Calling Home the Missionaries?

Brigham Young warned:

When the testimony of the Elders ceases to be given, and the Lord says to them, “Come home; I will now preach my own sermons to the nations of the earth,” all you now know can scarcely be called a preface to the sermon that will be preached with fire and sword, tempests, earthquakes, hail, rain, thunders and lightnings, and fearful destruction. What matters the destruction of a few railway cars? 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. 

(Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 8, p. 123, July 15, 1860). Heber C. Kimball similarly explained that "[t]he judgments of God will be poured out upon the wicked to the extent that our elders from far and near will be called home." Orson Pratt made similar statements.

       This comes to mind because my eldest son returned early from his mission due to medical issues, and will soon be serving the rest of his 2 years as a service missionary. When it became apparent that he was not going to be able to remain in the field, my wife and I, of course, discussed this with our bishop and to those that inquired about how he was doing. What surprised me was the number of people that, in turn, told us of sons, daughters, and grandchildren that had returned early from missions. This is not just an odd anecdote. According to Dave Banack, in a 2014 article for Times & Seasons, "[i]t turns out that more missionaries are coming home early than ever before. The percentage is now into the double-digits, and it turns out the folks in Salt Lake City are already well aware that we have a problem." We are now four years on.

       Probably as a consequence of this, the Church has been expanding its offerings of service missions. Young men that have not been able to serve a full-time proselyting mission can now serve a service mission where they can labor for the Church (or other charities) while living at home. The program is flexible--service missionaries can serve the Church full time, or work part time and serve the Church part time. Even dating is allowed.

        Many of the missionaries returning early from proselyting missions are serving out the reminder of their time in service missions. Currently, a missionary returning home from a proselyting mission early has to be released by their stake president, then re-apply to be a service missionary and receive a calling to do so.  This is going to change in October, so that a missionary returning from the field and moving into a service mission will simply be "transfered"--that is, it will be treated as if they simply transferred from one mission area to another. I don't know if this is to reduce any stigma in having to return early, reduce the paper work load, or what, but it will make it easier for missionaries to transition from one type of mission to the other.

       As I have learned about the service missions, the number of youth that are going into service missions, and the streamlining of moving missionaries from proselyting (now to be called "teaching") missions to service missions, I was reminded of the statements from earlier prophets and general authorities that there would come a time that the missionaries would be called home so that the Lord could pour out his wrath on the world. The addition of the service missions, the streamlining of the process to move from a teaching mission to a service mission, and the increasing number of missionaries returning early all seem, at least to me, to be either the beginning of, or preparations for, "calling the missionaries home."

        Although the Church does not have formal missions in every country in the world, the spread of members across the globe, the LDS service members that have served around the globe, the penetration of the Internet, means that the gospel has been preached to some extent in all nations. Thus, it makes sense to me that the Lord could consider the promise that the gospel be taught in all nations to be fulfilled.

       I'm not saying that the Lord is going to unleash his judgments tomorrow, the next week, or even the next year. I'm just pointing out a steady progression and what might be another signpost along the route.