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Zion/


Prophetic Statements

Joseph Smith

Take away the Book of Mormon and the revelations, and where is our religion? We have none; for without Zion, and a place of deliverance, we must fall; because the time is near when the sun will be darkened, and the moon turn to blood, and the stars fall from the heaven, and the earth reel to and fro. Then, if this is the case, and if we are not sanctified and gathered to the places God has appointed…we must fall; we cannot stand; we cannot be saved; for God will gather out his Saints from the Gentiles, and then comes desolation and destruction, and none can escape except the pure in heart who are gathered.” (History of the Church, 2:52.)

Joseph Smith

When we have our names sealed in the Lamb’s Book of Life we have Perfect Love and then it is impossible for false Christ’s to deceive us. God has often sealed up the heavens because of covetousness in the Church. Except the Church “receive” the fullness they will yet fail.” (Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pg. 9)

Joseph Smith

We have heard men who hold the priesthood remark that they would do anything they were told to do by those who preside over them [even] if they knew it was wrong; but such obedience as this is worse than folly to us; it is slavery in the extreme; and the man who would thus willingly degrade himself, should not claim a rank among intelligent beings, until he turns from his folly. A man of God would despise the idea. Others, in the extreme exercise of their almighty authority have taught that such obedience was necessary, and that no matter what the saints were told do by their presidents they should do it without any questions. When Elders of Israel will so far indulge in these extreme notions of obedience as to teach them to the people, it is generally because they have it in their hearts to do wrong themselves.” (Joseph Smith, Millennial Star, Vol 14, Number 38, pages 593-595)

Joseph Smith

You will live to see men rise in power in the church who will seek to put down your friends and the friends of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Many will be hoisted because of their money and the worldly learning which they seem to be in possession of; and many who are the true followers of our Lord and Savior will be cast down because of their poverty.” (Joseph Smith, Mosiah Hancock Journal, p.19)

Oliver Cowdery

This great tribulation would not have come upon Zion had it not been for rebellion…it was necessary that these things should come upon us; not only justice demands it, but there was no other way to cleanse the church. (The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith, compiled and edited by Dean C. Jessee [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1984], 282)

Brigham Young

And if He (The LORD) should suffer him (Joseph Smith) to lead the people astray, it would be because they ought to be led astray. If He should suffer them to be chastised, and some of them destroyed, it would be because they deserved it…” (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 4:297-298)

Wilford Woodruff - 1857

. . . when the kingdom was given to the Gentiles, they for a while brought forth the natural fruits of the kingdom. But they, like the Jews, HAVE FALLEN through the same example of unbelief, and now, in the last days, the kingdom of God has to be taken from the Gentiles, and restored back to every branch and tribe of the house of Israel; and when it is restored to them, it must go back with all its gifts, and blessings, and Priesthood which it possessed when it was taken from them.” (Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols., LDS Book Depot, 1854-1886, 4: 233)

Brigham Young - 1858

I have frequently said, and say again, that there are and always have been a great many in this Church that are not Saints. There are more “Mormons” than Saints; and there are different degrees and grades of “Mormons” and of Saints. There are many that are “Mormons” that are not Saints; and so it will be until Jesus comes to separate the sheep from the goats; This must be; this we all believe and understand.” (Journal of Discourses, vol 6: 194 - 195)

Orson Pratt - 1873

I do not know but that it would be an utter impossibility to commence and carry out some principles pertaining to Zion right in the midst of this people. They have strayed so far that to get a people who would conform to heavenly laws, it may be needful to lead some from the midst of this people and commence anew somewhere in the regions round about these mountains.” (Journal of Discourses, vol 15: 361)

George Q. Cannon - 1883

There will be a people raised up, if we will not be that people—there will yet be a people raised up whose lives will embody in perfection the revelations…and such a people will have to be raised up before Zion can be fully redeemed, and before the work of our God can be fully established in the earth.” (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 24, p.143 - p.144.

Heber C. Kimball - 1888

The time will come when no man or woman will be able to endure on borrowed light. Each will have to be guided by the light within himself. If you do not have it, how can you stand? Do you believe this? How is it now? You have the First Presidency, from whom you can get counsel to guide you, and you rely on them. The time will come when they will not be with you. Why? Because they will have to flee and hide up to keep out of the hands of their enemies. You have the Twelve now. You will not always have them, for they, too, will be hunted and will have to keep out of the way of their enemies. You have other men to who you look for counsel and advice. Many of them will not be amongst you. You will be left to the light within yourselves. If you do not have it, you will not stand; therefore seek for the Testimony of Jesus and cleave to it, that when the trying time comes, you may not stumble and fall.” (Heber C. Kimball, Life of Heber C Kimball pp 449-450)

Heber C. Kimball

Our sons and daughters must live pure lives so as to be prepared for what is coming. 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.” (as reported by Amanda Wilcox, Deseret News, May 23, 1931.)

George Q. Cannon

Do not, brethren, put your trust in man though he be a bishop; an apostle, or a president; if you do, they will fail you at some time or place, they will do wrong or seem to, and your support be gone; but if we lean on God, He never will fail us. When men and women depend on God alone, and trust in Him alone, their faith will not be shaken if the highest in the Church should step aside. They could still see that He is just and true, that truth is lovely in His sight, and the pure in heart are dear to Him. Perhaps it is His own design that faults and weaknesses should appear in high places in order that His Saints may learn to trust in Him and not in any man or men. Therefore, my brethren and sisters, seek after the Holy Spirit and His unfailing testimony of God and His work upon the earth. Rest not until you know for yourselves that God has set His hand to redeem Israel, and prepare a people for His coming.” (George, Q. Cannon, Brian H. Stuy, ed., Collected Discourses, 5 vols. [Burbank, Calif., and Woodland Hills, Ut.: B.H.S. Publishing, 1987-1992], 2)

Joseph F. Smith - 1870

Instead of raising themselves to the standard of the Gospel, they are content to descend to the level of the wicked and corrupt. Many of the Elders of Israel who have responsibilities resting upon them, with which they will find they cannot trifle with impunity, are taking this course all the time. What wonder, then, that the Spirit of the Lord is grieved? What wonder that the Latter‐day Saints need to be preached to continually? It is no wonder to me when I contemplate the condition of the people of these valleys, and especially Salt Lake City, Ogden, and our cities contiguous to the railways.” (Journal of Discourses, Vol.13, p.339 - p.340.)

J. Golden Kimball - 1930

To think calls for effort, which makes some men tired and wearies their souls. Now, brethren and sisters, we are surrounded with such conditions that it requires not only thought, but the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Latter‐day Saints, you must think for yourselves. No man or woman can remain in this Church on borrowed light. I am a strong believer in the following statement made by my father in the House of the Lord in 1856: “We think we are secure in the chambers of the everlasting hills, but the time will come when we will be so mixed up that it will be difficult to tell the face of a Saint from the face of an enemy to the people of God. Then, brethren, look out for the great sieve, for there will be a great sifting time, and many will fall; for I say unto you there is a test, a test, a TEST coming, and who will be able to stand?” (Conference Report, October 1930, p.59)

Joseph Fielding Smith - 1936

Are we not too much inclined to blame the generations that are past for the breaking of the new and everlasting covenant, and to think it is because of the great apostasy which followed the ministry of the Apostles in primitive times, that these troubles are coming upon the earth? Perhaps we should wake up to the realization that it is because of the breaking of covenants, especially the new and everlasting covenant, which is the fulness of the Gospel as it has been revealed, that the world is to be consumed by fire and few men left. Since this punishment is to come at the time of the cleansing of the earth when Christ comes again, should not Latter-day Saints take heed unto themselves? We have been given the new and everlasting covenant, and many among us have broken it, and many are now breaking it; therefore all who are guilty of this offense will aid in bringing to pass this destruction in which they will find themselves swept from the earth when the great and dreadful day of the Lord shall come.

"Hearken ye, for behold the great day of the Lord is nigh at hand." (D&C 43:17) This warning came to the Church one hundred years ago, and has been repeated many times since in the revelations to the Church. (Joseph Fielding Smith, Deseret News Oct. 17, 1936)

Joseph Fielding Smith – 1938

It is a very apparent fact that we have traveled far and wide in the past 20 years. What the future will bring I don t know . But if we drift as far from the fundamental things in the next 20 years, what will be left of the foundation laid by the Prophet Joseph Smith? It is easy for one who observes to see how the apostasy came about in the primitive church of Jesus Christ. Are we not traveling the same road?” (Joseph Fielding Smith, The Life of Joseph Fielding Smith 212. Deseret Book Co. Joseph Fielding Smith Journal, 28 December 1938)

Joseph Fielding Smith - 1964

In our own dispensation the law of Enoch was offered to the Church, but the Latter‐day Saints failed to live it and therefore it was taken away and a lesser law instituted until such time as Christ shall come to cleanse the Church, along with the rest of the world, of its wickedness and disobedience, by removing all things that offend.” (Joseph Fielding Smith, The Progress of Man [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1964], 88 - 89.)

Ezra Taft Benson - 1965

For years we have been counseled to have on hand a year’s supply of food… Should the Lord decide at this time to cleanse the Church—and the need for that cleansing seems to be increasing—a famine in this land of one year’s duration could wipe out a large percentage of slothful members, including some ward and stake officers. Yet we cannot say we have not been warned.” (Conference Report, April 1965, Afternoon Meeting 122)

Ezra Taft Benson – 1969

But there is a cleansing coming. The Lord says that his vengeance shall be poured out "upon the inhabitants of the earth. . . . And upon my house shall it begin, and from my house shall it go forth, saith the Lord; First among those among you, saith the Lord, who have professed to know my name and have not known me. . .." (D&C 112:24-26.) I look forward to that cleansing; its need within the Church is becoming increasingly apparent. . . . So also in our day the Lord has told us of the tares within the wheat that will eventually be hewn down when they are fully ripe. But until they are hewn down, they will be with us, amongst us
. . .
Yes, within the Church today there are tares among the wheat and wolves within the flock. As President Clark stated, "The ravening wolves are amongst us, from our own membership, and they, more than any others, are clothed in sheep's clothing because they wear the habiliments of the priesthood. . . . We should be careful of them " (Era, May 1949, p. 268. See also Conference Report, April 1949, p. 163.)

The wolves amongst our flock are more numerous and devious today than when President Clark made this statement. (Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, April 1969, First Day—Morning Meeting 10-11,15)

H.Verland Anderson - 1972

People who regard themselves as members of the only true Church have the fatal tendency to consider themselves immune from the disease of deception. Knowing that they belong to the Lord’s Church and have His scriptures and His prophets to guide them, they blindly assume that this adequately protects them against false beliefs. All history teaches the folly of such an assumption, and the scriptures specifically deny its validity…” (H. Verlan Andersen, The Great and Abominable Church of the Devil, Sunrise Publishing, Orem UT 1972, 166-168)

H. Verlan Andersen - 1972

Christ also used the name “Gentile” to identify those through whom the gospel would go to the Lamanites. (3 Nephi 21:2‐4). If Church members from Gentile nations will bear in mind that the term “Gentile” when used in the Book of Mormon includes them, the prophecies therein will have much greater meaning and be more disturbing.(H. Verlan Andersen, Apostasy of the Latter Days, The Great and Abominable Church of the Devil, Orem UT, Sunrise Publishing, 1972, 164.)

Spencer W. Kimball - 1976

The Lord gave us a choice world and expects righteousness and obedience to his commandments in return. But when I review the performance of this people in comparison with what is expected, I am appalled and frightened. . . Forgotten is the fact that our assignment is to use these many resources in our families and quorums to build up the kingdom of God—to further the missionary effort and the genealogical and temple work; to raise our children up as fruitful servants unto the Lord; to bless others in every way, that they may also be fruitful. Instead, we expend these blessings on our own desires, and as Moroni said, “Ye adorn yourselves with that which hath no life, and yet suffer the hungry, and the needy, and the naked, and the sick and the afflicted to pass by you, and notice them not. (Mormon 8:39). . . . If we insist on spending all our time and resources building up for ourselves a worldly kingdom, that is exactly what we will inherit. In spite of our delight in defining ourselves as modern, and our tendency to think we possess a sophistication that no people in the past ever had–in spite of these things, we are, on the whole, an idolatrous people–a condition most repugnant to the Lord.” (The False Gods We Worship, June 1976 First Presidency Message, Spencer W. Kimball)

Ezra Taft Benson – 1988

Too often we bask in our 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 somehow will 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 we heeded His counsel?” (Ezra Taft Benson, The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988], 706)

Boyd K. Packer - 1990

"In recent years I have felt, and I think I am not alone, that we were losing the ability to correct the course of the Church. You cannot appreciate how deeply I feel about the importance of this present opportunity unless you know the regard, the reverence, I have for the Book of Mormon and how seriously I have taken the warnings of the prophets, particularly Alma and Helaman.

Both Alma and Helaman told of the church in their day. They warned about fast growth, the desire to be accepted by the world, to be popular, and particularly they warned about prosperity. Each time those conditions existed in combination, the Church drifted off course. All of those conditions are present in the Church today.

Helaman repeatedly warned, I think four times he used these words, that the fatal drift of the church could occur "in the space of not many years." In one instance it took only six years. (See Helaman 6:32, 7:6, 11:26)" (Boyd K. Packer, Let Them Govern Themselves, Address delivered at Regional Representative Seminar, Friday March 30, 1990)