D&C 45:35-42

45:35-42 -  The Lord briefly shares a parable of a fig tree saying that the signs of the times is like watching a fig tree throughout the seasons, and by watching the leaves on the fig tree you’ll be able to tell how close the next season is. Likewise, by watching for the signs of the times, we’ll be able to know if the second coming is approaching. This is tricky because really, there have been signs for decades, in fact my mom used to think as a child that the second coming would happen before she was old enough for college. A generalization of a “season” being an indicator is pretty accurate I think because it’s a time period, not a specific day. The IM teaches about this parable, saying, “When Jesus spoke to his disciples in answer to their query: ‘Show us when the end of the world shall come, and the time of thy coming,’ He spoke of certain signs that would indicate the time of his coming, the very signs that the world, if they only had eyes to see, could be beholding today: Said he: judge the matter even as you would judge the coming of spring. When you see the fig tree putting forth its leaf, ye know that summer is near, and so when you see these signs, you may know that the coming of the Son of man is night at hand.” Interestingly, the phrase “Son of man” is commented on by DJR who says, “Perhaps you’ve wondered why Jesus is often referred to in scriptures as ‘the Son of Man,’ since you know that He is the Son of God and not the son of a mortal man. Did you notice that the word ‘Man” is capitalized? ‘Man’ is short for ‘Man of Holiness,’ meaning Heavenly Father. Thus, Jesus is the ‘Son of Man of Holiness,’ or the Son of Heavenly Father. You can read this explanation in Moses 6:57. Sometimes is Matthew 20:28 and John 3:13, the phrase is ‘Son of man (with ‘man’ not capitalized), but it still means the same thing.” The Lord continues referring to the righteous that “shall see signs and wonders, for they shall be shown forth in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath.” The IM quotes President Joseph Fielding Smith as teaching: “one wonders if we are not now seeing some of the signs in heaven- not all, for undoubtedly some of them will be among the heavenly bodies, such as the moon and the sun, the meteors and commets, but in speaking of the heavens, reference is made to that part which surrounds the earth and which belongs to it. It is in the atmosphere where many of the signs are to be given. Do we not see airships of various kinds traveling through the heavens daily? Have we not had signs in the earth and through the earth with the radio, railroad trains, automobiles, submarines, and satellites, and in many other ways? There are yet to be great signs: the haves are to be shaken, the sign of the Son of Man is to be given, and then shall the tribes of the earth mourn… If the great and dreadful day of the Lord were near at hand when Elijah came 130 years ago, we are just one century nearer it today. But some will say: ‘But no! Elijah, you are wrong!... Surely you made a mistake!’ So many seem to think and say, and judging by their actions they are sure, that the world is bound to go on it its present condition for millions of years before the end will come. Talk to them; hear what they have to say- these learned men of the world. ‘We have had worse times,’ they say. ‘You are wrong in thinking there are more calamities now than in earlier times. There are not more earthquakes, the earth has always been quaking, but now we have facilities for gathering the news which our fathers did not have. These are not signs of the times; things are not different from former times.’ And so the people refuse to heed the warnings the Lord so kindly gives to them, and thus they fulfill the scriptures.” I hadn’t considered before that modern technology could be considered the fulfilling of that prophecy. The Lord continues with the signs of  “blood, and fire, and vapors of smoke. And before the day of the Lord shall come, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon be turned into blood, and the stars fall from heaven.” DJR quotes President Gordon B. Hinckley as saying, “The era in which we live is the fullness of times spoken of in the scriptures, when God has brought together all of the elements of previous dispensations. From the day that He and His Beloved Son manifested themselves to the boy Joseph, there has been a tremendous cascade of enlightenment poured out upon the world. The hearts of men have turned to their fathers in fulfillment of the words of Malachi. The vision of Joel has been fulfilled wherein he declared: Joel 2:28-32, ‘And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophecy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath dais, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.”  I want to make mention that this statement was made saying that this particular sign had been fulfilled in the October 2001 general conference session. I think that some speculate that it was when the Twin Towers fell on September 11, 2001, because this was just a few weeks later. I thought that if that was the case then that would be a very American Centered view, of course we would think that we are so special as a country that our own national event, that pales in comparison to some of the other horror seen on the face of the earth, would be the fulfillment of that great prophecy, so I almost dismissed it as the event. But then I thought after many years, and having been to the war in Iraq myself, what if 9/11 didn’t happen the way that we were told? What is there were conspiracies and plans laid out and executed by someone other than AL Qaeda? What if this wasn’t about a foreign group who hates us and is more about conspiring minds bent on grabbing power and money in the most violent way that they know how… war? What if that was what 9/11 was really about? If that is the case, then 9/11 doesn’t symbolize just an American tragedy, it symbolizes the conquest of “secret combinations” over all governments, groups, and peoples, and that is truly a tragedy worthy of “blood, and fire, and vapors of smoke.”