ECONOMIES: Will economies collapse in the last days?

Prophetic Statements

Brigham Young

The time will come that gold will hold no comparison in value to a bushel of wheat. ¹

Ezra Taft Benson

Let us not be dissuaded from preparing because of a seeming prosperity today, or a so-called peace. I have seen the ravages of inflation. I shall never forget Germany in the early 1920s. In December 1923 in Cologne, Germany, I paid six billion marks for breakfast. That was just 15 cents in American money. Today, the real inflation concern is in America and several other nations. ²

Too often we bask in comfortable complacency and rationalize that the ravages of war, economic disaster, famine and earthquake cannot happen here. Those who believe this are either not acquainted with the revelations of the Lord or they do not believe them. Those who smugly think these calamities will not happen, that they will somehow be set aside because of the righteousness of the Saints, are deceived and will rue the day they harbored such a delusion. 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 you (we) heeded His counsel? ³

When the economies of nations fail, when famine and other disasters prevent people from buying food in stores, the Saints must be prepared to handle these emergencies. ⁴

Let us not be dissuaded from preparing because of a seeming prosperity today, or a so-called peace.

I have seen the ravages of inflation. I shall never forget Germany in the early 1920s. In December 1923 in Cologne, Germany, I paid six billion marks for breakfast. That was just 15 cents in American money. Today, the real inflation concern is in America and several other nations. ⁵

Gordon B. Hinckley

Peace is fragile, civilization itself is fragile. The economy is particularly vulnerable. We have been counseled again and again concerning self-reliance, concerning debt, concerning thrift. ⁶

Scriptures

D&C 1:12

Prepare ye, prepare ye for that which is to come, for the Lord is nigh;

1. President Brigham Young, Discourses of Brigham Young, p.298.
2. Ezra Taft Benson, “Prepare Ye,” Ensign, Jan. 1974, 68
3. Ezra Taft Benson, Jun. 1980.
4. The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p. 264.
5. Ezra Taft Benson, God, Family, Country: Our Three Great Loyalties [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1974], 272.
6. Gordon B. Hinckley, Conference Report, October 2001, “The Times in Which we Live.”