One of the many signs that Christ gives is that of wars and
rumors of wars. The idea of rumors of wars is simple, but rather opaque to me,
so I decided to do a search-and-study to see what context it is appears in.
First there is the New Testament accounts of what Christ
said about it:
And ye shall hear of wars and
rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these
things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. (Matt. 24:6)
And when ye shall hear of wars and
rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things
must needs be; but the end shall not be yet. (Mark 13:7)
Behold, I speak these
things unto you for the elect’s sake; and you also shall hear of wars, and
rumors of wars; see that ye be not troubled, for all I have told you must come
to pass; but the end is not yet. (JS-Matt 1:23)
And they shall hear of
wars, and rumors of wars. (JS-Matt 1:28)
So this condition of wars and rumors of wars is common, but
not a sign of the end. This is why we call it a sign of the times rather than a sign of Christ’s coming.
(Well, if it isn’t a sign of the time of Christ’s coming,
then what kind of time is it a sign of?
Ehhhhh…. Probably a sign of the spiritual condition of the societies
involved.)
I have heard a rumour from the Lord, and an ambassador is sent unto the heathen, saying, Gather ye together, and come against her, and
rise up to the battle. (Jeremiah 49:14)
If a prophet hears a rumor from the Lord, that probably has
a lot more credence than rumors from other sources. The source of the rumor matters.
It is interesting that at the same time Jeremiah hears this
rumor, a foreign ambassador goes to the heathen nations to incite them to war.
This could be a source of rumors of war.
Behold, I will send a blast upon
him, and he shall hear a rumour, and return to his own land; and I will cause
him to fall by the sword in his own land. (Isaiah 37:7)
This comes from the story of the Assyrian king who invaded
Israel. The Lord predicted how the Assyrian king would eventually be defeated:
he would hear a rumor about what was happening at home, he’d go back to deal
with it, and then he’d be killed by his own people.
Reading between the lines, we can surmise that there were
probably rumors going both ways. The king probably got rumors about back home,
and powerful people at home probably
got rumors of what the king was doing or saying that they didn’t like, so they
rebelled.
And lest your heart faint, and ye
fear for the rumour that shall be heard in the land; a rumour shall both come one year, and after that in another
year shall come a rumour, and violence in the
land, ruler against ruler. (Jeremiah 51:46)
What I get from this verse is that rumors cause worry and
fear, and when rumors keep circulating, they can bring violence and pit rulers
and nations against each other.
Mischief shall come upon mischief,
and rumour shall be upon rumour; then shall they seek a vision of the prophet;
but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients.
(Ezekiel 7:26)
Here we have mischief, rumors, and a lack of spiritual
leadership, which sounds an awful lot like apostasy. So mischief, rumors, and
apostasy seem to be connected.
Nephi saw in vision that there would be wars and rumors of
wars among his people in the promised land (see 1 Ne 12:2), among the Jews
before Jesus came among them in mortality (see 2 Ne. 25:12), and also among the
Lamanites after the Nephites were destroyed (see 1 Ne. 12:21). Mormon saw there
would be the same condition during the time when the Book of Mormon would come
forth (see Mormon 8:30).
Joseph Smith History also has something to say
about rumor.
The excitement,
however, still continued, and rumor with her thousand tongues was all the time
employed in circulating falsehoods about my father’s family, and about myself.
If I were to relate a thousandth part of them, it would fill up volumes. The
persecution, however, became so intolerable that I was under the necessity of
leaving Manchester, and going with my wife to Susquehanna county, in the State
of Pennsylvania. While preparing to start—being very poor, and the persecution
so heavy upon us that there was no probability that we would ever be
otherwise—in the midst of our afflictions we found a friend in a gentleman by
the name of Martin Harris… (JS History 1:61)
“The excitement, however, still continued” –
Rumor is a source of excitement, and for bored people who have nothing better
to do, discussing rumors, speculating, and spreading rumors is a method of
cheap entertainment.
Joseph Smith experienced how rumor could
destroy reputation and provoke persecution that made it difficult for him to even
provide for his family. And it was false rumors, intended to raise prejudice
and animus against him. We can learn from this how easy it is for rumors of
wars to include lies as well.
Nephi also saw wars and rumors of wars to come in the latter
days after the establishment of the church of the Lamb.
15 And it came to pass that I beheld that the
wrath of God was poured out upon that great and abominable church, insomuch
that there were wars and rumors of wars among all the nations and kindreds of
the earth.
16 And as there began to be wars and rumors of
wars among all the nations which belonged to the mother of abominations, the
angel spake unto me, saying: Behold, the wrath of God is upon the mother of
harlots; and behold, thou seest all these things— (1 Ne 14:15-16)
It is interesting that the wars and rumors of wars seem to
be part of the wrath of God that is poured on the great and abominable
church.
It another significant feature is that these wars and rumors
of wars are among “nations and kindreds.” That implies conflict and rumors at a national level and at
the family level. This sounds like yet another reason why families need to be
strengthened.
And in that day shall
be heard of wars and rumors of wars, and the whole earth shall be in commotion,
and men’s hearts shall fail them, and they shall say that Christ delayeth his
coming until the end of the earth. (D&C 45:26)
Just an aside—From this verse it seems there
will even be some believers that are afraid. Those that say Christ delays are
believers, but they clearly think Christ should have come some time ago.
Perhaps they have not understood the signs, or perhaps their minds are so taken
up with the bad things happening that it speaks in their ears louder than their
faith and the Spirit.
Also, what is commotion? The dictionary says it
is “a disorderly outburst or tumult, the act of making a noisy disturbance,
confused movement.” Synonyms for commotion
include disruption, disturbance, flutter, hoo-ha, hurly burly, kerfuffle,
to-do, din, ruckus, rumpus.
I’d say the internet facilitates all kinds of
commotion. Anything people don’t like can turn into a commotion. Social media
facilitates it, as well as the many outlets for venting online. And of course,
the internet and social media spreads rumors as well.
The next scripture lifts the curtain on the
cause of it all:
And many more things
did the people imagine up in their hearts, which were foolish and vain; and
they were much disturbed, for Satan did stir them up to do iniquity
continually; yea, he did go about spreading rumors and contentions upon all the
face of the land, that he might harden the hearts of the people against that
which was good and against that which should come. (Helaman 16:22)
Here we see that Satan is the engine of it. He
provokes foolish and vain imaginations to disturb people, then he stirs up
people to do iniquity, then he spreads rumors and contentions so they gossip
and contend about everyone else’s iniquity. And among all this, he stirs up lies and rumors against good
to harden hearts and cement prejudices.
After looking at all these scriptures, it seems
clear to me that rumors were how people shared and spread news. There would be
official news sources, such as ambassadors and official messengers between
countries passing messages, and officials who announced news and proclamations,
but there would also be unofficial sources, such as leaks and gossip and
rumors. There would also be groups
of people gathering to share opinions about what was happening and trying to
figure out what would happen in the future, and those opinions tend to spread
as if they are official news with a voice of authenticity. Thus, war tends to
come with a cloud of worry, anticipation, discussion, and speculation over it,
both formal and informal, both among government decision-makers and among
common people of both sides (and even among others not involved). And the media puts their oar in
too. And often it is the rumors of
war that cause so much concern, fear, worry, etc. If actual war is the eye of the hurricane, then rumors
of war is the clouds and storm around it, which stretches for hundreds of miles
in every direction.
So it is significant that Jesus tells us to not be troubled. Probably because being troubled becomes
an energy sink. Also, every time war looms, people worry, “Is this the end?”
and Jesus said specifically, “The end is not yet.” Knowing the other signs is supposed to help us
identify where the real end is.
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