Hey guys, so in the last episode, we talked about the Utah War. In the next episode, we’re going to talk about the Church during the Civil War, but before we do that, I think it’s important to lay some groundwork and talk about Joseph Smith’s controversial Civil War prophecy. So, that’s what we’re going to explore today. Don’t touch that dial!
Alright, let’s set the stage. In 1832, “An excessively high tariff favoring northern manufactures had set off a ‘rebellion’: a South Carolina convention had unilaterally nullified the tariff and forbade its collection. President Andrew Jackson, refusing to acknowledge this assertion of state power, called out troops. By Christmas 1832, a military confrontation appeared imminent.”
While Joseph Smith was praying about the situation on Christmas, he received the revelation now known as Doctrine and Covenants section 87, which is only 8 verses long. So what I want you to do, if you’re not familiar with this section, is to pause and read it real quick, and then we’ll talk more about it.
Alright, verse 1. Sometimes prophecy is not fulfilled in the way we might expect. The Civil War did not begin because of the 1832 nullification crisis. And yet, Joseph stuck to his guns on this. More than a decade later, at an April 1843 conference, he reaffirmed that South Carolina was still the appointed place where bloodshed would begin. And he was right. South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union, and in 1861, the first shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter in South Carolina.
To read the entire article: Saints Unscripted/Faith & Beliefs
