Prepare for the Days of Tribulation

for over 40 years in a spirit of love members of the church have been counseled to be thrifty self-reliant avoid debt pay tithes and generous fast offerings be industrious and have sufficient food clothing and fuel on-hand to last at least one year today there are compelling reasons to re-emphasize this council 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 make house payments car loans and utilities unfortunately there has been fostered in the minds of some and 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 quote no true latter-day Saint will while physically able voluntarily shift from himself the burden of his own support one of the first principles revealed to father Adam when he was driven out of the Garden of Eden was this in the sweater lie face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the ground all we obtain in life of a material nature comes as a product of labor and the Providence of God work alone produces life's necessities in saying this I'm aware all men sympathetic to the flight of many the fight of many young families who are struggling to make ends meet they're faced with a financial burden or providing for the three great necessities of life food clothing and shelter I am also sympathetic to the situation of widows and other sisters who rear families alone more than even before we need to learn and apply the principles of economic self-reliance we do not know when the crisis involving sickness or unemployment may affect our circumstances we do not know that the Lord we do know that the Lord has decreed global calamities for the future and has warned and forewarned us to be prepared for this reason the Brethren have repeatedly stressed a back-to-basics program for temporal and spiritual welfare today I emphasize the most basic principle home production and storage have you ever pause to realize what would happen to your community or nation if transportation was paralyzed or if we had war 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 two I was called with the First Presidency to go to Europe to reestablish our missions and set 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 even 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 commodity which sustains life food and 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 quote we encourage you to grow all the food that you possibly can on your own property berry bushes grape vines fruit trees plant them if your climate is right grow vegetables and eat them from your own yard many of you have listened to and done as president Kimball has counseled and you have been blessed for it others have rationalized that they had no time or space may I suggest that you do what others have done get together with several others and seek permission to use a vacant lot for garden or rent a plot of ground and grow your gardens some elders quorum have done this as a quorum and all who have participated to have reaped the benefits all the vegetable and harvest and the blessings of cooperation and family involvement many families have dug up lawn space for gardens we encourage you to be more self-reliant because the Lord has declared notwithstanding the tribulation which shall descend upon you that the church may stand independent above all other creatures beneath the celestial kingdom 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 eventualities 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 forever it is legally permissible to do so the church was not told has not told you what foods should be stored this decision is left up to individual members however some excellent suggestions are available in the booklet produced by the church entitled essentials of home production and storage there are also booklets available on gardening at BYU from the standpoint of food production storage handling and the Lord's Council we should have high priority there is more salvation and security and wheat said arsenide years ago than in all the political schemes of the world water of course is essential other basics could include honey or sugar legumes milk products or substitutes the revelations to produce and store food may be as essential to our temple welfare today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah president Harold B Lee has counseled perhaps if we think not in terms of a year's supply we ordinarily would use and think more in terms of what it would take to keep us alive in case we didn't have anything else to eat that last would be very easy to put in storage for a year just enough to keep us alive if we didn't have anything else to eat we wouldn't get fat on it but we would live and if you think in terms of that kind of annual storage rather than a whole year's supply of everything that you are accustomed to to eat in most cases which is utterly impossible for the average family I think we will come closer to what President J Reuben Clark envisioned way back in 1937 there are blessings in being close to the soil in raising your own food even if it is only a garden in your yard and a fruit tree or two those families will be fortunate to in the last days having an adequate supply of food because of their foresight and ability to produce their own the council from church authorities has been consistent over the years and is well summarized in these words quote first and above and beyond everything else let us live righteously let us avoid debt as we would avoid a plague where we are now in debt let us get out of debt if not today then tomorrow let us straightly and strictly live within our income and save a little let every head of every household see to it that he has on hand enough food and clothing and were possible fuel also for at least a year ahead view of small means put your money in foodstuffs and wearing apparel not in stocks and bonds you who are large have large means will think you know how to care for yourselves but I may venture to suggest that you do not speculate let every head of every household aim to own his own home free from mortgage that every man who has a garden spot garden it every man who owns a farm farm it you do not need to go into debt may I add to obtain a year supply plan to build up your food supply just as you would a savings account save a little for storage each paycheck can are bottled fruit and vegetables from your gardens and orchards learn how to preserve food through drying and possible freezing make your storage a part of your budget store recedes 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 be and can do to people I have seen hungers stalk the streets of Europe I have seen women and children ravaged our army garbage dumps for scraps of food those scenes and nameless faces cannot be erased from my memory I shall never forget the saints of Homburg who appeared on the verge of collapse from starvation or their small children whom I invited to come to the stand as we emptied our pockets of edibles most had never seen these items before because of the wartime conditions nor can I forget the expectant and nursing mothers whose eyes watered with tears when we gave them each in orange we saw the terrible physical and social side effects of hunger I cannot forget the French saints who unable to obtain bread use potato peelings for the emblem of the sacrament nor will I ever forget the faith of the dead saints who accepted our suggestion to grow potatoes to alleviate their own starving conditions and then sent a portion of their first harvest to the German people who who had been their bitter enemies the following year they sent them the entire harvest the annals of church history have seldom recorded a more christ-like act of love and compassion 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 somehow will be set aside by the rule because of the righteousness of the saints or 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 I bear you my testimony that president Heber J grant was inspired of the Lord in establishing the church welfare program the First Presidency was inspired when I made the first public announcement in 1936 and declared the prime purpose of purpose of church welfare was to help the people to help themselves I bear witness to that inspired counsel from 1936 to the present day that the Saints lay up a year's supply of food when President Spencer W Kimball persistently admonishes the members to plant gardens and fruit trees and produce our own food he is likewise inspired of the Lord be faithful my brothers and sisters to his counsel and you will be blessed yes the most blessed people in all the earth you are good people I know that but all of us need to be better than we are let us be in a position so we are able to not only feed ourselves through the home production and storage but others as well may God bless us to be prepared for the days which lie ahead which may be the most severe yet in the name of Jesus Christ amen you

Channel: General Conference

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Length: 17min 37sec (1057 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 20 2015

Reddit Comments

[u/JohnH2]

No, Adam is the father of all living and the first man, hence the term 'father Adam'; just as Eve is held as the mother of all living. Adam-God was no longer taught by those that held it by the 1900's while the view of it being wrong was being actively taught by that time.

[u/SoTheAdventureBegins]

Happy cake day!!! 🎂