Are the End Times Here?

 

Are the End Times Here? Today, as I went to fast and testimony meeting at our church without thinking of the end times or anything for that matter; simply hoping to be edified.  As usual I was taking care of the four children we have and was discussing with my oldest daughter about whether she should bare her testimony or not. We have an agreement that she should bare her testimony when she is prompted, but not if she is angry. So our family was seated and my husband blessed the sacrament (bread and water) we take every Sunday in honor of Christ, as he was asked to do this on this day.

Well, today wasn’t just an ordinary Sunday. As if to answer my question, “Is reincarnation true?” , “Is the book of Mormon truly the word of God?” – a question that had lingered in my mind, one that I got yes to a number of times but also that I doubted because of different influences around me. All of a sudden a man dressed in very casual clothing stepped up on stage before the congregation. I never even noticed that he wasn’t wearing the standard church attire that we all wear on Sundays, but I did notice when he spoke. He introduced himself as having been baptized two years ago, and as having had spiritual experiences, so spiritual that he claimed that he was reincarnated as Joseph Smith, and Jesus Christ.

All I heard was the word reincarnation, and pointed at my husband who looked at me with a puzzled yet knowing look. I had mentioned my spiritual experiences to him before and he had mocked me- so this was a Right Back at Ya type moment. As I watched the man speak and tell of the visions he had and speak of a book he had written being sold on Amazon, I had an overwhelming desire to speak to him. I wanted to hear more of what he experienced. My little six year old girl pulled on my dress and standing in front of me, announced she had to go pottie. I knew this was the perfect moment.

I ran out of the chapel room and saw the man that had just spoken outside being consoled by my friend, and fellow LDS member Dave. He too had sought this man out to hear more. I hurriedly took my little girl to the bathroom, hoping and praying that the man would still be there. I told my little girl to hurry up. She did, but as she raced back with me to the area that the man was, she announced she had not finished. Knowing I would eventually have to take her again, I quickly made my way outside to where the two brethren were.

The man crying was Chris, and he sobbed fervently explaining that he was asked to go to our ward; though he is in a different ward specifically to announce what Christ told him to announce. I told him to not be afraid, as he kept repeating how scared he was. I told him that fear is of the demon, God is all love. ‘Before I go on, let me just state that I have a firm belief that God uses all of us as tools for a higher purpose; the devil (through his demons a.k.a. wicked spirits) uses us as well, for a lower purpose; and we have our free agency to follow the promptings in either case.’  So, Chris proceeded to say he was a prophet, and of some of the spiritual experiences he had~ he stated that Jesus dressed in a white robe and God the Father appeared to him and told him that reincarnation was real and he was appointed to be Christ, and that he was a reincarnate of Joseph Smith as well; and that now he was Christ reincarnated. Are these signs of the End times? Yes they are.

Signs That Show The End Times Are Here:

“For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.” ~ Matthew 24:5

In my opinion, Chris was being deceived. Do I believe he saw what he saw? Yes, although I was tempted to ask him if he had ever been on medication, I do believe he saw what he saw. However, I firmly believe that once we spiritually progress and make that spiritual progression our main goal, by coming onto Christ, we will be exalted. In other words, we will become One with God. But that was not all, I had previously met a man on Facebook who claimed Christ had entered into his body and that he was the true prophet. Well, Chris was another. Another false prophet. Not that he knew he was, but I knew it, only because in 1986 there was a man who had an encounter with Christ, and was told to perform sexual acts, and his account is in wikepedia~ he was a former pastor as I recall. Based on these, I knew that these were all the false prophets being spoken of in the scriptures. So, how can we tell which prophets are real? Real prophets and their experiences have been mentioned in the scriptures.

Matthew 7:15 – “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”

With this scripture, the man who claimed to be a reincarnate of Christ in 2005 Australia came to mind. The 300 plus people who followed him into a commune paying for all his needs; this is what I feel this scripture spoke of. And for any other prophet that claimed to be Christ. For I know, in my heart, our Savior will never be reincarnated; why? because he is God. He is a the Son of God, and has already been Exalted. From my understanding, based on pondering and prayer, those who do not find Christ; may (as near death experiences suggest) – be reincarnated. Buddha himself saw his many previous selves.

Joseph Smith our LDS prophet who started the LDS faith, said “Reincarnation was the doctrine of the devil” and he is right. It is, because it offers no hope. No salvation, just a recycling of souls in new bodies. If you want to know more about reincarnation, please read my post here.

I knew how Chris was feeling, I have felt that same feeling before. When one experiences spiritual experiences, one feels like he/she has been appointed by the Lord himself to do His work. What to do? Write a book? Make a blog? Why? because  Indeed, I believe that there are a few select of us (not that we are better than anyone of you) but these few select people (we that see visions, have intense spiritual experiences, dream of God and Jesus) are souls that have progressed spiritually and have pure hearts. Those of us that have these spiritual experiences therefore, also are very much apostles of Jesus Christ in a sense, as we need to now strive to live righteously and forget mammon~ and believe me, this is a day to day struggle.

Once one aligns his will with God, he will feel an intense supernatural feeling where the holy ghost becomes stronger in his body. This has happened to me on a few occasions. When a thought came into my head – and I got the intense feeling of bliss, happiness, peace all in one- I knew that that thought was not mine- it was the Lord’s and my will had aligned with His, and I was fortunate enough to experience His energy which was all Love and happiness, no fear, no worries, no anger, simply Love and joy and peace.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.” Isaiah 55:8. ~ I recently read this scripture, and thought about it. The thoughts that we have on a day to day basis- are all related to our needs or desires at the time; definitely these are ours~ per our free agency, and our environment. However, when we have a prompting, to say something. This is when the Lord is telling us to Do. You may experience this when driving down the road you see a homeless person on the street begging. Do you keep going? or do you turn back and help? If your mind and body, thoughts and actions are aligned with the will of the Lord’s then Yes, you will go back, and you will help that woman or man. For we are to be like Christ, if  “Heavenly fathers spirit dwelleth inside of” us, then all things are possible.

And I say this in Jesus Christ our Savior’s holy name Amen.