Another surprising thing I discovered while reading quotes by early LDS leaders was that they equated their Zion-building efforts in Utah to those of the ancient prophet Enoch. “Then again, did Enoch build up a Zion? So we are doing…. Now, this is what we are building up, and they built up a similar thing […]
Posts by John Taylor Wilford Woodruff:
194. What Building Zion Requires of Us, Orson Pratt, 1872
In all these various dispensations God has directly spoken from the heavens; he has communicated his will to the human family. He has raised up revelators and inspired them, he has filled his servants with the spirit of prophecy, that they should foretell the future. He has inspired them to write revelations, and hence in […]
191. What Building Zion Requires of Us, Wilford Woodruff, 1870
This is one thing I want to say to my friends and to the Saints of God, that without the Holy Ghost, without direct revelation and the inspiration of God continually, Brigham Young could not lead this people twenty-four hours. He could not lead them at all. Joseph could not have done it, neither could […]
187. What Building Zion Requires of Us, Wilford Woodruff, 1870
The Lord has put into our hands the power to build up this great Zion, which all the ancient prophets rejoiced in and prophesied about. What manner of people ought we to be who are called to carry out this work? We ought to be the Saints and children of God in very deed. Our […]
Thoughts on Zion #48 – God Expected Zion to be Built in Utah
The Point of Gathering to Utah Early LDS leaders taught that the whole point of gathering to Utah was to build a Zion society. They also specifically taught that it was God’s will that they do so. No one put it more clearly than Brigham Young when in 1860 he said: “The Lord has led […]
186. Economic Unity, Orson Pratt, 1854
Let us prepare ourselves for the coming of Enoch’s Zion, that we may have the same order of things among us that they had in the beginning. Then, again, it will be a glorious thing in many other respects. What is it that creates this great inequality that we naturally see in the world, in […]
183. Babylon – Zion’s Antithesis, Brigham Young, 1867
If you have the right to buy and sell and get gain, to go here and there, to do this and that, to build up the wicked and the ungodly, or their cities, you have rights that I have not got. I have the right to build up Zion, but I have no right to […]
Babylon – A False Organization of Society
Just watched an interesting, but sobering movie named “Noble“. It’s about an Irish woman whose tough background prepared her to make an enormous contribution to the welfare of the orphans and abandoned children of Viet Nam. Several scenes in the movie show the brutal abject poverty, which of course, isn’t isolated to Viet Nam […]
Thoughts on Zion #47 – Zion-Building Was a Main Focus for Early LDS Leaders
In cataloging all the “building Zion” quotes from early LDS leaders, I found 33 of them, spanning the same number of years, that show that the goal of establishing Zion was a primary focus for them. Let’s review a just a third of those quotes now, with emphases added. 1862: “I have Zion in my […]
176. What Building Zion Requires of Us, Brigham Young, 1870
But when He speaks from the heavens and says, “Now, my children, gather out from the wicked,” some consent to this, and actually go so far as to gather, and that is why we are here in these mountains. But our labor is not done: we must still progress until we become one. The Lord […]
175. Babylon – Zion’s Antithesis, Brigham Young, 1867
And one of the last writers we have here in this book—John the Revelator—looking at the Church in the latter days, says: “Come out of her, my people”—out of Babylon, out of this confusion and wickedness, which they call “civilization.” Civilization! It is corruption and wickedness of the deepest dye. It is no society for […]
174. What Building Zion Requires of Us, Brigham Young, 1870
The Lord wants to build up His Zion, and He wants to build it up through you and me. We are the ones He has called upon. Will we consent to do this? I firmly believe that, before we make any very effectual progress in the accomplishment of that work, we must become more united […]
173. Zion Prophesied, Wilford Woodruff, 1870
The Lord has put into our hands the power to build up this great Zion, which all the ancient prophets rejoiced in and prophesied about. – Wilford Woodruff, 5/6/1870
Thoughts on Zion #46 – Building Zion was the whole point of gathering to Utah
In 1868, LDS Church President Brigham Young couldn’t have said it any plainer, “We are gathered together in the tops of these mountains for the express purpose of building up Zion, the Zion of the last days, the glory of which was seen by the prophets of the Almighty from the days of old.” Eleven […]
168. Economic Unity, Brigham Young, 1872
Suppose we should say to a few of the Latter-day Saints, if we could find those who would answer the purpose, “How would you like to build up a stake of Zion, a little city of Enoch? How would you like this? Would you like to enter into a covenant, and into bonds, according to […]
167. What Building Zion Requires of Us, Brigham Young, 1870
I can say to my brethren and sisters who profess to believe in the Gospel of the Son of God, as it has been revealed to us in these latter days, that we need to pay attention to our faith, and to observe the principles of our religion inviolate, and to live by every word […]