A friend of mine linked this prediction made by J.Golden Kimball at General Conference in 1930. It’s pretty fascinating how many of these predictions have come true.
Prediction:
“After a while the gentiles will gather in Salt Lake City by the thousands, and this will be among the wicked cities of the world.
A spirit of speculation and extravagance will take possession of the Saints, and the results will be financial bondage.”
An army of elders will be sent to the four quarters of the earth, to search out the righteous and, warn the wicked of coming events.
All kinds of religions will be started, and miracles performed that will deceive the very elect, if such a thing were possible.
Persecution comes next, and all Latter-day Saints will be tested to the limit. “Many will apostatize, and others will stand still, not knowing what to do. . . .
The judgements of God will be poured out upon the wicked, to the extent that our elders from far and near will be called home; or in other words, the Gospel will be taken from the gentiles, and later on will be carried to the Jews. . . .
[T]he Saints will be put to the test that will try the very best of them.”
The pressure will become so great that the righteous among us will cry unto the Lord day and night until deliverance comes.
Yes, we think we are secure here in the chambers of these everlasting hills, where we can close the doors of the canyons against mobs and persecutors, the wicked and the vile, who have always beset us with violence and robbery, but I want to say to you, my brethren, that the time is coming when we will be mixed up in these now peaceful valleys to that extent that it will be difficult to tell the face of a Saint from the face of an enemy against the people of God.
Then is the time to look out for the great sieve, for there will be a great shifting time, and many will fall.
For I say unto you there is a test, a Test, a TEST coming.
This Church has before it many close places through which it will have to pass before the work of God is crowned with glory.
The difficulties will be of such a character that the man or woman who does not possess a personal knowledge or witness will fall. If you have not got this testimony, you mist live right and call upon the Lord, and cease not until you obtain it.
Remember these sayings: The time will come when no man or woman will be able to endure on borrowed light. Each will have to be guided by the light within themselves. If you do not have the knowledge that Jesus is the Christ, how can you stand?”
J. Golden Kimball, Conference Report (October 1930), 58-59