Is it possible that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ will happen within the next decade?
For those who have followed the advice given by Jesus Christ in the New Testament to watch for the signs of his coming in the last days of the earth’s mortal existence, the answer to that question is likely yes.
There is actually a relatively obscure prophecy that has to do with the Atlanta, Georgia Temple dedication in 1983 that may be of interest to you. If the prophecy is true, we can expect the Savior to have returned to rule over the earth by the year 2033.
I’m going to tell you the details of this prophecy and how I found out about it, including what I learned recently.
But first, some context…
Signs of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ
Since 2020, Latter-day Saints (at least the ones I interact with) have been increasingly interested in studying the signs of the Savior’s Second Coming. The “COVID Pandemic” opened a lot of our eyes regarding how deep and ubiquitous secret combinations are among governments and other authorities throughout the world. That event also caused many of us to take a deeper look at the signs of the Savior’s Second Coming and the increasing evidence (especially the increasing wickedness throughout the world) that the time is getting much closer for the events that will ultimately change everything about the world we currently live in as the wicked are destroyed and the righteous experience an almost unimaginable existence where the knowledge of the Lord covers the earth, causing all enmity to disappear.
We know that some of the most important signs leading up to the Second Coming have been in the process of fulfillment since the restoration of the gospel through Joseph Smith in the early 1800s.
Some of the most significant of these signs include:
- increasing wars and natural disasters
- the preaching of the gospel to all nations
- the gathering of Israel
- signs that would happen in the heavens (the 2017 and 2024 solar eclipses are two major examples)
- increasing, intense persecution of the saints
- increases in deception and the existence of false prophets
- the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem (you can follow progress on this at The Temple Institute)
Anyone who is paying close attention can see that these signs have been or are in the process of being fulfilled, and that in many ways the lead up to the revolutionary events described by Isaiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, John the Revelator, Nephi, Samuel the Lamanite, Mormon, and Moroni in ancient scriptures, and by Joseph Smith in modern revelation appear to be accelerating. The one major caveat to those signs it the Church’s growth, which appears to have slowed dramatically, especially as a significant percentage of youth are leaving the Church.
But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
– Jesus, speaking of his return to the earth in the last days, Matthew 24:36
No Man Knows the Day Nor the Hour?
The Savior is quoted in the New Testament as having said that no man knows the day nor the hour of his return. However, even in that quote means exactly what it says, it doesn’t mean that nobody would know the year or the decade of the Savior’s return.
In fact, a quote attributed to Joseph Smith gives a very different perspective on whether it would be revealed to anyone around the time of the Savior’s coming that it was getting close.
Christ says no man knoweth the day or the hour when the Son of Man cometh (Matt 24:36). …Did Christ speak this as a general principle throughout all generations? Oh no, he spoke in the present tense. No man that was then living upon the footstool of God knew the day or the hour. But he did not say that there was no man throughout all generations that should not know the day or the hour. No for this would be in flat contradiction with other scripture for the prophet (Amos 3:7) says that God will do nothing but what he will reveal unto his Servants the prophets.
– Joseph Smith (as recorded in the journal of James Burgess Notebook on April 6, 1843, recorded in The Words of Joseph Smith, page 180)
Elder Vaughn J Featherstone’s Vision of the South Letter
In 2019, I moved my family from Utah to Tennessee for several reasons, one of which was so that we could be much more heavily involved in doing missionary work than what was possible in Utah County, where we were moving from.
When we arrived in the Nashville area and started going to our new ward in Brentwood, someone we met in our new ward found out that I had done work for the Church’s online missionary efforts, and that I was involved with helping our local missionaries do online lead generation to find people to teach. He told me about a prophetic letter that he thought I should read that predicted the growth in the Church that would happen in the South. I was told that the letter was written by Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone and included in the time capsule of the Atlanta, Georgia Temple in 1983.
I found a copy of the letter online, and I read it from the context of seeing what Elder Featherston, who was a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy from 1976 until 2001, had to say about the Church’s growth in the South. As I read the letter, I saw the names of temples that are in operation today being mentioned nearly 40 years previous as ones that would be built in the South, including Charlotte (North Carolina), Columbia (South Carolina), Birmingham (Alabama), Jackson (Mississippi), and Nashville (Tennessee). Elder Featherstone nailed it with those predictions.
Elder Featherstone also predicted that the Church’s membership in region deemed the South (which stood at just over 110,000 when he wrote the letter) would exceed a million members. It’s likely that the million number has not been reached, and it may take a little divine intervention to get to that number anytime soon considering the overall religious trends in the United States, including among Latter-day Saints, many of whom (especially) are not faring well as they face the onslaught of immorality persistent in today’s world.
“Those of You Who Read This Letter Have Witnessed The Second Coming of Christ”
The part of Elder Featherstone’s letter that struck me the most was the first paragraph, in which Elder Featherstone almost casually mentions that, “Those of you who read this letter have witnessed the Second Coming of Christ, the day for which we have long awaited.”
Wait…what?
Yes, that’s what he said in 1983.
Elder Featherstone also sympathizes with those who would be present when the time capsule containing his letter would be opened, saying that they “had probably lived through the darkest period of the history of the world.”
Elder Featherstone’s letter, which is now available as a PDF in the Church’s online archives, discusses the significance of Jesus Christ addressing the people in person. He concludes the letter with a personal note to the Savior, should his letter come to the Lord’s attention.
When I first found this letter and read it on a WordPress hosted website associated with a relative of Elder Featherstone, who apparently published it after finding it in his family archives, I considered it somewhat apocryphal. However, recent experiences have made the letter much more validated.
First, sometime after 2019 (as far as I can tell; I couldn’t find it on the Church’s official website before then) the letter has been published officially in the Church’s archives, available for anyone to read it.
Second, several months ago, I went with my kids to visit the Atlanta Temple, since our temple in Nashville (Franklin, actually) was closed for remodeling. Besides doing baptisms there, one thing I had on my checklist was to ask about Elder Featherstone’s letter.
As we finished up doing baptisms, I asked the brother who was directing the baptistry if he could answer some questions for me, and he obliged. The conversation went like this.
Me: Are you familiar with the letter written by Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone commonly referred to as “The Vision for the South”?
Temple Worker: Yes, I am very familiar with it.
Me: That letter was written and placed into the temple time capsule in 1983. Is that correct?
Temple Worker: Yes, that’s correct.
Me: And the time capsule is a 50-year time capsule?
Temple Worker: Yes. 50 years.
Me: So do you know whether that time capsule is going to be opened and the letter read in 2033?
Temple Worker: Yes, that’s the plan.
Me: Is it just a rumor, or did Elder Featherstone actually speak about the Savior’s return in that letter?
Temple Worker: It’s not a rumor. The letter discusses the Savior being physically present.
Me: Well, what does all of this mean to you?
Temple Worker: It means Jesus Christ will have returned to the earth within 10 years from now.
For those of us who have watched the disintegration of society and the rapid acceleration of wickedness that is making its way into our churches, our homes, and into the lives of our children, the hope that Jesus will be returning soon to fix the situation is very encouraging.
If you’re interested in looking more into what has been said about Jesus’ Second Coming happening by 2033, especially from the Latter-day Saint perspective, you might want to take a look at this discussion between Troy Ables (The Last Dispensation podcast) and Mickaël Hall about scriptural evidence that the Second Coming will take place by 2033.
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