Signs of the Times

Elder Bruce R. McConkie

Stand Independent above All Other Creatures

“I stand before the Church this day and raise the warning voice. It is a prophetic voice… For the moment we live in a day of peace and prosperity but it shall not ever be thus… Great trials lie ahead. All of the sorrows and perils of the past are but a foretaste of what is yet to be. And we must prepare ourselves temporally and spiritually… We do not know when the calamities and troubles of the last days will fall upon any of us as individuals or upon bodies of the Saints. The Lord deliberately withholds from us the day and hour of his coming and of the tribulations which shall precede it… He simply tells us to watch and be ready.”


Elder Orson Pratt

“…a day of great tribulation…”

“…inasmuch as we have pointed out the way of escape and shown you that the Lord has provided in regard to these matters, for all that will believe in him, and repent of their sins, and obey the gospel, do not be dilatory, do not be slack, do not be extravagant in your expenditures, but strive to lay up means… for a day of great tribulation is coming, a day of desolation…”


Ezra Taft Benson speaks in General Conference, October 1973

Prepare Ye

‘The strength of the Church welfare program lies in every family following the inspired direction of the Church leaders to be self-sustaining through adequate preparation. God intends for his Saints to so prepare themselves “that the church [as the Lord has said] may stand independent above all other creatures beneath the celestial world.” …may we recognize the infallibility of God’s inspired word—whether by his “… own voice …” or the “voice of [his] my servants, it is the same.”…The days ahead are sobering and challenging. Oh, may we be prepared spiritually and temporally, I pray humbly…’


Elder Boyd K. Packer

The Father and the Family

Moral values are being neglected and prayer expelled from public schools on the pretext that moral teaching belongs to religion. At the same time, atheism, the secular religion, is admitted to class, and our youngsters are proselyted to a conduct without morality. …Because we do know and because we do care, we must teach the rules of happiness without dilution, apology, or avoidance. That is our calling.