Yesterday,
Standard & Poor's downgraded the United States credit rating from AAA to AA+.
If you think this is the beginning of the end, you are wrong: the beginning of the end occurred over 100 years ago. What we are seeing is the end of the beginning. From now on, events will simply accelerate until the Lord returns to burn the wicked.
In Joseph Fielding Smith's book,
The Signs of the Times, President Smith relates that President Woodruff was very concerned with the parable of the wheat and the tares in the last years of his life. The parable is found at Matt. 13:24-30. If you don't remember the parable, a man sowed good wheat in his field. While the man rested, his enemy came and sowed tares together with the wheat. A tare is
a weedy plant, such as the common vetch that is similar in appearance to wheat when young. In the parable, the man's servants want to gather up the tares, but the man stops them, saying "Nay; lest while you gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them." Matt. 13:29. He then tells his servants:
Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
Matt. 13:30. Christ explained that He was the man that sowed the good wheat; the field is the world; the good seed are His followers; and the tares are those that follow the Devil; the reapers are the angels;
and the harvest is the end of the world. Matt. 13:37-39 (emphasis added).
In Section 86 of the Doctrine & Covenants, through a revelation given to Joseph Smith in December 1832, the Lord lent a further explanation of the parable in the context of the latter-days and the Church. Significantly, however, the Lord indicated:
Behold, verily I say unto you, the angels are crying unto the Lord day and night, who are ready and waiting to be sent forth to reap down the fields;
But the Lord saith unto them, pluck not up the tares while the blade is yet tender (for verily your faith is weak), lest you destroy the wheat also.
D&C 86:5-6. In other words, in 1832, the angels wanted to reap down the tares, but the Lord stayed their hands.
This changed in the last years of Pres. Woodruff's life. Joseph Fielding Smith quotes Pres. Woodruff, in reference to D&C 86, as stating in 1896 that "I want to bear testimony to this congregation, and to the heavens and the earth, that the day is come when those angels are privileged to go forth and commence their work." (Smith p. 113). In June 1894, Pres. Woodruff proclaimed:
God has held the angles of destruction for many years lest they should reap down the wheat with the tares. But I want to tell you now, those angels have left the portals of heaven, and they stand over this people and this nation now, and are hovering over the earth waiting to pour out the judgments. And from this very day they shall be poured out. ... Great changes are at our doors. The next twenty years will see mighty changes among the nations of the earth.
(Smith p. 115). Pres. Smith noted that 20 years and 1 month later, the First World War began. (Smith p. 116).
It may be significant to note that in the parable as stated in Matthew, the tares appear to be the first to be gathered; however, in D&C 86, the Lord instructs his servants to first gather out the wheat. D&C 86:7. To date, we have seen missionary work continuing apace during the past century; and undoubtedly missionary work will continue until the last possible minute. However, as Brigham Young described, when the Elders are called home from their preaching, the Lord will preach his own sermon "with fire and sword, tempests, earthquakes, hail, rain, thunders, and lightnings and fearful destruction." (Smith p. 128).
You will hear of magnificent cities, now idolized by the people, sinking in the earth, entombing the inhabitants. The sea will heave itself beyond its bounds, engulfing mighty cities. Famine will spread over the nations, and nation will rise up against nation, kingdom against kingdom, and states against states, in our own country and in foreign lands; and they will destroy each other, caring not for the blood and lives of their neighbors, of their families, or for their own lives. They will be like the Jaredites who proceeded the Nephites upon this continent, and will destroy each other to the last man, through the anger that the devil will place in their hearts, because they have rejected the words of life and are given over to Satan to do whatever he listeth to do with them.
(Smith p. 128-29) (emphasis added).
This
anger and
violence is already beginning to spread throughout our nation. (See
also this article on "The Truth About Violent Flash Mobs"). We will probably see consequences from the credit downgrade over the next few days and weeks. At a minimum, it means that the U.S. will be paying more to service its debt, resulting in cuts (whether wanted or not) beyond those envisioned by
the Kings Men our ruling elite. It potentially means that there will be a sell-off of U.S. bonds by certain institutional investors, such as state pension plans (many of these plans are required to keep their investments in AAA rated bonds, although I would expect some backroom deals and significant pressure to prevent this). It could even be the trigger of a
collapse of the dollar. (See
also). Whatever happens, however, we will see the anger increase. We have seen this in Wisconsin over government cuts; we have seen the demonizing of the Tea Party supporters; we have seen literal "blood libel" uttered by politicians and prominent journalists against politicians they hate. This will all only get worse, and more violent, as
the fiscal and moral crises facing our nation worsens.
So, what to do? As always, pray; and pray that we pass through these days quickly and the Lord establish his kingdom on earth. Matt. 6:9. While it would be nice to have invested in gold and silver, for those that were slow to do so, or simply could not afford to do so, I would remind you that the Lord has warned us to "[l]ay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal." Matt. 6:19. Rather, we have been admonished to store food and, where possible, fuel. So keep working on your "year's supply," and keep your spirits up. God has not forsaken His true believers.