Stand in Holy Places

In 1832, Joseph Smith gave a prophecy regarding the start of the Civil War, accurately stating that it would begin in South Carolina (the first shots of the war were fired from the shore of Fort Sumter in South Carolina in 1861). The prophecy goes on to state that this war would be only the beginning of a series of wars that would grow in their severity until "war shall be poured out upon all nations.... And thus, with the sword and by bloodshed the inhabitants of the earth shall mourn" (D&C 87:3, 6).

The revelation then appears to break mid verse into a second prophecy that details the devastation that God will pour out upon the earth independent of the wars of various nations:

"With famine, and plague, and earthquake, and the thunder of heaven, and the fierce and vivid lightning also, shall the inhabitants of the earth be made to feel the wrath, and indignation, and chastening hand of an Almighty God, until the consumption decreed hath made a full end of all nations" (Ibid., v. 6).

These scourges of nature—including plagues—that are so powerful they make a 'full end of all nations' are apparently given to deliver and avenge the righteous saints both living and dead, respectively, from and of their enemies; as the next verse says: "That the cry of the saints, and of the blood of the saints, shall cease to come up into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, from the earth, to be avenged of their enemies" (Ibid., v. 7).

This paints vividly the destined conflict of all who choose righteousness: they shall be opposed by all the world. As Nephi prophesied some two-and-a-half millennia ago, calling the power that would have dominion in "all the earth, among all nations" by the symbolic name-titles of whore and mother of abominations:

"I beheld the church of the Lamb of God, and its numbers were few, because of the wickedness and abominations of the whore who sat upon many waters; nevertheless, I beheld that the church of the Lamb, who were the saints of God, were also upon all the face of the earth; and their dominions upon the face of the earth were small, because of the wickedness of the great whore whom I saw. And it came to pass that I beheld that the great mother of abominations did gather together multitudes upon the face of all the earth, among all the nations of the Gentiles, to fight against the Lamb of God" (2 Ne. 14:12 – 13, emphasis added).

Apostle George Q. Cannon described how that in the end the conflict would come down to the world (those devoid of the spirit of God) and the true saints:

"Joseph Smith, in the beginning of this work, predicted that it would have to meet with obstacles and difficulties of the most formidable character, and that it would have influence brought to bear against it that would be very potent? Did he not prophesy that in the commencement it would excite the opposition of a neighborhood? But said he, it will not be confined to this; it will excite the opposition of a township and of a county, and then of a state; and after a while it will meet with opposition of a national character. Would it stop there? No? but it would extend until it would call forth the opposition of the world itself" (Deseret Weekly, vol. 39 no. 7, 10 Aug 1889, p. 194).

What are the righteous to do in those trying and testing times when God will send to seemingly all other people "strong delusion, that they should believe a lie" (2 Thes. 2:11)? The Lord provides the answer at the end of the prophecy concerning his work of natural upheavals that come in response to the 'cry' and 'blood' of the saints:

"Wherefore, stand ye in holy places, and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come" (D&C 87:6 – 8).

By staying true to the Lord and following his spirit, we create holy places wherever he sends us. To quote George Q. Cannon later in his sermon:

"Under those circumstances, what will save us? Nothing will save us but the righteousness of the Latter-day Saints and the power of God which that righteousness will bring forth" (Deseret Weekly, p. 195).

Without this personal righteousness, the outcome will be nothing short of distress and death:

"The times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. And there shall be men standing in that generation, that shall not pass until they shall see an overflowing scourge; for a desolating sickness shall cover the land. But my disciples shall stand in holy places, and shall not be moved; but among the wicked, men shall lift up their voices and curse God and die....

"And upon my house shall it begin, and from my house shall it go forth, saith the Lord; first among those among you, saith the Lord, who have professed to know my name and have not known me, and have blasphemed against me in the midst of my house, saith the Lord" (D&C 45:30 – 32; 112:25 – 26, emphasis added).