On June 27 in a year that is yet to come, the Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints delivers a sermon which is broadcast to the worldwide membership of the Church. He speaks of the Savior’s prophecy, wherein He said: But as it was in the days of Noah, so it shall be also at the coming of the Son of Man; For it shall be with them, as it was in the days which were before the flood; for until the day that Noah entered into the ark they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage . . . And what I say unto one I say unto all men; watch, therefore, for you know not at what hour your Lord doth come (Matthew 24:41-46 [JST]).

In less than two weeks the entire world went from “eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage” to a world of despair, fear, and total and complete loss of all earthly treasures. Without warning and with no time left to prepare, the world experienced the floods of anger of a God and Father who had been as tolerant and long-suffering as divine mercy would allow. Now divine justice was to exact its toll. The technological advances that the world had extolled as making “the good life” a reality suddenly gave way. Mankind’s feeble creations were no match for the powers of an offended heaven, and the new millennium’s promised great leap forward collapsed in ruin.