"THEY THAT TRUST IN THE LORD SHALL BE AS MOUNT ZION, which cannot be removed, but abideth forever." --- [Psalm 127: 1 - Bible]
"Therefore, verily, thus saith the Lord, let Zion rejoice, FOR THIS IS ZION --- THE PURE IN HEART; therefore, let Zion rejoice, while all the wicked shall mourn." --- [D&C 97: 21]
{There are several definitions of} "ZION" {But this is probably the best:} "THE PURE IN HEART"
"I am the same which have taken the Zion of Enoch into mine own bosom; and verily, I say, EVEN AS MANY AS HAVE BELIEVED IN MY NAME, for I am Christ, and in mine own name, by the virtue of the blood which I have spilt, have I pleaded before The Father for them." --- [D&C 38: 4]
"AND THE LORD CALLED HIS PEOPLE ZION, BECAUSE THEY WERE OF ONE HEART AND ONE MIND, and dwelt in righteousness; AND THERE WAS NO POOR AMONG THEM." --- [Moses 7: 18 - Pearl or Great Price]
{In this verse there are three definitions of} "ZION" :
{1: The people of the Saints should be of} "ONE HEART AND ONE MIND";
{2: We should} "DWELL IN RIGHTEOUSNESS";
{3: We should} "HAVE NO POOR AMONG US".
{In other words it states that we should live the UNITED ORDER - THE LAW OF CONSECRATION and} "HAVE NO POOR AMONG US". }
{Being} "THE PURE IN HEART" {is the hardest thing in the world. So in saying that we should} "DWELL IN RIGHTEOUSNESS"; {#2, is almost the same as saying we should be} "THE PURE IN HEART" {. ALthough there are other commandments, when you truly become} "THE PURE IN HEART" {you have conquered the hardest principle of all to conquer, and perfection itself is not far off!}
{As for being of} "ONE HEART AND ONE MIND"; {who can truly claim this when he has money to spare, yet his brethren struggle with not having enough! As long as there are} "POOR AMONG US", {There is no} "ONE HEART AND ONE MIND" ... }
"3 But behold, they have not learned to be obedient to the things which I required at their hands, but are full of all manner of evil,
AND DO NOT IMPART OF THEIR SUBSTANCE, AS BECOMETH SAINTS, TO THE POOR AND AFFLICTED AMONG THEM:"
" 5 AND ZION CANNOT BE BUILT UP UNLESS IT IS BY THE PRINCIPLES OF THE LAW OF THE CELESTIAL KINGDOM; otherwise I cannot receive her {Zion} unto myself." --- [D&C 105: 3 & 5]
" 44 And all that believed were together, AND HAD ALL THINGS COMMON;
{To have} "ALL THINGS COMMON" {is} "A LAW OF THE CELESTIAL KINGDOM." {He, God, who is willing to share ALL THAT HE HAS WITH US, who is not wanting to be greedy with us, who is not wanting to be selfish with us, or withhold anything that He has from us --- why should He allow us to be greedy, selfish, or keep what we have from others?}
{continuing}
"45 AND SOLD THEIR POSSESSIONS AND GOODS, AND PARTED THEM TO ALL MEN, AS EVERY MAN HAD NEED." --- [Acts 2: 44-45 - Bible]
"AND THEY HAD ALL THINGS COMMON AMONG THEM; THEREFORE THERE WERE NOT RICH AND POOR, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift." --- [4th Nephi 1: 3 - The Book of Mormon]
{Just as there are} "NOT RICH AND POOR" {in the Heavenly MANSIONS prepared for us by the Saviour to be given to those who obey His will and inherit His Glory, so there should be} "NOT RICH AND POOR" {amongst The Latter-Day Saints!}
"33 And the multitude of THEM THAT BELIEVED WERE OF ONE HEART AND OF ONE SOUL:
{as we already read, being of one heart and one mind is super important to the Lord: } AND THE LORD CALLED HIS PEOPLE ZION, BECAUSE THEY WERE OF ONE HEART AND ONE MIND" --- [Moses 7: 18 - Pearl or Great Price]
{Other than the City of Enoch, probably the greatest example of this} ONE HEART AND ONE MIND" {is found in Acts in the Bible:}
"33 Neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own: BUT THEY HAD ALL THINGS COMMON."
"34 NEITHER WAS THEIR ANY AMONG THEM THAT LACKED; for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold."
"35 And laid them down at the Apostles' feet: AND DISTRIBUTION WAS MADE UNTO EVERY MAN ACCORDING AS HE HAD NEED." --- [Acts 4: 32 & 34-35 - Bible]
"Wherefore, let my servant Edward Partridge, and those whom he has chosen, in whom I am well pleased, APPOINT UNTO THIS PEOPLE THEIR PORTIONS, EVERY MAN EQUAL ACCORDING TO HIS FAMILY {'s needs and righteous wants} , ACCORDING TO HIS {family's} CIRCUMSTANCES AND HIS {family's righteous} WANTS AND NEEDS." --- [D&C 51: 3]
"... ACCORDING AS THE LORD WILL, SUITING HIS MERCIES ACCORDING TO THE CONDITIONS OF THE CHILDREN OF MEN." --- [D&C 46: 15]
{The Lord is willing to} SUIT HIS MERCIES ACCORDING TO THE ... CIRCUMSTANCES or CONDITIONS {we are in; and Bishops and Stake Presidents should, too!}
(But sometimes Bishops and Stake Presidents do not suit their mercies according to} CIRCUMSTANCES, WANTS AND NEEDS, AND THE CONDITIONS OF THE CHILDREN OF MEN. {Bishops and Stake Presidents and even General Authorities including Apostles and Prophets are human, and can have, despite their high callings, human prejudices on how people should be helped, on how much money and resources the Church should spend on you. If you experience a Bishop or a Stake President who denies you the resources of the Church and you realize they shouldn't be denying you, as hard as it might be, forgive them: do not become inactive or apostasize from the Church (do not jump off the so-called ship heading towards Salvation) because of what any man in the Church says or does unto you, including if that man is a bishop or a stake president: the Church, the Gospel, the Priesthood, or anything else in IT, is not about any one man: it is about the doctrines of salvation, the Saviour, the Holy Ghost, and working out your own salvation in harmony with the Atonement of Jesus Christ which forms the principles of repentance.)}
"13 And again, let the bishop appoint a storehouse unto this church; and let all things both in money and meat, WHICH IS MORE THAN IS NEEDFUL FOR THE WANTS OF THIS PEOPLE, BE KEPT IN THE HANDS OF THE BISHOP."
"14 And let him also reserve unto himself FOR HIS OWN WANTS, AND FOR THE WANTS OF HIS FAMILY, as he shall be employed in doing this business." --- [D&C 51: 13-14]
"7 NEVERTHELESS, INASMUCH AS THEY RECEIVE MORE THAN IS NEEDFUL FOR THEIR NECESSITIES AND THEIR WANTS, IT SHALL BE GIVEN INTO MY STOREHOUSE;"
"8 AND THE BENEFITS SHALL BE CONSECRATED UNTO THE INHABITANTS OF ZION, and unto their generations, INASMUCH AS THEY BECOME HEIRS according to the laws of the kingdom."
"9 Behold, this is what the Lord requires of every man in his stewardship, even as I, the Lord, have appointed or shall hereafter appoint unto any man."
"10 And behold, none are exempt from this law who belong to the church of the living God;"
"11 Yea, neither the bishop, neither the agent who keepeth the Lord’s storehouse, neither he who is appointed in a stewardship over temporal things."
"12 He who is appointed to administer spiritual things, the same is worthy of his hire, even as those who are appointed to a stewardship to administer in temporal things;"
"13 Yea, even more abundantly, WHICH ABUNDANCE IS MULTIPLIED UNTO THEM THROUGH THE MANIFESTATONS OF THE SPIRIT."
"14 Nevertheless, IN YOUR TEMPORAL THINGS YOU SHALL BE EQUAL, AND THIS NOT GRUDGINGLY, OTHERWISE THE ABUNDANCE OF THE MANIFESTATIONS OF THE SPIRIT SHALL BE WITHHELD." --- [D&C 70: 7-14]
"30 And behold, THOU WILT REMEMBER THE POOR, AND CONSECRATE OF THY PROPERTIES FOR THEIR SUPPORT THAT WHICH THOU HAST TO IMPART UNTO THEM, with a covenant and a deed which cannot be broken."
"31 AND INASMUCH AS YE IMPART OF YOUR SUBSTANCE UNTO THE POOR, YE DO IT UNTO ME; and they shall be laid before the bishop and his counselors, two of the elders or high priests, such as he shall appoint or has appointed and set apart for that purpose."
"32 And it shall come to pass, that after they are laid before the bishop of my Church, and after that he has received these testimonies concerning the consecration of the properties of my Church, that they cannot be taken from the Church, agreeable to my commandments, EVERY MAN SHALL BE MADE ACCOUNTABLE UNTO ME, A STEWARD OVER HIS OWN PROPERTY, OR THAT WHICH HE HAS RECEIVED BY CONSECRATION, AS MUCH AS IS SUFFICIENT FOR HIMSELF AND FAMILY."
"33 And again, IF THERE SHALL BE PROPERTIES IN THE HANDS OF the Church, or ANY INDIVIDUALS OF IT, MORE THAN IS NECESSARY FOR THEIR SUPPORT after this first consecration, which is a residue to be consecrated unto the bishop, IT SHALL BE KEPT TO BE ADMINISTERED TO THOSE WHO HAVE NOT, FROM TIME TO TIME, THAT EVERY MAN WHO HAS NEED MAY BE AMPLY SUPPLIED AND RECEIVE ACCORDING TO HIS WANTS."
"34Wherefore the residue shall be kept in my storehouse, TO ADMINISTER TO THE POOR AND NEEDY, as shall be appointed by the high council of the Church, and the bishop and his council;"
"35AND FOR THE PURPOSE OF PURCHASING LANDS FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT OF THE CHURCH, AND BUILDING HOUSES OF WORSHIP, and building up of the New Jerusalem which is hereafter to be revealed---"
"36THAT MY COVENANT PEOPLE MAY BE GATHERED IN ONE in that day when I shall come to my temple. AND THIS I DO FOR THE SALVATION OF MY PEOPLE." --- [D&C 42: 30-36]
"AND IF THOU OBTAINEST MORE THAN THAT WHICH WOULD BE FOR THY SUPPORT, THOU SHALT GIVE IT INTO MY STOREHOUSE, that all things may be done according to that which I have said." --- [D&C 42: 55]
{Joseph Smith, the Lord/'s chosen Restitutory Prophet TRIED, through the Spirit, to get the Law of Consecration as a regular part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. But as in a few other things, The Saints, like the children of Israel in Moses day, would not live it. So even as The Lord lessened His requirements for the children of Israel and gave them The Law of Moses, The Lord pulled The Law of Consecration from The Church.
Yet some people, such as I, would live it IF it were available.
It isn't available through bishops, etc; nonetheless, any rich person could live it in a poor ward, if he so choose to move into a poor ward, and wasn't afraid to give away hundreds of thousands or a few million dollars so that the people in that poor ward in the Philippines, in Brazil, or someplace else, had "ALL THINGS COMMON"
"THAT EVERY MAN WHO HAS NEED MAY BE AMPLY SUPPLIED AND RECEIVE ACCORDING TO HIS WANTS."
{Indeed, any rich member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints could set up his own so-called "storehouse" and "ADMINISTER TO THE POOR AND NEEDY." }
It doesn't really take The Church practising The United Order in order for a rich person to live The United Order! But it probably would require a multi-millionaire who believes in the concept and is willing to sacrifice his money in order that a poor ward and each member of that poor ward might be lifted up out of their poverty by the rich man setting the programs up and living the law which states:}
"IN YOUR TEMPORAL THINGS YOU SHALL BE EQUAL."
{I am one who hopes to someday live The United Order. I pray that God will let me gain the riches that I seek after. If He gives me an abundance, I will organize a poor Filipino ward into a well-off ward. Whatever I and my wife live on each month, each member of my ward will also receive that amount of money (given by me, which was given by The Lord to me) to live on.
But a better way than just giving it to them will be to create jobs for the adult members of the ward.}
{And I bear testimony of these truths about Zion, and I seek to establish a Zion in my ward, IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST. AMEN." - (Elder Erving Axel Lambert - 2/5/2017}
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