be followed by an announcement of their likely premature closing (as was the case with the Nigeria temple).
"And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well--and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell." (2 Nephi 28:21)
"And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well--and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell." (2 Nephi 28:21)
