New Jerusalem: Final Gathering
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Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles As we contemplate this great event of the future, our thought broadens to the prophecies of Joseph Smith of the gathering of the saints out of the world in response to the message of the restoration. For said he of events preceding the final gathering of the saints to the center place of Zion. And we are acquainted with the initial preparations which God made in the first settling of the consecrated and dedicated land of Zion in Jackson County, Missouri, wherein God knew the beginning and the end. And he knew that the saints would not redeem Zion at that time. And they were subsequently expelled. And in light of that expulsion, there came to the prophet Joseph Smith the manner in which the children of God would be gathered from throughout the world in preparation for the day when the revelation would come that would begin the final gathering of the children of God from throughout the world. And this is to be accomplished in the manner that the prophet has explained here and which you and I are a part of this very day. For said he, "There will be here and there a stake for the gathering of the saints. Some may have cried peace, but the saints and the world will have little peace henceforth. But let this not hinder us from going to the stakes. For God has told us to flee, not dallying, or we shall be scattered, one here and another there. For there your children shall be blessed, that is in the stakes of Zion, wherever they are established throughout the world. And you shall be in the midst with your friends, where you may be blessed. For the gospel net gathers of every kind." But of the final gathering of the saints in the due time of the Lord, not many years hence, the prophet makes this further declaration. And I quote, “You know, there has been a great discussion in relation to Zion, where it is and where the gathering of this dispensation is, and which I am now going to tell you. The prophets have spoken and written about it. But I will make a proclamation that will cover a broader ground. The whole of America is Zion itself from north to south and is described by the prophets who declare that it is Zion where the mountain of the Lord shall be and that it should be in the center of the land. When the elders shall take up and examine the old prophecies in the Bible, they will see it.” In the prophecies of Micah, Isaiah, and Nephi, and later in the revelations from God contained in section 133 of the Doctrine and Covenants, we learn that the term mountain of the Lord's house means the place where the authority and where the power of God resides. And that the mountains referred to are not specifically geographical eruptions, but pertain to the house of God. The psalmist once said that he prayed that his mountain would be faithful unto the commandments of God. And this mountain to be above all other mountains means that it shall rise above all other houses and all other kingdoms of the earth. Concerning the gathering of the saints first to the stakes wherever they may be throughout the earth for the purposes intended of teaching those who come into the church the principles and the ordinances of heaven that they may be blessed by the commandments of God and then to the center of the land in America. Joseph Smith uttered this prophecy. “I prophesy that that man who tarries after he has an opportunity of going will be afflicted by the devil. Wars are at hand. We must not delay. We ought to have the building up of Zion as our greatest object. When wars come, we shall flee to Zion. The cry is to make haste. But the last revelation says, ‘Ye shall not have time to have gone over the earth until these things shall come.’” The Zion of God, or the place where the city of the new Jerusalem shall be built, which shall be the first of the cities of Zion, shall therefore be established in Jackson County, Missouri. For following the expulsion of the saints from Jackson County, Missouri, the consecrated centerplace of Zion in November of 1833, and the failure because of the rebelliousness of its volunteers of Zion's Camp to redeem Zion in the months that followed. The Lord gave a revelation to the prophet Joseph at Fishing River, Missouri in June of 1834 at the very scene of the Zion's Camp encampment where many died because of a deadly scourge from which the following is taken. “Therefore, in consequence of the transgressions of my people, it is expedient in me that mine elders should wait for a little season for the redemption of Zion.” Previously, but after the Jackson County expulsion, the Lord had assured the prophet that Zion shall not be moved out of her place, that no other place has been appointed. The key to the initial settlement in Jackson County, Missouri, the consecrated land of the center place was declared by the Lord who knows the beginning and the end. Wherein he said, that you might be honored in laying the foundation and in bearing record of the land upon which the Zion of God shall stand. It is the responsibility and the obligation of every servant of God in this dispensation according to this revelation to bear record unto the children of men that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored first for the redemption of the individual and secondly for the gathering of the children of God from throughout the earth that there may be ushered in the millennial reign. And this is stated in many of the revelations. The time has come, I believe, to reestablish the image of Christ's church more formidably in the consecrated and dedicated land of Missouri. I think that President McKay feels this. And only recently he has authorized that the things that transpired on the memorable visit we had seven months ago to Adam-ondi-Ahman and the cities of Far West, Missouri and Jackson County in general and Independence that these things now can be written that we may in some way bring back to the consciousness of the people of this church, those who are faithful to their covenants, that God established his work in that place, and that to fulfill it, there must be built the city of the New Jerusalem as revealed by the Lord, by the Gentiles, who shall come in and be numbered among the children of Israel, by the sons and daughters of Ephraim, and by the remnant of Jacob, who are the Lamanites, and they shall build the city of the New Jerusalem. And there shall be erected in that city a temple complex such has never been known in the annals of earth's lifetime wherein there shall be as the center of that complex the temple of the New Jerusalem where the Lord will make his appearance in the administrative responsibilities of the government of the earth and it will be sustained and supported by 23 other temples, all named after various orders of the priesthood. And we know the exact location of these temples in the city of Zion. And it is of particular interest to note that when the temple land was purchased by Bishop Partridge for and in behalf of the Church, it constituted 63.27 acres. Whereas according to the plat of the city of Zion, which is to be the city of New Jerusalem, and the first of the cities of Zion, which will be constructed in multiple fashion, for when one city is filled, then the same measurement and dimension of another city will be erected, and so on until it fills the earth, or until it fills all of the land of Zion. But the temple complex will be so arranged that the government of the earth will be carried forward through the priesthood of God under the direct leadership and direction of the Son of God who will live and reign upon the earth. Among these 23 other temples are three temples of communication whereby the voice of God will go throughout all the earth to testify of the things that are to happen in the culmination of the Lord's work here upon the earth. And these things the Lord has made known to us. Well, now my brothers and sisters, the Church has gone through many vicissitudes with its initial expulsion from the state of Missouri and its exile in the city of Nauvoo and their eventual expulsion from there to the state of Utah where many troubles developed, reaching the turn of the century and then the more solidification of the programs of the Church leading to its great position in the world today. The children of God have truly been occupied in these many years. But we need, I believe, to reflect upon the initial things which God has restored to us that pertain to the establishment of these great cities to culminate the work of the Lord.
Elder Alvin R. Dyer
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Dictatorship is the opposite of free agency. Free agency is part and parcel of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hence, free agency was required here in America so that God’s work could move forward; and so it must, for the day of the Lord draweth nigh and the ultimate destiny of the United States is rapidly emerging. Here in the USA the Lord’s latter-day Zion has been established already. Here in the USA his latter-day New Jerusalem will yet be established. [Salt Lake City had already been well established by the time of this talk] Here in the USA the Lord will preside during the Millennium. From here will go forth the law and the word of the Lord to all the nations of the earth. The restored gospel is already going from this land to all other free nations. It does so under the protection of the
Elder Mark E. Petersen
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