- Definition: Zion is a people who have become pure (celestial) by accepting and living the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
a. They hear and accept the gospel message.
b. They partake of the covenants.
c. They organize themselves under the priesthood.
d. They meet their own needs and relieve the suffering of others by living the celestial law.
e. They implement the full law of consecration.
f. They have become pure in heart, of one mind and heart.
g. Having become like the Savior; they are privileged to see and to know him.
Thesis: No amount of correct theology can make a Zion. It is true religion (implementation of correct theology) that makes Zion a reality.
Thesis: The amount of correct theology needed to establish Zion is relatively small. A fullness of correct theology is possible and desirable only after Zion is an established order.
Hypothesis: The following is the core of correct theology necessary to establish Zion:
A. Our Gods are the Father, the Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost.
1. They are one: the Son and Holy Ghost do only the Father’s will.
2. They are righteous: their work is only to bless others. (They are love: unselfishness.)
3. They know all: nothing in the universe surprises them.
4. They control all: their hand is in everything.
5. They do not change: their character, principles, and labor are the same, always.
B. The Son, Jesus Christ, is sent by the Father to save us from unrighteousness.
1. He teaches us how to act righteously (how to bless others.)
2. He pays the debt for all unrighteous acts, thus being able to forgive us when we forsake sinning (the suffering and the atonement.)
3. He makes it possible to continue to act righteously into eternity. (The resurrection, made possible by the sacrifice of the atonement.)He is the great example of righteous living set for all mankind: complete faith in his God, personal purity, witness of the truth, full discharge of priesthood calling, relief for suffering persons.
C. We mortals are all the children of the Gods.
1. We lived as immortal spirits before coming to this earth.
2. We are fallen creatures, spiritually dead, sinners, and need a Savior.
3. Even being fallen, we have received a partial divine inheritance: knowledge, agency, body.
4. Every soul in mortality or in the spirit world has the gospel message carried fully into his or her heart by the divine power of the Holy Ghost.
5. The Gospel of Jesus Christ gives us the knowledge to activate our agency and invites us to change to be as the Gods, one with them, to inherit all they are.
6. If a person accepts and lives the Gospel of Jesus Christ, all else they need to know to receive a fullness if revealed to them through the Holy Ghost and through the priesthood structure of the Church of Jesus Christ.
7. We humans will all stand before our Gods to be judged and rewarded for what we did when we heard the gospel.
8. The judgment we receive shall be final: our status will not change (as far as the kingdom we are placed in) for the remainder of eternity.
9. Whatever we receive, from a fullness of the glory of the Gods to less than we now have, depends solely upon our personal desires and actions.
D. Contained in the gospel message is the formula for action which enables us to repent and to grow to become as the Savior is:
1. We must exercise full faith in Jesus Christ, relying alone upon his merits to solve every and all problems we have by:
a. Hearing his word: personal revelation of his will.
b. Believing his word: personal, wholehearted acceptance of him and his will.
c. Doing his will completely.
2. We must repent of all sinning: turning from whatever we have been to do nothing but the Savior’s will.
3. We must make the covenant of baptism: be buried in a watery grave, promising to:
a. take upon us the name of the Savior, to be known as his servant before all men,
b. always remember him and the covenant we have made,
c. keep fully every commandment which he gives us.
4. We must receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, being quickened to a new spiritual life in hearkening to the voice of God in all things as he speaks to us in our conscience and through our priesthood leaders.
5. We must endure to the end of becoming fully as the Savior is, joyfully striving to perfect ourselves, each moment, each day, in him.
E. The gospel formula is not only for once-a-lifetime action, but it is the key to spiritually successful action in each problem of each day.
- Fame and fortune in this world do not measure spiritual success. Spiritual success is measured by:
a. our exercise of complete trust in Jesus Christ,
b. personal purity of mind, body and spirit,
c. the witness we bear of the truth as directed by the Holy Spirit,
d. the full, faithful discharge of our priesthood callings,
e. the relief for suffering that we bring to our fellow creatures.
2. Applying the gospel formula in every decision in life is the essence of faith. Faith in Christ involves repentance, obedience, sacrifice, consecration, chastity, and every other gospel principle. Entering into a formal stewardship arrangement to implement the full law of consecration is but a slight difference in format for the person who is already a wise steward and a faithful laborer.
F. The greatest priesthood stewardship in this world is to be a faithful father or mother in the New and Everlasting Covenant.
- The family is the basic social unit for establishing Zion.
Faithful parents will:
a.Teach their children the gospel and all of the knowledge skills and values necessary to live it.
b. See that the children gain adequate cultural and vocational education.
c. Provide the basic unit for economic production, consumption and security.
d. Provide the missionary force for the church.
e. Provide the record-keeping and genealogical force for the church, though the Church itself will provide the record keeping structure for all ordinances.
f. be the base for helping the poor, oppressed, the widowed and the fatherless.
2. The ultimate seal of eternal family relationships is placed upon each family link by the exercise of the pure love of Christ in that relationship.
G. The Church of Jesus Christ with its priesthood framework:
- Is the sole source of the ordinances that make personal righteousness and eternal families possible.
- Gives guidance and strength to the whole world in every field of righteous endeavor and for every problem inasmuch as individuals are willing to receive it.
- Is the Savior’s instrument for blessing every people upon the earth as he brings in his millennial reign of peace and truth.
H. The pattern for daily life for one who applies the gospel formula should include the following:
- Feasting upon the words of Christ: pondering the words of the living and dead prophets, searching the Holy Spirit;
- Praying mightily: praying with all energy of heart for others, and also praying for purity, for charity, for intelligence, for the commission of objectives for the day, and most especially, giving thanks.
- Enduring to the end of each assignment, striving to be perfect as the Savior is, in all things relying alone upon the merits of Christ.
Thesis: There is a core theology such as the above which is necessary to the establishment of Zion.
Thesis: Undue concern for ideas other than the core can destroy finding the core, being unified in it, and living it.
Thesis: Individuals are entitled to and encouraged to go beyond the core for their own personal development, but until a person accepts and lives the core, concern for the mysteries is a detrimental diversion.
Thesis: The test as to whether any individual or society has mastered the core is: has the Savior manifested himself unto them in person?