100 Signs of the Times by David J Ridges

Author:David J Ridges
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cedar Fort Publishing
Published: 2017-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

SIGN 42

KNOWLEDGE, SCIENCE, AND TECHNOLOGY WILL INCREASE DRAMATICALLY

CATEGORY: BEING FULFILLED

This is a fascinating sign of the last days. We indeed live in a day of unprecedented advances in all forms of knowledge and technology. President Hinckley spoke of this during the Saturday morning session of the October 2001 general conference of the Church:

There has been more of scientific discovery during these years than during all of the previous history of mankind. Transportation, communication, medicine, public hygiene, the unlocking of the atom, the miracle of the computer, with all of its ramifications, have blossomed forth, particularly in our own era. During my own lifetime, I have witnessed miracle after wondrous miracle come to pass. (“Living in the Fulness of Times,” Ensign, November 2001, 4)

We find this prophecy of a latter-day increase in knowledge in the book of Daniel (bold added for emphasis):

Daniel 12:4

4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

It even sounds like the phrase “many shall run to and fro” could refer to modern transportation and the resulting hustle and bustle of society in the last days.

It is interesting to pay attention to the timing when so many of these advances have come onto the scene. If you were to take a large chalkboard and begin to plot inventions from about 4,000 BC and continue to the present day, putting one dot on the board for each invention that advanced the status of mankind, you would find very few dots until about the time of the restoration of the gospel through Joseph Smith. Then, the frequency of advances in all sorts of endeavor would begin to increase dramatically. Just a few examples follow:

1840s — The discovery of germs by Dr. Semmelweis, Vienna, Austria

1846 — The first large-scale demonstration of general anesthesia, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston

1868 — The typewriter

1869 — The telegraph

1876 — The telephone

1877 — The phonograph

1877 — Arc welding

1879 — The lightbulb

1880s — The Kodak camera

1880 — The pneumatic tire

1884 — The fountain pen

1888 — The ballpoint pen

1890s — The automobile

1890s — Silent movies

1890s — Marconi’s radio crystal

1891 — Forerunner of the zipper

1893 — Half-tone printing

1898 — Photographic paper

1899 — Magnetic tape recorder

1903 — Wright Brother’s airplane

1907 — Radio tube

1915 — Tungsten filament for light bulbs, etc.

1920 — Talking movies

1934 — Television

1937 — Jet engine

1939 — Computer

1947 — Transistor

And if we were to attempt to continue the list up to the current day, it would be a virtually impossible task. In Doctrine and Covenants 88:73, the Lord said, “I will hasten my work in its time,” and indeed He has inspired the means and technology to hasten the spread of the gospel throughout the world. If you look at the brief and limited list of inventions given above, you will note that many of the inventions have to do with communication and transportation. Certainly, this is part of the grand plan of the Lord to enable the true gospel to be preached to the entire world before the end comes (Matthew 24:14).

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