Mormons: Why would a patriarchal blessing tell a person they will see the 2nd coming, and the person dies?

Question

For those of you who don't know, this blessing is a sanctioned type of horoscope in a way. Of course the Mormons would never refer to it as such, but it was called a "roadmap to your life" many times when I was in LDS Sunday School, and the basic principle is that God will inspire a patriarch to talk about your life in particular, and predict events that will happen.

My own blessing talked extensively about Army barracks, which is very coincidental, since I told my patriarch I would go for Army duty for life. I got out of active service a couple years later, and barracks are really not an option anyore for me.

Anyway, back to my question. My paternal grandfather died recently, and we were cleaning out his house the other day for my grandmother, and we found his blessing. It very clearly states that if he "followed the teachings of the church", he would LIVE to see the 2nd coming of the Lord. I know this is not a rare blessing. There was a speaker in church talking... (continued)

Answer 1

because like all religions the LDS church is nonsense and man made.

Answer 2

Hmm. I have seen blessings like that, too. Let's do an analogy; what if you were assigned to clean house while your mom was gone, but then you went and played and did your own thing, and you suddenly panicked because your mom was coming home and the house was still messy. But then let's say your mom called and said you had 30 minutes extra because she had to run another errand, so after getting off the phone you breathed a sigh of relief and started cleaning house more in earnest. Maybe it's the same with the Second Coming. Some of God's children need more time to repent and "clean house" so to speak. Is it a sin to say a certain blessing will apply to someone and then they go and die? Is it an inconsistency ? No, it just means that something about conditions may have changed, and sometimes other people's free agency comes into play. I believe that we are in the last 15 to 25 years before the Second Coming, and although people who were and are your grandfather's age may be ready, I don't think the younger generation is ready yet. I have heard an apostle say, Elder Boyd K. Packer, in a talk to the Seminary-aged youth in 1987 or so, that there was plenty of time for them to grow up, have children, and even grandchildren before the Second Coming. If you take the oldest set of students back in 1987, at age 18, and say they got married young, by 20, or 1989, and then had children, the oldest of which got married at age 20 or so, or let's say about the year 2010, then the very earliest that the Second Coming could possibly even happen is 2011. Our job is to trust that God knows what He is doing, with the timing of people who are coming to earth. I was hoping my grandparents would still be alive for the Second Coming, but apparently it was their assignment to go on to the spirit world to help get the rest of the world ready. Remember their spirits are still eternal, and they will still be around to see the Second Coming and the Resurrection and the Millennium.

Answer 3

The Lord told Joseph Smith that if he lived to be 85, he would see the face of the Lord. Well, he didn't and I think Jesus knew that when He said it. Joseph was left to wonder if that meant he would die and see him, if that meant the second coming or if it meant some other visitation other than the second coming. The point is that partriarchal blessing, like scripture, may have multiple meanings. Mine says that I will be a leader in my chosen vocation. I am 56, working as civil servant, and basically don't know what my chosen vocation is yet. That may mean that I haven't lived in tune with the Spirit sufficiently to fulfill my promise, that maybe I am doing and fulfilling but don't recognize it, or that I may yet find my path. I actually do have a chosen vocation, I am a licensed attorney, and have been for 18 years but I am not practicing law full time, only on the weekends and evenings. I am certainly no leader in it.

Did my patriarch "lie" to me as you insist on calling it? No, of course not. He told me what the Spirit told him to tell me. It is up to me to live by the Spirit to fulfill those promises.

Maybe your Grandfather had some other interpretation to his life that you don't understand. The Spirit is a wonderful thing and you should seek humbly to understand it.

Answer 4

One of the hardest parts of giving a priesthood blessing is making sure we don't rely on our own words. There are several common phrases that, when I hear them, makes me wonder if the elder isn't just spouting filler while waiting for the Lord's words. I'm sure it is the same with patriarchs.



My grandfather was a stake patriarch. He would record the blessing on tape, then his wife would type it out and send it to Salt Lake (the Church keeps records of all patriarchal blessings).



One evening a young man came to my grandfather's house to receive his blessing. As usual, they started with a short prayer, then my grandpa put his hands on the lad's head. Unfortunately no words came and the silence drew on and on. After few minutes, my grandpa suggested another prayer before making a second attempt. Same result.



After yet another prayer, my grandfather looked at the tape recorder and noticed it wasn't working. After changing the batteries, the words for the blessing flowed.

Answer 5

Just want to chime in one more possibility here. We do know there have been several prophets or people of God who already have seen the second coming in their life - for example John the revelator saw the second coming in a vision (during his life) about 2,000 years ago.



Now, you said your grandfather was a very good man, certainly worthy of such an experience...and we do know that most people of our faith would regard such an experience "too sacred to discuss."



So, my question is, how can you be certain he didn't see it?

Answer 6

My, you're bitter. I'm sorry you lost your Grandfather. Heavenly Father obviously had a higher calling in mind for him than to just "witness" the second coming- maybe he has a more important role to play. Which i'm sure you will just say is a SMA (Standard Mormon Answer) and that that's not what his patriarchal blessing said etc etc... Nobody lied to your Gradfather- there's just some aspect that wasn't explained or that we don't understand yet.

Answer 7

My blessing was nothing more then a fortune telling, telling everyone in a round-a-bout way that I was having problem with a sin in my life, like, dah both mw and the mormon God knew this and now the person taking down the blessing and the person giving the blessing knew it to.

Supposidly if you around during the time of the second coming you will not have to experience death, unless your blessing says so, if so it contridicts the teachings of the church. ex-mormon (was a mormon for 36 years).

Answer 8

Well first, even if we're not talking about ressurection...who is to say that Jesus is not here already?



You, Me? We do not know...



I wish you would quote it because you didn't....and I don't think it would say that seeing as how the church has a strong stance against saying when Jesus will return...

Answer 9

I hate to get technical here, but your Grandpa is still alive, spiritually. Without actually reading it in context, I can't really come to conclusion.