Sections of this Essay:

• Deseret News Reports Heber C Kimball Prophecies: Deception, Persecution, Elders Called Home, Return of Joseph Smith, Gathering to Missouri
•  J. Golden Kimball Relates Heber C. Kimball Prophecies from 1868 & 1856 in a Conference Report in 1930: Persecution Coming to the Saints to Test Their Limits, Won’t Endure the Test on Borrowed Light; Missouri will Yet be Swept Clean
• Excerpt from Prophetic Sayings of Heber C. Kimball to Sister Amanda H. Wilcox
• Thought on the Validity of Heber’s Prophecies
• Overview of Isaiah on Saints being Tried & Refined Before They Can Redeem Zion
• Isaiah Teaches that Only a Small Remnant Tithe Will Remain
• Analysis on Missouri’s Yet Future Cleansing (and the Cleansing of Everywhere Else): Not Entirely Fulfilled in Civil War 1, Refuge Will Yet Be Needed
• Tribulations Will be Small for the Faithful – Heber C. Kimball & Vaughn J. Featherstone

 

Deseret News Reports Heber C Kimball Prophecies: Deception, Persecution, Elders Called Home, Return of Joseph Smith, Gathering to Missouri

(Heber C. Kimball, First Counselor in the First Presidency, May 1868, printed in the Deseret News, 23 May 1931; see also J. Golden Kimball’s reading of these things in the Conference Report Oct. 1930 p. 58-59)

An army of Elders will be sent to the four quarters of the earth to search out the righteous and warn the wicked of what is coming. All kinds of religions will be started and miracles performed that will deceive the very elect if that were possible. 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.

The western boundary of the State of Missouri will be swept so clean of its inhabitants that as President Young tells us, when you return to that place, there will not be left so much as a yellow dog to wag his tail.

Before that day comes, however, the Saints will be put to a test that will try the integrity of the best of them. The pressure will become so great that the more righteous among them will cry unto the Lord day and night until deliverance comes.

Then the Prophet Joseph and others will make their appearance and those who have remained faithful will be selected to return to Jackson County, Missouri and take part in the building of that beautiful city, the New Jerusalem.

(Heber C. Kimball, First Counselor in the First Presidency, May 1868, in Deseret News, 23 May 1931; see also see also J. Golden Kimball’s reading of these things in the Conference Report Oct. 1930 p. 58-59)

Next we will look at another source for Heber C. Kimball’s prophecies, namely what his son J. Golden Kimball related in a conference address in 1930:

 

J. Golden Kimball Relates Heber C. Kimball Prophecies from 1868 & 1856 in a Conference Report in 1930: Persecution Coming to the Saints to Test Their Limits, Won’t Endure the Test on Borrowed Light; Missouri will Yet be Swept Clean

In a Conference Report in 1930, Heber’s son J. Golden Kimball recounted many of Heber’s prophecies.

Source: Conference Report 1930 by J. Golden Kimball p.58-61
(The original report is available at https://dn721808.ca.archive.org/0/items/conferencereport1930sa/conferencereport1930sa.pdf look for pages 58-61) (Also in a more legible format available at https://blog.jacobhouseholder.com/archive/j-golden-kimball-son-of-a-prophet/)

See also Prophetic Sayings of Heber C. Kimball to Sister Amanda H. Wilcox 1868.

Here is a large portion of the J. Golden Kimball speech where he references Heber C. Kimball:

I claim not to be a prophet, but I am a son of a prophet, and I expect to give you evidence — whether you question the truth of it or not — that shall be left with you — that Heber C. Kimball was a prophet of God. President Brigham Young on more than one occasion said: “Heber is my prophet, and I love to hear him prophesy.”

In May, 1868—that is sixty-two years ago—he said: “After a while the gentiles will gather in Salt Lake City by the thousands, and this will be among the wicked cities of the world.”

He said: “A spirit of speculation and extravagance will take possession of the Saints, and the results will be financial bondage.”

He said: “An army of elders will be sent to the four quarters of the earth, to search out the righteous and warn the wicked of coming events. All kinds of religions will be started, and miracles performed that will deceive the very elect, if’ such a thing were possible. Persecution comes next, and all Latter-day Saints will be tested to the limit. Many will apostatize, and others will stand still, not knowing what to do. Before the temple reaches the square our brethren will be imprisoned, until the penitentiary shall be full, and some of them will be removed to other penitentiaries. Mothers would weep for their husbands, and children would cry for their fathers. Some would die, and sorrow would fill the hearts of the Latter-day Saints. When the temple roof is on, the persecution will lessen, but when the temple is completed the power of the Evil One will be shut out. The prayers of the Saints will then be heard. The sick will be taken there and healed. The Spirit of God will rest upon the people, and work for the dead will be continued night and day. The judgments of God will be poured out upon 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 will be carried to the Jews.”

“The western boundaries of the State of Missouri will be swept so clean of its inhabitants that as President Young tells us, ‘when we return to that place there will not be as much as a yellow dog to wag his tail.‘ Before that day comes, however, the Saints will be put to the test that will try the very best of them. The pressure will become so great that the righteous among us will cry unto the Lord day and night until deliverance comes.”

In 1856—that is seventy-four years ago—a small group of friends convened in the house of the Lord, called the Endowment House. The conversation was about the isolated condition of the Latter-dav Saints.

“Yes,” said Brother Heber, “we think we are secure here in the chambers of these everlasting hills, where we can close the doors of the canyons against mobs and persecutors, the wicked and the vile, who have always beset us with violence and robbery, but I want to say to you, my brethren, the time is coming when we will be mixed up in these now peaceful valleys to that extent that it will be difficult to tell the face of a Saint from the face of an enemy against the people of God.”

“Then is the time to 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.”

He further said: ‘This Church has before it many close places through which it will have to pass before the work of God is crowned with glory. The difficulties will be of such a character that the man or woman who does not possess a personal knowledge or witness will fall. If you have not got this testimony, you must live right and call upon the Lord, and cease not until you obtain it. Remember these sayings : 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 themselves. If you do not have the knowledge that Jesus is the Christ, how can you stand?”

 

Excerpt from Prophetic Sayings of Heber C. Kimball to Sister Amanda H. Wilcox

Heber C Kimball (as reported by Amanda H. Wilcox in Salt Lake City in May 1868) said, “The western boundries of the State of Missouri will be swept so clean of its inhabitants that, as President Young tells us, when we return to that place, ‘There will not be left so much as a yellow dog to wag his tail.’” (Prophetic Sayings of Heber C. Kimball to Sister Amanda H. Wilcox, n.p., n.d., p. 6.)

Note: When citing the Alamda Wilcox recording of the Heber C. Kimball prophecy in his prophecy book, Crowther states (on page 45) that a copy of the prophecy is available in the BYU Library.

Note that Cleon Skousen quotes some of this prophecy in his book “Prophecy and Modern Times” pages 31-33.

See also http://jaredc.chaosnet.org/proph/amandawilcox.html

 

 

Thought on the Validity of Heber’s Prophecies

Some cast doubt on the Amanda Wilcox 1868 report since it’s just her notes on the conversation with Heber C. Kimball.

However, Wilcox source aside, many have promoted the Heber C. Kimball prophecies as valid including J. Golden Kimball, Duane Crowther (see pages 91, 86, 32, 62, 64, 63 of his prophecy book), the Deseret News, Gerald Lund, Cleon Skousen, and many others.

I don’t know if the Wilcox source is where all of these teachings are drawn from, but that’s not the point.

The substance of Heber’s message also aligns with the prophetic picture of events, and that’s an important check to apply when weighing these kind of things. Isaiah makes it clear that the saints will be tried and tested before they can redeem Zion.

Joseph Smith said he’s heard of man being damned for not believing enough, but he’s never heard of a man for being damned for believing too much. In that spirit, I promote these prophecies which inspire the soul to take heart and gird up the loins for the trials to come.

Be they true or not, in your investigation and prayers on this matter, remember the tendency of the masses to cast doubt on teachings of the prophets any way they can to accommodate their comfortable worldview.

 

Overview of Isaiah on Saints being Tried & Refined Before They Can Redeem Zion

Isaiah’s teachings on the need for the saints to experience trials and refinement BEFORE redeeming Zion are clear. As you review these teachings, ask yourself, have the saints been sufficiently tried and refined? Are they ready and able to build Zion? Do they have more or less faith and purity than the ancients and our pioneer ancestors? Have we as a people entirely committed ourselves to being God’s peculiar people or do we try to fit in? Are we focused on building a distinctly Christian society, or do we merely lag a few steps behind Babylon’s trends while attempting to accommodate some kind of moral multiculturalism?

Here are Isaiah passages to consider on the topic of the saints being tried and refined before they can redeem Zion:

Isaiah 1:25–27: 25 ¶ And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin: 26 And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city. 27 Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.

Isaiah 4:3–4: 3 And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem: 4 When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.

Isaiah 48:10: 10 Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.

Isaiah 33:14–17: 14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? 15 He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; [note: think about what kind of TV we watch] 16 He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure. 17 Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.

Isaiah 35:8–10: 8 And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. 9 No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there: 10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Isaiah 52:1–2: 1 Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. 2 Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.

Isaiah 59:17–20: 17 For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak. 18 According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence. 19 So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him. 20 ¶ And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord.

Isaiah 60:21–22: 21 Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. 22 A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the Lord will hasten it in his time.

 

Isaiah Teaches that Only a Small Remnant Tithe Will Remain

Isaiah 6:11–13: 11 Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, 12 And the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. 13 ¶ But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.

Isaiah 1:9: 9 Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.

Isaiah 10:20–22: 20 ¶ And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.

21 The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. 22 For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.

Isaiah 24:1–6: 1 Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. 2 And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. 3 The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word. 4 The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. 5 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. 6 Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.

 

 

Analysis on Missouri’s Yet Future Cleansing (and the Cleansing of Everywhere Else): Not Entirely Fulfilled in Civil War 1, Refuge Will Yet Be Needed

Note that Heber C. Kimball’s prophecies on Missouri being swept clean were made in 1868 which was AFTER the Civil War, which indicates that the prophecy of Missouri being swept clean was NOT fulfilled in the Civil War, and is yet pending. Heber puts the event of Missouri being cleansed in a sequence which has not yet come to pass. Yes there were some hard times there at the Civil War in Missouri to be sure, but harder times are yet coming on a much greater scale there.

General Doniphan thought that the Civil War fulfilled Joseph Smith’s prophecy on the cleansing of Missouri, and BH Roberts promoted that perspective. Surely on some level it did. (Joseph said to Doniphan, “God’s wrath hangs over Jackson County … and you will live to see the day when it will be visited by fire and sword. The fields and farms and houses will be destroyed, and only the chimneys will be left to mark the desolation.”) (See Comprehensive History of the Church, 1:538–59) But I can’t in good conscience say that is all there is to it, nor is Joseph’s the only prophecy about the future of Missouri.

More cleansing is to come to Missouri and everywhere else in America, except, God willing, a few little pockets of refuge in the Rockies where God directed His Church, as predicted by several prophets. Zion (in Missouri) cannot be redeemed until the Saints have been sufficiently tried and refined. Ask yourself, are we there? Do we care more or less about building a Christian society than our pioneer ancestors, who also weren’t able to redeem Zion? The wicked must be swept from the area – has that happened? Go there today and report back to me as to whether you found any wickedness entrenched in the area. So until the saints are refined and the wicked are removed, God isn’t done with the sweeping of Missouri.

President Brigham Young spoke of the time when the Lord will “purge the land…cut off the evil doer, and prepare a way for the return of my people to their inheritance,” and added that “if our enemies do not cease their oppression upon this people, as sure as the Lord lives it will not be many days before we will occupy that land [of Zion] and there build up a Temple to the Lord.” (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 9:270) (See also Crowther Prophecy p.45)

Some say, ‘then why are many saints impressed to move there?’ I say, the same reason God tells anyone to go anywhere, to preach the gospel and gather Israel. God will send you to hell itself before he is through with it. And maybe He wants some things setup out there before the bottom falls out, who knows. There are many places now safe which will not be so in the future. In fact, most places probably fall under that category. Let us not underestimate the hard times that lie ahead in the cleansing of America to prepare her for her Zion destiny (Zion cannot involve compromise with evil. The art of compromise belongs to Babylon).

Several times church leaders have said wait until word comes from the brethren to gather to Missouri. If you want to go there, that’s your prerogative, just as it is to go anywhere. Today there’s a hands-off go wherever you want policy. Just don’t get too comfortable, wherever you are. As Heber C. Kimball taught, tests are coming which will try the saints to the very core. We all (Utahns Missourians and everyone else) need to brace ourselves for the prophesied call to places of refuge.

The bottom and in some ways unfortunate line is this – America, all except a few pockets of it, will be swept clean. Refining fires must occur! Desolation is coming upon this country on a larger scale than any of us can possibly realistically imagine. If you think you’re out of dodge in Missouri, Utah, or anywhere else, think again. All of these places have extremely hard times coming their way. Only those places the Lord has specifically prepared, to which He will call his people at the times of these judgements, will be spared. The main places of safety the Lord has referred to as being places of refuge during the cleansing of America are in the Rocky Mountain Corridor, but even many parts of that will even need heavy refinement. (As Stauffenberg says in the Valkyrie movie, as the patriots are about to pay the ultimate price for their valor, “No one will be spared.”) Your best bet is to get on God’s side, and get really good at doing exactly what He tells you to, even when that means walking away from everything at a moment’s notice, or 1000 other things in between. And don’t fear death.

Remember these prophetic teachings on safety in the Rocky Mountain Corridor during the cleansing of America:

• Brigham Young taught, “An inland Empire will be established in these valleys of the mountains, which will be a place of refuge for millions of people to gather to, when the great day of the judgments of God comes upon the earth, and the righteous come here for safety. Our people will go East, West, North and South, but the day will come, when they will be glad to come back. We will be shut out from the rest of the world.” (Statement made by Brigham Young to Benjamin Kimball Bullock as recorded by the latter’s son, Ben H. Bullock. (Note: Researcher Duane Crowther, when citing this quote in his Prophecy book on page 58 of version 39 of his book, states that he has a copy of notarized statements pertaining to the validity of this and other prophecies recorded by Bullock.))
• Joseph Smith taught, “A terrible revolution will take place in the land of America, such as has never been seen before; for the land will be literally left without a supreme government. And every species of wickedness will run rampant. Father will be against son, and son against father, mother against daughter, and daughter against mother. The most terrible scenes of murder and bloodshed and rapine that have ever been looked upon will take place. Peace will be taken from the earth and there will be no peace only in the Rocky Mountains. This will cause many hundreds and thousands of the honest in heart together there; not because they would be saints but for safety and because they would not take up the sword against their neighbor.” (Joseph Smith’s White Horse Prophecy)
• Heber C. Kimball: “I am very thankful that so many of the brethren have come in with handcarts; my soul rejoiced, my heart was filled and grew as big as a two-bushel basket.  Two companies have come through safe and sound.  Is this the end of it?  No; there will be millions on millions that will come much in the same way, only they will not have handcarts, for they will take their bundles under their arms, and their children on their backs, and under their arms and flee” (Source: Journal of Discourses, 4:106).
• Orson Pratt said, “The hand of the Lord will be over us to sustain us, and we will spread forth. He will multiply us in the land; He will make us a great people, and strengthen our borders, and send forth the missionaries of this people to the four quarters of the earth to publish peace and glad tidings of great joy and proclaim that there is still a place left in the heart of the American continent where there are peace and safety and refuge from the storms, desolations and tribulations coming upon the wicked.” (JD, 12:345.)
• Golden Kimball said, “I prophesy that before many of you go to the other side you will have a burning desire in your hearts to return to the place where the leaders of the Church have counseled the Saints to settle, and you will give anything in the world to be able to live there.“ (President J. Golden Kimball of the First Council of Seventy, Conference Report, October, 1926, p. 58.)
• Orson Pratt said (paraphrasing), our missionaries will be sent to all the world declaring there is a place in the heart of USA where peace and refuge from the major destructions can be found. (Crowther sites this on p.59 of his Prophecy book.)
• In the following 2 teachings, we are told to escape war we will need to flee to Zion. Given the context of other teachings about the inland empire in the Rocky Mountains, we can assume that ‘Zion’ in these statements refers not to Missouri, as the Missourian Zion doesn’t come until after the wars, but to the preparatory-Zion in the west. Consider these paraphrased teachings: Joseph Smith: When wars come we will have to flee to Zion, those who don’t go when they have a chance to go will be afflicted by the devil. Gentiles will flow to us a constant stream then and our doors will be constantly open to them. See Crowther p61. Orson Pratt: As a flowing stream goes continually, so shall the Gentiles come to us in Zion, seeing God protects Zion and that there is no safety in their nations. Their nations will be tottering and crumbling to ruin. They’ll come not to be baptized, but for safety, having heard also our officers are for peace, and our tax collectors are righteous. See Crowther p.61

Remember also that not everyone needs to return to Missouri. Brigham Young said, “Are we going back to Jackson County? Yes. When? As soon as the way opens up. Are we all going? O no! of course not. The country is not large enough to hold our present numbers. When we do return there, will there be any less remaining in these mountains than we number today? No, there may be a hundred then for every single one that is there now. It is folly in men to suppose that we are going to break up these our hard earned homes to make others in a new country. ” (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 24:33) (Also cited in p. 90 of Crowther, Prophecy, Key to the Future, see that area of Crowther’s book for related information.)

 

Tribulations Will be Small for the Faithful – Heber C. Kimball & Vaughn J. Featherstone

 

Heber C. Kimball said, “The trials in the last days will be numerous, but to the faithful they will be of but [a] small moment, for they will live above these things, they will increase in power.” (Heber C. Kimball, June 29, 1856, Journal of Discourses 4:6)

 

Vaughn J. Featherstone said, “Our garments worn as instructed will clothe us in a manner as protective as temple walls. The covenants and ordinances will fill us with faith as living fire. In a day of desolating sickness, scorched earth, barren waste, sickening plagues, disease, destruction and death, we as a people will rest in the shade of trees, we will drink from the cooling fountains. We will abide in places of refuge from the storm, we will mount up as on eagles wings, we will be lifted out of an insane and evil world. We will be as fair as the sun and as clear as the moon. The Savior will come and will honor His people. Those who are spared and prepared will be a temple loving people. They will know him. They will cry out, ‘blessed be the name of He that cometh in the name of the Lord. Thou art my God and I will bless thee, Thou art my God and I will exalt thee.’ Our children will bow down at his feet and worship Him as the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings. They will bathe His feet with their tears and He will weep and bless them for having suffered through the greatest trials ever known to man. His bowels will be filled with compassion and His heart will swell as wide as eternity and He will love them. He will bring peace that will last a thousand years and they will receive their reward to dwell with Him.” (Vaughn J. Featherstone, Temple Statement – Given in the Manti Temple April 1987)