George Albert Smith Vision:
“I have had a troublesome vision of another great and terrible war that made the war just ended look like a training exercise, and people died like flies. It began at a time when the Soviet Union’s military might dwarfed that of the United States, and we, that is the United States, would have missiles that carried an atomic bomb in Europe. I saw the United States withdraw its missiles to appease the Soviet Union, and then the war began.”
“He also said that we would have big missiles in deep holes he described like grain silos which the Soviets would try to destroy by their own missiles. They would hit military installations and certain cities also. He said that the President at that time would be of Greek extraction. Until then all the presidents would be of British or Northern European ancestry. He continued that the U.S. would be bound by numerous entangling alliances and would take away the weapons owned by the people.”
David Horne also mentioned that President Smith indicated that this nuclear attack would take place on a holiday after the new president was elected, but before he took office.
Fig Tree:
Footnote on the Fig Tree in Jesus the Christ (page 502) - pay attention to the dates - I just thought it was interesting, but keep in mind how this relates to a gathering. Think gathering those that are prepared first, those that are righteous second, and then sending out the 144,000 for the very last ones (who will have been weighed down with much trial and sorrow before they are gathered).
“The fig tree is very common in Palestine. It’s fruit is a well known and highly esteemed article of food. In the East this is of three kind: (1) the early fig, ripening about the end of June; (2) the summer fig, ripening in August; (3) the winter fig, larger and darker than No. 2, hanging and ripening late on the tree, even after the leaves were shed, and sometimes gathered in the spring. The blossoms of the fig tree are within the receptacle or so-called fruit, and not visible outwardly; and this fruit begins to develop before the leaves. Hence the fig tree which had leaves before the usual time might naturally have been expected to have also some figs on it; but it was not true to its pretensions.”
Consider that in April 1976 Bernard P. Brockbank gave a talk entitled: “The Leaves Are Commencing to Show on the Fig Tree.” https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1976/04/the-leaves-are-commencing-to-show-on-the-fig-tree?lang=eng In which he said, “Before the second coming of Jesus Christ, certain promised signs and wonders are to take place, making it possible for his Saints to know the approximate time of his coming. Jesus said: ‘Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.’ (Matt. 24:32–33.) President Kimball gave this counsel, ‘The leaves are commencing to show on the fig tree.’ That is prophetic.”
That was 40 years ago!
Revelation 12:1-17:
1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: 2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. 3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. 4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. 5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. 6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. 7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. 12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. 13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. 14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. 15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. 16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. 17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Internet Comment: The sign occurs only once in all of man’s history. I have checked 6,200 years into the past and 1,200 years into the future and not found the sign recurring.
The crucial part of the sign is the pregnancy of the constellation in the 42 weeks leading up to Sep 23. Jupiter only does this every 83 years which is a little under a 100 times in the 7,400 years. Further the moon is only at the feet of the constellation once every 19 years.
All of these cycles combine to make the Sept 23 sign very unique.
Rosh Hashanah: Jewish New Year
The festival of Rosh Hashanah—the name means “Head of the Year”—is observed for two days beginning on 1 Tishrei, the first day of the Jewish year. It is the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, and their first actions toward the realization of mankind’s role in G‑d’s world.
Rosh Hashanah thus emphasizes the special relationship between G‑d and humanity: our dependence upon G‑d as our creator and sustainer, and G‑d’s dependence upon us as the ones who make His presence known and felt in His world. Each year on Rosh Hashanah, “all inhabitants of the world pass before G‑d like a flock of sheep,” and it is decreed in the heavenly court “who shall live, and who shall die . . . who shall be impoverished, and who shall be enriched; who shall fall and who shall rise.” But this is also the day we proclaim G‑d King of the Universe. The Kabbalists teach that the continued existence of the universe is dependent upon the renewal of the divine desire for a world when we accept G‑d’s kingship each year on Rosh Hashanah.
The central observance of Rosh Hashanah is the sounding of the shofar, the ram’s horn, which also represents the trumpet blast of a people’s coronation of their king. The cry of the shofar is also a call to repentance, for Rosh Hashanah is also the anniversary of man’s first sin and his repentance thereof, and serves as the first of the “Ten Days of Repentance” which culminate in Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Another significance of the shofar is to recall the Binding of Isaac which also occurred on Rosh Hashanah, in which a ram took Isaac’s place as an offering to G‑d; we evoke Abraham’s readiness to sacrifice his son, and plead that the merit of his deed should stand by us as we pray for a year of life, health and prosperity. Altogether, we listen to one hundred shofar blasts over the course of the Rosh Hashanah services.
Additional Rosh Hashanah observances include: a) Eating a piece of apple dipped in honey, to symbolize our desire for a sweet year, and other special foods symbolic of the new year’s blessings. b) Blessing one another with the words “Leshanah tovah tikateiv veteichateim,” “May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year.” c) Tashlich, a special prayer said near a body of water (an ocean, river, pond, etc.), in evocation of the verse, “And You shall cast their sins into the depths of the sea.” And as with every major Jewish holiday, after candlelighting and prayers we recite kiddush and make a blessing on the challah.
http://www.chabad.org/holidays/JewishNewYear/template_cdo/aid/4762/jewish/What-Is-Rosh-Hashanah.htm
Yom Kippur: Day of Atonement
Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year—the day on which we are closest to G‑d and to the quintessence of our own souls. It is the Day of Atonement—“For on this day He will forgive you, to purify you, that you be cleansed from all your sins before G‑d” (Leviticus 16:30).
For nearly twenty-six hours—from several minutes before sunset on 9 Tishrei to after nightfall on 10 Tishrei—we “afflict our souls”: we abstain from food and drink, do not wash or anoint our bodies, do not wear leather footwear, and abstain from marital relations.
Before Yom Kippur we perform the Kaparot atonement service; we request and receive honey cake, in acknowledgement that we are all recipients in G‑d’s world, and in prayerful hope for a sweet and abundant year; eat a festive meal; immerse in a mikvah; and give extra charity. In the late afternoon we eat the pre-fast meal, following which we bless our children, light a memorial candle as well as the holiday candles, and go to the synagogue for the Kol Nidrei service.
In the course of Yom Kippur we hold five prayer services: Maariv, with its solemn Kol Nidrei service, on the eve of Yom Kippur; Shacharit—the morning prayer, which includes a reading from Leviticus followed by the Yizkor memorial service; Musaf, which includes a detailed account of the Yom Kippur Temple service; Minchah, which includes the reading of the Book of Jonah; and Neilah, the “closing of the gates” service at sunset. We say the Al Chet confession of sins eight times in the course of Yom Kippur, and recite Psalms every available moment.
The day is the most solemn of the year, yet an undertone of joy suffuses it: a joy that revels in the spirituality of the day and expresses the confidence that G‑d will accept our repentance, forgive our sins, and seal our verdict for a year of life, health and happiness. The closing Neilah service climaxes in the resounding cries of “Hear O Israel . . . G‑d is one.” Then joy erupts in song and dance (a Chabad custom is to sing the lively “Napoleon’s March”), followed by a single blast of the shofar, followed by the proclamation, “Next year in Jerusalem.” We then partake of a festive after-fast meal, making the evening after Yom Kippur a yom tov (festival) in its own right.
http://www.chabad.org/holidays/JewishNewYear/template_cdo/aid/177886/jewish/What-Is-Yom-Kippur.htm
SUKKOT: Feast of Tabernacles
The Festival of Sukkot - “Booths” or “Tabernacles” is celebrated for seven days in Israel and eight days in the Diaspora, starting on the fifteenth day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei. It is one of the three festivals during which Jewish men were required to make pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the times of the Holy Temple.
Nowadays, in the absence of Temple service, the main focus of the holiday is to dwell in a sukkah (singular of “sukkot”), which is a four-walled booth topped with branches called schach. For the purposes of the divine command, “dwelling” is defined as eating and sleeping, so Jewish men are required to sleep every night of Sukkot in this hut, and all meals are to be eaten within it. The only exception to the law of dwelling is if it is raining - not just any rain, but raining hard enough to affect the taste of the soup, at which point the meal is allowed to move inside. These flimsy huts are meant to recall the tents that the Israelites lived in for forty years in the desert in between leaving slavery in Egypt [rt note: America?]and reaching the Promised Land [rt note: New Jerusalem?].
The first and last day - or in the Diaspora the first and last two days - are a Sabbath-like holiday, called a yom tov, in which creative labor may not be done except for cooking as necessary for the holiday. Like most Jewish holidays, there are mandated feasts which include bread and meat and wine, and family and neighbors invite each other over to eat together in the sukkah.
At the same time that families are accepting physical guests into their sukkot, they have ushpizin, spiritual guests, and on each night a different person from Jewish history is invited into the sukkah: on the first night the patriarch Abraham, then Isaac, next Jacob, then Moses, Aaron, Joseph, and David. Some also have the custom of inviting biblical women as well, or remembering rabbis or various deceased family members.
The last two days, during which sleeping in the Sukkah is no longer required (and is in fact forbidden), are called Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, and they are compressed into one day in Israel. Simchat Torah literally means “the joy of the Torah” and it is a time of much rejoicing, dancing, singing, and feating.
The other highlight of Sukkos is reciting a blessing over the arba minim, the Four Species, in remembrance to the agricultural aspect of this ancient harvesting holiday. Willow, myrtle, palm, and citron are combined in a sort of bouquet and a blessing is recited before they are held up and waved in different directions. During synagogue services, men walk in circles around the sanctuary while holding their Four Species, a process called “Hoshanot” (singular Hoshana) - supplications. The seventh day of Sukkot is called Hoshana Rabbah - the Great Supplication, where everyone pleads for Divine mercy for the coming year.
Sukkot marks the end of the month-long “High Holy Days”, and is followed by more than a month of no major Jewish holidays, until Chanukah arrives in the winter. Spiritually, it also serves as a sort of “extension” to the repentance of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and its end marks the end of the time when G-d is judging the Jewish people.
http://www.holidayscalendar.com/holidays/jewish/sukkot.html
For forty years, as our ancestors traversed the Sinai Desert, following the Exodus from Egypt, miraculous “clouds of glory” surrounded and hovered over them, shielding them from the dangers and discomforts of the desert. Ever since, we remember G‑d’s kindness and reaffirm our trust in His providence by dwelling in a sukkah--a hut of temporary construction with a roof covering of branches--for the duration of the Sukkot festival (on the Jewish calendar Tishrei 15-21). For seven days and nights, we eat all our meals in the sukkah and otherwise regard it as our home.
Another Sukkot observance is the taking of the Four Kinds: an etrog (citron), a lulav (palm frond), three hadassim (myrtle twigs) and two aravot (willow twigs). On each day of the festival (excepting Shabbat), we take the Four Kinds, recite a blessing over them, bring them together in our hands and wave them in all six directions: right, left, forward, up, down and backward. Our sages in the midrash tell us that the Four Kinds represent the various types and personalities that comprise the community of Israel, whose intrinsic unity we emphasize on Sukkot.
Sukkot is also called The Time of Our Joy; indeed, a special joy pervades the festival. nightly Water-Drawing Celebrations, reminiscent of the evening-to-dawn festivities held in the Holy Temple in preparation for the drawing of water for use in the festival service, fill the synagogues and streets with song, music and dance until the wee hours of the morning.
The seventh day of Sukkot is called Hoshaana Rabbah (“Great Salvation”) and closes the period of Divine judgment begun on Rosh Hashanah. A special observance is the aravah--the taking of a bundle of willow branches.
http://www.chabad.org/holidays/JewishNewYear/template_cdo/aid/4784/jewish/What-Is-Sukkot.htm
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