THE PROMISE OF ZION

 

When the early saints were driven from their homes in Jackson Country, Missouri, in November 1833, they were reduced to the lowest poverty and they were grief stricken because they had lost their homes in Zion.

The failed protection by the Lord against the mobs was the result of one reason: they did not ‘hearken altogether unto the precepts and commandments’ which He had given them (D&C 103:4).

Even though the establishment of Zion failed in the early Church history, the promise of its inheritance stands and Zion’s restoration is still to come.  The Lord has promised this will happen ‘in time’ (v 20) and it will happen under one condition:

“….that day will not come until the members of the Church are willing to keep their covenants and walk unitedly, for until the members of the Church learn to walk in full accord and in obedience with all of the commandments, this day cannot come.

“It may be necessary in order to bring this to pass for the Lord to use drastic measures and cleanse the Church from everything that offends. This he has promised to do when He is ready to redeem Zion (See Matt 13:41).” (President Joseph Fielding Smith, “Church History and Modern Revelation”, 1:484; Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual p 251)

This I believe, is the crowning glory of Zion’s redemption:

“….when we go back there will be a very large organization consisting of thousands, and tens of thousands, that will march forward and the glory of God overshadowing their camp by day in the form of a cloud, and a pillar of flaming fire by night, the Lord’s voice being uttered forth before His army…..and His people will go forth and build up Zion according to celestial law.

“The Lord says the banners of Zion shall be terrible….When the Lord’s presence is there…and the Lord’s angels go before the camp, it will be telegraphed to the uttermost parts of the earth and the fear will seize all people…..” (Elder Orson Pratt, “Journal of Discourses, 15:364)…..but the armies of heaven will be protecting the Saints in their return to Zion.”  (“History of the Church”, 2:381; Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual P 250). Can you imagine it?

This return to Missouri to build Zion will be akin to Moses leading the children of Israel to their promised land (v 16). This will be an amazing sight to see but unlike Moses’ expedition which was not selective, the group returning to Missouri will be only those who live the law of the celestial kingdom because only they will be prepared to be led by the presence of the Lord (D&C 105:5)…..because how can you abide the presence of a celestial being if you are not one yourself?

He is our Shepherd of Israel

Who would not see us lost,

Who rescued our souls

Never counting the cost.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: In His Keeping by Yongsung Kim)

WATCHMEN ON THE TOWER

 

“In ancient Israel walls were built around cities, and towers were erected in key places along the walls. Watchmen, or lookouts, kept watch in these towers day and night to warn the people if an enemy came. A watchman’s responsibility was great, because if he was negligent, his sloth could cost the lives of others.

“The Church today stands in a position to see the enemy and how he works, because they have living prophets who speak for God. They are therefore called by the Saviour both to warn the wicked and to protect Zion. Thus the Lord refers to His authorized servants today as watchmen upon the towers (see Isiah 62:6; Ezekiel 33:2-9; D&C Student Manual p 239-240)

One of my favourite Old Testament prophets was Ezekiel. He was called to be ‘the watchman upon the tower unto the House of Israel’ who were the exiles in Babylonia for a period of twenty-two years, from 592 to 570 B.C. I won’t expound on his life and calling today, I will leave that for next year when we study the Old Testament. What I will say is that knowing Ezekiel will reduce you to tears.

What I do want to point out is that Ezekiel was called to preach repentance to backsliding Israel who did not deserve mercy and yet Jehovah, through him, extended the promise of forgiveness and restoration of all former blessings to Israel.

In Section 101 of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord extends a warning of destruction that will come upon all nations in our dispensation but ‘all who are found upon the watch-tower shall be saved’ (v 12). The reference is to His beloved House of Israel.

 In verses 43 to 67, we are given the parable of the wheat and the tares relative to the latter-day redemption of Zion. The desperation shown therein to save the vineyard of twelve olive trees because the vineyard was ‘bought with money’, makes you want to weep (v 56). This money is the price that only the Saviour could pay and pay He did.

Anyone studying the scriptures has got to see the beloved House of Israel in the centre of the Saviour’s heart. Because that is where we are, we are given special privileges like the watchmen upon our tower in the role of prophets to warn us, guide us, prepare us to ‘possess eternal life, and be crowned with celestial glory, when He shall come, in the kingdom of His Father’ (v 65). It is time we give heed.

There is no end of mercy the Saviour will show to save His people Israel. We have got to know our part in this incredible undertaking. The King is coming, we must dust off our wedding garments and prepare for a wedding feast of a lifetime. We must be the most beautiful bride the world has ever seen. 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Artist Unknown)

BEING STILL

 

“Some of us have been tried and have been tested until our very heart strings would seem to break. I have heard of persons dying with a broken heart, and I thought that was just a sort of a poetic expression, but I learned that it could be a very real experience.

“Don’t be afraid of the testing and trials of life. Sometimes when you are going through the most severe tests, you will be nearer to God than you have any idea, for like the experience of the Master himself…….’angels came and ministered unto Him’  (Matthew 4:11)”  (President Harold B. Lee, In CR, Munich Germany Area Conference 1973, p 114)

During the most intense persecution of the early saints in Missouri the Saviour gave them the most powerful advice: “Be still and know that I am God” (D&C101:16). In other words, you can do nothing, just trust that I have it in hand.

Being still means you are not being shaken or distressed by anything around you. Being still means being at peace, unperturbed by the world. Some of our trials, however, are very much like an earthquake which has immense power to disturb our stillness.

We often find out how very powerless we are to handle some trials in life. When no solutions come to us and it becomes obvious that we have no capacity to solve the problem or prevent the disaster, there is only one option available: to be still and allow God to take over.

In the advice given by the Saviour, He tells us that stillness can be possible by knowing Him, that He is God with all power, and because of it we are in His hands (v 16). A God who creates worlds without number has the power to steady us in the midst of our trials that threaten us, therefore allow God to take over.

One of the Saviour’s names is The Rock of Heaven (Moses 7:53). Helaman referred to this Rock by teaching his sons that if they would build their foundation upon ‘the rock of our Redeemer’, they could not fall (Helaman 5:12). A foundation in Christ is built by faith, trust and obedience (see Elder Bednar’s instructive explanation of foundation in his conference talk “Be Still, and Know That I am God of April 2024).

My greatest strategy for acquiring stillness when I need it is ‘remembrance’. Helaman began his advice with ‘remember, remember’…..remembering what the Saviour has done for me in my life, the revelations I have had, the understanding I have of Him, all my prayers that have been answered, all my spiritual moments with Him…. all goes towards my trust in His control over my life and the path I am on. It wasn’t always like this, but it is now that I know Him….and over and over again He brings me back to stillness and endurance.

My heart overflows with gratitude

For my darkest nights

Because they bring You to me

Flowing like a river with its strongest might.

I bask in Your presence,

I surrender my soul,

I am grounded in Your strength

I am strong enough to carry on.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Be Still My Soul by Mark Missman)

THE POWER WITHIN HIM

 

“While the enemies in Missouri were gathering their lawless forces for an assault upon the Church there, the Lord inspired the Prophet Joseph to go on a mission and proclaim the gospel message. He was not to mind the enemies. His calling was to testify to the world. And he went on this mission as far as Canada, as full of faith and hope as if there had been no storm clouds in the sky.” (Smith and Sjodahl, Commentary p 630 – as quoted in the Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual p 236)

If there is anyone who is qualified to say that “a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation” it is Joseph Smith (Lecture 6:7, “Lectures on Faith”). Following this call he wrote in his journal: “I feel very well in my mind. The Lord is with us, but have much anxiety about my family.” (“History of the Church”, 1:419n)

Section 100 of the Doctrine and Covenants is only small and seems rather insignificant compared to the rest of this book. It mainly deals with this mission call but there is something so powerful in it.

The Lord assured Joseph and his companion Sidney Rigdon that their families were in His hands and then He added something that makes this mission call more significant than it appears. He said: “In me there is all power” (v1).  

And this is how that power was manifest. Sidney Rigdon had great gifts as an orator and student of scriptures. The Lord called him as a spokesman to Joseph and promised him “power to be mighty in testimony” (v 10). Sidney declared the word of God with wonderful eloquence and was a mighty man in the hands of God.

What is significant about Sidney is that Joseph of Egypt was told about him by the Saviour himself 1,700 years before his birth and recounted by Lehi 600 years before the same (2 Nephi 3:18). Thus we see Sidney was prepared in pre-existence by the Lord himself for his calling as Joseph’s spokesman to Canada and according to President George Q. Cannon, even until Joseph’s death (see “Journal of Discourses” 25:126).

What a God we worship!!! A God of impeccable wisdom, might and power. When you make the salvation of others your work and your glory, you employ all your perfect faculties in ensuring success. This is who He is. A God of perfection, a God of all knowledge, wisdom and power, a God that can be trusted and relied upon. A God who will ensure our salvation. In Joseph’s words:

“We are on the pathway to eternal fame, and immortal glory”…….

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Joseph Smith at Saviour's Feet by Liz Lemon Swindle)

 

 

A PATH TO HEAVEN

 

I walked a mile with pleasure

She chatted all the way;

But left me none the wiser

For all she had to say.

I walked a mile with sorrow

And ne’er a word said she;

But oh! The things I learnt from her

When sorrow walked with me.

-     Robert Browning Hamilton

 

I know not of any greater godly attribute than that of humility that this world of sorrow affords all those who travel its paths.

For a long time I have tried to unravel the enigma of the severity of this life’s suffering and the purpose thereof. I couldn’t understand why suffering affords godhood. Surely, there would have to be another way. I know, I have written about this more than once recently but I have finally received understanding that makes sense to me more than any other explanation and insight I have received concerning this subject.

I believe in this poem. My eyes have been opened to it. As I contemplated this morning I could plainly see that sorrow has taught me lessons that happiness never has. Sorrow has the power to induce humility which makes us teachable. I understood that the opposite would be the detrimental and spirit corroding attribute of pride.

A god could never be an entity full of pride. Pride seeks to elevate self at the expense of demeaning others. Pride is grounded in control. Control denies free will and seeks only self interest and elevation of one above the rest.

The Saviour excelled in humility when He sought the salvation of others to bring them to the station that He himself has. There was not an ounce of pride inside Him when He volunteered to be the way to the elevation of all the host of heaven, at His excruciating expense. The path has been provided but the price of learning has still to be paid, by each one of us.

Humility is crucial in our rise to exaltation. A god in the making needs its teaching power. King Benjamin defined this process in his address by saying that if we ‘humble ourselves in the depths of humility’ we will be: 1. filled with the love of God; 2. retain a remission of our sins; 3. grow in the knowledge of the glory of God; and 4. we will love our fellowman (Mosiah 4:10-12). Which one of these would not be needed in our rise to godhood?

If humility leads us to godhood, we can only imagine where pride leads…..we have a good example of that…..let us not follow there…..

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Divine Faith by Greg Collins)

PURE LOVE

 

“The greater definition of ‘the pure love of Christ is not what we as Christians try but largely fail to demonstrate toward others but rather what Christ totally succeeded in demonstrating toward us. TRUE charity has been known only once. It is shown perfectly and purely In Christ’s unfailing, ultimate, and atoning love for us.

“It is that charity – his pure love for us – without which we would be nothing, hopeless, of all men and women most miserable. Truly, those found possessed of the blessings of His love at the last day – the Atonement, the Resurrection, eternal life, eternal promise – surely it shall be well with them….Life has its share of fears and failures…but one thing in time or eternity does not fail us – the pure love of Christ.”

-          Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, “Christ and the New Covenant” [1997], 336-37

“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”   (Romans 8:38,39)

As the stars in heaven

That burn with everlasting light

So is my love that burns for Thee

On the altar of my godly heart.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: God of Wonders by Yongsung Kim)

THE SACRIFICE OF YOU

 

A few posts back I wrote about my belief that we are not here for our salvation alone but for the salvation of the whole human family. Here is a more detailed account of that belief.

Some months ago it was revealed to me that I was a ‘sacrificial lamb’ of sorts for someone in my life some thirty years ago. This someone had derailed me from what I expected to become a picture-perfect life to something that became a total opposite and what I had never expected.

For thirty years, every once in a while, I was reminded that my life was unfair. I had done all the right things and my assessment was that I did not deserve what I got. This revelation, however, taught me something of far more importance than the value of my life. It taught me the unfairness and the value of the Saviour’s life.

Elder Dale G. Renlund spoke of this in his April 2021 General Conference talk, “Infuriating Unfairness”:

“I declare with all my aching heart that Jesus Christ both understands unfairness and has the power to provide a remedy. Nothing compared to the unfairness He endured. It was not fair that He experienced all the pains and afflictions of mankind. It was not fair that He suffered for my sins and mistakes and for yours……He understands perfectly what we are experiencing.

“….all that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ overcame the world and ‘absorbed’ all unfairness. If we let Him, Jesus Christ will consecrate the unfairness for our gain. He will not just console us and restore what was lost; He will use the unfairness for our benefit.”

We may well ask how He will use the unfairness for our benefit.  When I look back over my life, I can see that it has afforded me growth and learning that I would never have had if my life was picture perfect. The person I am today is because God asked me to be the ‘sacrificial lamb’ thirty years ago. In gratitude for this sacrifice I testify of what Joseph Smith said on the subject:

“A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation…..those who have this testimony will have faith to lay hold on eternal life, and will be enabled, through faith, to endure unto the end, and receive the crown that is laid up for them…..” (Lecture 6:7, “Lectures on Faith”)

There is no greater sacrifice you can give than the sacrifice of self. There is one man who proved that succinctly and irrefutably……

 

I carried my cross to the foot of Calvary,

While you carried yours to the top.

I cried bitter tears over the injustices of my life,

While you bled valiantly for all that was lost.

I carried my hurts like a badge

So scornfully proud and spiritually poor,

While you rose to the heights of your exalted throne:

Perfected, ennobled and infinitely more.

You are so high

And I am so low;

I consent to climb to Calvary’s top,

I consent to be lifted to Thy throne.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Jesus is Lord by kBrake)