How Zion Will Be Established:

Almost daily, both in the LDS Church and outside the LDS Church, I encounter people who are telling me exactly how God will establish Zion on this earth. They have been doing so for hundreds and thousands of years now.

One word of caution for you. Don't apostatize from the LDS Church if it doesn't turn out exactly the way you foresee it turning out.

Our resurrected Lord Jesus Christ has thousands and millions of different ways to bring Zion, any one of which will bring the same results in the end.

Jesus Christ could come in glory tomorrow if He wanted to and establish Zion. If the Second Coming were tomorrow, what would happen? The wicked would be burned, and Jesus Christ would then establish Zion among the righteous remnants. It could happen tomorrow. If Jesus Christ postpones his Second Coming for a decade or for a century, He is doing so out of mercy to the "tares" giving the tares a chance to repent and become "wheat" before the Second Coming.

In summary, Jesus Christ does not need to establish Zion the way you foresee Him establishing Zion in order to successfully establish Zion. Jesus Christ does not need to do it the way I foresee Him doing it either. He can do it anyway He wants to do it, including coming in glory, burning the wicked, and establishing Zion among the righteous remnant, which He could do tomorrow if He wanted to.

The establishment of Zion is in Christ's hands, and He will do it at the pace and in the way that He sees fit. He could do it tomorrow, or He could do it two hundred years from now, but either way, when He comes in power and glory, Zion will be established if it hasn't already been established before.

Any way that we choose to look at it, Christ wins in the end. God's plans will not be frustrated.

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SpeedRacer: “So it seems in the past he established Zion in the same way. Why is he changing? How did God get leeway to do as he pleased when he pleased? I thought there was a plan? How do I exercise faith in a changeable god? I thought it was prophesied that Christ would return to Zion? How can He return to something He has to setup? It would seem he would need to send a servant like Enoch or Melchizedek to establish Zion, then come to it. Where am I off base on this?”

Answer:

You are not off-base on this. If that's the way Jesus Christ has chosen to do it this time around, then that is the way He will do it. If He chooses to do it Robert Sinclair's way, then that's the way He will do it. That's my point.

The way any of us get off-base is when we apostatize against the LDS Church because the Church isn't establishing Zion the way we personally believe that it should be established or rebel against the Brethren because we don't think that they are establishing Zion fast enough or in the right way.

This is not Jesus' first time at bat. Jesus Christ has successfully established Zion multiple times already. He did it for Adam in some form or another, Enoch, Melchizedek, and the Nephites in 3^rd Nephi; and, those are just the accounts that we know about.

In fact, through the Restoration of the Gospel of Christ in these latter-days, Jesus Christ has already established Zion or laid the foundation for Zion in our time as well. They are called the Stakes of Zion for a reason. It's called the Temple of the Lord or the House of the Lord for a reason. It's already here. Jesus has already done it. The fact that collectively we are not already taking full advantage of it doesn't change the fact that He has already restored Zion to the earth in our day. It's called the Restoration of the Gospel, or the Restoration of Zion, or Laying the Foundation of Zion for a reason. It will be LDS Temples that will be found at the heart of every City of Zion during the Millennium, and the ironic thing is that we already have them here and now. Jesus has already done it and already established it. It's here now. Jesus has already won.

It's a marvelous work and a wonder to think about. We have been told that Temple Work or Redeeming the Dead will be the primary work of the Millennium; and, guess what. We are already doing it! In a very real sense, the Millennium started the day that Joseph Smith presented the Endowment and the other Temple work to the LDS Apostles. That's the day that the Millennial Work or Redeeming the Dead began. So, in a way, that's the day that the Millennium officially began. Zion is already here. It has already been established. Jesus has already won.

My message is to chill and relax. Trust God. Have faith in God. It will all come in His own way and at His own pace. He has done it many times before, and He will do it once again. Just don't be upset, or fly off the handle, or apostatize, or murmur and complain because He doesn't do it exactly the way you foresee Him doing it, this time around. Don't quit the Church as some have done just because the Brethren don't seem to be doing it the “right way” or “your way”, or don't seem to be establishing Zion fast enough to suit your pleasure. Don't start making the claim that the LDS Church is off track, or the Brethren are doing it wrong, or that Christ has abandoned the LDS Church simply because it isn't all turning out the way that you foresaw it turning out or isn't going fast enough to meet the schedule that you have in mind. God deliberately sets up tests of our faith all the time, and this is one of them. So, trust that Christ has everything well in hand and knows exactly what He is doing. Trust and believe and know that Christ has already won.

Don't commit spiritual suicide because it isn't going the way that you want it to go. Instead, go to the LDS Temples and do some of that Millennial work or Zion work. You don't have to wait until Christ comes in power and glory in order to go and do some Temple Work today, the very kind of work that everyone will be doing during the Millennium. You don't have to wait for Christ to come or for some kind of United Order to be re-established in order to do the works of Zion here and now. You can do the Temple Work or Millennial Work, redeem some of the dead, and have Zion in your heart and life at this very moment. We don't need the coming of some kind of magical special prophet to save us and establish Zion, because we already had one, and he was Joseph Smith. We don't need any kind of United Order, or banking reform, or conversion to socialism, or spectacular event, or the Gospel already preached to the whole world, or a Zion City, or the Second Coming of Christ, in order to go do Temple Work right now. Zion and the work of Zion, Redeeming the Dead, is already here. It has already been established. Christ has already won.

Sometimes, we really don't realize or see what we truly have in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We already have Zion. We are already doing the works that will be done during the Millennium when Christ is here in person. We already have the work of the Millennium, Redeeming the Dead. We are already preaching the Gospel of Zion and baptizing the converts. It's already here. Zion has already been established. We just have to stop fretting and be willing to reach out and take advantage of it. Christ says to us, “Be still and know that I am God”.

http://www.ldsfreedomforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=33805