What are the prophets warning us about?

Behold, the former things are come to pass,
and new things do I declare:
before they spring forth I tell you of them.
(Isaiah 42:9)

Do you remember all the conference talks earlier in this decade that mentioned that we should get out of debt and get a year’s supply? We are beginning to see why. Who would have anticipated that so many people would default on their mortgage loans? (It’s not just the subprime anymore) Who would have suspected that prices of food and gas would go up as high as they have? “The former things are come to pass” indeed.

But Heavenly Father does not stand still; He moves on to tell us about the next threat we should prepare for. “new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them”. If we examine the recent messages of the prophet and apostles we can see the next thing that is coming. Lately they have been harping on strengthening the family. Therefore we can soon expect a massive assault upon the foundation of the family, which is marriage between a man and a woman. It’s already beginning.

How do we strengthen the family? We must teach the doctrine of the family often enough that it becomes stuck in our minds and the minds of our children. The true doctrine of the family will fortify our minds against the false ideas the world spreads. It will keep us strong even if we find ourselves surrounded by people who reject it and practice something else.

Are you preparing your son to tell his peers that he knows marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God when they accuse him of homosexuality?
Are you preparing your daughter to stand up for what is right if another girl expresses same-sex attraction for her?

Are you helping your daughter look forward to and prepare to marry a good man? Are you helping your son anticipate and prepare himself for the woman he will marry?

Is your marriage the kind of marriage that you want your children to want and look forward to? Is it the kind of marriage that shows your children that marriage between a man and a woman really is ordained of God?

Back to the debt issue - I used to wonder why the prophet and apostles didn’t come right out and say that there was going to be lots of foreclosures and high prices and so on, but I started thinking about it and I realized some things. If they had told us about that in the midst of the boom period, we would have thought they had gone off their rocker. And those of us who believed it would have been terribly alarmed for a while, and then decided it wasn’t really going to happen. If we are alarmed, that really doesn’t do any good, because then we end up doing silly, crazy, and stupid things. (Yes, scared people tend to do foolish things.)

The Lord’s way to warn us is to teach us the correct principles and to tell us to do things that will prepare us and fortify us ahead of time, so that we can put all our energy into doing what will actually help us. Then, if we are prepared, we will not fear what comes. The world is alarming enough as it is, but God does not give us a spirit of fear, but of love and a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7)