The Second Coming of Christ

My beloved brethren and sisters, I know we were all thrilled at the beginning of this conference yesterday morning with the inspired remarks of President David O. McKay. Among other things he said: "Man holds dominion over earth, sea, and air, and now is intent upon conquering space." ¶

All that man has accomplished, and all further advancement in every realm of human activity made by man will aid in the accomplishment of God's ultimate purpose for us here in mortality — that is to say, the establishment of his Church and kingdom here upon this earth, preparatory to the advent of the second coming of the Savior of mankind. ¶

There may be men who still continue to contend that there is a conflict between church and religion on one side, and science on the other, but little do they understand that all truths pertaining to science as well as to religion emanate from our Father in heaven. He has power over his truths. He can withhold them from men when there is a purpose in so doing, and likewise can inspire men to discover and recognize truths, and advocate them to their fellow men. ¶

And so, science and religion alike are entirely obligated to God, and so are we all. Neither science nor religion can successfully refute the second coming of Christ. The evidence is too complete, too convincing, too much a part of the great eternal plan of God, as much a part and as real as our mortal earth existence. We might as well deny the one as the other. ¶

To me the astonishing fact is, that recently in England we were pointed out as peculiar because we believe "that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory." ¶

In spite of this tenth article of faith of ours, published to the world for now a hundred years, we are characterized as pagan and are said not to be Christians. ¶

How can anyone deny the second coming of Christ and be a Christian? And how can anyone know of his second coming and not be his follower? ¶

Let me read what the Church of England's great expert on Mormonism recently had to say: "Mormonism is essentially a pagan faith, and not Christian at all." ¶

The London Daily Sketch, on February 1st, entitled an article published therein, written by Mr. Neville Randall, "Knock, Knock — It's Those Mormons." ¶

In part, this article said: ¶

"On a thousand doors in Britain during the week-end came a knock. . . . ¶

This week it may be your turn to open your door to a quiet, soft-spoken American. To hear him say the words: 'Will you become a Mormon?' If you let him he will try to persuade you: ¶

"To give up smoking and drinking — even tea and coffee. ¶

"To give a tenth of your income to the Mormon Church. ¶

"To accept a religion with no prayer book and no paid clergy. ¶

"To put off baptizing your children until they are eight. ¶

"Last year 1,404 Britons were converted," says the article. "In Britain now 220 American Mormon missionaries, most of them young men in their early twenties, are at work. They call at 2,000,000 homes a year. In December they baptized 237, more than in any month for a hundred years. What harm — or good — can the Mormons do to you if you let them convince you? ¶

This is what they told me: ¶

"You would believe that Christ will come to earth again. More than a million Mormons . . . believe every word of this. About a third of the male Mormons, and quite a few women, believe it sincerely enough to give up two years of their lives, usually when they are at college, to serve on a mission. ¶

They are unpaid — expenses come from their own or their families' savings. The Mormons are determined to give you a chance to judge for yourself. Listen for the knock." ¶

We are grateful to the newspaper for giving to the people of England that challenge — indeed, that invitation, to listen not alone to the knock, but also inferentially to that which they are told by our elders. ¶

In the English Church, as in many others, the Lord's Prayer is an essential part of their religious service and is repeated by the congregation. They therefore pray: "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. . . ." (Matt. 6:9-10.) Thus unwittingly do they pray for that which they evidently do not believe will occur. ¶

The clergyman was right when he warned his neighbors that our elders would teach them of the second coming of Christ. We will teach them from their own translation of the Bible that the white robed angels spoke to the apostles of old as the resurrected Christ ascended from their midst on Mount Olivet. ¶

". . . Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." ¶

(Acts 1:11.) We know he will come, even as he ascended, a material being, a living Personage, separate and apart from the Father, with an immortalized body of flesh and bones. This is our work — to prepare for the second coming of Christ. This is the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times, spoken of by Paul, the Apostle. We have in our hands, with which to work, all that has gone before in all generations of man. We deny final consummation of his mission here upon the earth if we deny his second coming. Thus only can the revealed gospel of Jesus Christ be presented in its fulness — by teaching the world of the second coming of Christ. ¶

In our own Doctrine and Covenants we read: "Unto whom I have committed the keys of my kingdom, and a dispensation of the gospel for the last times; and for the fulness of times, in the which I will gather together in one all things, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth." (D&C 27:13.) This is part of the second coming. ¶

And again: ". . . for it is necessary in the ushering in of the dispensation of the fulness of times, which dispensation is now beginning to usher in, that a whole and complete and perfect union and welding together of dispensations, and keys, and powers, and glories should take place, and be revealed from the days of Adam even to the present time. ¶

And not only this, but those things which never have been revealed from the foundation of the world, but have been kept hid from the wise and prudent, shall be revealed unto babes and sucklings in this, the dispensation of the fulness of times." (Ibid., 128:18.) "For the hour is nigh, and that which was spoken by mine apostles must be fulfilled; for as they spoke so shall it come to pass; "For I will reveal myself from heaven with power and great glory, with all the hosts thereof, and dwell in righteousness with men on earth a thousand years, and the wicked shall not stand." ¶

(Ibid., 29:10-11.) These are but a sample of numerous declarations found in modern scripture predicting the coming of Christ once again to complete his mission in glory here on the earth. We can readily turn to that which was recorded by the apostles of old and give to you the testimonies of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and again repeated in more modern revelation as in the Book of Mormon in Third Nephi, of which President Clark spoke yesterday. ¶

The words of Jesus Christ recorded by Matthew: "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works." (Matt. ¶

16:27.) "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. ¶

"For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. ¶

"And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. ¶

"And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." (Ibid., 24:14, 27, 30, 31.) "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory." (Ibid., 25:31.) Matthew doesn't leave any doubt about this second advent, and the words of the Christ as recorded by Mark goes on to say: ¶

"Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels." (Mark 8:38.) "But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, "And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. ¶

"And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. ¶

"And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven." (Mark 13:24-27.) And I can assure you he will not find his elect upon all of those roads of which President Clark spoke yesterday, supposed to lead to heaven, but it will be in that straight and narrow path of which the Savior himself spoke, in which the obedient will be found and which constitutes the only way by which we can constitute ourselves his elect and be called up and chosen to rule and reign with the Savior of mankind here upon the earth for a thousand years. ¶

In the gospel according to Luke is written: "For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed." ¶

(Luke 9:26.) And John, in the Revelation, says: ¶

"And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. ¶

"And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. ¶

"But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection." ¶

(Rev. 20:2, 4-5.) And then in Third Nephi we read: ¶

"And he did expound all things, even from the beginning until the time that he should come in his glory — yea, even all things which should come upon the face of the earth, even until the elements should melt with fervent heat, and the earth should be wrapt together as a scroll, and the heavens and the earth should pass away." (3 Nephi 26:3.) We assert and testify today, not only to the English, but also to all the world, that Christ will return to the earth in power and in glory, and usher in an era of peace, an era during which all shall be committed, transpire, and be accomplished that yet remains to be done before our Savior, Jesus Christ, can report his mission completed here upon this earth to his Father in heaven, having subdued and brought under his feet all things. ¶

This was revealed over thirty centuries ago to Enoch of old, for we read in the book of Moses, Pearl of Great Price: "And it came to pass that Enoch saw the day of the coming of the Son of Man, in the last days, to dwell on the earth in righteousness for the space of a thousand years." (Moses 7:65.) Now, our preaching the gospel is itself essential prior to the second coming of Christ. Matthew wrote: "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." ¶

(Matthew 24:14.) So after the falling away spoken of by Matthew, a restoration of the gospel had to come, otherwise the words of Matthew would be inconsistent and their fulfilment impossible. ¶

And then we have that wonderful prophecy in Revelation: To John the restoration of the gospel was foretold "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, "Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." ¶

(Revelation 14:6-7.) Then referring back to our own Doctrine and Covenants, how grateful I am to the Lord for his revealed word as contained in this great volume of scripture: ¶

"And then they shall look for me, and, behold, I will come; and they shall see me in the clouds of heaven, clothed with power and great glory; with all the holy angels; and he that watches not for me shall be cut off. . . . ¶

"For the Lord shall be in their midst, and his glory shall be upon them, and he will be their king and their lawgiver." ¶

(D&C 45:44, 59.) Joseph Smith once said: "When I contemplate the rapidity with which the great and glorious day of the coming of the Son of Man advances, when He shall come to receive His Saints unto Himself, where they shall dwell in His presence, and be crowned with glory and immortality: when I consider that soon the heavens are to be shaken, and the earth tremble and reel to and fro; and that the heavens are to be unfolded as a scroll when it is rolled up; and that every mountain and island are to flee away, I cry out in my heart, What manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness!" ¶

(Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 29.) The Lord grant that we may fulfil this great calling which is ours, and be the persons that we ought to be to lay the foundation for his second coming, for he lives — he lives for us, to hear and answer our prayers, and his coming is approaching closer and closer; and although no man knoweth the hour, it behooves us to watch, and so our mission to the world is to watch and be prepared. ¶

May this be our happy lot I humbly pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶