Seek to bring forth and establish the cause of Zion

Today I read Doctrine and Covenants section 12, a very short section given to Joseph Smith on behalf of Joseph Knight. Joseph Knight had believed in Joseph Smith and the revelations that he had been given but desired to know what the Lord would have him do.

The line that stood out to me the most comes from verse 6, the Lord instructs Joseph Knight to bring forth and establish the cause of Zion. This phrase interests me greatly. This same instruction could of course be applied to each one of us even today, for that is our ultimate purpose, is Zion here on earth. Today in church we had Stake Conference. It was a joint stake conference between us here in Huntsville and the 4 gulf states, although I must admit that I do not know which 3 the other 3 were. It was a broadcast from Salt Lake City and we heard from the L. Tom Perry, President Thomas S. Monson and 2 others.

As you can imagine, President Monson spoke on "to the rescue", or in other words, about reaching out to those in need that are both under your stewardship and those others that are not but still need your help. Is this not establishing the cause of Zion? Of course it is, but to fully understand what we mean by establishing the cause of Zion, we have to first understand what we mean by Zion. Anytime the Lord speaks of Zion, it is safe to assume that He is referring to the definition given in Moses 7:18, namely a people of one heart and one mind with no poor among them.

So what does it mean to be of one heart and one mind? Well, to me it means to be like the Godhead. We only worship Heavenly Father, yet there are 3 Gods that comprise the Godhead. Yet despite there being 3 Gods we always say they are one. We say this because despite their being 3 separate personages, they are of one mind and one purpose. They all have the same goal, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. And so we say they are one God. That is what it means to be of one heart and one mind.

So how can an entire people become like this? Well, it has been done before. The people who lived in the city of Enoch managed to become of one heart and one mind. In fact, the description of Zion in Moses chapter 7 is about that same people and city. I would think that to be of one heart and one mind as a people, you would have to be full of charity. To me it would mean that you are so full of the Spirit and so concerned with the welfare of your fellow man that you forget all about yourself. To me it means to magnify your calling and to do what you are asked to do by your leaders. Things like home and visiting teaching, being actively engaged in your local ward or branch member's lives. To take care of your ward/branch family as if they truly were your own family.

However, let us not forget the other aspect of the Zion society. They had no poor among them. Now, as important as it is to ensure that to the best of your ability there are no physically poor among you, I do not think it is only speaking of physically poor. We must take care of those that are Spiritually poor as well. Those who have wandered away into strange paths, those who feel like they are not welcome among us. It is up to us to seek them out and do what we can to reclaim them. This is what President Monson means by the phrase "to the rescue". We cannot wait and let them come to us, we must be actively engaged in reaching out to them. For just like Joseph Smith's enemies of old, we do not know who may one day repent and we do not want to be the one to have written them off as a hopeless cause and gave up on them.

This to me is what it means to establish the cause of Zion. Perhaps you disagree, and perhaps I truly am wrong, but can you really go wrong if you are anxiously engaged in caring for your fellow man? I don't think so. At the very least we can all pay a generous fast offering each month whether we fast or not. In this way we can at least contribute to the cause of our Lord and Savior of saving souls. But I think each of us can do more than this if we but look around us. I know I certainly will look harder this year than I have in years past and see what more I could be doing. I hope you will too. Until tomorrow.