God Is In Control

                Are we nearing the end of the world as we know it?  Will Jesus Christ, the Savior and Redeemer of the world, be returning to earth soon in glory and power?  What are we to expect from all the different events that seem to be turning our nation and our world upside down and inside out?

                We know from the scriptures that there will be a great war called Armageddon that precedes the Second Coming of Christ.  “And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon” (Revelation 16:16).  This war will take place in the valley of Megiddo, which is located about 50 miles north of Jerusalem in the western portion of the plain of Esdraelon.  This valley was the scene of violent and crucial battles during Old Testament times.  (See Judges 5;19; 2 Kings 9:27; 23:29.)  “A great and final conflict taking place at the second coming of the Lord is called the battle of Armageddon because it will be started in the same locale and will be decisive”  (Bible Dictionary, “Armageddon,” p. 614).

                Knowing that a great and final war is in our future, I quickly pay attention at any mention of World War III.  Doug Hagmann, founder and director of the Northeast Intelligence Network and a multi-state licensed private investigative agency, claims we are quickly nearing World War III and are almost out of time to fix the problems in our nation and our world. 

                In his article entitled “Time Is Running Out,” Hagmann related the experience of an unidentified Christian pastor in Nazi Germany (Erwin W. Lutzer in When a Nation Forgets God).  The pastor met with his congregation in “a small church located adjacent to railroad tracks.”  He revealed how “every Sunday morning” the “congregation could hear the whistle of the train in the distance, the noise of the wheels over the tracks, and as the train passed, the cries coming from inside the train.  The cries were those of the Jews being transported to concentration camps….”

                The Christians heard the whistle blow “week after week” and “dreaded the sounds they heard.  The screams tormented them.  So, what did they do?  As the train approached and in anticipation of the screams from the Jews, herded like cattle into the train cars, the Christians sang louder to drown out the screams.  Soon, they heard them no more.

                “The eyewitness ended his account by describing the torment of hearing the train whistle in his sleep, and pleaded for forgiveness for not only himself, but for all of those who called themselves Christians but did nothing to intervene.

                “Regardless of your faith or station in life, chances are great that you are exactly like that eyewitness, and equally, if not more accountable for the actions of our government today.  What is coming is going to be far worse than the world has ever seen, and is going to blindside many.  Don’t be one of them.

                “A global war of unimaginable atrocities is being planned as I write this.  It has been in the works for some time, yet few will want to read what I have written.  Rather, most will instead choose to `sing louder’ to drown out the screams of innocents, except this time, the screams will be too loud, too frequent, and too many.

                “The United States of America has been overtaken from within by a group of heartless and soulless individuals with designs on reshaping the world into a state of global governance.  They are members of both political parties, and part of their plans includes reshaping the Middle East at any cost, including the inevitable and incalculable cost of human life.  Currently at the helm is Barack Hussein Obama, although his way was paved by the majority of his predecessors and elected officials of both parties.

                “He was purposely selected as the man for the job to insure that the inappropriately celebrated Arab Spring that swept North Africa and the Middle East was conducted as planned.  It was a staged and orchestrated event by the globalists and those in power in the U.S. and elsewhere.  Using your tax dollars and in your name, the United States has been providing funding and operational support to the groups toppling governments in favor of radical Islamic control.  Such control is nothing but a necessary means to an end.  While many correctly decry the brutality of Islam, few realize that is a tool of the globalists.  They are not thinking big enough.  The lie is bigger than you have been told.”

                Hagmann explained that the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11, 2012, is “a window of understanding, or a glimpse into this agenda.”  He wrote that “Full disclosure into this event would reveal a criminal enterprise so vast and staggering that it would eclipse anything we’ve ever seen.”  He said that it was not simply a protest or a botched kidnapping, but “about weapons smuggling to Syria to assist Islamic terrorists to topple Assad, install a Muslim Brotherhood-backed regime, causing further regional destabilization leading to a massive global war.  Full disclosure would reveal that the United States, through the approval of members of both political parties we elected and acting in our name, are siding with associates having direct ties to al Qaeda and other Islamic groups.  The truth is sickening, revolting and shocking.”

                The author concludes his article by stating that by remaining silent, “we are complicit in the most evil agenda of modern times.  A multifaceted agenda that is being accomplished by your individual and our collective silence, which amounts to tacit approval of the evil that is being done in our name….

                “We must not choose to cover the screams by merely singing louder, but by making a choice.  Are we going to allow this evil to progress unabated, or are we going to take a stand?  Time is running out as World War III looms on the horizon.”

                I am of the opinion that we are nearing the time of Armageddon.  There are too many signs along the way to doubt what is happening, and more signs will be appearing.  One very important sign took place in November 2012 when the majority of Americans chose evil over good.  Mitt Romney is one of the most righteous men who have ever campaigned for the office of President of the United States.  Yet, a majority of American voters chose Barack Obama, a man who lies and deceives every time he opens his mouth.  The re-election of Obama glaringly tells me that we are running out of time.

                King Mosiah told his people, “Now it is not common that the voice of the people desireth anything contrary to that which is right; but it is common for the lesser part of the people to desire that which is not right; therefore this shall ye observe and make it your law – to do your business by the voice of the people.

                “And if the time comes that the voice of the people doth choose iniquity, then is the time that the judgments of God will come upon you; yea, then is the time he will visit you with great destruction even as he has hitherto visited this land” (Book of Mormon – Another Testament of Jesus Christ, Mosiah 29:26-27).

                A second sure sign is the corruption in the government of the United States.  Our Constitution was written for honest, law-abiding, and moral people.  President John Adams  stated, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.  It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”  We have a President who rules by Executive Order whenever Congress and/or the Court says no.  We have a Senate that seems determined to pass every law that will further weaken our nation.  We have a Supreme Court that is legislating laws rather than simply ruling on the constitutionality of the laws passed by Congress.  I am convinced that there are secret combinations that have taken over our government and are carefully leading us into destruction.  We are no longer a country that is ruled by law but have become a nation of law breakers.

                Still another sure sign for me is the strength of the same-sex marriage crowd and the latest rulings from the Supreme Court.  It appears that we are quickly becoming like Sodom and Gomorrah, two cities that were destroyed because of immorality.  Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained by God.  Any other sexual relationship is immoral.  Immorality is a serious sin and no amount of legislating or legalese can make it anything but sin.  Since God does not condone sin, we are now further down the slippery slope to destruction.

                So what do we do?    We may be too late to save the U.S. government or to avoid some very painful times.  I do not believe that we have reached point when it will be too late to repent even though there is much iniquity in our nation.  

 

                I believe we still have time to do several things that will keep us safe in life or in death.  The most valuable thing we can do is to remember who is in charge.  God is in control of whatever happens in this world, and He has the power to turn messes into miracles.  If we put our trust in God, we will be okay.

                We can pray for our nation.  While speaking in Ammonihah, Amulek told the people, “I say unto you that if it were not for the prayers of the righteous, who are now in the land, that ye would even now be visited with utter destruction; yet it would not be by flood, as were the people in the days of Noah, but it would be by famine, and by pestilence, and the sword.

                “But it is by the prayers of the righteous that ye are spared; …” (Book of Mormon, Alma 10:23-24).

                When the righteous people were cast out of Ammonihah, the Lamanites swooped down on the city and quickly destroyed it.  There are still many righteous people living in the United States who are praying for our nation.  I believe that the prayers of the righteous are protecting us.

                We can repent and improve our own personal righteousness.  President Gordon B. Hinckley counseled at the beginning of the war on terror, “Now, brothers and sisters, we must do our duty, whatever that duty might be.  Peace may be denied for a season.  Some of our liberties may be curtailed.  We may be inconvenienced.  We may even be called on to suffer in one way or another.  But God our Eternal Father will watch over this nation and all of the civilized world who look to Him.  He has declared, `Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord’ (Psalms 33:12).  Our safety lies in repentance.  Our strength comes of obedience to the commandments of God.

                “Let us be prayerful.  Let us pray for righteousness.  Let us pray for the forces of good.  Let us reach out to help men and women of goodwill, whatever their religious persuasion and wherever they live.  Let us stand firm against evil, both at home and abroad.  Let us live worthy of the blessings of heaven, reforming our lives where necessary and looking to Him, the Father of us all.  He has said, `Be still, and know that I am God’ (Psalms 46:10).

                “Are these perilous times?  They are.  But there is no need to fear.  We can have peace in our hearts and peace in our homes.  We can be an influence for good in this world, every one of us.

                “May the God of heaven, the Almighty, bless us, help us, as we walk our various ways in the uncertain days that lie ahead.  May we look to Him with unfailing faith.  May we worthily place our reliance on His Beloved Son who is our great Redeemer, whether it be in life or in death” (“The Times in Which We Live,”  Ensign, November 2001).

                According to this prophet of God, we have no need to fear.  We need only to put our trust in God and rely on Him.  As long as we are living righteously, we will be okay, whether in life or death.  “Be still, and know that I am God.”  He is in control and will not fail us.