GLOBAL: Will there be global calamities in the future?

Prophetic Statements

First Presidency

The principle of the fat and lean kine is as applicable today as it was in the days when, on the banks of the Nile, Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dream. Officials now warn us, and warn again, that scant days are coming. ¹

WE WARN that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets. ²

Joseph Smith

I prophesy, in the name of the Lord God of Israel, anguish and wrath and tribulation and the withdrawing of the Spirit of God from the earth await this generation, until they are visited with utter desolation. This generation is as corrupt as the generation of the Jews that crucified Christ; and if He were here to-day, and should preach the same doctrine He did then, they would put Him to death. ³

And now I am prepared to say by the authority of Jesus Christ, that not many years shall pass away before the United States shall present such a scene of bloodshed as has not a parallel in the history of our nation; pestilence, hail, famine, and earthquake will sweep the wicked of this generation from off the face of the land, to open and prepare the way for the return of the lost tribes of Israel from the north country. ⁴

…Some may have cried peace, but the Saints and the world will have little peace from henceforth…. I saw men hunting the lives of their own sons, and brother murdering brother, women killing their own daughters, and daughters seeking the lives of their mothers. I saw armies arrayed against armies. I saw blood, desolation, fires. The Son of Man has said that the mother shall be against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother. These things are at our doors. They will follow the Saints of God from city to city. Satan will rage, and the spirit of the devil is now enraged. I know not how soon these things will take place; but with a view of them, shall I cry peace? No! I will lift up my voice and testify of them. How long you will have good crops, and the famine be kept off, I do not know; when the fig tree leaves, know then that the summer is nigh at hand. ⁵

I prophesy in the name of the Lord God of Israel, unless the United States redress the wrongs committed upon the Saints in the state of Missouri and punish the crimes committed by her officers that in a few years the government will be utterly overthrown and wasted, and there will not be so much as a potsherd left. ⁶

How long you will have good crops, and the famine kept off, I do not know; when the fig tree leaves, know then that summer is nigh at hand. ⁷

“I have asked of the Lord concerning His coming; and while asking the Lord, He gave a sign and said, “In the days of Noah I set a bow in the heavens as a sign and token that in any year that the bow should be seen the Lord would not come; but there should be seed time and harvest during that year; but whenever you see the bow withdrawn, it shall be a token that there shall be famine, pestilence, and great distress among the nations, and that the coming of the Messiah is not far distant.” ⁸

Brigham Young

Do you think there is calamity abroad now among the people?…All we have yet heard and all we have experienced is scarcely a preface to the sermon that is going to be preached. When the testimony of the Elders ceases to be given, and the Lord says to them, “Come home; I will now preach my own sermons to the nations of the earth,” all you now know can scarcely be called a preface to the sermon that will be preached with fire and sword, tempests, earthquakes, hail, rain, thunders and lightnings, and fearful destruction. “What matters the destruction of a few railway cars? You will hear of magnificent cities, now idolized by the people, sinking in the earth, entombing the inhabitants. The sea will heave itself beyond its bounds, engulfing mighty cities. Famine will spread over the nations, and nation will rise up against nation, kingdom against kingdom, and states against states, in our own country and in foreign lands; and they will destroy each other, caring not for the blood and lives of their neighbors, of their families, or for their own lives. They will be like the Jaredites who preceded the Nephites upon this continent, and will destroy each other to the last man, through the anger that the devil will place in their hearts, because they have rejected the words of life and are given over to Satan to do whatever he listeth to do with them. You may think that the little you hear of now is grievous; yet the faithful of God’s people will see days that will cause them to close their eyes because of the sorrow that will come upon the wicked nations. The hearts of the faithful will be filled with pain and anguish for them. ⁹

I heard Joseph Smith say, nearly thirty years ago, “They shall have mobbing to their heart’s content, if they do not redress the wrongs of the Latter-day Saints.” Mobs will not decrease, but will increase until the whole Government becomes a mob, and eventually it will be State against State, city against city, neighborhood against neighborhood, Methodists against Methodists, and so on. Probably you remember reading, not a week ago, an account of a Conference being held in Baltimore, in the course of which they seceded from their fellow churches in the free States. It will be the same with other denominations of professing Christians, and it will be Christian against Christian, and man against man; and those who will not take up the sword against their neighbors must flee to Zion. ¹⁰

The nations will consume each other, and the Lord will suffer them to bring it about. It does not require much talent or tact to get up opposition in these days. You see it rife in communities, in meetings, in neighborhoods, and in cities. That is the knife that will cut down this Government. The axe is laid at the root of the tree, and every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit will be hewn down. ¹¹

I have never promised a famine to the Latter-day Saints, if we will do half right. You have never heard it drop from my lips that a famine would come upon this people. There never will, if we will only do half right, and we expect to do better than that. ¹²

John Taylor

God will lay his hand upon this nation, and they will feel it more terribly than ever they have done before; there will be more bloodshed, more ruin, more devastation than ever they have seen before. Write it down! You will see it come to pass; it is only just starting in. And would you feel to rejoice? No; I would feel sorry. I knew very well myself when this last war was commencing, and could have wept and did weep, over this nation; but there is yet to come a sound of war, trouble and distress, in which brother will be arrayed against brother, father against son, son against father, a scene of desolation and destruction that will permeate our land until it will be a vexation to hear the report thereof.¹³

We had a great war upon this continent some years ago; but there will yet be wars pass through these United States, and through other nations, until it will be mournful to hear the report of the bloodshed, the sorrow and trouble that will be caused thereby, as also by pestilence, famine and earthquake, and the waves of the sea heaving themselves beyond their bounds, and storms and tempests, etc., etc. We have been gathered together from among the nations of the earth in order that God might have a people who would obey His law; ¹⁴

Wilford Woodruff

The angels of God are waiting to fulfill the great commandment given forty-five years ago, to go forth and reap down the earth because of the wickedness of men. How do you think eternity feels to-day? Why there is more wickedness, a thousand times over, in the United States now, than when that revelation was given. The whole earth is ripe in iniquity; ¹⁵

The Lord is not going to disappoint either Babylon or Zion, with regard to famine, pestilence, earthquakes or storms…lay up your wheat and other provision against a day of need, for the day will come when they will be wanted, and no mistake about it…. We shall want bread, and the Gentiles will want bread, and if we are wise we shall have something to feed them and ourselves when famine comes. ¹⁶

You are to become men and women, fathers and mothers; yea, the day will come after your fathers and the prophets and apostles are dead and passed away into the spirit world, when you will have the privilege of going into the towers of a glorious temple, which will be built unto the name of the Most High (pointing in the direction of the bench) east of us upon the Logan bench; and you will stand in the towers of that temple and your eyes survey this glorious Valley, filled with cities and villages, occupied with tens of thousands of Latter-Day Saints; you will then call to mind this visitation of President Young and his company. You will say: That was in the days when Presidents Benson and Maughan presided over us; that was before New York was destroyed by an earthquake. It was before Boston was swept into the sea, by the sea heaving itself beyond its bounds; it was before Albany was destroyed by fire; yea at that time you will remember the scenes of this day. Treasure them up and forget them not. President Young followed and said: ‘What Brother Woodruff has said is revelation and will be fulfilled’. ¹⁷

The judgments of God will now begin to rest more fully upon this nation and will be increased upon it, year by year. Calamities will come speedily upon it and it will be visited with thunder, lightning, storms, whirlwinds, floods, pestilence, plagues, war and devouring fire; the wicked will slay the wicked until the wicked are wasted away. ¹⁸

The Lord then poured out His spirit upon me and opened the vision of my mind so that I could comprehend in a great measure the mind and will of God concerning the nation and concerning the inhabitants of Zion. I saw the wickedness of the nation, its abominations and corruptions and the judgments of God and the destruction that awaited it. . . . On January 28th I was again given a vision. It concerned the destiny of our nation and of Zion. My pillow was again wet by a fountain of tears as I beheld the judgments of God upon the wicked. I was strongly impressed that the Apostles and elders should warn the inhabitants of the earth. ¹⁹

When I contemplate the condition of our nation, and see that wickedness and abominations are increasing, so much so that the whole heavens groan and weep over the abominations of this nation and the nations of the earth, I ask myself the question, can the American nation escape? The answer comes, No; its destruction, as well as the destruction of the world, is sure; just as sure as the Lord cut off and destroyed the two great and prosperous nations that once inhabited this continent of North and South America, because of their wickedness, so will he them destroy, and sooner or later they will reap the fruits of their own wicked acts, and be numbered among the past. ²⁰

I copied a revelation more than twenty-five years ago, in which it is stated that war should be in the south and in the north, and that nation after nation would become embroiled in the tumult and excitement, until war should be poured out upon the whole earth, and that this war would commence at the rebellion of South Carolina, and that times should be such that every man who did not flee to Zion would have to take up the sword against his neighbor or against his brother. These things are beginning to be made manifest, but the end is not yet; but it will come, and that too much sooner than the world of mankind anticipate, and all those things spoken by the mouths of his Prophets will be fulfilled. ²¹

The day is not far distant when nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and State against State, and there will be sorrow such as never was among men. Watch the signs of the times, for we are living in an important age. The prophecies relating to our time are rolling in upon us. Are we prepared to meet them? It is important for men and angels to note the events of this age . . . The nation does not know what they are doing, not comprehend the fearful results of the course they are pursuing. They are turning the last key to rend the nation asunder . . . ²²

Harold B. Lee

The time is about ripe, for the demonstration of the power and efficacy of the Lord’s Plan which He designed as ‘a light to the world, and to be a standard for my people, and for the Gentiles to seek to it.’ ²³

Men may fail in this country, earthquakes may come, seas may heave beyond their bounds, there may be great drought, disaster, and hardship, but this nation, founded on principles laid down by men whom God raised up, will never fail. This is the cradle of humanity, where life on this earth began in the Garden of Eden. This is the place of the new Jerusalem. This is the place that the Lord said is favored above all other nations in all the world. This is the place where the Savior will come to His temple. This is the favored land in all the world. Yes, I repeat, men may fail, but this nation won’t fail. I have faith in America; you and I must have faith in America, if we understand the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are living in a day when we must pay heed to these challenges.

I plead with you not to preach pessimism. Preach that this is the greatest country in all the world. This is the favored land. This is the land of our forefathers. It is the nation that will stand despite whatever trials or crises it may yet have to pass through. ²⁴

Men may fail in this country, earthquakes may come, seas may heave beyond their bounds, there may be great drought, disaster, and hardship, but this nation, founded on principles laid down by men whom God raised up, will never fail. This is the cradle of humanity, where life on this earth began in the Garden of Eden. This is the place of the new Jerusalem. This is the place that the Lord said is favored above all other nations in all the world. This is the place where the Savior will come to His temple. This is the favored land in all the world. Yes, I repeat, men may fail, but this nation won’t fail. I have faith in America; you and I must have faith in America, if we understand the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are living in a day when we must pay heed to these challenges.

I plead with you not to preach pessimism. Preach that this is the greatest country in all the world. This is the favored land. This is the land of our forefathers. It is the nation that will stand despite whatever trials or crises it may yet have to pass through. ²⁵

Joseph Fielding Smith

The distress and perplexity, bloodshed and terror, selfish ambition of despotic rulers, such as the world has never before seen, all indicate that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is very near, even at our doors. We have been warned by the prophets from the beginning of time. They have declared, by revelation from the Lord, that in this present day, confusion, bloodshed, misery, plague, famine, earthquake, and other calamities, would cover the face of the earth. The Lord told his disciples of these dreadful scenes and said men’s hearts would fail them because of these things coming upon the earth. . . . ²⁶

The use of such dreadful instruments of destruction, as missiles and nuclear bombs, could create great havoc and bring untold destruction in the case of war. That war will eventually come is inevitable, but we should have faith in the Lord that he will protect those who humble themselves and keep his commandments.

There are predictions by the ancient prophets to the effect that great destruction will come and that the wicked will destroy the wicked. Ezekiel has given us the vision of the final destruction before the coming of the Lord, and the Lord revealed a portion of this to the Prophet Joseph Smith which is found in the Doctrine and Covenants, Section 45. Zechariah also, in the closing chapters of his prophecy, has described many of the scenes that will take place in this final struggle and the coming of the Savior, in the midst of the turmoil, to the relief of the persecuted Jews who have gathered to their ancient inheritance. These are very interesting revelations. They will all come to pass in their prophetic order before the reign of peace shall be ushered in. The righteous have been commanded to stand in holy places while these destructions are coming upon the world. ²⁷

Harold B. Lee

Don’t you think it will be divine judgment rather than just a cosmic accident if the fabulous exploits of man suddenly become the instruments of total destruction? Now, you saw on the news just this last week an article predicting that the greatest calamity which would follow a nuclear attack would be the destruction of the birds, which prey on harmful insects and keep them from overrunning the earth. If we could only remember that the Lord has told us that preceding the Second Coming he will “send forth flies upon the face of the earth, which shall take hold of the inhabitants thereof, and shall eat their flesh, and shall cause maggots to come in upon them; and their flesh shall fall from off their bones, and their eyes [shall fall] from their sockets” (D&C 29:18-19). Well, shall we say that if those things come that it will just be an accident, or that it will be because of a divine judgment that God, because of our unfaithfulness and our unwillingness to live His law, will not spare us from these calamities? ²⁸

Spencer W. Kimball

The great difficulty is that when difficult times come those who in normal times could lend assistance are also under the wheel of the grinding mill. It may be impossible to anticipate and prepare for the eventualities of depression, war, invasion, bombing, but we can go a long way. ²⁹

Ezra Taft Benson

The Lord has warned and forewarned us against a day of great tribulation and given us counsel, through His Servants, on how we can be prepared for these difficult times. Have we heeded His counsel? ³⁰

In Matthew, chapter 24, we learn of ‘famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes,…’ (Matt 24:7) The Lord declared that these and other calamities shall occur. These particular prophecies seem not to be conditional. The Lord, with his foreknowledge, knows that they will happen. Some will come about through man’s manipulations; others through the forces of nature and nature’s God, but that they will come seeks certain. Prophecy is but history in reverse – a divine disclosure of future events. ³¹

Gordon B. Hinckley

What we have experienced in the past was all foretold, and the end is not yet. Just as there have been calamities in the past, we expect more in the future. What do we do?

Someone has said it was not raining when Noah built the ark. But he built it, and the rains came. ³²

‘And there shall arise after them seven years of famine … And God will shortly bring it to pass.’ Now brethren, I want to make it very clear that I am not prophesying, that I am not predicting years of famine in the future. But, I am suggesting that the time has come to get our houses in order … avoid debt to the extent possible. Pay off debt as quickly as you can, and free yourselves from bondage… There is a portent of stormy weather ahead to which we had better give heed. We are carrying a message of self reliance throughout the Church… I urge you brethren to look to the condition of our finances… No one knows when emergencies will strike…. Set your houses in order. If you have paid your debts, if you have a reserve, even though it be small, then should storms howl about your head, you will have shelter for your wife and children and peace in your hearts. That’s all I have to say about it, but I wish to say it with all the emphasis of which I am capable. ³³

Scriptures

D&C 29:8

Be prepared in all things against the day when tribulations and desolations are sent forth upon the wicked. ³⁴

D&C 5:19

For a desolating scourge shall go forth among the inhabitants of the earth, and shall continue to be poured out from time to time.

D&C 29:16

And there shall be a great hailstorm sent forth to destroy the crops of the earth.

D&C 63:33

I have sworn in my wrath, and decreed wars upon the face of the earth, and the wicked shall slay the wicked, and fear shall come upon every man;

Revelation 16:18

And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.

Revelation 6:12

And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;

Joseph Smith – History

He informed me of great judgments which were coming upon the earth, with great desolations by famine, sword, and pestilence; and that these grievous judgments would come on the earth in this generation. ³⁵

Behold I speak for mine elect’s sake; for nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. ³⁶

D&C 88:89-91

For after your testimony cometh the testimony of earthquakes, that shall cause groanings in the midst of her, and men shall fall upon the ground and shall not be able to stand.

And also cometh the testimony of the voice of thunderings, and the voice of lightnings, and the voice of tempests, and the voice of the waves of the sea heaving themselves beyond their bounds.

And all things shall be in commotion; and surely, men’s hearts shall fail them; for fear shall come upon all people. ³⁷

D&C 87:6

With the sword and by bloodshed the inhabitants of the earth shall mourn; and with famine, and plague, and earthquake, and the thunder of heaven, and the fierce and vivid lightning also, shall the inhabitants of the earth be made to feel the wrath, and indignation, and chastening hand of an Almighty God, until the consumption decreed hath made a full fend of all nations; ³⁸

D&C 45:31

And there shall be men standing in that generation, that shall not pass until they shall see an overflowing scourge; for a desolating sickness shall cover the land.

2 Timothy 3:1-5

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

Matt. 24:6-7

And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

Luke 21:25-26

And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;

Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Revelation 16:8-9

And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.

Joseph Smith—Matthew

Behold I speak for mine elect’s sake; for nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.”

Supporting Statements

Neal A. Maxwell

When we pause to think of nuclear denouement, we find it almost instantly unthinkable. Yet we know that it is avoidable if mankind will keep God’s commandments. If we do not, then again, as God told us (long before man so worried about incinerating the world), the earth can be destroyed by fire. The outcome turns on whether mankind chooses to respond as in Nineveh or as in Sodom, for those are now the choices; Eden is long since behind us! ³⁹

The “whole earth shall be in commotion” [D&C 45:26], contributing undoubtedly to a condition in which “men’s hearts shall fail them” and in which fear “shall come upon all people” [D&C 88:91]. Some of that fear will exist because of “those things which are coming” [Luke 21:26]. Much of this “commotion” may be geophysical, with earthquakes, seas heaving themselves beyond their bounds, and other cataclysmic events.… But the basic unsettlement of “all things” may reflect the seismology of a sensual, secular society. The sense of being unanchored will be pervasive. ⁴⁰

Bruce R. McConkie

I stand before the Church this day and raise the warning voice. It is a prophetic voice, for I shall say only what the apostles and the prophets have spoken concerning our day. …It is a voice calling upon the Lord’s people to prepare for the troubles and desolations which are about to be poured upon the world without measure. For the moment we live in a day of peace and prosperity, but it shall not ever be thus. Great trials lie ahead. All of the sorrows and perils of the past are but a foretaste of what is yet to be. And we must prepare ourselves temporally and spiritually. ⁴¹

Most of the plagues and destructions, here announced for the early days of the seventh seal, are of such a nature that they (speculatively!) could be brought to pass in large part through atomic warfare. ⁴²

Unbelievable upheavals of nature and the unloosing of near unlimited power shall bring to pass the destruction of a third part of all life in and on the oceans of the world! (Jer. 51:25; Amos 7:4.) Perhaps the turning of the waters of Egypt to blood was in similitude of this great latter-day plague. (Ex. 7:19-25.)

Revelation 8 11:10. Could this be atomic fallout which shall poison a third of the drinking water of the earth?

Revelation 8:12. As, perhaps, symbolized by the “thick darkness in all the land of Egypt” (Ex. 10:21-23), some forces of man or nature will blot out a third of the light of the luminaries of heaven.

Revelation 8:13. And these are but the beginning of that which is to be as wickedness is swept away to prepare the Lord’s footstool for his personal habitation. ⁴³

During this particular period of the war and desolation the evil forces will be directed against all men, save those sealed up unto eternal life, for those in Zion shall be preserved. The plagues and torments of this era shall so afflict men that they shall desire to die rather than to suffer more. Perhaps John is seeing such things as the effects of poisonous gas, or bacteriological warfare, or atomic fallout, which disable but do not kill. ⁴⁴

Heber C. Kimball

Is it so in the United States? It is. They have got to eat that dish; and when famine, pestilence, and starvation come upon us in a small degree, it will increase upon them fourfold, packed down and running over, and they cannot help it. Let them exult. There never was such a prejudice existing against this people as there is at this day. The Devil is stirring them up because we have commenced that Temple; and we will build it, and they cannot help themselves; and we will lay up the grain for seven years, and thousands of them will worship us for a little johnny cake… ⁴⁵

After a while the Gentiles will gather by the thousands to this place, and Salt Lake City will be classed among the wicked cities of the world. A spirit of speculation and extravagance will take possession of the Saints, and the results will be financial bondage.

Persecution comes next and all true Latter-day Saints will be tested to the limit. Many will apostatize and others will be still not knowing what to do. Darkness will cover the earth and gross darkness the minds of the people. The judgments of God will be poured out on the wicked to the extent that our Elders from far and near will be called home, or in other words the gospel will be taken from the Gentiles and later on carried to the Jews.

The western boundary of the State of Missouri will be swept so clean of its inhabitants that as President Young tells us, when you return to that place, there will not be left so much as a yellow dog to wag his tail.

Before that day comes, however, the Saints will be put to a test that will try the integrity of the best of them. The pressure will become so great that the more righteous among them will cry unto the Lord day and night until deliverance comes. ⁴⁶

Mosiah Hancock

He [Brigham Young] conversed freely on the situation of the Saints in the mountains, and said that he dreaded the time when the Saints would become popular with the world; for he had seen in sorrow, in a dream, or in dreams, this people clothed in the fashions of Babylon and drinking in the spirit of Babylon until one could hardly tell a Saint from a black-leg. And he felt like shouting, “To your tents, Oh Israel!” because it was the only thing that could keep this people pure … Many of this people for the sake of riches and popularity, will sell themselves for that which will canker their souls and lead them down to misery and despair. It would be better for them to dwell in wigwams among the Indians than to dwell with the gentiles and miss the glories which God wishes them to obtain. ⁴⁷

There will be two great political parties in this country. One will be called the Republican, and the other the Democrat party. These two parties will go to war and out of these two parties will spring another party which will be the Independent American Party. The United States will spend her strength and means warring in foreign lands until other nations will say, “Let’s divide up the lands of the United States”, then the people of the U. S. will unite and swear by the blood of their fore-fathers, that the land shall not be divided. Then the country will go to war, and they will fight until one half of the U. S. army will give up, and the rest will continue to struggle. They will keep on until they are very ragged and discouraged, and almost ready to give up-when the boys from the moun­tains will rush forth in time to save the American Army from defeat and ruin. And they will say, ‘Brethren, we are glad you have come; give us men, henceforth, who can talk with God’. Then you will have friends, but you will save the country when it’s [sic] liberty hangs by a hair, as it were. ⁴⁸

Moses Thatcher

I have seen the end of this nation and it is terrible. I will tell you in the name of the LORD that a secret band will sap the life of this nation. ⁴⁹

Dallin H. Oaks

Signs of the Second Coming are all around us and seem to be increasing in frequency and intensity. For example, the list of major earthquakes in The World Almanac and Book of Facts, 2004 shows twice as many earthquakes in the decades of the 1980s and 1990s as in the two preceding decades (pp. 189–90). It also shows further sharp increases in the first several years of this century. The list of notable floods and tidal waves and the list of hurricanes, typhoons, and blizzards worldwide show similar increases in recent years (pp. 188–89). Increases by comparison with 50 years ago can be dismissed as changes in reporting criteria, but the accelerating pattern of natural disasters in the last few decades is ominous…. While we are powerless to alter the fact of the Second Coming and unable to know its exact time, we can accelerate our own preparation and try to influence the preparation of those around us…. We need to make both temporal and spiritual preparation for the events prophesied at the time of the Second Coming. ⁵⁰

We are living in the prophesied time ‘when peace shall be taken from the earth’ (D&C 1:35,) when ‘all things shall be in commotion’ and ‘men’s hearts shall fail them’ (D&C 88:91.) There are many temporal causes of commotion, including wars and natural disasters, but an even greater cause of current ‘commotion’ is spiritual. ⁵¹

Lance Richardson

Orson Pratt

But what about the American nation. That war that destroyed the lives of some fifteen or sixteen hundred thousand people [Civil War] was nothing compared to that which will eventually devastate that country. The time is not very far distant in the future when the Lord God will lay his hand heavily upon that nation….What! This great and powerful nation of ours to be divided one part against the other and many hundreds of thousands of souls to be destroyed by civil wars! ….The time will come when there will be no safety in carrying on the peaceable pursuits of farming or agriculture. But these will be neglected and the people will think themselves well off if they can flee from city to city, from town to town and escape with their lives. ⁵²

J. Reuben Clark

I still have apprehension that we may have hard times. I still fear that we are going to have a war before too long that on each side will be intended to be a virtually exterminating war. I would like each one of you to think of having around you-you farmers-production that would enable you to live (and possibly for a while without too much mechanization), and help some of your city folk to live, too. It is a terrible picture even to think about, but we will be shortsighted if we do not. ⁵³

Elder Levi Edgar Young

This is a day of sore trial for all the inhabitants of the earth. Nations are tottering and governments are in danger of being overthrown. Hardly a day passes but what we hear of some terrible catastrophe or some awful tribulation that has come to the children of men. “Darkness covers the earth, and gross darkness the people.” We are being disciplined; and when we come to know the wisdom of this, we will look upon the whole of life as a means of sanctification. . . . I sincerely believe that these days are bringing us closer and closer to God. ⁵⁴

1. President Heber J. Grant, J. Reuben Clark, Jr., David O. McKay (First Presidency), Conference Report 1942 as quoted in We Believe, by Rulon T. Burton
2. First Presidency, The Family, A Proclamation to the World
3. History of the Church, 6:58
4. History of The Church, 1:315-316
5. Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 3:390-391
6. Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 5:394
7. Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 3:391.
8. Smith, Joseph. Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Joseph F. Smith, 1976., pp. 340-41
9. Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 8:123
10. Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 9:5
11. Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 8:143
12. Brigham Young, JD, 12:241
13. John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, 20:318
14. John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 24, pg. 200.
15. Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses, 18:128
16. Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses, 18:121
17. Deseret News, 33:678; Journal of Discourses, 21:299
18. Wilford Woodruff, Life of Wilford Woodruff, Cowley, p. 373
19. Wilford Woodruff, Life of Wilford Woodruff, Cowley, op cit., pp. 530-31.
20. Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses, 21:301
21. Wilford Woodruff, (July 27, 1862) Journal of Discourses 10:13
22. Wilford Woodruff, December 6, 1857. Journal of Discourses 6:120
23. Harold B. Lee, Deseret News, Church section, December 20, 1941, p. 7; see also D&C 45:9.
24. Harold B. Lee, Ye Are the Light of the World, 350-51
25. Harold B. Lee, Ye Are the Light of the World, 350-51
26. Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, Vol. 3, p. 19
27. Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, 5 vols. [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1957-1966], 2: 189.
28. Harold B. Lee, The Teachings of Harold B. Lee, edited by Clyde J. Williams [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1996], 404.
29. Spencer W. Kimball, The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p. 372.
30. Ezra Taft Benson, Ensign, November 1980
31. Ezra Taft Benson, “Prepare Ye,” Ensign, Jan 1974, 68
32. Gordon B. Hinckley, Conference Report, October 2005, If Ye Are Prepared Ye Shall Not Fear
33. CR, Gordon B. Hinckley, Oct. 1998, 70-72; Ensign, Nov. 1998, 53-54
34. D&C 29:8
35. Joseph Smith – History, 2:45
36. Joseph Smith – History, 1:29
37. D&C 88:89-91
38. D&C 87:6
39. Neal A. Maxwell, Even As I Am [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1982], 106.
40. Sermons Not Spoken, pp. 28-29.
41. Bruce R. McConkie, Conference Report, April 1979, “Stand Independent above All Other Creatures”
42. Bruce R. McConkie, Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3 vols. [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1965-1973], 3: 500.
43. Bruce R. McConkie, Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3 vols. [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1965-1973], 3: 500.
44. Bruce R. McConkie, Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3 vols. [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1965-1973], 3: .
45. Heber C. Kimball, JD 4:336-339. June 7, 1857.
46. Heber C. Kimball, First Counselor in the First Presidency, May 1868, in Deseret News, 23 May 1931; see also Conference Report, Oct. 1930, p. 58-59
47. Mosiah Lyman Hancock, The Life Story of Mosiah Lyman Hancock, p.73. A typewritten copy of this diary is available in the Brigham Young University library.
48. Mosiah Lyman Hancock, Life Story of Mosiah Lyman Hancock, p. 29. A typewritten copy of the original manuscript is available in the Brigham Young University library.
49. Moses Thatcher, from an address given at the Franklin Ward, Franklin, Idaho, June 16, 1882 and entered into the Historical Record thereof
50. Dallin H. Oaks, Conference Report, October 2004, “Preparation for the Second Coming”
51. Dallin H. Oaks, Conference Report, April 2004, “Preparation for the Second Coming.”
52. Orson Pratt J. D. 12:344
53. J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Welfare Conference, The Assembly Hall, October 11, 1958.
54. CR, April, 1933, p. 121.