Joseph Smith's White Horse Prophecy

[debrand]

I was reading about Glenn Beck and came across an obscure prophecy by Joseph Smith that some Mormon politicians believe.

 

utlm.org/onlineresources/whitehorseprophecy.htm

 

 

Quote

Sen. Orrin Hatch has denied his Republican presidential campaign is motivated by a longing to fulfill an obscure Mormon myth. But during an interview with a Mormon Church-owned radio station this week he borrowed the exact phrasing of the apocalyptic belief.

 

According to the so-called "White Horse Prophecy," the U.S. Constitution will be hanging by a thread and a church elder from Zion will ride in on a metaphorical white horse and save it.

 

Utah's senior senator . . . complained that Democrats' political correctness will be the ruin of the country.

 

"They tolerate everything that's bad, and they're intolerant of everything that's good. Religious freedom is going to go down the drain, too," Hatch said. "I've never seen it worse than this, where the Constitution literally is hanging by a thread."

 

Have any of you heard of this prophecy?

 

en.fairmormon.org/Joseph_Smith/Prophecies/White_Horse_prophecy

 

This site says that the White Horse Prophecy is not upheld by the Mormon Church and is probably fake. However, it would be interesting to know how or if the prophecy influences any Mormon politicians.

[uber frau]

Firstly, FAIR is to LDS apologetics what the "Jesus is Lord" site is to IBF. They try so very hard, but you could practically play 'spot the logical fallacy' bingo with most of their articles. If you would turn it into a drinking game, you'd be under the table by half way through.

Here's a (broken) link to the MormonThink page on the subject. MormonThink has it's political issues, but is very rigorous in citing LDS sources.

mormonthink.com/glossary/whitehorseprophecy.htm

[gustava]

No more weird than seer stones and salamanders....or walking on water and burning bushes.

[merrily]

It's like Nostrodamus' prophecies, so vague that you can point at literally any event and say that it's the real deal. Didn't Mormons say Mitt Romney was the so called white horse? It was really quiet when Obama won afterwards though.

[debrand]

Firstly, FAIR is to LDS apologetics what the "Jesus is Lord" site is to IBF. They try so very hard, but you could practically play 'spot the logical fallacy' bingo with most of their articles. If you would turn it into a drinking game, you'd be under the table by half way through.

Here's a (broken) link to the MormonThink page on the subject. MormonThink has it's political issues, but is very rigorous in citing LDS sources.

mormonthink.com/glossary/whitehorseprophecy.htm

http://m.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/0 ... tion-hopes

I first read the prophecy about Mormons saving our constitution on the above site and went searching for the first source that mentioned it.

Beck invokes Mormon doctrine, imagery, and myth in ways that serve his own arguments. Most listeners are probably unaware of the provenance. A case in point is Beck’s invocation of what is known as the White Horse Prophecy, a notion attributed to Mormonism’s founder, Joseph Smith. The prophecy, which has been partly denounced but never wholly disowned by the Mormon hierarchy, holds that there will come a time when the U.S. Constitution will be “hanging by a thread†and can be rescued only by a proverbial man on a white horse. And maybe with a white brush cut?

The article makes a point that the Mormon leaders do not accept the belief as true but I don't know how that influences the regular lay Mormon or how they vote. I know Catholics don't always follow what their religious leaders teach.

Gustava, this is no stranger than turning Lot's wife into a pillar of salt but I am curious how the belief might influence people when they vote. If you believe that your group is going to save the constitution from being destroyed, do you accidentally see attacks that aren't there? Besides, if we didn't snark on certain beliefs because other beliefs were equally weird, we'd never snark at all. :lol:

[lawfulevil]

The thing is, I think it IS weirder than a lot of Biblical details, even though they're equally unbelievable. I'm no apologist... I'm not even Christian... but I don't know, I find religious obsession with the Constitution to be really creepy. It's not at all the same as believing Moses actually had a chat with a burning bush, it's much weirder because it's set in the modern day/future. One Glorious Day, Mormon Manhood will ride back in to Save The Country That Spurned Them (before the Civil War).

It's essentially the religious version of Revenge of the Nerds, only it's not a joke, and there's definitely no gay people or electric violins allowed.

[Soldier of the One]

Here's an article by Salon:

http://www.salon.com/2012/01/29/mitt_an ... _prophecy/

And here's a Wikipedia page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Horse_Prophecy

I had heard of it before. Sounds very eschatological. Perhaps the official LDS Church does dissociate itself from it but who knows what else they might publicly dissociate themselves from but privately practice (such as theoretical polygyny through sealings and the doctrine concerning Heavenly Mother).

Love Mormon theology. So fascinating! All the more so because it's quite contemporary.

[gustava]

http://m.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/0 ... tion-hopes

I first read the prophecy about Mormons saving our constitution on the above site and went searching for the first source that mentioned it.

The article makes a point that the Mormon leaders do not accept the belief as true but I don't know how that influences the regular lay Mormon or how they vote. I know Catholics don't always follow what their religious leaders teach.

Gustava, this is no stranger than turning Lot's wife into a pillar of salt but I am curious how the belief might influence people when they vote. If you believe that your group is going to save the constitution from being destroyed, do you accidentally see attacks that aren't there? Besides, if we didn't snark on certain beliefs because other beliefs were equally weird, we'd never snark at all. :lol:

DeBrand and Lawfulevil -- I've done a fair amount of reading about LDS (before Romney ran) and not only are they highly snarkable, LDS leadership are potentially dangerous, similar to how fundies present a danger to our social and political systems. Mormans, perhaps along with Christian Scientists, are a genuine American theology, grounded in American soil and, especially recently, American capitalism. As with the early fathers of the Christian Church, LDS leadership has deliberately hidden or attempted to hide many of the more controversial tenents such as salamanders and white horses.

And to be fair, early Christians didn't have the US Constitution, though Rushdoony and Christian Reconstructionism are attempting to remedy that oversight. Moreover, the idea of "natural law" has been supported by at least Justice Clarence Thomas. From Christianity Today: "But until now there seemed to have been a consensus among societies with monotheistic traditions that all civil law was rooted in natural law, which is written upon created order and, as the apostle Paul put it, "graven on the heart of man." Natural law is God's witness even to societies, which do not acknowledge him." (NOT WRITTEN BY THOMAS)

Back to snarking :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

[NerdyHil]

I was raised Mormon, and it's only been 5 years since I stopped practicing fully. I've heard the "constitution will hang by a thread" line more times than I can count. It always seems like there are those members who are big into the more esoteric, prophecy stuff. I was more into the bits that tell you to not be a dick to other people. The thing is, I only seemed to hear this statement trotted out when the sitting president isn't the political party the person using this prophecy likes. I heard it frequently during the Clinton administration. When rights were being trampled during W.'s time in office, not really a peep about this. I'm assuming it's worse now with President Obama being re-elected.