Matthew 24

Describing the last days, the Savior told His disciples -

"...he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." (New Testament | Matthew 24:31)

And -

"Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left." (New Testament | Matthew 24:40 - 41)

The Lord used the modern parable of the wheat and tares to describe this event saying of our day, even -

"...the angels are crying unto the Lord day and night, who are ready and waiting to be sent forth to reap down the fields..." (Doctrine and Covenants | Section 86:5)

And they -

"...shall first gather out the wheat from among the tares, and after the gathering of the wheat, behold and lo, the tares are bound in bundles, and the field remaineth to be burned." (Doctrine and Covenants | Section 86:7)

My thoughts this morning is in regards to the binding of the tares in bundles. In my mind, the Lord is suggesting the tares are already bound in bundles, suggesting to me that the tares on their own have bundled themselves with other tares. In other words, we choose whom we want to associate with and live like. We may choose to follow and bundle ourselves with a false leader with false principles or philosophies. We may choose to be bundled with addictions or wickedness. I believe we choose the bundle. As Lehi taught of -

"...the awful chains by which ye are bound, which are the chains which bind the children of men, that they are carried away captive down to the eternal gulf of misery and woe." (Book of Mormon | 2 Nephi 1:13)

The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that -

"...the angels are to have something to do in this great work, for they are the reapers. As, therefore, the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of the world; that is, as the servants of God go forth warning the nations, both priests and people, and as they harden their hearts and reject the light of truth, these first being delivered over to the buffetings of Satan, and the law and the testimony being closed up, as it was in the case of the Jews, they are left in darkness, and delivered over unto the day of burning; thus being bound up by their creeds, and their bands being made strong by their priests, are prepared for the fulfillment of the saying of the Savior—"The Son of Man shall send forth His angels, and gather out of His Kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire, there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." We understand that the work of gathering together of the wheat into barns, or garners, is to take place while the tares are being bound over, and preparing for the day of burning; that after the day of burnings, the righteous shall shine forth like the sun, in the Kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." (TPJS, pp. 100-101)