"Even this Nation will be on the very verge of crumbling to pieces and tumbling to the ground and when the constitution is upon the brink of ruin this people will be the Staff[up[on] which the Nation shall lean and they shall bear the constitution away from the very verge of destruction. . . . I know these things by the visions of the Almighty." -Joseph SmithOne of the conditions of the last days is that the Constitution of the United States will be in jeopardy and will seem to hang as though upon a single thread. Our source of this prophecy is not the scriptures but Joseph Smith. Brigham Young recalled the prophecy in this way: "Will the Constitution be destroyed? No; it will be held inviolate by this people; and, as Joseph Smith said, 'The time will come when the destiny of the nation will hang upon a single thread. At this critical juncture, this people will step forth and save it from the threatened destruction.' It will be so."
Joseph Smith said we would see the time when the nation was on the "verge of crumbling to pieces" and "the constitution is upon the brink of ruin." President Wilford Woodruff said "the time will come when the country will be distracted and general lawlessness prevail. Then the Mormon people will step forward and take an active part in rescuing the nation from ruin." Speaking of this prophecy, Elder Ezra Taft Benson said: "I have heard our present Prophet leader [President David O. McKay] say we are very near to that time. It is my solemn conviction we are near the time which the Prophet saw."
