Christopher is talking about Glenn Beck today. So I need to add my two cents on this Monday.
Chad Daybell, born a year before me (1968) and pioneer of Spring Creek Books, is in the midst of an LDS eschatological series entitled Standing in Holy Places. I browsed through his second book in the series, The Celestial City (2008).
From the heartland of the West, Chad reports to you that in the American recession, the government will offer financial rebates to its citizens; but you must accept an imbedded microchip. Unfortunately, the American government collapses. Natural disasters and disease afflict the land. And the soldiers of the Coalition ravage the East and West Coasts, easily detecting and exterminating Americans because of their computer chips. It is a fulfillment of prophecy that Americans are killed. They are wicked. They dress immodestly and drink Budweiser.
The only obstacle that stood in the way of the Coalition was the hidden Saints, those who had refused the microchip when the American government offered it them, tucked away in the stronghold of the Mountain West.
In a pivotal hour, President Johnson, declares at Manti, where an LDS army had assembled:
These men who stand behind me are the next generation of valiant LDS men to defend our land. Many of us are descendants of faithful soldiers who served in World War I and World War II. We even have men among us today who served in the wars that followed. Now we are living through yet another war, known as World War III. Our prophet has asked these faithful men standing behind me to come forth during this devastating, difficult time to preserve the liberties of our land, and they are to be applauded for accepting the call.
Our United States government may no longer exist, but we are still the inhabitants of this great land. We will yet raise up a great nation, built upon the principles that our Founding Fathers established. The principles in the Constitution were divinely inspired, and if necessary, we will defend those ideals with our lives.
According to Brigham Young in the Journal of Discourses, the Prophet Joseph Smith said, “The time will come when the destiny of the nation will hang upon a single thread. At that critical juncture, this people will step forth and save it from threatened destruction.” In that regard, I propose that we call this group of soldiers the Manti Men, in honor of the Minutemen from the Revolutionary War. The last time our land was invaded, the Minutemen played a key role in defeating the British. Let’s make sure the Manti Men make a little history of their own (39-40).
The Elders of Israel were on the move. Twelve foot high electrical fences went up around every LDS temple in America. Enemies were killed or pushed back. And Elder Smith, speaking for the First Presidency, announces from Rexburg, Idaho about the 144,000 who would become the high priests and search for the pure in heart throughout the whole earth.
Then comes the major trek of wagons back to Missouri. To Independence. New Jerusalem is established according to D&C 57:1-3.
But there is still much work to be done before the Second Coming.
Stay tuned for Book Three: The Rise of Zion.
(And could this be a future episode on the Glenn Beck Show?)
Jesus in Idaho Falls 
Microchips… LOL.
I’m relieved to know Mormon fiction is just as silly as evangelical fiction when it comes to the apocalypse.
Todd, this is really fascinating stuff. I had no clue that literature like this even existed, but as I mentioned in a comment over on the Glenn Beck post, it doesn’t surprise me too much. What as fascinatingly awful mish-mash of every bit of LDS apocalyptic folklore Chad Daybell has seemingly sewn together into a (mildly) coherent narrative.
The ignorance of the JI contributors continues to amaze me. The writers act as if Mormon millennial concerns disappeared after Pres. Ezra Taft Benson died. Far from it, as it simply became less open. It was very much alive and well during Clinton’s years and the Gay agenda and Liberal Democrats’ complete control has only brought it out in the open because of the feeling there needs to be absolute defiance toward the current powers. Coming from Idaho as you do and (if what you say is true) knowing average Mormons, you probably know this already.
By the way, there is another series called “The Great and Terrible” by Chris Stewart that is more popular. He might be from Idaho as well. Why there are so many Idaho Mormon millenialists is a curious question.
Jettboy, we Idahoans are conservative survivalists. We consider ourselves the last good thing in America.
Keep those liberal Californians away! (chuckling)
Jettboy, nobody on the JI suggested that millennial thought had disappeared from Mormonism, institutionally or otherwise, since the death of ETB. I do think that there is a shift in millennial discourse from the mid-twentieth century to the advent of the 21st. What I suggest in my post is that Glenn Beck is drawing upon the millennialism of ETB and Cleon Skousen and not upon the more moderate millennialism of the years between the zenith of their popularity and the rise of Beck’s popularity.
If you want to take issue with what I actually said, fine. But don’t put words in my mouth and then try and refute those imaginary arguments. And what value is there in hurling around unsavory epithets like “ignorance”?