And thus, with the sword and by bloodshed the inhabitants of the earth shall mourn; and with famine, and plague, and earthquake, and the thunder of heaven, and the fierce and vivid lightning also, shall the inhabitants of the earth be made to feel the wrath, and indignation, and chastening hand of an Almighty God, until the consumption decreed hath made a full end of all nations; (D&C 87: 6)
I want to write about the part of this prophecy that is in bold, for my understanding is that there will be two ways in which it will be fulfilled.
Fulfillment #1: the sword as military power, or just plain war
This means that people will be warring with each other using all manner of modern weapons: guns, bombs, missiles, torpedoes, nuclear, electromagnetic, chemical, biological, etc.
Due to the technology that advances at an ever faster rate, many of those who interpret last days prophecy (the Christians), as well as those who believe that interpretation (the Mormons) assume that the great last days destructions will be man-destroying-man, with his own man-made weaponry (in particular, the nuclear kind).
This interpretation is understandable where there is an ignorance of plasma science, cosmology and mythology. However, with plasma theology in mind, the great last days destructions can be correctly interpreted as the power of God, and not of man, destroying man, through interplanetary plasma discharges.
This leaves one to wonder, what part does the military power of man (his advanced technology) play in last days prophecy? The answer is: no part whatsoever. The follow-up question, then, is what happens to his technology?
Fulfillment #2: the sword as a literal sword
At some point in the future, all society, all nations, will be plunged into anarchy and all the advanced and advancing technology which we now have will come to an abrupt halt. There will be no more companies making ammunition or any of the multitude of military supplies we currently have. (The military industrial complex makes weapons to make money, selling them to governments. No governments, means no one to sell them to. This will be one of the many reasons why these plants will close up.) Ammo will quickly run out, leaving guns useless. Additionally, the conditions of the earth, planets and Sun, as well among men, will change so completely that all advanced weaponry will no longer be usable. Nevertheless, men will still be at war with each other and will desire to have weapons for defense and offense.
The manufacture of the relatively low tech weapon of choice of virtually all civilizations from the time of Adam to now, namely, the sword, will commence among all people. From then on out, and up to the time of the appearance of the Lord, men will use real swords (as well as other low tech weapons, such as the spear, bow and arrow, knife, etc.) to fight their battles.
This means that all the survivalists of the world, and especially here in America, who are stocking up on guns and ammo, thinking this will get them through the day, have it only half right. It may get them through the first half the day, but the time comes when there will be no more ammo, and unless they have a sword, or the means to make a sword, and the know-how of using one, they may not get through the second half.
Isaiah’s (and Micah’s) prophecy literally fulfilled
When the Lord appears, these prophecies will quite literally be fulfilled, as all those left alive will be using swords, not guns:
And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. (Isa. 2: 4; see also Micah 4: 3)
A plowshare is “The share of a plow, or the part that furrows in the earth.” A share is “The part of a plow which cuts the ground at the bottom of a furrow; a plowshare.” And to share means “to cut; shear, cleave; divide, to form by cutting.” (All definitions taken from the massive Webster’s New International Dictionary, published in 1913.)
So, we see that it is entirely natural and consistent that swords will be beaten into plowshares, whereas guns (and other types of modern weaponry) makes no sense. Most Christians (and Mormons) interpret the above Isaiah and Micah passages to be figurative, but my understanding is that these propheces will be literally fulfilled.
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LDS Anarchy 
What about Velikovsky’s interpretation that “sword” was a reference to the shape Mars assumed when passing near-by the earth in the days of Isaiah?
Could the sword prophecy be a near-earth collision event?
Justin, can you give the full quote, or at least the book and page of the quote? I haven’t read that, but it sounds interesting. I’d like to know if he also mentioned the plowshares, spears and pruning hooks parts as being visible in the sky.
At any rate, prophecy often has a heavenly component (“as above, so below”), so I would say, yes, the sword has a heavenly meaning, as well. But, as for the post, I was just focussing on the “below” meanings, as it does not appear that many who interpret prophecy, or who attempt to do so, can foresee that the prophecy also has a literal fulfillment.
[OFF TOPIC] Btw, to everyone, my destroyed computers have now been replaced with a brand new one, so I will be actively moderating this blog again.
It’s in “Worlds in Collision” starting at page 260. Here is a relevant excerpt:
“In one of its great conjunctions, Mars’ atmosphere was stretched so that it appeared like a sword. Often before and later, too, celestial prodigies assumed the shape of swords. Thus, in the days of David, a comet appeared in the form of a human being ‘between the earth and the heaven, having drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem.’ [see 1 Chorn. 21:16]
The Roman god Mars was pictured with a sword; he became the god of war. The Chaldean Nergal is called ‘Sword-god.’ Of this sword Isaiah spoke when he predicted the repetition of the catastrophe, a stream of brimstone, flame, storm, and reeling of the sky. ‘Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a might man; and the sword, not of a mean man, shall devour him…and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign.’ [see Isaiah 31:8-9] ‘And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved…for my sword shall be bathed in heaven.’ [see Isaiah 34:4-5]
The ancients classified the comets according to their appearance. In old astrological texts, as in the book of Prophecies of Daniel, comets that took the form of a sword were originally related to the planet of Mars.
It may be that the first stage of the re-introduction of the sword, namely, a lack of ammunition, has already begun:
The Ammo Shortage Continues
I thought about a quote from Albert Einstein when I was re-reading this post this morning:
“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”
I like verse 8, stand in holy places. That is going to be the only safe place. We have yet to experience the worst persecution in the history of the world.
I was reading thru Wilford Woodruff’s journal, and noticed that on 10 March 1843 he reported seeing a stream of light in the south-west sky “in the form of a broad sword with the hilt downward and the blade raised.” The sword appeared again on several succeeding evenings and other signs were revealed.
This was, other sources indicate, a comet — but Woodruff did not perceive it as such.