Site Objective

Prophetic References to the Signs of the Last Days is a project that has evolved into this study guide. When my wife and I received a ward calling in 1987, which required research, we became increasingly aware of the extensive prophecies regarding the Last Days.  Due to the many references we would read and ponder throughout the day, it became increasingly more difficult to remember precisely where I read a particular scripture or quote. I then decided that it was necessary to keep a database of these many references.

This project was published as a study guide and distributed through Brigham Young University and Deseret Book but due to limited time and better efficiencies I determined that the internet would be a better method to provide this information. I have tried to compile verified material with the intent that this site is to be a reference library, hence the name, Prophetic References to the Signs of the Last Days.

I believe the Lord has spoken often and clearly concerning our day and that no additional commentary is necessary.

Harold B Lee warns:

There are among us many loose writings predicting the calamities which are about to overtake us. Some of these have been publicized as though they were necessary to wake up the world to the horrors about to overtake us. Many of these are from sources upon which there cannot be unquestioned reliance. We need no such publications to be forewarned, if we were only conversant with what the scriptures have already spoken to us in plainness."
(Harold B Lee, General Conference, Oct. 1972, p. 128)

Elder Bruce R. McConkie gave the following counsel regarding guidelines for our Gospel study:

It is far better for us to gain our answers from the scriptures than from something someone else says about them. It is true that we oftentimes need an inspired interpreter to help us understand what Apostles and prophets have written for us in the standard works. But it is also true that many explanations given by many people as to the meaning of scriptural passages are somewhat less than true and edifying. We are in a far better position if we are able to drink directly from the scriptural fountain without having the waters muddled by others whose insights are not as great as were those of the prophetic writers who first penned the passages found in the accepted canon of holy writ. I am not rejecting proper scriptural commentaries; I know and appreciate their value and have written volumes of them myself; I am simply saying that people with the ability to do it would be far better off to create their own commentaries. There is something sacred and solemn and saving about studying the scriptures themselves.
(Bruce R. McConkie, Seminar for Regional Representatives, April 1981)

Elder Harold B Lee again emphasises the need for our understanding to be founded in the scriptures:

All that we teach in this church ought to be couched in the scriptures. It ought to be found in the scriptures. We ought to choose our texts from the scriptures. If we want to measure truth, we should measure it by the four standard works, regardless of who writes it. If it is not in the standard works, we may well assume that it is speculation, man's own personal opinion; and if it contradicts what is in the scriptures, it is not true. This is the standard by which we measure all truth.
(Harold B. Lee, Improvement Era, January 1969)

It is with this goal in mind that I have carefully selected reference sources and presented the material in this particular format, citing the reference source with little or no additional commentary. I have tried to gather prophetic references primarily from the scriptures, the Prophet Joseph Smith and from other latter-day prophets. I have tried to keep a conservative, non-speculative approach throughout this site.

There can still exist a difference of opinion concerning the events of the last days, even while taking this approach. The Jews have a saying that where you have two Jews, you have three opinions. Such can also be the case with the signs of the times, even among the General Authorities. Ultimately Nephi's statement regarding Isaiah is the answer:

7 ...nevertheless, in the days that the prophecies...shall be fulfilled men shall know of a surety, at the times when they shall come to pass.
(2 Nephi 25:7)