85: Zion's Return, Part 2 — Denver Snuffer

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This is part 2 of a special series on the much anticipated and much prophesied return of Zion.

Think about all the ways that there are to err. Consider the warnings given in Section 121 of the Doctrine and Covenants concerning priesthood: “That they may be conferred upon us, it is true; but when we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness,” And by the way, “in any degree of unrighteousness,” is a serious warning. We are told in verse 41 how power or influence is to be affected, and it is not “by virtue of the priesthood,” it is rather “only by persuasion, by long- suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy.”

This presents an opportunity for everyone involved, every time, to fail. In addition to all this, as to priesthood if you go to 2 Nephi chapter 26, verse 29 there is another warning: “He commandeth that there shall be no priestcrafts; for, behold, priestcrafts are that men preach and set themselves up for a light unto the world, that they may get gain and praise of the world; but they seek not the welfare of Zion.”

Zion can only come about as a consequence of consecration and sacrifice, and not as a result of seeking to get gain. In fact, when you are in the employ of the Lord you ought to be sacrificing, it should not be gainful; it should cost you in order to serve.

To accomplish purity, there are absolutes that are necessary. Sacrifice is absolutely necessary, and equality is necessary as well. Or at least, there be no poor among us. My guess is, sitting among us in this room here today, there are those who have significant issues with financial needs, and there are some sitting here today who could help in solving those.

In Alma chapter 1 it talks about the circumstance in which the priests are to serve. Alma 1, beginning at verse 26. “And when the priests left their labor to impart the word of God unto the people, the people also left their labors to hear the word of God. And when the priest had imparted unto them the word of God they all returned again diligently unto their labors; and the priest, not esteeming himself above his hearers, for the preacher was no better than the hearer, neither was the teacher any better than the learner; and thus they were all equal, and they did all labor, every man according to his strength. And they did impart of their substance, every man according to that which he had, to the poor, and the needy, and the sick, and the afflicted; and they did not wear costly apparel, yet they were neat and comely.”

You see they prospered in this, and they were blessed because of it. We should learn from their example when they were prospering, about what it was they did that was right to bring it about. The ideal is never to have a professional class of clergyman. The ideal is to have every one of us as equals.

There has to be an opening that occurs in order to prepare the way. The opening at this end is going to be handled by someone who has remained behind, and the opening at the far end is going to be the one to whom the assignment was given to open the way for His return; Elijah, the one who was promised.

Now, I want to be really clear. I don’t expect either of those individuals to have any public ministry again. They have a role in Zion, and those who dwell in Zion are going to have some contact with them. The three Nephites are a great example. They, like John, were given a similar ministry to remain around and to administer until the end of the earth. And they did minister. Two of the people to whom they ministered were Mormon and Moroni. They, like ministering angels, ministered to Mormon who in turn ministered to the public. They ministered to Moroni and kept his hope up in the waning days of that dispensation. But they did not minister publicly. John will have a role, but the work of Zion is the work of flesh and blood.

Men have to extend the invitation for God to return so that men who extend that invitation are worthy of His return and the Lord can safely come without utterly destroying all who are upon the earth. Therefore you need Zion, among other reasons, in order for there to be a place and a people to whom the Lord can safely return without utterly destroying the earth at His coming. However small, however diminutive it may be, there needs to be a Zion that extends the invitation for the Lord to return.

Now the good news is that Zion will be preserved. And the even better news is that all of those good people of the earth who live in ignorance but who would’ve accepted the truth if it were brought to them, they will be preserved also. There will be a mission field into the millennium.

But the really bad news is in the laundry list of those whom the Lord intends to destroy at His coming – that is the description of those who are Telestial and therefore cannot endure His presence when He shall come – all of the liars, all of whoremongers, all of the people who have taken our Lord’s name in vain having not authority, all of those who have preached for hire and practiced priestcraft. One of the reasons it needs to be eradicated before you get to Zion is so you’re not ignited like a torch head to the amusement of everyone else that is in Zion. There has to be an end of all that nonsense.

Our Lord was and is meek. When He said: “I am more intelligent than them all,” when He said: I am “the greatest of all”; there wasn’t one whit of arrogance in His announcement of that. What He was saying is: “Please have confidence in me. Please trust what I say to be true. Please recognize I’ve paid a price in order to be able to minister.”

You needn’t respect the messenger, but you must respect the message because salvation is limited in every generation to those who are authorized to preach repentance and to baptize, and if they’re not authorized then it is powerlessness. However good it may make you feel, it is powerlessness.

Moses 7: 60-65. This is the Lord speaking to Enoch in a vision. The account is recorded by Moses through revelation, but the account is a restoration of what was once revealed to, and written by Enoch. In the conversation the speaker is the Lord: “And the Lord said unto Enoch: As I live, even so will I come in the last days, in the days of wickedness and vengeance, to fulfil the oath which I have made unto you concerning the children of Noah;”

This is the Lord’s oath to Enoch. He is going to come to the earth in the last days. “And the day shall come that the earth shall rest, but before that day the heavens shall be darkened, and a veil of darkness shall cover the earth; and the heavens shall shake, and also the earth; and great tribulations shall be among the children of men, but my people will I preserve; And righteousness will I send down out of heaven; and truth will I send forth out of the earth, to bear testimony of mine Only Begotten; his resurrection from the dead; yea, and also the resurrection of all men; and righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood,”

This is something that is possible now merely by you sitting at a keyboard. Today you can cause the truth to flood the earth. “…to gather out mine elect from the four quarters of the earth, unto a place which I shall prepare, an Holy City,[meaning that a gathering is to take place of the prepared – to happen first] that my people may gird up their loins, and be looking forth for the time of my coming; for there shall be my tabernacle, [in this context, the tabernacle to be built is His house – this is second] and it shall be called Zion, a New Jerusalem. And the Lord said unto Enoch: Then shalt thou and all thy city meet them there, [Enoch’s city returns – this is third] and we will receive them into our bosom, and they shall see us; and we will fall upon their necks, and they shall fall upon our necks, and we will kiss each other;”

This is to be the second return of Enoch, as well. First His people gather, then His house is built, then Enoch and his people return, “And there shall be mine abode,[meaning Christ will come to dwell among them] and it shall be Zion, which shall come forth out of all the creations which I have made; and for the space of a thousand years the earth shall rest. And it came to pass that Enoch saw the day of the coming of the Son of Man, in the last days, to dwell on the earth in righteousness for the space of a thousand years;”

Zion must exist before these things can happen. These things will be delayed if Zion does not exist, but they will not be prevented. The Lord has decreed, by covenant, they will happen. The fact the Lord covenanted it will happen is no guarantee we will see it. Because we will only see it if we abide the conditions required of us. He can accomplish His work with us or with other people. There is no reason for us to decline, as they did in Joseph’s day. I suppose we could choose envy, strife, lusts, ambitions and jarring contention.

This is the Joseph Smith Translation of Genesis 9: 21-23: “And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant, which I made unto thy father Enoch; that, when men should keep all my commandments, Zion should again come on the earth, the city of Enoch which I have caught up unto myself. And this is mine everlasting covenant, that when thy posterity shall embrace the truth and look upward, then shall Zion look downward, and all the heavens shall shake with gladness and the earth shall tremble with joy. And the general assembly of the church of the first-born shall come down out of heaven, and possess the earth, and shall have place until the end come. And this is mine everlasting covenant, which I made with my father Enoch.”

The covenant to bring Zion originally promised to Adam, then to Enoch, was made again by God with Noah. The covenant requires some generation at last to rise up and vindicate. Whether that is you or whether you go to the grave without realizing it, is entirely up to you.

Now I need to read you something. This is Ezekiel 33:25-34:31:

“Wherefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Ye eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes toward your idols, and shed blood: and shall ye possess the land? Ye stand upon your sword, ye work abomination, and ye defile every one his neighbour’s wife: and shall ye possess the land? Say thou thus unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; As I live, surely they that are in the wastes shall fall by the sword, and him that is in the open field will I give to the beasts to be devoured, and they that be in the forts and in the caves shall die of the pestilence. For I will lay the land most desolate, and the pomp of her strength shall cease; and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, that none shall pass through. Then shall they know that I am the LORD, when I have laid the land most desolate because of all their abominations which they have committed. Also, thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the LORD. And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not.

And when this cometh to pass, (lo, it will come,) then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them. AND the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them. Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD; As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock; Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves anymore; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them. For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD.I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment. And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats. Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? and to have drunk of the deep waters, but ye must foul the residue with your feet?

And as for my flock, they eat that which ye have trodden with your feet; and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet. Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD unto them; Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle. Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad; Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between cattle and cattle. And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it. And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them. And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid. And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more.

Thus shall they know that I the LORD their God am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord GOD. And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord GOD.”

I was required to read that, but I am not required, and will not comment. You wouldn’t want to hear my comments anyway. But you should apply these verses to us today.

So now we should realize, I hope, that that city which Melchizedek, the King of Peace, was able to teach righteousness sufficiently so that it was taken up from the earth, was reserved by God’s covenant to return in the last days. They will return at the end of the world. Not the end of mankind or the planet, but the end of the world, or in other words the destruction of the wicked.

The next time we have an event on the earth in which a people of righteousness are taught and gathered, it will not be for the purpose of going up to heaven. Instead it will be for the purpose of permitting those who have gone up before with Enoch and Melchizedek to come back down. It will be for the purpose of preparing those who can endure the presence of those who will come. Because those who come, as Moroni put it, will burn up all who are unworthy, leaving them neither root nor branch. Therefore, some few need to be gathered, so that the earth is not utterly wasted at His coming.

We all know the Lord’s expression, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it shall be also at the coming of the Son of Man.” (JS-Matt. 1: 41) How many people were required in order to have the Ark be an acceptable place in which God could preserve all of humanity? It was a portable Ark of the Covenant, in which the family was preserved.

So if it’s going to be as it was in the days of Noah there is this net that has been cast out to gather together all manner of fish. (Matt. 13: 47-50.) But as the Lord tells the parable, the angels are going to come at the end of the world to pick through all manner of fish, they keep the good, and the wicked are cast away. They are “cast into the furnace of fire,” in the Lord’s parable. So the question is, how diligent ought the search be into the things of God? How carefully ought we to consider the things that have been restored to us through the Prophet Joseph Smith?

The fact is, the fulfillment of these ancient covenants is assigned to occur in our dispensation. These comments are taken from the Book of Mormon which the world does not have or accept. They are taken from the book of Abraham, which the world does not have or accept. They come from the Joseph Smith Translation and the Doctrine and Covenants, which the world does not have or accept. All of you have this information in front of you as Latter-day Saints. All of this material has been restored through someone who we claim we honor and regard as a Prophet. Yet we neglect it.

Well, they who come, will burn up those who are unprepared. Therefore, what should we be doing in order to make sure that we are included among those who are prepared?

I want to look more into Enoch. So let’s go back to the book of Moses. Moses 7: 60: “And the Lord said unto Enoch: As I live,” [This is covenant language. This is God swearing by his own life. This is God promising that if He lives, so shall His word live. If He’s alive He will vindicate what He’s about to say.] “As I live, even so will I come in the last days, in the days of wickedness and vengeance, to fulfil the oath which I have made unto you concerning the children of Noah; And the day shall come that the earth shall rest, but before that day the heavens shall be darkened, and a veil of darkness shall cover the earth; and the heavens shall shake, and also the earth; and great tribulations shall be among the children of men, but my people will I preserve; And righteousness will I send down out of heaven; and truth will I send forth out of the earth, to bear testimony of mine Only Begotten; his resurrection from the dead; yea, and also the resurrection of all men; and righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out mine elect from the four quarters of the earth, unto a place which I shall prepare, an Holy City, that my people may gird up their loins, and be looking forth for the time of my coming; for there shall be my tabernacle, and it shall be called Zion, a New Jerusalem. And the Lord said unto Enoch: Then shalt thou and all thy city meet them there,” [These are they, who when they come, will burn up those unprepared for the coming, so that it leaves neither root nor branch.] “we will receive them into our bosom, and they shall see us; and we will fall upon their necks, and they shall fall upon our necks, and we will kiss each other; And there shall be mine abode, and it shall be Zion, which shall come forth out of all the creations which I have made; and for the space of a thousand years the earth shall rest. And it came to pass that Enoch saw the day of the coming of the Son of Man, in the last days, to dwell on the earth in righteousness for the space of a thousand years; But before that day he saw great tribulations among the wicked; and he also saw the sea, that it was troubled, and men’s hearts failing them, looking forth with fear for the judgments of the Almighty God, which should come upon the wicked.” (Moses 7: 60-66.)

This was how the Lord described to Enoch what would happen before His return. It was given to Enoch through a covenant. When The Lord swears “as I live,” “… even so will,” followed by Him telling them what will happen in the last days, it is a certainty it will happen.

This covenant given to Enoch is among the promises that were made to one of the fathers, and Enoch is one of the fathers. These are the covenants whose time is now upon us. This is the day in which we need to be prepared, so that those who went before and ascended up the ladder can return and fall upon your neck and kiss you, and you fall upon their neck and kiss them. This is to be a sacred embrace through the veil, evidencing fellowship, between you here and them there. The Lord has promised and covenanted these things are going to happen.

But notice, there has to be a tabernacle to be built, like what He requested to be built in Nauvoo. He wanted to come to a Temple there and to restore what had been lost. (D&C 124: 28.) We failed and He did not come to Nauvoo. Yet to fulfill His covenant He must yet come to and take up His abode in a dwelling here. There has to be preparation made. These things require some effort to be made here, in order to prepare for His return. If there is no one here who is willing to engage in what’s necessary to bring this to pass (because everyone looks around and expects someone else to do it), then you’re neglecting the duty that’s devolving upon you. Those who have been assigned to come down in this day, in order to honor the fathers, and honor the Lord, by allowing the covenants that have made to be fulfilled, have some responsibility to finish and fulfill the promised work. We are farther away from that day by day. What is presently underway doesn’t even begin to accomplish what has been foretold. We are engaged in busy-work. But the Lord has a greater work in mind.

It’s a good thing we have forfeited the power to make authoritative covenants from time to time. Because if we really had everything we claim, and if we lived under an obligation God would honor, then chose to violate it as we do, God would act to enforce the violation. That will be the case when we have Zion. In Zion you will not be able to endure a Terrestrial glory in a Telestial state. Lying, stealing, deceiving, adultery, and whoremongering are all abominations that people prize in this generation. Lusts, ambitions, desires to lord over one another are common afflictions of the Gentile. All of those things are only tolerated a level below what Zion requires. The last Zion will also occupy a location. That place will likewise be under the covenant with God. Therefore, the location itself can only be occupied by those who will live a Terrestrial law.

When this comes to pass, if one happily strolls into Zion while profaning the conditions upon which it will be established, they subject themselves to the penalty resulting from being where they should not be, in a condition they cannot endure. The destruction that occurred at Christ’s death on the Americas involved the destruction of the wicked only. If you look at 3 Nephi 10:12 you find out that the more righteous were saved. Those who live a Telestial law will likewise be destroyed if they attempt to enter Zion without repentance.

Turn to Doctrine and Covenants 76: 98. I want you to remember the chant “Follow the Prophet, Follow the Prophet,” which we can drill in mindlessly to the youth with the drumbeat cadence that sounds like an Indian chant. Follow the Brethren!

“And the glory of the telestial is one, even as the glory of the stars is one; for as one star differs from another star in glory, even so differs one from another in glory in the telestial world; For these are they who are of Paul, and of Apollos, and of Cephas. These are they who say they are some of one and some of another—some of Christ and some of John, and some of Moses, and some of Elias, and some of Esaias, and some of Isaiah, and some of Enoch; But received not the gospel, neither the testimony of Jesus, neither the prophets, neither the everlasting covenant. [yet to be established] Last of all, [And this is a general description of those who have terrestrial behavior] these all are they who will not be gathered with the saints, to be caught up unto the church of the Firstborn, and received into the cloud. These are they who are liars, and sorcerers, and adulterers, and whoremongers, and whosoever loves and makes a lie. These are they who suffer the wrath of God on earth. These are they who suffer the vengeance of eternal fire.” (D&C 76: 98-105.)

That is a broad description of those who cannot be in Zion. Notably, it begins with a list of those who follow the prophets! It’s almost as if the Lord, in the revelation to Joseph Smith, anticipated your day and warned you: ‘Do not go thither! Do not partake of that! Receive the testimony of Jesus! Prepare when He offers the Everlasting Covenant! Do only that!’ To the extent that a church or an organization worships or trusts a man in lieu of Christ, it will lead you in the end to Telestial destruction at the Lord’s return. Those who believe a mere man can offer them salvation (because the man has “keys” with which to bind heaven and let them in) will not survive the destruction of the wicked that precedes the Lord’s return.

The purpose of the temple is not merely to inspire you with the conviction that it is possible to rend the veil, to pass through the veil, to see and meet with our Lord, who has promised us repeatedly that the stories in The Book of Mormon are stories designed to tell you over and over and over again about coming back into the presence of the Lord. Even wicked Lamanite converts many of them have what we, in our scholarly language would call, a throne theophany, and they did so upon conversion because their conversion was with real intent.

Therefore, The Book of Mormon is a text about The Second Comforter. But what is being talked about in this verse, Moses 6, is about dwelling in His presence. Moses 6:57, It says when it comes to dwelling there, no unclean thing can dwell there because He is the man of holiness. This presents the real message or the real meaning of what the temple is trying to convey to us in our day. And we’re just about running out of time to accomplish that in our day.

And if we don’t then, you know, He passes on and maybe starts this up with another people in another day, as he has so often done before.

To come to the veil and to meet with the Savior: He can clean you up. He, through His grace, can give you all that you lack. To dwell in the presence of God requires something more, something different. It requires that you grow from where you are now, to the place where the Lord intends to lead you. He intends to have you BE true and faithful in all things. Because in the ceremony in the temple, once you go through the veil, you don’t come back. You stay there and the purpose of going there in this day, in this setting, is to enable the return of Zion. We don’t need a profoundly new and far reaching economic system to make us have all things in common in order to bring again Zion, and we don’t need possession of the real estate in Jackson County, Missouri to bring again Zion. We don’t need any of the implements or locations or infrastructure to have Zion return. We need one thing and that’s YOU. You to be clean. You to be holy. To leave behind you, not only the door, but the house in which you dwell that you established that door to bar Him through. You need to come and live with Him. It is possible. These are not cunningly devised fables, as the apostle Paul put it. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Look at the definition that Lord gives of salvation in Ether 3:13. This is the definition that the Lord gives.

Ether 3:13 ”…behold, the Lord showed himself unto him, and said: Because thou knowest these things ye are redeemed from the fall; therefore ye are brought back into my presence; therefore I show myself unto you.”

This is the meaning of salvation. This is the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is contained in The Book of Mormon, which has the fullness of Jesus Christ in it. The Lord showed himself unto Him and said, “Because thou knowest these things ye are redeemed from the fall; therefore ye are brought back into my presence; therefore I show myself unto you.

The character and the nature of God is probably better understood by what we have in the Book of Mormon, and it is perfectly consistent with the testimony of the gospel writers who knew Christ in mortality. And if you take what we got in a fairly battered New Testament record and the Book of Mormon together and what happened in the life of Joseph Smith, and you weave them all together, you begin to understand that God is a very patient, loving, kindly being. And that the mysteries of God largely consist in developing the attributes of godliness in us. The things that matter the most are the things that make us more like Him—better people, more kindly. You want to know more of the mysteries of God, serve your fellow man, and be of more value to them. In the process of blessing the lives of others, you find out that you know more of the character of God as a consequence of that.

Let me end by bearing testimony that God really is up to a work right now. And the work that is underway can culminate in Zion. Covenants were made. Promises were given. God has an obligation to the covenant fathers that He will vindicate. God’s words will be fulfilled, all of them. None of them are going to fall to the ground unfulfilled. The question is not, Will God bring about the culmination of all His purposes? The question is, Are we willing to cooperate with Him to bring those purposes to pass in our day? The offer that God makes—this appears in scripture nearly as often as the promise in Malachi—God says, How oft would I have gathered you as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and ye would not. Could God have brought about His purposes and vindicated His promises in the days of Moses? Could He have done what He had promised to do when Christ was here on the earth? Could He have done it in the days of Peter? Could He have done it in the days of Joseph Smith? The question is never whether God will vindicate His promises. The question is, Will there ever come a people who will respond to the Lord’s willingness to gather them as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and be gathered, and be content with being gathered and being at peace with one another. We have that opportunity, but so many generations before us have had the same opportunity, and they would not. The question isn’t whether God is going to do it or whether God is willing to do it now. The question is, Are we willing to cooperate with Him in that process to do our part? We get really petty with one another, and we shouldn’t be. We ought to value one another so highly that we will do anything we can to support one another and to assist in bringing about the purposes of God. At the end of the day, obedience to God is simply blessing one another by the way we conduct ourselves. I like the Lamanite king’s prayer, “I will give away all my sins to know you.” We tend not to be willing to give away our sins. We want to harbour them and cultivate them and celebrate them. We ought to be more— We ought to love God more and our sins less. God can fulfill His promises in our day, before we leave this stage of the action. It can happen. Whether it happens or not is up to us and how interested we are in doing as He bids us. Of that I bear testimony, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

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The foregoing are excerpts taken from:

Denver’s 40 Years in Mormonism Series, Talk #2 entitled “Faith” given in Idaho Falls, ID on September 28th, 2013
Denver’s 40 Years in Mormonism Series, Talk #10 entitled “Preserving the Restoration” given in Mesa, AZ on September 9th, 2014
Denver’s talk entitled “Zion Will Come” given near Moab, UT on April 10th, 2016
Denver’s 40 Years in Mormonism Series, Talk #6 entitled “Zion” given in Grand Junction, CO on April 12th, 2014
Denver’s 40 Years in Mormonism Series, Talk #4 entitled “Covenants” given in Centerville, UT on October 6th, 2013
A fireside talk on “The Temple”, given in Ogden, UT on October 28th, 2012
Denver’s remarks entitled “Book of Mormon as Covenant” given at the Book of Mormon Covenant Conference in Columbia, SC on January 13, 2019

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