I create new heavens … and a new earth

1. I create new heavens…and a new earth www.kevinhinckley.com

2. You be the judge! In rural Carbon County, Pennsylvania, a group of men were drinking beer and discharging firearms from the rear deck of a home owned by Irving Michaels, age 27. The men were firing at a raccoon that was wandering by, but the beer apparently impaired their aim. Despite an estimated 35 shots fired by the group, the animal escaped into a 3' diameter drainage pipe 100 feet away from Mr. Michaels' deck. Determined to terminate the animal, Mr. Michaels retrieved a can of gasoline and poured some down the pipe, intending to smoke the animal out. After several unsuccessful attempts to ignite the fuel, Michaels emptied the entire five-gallon fuel can down the pipe and tried to light it again, to no avail. Not one to admit defeat by wildlife, the determined Mr. Michaels proceeded to slide feet-first approximately 15 feet down the sloping pipe to toss the match. The subsequent rapidly-expanding fireball propelled Mr. Michaels back the way he had come, though at a much higher rate of speed. He exited the angled pipe "like a Polaris missile leaves a submarine," according to witness Joseph McFadden, 31.Mr. Michaels was launched directly over his own home, right over the heads of his astonished friends, onto his front lawn. In all, he traveled over 200 feet through the air. "There was a Doppler Effect to his scream as he flew over us," McFadden reported, "followed by a loud thud." Amazingly, he suffered only minor injuries."It was actually pretty cool," Michaels said, "Like when they shoot someone out of a cannon at the circus. I'd do it again if I was sure I wouldn't get hurt."

3. Isaiah’s Plea Isaiah 63 JST O LORD, why hast thou suffered us to err from thy ways, and to harden our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants' sake, the tribes of thine inheritance. The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary. Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence

4. The Lord’s Answer For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. 18 But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. 19 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.

5. Conditions During the Millennium There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old…. And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.

6. President Hinckley Then will begin the great Millennium, a period of a thousand years when Satan shall be bound and the Lord shall reign over his people. Can you imagine the wonder and the beauty of that era when the adversary shall not have influence? Think of his pull upon you now and reflect on the peace of that time when you will be free from such influence. There will be quiet and goodness where now there is contention and evil… We need not fear the day of his coming; the very purpose of the Church is to provide the incentive and the opportunity for us to conduct our lives in such a way that those who are members of the kingdom of God will become members of the kingdom of heaven when he establishes that kingdom on the earth.

7. Misunderstood teaching Question: What is the difference between The Kingdom of Heaven and The Kingdom of God on Earth?

8. John Taylor [The Constitution of the United States is] "the entering wedge for the introduction of a new era, and in it were introduced principles for the birth and organization of a new world."

9. Orson Pratt The Constitution of the United States is "a stepping stone to a form of government infinitely greater and more perfect-a government founded upon divine laws, and officers appointed by the God of heaven."

10. Orson Pratt The Lord had a hand in framing [the] Constitution. Why did not the Lord, at the time, introduce a perfect government-a theocracy? It was simply because the people were not prepared for it.... They were far from being prepared for the government of God, which is a government of union. But will the government of the United States continue forever? No, it is not sufficiently perfect; and, notwithstanding it has been sanctioned by the Lord at the time when it was suited to the circumstances of the people, yet the day will come ... when the United States government, and all others, will be uprooted and the kingdoms in this world will be united in one, and the kingdom of God will govern the whole earth. The nucleus of such a government is formed and its laws have emanated from the throne of God.... It was for this purpose, then, that the republic was organized upon this continent, to prepare the way for a kingdom that shall have dominion over all the earth to the ends thereof.

11. Brigham Young This body of men will give laws to the nations of the earth… We are called the State Legislature, but when the time comes, we shall be called the Kingdom of God. Our government is going to pieces, and it will be like water that is split upon the ground that cannot be gathered. . . . For the time will come when we will give laws to the nations of the earth. Joseph Smith organized this government before, in Nauvoo, and he said if we did our duty, we should prevail over all our enemies. We should get all things ready, and when the time comes, we should let the water on the wheel and start the machine in motion.

12. Hyrum L. Andrus I find that too often people in the Church think that the Prophet Joseph Smith was merely a religious teacher. They look at the Church as merely a Sunday religion and when someone talks about the Welfare Program or some other aspect of the gospel not fully religious in nature, they begin questioning the judgment and the authority of the brethren on these particular things and wonder why the Church should take an interest in such things. So it is good merely to have a broader orientation of the gospel program as the Lord intended it to function in this the dispensation of the fulness of time. It was a mighty vision that filled the mind of Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet. "I intend to lay a foundation," he said, "that will revolutionize the world." He went on to say that it is not by the sword or by the gun that this kingdom will roll on. The power of truth, he said, is such that eventually the nations of the earth will have to obey the gospel program in all its aspects.