1. The Books of Joel & Amos:
Preparing for
The Second Coming

2. How do you feel about the signs and events that will accompany the Second Coming?
Three Appearances
1. Christ will appear at Adam-ondi-Ahman

3. THE GATHERING AT ADAM-ONDI-AHMAN
Before the great and dreadful day when the Lord is to return, there is to be an appearance at a place called Adam-ondi-Ahman. There Adam, the Ancient of Days, will sit in council with his children; there Christ will come, and to him shall be given "dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." (Dan. 7.) The place where this gathering will take place has been specified by revelation (D. & C. 116), and so imminent is its occurrence that the Prophet Joseph Smith was led to remark, "This may take place before some of us leave this stage of action." (Teachings, p. 157.)

4. 1. Christ will appear at Adam-ondi-Ahman
Three Appearances
1. Christ will appear at Adam-ondi-Ahman
2. The Savior will appear to the Jews in Jerusalem

5. Joel
Battle of Armageddon

7. Armgageddon Megiddo (Hebrew): “The place of troops.”
“All nations shall be gathered against Jerusalem to battle...”
The soldiers total 200,000,000 (Revelation 9:16)
7 years to burn the weapons
7 months to bury the dead (see Ezekiel 39: 9-12)

8. 1. Christ will appear at Adam-ondi-Ahman
Three Appearances
1. Christ will appear at Adam-ondi-Ahman
2. The Savior will appear to the Jews in Jerusalem
3. The Lord will appear in glory to all mankind

9. PROPHECIES
Glance at Joel 2:1–11 and Joel 2: What plagues were prophesied?
Read Joel 2:28–29 looking for what the Lord would show in the latter days.
PREVENTIONS
Read Joel 2:12–13
Rend their hearts and not their garments?

10. “The future of this world has long been declared; the final outcome between good and evil is already known. There is absolutely no question as to who wins because the victory has already been posted on the scoreboard. The only really strange thing in all of this is that we are still down here on the field trying to decide which team’s jersey we want to wear!”  (BYU devotional, 1983)

11. Based on commentary made by
Signs of the Times
Based on commentary made by
Elder Bruce R. McConkie
(Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 2d ed. [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1966], 734.)

12. Signs of the times DISCOVERY AND USE OF PRINTING
PROTESTANT REFORMATION AND AGE OF RENAISSANCE
DISCOVERY AND COLONIZATION OF AMERICA
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE AMERICAN NATION.
TRANSLATION AND PRINTING OF BIBLE.
ESTABLISHMENT OF U.S. CONSTITUTION
LATTER-DAY REVELATION
COMING FORTH OF THE BOOK OF MORMON
OPPOSITION TO THE BOOK OF MORMON
RESTORATION OF KEYS AND PRIESTHOOD
RESTORATION OF THE GOSPEL
CHURCH AND KINGDOM SET UP AGAIN
GROWTH OF THE CHURCH
BUILDING OF LATTER-DAY TEMPLES
LORD TO COME SUDDENLY TO TEMPLE
SPIRIT OF ELIJAH AND GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH
PERSECUTION OF THE SAINTS
PERSECUTION OF THE JEWS
TRUE GOSPEL TO BE PREACHED IN ALL THE WORLD
WORLDLY KNOWLEDGE TO INCREASE; SCIENTIFIC AND INVENTIVE PROGRESS
DISEASE, PLAGUE, PESTILENCE TO SWEEP EARTH
ELEMENTS IN COMMOTION
DISASTERS AND CALAMITIES TO ABOUND STRIKES, ANARCHY, VIOLENCE, TO INCREASE
LATTER-DAY WICKEDNESS
SPIRIT CEASING TO STRIVE WITH WICKED
FAMINES, DEPRESSIONS, AND ECONOMIC TURMOIL
MANY FALSE CHURCHES IN LATTER-DAYS
LAMANITES TO BLOSSOM AS THE ROSE

13. “Recently we experienced the worst windstorm Bountiful has seen in several decades.… Just as I was hearing news reports of semi trucks—twenty of them—being blown over on the roadside, I looked out my lovely back window down toward our creek and saw one of our large trees go down with a crash. … “For a moment, I confess, I was truly fearful. It was very early in the morning, and Jeff was just leaving for the office. I said to him, ‘Do you think this is the end? Is it all over—or about to be?’”
“My husband, who has deep faith and endless optimism, took me in his arms and said, ‘No, but wouldn’t it be wonderful if it were? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Christ really did come and his children really were ready for him? Wouldn’t it be terrific if evil was finally conquered, once and for all, and the Savior of the world came down in the midst of the New Jerusalem to wipe away every tear from every eye? Yes,’ my husband said, ‘in lots of ways I wish it were the end, but it’s not. It is just a stiff windstorm in Bountiful. We have got more work todo’” (A Quiet Heart, 129–30).

23. Have you ever tried to warn someone who did not heed your warning
Have you ever tried to warn someone who did not heed your warning? What happened?
Has someone ever tried to warn you, but you did not heed the warning? What happened?
Read Amos 2:10-12 and Amos 8:11-12
Why would someone want the prophets to  “prophesy not”?
What are examples of times when people lost the blessing of prophets?
Read the no brainer questions posed in Amos 3:3–6. How does the  Scripture Mastery verse in Amos 3:7 answer those questions? (look at the Joseph Smith Translation of Amos 3:7)

24. What evidences do we have that an Apostasy occurred?
“After the deaths of the Savior and His Apostles, men corrupted the principles of the gospel and made unauthorized changes in Church organization and priesthood ordinances. … “During the Great Apostasy, people were without divine direction from living prophets. Many churches were established, but they did not have priesthood power to lead people to the true knowledge of God the Father and Jesus Christ …This apostasy lasted until Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son appeared to Joseph Smith in 1820and initiated the restoration of the fulness of the gospel” (True to the Faith: A Gospel Reference[2004], 13).

25. APOSTASY OR RESTORATION EVENTS
Christ born
Began ministry
Crucified
Apostles taught and were killed off

26. “James was killed in Jerusalem by Herod. Peter and Paul died in Rome
“James was killed in Jerusalem by Herod. Peter and Paul died in Rome. Tradition holds that Philip went to the East. Much more than this we do not know.
“They scattered; they taught, testified, and established the Church. And they died for their beliefs, and with their deaths came the dark centuries of apostasy.
“The most precious thing lost in the Apostasy was the authority held by the Twelve—the priesthood keys. For the Church to be His Church, there must be a Quorum of the Twelve who hold the keys and confer them on others” (“The Twelve,” Ensign orLiahona, May 2008, 84).

27. APOSTASY OR RESTORATION EVENTS
Christ born
Began ministry
Crucified
Apostles taught and were killed off
Constantine holds council at Nicea
Second Nicean Council- Saint Worship
Pope Joan (?)
Great Schism

28. “As the centuries passed, the flame flickered and dimmed
“As the centuries passed, the flame flickered and dimmed. Ordinances were changed or abandoned. The line was broken, and the authority to confer the Holy Ghost as a gift was gone. The Dark Ages of apostasy settled over the world” (“The Cloven Tongues of Fire,” Ensign, May 2000, 8).

29. APOSTASY OR RESTORATION EVENTS (con’t)
Pope Innocent III – Indulgences / Printing Press
Renaissance
Columbus
1515 Martin Luther
1523 Martin Luther excommunicated
1534 Henry VIII – Episcopalian Church
John Calvin - Presbyterians
John Knox – Puritans

30. APOSTASY OR RESTORATION EVENTS (con’t)
Puritans move to Boston
1776 Revolutionary War
1783 U.S. Constitution
1805 Joseph Smith born
First Vision
1830 The Church is Restored

31. Who has a testimony of the Restoration?
Amos 3:7; 8:11–12. Video presentation—“God Reveals His Secrets”

32. “This is a time to be strong
“This is a time to be strong. It is a time to move forward without hesitation, knowing well the meaning, the breadth and the importance of our mission. It is a time to do what is right regardless of the consequences that might follow. It is a time to be found keeping the commandments.” (Gordon B. Hinckley Conference Report, April 1995)

33. Apostasy, Restoration & Preparing for
The Books of Joel & Amos:
Apostasy, Restoration & Preparing for
The Second Coming