Under certain conditions God commands men to take up arms and defend themselves (see Alma 43:47), while at other times he tells His people that He will fight their battles for them (see D&C 98:37; 105:14). It is the latter situation that pertains to this day, Thursday, June 19, 1834, when members of Zion’s Camp are protected by divine power in the form of a severe thunder storm at Fishing River in Clay County, Missouri. A mob of nearly 400 men who have vowed “to kill Joe Smith and his army” (HC, 2:104) are converging upon the Saint’s location. Five scouts from the mob visit the Camp of Zion and threaten that the Mormons “will see hell before morning” (2:103). Some of the brethren desire to load their weapons and fight, but Joseph tells them, “Stand still and see the salvation of God” (Church History in the Fulness of Times, 148; compare Moses’ words in Exodus 14:13).
Elder Wilford Woodruff records what appeared in the hitherto cloudless heavens moments after the scouts’ departure: “a small cloud like a black spot appeared in the north west, and it began to unroll itself like a scroll, and in a few minutes the whole heavens were covered with a pall as black as ink” (HC 2:104). An ensuing storm of unprecedented violence entirely frustrates the schemes of the scattering mob. Joseph declares: “God is in this storm” (ibid.). The surviving mobocrats decide that “when Jehovah fights they would rather be absent” (ibid.). The same will be said by the wicked at the time of the Second Coming when the Lord will make “bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God” (Isaiah 52:10). The wicked will howl in anguish while the righteous will rejoice and welcome their Lord and Savior. Meanwhile, the Saints can endure in faith and echo the words of Moses: “The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace” (Exodus 14:14). (Richard J. Allen)