Joseph Smith/Alleged false prophecies/Government to be overthrown and wasted

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Criticism

Joseph Smith said:

'I prophecy 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 potsherd left for their wickedness in permitting the murder of men, women and children, and the wholesale plunder and extermination of thousands of her citizens to go unpunished, thereby perpetrating a foul and corroding blot upon the fair fame of this great republic, the very thought of which would have caused the high-minded and patriotic framers of the Constitution of the United States to hide their faces with shame.^[1]

Since it is more than 150 years since this prophecy was uttered, and because the US government still stands, critics claim that this is a false prophecy.

Source(s) of the criticism

• Marvin W. Cowan, "Prophets in Mormonism—Part 5," Ankerberg Theological Research Institute (2007), 2–3.
• Ed Decker and Dave Hunt, The God Makers (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 1984),, 225, lines 26-33. (Detailed review)
• Edmond C. Gruss, Lane A. Thuet, What Every Mormon (and Non-Mormon) Should Know (Xulon Press, 2006), 203.
• "Mormons in Transition," Institute for Religious Research
• Walter Martin's "Religious Infonet," (accessed 3 January 2009),
• Mormonwiki.org (accessed 3 January 2009).

Response

This prophecy has been in three ways:

1. the prophecy's fulfillment is yet in the future
2. the prophecy was fulfilled and the government spared because sufficient redress was provided
3. the prophecy was fulfilled and the government cast down

We will consider each below.

Timeframe?

The prophecy's fulfillment may yet be in the future. Critics have no grounds to declare how long it must take for this prophecy's fulfillment. Bible-believing critics may be guilty of a double standard if they await Biblical prophecies of more than 2000 years' standing, while insisting that the "few years" in Joseph's prophecy has expired.

Redress provided

Another school of thought holds that the United States did provide some redress to the Saints: "Though persecution and troubles continued to follow the Saints on account of their dealings with the government, eventually they were able to find a home in Utah, and were allowed to thrive as a community."^[2] As one author noted:

The prophecy as worded is obviously a conditional one. The United States did redress the Latter-day Saints to some extent for wrongs committed against them and thus the harshness of the fate of Missouri (or the United States) was reduced. The United States inviting the Saints to volunteer five hundred men to help in the 1846 war with Mexico might be considered partial redress because it provided desperately needed funds for the Latter-day Saints to finance the pioneer trek to Utah. President Polk at this time also promised Latter-day Saints safety as they travelled through Indian lands to the west. When the personal papers of James K. Polk, the U.S. president who asked Latter-day Saints to form a Mormon Battalion, were recently opened, it was found that he considered his action to help the Latter-day Saints. The granting of territorial status to the Mormons might also be considered a partial redress for wrongs.^[3]

Which government?

Others believe that insufficient redress was provided, and that this prophecy has been fulfilled by the government's destruction.

Endnotes

1. [note]  Joseph Smith, History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7 volumes, edited by Brigham H. Roberts, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1957), 5:394. Volume 5 link
2. [note]  David Ferguson, "Miraculous Events in Early Church History," FAIR link
3. [note]  Gilbert W. Scharffs, The Truth about ‘The God Makers’ (Salt Lake City, Utah: Publishers Press, 1989; republished by Bookcraft, 1994), chapter 15. Full text FAIR link ISBN 088494963X. off-site

Further reading

FAIR web site

• Gilbert W. Scharffs, The Truth about ‘The God Makers’ (Salt Lake City, Utah: Publishers Press, 1989; republished by Bookcraft, 1994), chapter 15. Full text FAIR link ISBN 088494963X. off-site