The Cause of Zion: no poor among us
The Cause of Zion: no poor among us
“If
people didn’t come up with luxurious homes,
clothes
and food then all those that are in need
would
not have to suffer, and the rich would not
have
to fear for themselves and their wealth.”
Leo
Tolstoy
The
Lord has repeatedly admonished us to seek after the cause of Zion, instead of riches,
fame or other personal pursuits (D&C 6:6-7). To Him Zion is when people are of one
heart and one mind, live in righteousness and have no poor among them (Moses 7:18). He establishes a correlation between
being of one heart and mind and equal in all things temporal. To Him, there is
a causality. If x, then y. Zion-like righteousness
and poverty cannot coexist.
The Law of consecration
The Law of Consecration
in our perception is one that deals with temporal matters. But the Lord doesn’t
seem to think of it in those terms. To Him all things appear to have spiritual
significance and none of the laws He gives are temporal (D&C 29:34) Furthermore,
He clarifies that our inequality in the temporal hampers our ability to attain the
“heavenly things” and damns our progression altogether (D&C 78:6, D&C 49:20).
There is a similar causality here. If x, then y… This might come across as harsh.
But in His unapologetic, Jewish-like manner the Lord says it how it is… Our job
is to discern whether it’s Him speaking (D& C 84:52-53).
Culturally and doctrinally
speaking the law of consecration is but a vague memory to us, living 200 years
after it was originally revealed. Fortunately, the Lord has promised the coming
forth of additional books of scripture in the latter days (1Nephi 13:39). One
such volume is the Mentinah record, which I firmly believe was written and preserved for
our day. In more powerful and clear ways than any other scripture we
have available it bears witness of the Lord’s take on the Law of Consecration. Like
a dry flower inserted in between the pages of a favorite book to preserve
a memory, the Mentinah record has been inconspicuously added to the volumes of
available to us holy writ to preserve a spiritual memory. It serves as an
anchor, grounding us in the doctrine of Christ and connecting us to our
spiritual identity. During this time, it has been gently placed in our view to
help us make connections and realizations that cannot be made otherwise.
The arduous process of
transition from telestial to terrestrial condition is as inevitable and imminent
as a birth of a baby at the end of a pregnancy. And as
any birth, it can hardly be expected to be pain-free or immaculately clean. The
realizations we need to make and perhaps changes to follow, like overpowering
contractions may take our breath away and at least for a time, leave us
speechless. As an intense contraction, the Mentinah record does just that. But aligning our
vision with the Lord’s is paramount, if we are in fact expecting the Firstborn.
.
Property and stewardship
Buying into the telestial
make belief of ownership, we are duped into regarding our possessions as ours.
However, in the Mentinah record the Lord clarifies that He sees things
differently:
The laws and
dictates of men center on property. But I say unto you, man has no
property, for the world is My footstool. Wherefore, think not of your
possessions as your own property. I give My substance unto you to prove
you, whether you will be a good steward of My property...
Wherefore, if you desire riches, remember that they are Mine and I
give them to that steward who will do My bidding continually[1].
(MR, emphasis added)
The juxtaposition Mine vs.
Man’s is clearly central. Herein is the number one flaw in our vision the
Lord is trying to correct. Like a child that invites his friends over to “his
house” to play, we forget that the house is not ours, but ultimately belongs to
the One paying the mortgage.
Despite the excessive
use of possessive pronoun, the Lord is not trying accentuate His ownership. His primary focus is on stewardship or one’s willingness
to abdicate entitlement to property. He invites all to accept the responsibility
over His resources and do His “bidding continually” (MR).
And that which you do not
require for your maintenance, you will freely give to those of My children who
have need. Yea, you shall give of your
excess to the poor, to the halt, to the sick, to the needy. You shall visit the
widow in her loneliness and you shall expeditiously judge the needs of the
fatherless and be as a father or mother unto them (MR).
He, who generously pours out blessings “with not
enough room to receive” (Malachi 3:10), who feeds the hungry by the thousand exceeding
the need, who comforts, serves and gives constantly, expects us to do the same.
Willingly and freely:
And this you
shall do freely, with joy in your heart, not being
commanded to it and not grudgingly. For he who does
begrudge the needy, robs Me (MR).
The thought of begrudging the Lord, let alone
robbing Him makes one shudder!!!The above statement in all too familiar overtones
echoes Malachi: “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me…” (Malachi 3:8-10) Have
we robbed the Lord, albeit unknowingly, by retaining our surplus?
Under condemnation
The notion of being under
condemnation is not a popular one in the “Lord’s” church. Yet, the
pronouncement of such status has been with us since 1832 (D&C 84:56) and this
judgment for not living the Law of Consecration has not been lifted (DC
42:30-32). In light of this, the passage
below form the Mentinah record stands not as an impossible accusation, but as a
second witness:
Behold, let him whose eyes
are opened see and understand. My whole church stands upon the brink of
a precipice because of the teachings of My shepherds. Verily, the
times come that will test the strength of My people. In that day, if
they have set their hearts upon their property, they shall be bitterly
disappointed.
My shepherds have not
taught the Law of Consecration. My
little ones have been raised up with a love of money and a worship
of property. My saints sit and listen to My shepherds and follow their
teachings. Why should they not? Yet, man’s law of property has taken root
in the hearts of men and it overshadows their souls. (MR, cf Moroni
8:33, emphasis added)
The words plumet like a falling gavel and reverberate
through the soul as a poignant sound of our awful situation. Like Moroni, who
saw our day and knew our doing, the writer of the Mentinah record makes it
clear it is us, he is talking about. Thus the phrase “in that day” is a
word link to the latter-days commonly used throughout the scriptures, particularly
by Isaiah, that is meant to draw us in and get our attention. Sadly, we are
the people among whom the love of money has become the love of many.
“Verily, all tables are
filled with vomit” (MR). The word “vomit” is not used in the scriptures
very frequently. It stands out, as if written in red ink. Thus, it takes no
effort to see the connection to Isaiah 28, a prophetic discourse on the
Shepherds of Ephraim in the latter days, who become drunk on the notions of self-importance
and delusion and fail to protect their flock. The disgusting token of their
debauchery, their regurgitated vomit covers the tables, which is another word
for “tablets” or “word of God” in Hebrew. The Lord’s doctrines, be it milk or
meat, has become neither recognizable nor appetizing. That which was supposed
to be taught and to nourish, is good for neither
“How
has My word been altered? How has the pulpit of My church become a Rameumptum?”
(MR) echoes Moroni’s “Why have ye ctransfigured the
holy word of God, that ye might bring ddamnation upon
your souls?” (Mormon 8:33).
But instead of playing “the Garden
of Eden” game of pointing fingers and locating the most suitable candidate to
put the blame on, perhaps it’s time we bypass all mediators and learn directly
from Lord what He needs us to know about the Law of Consecration.
Trust and no thought for the morrow
The
crux of the Law of Consecration is trust in the Lord. That is “the nail in the
sure place” that holds everything together:
Behold, when you covenant
to keep the Law of Consecration, you covenant to trust in the Lord in all things, and
to lean not upon your own understanding (MR).
With a sweeping gesture of one overthrowing
the tables of the money changers, the Lord exposes the financial wisdom and
prudence of the world:
Else find Me the man who takes no thought in
the morrow, even as I taught My servants. Is there such a one in Zion
who does not bring down upon him the hailstorm of railing from his neighbors?
And what man among you who has labored all his life to provide for his
family, but provided not against his old age, does not reap a whirlwind of
scorn from all around him? (MR. emphasis added).
Indeed, in the world of social security
and 401ks, thinking of tomorrow and saving up enough for the future is the
norm. And taking “no thought for the morrow” is the blasphemously imprudent
thing to do. Financial stability is what we seek. But the very term “financial
freedom” becomes an oxymoron in the world where we own nothing and are entirely
dependent on the Lord. And attaining such ‘freedom’ means having attained absolute
bondage to the very property that was intended to serve us, not the other way
around.
With an indignation and a
heartache that spills over as out of an overflowing cup, the Lord laments our indifference
towards those in need and a refusal to share of our surplus:
Yea, the children cry unto Me and their
bellies are empty. And the lame cry unto Me, and the sick. And there is no
end of distinction between they who have and they who have not. Wherefore, can
you show unto Me any of My Wards and Stakes wherein there are none who
stand up before the body of my saints and extol their own virtues because
their Lord has so blessed them, but who refuse to provide their surplus to
the poor and who withhold to themselves and for the sake of their own
future the bounty that I give unto them? I say there are none to be
found in all My church. (MR. emphasis added).
Do we let our children go hungry, other
than on fast Sunday? To the Lord all of His children’s needs are equally
important. Current needs take precedence over future ones. And if His children
are hungry today, why are we putting away for “the morrow”?
From individual to collective
More often than not, the
general sentiment about the law of consecration is that in order for it to be fully
implemented there needs to be a leader that will come on the scene and “make it
happen”. Intuitively we recognize the massiveness of the task. However, transition
into the higher law doesn’t occur en masse. Whether getting baptized,
initiated into temple ordinances or receiving the Second Comforter (3 Nephi
11:13-14) the interplay is always one on one with the Lord.
Transitioning into a
higher law requires that we break, cease following or reevaluate the lower law.
Thus, one can stop paying tithing in favor of living the Law of Consecration.[2]Perhaps, paying tithing to
the church can morph into paying it to the Lord. And making these choices with other like-minded people just might facilitate this process.
Such approach requires that we step further into our Agency and judiciously start
making choices that before used to be as easy as filling out a donation slip.
The process of birthing
into the higher law will look differently for all of us, just like labor
can be prolonged and arduous, or intense, but relatively quick. How quickly or
slowly we choose to give back to the Lord what is already His, is up to us…
All of us, individually
and collectively, are like the rich young man, whom Jesus loved. We stand
before Him, certain that we have kept all the commandments, checked off all the
boxes and met all the requirements. Then, He invites us to sell everything we
have, give it to the poor and follow Him (Mark 10:21). This is His idea of
becoming “perfect” (Matt. 19:21). The Hebrew word used here is derived from the root to the word שלום shalom (Strong's
#7965). Shalom or Salem, is recognized by most as “peace”. The
additional meaning that is often overlooked is “complete”. One who is complete
has shalom. [3] Once
again, the divine arithmetic defies human logic. More is actually less, when it
comes to material possessions. And in order to become complete, instead
of adding on, one needs to give away.
The Mentinah record
powerfully teaches us the Law of Consecration and extends, along with Doctrine
and Covenants and the Bible, an invitation to live it. And, as if the above
records were insufficient, the
Ang Akltan, a volume of scripture to the people of
the Philippines, stands as yet another witness of this principle to establish
all truth and righteousness:
And as concerning riches you shall
not be rich in the things of the world. And those things that you now possess
you shall sell and give the money to the poor. And if you cannot do this you
will be cast off and the work will be given unto another. But if you do this
thing and do it with a grateful heart, rejoicing, then you will receive a
greater reward in heaven. [4]
In the coming days the Lord just might mercifully bring
forth more of such records to restore and heal our spiritual memory.
Through the records, both
old and new to us, the Lord is restoring our vision of what it means to live
the Law of consecration. He teaches us anew about the proper place of property,
ownership and stewardship. What it means
to be consecrated, to be complete in Him.
Living the Law of Consecration doesn’t start with a
leader showing up on the scene and directing us to put everything in a communal
pot. No leader can force us to share willingly and freely what the Lord
has said belongs to Him. Only we can decide to follow and fully trust Him from
one day to the next.
Ushering in the laws of
Zion begins in the inner chambers of our hearts, as we allow more Light and
Truth to circulate. It starts with
changing our perceptions, beliefs and attitudes and overcoming the telestial
inertia of the lower law, paradigms and vibrations. It might seem drastic and
be painful like labor, yet breathtakingly beautiful as a newborn.
.
The engine that powers up the Law of Consecration
is not an external commandment but the overpowering drive of Agency and Love,
the only thing strong enough to initiate take off as we overcome telestial
gravity. Being consecrated to others and the Lord will accumulate into an overflowing collective. And as our hearts are pure enough for Zion, we will have no poor among us. Until finally, we can be His people and He can
be our God !!! (Jeremiah 30:22).
[1] All
quotations are from volume 2 of the Mentinah Record (MR).
[2] Sponsoring a deadly vaccine that has already been
wreaking havoc in the lives of so many is a very good reason to stop paying
tithing in and of itself. There are other reasons that have made paying tithing
in my humble opinion quite unethical.
[3] https://www.ancient-hebrew.org/teachings/the-rich-man.htm
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