Equality-a Standard for all Fellowhips

And again I say unto you, let every man esteem his brother as himself. For what man among you having twelve sons, and is no respecter of them, and they serve him obediently, and he saith unto the one: Be thou clothed in robes and sit thou here; and to the other: Be thou clothed in rags and sit thou there—and looketh upon his sons and saith I am just? Behold, this I have given unto you as a parable, and it is even as I am. I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine. D&C 38:25-27

Is it possible to truly be one, to have equality among a group of individuals?  In our corporate, climb the ladder, mind frame we seem to always want someone “in charge” of a project, we want to lay claim or ownership to an “assignment”. If a body is of equals, with no president, no one in charge, will they be able to “keep order”? Can we govern ourselves? Must we always require someone to govern us? Can we submit to the Lord alone and regard each other as entirely of one body, one people, acting with respect and without compulsion?

I was present at a gathering of individuals last Sunday. The purpose of the gathering was to continue editing and working on a document that had been written as an assignment from a committee to an individual.  Some of those in attendance were there because they had been “called of God” while others were there because they had been called by the author of the document. What struck me as significant was how often throughout the day people referred to this project as “John Doe’s assignment”.  I kept thinking, “that’s a corporate America way of thinking, this is all of our assignment since God called all of us to work on it.”

At one point in the day we broke into smaller groups of 8 to 10 people.  The group I was in also contained the man who was considered by some as The Assignment Guy.  For the first couple of hours our group just went in circles, another man, who also believes in equality, had ‘taken charge’ of the group and was facilitating the discussion. After two plus hours of going in circles and not getting anywhere we took a break to individually pray and re-center ourselves.

When we came back together, it was suggested that we stand in a circle, holding hands to connect physically, while we connected spiritually.  We poured our hearts out to the Lord, begging Him for guidance and direction.  No one was in charge.  Everyone prayed when moved upon by the spirit and when thoughts or impressions would come into a person’s mind they would leave the prayer circle and write it down on the white board or a window until a couple of hours had gone by and the white board was filled as well as two large windows.

No one critiqued or edited or criticized anyone else’s writings.  Some were full sentences, some a few words.  Once we all felt that we’d “received” all that God had for us at the time one of our group, who had thought to bring a laptop, sat down and began typing up all the disjointed writings.  We then, as a group of equals, were able to put all the bits and pieces of personal revelation together to form a whole revelation.  It was an amazing and beautiful experience. This only happened once we all accepted the ‘assignment’ from the Lord and acted as equals, respecting each other’s bits and pieces of revelation; when we became of one heart and one mind with each other and with the Lord.

Zion is not just an idea that will happen sometime later and someplace else.  It is a fact that it will happen when (and if) there are ever people who will give heed and obedience to the abundant teachings and commandments we already have before us. Voluntary cooperation is harder than obedience to control and dictate. But control will not bring Zion. Since the only thing worth our effort is Zion, we must choose voluntary cooperation.

A Standard for All Fellowships

The first great commandment is to love God. Worship God. I am the Truth, the Way, and the Life. No man cometh to the Father but by me, and all things testify of me. If you love me keep my commandments. All who keep my commandments and obey my voice shall see my face and know that I am.  My sheep hear my voice and hearken to the voice of my servants.

The second commandment is like unto the first, love your neighbor as yourself. Every member of a fellowship has equal value. Who can measure the worth of a soul? Who can place a value on a child of God? Are not all my children? Did I not come to save every man and woman? Treat others my way. I am no respecter of persons. Let all things be done in charity.

Unity and love within a fellowship will create a connection with God. We are all broken parts of a greater whole—God’s family—the purpose of gathering together is to repair the family of God. Fellowships are where God can put the pieces back together. When we come together to worship with an eye single to the glory of God, then it is God who unites. Progression is rapid when labor is performed by mortals who work together.

Should the Lord send an angel to govern the affairs of men? Why should I send an angel when a group of broken individuals can come to the same understanding by joining together in love and meekness? Fear stops the flow of communication with God and destroys all relationships. Abuse is rampant and fosters fear. All are broken; only love, true forgiveness, and the atonement can break the chain. Implementing the Atonement of Jesus Christ in ourselves, our families, and our fellowships overcomes fear and heals all wounds.

The glory of God is intelligence, or in other words light and truth. Light, like a candle, can pass God’s glory to others.  Just as the sun rises to warm all the earth, light shared through love proceeds from within our hearts to draw in and unite all people. Light is given to all fellowships liberally that they may bring forth fruit meet for their Father’s kingdom. Otherwise there remains a scourge and judgment poured out upon the children of Zion.

When we lean on our own understanding we fail to connect with God and fail to fulfill the measure of our creation. Christ animates us as individuals and fellowships if we allow Him to do so. The words of Truth flow when the Spirit of God is animated in believers who speak and act according to the power of godliness. Faith is a principle of action and power. Unified actions, like prayer, ordinances, worship, song, coordinated dance, and physical labor can help a group achieve the flow of the Spirit. Revelation is God’s experience given to animate action in us— giving mere mortals the power to progress in their ascension to godhood.

Be of good cheer! The Lord will provide; do not fear. Have joy. Fellowships exist for the purpose of restoring the family of God and to prepare us for Zion. Our oneness testifies to the world that God is REAL. If you are not one, you are not mine.

We Still Weep for Zion-for Zion has fled

As we’ve been focusing on the scripture project, which we hope will bring about receiving a covenant from the Lord, Jesus Christ, I’ve begun to realize something: there is currently no scripture canonized today that teaches a people in word and by example how to bring about Zion.

The last time Zion was accomplished was in the days of Melchizedek with Salem, the City of Peace.  The only other time Zion has been accomplished was previous to Salem with the City of Enoch.  The scriptures contain references to these cities, but no actual recordings from the participants about how they governed themselves other than what little is said in scripture, “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

The Old Testament begins with the book of Genesis, “written” by Moses, or as some scholars believe, by four different sources, the “Yahwists”, “Elohists”, “Deuteronomists” and the “priestly document”. Whomever it was written by, one thing is certain, the Old Testament recorders lived long after both Zions had fled from the earth.

“And Enoch and all his people walked with God, and he dwelt in the midst of Zion; and it came to pass that Zion was not, for God received it up into his own bosom; and from thence went forth the saying, Zion is Fled.” (Moses 7:69)

We do not have any actual existing records in today’s known world of scripture which was written by any of the Patriarchs or “Fathers in Heaven”.  Because of this we do not know how to organize ourselves under a Patriarchal system where all people are equal and function more as a family rather than an institution.

After Salem, the City of Peace, the people of the Old Testament failed to bring about Zion.  The people of the New Testament failed to bring about Zion.  The people of the Book of Mormon came very close in 4^th Nephi  but in the end failed to bring about Zion.  The people of the Doctrine and Covenants failed to bring about Zion. These groups all failed because they organized themselves into institutions that were hierarchical rather than equal.

Is it wisdom in the Lord to keep the ideals, principles and guidelines followed by the people who were successful in bringing about Zion hidden from the world?  If we had the records from Adam down to Ephraim (the Fathers in Heaven) would the world have even more pretenders?  Would the knowledge damn us even more? Would it be used by conspiring men to enslave us even more?  Or is it that we are too stubborn and stiff-necked to even understand the patriarchal model at all and therefore it is kept hidden from our view out of mercy in order to spare us greater condemnation and judgement?

All we know for sure is that both Enoch and Melchizedek preached repentance unto their people. Their people repented from all their wickedness and peace was established.

Today we have been sent a true messenger from the Father.  He has been sent from the Fathers clothed with power and authority as an authorized servant to give us a message.  The message is to repent! But it is also about how to govern ourselves so as to bring about Zion.  As my family and I have been repenting and implementing the teachings we are learning, I am beginning to see how bringing about Zion can take centuries to accomplish.

One of the difficult struggles I have been witness to lately is that of equality: what it means and how we go about implementing it.

One of the lessons God has been teaching me lately is that Equality is not just between men but also extends to women. “ God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” Genesis 1:27  I have been greatly blessed to be married to a man who has treated me as his equal and walked side by side with me throughout our journey on this earth.  I generally associate with other men who treat their wives and other women with respect and equality.

Recently I have interacted with men who are all so busy trying to be equal with other men that they trample on the tender hearts of women.  Men may have knowledge but without the wisdom of women there is not true equity. Recent events have left me feeling that far too many men do not see women as their equals in spiritual matters.  Interactions with men outside of my family and friends have left me feeling unappreciated, overlooked and minimized.  Some interactions have even left me feeling embarrassed and humiliated.

This has caused me to think about the women mentioned in scripture from the Old Testament to the Pearl of Great Price.  While there are stories about women there are no books which have been penned by women. As I’ve pondered on this, I thought about all the women of great faith, even prophetesses whose stories are in the scriptures.  Surely, some of these women wrote about becoming daughters of Christ and receiving His testimony.  This world has been a male dominated world since sin was introduced.  Men are generally the ones who form committees to compile and canonize scripture, therefore, it only makes sense that men, threatened by and jealous of women having greater light and knowledge, would remove any writings penned by women.

As I have been pondering the current scripture project and the desire for equality among believers, the Lord has whispered to my heart that one of the tests underway in regards to equality is whether His Daughters will rise up and whether or not His Sons will allow us to.  It is not just equality between men that God desires for us but equality among all people, male and female, young and old.

“Verily, thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass that every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am” D&C 93:1

“For there is no respect of persons with God.” Romans 2:11

 Unless we take seriously that women are created equal to men we will continue to fail to bring about Zion.

Part of this responsibility lies on the shoulders of the women; we must rise up; we must speak up; we must expect respect and equality and we must extend it to each other.  Christ wants His daughters to speak up, to be more involved. If women cannot learn to respect and treat other women with equity we can never hope to be treated as such by men.  If we cannot learn how to be equal we will never bring about Zion.