Men's Hearts Failing Them

The scripture that comes to mind as I consider current events is the Savior’s prophecy about the last days in the Olivet Discourse: “Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth” (Luke 21:26).  Enoch recorded a similar statement as he viewed some of the events of the last day: “But before that day he saw great tribulations among the wicked; and he also saw the sea, that it was troubled, and men’s hearts failing them, looking forth with fear for the judgments of the Almighty God, which should come upon the wicked” (Moses 7:66).  The Lord repeated this twice in our day in modern revelation, saying: “The whole earth shall be in commotion, and men’s hearts shall fail them.”  And again He warned, “And all things shall be in commotion; and surely, men’s hearts shall fail them; for fear shall come upon all people” (Doctrine and Covenants 45:26, 88:91).  Certainly commotion captures well the general feeling of what is happening today.  There is surely cause for caution and concern as it relates to the spread of disease, but the reaction of some shows a fear and failure of the heart: items are unnecessarily horded, the sick in public are treated as mortal enemies, and death threats are given to those with the disease upon the possibility of their returning home.  Fear instead of reason has taken hold of the hearts of many. 

               The other thought that comes to mind considering this fear that has come over us because of the spread of a new disease is this: if this has caused panic, we are really going to be in for it when the serious prophecies of the last days start coming to pass!  For example, Doctrine and Covenants 45:31 tells us that there will be “an overflowing scourge” such that “a desolating sickness shall cover the land.”  (Perhaps you could argue that the Spanish Flu— which infected over one quarter of the world’s population and killed tens of millions of people— fulfilled that prophecy, but I imagine there is more of that kind of thing to come.)  Another sobering prophecy states this: “Wherefore, I the Lord God will send forth flies upon the face of the earth, which shall take hold of the inhabitants thereof, and shall eat their flesh, and shall cause maggots to come in upon them; And their tongues shall be stayed that they shall not utter against me; and their flesh shall fall from off their bones, and their eyes from their sockets” (Doctrine and Covenants 29:18-19).  I’m certainly not looking forward to that one!  There will of course be “earthquakes also in divers places, and many desolations” as well as “the voice of thunderings, and the voice of lightnings, and the voice of tempests, and the voice of the waves of the sea heaving themselves beyond their bounds” (Doctrine and Covenants 45:33, 88:90).  Surely some of those signs have already been seen with earthquakes and tsunamis and other natural disasters, but undoubtedly there is more to come of those as well.  Along those same lines the Lord gave us this unpleasant condemnation: “With the sword and by bloodshed the inhabitants of the earth shall mourn; and with famine, and plague, and earthquake, and the thunder of heaven, and the fierce and vivid lightning also, shall the inhabitants of the earth be made to feel the wrath, and indignation, and chastening hand of an Almighty God, until the consumption decreed hath made a full end of all nations” (Doctrine and Covenants 87:6).  There will be wars, famines, pestilences, natural disasters, and many other difficulties that will come upon the world in these last days as the Lord prepares for His return on the earth. 

               And yet, despite all of that and no matter how difficult it gets, the Lord’s counsel to the Saints is this: “Be not troubled, for, when all these things shall come to pass, ye may know that the promises which have been made unto you shall be fulfilled” (Doctrine and Covenants 45:35).  Or as He said in the Olivet Discourse, “See that ye be not troubled, for all I have told you must come to pass; but the end is not yet. Behold, I have told you before” (JSM 1:23-24).  As we see signs of the times that might cause fear in some we can simply know that they are confirmation that the prophecies of the scriptures are true and that we are that much closer to His coming.  There is no need to be troubled: “If ye are prepared ye shall not fear” (Doctrine and Covenants 38:30).  As disciples of the Savior we watch and wait and do as He directed: “Stand ye in holy places, and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come” (Doctrine and Covenants 87:8).