Well, Reaganaut, Restornu thought that your comment was fear-mongering: The Church does not do that but who can stop some from creating fear!
But what have LDS leaders & authors themselves said? Here's just a small sample:
Here's what a journalist/spokesperson for the University of Utah said back in 1981:
“Mormons believe they have a divine commission to prepare the world for Christ's millennial reign in which they will serve as officers and administrators. The faithful Saint believes he is building the kingdom of God. This is what motivates the 30,000 full-time missionaries [note, this has doubled since 1981] to preach the gospel, and this is what keeps men in their eighties working at a pace that would pitch younger, less motivated men into their graves.” --University of Utah spokesperson Fred Esplin, “The Saints Go Marching On,” Utah Holiday, June 1981, p. 34.
LDS prophet Benson himself also said in 1988: “Joseph Smith predicted that the time would come when the Constitution would hang, as it were, by a thread, and at that time 'this people will step forth and save it from the threatened destruction' ... [Then] the elders of Israel [I.e. LDS leaders], widely spread over the nation, will at that crucial time successfully rally the righteous of our country and provide the necessary balance of strength to save the institutions of constitutional government. Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, 1988, p. 619
LDS author Duane S. Crowther: “[T]here will be a complete change of government Washington, D.C. will cease to be the capital. The present national bureaucracy will have its end. The internal conflict will sweep away the current system of governments and will pave the way for the political kingdom of God and the millennial kingdom through which Jesus Christ will rule and reign...A new government will be established among the saints and that political kingdom of God will espouse and uphold the principles of constitutional government. Duane S. Crowther, Prophetic Warnings to Modern America, 1979, pp. 315-316
I saved your post #839 for further use. Hope you don’t mind.
Thank you for those quotes. BY was proud that Deseret was a theocracy. I heard many LDS say that they hoped for a return to it.