On Sunday morning at the 1981 LDS Semi-Annual Conference, President Ezra Taft Benson, the thirteenth LDS Prophet said, "The ultimate test of a true prophet is that when he speaks in the name of the Lord, his words come to pass" (Deseret News, Oct. 6, 1981, p. 6A). That article also says that "President Benson also spoke of the prophecy concerning Stephen A. Douglas who was promised by Joseph Smith that if he ever spoke out against the (LDS) Church, the wrath of God would come down against him. That came to pass when in 1857 Douglas was aspiring to the presidency (of the USA), he spoke out against the Church, was badly defeated in the election and died a broken man one year later."

Benson’s information about Douglas came from History of the Church, Volume V, pages 393-398, by Joseph Smith where it is used to show that Smith was a true prophet. But it actually shows that Smith’s prophecy about Douglas is part of his false prophecy about the demise of the United States if it didn’t do as Smith requested.

In that prophecy dated May 18, 1843, Smith said,

In Smith’s prophecy above, the part about Judge Douglas is in italics.

The first part of the above prophecy declares that unless the United States redresses the wrongs committed against the LDS in Missouri, the government will be overthrown and wasted so that nothing is left of it. Again on December 16, 1843, while discussing the LDS request for redress for their losses in Missouri, Smith said, "I prophesied, by virtue of the holy Priesthood vested in me, and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that, if Congress will not hear our petition and grant us protection, they shall be broken up as a government, and God shall damn them, and there shall nothing be left of them—not even a grease spot" (Millennial Star, vol. 22, p. 455).

That prophecy was republished in the History of the Church, Volume VI, page 116, but the italicized words at the end of it are missing in that account. These prophecies both warned of the demise of the United States Government if it didn’t do as Smith requested. But, all Mormons who lost their property in Missouri and who requested special protection from the US Government died over a hundred years ago without receiving redress or protection. There is no way to protect or compensate them now, so both of these prophecies were false.

The first prophecy mentioned in this article was the context of Smith’s prophecy about Stephen A. Douglas, so was it a true prophecy? In History of the Church, Volume V, pages 395-396, the notes about this prophecy say that,

That sounds like Douglas died from his disappointment at losing the election.

The Encyclopedia Americana presents a very different story of Douglas. It says,

Douglas did speak out against polygamy and other LDS practices that were not a part of American values. Did he feel the weight of the hand of the Almighty upon him for doing that as Smith said he would? He died as a young man just 48 years old, but was it because he lost the election in 1860? Joseph Smith, who prophesied the demise of the US government if it didn’t do as he requested and who warned Douglas never to speak against the LDS Church, didn’t fare nearly so well. He died at the age of 38 in a gun battle while in jail after making numerous false prophecies.