The ultimate definition of happiness is to be like God; the more we approach the stature of God in attributes, knowledge, power, and dominion, the happier we are. Conversely, the definition of misery is to be like Satan. Misery is always associated with Babylon.

To become like God and experience his level of happiness rests on two criteria: (1) Justice–the system of celestial laws that make God who he is and provide him what he has; that is, God’s power and quality of life derive from his obedience to celestial laws. (2) Mercy-the Lord’s love, grace, forbearance, clemency, and pity on us lesser beings, as he patiently works with us to help us to become like him. To a great extent our happiness depends upon God’s merciful interaction with us and our extending mercy to others.

The Covenant of the Gods

In a premortal council of the Gods (which preceded the Council in Heaven that we attended), the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost entered into a covenant to work together for the happiness, salvation, and exaltation of the Father’s children. Joseph Smith taught that an “everlasting covenant was made between three personages before the organization of this earth, and relates to their dispensation of things to men on the earth; these personages, according to Abraham’s record, are called God the first, the Creator; God the second, the Redeemer; and God the third, the witness or Testator.” Our interaction with these three Gods began before the world was created, continues here, and will endure into eternity. Every aspect of our interaction with them has to do with our present redemption and our eternal happiness.

Too often we miss the fact that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost define their dealings with us in terms of relationship. Each one of us is dearer to them than we can comprehend. Motivated solely by their relationship with us, they initiated the plan of happiness.

In the premortal world, when the Father announced the plan of happiness, we shouted for joy, perhaps because the plan’s far-reaching benefits were so extraordinary. In that supreme act of love, Heavenly Father offered us the opportunity to become what he is. He held nothing back. His package included indivisible access to and inheritance of the totality of his kingdom, the fulness of his power, the keys to the library of everything he knows, and the ability to become like him in perfections, characteristic, and attributes.

His offer included the quintessential gift of a physical body, and a tabernacle of flesh and bones for our immortal spirits to eternally “act upon.” He also offered us the invaluable gift of divine education: the opportunity to experience good and evil and the unrestricted gift of agency to choose between them. Finally, he offered us the opportunity to enjoy his lifestyle–eternal marriage and family–with the promise of eternal posterity.

Happiness Encompasses All That Is Good

Clearly, the plan of happiness offered us all that was good, which is called righteousness. Righteousness, according to Chauncey Riddle, is “that necessary order of social relationships in which beings of knowledge and power must bind themselves in order to live together in accomplishment and happiness for eternity.”

Happiness is wholly dependent upon righteousness, and it is in righteousness that Zion people weld themselves together by solemn covenants so that they become “predictable, dependable, and united so that they can be trusted. They bind themselves to be honest, true, chaste, and benevolent so that they can do good for all other beings, which good they do by personal sacrifice to fulfill all righteousness.” Thus, being and doing good and being and doing righteousness are synonymous terms; goodness and righteousness are unifying, perfecting, selfless principles that produce happiness.

On the other hand, evil, the opposite of goodness and righteousness, is without discipline, a law unto itself, a corrupting and self-serving principle that produces misery. Evil defines Babylon.

Heavenly Father structured the plan of happiness so as to mercifully wrest us from Babylon, from our complacency, from our evil tendencies, and from the effects of the Fall. Heavenly Father built into the plan of happiness his promise that he would endow us with the Light of Christ, which is an agent employed by the Holy Ghost to “feel after” us and draw us out of Babylon and into Zion. By means of that light, the Holy Ghost would continually offer us opportunities to view ourselves in our “awful state,” for the purpose of shaking us loose from Babylon.

Moreover, the Father promised that he would offer each of us an unmistakable witness of the truth by the power of the Holy Ghost, so that we might reconsider our destructive path, repent of evil, and embrace “the godly order of good.” Clearly, the Father makes every effort to offer us happiness.

Balancing Justice and Mercy

To make the plan of happiness operational, the Father first instigated the covenant of justice, that system of laws that he obeyed in order to become who he is and enjoy what he has. That is, by obedience to celestial he was justified to enjoy the blessings associated with those laws. By living those laws, we, God’s children, can progress and become like him in every way. That is the process that leads to true happiness.

Knowing that his children would break the celestial laws while they struggled to assimilate them in their lives, and knowing that those broken laws would consign his children “forever to be cut off from his presence,” the Father decreed a second law, which would have the power to override the consequences of broken celestial laws and to thereby save his children. That new law is called the covenant of mercy. We know this law by another name: the new and everlasting covenant.

The covenant of mercy called for the Father to provide an atoning Savior to balance the demands of justice against the purposes of mercy: “And now, the plan of mercy could not be brought about except an atonement should be made; therefore God himself [Jesus Christ] atoneth for the sins of the world, to bring about the plan of mercy, to appease the demands of justice, that God might be a perfect, just God, and a merciful God also.” Mercy would also allow the children of God to receive physical bodies like their Father’s, with the assurance that these eternal gifts would not be cancelled out by death. The Savior’s merciful universal resurrection would make that possible.

Accessing the benefits of mercy through the Atonement was decreed to be a matter of individual choice. To facilitate that choice, the Father instigated a covenant that we could choose to embrace if we desired to access the Atonement, draw upon its mercy, receive shelter from the demands of justice, and be placed beyond the reach of our enemies. This covenant is called the new and everlasting covenant, and we enter it by our individual agency.

Placed Beyond Our Enemies

The Atonement makes goodness, righteousness, happiness, and salvation possible. According to Joseph Smith, salvation is the power to be placed beyond the reach of one’s enemies. The specific enemy he spoke of was death, but, as Brother Riddle says, “The great enemy of each human being is himself, for in our weakness and selfishness we are and do evil.” We, alone, can neither save ourselves nor fully overcome our weakness or selfishness.

Overcoming our natural selves and our enemies is made possible “only if we fully cooperate with Jesus Christ.” He has the ability to cleanse us completely of the stains of our evildoing and to transform us into righteous individuals who have no more desires to do evil. This process leads to progressively higher levels of happiness. By entering into the new and everlasting covenant for the purpose of accepting the Atonement of Jesus Christ, a repentant person can be “rescued from being and doing evil” through the “merits and mercy of the Son of God.”

How Mercy Appeases Justice

That mercy is a covenant is an essential truth. Every covenant or law of God is obeyed or disobeyed by individual choice. Specific blessings and consequences are associated with that choice, and either misery or happiness results. If we desire mercy, we must live the covenant associated with mercy. As we have learned, that covenant is the new and everlasting covenant, which we are required to receive in order to accept Jesus Christ and his Atonement. It is a truth that this Covenant springs from the Atonement and is the instrument by which we are justified to receive the Lord’s mercy and by which the plan of happiness is realized.

Clearly, the new and everlasting covenant activates the plan of redemption. By means of this Covenant, the Father’s children can receive celestial laws and experiment with them without being destroyed by them. By means of the Covenant, the children of God can lay hold on the blessings of the Atonement by choosing to repent, progress, obtain salvation, become like God, and inherit all that he has. This is the ultimate condition of Zion people.

The new and everlasting covenant also sets us on the defined path that leads to eternal life, gives us the authority of God, places in our hands the keys (not priesthood administrative keys) to God’s knowledge and power, and sets us up in our individual eternal kingdoms. Only the Atonement itself exceeds in glory the magnificence of the new and everlasting covenant. The two are inseparable, and both answer the end-purpose of the Father’s plan of mercy: our happiness.

Experiencing Contrasts Leads to Happiness

To lay hold on the plan of happiness, we must be presented with two contrasting revelations: (1) God and his goodness, and (2) our fallen situation. Because is crucial, the Lord uses contrast to motivate us to choose between these opposites.

As we have noted, there are good and bad consequences attached to God’s laws. Breaking his commandments always results in being “cut off both temporally and spiritually from the presence of the Lord.” This is misery, which Alma described as “the gall of bitterness,” and being “encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.” On the other hand, happiness always results from being brought, through our obedience, into “the marvelous light of God.”

For instance, after Alma had been “racked with eternal torment” for his sins and “harrowed to the greatest degree,” he appealed to the Savior and suddenly swung from misery to happiness. He moved from “inexpressible horror” to “exquisite and sweet” joy, from the “pains of a damned soul” to experiencing redemption and seeing “God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels,” with his soul longing to be there. He exulted, “Oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold.” Then describing the contrast, “My soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain.”

Clearly, seeing the contrast between good and evil motivates us toward happiness. After the Lord appeared to Moses, he left him to himself and he was tempted by Satan. That contrast allowed Moses to experience the distinct difference between having the Lord and not having the Lord with him: “Now, for this cause I know that man is nothing, which thing I never had supposed.” Moses also perceived the contrasting differences in glory between the Lord and Satan: “Moses looked upon Satan and said: . . . where is thy glory that I should worship thee?” Now that Moses had experienced these contrasting visions, he was empowered to choose between misery and happiness. He said, “Depart from me, Satan, for this one God only will I worship, which is the God of glory.”

Similarly, but in reverse order, King Benjamin’s people literally collapsed when they “viewed themselves in their own carnal state, even less than the dust of the earth.” Then, after they cried out to the Lord for mercy, “the Spirit of the Lord came upon them, and they were filled with joy, having received a remission of their sins, and having peace of conscience.” Happiness came only after they experienced the contrast.

Similarly, and in a unique way, the Lord will offer us happiness by helping us understand who he is and showing us who and where we are. Then we, like King Benjamin’s people, might be so astonished that we cry out for mercy and deliverance. Hopefully, when we are offered deliverance, we will choose to embrace it with all our hearts. The account of King Benjamin and his people teach us the truth that mercy, deliverance, and eternal happiness are available to us only through the Atonement. We note that King Benjamin’s people were willing “to enter into a covenant with [their] God to do his will, and to be obedient to his commandments in all things that he [would] command [them], all the remainder of [their] days.”

Covenant-making leads to deliverance, which leads to happiness. After we have made a covenant and experienced deliverance and happiness, we will never want to return to our miserable past. Our desire now centers on the Lord sending the Holy Ghost to transform us into new creatures with new hearts. Because that process is beyond our ability, we look to Christ. To achieve a change of heart, we must first accept Jesus Christ and his Atonement, enter into a covenant of salvation with him, and cooperate with him to the fullest extent. Moreover, we must fully submit to his incomparable power and trust him as he remakes us into new creatures by planting the seeds of salvation and happiness into our souls. “Thus human beings may become good and may become gods.”

Summary

To summarize, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost entered into a premortal covenant to save and exalt the Father’s children. A primary purpose of that covenant was that the children achieve ultimate happiness. Therefore, the Gods initiated the plan of happiness, which called for the Father to reveal the system of celestial laws that made him who he is and gave him what he has. The Gods knew that in the process of our learning those laws, we, God’s children, would inevitably break the laws and become liable to pay severe penalties. Therefore, to mitigate the adverse effects of broken laws, the Gods initiated the Plan of Redemption, or the Plan of Mercy.

That plan called for the Father to provide a Savior to rescue us from death and to atone for the consequences of broken celestial laws. The blessings of mercy through this plan could be accessed only by law and by choice; therefore, the Father established the new and everlasting covenant. Now his children could agree to obey this new law that would provide mercy, and God in turn would agree to set aside “the demands of justice.” Thus, justice could be satisfied, mercy could rescue and claim her own, and the children of God could progress in the Covenant until they achieved salvation, exaltation, and ultimate happiness, as the Gods had planned in the beginning.

Thus, Zion people experience unequalled happiness because they choose to embrace the Atonement by entering into and fully living the new and everlasting covenant.

Author’s Note

This article was adapted from my new book, The Three Pillars of Zion. Click here to receive a free sample.

2 Nephi 2:25.

See Alma 42:15.

Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 349.

Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 190.

Alma 42:1-26.

Job 38:7.

2 Nephi 2:13-14.

D&C 132:24, 55.

Riddle, “The New and Everlasting Covenant,” 225.

Riddle, “The New and Everlasting Covenant,” 225.

D&C 88:21-35.

D&C 112:13.

Ether 4:15.

Riddle, “The New and Everlasting Covenant,” 225.

Alma 42:13-15.

Alma 42:14.

See Alma 42:13-15.

Alma 42:15.

See Alma 11:44.

Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 305.

Acts 4:12.

Riddle, “The New and Everlasting Covenant,” 225-26.

Alma 19:33.

Riddle, “The New and Everlasting Covenant,” 225.

Alma 42:7.

Alma 36:18.

Mosiah 27:29.

Alma 36:12.

Alma 36:14, 21.

Alma 36:16, 19-22.

Alma 36:20.

Moses 1:10, 13.

Moses 1:20.

Mosiah 4:12-13.

Mosiah 5:5.

2 Nephi 25:28.

2 Corinthians 5:17.

Riddle, “The New and Everlasting Covenant,” 226.

Alma 42:15.

We have learned before that every effort parents make to sanctify themselves has a redeeming effect on the person for whom they are praying. Here is an example:

An Example of Obedience

A man from Pennsylvania remembered his seminary teacher’s extraordinary example of obedience. “I grew up in a little branch in Pennsylvania. I was the only LDS student in my high school. A woman in the branch, who I will call ‘Sister Williams,’ had joined the Church by herself several years earlier. Neither her husband nor her five children joined. Her husband was supportive, but otherwise uninterested. I knew the children, especially the boys, who were the definition of hooligans.

“Sister Williams had volunteered to teach seminary and I was one her five students. We came to the branch building twice a month on Sundays from a radius of sixty miles. I remember very clearly that Sister Williams would say that she held Family Home Evening in her home each week. Knowing her kids, I wondered how she managed that feat. They despised the Church. I soon learned that she held Family Home Evening with only herself. She told us that even though her family would not join with her in Family Home Evening, she was going to hold it faithfully because the prophet had promised that great blessings would follow: ‘If the [families] obey this counsel, we promise that great blessings will result. Love at home and obedience to parents will increase. Faith will be developed in the hearts of the youth of Israel, and they will gain power to combat the evil influences and temptations which beset them.’ It is a principle with a promise, she would tell us, and she was going to be obedient to it. I remember thinking that this was going to be pretty tough for the Lord given the condition of Sister Williams’ family. Although I believed that the Lord could do anything, I was not optimistic in this case.

“I was closest in age to two of her boys, one who was a couple of grades ahead of me and another boy who was a grade behind me. They both were hanging out with bad company and doing terrible things. The younger boy, who I will call ‘Jim,’ was the worst. Jim was the leader of a gang that terrorized the town and school. I always saw him smoking before, during and after school, drinking and doing drugs. He openly flaunted his lifestyle, and he was the central figure in most of the school brawls. Jim knew that I was a Mormon, but he never tried to hide his behavior from me. We never fought, thank goodness, but I remember feeling anger towards him because of how he was disgracing and openly disrespecting his mother by his actions. I truly felt embarrassed for Sister Williams, and at the same time, I was amazed that she could persevere in so faithfully holding Family Home Evening year after year when her children seemed to be growing steadily worse.

“After I graduated from high school, I received a mission call to the Utah Salt Lake City mission. When I had been out a year, I was laboring in Utah County. One Tuesday morning I received permission to take my district to a devotional where President Spencer W. Kimball was going to speak. As I was hustling to get a good seat in BYU’s Marriott Center, I heard someone call out my name. I turned around and saw nice-looking, clean-cut young man, whom I did not recognize. We exchanged pleasantries for a few minutes, but I still could not place him. Then he smiled and said, ‘I am Jim Williams.’ My jaw dropped to the floor. The last time I saw Jim, his hair was hanging down to the middle of his back and it stuck out from his head about as far. I had always seen him wearing ratty clothes, he smelled like a smoke bomb most of the time, and his eyes always looked glazed. Finally, as I looked hard, I thought I could recognize his face.

“He must have noticed my shock. He embraced me heartily and laughed again. That gave me the courage to ask him what had happened to him. He said he hadn’t graduated from high school, which didn’t surprise me. Instead, he had decided to hitchhike to California. On the way, he stopped in Utah and stayed for a few days, then a week, and then a month. He was so impressed with the people that he had hooked up with that he had decided to meet with the missionaries. Soon, he got a job, cut his hair, cleaned up his life…cold turkey! Later, he was baptized, and now he had set his sights on serving a mission. Now I was completely floored. But he certainly looked like a missionary that day: white shirt and tie. It was great!

“We exchanged phone numbers, and a couple of weeks later we did missionary splits together. We shared some very spiritual moments. Jim went on to straighten out his schooling and his life, and about a year later he was able to serve a mission. When he returned, he married a wonderful woman in the temple, and today they have four children. Eventually, his two brothers and two sisters joined the Church and married in the temple. Sister Williams’ husband was also baptized and served faithfully in the Branch for many years. He took Sister Williams and his children to the temple, where they were sealed together for eternity. When Brother Williams retired, he and his wife served two missions.

“Prior to my meeting Jim that day in the Marriott Center, I really had thought that he had been one of Satan’s hosts who had somehow slipped through the cracks. But I have since repented. What has always struck me is the amazing miracle that happened in the Williams family because of the faith and obedience of a mother who believed in the Lord enough to persist against all odds. When I miss Family Home Evening in my own home, I am reminded of Sister Williams’ example, and I regroup and set out to be more obedient.”

Obedience-The First Law of Heaven

God places enormous weight on this “first law of heaven.” In the beginning, God created a master law to which all other specific laws are dependent: “There is a [master] law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all [specific] blessings are predicated–And when we obtain any [specific] blessing from God, it is by obedience to that [specific] law upon which it [the specific blessing] is predicated.” Also, “For all who will have a blessing at my hands shall abide the [specific] law which was appointed for that [specific] blessing, and the conditions thereof, as were instituted from before the foundation of the world.”

Because God is a God of truth and cannot lie the promised blessings for obedience to any specific law are certain under the terms of the master law. “What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.” The Lord binds himself to deliver the promised blessings associated with every obeyed law: “I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.”

Obedience is always accomplished by sacrifice. “Verily I say unto you, all among them who know their hearts are honest, and are broken, and their spirits contrite, and are willing to observe their covenants by sacrifice–yea, every sacrifice which I, the Lord, shall command–they are accepted of me.” The disposition to be obedient by sacrificing has the power to sanctify a person.

Clearly, parents who strive to sanctify themselves through obedience will gain greater power to rescue their wayward children.

Specific blessings for obedience

What blessings would parents of wayward children wish to claim by their obedience to God’s laws? Adam’s example is prime. After Adam had obediently sacrificed for many days, an angel of the Lord appeared to him and proclaimed the atonement of Jesus Christ. The angel’s message was one of redemption and sanctification. Now that Adam had experienced personal redemption, he was empowered to help to redeem others by bringing them to Christ. “And Adam and Eve blessed the name of God, and they made all things known unto their sons and their daughters.” Notice that Adam had observed the law of obedience by long years of sacrificing, and now he was rewarded with the blessings associated with the law of obedience, which blessings were his personal redemption and his increased capacity to help to redeem his children.

Our effort to obey is always worth the price. Adam discovered that obedience results in greater knowledge and understanding of God and his purposes, and we are told that those who are willing to live the law of obedience will “have glory added upon their heads forever and ever.” Obedience results in “liberty and eternal life,” the very blessings we seek for our children. The discipline of obedience requires “the heart and a willing mind,” with this supernal blessing: “the willing and obedient shall eat the good of the land of Zion in these last days.”

Clearly, increasing our level of obedience increases our level of sanctification, which empowers us to petition blessings for us and our children.

George D. Watt, ed., Journal of Discourses, 16:247-48

D&C 130:20-21, commentary added

D&C 132:5, commentary added

Ether 3:12

D&C 1:38

D&C 82:10

D&C 97:8, emphasis added

See Moses 5:5-8

Moses 5:12

Abraham 3:26

2 Nephi 2:27

D&C 64:34

Joseph Smith said,

‘If a man love me, he will keep my word: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.’ Now what is this other Comforter? It is no more nor less than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself; and this is the sum and substance of the whole matter; that when any man obtains this last Comforter, he will have the personage of Jesus Christ to attend him, or appear unto him from time to time, and even He will manifest the Father unto him, and they will take up their abode with him, and the visions of the heavens will be opened unto him, and the Lord will teach him face to face, and he may have a perfect knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God; and this is the state and place the ancient Saints arrived at when they had such glorious visions–Isaiah, Ezekiel, John upon the Isle of Patmos, St. Paul in the three heavens, and all the Saints who held communion with the general assembly and Church of the Firstborn.”

The Ideal of Zion

This, then, is the ideal to which we should aspire. We may not achieve the ultimate expression of perfection of Zion in this life, but we must “relentlessly chase perfection,” as Vince Lombardi is quoted as saying, “knowing full well we will not catch it, but…in the process we will catch excellence.” To achieve Zionlike attributes in our lives requires no new revelation. The Prophet Joseph Smith, whose mission it was to restore the fullness of the gospel, received every revelation, covenant and power regarding the establishment of Zion. Therefore, we have everything that we need to become individually pure in heart and Zionlike. While the Church-wide implementation of the specific “law” of Zion might still be futuristic, our individual living of the law is not. We have made covenants; we simply need to abide in them.

And do it we must. Everything of eternal consequence hinges on our obedience and diligence to the New and Everlasting Covenant.

Eternal Marriage-the Crowning Order of Zion

Prefacing the eternal law of marriage, which is the crowning order of the New and Everlasting Covenant and the gate to Zion (The Church of the Firstborn and the highest degree of the Celestial Kingdom), the Lord revealed the following essential information regarding the Covenant:

Prepare thy heart to receive and obey the instructions which I am about to give unto you; for all those who have this law revealed unto them must obey the same. For behold, I reveal unto you a new and an everlasting covenant; and if ye abide not that covenant, then are ye damned; for no one can reject this covenant and be permitted to enter into my glory. For all who will have a blessing at my hands shall abide the law which was appointed for that blessing, and the conditions thereof, as were instituted from before the foundation of the world. And as pertaining to the new and everlasting covenant, it was instituted for the fulness of my glory; and he that receiveth a fulness thereof must and shall abide the law, or he shall be damned, saith the Lord God.

Apathy Toward the Covenant

In vision, Nephi saw the latter-day members of the Church, who had made the New and Everlasting Covenant. To his dismay, he saw widespread apathy; we had neglected the Covenant in favor of carnal security. We had been lulled away from the Covenant by Satan, and we were ignorantly under the impression that “All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well.” While it is true that all is well with the Church, it is not necessarily “well” with many of its members. Nephi saw that our carnal appetites had allowed the devil to “cheat our souls” with the purpose of “leading us away carefully down to hell.” According to Brigham Young, carnal security, materialism, and wealth seeking are the devil’s clever “decoys” that drive a wedge between Zion and us.

The metaphor is chilling. A decoy is something that looks like the real thing but is meant to trap its victim. A decoy is cleverly disguised, but it is deadly if you get too close to it. President Young said, “It is a fearful deception which all the world labors under, and many of this people too, who profess to be not of the world, that gold is wealth.” The only solution is the one that Nephi offered when confronted by the people in the great and spacious building: “We heeded them not.” That is, “we did not allow ourselves to become distracted. We were determined to abide in the Covenant, regardless of what Babylon said or offered us.” Only abiding in the Covenant provides real security.

Safety in the Covenant

Of course, this is a tall order. You might ask, “What will become of me, if I attempt to step away from Babylon and fully embrace the principles of Zion?” The answer is always the same: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” The solution is imbedded in the Covenant; it is God’s promise. He will support you, sustain you, stand beside you, and keep you safe: “Surely Zion shall dwell in safety forever.” Safe in the Covenant, you no longer have to worry like you did in Babylon: “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.”

This is not to say that we cease laboring. Labor is essential to Zion. But labor, like other principles, exists in varying degrees that range from telestial to celestial. What we labor for defines our labor as of Babylon or of Zion. To make the mental leap takes faith–lots of faith. Only the Atonement of Jesus Christ can make the transition to Zion possible. The Atonement has the power to purify our hearts, make of us celestial people, secure for us a celestial resurrection, make us heirs of God’s kingdom, and bind to us our spouse and family forever.

The Establishment of Zion is the Goal of the Gospel

“The prophets always labor to prepare people to become a people of Zion. Sometimes people embrace Zion; most often they do not.” If the prophets cannot persuade the Church as a whole to become Zion, then they will continue to preach Zion principles and convert us one by one.

Considering the blessings of Zion, why would we choose otherwise? Perhaps because of fear.

We might say, “Zion and consecration are well and good, but I don’t want to be the first to live them. Therefore, I will wait for the president of the Church to reveal a program.” This is a dangerous attitude that is fraught with folly. We might ask ourselves: “Which of our covenants is waiting for a program from Church headquarters? Baptism? Sabbath day observance? Temple worship? Eternal marriage? Why, then, do we consider parts of the New and Everlasting Covenant, especially the Law of Consecration, futuristic?

We know the principles of Zion, so what stops us from living them? Clearly, Babylon has a hold on us that we fear to break. But we need not fear. We have evidence that the principles of Zion hold safety and prosperity. For example, who has ever made themselves poor by paying tithes and offerings? It is impossible, With confidence in tithes and offerings alone, we are equipped to press through our fear and embrace Zion in its entirety, as we have covenanted to do. Perhaps to that end the Lord encouraged us to consider the lilies of the field. Most certainly, he will take care of his covenant people. The Book of Mormon is a textbook on the subject.”

Why are ye so fearful?

During the ministry of Christ, a fierce storm arose that threatened to capsize the apostles’ boat. Panicked, they awakened the Savior and cried, “Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?” In other words, “How could you be afaid, knowing that I was with you? Where is your faith?” Wherever Zion is, there is the Lord; wherever a Zion person is, there is the Lord.

If he is with us, if we know that he commanded us to live the fullness of the New and Everlasting Covenant, if we really believe that he will stand beside us while we struggle to live the Covenant, what have we to fear? We will not be disappointed. We, like the Nephites, will experience for ourselves the safety, abundance and joy of Zion, for “surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God.”

The Ultimate Blessing

If we intend to become Zion people, we might consider changing the paradigm of our belief, if it is lacking. In too many instances, we do not believe what our faith tells us. We believe in a convenient gospel with the expectation that God, if he wants to, will move us along and eventually rewards us with the extraordinary blessings of Zion.

But Zion cannot be established either in an individual’s life or in a society on such a philosophy. Zion has always been established by people’s believing all that their faith tells them. When we back away from our responsibility to live the entirety of the Covenant, and when we shift the burden of preparing for the establishment of Zion to the prophet, we are stepping into dangerous territory, the same that Moses’ people stepped into. If we want to become Zion people, we must first believe what our faith tells us Zion people are – the pure in heart, those who are striving to achieve the presence of God. Will that happen without seeking and asking? Of course not. No blessings arrive unbidden. We must work for them. “Verily, thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass that every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am.”

Elder McConkie said, “Those who attain this state of cleanliness and perfection are able, as occasion may require, to see God and view the things of his kingdom. (D. & C. 84:23; 88:68; Ether 4:7). Indeed, the ultimate privileges of God’s holy authority are spoken of as follows: ‘The power and authority of the higher, or Melchizedek Priesthood, is to hold the keys of all the spiritual blessings of the church-to have the privilege of receiving the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, to have the heavens opened unto them, to commune with the general assembly and church of the Firstborn, and to enjoy the communion and presence of God the Father, and Jesus the mediator of the new covenant’ (D&C 107:18-19).”

“While in the flesh,” Zion people can qualify for the “privilege of seeing and knowing for themselves.” The Father and the Son will come and make their abode with that person, as the Prophet said, and because they have made their hearts pure by abiding the Covenant, “they shall see God.” This is the ideal and the privilege of seeking to become a Zion person.

The Law of Consecration is the very core of the gospel, and it permeates every gospel principle. This highest law defines a Zion person. Although programs of consecration have come and gone, the template of consecration remains the same. Consequently, consecration is current; it is now. Only by living this law can we hope to obtain an inheritance in the celestial kingdom.

What is Consecration?

To consecrate something is to sanctify, purify and set it apart for a sacred use, to make it holy, to dedicate it solemnly to a special service, or to give it religious sanction as with an oath or a vow. When we make the covenant of consecration, we agree to consecrate our lives, including everything that we have, will have, are or will be. According to President Kimball, we consecrate “our time, talents and means to care for those in need-whether spiritually or temporally-and in building the Lord’s kingdom.”

Hugh Nibley asks, “And how much is one able to give? Exactly as much as the Lord has given him-all that which the Lord has blessed you, or with which he will bless you.” Lived properly, the covenant of consecration paves the way and lays the foundation for the establishment for Zion in a righteous person’s life.

A Brief History of Consecration

The first recorded revelation concerning consecration was April 7, 1829, when the Lord instructed Joseph Smith to “seek to bring forth and establish the cause of Zion.” This was no small task. Zion is the celestial order of things, for both individuals and societies. Some descriptions of consecrated Zion people include: their belief that all things belong to God and that they are stewards; their willingness to be unified by esteeming other people as themselves; their retaining and exercising their free agency; their willingness to set aside selfishness and become equal with all the saints of God, according to their wants, needs and family situations by consecrating their “time, talents, strength, properties, and monies”; and their being accountable to the Lord for the discharge of their covenant and stewardships.

Anciently, Enoch managed to establish the ideal of Zion among his people, who later joined to create Zion, the city. These people exercised faith in Jesus Christ, repented of their sins, embraced the fullness of the New and Everlasting Covenant, and thereby became “of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them.” The vehicle that made this condition possible, and that will make it possible in the latter-days, was the Law of Consecration.

At the beginning of 1831, “the Lord revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith in Fayette, New York, that anciently he had taken the Zion of Enoch to himself and then commanded him to go to Ohio to receive the law [the law of Zion].” A month later, February 9, 1831, the Lord revealed to the Prophet “the law,” or the law of Zion, that which the Prophet specified as “embracing the law of the Church.” This law became known as Section 42 of the Doctrine and Covenants, and in it the Lord revealed the cornerstones of the Law of Consecration.

D&C 42-The Cornerstones of Consecration

The “Law of the Church,” Section 42 of the Doctrine and Covenants, lists four cornerstones of the Law of Consecration:

• First, mutual assistance–the Lord expects his disciples to sustain and help one another.
• Second, proper use of priesthood–the priesthood is to be used to benefit those who are physically and spiritually ill or in need.
• Third, the need for faith-according to God’s will, a person can be healed [physically, emotionally and spiritually] by the power of the priesthood if that individual has faith in Jesus Christ and if he is “not appointed unto death,” information that gives confidence to the person as he realizes that the Lord has given him time to work out his exaltation.
• Fourth, reciprocal love–the Lord expects his disciples to love one another and to become one.

The Law We Must Live to Achieve the Celestial Kingdom

President Ezra Taft Benson said, “The law of consecration is a law for an inheritance in the celestial kingdom. God, the Eternal Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and all holy beings abide by this law. It is an eternal law.” People whose lives are consecrated to the Lord “set their hearts on righteousness and having actually put first in their lives the things of God’s kingdom.”

The Church Welfare Plan describes a consecrated person as one who does not seek for worldly riches; who esteems his brother as himself; who, through tithes and offerings, helps to build up the Kingdom of God by caring for the temporal needs of those General Authorities whom God has called into full-time service; who makes his worldly goods available, over and above his family’s necessities, for the Lord’s work; and who, with his time, talents and means, takes care of the temporally and spiritually poor. Quoting the Church Welfare Plan, Bruce R. McConkie wrote,

“The practice of the law of consecration is inextricably intertwined with the development of the attributes of godliness in this life and the attainment of eternal life in the world to come. ‘The law pertaining to material aid is so formulated that the carrying of it out necessitates practices calculated to root out human traits not in harmony with requirements for living in the celestial kingdom and replacing those inharmonious traits with the virtues and character essential to life in that abode.’ (Bowen, The Church Welfare Plan, p. 13).”

Then quoting a supporting scripture, Elder McConkie added, “For if you will that I give you a place in the celestial world, you must prepare yourselves by doing the things which I have commanded you and required of you.”

Consecration’s Foundational Principles

Elsewhere in the scriptures, we learn that the Law of Consecration is built on the foundational principles of agency, stewardship, accountability and labor.

• Agency. An agent is someone who has the power and authority to act. Therefore, agents have agency, which is the ability to “act for themselves,” or to the ability to act for himself with respect to a given responsibility or obligation. Agents have the capacity to be accountable for their actions. Whereas freedom is the power and privilege to exercise our will and act upon it, agency is the power, independence of mind and individual will to choose in the first place.

Elder McConkie wrote: “Four great principles must be in force if there is to be agency: 1. Laws must exist, laws ordained by an Omnipotent power, laws which can be obeyed or disobeyed; 2. Opposites must exist–good and evil, virtue and vice, right and wrong–that is, there must be an opposition, one force pulling one way and another pulling the other; 3. A knowledge of good and evil must be had by those who are to enjoy the agency, that is, they must know the difference between the opposites; and 4. An unfettered power of choice must prevail.”

Moral agency describes our ability to act upon and be accountable for spiritual matters. Zion people exercise their God-given agency to choose to make and keep the New and Everlasting Covenant (the Covenant), and to reject the enticements of Babylon. And choose we must. Posing the choice between Zion and Babylon, Elijah asked, “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal [Babylon], then follow him.” Being lukewarm on the issue is not acceptable: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.”

That these opposites (hot and cold) exist makes agency possible: “And it must needs be that the devil should tempt the children of men, or they could not be agents unto themselves; for if they never should have bitter they could not know the sweet.” Therefore, we are free to choose our destiny: Zion, to our salvation, or Babylon, to our condemnation. “Behold, here is the agency of man, and here is the condemnation of man; because that which was from the beginning is plainly manifest unto them, and they receive not the light.”

Having chosen Zion and thus having overcome Babylon, Zion people enjoy the highest degree of moral agency and its resulting freedom. Agency and freedom flourish in Zion: “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. “And because that they are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon….” Conversely, agency and freedom decrease in Babylon: “And the whole world [Babylon] lieth in sin, and groaneth under darkness and under the bondage of sin.” Choosing Babylon results in fewer choices and less freedom to exercise agency, while choosing Zion results in limitless choices and unequalled freedom to exercise agency.

• Stewardship. When a person exercises his agency to live the Covenant, he makes a conscious choice to become a steward of the Lord’s property. His approach to ownership is “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof….” Elder Bruce R. McConkie said, “Underlying this principle of stewardship is the eternal gospel truth that all things belong to the Lord. ‘I, the Lord, stretched out the heavens, and built the earth, my very handiwork; and all things therein are mine …. Behold, all these properties are mine, … And if the properties are mine, then ye are stewards; otherwise ye are no stewards.’ (D&C 104:14, 55-56).”

We are expressly forbidden to hoard property or claim it as our own: “I command thee that thou shalt not covet thine own property….” Therefore, a Zion person’s claim to his property is subordinate to the Lord’s claim. As Martin Harris learned, property must be consecrated for the building up of the Kingdom of God and the establishment of Zion, which provides that no poor should exist among us. Ultimately we will be held accountable for the discharge of our stewardship.

A Zion person’s stewardship, sometimes referred to as “portion,” or “inheritance,” is to be used to support his own family, and then “conveying back to the Lord’s storehouse any surplus which accrued [for the poor]. (D&C 42:33-34, 55; 70:7-10).” Elder McConkie added, “It is by the wise use of one’s stewardship that eternal life is won.” Zion people do not take their covenant of stewardship lightly; they know that everything depends on their faithfulness in this responsibility: “And whoso is found a faithful, a just, and a wise steward shall enter into the joy of his Lord, and shall inherit eternal life.”

• Accountability. The Lord said, “…every man shall be made accountable unto me, a steward over his own property….” Upon the principle of moral agency, stewards are free to manage their stewardships, but they are not free from being accountable to the Lord: “…it is required of the Lord, at the hand of every steward, to render an account of his stewardship, both in time and in eternity. For he who is faithful and wise in time is accounted worthy to inherit the mansions prepared for him of my Father.” Clearly, we will one day stand before God to give an accounting of our deeds, which will include the management of our stewardship. Our performance will determine the trusts and stewardships given to us in eternity.

Zion people are under covenant to account for their earthly stewardships to the Lord’s servant, the bishop: “Verily I say unto you, the elders of the church in this part of my vineyard shall render an account of their stewardship unto the bishop, who shall be appointed of me in this part of my vineyard. These things shall be had on record, to be handed over unto the bishop in Zion.” For this reason, we report to the bishop each year regarding our tithes and offerings, and we account to him during our temple recommend interview. Elder David A. Bednar said that we account to God every night in prayer.

• Labor. Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote, “Work is the great basic principle which makes all things possible both in time and in eternity. Men, spirits, angels, and Gods use their physical and mental powers in work.” Work, like other principles, exists in degrees ranging from telestial to celestial. Adam was commanded to work to support his family, which is a celestial endeavor, but he was not commanded to set his sights on empire building, plundering, extorting, leveraging, competing, augmenting his balance sheet or amassing personal wealth on the backs of the poor, all of which are telestial. Adam worked to create the first Zion upon the earth: Adam-ondi-Ahman. There he labored to sustain his immediate family and to bless the lives of others.

Likewise, Enoch worked to establish Zion, as did Melchizedek and Nephi: “And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did cause my people to be industrious, and to labor with their hands.” They worked together for the benefit of all. They labored to establish righteousness. They worked in unity to raise crops, smelt ore to create weapons for defense, and fashion objects of beauty. Together, they built buildings and a temple. Because of their celestial level of labor they were blessed with prosperity and familial strength: “And it came to pass that we began to prosper exceedingly, and to multiply in the land.”

Things began to fall apart when the Nephites became selfish and began to work on a telestial level. Jacob chastised them for searching “for gold, and for silver, and for all manner of precious ores” for the purpose of obtaining riches “more abundantly than that of your brethren,” causing the errant one to be “lifted up in the pride of your hearts, and …suppose that ye are better than they.” This kind of labor is not justified in Zion; it is condemned. President Kimball said, “As I understand these matters, Zion can be established only by those who are pure in heart, and who labor for Zion, for the ‘laborer in Zion shall labor for Zion; for if they labor for money [riches] they shall perish’ (2 Ne. 26:30).2 Ne. 26:31).”

Jacob taught the celestial law of labor and its underlying motivation: “Think of your brethren like unto yourselves, and be familiar with all and free with your substance, that they may be rich like unto you. But before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God. And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good–to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted.” Clearly, we must work, but what we work for determines if the work is telestial or celestial.

Conversely, “idleness has no place [in Zion],” said President Benson, “and greed, selfishness, and covetousness are condemned. [Zion] may therefore operate only with a righteous people.”

Conclusion

The Law of Consecration is a subject as glorious as its Founder. It is the law of the Celestial Kingdom revealed to us in this telestial setting for our salvation and exaltation. By this law the Kingdom of God prepares the way for the establishment of Zion as a holy community and Zion as individual people. We must learn all we can about this law then live it, otherwise we cannot expect to obtain an inheritance in the Celestial Kingdom. The foundational principles and cornerstones of Consecration are equality, unity, mutual assistance, proper use of the priesthood, faith, reciprocal love (charity), agency, stewardship, accountability and labor. This is the law by which hearts are purified, and by which we are ushered into the presence of God. Only upon the Law of consecration can we become one in our marriages, families, wards, stakes, the Church, and one with the Father and the Son.

Spencer W. Kimball, The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, edited by Edward L. Kimball, p.366

Hugh Nibley, Approaching Zion, p.427

D&C 6:6

See D&C 105:5

See D&C 38:17; 104:11-14

See D&C 38:24-27; 51:3, 9; 70:14; 78:6; 82:17

See D&C 104:17

See D&C 51:3

Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, “Consecration,” p.157

See D&C 72:3; 104:13-18

Moses 7:18

Encyclopedia of Mormonism, “Consecration,” p.312

D&C 42 introduction

List adapted from Clark V. Johnson, Sperry Symposium 1989, “The Law of Consecration: The Covenant That Requires All and Gives Everything”

Ezra Taft Benson, The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson , p.121

Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, “Consecration,” p.157

See Albert E. Bowen, The Church Welfare Plan, p.6

Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, “Consecration,” p.157

D&C 78:7

See American Heritage Dictionary, “Agent”

2 Nephi 2:26

See D&C 29:35

Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 2d ed., “Agency,” p.26

See D&C 29:35

1 Kings 18:21, insertion added

Revelation 3:15-16

D&C 29:39

D&C 93:31

John 8:36

2 Nephi 2:26

D&C 84:49-50

Psalms 24:1

Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 2d ed., “Stewardships,” p.767

D&C 19:26

See D&C 72:3-4; 51:19; Luke 16:2; 19:17; Matthew 25:14-30; D&C 82:3, 11; 78:22

D&C 51:4

D&C 51:4; 57:15

Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 2d ed., “Stewardships,” p.767

D&C 51:19

D&C 42:32

D&C 72:3-4

D&C 72:5-6

See David A. Bednar, “Pray Always,” Ensign, November 2008

Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 2d ed., “Work,” p.847

Genesis 3:19

2 Nephi 5:17

See 2 Ne 5:10-16

Jacob 2:12-14

Spencer W. Kimball, The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p.363

Jacob 2:17-19

Ezra Taft Benson, “A Vision and a Hope for the Youth of Zion,” Devotional Speeches of the Year [Provo, Utah: BYU, 1978], p. 74.

(Note: This is the first of two parts on the Zion virtue of blessedness.)

When Jesus appeared to the Nephites, he taught them the principles of blessedness, called the Beatitudes, meaning “to be blessed” or “to be happy.”  Jesus had taught these same principles to his Judean disciples at the Sermon on the Mount. To the Nephites he added several additional principles of blessedness. President Harold B. Lee called this sermon “the constitution for a perfect life.” He wrote, “In order to gain entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven, we must not only be good but we are required to do good and be good for something.” That is, we must strive to achieve the celestial state of blessedness, which characterizes a Zion person. President Lee suggested that these principles of blessedness “represent a recipe for righteousness with incremental steps….”

Sustaining Leaders

“Blessed are ye if ye shall give heed unto the words of these twelve whom I have chosen from among you to minister unto you….”A Zion person sustains his rank and file leaders, and covenants to live by their counsel. A Zion person recognizes the Lord’s voice in the voice of his servants: “…whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.” Interestingly, when we sustain our leaders, we do so in the right hand, which is the sign of covenant making. Our keeping this sustaining covenant promotes the oneness demanded by Zion, and it allows the Spirit to flow through our leaders to us-an avenue of revelation that is vital to our spiritual survival and progression. Clearly, through the servants of God, Zion people are blessed.

Believing Christ by receiving Baptism and the Holy Ghost

“Blessed are ye if ye shall believe in me and be baptized…behold, I will baptize you with fire and with the Holy Ghost.” This principle of blessedness hearkens to the first principles and ordinances of the gospel: faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, and receiving the Holy Ghost. Only faith in Jesus Christ-believing who he is and what he has done–can motivate a person to seek a change of heart, symbolized and formalized by baptism, the covenant of salvation.”

Baptism is the gate that one passes through to leave and be saved from Babylon [hell] and to enter the path leading to Zion [Celestial Kingdom]. Baptism by water and baptism by the Spirit are equally essential. Joseph Smith said, “Baptism by water is but half a baptism, and is good for nothing without the other half–that is, the baptism of the Holy Ghost.” Elder McConkie listed the four purposes for baptism: 1) Baptism is for the remission of sins…2) Baptism gives the repentant person membership in the Church and admits him into the Kingdom of God on earth…3) Baptism is the gate to the celestial kingdom of heaven, that is, it starts a person out on the straight and narrow path which leads to eternal life…4)

Baptism is the means whereby the door to personal sanctification is opened. “Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day.” One of the criteria of the baptismal covenant especially points us to Zion: “to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light.”

Bearing testimony

“…blessed are they who shall believe in your words….” Someone hearing the testimony of a Zion person is blessed because he has heard and believed the word of God on faith alone. The Zion person, who has borne testimony, is blessed by having his testimony recorded in heaven and by receiving anew a remission of sins: “Nevertheless, ye are blessed, for the testimony which ye have borne is recorded in heaven for the angels to look upon; and they rejoice over you, and your sins are forgiven you.”

The blessedness that is inherent in a Zion person draws others to him by means of his spoken or unspoken testimony. Bearing testimony makes a Zion person the “salt of the earth,” and salt, of course, is a “healing, flavoring, and preserving agent.” By means of his testimony and service, a Zion person “succors the weak, lifts up the hands which hang down, and strengthens the feeble knees.” Additionally, bearing testimony characterizes Zion’s blessedness by making a Zion person a light to the world: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, I give unto you to be the light of this people…Therefore let your light so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

Becoming poor in spirit

“Yea, blessed are the poor in spirit who come unto me, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” A common interpretation of this phrase is “blessed are the poor in pride, or the poor of this world.” That is, a person who is poor in spirit lacks pride; he is humble because, perhaps, he has been denied the things of this world; or perhaps he has disciplined himself to not set his heart on the things of this world; or maybe he is in need of additional spiritual insight or strength. When such people recognize their need or weakness and come to Christ, the Lord will “make weak things become strong unto them.”

This enabling principle is called grace, and it demonstrates the strength of oneness inherent in the Covenant. In partnership with the Lord, the weak [poor in spirit] person yokes himself to Christ and thereby becomes as strong as his companion. Therefore, it is with great eagerness that a Zion person is willing to declare his nothingness and vulnerability, and seeks the Lord with full dependency, rather than relying on the arm of flesh or his own genius and strength.

The associated blessings are remarkable: “And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins; and ye shall grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true.”

In this sense, being poor in spirit is a redeeming quality. But considered in another light, being poor in spirit is a deficit of character that needs correcting. Therefore, the poor in spirit, who admit their sins, “viewing themselves in their own carnal state, even less than the dust of the earth,” and repent crying “O have mercy, and apply the atoning blood of Christ that we may receive forgiveness of our sins, and our hearts may be purified; for we believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” those who yearn for forgiveness, strip themselves of pride, and come to the Lord in humility seeking the return of the Spirit, will be filled with the Holy Ghost. They will be “filled with joy, having received a remission of their sins, and having peace of conscience, because of the exceeding faith which they had in Jesus Christ.”

Mourning righteously

“…blessed are all they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Notice the word all. When a person, who is poor is spirit [pride], comes to the Lord and when the Lord shows the person his weakness, that person mourns, which, on a celestial level, is an act of worship. His reaction is one of a broken heart and a contrite spirit; he recognizes his nothingness and carnal nature and longs for support and deliverance.

When the people of King Benjamin made this discovery, they immediately shed themselves of pride, came to Christ, and mourned, desiring desperately to be delivered from Babylon and brought into Zion: “And they had viewed themselves in their own carnal state, even less than the dust of the earth. And they all cried aloud with one voice, saying: O have mercy, and apply the atoning blood of Christ that we may receive forgiveness of our sins, and our hearts may be purified; for we believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who created heaven and earth, and all things; who shall come down among the children of men.”

Righteous mourning is characteristic of a Zion person, whose compassion demands that he “mourns with those who mourn.” Such empathetic mourning stems from and leads to feelings of compassion, kindness and mercy. A Zion person feels genuine sorrow for those who suffer, and he is moved to exhibit tenderness and loving assistance toward them; he strives “to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light…and comfort those that stand in need of comfort.”

Jesus set the example: “And he said unto them: Behold, my bowels are filled with compassion towards you. Have ye any that are sick among you? Bring them hither. Have ye any that are lame, or blind, or halt, or maimed, or leprous, or that are withered, or that are deaf, or that are afflicted in any manner? Bring them hither and I will heal them, for I have compassion upon you; my bowels are filled with mercy.”

A person who mourns for his own sins, the death of a loved one, or whose mourning moves him to compassion, so that he is willing to “bear with or suffer with” someone in need, is promised comfort from the Comforter. Eventually, his sorrow shall be turned into joy.

Becoming meek

“And blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” To be meek is to be gentle, humble, patient and submissive. But meekness is not weakness; nevertheless Babylon perceives meekness as such and often persecutes it. President Lee said, “A meek man…is not easily provoked or irritated and forbearing under injury or annoyance.” President Hinckley said, “The meek and the humble are those who are teachable. They are willing to learn. They are willing to listen to the whisperings of the still, small voice for guidance in their lives. They place the wisdom of the Lord above their own wisdom.”

Meekness is a childlike quality that the Savior attributes to himself. A person who is meek is often described as being lowly in heart; that is, by his true penitence, he is ready “to hear the word of the Lord.” Thus, a person who exercises faith in Christ, humbles himself, repents, and accepts baptism, receives a remission of his sins, which “bringeth meekness, and lowliness of heart; and because of meekness and lowliness of heart cometh the visitation of the Holy Ghost, which Comforter filleth with hope and perfect love.”

Moreover, the meek and lowly of heart “find rest to their souls,” which rest is the glory of the Lord. They receive the knowledge and the love of God and know that they are right before him. One must become meek and lowly of heart before he can obtain the spiritual gifts of faith, hope and charity; to live otherwise is in vain “for none is acceptable before God, save the meek and lowly in heart.” It is the attribute of meekness that gives us access to the Lord’s grace, that “divine means of help or strength, given through the bounteous mercy and love of Jesus Christ.”

A Zion person strives to become meek and lowly of heart, “humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.” The Lord’s promise to such a person is that he will gain an eternal inheritance on the earth, which will become Zion and a celestial kingdom to those who live on it.

Hungering and thirsting after [for] righteousness

“And blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost.” Again, notice the word all. The Lord taught us that everything has spiritual underpinnings, therefore all hungers, including physical hungers, can be traced to a corresponding spiritual need. To be physically or spiritually hungry and thirsty is designed to lead us to Christ, the Bread of Life and the Living Water.

Whereas physical hunger motivates the need for food, spiritual hunger motivates the need for redemption. If we will allow physical hungers their purpose, they will usher us to Christ. Only Jesus can provide spiritual nourishment for a starved, parched spirit that is trapped in a telestial body. His solution is an infusion of the Spirit: “Blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost.” When we experience the food and drink that the Holy Ghost gives, our appetite increases and we long for more. Then, as we continue to hunger and thirst for righteousness, we receive the eventual promise: fulfillment-we are filled.

“The Greek word [filled]…originally meant to feed and fatten an animal. It carries the notion of eating till one is completely and totally satisfied. Such is the Lord’s promise to those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. He will feed us more than we can possibly imagine.” This promise hearkens to the quality of abundance found in Zion–no lack of any good thing. Jesus demonstrated the spiritual principle of completely satisfying hunger and thirst when he fed the Israelites with manna for forty years, when he fed Elijah by means of ravens, when he fed the five thousand and later the four thousand, and when he fed the Nephites at his appearance.

Living the law of the fast offers specific instructions for hungering and thirsting for righteousness: “to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke.” A true fast includes Zionlike selfless service: “to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house…when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him….” And it includes improving or reestablishing family relationships: “and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh.”

The blessings of the fast are amazing and singular–light, health, righteousness, protection, revelation: “Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward. Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am.” A true fast includes mercy (“tak[ing] away the yoke”), repentance, and remarkably selfless service: “…draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul.” Incredible blessings follow. The Lord will multiply your light, dispel the darkness that holds you captive, guide you continually, fill you spiritually and physically, bless your family forever with the gospel and priesthood, and bless you to become a savior and peacemaker to your family and to others, a “repairer of the breach.”

Likewise, we experience spiritual fulfillment when we go to the house of worship hungering and thirsting for righteousness and partake of the sacrament. The sacrament is key to always being filled with the Spirit. Whereas we are given the gift of the Holy Ghost at our confirmation, we are guaranteed the Holy Ghost’s ongoing companionship in the sacramental covenant. Having the Spirit perpetually with us points us toward eternal life. If the Spirit is with us, we are deemed free from sin, because the Spirit cannot dwell in an unclean tabernacle. Therefore, by the continual presence of the Holy Ghost, we are “made perfect,” by the Atonement and merits of Jesus Christ. That is the condition of Zion.

Comments

The articles in this column are adapted from a soon-to-be-published book called The Three Pillars of Zion.

Harold B. Lee, Decisions for Successful Living, p.59-60

Spencer J. Condie, “Agency: The Gift of Choices,” Ensign, September 1995

3 Nephi 12:1

D&C 1:38

3 Nephi 12:1

See Articles of Faith 4

See Alma 5:7, 13-15

See Bruce R. McConkie, “Baptism,” Mormon Doctrine, p. 69-72

Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, selected and arranged by Joseph Fielding Smith, ed., p.314

See Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, “Baptism,” p.69-72

3 Nephi 27:20

Mosiah 18:8

3 Nephi 12:2

See John 20:29

D&C 62:3

Dennis L. Largey, ed., The Book of Mormon Reference Companion, “Salt,” p.695

D&C 81:5

3 Nephi 12:14, 16

3 Nephi 12:3, emphasis added

Ether 12:27

See LDS Bible Dictionary, “Grace” p.697

See Matthew 11:29

See Mosiah 4:11

See Alma 30:17

Mosiah 4:12

Mosiah 4:2

Mosiah 4:3

3 Nephi 12:3

See Alma 30:2; Helaman 9:10; D&C 95:7

See 3 Nephi 9:20; 12:19

Mosiah 4:2

Mosiah 18:9

Mosiah 18:8-9

3 Nephi 17:6-7

See Matthew 9:36

D. Kelly Ogden and Andrew C. Skinner, Verse by Verse: The Four Gospels, p.177

See John 16:20

3 Nephi 12:6

See American Heritage Dictionary, “Meek.”

See 2 Nephi 9:30; 28:13; Helaman 6:39

Harold B. Lee, Decisions for Successful Living, p.60

Gordon B. Hinckley, Stand a Little Taller, p.18

See Mosiah 3:19

See Matthew 11:29

Dennis L. Largey, Book of Mormon Reference Companion, “Lowliness of Heart,” p.524

Moroni 8:26

Alma 37:33-34

See D&C 84:24

See Joseph Fielding Smith, ed., Gospel Doctrine, 5^th ed., p.58, 125-126

Moroni 7:43-44

See Ether 12:26-27

LDS Bible Dictionary, “Grace,” p.697

Mosiah 3:19

3 Nephi 12:5

See D&C 88:17-26; 130:9

3 Nephi 12:7

D&C 29:34

John 6:35; John 4:10

3 Nephi 12:6

D. Kelly Ogden and Andrew C. Skinner, Verse by Verse: The Four Gospels, p.178-79

See Exodus 16:32

See 1 Kings 17:4

See Mark 6:35-44 and Mark 8:1-9

See 3 Nephi 20:6-9

Isaiah 58:6

Isaiah 58:7

Isaiah 58:7

Isaiah 58:8-9

Isaiah 58:9-12 “Then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.”

See Mosiah 18:7-10

See D&C 20:75-79; Moroni 4, 5

See Alma 34:36

See Alma 7:21; 1 Corinthians 3:16-17

See D&C 76:69

See Moroni 6:4

Becoming a Zion person is a process that replaces telestial qualities with celestial ones. In Part 2 of this Zion series, we will discuss the traits of charity (true love), experiencing true happiness, joy and fullness of life, and becoming holy.

Exhibiting the True Love of Christ

President Joseph F. Smith said, “Charity, or [true] love, is the greatest principle in existence.” On the principle of love-love of God and love of neighbors-”hang all the law and the prophets.” Like other principles, love ranges in quality from telestial to celestial, which type of love is called charity, “the pure love of Christ.” This quality of love-true love–is found in a Zion person, and because charity is perfect, celestial, true love, it “never faileth.”

Charity describes God: “God is love.” Because we are commanded to be perfect like him, we must learn to truly love like he loves. The apostle John taught that the person who loves best knows God best: “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.”

What sets apart celestial love from lesser love is motivation; charity is more what we do than what we feel. Therefore, the opposite of love is not hate but apathy. Perhaps the best description of charity is found in 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 and Moroni 7:44-48. Here is the list personalized of a Zion person’s true love: 

Characteristics of True Celestial Love

• True love suffers long (endures a hardship or endures with someone during his/her hardship)
• True love is kind
• True love does not envy
• True love is not vaunted up (does not boast)
• True love is not puffed up (is not proud)
• True love does not behave unseemly (act rudely)
• True love seeks not his/her own (is not selfish)
• True love is not easily provoked (keeps temper under control)
• True love thinks no evil (focuses on the good)
• True love does not rejoice in iniquity but rejoices in the truth (is not inclined toward evil, but embraces anything virtuous, lovely, of good report or praiseworthy)
• True love bears all things (bears up under the weight of problems)
• True love believes all things (recognizes and follows truth)
• True love hopes all things (knows ultimately that God is in charge)
• True love endures all things (is willing to pay the price because he knows the wait will be worth it).

True Celestial Love vs. Telestial and Terrestrial Love

Charity (true love) differs from telestial and terrestrial love by the fact that it is saving love. Charity lifts another person, and has the capacity to forgive and rescue from enormous distances. As we give and receive this celestial love, we discover that those within our gravitational pull cannot escape its embrace.

The Three Pillars and Meanings of True Love

Charity, the true love of Zion, is built on three pillars: total loyalty, total sacrifice and total trust. Moreover, charity has three meanings: Love from Christ, Love for Christ, Love like Christ. Quoting Elder Max Caldwell, H. Wallace Goddard observed, “Charity is first and foremost the redemptive love that Jesus offers all of us. It is the love from Christ. He is the model of charity – which never faileth.’”

How Does True Love Grow?

How does celestial love grow? By someone loving first. Heavenly Father set the example: “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us…We love him, because he first loved us.” Likewise, when we love first, love is returned. It is an oft-repeated scriptural formula that has many applications. For example, “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” Elder Boyd K. Packer said it this way: “As you give what you have, there is a replacement, with increase!” John Greenleaf Whittier wrote, “I’ll lift you, and you lift me, and we’ll both ascend together.”

Blessings of True Love

Whereas Babylon elevates only me, the true love of Zion elevates others through me. Zionlike love is not only an expansive principle, it is one that draws God near to us and becomes perfect when we accept it and do not turn away from it: “If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.” Moreover, by showing love through selfless service, we are endowed with an added measure of the Holy Ghost: “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.” As we abide in this cycle of loving and receiving love, our ability to love eventually becomes perfect: “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect….”

One of the greatest benefits of love is ceasing to be afraid: “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear….” Moreover, Zion’s love is patient, which means: “I will wait with you,” “I will wait for you,” and “I will wait upon you,” meaning “I will serve you.” In one way or another I will wait.

Love-celestial, true, Zionlike love–is the greatest power in the universe. True love motivates God to do all that he does. The greatest expression of his love is to give and redeem life. He invites all of his children to experience this quality of love and this type of life, for therein is his “joy made full.” By following his example-giving life and redeeming life-is our joy also made full. And the word full always describes Zion.

Experiencing true happiness, joy and fullness of life

In addition to charity-true celestial love-Zion people are distinguished by a celestial level of other virtues, such as happiness, joy and fullness of life. Interestingly, the scriptures connect these three. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught “happiness is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it; and this path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God.”

Happiness, like other principles, exists in varying degrees “ranging from ‘celestial’ to ‘telestial,’ depending on the level of ‘law’ they ‘abide’ (D&C 88:22-35; 76).” People of Zion enjoy happiness on a celestial level. Having embraced the New and Everlasting Covenant after the coming of Christ, the Nephites enjoyed happiness equal to that of Enoch’s people, which Elder Marion G. Romney described as “a society in which, ‘there was no contention…because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people’; a society in which, ‘there were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness;’ a society in which every member had conquered the lusts of the flesh. ‘…and surely,’ concludes the record, ‘there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God.’ (4 Nephi 15-16).”

Certainly, the absence of evil promotes joy, but only “virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God,” which includes selfless service, create it. If the purpose of man’s creation is that he might have joy, then that man must develop these attributes in his character.

Attendant Blessings

We experience joy by awareness and appreciation for “the gifts of life, the earth, and personal agency (e.g., taste, smell, beauty, music)”; by “using these gifts to create opportunities or to develop relationships (e.g., marriage, parenting, charity); by “coming to understand how mortality fits into the divine purpose or plan of Heavenly Father” (using this understanding “as a framework for comprehending and assimilating life’s experiences”); and by “accepting Christ as Savior and feeling his acceptance and approval of one’s efforts.”

Elder McConkie explained that only entering into the joy of the Lord, could cultivate a fullness of joy, which is the condition of Zion. True happiness-joy-, he said, “is a gift of the Spirit. It comes from the Holy Ghost,” suggesting that Satan cannot duplicate the feeling of joy. “In this connection, the Book of Mormon describes a scene wherein ‘the spirit of the Lord came upon them, and they were filled with joy, having received a remission of their sins, and having peace of conscience’ (Mosiah 4:3; cf. John 15:10-12).” Therefore, the more faith-filled, repentant, humble and Zionlike we become, the more joy we experience.

Moreover, our seeking the establishment of Zion in our lives will serve to dispel sadness and result in the highest degree of joy: “For the Lord shall comfort Zion, he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.”

Becoming Holy

Charity, happiness, joy and fullness of life contribute to holiness. Zion is a holy place-”the City of Holiness”–whose individual citizens are holy: “…he that is left in Zion…shall be called holy.” We cannot make ourselves holy; only God can do that. Our responsibility is to strive for holiness by living the New and Everlasting Covenant (the Covenant), which has the power to bring us to perfection, and thus holiness.

Because Zion “cannot be built up unless it is by the principles of the law of the celestial kingdom,” a state of holiness is not possible unless we embrace the celestial Covenant and become like celestial people. Brigham Young explained the goal of holiness pursued by Zion people: “We are trying to be the image of those who live in heaven; we are trying to pattern after them, to look like them, to walk and talk like them, to deal like them, and build up the kingdom of heaven as they have done.”

Journey to Holiness

Becoming holy is a journey: “The process of becoming holy is based on three doctrines: justification, which satisfies the demands of justice for the sins of the individual through the Atonement of Jesus Christ; purification, made possible by that same Atonement and symbolized in the Sacrament of the bread and water, requiring the constant cleansing of oneself from earthly stains and imperfections; and sanctification, the process of being made holy. Having purified oneself of imperfections to the greatest degree possible, one is invested, over a lifetime, with holiness from God.”

How We Become Holy

The concept of perfection, the ultimate expression of holiness, can seem overwhelming to us struggling mortals. The troubling commandment is stated in the Sermon of the Mount. Using the Father as an example, Jesus told his disciples in Jerusalem: “Ye are therefore commanded to be perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Later, to the Nephites, he gave substantially the same commandment, but this time he added himself as an example: “Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect.”

We see in these verses a subtle indication that total perfection is acquired by going from one perfection to another. While Jesus was in the flesh, although he was a perfect man, he was nevertheless not as perfect as his Father, who was a resurrected, glorified man. But after his resurrection, as indicated in his rewording the commandment to the Nephites, Jesus could claim the Father’s quality of perfection. Clearly, this exalted level of perfection can only be attained after the resurrection.

Achieving Holiness in the Covenant

Interestingly, some gospel writers have suggested that the Savior’s commandment to become perfect points to the diligence we give to abiding in the New and Everlasting Covenant. Hence, the verse might read, “Ye are therefore commanded to be perfect in living the Covenant even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect in living the Covenant.” With the same degree of diligence that the Father perfectly abides in the Covenant, so we must abide in the Covenant–”even unto death, that you may be found worthy.”

We do not arrive at this or any level of perfection automatically. Nevertheless, we understand that just men, who are not yet ultimately perfect, are nevertheless made perfect through the grace of Jesus Christ; that is, abiding in the Covenant assures us the enabling power of the atonement to make us as if we were perfect until the time that we are wholly perfect, meaning “finished, complete, fully developed.” Perhaps it is this quality of perfection that just men like Noah attained, for such men are described as perfect in their generation.

Likewise, we are made perfect in the Covenant, which is designed to move us forward to ultimate perfection and holiness, if we will abide in it as does our Father, whose name is Man of Holiness. Therefore, we have no reason to lose hope. The prophets have taught us repeatedly that it is our direction, not our arriving, that makes all the difference. The perfection of Enoch’s Zion, we are told, was in the “process of time.”

Matthew 22:40

Moroni 7:46-47

1 John 4:7-8

Matthew 5:48

1 John 4:7

See Marvin J. Ashton, Ensign, “Be a Quality Person,” February 1993

See Articles of Faith 13

H. Wallace Goddard, Drawing Heaven into Your Marriage, p. 111

1 John 4:10, 19

Matthew 5:7

Boyd K. Packer, “The Candle of the Lord,” Ensign, January 1983

See 1 Nephi 8:28

1 John 4:12

1 John 4:13

1 John 4:16-17

1 John 4:18

See Moses 1:39

See 3 Nephi 17:20

See Alma 26:11, 16; 3 Nephi 27:31; 28:10

See 4 Nephi 1:3, 16; Mosiah 16:11

Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 255-56

Encyclopedia of Mormonism, “Zion,” p.1625

Marion G. Romney, Conference Report, April 1958, p.126, emphasis added

Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 255-56

See Matthew 16:25; Mosiah 4:3, 20

See 2 Nephi 2:25

Encyclopedia of Mormonism, “Joy,” p.771

See D&C 51:19

Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, “Joy,” p.397

See Encyclopedia of Mormonism, “Joy,” p.771

2 Nephi 8:3

Moses 7:19

Isaiah 4:3

Encyclopedia of Mormonism, “Holiness,” p.648

D&C 105:5

Journal of Discourses, vol 9, p.170

Encyclopedia of Mormonism, “Holiness,” p.648

JST Matthew 5:50

3 Nephi 12:48

See D&C 98:14

See Moroni 10:32-33; D&C 76:69; 129:3; Hebrews 12:23

See Matthew 5:48 footnote b

See Moses 8:27

Moses 6:57; 7:35

Moses 7:21

A parent shared the following experience. Keep in mind that rescuing wayward children is often a function of personal sanctification. That is, to the degree that we sanctify ourselves we gain power to rescue the person for whom we are praying. Beyond our view, heavenly help is summoned and a plan for rescue is made. Now it becomes a matter of timing, persistence, and especially relying on the Holy Ghost to open doors.

A breakthrough question

“I had been preparing a Family Home Evening lesson, and I though I had some pretty good ideas. When I was trying them out on my wife, she stopped me mid-sentence and said, “Maybe you should ask the kids what is on their minds.” My wife was right, of course. Imposing my ideas on my family has not always proven the best option. So I started over by asking each of my children what was on their mind. We would call our Family Home Evening, Ask Dad Hard Questions and See if He Has An Answer.

“One of my daughters has been inactive. She struggles with the question of why there has to be an organized religion, and why good people can’t just live good lives and end up in heaven. When I pondered her question, I threw out all the others. I suddenly realized that the Holy Ghost had just handed me an opportunity to plant a seed. If I had brought up the issue, she would have turned off. But now she was asking me! Here is the text of our Family Home Evening.”

What is the big deal about an organized Church?

The same thing was asked of Jesus, and his answer was one that he was killed for. Joseph Smith answered the question and he was killed too. This is the question of questions, and the answer is the most vital answer you or anyone will ever receive.

The idea of a church is not new, but in the days of Jesus the Jews had apostatized from the true religion and had adopted a system of performances and ordinances. In other words, they went through the motions, but they didn’t know why, and they thought the procedure could save them. They thought that being good and going through the motions were enough. Then Jesus came along and told them that they were in error; nothing that they were doing would land them in the celestial kingdom. The Jews were so incensed by his answer that they crucified him in order to preserve their erroneous ideas.

What did Jesus say about salvation?

Early in Jesus’ ministry, a man named Nicodemus came seeking information about salvation. Salvation means to be placed beyond the power of your enemies. “Enemies” could be yourself, other people, circumstances, health, financial or relationship problems, sins, and especially death. The ultimate meaning of the word salvation means exaltation, which means that a “saved” person can progress along a clearly marked path and eventually become exactly like God.

Jesus taught Nicodemus about the path: “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God…Ye must be born again” (John 3:5, 7). Nicodemus was startled by this new doctrine. Jesus was telling him that only authorized baptism and the Holy Ghost (born again) could set a person on the path to ultimate salvation. Baptism, like all ordinances, is a physical symbol of an important spiritual truth. In this case, baptism is a symbol of burying your former sins and way of life and coming up clean and new-like a birth. Another way to look at the symbol of baptism is death and resurrection. In any case, baptism symbolizes the decision to abandon a sinful life and pursue a new spiritual life.

That means you must have an infusion of Spirit. After you are baptized, according to Jesus, you must be born “of the spirit,” otherwise you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. The Holy Ghost is that Spirit. He purifies you so that you can remain as clean as the moment you emerged from the waters of baptism, and he walks you along the path until you achieve ultimate salvation. Clearly, if you believe in Jesus Christ, you must also believe Jesus’ teachings. According to his teaching to Nicodemus, the ordinances of baptism and the Holy Ghost are essential for entering the path that leads to salvation and exaltation.

But will any baptism do?

Evidently not. The apostle Paul was once teaching in the Roman province of Ephesus when he met a group of twelve disciples who said they had been baptized. He was suspicious so he asked them if they had received the Holy Ghost. They had not. Joseph Smith said you might as well baptize a bag of sand as baptize without conferring the Holy Ghost-one without the other is meaningless. Paul asked these people how they had been baptized, and they said they had received baptism in the name of John the Baptist.

Wrong! Paul explained their error–baptisms must be done in the name of Jesus Christ by someone having the authority of Jesus Christ. Because Paul had that authority. He baptized them again the right way, and then he confirmed them with the Holy Ghost. Now they were on the path.

What do we learn from this account?

Being good is not enough to save you. You must be good and do the right thing in the right order to end up in the right place. Keep in mind that these were sincere people who were trying to live good lives, but they had a mistaken idea. When Paul, who was authorized by Jesus Christ, performed the ordinance correctly, these people suddenly received the promised blessings associated with baptism and the Holy Ghost, and miraculous things began to happen (See Acts 19:1-7). Miracles always happen, and these are signs that the ordinances are true.

What does all of this have to do with a church organization?

Good question. Now we know that salvation is only made possible through ordinances, and these ordinances must be performed by someone who has the actual authority of Jesus Christ. They are given so that good people can do the right thing in the right order to end up in the right place.

So where do we find this authority?

During Jesus’ ministry, he chose twelve apostles to be his special witnesses and bear testimony of him. He laid his hands upon their heads and transferred his power to them; that is, he ordained them to the priesthood. On that occasion he said, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit” (John 15:16). Now the apostles could baptize and duplicate the works of Jesus with full authority.

What do we do with all the people who are baptized?

To hold together these newly baptized converts, to nurture them, and to help them progress, Jesus formed an organization or church whose leaders were the apostles. The apostles were to safeguard the doctrine of Christ so that it remained pure. As the Church grew, they were to ordain other men to the priesthood and authorize them to baptize and do the works of Jesus Christ.

To understand the necessity of a single organization with clearly authorized ministers of Jesus Christ, we need only observe the world’s 25,000 Christian denominations, which all believe is the necessity of baptism and which all perform it differently and teach diverse doctrines. On church, one faith, one baptism-that is the doctrine of Christ. There are not 25,000 ways; there is only one way, and that way involves apostles.

Where does authority come from?

Jesus chose Peter as the first president of the Church and gave him the “keys” of presidency. You turn a key to open something. Spiritual keys are “turned” to open spiritual powers and the blessings of heaven. (We will discuss these blessings later.) Jesus said to Peter, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:19).

Notice that Jesus said he would build a “church,” so it’s hard to argue that an organized church is not necessary. Jesus also stated that he would build his church in a specific way–upon the “rock” of the priesthood, which opens the channel of revelation from heaven to govern the Church. Upon that sure “rock” of priesthood keys, which Jesus gave to Peter, Jesus would build his Church and reveal truths from heaven. Therefore, the Church of Jesus Christ became the custodian of all blessings, ordinances and powers that are necessary to get people on the path and to follow it to their ultimate salvation.

What to “keys” do?

Jesus made an intriguing statement to Peter about keys. He said, “Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Keys have the power to lock and unlock-seal and loose-spiritual things. In other words, whatsoever Peter and the apostles did on earth would be recognized in heaven forever.

The power of “keys” is an amazing power, especially considering that everything on this earth and everything that man does comes to an end, including life, marriages and families. Only the power of God could bind or “seal” something so that it would last beyond death. In this scripture, Jesus told Peter, the president of the Church, that he was giving him his sealing power (keys) to put the seal of God on everything that Peter did so that those things could endure eternally. Therefore, on the condition of worthiness, a person, who desired salvation and exaltation, could go to Peter or one of the apostles and receive a baptism that would endure eternally.

Is there any other way?

No. Jesus said, “My house is a house of order” (D&C 132:8). The order of salvation is one of authorized ordinances. To Peter and the apostles, Jesus said, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. (Mark 16:15-16). Damnation means restricting blessings. According to Jesus’ statement, anyone who rejected Jesus’ teachings and baptism at the hands of the apostles would be “damned” or unworthy of further blessings. Without ordinances you are stuck.

Is baptism enough for ultimate salvation?

No. Baptism and receiving the Holy Ghost only gets you on the path. The purposes of Jesus Christ are 1) to bring us back to God and 2) to help us become like our Heavenly Parents. To bring us back requires baptism and the Holy Ghost. To help us become like our Heavenly Parents requires an infusion of heavenly power and knowledge. Now we are talking about more ordinances to give us that power and knowledge.

This process of ordinances seems like nonsense to the world. Remember, the Lord uses sacred symbols and rites to teach us of his world. To access the powers associated with these ordinances, we must make agreements or covenants with the Lord. When we keep our end of the agreement, he keeps his, and we progress blessing upon blessing, power upon power, knowledge upon knowledge until we become like God.

Covenants and ordinances are the markers along the path leading to salvation. As we have learned, the prophets and apostles are the custodians of the keys to these sacred covenants and ordinances. When we make a covenant and receive the associated ordinance by the power of these keys, we are assured that the terms of the covenant will endure eternally. We have God’s personal seal and guarantee.

What is Jesus’ purpose?

1) to bring us back to God and 2) to help us become like our Heavenly Parents. The path that we follow has the following markers (covenants and ordinances):

1.     Baptism and the Holy Ghost

2.     Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthood ordination for men

3.     Temple ordinances

4.     Eternal marriage.

Here is how these markers help us become like God.

1.     Baptism and the Holy Ghost–To step away from the telestial world and point us toward the celestial world

2.     Priesthood-To obtain the authority of God. 

3.     Temple ordinances–To obtain the knowledge and power of God.

4.     Eternal marriage. To obtain the lifestyle and kingdom of God.

What are these four “markers” called?

Collectively, these covenants and ordinances are called the New and Everlasting Covenant. The Covenant is “new” because it is new to every person that receives it; the Covenant is everlasting because it will last forever. This is the covenant of salvation. It is administered by the authority of the prophet and apostles, who have the keys to affix the names of all three members of the Godhead on the Covenant-the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. Effectively, these three Gods sign their names to this covenant of salvation, guaranteeing that if you remain worthy, everything that has been promised us in the Covenant will be yours forever.

What are the promises?

Here are the words of the Lord:

“And again, verily I say unto you, if a man marry a wife by my word, which is my law, and by the new and everlasting covenant, and it is sealed unto them by the Holy Spirit of promise, by him who is anointed [the prophet], unto whom I have appointed this power and the keys of this priesthood; and it shall be said unto them–Ye shall come forth in the first resurrection; and if it be after the first resurrection, in the next resurrection; and shall inherit thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers, dominions, all heights and depths–then shall it be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, that he shall commit no murder whereby to shed innocent blood, and if ye abide in my covenant, and commit no murder whereby to shed innocent blood, it shall be done unto them in all things whatsoever my servant hath put upon them, in time, and through all eternity; and shall be of full force when they are out of the world; and they shall pass by the angels, and the gods, which are set there, to their exaltation and glory in all things, as hath been sealed upon their heads, which glory shall be a fulness and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever. Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting, because they continue; then shall they be above all, because all things are subject unto them. Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them” (D&C 132:19-20).

Can a person obtain these promises any other way?

No. The Lord states, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye abide my law ye cannot attain to this glory. For strait is the gate, and narrow the way that leadeth unto the exaltation and continuation of the lives, and few there be that find it” (D&C 132:22).

Why do only a few find this path?

“Because ye receive me not in the world neither do ye know me” (D&C 132:22).

Does this mean that God condemns these people?

No. It usually means that they have not found him yet, so he will find them. We have to remember that God is our Father and not a condemning judge. No loving parent would withhold the greatest of blessings from his children because of ignorance. He would use all his resources, and he would work for years to get the blessings to his children. Even if the children did not understand at first, he would continue to try until they understood perfectly and could make an informed choice. This is one of the great works of the Church of Jesus Christ and the essence of the gospel. No single issue is more important than this: God loves his children and he never gives up.

What happens when I desire these blessings with all my heart and choose to put forth the effort?

Here is the Lord’s promise: “But if ye receive me in the world, then shall ye know me, and shall receive your exaltation; that where I am ye shall be also” (D&C 132:23).

What happens if I start on the path and mess up?

Simply repent and move forward. Joseph Smith said, “All are within the reach of [God's] pardoning mercy” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 191). And on anther occasion: “Our Heavenly Father is more liberal in His views, and boundless in his mercies and blessings, than we are ready to believe or receive.” Elder Orson F. Whitney said, “Our Heavenly Father is far more merciful, infinitely more charitable, than even the best of his servants, and the Everlasting Gospel is mightier in power to save than our narrow finite minds can comprehend” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 257).

Forgiveness is a simple thing: turn back to God and recommit to obey his commandments. Moroni said, “fulfilling the commandments bringeth remission of sins” (Moroni 8:25). God takes no pleasure in punishing us; he is only interested in helping us change so we can enjoy the greater blessings. We make a critical mistake when we judge God as if he had human traits. His love and mercy are described as infinite and perfect. “God is love,” the apostle John said. “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear” (1 John 4:16, 18). You need not fear God or his motives or his judgment any more than you need fear Mom or me. Because we love you, you are safe. Because God loves you, you are safe.

But I still remember my sins and they haunt me.

You should stop listening to that voice. God never works that way. He may remind you to nudge you to repent, but when you do he promises that he will remember your sins no more. Of course, Satan would love to parade your sins before your eyes and tell you that all is hopeless. He would tell you that because you can still remember your sins are not forgiven. But that is not true. Remembering is simply a device to help you avoid repeating the mistake.

After you have repented, painful, condemning memories come from Satan. On the other hand, remembering with peace comes from God. It serves no good purpose to rehash mistakes. Those memories paralyze you and stop you in time. They retard your progress. Satan knows this and uses it as an effective strategy. Stop listening to Satan. Tell Satan that you detect him; he flees when you shine light on him. And forgive yourself! God has.

Where do I start?

The parable of the Prodigal Son gives the answer and it reveals the nature of God. Here was a boy who had lived a reckless and riotous life, only to find himself living with the pigs. At that low point, he “came to himself” and remembered a loving father. He could hardly turn back. Maybe he had gone too far, even for his father’s love. But he tore himself away from the pigs and started home.

The scripture says, “And when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.” This scripture suggests that the father had waited every day, looking out at the horizon, praying that his son would come to himself and return home. When at last the father saw his boy, he did not wait for his son to come home. He ran to great him and helped him come home! Then the father put on his son the best robe, a ring on his hand, shoes on his feet and he made his son a great feast. The boy was home at last!