Gramps,

Do you think that the tensions in the Middle East will ever cease in our lifetime? Or do you think it won’t happen until the Savior begins His reign during the Millennium? I am listening to the news reports about Israel’s retaliatory air strikes against Lebanon and it is breaking my heart. I have family there and I wonder how many of them may be in danger. I can really see the futility of two nations fighting against each other.

Susan, from Winfield, Kansas

Dear Susan,

Let’s look at Section 87 of the Mormon scripture, the Doctrine and Covenants. This revelation, given in 1832, predicted the start of the Civil War. In verse 6 of that revelation we are told that, beginning with the Civil War,

And thus, with the sword and by bloodshed the inhabitants of the earth shall mourn; and with famine, and plague, and earthquake, and the thunder of heaven, and the fierce and vivid lightning also, shall the inhabitants of the earth be made to feel the wrath, and indignation, and chastening hand of an Almighty God, until the consumption decreed hath made a full end of all nations.

So, to answer your question, I don’t think that hostilities will cease with Israel in our lifetime, unless we live into the Millennium. That is not very likely in my case, but highly probably in your case.

Gramps