New Jerusalem Construction
Begins

After the Saints have been purified and the one-world government is destroyed is apparently when the New Jerusalem construction will begin.⁽¹⁾ According to President Heber C. Kimball, before the New Jerusalem construction begins, the land "will be swept so clean of its inhabitants that...when you return to that place, there will not be left so much as a yellow dog to wag his tail."⁽²⁾ The land on and around Jackson County, Missouri, where construction of the New Jerusalem is to begin (D&C 84:3,4), happens to be a primary target for the Soviet Union. Whitman Air Force Base with its missile silos and launch control center is located there. Thus we do not have too much difficulty imagining how this prophecy might be fulfilled.⁽³⁾

Many prophecies about gathering to and building up Zion talk about the House of Israel "build[ing] up the waste places." (D&C 101:18; 103:11; Isa. 61:4; Ezek. 36:10,33; Amos 9:14; 3 Ne. 22:3 = Isa. 54:3; 1 Ne. 21:8 = Isa 49:8.)⁽⁴⁾ Anciently as well, after massive destructions by sword and famine came upon the Nephites, "the people of Nephi began to prosper again in the land, and began to build up their waste places." (Hel. 11:20.)

This same verse in Helaman also states that the Nephites "began to multiply and spread, even until they did cover the whole face of the land, both on the northward and on the southward, from the sea west to the sea east." This statement matches many prophecies about Zion spreading herself in the latter days. For example, Christ said, "Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations...; thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left...." (3 Ne. 22:2,3 = Isa. 54:2,3; 52:1,2; 2 Ne. 8:24; 3 Ne. 20:36; Moro. 10:31.)

Continuing the above statement, Christ said the House of Israel "shall inherit the Gentiles and make the desolate cities to be inhabited." (3 Ne. 22:3.) In the event of a nuclear attack, the greatest mortality would probably not come from the bombs themselves but from the starvation that would result from supplies being cut off.⁽⁵⁾ Larger cities would be most susceptible to such desolation. This would leave many cities in relatively good condition for anyone the Lord might bring into the land.