The Zion Code - Part 1.

One Heart and One Mind

“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)

A call has gone forth to those who have ears to hear. We are being given an opportunity to come unto Christ that we may find protection and life under his covering.  Like a hen that gathers her chicks the Messiah is extending his covering to us that we may be “One”.  The idea of oneness has been pontificated on and speculated about by many scholars, religious leaders, and theologians.  As a result the doctrine of “Oneness” has been taken from its roots and been planted in a foreign soil of Western Greek Culture.

Over the years I have heard many proclamations and discourses in my experience in Mormonism about “Being One.”  While there are many who cite Moses description of Zion in the Pearl of Great Price wherein he states that 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 they completely ignore the rest of his teachings to Ancient Israel on how to be of one heart and one mind.  They ignore the commandments given to Israel on how to dwell in righteousness. They neglect the laws God gave to Moses to establish a society with no poor among them.

It only takes us two seconds to turn on the news and witness with our eyes the reality that we are living in the latter days.  We are witnessing curses being poured out and our children being taken over by a foreign culture.  We are receiving the curses of the covenant and in our ignorance and blindness we stand bewildered not knowing what to do as the chains of bondage wrap themselves ever tighter around us and our families. The truth is that Zion is not a mystery.  God foreknew our situation and preserved his word to us in these latter days:

 “In the future (latter days), when you experience all these blessings and curses I have listed for you, and when you are living among the nations (gentiles) to which the LORD your God has exiled you, take to heart all these instructions.” (Deuteronomy 30:1)

God revealed to Moses that Israel would not be faithful in keeping his instructions.  Moses knew that we would be scattered to the ends of the earth.  We would be found living among nations that did not know the God of Israel and in conditions where we would forget his covenant instructions that he not only gave to all Israel that stood at the foot of Mount Sinai, but to all their future generations yet unborn.  Realizing this predicament God revealed:

“If at that time you and your children return to the LORD your God, and if you obey with all your heart and all your soul all the commands I have given you today, then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes. He will have mercy on you and gather you back from all the nations where he has scattered you.” (Deuteronomy 30: 2-3)

This promise that God revealed to Moses is the backbone of the Great and Marvelous Work wherein God will remember his promises he made to the Fathers and restore the House of Israel.

“Even though you are banished to the ends of the earth, the LORD your God will gather you from there and bring you back again. The LORD your God will return you to the land that belonged to your ancestors, and you will possess that land again. Then he will make you even more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors!  The LORD your God will change your heart and the hearts of all your descendants, so that you will love him with all your heart and soul and so you may live! (Deuteronomy 30:4-6)

Pay close attention to these words because they are the “Heart” of Oneness with God and each other.  God is making his case very clear to his people.  He is God.  We are to follow his instructions.  In doing so he will change our hearts (Heb: Thoughts and desires) so that we may be one (echad) and live.  To an Israelite, this should cite our minds to the greatest commandment given by God, the Shema:  

          

“Hear (Listen and Obey), O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one (echad). You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)

One God, One Law, One People

For Zion to exist and all Israel to be gathered we must be one (echad) or united.  This unity does not come from a vacuum of speculation but on the knowledge that Yehovah is God and he alone is our God.  There is one law Given to all Israel.  It is the same Law delivered on Mount Sinai and renewed by the Messiah.  There is ONE people-Israel; whether by natural blood or adoption. 

Their Unity or Oneness comes from accepting God as their King and his laws as their Constitution. They are of one heart because their thoughts are centered on him and the embracing of his instructions  that he gave to Moses and reiterated through Messiah.  They are of one mind because their will is to carry out or implement those instructions given by God to Moses and reiterated by the Messiah in the physical world of the here and now.  

In doing so, God promises:

The LORD your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate and persecute you. Then you will again obey the LORD and keep all his commands that I am giving you today.”

“The LORD your God will then make you successful in everything you do. He will give you many children and numerous livestock, and he will cause your fields to produce abundant harvests, for the LORD will again delight in being good to you as he was to your ancestors.

The LORD your God will delight in you if you obey his voice and keep the commands and decrees written in this Book of Instruction, and if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and soul. (Deuteronomy 30:9-10)

By returning (teshuvah-repentance) to the God of Israel and his commandments that he delivered to Israel not only to say them, but to do them in the here and now we will obtain the covenant blessings that will overturn the curses coming upon us.  Rather than destruction we will have prosperity.  Rather than losing our children to a foreign culture we will establish an everlasting inheritance in the land to our God.

There are those who would have us believe we must make some metaphysical connection with spirits and heaven to learn the “secret” before establishing Zion, but in doing so they err.  The instructions of God are the words of plainness.  They are simple and practical.  We can begin to implement them in our homes and families in the here and now.  Zion is the result of loyalty and obedience to God.  It is our loyalty and obedience to God’s instructions that draws heaven to us—the connection.  There is no new revelation or hidden instruction that we need to begin.  God has provided these instructions to us in plainness in his Scriptures:

 “This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you to understand, and it is not beyond your reach. It is not kept in heaven, so distant that you must ask, ‘Who will go up to heaven and bring it down so we can hear it and obey?’

It is not kept beyond the sea, so far away that you must ask, ‘Who will cross the sea to bring it to us so we can hear it and obey?’

No, the message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart so that you can obey it.

 “Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster.

For I command you this day to love the LORD your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy.   (Deuteronomy 30: 10-16)

“For I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you. And evil will befall you in the latter days, because you will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands.”

(This article is part 1 of a series on the building blocks of Zion.)