Does anyone remember this one, or was it just a Utah county c. 1980s thing? Forget to mention it in my thread on the Graveyard of LDS doctrines.

As youth we thought--because we were taught--that before Jesus came again there would be two prophets (ie., members of the 15) killed, dead for a couple days, then resurrected in Jerusalem. We used to speculate at scout camp which two it would be.

I'm guessing Anderson and Bednar, because they are such amazing hoss men of faith. So if you see news footage of some dead Q15 in Jerusalem, the end is nigh!

It has been taught for decades. But in my youth it the definition of "prophet" was broadened to refer to missionaries. Orson Scott Card made a semi-satirical LDS dictionary many years ago. In it he pointed out that a key to understanding the Mormon mind was to understand that every Mormon boy grows up believing that he may well be one of those two prophets/missionaries.

I think it comes out of D&C Section 45--Joseph's nightmare about the Apocalypse. And, during my religion classes at the Y, the general interpretation was it referred to 2 missionaries.

Okay, GoV, I confess I wanted to be one of the two. That's how zealous I once was. The missionary Boner.

No, it actually comes right out of the book of revelation in the bible. Revelation chapter 11.

I remember learning about this in seminary. My teacher said it would be more than just missionaries. It would likely be 2 of the 12 (probably not the top 3). That was in the late 90s.
Even then I thought that was wacka-doo. But if it was true, I was certain to get my act together if 2 prophets were strung up in the streets of Jerusalem.

Jeffrey Holland was asked this by a friend of mine and he said that if he was to be one of these two prophets then he would accept it.

A dead Dodo...interesting.

Yes, got taught it in the mid/late 80's... outside of Utah. Was this in any manuals or was it just an extra-doctrinal topic?

We turn for answers and comic relief, as often we must, to the overconfident words of the one and only Bruce R.

Bruce R. McConkie, "The Millennial Messiah," p. 390:

"In this setting, however, the word that comes from the Lord is: 'I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and three score days, clothed in sackcloth.' Who are these witnesses, and when will they prophesy? 'They are two prophets that are to be raised up to the Jewish nation in the last days, at the time of the restoration, and to prophesy to the Jews after they are gathered and have built the city of Jerusalem in the land of their fathers.' (D&C 77:15.) Their ministry will take place after the latter-day temple has been built in Old Jerusalem, after some of the Jews who dwell there have been converted, and just before Armageddon and the return of the Lord Jesus. How long will they minister in Jerusalem and in the Holy Land? For three and a half years, the precise time spent by the Lord in his ministry to the ancient Jews. The Jews, as an assembled people, will hear again the testimony of legal administrators bearing record that salvation is in Christ and in his gospel. Who will these witnesses be? We do not know, except that they will be followers of Joseph Smith; they will hold the holy Melchizedek Priesthood; they will be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is reasonable to suppose, knowing how the Lord has always dealt with his people in all ages, that they will be two members of the Council of the Twelve or of the First Presidency of the Church."

Note that this is after the Mormon temple in Jerusalem is built. Good luck with that.

How exactly is a Mr Mac sackcloth suit going to hold together for 1,260 days?

No doubt they will be Italian hand-stitched silk sacks

Swedish knit?

On this theme, I was taught that BYU Jerusalem had been consecrated with a double purpose. When required, it will be rolled out as a temple.

Source: quite possibly my seminary teacher's butt. But who knows.

You know that they can't be talking about Mormon leaders, then. None of the 15 would be caught dead in sackcloth. They'd probably also be protected by armored vehicles with professionally trained drivers.

I remember when CNN was first becoming popular in the early eighties. Mormons claimed that the news station was created to broadcast the two dead Mormons coming back to life in a Jerusalem street.

I like how the men had to be Mormons. And wouldn't FOX be a better market for such miracles now?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/08/2014 04:13AM by donbagley.

I heard in the '80s that one of the 2 missionaries had been identified in his patriarchal blessing, which means that JC is due in our lifetimes, and probably at or around the year 2k. Did anyone else hear the same?

I heard this one too just before I graduated from high school in the mid-nineties. It was supposedly a kid from Utah who got his patriarchal blessing immediately before his mission. Sadly, I spent the next two years watching the news being scared to hear that it finally happened & the end of the world was around the corner.

How did this get into this page and site; I don't know...

http://www.examiner.com/article/the-second-coming-of-christ-are-we-prepared

"It will also be a dreadful day for those who have had the gospel laid before them, have accepted it and then have turned away to choose evil rather than good and have not repented."

If this wasn't a quote from a young earth creationist I might be worried.

I am a bit shocked that some people still believe that JC 2.0 is on its way any day now, and that we have a need to "prepare" for it.

Sheer utter madness, but took it all in, hook line and sinker.

The basis for this is Revelations chapter 11. Too long to type out but to summarize

Verse 3 introduces 2 servants of God that propheciese 1260 days.

Verses 4 -6 describes special miracles they perform.

Verses 7 to 10 talks about their death and laying in the street 3 and a half days.

Verse 11 they come back to life

Verse12 and 13 they get revenge and ascend into Heaven.

The story is not unique to Mormonism, just they have a spin on it because they claim prophets.

...to its own purposes. Christian Science has its spiritualized spin on this, too. Actually reading the Bible outside cult-assigned passages helped free me from cultic thinking.

You're spot-on, DeadCat.

Traditional Christian SPECULATION on the Two Witnesses is that they will be Enoch and Elijah. Since "...it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment," (Hebrews 9.27), there are two men in the Bible who did not die, Enoch ("translated") and Elijah (ascended in a chariot of fire). Thus, these two were spared death during regular mortality, to experience it as martyrdom at the mid-Tribulation (3 1/2 years) point.


To speculate that they would be LDS missionaries or officials is absurd, self-serving exegesis.

To me now the story illustrates how far LDS Q15 is from any kind of spiritual power or moral authority.

The idea of any of these "prophets, seers, and revelators" playing a role in world events, especially by their godly power and the force of their persons, is simply ludicrous.

If the Book of Revelations had prophesied

>"Behold, two corporate board members will lose their dentures
>for three days on the streets of Jerusalem, making it
>difficult for them to speak twaddle through folksy
>homilies..."

or something like that then I would say the current Q15 might fit the bill.

But prophets in the OT sense? Men of courage and fanaticism, whack jobs with moral authority? Not our Q15. No way.

This is another example of Mormons hijacking bible teachings, sure they have the "prophets" spoken of. This is biblical and many mainstream Christians believe this will happen in the last days but I'm pretty sure none of them think those spoken of in Revelations will be Mormons.

they talk about this pretty extensively in the "Left Behind" books, too.

But, yes, I was always taught that it would be two Mormon missionaries and they would be left in the streets because of persecution of the church.

I heard that it would be two missionaries.

The woman who told me was nutty with hope that her son might be one of them when he grew up.

I have a mormon friend who constantly said she would head for the hill if there was a temple built in Nauvoo. When that happened she became silent on the subject. No way was she going to give up her half million dollar home and head for the hills. Never mind she was in her 80's. She's still kicking, but in a nursing home in the east.

Nothing is as it seems.

Do we get to nominate the lucky two? The race is close, but I'd go with Oaks and Bednar. Pecker would normally be my first choice, but he's already dead. He just hasn't stopped breathing yet.

When was the last time two members of the Q15 (there's 15 Apostles) visited Jerusalem together?

Exactly.

2 is not nearly enough.

Let's get all 15 there.

Sounds like an episode from 'The Walking Dead'.

Let's see what Michonne does with her Katana sword if she meets two zombies in the street....

I first heard this in about 1965. I was a young teenager in the church and bought the whole story.

I was in my last year of seminary in '96, and the seminary teacher told us to keep it a secret, but the two missionaries of revelation had received their PB that year. This happens when good momos are 16(although I never did and was 18 at that point), so they would be 20 years old, out on their missions in the year 2000. Just in time to feature as the two left dead in the streets, setting the bullshit in motion, lol!