Joseph Smith taught that the American Civil War (1861-1865) would open the commencement of the wars and plagues that would culminate in the destructions preceding the Second Coming of the Savior.
In 1832 he wrote:
“Verily, thus saith the Lord concerning the wars that will shortly come to pass, beginning at the rebellion of South Carolina, which will eventually terminate in the death and misery of many souls;
And the time will come that war will be poured out upon all nations, beginning at this place.
For behold, the Southern States shall be divided against the Northern States, and the Southern States will call on other nations, even the nation of Great Britain, as it is called, and they shall also call upon other nations, in order to defend themselves against other nations; and then war shall be poured out upon all nations.
And it shall come to pass, after many days, slaves shall rise up against their masters, who shall be marshaled and disciplined for war.
And it shall come to pass also that the remnants who are left of the land will marshal themselves, and shall become exceedingly angry, and shall vex the Gentiles with a sore vexation.
And thus, 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 end of all nations;
That the cry of the saints, and of the blood of the saints, shall cease to come up into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, from the earth, to be avenged of their enemies.
Wherefore, stand ye in holy places, and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come; for behold, it cometh quickly, saith the Lord. Amen.”
Doc. & Cov. 87
Joining that prophecy, thirty years later we have another mighty declaration given to us in 1862 by an American poet, even prophetess, Julia Ward Howe.
Of the moment the lyrics came to her, she recalled:
“I went to bed that night as usual, and slept, according to my wont, quite soundly. I awoke in the gray of the morning twilight; and as I lay waiting for the dawn, the long lines of the desired poem began to twine themselves in my mind. Having thought out all the stanzas, I said to myself, 'I must get up and write these verses down, lest I fall asleep again and forget them.' So, with a sudden effort, I sprang out of bed, and found in the dimness an old stump of a pencil which I remembered to have used the day before. I scrawled the verses almost without looking at the paper.”
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“Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on.
I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps,
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps:
His day is marching on.
I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:
‘As ye deal with My contemners, so with you My grace shall deal’
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with His heel,
Since God is marching on.
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat;
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me.
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.
He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is Wisdom to the mighty, He is Succour to the brave,
So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of Time His slave,
Our God is marching on.
Chorus:
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
(His truth is marching on/Our God is marching on)”
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Further commentary from Joseph Smith:
“We shall … do well to discern the signs of the times as we pass along, that the day of the Lord may not ‘overtake us as a thief in the night.” (See Doc. & Cov. 106: 4–5)
“I will prophesy that the signs of the coming of the Son of Man are already commenced. One pestilence will desolate after another. We shall soon have war and bloodshed. The moon will be turned into blood. I testify of these things, and that the coming of the Son of Man is nigh, even at your doors. If our souls and our bodies are not looking forth for the coming of the Son of Man; and after we are dead, if we are not looking forth, we shall be among those who are calling for the rocks to fall upon them.” (See Revelation 6: 15–17)
“Dearly and beloved brethren, we see that perilous times have come, as was testified of (2 Timothy 3:1). We may look, then, with most perfect assurance, for the fulfillment of all those things that have been written, and with more confidence than ever before, lift up our eyes to the luminary of day, and say in our hearts, Soon thou wilt veil thy blushing face. He that said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light (Genesis 1:3), hath spoken this word. And again, Thou moon, thou dimmer light, thou luminary of night, shalt turn to blood.
“We see that everything is being fulfilled; and that the time shall soon come when the Son of Man shall descend in the clouds of heaven.”
“The earth will soon be reaped—that is, the wicked must soon be destroyed from off the face of the earth, for the Lord hath spoken it, and who can stay the hand of the Lord, or who is there that can measure arms with the Almighty, for at his commands the heavens and the earth must pass away. The day is fast hastening on when the restoration of all things shall be fulfilled, which all the holy prophets have prophesied of, even unto the gathering in of the house of Israel. Then shall come to pass that the lion shall lie down with the lamb, etc.
“But, brethren, be not discouraged when we tell you of perilous times, for they must shortly come, for the sword, famine, and pestilence are approaching. There shall be great destructions upon the face of this land, for ye need not suppose that one jot or tittle of the prophecies of all the holy prophets shall fail, and there are many that remain to be fulfilled yet. The Lord hath said that a short work will he make of it, and the righteous shall be saved if it be as by fire.” (See Romans 9: 28; 1 Nephi 22: 17)
“The scripture is ready to be fulfilled when great wars, famines, pestilence, great distress, judgments, etc., are ready to be poured out on the inhabitants of the earth.”
“We see that perilous times have truly come, and the things which we have so long expected have at last begun to usher in; but when you see the fig tree begin to put forth its leaves, you may know that the summer is nigh at hand. (See Matthew 24: 32–33) There will be a short work on the earth. It has now commenced. I suppose there will soon be perplexity all over the earth. Do not let our hearts faint when these things come upon us, for they must come, or the word cannot be fulfilled.”
“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.’”
“Judah must return, Jerusalem must be rebuilt, and the temple, and water come out from under the temple, and the waters of the Dead Sea be healed. (See Ezekiel 47: 1–9) It will take some time to rebuild the walls of the city and the temple, etc.; and all this must be done before the Son of Man will make His appearance. There will be wars and rumors of wars, signs in the heavens above and on the earth beneath, the sun turned into darkness and the moon to blood, earthquakes in divers places, the seas heaving beyond their bounds; then will appear one grand sign of the Son of Man in heaven. But what will the world do? They will say it is a planet, a comet, etc. But the Son of Man will come as the sign of the coming of the Son of Man, which will be as the light of the morning cometh out of the east.” (See Joseph Smith—Matthew 1: 26)
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In our efforts to convince others to prepare for those things to come, we must be aware of the reasons for this preparation.
We may easily get the idea that saving ourselves temporally is the goal—that the ultimate objective is being prepared with food, water, and other supplies to anticipate some great breakdown in the economic pipelines that currently sustain us.
This is not so.
From the Prophet:
“[I] explained concerning the coming of the Son of Man; also that it is a false idea that the Saints will escape all the judgments, whilst the wicked suffer; for all flesh is subject to suffer, and ‘the righteous shall hardly escape’ (see Doc. & Cov. 63: 34); still many of the Saints will escape, for the just shall live by faith (see Habakkuk 2: 4); yet many of the righteous shall fall a prey to disease, to pestilence, etc., by reason of the weakness of the flesh, and yet be saved in the Kingdom of God. So that it is an unhallowed principle to say that such and such have transgressed because they have been preyed upon by disease or death, for all flesh is subject to death; and the Savior has said, ‘Judge not, lest ye be judged.’” (See Matthew 7: 1)
If survival is not guaranteed for the righteous, why prepare for the coming tests and trials?
Answer: To survive spiritually.
If you or I, a covenant keeping member of the Lord's flock, should suffer and die due to some coming calamity, what have we lost eternally?
Nothing.
If you or I should forsake our covenants, leaving the Lord to walk after our own idols of wood, stone, brick, wheat, or gold—though we should save our lives—what might we lose eternally?
Everything.
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We misspeak when we label suffering, death, or other uncomfortable events as “tragic.”
I've come to learn a great truth:
There is no tragedy but sin, unrepented.
Every other misfortune can and will be done away by the matchless power of the Son of God, and the restoring capabilities of His infinite atoning sacrifice.
The consequences of sin can be undone everywhere except in the unrepentant sinner.
No suffering, death, loss, pain, or destruction, whether by famine, peril, or sword, can separate us from the Love of God, manifest through the matchless gift of His divine Son. Though they may sorely torment us, these things are nothing to Him. (See Romans 8: 34-39)
Evils wrought by the wicked to torment the righteous are temporary distracting inconveniences at the worst, and eternally refining influences at the best.
All these have been overcome by our Savior. He has the power to turn them to your benefit, as you follow Him. (See Isaiah 48: 10; Micah 4: 13; Romans 8: 28; 2 Corinthians 4: 17; Hebrews 12: 10-11; 1 Peter 2: 20-21; 2 Nephi 2: 1-2; 32: 9; Doc. & Cov. 90: 24; 122)
If we are faithful to Christ, we may likewise overcome them all. Seek to know how He overcame them. He will gladly help you do the same.
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The day of the Lord to come will be great and terrible. Our choice of how we align ourselves to the Son of God will make a mighty difference personally. We get to determine for ourselves whether for us, that Day is Great, or whether it is Terrible.
Who's on the Lord's side? Who?
Still, God is marching on.
Who will march with Him?
