Concerns about the end of the world seem to be a relatively common topic for discussion lately. My daughter (in her forties) asked me what I thought about the second coming and when I thought those terrible events would take place that will precede it. She seemed concerned and indicated that her Gospel Doctrine teacher had some fairly specific ideas about it. There are some who are trying to predict, round about, dates based on scriptural prophecies and the writings of doomsday prophets, such as Nostradamus. Their predictions can cause some unnecessary concerns for their class members.
I remember as a young person hearing about a ‘doomsday prophet’ standing in a park, warning the townspeople to repent as the end is near. I don’t recall, at the time, feeling any particular fear come over me. As I remember, it was something that was made light of by community members; they assumed he was a crank. This was in the late 1930’s or early 1940’s when the affects of the depression was still very apparent and the Second World War was pending or in full bloom. These are usually the times when these kind of ‘prophets’ are more likely to ‘profit’ by their predictions. Newspapers have made light of such events, too, by publishing cartoons depicting doomsday prophets. One such comic strip depicted two such prophets meeting on a street corner. Each one carried a sign that read, “The End is Near”. One looked at the other and said, “It is much more effective if you keep looking at your watch.” Those who are trying to convince others of a pending doom, in our day, are essentially looking at their watch, for effect.
History is replete with stories of doomsday prophets predicting that the end would come at a specific time. Those dates always came and went with nothing happening. There have even been cases of group suicides related to some of those events. The voices of history, in many cases, are voices of warning. Many, who are currently making estimations concerning the date of the second coming or the end of the world, as it is currently constituted, often use Nostradamus as a source. They feel that Nostradamus, who was born in 1503, was capable of predicting events in our time, even though he, himself, proclaimed no such honor of being a prophet. “Not that I (Nostradamus) would attribute to myself either the name or the role of a prophet.” The 1500’s were still considered the Dark Ages, a time when the heavens were essentially closed. The Lord’s prophets have always identified the Lord as the source of their prophecy. Nostradamus testified himself that the Lord was not his source.
The Mayan Calendar is one of the tools used by those who feel the end can be calculated. The calendar’s last year is apparently 2012, but there was no prediction that came with it describing what was to happen on that last day of their calendar. There have been many since, however, that have made predictions regarding that date. The Mayans obviously had some skill in determining movement of planets and stars in order to calculate a fairly accurate calendar. Their superstitions and primitive religious beliefs, on the other hand (including human sacrifice), should turn a person away from putting too much stock in what they may have meant by their calendar end date. Based on modern day revelation, most of what they believed was unenlightened. Their Calendar end date was possibly decided simply because there was no need to continue adding to it. They had already extended the calendar several hundreds of years from their time. There are some scholars who have obviously read into these predictions and performances much more than is really there.
In our day, there is very little need to spend our time trying to calculate the end. We have living prophets whom the Lord will communicate with when that time draws near. “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” (Amos 3:7)
There are other scriptures that should guide our thoughts and behavior when it pertains to the future. The Lord has advised us that we will not know of the exact time: “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.” (2 Pet. 3:10) A thief obviously will not come if he knows the householder is aware of the time he is coming, since he would have the police waiting for him.
Nobody knows the time of His coming, and rather than spending (wasting) one’s time with a calculator and the writings and calendars of the ancients, it would be wiser to prepare ourselves for the event regardless of when it might happen. In modern scripture we are advised “And at that day, when I shall come in my glory, shall the parable be fulfilled which I spake concerning the ten virgins.” (D&C 45:56) What that means is that we should prepare ourselves spiritually. We should have our lamps filled with oil and the wicks trimmed. We should be ready in all aspects of our lives for the time of that event, whenever it might be. The Lord advised us also to plant our orchards, in other words, assume that the plants will mature into trees and that there will be a harvest. When that time does come our living Prophet will inform us of whatever action we must take and how.
Lets not be as Jacob, who described the Jews as stiffnecked at one time in their history, “But behold, the Jews were a stiffnecked people; and they despised the words of plainness, and killed the prophets, and sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their blindness, which blindness came by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall; for God hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they cannot understand, because they desired it. And because they desired it God hath done it, that they may stumble.” ( Jacob 4:14)
May we be blessed to accept the plainness of His words by ‘Having our lamps full and our wicks trimmed.’ May we be blessed to have faith in our prophets and try to live happy lives. ‘Man is that he might have joy,’ and if we are looking for things in our times and our seasons that may or may not be there, then it is pretty hard to maintain a joyful countenance.