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Show 35 Man is nigh, even at the doors.... I saw men hunting the lives of their own sons, and brother murdering brother,... I saw armies arrayed against armies. I saw blood, desolation, fires.... These things are at our doors.11 Four years later, in a conversation with Judge Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois, the prophet declared: ...I prophesy in the name of the Lord God of Israel, unless the United States redress the wrongs committed upon the Saints in the state of Missouri and punish the crimes committed by her officers that in a few years the government will be utterly overthrown and wasted, and there will not be so much as a potshsherd left,...12 It could be argued that the imminence of the "end of the world" is relative, but it seems without question, through his many statements on the subject, he felt it was very close. He admonished his followers to make all necessary preparations "for the terrible storms that are now gathering in the heavens," As early as 1833 Joseph prophesied, "there are those now living upon the earth whose eyes shall not be closed in death until they see all these things."1^ Brigham Young continued the millennial tradition after the death of Joseph Smith. As the Saints were beginning their trek toward the Great Basin, he declared: "Thy brethren have rejected you and your testimony, even the nation that has driven you out; And now cometh the day of their calamity."15 With all this in mind, the Saints eagerly watched for the signs of the times and saw them in every war and natural disaster of the day. But the cleansing fires of the Lord were not the only prerequisites for His coming. Before Christ could physically take his place at the head of His kingdom on earth, it was the obligation of the Latter-day Saints to create |
