I know I have mentioned it before but I wanted to re-emphasize that the Lord is hastening His work. I'm not saying Jesus will return tomorrow. I'm just saying that after thousands of years, the earth is being prepared for His return. Prophets have foretold this event for so long that many people now doubt or disbelieve. I'm not going to go ranting and raving through the streets about it. I totally respect every person's agency to make their own choices about what or who to believe. Jesus said, according to Luke: "And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not." As Jesus so often did, He told this parable for the benefit of those who would choose to listen whereas it is only a story/fable for those who don't have ears to listen- or a heart to want to hear. Prophets have given us plenty of signs to look for if we are interested. There have been wars and rumors of wars, bizarre weather, and the hearts of men going cold over and over throughout history. However, there is certainly an increase of all of the cataclysmic events described by prophets. But for me, the clincher is what I'm seeing as it pertains to work for our kindred dead. In LDS temples, those who did not have the opportunity to be baptized (a requirement covenant for entering the Lord's kingdom) can be baptized by proxy even though they no longer have a physical body to do so. Those who want to be sealed to their spouse and parents and children for eternity but did not have the opportunity while living, can choose to accept the proxy work done for them in LDS temples. (By the way, if you doubt whether there is life beyond what you see and hear and touch every day, there are plenty of witnesses who could tell you about the fact that we all have spirits which will go on long after our bodies have quit and are buried or cremated or whatever.)
I mentioned before that I see names of people from all over the world being recorded in the temple every day. The most exciting are the names from former Communist bloc countries, China, India, and Africa. The work has been spreading in South America for quite awhile now and has been helped along by the building of more temples making them more easily accessible to more LDS members willing to do the proxy work. When several years ago I first heard of all this I thought to myself that there were so many people who have lived throughout the history of this planet, how could we ever manage to do work for so many billions? I had decided that it would be a primary activity during the Millenium, after the Lord returns and the graves are opened. Prophets have said that we don't need to worry about hastening this work because the Lord will do it. He is. Within my lifetime I have seen genealogy go from a dark, dusty pastime for strange people interested in digging through old books to an interest for millions of people anxious to discover their roots. I remember watching and reading "Roots", about the ancestry of an American black. Then came computerized communication with places that keep records so you no longer had to search for hours on microfilms that you ordered months before. There have been a couple of tv programs involving the search for ancestors of various entertainment stars. Ancestry.com has now come out of obscurity to be a major website. (I wish I had bought stock in them early on!) The LDS Church sponsors a program called indexing. This involves, first, people (usually senior missionaries) going to various town halls, church record storage closets or basements, and other community places where records are kept then photographing page after page of records. These are then downloaded and made available on the internet so volunteers can spend hours trying to decipher and transcribe into the computer all of the most important information. This information is then organized to be available to anyone who is searching for their ancestors by name, place, birthdate, and any other fact that can help link families together. Then once they have sufficient accurate information, LDS members request to do temple work for these deceased family members. Last year in the Nauvoo temple alone there were 25,000 baptisms performed in one month. There are nearly 150 temples throughout the world and they are recording thousands of names and ordinances in each one every day. It's mind-boggling! I think the most fascinating thing for me is to see the interest blooming in young people. I had no interest to speak of in my ancestors when I was only a teenager or younger. I don't think I even cared that much in my 20's. Now every day I see 12 year olds eager to have even one card printed off so they can be baptized for someone in their family. We have lines of young missionaries eagerly entering the temple doors to do work for their kindred dead. The work is definitely hastening!
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