Prophetic Statements

First Presidency letter, June 24, 1988

"Occasionally people speculate about possible disasters, which speculation engenders fear and can cause members to become caught up in emergency preparedness efforts that are not only costly but go beyond the basics consistently taught by the First Presidency. Leaders should refer to Preparing for and responding to Emergencies: Guidelines for Church Leaders. Member preparations require wise planning, diligence, and provident living. If circumstances warrant, the First Presidency and Council of the Twelve will provide additional guidance on such matters through established Priesthood channels.
"We continue to encourage members to store sufficient food, clothing and where possible, fuel for at least one year. We have not laid down an exact formula for what should be stored. However, we suggest that members concentrate on essential foods that sustain life, such as grains, legumes, cooking oil, powdered milk, salt, sugar or honey, and water. Most families can achieve and maintain this basic level of preparedness. The decision to do more than this rests with the individual.
"We encourage you to follow this counsel with the assurance that a people prepared through obedience to the commandments of God need not fear."
(First Presidency letter read in Sacrament Meetings, June 24, 1988, Ezra Taft Benson, Gordon B. Hinckley, Thomas S. Monson)

“There is a terrible time approaching the nations of the earth, and also this nation, worse than has ever entered into the heart of man to conceive of—war, bloodshed, and desolation, mourning and misery, pestilence, famine and earthquakes, and all those calamities spoken of by the prophets will most assuredly be fulfilled.”
(John Taylor, The Gospel Kingdom, p 237)

George Albert Smith (1870–1951)Eighth President of the Church

“How on the face of the earth could a man enjoy his religion when he had been told by the Lord how to prepare for a day of famine, when instead of doing so he had fooled away that which would have sustained him and his family” (Deseret News,Mar. 4, 1868, 26).

First Presidency letter

"Priesthood and Relief Society leaders should teach the importance o home storage and securing a financial reserve. These principles may be taught in ward councils or on a fifth Sunday in priesthood and Relief Society meetings.
"Church members can begin their home storage by storing the basic foods that would be required to keep them alive if they did not have anything else to eat. Depending on where members live, those basics might include water, wheat or other grains, legumes, salt, honey or sugar, powdered milk, and cooking oil. When members have stored enough of these essentials to meet the needs of their family for one year, they may decide to add other items that they are accustomed to using day to day.
"Some members do not have the money or space for such storage, and some are prohibited by law from storing a year's supply of food. These members should store as much as their circumstances allow. Families who do not have the resources to acquire a year's supply can begin their storage by obtaining supplies to last for a few months. members should be prudent ad not panic or go to extremes in this effort. Through careful planning, most Church members can, over time, establish both a financial reserve and a year's supply of essentials."
(First Presidency letter read in Sacrament Meetings, January 20, 2002, Gordon B. Hinckley, Thomas S. Monson, James E. Faust)

Brigham Young

“All we have yet heard and we have experienced is scarcely a preface to the sermon that is going to be preached. When the testimony of the Elders ceases to be given, and the Lord says to them, ‘Come home; I will now preach my own sermons to the nations of the earth,’ all you now know can scarcely be called a preface to the sermon that will be preached with fire and sword, tempests, earthquakes, hail, rain, thunders and lightnings, and fearful destruction. What matters the destruction of a few railway cars? You will hear of magnificent cities, no idolized by the people, sinking in the earth, entombing the inhabitants. The sea will heave itself beyond its bounds, engulfing mighty cities. Famine will spread over the nations and nation will rise up against nation, kingdom against kingdom, states against states, in our own country and in foreign lands; and they will destroy each other, caring not for the blood and lives of their neighbors, of their families, or for their own lives.”
(Discourses of Brigham Young, Vol 8, p 111-112)

Marion G. Romney

"...if we are to be saved in an ark, as Noah and his family were, it will be because we build it... My faith does not lead me to think the Lord will provide us with roast pigs, bread already buttered, etc. He will give us the ability to raise the grain, to obtain the fruits of the earth, to make habitations, to procure a few boards to make a box, and when harvest comes, giving us the grain, it is for us to preserve it--to save the wheat until we have one, two, five or seven years' provisions on hand, until there is enough of the staff of life saved by the people to bread themselves and those who will come here seeking for safety... (the fulfillment of that prophecy is yet in the future)."
(quoting Brigham Young, April Conference, 1976)

Spencer W. Kimball

“As I listened to this address [regarding food storage and preparedness], I kept thinking over and over of something the Savior said, ‘Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?’ It rolled over and over and over in my mind: ‘Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?’ (Luke 6:46). There are many people in the Church today who have failed to do, and continue to argue against doing, the things that are requested and suggested by this great organization. The Lord said also, ‘Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.’ (Matt 7:21) And I was thinking that there are as many wards and branches in the Church as there are people in this room (the tabernacle) one for one….what great accomplishment there would be if every bishop and every branch president in all the world, wherever it’s possible, had a storage such as has been suggested here this morning—and took to their three or four or five hundred members the same message, quoting scripture and insisting that the people of their wards and branches do the things the Lord has requested, for we know that there are many who are failing. And then I hear them argue, ‘Well, suppose we do put away a lot and then someone comes and takes it from us, our neighbors who do not believe.’ That’s been answered this morning…We talk about it, we listen to it, but sometimes we do not do the things which the Lord says. Brethren and sister, we’ve gathered here this morning to consider the important program which we must never forget nor put in the background…we would do well to listen to what we have been told and to follow explicitly…We reaffirm the previous counsel the Church has always given, to acquire and maintain a year’s supply—a year’s supply of the basic commodities for us.”
(Family Preparedness, General Conference, Apr 1976)

Ezra Taft Benson

“Too often we bask in our comfortable complacency and rationalize that the ravages of war, economic disaster, famine and earthquake cannot happen here. Those who believe this are either not acquainted with the revelations of the Lord, or they do not believe them. Those who smugly think these calamities will not happen, that they somehow will be set aside because of the righteousness of the Saints, are deceived and will rue the day they harbored such a delusion. The Lord has warned and forewarned us against a day of great tribulation and given us counsel, through His Servants, on how we can be prepared for these difficult times. Have we heeded His counsel?...”
(Ensign, Nov 1980)

L. Tom Perry said

“I believe it is time, and perhaps with some urgency, to review the counsel we have received in dealing with our personal and family preparedness…We have been instructed to follow at least four requirements in preparing for that which is to come. Gain an adequate education, Live within your income, Avoid unnecessary debt, Store a reserve of food supplies…As long as I can remember, we have been taught to prepare for the future and to obtain a year supply of necessities. I would guess that the years of plenty have almost universally caused us to set aside this counsel. I believe the time to disregard this counsel is over. With events in the world today, it must be considered with all seriousness.”
( General Conference, Oct 1995)

Ezra Taft Benson

"For over 100 years we have been admonished to store up grain. 'Remember the counsel that is given,' said Elder Orson Hyde, 'Store up all your grain, and take care of it!... And I tell you it is almost as necessary to have bread to sustain the body as it is to have food for the spirit.' (Journal of Discourses, Vol 5, p 17). And he also said, 'There is more salvation and security in wheat, than in all the political schemes of the world...' (JD 2:207).
"From the standpoint of food production, storage, handling, and the Lord's counsel, wheat should have high priority. Water, of course, is essential. Other basics could include honey or sugar, legumes, milk products or substitutes, and salt or its equivalent. The revelation to store food may be as essential to our temporal salvation today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah."
(October Conference, 1973)

Heber C. Kimball said

....“Will this land be a land of milk and honey? Yes. Missouri is cracked up to be the greatest honey country that there is on the earth; but it will not be many years before they cannot raise a spoonful in that land, nor in Illinois, nor in any other land where they fight against God. Mildew shall come upon their honey, their bees, and their crops; and famine and desolation shall come upon the nation like a whirlwind.”(Journal of Discourses, Vol.5, p.94, Heber C. Kimball, July 26, 1857)

Ezra Taft Benson (1899–1994)

Thirteenth President of the Church

“The revelation to store food may be as essential to our temporal salvation today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah” (“Prepare Ye,”Ensign, Jan. 1974, 69).