QUOTES ON FOOD STORAGE
"If any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith" 1 Timothy 5:8.
"Prepare ye, Prepare ye for that which is to come, for the Lord is nigh" D&C 1:12.
The Prophet Joseph Smith: "Satan will rage, and the spirit of the devil is now enraged. I know not how soon these things will take place; but with a view of them, shall I cry peace? No! I will lift up my voice and testify of them. How long you will have good crops, and the famine be kept off, I do not know; when the fig tree leaves, know then that the summer is nigh at hand. July 1, 1839
Elder Heber C. Kimball: "Will you be slack, brethren, and let the evil come upon us, when we forewarn you of the future events that are coming;... We are telling of what the prophets have said-of what the Lord has said to Joseph. Wake up now, wake up, O Israel, and lay up your grain and your stores. I tell you that there is trouble coming upon the world..." Journal of Discourses, vol. 4, p. 336-9
Elder Heber C. Kimball: "Lay up your stores, and take your silks and fine things and exchange them for grain and such things as you need and the time will come when we will be obliged to depend upon our own resources.; for the time is not far distant when the curtain will be dropped between us and the United States. When that time comes, brethren and sisters, you will wish you had commenced sooner to make your own clothing. I tell you God requires us to go into home manufacture; and prolong it as much as you like, you have got to do it." Journal of Discourses, vol. 5, p.10.
President Brigham Young: "A great many have taken this counsel, and they are prepared...Who is deserving of praise? The persons who take care of themselves, or the ones who always trust in the great mercies of the Lord to take care of them? It is just as consistent to expect that the Lord will supply us with fruit when we do not plant the trees; or that, when we do not plow and sow and are saved the labor of harvesting, we should cry to the Lord to save us from want, as to ask Him to save us from the consequences of our own folly, disobedience and waste..."The Lord has said, 'Gather and save the produce I put within your reach, and prepare against a day of want." Journal of Discourses, vol. 12, p. 244
Elder Orson Pratt: "And the time will come, when we shall find ourselves restricted, and when it will be very important indeed for us to patronize home productions, and cease sending our millions abroad for importations, for the gate will be shut down, and circumstances will be such that we cannot bring things from abroad; and hence, the necessity of the exhortation that we have received from time to time, to engage with all our hearts in the various branches of industry necessary to make us self-sustaining and to carry them out with all the tact and wisdom which God has given to us, that we may become free and independent in all these matters, free before the heavens, and free from all nations of the earth and their productions, so as being dependent upon them is concerned." Deseret Evening News, vol. 8, #265, October 1875.
President J. Reuben Clark, Jr.: "Let every head of every household see to it that he has on hand enough food and clothing, and, where possible, fuel also, for at least a year ahead" General Conference April 1937.
Elder Ezra Taft Benson: "Should the Lord decide at this time to cleanse the Church ... a famine in this land of one year's duration could wipe out a large percentage of sloughful members, including some ward and stake officers. Yet we cannot say we have not been warned." General Conference, April 1965.
President Harold B. Lee: "Perhaps if we think not in terms of a year's supply of what we ordinarily would use, and think more in terms of what it would take to keep us alive in case we didn't have anything else to eat, that last would be very easy to put in storage for a year,... and if you think in terms of that kind of annual storage rather than a whole year's supply of everything that you are accustomed to eat, which, in most cases, is utterly impossible for the average family, I think we will come nearer to what President Clark advised us way back in 1937." October 1966.
Elder Ezra Taft Benson: "For the righteous, the gospel provides a warning before calamity, a program for the crises, refuge for each disaster... The Lord has warned us of famines, but the righteous will have listened to the prophets and stored at least one year's supply of survival food..." General Conference, October 1973.
President Spencer W. Kimball: "The little gardens and a few trees are very valuable. I remember when the sisters used to say, `well, but we could buy it at the store a lot cheaper than we could put it up.' But that isn't quite the answer, is it, Sister Spafford? Because there will become a time when there isn't a store." General Conference April 1974.
Elder Marion G. Romney: "...We will see the day when we will live on what we produce" General Conference April 1975.
Bishop H. Burke Peterson: "On the average, about 30 percent of the church has a two-month supply of food. The remainder have little or none...become self-sufficient as possible to prepare against the days to come." General Conference October 1975.
President Spencer W. Kimball: "We encourage families to have on hand this year's supply and we say it over and over and over, and repeat over and over the scripture of the Lord where He says, `Why call ye me, Lord, and do not as I say?'... We also hope that you are maintaining your year's supply of food, clothing, and where possible, some fuel and cash savings." General Conference April 1976.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie: "I stand before the Church this day and raise the warning voice. It is a prophetic voice, for I shall say only what the apostles and the prophets have spoken concerning our day. ...It is a voice calling upon the Lord's people to prepare for the troubles and desolations which are about to be poured upon the world without measure. For the moment, we live in a day of peace and prosperity but it shall not ever be thus. Great trials lie ahead. All of the sorrows and perils of the past are but a foretaste of what is yet to be. And we must prepare ourselves temporally and spiritually." General Conference April 1979.
President Ezra Taft Benson: "Too often we bask in our comfortable complacency and rationalize that the ravages of war, economic disaster, famine, and earthquake ... cannot happen here. Those who believe this are either not acquainted with the revelations of the Lord, or they do not believe them. Those who smugly think these calamities will not happen, that they will somehow be set aside because of the righteousness of the Saints, are deceived and will rue the day they harbored such a delusion. The Lord has warned and forewarned us against a day of great tribulation and given us counsel through His servants, on how we can be prepared for these difficult times. Have we heeded His counsel?" General Conference October 1980.
President Ezra Taft Benson: "Plan to build up your food supply just as you would a savings account... We urge you to do this prayerfully and do it now." General Conference October 1980.
President Gordon B. Hinckley: "We feel the need to emphasize with greater clarity the obligation for members of the Church to become more independent and self reliant." April 1983.
Elder James E. Faust: "The counsel to have a year's supply of basic food, clothing, and commodities was given fifty years ago and has been repeated many times since. Every father and mother are the family's store keepers. They should store whatever their own family would like to have in the case of an emergency...store a year's supply...that might keep us form starving in case of emergency." General Conference April 1986.
Elder Thomas S. Monson: "Recent surveys of the Church members have shown a serious erosion in the number of families who have a year's supply of life's necessities. Most members plan to do it. Too few have begun." Ensign , Sept. 1986, p.4.
President Ezra Taft Benson: "I ask you earnestly, have you provided for your family a year's supply of food, clothing, and where possible, fuel? The revelation to produce and store food may be as essential to our temporal welfare today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah." General Conference October 1987.
President Gordon B. Hinckley, "The kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God on the earth will be combined together at Christ's coming - and that time is not far distant. How I wish we could get the vision of this work, the genius of it, and realize the nearness of that great event. I am sure it would have a sobering effect upon us if we realized what is before us." General Conference, October 1992.
President Gordon B. Hinckley, ". . . I am suggesting that the time has come to get our houses in order." October 1998
Last Updated on 07/01/98 by Darren Perkins 