Elder M. Russell Ballard, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from his book ‘Yesterday, Today, and Forever’ taught:
The scriptures describe our day as one that will be both “great and dreadful” (Doctrine and Covenants 110:16). The greatness of our day is that we live when the Church of Jesus Christ is restored fully to the earth with all its doctrine, with priesthood authority, and with all the saving ordinances necessary for any woman or man to receive the full blessings the Lord wants to give His children. We have additional books of scripture that shed further light on the glorious gospel proclaimed in the Old and New Testaments, and we are led by prophets, seers, and revelators. We see the Church fulfilling its divine mission to spread across the world, and we see temples built and operating in many countries.
At the same time, the “dreadfulness” of our day is evident in acts of cruelty in our society, including child, spouse and elderly abuse, and in the world, where terrorism and barbarity capture the headlines in the news. . . every day, All these point to the painful, dreadful reality that evil is real and rampant in the world. We also live in a day when there are very real and very prevalent spiritual dangers. President Gordon B. Hinkley had this to say about our day:
Wonderful as this time is, it is fraught with peril. Evil is all about us. It is attractive and tempting and in so many cases successful. . . . We live in a season when fierce men do terrible and despicable things. We live in a season of war. We live in a season of arrogance. We live in a season of wickedness, pornography, immorality. All the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah haunt our society. Our young people have never faced a greater challenge. We have never seen more clearly the lecherous face of evil (“Living in the Fullness of Times,” 5-6).
As the Lord predicted in the preface to the Doctrine and Covenants we now see the time when “the devil shall have power over his own dominion” (Doctrine and Covenants 1:35). Is it any wonder that some are dismayed and disturbed by what they see? Yet we do not find the Prophet or the other apostles and prophets wallowing in despair, nor do we sense even the smallest touch of hopelessness. The opposite is true. As President HInkley said: “Now, I do not wish to be an alarmist. I do not wish to be a prophet of doom. I am optimistic. I do not believe the time is here when an all-consuming calamity will overtake us. . . . There is so much of the Lord’s work yet to be done. We and our children after us, must do it (“The Times in Which We Live,” 74)
This hope and optimism come because we know with absolute certainty, that God is in His heaven and that He is the Lord Omnipotent. God’s wisdom and knowledge and power are greater than all the combined forces of evil. He is able to work His will and His purposes cannot be frustrated (see Doctrine and Covenants 3:1). He has not left you and me to make our way alone during these perilous times. He told his disciples at the Last Supper, “I will not leave you comfortless” (John 14:18). As the footnote in the LDS edition of the Bible states the word comfortless is better translated as “orphans.” He is watching over His people. Note just a few of the scriptural promises to us:
- “He will preserve the righteous by His power” (1 Nephi 22:17).
- “The righteous need not fear; for . . . they shall be saved” (1 Nephi 22;17).
- The Lord shall have power over his saints, and shall reign in their midst’ (Doctrine and Covenants 1:36).
- “[Zion] shall be . . . a land of peace, a city of refuge, a place of safety” (Doctrine and Covenants 45:66).
M. Russell Ballard, Yesterday, Today, and Forever (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2015), 29-31
