Heber C. Kimball:
"To meet the difficulties that are coming, it will
be necessary for you to have a knowledge of the truth of this work for yourselves. The difficulties will be of such a character that the man or woman who does
not possess this personal knowledge or witness will fall. If you have not
got the testimony, live right and call upon the Lord and cease not till you
obtain it. If you do not you will not stand.
Remember these sayings, for many of you will live to see
them fulfilled. The time will come when no man nor woman will be able to endure
on borrowed light. Each will have to be guided by the light within himself."
(Life of Heber C. Kimball, pp. 460-461)
ORSON PRATT:
That same God who gave the revelations to his
servant Joseph Smith in regard to these matters, will fulfil every jot
and every tittle that has been spoken, concerning that nation. What
then will be the condition of that people, when this great and terrible
war shall come? It will be very different from the war between the North
and the South. Do you wish me to describe it? I will do so. It
will be a war of neighborhood against neighborhood, city against city,
town against town, county against county, state against state,
and they will go forth destroying and being destroyed and manufacturing
will, in a great measure, cease, for a time, among the American nation.
Why? Because in these terrible wars, they will not be privileged to
manufacture, there will be too much bloodshed--too much mobocracy--too
much going forth in bands and destroying and pillaging the land to suffer
people to pursue any local vocation with any degree of safety. What
will become of millions of the farmers upon that land? They will leave
their farms and they will remain uncultivated, and they will flee before
the ravaging armies from place to place; and thus will they go forth
burning and pillaging the whole country; and that great and powerful
nation, now consisting of some forty millions of people, will be wasted
away, unless they repent.
(Journal of Discourses : 20 : Orson Pratt 1879/04/09
: 146)
BRIGHAM
YOUNG:
Do
you think there is calamity abroad now among the people? Not much.
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.
(Journal of Discourses : 8 : Brigham Young 1860/07/15
: 121)
JOSEPH SMITH:
There will be here and there a Stake [of Zion] for
the gathering of the Saints. Some may have cried peace, but the Saints
and the world will have little peace from henceforth. Let this not
hinder us from going to the Stakes; for God has told us to flee, not
dallying, or we shall be scattered, one here, and another there. There
your children shall be blessed, and you in the midst of friends where
you may be blessed. The Gospel net gathers of every kind.
I prophesy, that that man who tarries after he
has an opportunity of going, will be afflicted by the devil. Wars
are at hand; we must not delay; but are not required to sacrifice.
We ought to have the building up of Zion as our greatest object. When
wars come, we shall have to flee to Zion. The cry is to make haste.
The last revelation says, Ye shall not have time to have gone over
the earth, until these things come. It will come as did the cholera,
war, fires, and earthquakes; one pestilence after another, until the
Ancient of Days comes, then judgment will be given to the Saints.
Whatever you may hear about me or Kirtland, take
no notice of it, for if it be a place of refuge, the devil will use
his greatest efforts to trap the Saints. You must make yourselves
acquainted with those men who like Daniel pray three times a day toward
the House of the Lord. Look to the Presidency and receive instruction.
Every man who is afraid, covetous, will be taken in a snare. The time
is soon coming, when no man will have any peace but in Zion and her
stakes.
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.
(Documentary History of the Church Vol 3 : 26 : 391
: 2)
Wilford Woodruff:
And
I will say, in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God,
that "Mormonism" will live and prosper, Zion will flourish, and the
Kingdom of God will stand in power and glory and dominion as Daniel
saw it, when this nation is broken to pieces as a potter's vessel
and laid in the dust, and brought to judgment, or God never spoke
by my mouth.
(Wilford Woodruff, His Life And Labors : 47 : 508
- 509)
Wilford Woodruff:
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.
(JD. 21:301)
Heber C. Kimball:
I
am very thankful that so many of the brethren have come in with hand-carts;
my soul rejoiced, my heart was filled and grew as big as a two-bushel
basket. Two companies have come through safe and sound. Is this the
end of it? No; there will be millions on millions
that will come much in the same way, only they will not have hand
carts, for they will take their bundles under their arms, and their
children on their backs, and under their arms, and flee; and Zion's
people will have to send out relief to them, for they will come when
the judgments come on the nations. And you will find that judgments
will be more sore upon this people, if they do not repent and lay
aside their pride and their animosities, their quarreling and contentions,
their disputations among themselves.
(Journal of Discourses : 4 : Heber C. Kimball 1856/09/28
: 105)
Heber C. Kimball:
"the
time would come when the government would stop the Saints from holding
meetings. When this was done the Lord would pour out His judgements"
(Life of Heber C. Kimball, by Orson F. Whitney, p.
442)
Joseph
Smith:
...when
the great bear [Russia] lays her paw on the lion [England] the winding
up scene is not far distant.
(From PROPHETIC WARNINGS TO MODERN AMERICA, Crowther,
p. 287)
LDS Prophecy : Elder Charles
D. Evans, 1894:
While I lay pondering in deep solitude on the events
of the present, my mind was drawn into a reverie such as I had never
felt before--a strong solitude of thought for my imperiled country
utterly excluded every other thought, and raised my feelings to a
point of intensity which I did not think possible to endure.
While in this solemn profound and painful reverie
of mind, to my surprise a light appeared in my room which seemed to
be soft and silvery as if diffused from a northern star. At the moment
of its appearance, the acute feeling I had experienced so intensely,
yielded to one of calm and tranquillity.
Although it may have been at the hour of midnight...
all was light and bright and warm as an Italian landscape at noon,
but the heat was softer and more subdued.
As I gazed upward, I saw descending through my
bedroom roof, with a gentile gliding movement, a personage clothed
in white apparel, whose countenance was smoothly serene, his features
regular, and the flashes of his eyes seemed to resemble those reflected
from a diamond under an intensely illuminated light, which dazzled,
but did not bewilder.
Those large, deep, inscrutable eyes were presently
fixed on mine as he instantly placed his hand on my forehead. His
touch produced a serenity and calmness--not of an earthly character,
but a touch that was peaceful, delightful and heavenly. My whole being
was inbued with a joy unspeakable. All feelings of sorrow instantly
vanished; and those lines and shadows which care and sorrow create,
instantly vanished and were dispelled as a fog before the blazing
sun.
In the eyes of my heavenly visitor, for such he
appeared to me, there was a sort of lofty pity and tenderness, infinitely
stronger than any such feelings I ever saw manifested in ordinary
mortals. His very calm appeared like a vast ocean stillness, at once
overpowering to every agitated emotion.
By some intuition or instinct, I felt he had something
to communicate to me to soothe my sorrow or allay my apprehensions.
Thereupon addressing me, he said:
"Son, I perceive that thou hast grave anxieties
over the perilous state of thy country, that thy soul has felt deep
sorrow for its future. I have, therefore, come to thy relief and to
tell thee of the causes that have led to this peril. Hear me attentively!
"Seventy-one years ago, (1823), after an awful
apostasy of centuries, in which all nations were enshrouded in spiritual
darkness; when angels had withdrawn themselves, the voice of prophets
hushed, and the light of Urim and Thummim shown not, and the visions
of seers closed, while heaven itself shed not a ray of gladness to
lighten a dark world; when Babel ruled, Satan laughed, and Church
and priesthood had taken their upward flight, and the voice of nations
possessing the books of the Jewish prophets had ruled against the
doctrines of the Church of the Apostles and Prophets, thou knowest
that then appeared a mighty angel with a solemn announcement of the
hour of judgment. The burden of whose instructions pointed to dire
calamities, which thou seest, and the end of the wicked hasteneth."
My vision now became extended in a marvelous manner,
and the import of past labors of Elders was made plain to me. I saw
multitudes fleeing too our place of safety in our mountain heights,
that was established in the wilderness. Simultaneously the nation
had reached an unparalleled prosperity. Wealth abounded, new territory
was acquired, commerce extended, finance strengthened, confidence
was maintained, and people abroad pointed to here as a model nation--the
ideal of the past now realized and perfected--the embodiment of the
liberty which was sung by poets and sought for by sages.
"But," continued the messenger, "thou beholdest
a change. Confidence is lost, wealth is arrayed against labor, labor
against wealth, yet the land abounds in plenty of food and raiment,
and silver and gold in abundance. Thou seest also the letters written
by a Jew have wrought a great confusion in the finance of the nation;
which together with a policy of many wealthy ones, has produced distress
and do produce further sorrows."
Factions now sprang up as if by magic. Capital
had entrenched itself against labor, and throughout the land labor
was organized in opposition to Capital. The voice of the wise sought
to tranquilize their powerful factors in vein. Exited multitudes ran
wildly about, strikes increased, lawlessness sought a place in the
regular government.
At this juncture, I saw floating in air a banner
whereupon was written, "Bankruptcy, famine, floods, cyclones, blood,
and plagues." Mad with rage, men and women rushed
upon each other. Blood flowed down the streets of cities like water.
Thousands of bodies lay unentombed in the streets. Men and
women fell dead from terror inspired by fear. This was but the precursor
of the bloody work of the morrow. All around lay the mournfulness
of a past in ruins. Monuments erected to perpetuate the names of the
noble and brave men, were ruthlessly destroyed by combustibles.
A voice now sounded these words: "Yet once again
I shake not only the earth, but also heaven, and this word once again
signifies the removing of things that are shaken, as of things that
are made, that those things that cannot be shaken, may remain."
Earthquakes
rent the earth in vast chasms which engulfed multitudes.
Terrible groanings and wailings filled the air. The shrieks of the
suffering were undescribably awful. Waters rushed in from the tumultuous
ocean, whose very roaring under the mad rage of fierce cyclones was
unendurable to the ear. Cities were carried
away in an instant. Missiles were hurled through the atmosphere
at a terrible velocity, and people were carried upward only to
fall. Islands appeared where ocean waves once tossed the gigantic
steamer. In other parts, voluminous flames, emanating from vast fires,
rolled with fearful velocity destroying life and property in their
destructive course.
The seal of the dread menace of despair
was stamped on every human visage; men fell exhausted, appalled and
trembling. Every element of agitated nature seemed a demon of wrathful
fury. Dense clouds, blacker than midnight, obscured
the sunlight with a thunder that reverberated with intonations which
shook the earth, Darkness reigned, unrivaled and supreme.
Again
the light shone, revealing an atmosphere tinged with a leaden hue,
which was the precursor of an unparalleled plague whose first symptoms
were recognized by a purple spot which appeared on the cheek, or on
the back of the hand, and which, invariably, enlarged until it spread
over the entire surface of the body, producing certain death. Mothers
at the sight of it, cast away their children as if they were poisonous
reptiles. This plague, in grown persons, rotted the eyes in their
sockets and consumed the tongue as would a powerful acid or an intense
heat. Wicked men, suffering under its writhering agonies, cursed God
and died, as they stood on their feet, and the birds of prey feasted
on their carcasses.
I
saw in my dream the messenger again appear with a vial in his right
hand, who addressing me said: "Thou knowest somewhat of the chemistry
taught in the schools of human learning, behold now a chemistry sufficiently
powerful to change the waters of the sea."
He then poured out his vial upon the sea and it
became putrid as the blood of a dead man, and every living thing died.
Then other plagues followed which I forbear to record.
A
foreign power had invaded the nation which, from every human indication,
it appeared as if it would seize the government and supplant it with
monarchy.
I stood trembling at the aspect, when a power arose
in the west which declared itself in favor of the constitution in
its original form; to this suddenly rising power every lover of constitutional
rights and liberties throughout the nation gave hearty support. The
struggle was fiercely contested, but the stars and stripes floated
in the breeze, and, bidding defiance to all opposition, waved proudly
over the land.
Among the many banners I saw, was one inscribed
thus: "The government based on the Constitution, now and forever;"
on another "Liberty of Conscience, social, religious, and political."
The
light of the gospel which had but dimly shone because of abomination,
now burst forth with a luster that filled the earth. Cities appeared
in every direction, one of which was in the center of the continent.
It was an embodiment of architectural science after
the pattern of eternal perfections, whose towers glittered with a
radiance emanating from the sparkling of emeralds, rubies, diamonds
and other precious stones set forth a brilliancy which dazzled and
enchanted the eye, excited admiration and developed a taste for the
beautiful, beyond anything man had ever conceived.
Fountains of crystal water shot upwards through
transparent jets, which, in the brilliant sunshine, formed ten thousand
rainbow tints at once so delightful to the eye. Gardens, the perfection
of whose arrangement confound all our present attempts at such genius,
were bedecked with flowers to develop and refine the taste and strengthen
man's love for these--nature's choicest endowments.
Schools and universities were erected to which
all had access, in the latter, Urims were placed for the study of
the past, present, and future, and for obtaining a knowledge of heavenly
bodies and of the construction of worlds and universes. The inherent
properties of matter, its arrangements, laws, and mutual relation,
were revealed and taught and made plain as the primer lesson of a
child.
The conflicting theories of geologists regarding
the foundation and age of the earth, were settled forever. All learning
was based on eternal certainty. Angels brought forth the treasures
of knowledge which had lain in the midst of the dumb and distant past
hidden from the world.
The appliances for making learning easy surpass
all conjecture. Chemistry was rendered extremely simple by the power
which Urim conferred on man of looking into the very elements themselves.
a stone furnished no more obstruction to human vision than the air
itself. Not only were the elements and all their changes and transformations
plainly understood, but the construction, operation and laws of spirit
elements were also rendered equally plain as those which govern the
coarser elements.
While looking through the Urim and Thummim, I was
amazed at a transformation, which even now is for me marvelous beyond
description, clearly showing the manner in which particles composing
the inorganic kingdom of nature, are conducted upward to become part
of organic forms. Another astonishing revelation was a view clearly
shown to me of the entire circulation of the blood, both in men and
animals.
After seeing these things and gazing once more
upon the beautiful city, the following sounded in my ears: "Out of
Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined!"
On
this I awoke to find it all a dream, whereupon I wrote the foregoing,
which is based on true principles.
(taken
from VISIONS OF THE LATTER-DAYS, originally published in volume 15
of the THE CONTRIBUTOR magazine)
Wilford Woodruff:
I went to bed at the usual hour, half past nine
o'clock. I had been reading the Revelations in the French language.
My mind was calm, more so than usual if that were possible. I composed
myself for sleep, but I felt a strange stupor come over me and I apparently
become partially unconscious. Still I was not asleep or awake, but
had a strange far-away dreamy feeling.
The first thing I recognized was that I was in
the Tabernacle at Ogden, Utah, sitting in the corner for fear they
would call on me to preach;-which, after singing the second song,
they did by calling me to the stand. I arose to speak and said that
I did not know that I had anything special to say except to bear my
testimony of the truth of this work-when all at once it seemed I was
lifted out of myself. I said, "Yes, I have something to say, it is
this: Some of my brethren present have been asking me what is coming
to pass. I will tell you what will shortly come to pass-"
Then I was in Salt Lake City walking through the
streets. In parts of the city and upon the door of every house, I
saw a badge of mourning, and I could not find
a house but what was in mourning. I passed my own home and
saw the same sign there. I asked the question, "Is that me who is
dead?"
Something gave the answer, "No."
It seemed strange to me that I saw no person on
the streets in my wandering around the city. They seemed to be in
their houses with their sick and dead. I saw no funeral processions
of anything of this kind, but the city was very still and quiet as
if the people were praying. It seemed as though the people had control
over the disease, whatever if was, I
do not know, that was not shown to me.
I
then looked in all directions over the territory,--east, west, north
and south, and found the same mourning in every place throughout the
land.
The
next I knew I was this side of Omaha. It seemed I was above the earth
looking down upon it as I passed along on my way east. I saw the roads
full of people, principally women, with just what they could carry
in bundles on their backs, traveling to the mountains on foot. And
I wondered how they would get there with nothing but a small pack
on their backs. It was remarkable to me that there were so few men
among them. It did not seem as though trains were running; the rails
looked rusty and the roads abandoned. In deed, I have no conception
of how I traveled myself as I looked down upon the people.
I continued east through Omaha and Council Bluffs,
which were full of disease, and women were everywhere. The
streets of Missouri and Illinois were in turmoil and strife. Men were
killing one another, and women joined in the fighting. Family against
family were cutting each other to pieces in the most horrible manner
imaginable.
Next
I saw Washington, D.C., and found the city a desolation. The White
House was empty and the Halls of Congress likewise. Everything was
in ruin and the people seem to have fled from the city and left it
to take care of itself.
I was next in the city of Baltimore, in the
square where the monument of 1812 stands in front of the St. Charles
and other hotels. The dead were everywhere. I saw there bodies piled
up, filling the square. I saw women cut the throats of their own children
for the sake of their blood. I saw them suck it from their veins to
quench their own thirst, and then lie down in the streets and die.
The waters of the city and the Chesapeake Bay were
so stagnant, and such a stench arose from them on account of the putrefaction
of the dead carcasses in them, that the very smell carried death with
it.
Singularly
again, I saw no men, except they were dead or dying in the streets.
There were but very few women, and they were crazy and mad, or in
a dying condition. Everywhere I went I saw the same all over the city.
It was horrible beyond conception to behold.
I thought this was the end; but not so. Seemingly
in an instant I was in Philadelphia where everything
was still. No living soul was to be seen to greet me. It seemed as
though the whole city was without inhabitants. In Arch and Chestnut
streets, in fact, everywhere I looked the putrefaction of the dead
bodies created such a stench that it was impossible for any creature
to remain alive.
I next found myself on
Broadway in New York. There it seemed as if the people had
done all they could to overcome the disease. But in wondering down
Broadway, I saw the bodies of beautiful women lying, some dead, and
others in a dying condition, on the sidewalks. I
saw men crawl out of the basements and violate the persons of some
that were alive, then kill them and rob their dead bodies of the valuables
they had on them. Then, before they could return to their basements,
they themselves rolled over a time or two in agony and died.
On
some of the streets I saw mothers kill their own offspring and eat
their flesh, and then in a few minutes die themselves. And wherever
I looked, I saw the same sights, --horror and desolation, rapine and
death. No horses, no carriages, nor omnibuses, nor streetcars, --nothing
but death and destruction everywhere.
I
then went to Central Park, and looking back,
I saw a fire start, and just at that moment a mighty east wind sprang
up and carried the flames west over the great city. And it burned
until there was not a single building left standing whole; even down
to the water's edge.--Warves and shipping--all seemed to be burned
and swallowed up in the common destruction. Nothing was left but desolation
where a great city stood a short time before. Stench from the bodies
that were burned was so great that it was carried a great distance
across the Hudson River, and it spread disease and death wherever
the fumes penetrated.
I cannot paint in words the horrors
that seemed to encompass me about, it was beyond description or thought
for me to conceive.
I supposed this was the end, but I was given to
understand that the same horrors that were here inacted were all over
the world, east, west, north, and south.--That few were left alive,--still
there were some.
Immediately after, I seemed
to be standing on the left bank of the Missouri River, opposite the
city of Independence;--but I saw no city. I saw the whole states of
Illinois and Missouri and part of Iowa, a complete wilderness of dessert
with no living human being there.
I
then saw a short distance from the river, twelve men draped in the
robes of the Temple, standing in a square, or nearly so. I understood
it to represent the twelve gates of the New Jerusalem. And they with
uplifted hands, were consecrating the ground and laying the cornerstone
of the Temple.
And while they were thus employed, I saw myriads
of angels hovering over them and around them. And I heard the angels
singing the most heavenly music. The words were: "Now is established
the Kingdom of God and His Christ, and He shall reign forever and
ever! And the Kingdom shall never be thrown down, for the Saints have
overcome!"
I saw people coming from the river and from distant
places to help build the Temple and the City. It seemed as though
there were hosts of angles helping to bring material for the construction
of that building. Some were in Temple robes, and the pillar-like cloud
continued to hover over the spot.
Later,
I found myself in the Ogden Tabernacle, where I was calling upon the
people to listen to the beautiful strains of music from the angles,
as the building seemed to be filled with them, and they were singing
the words I heard before: "Now is the Kingdom of our God and His Christ
established forever and ever!"
I rolled over on my bed and the clock struck twelve.
The vision had occurred between 9:30 P.M. and midnight.
(This account
was taken from Prophetic warnings to modern America, pp. 294-96. Crowther
notes that while this account was extracted from Wilford Woodruff's
personal journals, "various copies, or 'versions,' of this manifestation
now exist." I should also note that I have previously seen this vision
attributed to John Taylor, stating that Wilford Woodruff recorded
it in his journal, but that the vision was given to President Taylor.)
Joseph Smith:
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 forefathers, 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 liberty
hangs by a hair, as it were.
(Life Story of Mosiah Lyman Hancock, p.29)
THE
VISION OF JOHN TAYLOR -- Cedar City, Utah
A prophetic incident occurred at my
father's home in Cedar City, Utah, at the time a conference was being
held their, at which President John Taylor and George A. Smith were
present. Elder George A. Smith was asked to conduct the morning session
of the conference, as president Taylor wished to rest, as he had held
meetings with the different wards and stakes between Salt Lake City
and Cedar City. President Taylor did not attend the morning session
of the conference, but remained at our home to rest in order that he
might attend the afternoon session. He, with all of the authorities,
stayed at my father's home during this conference.
President Taylor wished to go to his
room and lie down and rest, and asked my mother to tell him if he should
over sleep by the time the morning session was over. My mother was busy
preparing dinner for the visitors and was surprised when President Taylor
came walking into the kitchen. She asked him if he was not able to rest,
as he hadn't been gone long; whereupon he related a vision that he it
had in his room.
He saw Salt Lake City become a great
and beautiful City with cement streets and roads and the people had
become wealthy great beautiful homes covered the city, and he said that
the city was extended almost to the point of the mountain (south of
the now, 1951, state prison). The people had become indifferent to the
council and advice of the authorities of the Church, and were more interested
in the accumulating of wealth than they were in living their religion,
and at this time there began to be war and bloodshed.
He saw blood running down the gutters
of Salt Lake City as though it were water. People were fighting among
themselves until it became so serious that the entire Church records
were all taken across the Colorado River. President Taylor said her:
"if you are alive at that time, be sure that you are not far behind
the records, because after the Church records leave and our secure,
the very powers of hell will be turned loose and there will be such
destruction that but very little life will remain.
Not only Salt Lake but other adjoining
cities will be destroyed, and in the East, in Missouri, in Jackson County,
civilization will become entirely extinct. All means of transportation,
such as railroads and highways, will be destroyed; the only means of
travel will be on foot, and all manufacturing of all kinds will be entirely
destroyed. Be sure when you see these things come, see that you have
buttons, needles and things to work with in order to make yourself clothing,
thread and cloth as far as possible because all tools and every kind
of machinery will be destroyed. It will become such a destructive war
that the sufferings and drivings of the people from Nauvoo will only
be as a drop in the bucket as compared with the suffering that will
take place at this time, until one-half of the people will not follow
the leaders and one-half of the others will die and turn because
of the sufferings they will have to go through; but the Lord will bless
those who stay with the authorities, and they shall not all be destroyed.
They will travel south and will finally
form a circle something like a horseshoe before they return to Jackson
County, Missouri. Those who will be privileged to help build Jackson
County will be those who are willing and glad to obey the council and
advice of the authorities placed over them, and they will not only be
willing to listen to their council and advice, but will ask that they
might receive it in order to be guided and protected out of this great
time of want and distress. The Saints will be taxed so heavily that
they will cry to the Lord day and night for deliverance.
He said also that we would be few
in numbers and would assist the Lamanites in building the New Jerusalem
in Jackson County. The vision was so terrible that he asked Lord to
close it, but he saw that those who would keep the commandments and
adhere to the authorities of the church would survive and he would protect
them as He did the children of Israel.
After telling of this vision, he said
to my mother, "Sister Lunt, see that you always listened and obey the
council of the authorities and stay with them."
The above experience my mother told
me many, many times and she held this experience sacred.
(From the Lundwall Rare Manuscript File, Microfilm
Roll No. 2 -- Visions of the Latter Days, pp. 99 -- 102)
THE
DREAM OF THE PLAGUES...
The present times seem to be more than usually prolific
of prophetic dreams among the Latter-day Saints. In nearly every settlement
the people have been warned of events soon to occur; and visions of
the future glory of the Kingdom of God upon this earth have passed like
a panorama before many of those who love God and obey His commandments.
Some two or three years ago, I had retired for the
night, when suddenly a glorious messenger appeared at my bedside and
awoke me from my slumber. The light of his presence filled the room,
so that objects were discerned as clearly as at noonday.
He handed me a book, saying, "Look, and see what
is coming to pass." I took the book in my hands and, sitting up
in bed, examined it carefully and read its contents. In size this book
was about seven by ten inches, opening like a copybook and bound in
beautiful covers, on the front of which was stamped in bold letters
its title, which was The Book of the Plagues. The leaves were printed
only on the front side of each, and were composed of the very finest
quality of pure white lined, instead of paper. The typography throughout
was in the finest style of the printer's art. Each page was composed
of a picture printed in colors as natural as art can copy nature, which
occupied the upper half of the space, below which was the printed description
of the scene represented.
On the first page was a picture of a feast in progress,
with the long table set upon a beautiful lawn, over which were interspersed
clumps of fine shrubs and towering trees. In the background through
the foliage, could be discerned a stately suburban villa, adorned with
all the ornaments of modern architecture. The landscape presented the
appearance of midsummer. The sky, and indeed the whole atmosphere, appeared
of a peculiar sickly brassy hue, similar to that which may be observed
when the sun is wholly eclipsed, and the disc is just beginning again
to give its light. Throughout the atmosphere small white specs were
represented, similar to a scattering fall of minute snow flakes in winter.
About the table a party of richly dressed ladies and gentlemen were
seated in the act of partaking of the rich repast with which the table
was laden. The minute specs falling from above were dropping into the
food apparently undeeded by all, for a sudden destruction had come upon
them. Many were falling backward in the agonies of a fearful death;
others drooping upon the table, and others pausing with their hands
still holding the untasted food, their countenances betraying a fearful
astonishment at the peculiar and unlooked for condition of their companions.
Death was in the atmosphere; the judgments of God had come upon them
as silently and swiftly as upon the proud Sennacharib and his host of
Assyrians.
In one corner of this picture was a small circular
vignette, showing the front of the store of a dealer in pork. The wide
sidewalk was covered by and awning supported on posts at the outer edge,
and on this walk were shown barrels of pork, long strings of sausages,
fresh slaughtered hogs, piles of smoked bacon and headcheese; and along
the edge of the walk, next to the store, beneath the front windows,
leaned a number of large hams and pieces of side meat, reaching across
the whole front, except a small space at the doorway. There were twelve
of these pieces, and on each piece was painted a large letter, in order
to make as a whole the word abominations.
Below this scene was the description: "A Feast
among the Gentiles, commencement of the Plague." And in smaller
type below, a note saying that the particles of poison, though represented
in the picture, are so small as to be invisible to the naked eye.
On the next page was another picture. It was a street
scene in a large city. In the foreground were the residences of wealthy
city merchants. The character of the buildings gradually changed; along
the view and in the distance were shown the great buildings of trade
and commerce in the heart of a large metropolis. On the sidewalks throughout
the long vista, the busy, throbbing, rushing crowd had been cut down
like grass before the mower.
Again it was a midsummer scene. The same atoms of
poison were falling through the air, but their work was done; the same
sickly brazen atmosphere that seemed thick with foul odors laid upon
the earth, in which no breeze stirred a leaf of the foliage. Upon the
balconies of the richly decorated residences, across the thresholds
of the opened doorways, along the walks and upon the crossings, lay
the men, women and children, who a few days before were enjoying all
the pleasures of life. Further on, the dead were everywhere. Houses
of business that had been thronged with customers stood with open doorways,
frowning upon streets covered with the dead. Across the threshold of
the banks lay the guardians of wealth, but no thieves were there to
take the unlocked treasures within. The costly merchandise of a thousand
owners laid untouched upon the counters and shelves. In the noonday
glare of the sickly sun, not a soul was shown alive; not one had been
left to bury the dead--all had been stricken or had fled from the death-dealing
plague and the doomed city. Along midway upon the street, a hungry drove
of those horrible ugly slaughterhouse hogs, (which may be seen in the
pens attached to the filthy slaughtering places in the outskirts of
many cities), was tearing and devouring the dead and feasting upon the
bodies of rich and poor alike with none to molest them.
Below this picture was the description: "Progress
of the Plague among the Gentiles. A street scene in a large city."
Nearly fifty of these pictures I carefully observed, wherein the fearful
effects of this and other plagues were almost as vividly portrayed as
if I had actually seen them.
The last scene in the book was descriptive of the
same plague as the first. A beautiful park-like, grassy prairie was
surrounded by elm and cottonwood trees, the area embraced being about
eighty rods across. In the centre of this enclosure was a large cone-shaped
tent of a bright purple color, about thirty feet in height by twenty
in diameter at the base. Midway in height in this tent was a floor dividing
the inside into two stories. Near this tent was another, a round wall
tent, about thirty feet in diameter, and nearly as high as the first.
This was clean and white. Leaving a space of about a hundred yards from
these central tents were hundreds of small rectangular wall tents in
rows, reaching as far as the surrounding trees, each tent clean and
white, and appearing to be of a size suited to the wants of an ordinary
family. Not a human being, animal, bird or vehicle was in sight. Not
a breath of air appeared to be stirring. The same atmosphere as in the
previous pictures, with the atoms of poison, was represented, and the
same time and season of the year.
Below this picture was the description: "A camp
of the Saints who have gathered together and are living under the daily
revelations of God, and are thus preserved from the plague." I
understood from this that each family was in its tent during the hours
of the day that the poison falls, and thus were preserved from breathing
the deathly particles.
Handing the book to the messenger, who all this time
had remained by my side, he vanished from my view as suddenly as he
had appeared. I awoke my wife, who was soundly sleeping, and commenced
to relate to her what I had just beheld. After telling her the description
of the two pictures at the beginning of the book, and commencing on
the third, this third picture and all up to the last was suddenly taken
from my memory, so that I have never been able to recall them; but still
I remember that they were scenes about the plagues and judgments.
In the revelations given to the Prophet Joseph, among
the many plagues and judgments portrayed, that given in the Doctrine
and Covenants, Sec. 29:17-20, has always seemed to me to fully coincide
with what has been related in the account of that dream. But whether
that plague or another is meant, it does not matter. Plagues will come
and the wicked must suffer; but the Saints will be preserved by the
very principle for which the wicked persecute them, which is present
revelation from the Almighty.
(Contributor 5:411)
The
Cardston Temple Vision
I
saw first a brief but comprehensive sketch of the present state of the
world, or as you would term it, the Gentile Kingdoms. Each country in
turn was shown -- -- it's ambitions, hunger, ambitions, distrusts and
warlike activities, etc., and in my mind was formed from some source
the words, " As it is today with the Gentiles."
I saw international war again the break out whith
its center upon the Pacific Ocean, but sweeping and encircling the whole
globe .
I saw that the opposing the forces were roughly divided
by so-called Christianity on the one side, and by the so-called followers
of Muhammad and Buddha on the other. I saw that the great driving power
whithin these so-called Christian nations, was the great Apostasy of
Rome in all its political, social and religious aspects. I saw the worldwide
dislocation and devastation of production and slaughter of people occur
more swiftly and upon a larger scale then ever before. I saw an antagonism
begin to express itself from those so-called Christian nations against
your people. I saw those with a similar faith to yours in the far east
began to look toward Palestine for safety.
I saw the international world war automatically break
down, and national revolution occurred in every country, and complete
the work of chaos and desolation. I saw geological disturbances occur,
which helped in this work as if it were intended to do so. I saw the
Cardston Temple preserved from all of this geological upheaval. I saw
the international boundary line disappear as these two governments broke
up and dissolved into chaos. I saw race rioting upon the American continent
on a vast scale.
I saw hunger and starvation in this world; I saw
disease produced by hunger, strife and chaos complete the end of this
present order or epic. How long these events were in reaching this consummation
I do not know, but my impression was from the outbreak of the international
war these things developed into a continuous procession, and and almost
ran concurrently, as it is with a sickness, the various symptoms are
all in evidence at one and the same time, but in different stages of
development.
My intensified thought was "What of the Church, if
such is to become of the kingdoms of the earth?" Was immediately answered
by a subconscious statement. "As it is in the church today," and I saw
these higher spiritual beings throughout the length and breadth of the
air, marshalling their spiritual forces, and concentrating them upon
the high officials of your church upon earth.
I saw the spiritual forces working upon these officers,
impressing and moving them, influencing and warning them. I saw the
spiritual forces begin to unfold these things into minds of your Elders
and other high officials, especially during their spiritual devotions
and official duties, and those activities which exalt the mind of the
individual or groups. I saw the impressions take hold and inspire the
more receptive and spiritual men, until it was all clearly revealed
to them in the way the spiritual patriarch desired.
Again I seemed to hear the words, "As it will be".
I saw the high officials in council, and under inspired guidance issue
instructions to your people to reconsecrate their lives and energies
to their faith, to voluntarily disciplined themselves, by abstaining
from all those forms of indulgence which weaken the body, sap the mentality
and deaden the spirit or waste the income.
I saw further on, instructions given whereby places
of refuge were prepared quietly but efficiently by inspired Elders.
I saw Cardston and the surrounding foothills, especially North and West,
for miles, being prepared as a refuge for your people quietly but quickly.
I saw Elders still under divine guidance, counseling
and encouraging the planting of every available acre of soil in the
district, so that large supplies would be near the refuge. I saw the
church property under cultivation of an intensified character, not for
sale or profit, but for the use of the people. I saw artesian wells
and other wells dug all over that territory so that when the open waters
were polluted and poisoned that the people of the church and their cattle
should be provided for.
I saw the fuel resources of the district develop
in many places and vast piles of coal and timber stored for future use
and building. I saw the territory carefully surveyed and mapped out,
for the camping of a great body of the people of the church. I saw provisions
also made for a big influx of people who will not at first belong to
the church, but who will gather in their tribulation. I saw vast quantities
a surgical appliances, medicines, disinfectants, etc., stored in the
Temple basement. I saw inspiration given the Elders whereby the quantity,
quality and kind of things to be stored were judged, which might not
be attainable in this territory in time of chaos. I saw defensive preparations
working out the organizations of the camps on maps. I saw the mining
corridors used as places of storage underground; I saw the hills surveyed
and corrals built in sequestered places for cattle, sheep, etc., quietly
and quickly. I saw the plans for the organization of the single men
and their duties, the scouts, the guards, the nurses, the cooks, the
messengers, the children, the herders, the Temple guards, etc.. I saw
these things going on practically unknown to the Gentile world, except
the Great Apostasy, whose knowledge and hatred is far-reaching, in this
day of its temporary power. This was going on piece by piece as the
Elders were instructed so to do.
I saw the other officials obeying the inspired instructions,
carrying their message and exhorting the people to carry out, from time
to time to revelation given them, whilst all around throughout the Gentile
world the chaos developed in its varying stages, faction against faction,
nation against nation, but all in open or secret hostility to your people
and their faith. I saw your people draw closer and closer together,
as this became more tense and as the spiritual forces warned them through
the mouth of your Elders and your other officers. I saw the spiritual
forces influencing those members who had drifted away, to re-enter the
fold. I saw a greater tithing than ever before. I saw vast quantities
of necessaries supplied by members whose spiritual eyes had been opened.
I saw a liquidation of properties and effects disposed of quietly but
quickly by members of the church, as the spiritual influences directed
them.
I saw the inspired call sent forth to all the church,
to gather to the refuges of Zion. I saw the stream of your people quietly
moving in the direction of their refuge. I saw your people moving more
quickly and in larger numbers until all the stragglers were housed.
I saw the wireless message flashed from Zion's refuge to Zion's refuge
in their several places that all was well with them, and then the darkness
of chaos closed around the boundaries of your people, and the last days
of tribulation had begun."
(Sols Caurdisto
-- Visions of the Latter Days pages 73 -- 78)
George
Washington:
I
do not know whether it is owing to the anxiety of my mind, or what,
but this afternoon as I was sitting at this very table engaged in preparing
a dispatch, something in the apartment seemed to disturb me. Looking
up, I beheld standing opposite to me a singularly beautiful female.
So astonished was I, for I had given strict orders not to be disturbed,
that it was some moments before I found language to inquire the cause
of her presence. A second, a third and even a fourth time, did I repeat
my question but received no answer from my mysterious visitor except
a slight raising of the eyes. By this time I felt strange sensations
spreading through me. I would have risen, but the riveted gaze of the
being before me rendered volition impossible. I essayed once more to
address her, but my tongue had become powerless. Even though itself
suddenly became paralyzed. A new influence, mysterious, potent, irresistible,
took possession of me. "All I could do was to gaze steadily, vacantly,
at my unknown visitant. Gradually the surrounding atmosphere seemed
as though becoming filled with sensations, and grew luminous. Everything
about me seemed to rarefy, the mysterious visitor herself becoming more
airy, and yet more distinct to my sight than before. I now began to
feel as one dying, or rather to experience the sensations which I have
sometimes imagined accompany dissolution. I did not think, I did not
reason, I did not move, all were alike impossible. I was only conscious
of gazing fixedly, vacantly at my companion.
Presently,
I heard a voice saying, 'Son of the Republic, look and learn.' While
at the same time my visitor extended her arm eastwardly.
At
this the dark, shadowy angel placed a trumpet to his mouth and blew
three distinct blasts; and taking water from the ocean, he sprinkled
it upon Europe, Asia and Africa. Then my eyes
beheld a fearful scene; From each of these countries arose thick, black
clouds that were soon joined into one. And throughout this mass there
gleamed a dark red light by which I saw hordes of armed men, who moved
with the cloud, marching by land and sailing by sea to America, which
country was enveloped in the volume of the cloud. And I dimly saw these
vast armies devastate the whole country and burn the villages, towns
and cites that I had beheld springing up. As my ears listened to the
thundering of the cannon, clashing of swords and shouts and cries of
millions in mortal combat.....
The
scene instantly began to fade and dissolve and I at last saw nothing
but the rising, curling vapor I at first beheld. This also disappearing,
I found myself once more gazing upon my mysterious visitor, who, in
the same voice I had heard before said, 'Son of the Republic, what you
have seen is thus interpreted: Three great perils
will come upon the Republic. The most fearful is the third, passing
which the whole world united shall not prevail against her. Let every
child of the republic learn to live for his God, his land and union. With these words the vision vanished, and I started from seat and felt
that I had seen a vision wherein had been shown me the birth, progress
and destiny of the United States."
( from "George Washington's Vision" of the destiny of
the United States, while in Valley Forge, 1777, as recorded from the
account of Anthony Sherman, who claimed receiving the account from General
Washington just after the vision)
Joseph Paneah:
In the sumer of 1987 I went to Nauvoo, before the Temple was rebuilt. When I was walking through the place where the Temple once stood, everything began to change. It was as If I could see my surroundings, but a vision was taking my sight to another place and time.
I found myself above the earth looking down on the North American Continent. I saw those who were called the Army of Zion heading towards Missouri. Far from what most would recognize as an army, they looked from above to be refugees. To be honest, it looked more like a sad joke. I looked to the east. A foreign nation, the impression was Russia, was landing up and down the whole of the East Coast of the United States.
The precision and accuracy of their forces was like a well oiled machine. The most beautiful maneuvers. A perfectly terrible killing machine was ripping its way across the country.
My heart was shattered. How could we possibly be expected to fight against that? . . . No sooner had the thought entered my mind when I heard, "look". I looked back towards the west at that rag-tag bunch of stragglers, and above their heads I saw legion upon legion of Angels, martialed in checkerboard style, spanning the horizon as far as I could see.
The invading army made it half way across the country before we were able to meet them. Then . . . I'm sorry, it would not be wise to reveal the rest of the vision. Let's just say that the opposing army would come to believe that they were literally fighting against the powers of Heaven. Because they were.
There were two more visions in the Nauvoo Temple visitors center. Unfortunately, that won't be revealed for some time either.
How much can I say about things which I have seen? Perhaps, if I were to word it as Isaiah would, I could tell you about the Ten Tribes in a way that wouldn't be understood until after the event. . . I'll need to get permission, so, we'll see.
For years I would see pieces of a puzzle. Fire from the sky, a woman sitting in the rubble of twisted steel and brick weeping over the broken body of her little baby, a scene from a time when the sky was so dirty that the colors began going to gray-scale... I could feel the chill in the air and smell the stench of dead bodies, yet nothing tied directly to an event. . . you get the point. These pieces came so out of context that I couldn't tell you when, where, or how if I had to.
You need to look to the scriptures. How many scriptures speak of the "face" of the world turning upside down, the heavens passing by as a scroll, & etc. The scriptures give you extensive details about the events in the great and terrible day of YHWH. . . Yet wait and see how many people will find a way to explain away the connection between the events and the scriptures. They will say that it was a time traveler that inserted that into the Bible, or that it is just a natural event which means nothing. Well children, my Commander and Chief knows the beginning from the end. He has told you what will be. He has told you what the fate of those who side with evil will be. . . they will loose. If they are fighting against the Almighty, they have no idea of how stupid their vein machinations to rule the world are. They are just purchasing a condo in the bad place.
We live in a day of confusion, so here is your first clue. Turn off the daily programming. . . Or think of it this way, whatever they say, know that the truth is 180 degrees the opposite. If they say that it is good, it is really bad. If they give it a name like freedom, it is designed to enslave you. The father of all lies and his minions are hard at work. Don't make their job easy by being woke. Wake up! |
