I
was working at the Church Office in Sydney when Elder Bruce C. Hafen was the
Area President here in Australia. He was generous enough to share some knowledge
with me which I valued highly. He told me that the directive of the Church at
the time given to the leaders was to prepare the members for Zion. That was
some 25 years ago.
This
made me see how important the Church is as an organisation because of its
leaders who are implementing this preparation. We are told certain conditions
need to be met before Zion can be established as ‘the bridge between the world
as it is and the world as God designed it and meant it to be’ (Hugh Nibley,
“Approaching Zion” p 4).
Section
105 of the Doctrine and Covenants speaks in detail of the needed preparation of
the saints before the Lord can ‘redeem Zion’ but the very first requirement is
relative to the elders of the Church which are to be endowed with power from on
high so that we, the members, might be taught more perfectly what God requires
of us (D&C 105:10,11). The structure of the Church is based on leadership.
The leaders are to be taught and trained as much as the members below them. The
leaders are meant to learn to lead and we are meant to learn to follow.
There
are some who believe they can be inactive in the Church and in the end show up
at New Jerusalem’s gate expecting to live a Zion life. Imagine arriving to Zion
without any experience behind you that would have taught you to be obedient to
the leaders’ instructions and to be united with other members of the Church
community. I have wondered how they could become obedient to the leaders overnight
when they didn’t value their leadership beforehand. I know some wonderful and good
members of the Church who are inactive and are highly critical of the leaders. There
are some who do not support the general authorities of the Church and tend to
believe they are ‘nice old men’ but not prophets, seers and revelators.
The
leaders might not be perfect but the Lord values their leadership of His
saints. This is how important it is to honour the administration of the Church in
preparation for the Second Coming:
“The
coming of the Son of Man never will be – never can be till the judgments spoken
of for this hour are poured out: which judgments are commenced. Paul says, “Ye
are the children of the light, and not of the darkness, that that day should
overtake you as a thief in the night.” It is not the design of the Almighty to
come upon the earth and crush it and grind it to powder, BUT HE WILL REVEAL IT
TO HIS SERVANTS THE PROPHETS (Amos 3:7)” (Teachings of Joseph Smith, p 286)
The
leaders of the Church might not know the exact day and the hour but the proximity
of it will be very real to the Church because of the preparation that the leaders
will have put into place for the readiness of the Kingdom. The New Jerusalem
for one will have to be ready and peopled to receive our King.
We,
the children of light, have more information regarding the Second Coming than
the rest of the world. The signs of the times are clear in modern day
revelation as contained in Doctrine and Covenants. We know the sequence of
events that are to take place. We are not dumb sheep without knowledge and
without untrained shepherds. The Lord has not left us unawares and clueless. He
wants His people to be ready and He wants us all in Zion to welcome Him.
There
will be no excuse if we are not there on that auspicious day….
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Second Coming by Ron DiCianni)
