Warren A. Cowdery, an older brother of Oliver Cowdery, is called by the Lord in Doctrine & Covenants 106 to be a local presiding officer. In verse 4, the Lord warns that "the coming of the Lord draweth nigh, and it overtaketh the world as a thief in the night."
Then follows the admonition in verse 5: "Therefore, gird up your loins that you may be the children of light, and that day shall not overtake you as a thief."These verses reiterate the message in 1 Thess. 5:1-6, that the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night but will not overtake the children of light.
"Before that day," wrote Elder Bruce R. McConkie, "certain promised signs and wonders are to take place, an understanding of which will give those who wait for him an assurance as to the approximate time of his return.
"It is true that no man knoweth the day nor the hour of his return - no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only' (Matt. 24:36), as he himself expressed it - but those who treasure up his word will not be deceived as to the time of that glorious day, nor as to the events to precede and to attend it. (Jos. Smith 1:37.) The righteous will be able to read the signs of the times. To those in darkness he will come suddenly, unexpectedly,as a thief in the night,' but to the children of light' whoare not of the night, nor of darkness,' as Paul expressed it, that day will not overtake them `as a thief.' They will recognize the signs as certainly as a woman in travail foreknows the approximate time of her child's birth." (Mormon Doctrine, p. 688.)
As to how one is included among the children of light, Elder McConkie wrote: "By accepting the gospel and thus coming out of darkness into the marvelous light of Christ (1 Pet. 2:9) men become the children of light. (John 12:36; Col. 1:12.)
