We live in a day of “wars [and] rumors of wars, and earthquakes in divers places.^” As prophesied, “the whole earth [is] in commotion” and “Satan is abroad in the land.” He seeks to destroy all that is good and righteous. He is Lucifer, who was cast out of the presence of God.

While alone, this quote is enough to get anyone paying attention a little nervous with all that is going on. We can let those sentences get the best of us, and at times I have – but we should be paying more attention to the next sentence of Elder Packer’s statement more so than the first four:

Against all of that, we have very positive feelings about what lies ahead.

Luckily a good friend of mine @LDSGuy has been paying better attention, not to mention we had been discussing if there would ever be missionaries in Egypt. I got a text message the other night from him, telling me to go look up sign #48. It has been awhile since I read 65 Signs of the Times and couldn’t remember what it was, so I was pretty excited to see what it was about. I will let him add the remainder of this post:

The way I figure it, either 1. the fullness of the gospel will be taken into Egypt, missionaries will be welcome, a temple will be built, the Egyptian people will enjoy the blessings of eternal marriage and being sealed to their families for eternity, or 2. the Muslim extremists in that region will take over and align themselves with other extremist groups in the region and attack a common enemy—Israel. Both seem plausible. Of course both could happen, with the latter occurring before the former.

Somewhere deep inside my mind I seem to recall scriptures mentioning something about Egypt’s role in the last days and what their status will be with respect to the gospel, but I was not able to locate any.

That is until I came across my copy of David Ridges’ book 65 Signs of the Times Leading up to the Second Coming and started thumbing through it that night. Lo! and behold there it was on page 127 and continuing over onto page 128. The answers to Egypt’s status in the last days was given to us eight centuries prior to Christ’s birth by the prophet Isaiah (Esaias in the New Testament Greek). I’m going to copy Brother Ridge’s explanatory notes (in italicize brackets) in these verses to help illustrate his views on this topic.

18 In that day [the last days] shall five [several] cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan [Israel; a prophecy of greatly improved relationship between Egypt and Judah in the last days], and swear to the Lord of hosts [make covenants with Jesus Christ, implying that they will have the true gospel]; one shall be called, The city of destruction [not a good translation; could be "city of the sun"].

19 In that day [the last days] shall there be an altar [a temple; in a temple] to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar [symbolic of a temple—see Revelation 3:12] at the border thereof to the Lord.

20 And it [the altar and the pillar] shall be for a sign and for a witness [reminder] unto [of] the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt: for they [Egyptians] shall cry [pray] unto the Lord because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour, and a great one, and he shall deliver them.

21 And the Lord shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day [the last days], and shall do sacrifice [see 3 Nephi 9:20; broken heart and contrite spirit] and oblation [see D&C 59:12]; yea, they shall vow a vow [make covenants] unto the Lord, and perform it [and will be faithful to them].

Here the author points out the fact that often times the Lord has to humble a group of people, and then save them for peril before they will listen to Him.

22 And the Lord shall smite Egypt: he shall smite and heal it [first humble it, then heal it]: and they shall return even to the Lord [the Egyptians will hear and live the gospel], and he shall be intreated [prayed to] of [by] them, and shall heal them [wonderful blessings are in store for Egypt].

Isaiah 19:18-22

After looking at this source further it seems to me that dark days still lie ahead for Egypt; however, the distant future will be a bright new dawn, full of gospel truths and saving ordinances.

Another excellent source I love to turn to when studying Isaiah is David R. Minert’s book Simplified Isaiah for the Latter-day Saints.

In covering Isaiah, Brother Minert does a remarkable job explaining Isaiah in simplified, modern terminology. Brother Minert consulted at least 12 different sources on Isaiah before coming up with his narrative of each verse in Isaiah.

In his book he covers chapter 19 by explaining details that have yet to happen for Egypt. These include, civil war (v. 2), a cruel king/leader (v. 4 – in my opinion this has yet to occur), all the water sources including the Nile river will dry up, plant life and the entire Egyptian economy will suffer as a result (vs. 5-10), the Egyptians will be fearful of even the mention of Israel (v. 17), eventually relations between Egypt and Israel will improve (v. 18), the gospel will be taught to Egyptians, a temple will be built (vs. 19-22), there will be an Arab alliance between Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Syria (v. 23), and surprisingly Israel will join this alliance (v. 24).

Obviously a lot of the things listed by Isaiah seem unlikely or far-fetched given Egypt’s current status, but then again remember how few people could have imagined that a) the end of the Cold War would occur almost overnight in 1989, or b) the gospel would be preached in eight Russian missions (count as of today), or even that c) an LDS temple would be built in a communist country prior to the end of the Cold War. Clearly, the Lord’s purposes continue to go forth, despite the status of the world’s problems.

I firmly believe that by-and-by all of the concrete prophecies of the prophets will be fulfilled, meaning the ones that do not have conditions attached to them. If a prophet says “in the last days Egypt will have a temple” it will come to pass. However, if a prophet says “in the last days Egypt will have a temple if they do not align themselves with {insert foreign troublemaker here}” and Egypt still aligns themselves with that country then of course they will not receive a temple. In the verses outlined above by Isaiah the prophecies of the future of Egypt all seem pretty concrete to me.

It will be interesting to watch and see how this current Egyptian unrest unfolds, but if I had to guess where we are with regards to the status of Egypt and her future, I’d start at the beginning of the chapter (v. 2)—with a lot of terrible and exciting things ahead for the Egyptians. My personal take on the current murky future of Egypt combined with verse four is that the near future will bring some sort of extreme regime that will NOT be friendly to the United States or Israel, that will possibly attempt to or be successful in instigating Shariah Law throughout Egypt, thus restricting the freedoms of those people who are currently calling for freedoms, and serve as a “cruel lord” over the Egyptian people. It may get dark before it gets bright, but Isaiah has promised the Egyptian people that one day prior to the Lord’s Second Coming the restored gospel will flourish in the Land of the Pharaohs and that the saving ordinances of the gospel will be administered to the Egyptians by the Egyptian saints. It may seem distant, but it could very well all happen within the next 5-10 years.

Are You Still Learning?

Sometime ago, and yes I’ve forgotten what the name of the talk was – but I know who it was by. It was given by Cleon Skousen. It mentioned that David O. McKay wanted to have current events discussed in Priesthood meeting, but ultimately was afraid of the backlash it would cause. Then more recently, like yesterday I started reading (listening) to Jack Monnett’s book “Awakening To Our Awful Situation” that again made mention of being commanded in studying current events along with histories.

I really wanted to put some validation to this. While I have been unable to find much with what I heard from Cleon Skousen, I was able after a little while digging around the internets to put some validation to being commanded in continual learning.

Before I continue, I just want to take a moment to explain why it’s made such an impact and why I’m writing about this. As someone who wasn’t the most thrilled about school, learning, or even church in my younger years – I have grown into an adult who does actually like to learn. Whether it’s for my current career of web developer or my thirst for understanding the gospel better. I want to learn more! Even at the risk of putting my soul in jeopardy (I think I’ll explain this latter).

So, back to my discovery – some may already know this, or might even have different references to this, but I found this in a talk given by President Spencer W. Kimball entitled “Seek Learning, Even By Study and Also by Faith”[1. Spencer W. Kimball, “‘Seek Learning, Even by Study and Also by Faith’,” Ensign, Sep 1983, 3]

77 And I give unto you a commandment that you shall ^ateach one another the ^bdoctrine of the kingdom.

78 Teach ye diligently and my ^agrace shall attend you, that you may be ^binstructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand;

79 Of things both in ^aheaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must ^bshortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the ^cnations, and the judgments which are on the land; and a ^dknowledge also of countries and of kingdoms—

80 That ye may be prepared in all things when I shall send you again to ^amagnify the calling whereunto I have called you, and the ^bmission with which I have commissioned you.[2. D&C 88:77–80]

To study “things which have been” is to delve into history, a lifetime challenge. In addition, current events, or history in the making, should give us concern for careful study.

The “wars and perplexities of the nations” is a great concern to us now that the world is a large community. Perplexities afflicting one people affect the lives of others distantly removed.

And that brings me to my ulterior motive of this post, why should we learn about current events, histories, other countries, politics, etc. I’ll let President Ezra Taft Benson explain it in his straight forward, yet eloquent manner.

One of our most serious problems is the inferiority complex which people feel when they are not informed and organized. They dare not make a decision on these vital issues. They let other people think for them. They stumble around in the middle of the road trying to avoid being “controversial,” and get hit by traffic going both ways. In this mighty struggle each of you has a part. Every person on the earth today chose the right side during the War in Heaven. Be on the right side now. Stand up and be counted.[3. Teachings Of Ezra Taft Benson p387]

I bring this up because of my current reading and other readings. We [LDS] have been warned of impending calamities. We’ve been warned of Constitutional failures, and Secret Combinations.

Are you doing anything? I don’t mean that as condemnation, the Lord(D&C 60: 2) takes care of that, and I’m more asking what can I do. I mean my family has passed this question around and sometimes one might get caught up in the idea of being one person, and what can one person do? I like to think (and I’m probably wrong) that my mass emails to family and friends about certain current events are something, while more likely woefully inadequate.

I look around my ward and wonder how many people in my ward actually understand what is happening in the world – beyond the MSM induced coma that we are presented through the TV. I worry about even bringing something up to them because people can get very sensitive to either something contrary to their brittle vision of the world, or being forced out of blissful ignorance, or even being told that even though they are active and participating LDS members they are guilty of letting things happen because of their lack of doing something.

Brethren, if we had done our homework and were faithful, we could step forward at this time and help save this country. The fact that most of us are unprepared to do it is an indictment we will have to bear. The longer we wait, the heavier the chains, the deeper the blood, the more the persecution and the less we can carry out our God-given mandate and world-wide mission. The war in heaven is raging on earth today. Are you being neutralized in the battle?[4. Ezra Taft Benson - Conference Report April 1965 p125]

Luckily, the scriptures offer a ray of sunshine on all this doom and gloom, found in D&C 58:27–28, we read:

27 Verily I say, men should be ^aanxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;

28 For the power is in them, wherein they are ^aagents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their ^breward.[5. D&C 58:27–28]