“Will There Be ‘Heathen,’ or Non-Israelites, Who Survive Armageddon?”
Zechariah 14:16–19
16 And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
17 And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.
18 And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
The Prophet Joseph Smith said:
“While in conversation at Judge Adams’ during the evening, I said, Christ and the resurrected Saints will reign over the earth during the thousand years. They will not probably dwell upon the earth, but will visit it when they please, or when it is necessary to govern it. There will be wicked men on the earth during the thousand years. The heathen nations who will not come up to worship will be visited with the judgments of God, and must eventually be destroyed from the earth.”
(In “History, 1838–1856, volume D-1 [1 August 1842–1 July 1843],” page 1431, josephsmithpapers.org; also in History of the Church, 5:212.)
Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote:
“During the Millennium, however, the Lord will use the forces of nature to turn people’s attention to the truth. ‘Whoso will not come up,’ said Zechariah, ‘of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain’ (Zech. 14:16–19).”
(Mormon Doctrine, 2nd ed. [1966], 499.)
