Fruits of the Lords Commision: Fellowships & Zion

As the Lord prepares the earth for his return in the final stages and winding up scene He has asked us to organize into fellowships to gain practical experience. We can all envision ourselves to be Zion but it is only through experience where we learn to set aside the very things that caused Zion to fail in the early days.

I say unto you, there were jarrings, and contentions, and envyings, and strifes, and lustful and covetous desires among them; therefore by these things they polluted their inheritances. (D&C 101:6)

They were "moved out of their place" as they had no inheritance. Their failures brought cursings, wrath, indignations, and judgments (D&C 124:45-48). This day is the last time that the Lord shall nourish his vineyard (Jacob 5:71) In this day He has invited us to form fellowships to gain practical knowledge to fulfill the admonition to have "no poor among" us (Moses 7:18). The prophecies are being fulfilled before our eyes and who has eyes to see? Who believes the signs that are being manifest?

Fruits of Fellowships

I've heard people saying that the people who are involved in the restoration movement are no better than the LDS they're coming out from.

Their absolutely right. There are many LDS who are more virtuous than many involved in the restoration movement. I personally know a number of LDS people who would give you the shirt of their back, who would serve others until they're exhausted, and who live most every rule with exactness. They are models of virtue.

And yet...and yet, somehow the fellowship that I contribute to has managed to provide long-term help (1 year so far, and only strengthening) to several widows (divorced single moms are the modern equivalent of widows in the bible), which the church is unable to do under the welfare system. So a bunch of admittedly imperfect people have somehow accomplished something that seems impossible.

I personally know many people in the LDS church who would do this better than we do in the fellowship I belong. It's just that they won't, because they don't believe it's possible! It doesn't fit their pattern, or their paradigm, so they don't even try! If they tried, they'd be great at it! 

It turns out that it's not nearly as hard as you'd think. Because when you start giving to people that you actually know, who really need it, you find that your heart changes, and you want to give. It's not hard once that change happens. Realizing God gives both to the just and the unjust so why shouldn't you?

So I don’t think Zion requires models of virtue. It requires righteousness. It just requires people who are willing to put aside beliefs that are blocking them (i.e. unbeliefs) so they can begin to repent.

Moses commanded you to circumcise your sons. But it wasn't really Moses who gave you this command. It was your ancestors..." (John7:22)

So it is true once again today. We take the tradions of our fathers as truths that were not given by God or given to us by Joseph whom God vouched for. We have turned unto fables.(2 Timothy 4:4)

It's not about who's more perfect at living the rules and laws and commandments. The restoration movement people lose that contest. But it's not relevant. The Lord doesn't need us to be 100% home teachers, or to stop completely yelling at our kids, or whatever else, before he can use us to build Zion. God only requires a broken heart and a contrite spirit that we may yield up our spirits, our will, to Him. We're focused on the wrong thing if we're caught up in that race to perfection. 

It’s an endless pursuit that everyone who tries it realizes is impossible. And we use our inability to live up to all the rules as the justification for why we’re not receiving the ministry of angels, or witnessing miracles, or receiving Christ. 

It’s a perfect trap.

If you have seen the Les Miserables movie there is a single mother who is forced by a corrupt government into prostitution to support their family. Are we today any different when we turn them away?

Our group donates thousands, monthly, to support two single mothers with children. Watching the sacrifices of these people donate what little they have, forgoing their own needs for the needs of others begins to restore that faith that there can be no poor among us and create situations where we can learn through practical experience to remove envy, jealousies, and selfishness. Only by managing our own money, by using tithing for the poor, can we learn what is required to build Zion.

Tithing has not been used for the poor for a long time its time to return to the scriptures.

[Melchezidek] whom God had appointed to receive tithes for the poor (JST Gen 14:38)

In the last days we are told the prophecy of Joel would be fulfilled "your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:" The Lord told Joseph it had not yet been fulfilled but soon will be. These gifts are once again being manifested in abundance. The gifts of the Spirit are being are being experienced as the Lord continues to gather an army of witnesses that KNOW Him in the flesh.

Practical experience is absolutely necessary. Theories and pretensions are not going to get us anywhere. The gospel requires hard won virtuous experience and not just theoretical or imaginary virtues. Everyone can theorize the virtues that are necessary to gather people together and live together in harmony.  

Everyone can envision themselves as one of the residents of the City of Peace. But the practical experience required to iron out our selfishness and competitiveness so that we can actually live in peace is another order of magnitude harder.  (Interview with Denver Snuffer by Tim Malone, here) 

"This gathering will require a kind of social order we are unprepared to live. We cannot be “one” in the sense required for Zion in our present social, political, economic and educational systems. It requires a kind of inter-dependence and cooperation we find repulsive." (http://denversnuffer.com/2012/02/zion)