How Do We Create Zion?

            My Come, Follow Me studies for this week took me to Moses 7 where I learned more about the story of Enoch. This chapter tells how Enoch and his people achieved something that no other group of individuals has been able to do. They built a society where there was no poverty and no violence – the ideal society.

A term that is often used to define such effort is “building Zion.” Building Zion includes caring for the poor, promoting peace, making covenants, living together in righteousness, and becoming one in heart and mind with Jesus Christ (Moses 7:53). Enoch’s Zion existed on earth for 365 years before it was taken into heaven. We learn the following about Enoch’s city of Zion from the book of Moses 7:18-19, 68-69:

And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them.

And Enoch continued his preaching in righteousness unto the people of God. And it came to pass in his days, that he built a city that was called the City of Holiness, even Zion….

And all the days of Zion, in the days of Enoch, were three hundred and sixty-five years.

And Enoch and all his people walked with God, and he dwelt in the midst of Zion; and it came to pass that Zion was not, for God received it up into his own bosom; and from thence went forth the saying, ZION IS FLED. [Emphasis added.]

            The scriptures teach of two other groups of people who created Zion-like societies for shorter periods of time before becoming unrighteous. The first such society existed in New Testament times and is discussed in Acts 4:31-32.

And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.

And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. [Emphasis added.]

            The New Testament saints were “all filled with the Holy Ghost,” were of “one heart and of one soul,” and “had all things common.” This means that everyone shared in whatever the society owned. We do not know how long this society existed.

The second group lived in Book of Mormon times. We read in Fourth Nephi 1 that the “people were all converted unto the Lord,” there were “no contentions and disputations among them,” and “they had all things common among them.” In fact, “there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift” (4 Nephi 1:2-3). [Emphasis added.]

We read further in Fourth Nephi 1 that thirty-seven years passed, and “there still continued to be peace in the land” (4 Nephi 1:4). A few verses later, we read that fifty-nine years passed, and “there was no contention among all the people” (4 Nephi 1:13). The next verse tells us that one hundred years passed (4 Nephi 1:14). Then we learned why there was no contention.

And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people.

And there were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, or murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness; and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God.

There were no robbers, nor murderers, neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of -ites; but they were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God (4 Nephi 1:15-17).

            This Zion-like society was created because the people loved God. They maintained peace in the land for eighty-four years before wickedness began to divide and separate them. By the end of four hundred years, they were had totally destroyed themselves.

Nearly 250 years have passed since the Declaration of Independence was signed and Americans fought for a new government. Nearly two hundred years have passed since The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was established. Neither Americans nor the members of the Church of Jesus Christ have established Zion.

            So, how did Enoch and his people build Zion and keep it righteous when they were surrounded by wickedness? We need to learn their secret because the work of establishing Zion continues in our day even as wickedness increases in the world around us. One lesson that Enoch taught is that Zion is more than a city – it is a condition of the heart and spirit. The Lord taught the early members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that “Zion [is] the pure in heart” (Doctrine and Covenants 97:21).

            The simple truth of the matter is that we can develop a Zion-like society one person, one family, one community at a time. Zion is built on principles, such as love, service, work, self-reliance, consecration, and stewardship. (See R. Quinn Gardner, “Becoming a Zion Society,” Ensign, February 1979.) 

            Creating a Zion society is not an easy thing to do. In every dispensation from the time of Adam to the current one, prophets have called people to have faith in Jesus Christ and to repent of their sins. The fact that there has been only one true Zion in more than six thousand years attests to the difficulty for people becoming of one heart and one mind. However, we are not excused because the task is difficult.

            We are tasked with the responsibility to prepare society to be ready to welcome Jesus Christ when He returns to earth. Such a society must be pure in heart. A society is composed of many individuals and families, and it is within those individuals and families that Zion must first be created. When individuals and families are pure in heart, they will have a powerful effect on society as a whole. Enoch showed us that people can live righteous lives even while surrounded by wickedness, and we have his example to help us create Zion in our own day. 

God Is Calling

                    Our Heavenly Father loves each and every one of His children - including you and I.  He calls to us through His Holy Spirit.  A hymn entitled "Israel, Israel, God Is Calling" (Hymns 7; written by Richard Smyth, music by Charles C. Converse) is one of the great classics of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and describes how our Father is always calling to His children to come to His safe place known as Zion.

                    Israel, Israel, God is calling,

                    Calling thee from lands of woe,

                    Babylon the great is falling;

                    God shall all her tow'rs o'erthrow….

                    Come to Zion, come to Zion,

                    And within her walls rejoice….

                    Come to Zion, come to Zion!

                    Zion's walls shall ring with praise.

                    The history of Israel is full of times when God called for His people to leave Babylon and move to Zion.  Whenever society became too sinful, God would speak and the children of the covenant would flee into the wilderness to reestablish Zion.

                    Father Abraham fled from Chaldea - located in Babylonia - and went to the Holy Land to find peace.  Many years later his descendents known as the children of Israel - descendents of Abraham's grandson Jacob who is also known as Israel - were in bondage in Egypt but were led out of bondage by Moses.

                    The Book of Mormon - Another Testament of Jesus Christ describes how another prophet named Lehi obeyed God's commandment and led his family into the wilderness and eventually came to the American continents.  Nephi, Lehi's son, led his righteous followers into the wilderness to escape the wrath of his brothers following the death of Lehi.  A later prophet named Alma led his righteous followers into the wilderness to escape the wrath of wicked King Noah.  Joseph Smith, a modern-day prophet, led his followers from New York to Pennsylvania to Ohio to Missouri to Illinois looking for peace.  His successor, Brigham Young, led the Mormon pioneers to the Salt Lake Valley in order to escape the mobs trying to destroy them.  The Mormon pioneers followed their American Moses to the valleys located in the Rocky Mountains, and they sang the following hymn written by William Clayton (Hymns, no 30, "Come, Come, Ye Saints) as they trudged across the plains.

We'll find the place which God for us prepared,

Far away in the West,

Where none shall come to hurt or make afraid;

There the Saints will be blessed.

We'll make the air with music ring,

Shout praises to our God and King;

Above the rest these words we'll tell -

All is well!  All is well!

For more than 4,000 years the followers of God have had to flee Babylon and seek safety somewhere else.  Some of those followers seek the Promised Land in Jerusalem; others look for Zion in a New Jerusalem.  Covenant people in the past have fled to escape Babylon; the modern-day covenant people will no longer flee.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles spoke to young adults in a Church Education System (CES) devotional broadcast on September 9, 2012, and told them that "our call is to build Zion where we are.  One of the many unique characteristics of our dispensation, this the dispensation of the fulness of times - the last and greatest of all dispensations - is the changing nature of how we establish the kingdom of God on earth.  You see, one of the truly exciting things about this dispensation is that it is a time of mighty, accelerated change.  And one thing that has changed is that the Church of God will never again flee.  It will never again leave Ur in order to leave Haran, in order to leave Canaan, in order to leave Jerusalem, in order to leave England, in order to leave Kirtland, in order to leave Nauvoo, in order to go who knows where.  No, as Brigham Young said for us all, `We have been kicked out of the frying-pan into the fire, out of the fire into the middle of the floor, and here we are and here we will stay.  (Brigham Young, quoted in James S. Brown, Life of a Pioneer [1971], 121)

"Of course, that statement wasn't a comment about the Salt Lake Valley only or even the Wasatch Front generally; it became a statement for the members of the Church all over the world.  In these last days, in this our dispensation, we would become mature enough to stop running.  We would become mature enough to plant our feet and our families and our foundations in every nation, kindred, tongue, and people permanently.  Zion would be everywhere - wherever the Church is.  And with that change - one of the mighty changes of the last days - we no longer think of Zion as where we are going to live; we think of it as how we are going to live."

Elder Holland shared three incidents and then proceeded to share three lessons about becoming Zion as shown in the following quotes.

"Lesson #1:  We never check our religion at the door.   We will `stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places' (Book of Mormon, Alma 18:9)….

"Lesson #2:  Show compassion, but be loyal to the commandments.  It is easy to be righteous when things are calm and life is good and everything is going smoothly.  The test is when there is real trial or temptation, when there is pressure and fatigue, anger and fear, or the possibility of real transgression.  Can we be faithful then?  That is the question because `Israel, Israel, God is calling.'  …  Whatever the situation or the provocation or the problem, no true disciple of Christ can `check his religion at the door.'  …

"Lesson #3:  Use gospel values to benefit communities and countries….  In addition to protecting our own families, we should be a source of light in protecting our communities.  The Savior said, `Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.' …

"In our increasingly unrighteous world, it is essential that values based on religious belief be [evident in] the public square.  …"

Elder Holland then quoted Elder Quentin L. Cook:  `Religious faith is a store of light, knowledge, and wisdom and benefits society in a dramatic way' ("Let There Be Light!"  Ensign, Nov. 2010, 28-29).

Then Elder Holland continued:  "If we don't take gospel blessings to our communities and our countries, the simple fact of the matter is we will never have enough policemen … to enforce moral behavior even if it were enforceable.  And it isn't…."

After discussing the above three lessons in length, Elder Holland gave this counsel:  "We aren't going to solve every personal or social problem in the world here tonight.  When we leave this evening, there will still be poverty, ignorance and transgression, unemployment and abuse, violence and heartache in our neighborhoods and cities and nations.  No, we can't do everything, but as the old saying goes, we can do something.  And in answer to God's call, the children of Israel are the ones to do it - not to flee Babylon this time but to attack it.  Without being naïve or Pollyannaish about it, we can live our religion so broadly and unfailingly that we find all kinds of opportunities to help families, bless neighbors, and protect others, including the rising generation.

"Live your life to reflect your love of Jesus Christ…."

When I remember that we will never have to flee Babylon again, I feel peace and comfort.  I am grateful to know that my responsibility is to bring Zion into my home and my community by the way I live.  I am thankful that I can put down "roots" and build up Zion wherever I may live.