The Blast Shelter

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Subject: LDS Prophets on “Survivalism” Part 2
From: Oiled Lamp
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 22:27:38 -0500

J. Reuben Clark, Jr.
“Church News,” March 2, 1946

Now there are several classes of unfortunates and I think if I were
a bishop at the present moment, facing the problems that seem to lie
ahead, there are certain things which I would do. Before developing
that, may I say this: If in 1936 we had told the Saints, “You would
better prepare, because the time is coming when”-remember, in 1936 the
problem was money,-there was always enough to buy, but the problem today
is something to buy, not money-if we had told you then that the time
would come when you could not buy all the meat you wanted, and perhaps
not any at times; that you could not get butter, and that you could not
get sugar, and that you could not get clothing, and that the farmers
could get no machinery, and so on down the whole list of things that you
can not get now and that therefore you should prepare for a stormy day,
we would have been laughed to scorn. But I say to you again, the advice
then given is good today, and you would better prepare for the times
ahead, that you may not be like the five foolish virgins with no oil in
your lamps.

J. Reuben Clark, Jr.
“Church News,” April 20, 1946

Now I want to say another word. I have said this often. Cash is not
food, it is not clothing, it is not coal, it is not shelter, and we have
got to the place where no matter how much cash we have, we cannot secure
those things in the quantities which we may need. So notwithstanding,
you men of affairs, how much money you have in the bank, you cannot buy
all the butter you want if you are very much of a butter eater; you
cannot get all the meat you want, and so on through the whole list of
things. All that you can be certain you will have is that which you
produce; and I say again, as I have said before, it will not surprise
me, if times get harder and tighter, if somewhere along the line you
will be required to give up what you yourselves have or part of it in
your cellars. It will be fortunate if you have put away enough so that
you can spare some and still be able to live.

Harold B. Lee
(an Apostle from 1941-1972, President of the Church from 1972 – 1973)
Conference Report, April 1946, p.71

The Lord has given us in this day the greatest organization upon the
face of the earth, with his power and his authority to direct it. He has
given us sound principles; he has shown us the plan and the way by
which want and distress may be done away among us. He has shown us the
way to brotherly love. If the afflictions which have been predicted do
at you want, ancome upon us, they will come upon us because we have not kept the faith
and because we have been disobedient and have thrown away the
opportunities that our Heavenly Father has given us to prepare for the
day of calamity which he foretold, over one hundred years ago, would
come in this generation.

Ezra Taft Benson
Conference Report, April 1948, p.84

In the Kirtland Temple, in that glorious dedicatory prayer which,
according to the Prophet, was given by revelation, we find this
significant verse:
Have mercy, O Lord, upon all the nations of the earth; have mercy
upon the rulers of our land; may those principles, which were so
honorably and nobly defended, namely, the Constitution of our land, by
our fathers, be established forever. (D. & C. 109:54.)
And so, every true Latter-day Saint has a deep love and respect for
the Constitution of this land.
u want, and so on It is no wonder that the Prophet Joseph said–even though he knew he
would suffer martyrdom in this land–”The Constitution of the United
States is a glorious standard; it is rounded in the wisdom of God. It
is a heavenly banner.”
Yet, according to his contemporaries, he foresaw the time when the
destiny of the nation would be in danger and would hang as by a thread.
Thank God he did not see the thread break. He also indicated the
important part that this people should yet play in standing for the
principles embodied in these sacred documents–the Declaration of
Independence and the Constitution.

Joseph Fielding Smith
(Apostle, 1910, President of the Church 1970-1972)
Gospel Doctrine, p.403

Now, these are the commandments of God, the principles contained in
these commandments of the great Eternal are the principles that underly
the Constitution of our country, and all just laws. Joseph Smith, the
prophet, was inspired to affirm and ratify this truth, and he further
predicted that the time would come, when the Constitution of our country
would hang as it were by a thread, and that the Latter-day Saints,
above all other people in the world, would come to the rescue of that
great and glorious palladium of our liberty. We cannot brook the thought
of it being torn into shreds, or destroyed, or trampled under foot and
ignored by men.

We cannot tolerate the sentiment, at one time expressed,
by a man high in authority in the nation. He said: “The constitution be
damned; the popular sentiment of the people is the constitution!”
That is the sentiment of anarchism, and has spread to a certain extent,
and is spreading over “the land of liberty and the home of the brave.”
We do not tolerate it. Latter-day Saints cannot tolerate such a spirit
as this. It is anarchy. It means destruction. It is the spirit of
laws.

Joseph Smith saw mobocracy, and the Lord knows we have suffered
enough from mobocracy, and we do not want any more of it. Our
people from Mexico are suffering from the effects of that same spirit.

We do not want any more of it, and we cannot afford to yield to that
spirit or contribute to it in the least degree. We should stand with a
front like flint against every spirit or species of contempt or disrespect
for the constitution of our country and the constitutional laws of our
land. — Oct. C. R., 1912,
pp. 8-11.

Joseph Fielding Smith Jr.
Doctrines of Salvation, Vol.3, p.326

CONSTITUTION TO HANG BY A THREAD. The statement has been made that
the Prophet said the time would come when this Constitution would hang
as by a thread, and this is true. There has been some confusion,
however, as to just what he said following this. I think that Elder
Orson Hyde has given us a correct interpretation wherein he says that
Smith, the
the Prophet said the Constitution would be in danger.
Said Orson Hyde: “I believe he said something like this — that the
time would come when the Constitution and the country would be in danger
of an overthrow; and said he: `If the Constitution be saved at all, it
will be by the elders of this Church.’ I believe this is about the
language, as nearly as I can recollect it.”
Now I tell you it is time the people of the United States were waking
up with the understanding that if they don’t save the Constitution from
the dangers that threaten it, we will have a change of government.

Ezra Taft Benson
October Conference, 1952

I thought, too, of our visits to other cities-to Frankfurt,
Frieburg, Hamburg, Hanover, and our first visit to Berlin. The three and
one-half meeting with the Saints in Berlin will never be forgotten, nor
shall I forget my feelings as we looked into the faces of refugees who
h, the

had come across country on foot from Poland-people half-starved, with
all their earthly belongings on their backs, and yet with the light of
truth and faith in God shining in their eyes.
…I remember, too, my brethren and sisters, when the first Church
welfare supplies arrived in Berlin. I presume you have never had the
great and trying experience of looking into faces of people who are
starving when you are unable to give them even a crust of bread. We
faced that as we first met with the Saints in parts of Europe.
But when the welfare supplies came, it was a time never to be
forgotten by these faithful Saints. I can see them now in tears, weeping
like children, as they looked upon those first boxes of welfare supplies
when they reached occupied Germany.
…I remember our meeting with the Saints way up in East Prussia, near
the Russian border, Saints who had known slave labor, who had suffered
gees who
indescribable privation and hardship, worse than death, and yet whose
faith and whose testimonies were still burning brightly.
…I remember, my brethren and sisters, great tracts of once fertile
and productive land lying idle. The anomaly of land idle, and people
starving because there was no seed to plant, no machinery with which to
plant, cultivate, harvest, and no power because power machines had been
destroyed and horses had been killed during the bombing and many others
killed and eaten for human’s food! All these and many other things have
passed through my mind the last few days as we have been assembled here
in conference.
The aftermath of the war is usually worse than the actual physical
combat. Everywhere there is the suffering of old people, innocent women
and children. Economies are broken down, the spirits of people crushed,
men and women bewildered and a spirit of frustration prevails. It is a
saddening thing to see people who have lost their freedom-the right to
choose-who have lost their right to move about freely, to assemble
together as we meet here today. I recalled, too, the sin and corruption,
the immorality and the starvation that always follows war.
…I came to know, my brethren and sisters, through the lives of the
Saints abroad, that men and women who have a testimony of this work can
endure anything which they may be called upon to endure and still
keep sweet in spirit.

Harold B. Lee
Conference Report, October 1952, p.18

Patriotism and loyalty in defense of the Constitution of the United
States is constantly enjoined upon us. President McKay again this
morning has made reference to the cause of liberty in his remarks. To be
effective in such teaching, we must begin by inspiring in each heart the
faith that the Constitution of the United States was written by inspired
the men whom God raised up for that very purpose.
It was Joseph Smith who has been quoted as having said that the time
would come when the Constitution would hang as by a thread and at that
time when it was thus in jeopardy, the elders of this Church would step
forth and save it from destruction.
Why the elders of this Church? Would it be sacrilegious to paraphrase
the words of the Apostle Peter, and say that the Constitution of the
United States could be saved by the elders of this Church because this
Church and this Church alone has the words of eternal life? We alone
know by revelation as to how the Constitution came into being, and we,
alone, know by revelation the destiny of this nation. The preservation
of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” can be guaranteed upon
no other basis than upon a sincere faith and testimony of the divinity
of these teachings.

Harold B. Lee
by inspired
Address Delivered at Brigham Young University
Leadership Week, June 16, 1953

The only safety and security there is in this Church is in listening
to the words that come from the prophets of the Lord, as if from the
mouth of the Lord himself. And they have spoken; they have told us to
prepare, and it is not for us to argue whether we should or whether we
should not. We have the prophets today telling is what our
responsibility is here and now. God help us not to turn deaf ears, but
go out while the harvest is yet possible and build on a foundation such
that when the rains descend, and the floods come, and the winds blow,
and beat on the house, our house will have stone walls.

Matthew Cowley (Apostle from 1945-1953)
“Matthew Cowley Speaks”
Deseret Book, 1954

There is something in the Doctrine and Covenants, which says, “And
there shall be a great hailstorm sent forth to destroy the crops of the
earth.” (D&C 29:16).
…What are you going to do when that happens? Ah, brothers and
sisters, [support] your welfare project, and when that happens and if
you have your year’s supply of food in your home, let the hails come,
and the winds blow, and our storehouses in our homes, in our wards, and
in our stakes will be full just as they were in the days of Joseph, and
we will be preserved.
I like that plan. What good will be our greenbacks that we get from
the government for security when all the crops of the earth are
destroyed by hail?…You know in the days of Israel they worked this
plan.

J. Reuben Clark, Jr.
Address given at Pioneer Region
Reported in the Church Section
“Deseret News,” December 31, 1955

“I do know that if we go forward in this welfare plan and follow the
admonitions given, to put something in the cellar store place that we
ilstorm sent forthmay have against a rainy day, we may be blessed. This welfare
plan is the answer to all home supplies…if we come into dire times
than all the financial plans of the world will have no value. You can’t
eat money.”

President J. Reuben Clark, Jr.
at Welfare Conference, The Assembly Hall
October 11, 1958

“I still have apprehension that we may have hard times. I still fear
that we are going to have a war before too long that on each side will
be intended to be a virtually exterminating war. I would like each
one of you to think of having around you-you farmers-a production that
would enable you to live (and possibly for a while without much
mechanization), and help some of your city folk to live, too. It is a
terrible picture even to think about, but we will be shortsighted if we
do not.”

J. Reuben Clark, Jr.
Wasatch Stake Welfare Meeting, 1959

rm sent forth o des “I regard the welfare plan as a very essential part of the Gospel
plan….Church members should store food as well as clothing for at
least a year-preferably two.
“We can’t eat money-we need food, and we can’t buy it if there is none
to buy.”

Henry D. Moyle
(Apostle from 1947 to 1963; Second counselor to President David O.
McKay, 1959; First counselor, 1961-1963)

We are constantly charged with preparation in time of plenty against
want in time of need.

President J. Reuben Clark, Jr.
From “The Improvement Era” Magazine
September 1961, pgs. 632-33

(Article “President J. Reuben Clark, Jr.-An Appreciation on His 90th
Birthday” by Harold B. Lee)
We heard him reply in answer to a question as to why he had put his
life savings into his presently owned Grantsville ranch; “This is all I
have to leave to my family when I die, and if they are not too lazy
to work it, they won’t starve. I have told them that when the first
atomic bomb is dropped here in America, that they are to go out there on
the ranch and stay until it is over.” This last seemed not only to be
wise council, but also a prophecy. His only son, J. Reuben Clark, III,
is the family steward of this practical and foresighted legacy.

Spencer W. Kimball
General Conference, “Improvement Era,” December 1961

While the iron curtains rise and thicken, we eat, drink, and make
merry. While armies are marshalled and march and drill, and officers
teach men how to kill, we continue to drink and carouse as usual. While
bombs are detonated and tested, and fallout settles on the already sick
world, we continue in idolatry and adultery. While corridors are
threatened and concessions made, we live riotously and divorce and marry
in cycles like seasons. While leaders quarrel, and editors write, and
authorities analyze and prognosticate, we break the Sabbath as though no
command had ever been given. While enemies filter into our nation to
subvert us and intimidate us and soften us, we continue with our
destructive thinking: “It can’t happen here.”
Will we ever turn wholly to God? Fear envelopes the world which
could be at ease and peace. In God is protection, safety, peace. He has
said, “I will fight your battles.” But his commitment is on condition of
our faithfulness.

Ezra Taft Benson
Conference Report, October 1961, p.69

My brethren and sisters and friends, in keeping with the spirit of
the keynote address of our beloved President, I desire, if the Lord will
bless me, to speak to you about the American heritage of freedom — a
plan of God.
I direct my remarks particularly to the men of America and more
especially to those in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
particulary of the men who hold the Holy Priesthood of God.
Every member of the priesthood should understand the divine plan
designed by the Lord to raise up the first free people in modern times.
Here is how scripture says it was achieved:
First: Prophecy is abundant that God deliberately kept the American
continent hidden until after the Holy Roman Empire had been broken up
and the various nations had established themselves as independent
kingdoms. Keeping America hidden until this time was no accident. (2
Nephi 1:6, 8.)
Second: At the proper time, God inspired Columbus to overcome almost
insurmountable odds to discover America and bring this rich new land to
the attention of the gentiles in Europe. (1 Nephi 13:12; Admiral of the
Ocean Sea, by Dr. Samuel Eliot Morison, pp. 46-47.)
Third: God revealed to his ancient American prophets that shortly
after the discovery of America there would be peoples in Europe who
ps of the
would desire to escape the persecution and tyranny of the Old World and
flee to America. ( 1 Nephi 13:13-16.)
Fourth: God told his prophets that the kingdoms in Europe would try
to exercise dominion over the people who had fled to America, but that
in the wars for independence the American settlers would win. (This is a
remarkable prophecy in that 2,300 years before the Revolutionary War was
fought, God through his prophets predicted who would win it.) (Ibid.,
13:16-19.)
Fifth: The prophets were told that in the latter days when the
gentiles came to America they would establish it as a land of liberty on
which there would be no kings. The. Lord declared that he would protect
the land and whosoever would try to establish kings either from within
or without would perish. (2 Nephi 10:8-14.)
Sixth: Having declared America to be a land of liberty, God undertook
to raise up a band of inspired and intelligent leaders who could write a
constitution of liberty and establish the first free people in modern
times. The hand of God in this undertaking is clearly indicated by the
Lord himself in a revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith in these words
“. . . I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of
wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose….” (D&C 101:80.)
Seventh: God declared that the United States Constitution was
divinely inspired for the specific purpose of eliminating bondage and
the violation of the rights and protection which belongs to “all flesh.”
(Ibid., 101:77-80.)
Eighth: God placed a mandate upon his people to befriend and defend
the constitutional laws of the land and see that the rights and
privileges of all mankind are protected. He verified the declaration of
the founding fathers, that God created all men free. He also warned
against those who would enact laws encroaching upon the sacred rights
and privileges of free men. He urged the election of honest and wise
leaders and said that evil men and laws were of Satan. (Ibid., 98:5-10.)
Ninth: God predicted through his prophets that this great gentile
nation, raised up on the American continent in the last days, would
become the richest and most powerful nation on the face of the earth;
even “above all other nations.” (See 1 Nephi 13:15, 30; Ether 2:12.)
Tenth: Concerning the United States, the Lord revealed to his
prophets that its greatest threat would be a vast, worldwide “secret
combination” which would not only threaten the United States but also
seek to “overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, (Ether 8:25.)
Eleventh: In connection with attack on the United States, the Lord
told the Prophet Joseph Smith there would be an attempt to overthrow the
en free. He country by destroying the Constitution. Joseph Smith predicted that
the time would come when the Constitution would hang, as it were, by a
thread, and at that time “this people will step forth and save it from
the threatened destruction.” (Journal History, Brigham Young’s Speech,
July 4, 1854.)
It is my conviction that the elders of Israel, widely spread over the
nation will at that crucial time successfully rally the righteous of our
country and provide the necessary balance of strength to save the
institutions of constitutional government.
Twelfth: The Lord revealed to the Prophet Nephi that he established
the gentiles on this land to be a free people forever, that if they were
a righteous nation and overcame the wickedness and secret abominations
which would arise in their midst, they would inherit the land forever.
(1 Nephi 14:1-2.)
Thirteenth: But on the other hand, if the gentiles on this land
reject the word of God and conspire to overthrow liberty and the
Constitution, then their doom is fixed, and they “. . . shall be cut off
from among my people who are of the covenant.” (1 Nephi 14:6; 3 Nephi
21:11, 14, 21; D&C 84:114-115, 117.)
Fourteenth: The great destructive force which was to be turned loose
on the earth and which the prophets for centuries have been calling the
“abomination of desolation” is vividly described by those who saw it in
vision. Ours is the first generation to realize how literally these
prophecies can be fulfilled now that God, through science, has unlocked
the secret to thermonuclear reaction.
In the light of these prophecies there should be no doubt in the mind
of any priesthood holder that the human family is headed for trouble.
There are rugged days ahead. It is time for every man who wishes to
do his duty to get himself prepared — physically, spiritually, and
psychologically — for the task which may come at any time, as suddenly
as the whirlwind.
Where do we stand today? All over the world the light of freedom is
being diminished. Across whole continents of the earth freedom is being
totally obliterated.
Never in recorded history has any movement spread its power so far
and so fast as has socialistic-communism in the last three decades. The
facts are not pleasant to review. Communist leaders are jubilant with
their success. They are driving freedom back on almost every front.
It is time, therefore, that every American, and especially every
member of the priesthood, became informed about the aims, tactics, and
schemes of socialistic-communism. This becomes particularly important
when it is realized that communism is turning out to be the earthly
image of the plan which Satan presented in the pre-existence. The whole
program of socialistic-communism is essentially a war against God and
the plan of salvation — the very plan which we fought to uphold during
“the war in heaven.”
Up to now some members of the Church have stood aloof, feeling that
the fight against socialistic-communism is “controversial” and unrelated
to the mission of the Church or the work of the Lord. But the President
of the Church in our day has made it clear that the fight against
atheistic communism is a major challenge to the Church and every member
in it.
During the general conference of the Church in October 1959,
President David O. McKay, in discussing the threat of communism,
referred to W. Cleon Skousen’s book, The Naked Communist, and said, “I
admonish everybody to read that excellent book.” He then quoted the
following from the flyleaf: “The conflict between communism and freedom
is the problem of our time. It overshadows all other problems.”

The fight against godless communism is a very real part of every
man’s duty who holds the priesthood. It is the fight against slavery,
immorality, atheism, terrorism, cruelty, barbarism, deceit, and the
destruction of human life through a kind of tyranny unsurpassed by
anything in human history. Here is a struggle against the evil,
satanical priestcraft of Lucifer. Truly it can be called, “a
continuation of the war in heaven.”
In the war in heaven the devil advocated absolute eternal security at
the sacrifice of our freedom. Although there is nothing more desirable
to a Latter-day Saint than eternal security in God’s presence, and
although God knew, as did we, that some of us would not achieve this
security if we were allowed our freedom — yet the very God of heaven,
who has more mercy than us all, still decreed no guaranteed security
except by a man’s own freedom of choice and individual initiative.
ems.”
Today the devil as a wolf in a supposedly new suit of sheep’s
clothing is enticing some men, both in and out of the Church, to parrot
his line by advocating planned government guaranteed security programs
at the expense of our liberties. Latter-day Saints should be reminded
how and why they voted as they did in heaven. If some have decided to
change their vote they should repent — throw their support on the side
of freedom — and cease promoting this subversion.
When all of the trappings of propaganda and pretense have been pulled
aside, the exposed hard-core structure of modern communism is amazingly
similar to the ancient Book of Mormon record of secret societies such as
the Gadiantons. In the ancient American civilization there was no word
which struck greater terror to the hearts of the people than the name of
the Gadiantons. It was a secret political party which operated as a
murder cult. Its object was to infiltrate legitimate government, plant
its officers in high places, and then seize power and live off the
spoils appropriated from the people. (It would start out as a small
group of “dissenters” and by using secret oaths with the threat of death
for defectors it would gradually gain a choke hold on the political and
economic life of whole civilizations. )
The object of the Gadiantons, like modern communists, was to destroy
the existing government and set up a ruthless criminal dictatorship over
the whole land.
One of the most urgent, heart-stirring appeals made by Moroni as he
closed the Book of Mormon was addressed to the gentile nations of the
last days. He foresaw the rise of a great world-wide secret combination
among the gentiles which ” . . . seeketh to overthrow the freedom of all
lands, nations, and countries; . . .” (Ether 8:25. Italics added.) He
warned each gentile nation of the last days to purge itself of this
gigantic criminal conspiracy which would seek to rule the world.
The prophets, in our day, have continually warned us of these
internal threats in our midst — that our greatest threat from
socialistic-communism lies within our country. Brethren and sisters, we
don’t need a prophet — we have one — we need a listening ear. And if
we do not listen and heed, then, as the Doctrine and Covenants states, ”
. . . the day cometh that they who will not hear the voice of the Lord,
neither the voice of his servants, neither give heed to the words of the
prophets and apostles, shall be cut off from among the people.” (D&C
1:14.)
The prophets have said that these threats are among us. The Prophet
Moroni, viewing our day, said, “Wherefore the Lord commandeth you, when
ye shall see these things come among you that ye shall awake to a sense
of your awful situation.” (Ether 8:24.)
Unfortunately our nation has not treated the socialistic-communist
conspiracy as “treasonable to our free institutions,” as the First
Presidency pointed out in a signed 1936 statement. If we continue to
uphold communism by not making it treasonable, our land shall be
destroyed, for the Lord has said that ” . . .whatsoever nation shall
uphold such secret combinations, to get power and gain, until they shall
spread over the nation, behold they shall be destroyed; . . .” (Ibid.,
8:22.)
The Prophet Moroni described how the secret combination would take
over a country and then fight the work of God, persecute the righteous,
and murder those who resisted. Moroni therefore proceeded to describe
the workings of the ancient “secret combinations” so that modern man
could recognize this great political conspiracy in the last days:
“Wherefore, O ye Gentiles, it is wisdom in God that these things
should be shown unto you, that thereby ye may repent of your sins, and
suffer not that these murderous combinations shall get above you, which
are built up to get power and gain — and the work, yea, even the
work of destruction come upon you,
“Wherefore, the Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things
come among you that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation,
because of this secret combination which shall be among you; . . .
“For it cometh to pass that whoso buildeth it up seeketh to overthrow
the freedom of all lands, nations and countries; and it bringeth to pass
the destruction of all people, for it is built up by the devil, who is
the father of all lies; . . .” (Ibid., 8:23-25. Italics added.)
The Prophet Moroni seemed greatly exercised lest in our day we might
not be able to recognize the startling fact that the same secret
societies which destroyed the Jaredites and decimated numerous kingdoms
of both Nephites and Lamanites would be precisely the same form of
criminal conspiracy which would rise up among the gentile nations in
this day.
The stratagems of the leaders of these societies are amazingly
familiar to anyone who has studied the tactics of modern communist
leaders.
The Lord has declared that before the second coming of Christ it will
be necessary to “. . . destroy the secret works of darkness, . . .” in
order to preserve the land of Zion — the Americas. (2 Nephi 10:11-16.)
The world-wide secret conspiracy which has risen up in our day to
fulfil these prophecies is easily identified. President McKay has left
no room for doubt as to what attitude Latter-day Saints should take
toward the modern “secret combinations” of conspiratorial communism. In
a lengthy statement on communism, he said:

(cont.)