Compression of Events
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This great sesquicentennial conference has brought us all close to the beginnings of this dispensation. We have been refreshed because of those reminders. But even as we speak of beginnings, events in the world remind us that we are moving ever closer to the ending of this dispensation. So, for me, this conference has been filled with memories and also with anticipation—feelings which have combined to make me more grateful than ever for the privilege of being a part of this great latter-day work. Viewed in perspective, 150 years isn’t really a very long time, even in human history. It is but a brief moment in eternity. You and I know that, actually, individuals and institutions are measured by deeds, not days; by service, not centuries. Just as an individual’s life can often make up in quality what it lacks in length of years, so The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has compressed into 150 years many significant accomplishments.
President Spencer W. Kimball
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We surely have been warned and forewarned about our time, a period in which the compression of challenges may make a year seem like a decade. Members will be cleverly mocked and scorned by those in the “great and spacious building,” representing the pride of the world (1 Ne. 8:26; 1 Ne. 11:36). No matter, for ere long, He who was raised on the third day will raze that spacious but third-class hotel!
Elder Neal A. Maxwell
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Some prophecies, such as the return of Jewish people to Israel, were decades in their fulfillment (see Ezek. 39:27). Other prophecies can be fulfilled in a compressed period of time. Taking the restored gospel “for a witness” to all the nations of the world involves generations (Matt. 24:14), but a “desolating scourge” can cover the land quickly (see D&C 5:19). Sadly, more than one qualifying possibility already exists for such scourges (see Mark 13:10, D&C 5:19). The blossoming of the desert “as the rose” involved substantial time, yet significant moral decay can happen within a single generation—whether in a nation or in a family (see Isa. 35:1; Hel. 6:32; Hel. 11:36; Hel. 12:4).
Elder Neal A. Maxwell
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Now, my brethren, “these are [your] days” (Hel. 7:9) in the history of the Church. Mark well what kind of days they will be, days when, with special visibility, the Lord will “make bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations.” (D&C 133:3.) God will also “hasten” His work. (D&C 88:73.) He will also “shorten” the last days “for the elect’s sake”; hence, there will be a compression of events. (Matt. 24:22; JS—M 1:20.) Furthermore, “all things shall be in commotion.” (D&C 88:91.) Only those in the process of becoming the men and women of Christ will be able to keep their spiritual balance. Brethren, may we “walk by faith,” and, if necessary, even on our knees!
Elder Neal A. Maxwell
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