Checklist
to the End of the World

The falling away comes first (2 Thessalonians 2:3).

A+ prophecy; the Great Apostasy as its fulfillment: Church manual, A

Gentiles cross the ocean and win freedom, and a free land gets an inspired Constitution.

A+ prophecy; Columbus/America match: A

The First Vision starts the "restitution of all things."

A+ prophecy; First Vision as its start: A

An angel flies with the everlasting gospel (Moroni comes to Joseph Smith).

A+; Moroni as the Revelation 14 angel: A

John the Baptist, then Peter, James, and John bring back the priesthood.

Daniel's stone is cut out of the mountain without hands. Dated April 6, 1830 (this book's call); the gospel rolls forth "as the stone" (D&C 65:2). Still rolling.

A+; the kingdom as the Church: Guide to the Scriptures, A; the 1830 date: this book's call

A choice seer named Joseph, after his father, brings forth God's word.

A+ prophecy; Joseph Smith as the seer: A

A voice speaks from the dust (Isaiah 29:4), and a sealed book's words go to a learned man who can't read it (Isaiah 29:11; 2 Nephi 27:15). Nephi ties the voice to his people's record (2 Nephi 26:16); Moroni says it comes "out of the earth" (Mormon 8:26). Joining these is our reading.

A+ for each verse; the joined reading and Anthon as the learned man: A

The stick of Judah and the stick of Joseph are joined (Ezekiel 37), and their writings "grow together" (2 Nephi 3:12). D&C 27:5 ties Ephraim's stick to the Book of Mormon. Fruits still growing (this book's read).

A+ prophecy; the Bible as Judah's stick and the 1979 and 1981 editions as the joining: A

Elijah returns, as Malachi promised, and commits "the keys of this dispensation" (D&C 110:16; sealing keys, per the Church), alongside Moses and Elias. Kirtland Temple, April 3, 1836 (per the heading).

A+; the sealing-keys label and the heading: Church, A

War begins "at the rebellion of South Carolina" (the Civil War).

"The mountain of the Lord's house" is established "in the top of the mountains" (Isaiah 2:2). Isaiah names no place; Church leaders read it as the Salt Lake Temple. "All nations shall flow unto it" is still going.

A+ prophecy; the Utah reading: Church leaders, A

A checkable sign: when "these things" Jesus taught reach Lehi's descendants, the gathering of Israel has begun (3 Nephi 21:1-7). The chapter heading and Elder Russell M. Nelson, then of the Twelve (2006), read "these things" as the Book of Mormon.

A+ for the sign; the Book of Mormon as "these things": A

Israel is recovered "the second time" (Isaiah 11:11), by fishers, then hunters (Jeremiah 16:16), with Gentile kings as "nursing fathers" (Isaiah 49:23). (One line is this book's stitch.)

A+ for each verse

The gospel goes to all the world, every nation in its own tongue, as a witness.

The Church comes out of obscurity (D&C 1:30), few but over all the earth (1 Nephi 14:12), and Joseph Smith's name is known for good and evil (JS–History 1:33). ("Church of the Lamb" as ours: Latter-day Saint reading.)

A+ for each verse

Zion's stakes are a refuge from the storm (D&C 115:6), and the Saints stand in holy places (D&C 45:32; 87:8). D&C 115 was for Missouri (1838); stakes everywhere is President Harold B. Lee's application (1973), and linking stakes to holy places is President Ezra Taft Benson's (1982).

A+ for the verses; stakes everywhere as the refuge: A

Hearts turn to the fathers (Malachi 4:6; D&C 110:15), and temples spread over the earth.

A+ for hearts turning; temples "in great numbers dotting the earth": 1980 forecast by Elder Bruce R. McConkie, then of the Quorum of the Twelve, A

Lehi's descendants blossom as the rose.

Judah is "gathered again" (D&C 45:25), and Jerusalem begins to be redeemed (D&C 109:62, an 1836 prayer, not a prophecy). The full gathering follows belief in Christ (2 Nephi 10:7; 30:7), still ahead.

The times of the Gentiles head toward fulfillment (D&C 45:25-30). The gospel goes "first upon the Gentiles, and then upon the Jews" (D&C 133:8). Linking the two is the usual reading, not any one verse.

A+ for each verse; the join: inference

The Spirit is poured out on all flesh: sons and daughters prophesy.

False Christs and prophets rise to deceive even the elect.

Wars and rumors of wars, until war is poured out on all nations.

Peace is taken from the earth, and the whole earth is in commotion.

Earthquakes in divers (various) places, plus the "testimony" of storms, tempests, and waves.

Famines, pestilences, and a desolating sickness.

Wickedness spreads and the love of many goes cold: perilous times, like Noah's day.

Secret combinations (conspiracies) among the Gentiles, seeking "to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries" (Ether 8:22-25).

Wheat and tares grow together (D&C 86:7), the vineyard's last pruning (Jacob 5:62), and judgment begins at the Lord's house (D&C 112:25).

A+ for each verse; putting the last pruning in our day: a Church manual, A

Scoffers ask "Where is the promise of his coming?"; others say "All is well in Zion."

The sixth seal: angels hold the winds while God's servants are sealed (the 144,000). A manual says we're "likely" in it now. Heavily implied, but no revelation says so.

A+ for what the sixth seal holds, D&C 77:10; that we're in it now: 2023 seminary manual, A

The rainbow is withdrawn, "a token" of famine, pestilence, and great distress. Joseph said the Lord won't come in any year the bow is seen; how long it's gone, the notes don't say. Not scripture.

Zion redeemed: the New Jerusalem and its temple built in Jackson County, Missouri.

The New Jerusalem becomes "a city of refuge," "the only people that shall not be at war one with another" (D&C 45:66-69). Section 45 names no place ("hereafter... appointed"); D&C 57 appoints Independence for "the city of Zion," and D&C 84 calls it New Jerusalem. Same city: strong, but a join.

A+ for each section; the join: standard reading

The Lord suddenly comes to His temple (Malachi 3:1; D&C 133:2). Which temple, scripture doesn't say; two student manuals point to Jackson County. The Old Testament one quotes Bruce R. McConkie, then of the First Council of the Seventy: fulfilled "in part at least" at Kirtland in 1836 ([C], a Seventy's book).

A+ that He comes; which temple: Church manuals, A, and still an inference

At Adam-ondi-Ahman, Adam (the Ancient of Days) sits, and one "like the Son of man" comes to him and receives the kingdom (Daniel 7:9-14; D&C 116). The "grand council" and Adam handing his stewardship to Christ: notes of an 1839 Joseph Smith sermon ([C]).

A temple stands, and water flows out from under it to heal "the sea" (Ezekiel 47). Zechariah has "living waters" from Jerusalem (14:8). Ezekiel names neither Jerusalem nor the Dead Sea; Joseph Smith joined them in an 1843 sermon.

A+ that the waters flow and heal; Jerusalem + Dead Sea as one picture: Joseph Smith, C, and the Old Testament manual, A

Two prophets testify to the Jews (D&C 77:15) for 1,260 days, are killed, lie in the street "where also our Lord was crucified" (Jerusalem), and rise after three and a half days (Revelation 11:3-11).

The seventh seal opens and the seven trumpets sound (Revelation 8; D&C 77:12-13). Which seal the "seven last plagues" fall in, scripture never says (a 1987 Ensign overview quoted in the New Testament manual: seventh thousand years, [B]). D&C 29's hail and flesh-eating flies come "before this great day"; filing them here is this book's guess. Whether the seal has opened is the dispute.

Silence in heaven, about half an hour, right as the seventh seal opens (Revelation 8:1). It stands or falls with #40.

The abomination of desolation happens again (JS–Matthew 1:32), and all nations gather against Jerusalem to battle (Zechariah 14:2). Calling it all "Armageddon" (Revelation 16:16, no Jerusalem named) is Church manuals' combination.

A+ for each verse; combining them into one war: Church manual, A

Christ stands on the Mount of Olives, it splits, and the Jews see His wounds and know Him (D&C 45:51-53).

Jerusalem's attackers are destroyed.

The sun is darkened, the moon turns to blood, and the stars fall. (Revelation 6:12-13: sixth seal. D&C 88:87-95: near the Coming. This list follows D&C 88. See Chapters 16 and 23.)

Angels cry "Prepare ye," and "a great sign" appears that "all people shall see... together" (D&C 88:92-93). The 2001 Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual reads it as "the sign of the Son of Man" (JS–Matthew 1:36); neither verse links them.

A+; the same-sign reading: Church manual, A

"That great church, the mother of abominations" is bound in bundles, ready to be burned (D&C 88:94).

Silence in heaven, about half an hour, right before the Lord's face is unveiled (D&C 88:95).

Same silence as #41, or two? Scripture doesn't say, so both are listed. On order, I lean on D&C 88 (it came through Joseph Smith in English), since we believe the Bible "as far as it is translated correctly" (Articles of Faith 1:8). My lean, not a ruling. See Chapters 21 and 23.

Heaven's curtain unfolds; every eye sees Him coming in the clouds.

The living righteous are caught up, and the righteous dead rise to meet Him.

He comes in red apparel with the hosts of heaven, and the original Twelve judge "the whole house of Israel, even as many as have loved me" (D&C 29:12).

The day that burns: the wicked destroyed, Babylon fallen, righteous and wicked separated.

The earth is reshaped ("the islands shall become one land") and gets its "paradisiacal glory" back.

Enoch's city comes back and the two Zions meet.

Every knee bows, an angel cries "It is finished," and each thousand years' secret history is revealed.

The lost ten tribes return from the north countries and are crowned in Zion. (D&C 133 says "they who are in the north countries"; the ten-tribes tie is D&C 110:11 plus a manual. Which Zion, and when, isn't revealed: a manual says before the Coming; Elder McConkie, then of the Twelve, said Millennium (1985). Placement: this book's guess.)

Lost records come forth: the sealed portion, the brass plates, John's full record, the tribes' books. (Timing: mostly Millennial is this book's guess; the sealed portion could come sooner with faith, Ether 4:7.)

Satan is bound for a thousand years.

Christ reigns personally on the earth (Articles of Faith 1:10), and "out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem" (Isaiah 2:3). Isaiah doesn't say two cities. President Russell M. Nelson taught in 2024 that Christ "will govern from both old Jerusalem and the New Jerusalem," citing Micah 4:2.

A+ that He reigns; the two centers: President Nelson, A

Millennial life: no war (Isaiah 2:4), no death as we know it, changed "in the twinkling of an eye" (D&C 101:29-31). Per Gospel Principles, other faiths may keep their religions "for a time," and temple and missionary work get finished.

A+ for no war and no death; other faiths and the finished work: Gospel Principles, A

Satan is loosed a little season, then the last battle: Gog and Magog in Revelation 20:8, Michael against the devil in D&C 88:111-115. Neither names the other.

A+ for each passage; one battle: Guide to the Scriptures, A

The last resurrection and the final judgment.

The earth dies, rises, and becomes a celestial "sea of glass" where God dwells with His people.