When a single generation of mankind filled the earth with violence, God took notice: “But the earth was corrupt before God and it was filled with violence. And God looked upon it, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh has come before me; for the earth is filled with violence, and behold, I will destroy all flesh from off the earth.” OC Gen. 5:12. There is a difference between the corruption and the violence. Violence was a result of the corruption. Mankind had lost their way, drifted into confusion, were unable to distinguish between right and wrong, so much so that they disagreed and became angry with one another over what was right and wrong.
Enoch, looking down from on high recorded: “he heard a loud voice saying, Woe, woe unto the inhabitants of the earth. And he beheld Satan, and he had a great chain in his hand, and he veiled the whole face of the earth with darkness; and he looked up and laughed, and his angels rejoiced.” OC Gen. 4:15. The “chain” that Satan employed to cover the whole face of the earth with darkness was made of lies.
There is a growing fog of darkness impairing the ability of even religious people to distinguish between right and wrong, truth and error, and principles to value and those to discard. This is to be expected. It was foretold by Christ:
“Now learn a parable of the fig tree. When its branches are yet tender and it begins to put forth leaves, you know that summer is near at hand. So likewise, my elect, when they shall see all these things, they shall know that he is near, even at the doors. But of that day and hour no one knows — no, not the angels of God in Heaven, but my Father only.
But as it was in the days of Noah, so it shall be also at the coming of the Son of Man, for it shall be with them as it was in the days which were before the flood. For until the day that Noah entered into the ark, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, and knew not until the flood came and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.” NC Matt. 11:10-11.
The violence of today is another sign along the downward trek into corruption that will mirror the days of Noah. It will eventually become more widespread. So much so that there will be a single place, alone and apart from the anger and corruption that leads to violence: “And it shall come to pass among the wicked that every man that will not take his sword against his neighbor must needs flee unto Zion for safety, and there shall be gathered unto it out of every nation under heaven, and it shall be the only people that shall not be at war one with another.” T&C 31:15. Of course that prophecy makes the commandment given recently in the Lord’s Answer to Prayer for Covenant all the more ominous and cautionary: “Study to learn how to respect your brothers and sisters and to come together by precept, reason, and persuasion, rather than sharply disputing and wrongly condemning each other, causing anger. Take care how you invoke my name. Mankind has been controlled by the adversary through anger and jealousy, which has led to bloodshed and the misery of many souls. Even strong disagreements should not provoke anger, nor to invoke my name in vain as if I had part in your every dispute.” T&C 157:54.
Anger, disagreements, pride, fear, jealousy and condemnation of one another will not be part of Zion. The exact opposite is required. Otherwise any gathering would look like just another failed attempt by mankind to produce utopia. One possible way to understand T&C 31’s prophecy is that the only way to calm people down, sober them up from their pride, jealousy and bickering, it will be required to flee from violence. They will have a choice: take up the sword or die, on the one hand, or flee to Zion on the other hand. These will be the only options. After all, we can learn by precept (which hardly happens) or from sad experience. The virtue of sad experience is that it does truly inform us by the lesson we endure.