Mormon 8:31 refers to “great pollutions” in our day. While serving as a member of the Presidency of the Seventy, Elder Joe J. Christensen suggested that the great pollutants spoken of were not environmental, but primarily spiritual:
“We all hear and read a great deal these days about our polluted physical environment—acid rain, smog, toxic wastes. But … there is another kind of pollution that is much more dangerous—the moral and spiritual.
“In a recent conference, Elder Boyd K. Packer said, ‘As we test the moral environment, we find the pollution index is spiraling upward’ (in Conference Report, Apr. 1992, p. 91; or Ensign, May 1992, 66). The Apostle Paul foresaw ‘that in the last days perilous times shall come’ (2 Timothy 3:1). And speaking of the last days, the prophet Moroni declared, ‘Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be great pollutions upon the face of the earth’ (Mormon 8:31).
“Sadly, the effects of this great pollution are perhaps most evident in the mass media, films, television, and popular music. Of this, Senator Robert D. Byrd said, ‘If we in this nation continue to sow the images of murder, violence, drug abuse, … perversion, [and] pornography … before the eyes of millions of children, year after year and day after day, we should not be surprised if the foundations of our society rot away as if from leprosy’ (in Michael Medved, Hollywood vs. America [New York: Harper Perennial, 1992], p. 194).
“… In most areas of the mass media there seems to be a declaration of war against almost everything the majority treasures most: the family, religion, and patriotism. Marriage is degraded, while premarital and extramarital relations are encouraged and glamorized. Profanity and the foulest of vulgar gutter language bombard the ears of all who listen. … Human life itself is trivialized by the constant barrage of violence and killings” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1993, 12; or Ensign, Nov. 1993, 11).