I don’t know the answer to this question, but sentences beginning with economic, and ending with assorted descriptive terms like depression and collapse are being heard among those who are in the know about things financial. I think Jim Rogers was the first market maven I heard sound the alarm about the seriousness of the sub-prime problem in late 2007. More recently he told CNBC that the US government’s approach to the “bailout” will create an “inflation holocaust”.
In a now famous talk given by President Hinckley in Oct 1998 Priesthood Meeting, our optimistic prophet struck a surprisingly pessimistic tone when he said:
“There is a portent of stormy weather ahead to which we had better give heed. I hope with all my heart that we shall never slip into a depression. I am a child of the Great Depression of the thirties. I finished the university in 1932, when unemployment in this area exceeded 33 percent… We are carrying a message of self-reliance throughout the Church. Self-reliance cannot obtain when there is serious debt hanging over a household… I urge you, brethren, to look to the condition of your finances. I urge you to be modest in your expenditures; discipline yourselves in your purchases to avoid debt to the extent possible. Pay off debt as quickly as you can, and free yourselves from bondage.”
An Astonishing Prophecy
Recently I came across a prophecy reportedly given in 1989 by Iohani Wolfgramm. Brother Wolfgramm, I’ve learned, is a Tongan brother known for his spiritual gifts. Elder Oaks referred to him in a talk entitled, “Miracles”, published in June 2001 Ensign. It is a word of mouth, fragmented pronouncement without a source. I would normally file it under the heading of unreliable prophecy, but I decided to keep it for further evaluation. Following is part of what he is reported to have said regarding an economic collapse:
“The Big economic collapse which leads to chaos will occur in the last year of the 2nd term of the son of George Bush who will become president.”
Someone commenting that the patriarch must mean that President Bush (the 1st Pres. Bush) would be re-elected. Patriarch Wolfgramm then replied (remember, this is 1989) that it wasn’t that Pres. Bush, but that it was the son of Pres. Bush who would become president that he was referring to.
I’ve been able to trace discussion on this prophecy as far back as 2003 on the internet. Does anyone know more? I hesitate to pass this kind of thing on, but I want to learn more about this prophecy. Do any of you reading this have more information?
Summary
I feel to echo the words of President Hinckley, and say it is important for all of those who follow the prophets to double, and redouble our efforts to be prepared as church leaders have told us for these many years.
I’ll close this post with the words of another prophet, Ezra Taft Benson who said:
“The revelation to store food may be as essential to our temporal salvation today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah” (”Prepare Ye,” Ensign, Jan. 1974, 69).