The Millennium
According to LDS doctrine, the Millennium is believed to be a period of peace and righteousness. During this time, Christ will personally reign on the earth, and Satan will be bound and have no power over the people.
Latter-day Saints teach that during the first part of the Millennium, many missionaries will be needed throughout the world to teach those on the Earth about the ordinances and gospel. However as time progresses, missionary work will decrease as the knowledge that Jesus is the Christ and knowledge about the gospel spreads.
During the Millennium, the majority of the work and ordinances necessary for salvation for those who have died will be completed. The LDS Church teaches that the individuals retain free will whether or not they chose to perform the ordinances themselves or if the ordinances were performed by proxy. Doctrinally, deceased individuals must voluntarily accept the ordinances and become converted to the teachings of Christ for them to come into effect. Latter-day Saints believe that the human family tree all the way to Adam will have its temple ordinances completed. This work will be made possible through the help of those who have been resurrected at or before the Second Coming of Christ.
Latter-day Saints believe that organizations and families will continue through the Millennium similar as they are now.
Close to the end of the Millennium, it is believed that Satan will be loosed for a short period of time. At this point, the Archangel Michael, who the LDS Church teach is the same person as Adam, will lead the righteous in a final battle against Satan and his followers. LDS teachings hold that Satan and his followers will be cast into a place referred to as outer darkness. Because Satan and his followers had once lived in the presence of God, they have an undeniable knowledge of God, Jesus Christ, and their plan for humanity. Their rebellion is treated as the only unforgivable sin in Mormonism: rebellion against God's plan and attempting to deceive the people who inhabit the earth. The only people that lived on the Earth that will be cast out with Satan are those who have gained a similarly factual, non-faith-based understanding of God and his plan, and then denied or falsified this truth. These are known as the Sons of Perdition.
It is believed at the close of the Millennium, with all the work complete, the final judgment of the souls of human beings will take place. The Earth will then receive its paradisaical glory or become "celestialized" and those who lived on this earth and worthy of celestial glory, will inherit it and live with God and Christ.
Read more about this topic: Second Coming (LDS Church)
Famous quotes containing the word millennium:
“The millennium will not come as soon as women vote, but it will not come until they do vote.”
—Anna Howard Shaw (1847–1919)
“At the end of one millennium and nine centuries of Christianity, it remains an unshakable assumption of the law in all Christian countries and of the moral judgment of Christians everywhere that if a man and a woman, entering a room together, close the door behind them, the man will come out sadder and the woman wiser.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)