The higher law is marked by loving God with all our hearts, might, mind, and strength and also by coming to love our neighbor as ourselves. The higher law leads us to perfection or to become perfect and holy as the Lord is perfect and holy. To live the higher law one must become pure by forsaking all sin, and must come unto the Lord and call upon His name and obey His commandments, and obey His voice. By so doing they come to know God. Perhaps the key to this successful journey is to come to know God's will daily and then to do it.
Without first forsaking sin and without possessing a "real intent" to obey all of God's commandments and to obey His voice always, it is impossible to come to understand God's will on a daily basis; impurity causes us to become like a radio that is insufficiently tuned in to the desired frequency to receive the proper sound and messages. Without forsaking all sin it is impossible to hear and obey the Lord's voice and to grow according to His wisdom. God alone knows and judges best the growth we each need today, and only by living His will daily do we achieve the step-by-step and timely growth that is most needed today.
By becoming pure and obedient, it is possible to learn and do His will daily and thus progress along the path of redemption -- one day at a time -- until we lay hold upon sufficient faith and knowledge to enter into the Lord's presence. Saints from each dispensation of Israel who overcome sin and who then come to live according the higher laws of love through a process of repentance and a continual remission of sin, steadily put off the natural man to take on the divine attributes of the Lord -- attribute for divine attribute. Such persons grow in light, truth, knowledge, faith, and love until entering into the Lord's presence. The Savior then becomes their Second Comforter and succors and comforts them as he or she completes the hardest part of the remaining journey back to the Father. If he/she succeeds through the Savior's succor and comfort, the Savior then introduces him/her to the Father and he/she becomes an eternal heir to the family of God.
Since Adam was first sent forth from the Garden into this fallen Telestial state, Adam and every subsequent prophet has sought to teach Israel the pathway to return to Zion (a closer step towards heaven on earth) or in other words, to be redeemed from this fallen state in which we live -- which is referred to by Israel's prophets as Babylon, or the great whore of the earth. Where we choose to place our trust in this life is the basis for all growth and experience we will receive during the course of our lives. It determines whether or not we receive a continual flow of revelation and ministrations from heaven to help us in our journey back to the Father's presence or whether we follow another path.
For example, trusting in the building of wealth and increased possessions and holdings to securitize our lives, or in other words bowing down to Mammon, leads us to become bound more firmly to the earth and our fallen state; it diminishes our connection to our heavenly home. Such a focus is a misguided distraction from becoming redeemed from the fallen state. Placing trust and comfort in wealth and possessions, rather than in God, moves us towards an ever increasing state of idolatry or false trust and worship in our lives and it diminishes our opportunity to receive heavenly communications and to realize our greatest potential for growth. We have only two choices, to trust God or to trust Mammon. The first leads to continual revelation and ministrations from heaven; the second leads to a false trust in the arm of flesh, or in other words, it leads to idolatry.
When a man says or thinks that he has at last found his place in the world, what he is really saying is that he has learned to thrive in Babylon and has distanced himself from heaven's laws and his true home. Heaven is home to us; earth is a laboratory of special learning. Both Zion and our heavenly home operate on higher laws than the economy in which we operate on this earth. We are here to come to understand the difference between these two extremes and, by faith, to choose the higher laws of existence upon which our heavenly home is based.
It was never intended that we leave our heavenly home to become firmly attached to our earthly home. Rather, Adam upon finding himself here was in a state of shock and immediately built an altar and made offerings unto the Lord, desiring to know how to leave this fallen state and return to his perfect heavenly home. He was then taught by an angel everything he and his posterity needed to do in order for them to qualify for a return of heaven's blessings in their lives.
Adam and his posterity were to walk according to certain covenants and sacrifices and through obedience were to become perfect and holy. In so becoming they established the basis for Zion. First, perfect hearts and minds are established through God's higher laws, and then the physical Zion immediately follows. Zion cannot be established by imperfect and impure people. We must first come to truly love one another and care for one another as much as we care for ourselves. Without truly loving others as much as we love ourselves and without loving God with all our hearts, in a manner that leads us to do His perfect will in all things, self-serving outcomes always result, which destroys the opportunity to build Zion. Zion is unalloyed and perfect and cannot be built by imperfect hearts and minds who do not yet grasp pure love. Only when we love God with all our hearts, might, mind, and souls, and love each other perfectly can a perfect Zion spring forth. Until we ascend to such a state, we cannot comprehend it fully or accurately.
In the Garden of Eden, the earth yielded forth in her strength and flowers and trees produced spontaneously; no effort was required by Adam to enjoy the abundance that existed. He and Eve were completely secure and protected in Eden enjoying every needful thing. However, even Eden was not the Celestial or Heavenly State, but was a Terrestrial state. Adam and Eve were in a state of innocence for they knew no evil. They did not possess a fullness of truth that is required to experience the full joy that attends the Celestial State. Joy is an outgrowth of a fullness of knowledge -- of both truth and the opposition of truth and misery. Without knowing opposition and misery we remain innocent and without true joy.
Adam and his posterity are required to learn to distinguish between good and evil and how to avoid deception that is associated with all opposition to truth. Gaining this saving knowledge is a pre-requisite to becoming an heir to highest realms of heaven. No saint can become an heir to glory without the saving knowledge that comes from understanding every truth and the opposition to each and every truth. We must pass through hell and this state called Babylon in order to reach heaven and to understand all that is in between heaven and hell. We cannot ascend to the highest realms of glory in ignorance, for we are not allowed to ascend any faster than we gain power over evil. A fullness of knowledge of good and evil is what gives us power over evil. Thus we pass through hell to get to heaven and come to understand truth and all truth's opposites (evil).
Earth is governed by Babylon's economy, which stands in direct opposition to heaven's laws. By coming to earth we learn first hand what it means to live in opposition to heaven's higher laws. For example, on earth I pay you a dollar and you give me vegetables that you have grown from your garden. All is done for an equal exchange of energy, whether we trade money for goods or we exchange goods for goods. In Babylon, all is based upon an exchange of energy. Seems fair and normal, right?
Heaven operates upon entirely different laws. All is done out of love and a desire to improve the happiness of others, without thought for the exchange of energy. For example, if I am a musician in Zion, I do not perform to earn money or food or clothing or shelter; rather, I compose and perform music solely to improve the state in which I and others live in order to produce greater happiness and love.
Why do I do this? Because I have gifts and talents that I can use in a manner that I know will help others enjoy greater happiness -- and since I love them as I love myself, I give freely and serve freely using my talents to enable greater love and happiness. That is my sole motivation for developing and sharing my gifts and talents with others. Therefore, I do not keep my music to myself or sell it to others; rather, I compose it and produce it and share it -- all with the object to spread greater love and happiness.
Consider a berry bush upon a mountain: it fulfills the measure of its creation without setting up a till and collecting money each and every time we pluck a berry from its vines. Rather, it finds joy in giving to us what it has to give that can further enable our happiness. This is a divine pattern.
When each person in Zion lives likewise, there is absolutely no need for an "exchange of energies." Rather, energy becomes exponential and infinite -- like the sun's rays -- and abundance is a natural consequence wherein there are no rich or poor, but all gifts and talents, all natural resources, and all the strength of the earth, and so forth each belong to Zion. Even strangers that enter the gates may enjoy freely of the gifts of Zion and so too become converted to heaven's laws.
Today we are so accustom to the economy of Babylon or this "fallen state" in which we now live that most all of us consider that a "fair exchange of energy" is the norm and even the right way to live, and we have lost the heavenly perspective that drove Adam to want to return to his heavenly state where everything from food, to shelter, to music and such came forth spontaneously. We have lost perspective that energy can grow exponentially and even become infinite and hence we grub away and squirrel away with a limited and narrow perspective regarding the best use of our time and talents. Our focus becomes to "securitize" our lives rather than to lay down our lives for one another.
Adam and all other prophets desired to return to living according to our perfect heavenly state and were taught by God the path for returning home and the pathway for becoming pure and holy and for establishing Zion or a state of heaven upon this earth. Take a moment to reflect and you will find that this earth possesses everything we need to live according to the laws of heaven. If you believe that the "fair exchange of energy" is the pure gospel, then explain how on earth you will ever repay the sunshine for its gifts to you, or how you will repay mother earth for her gifts to you. Rather, ask how you might live to always receive rain and sunshine in their due times or seasons and in order that mother earth will yield to you her greatest strength -- where even food produces spontaneously for you as it did in Eden and as it does in heaven.
Passing through Babylon, or this fallen Terrestrial state, is necessary in order to come to know the difference between good and evil. However, we should not seek to prosper according to the laws of Babylon; rather, we are here to learn the difference between Babylon's laws and heaven's laws and to learn to prosper according to the laws of heaven. Of course it is our choice to choose between these two diametrically opposed economies. And it is necessary that we come to fully understand Babylon in order to fully understand Zion. This knowledge is a prerequisite to becoming a part of the Eternal Heavenly Family. No one can be saved or exalted in ignorance but must come to a full understanding of truth and its opposites. However, we also must choose Heaven's higher laws now, if we desire to enjoy them later. We cannot bow to Babylon now and expect to enjoy the highest realms of heaven later. Obtaining the knowledge of these two extremes is our purpose for being here. Our purpose is not to become a "king" or "rich" in Babylon, but to earn heavenly robes of royalty through our agency to follow God's will, which leads us to love and serve the happiness of others the way he loves and serves our happiness.
Therefore, as we learn and progress in light and knowledge, our focus and goal during our sojourn on earth should never be to "securitize" our futures by bowing before and placing idolatrous faith in the God of Mammon. The true gospel teaches an entirely different way to go forward including where to place our "trust" and how we are to enjoy "security." Only a proper focus and complete trust in God for our temporal needs separates us from those who pause and enter into idolatry through bowing before the God of Mammon (all financial transactions and exchanges of energy for profit).
If we desire to be numbered among those who trust and worship the true and living God and who seek to become perfect and holy, as He is perfect and holy, then we must first forsake all sin and then learn to trust Him sufficiently to do His will in all things. As we do His will always, He will lead us to enable the higher laws of Zion in our lives. Even if you are the only person on earth to live according to the higher laws of heaven or Zion, you will receive all the attendant blessings that are associated with living these laws, including temporal blessings that are associated with these laws.
Therefore, there is no need to wait to live the higher laws until others choose to live them. As you learn to love others more perfectly and to love and trust God with all your heart and soul, and as you do God's will always -- you qualify for God's abundance in your life now. Why? Because God knows that no matter what you receive you will do with it as He asks, to bless and serve others, rather than to use the abundance to "secure" yourself. God becomes your continual source of "security" and not the abundance He sends to you. At any moment He may ask you to give up all the abundance you possess to another. And, if that is His will and you do it, you continue to remain "secure" because you cannot follow God's will or laws without binding His promises to you. God's promises remain with you always by your obedience, and as you trust Him in obedience you are "secured" by His everlasting promises.
Why do we generally move towards idolatry and false worship as we increase our wealth, possessions, and holdings upon this earth? Because, it is almost impossible to prevent ourselves from shifting from a humble desire to do the Lord's will in all things to a state wherein we want "Our Will TO Be Done." Comforts and possessions tend to bind us to earth rather than to heaven. We don't want to lose our comforts; we fear what will become of us without money and we begin to strategize how we can be guaranteed that we will have a pile of money tomorrow also. This is the false call of Mammon. The only true guarantee for "security" is based in living the higher laws of love and holiness and in keeping our covenants and promises to God, and in doing His will daily. Love is the answer to security, not money. True love places us within a pure and everlasting flow of abundance.
It is counterintuitive to us because it requires that we give all we have, our hearts, our minds, our soul, our gifts, our talents, and everything with which the Lord has blessed us or with which He may bless us. All is consecrated for bringing about this pure and holy society of love known as Zion. None of what we come to possess may be consecrated to "secure" ourselves, not even one penny, because in Zion all is received and given without money and without price. It is given and received in love. In Zion, if a neighbor suffers we suffer and rush to lift the burdens of a suffering neighbor. When we love another as ourself, we cannot bear to see them suffer without suffering equally. We cannot be "rich" if even one person is "poor." We cannot have opportunities for education without those opportunities being available to all whom we love as we love ourselves, which is everyone. Only in learning to love purely lies the secret to infinite abundance. We give all we have and somehow receive back to us more than we can possibly give. We give our "all" and it comes back multiplied to us. Like the sun's rays that shine infinitely, there is no end to abundance once one lives fully by the laws of heaven. You can never out give the abundance God has built into His universe.
While here in Babylon, surrounded by Babylon's realities, we too easily shift focus from trusting God for our security to trusting Mammon for our security. The shift moves us from being content with daily manna to wanting to store up in our barns, in our bank accounts, and otherwise to "secure" ourselves and our family's future as far into the future as possible. God taught Israel, after they entered the promised land, to only store up sufficient to last one year or season and that all the rest of their harvest was to be given as a "freewill offering" to the storehouse -- to be used to feed the hungry, the poor, the needy, the sick, the widow, the orphan, and the stranger that comes within our gates. What, no retirement plan? Is this really the true gospel? Of course, because the true gospel is marked by everlasting abundance and prosperity wherein there are no rich or poor. To enjoy prosperity when others do not is the antithesis of Zion or heaven.
There were no retirement plans in Israel, except one -- to endlessly keep all the statutes and covenants God had given and by so doing Israel enabled a perpetual claim to an endless flow of temporal blessings, as well as perpetual protection from her enemies. However, with possessions we easily become lulled by Mammon's call, "You can have anything in this world for money." And as we give way to Mammon's call, the call of Zion fades, which is, "Become pure and holy by learning to love others as you would have them love you, and by loving God with all your heart, might, mind, and strength." Ancient Israel was lulled away by Babylon's call and lost the blessings of the covenant. A return to obedience to Zion's laws promises Israel a return of the covenant blessings.
Zion's beckoning call to us is too often offset by the Mammon-placed fear that a time may come when we will be "without" food, shelter, clothing, and comforts. If we do not check that fear through faith and trust in the Living God we will consequently grub away our lives to prevent such an outcome. In that very act we forget that the command to work is a command to do God's will and that it is not a command to accumulate security. The real work we are to do is to become pure and holy and to do His will always. A lack of trust in His promises leads us to prefer to fill our barns, IRAs, stock portfolios, bank accounts, and so forth wherein we seek to "securitize" our future without enabling God's promises.
Even in piles of wealth that we can successfully squirrel away, we easily find disappointment and a lack of "true security." A change in the economy, a robber, someone who sues us, or myriad of other instances can wipe away our sense of security (because it's "false security") in the stroke of a brush. The Lord Himself promises that a time will come when the great Babylon (the world's present economic system) will fail in "one" day. All those who conspire for the riches of the world will see their plans come to naught and the wise ones who have taken counsel together to enrich themselves and to gain power over others will shake and fear. Does this sound like security to you? If not, then consider more fully the security offered by God to those who love and serve Him by covenant.
By comparison to Mammon's false call to "security," the prophet Elijah was fed by ravens who brought food to him for three years as he remained in the wilderness during a sore famine. The ravens were sent by the Lord to preserve a "true servant" of the Lord, as per the covenant that is available to all who will do "His" will in all things and who will be His true servants.
Consider the manna in the wilderness. For forty years the children of Israel received every morsel of food from heaven -- simply for the taking. Consider Christ's feeding the 5000, or the quail that came into the camps of modern Israel during the harsh winter cold after exiting Nauvoo and crossing the river during their exodus. Any people of any dispensation who will covenant and live according to the Lord's will and who refuse to bow to Mammon receive the Lord's preserving promises. Only by living the laws do the attached or associated blessing follow.
The sure path to Zion is based upon agency to make choices between good and evil, that we may gain a pure and fullness of knowledge regarding the differences between good and evil. Therefore, when we choose to trust Mammon rather than to trust the Lord's voice and will in our lives, the Lord accepts our choice to ignore Him. His pure and free-flow of revelations and ministrations to us cease the moment we begin to worship and follow the God of Mammon (Hebrew term for all profit-making transactions).
Consider the early saints in Kirtland and other places who were mobbed, burned out, and fled one city after another until they arrived in Nauvoo where they enjoyed a season of abundance and prosperity. They were subsequently displaced from Nauvoo and fled to the Rocky Mountains. In their extremities they sought and kept God's will and opened wide the channels of revelation in their lives. Being clean and doing His will has always been and will always be the foundation upon which continuos revelation is received. Through our agency alone do we allow God to become our constant guide and our security.
It has been common for angels to appear and minister to the needs of the saints of Israel in every dispensation -- when they humbly do the Lord's will. But consider that it wasn't long after modern saints arrived in the valley that they once again bowed down to the God of Mammon in an attempt to "securitize" their future. In the moment they began looking to themselves for security, their personal religion ceased to be a religion of spiritual power and progression that was marked by substantial communication from heaven. Revelations and ministrations from heaven cease the moment our hearts turn to Mammon. As we serve ourselves rather than Zion, we dissociate with heaven.
It wasn't long before angelic visitations and other such manifestations of the spirit went out of fashion within the valleys; although the humble followers of Christ who refused to bow before Mammon and who continued to put God's will above their own will, and who chose to "build-up" Zion rather than their own portfolios, consequently continued to receive revelation, angelic visitors, and direct communication with the Savior. However, they were often thought to be deluded by "well-meaning" members of the Church who had given themselves over to the God of Mammon. As trust shifted from God's promises and the "true" building of Zion to Mammon's call to security, revelations and a continual flow of heavenly ministrations slowed to a crawl by comparison to what it had been. This ebb and flow of revelation is viewed in every dispensation of Israel. It should only concern us sufficiently to awake us to our condition. If you do not receive ministering angels, then Moroni has proclaimed that your faith is weak and the Lord has proclaimed that this occurs when we become preoccupied with the cares of the world and the honors of man, rather than seeking, learning, and doing His specific will for us daily.
If a religion ceases to be a religion of power and progress and becomes a religion of convenience, then it has no power to enable one to render the veil to enter into Christ's presence and to become redeemed from a fallen state. As a litmus test to evaluate where we stand today within this ebb and flow, ask yourself "How many saints today walk and talk with angels?" "How many have taken up their abode with Christ?" "How many concern themselves with securitizing their future by prospering in Babylon, rather than by learning to walk according to the laws that govern Zion?" "Have you, your brother, or sister, your mother, your father, or your grandparents entered into Christ's presence while in the flesh?" These are hard questions, the same type of questions Christ asked of the authorized "High Priests" of His day, and the same type of questions Zenoch and Zenos asked the authorized "High Priests" in their day, and the same hard questions that were asked by Samuel the Lamanite, and by Abinadi to another group of "authorized" High Priests. One of the most powerful messages in the Book of Mormon is that "exceeding many entered into the rest of the Lord and were made partakers of the heavenly gift." Do we even know what this means? Do we realize that we are being instructed and taught what true Christians do and that if we are not doing this, but are saying it only, then we are not "true Christians."
Are we above asking ourselves if we have slipped into the common apostasy that is marked by placing trust in Mammon over trust in God? Are we unable to recognize this ebb and flow that has always plagued Israel? Can we even ask these questions honestly? Are you willing to consider the following litmus test? Are there both rich and poor among us, or have we truly chosen to consecrate all we have to the building of Zion -- wherein there are no rich and poor? Are we justified in our failure to truly consecrate all that we have and are to build Zion today? How long would it take us to establish Zion if we threw off Mammon's yoke as we've been commanded to do? How long did it take the Nephites after Christ's visit and invitation to them to build Zion? It took about three and one-half years. How long did Brigham Young say it would have taken to establish Zion had the saints not brought Babylon to the mountains within their hearts? He said that in just one year Zion would have been established within the valleys of the Rocky Mountains had one man not sought to be the King of Iron or to thus secure his and his family's future in perpetuity, and another to be the King of Coal, and so on and so on. If each would have done his part by consecrating his "all" for the whole of Zion, rather than to build up security for "Self and Family," a perfect society wherein there are no rich or poor would have been established. We brought Babylon with us and it remains in our hearts to this very day and like ancient Israel and as Book of Mormon prophets prophesied, we preach among ourselves vain and foolish things to justify our poor choice to not "do" as the Lord has commanded us to do. We are each serve one another according to our gifts and talents and to do so out of love and not for money.
Does the Lord speak directly to you? Do angels visit you? Can you ask for whatsoever you need and receive it, or are you utterly dependent upon following Babylon's laws for your personal security? If you do not enjoy two-way communications with God, if angels do not minister to you, and if you do not receive your temporal needs from God or God's servants, then perhaps you ought to consider more fully how such things become ordinary events to any saint within any dispensation. The same laws exist today that have enabled these things in every other dispensation. We are well warned in the Book of Mormon concerning the fate of the gentile nation that was lifted up upon this land, if we do not repent and become a Zion people. This requires us to forsake Babylon and her ways.
Is it coincidence that in the very last chapter of the Book of Mormon, Moroni warns that if the power and gifts of God shall be done away among us, it shall be because of unbelief. Unbelief in what? Unbelief in Him and that He will provide all things we need as we do His will. As we shift our trust toward Mammon for our security, we cease to believe in God's promises to us. This is the state of idolatry and unbelief that leads to the loss of all heavenly power and spiritual gifts. As we turn our hearts to Mammon and to securitizing our futures, we leave off the humble following of God's will and we never come to understand what it means to love others as we love ourselves. We cease trusting in God or loving him with all our heart, all our might, all our mind, all our strength, and all of our soul.
We render the veil (see supporting article - Redemption) and receive His power and influence, only as we act in faith, according to inspiration and revelations He gives to us -- only as we do His will by heeding His voice. The path to Zion is marked by a step-by-step process, a climbing of a ladder as it were, that requires that we receive continual revelation from God and that also requires that we act continually upon that revelation in faith.
Each obedient act of faith renders the veil in part to allow more of God's influence, light, knowledge, and truth to enter our physical world and to shape the outcomes of events in our lives. All such acts cease when we do "our" will instead of "His." The Brother of Jared attained sufficient knowledge and faith by living and acting according to God's will that through the step-by-step process mentioned above he could no longer be held from within the veil and he subsequently parted the veil and entered into the Lord's presence.
Each of us is required to follow this path if we wish to receive exaltation; there is no other way. It is a path marked by covenant, and by trust in the Lord's will, and by acting upon His will to us. Each new step and act of obedience is like starting over again; we must overcome doubts and fears and proceed forward, acting in faith, and thereby rendering the veil to receive even more light, knowledge, and truth. It never gets easier and always requires faith. Why? Because each step is progressively harder or more challenging than the last and we only grow in faith and knowledge sufficient to take the next step.
If we are not receiving revelations daily, if we do not receive ministrations from heavenly messengers, the only way we can renew revelations and ministrations is to forsake all sin, including the sin of disbelief that leads us to do our will instead of His will. We must come unto Him, call upon His name, keep His commandments and commit with "real intent" to obey His voice (His will for us) in all things. If what He asks of us causes doubt, then we must do as Nephi did when His father said they must leave Jerusalem. We must go before the Lord and secure adequate faith to act according to His will. Nephi was not above doubt; he simply took his doubts to the Lord and worked them out with Him.
If we ask for faith it is always given to us, no matter how hard the thing is He asks of us or how large the Goliath may appear to be. A commitment to "real intent" to do God's will always is an exercise of our agency that enables God to "light" our lives. As we act in faith we literally give God the permission, through agency, to light our path. By the same token, He will not interfere if we bow before the God of Mammon and will wait patiently for many generations until a group of His saints will finally choose to live by the New and Everlasting Covenant, and by the Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood, and by the Law of Consecration -- in order to become pure and holy and to build and fully establish Zion.
God has never withheld these blessings from us; they are available to us even now, through the covenants we have made. We alone withhold the blessings of Zion and they commence in our lives the moment we choose to live by Zion's laws. As we prove our trustworthiness to always follow Him, we then receive revelation upon revelation -- including heavenly messengers and other manifestations and ministrations that have attended saints of every dispensation. We need these things in order to walk the path required to establish Zion. We cannot establish Zion without heaven's help.
As we follow His will, the path is marked first by subtle impressions, then by more substantial revelations; and, as we continue to act faithfully according to His voice our communications with heaven become increasingly more substantial. We hear His voice from time to time, and as we act faithfully according to His voice we begin to enjoy two-way open dialogue with Him and then the ministering of angels from time to time who bring us further light and knowledge. A natural and eventual outcome of "always" acting in faith according to the Lord's voice or will is that we are guided in a path of increased light, truth, and knowledge until we lay hold upon sufficient faith and knowledge to enter Christ's presence. As we can no longer be held from within the veil because of the faith and knowledge we have received, He then takes up His abode with us and succors us personally and prepares us until we qualify to be introduced to the Father and to enter into God's presence and to receive membership into His eternal family.
Upon returning from a two-year mission, wherein I had given of my whole heart, might, mind, strength, and soul to the Lord, I was faced with the decision of what to do next in my life. I enjoyed serving the Lord so much that I wanted to continue to do so for the rest of my life. I reasoned, that if I could become adequately rich, I could retire and then serve God for the rest of my life. In this reasoning I fell into the trap that has snared many a soul. The reasoning is a lie, no matter who says differently because in not so many words I unwittingly believed that I could bow down to Mammon to secure my future, and once it was secured I could leave Mammon's employ to then serve God more fully. This has always been a popular notion among saints of every dispensation. However, it is a false notion because true security comes only from the abundance that follows to those who act according to God's will and who follow Zion's laws rather than the laws of Babylon.
Rather than seek to become wealthy, I should have gone into my mountains and remained there until I knew the Lord's will for that period of my life. Then, I could have gone forward knowing that all my needs would have been met as I worked and endeavored to do His will. It could have been sufficient for me to know His will even one day at a time because even doing His will today is accompanied by His promises today. It can be sufficient for anyone to live according to God's will a day at a time. God alone determines if it is appropriate to share more with you. Some saints who enter God's presence are given very specific missions to perform, but until that happens to you, be content to do God's will daily. Sufficient is the day...
As we bow down to the God of Babylon, we place God's will for us on hold, and we will receive no further revelation concerning His will until we repent and seek to know and heed His voice with "real intent." As we do our will instead of His, we will not hear His voice from time to time, nor will we enjoy two-way conversations with Him, and we will not receive ministering angels and other celestial beings to help us grow further in light, truth, knowledge, and faith. The moment we place ourselves fully in His hands and prove our intent, He begins to enable our complete redemption and we enjoy a free-flow of pure revelation, just as fast as we are able and willing to receive it.
The notion that I will earn sufficient money to retire and then devote my time to the Lord is flawed and will be so forever. He can make money of stones. And we may "get rich" and be able to go serve missions and such, but even that is a poor substitute for doing today exactly what is God's will is for us today. Serving a mission does not justify or sanctify a willful life. Even serving a full-time mission is a poor second choice compared to doing exactly what God's will is for us today. By placing our faith in the arm of flesh, or in our will rather than God's will, we trust that we know what is best for our eternal progression more than God. In this we do greatly err.
Agency is such a critical factor in our eternal progress that the Lord will allow us to waste countless years in our vain pursuits until we at last come to the realization that following His will today is the happiest, most inspiring pursuit of all. He alone knows us perfectly; He alone knows precisely the growth, light, faith, and knowledge we are capable of receiving today; and He alone can judge perfectly regarding what the next step should be in our lives to continue in our return to Him and the Father. Any step we take following our will instead of His is always a "false step" and ultimately requires that we backtrack and start over where we left-off following Him. This occurs through repentance.
In this Telestial state in which we live -- that the ancients referred to as Babylon -- it is easy to ask, "What will become of me if I leave its employ to follow God's will?" By following His will we are taught the true gospel and the laws of Zion. Zion and Babylon are in direct opposition to each other. Babylon teaches scarcity and fear. Zion teaches that all temporal needs are a gift from God to be received abundantly through learning to live His laws. We do not need to work for money when we are in God's service.
"But the laborer in Zion shall labor for Zion; for if they labor for money they shall perish." 2 Nephi 26:31
Did not Christ receive the money He needed to pay Caesar from the mouth of a fish? Christ's servants never concern themselves with having more money than is sufficient for their needs.
When we are doing God's will He promises that as we give our all to do his will, He will provide all else that is needed so that we may do His will successfully. We will have sufficient for our needs, and we will enjoy the basic comforts of life as we continue in His will. What greater security can we have than this. And, if by chance His will leads to great abundance and prosperity in our lives, that abundance is not ours, but is His and the test for us then is whether or not we will be familiar with all and free with our substance, that our brethren may be rich like unto us (see Jacob 2:17).
Too often, in the name of good stewardship, we can fall into the trap that is taught in scriptures when Christ asked of the Young Rich man to sell all that he had and to give the money to the poor. The trap is when our trust shifts to the "security" of the prosperity we enjoy, and away from trusting God's will implicitly. If we prosper and would continue to receive heavenly manifestations, then we must never lose sight that "true security" comes from always doing as the Lord asks of us, and not from any prosperity that may flow to us as we do His will.
The Lord taught through the manna and later through the freewill offering that we are not to store up more than we need today or for the present season, but that through obedience to sacred covenants and statutes we tap into divine security through His eternal promise to those who do His will -- to always meet their temporal needs. Just as God sent ravens to feed Elijah each day during an extended three-year drought, when we do the Lord's will rather than our own will, we qualify to receive our temporal needs.
The widow of Nain who used the last of her flour to feed Elijah as she prepared herself and her son to die, was unexpectedly blessed by the Lord that her pantry would never fail her. In following the Lord's will and making such a sacrifice, she received the sacred blessing that her barrel of flour and her container of oil would never empty and that she and her son would never go without in the midst of the sore famine that afflicted all the land.
Trusting in God's will and in the keeping of sacred covenants with Him leads to further light, knowledge, and faith -- including faith that enables us to ask for that which we truly need and to receive it freely of the Lord. Ancient Israel was instructed by Moses and made sacred covenants with the Lord. As they kept those covenants, Israel did not suffer from the plagues, as did Egypt. When they left Egypt, through covenants they kept, God fought their battles for them and also provided them with food to eat. When they entered the Promise land, he continued to bless them according to the covenants and statutes. As Israel abided by those statutes and covenants, their crops faired well and they were also protected from their enemies. When they failed to keep their covenants, Israel became the recipient of condemnation that is linked to disobedience to covenant. Their crops failed them and they ceased to prosper over their enemies but fell into bondage and were carried away and scattered throughout the earth.
Consider that the making of our nation was by a humble God-fearing people fleeing oppression. In their extremes and poverty, they learned to trust and to rely upon the Lord and to obey His commandments. They enjoyed heavenly visitors, protection in battles, and prosperity sufficient to build this nation. What has happened to our trust in God once we were lifted as a nation above all other nations on earth? What is the outcome of nations who forsake sacred covenants and deny God? What has been prophesied concerning us if we do not forsake foolish traditions and false precepts of man and come to live "true religion," which is to "do" and not "say" only these very principles. We must be a Zion people or we will perish.
Consider many of Israel's prophets who walked and talked with God -- face to face. Many were wanderers who depended upon God each day for their support. Similar to the pioneers, many had to face opposition and their very existence depended upon calling upon the Lord's strength and protection. It was not uncommon for saints of various dispensations to not only receive promptings of the Spirit but to also be instructed and helped directly by angels. They were sometimes shown things past, present, and future. Through trusting upon the Lord's Spirit they walked paths that enabled them to lay hold upon sufficient faith to part the veil and to take up their abode with Jesus whilst they still lived in the flesh. Such blessings were never intended to be reserved for one group of saints and not another; rather they are the common lot of all saints who abide by the statutes and covenants they receive from God. If such blessings have ceased, it is because we are not walking the path of redemption in the manner that has been required of every dispensation or of any of the Lord's covenant people.
Adam was a wanderer who sought to establish Zion in his day; Enos did the same in his day, Enoch, Methuselah, Noah, Melchizedek, Abraham, Moses, Alma the Elder, King Benjamin, Alma the Younger, Christ's Apostles, the Nephites, and Joseph Smith each attempted and succeeded to some extent to establish a Zion in their day; or in other words, they established a society that attempted to live by the laws that govern heaven, rather than heaven's opposite -- Babylon.
What is the call to Zion? And, what does it mean to seek to establish Zion? The establishment of Zion has always been an attempt to leave Babylon and her false socio-economic laws and to return to the heavenly state from whence we came, a state that operates on higher and much happier laws. The three pillars that have been given to us upon which Zion can be established in our day are: first, the New and Everlasting Covenant; second, the Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood; and third, the Law of Consecration.
We will establish Zion not one second sooner or later than we come to abide fully by these laws and covenants. As soon as we trust God to live according to these laws, the abundant blessings that attended Enoch and his people, or the Nephites following Christ's visit to Americas, or the city of Salem in the Old Testament, or various other Zion successes will also be enjoyed by us. By living according to higher law, we immediately release the attendant blessings that are associated with those laws, even if we are the only people on earth to live according to those laws.
Adam was so distressed after being cast from the Garden into this fallen state that he immediately began to offer sacrifice to the Lord and was subsequently taught how to return to Zion or heaven. He then went about teaching his posterity the path of redemption, or how to be redeemed from this Telestial, fallen state to the heavenly state from whence we came. Each succeeding prophet who sought to establish Zion was motivated by the same objective. As we witness the events that are upon this Earth, we too must become pure and sanctified and we too must seek to learn to live by every law that governs heaven. There is a silver lining to the prophecies of doom and destruction that will surely come upon the earth.
The wicked will be destroyed by the wicked and those who live and abide by God's covenants will be gathered and will be led to safety, similar to when Moses led the people of Israel. The qualification to be a part of that gathering is to forsake all sin, come unto the Lord, call upon His name, obey His commandments, and heed His voice in all things. As we do these things with "real intent" we not only "secure" our physical future, but we also come to know our Lord personally and to Know the Father, which is to be redeemed and to receive Eternal Life.
Trust then becomes pivotal in the path of redemption. We must first trust sufficiently to forsake sin and to attain a level of purity that enables us to hear God's voice and to act in accordance with God's will. This enables us to progress and move in a step-by-step fashion to gain required light, knowledge, and truth, and to acquire each and every divine attribute of Christ. Each step also enables us to lay hold upon sufficient faith to take the following step and to eventually obtain sufficient knowledge and faith to part the veil and to enter into the Lord's presence.
The only way we can fully live the higher law is to become perfect and holy and to love God with all our hearts and to care for one another deeply and enough to desire that their are no poor among us. We must become Christ's true disciples. Consider therefore the signs of true discipleship:
Each of the patriarchal wanderers on this earth trusted God sufficient to do His will in all things and thereby opened heaven's revelatory gates. Where you place your trust will determine the flow of revelation, truth, light, knowledge, and faith in your life. And it will determine the rate at which you become redeemed from this fallen state called Babylon. Trust is such an important word; take the time to consider fully wherein you have placed your trust and come to know that the flow of revelations and ministrations you need in order to be redeemed comes down to a matter of trust. Are you willing to give your gifts, talents, possessions, and very life to do whatsoever the Lord asks you? If so, then you have chosen to receive milk and honey without price, to work for Zion and not for money, and to have all things you ask for provided to you, whatsoever you need to do the Lord's will. This is the path of true discipleship and the path wherein your trust will enable you to enter into the presence of the Lord and to be made a partaker of the heavenly gift.
- We consecrate our gifts, talents, lives, and all we possess to do the Lord's will daily.
- We forsake class divisions among us and esteem all flesh as one.
- We refrain from saying, "This man has brought upon himself his misery; therefore I will stay my hand, and will not give unto him of my food, nor impart unto him of my substance that he may not suffer, for his punishments are just--”
- We become pure in heart and familiar with all and free with our substance that all may be made rich like unto us so that there are no more poor among us. (Jacob 2:17)
- We are as true believers who share all goods and substances. (Acts 2:44-47)
- We do not store up treasures unto ourselves to securitize ourselves. (Luke 12:16-21)
- We secure our lives by asking and receiving whatsoever we need to do God’s will.
- We do all things Christ did and even greater -- just as He prophesied.
- We go about doing good continually, receiving ministering angels and a free-flow of divine communications to aid us in our path.
Each of the patriarchal wanderers on this earth trusted God sufficient to do His will in all things and thereby opened heaven's revelatory gates. Where you place your trust will determine the flow of revelation, truth, light, knowledge, and faith in your life. And it will determine the rate at which you become redeemed from this fallen state called Babylon. Trust is such an important word; take the time to consider fully wherein you have placed your trust and come to know that the flow of revelations and ministrations you need in order to be redeemed comes down to a matter of trust. Are you willing to give your gifts, talents, possessions, and very life to do whatsoever the Lord asks you? If so, then you have chosen to receive milk and honey without price, to work for Zion and not for money, and to have all things you ask for provided to you, whatsoever you need to do the Lord's will. This is the path of true discipleship and the path wherein your trust will enable you to enter into the presence of the Lord and to be made a partaker of the heavenly gift.
