The following is a useful florilegium of quotes showing that early Latter-day Saints did not believe D&C 87 taught a then-future single war; instead, it was interpreted to predict multiple wars. Be sure to read the materials I have on D&C 87 at Resources on Joseph Smith’s Prophecies:
David Whitmer:
“Question: When will the temple be built in Independence? Answer: Right
after the great tribulation is over. Question: What do you mean by that?
Answer: A civil war more bloody and cruel than the rebellion. It will be
the smashing up of this nation, about which time the second great work has to
be done, a work like Joseph did, and the translation of the sealed
plates and peace all over.” (Interview by Dr. Poulson with David Whitmer,
printed in the Deseret News on Friday, August 16, 1878.)
Elder Orson Pratt said,
“The Whole Republic will be in general commotion and warfare: “That
war, we must remember, was only one solitary judgment, compared with what will
come, and that, too, in the near future. It has been revealed that the time
will come in the history of our nation, that one State will rise against
another, one city against another, even every man's hand shall be against his
neighbor, until the whole Republic will be in general commotion and warfare.
How and when this will take place, the Lord, in his wisdom, has not told us;
but it is sufficient for us to say, that he has told us of the facts that such
and such will be the case. For aught we know, the fulfillment of this prophecy
may grow out of politics. If the people are very nearly equally divided in
politics, this feeling may run so high, in years to come, as to be the direct
cause of war. And if this should be the case, it would very naturally spread to
every neighborhood in the Union. One class of political opponents would rise up
against the other class in the same city and country, and thus would arise a
war of mobocracy.” (Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the Eighteenth
Ward Meetinghouse, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, Feb. 25, 1877.)
President John Taylor said, “More ruin, more devastation than ever they have seen
before: “Need we be surprised that they should trample underfoot the
Constitution of the United States? No; Joseph Smith told us that they would do
it. Many around me here knew long ago that they would do this thing and further
knew that the last people that should be found to rally around that sacred
instrument and save it from the grasp of unrighteous men would be the Elders of
Israel! ...Were we surprised when the last terrible war took place here in the
United States? No; good Latter-day Saints were not, for they had been told
about it. Joseph Smith had told them where it would start, that it should be a
terrible time of bloodshed and that it should start in South Carolina. But I
tell you today the end is not yet. You will see worse things than that, for God
will lay his hand upon this nation, and they will feel it more terribly than
ever they have done before; there will be more bloodshed, more ruin, more
devastation than ever they have seen before.” (Discourse by President
John Taylor, delivered at the General Conference, Held in the Tabernacle, Salt
Lake City, October 6, 1879.)
President Brigham Young said, “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.” (Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in
the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, July 15, 1860.)
President Brigham Young said, "I heard Joseph Smith say, nearly thirty years ago,
“They shall have mobbing to their hearts content, if they do not redress the
wrongs of the Latter-day Saints. Mobs will not decrease, but will increase
until the whole government becomes a mob, and eventually it will be State
against State, city against city, neighborhood against neighborhood. It will be
Christian against Christian, and man against man, and those who will not
take up the sword against their neighbors, must flee to Zion." (Des.
News, Vol. 2, May 1, 1861)
Elder Orson Pratt said,
“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.” (Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses 20:150-151)
President Brigham Young said, "Do you think there is calamity abroad now among the
people? All we have yet heard and all we have experienced is scarcely a preface
to the sermon that is going to be preached. Then 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, earthquake, 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 seas 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." (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 8:123)
President Brigham Young said, "According to my definition of the word, there is
not a strictly and fully civilized community now upon the earth. Is there
murder by wholesale to be found in a strictly civilized community? Will a
community of civilized nations rise up one against another, nation against
nation, and kingdom against kingdom, using against each other every destructive
invention that can be brought to bear in their wars? When will they be
civilized? Then the Lord shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many
people; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears
into pruninghooks; when nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither
learn war any more. When the world is in a state of true civilization, man
will have ceased to contend against his fellow-man, either as individuals,
parties, communities, sects, or nations. This state of civilization will
be brought about by the holy Priesthood of the Son of God; and men, with
full purpose of heart, will seek unto him who is pure and holy, even our great
Creator–our Father and God; and he will give them a law that is pure–a
government and plan of society possessed by holy beings in heaven. Then
there will be no more war, no more bloodshed, no more evil-speaking and
evil-doing; but all will be contented to follow in the path of truth, which
alone is calculated to exalt and dignify the whole man, mentally and
physically, in all his operations, labors, and purposes. Short of this,
mankind cannot be said to be truly civilized." (Brigham Young, Journal of
Discourses 8:6-7)
Wilford Woodruff said,
“Can America escape destruction? “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 nations that once inhabited this continent of North and South America
because of their sin, 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. I
cannot help it; I would to God they would repent, that their eyes might be
opened to see their condition; but the devil has power over them; he rules the
children of men, he holds Babylon in his own hand, and leads the people
withersoever he will. There are changes awaiting us, they are even nigh at our
very doors, and I know it by the revelations of Jesus Christ; I know it by the
visions of heaven, I know it by the administrations of angels, and I know it by
the inspiration of heaven, that is given to all men who seek the Lord; and the
hand of God will not stay these things. We have no time to lose.” (Wilford
Woodruff, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 21:301)
Spencer W. Kimball spoke
of no more stores. He said, “The little gardens and a few trees are very
valuable. I remember when the sisters used to say, `well, but we could buy it
at the store a lot cheaper than we could put it up.' But that isn't quite the
answer, is it, Sister Spafford? Because there will become a time when there
isn't a store.” (General Conference, April 1974)
Note: Have we stopped believing in plain declarations like this? If we
believe, let us act like it, and prepare!
Joseph Smith spoke
of family against family. He said, “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 daughters, 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.” (Joseph Smith,
Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith,161)
Elder Orson Pratt said,
“The time will come when there will be no safety in carrying on the peaceable
pursuits of farming or agriculture. But these will be neglected, and the people
will think themselves well off if they can flee from city to city, from
town to town and escape with their lives. Thus will the Lord visit the
people, if they will not repent.” (Journal of Discourses, 12:344)
Joseph Smith said,
“And now I am prepared to say by the authority of Jesus Christ, that not many
years shall pass away before the United States shall present such a scene of
bloodshed as has not a parallel in the history of our nation; pestilence, hail,
famine, and earthquake will sweep the wicked of this generation from off the
face of the land, to open and prepare the way for the return of the lost tribes
of Israel from the north country.” (History of the Church, 1:315.)
Heber C. Kimball spoke
of saints being prevented from holding meetings. He said, "...this
government would dissolve pretty much all the laws passed by our legislature,
and that the time would come when the government would stop the Saints from
holding meetings. When this was done the Lord would pour out His
judgments." (Life of Heber C. Kimball, pp. 452-453) Elder Moses
Thatcher, June 16, 1882: "I have seen the end of this nation and it is
terrible. I will tell you in the name of the LORD that a secret band will sap
the life out of this nation." Elder Orson Pratt said, "God has
sent forth His warning message in the midst of this nation, but they have
rejected it and treated His servants with contempt; the Lord has gathered
out His people from their midst, and has planted them here in these mountains;
and He will speedily fulfill the prophecy in relation to the overthrow of
this nation, and their destruction. We shall be obliged to have a
government to preserve ourselves in unity and peace; for they, through being
wasted away, will not have the power to govern; for state will be divided
against state, city against city, town against town, and the whole country
will be in terror and confusion; mobocracy will prevail and there will be
no security, through this great Republic, for the lives or property of the
people." (Des. News, Oct. 2, 1875)
Elder Orson Pratt said,
"The day will come when the nations of Europe will have warred among
themselves sufficiently long, and those despotic governments are torn
down, and when the hand of oppression and tyranny has been eased up, and
when the principles of religious liberty have become more fully and more
widely spread, that the Elders of this Church will traverse all these
nations; and then we shall have use for these Seventies that have
been organizing so long. By-and-by the Spirit of God will entirely withdraw
from those Gentile nations, and leave them to themselves. Then they will
find something else to do besides warring against the Saints in their midst–besides
raising their sword and fighting against the Lamb of God; for then war will
commence in earnest, and such a war as probably never entered into the
hearts of men in our age to conceive of. No nation of the Gentiles upon the
face of the whole earth but what will be engaged in deadly war, except the
Latter-day Kingdom. They will be fighting one against another. And when
that day comes, the Jews will flee to Jerusalem, and those nations will
almost use one another up, and those of them who are left will be burned;
for that will be the last sweeping judgment that is to go over the earth
to cleanse it from wickedness." (Journal of Discourses, 7:186, 188)
Elder Orson Pratt said,
“When that day shall come (when the missionaries will be called home) there
shall be wars, not such wars as have come in centuries and years that are past
and gone, but a desolating war. When I say desolating, I mean that it will lay
these European nations in waste. Cities will be left vacated, without
inhabitants. The people will be destroyed by the sword of their own hands. Not
only this but many other cities will be burned; for when contending armies are
wrought up with the terrible anger, without the Spirit of God upon them, when
they have not that spirit of humanity that now characterizes many of the wars
amongst the nations, when they are left to themselves, there will be no quarter
given, no prisoners taken, but a war of destruction, of desolation, of the
burning of the cities and villages, until the land is laid desolate. But what
about the American nation? That war that destroyed the lives of some fifteen or
sixteen hundred thousand people was nothing compared to that which will
eventually devastate that country. The time is not very far distant in the
future, when the Lord God will lay His hand heavily upon 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. They must perish,
unless they repent. They will be wasted away, and the fullness of the wrath of
Almighty God will be poured out upon them, unless they repent. Their cities
will be left desolate. A time is coming when the great and populous city of New
York–the greatest city of the American Republic–will be left without
inhabitants. The houses will stand, some of them, not all. They will stand
there, but unoccupied, no people to inherit them. lt will be the same in regard
to numerous other cities." (1879, Journal of Discourses, 20:150-152)
Elder Jedediah M. Grant said, "Consequently, when we see nation stirred up against
nation, and on the other hand see other nations exerting a powerful influence
to bring about negotiations of peace, shall we say they can bring it about? Do
we expect they can stay the onward course of war? The prophet of God has spoken
it all, and we expect to see the work go on–and see all things fulfilled as the
prophets have declared by the spirit of prophecy in them. Three days before the
Prophet Joseph started for Carthage, I well remember his telling us we should
see the fulfillment of the words of Jesus upon the earth, where He says the
father shall be against the son, and the son against the father; the mother
against the daughter, and when a man’s enemies shall be those of his own
household. The Prophet stood in his own house when he told several of us of the
night the visions of heaven were opened to him, in which he saw the American
continent drenched in blood, and he saw nation rising against nation. He also
saw the father shed the blood of the son, and the son shed the blood of the
father; the mother put to death the daughter, and the daughter the mother; and
natural affection forsook the hearts of the wicked; for he saw that the Spirit
of God should be withdrawn from the inhabitants of the earth, in consequence of
which there should be blood upon the face of the whole earth, except among the
people of the Most High. The Prophet gazed upon the scene his vision
represented, until his heart sickened and he besought the Lord to close it up
again. When we hear of war in foreign lands–when we hear of the revolutions
among nations afar off, we necessarily infer that distresses incident to war
and the hottest of the battle will not come nigh unto us. lt is natural for man
to make favorable conclusions as to his own safety, when danger threatens, but
the Prophet saw in the vision, that war and distress of nations will not only
occur in Europe, in Asia, and in the islands of the sea, but he saw it upon the
American Continent–in the region of country where he first introduced the
doctrine of the Son of God; so we may look for calamity in our own borders, in
our own nation, as well as in the nations of foreign climes." (1854,
Journal of Discourses, 2:146-47)
Orson Pratt said,
“But what about the American nation. That war that destroyed the lives of some
fifteen or sixteen hundred thousand people was nothing, compared to that which
will eventually devastate that country. The time is not very far distant in the
future, when the Lord God will lay his hand heavily upon that nations.
"How do you know this? inquires one." I know from the revelations
which God has given upon this subject. I read these revelations, when they were
first given. I waited over twenty-eight years and saw their fulfillment to the
very letter. Should I not, then, expect that the balance of them should be
fulfilled? 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.” (Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses 20:151) (Jacob Peasant
and Renee Martin, Visions of the Saints: Themes in Future Prophecy from
Prophets & Visionaries [2025], 163-70)
