Prepping for the Second Coming

In his talk titled Preparing for the Lord's Return, Elder D. Todd Christofferson spoke of the Millennium, the time following Jesus' Second Coming in which just about every problem of mortality will be solved:

When He comes, oppression and injustice will not only diminish; they will cease:
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Poverty and suffering will not only decline; they will vanish:
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Even the pain and sorrow of death will be done away:

And so on. All in all, it sounds like a wonderful time to be alive, if we live long enough to see it.

The only downside to the Millennium is that it is preceded by a period of natural, man-made, and supernatural disasters in which all of the wicked, and even many of the righteous, will be destroyed. To survive that period of time, we need to prepare ourselves both spiritually and physically.

Our spiritual preparation is accomplished using the same methods we've all heard countless times: Reading scriptures, praying, repenting, giving service, etc. Basically, we prepare ourselves for the Millennium the same way we prepare for the Celestial Kingdom. We need to live as righteously as we can and repent every time we fall short.

Our physical preparation involves the same sorts of preparations we'd make for any other natural disasters. We make sure we have access to a reliable store of food and water. We prepare whatever we need in case we need to live without electricity. We make sure we have plans for responding to whatever natural disasters are common for our area, or could possibly happen in them. For example, living in a valley not far from a tectonic fault, it would be wise for me to have plans in case of floods or earthquakes, and since it's often dry here, it would be good to have a plan in case of fire as well.

If we prepare as well as we can, we can increase our chances of living to see the Millennium. Of course, our survival isn't guaranteed. Many good, prepared people will die during the Second Coming, and countless people, good and bad, will die of old age between now and then. Still, just in case the Second Coming happens during our lifetime, we would do well to be prepared to survive it.