For lack of a better idea, I've cribbed the title of this piece from a talk given by Denver Snuffer in 2016 which you can listen to HERE.
What I want to address first is a silly rumor being passed around among the those in the Restoration movement. Don't worry, I won't be using any names.
According to the gossip, a wealthy Provo doctor (the medical kind, not the Jill Biden kind) has spent 40 million dollars to purchase massive amounts of land in and around Lemhi County, Idaho for the purpose of providing God's people with a place to establish Zion and/or (depending on who's telling this story) for the building of a temple in that area.
This rumor started with one guy who I won't name, and quickly spread until Connie saw it on a thread that was sent to her. I immediately pegged this story as false. Ridiculously false, in fact, for reasons I'll get to below.
I happen to know this doctor. I'll call him "Stan." I assume Dr. Stan makes a decent living in his specialty, but I seriously doubt his practice has brought in forty million dollars. But then again, I've never asked him.
Some years ago Stan and I had communicated by phone and email, but we had never met in person. Then one day Stan called me to say, "Hey Rock, this is Stan. My daughters and I are here in Sandpoint. Would you like us to stop by for a quick visit?"
I excitedly responded, "Boy, would I!"
"Well, we're at Safeway right now but we can come by in a few minutes. Can we bring you anything from the store while we're here?
"Well actually, Stan, I have been craving a glazed donut so bad I was actually contemplating driving to the store to get one."
"You want a donut?"
"So bad I can taste it."
So thirty minutes later I got to meet Dr. Stan and his two lovely daughters. And they brought me a donut which they refused to take my money for. And a sack of vegetables, for some reason.
That was two or three years ago. So to bring this story up to the present, immediately after I heard this rumor about Stan purchasing Zion, I sent him a teasing email:
"Say Stan, as long as you have 40 million dollars to throw around, do you think I can get you to buy me another donut?"
We spoke on the phone shortly after that and Stan admitted he was pretty miffed at having his name attached to a crazy rumor like that. He told the guy who started the rumor that it was 100% false, and of course reiterated the same to me. Unfortunately, once it left the lips of the first guy the rumor seemed to have speedily spread. Like Mark Twain said, "a lie can travel half way around the world before the truth has a chance to put its boots on."
So, for the record, let's be clear: nobody is buying up land for the purpose of establishing Zion or a temple in or around Lemhi County, Idaho or anywhere else. Especially not Dr. Stan.
At least Stan is not the lone victim of such a rumor. In the past few years, the rumor mill has placed the coming Zion in Missouri (natch!); Mount Pleasant, Utah; The Hopi reservation, Challis, Idaho; somewhere in Montana; and Northern Idaho. I'm partial to that last one, because Northern Idaho is where Connie and I live now and when the call comes, having Zion located right down the street from us would suit me just fine.
The location of Zion is understandably one of great interest to a lot of people in the Remnant, as it certainly feels like the world is getting more wicked by the day. With the growing feeling that circumstances are closing in on us, I can certainly understand others' keen interest in knowing where the good people will end up so we can start making the physical preparations to at least move closer to where Zion is to be located. But the Lord is keeping that information to himself for now, so all we can do is prepare ourselves morally and spiritually to be ready. It will be the Lord who establishes Zion's whereabouts, and He is the one who controls the timeline. Since Connie and I are now in our golden years, with any luck we will have returned to the bosom of Abraham before that time occurs, because as far as I'm concerned, shuffling off this mortal coil would be a lot less of a hassle than packing up and moving again for the umpteenth time. Too bad about the rest of you guys.
What DO We Know About Zion, Anyway?
Admittedly, the topic of Zion has been confusing to a lot of people, so here is the little bit I understand about the topic:
Zion will be established preliminary to the Lord's return in glory. If I understand correctly, there must be a dedicated temple for the Lord to return to before he makes his return in glory, because he cannot first set foot on the earth without everything he touches being consumed. This is a rather simple analogy, but I see the temple as functioning as a sort of stargate, a way for God to leave the dimension He resides in and enter into ours to begin the process of his return. I could be wrong, but that seems to me like an apt yet simple description regarding the how and why.
Zion will be a place of refuge (D&C 45:66) for God's people because that will be the place He governs from as king before the wicked are destroyed. This will be our safe place where none can get to us, as "he that fighteth against Zion shall perish." (2 Nephi 10:13) If you're following current events, you can see having a safe place to live that is out of reach of the wicked might be a pretty nifty thing. I certainly understand why rumors get started, because some people just can't wait. As the Lord tells us in D&C 45, verse 70, the bad guys will know better than to even try to get at us once we're safely ensconced in Zion. That place, wherever it turns out to be, will be better than a bunker; the ultimate safe room: "it shall be said among the wicked: Let us not go up to battle against Zion, for the inhabitants of Zion are terrible; wherefore we cannot stand."
As Denver Snuffer puts it,
"God will be the force with which the nations of the earth must contend if they intend to do harm to Zion, because it is His government, it is His handiwork, and it is an affront to Him to challenge His authority in attacking Zion." -Denver Snuffer, "Zion Will Come"
So ease your minds, because
"It is going to come to pass. In your enthusiasm it would be better to demonstrate the virtue of patience as the Lord brings His work about than to exhibit the character flaw of impatience and enthusiasm in trying to bring about what the Lord intends Himself to cause to happen, because you cannot, you cannot give birth prematurely to a living Zion because it will choke and it will die because it is unable to be viable outside of the hands of the Lord. We have to wait on Him..." -ibid at 50:21
"...If you think that you can out-think the Lord and you can arrive at the right place and the right time, then go ahead and buy some farmland in and around Independence, Missouri and wait for the burning, because you're not going to be at the right place. If Independence, Missouri was where the Lord intended Zion to be, he wouldn't have told them in January of 1841 that he was going to make Nauvoo the corner of Zion. It is portable until it is fixed by Him. -ibid at 1:08:28
So What Do We Do In The Meantime?
In the meantime, we wait on the Lord. But while we're waiting, we prepare outselves: morally, spiritually, and physically. Store up what provisions you are able to, so your resources are not strained as times get increasingly difficult. Constantly show kindness to the people you interact with, so that you will be able to stand before the Lord with a pure heart. Most of all, be charitable. And what I mean by that is this: don't judge others just because you may not feel they are doing enough to bring about Zion. You focus on yourself and concern yourself only with whether or not you and your family will be ready to depart when the time comes. Do what you can to comfort others. If the only other person in your house is your spouse, try giving more attention to him or her than you do to yourself. Ask yourself what you need to do to become a more loving, outward-focused individual in your interactions, both with your friends and especially with strangers. If you only do that, you might be halfway qualified for Zion already.
Also remember to have fun. In these increasingly stressful times there is still plenty to laugh about and enjoy. Do you have a hobby that doesn't cost much? Then find time to enjoy it! Start a blog and write about whatever interests you. Who cares if nobody reads it? Blogging is still free, so what's stopping you? At the very least it's a dandy way of keeping a journal about the things that interest you. That's what I did. I named my other blog Aging Hipster Doofus. Unlike this blog, that one is a depository for short bits of fribble that reflect my interest in 20th century popular culture.
And guess what? Nobody reads it!
Perhaps one of the most effective ways to prepare for Zion is to give Zion-living some real-world practice. If you are not already involved with a local fellowship, by all means hook up with like-minded people. Zion fellowships have taken hold all over the world, with the largest concentration in the Rocky Mountain states as you would presume. If you can't find like-minded people, pull up the Fellowship Locator online. If you still can't find a physical group to gather with, there's still the Fellowship of Christ Facebook Group. Lots of fascinating discussions going on there.
Keep in mind that the actual Zion will operate much like the Kingdom of God on earth; which is to say one won't require a background in Mormonism in order to belong. So if you live in an area bereft of other believers in the Restoration, not to worry. Cultivate friendships with your neighbors and begin to live as much as you can as if you were already part of the Kingdom of God. (See here for my three-part series titled "The Church Ain't The Kingdom" to understand what that entails. God's intention for his Kingdom of God on earth is very different than you may have supposed.
Just because these are serious times, it's no time to take things too seriously. As important as it is to keep up with what the politicians are doing to us, it's even more fun to laugh at and mock them. Remember, the scriptures tell us we win in the end. If you are trusting on the Lord and doing everything you can to withstand the coming tribulations, you'll be alright. The worst they can do is kill you, and that just means you get to go home early. What could be better than that?
*****
Notes and Asides:
Fascinating expose at Book of Mormon Perspective
I've been gathering notes these past couple of months in order to blog about the odd collusion that's been going on between leaders of the Corporate LDS Church and elements of the Deep State, but it looks like I've been spared the trouble of writing about this issue. Just this morning the author of Book of Mormon Perspective beat me to the punch. Not only did he get here first, he has provided a more thorough take on the topic than I ever envisioned.
The piece is titled The Beast Is Coming To Utah, and in one section he wrote about something I think might be pertinent to what I've discussed here today. As many people are aware, elements in the deep state and the federal government have for years been passing legislation making it increasingly impossible for ranchers and farmers to make a living off their own land. The ostensible goal of crowding these landowners out has been to "protect the environment" but what the enemy is actually doing is attempting to crowd all the humans into the cities where they can be more easily controlled, while keeping millions of square miles of useful land effectively under their own control.
This made me think: what if, at the Lord's return, he takes all that "government land" that was stolen by the modern Gadianton Robbers, and gives it back to the people to develop, farm, and live on? That would solve the question some people have wondered about, which is "if God's people move into an area to make it Zion, what about the people who already live there? Are they displaced?"
The answer, of course, would be no. No one would be displaced except the globalist squatters who stole it.
My Other Blog
In case anyone is interested in exploring the content at Aging Hipster Doofus, here are the subjects of my most recent posts on that site:
Mr. Acker Bilk Got Here Before The Beatles
The Very First Rock And Roll Record Was Released In 1934
There's more to come. These things are brief and so and easy to write that I can knock one out every day if I want to.
And I kinda do want to, so I hope you'll pop in now and then.