“And there
were no envyings, nor strife, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor
murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness…..and they had all things common
among them; therefore there were no rich and poor…. they were all made
free…..and they were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom
of God….and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who
had been created by the hand of God” (4 Nephi 1:3,16,17).
This was a
Zion society amongst the Nephites of old akin to the city of Enoch, but in just
200 years they went from that idyllic picture to this:
“And now,
in this two hundred and first year there began to be among them those who were
lifted up in pride…and from that time forth they did have their goods and their
substance no more common among them (4 Nephi 1:25). This pride of the people
led to division into classes which led to the buildings of many churches which
led to denial of the true church of Christ (vs 24-27).
During the
two hundred years of peace and unity and no contention, the love of God dwelt
in the hearts of the people (v 15).
It took two
hundred years for two generations post Christ’s visit to die out and for Satan
to step in to get ‘hold upon their hearts’ (v 28). His success to make them
weak was based on the inverted formula which once made them strong. First came
Church inactivity (v 20), then pride (v 24) and then iniquity (v 28).
This is the
path that the city of Enoch never took. Instead, they chose to ‘walk with God’
and were endowed with the pure love of Christ. This pure love enabled them to
become a celestial society where only unity reigned.
This is the
pure love of Christ: The Saviour had no self interest or motivation for self-advancement
when He accepted His role as our Saviour and Redeemer. His only motivation was
our salvation. He put us ahead of Himself. When He was here, He never used His
power to satisfy His needs. It was always used for the benefit of others. This
is what it means to be a celestial person. The self no longer ranks first.
A pure love
means it is not contaminated with selfishness. This is proven by the fact that
there were no poor among the citizens of Enoch’s city. It means everyone put
others before themselves so everyone was cared for and provided for. This is a
celestial state of being that we are asked to prepare ourselves for.
I stated in
Part 1 that the pure love of Christ cannot be developed by us. It is a love
unique only to Christ, hence its name. It is a gift given to the true followers
of Christ who keep His commandments because they love Him: “If you love me,
keep my commandments” is repeated 20 times in the Bible alone (Exodus 20:3-6;
Deut 5:8-10; 7:9-11; 10:12-13; 11:1;13-14;22-23; 19:8-9; 30:16; Joshua 22:5;
Daniel 9:4; Nehemiah 1:5-6; Matt 5:17-19;19:17;22:37-40; John 14:15,21; 1 John 2:3-4;
5:2-3; 2 John 1:6).
Can you see
how love begets love? If we love the Saviour and show it, He will endow us with
the ability to love others as He loves.
This is the
greatest commandment for us to live if we expect to become a Zion people that
will usher in the Millenium. Right now, the world is in turmoil. Satan is bringing
out his strongest weapons to divide us, get us to hate each other and to
promote the ‘me society’. All this is the opposite to the principles of Zion. His scheme of One World Order is a counterfeit
of the Millenial theocracy under Christ. All his schemes are counterfeits with
one goal in mind, to destroy us.
We must not
let this happen, because we are the children of Christ……
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: As I Have Loved You by B. Laura Wilson)
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