Prophecies About the Salt Lake Temple

Brigham Young April 6, 1853 During the 1853 General Conference of the Church the cornerstones of the Salt Lake Temple were placed and dedicated. Brigham stood before the congregation on April 6, the anniversary of the organization of the church, and spoke of the future.

I do not like to prophesy much, I never do, but I will venture to guess, that this day, and the work we have performed on it, will long be remembered by this people, and be sounded as with a trumpet's voice throughout the world, as far, as loud, and as long as steam, wind, and the electric current can carry it. It is a day in which all the faithful will rejoice in all time to come.

This is a bold statement by the leader of a relatively small, renegade church out in the middle of the wilderness, but it has come to pass. Today the Salt Lake Temple is a world-wide icon.

Brigham continued:

Some will inquire, "Do you suppose we shall finish this Temple, brother Brigham?" I have had such questions put to me already. My answer is, I do not know, and I do not care any more about it than I should if my body was dead and in the grave, and my spirit in Paradise. I never have cared but for one thing, and that is, simply to know that I am now right before my Father in Heaven. If I am this moment, this day, doing the things God requires of my hands, and precisely where my Father in Heaven wants me to be, I care no more about to-morrow than though it never would come. I do not know where I shall be to-morrow, nor when this Temple will be done-I know no more about it than you do. If God reveals anything for you, I will tell you of it as freely as to say, go to City Creek, and drink until you are satisfied.

Brigham had just predicted the temple would be known around the world. I believe another prophecy is couched in this paragraph. He is asked "brother Brigham, shall we finish this temple?" He said he didn't know.

Brigham died on August 29, 1877; the temple wasn't dedicated until April 6, 1893. 40 years in the making, some then living, including Brigham, didn't see its completion. It seems Brigham might have known more than he let on; though he wanted to live to see it completed. He concluded by testifying that the temple was, in fact, revealed to him:

Now, some will want to know what kind of a building it will be. Wait patiently, brethren, until it is done, and put forth your hands willingly to finish it. I know what it will be. I am not a visionary man, neither am I given much to prophesying [though he just had,]...I scarcely ever say much about revelations, or visions, but suffice it to say, five years ago last July I was here, and saw in the Spirit the Temple not ten feet from where we have laid the Chief Corner Stone. I have not inquired what kind of a Temple we should build. Why? Because it was represented before me. I have never looked upon that ground, but the vision of it was there. I see it as plainly as if it was in reality before me. Wait until it is done. I will say, however, that it will have six towers, to begin with, instead of one. Now do not any of you apostatize because it will have six towers, and Joseph only built one. It is easier for us to build sixteen, than it was for him to build one. The time will come when there will be one in the centre of Temples we shall build, and, on the top, groves and fish ponds. But we shall not see them here, at present (Journal of Discourses 1:131-137).

At the mention of groves and fish ponds take a look across the street at the new Conference Center, (or as Truman Madsen lobbied to call it, The Mega-Nacle). You have to wonder how much Brigham merely believed, and how much he really knew.