The Books of Joel & Amos:
Preparing for
The Second Coming
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE SIGNS
AND EVENTS THAT WILL
ACCOMPANY THE SECOND COMING?
THREE APPEARANCES
1. Christ will appear at Adam-ondi-Ahman
THE GATHERING AT ADAMONDI-AHMAN
Before the great and dreadful day when the Lord is to return, there
is to be an appearance at a place called Adam-ondi-Ahman. There
Adam, the Ancient of Days, will sit in council with his children; there
Christ will come, and to him shall be given "dominion, and glory,
and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should
serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not
pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed."
(Dan. 7.) The place where this gathering will take place has been
specified by revelation (D. & C. 116), and so imminent is its
occurrence that the Prophet Joseph Smith was led to remark, "This
may take place before some of us leave this stage of action."
(Teachings, p. 157.)
THREE APPEARANCES
1. Christ will appear at Adam-ondi-Ahman
2. The Savior will appear to the Jews in Jerusalem
Joel
Battle of Armageddon
ARMGAGEDDON
• Megiddo (Hebrew): “The place of troops.”
• “All nations shall be gathered against Jerusalem to
battle...”
• The soldiers total 200,000,000 (Revelation 9:16)
• 7 years to burn the weapons
• 7 months to bury the dead (see Ezekiel 39: 9-12)
THREE APPEARANCES
1. Christ will appear at Adam-ondi-Ahman
2. The Savior will appear to the Jews in Jerusalem
3. The Lord will appear in glory to all mankind
PROPHECIES
• Glance at Joel 2:1–11 and Joel 2:30-31. What plagues
were prophesied?
• Read Joel 2:28–29 looking for what the Lord would show
in the latter days.
PREVENTIONS
• Read Joel 2:12–13
• Rend their hearts and not their garments?
“The future of this world has long
been declared; the final outcome between
good and evil is already known. There is
absolutely no question as to who wins
because the victory has already been posted
on the scoreboard. The only really strange
thing in all of this is that we are still down
here on the field trying to decide which
team’s jersey we want to wear!” (BYU
devotional, 1983)
SIGNS OF THE TIMES
Based on commentary made by
Elder Bruce R. McConkie
(Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 2d ed. [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1966], 734.)
SIGNS OF THE TIMES
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DISCOVERY AND USE OF PRINTING
•
PROTESTANT REFORMATION AND AGE •
OF RENAISSANCE
DISCOVERY AND COLONIZATION OF
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AMERICA
•
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE AMERICAN
•
NATION.
TRANSLATION AND PRINTING OF BIBLE. •
ESTABLISHMENT OF U.S. CONSTITUTION
LATTER-DAY REVELATION
•
COMING FORTH OF THE BOOK OF
MORMON
•
OPPOSITION TO THE BOOK OF MORMON•
RESTORATION OF KEYS AND
PRIESTHOOD
•
RESTORATION OF THE GOSPEL
•
CHURCH AND KINGDOM SET UP AGAIN •
GROWTH OF THE CHURCH
BUILDING OF LATTER-DAY TEMPLES
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LORD TO COME SUDDENLY TO TEMPLE
SPIRIT OF ELIJAH AND GENEALOGICAL
RESEARCH
PERSECUTION OF THE SAINTS
PERSECUTION OF THE JEWS
TRUE GOSPEL TO BE PREACHED IN ALL THE
WORLD
WORLDLY KNOWLEDGE TO INCREASE;
SCIENTIFIC AND INVENTIVE PROGRESS
DISEASE, PLAGUE, PESTILENCE TO SWEEP
EARTH
ELEMENTS IN COMMOTION
DISASTERS AND CALAMITIES TO ABOUND
STRIKES, ANARCHY, VIOLENCE, TO INCREASE
LATTER-DAY WICKEDNESS
SPIRIT CEASING TO STRIVE WITH WICKED
FAMINES, DEPRESSIONS, AND ECONOMIC
TURMOIL
MANY FALSE CHURCHES IN LATTER-DAYS
LAMANITES TO BLOSSOM AS THE ROSE
“Recently we experienced the worst windstorm Bountiful has
seen in several decades.… Just as I was hearing news reports
of semi trucks—twenty of them—being blown over on the
roadside, I looked out my lovely back window down toward our
creek and saw one of our large trees go down with a crash. …
“For a moment, I confess, I was truly fearful. It was very early
in the morning, and Jeff was just leaving for the office. I said to
him, ‘Do you think this is the end? Is it all over—or about to
be?’”
“My husband, who has deep faith and endless optimism, took
me in his arms and said, ‘No, but wouldn’t it be wonderful if it
were? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Christ really did come and his
children really were ready for him? Wouldn’t it be terrific if evil
was finally conquered, once and for all, and the Savior of the
world came down in the midst of the New Jerusalem to wipe
away every tear from every eye? Yes,’ my husband said, ‘in lots
of ways I wish it were the end, but it’s not. It is just a stiff
windstorm in Bountiful. We have got more work todo’” (A Quiet
Heart, 129–30).
• Have you ever tried to warn someone who did not
heed your warning? What happened?
• Has someone ever tried to warn you, but you did
not heed the warning? What happened?
Read Amos 2:10-12 and Amos 8:11-12
• Why would someone want the prophets to “prophesy not”?
• What are examples of times when people lost the blessing of
prophets?
Read the no brainer questions posed in Amos 3:3–6. How does
the Scripture Mastery verse in Amos 3:7 answer those questions?
(look at the Joseph Smith Translation of Amos 3:7)
What evidences do we have that an
Apostasy occurred?
“After the deaths of the Savior and His Apostles, men corrupted the
principles of the gospel and made unauthorized changes in Church
organization and priesthood ordinances. …
“During the Great Apostasy, people were without divine direction from
living prophets. Many churches were established, but they did not have
priesthood power to lead people to the true knowledge of God the Father
and Jesus Christ …This apostasy lasted until Heavenly Father and His
Beloved Son appeared to Joseph Smith in 1820and initiated the
restoration of the fulness of the gospel” (True to the Faith: A Gospel Reference[2004],
13).
APOSTASY OR RESTORATION EVENTS
0
30
33
33-96
Christ born
Began ministry
Crucified
Apostles taught and were killed off
“James was killed in Jerusalem by Herod. Peter and
Paul died in Rome. Tradition holds that Philip went to
the East. Much more than this we do not know.
“They scattered; they taught, testified, and
established the Church. And they died for their
beliefs, and with their deaths came the dark centuries
of apostasy.
“The most precious thing lost in the Apostasy was the
authority held by the Twelve—the priesthood keys.
For the Church to be His Church, there must be a
Quorum of the Twelve who hold the keys and confer
them on others” (“The Twelve,” Ensign orLiahona, May
2008, 84).
APOSTASY OR RESTORATION EVENTS
0
30
33
33-96
320
785
1000
1100
Christ born
Began ministry
Crucified
Apostles taught and were killed off
Constantine holds council at Nicea
Second Nicean Council- Saint Worship
Pope Joan (?)
Great Schism
“As the centuries passed, the flame flickered
and dimmed. Ordinances were changed or
abandoned. The line was broken, and the
authority to confer the Holy Ghost as a gift
was gone. The Dark Ages of apostasy
settled over the world” (“The Cloven Tongues of
Fire,” Ensign, May 2000, 8).
APOSTASY OR RESTORATION EVENTS (con’t)
1200
1300
1492
1515
1523
1534
1540
1560
Pope Innocent III – Indulgences / Printing Press
Renaissance
Columbus
Martin Luther
Martin Luther excommunicated
Henry VIII – Episcopalian Church
John Calvin - Presbyterians
John Knox – Puritans
APOSTASY OR RESTORATION EVENTS (con’t)
1620
1776
1783
1805
1820
1830
Puritans move to Boston
Revolutionary War
U.S. Constitution
Joseph Smith born
First Vision
The Church is Restored
Who has a testimony of the Restoration?
Amos 3:7; 8:11–12. Video presentation—
“God Reveals His Secrets”
“This is a time to be strong. It is a time
to move forward without hesitation,
knowing well the meaning, the breadth
and the importance of our mission. It is
a time to do what is right regardless of
the consequences that might follow. It is
a time to be found keeping the
commandments.” (Gordon B. Hinckley
Conference Report, April 1995)
The Books of Joel & Amos:
Apostasy, Restoration &
Preparing for
The Second Coming