Two videos I showed at church today, Words of prophets

"We Live in the Days Just as in the Time of Noah"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RplBQGogYEk

and

"Great Trials Lie Ahead"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTVECvTY

Words of our Prophets: Preparedness video

10 minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUWGCEocKwQ&feature=player_embedded#!

Benson: The Lord has warned and forewarned us

We encourage you to be more self-reliant so that, as the Lord has declared, “notwithstanding the tribulation which shall descend upon you, … the church may stand independent above all other creatures beneath the celestial world” (D&C 78:14). The Lord wants us to be independent and self-reliant because these will be days of tribulation. He has warned and forewarned us of the eventuality.

President Brigham Young said, “If you are without bread, how much wisdom can you boast, and of what real utility are your talents, if you cannot procure for yourselves and save against a day of scarcity those substances designed to sustain your natural lives?” (In Journal of Discourses, 8:68.)

Food production is just one part of the repeated emphasis that you store a provision of food which will last for at least a year wherever it is legally permissible to do so. The Church has not told you what foods should be stored. This decision is left up to individual members. ...

From the standpoint of food production, storage, handling, and the Lord’s counsel, wheat should have high priority. “There is more salvation and security in wheat,” said Orson Hyde years ago, “than in all the political schemes of the world” (in Journal of Discourses, 2:207). Water, of course, is essential. Other basics could include honey or sugar, legumes, milk products or substitutes, and salt or its equivalent. The revelation to produce and store food may be as essential to our temporal welfare today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah.

This talk was given by Ezra Taft Benson of the Quorum of the Twelve, Oct. 1980

Read the rest of the talk:

http://lds.org/ensign/1980/11/prepare-for-the-days-of-tribulation?lang=eng

Benson: Have you ever paused to realize...

Today, I emphasize a most basic principle: home production and storage. Have you ever paused to realize what would happen to your community or nation if transportation were paralyzed or if we had a war or depression? How would you and your neighbors obtain food? How long would the corner grocery store—or supermarket—sustain the needs of the community?

Shortly after World War II, I was called by the First Presidency to go to Europe to reestablish our missions and set up a program for the distribution of food and clothing to the Saints. Vivid in my memory are the people who got on trains each morning with all kinds of bric-a-brac in their arms to go out to the countryside to trade their possessions for food. At evening time, the train station was filled with people with arms full of vegetables and fruits, and a menagerie of squealing pigs and chickens. You never heard such a commotion. These people were, of course, willing to barter practically anything for that commodity which sustains life—food.

An almost forgotten means of economic self-reliance is the home production of food. We are too accustomed to going to stores and purchasing what we need. By producing some of our food we reduce, to a great extent, the impact of inflation on our money. More importantly, we learn how to produce our own food and involve all family members in a beneficial project. No more timely counsel, I feel, has been given by President Kimball than his repeated emphasis to grow our own gardens. Here is one sample of his emphasis over the past seven years:

“We encourage you to grow all the food that you feasibly can on your own property. Berry bushes, grapevines, fruit trees—plant them if your climate is right for their growth. Grow vegetables and eat them from your own yard.” (Ensign, May 1976, p. 124).

This talk was given by Ezra Taft Benson of the Quorum of the Twelve, Oct. 1980

Read the rest of the talk:

http://lds.org/ensign/1980/11/prepare-for-the-days-of-tribulation?lang=eng

The Failure to take Prophetic Counsel

Pres. Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency

"Korihor was arguing (in Alma 30:20-23), as men and women have falsely argued from the beginning of time, that to take counsel from the servants of God is to surrender God-given rights of independence.  But the argument is false because it misrepresents reality. When we reject the counsel which comes from God, we do not choose to be independent of outside influence.  We choose another influence.  We reject the protection of a perfectly loving, all-powerful, all-knowing Father in Heaven, whose whole purpose, as that of His Beloved Son, is to give us eternal life, to give us all that He has, and to bring us home again in families to the arms of His love.  In rejecting His counsel, we choose the influence of another power, whose purpose is to make us miserable and whose motive is hatred.  We have moral agency as a gift of God.  Rather than the right to choose to be free of influence, it is the inalienable right to submit ourselves to whichever of those powers we choose.

Another fallacy is to believe that the choice to accept or not accept the counsel of prophets is no more than deciding whether to accept good advice and gain its benefits or to stay where we are.  But the choice not to take prophetic counsel changes the very ground upon which we stand.  It becomes more dangerous.  The failure to take prophetic counsel lessens our power to take inspired counsel in the future.  The best time to have decided to help Noah build the ark was the first time he asked.  Each time he asked after that, each failure to respond would have lessened sensitivity to the Spirit.  And so each time his request would have seemed more foolish, until the rain came.  And then it was too late."

(Conference Report, April 1997, 33; or Ensign, May 1997, 25.)


http://lds.org/ensign/1997/05/finding-safety-in-counsel?lang=eng

Repeat: Two Quotes by Ezra Taft Benson

“Too often we bask in our comfortable complacency and rationalize that the ravages of war, economic disaster, famine, and earthquake ... cannot happen here. Those who believe this are either not acquainted with the revelations of the Lord, or they do not believe them. Those who smugly think these calamities will not happen, that they will somehow be set aside because of the righteousness of the Saints, are deceived and will rue the day they harbored such a delusion. The Lord has warned and forewarned us against a day of great tribulation and given us counsel through His servants, on how we can be prepared for these difficult times. Have we heeded His counsel?”

Ezra Taft Benson (General Conference, October 1980) (Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p.265)

"For years we have been counseled to have on hand a year’s supply of food. Yet there are some today who will not start storing until the Church comes out with a detailed monthly home storage program. Now suppose that never happens. We still cannot say we have not been told. Should the Lord decide at this time to cleanse the Church— and the need for that cleansing seems to be increasing— a famine in this land of one year’s duration could wipe out a large percentage of slothful members, including some ward and stake officers. Yet we cannot say we have not been warned."

Ezra Taft Benson, (“Not Commanded In All Things!”, Council Of The Twelve, General Conference,  April 6, 1965)

These quotes are so good, I just had to post them again.

Benson: You may need to change your priorities

"You do not need to go into debt, may I add, to obtain a year’s supply. Plan to build up your food supply just as you would a savings account. Save a little for storage each pay-check. Can or bottle fruit and vegetables from your gardens and orchards. Learn how to preserve food through drying and possibly freezing. Make your storage a part of your budget. Store seeds and have sufficient tools on hand to do the job. If you are saving and planning for a second car or a TV set or some item which merely adds to your comfort or pleasure, you may need to change your priorities. We urge you to do this prayerfully and do it now.

I speak with a feeling of great urgency. I have seen what the days of tribulation can do to people. I have seen hunger stalk the streets of Europe. I have witnessed the appalling, emaciated shadows of human figures. I have seen women and children scavenge army garbage dumps for scraps of food. Those scenes and nameless faces cannot be erased from my memory."

Ezra Taft Benson, "Prepare for the Days of Tribulation", Nov. 1980 Ensign.

Read the rest of the talk:

http://lds.org/ensign/1980/11/prepare-for-the-days-of-tribulation?lang=eng

Benson: Compelling reasons to reemphasize this counsel

There is a great talk by Elder Ezra Taft Benson, given in General Conference, October 1980, entitled "Prepare for the Days of Tribulation".  There are so many good quotes in it, that I am going to break it up into sections and post just a few paragraphs at a time over the next few weeks.



"For over forty years, in a spirit of love, members of the Church have been counseled to be thrifty and self-reliant; to avoid debt; pay tithes and a generous fast offering; be industrious; and have sufficient food, clothing, and fuel on hand to last at least one year.

Today there are compelling reasons to reemphasize this counsel. We heard it done effectively in that great welfare meeting this morning. May I add just a word.

Members of the Church are feeling the economic pinch of higher taxes and inflation coupled with conditions of continuing recession. Some have come to their bishops seeking assistance to pay for house payments, car loans, and utilities.

Unfortunately, there has been fostered in the minds of some an expectation that when we experience hard times, when we have been unwise and extravagant with our resources and have lived beyond our means, we should look to either the Church or government to bail us out. Forgotten by some of our members is an underlying principle of the Church welfare plan that “no true Latter-day Saint will, while physically able, voluntarily shift from himself the burden of his own support” (Marion G. Romney, in Conference Report, Oct. 1973, p. 106)."

This talk was given by Ezra Taft Benson of the Quorum of the Twelve, Oct. 1980

Read the rest of the talk:

http://lds.org/ensign/1980/11/prepare-for-the-days-of-tribulation?lang=eng

In Times of Emergency

"Acquire and store a reserve of food and supplies that will sustain life. Obtain clothing and build a savings account on a sensible, well-planned basis that can serve well in times of emergency. As long as I can remember, we have been taught to prepare for the future and to obtain a year's supply of necessities. I would guess that the years of plenty have almost universally caused us to set aside this counsel. I believe the time to disregard this counsel is over. With events in the world today, it must be considered with all seriousness" (L. Tom Perry, "If Ye Are Prepared Ye Shall Not Fear," Ensign, Nov. 1995, 36).

Relief Society lesson "Signs of the Second Coming"

I was the substitute teacher in Relief Society today in my ward.  Here is the summary of the lesson.

Relief Society Lesson 43, “Signs of the Second Coming”, a little from Lesson 44, “The Second Coming of Jesus Christ.”

Jesus has told us that certain signs and events will warn us when the time of His Second Coming is near.

I gave the analogy of Google Maps. We can print out the list of directions. Some say “go 82 feet” and some say “go 160 miles” before looking for the next signpost or turn. We cannot see by looking at the list of directions because the words show no sense of scale.

Conversely, if we only print out the map, there could be 10 turns at the beginning, and then a long stretch of 160 miles where we look for the signpost of where to turn but there is nothing. Suddenly we get to the next signpost, and we need to make 5 turns quickly.

We could wake up as a passenger in a car, and have no idea where along the 160 mile stretch we are. Unless we see the signposts we have no idea how much farther we have to go.

I said that this is like the signs of the Second Coming. We don't know the scale between the signs, or how long we have to wait before the next one, or if many signs will happen close together soon. We have to be ready spiritually and temporally at all times.

Before the Savior comes, there will be great trials and calamities.

Heavenly Father wants us to be prepare for these troubles.

Heavenly Father expects us to be spiritually ready.

All faithful followers of Christ will know what the signs are and will be watching for them. D&C 45:39. D&C 39:23. If we are obedient and faithful, we will study scriptures and know of the signs.

Not all events preceding the Second Coming are dreadful. Many will bring joy.

For what purpose does the Lord give us these signs? He gives these signs to help us. First, our Heavenly Father wants us to be prepared for these troubles. Second, he also expects us to be spiritually ready when the Savior comes in his glory.

Some signs have already happened:

The restoration of the gospel.

The coming forth of the Book of Mormon.

The coming of Elijah. He appeared in the Kirtland Temple in April 1836.

People of Judah have returned to Jerusalem.

Some signs are occurring already or have started. (We can be certain that these calamities will become more severe before the Lord comes.)

Wickedness, war, and turmoil.

Waves of sea heaving themselves beyond their bounds.

Earthquakes, disease, famines, great storms, lightnings, thunder.

The gospel preached to all the world. (More needs to be done.) The manual says “Before the Second Coming and during the Millenium, the Lord will provide ways to bring the truth to all nations.”

The Lamanites will become a great people.

False prophets.

Some signs are still in the future:

A great hailstorm will destroy the crops of the earth. Hailstones weigh one talent (75.6 lbs) each.

A great burning mountain cast into the sea, a third of the creatures in the sea die

A third of men die..

Jerusalem shall be trodden under foot of men for 3 ½ years.

Two witnesses will serve in Jerusalem for 3 ½ years, then will be killed, then resurrected.

Battle of Armageddon.

Waters will flow out from under the Jerusalem temple, healing the Dead Sea.

Building of the New Jerusalem.

Adam-ondi-Ahman

The return of the Lost Ten Tribes and their records.

144,000 missionaries sent out.

The great and abominable church shall be cast down.

Righteous shall be gathered to Zion, the only people who will not be at war with one another.

Great earthquakes, mountains made low,earth reel to and fro as a drunken man.

Oceans will be driven back into north countries, and the islands shall become one land.

Earth will be like as it was in the days before it was divided.

Missionaries called home.

Sun darkened, moon as blood, stars hurled down.

A great sign shall appear in heaven, and all people shall see it together.

Two points to remember as we watch the signs occuring in our lifetimes:

The Lord keeps his promises. As we see the desolating calamities, we need to remember that he has promised they will happen. We should remember that he will also keep all of his comforting promises.

“Be not troubled, for, when all these things (the signs) shall come to pass, ye may know that the promises which have been made unto you shall be fulfilled.” D&C 45:35.

The Lord is just. He will judge his people. Righteousness will be rewarded. Wickedness will be punished.

How can we remain calm and at peace even when some of the signs are terrifying and dreadful?

We can look to the prophet for guidance and follow his counsel. We can live worthy to have the Holy Ghost guide us. We can look forward to the Savior's coming with happiness and not with fear.

Bruce R. McConkie said:

“We do not know when the calamities and troubles of the last days will fall upon any of us as individuals or upon bodies of the Saints. The Lord deliberately withholds from us the day and hour of his coming and of the tribulations which shall precede it---all as part of the testing and probationary experiences of mortality. He simply tells us to watch and be ready.

We can rest assured that if we have done all in our power to prepare for whatever lies ahead, he will then help us with whatever else we need.

We do not say that all of the Saints will be spared and saved from the coming day of desolation. But we do say there is no promise of safety and no promise of security except for those who love the Lord and who are seeking to do all that he commands..

And so we raise the warning voice and say: Take heed, prepare; watch and be ready. There is no security in any course except the course of obedience and conformity and righteousness.”

Bruce R. McConkie, Ensign May 1979, p. 93 “Stand Independent of all other creatures”

Got Charcoal?

In the Ensign January 1974, President Ezra Taft Benson quoted President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., of the First Presidency, who in April 1937 had said: 

“Let every head of every household see to it that he has on hand enough food and clothing, and, where possible, fuel also, for at least a year ahead. "

Do you have enough fuel for a year?  If not, want to try to get enough fuel for a few months?

Here is the calculation for how much charcoal you need to cook 365 meals: 

FORMULA 

Take the # of Dutch Oven meals planned for the year____ X 20 briquettes per meal =_____ divided by 30 briquettes per pound = pounds needed.

EXAMPLE

365 meals X 20 briquettes = 7300 divided by 30 = about 243 lbs or about 12-20 lb bags, or about 16 – 15 lb bags

Someone else said Kingston charcoal was 17 or 18 briquettes per pound.  So that example would be:

365 meals x 20 briquettes per meal = 7300 divided by 18 = about 405 lbs or 20-20 lb bags.

The picture above shows four 13.9 lb. bags, two 23 lb. bags, and two 20 lb. bags. (Why do they make every bag a different size?!!???!!)  So that is either a half a year's fuel or a third of a year's fuel, for cooking.

Of course I have a solar oven, so on sunny days I won't be using the charcoal.  So I hope that will stretch it farther.

Faust: The Responsibility for Welfare Rests with Me

http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=21fdef960417b010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&hideNav=1
"The Responsibility for Welfare Rests with Me and My Family"
Elder James E. Faust,  Ensign May 1986

Strive to have a year’s supply of food and clothing. The counsel to have a year’s supply of basic food, clothing, and commodities was given fifty years ago and has been repeated many times since. Every father and mother are the family’s storekeepers. They should store whatever their own family would like to have in the case of an emergency. 

Most of us cannot afford to store a year’s supply of luxury items, but find it more practical to store staples that might keep us from starving in case of emergency. Surely we all hope that the hour of need will never come. 

Some have said, “We have followed this counsel in the past and have never had need to use our year’s supply, so we have difficulty keeping this in mind as a major priority.” Perhaps following this counsel could be the reason why they have not needed to use their reserve. By continued rotation of the supply it can be kept usable with no waste.

The Church cannot be expected to provide for every one of its millions of members in case of public or personal disaster. It is therefore necessary that each home and family do what they can to assume the responsibility for their own hour of need. If we do not have the resources to acquire a year’s supply, then we can strive to begin with having one month’s supply. 

I believe if we are provident and wise in the management of our personal and family affairs and are faithful, God will sustain us through our trials. He has revealed: “For the earth is full, and there is enough and to spare; yea, I prepared all things, and have given unto the children of men to be agents unto themselves.” (D&C 104:17.)

Ballard: "We're in the last days---you can quote me on that."

Elder M. Russel Ballard said at BYU-Idaho on Jan. 30, 2010, as told in the Church News. 

"Excerpting entire passages of scripture from Matthew 24, 2 Nephi 28 and Mormon 8, Elder Ballard firmly established that ancient prophecies regarding the last days preceding the Savior's second coming aren't just being fulfilled but are coming to pass at an accelerated rate.

"I'm telling you what the Savior said would be the signs of the acceleration towards that day when He shall come," he said. "We could stay here for a couple of hours talking about all of the prophecies of what will occur in the last days. We're in the last days---you can quote me on that. And it is moving more rapidly."

Conditions that Elder Ballard specifically cited as fulfillment of prophecy and signs of the times include "pornography and how real affection and how true and real love are being disturbed by Satan and his minions." (see Matthew 24:12); "an acceleration of the gospel going to all nations" (see Matthew 24:14); and how "Mother Nature is letting its power be seen throughout the world at a more accelerated pace" (see Mormon 8:30-31).

(as quoted in the Church News, Week Ending Feb. 13, 2010, p. 3)

(Some of the above was also quoted in the August 2011 Ensign by Elder Allan F. Packer, in his talk entitled, "Solidly Anchored in Our Testimonies")

Brigham Young commenting on Gold and Wheat

“Were I to ask the question, how much wheat or anything else a man must have to justify him in letting it go to waste, it would be hard to answer; figures are inadequate to give the amount. Never let anything go to waste. Be prudent, save everything, and what you get more than you can take care of yourselves, ask your neighbors to help you. 


There are scores and hundreds of men in this house, if the question were asked them if they considered their grain a burden and a drudge to them, when they had plenty last year and the year before, that would answer in the affirmative, and were ready to part with it for next to nothing. 


How do they feel now, when their granaries are empty? If they had a few thousand bushels to spare now, would they not consider it a blessing? They would. Why? Because it would bring the gold and silver. 


But pause for a moment, and suppose you had millions of bushels to sell, and could sell it for twenty dollars per bushel, or for a million dollars per bushel, no matter what amount, so that you sell all your wheat, and transport it out of the country, and you are left with nothing more than a pile of gold, what good would it do you? You could not eat it, drink it, wear it, or carry it off where you could have something to eat. 


The time will come that gold will hold no comparison in value to a bushel of wheat. Gold is not to be compared with it in value. Why would it be precious to you now? Simply because you could get gold for it? Gold is good for nothing, only as men value it. 


It is no better than a piece of iron, a piece of limestone, or a piece of sandstone, and it is not half so good as the soil from which we raise our wheat, and other necessaries of life. The children of men love it, they lust after it, are greedy for it, and are ready to destroy themselves, and those around them, over whom they have any influence, to gain it” (Journal of Discourses, 1:, p.250).

"Events will come along so naturally..."

Elder Cannon in 1879: Cannon, George Q. Journal of Discourses. 21:264-272


Now I would not, for the world, say one word to lessen in the minds of my brethren and sisters the importance of these events; I would not say one word to weaken your proper expectations; but my experience has taught me that the Lord works in the midst of this people by natural means, and that the greatest events that have been spoken of by the holy prophets will come along so naturally as the consequence of certain causes, that unless our eyes are enlightened by the Spirit of God, and the spirit of revelation rests us, we will fail to see that these are the events predicted by the holy prophets. 

You take two persons, one who has the Spirit of God, whose mind is enlightened by that Spirit – the spirit of revelations, the same spirit that rested upon the prophets who wrote the revelations and prophecies we have – you take a man of that kind, and then take another who has none of that spirit, and put the two together, and the one man’s eyes will be open to see the hand of God in all these events; he will notice his movements and his providence in everything connected with his work and they will be testimonies to him to strengthen his faith and to furnish his mind with continual reasons for giving thanks to and worshipping God;while the man, who has not the Spirit of God, will see nothing Godlike in the occurrences:nothing which he will view as supernatural (as many suppose everything which exhibits God’s power to be), or nothing which he will accept as a fulfillment of prophecies; his eyes will be closed, his heart will be hardened, and to all the evidences of the divinity of these things he will be impenetrable.

The Lord calls the earth to repentance through natural calamities

When John the Revelator saw the events of the sixth seal (the sixth period of a thousand years; see D&C 77:6–7 ), great natural disasters were among the things shown to him (see Revelation 6:12–13 ). In the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord revealed specifically that in addition to preaching His word to the world through His servants, He Himself would call upon the wicked through the “voice of thunderings, and by the voice of tempests, and by the voice of earthquakes and great hailstorms, and by the voice of famines and pestilences of every kind” ( D&C 43:25 ; see vv. 20–27 ). He warned that the testimony of these natural calamities would follow after the testimony of His servants (see D&C 88:88–91 ; Notes and Commentary on D&C 43:17–25 ; 88:87–91 ). 

Elder Melvin J. Ballard said he wanted “to call the attention of the Latter-day Saints, and indeed if I had the power, the attention of all the world to the fact that God is speaking through the elements. The earthquakes, the sea heaving itself beyond its bounds, bringing such dire destruction as we have seen are the voice of God crying repentance to this generation, a generation that only in part has heeded the warning voice of the servants of the Lord.” (In Conference Report, Oct. 1923, p. 31.) 



On 15 July 1860 President Brigham Young said: “‘Do you think there is calamity abroad now among the people?’ Not much. All we have yet heard and all we have experienced is scarcely a preface to the sermon that is going to be preached. 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.” (In Journal of Discourses, 8:123.) 

We Can Heed Warnings

President Hinckley said in October 2005 General Conference: 

"What (calamities) we have experienced in the past was all foretold, and the end is not yet.  Just as there have been calamities in the past, we expect more in the future.  What do we do?  Someone has said it was not raining when Noah built the ark.  But he built it, and the rains came...

We can heed warnings...We have built grain storage and storehouses and stocked them with the necessities of life in the event of a disaster.  But the best storehouse is the family storeroom....Our people for three-quarters of a century have been counseled and encouraged to make such preparation as will assure survival should a calamity come.  We can set aside some water, basic food, medicine, and clothing to keep us warm.  We ought to have a little money laid aside in case of a rainy day..."

Great Trials Lie Ahead: Be Prepared for Tribulations

Quotes from our apostles and prophets:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTVECvTYpN0&feature=player_embedded

Hinckley's repeated references to 7 yrs of plenty, 7 yrs of famine

(Keep in mind yesterday's post about President Eyring saying that warnings are always repeated.)

The first time President Hinckley referenced Pharaoh's dream was in 1998 ("To the Boys and to the Men, Nov. 1998 Ensign)  when he told about the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine.  "Now brethren, I want to make it very clear that I am not prophesying, that I am not predicting years of famine in the future.  But I am suggesting that the time has come to get our houses in order...There is a portent of stormy weather ahead to which we had better give heed... That's all I have to say about it, but I wish to say it with all the emphasis of which I am capable."

President Hinckley again referenced Pharaoh's dream just weeks after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in his talk "The Times in Which We Live".  (Ensign, Nov. 2001).  He talked about getting out of debt, paying off our mortgages, setting food aside that would sustain us for a time in case of need.  

He then referenced Pharaoh's dream when he said, "I do not know what the future holds.  I do not wish to sound negative, but I wish to remind you of the warnings of scripture and the teachings of the prophets which we have had constantly before us.  I cannot forget the great lesson of Pharaoh's dream of the fat and lean kine and of the full and withered stalks of corn.  I cannot dismiss from my mind the grim warnings of the Lord as set forth in the 24th chapter of Matthew.  I am familiar, as are you, with the declarations of modern revelation that the time will come when the earth will be cleansed and there will be indescribable distress, with weeping and lamentation (see D&C 112:24).  Now, I do not wish to be an alarmist.  I do not wish to be a prophet of doom."

Then five years later, in the October 2005 General Conference, President Hinckley gave a repeated warning:  "Let us never lose sight of the dreams of Pharaoh concerning the fat cattle and the lean, the full ears of corn and the blasted ears, the meaning of which was interpreted by Joseph to indicate years of plenty and years of scarcity."

One of the Keys to Recognizing Warnings is That They are Repeated

Elder Henry B. Eyring gave a talk in General Conference in October 1998 ("A Voice of Warning", Nov. 1998 Ensign), and it was published once more in its entirety as the First Presidency message 11 years later in the Jan. 2009 Ensign ("Let us Raise a Voice of Warning").

"Because the Lord is kind, He calls servants to warn people of danger.  That call to warn is made harder and more important by the fact that the warnings of most worth are about dangers that people don't yet think are real...Here is the charge given to each of the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:  "Behold, I sent you out to testify and warn the people, and it becometh every man who hath been warned to warn his neighbor...It's easy to say, "The time isn't right."  But there is danger in procrastination.

Here is another talk Elder Eyring gave at Conference, which was reprinted again.

In April Conference 1997, Elder Eyring said, "One of the keys to recognizing those warnings is that they are repeated....One of the ways we may know that the warning is from the Lord is that the law of witnesses...has been invoked.  When the words of the prophets seem repetitive, that should rivet our attention and fill our hearts with gratitude to live in such a blessed time."

("Finding Safety in Counsel")

Eleven years later, that same talk was used as the First Presidency message in the June 2008 Ensign. ("Safety in Counsel")  AGAIN, same exact talk:  "One of the keys to recognizing those warnings is that they are repeated...."