THE CALL TO LEAVE NAUVOO - A PARALLEL FOR OUR DAY

I took a class from Susan Easton Black.  I think it was a technical writing class.  I have good memories of her - except that I got a B in the class.  Writing is not my forte - if you have not been able to tell.... :)

I have gotten a few complaints in the comments about this blog not being authoritative/well-researched.  Trust me, you have it right.  I may devote all of 10 mins a day average to it - because I simply do not have the time to really throw into it.  I have so many irons in the fire, it is not funny.  But, it is kind of my outlet.  In the old days, I used to shout at the tv screen.  Now, I have turned it completely off; the best policy I have implemented in my life other than gargling with warm Atlantic salt water......

Anyway, this dog and pony show is more of a repository (read, trash can) where I throw all the interesting stuff I find; and I share it in the hopes it will positively impact others and get them thinking and awake to the current state of sad affairs.  The burden of proof is on the reader to dig deeper if you feel inclined.  I love to get comments calling misinformation out - but will trash those that simply are vitriolic.  To disseminate bad information is a form of bearing "false witness".  When I get stuff wrong, I usually try to state so much - but feel no obligation to do so.  Hopefully, the NY Times is not quoting this monumental work...... 

Anyway - great stuff I found on Fakelook from some really cool people I hope to meet one day.  In some respects, I thank the Lord for social media that links like-minded people together:

The Call to Flee Nauvoo – A Foreshadow of Our Day
These details are from notes David Randall Smith took from a BYU Church History class in 2003 or 2004 (the professor was Susan Easton Black).
After Joseph Smith's death, Brigham Young was busy preparing the Church for an exodus from Nauvoo to the Rocky Mountains. The Church members, in general, knew they were going to leave, but didn't know when. The “wise” were preparing to flee. The leaders of the Church gave the saints a list of things they needed to get before it was time to go, and when that time came, only those that had obeyed and got the things on that list were allowed to leave in the first wave of Saints.
One of the great endeavors -- beginning 10 December 1845 -- was that the Temple was very busy endowing as many members as possible.
Apparently, everyone thought Brigham Young was going to call the Saints to flee in the Spring of 1846. But on a much earlier, February 4th, 1846, he gave the call to "Flee Babylon by land or by sea." To Brigham Young, Babylon represented was the United States. This time is when songs like "Ye Elders of Israel" were written with the words: "Oh Babylon, Oh Babylon, we bid thee farewell; we're going to the Mountains of Ephraim to dwell!"
To give you an idea of how quickly they left, the temple was going to close immediately, but at the request of some Saints, they fit in some more endowments -- the last of which was performed 7 Feb, 1846 -- just three days later.
The prepared saints had purchased wagons, but they were not initially covered. But when Orson Hyde went on a political mission to Washington D.C. while advocating for the Presidency of Joseph Smith, Joseph Smith had instructed him to buy 5,000 yards of canvas -- which was supposed to be used for building a tabernacle. Because a tent temple wouldn't provide protection, the tabernacle was never built. And because they had all this extra canvas, they cut it up and placed it on top of the wagons that first left for the valley. Thus their wagons became "portable tabernacles." These saints had the power of God attend them.
The Saints were warned to flee, because they were in real danger. Sis Black made it a point to say that there were actually three waves of departing Saints. The first group left in February (earlier than most everyone thought) in portable tabernacles (their wagons) and with the general authorities. The second group left in April, but they had no general authorities with them. The third group left in September, freezing and running for their lives. This third group was poor, sick, and they struggled mightily through that winter.
One other thing of note: It was on the 7th of September, 1846 (which was a Monday) when a Major Parker gave the order that the Mormons must depart Nauvoo. He was sent with an army to enforce the expulsion of the Mormons. On 10 September, their force totaled more than one thousand. The Saints put up a remarkable fight, but on 17 September, the remaining saints fled during a winter so bitterly cold the Mississippi River was frozen over. Carrying their only possessions with them, these saints walked on foot across the frozen river, exiting the western border of the United States. Thus, whether they prepared and followed the prophet or not, they were all eventually forced to leave “Babylon.”
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Now let me just highlight some of the shadows I see for our day:
- The same-sex marriage issue today will likely cause persecution of the saints similar to what the saints in Nauvoo experienced. (You must read Elder Robert D. Hale’s prophecy in the Oct 2013 General Conference about future persecution we will suffer – just like the persecutions of the early Saints – and how to be strong; https://www.lds.org/…/general-conference-strengthening-fait…)
- Brigham Young gave the Saints a list of things to gather in order to be eligible to leave with the first wave of saints. President Thomas S. Monson gave us a similar list of preparations which we may need to follow in order to leave with the first wave of Saints (see the September 2014 First Presidency Message, “Are We Prepared?”; https://www.lds.org/ensign/2014/09/are-we-prepared?lang=eng).
- The great work at the time in Nauvoo was Temple work -- particularly to endow as many members as possible -- and the temples were opened non-stop, 24 hours a day. We too have seen a hastening of temple work leading to the call to flee, but just like with Brigham Young, the time will come when temples will be closed (perhaps due to persecution) and the work will be halted for a time.
- Many believe the Call to Gather will occur in the Spring, just as most believed in Brigham Young’s day. What remains to be seen is if our call to flee comes sooner, as it came in February for the Nauvoo Saints. Christ warns us to be ready (Matt 24:43).
- Just like in Brigham’s day, most of the Saints who flee will go to the Rocky Mountains for safety. Here are two prophecies: Brigham Young: "An inland Empire will be established in these valleys of the mountains, which will be a place of refuge for millions of people to gather to, when the great day of the judgements of God comes upon the earth, and the righteous come here for safety. Our people will go East, West, North and South, but the day will come, when they will be glad to come back. We will be shut out from the rest of the world." Prophecy of Heber C. Kimball: “I am very thankful that so many of the brethren have come in with handcarts; my soul rejoiced, my heart was filled and grew as big as a two-bushel basket. Two companies have come through safe and sound. Is this the end of it? No; there will be millions on millions that will come much in the same way, only they will not have handcarts, for they will take their bundles under their arms, and their children on their backs, and under their arms and flee” (Source: Journal of Discourses, 4:106).
- Once the call from Brigham Young came to flee, they left almost immediately within days. This is similar to various dreams and visions of the Call to Gather in our day.
- The early Saints who left in the first call to gather were provided canvas covers on their wagons. In our day, many people who have had dreams/visions about the gathering saw that there were thousands of white canvas tents that were provided by the Church (for just one example, see “Dream of Plagues,” http://visionsandtribulation.blogspot.com/…/the-dream-of-pl…). There are accounts of people that work for the Church that have seen warehouses full of tens of thousands of white canvas tents the Church owns. As are the temples today, these tents will be like tabernacles of safety (as was shown in the Dream of Plagues).
- The Nauvoo saints fled in three waves. Dreams and visions of the future tell there will be three waves of saints who flee in our day. Just as was the case in Nauvoo, these people also describe that the third group of fleeing Saints will be destitute and walking, taking only what they can carry with them. It is yet to be seen if these saints will also flee in the dead of a terribly cold winter. But those who have had dreams of this often (but not always) describe a terribly cold, early, and long winter following the call to gather. As Christ forewarned in His prophesy of the future calamities of Jerusalem and of the Latter-days, “Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day” (Matt 24:20).
- The Nauvoo Saints fled an army commissioned to expel the Mormons. Dreams and visions of our day show that ALL people were fleeing invading foreign armies (primarily Chinese in the West, and Russian in the East).

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Thought provoking....
Elder Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses Vol. 20:151 March 9, 1879
"What then will be the condition of that people, when this great and terrible war shall come? It will be very different from the war between the North and the South. Do you wish me to describe it? I will do so. It will be a war of neighborhood against neighborhood, city against city, county against county, state against state, and they will go forth destroying and being destroyed, and manufacturing will, in great measure, cease, for a time, among the American nation.
"Why? Because in these terrible wars, they will not be privileged to manufacture; there will be too much bloodshed, too much mobocracy, too much going forth in bands and destroying and pillaging the land to suffer people to pursue any local vocation with any degree of safety.
"What will become of millions of the farmers upon that land? They will leave their farms and flee before the ravaging armies from place to place; and thus will they go forth burning and pillaging the whole country; and that great powerful nation will be wasted away unless they repent