Prepare: learning to let go

I'm tagging this as a preparedness post, but it doesn't have to be.

This is the time to learn to let go.

I was working with a client a few months ago who had been overcome by feelings of anger--anger at the idea that the righteous will have to suffer during the Tribulation also. Anger that because of other people's sins, the Saints will have to give up their homes and their lifestyles and even their lives. It didn't seem fair.

We cleared the anger, and I want to point out that the sentiment there was inherently flawed anyway. The Saints are not innocent here. We are not innocent. As far as I know, we are still under condemnation as a church for not taking the scriptures seriously enough. None of us is perfect.

Earth as a sea of glass. Image here.

But beyond that, the Tribulation and any "suffering" we go through will actually be a really good thing for us. It may not feel that way at the time, but it will be. This is how we have to learn to let go.

I was thinking about it, and it came to me that giving up the things of this earth for a celestial one will be very difficult for a lot of people. Consider how the D&C describes God's home:

Doctrine and Covenants 130:7
7 But they reside in the presence of God, on a globe like a sea of glass and fire, where all things for their glory are manifest, past, present, and future, and are continually before the Lord.

Joseph Smith taught that when the earth is celestialized, it too will be like a globe of glass and fire:

“I remarked to my family and friends present, that when the earth was sanctified and became like a sea of glass, it would be one great urim and thummim, and the Saints could look in it and see as they are seen” (Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 5:279).

When I think of that, of living on a globe like a sea of glass, I have to say the first thing that comes to mind is that I will really miss trees and grass. And water. Before we can be happy on a celestial planet, we have to remove our attachment to the things we love that are of this earth.

Wouldn't you just miss forests? Image here.

Or, consider the idea that if we are ever forced from our homes, we will not be able to take our photo albums with us. Maybe some of us will. But some of us won't. If that ever happens, which who knows, maybe it won't. But the fact is that the things of this world are fleeting, and as they say, you can't take it with you. There are bound to be things that we love that we just can't take with us in every circumstance.
It doesn't even require a crazy thing to happen like an invasion of foreign troops; we can lose our things tomorrow from a run-of-the-mill house fire. This happens. Houses flood and burn down all the time. Our attachment to our stuff is what will hurt us if that kind of stuff ever happens to us.

The Tribulation--that period of years described in Revelation, where the economy collapses and we get lots of wars and a one-world government and all that--is not meant to be a punishment for the righteous. It is a preparation. It is the quickest, most effective way to help the Saints let go of the things of this earth, so we can be given a better one.

It could take us lifetimes to learn that stuff doesn't matter if we never have to lose our stuff. It will take us significantly less time when we are forced to sacrifice everything.

But it reminds me of my kid. My little three-year-old. There was this time a few months ago where I wanted to take him somewhere fun, but to go out to the fun place, he had to put his everyday toys away and put on his shoes to go. He really didn't want to stop playing dragons. But as his momma I knew that he would be glad he did once he got to the play place, or wherever we were going. Sometimes loving parents need to step in and help their children let go of things they love, so that the same children can be open to it when something even better comes along.

The Tribulation is our chance to let go of our attachment to the things of a telestial world, so we can be prepared for the Millennium on a terrestrial one. It is a blessing. It is a blessing to be forced to let go.

But it might still be hard.

That is why it is a blessing to learn to let go sooner than that. It will be a good preparation for our preparation to learn to let go now, rather than later. The better we are at letting go before the Tribulation begins, the easier it will be on us. This includes letting go of material items, and letting go of people who die or choose not to be our friends anymore, and letting go of pre-set ways of doing things that may not be the best way for what's to come.

Sodarshan Chakra Kriya. Intense!
Picture here.

Warning: if you pray for a crash course in this stuff, you will probably find yourself having to let go of a lot of things before you feel ready. But it might be the best thing for you.

A powerful meditation to help in this process is Sodarshan Chakra Kriya. I love what Yogi Bhajan wrote about it:

There is no time, no place, no space and no condition attached to this mantra. Each garbage pit has its own time to clear. If you are going to clean your own garbage, you must estimate and clean it as fast as you can, or as slow as you want. You have to decide how much time you have to clean up your garbage pit.

This is the beautiful opportunity we have as God's children living on this earth in this day and age. We have spirits full of garbage--all of us have spirits full of garbage--and we get to choose if it's going to be cleaned, and how fast it will be cleaned. It is up to us to clean our inner garbage as fast as we can, or as slow as we want. It's all our choice. We get to choose.

I will say, I started a 100-day meditation of Sodarshan Chakra Kriya about three weeks ago, and about five days in, my life completely blew up and got horrible. I guess a lot of subconscious gunk came to the fore to be processed. Committing to working on garbage means garbage comes up to be dealt with. But better to deal with it now in our comfortable homes with plentiful food, than when we're living on beans and rice in a tent city (if it ever comes to that!).

Conclusion

Now is a great time to practice letting go. Give something away that you love. Take your deep breaths when other people disrespect your home or your belongings. Do some Sodarshan Chakra Kriya if you are feeling brave. Clean your garbage. Better now than later.

Prepare: muffin mix recipe

I started out my food storage packaging straight up flour--but then I realized, there's not much a person can do with just plain flour--particularly if you can only bring one container of stuff with you wherever you are going.

So now I am making and packaging my raw ingredients together, as biscuit mix and muffin mix. I write the ingredients on each bottle and instructions on how to mix everything up. I feel so much happier when I look at bottles of muffin mix than when I look at bottles of flour. I love that I can just pour it out and mix it up and not have to worry about finding where I put the baking powder or anything. It's all ready to go!

I try and make it as easy as possible on myself, so my recipes are based on 5lbs of flour (that way I can just pour in one whole bag of flour and get started--no measuring that, at least!

MUFFIN MIX RECIPE

Mix together:

- 5 lbs flour (20 cups)
- 5.5 cups sugar
- 6.5 tbsp baking powder
- 2.25 tbsp baking soda
- 2.25 tbsp salt
- 3 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 3 tbsp nutmeg

I pour these all into my normal flour bucket, seal it, then toss it around in my arms for a minute or two to mix it all up. It smells SO GOOD.

HOW TO BAKE
In total, this recipe would require an additional 2.5 c of nonfat dry milk. All told, the recipe calls for around 26 cups of stuff, so as we divide the mix up, we remember that the ratio is about 1 part nonfat dry milk to 10 parts mix. 

So for a 16.9oz bottle that stores 2.25 cups of muffin mix, we need to reconstitute a quarter cup of nonfat dry milk when it's time to mix everything together, along with 1/3 cup oil/shortening/applesauce, and 3.5 tsp vanilla extract if you have it. A 16.9oz bottle will make 6 muffins.

When mixing to eat, you can obviously add things like berries or grated carrots or chopped nuts or chocolate or butterscotch chips or whatever else you want to put into your muffins. Whatever you want!

For a 2L soda bottle, those hold 8.5 cups of mix. If you were to mix the whole thing up for muffins at once, you'd want to reconstitute 5/8 cup of nonfat dry milk, and mix with 1.5 cups shortening/oil/applesauce/mashed bananas etc, along with 4 tbsp vanilla extract if you had any on hand.

A 2L bottle would make up about 25 muffins, by my reckoning.

I do not really plan to make these in muffin containers, by the way. In real life, you can just pour the muffin batter into a cake pan or Dutch oven and bake like that--it is like making a coffee cake. So, whew, no need to stock up on muffin tin liners!

I don't think the nonfat dry milk is essential to this recipe, by the way. I'll have to experiment but that's my understanding. Everything can be substituted. So we'll see.

Prepare: commandments and blessings

This was my hookum this morning (a hookum is when you let your scriptures fall open with the intention that the page opened to will be just right for you):

Women in the wilderness.
Image here.

1 And it came to pass that we did again take our journey in the wilderness; and we did travel nearly eastward from that time forth. And we did travel and wade through much affliction in the wilderness; and our women did bear children in the wilderness. 

2 And so great were the blessings of the Lord upon us, that while we did live upon raw meat in the wilderness, our women did give plenty of suck for their children, and were strong, yea, even like unto the men; and they began to bear their journeyings without murmurings. 

3 And thus we see that the commandments of God must be fulfilled. And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them; wherefore, he did provide means for us while we did sojourn in the wilderness.

- 1 Nephi 17:1-3 

This was just right for me.

The promise here is that if we keep the commandments, God will work incredible miracles to keep us strong and nourished. If you must live upon raw meat in the wilderness because you are keeping God's commandments, God will use it to make you strong.

If things really did Get Bad, there's no way a year of food storage would be enough. A year's supply for one person is maybe a few months' supply for a family. A family's food supply for a year would be a month or a few days for a community. But the point is obedience. By acting in faith, we show God that we are preparing our hearts to trust Him fully enough to provide for us in the wilderness.

Keep the commandments! Receive the blessings!

Prepare your spirit

The most important part of emergency preparedness is spiritual.

Sermon on the Mount. Public domain.

We know this from the scriptures, but I was reminded of it during my first time checking in with the energy field of the Ebola virus. When I discovered that a belief blocking immunity to Ebola was "[Survival] is worse than death," I had the most sickening feeling to my body and my spirit as I felt what it would feel like to watch everyone around you die gruesome deaths. And I remembered Revelation 9:6:

6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

That is how I felt as I experienced what it feels like to live when everyone you love has died horrific deaths. I realized: dying gracefully would require a huge amount of faith, but so would survival.

If society ever does fall apart, the most important thing will be spiritual preparedness--faith that is strong enough to sustain a person no matter what. Faith to sustain a person in death, or in a life that could be more miserable than death without the hope that comes from faith in Jesus Christ.
So how does one build the kind of faith that can sustain in times of "great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be" (Matthew 24:21)?

The Bible Dictionary defines faith:

Faith is to hope for things which are not seen, but which are true (Heb. 11:1; Alma 32:21), and must be centered in Jesus Christ in order to produce salvation. To have faith is to have confidence in something or someone. The Lord has revealed Himself and His perfect character, possessing in their fulness all the attributes of love, knowledge, justice, mercy, unchangeableness, power, and every other needful thing, so as to enable the mind of man to place confidence in Him without reservation. Faith is kindled by hearing the testimony of those who have faith (Rom. 10:14–17). Miracles do not produce faith, but strong faith is developed by obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ; in other words, faith comes by righteousness, although miracles often confirm one’s faith.

The entry goes on to further explain that while faith is a gift, it has to be sought after and cultured in order to grow into a strong tree.

Planting the seed

The seed can grow into a tree. Image here.

Faith is often compared to a seed, as in the metaphor above. How do we obtain a seed of faith?

As the Bible Dictionary explained, we have to "hear the testimony of those who have faith." That's why LDS congregations have "testimony meeting" once a month, where members are invited to come up and share their witnesses of Christ's divinity, along with testimonies of other gospel principles, such as charity or tithing. Hearing the testimony of another person is how the seed of faith is planted, and sharing a testimony helps it grow.
An easy way to hear the testimony of people who have real faith is to read the scriptures. The Holy Bible has been inspiring faith in millions, for hundreds of years. Reading the words of Christ as transcribed by people who had faith in Him and personally knew Him is an incredible way to build faith.

The Book of Mormon also contains the words of Jesus Christ--or at least it purports to. The book comes with a promise that is very relevant to this discussion of faith, and this promise is found in Moroni 10:3-5:

3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts. 

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. 

5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

The scriptures. From lds.org.

The promise is that if you can muster enough faith to A) read the Book of Mormon, B) remember and ponder God's mercy towards the children of men, C) ask of God to know if these things are true or not true, with a sincere heart and real intent and faith in Christ, He will manifest the truth of it to you by the power of the Holy Spirit.

In other words, by following a very simple recipe, a very simple set of instructions, you can actually receive a divine witness as to whether or not the book is true or not.

Reading the book is an act of faith. Asking God about the truthfulness of the book with real intent--meaning, willing to change your life depending on the answer you get--is another act of faith. And then receiving the witness of truth strengthens your faith. It's like a giant cycle of faith-building.

If you don't have any faith, I recommend trying out the test. Worst case scenario, you waste five hours reading a book. Best case scenario, your faith in Jesus Christ strengthens incredibly and your life changes forever for the better.

If you already have faith in Jesus Christ but haven't read the Book of Mormon, the same goes for you: worst case scenario, you learn a little bit more about what other people believe about Jesus. Best case scenario, you feel like you understand the Gospel better than ever and feel a deeper-than-ever

Growing faith

relationship with Jesus.

Faith grows through exercise. Exercises of faith include but are not limited to:

- Daily scripture reading: exercising faith that studying God's word will benefit your life.
- Daily heartfelt prayer: exercising faith that God listens to and hears you, and cares.
- Service with a loving heart: exercising faith that God blesses those who bless His other children.
- Paying tithing: exercising faith that when we sacrifice a tenth of our material increase, God rewards us with more than what we sacrificed.
- Storing extra food and water: exercising faith that God inspired modern prophets who counseled this.
- Getting out of debt: once again exercising faith in God's prophets who have counseled this.

Bigger exercises of faith might be to turn your fertility over to God, trusting that He won't allow a pregnancy at the wrong time for you or your family, or to trust that all the things that don't make sense that pop into your mind are true. Exercising faith like this actually strengthens your faith so that you can exercise more faith.

The Bible has a great treatise on faith in Hebrews 11, and the Book of Mormon has a great one in Ether 12. The Bible Dictionary, as well as these scripture chapters, teaches that with enough faith, one can heal, command the elements, and do basically anything as long as it aligns with God's will. As Jesus said, faith as a mustard seed can move a mountain.

I don't think He was being metaphorical. Faith is the power to literally move literal mountains.

Conclusion

Growing faith is one of the most important things we can do to prepare for anything. Faith in an ultimately just yet loving and merciful God gives us the strength to forgive others and the world for the wrongs we suffer; it gives us the strength to let go of the outcome and trust that He has everything under control, even if we don't. Faith is what will give us the strength to die with grace or live despite horrors.  Building up a food storage or making other survival plans will be futile without a sufficient storage of faith in God and Jesus Christ that can weather the storms of anything the world has to throw at us. 

a half hour of silence in the heavens

 And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. -Revelation 8:1

Hopefully we've all read the Bible by now and recognize this verse. There has been a lot of talk throughout history about the opening of the seventh seal, but we are among the lucky few who have lived to see it. This claim is based on scriptural evidence.

Note about this essay: This is not to make any fancy claims about exact dates or the exact nature of coming events. It is just to point out some scriptural and calendrical evidence for the scriptures and collaborate it with recent General Conference talks. My goal here is to inspire preparedness--which, I have blogged before, has been considered "urgent" for many, many, many years now. Even in the New Testament, Saints were counseled to treat their spiritual preparedness with urgency, even though the Second Coming was clearly not for some time (as we have yet to experience it ourselves, two millennia later). Hopefully we all approach our spiritual and material preparedness with the urgency recommended in the scriptures and by the prophets, regardless of upcoming events and how soon or far away they may be.

Upcoming: some evidence that the seventh seal has already been opened, per the beginning of the seventh thousand years as explained in the scriptures; an exploration of the calculation of the "half hour" of silence; how this fits with and supports the concept of the Christ coming at the Meridian of Time; the relation of the Seventh Seal to the Shemitah and upcoming Jubilee; and implications.

Seven seals. Image here.

The Seventh Seal: Timing, and the Half Hour

Poking around on the Internet today I found a link to Cleon Skousen's analysis of the time leading up to the Second Coming.

The whole article is worth a read, but here is a "brief" excerpt (brief compared to the rest of the essay, anyway!) Bolding is mine, and I cut out a giant paragraph that is worth reading but not necessarily as part of this post:

JOHN BEGINS DESCRIBING MODERN TIMES AFTER THE OPENING OF THE SEVENTH SEAL

Now John is ready to transfer his attention from the five chapters outlining the preparations in heaven for the Second Coming and concentrate on the unfolding of these events on earth. All of these events are controlled by the factor of “time.” He therefore defines the period in which these events will occur. John says:“And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.” ¹⁵This immediately raises four highly significant questions. For example:#1. According to OUR calendar, when will the seventh seal be opened, and the half-hour of silence begins in heaven?Until 1582 A.D. our calendar was not at all accurate, but Pope Gregory employed a group of mathematicians and astronomers to restructure the calendar. They set up the new calendar so that it was in perfect harmony or calibration with the sun. To make it completely accurate they had to add one day every four years and that is how we got our “leap year.”But even with all that restructuring, how are we certain that it is completely accurate? The best answer to that question is in the Doctrine and Covenants. On two occasions the Lord used the Gregorian calendar in such a way that it seemed to clearly imply his approval of it.In Section 20 the Lord said he wanted the Church established on the sixth day of April because it would be “one thousand eight hundred and thirty years since the coming of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the flesh.” ¹⁶In the very next section we are told the Church was set up by Joseph Smith under the guidance of the Holy Ghost and then it says:“Which church was organized and established in the year of your Lord eighteen hundred and thirty, in the fourth month, and on the sixth day of the month which is called April.” ¹⁷So if our calendar is accurate and apparently approved by the Lord, there is no question about the date of the opening of the seventh seal and the half hour of silence in heaven. It will commence in the year 2000 AD .#2. Why is there suddenly “silence in heaven” when the SEVENTH seal is opened?Apparently there is a great deal of furious activity in heaven right up to the time the seventh seal is opened. The Priesthood of this dispensation are required to work at a tremendous pace to get ready for the Second Coming. This was explained to Wilford Woodruff the last time he was allowed to see Joseph Smith in the spirit world.

[...] 

Joseph Smith made it plain to Wilford Woodruff that the Priesthood of this dispensation are working under a fantastic deadline to teach everyone who has died without the gospel since the apostolic times. This task has to be completed by the time of ‘the opening of the seventh seal when the hosts of heaven will have a new task connected with the final preparation and cleansing of the earth for the Second Coming.#3. DO WE KNOW WHEN THE HALF HOUR OF SILENCE ENDS?From a modern revelation we learn when the half hour of silence ends. Here is what the Lord says:“And there shall be silence in heaven for the space of half an hour, and IMMEDIATELY after shall the curtain of heaven be unfolded, as a scroll is unfolded after it is rolled up, AND THE FACE OF THE LORD SHALL BE UNVEILED; and the saints that are upon the earth, who are alive, shall be quickened and be caught up to meet him.” ¹⁹Obviously we are talking about the Second Coming. So this tells us when the half hour of silence ends. It is just before the Second Coming.#4. CAN WE calculate THE ACTUAL DURATION OF TH HOUR OF SILENCE?Since we know the half hour of silence begins at 2,000 A.D. when the seventh seal is opened and since we know from a modern revelation that the half hour of silence ends with the Second Coming, can we calculate in terms of years the length of time which will elapse between these two monumental events? In other words, can we determine about how long the half hour of silence lasts?One of the apostles felt that such a calculation was possible. Here is the way Elder Bruce R. McConkie suggested it could be done. After talking about the half hour of silence, he says:“If the time here mentioned is ‘ Lord’s time’ in which one day is a thousand years, the haft hour would be some twenty-one of our years.”Elder McConkie reached this conclusion based on the following scriptures:“A day with the Lord after his manner of reckoning, it being 1000 years according to the time appointed to that [ whereon thou standest."And again:"But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that ONE DAY is with the Lord as a THOUSAND YEARS, and a thousand years as one day."The next step was to divide 1,000 years by 24 to determine what an hour would be according to God’s time. It turned out to be 41.66 years or just under 42 years. This means that a half hour of God’s time would be ? 7 years or nearly 21 years. This would clearly suggest that this is the duration of the half hour of silence in heaven and the period of time when the angels undertake the calamitous preparation of the earth for the Savior’s second coming.

 So, to recap:

The scriptures indicate that the Gregorian calendar is an accurate count from the time of the Savior's birth. This would put the opening of the seventh seal from Revelations in the year 2000 AD, Gregorian. Here is a site with explanations from the scriptures and the prophets about why that is. But here's a good scriptural recap, D&C 77:12 (my bolding):

Angel sounding trumpet. Public domain. 

 12 Q. What are we to understand by the sounding of the trumpets, mentioned in the 8th chapter of Revelation?A. We are to understand that as God made the world in six days, and on the seventh day he finished his work, and sanctified it, and also formed man out of the dust of the earth, even so, in the beginning of the seventh thousand years will the Lord God sanctify the earth, and complete the salvation of man, and judge all things, and shall redeem all things, except that which he hath not put into his power, when he shall have sealed all things, unto the end of all things; and the sounding of the trumpets of the seven angels are the preparing and finishing of his work, in the beginning of the seventh thousand years—the preparing of the way before the time of his coming.

Basically, ancient and modern scripture agree that man is allotted 7,000 years on the earth. The opening of the seventh seal corresponds to the beginning of the last thousand years. The world gets a "half hour of silence," according to Revelation, and then Christ returns, the world burns, and the Millennium for real begins. Since the year Christ was born in was 1830 years prior to the restoration of the Gospel in 1830 AD Gregorian, and He was born at the Meridian of Time (the 4,000th year out of the 7,000 total), that would put the beginning of the seventh thousand years in 2000 AD: Y2K.

Per the scriptures, the ending of the world didn't happen then, with the opening of the seventh seal; rather, we began the half hour of silence predicted in the book of Revelation.

How does this fit with the Meridian of Time?

 This is slightly tangential, but I want to throw it in here in case anyone is as confused as I once was. One thing that always bothered me was that if that whole 7000 year thing was accurate, and Christ came at year 4000, then why--?? How does that work if He was supposed to come at the Meridian of Time?

John Pratt has an article about that, kind of--it doesn't address the Meridian of Time according to the whole history of humankind, but it does address the issue of the Meridian of Time according to the Enoch and Hebrew calendars. Examine:

The Enoch calendar. Image here. 

Christ born at Meridian of Grand Year. Following the same pattern shows that 6 Apr 1 BC fell in the year called 14 ADAR 2. The Feast of Esther begins on the day 14 Adar, or, in years with the thirteenth month, on 14 Adar2. So the proposed year of the Savior's birth also fell in a "holy year" of the Grand Year, corresponding to the Feast of Esther.
Moreover, that particular Grand Year comprised 385 years. The Feast of Esther that year fell in the 193rd year of the Grand Year, which is precisely the middle year of the 385 years. So the birth year of Christ occurred at the meridian of a Grand Year, which was also a "holy year."
One final point: the name Esther means "A star," so the birth year of Christ was the year of the "Feast of A Star." That seems appropriate, in light of the appearance of the Star of Bethlehem, which heralded his coming. If that was planned, then even Esther's very name was inspired.
Christ born at Meridian of Jubilee Year. The year beginning in Sep., 2 BC was a SUNDAY, the first year of the sabbatical cycle. In fact, it was also a Jubilee year which is always a SUNDAY, occuring every 49 years.^[5] The jubilee year was to be announced with the blowing of the trumpet on the Day of Atonement (in September/October) (Lev. 25:9-10). If Christ was born during the night preceding 6 Apr 1 BC, as all of my calculations indicate, then he was born exactly on the meridian day of that Jubilee year, which was also the day of Passover. That is, from 10 Tishri to 15 Nisan is half a solar year. A normal Hebrew year is ten days short of a solar year, to the 5 extra days from the 10th to the 15th is exactly what is required to separate the two days by half a solar year. Thus, the meridian of time is precise down to the very day, not just the year. 

Anyway, it's awesome, but not super relevant--another article of his, I believe, points out that although the halfway point of 7,000 years would be 3,500, it would be rounded up to the nearest day to be the meridian. 3,500 rounded up is 4,000. Hence Christ's birthday as the Meridian of Time, even though it is not technically at the exact halfway midpoint of time.

So we really are looking at exactly 2,000 years from Christ's birth for the opening of the seventh seal--not 3,500 years.

OKAY.

What Happens in the Half-Hour of Silence? 

What does this half hour of silence mean? What is supposed to happen in it?

Revelation Chapters 8-12 are dedicated to this very thing. In Chapter 8 we see hail and natural disasters, Wormwood making the waters bitter, the water of the sea becoming blood. In Chapter 9 we see terror visiting men: "And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them" (verse 6). In Chapter 11 we learn of the prophets who will be slaughtered in Jerusalem. And so on. Basically there is a lot of stuff that is going to happen during this half hour--or, as Bruce R. McConkie calculated, 21 years--that immediately precedes the Second Coming, as explained in D&C 88:95-96:

 95 And there shall be silence in heaven for the space of half an hour; and immediately after shall the curtain of heaven be unfolded, as a scroll is unfolded after it is rolled up, and the face of the Lord shall be unveiled;
 96 And the saints that are upon the earth, who are alive, shall be quickened and be caught up to meet him.

Seven angels. Except in real life they are male. Image.

We know from the scriptures that "times of tribulation" are supposed to happen immediately prior to the Second Coming. Mormons don't super call that time the Tribulation but other Christians do, and it is said to be a seven-year period. You can read more about that on the Wikipedia article about it. Mormons would qualify by those standards as "Posttribulationists"-- people who believe the "Rapture," or "quickening" and being caught up as described in the scripture above, will happen after the Tribulation.

If there are seven years of Tribulation immediately prior to the Second Coming; if there are 21 total years between the opening of the seventh seal and the Second Coming; if the seventh seal has been opened as the scriptures indicate in the year 2000, AD; that would put us just on the cusp of beginning the Tribulation.


Relation to the Shemitah and Jubilee

Image here.

Twenty-one years happens to fit exactly 3 Shemitahs. We just began the third Shemitah year since 2000, on September 25, 2014. And it just so happens that the Jubilee begins on September 14, 2015. According to my research, this will be the 70th Jubilee since the Exodus and the 120th Jubilee since Creation. Examine this research on the relationship between the Jubilee cycles, Biblical prophecy, and the House of Israel. This Jubilee would, theoretically, signal the beginning of the final seven years--or "week of years"--preceding the unveiling of the Lord's face. In other words, we are on the cusp of the beginning of the Tribulation, the seven final, turbulent years preceding the end. It would begin right after 13 September 2015, the final, collapsing day of 29 Elul that corresponds to 9/11 and 9/28/08 (the date of the largest Wall Street collapse in history). Mid-September of 2015 starts the figurative Sunday of the final week of our half hour of silence immediately preceding what Protestants would call the Rapture.

This final week of years--seven years--is what other Christians call the Tribulation, as I explained above.

Conclusion and Implications

This is all based on scriptural evidence. That is not to claim great claims of accuracy or truth; but it is to say that this is not completely unfounded speculation. The Biblical calendar backs it up, and teachings in the Old and New Testaments as well as the Doctrine and Covenants back it up. According to the scriptures the seventh seal's opening corresponded with the year 2000, and right now we are almost 2/3 done with the silence during the half hour. This is scriptural. It isn't to name dates or claim anything about exact timing of the Second Coming or exact events or anything like that; exact dates and predictions are not the point. The point is that the scriptures said to be on the lookout for the half hour of silence, they told us when they would be, and told us how to recognize them. From what I can tell, we are in that half-hour now and times of tribulation are rapidly approaching.

The major implications for me:

Image here.

- Spiritual preparedness for self: we have a responsibility to be as spiritually developed as possible in order to handle the rigors of the trials coming up in essentially the immediate future. This month's Conference talks include recommendations to prepare in a way that has never been known, develop our personal ministries, and make our exercise of faith our first priority. I and my family were also very intrigued by the amount of talks dedicated to the importance of following the prophet even if it doesn't always make sense. I had a sense that those talks would be relevant very soon. And they already are relevant. So if you're not following the prophet, now would probably be a good time to get on that.

- Spiritual preparedness for others: we have a responsibility to do our part in the Hastening of the Work. It's our job to warn our neighbors and to reach out to them in love. This is also spiritual preparation for ourselves, as we exercise our faith in reaching out even though it can be scary.

- Material preparedness: my research has indicated that in the case of a widespread economic collapse as one might infer from a Shemitah-Jubilee link and a coming Tribulation, money will be less important than food, water, and other material essentials. If you were quarantined to your home for weeks due to plagues, would you have the necessaries you need to survive? If you had no electricity or clean water available, would you be able to meet your needs and the needs of your family? Would you be spiritually prepared to share with others, too?

- Physical preparedness: Is your body ready for some upcoming trials? In Conference this year, we were expressly counseled to get in good physical shape and health (as a way of increasing our spiritual confidence, no less!). AH I LOVE THAT TALK.

Again: This is not to make any fancy claims about exact dates or the exact nature of coming events. It is only to point out that the scriptures likely indicate that tough times are coming. I'm just passing it on. And for anyone wondering why this would not be explicitly addressed in General Conference, I did blog about that before. The prophets have been warning us, even explicitly, about this time for all of time. To echo their call for urgency in preparation is not alarmist. Since a person can die at any time and end their mortal probation, even if the Tribulation is not right around the corner, spiritual preparation is still of utmost urgency and importance. It is never bad to be scripturally aware and wisely prepared.