The Calamities of the Last Days

With Houston and the surrounding areas just starting to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Harvey and another major Hurricane possibly headed towards Florida, it is common to hear a statement among Latter-day Saints to the effect of, “Well, we know these kinds of calamities are foretold in the scriptures for the last days.”  I thought I would try to clarify that statement by finding out what exact scriptures—particularly in the Doctrine and Covenants—support this claim.  The Lord in His preface of the Doctrine and Covenants in 1831 alluded to the “calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth,” and many passages in the Doctrine and Covenants speak of the kinds of tribulations that will come upon us (D&C 1:17).  In an even earlier revelation the Lord had stated in general terms about the last days, “The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall be turned into blood, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and there shall be greater signs in heaven above and in the earth beneath” (D&C 29:14). 

               Many other passages in the Doctrine and Covenants speak of ominous events and natural catastrophes of the last days.  For example, in a seemingly very specific prediction, we are told, “And there shall be a great hailstorm sent forth to destroy the crops of the earth.”  In the same revelation the Lord warns, “Wherefore, I the Lord God will send forth flies upon the face of the earth, which shall take hold of the inhabitants thereof, and shall eat their flesh, and shall cause maggots to come in upon them” (D&C 29:16, 18).  Several other revelations speak specifically of earthquakes that will come, and apparently there will be many.  In His expansion of the Olivet discourse, the Savior said, “And there shall be earthquakes also in divers places, and many desolations; yet men will harden their hearts against me, and they will take up the sword, one against another, and they will kill one another” (D&C 45:33).  In another revelation that intimates the coming of earthquakes, the Lord said, “For, with you saith the Lord Almighty, I will rend their kingdoms; I will not only shake the earth, but the starry heavens shall tremble” (D&C 84:118).  In yet another passage we read that the natural calamities will certainly not be limited to earthquakes.  Speaking of the past but surely also pointing to future events as well Christ lamented, “How oft have I called upon you by the mouth of my servants, and by the ministering of angels, and by mine own voice, and by the voice of thunderings, and by the voice of lightnings, and by the voice of tempests, and by the voice of earthquakes, and great hailstorms, and by the voice of famines and pestilences of every kind, and by the great sound of a trump, and by the voice of judgment, and by the voice of mercy all the day long, and by the voice of glory and honor and the riches of eternal life, and would have saved you with an everlasting salvation, but ye would not!” (D&C 43:25)  In the revelation on war the Lord emphasized that many of these same types of calamities would be coming: “And thus, with the sword and by bloodshed the inhabitants of the earth shall mourn; and 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;” (D&C 87:6).  In the Olive Leaf revelation given just a couple of days later the Lord again emphasized the coming destructions: “For after your testimony cometh the testimony of earthquakes, that shall cause groanings in the midst of her, and men shall fall upon the ground and shall not be able to stand.  And also cometh the testimony of the voice of thunderings, and the voice of lightnings, and the voice of tempests, and the voice of the waves of the sea heaving themselves beyond their bounds” (D&C 88:89-90).  The last verse about the sea heaving itself beyond its bounds certainly seems accurate of what we have seen recently. 

               So we are promised in the Doctrine and Covenants that we will see earthquakes, thunderings, lightnings, tempests, famines, pestilences, hailstorms, plagues and even flesh-eating flies in the last days.  Certainly there is much to be wary of in the days that precede the Second Coming, and it seems only natural to see in recent disasters signs of prophecy being fulfilled.  And of course, the Lord didn’t give us dire predictions just to scare us; He also gave the way for us to prepare and get ready for tribulations that may come upon us.  Safety will be found in the stakes of Zion: “And that the gathering together upon the land of Zion, and upon her stakes, may be for a defense, and for a refuge from the storm, and from wrath when it shall be poured out without mixture upon the whole earth” (D&C 115:6).