The following is a transcription of “A Prophecy of Joe Smith,” The Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, California), (February 4, 1863): 2
A Prophecy of Joe Smith.
We have before us a pamphlet of
fifty-six octave pages, entitled, "The Pearl of Great Price; being a
choice selections from the Revelations, Translations, and Narrations of Joseph
Smith, First Prophet, Seer, and Revelator to the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints. Liverpool: Published by E. D. Richards, 15 Wilton street,
1851."
Smith was the predecessor of
Brigham Young—or Brigham is Smith's successor. This extract is a curiosity at
this time, as it bears upon over present war, and as such we republish it. ON
page 35 of the pamphlet is the following:
"A REVELATION AND PROPHECY BY
THE PROPHET, SEER, AND REVELATOR JOSEPH SMITH—GIVEN DECEMBER 25TH, 1832—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. The days will come that war will be
poured out upon all nations, beginning at that place; for behold, the Southern
States shall be divided against the Northern States, and the Southern States
will call upon 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 thus 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 exceeding 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 famines, and plague, and earthquakes, 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 of the blood of the Saints, shall cease
to come up into the earth of the Lord of Sabbaoth, 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."
That about South Carolina
rebelling—the Southern States and Northern States—the South calling on Great
Britain for assistance, the slaves and their masters, seems to come in very
well. The famine and the plague have not yet come, not the general war; but the
earthquakes have been heard from at San Francisco, which is thus warned to
repent before her doom cometh.
Notice a couple of things:
This is a non-LDS newspaper, so hardly any pro-Mormon bias going
on here.
It, in the final paragraph, acknowledges that much of the prophecy
seems to have been fulfilled rather nicely two years into the Civil War (showing [1] they believe it to be
prophetic and [2] hardly something that was very obvious anyone could have predicted
pre-1861)
Also note that they understand the prophecy to be speaking of a
then-future “general war” involving Great Britain and other nations (similar to
the common LDS interpretation that the then-future World Wars were, at least in
part, fulfilments of this portion of D&C 87).
No matter how one cuts it, D&C 87 is indeed a testament to Joseph Smith being a true prophet of God.
Further Reading:
Resources on Joseph Smith's Prophecies
