Prophecy

The future isn't daunting when we follow the counsel of living prophets to guide us.

The following story originally ran on LDS Living in 2016.

The following has been republished with permission from gospelstudy.us.

Simply put, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has embarked on an unprecedented era of more international temples.

One of our favorite places to go for family vacation is called Craters of the Moon in Idaho. It’s a weird place that’s covered with miles and miles of black lava rocks and dormant volcanoes. It looks much like the surface of the moon, except that there’s no vegetation on the moon. Craters, at least, has a few trees and some sagebrush. Nearby, there’s a place called Hell’s Half Acre. The name says it all. It’s similar to Craters of the Moon, but it’s more burned looking.

The announcement of seven new temples to be built across the world (three of which are the first in their countries) this conference was an exciting and historic message to many members—and it even fulfilled prophecy.

Between the time the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness and the Savior's birth, the Bible refers to several women as prophetesses, a term that can be troubling to those who restrict the meaning of prophet to a man whom God authorizes to declare doctrine, relay His will to His people, and lead them back to Him.

The people of Connecticut in those days thought it wicked to believe in any religion, or belong to any church, except the Presbyterian. They did not believe in having any prophets, apostles, or revelations, as they had in the days of Jesus, and as we now have in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

President Lyndon B. Johnson and President David O. McKay had one of the closest relationships between a Church president and U.S. president. They spoke fondly of each other and President Johnson visited Salt Lake City numerous times, even before Johnson was elected.

In this excerpt from Precept upon Precept, Robert L. Millet explores the experience of the prophet Joseph Smith along with his scribe Sidney Rigdon as they received one of the most remarkable revelations from God—the vision of the degrees of glory.

Close behind the organization of the Church in the meridian of time came the apostasy, accompanied by a diversification of beliefs that would lead ultimately to thousands of different Christian denominations. Every doctrinal disagreement seemed to be a cause for reorganization: perhaps the only cause. In any religious organization where doctrine does not matter, or where there is unity of opinion about the doctrine, splinter groups are not likely to break off from the main body. But thousands had broken off and now, on the 6th of April of 1830, the time had finally come for the Lord to put things right and to restore “the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth . . .” (D&C 1:30).

The first temple to be built in Wyoming was announced by President Monson at the October 2011 general conference, but this announcement wasn't too much of a surprise to members living in the state.