Let us cultivate the spirit of love and kindness, and let every little unpleasantness be buried, let us forget the election difficulty and our neighbor’s difficulty, and be one, brethren and sisters together, united in building up Zion and establishing the Kingdom of God upon the earth. – John Taylor, 3/2/1879
Posts by John Taylor Wilford Woodruff:
261. Babylon – Zion’s Antithesis, Brigham Young, 1872
But I wish now to impress on the minds of the people the necessity of our taking a course to be able to exist and to sustain ourselves—to have something to eat and wear—hats to put on our heads, and coats, mantles, blankets, vests, shirts, garments and other things suitable to wear and to make […]
259. What Zion is and is not, Wilford Woodruff, 1873
This is the work and kingdom of God; this is the Zion of God and the Church of Christ…. When I look at the history of the Church of God in these latter days I many times marvel at what has been done and how we have progressed, considering the traditions, unbelief, failings, follies and […]
258. What Building Zion Requires of Us, John Taylor, 1881
Brethren and sisters, let us be virtuous and pure and holy, and God will bless us and lift us up and the power of God will be with us; and we will rejoice upon the mountains; and we will build our Zion upon the principles of righteousness, and we will love and fear God all […]
Thoughts on Zion #56 – The True Organization of Society
Elder D. Todd Christofferson said that “The antithesis and antagonist of Zion is Babylon.” So, we can learn about both Zion and Babylon by comparing and contrasting them. I believe that they both are methods of organizing society, but that Zion is the true method, the one God wants for us, and that Babylon is […]
257. Babylon – Zion’s Antithesis, Wilford Woodruff, 1873
Some of the daughters of Zion do not seem willing to forsake the fashions of Babylon. I to such would say hasten it, and let the woe that is threatened on this account come, that we may get through with it, then we can go on and build up the Zion of God on the […]
254. Babylon – Zion’s Antithesis, Stephen L Richards, 1951
There is no fence around Zion or the world, but to one of discernment, they are separated more completely than if each were surrounded with high unscalable walls. Their underlying concepts, philosophies, and purposes are at complete variance one with the other. The philosophy of the world is self-sufficient, egotistical, materialistic, and skeptical. The philosophy […]
249. Babylon – Zion’s Antithesis, Erastus Snow, 1877
Now the Latter-day Saints are gathering from all nations and tongues, with divers customs and habits and traditions, and we have brought them with us, unfortunately we could not leave ourselves behind, while we gathered to Zion. Having brought ourselves along we have the labor of separating the follies of Babylon, the traditions of the […]
Thoughts on Zion #55: Overcoming Babylon’s Greed
In the April 1873 General Conference, President Brigham Young pointed out another value of Babylon, Zion’s opposite, that the Saints have yet to overcome – avarice, the insatiable desire for wealth or gain. He said, “Babylon is in the hearts of the people, that is to say, there is too much of it. What did […]
245. Babylon – Zion’s Antithesis, George Q. Cannon, 1872
We are told by the Revelator John, that a time would come when the people of God should be commanded to come out of Babylon, out of confusion, when they should be gathered out from every nation, from the remotest parts of the earth, and when he should make of them a great and mighty […]
244. Economic Unity, Brigham Young, 1874
You hear a good deal from time to time, and you think a good deal, about the condition of the Latter-day Saints, and what we are trying to do with them concerning the United Order….. Thus saith the Lord unto my servant Brigham, Call ye, call ye, upon the inhabitants of Zion, to organize themselves […]
Was Fourth Nephi Truly a Zion Society?
We are safe in taking the word of modern prophets that the society described in Fourth Nephi was actually a Zion society. However, if we examine the question for ourselves, we can discover in greater detail what it was that actually made their society a Zion, and, better understand how to build our own today. […]
Thoughts on Zion #54: Individualism is Not a Zion Principle
Admitting to ourselves that we live in a Babylon-style society allows us to see that our day-to-day environment is saturated with Babylon’s pride-based values, and more importantly, that they are rubbing off on us, and, leading society in the opposite direction of Zion. One such pride-based value early LDS leaders tried to teach the Saints […]
236. What Building Zion Requires of Us, John Taylor, 1875
We cannot build up a Zion unless we are in possession of the spirit of Zion, and of the light and intelligence that flow from God, and under the direction of the Priesthood, the living oracles of God, to lead us in the paths of life. We do not know them without, and we need […]
232. What Building Zion Requires of Us, John Taylor, 1881
We have to build up Zion, and make it the praise of the whole earth; but to do this acceptably to God, we must be governed by the principles of purity and honesty; truthfulness and integrity and all the sterling virtues which God has pointed out for man to be governed by. – John Taylor, […]
Thoughts on Zion #53 – Newsflash: You Are Living in Babylon!
Got a BIG kick out of Tanner Gilliland‘s blog post on MillenialMormons.com. It’s title was “NEWSFLASH: YOU ARE LIVING IN BABYLON!” [He he he. Love it!] Why is this important to understand? If we don’t realize we are living in Babylon, we will be blind to its influence on us. Not realizing we live in […]