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From the article: "The only accounts of the alleged White Horse prophecy were provided second hand, years after Joseph Smith died and can't be corroborated with other sources," said Scott Gordon, the president of FAIR. " For many people it is a faith-promoting rumor that been around for a long time -- it's a rumor that never dies." http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1847116/posts From the article: It has been officially refuted by the Church on several occasions.

Well actually, the White Horse Prophesy was repeated again and again at General Conferences up through the early 1960s!

It has been officially refuted by the Church on several occasions. One of the first (and most impressive) examples of this was with Elder Joseph Fielding Smith Jr.’s general conference talk in October 1918: In my travels in the stakes of Zion, my attention has been called, on a number of occasions, to a purported revelation . . . supposed to have been received by President Smith . . . in regard to events of great importance dealing with the nations of the earth and the Latter-day Saints. Many things in that purported vision, or revelation, are absurd. . . . When a revelation comes for the guidance of this people, you may be sure that it will not be presented in some mysterious manner contrary to the order of the Church. It will go forth in such form that the people will understand that it comes from those who are in authority. President Joseph F. Smith, who spoke after his son at that conference, re-emphasized his son’s remarks by calling the content of the prophecy “trash.” He said, “It is simply false. That is all there is to it.” The Church, in 2010, once again re-emphasized this position with two separate official statements. To be fair, several reliable sources (including Brigham Young) did report hearing the Prophet say something about the Constitution hanging by a thread.

Well, who are we to believe? This article claims that Joseph Fielding Smith called the White Horse pophesy "absurd" -- other Mormons have said that the sixth president, Joseph F. Smith, called the prophecy "ridiculous." While he may have done so, the 1912 LDS Conference Report & that LDS "prophet's" book says exactly otherwise. (So did the Trib reporter get it wrong; or was the LDS church spokesperson lying?)

Joseph F. Smith, sixth president of the LDS Church, wrote in Gospel Doctrine, p. 403--originally cited, I believe in 10/1912 Conference Report, p. 11:

Now, these are the commandments of God, the principles contained in these commandments of the great Eternal are the principles that underly the Constitution of our country, and all just laws. Joseph Smith, the prophet, was inspired to affirm and ratify this truth, and he further predicted that the time would come, when the Constitution of our country would hang as it were by a thread, and that the Latter-day Saints, above all other people in the world, would come to the rescue of that great and glorious palladium of our liberty.

The 'White Horse Prophesy' by LDS so-called "prophet" Joseph Smith: “We shall build the Zion of the Lord in peace untill the servants of that Lord shall begin to lay the foundation of a great and high watch Tower and then shall they begin to say within themselves, what need hath my Lord of this tower seeing this is a time of peace &c. Then the Enemy shall come as a thief in the night and scatter the servants abroad. When the seed of these 12 Olive trees are scattered abroad they will wake up the Nations of the whole Earth. 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.” (The Historians Corner, BYU Studies, Vol. 19, No. 3, p. 391-392)

From the article: To be fair, several reliable sources (including Brigham Young) did report hearing the Prophet say something about the Constitution hanging by a thread.

To be "fair?" Ya mean, to be partially forthcoming and partially truthful about Lds coverage of this "prophesy" -- don't you?

LDS "prophets" from Brigham Young (commented on it as early as 1854) to Ezra Taft Benson (commented on it in 1975) all believed the "White Horse prophesy" to be a future American reality. And many LDS general authorities and even a BYU president repeatedly commented on it.

* Two comments by LDS general authorities (one by a "prophet" and another by an "apostle" are especially interesting for their religious-political overtones):

* John Taylor was with Joseph Smith when he died -- surviving a wound -- and went on to become an LDS "prophet": “The Almighty has established this kingdom with order and laws and every thing pertaining thereto… [so] that when the nations shall be convulsed, we may stand forth as saviours…and finally redeem a ruined world, not only in a religious but in a political point of view.” (Journal of Discourses, vol. 9, p. 342, April 13, 1862)

* LDS "apostle" Orson Hyde: “What the world calls ‘Mormonism’ will rule every nation...God has decreed it, and his own right arm will accomplish it. This will make the heathen rage.” (Journal of Discourses, vol. 7, p. 53)

So, don't you all look forward to when this LDS apostle's and "prophets'" extended "prophesies" will come into fruition? Why, supposedly "Mormonism will rule every nation" because they will be our "religious...and political" saviors!