The Cleansing of America is by Cleon Skousen, who some take with a grain of salt. He was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and a prolific author both of religious and political material. I had read an article written by him (which I immensely enjoyed but also took with a grain of salt), but this was my first entire book. I should have liked to have read it in book format, however, because I would have liked to have seen the footnotes. None of his references were stated in the audio book.
From what I can recall, the basic premise of the book is as follows:
As America (which includes both North and South America) becomes increasingly wicked, they will ripen for destruction. A desolating scourge will cover the land. It will be highly contagious, and affect something like 1/3 of the population. People's tongues will swell up and be dry in their mouths, and their eyes will fall from their sockets (this reminded me of a scripture I've read in Doctrine and Covenants 29:18-20). The purging will begin within the members of the LDS Church, and then spread through all people. Although some righteous people will surely be lost, mostly the wicked will be afflicted. After this "cleansing," America will be ready to receive God's law and be a Zion people. There will be a variety of churches in the land, but all will recognize Christ as their Savior. He will also be their law-giver, and a headquarters will be established in Independence, Missouri. Before America is sealed off to become Zion, all will be invited to come, as long as they are willing to abide by God's laws. At this time, a military dictator named Gog will be conquering Europe and Asia. The only way to escape him will be to come to Zion/America. At this time all of the missionaries of the LDS Church will come home. After a period of time, that opportunity will close, and there will be some change in the ocean's currents and wind currents that prevent any travel to or from America, essentially sealing it off. During this time of isolation, America will develop into a Zion society, and Gog will go about conquering the world. At a certain point, Gog will come to Israel. He will have no problem conquering cities...until he gets to Jerusalem, which he will siege. Then the prophecy in Revelation 11 will come true, about 2 prophets preaching in Jerusalem for 3.5 years (the length of the Savior's ministry!). Then Gog will break through and kill the 2 prophets and declare a holiday, partying in the streets for 3 days until they are resurrected (in which case they freak out). That much I remember. Then at some point the lost 10 tribes come back and help in the fighting, the Savior steps on the mount of Olives which cleaves in two and saves the Jews, and the rest of the events of the Second Coming occur. It gets a bit fuzzy at that point in my memory.
That was all objective. Personally, I can recognize several scriptures and prophecies that I am familiar with (I enjoy studying this subject), but I've never strung together the order as he did, and he has interpreted certain things (e.g. he thinks the 10 tribes might be on another planet) differently than I do. I think it is possible that it will happen that way, or similarly, but I don't know. It makes me want to do more study. As with many subjects that some refer to as "deep doctrine" (basically anything we don't know much about and thus many theories exist...none of which subjects are essential to my faith in Christ), I find that this book has enlarged my mind to more possibilities, but I have not made a final decision on it. It could be; it could not be. And I don't feel any pressure to find out yet. I like to write my opinions in pencil and mull them over in my head for a minute or a year or two. I would only recommend this book if my description of it has interested you.
The second book I read was "Go Forward with Faith," the biography of Gordon B Hinckley (that link goes to one of my favorite talks of his), who was the president and prophet of my church when I was a youth. Perhaps fortunately for you, since that last one was kind of dense and heavy, I don't remember very much. I remember thinking in certain instances that he was like me! We're both organized, write, and like to improve things. For example, he saw that missionaries needed materials for their teaching, so he wrote them. He was pro-active. I like to think that I would do similarly. I also remember thinking that I could not be married to him. Lest that sound like I'm finding fault, let me just say that I know which personalities compliment mine and which do not. For me, he would be too intense. For example, he took his family on vacation to California. His children had never seen the beach. They went and looked at the beach for 5 minutes, and then he said they had to keep going. I admire that he worked so hard, but I...I like swimming. And peaceful, lazy days. I feel the same way about Benjamin Franklin, whose autobiography I'm currently in the middle of. I admire his diligence and hard work, but dang...it makes me tired just listening to it! But I did enjoy learning of his (Hinckley's) work in Asia. It made me excited to learn that he was over Asia when the Church was young there, and then came back and dedicated temples there years later.
I love President Gordon B. Hinckley. I feel a special affection for him. I have a testimony of his calling as a prophet. It enjoyed listening to his biography and learning more about his life. I would recommend it to anyone.
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