It just occured to me that in all the media coverage (Washington Post, et al) of the church and Romney, that not one commentator has mentioned the old Mormon folklore that in the latter days, "the constitution will hang by a thread" and will be rescued by the Church.

There are plenty of wacky end-days beliefs, but I think this one is unique to Mormons. Of course, maybe this is another oldy but goldy teaching that has fallen by the wayside of the mainstream.

Or have I been just oblivious?

I would be nervous if a President saw himself as playing a key role in bringing about the apocalypse instead of working to avoid it.

There is a silver lining. If Romney does win, the church will look for some decision that he makes at some point as the fulfillment of that prophesy. That means a lot of nutty doomsday Mormons who are preparing for the next civil war, will lose their doctrinal justification. They'll have to reign themselves in.

google some of the junk that Fox News has put out with that goofball Glen Beck......pretty sure he is the only one out there using that phrase.

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

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130470858

I believe that some of the biggest wake up moments that I have had about how hokey mormonism is were watching Glen Beck do his thing on the tube. I was just saying to myself, "How can this moron become a Mormon?" and how can he be so popular with the conservative crowd?

I then started to realize that I didn't think like my conservative Mormon friends at all. That was the beginning of the end for me.

Prophecy is no longer a part of mormonism. Granted, the older generations still remember times when prophets actually foretold things, but they're either still waiting for those things to happen, or have given up hope that they ever will and have accepted the newer regimes that simply don't know what's going to happen.

Packer in the recent general conference put another nail in the prophecy coffin by saying that the second coming won't happen in the next few generations. The day is quickly approaching when mormons will no longer remember any specific prophecies that haven't already come to pass.

One of the twelve told us on my mission, back in the late 90s, that GBH had predicted that North Korea would fall without any bloodshed, in a small private meeting. My theory is that they tell just enough people about their crazy prophesies that they can say, look we were right, if they come to pass, but sweep it under the rug if it does not. At the time, the Soviet Union had just fell, and NK was going through one of its worst famines in history, so it probably seemed like a safe prophesy to make.

A mission conference would also be the perfect test audience, as none of them own phones with recording devices, and are more likely to be fanatical TBMs. If someone does raise a question later, you then point out that it is coming from a bunch of 19 year old boys who probably took it out of context.

http://mormonexpression.com/2012/01/31/episode-185-the-white-horse-prophecy-for-dummies/


The upshot is this:

The origin of the Whitehorse Prophecy itself is unclear and unverified. Likely the text is the product of someone after Smith compiling a number of things he taught into a 'revelation.'

That said there are numerous sources showing that Joseph taught the Constitution would hang by a thread and that the Elders of Israel would save it.