We live in a world of opposites and the reason we live in a world of opposites is why? Why is our world of opposing things? Why is that?

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1 044 Babylon vs Zion There must needs be opposition in all things, 2 Nephi 2: For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility. We live in a world of opposites and the reason we live in a world of opposites is why? Why is our world of opposing things? Why is that? Student: I think we cannot progress without opposition. Mike: Why not? Student: We need something to recognize what is truth, and also, we need to understand and to learn more about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because there is someone opposite to that, and that is the plan. Mike: Okay. Very good. Excellent comment. In another place in 2 Nephi 2:27 it says: 27 Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself. Without opposites there can be no what? Choice. There is no choice without opposites. So, if there is no opposition there can be no exercise of agency. And agency is the most important thing to enable us to progress and become like our Heavenly Father. Without agency what is there? Now you can understand why Satan would want to destroy agency, because with the destruction of agency there can be no choosing of one or the other. So everything is just chaos. There s no order. Now what I would like to do is, I would like to put two opposites up here on the board today. I d like to put Babylon; and what s the opposite of Babylon? Student: Zion. Mike: Zion. And I d like to talk to you about these two. And I would like to talk to you first of all about persons and then later on I m going to talk to you about places. Persons and Places. So in these two opposites, we have Babylon people and we have Zion people. And these are opposites. These are total opposites. These are eternal opposites. They don t just exist here on the earth, they exist always in eternity. Zion and Page 1 of 16

2 Babylon are eternal terms. They do not start with this earth. There was a Zion and there was a Babylon in the premortal life. There had to be. Why? There was agency in the premortal life. How do we know there was agency in the premortal life? We have one third that truly are Babylon that were cast out and will never ever receive a body. We have another much larger group in the premortal life and here on earth that are Babylon and they live a Telestial law. So, Babylon is Telestial. Anything that is Telestial refers directly to the term Babylon. In the history of the word there were actually places called Babylon. There were countries called Babylon. There were cities called Babylon. And there were citizens of those places called Babylonians. And we know about that don t we. But in a much larger context the word Babylon stands for anything that is Telestial and anything that is anti-christ. Okay, that will kind of give you a feel for that. So let s list a few things we can put down here that describe Babylon. Let s take a look at Babylon. If we were to describe a Person who is Babylon, a Telestial person, the first word that I would put up there would be that this person is Rebellious. All rebellion when it comes to God. Any and all kinds of rebellion to God and His standards and His gospel is telestial in nature. That s Telestial in nature. We would also say that these people are self-willed, which means that everything rotates around them; they re not concerned about anybody else, they are not concerned about neighbors. They are concerned about one thing. What? Me. Me. I am the center of the universe for the Telestial person. And everything revolves around me. Another word for this would be selfish. Selfish. Okay? These people are also; let s list a group of people. They are liars. And the Doctrine and Covenants says that they are not only liars but they re people who love and make a lie. In other words, they have become so degraded that everything they do is a lie. Have you ever met anybody like that? In mortality, have you ever met somebody that their whole life is just built around lies? They are liars. Closely related to a liar is a thief. All thieves are liars. Can I say that? All thieves are liars. And liars, if they don t repent, eventually will become what? Thieves. So these are closely related. Brothers and Sisters, these are brothers and sisters in Babylon. Liars and thieves. Let s come down a little bit further. Adulterers. Adulterers. Closely related to adulterers is a group of people we call fornicators. What is the difference between an adulterer and a fornicator? Same thing or different? Student: Adulterers are married. Mike: So the marriage vows make the difference here. So and adulterer is someone who has made a marriage covenant with another person and then has sexual relations outside of that covenant, right? Fornicators are people who have sexual relations that are not married. Come on down here, another group, murderers. These are all describing Telestial, Babylon. We could put one scripture up here, we could say they are carnal, sensual, and devilish. Those three right there are a progressive state. This is number one (carnal). If you don t repent here, you move to sensual. If you don t repent there you move to devilish. It s a sequence, boom, boom, boom. But they all describe the Telestial person. Can we put up here something, that we could say, up here we could put The Natural Man. Page 2 of 16

3 When the Lord refers to Babylon he says that you need to come out of her. Now Babylon is referred to as female. Isn t that interesting. You need to come out of her. And why do you think Babylon is referred to as female? Why? Student:??? Mike: I like that. Babylon s citizens outnumber Zion s citizens. Is that correct? Babylon is also referred to as, interestingly enough, is referred to as a whore. Why? What do whores do? They have sex for what? For money, right? They sell their bodies, they sell that which the Lord says is most precious, for money. Now I want you to think of the temple. Okay. Can you see Babylon in the temple? So Babylon is all about Money. And everything in Babylon, Brothers and Sisters, is for SALE. Everything in Babylon is for SALE. So in the temple we have angels appearing to Adam and Eve, and Lucifer s there, and Lucifer asks the angels, Do you have any money? Do you remember that? And the angels say, We have enough. Then Satan whispers to Adam, You can buy anything in this world with money. And that s true. Because what world do we live in Brothers and Sisters? We live in a Telestial world. And in a Telestial world, everything is for sale. There is nothing sacred. I saw the other day on YouTube that somebody had sneaked a camera into the temple and photographed the whole temple endowment. And had it posted on YouTube. Prayer circle, signs and tokens, everything. Anything in this world is for sale. They said, How did they ever do that? And somebody said, There is a little camera that you can put right here on your button; a little camera that hides right there, and you can film everything that goes on and you can see the whole temple ceremony on YouTube. Student: Was it a member? Mike: A member, yes. A member that went in there and photographed the whole temple ceremony. Now, it doesn t matter. It doesn t matter. It doesn t change a thing. It doesn t change the sacredness, nor the power. All it does is damn that person to hell. Even the Lord in His mercy, might show mercy to that person because they might not know what they are doing. Okay? They might just be ignorant. But the point is, anything in this world you can buy. The reason Babylon is referred to as whore is because she commits symbolic intercourse, symbolic sexual relations in order to make money and to sell things and make that which is sacred, obscene. And Babylon is very good at that. So Isaiah sees in our day, he sees Babylon, and he says that Babylon makes evil appear good and good appear evil. Is it true? It s the world we live in, isn t it? Isaiah 5:20 20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Any questions or comments about Babylon? Now, Babylon not only takes the form of persons. We have people who live this kind of life we have diagramed up here, don t we? And we also have whole governments, governments and societies who also are Babylonians in their nature. This is one side of the great opposites. Let s go over to the Zion side now. And let s list basically, if you want to find out what Zion is, you just do what? You take the opposites of all of this. If you take the opposites of all of this, then you pretty well define what a Zion society is. Let s start right up here. Where Babylon is Telestial, Zion is what? This is Terrestrial. Zion is Terrestrial. Page 3 of 16

4 In Babylon the devil rules the devil is the god of this world. Who are you? I am the god of this world. See? And it s true. It s true. There are more people that worship him than there are that worship God and Christ in truth and righteousness. He is the god of this world. There is no question about it. Let s come on over here. The opposite of rebellious is? In a Zion people we have people who are what? Obedient. See what we are doing here? Come on over here and we have self-willed so over here we have, thy will be done. Thy will, not my will. Thy will. Come down here to liars. And we have men and women who are honorable and have integrity. I like the little sign I see in the Philippines, the little sign I see in the Philippines is a Terrestrial sign. The little sign says, Be honest even when others will not, even when others are not, and even when others cannot. I like that sign. That s a Terrestrial principle isn t it. that s not a Telestial principle. The Telestial world is the law of the jungle. Only the strong survive. If you re weak; chew you up, spit you out. You have no business being here unless you can make it in this world. Telestial principle in business is, climb over everybody to get to the top. All that matters is winning. That s all Telestial stuff. Telestial. Down here, thieves. Okay. Terrestrial people respect other s what? Property. There are other deeper meanings in this too. We can go to deeper levels because every one of these has more than one level. But we are talking about physical things now. Things of the world. Adulterers and fornicators we have men and women who are chaste, chastity before marriage, and the word is, complete fidelity after marriage. Fidelity means that husbands can trust their wives and wives trust their husbands and they never have to worry about each other cheating on the other person. They don t have to worry. That s fidelity. That means you are just totally honorable, upright, can be trusted exactly. A marriage, Brothers and Sisters, a marriage where husbands and wives don t trust each other is a marriage that s going to fail, that won t survive. And the quickest thing that can happen to destroy trust in a marriage is to break the laws of chastity. It s a violation of trust. And that s Telestial. Murderers. Have a reverence for (can I put) all life. The closer you come to the Savior, the more you reverence all kinds of life. I went down the road yesterday and I saw a little dog, it was a little pup, and it had some kind of a sickness or insect or parasite, and all of its hair was off and it was pink and it was the most miserable looking animal I ever say in my life. And I felt so bad for that little animal, that its whole life from beginning to end is one of misery. There is no joy in that little animal s life. And I felt bad for that little guy. In fact for the next five miles I thought if I had that little dog, what could I do to help it. I pictured myself giving it a bath and giving it medicine and giving it food, you know, but I can t. So reverence for all life verses those who have no reverence for any life. And I think the opposite down here to carnal, sensual, and devilish is born again, baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, and becoming sons and daughters of God through the gospel process. These are the great opposites, born again. If you re going to be a Zion person, you re going to have to have these things happen to you. A Zion man and a Zion woman is a man and a woman who have been born of the spirit, a spiritual rebirth, become a child of Christ, and had the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost. If we are to come up here, everything is for sale. In Zion, nothing is for sale. Nothing is for sale. Zion persons have what we see in the scriptures, all things in common. Everywhere you see a Zion society you have people who live something called the Law of Consecration and stewardship. We will talk a little bit about that in a moment. It s not something we are practicing in the church in its entirety at the moment, but we will. And those who enter into the Zion of the Latter days will have to be a part of that system; it s a financial system. But in it, everybody becomes wealthy and there s no poor; that s fascinating how it works. In the Telestial world the law of consecration and stewardship usually fails. I only know where it has been operated four times in six thousand years with any degree of success. The greatest success was in Enoch s day. Okay. Enoch probably Page 4 of 16

5 had this law of all things in common work more successfully for a larger group of people than anybody in the history of the world. Another group that had, probably I would guess the next closest success, were the Nephites and Lamanites that combined where there were no ites in Fourth Nephi. And they practiced that principle successfully for about 200 years. And it worked pretty good, but even it collapsed eventually and was lost. The next group that I know of was among the apostles after Christ s resurrection and ascension. They tried to practice it, but it really wasn t very successful at all, it was a pretty dismal failure. The other group was, it has been tried to be practiced in our day, in the day of the restoration of the gospel. It has been tried two or three times with very, very limited success. And the reason it doesn t work well is that we try to practice this law of consecration and stewardship with people who are too heavily involved in a Telestial life. As long as you are tied up over here in this Babylon side to any degree, consecration and stewardship is not going to work too good. You have to come to a point where you are born again, have the Baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, a mighty change of heart, and when that happens your views change; you look at things differently. Prior to that you look at what s mine and what s yours. So when the Lord asks you to give ten percent of what s yours, a lot of people choke and can t pay tithing because, Ugh! Ten percent! Well, I ve got news for you. As soon as you are born again and you have the mighty change of heart, your view changes and you realize that everything that you have belongs to him anyway; it s all his. And none of it s yours. Including your life. Watch, I m up here and I go (breathes in) (breathes out). I am breathing right? It s because Christ and his grace and mercy that I can even draw breath. My own life is not mine it s his. Your life isn t yours. And nothing we own is ours. And as soon as you re born again you have that view and you say, Oh my gosh, He s only asking for all? Is that all you want, everything? And you are willing to give it because you realize it s not sacrifice because what he gives you in return always exceeds your paltry little gifts. Even if you paltry little gift is everything you have, it s still insignificant in comparison to what He gives you for your gift. I heard a man say yesterday, When you stand in His presence, and you give everything you have (this is a man who has stood in the presence of Christ), when you fall at His feet and kiss His feet, and bathe His feet with your tears, and you stand up and you re embraced by him and blessed by Him and He speaks to you and calls you by name, and you stand there in awe of His majesty; as you look down at yourself, you re still dressed in beggar s clothing. Because everything you re enjoying, even at that glorious moment, is a gift from Him, and nothing you earned. It s all a gift. So you still stand there in beggar s clothing even in His presence. Isn t that marvelous. I thought that was so wonderful. Well, let s come on over here for a little bit. Is Zion referred to as male or female? Is it male or female? Zion is female. Let Zion put on her beautiful garments. Let her arise in beauty and strength. Brothers and Sisters, these are the differences between these two people. And in order for us to be a Zion person, you have to put off this natural man - this fallen person over here. By the way, all this Babylonian person that we are is necessary. It is necessary that we all descend from a higher place into this low state of Telestial men and women. It s necessary. Before you came here, Brothers and Sisters, you weren t Terrestrial beings. You were Celestial beings. You were Celestial beings. Every one of you in here, before you came here, was above this. You re above this. This is just an intermediary step to go back and recover what you were and add to it. So when you come down into the Telestial world, you really are descending down a long way. And it s necessary; it s important. Can I tell you a little secret that I learned of how the Fathers and Mothers in heaven progress? Do you want to know how our Holy Parents, or Heavenly Parents, do you want to know how they progress? The Holy Ones, the sacred Mothers and Fathers progress by leaving a high place and going down. And as they come back up, from going down, as they come Page 5 of 16

6 back up, they come up to a place higher than where they left. So the process of moving in heaven from one high degree of exaltation to another degree of exaltation is by leaving that place and coming down. Go to section 88 in the Doctrine and Covenants and let show you this principle real quick in the Doctrine and Covenants. It s a process of ascending and descending and re-ascending, and the 88 section of the Doctrine and Covenants gives us a little clue to that. In verse 6, talking about Christ, D&C 88:6. See if you can see this principle of descending in order to ascend. You go down in order to come up. Not just to come up to where you were, but the important part is that you descend from where you were to come up higher than where you were. D&C 88:6 He that ascended up on high, (Mike: that s Christ) as also he descended below all things, You stop to think that Christ descended below even the level of sons of perdition. Why? Look at the rest of the verse. D&C 88:6 in that he comprehended all things, that he might be in all and through all things, the light of truth; That He might comprehend all things. What does comprehend mean? Understand. Know. If He s going to be the great judge of the living and the dead, he has to be able to understand and know what it s like for every person who ever stands before Him. No person in the future can stand before the Savior and say, You don t understand what it was like for me. Nobody can say that. Even a son of perdition who stands before God at the final judgment will be able to say, You have no idea what it was like for me. Because that scripture tells you He descended below ALL, and went to the very, very bottom level that you can get to, of all intelligence, and then ascended up. It s the reason why He s on high, on the right hand of the Father. And that s the way this happens. You re in the process of doing this. You could put your name there in verse 6 very easily you could put your name there is verse 6. Because you have descended from a high place. Look what it says: D&C 88:6 He that ascended up on high, (Mike: that s Christ) as also he descended below all things, He that ascended up on high. You did that before you were born. You had through your progress and your knowledge and through your valiancy and obedience and submission, had ascended to high places. Did you know that your spirit inside you has the ability to create worlds? Do you know you already know how to do that? Do you know that you already know how? All of us in here possess the knowledge on how to command elements and have it obey. You already do that; you already do that. So look how far we ve descended. Holy mackerel. Because we not only don t remember God what? You don t remember you! And neither do I. And to me that is a tremendous loss of light and power and intelligence. But it s necessary for you to come down, but not only did you come down on this earth, but let me show you how much you descended you came down to this earth at a time when this earth is at its most wicked ever in the history of the world. When darkness reigns and Satan rules. You re here at that time. You've not only come down to this earth, you've come down to this earth at a time when it s at its most darkened state. Held in reserve. See? It s wonderful. So that s the way this works. So, now what we need to do, after we've experienced this, is only experience this long enough to learn the opposites of Zion and Babylon, so that you can what? Comprehend it. It s important that you come down into Babylon and taste of these fruits. You get beat up a little bit. You get discouraged. The devil owns you for a little while. It s also important that you don t continue to stay there longer than is necessary. So, basically, what these people are doing is, they stop eating the fruit of the Tree of Life, and Babylonians are feasting at the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. And they are feasting longer than is necessary. They continue to feast and you Page 6 of 16

7 don t need to stay there. You need to eat this, experience this, so we can comprehend it. That doesn t mean you have to go out and commit adultery, and that doesn t mean you have to be a fornicator. You don t need to do that. But you do need to experience this fallen state, this Telestial world to the degree that the Lord has ordained for you, in order for you to have that experience, comprehend it and now be able to move up and help others come as you do. Does that make sense? Now, how do we stop feasting at the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil? Right here, what we are doing is feasting at the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (indicating the Babylon section of the board). We are feasting at that tree. And we need to stop feasting at that tree and come over and start feasting at this tree (Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil). And we need to feast on the what s the opposite of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil? What s the opposing tree? It s all opposites. What s the opposing tree? The Tree of Life. We need to stop this now (indicating the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil) and come over and start eating that (indicating the Tree of Life). And how do you do that? Well, Mosiah 3:19 says, Put off the natural man. That s another way of saying, Stop eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. And start partaking of the Tree of Life and you do that through the atonement of Christ the Lord. Mosiah 3:19: 19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father. So, Brothers and Sisters, the atonement of Christ the Lord is the key for us to move up. Questions or comments? Does this make sense? What s going to happen to this group is they don t repent in the future? What's the future of Babylon and the Telestial world? What's the future? What's going to happen to Babylon and the Telestial world at the second coming of the Lord? What does this mean? Student: Scorched. Mike: Scorched. Burned up. Okay? Burned up. So what we need to do is for ourselves and to help others is to move out of this position before the second coming comes, because when the second coming comes all of these people will be as the scripture says - burned as stubble. Do you know what stubble is? Do you guys know what stubble is? The rice fields out here are that high, right? And so they come down and cut the rice off, so that the plant is left this high. Then they take the rice and you ve got this cut plant that s about this high, right? That s called stubble. What you do is you take that and put it in a pile and do what to it. I see it in piles out in the rice field? They burn it up. That s what they do with wheat also. So stubble is what's left when the good part s processed. So Telestial people are stubble. Terrestrial people are wheat and rice, useable, the fruit, the good part. So what we need to do is make this change from Telestial to Terrestrial before the second coming. Why? Why are these people going to be burned up at the second coming? Why? Go ahead President. Student: The wicked will be burned at the coming of Christ and nobody is left. Mike: Okay. Why does Telestial get burned and Terrestrial survives? Page 7 of 16

8 Student:??? Mike: Is there a change in their bodies so that Telestial can live in a Telestial state. Is there a body change? Is there a physical change? Student: Yes Mike: There is a physical change and that change is called, translation. And what happens is, this physical body that is now Telestial, that has sin and blood and corruption and all that, is removed through the atonement and the bod s changed. So a translated body doesn t have any blood in it anymore. There is no blood. Is this a resurrection state? No, it s an in-between state, isn t it? Just as Terrestrial is in-between Celestial and Telestial, so translated is in-between mortal and resurrected immortal. But this translation state enables you to stand and live at a higher level. These people here that are Telestial cannot survive the environment of a Terrestrial people. You can't do it. You have to be changed so you can go into that different environment and live and be prosperous and succeed. Otherwise, you just can't do it. Okay? Any questions on this? I'm going to erase that and let's talk about Zion places. I don t think we need to talk about Babylon places. President, go ahead. Student: During the time when Jesus Christ was transfigured, when Moses and Elias came??? Mike: When a person s transfigured, they're changed and then they go back into a Telestial body of flesh and blood and bones. When a person is translated they don t go back into a body for flesh and blood and bones. So there is no change back. And the Holy Ghost is the power behind Transfiguration. Joseph Smith was transfigured when he stood in the presence of the Father and the Son. The three Nephites and John the Revelator are translated. They now live at a Terrestrial level. Another thing that happens with a translated, Terrestrial, Zion person is that they are not limited by time and space. Everything is different about them. They look like us and they can appear like us and they can make it so if you see a translated being you don t know the difference. You just say, Oh, that s just somebody I've never seen before. It just looks like a regular mortal. And you turn around for a minute and when you look back, (snap) they are gone. Everybody I know that has seen translated beings has said two or three things about them: 1. They look like us and you can t tell the difference 2. They always come with a message; they have a mission 3. They can vanish from your site. If you are a translated being and I go like this (turns head around) you can be gone when I look back. Everybody I know that has seen a translated being didn t see them when they left. They weren t looking at them and all the sudden they just (poof). Every time they disappeared. Every time they disappear. You were talking to them and you weren t looking at them, you went like this and back, and where did they go? So they are not controlled by time and they are not controlled by our space. They can move from planet to planet throughout the universe, as easily as you and I do this (action). So it s a whole different level. They can't die, they have something called the fullness of the Priesthood. Every one of them has something called, power in the Priesthood. The Priesthood is an operational thing. When they speak it is as though God speaks and everything obeys them. They have that kind of power that s where we re heading there. Page 8 of 16

9 Now, you and I need to be moving towards this. And how do we do it? Well, all we do is just do two things. Do you want to know to become a Zion person? I m going to put two things down here. Two things for you on how to become a Zion person. Number one: Hearken to and obey the Spirt of the Lord. And what is that? The Holy Spirit. That s the voice of Jesus Christ speaking to us every minute, every hour. He has spoken to us as we've been sitting in this room. His voice is always communicating with us. Number two: What do you think number two would be? Repent. The main message of the Spirit of the Lord is to repent and come unto Christ. That s the main message. People who are Terrestrial down here, let's take a person who is a Terrestrial person living in a Telestial world; do they still need to repent? Does a Terrestrial person need to repent? Does a person living in a Telestial world who is progressing and being successful at becoming a Terrestrial person, need to repent? In other words, you re not translated yet, but you're now moving up. If you ve been born again do you need to repent? Is there any repentance necessary for a born again person? If you ve had the mighty change of heart and have been born again and been adopted into the royal family of Jesus Christ and He is now your Spiritual Father and you are His Sons and Daughters, will you still need to repent if you ve been born again? The answer is, yes. Because when you ve been born again you're still going to make mistakes and you're still going to commit sins. You have a different view. The difference is after you ve been born again you still commit sins but you don t want to anymore. Prior to being born again, you want to commit sins. You want to do that. That s fun, I like it. After being born again, you still commit sins but you don t want to. And before you're born again, if you repent, you repent slowly and you only repent it becomes too uncomfortable. After you are born again, you make a mistake, you repent quickly. You don t try to hide your sins. You don t try to cover them up; you quickly repent. So, in answer, when you get to a translation state, you still need to repent? The answer is, no. Translated beings don t need to repent. They are past that. But those of us who are moving this way, up through here, we are starting to be like this. Some of us have some of these things, but we are not translated yet; we haven t had that physical change, we have not had god put his hands on your head and ordain you (which is what happens when you get to this level). God himself ordains you; you haven t had that happen so prior to that you're going to need to repent. Will you be repenting of adultery and murder? No. Usually the closer you get to this, the things you repent of are not sins of commission, they are sins of omission. They are the little things. But it s still the little things that can keep you out. For example, you do something good, right? And everybody comes up and says, Oh, that was so good. Oh, you're such a nice man, what a good Latter-day Saint you are and everybody praises you, and you find yourself doing the right things for the wrong reasons. You start to have pride. Now are you committing murder, are you an adulterer, are you a liar, are you a thief, are you a fornicator? No. But you're doing the right things for the wrong reasons, and those are sins. And you have to have your heart changed inside so all of the sudden you get to a point where everything you do is for one reason, with an eye single to the glory of God. Student:??? Mike: That s born again. But those people still made sins and still made mistakes and still need to repent until they come all the way up to where they are sanctified and made holy and without spot. Until you can get to that point, you're still going to have the need for repentance. Does that make sense? Let's talk for a minute, the last few minutes, about Zion as a place. (I m going to erase all this) Page 9 of 16

10 It s a marvelous journey, Brothers and Sisters, and really all you need to do is learn to listen to the Holy Spirit and when the Holy Spirit prompts you to repent and change, do so immediately, don t postpone it, don t try to hide it, just be obedient. If you'll do these two things, you will move from Telestial to Terrestrial and you will not have to wonder, What step s next. Nobody will have to say a list of dos or don ts. Here s a checklist. Oh, I've done that one, check. Next. I've done that one. Check. And at the bottom of the checklist you're holy and without spot. It doesn t work that way. Because every person s journey is unique and customized. The way you're going to get to a place of sanctification and holiness is going to be different than the way he s going to get there because you're different. And the Lord works with our differences. The end result is the same. Sanctified, holy, and purified, without spot. But the journey and the process can be very unique and different for each one of us. What about Zion as a place? If we were to define Zion, and we were to put a definition of Zion out here the scriptures give us a definition of Zion - Zion is the Pure in heart. What is required for you to become a Zion man and a woman before the second coming? There are going to be a lot of people who will be admitted into and taught the process of becoming Zion after the second coming. That is when most people who will live on the earth during the Terrestrial kingdom, during the millennium will learn what it means, is after the second coming. Okay? What does it take to become a Zion person before? And what s the advantage of becoming a Zion person before the second coming? Is there an advantage? What is the advantage? Why would anybody want to become this person while still in a Telestial, dying world, before the second coming, rather than become a Zion person after the second coming? Student: To be a Zion person before the second coming is valuable to us because those who are not will be burned up. Mike: There s an advantage, right? Student: Those who are Zion people have the opportunity to meet the Savior face-to-face now. Mike: Excellent, I like that. Let s go to 3 Nephi for just a minute. Student: We will be a lot happier a lot sooner. Mike: I think that s true. Let's go to 3 Nephi 12 and let's look at verse 8. This is one of the beatitudes. What does that say? 3 Nephi 12: 8 And blessed are all the pure in heart, for they shall see God. So if the definition of Zion is the pure in heart, what s one of the criteria to becoming a Zion person? You have to see God. When? Student: In this life. Mike: In this life. So, stand in the presence of God and see him face-to-face in this life. That s one of the criteria for becoming a Zion person before the second coming. Another one is, you're ordained by God and receive a ministry, if you will, an assignment, a mission. Let s go to section 50 in the Doctrine and Covenants and see what this is talking about. Let's look at verse 26. Page 10 of 16

11 D&C 50:26 26 He that is ordained of God and sent forth, the same is appointed to be the greatest, notwithstanding he is the least and the servant of all. Christ, his Son. Now, this is one of the hidden mystery scriptures in Doctrine and Covenants. This is talking about people who become Zion persons before the second coming. A Zion person is he that is ordained of God. There is a difference between being ordained of man and being ordained of God. When I received the Melchizedek priesthood, my father, a man, laid his hands upon my head and conferred that Priesthood and ordained me to the office of an Elder. When I became a High Priest I had another mortal man, a stake president, that laid his hands on my head and ordained me to the office of a High Priest. But they were men. That ordination to the Melchizedek Priesthood does not in and of itself quality me to be a Zion man. That qualifies me to have certain privileges and rights in this life, the Telestial world, but it does not quality me to move from Telestial to Terrestrial. In order to have that happen I have to stand in the presence of Christ, have him lay his hands on my head and ordain me to a priesthood order, a ministry and a mission. What He s going to do at this point is, when this takes place, He s going to give you your endowment. You're going to receive your endowment from Him. Let's look at what happens. Once you have Him ordain you and you receive this endowment, look what it says in verse 27. Let s go to verse 26. D&C 50:26 He that is ordained of God and sent forth So what happens after your ordination? You are sent forth. You receive an ordination and whatever that ordination is, it is accompanied by a mission. And you are sent forth. 26 the same is appointed to be the greatest, What does that mean? 26 notwithstanding he is the least and the servant of all. So when this happens to you, why are you the greatest? When you ve received this endowment and you see God faceto-face and stand in His presence, why are you then according to this scripture referred to as the greatest, even though you are the servant of all and least of all? Student: You have been sealed to Eternal Life. Mike: Yeah. This is an interesting thing. Calling and Election. More sure word of prophesy. One of the reasons you're the greatest is that you have now stood in the presence of God. And you ve seen Him face-to-face. And like Moroni says, I talked with Him face-to-face and he spoke to me in plain humility as one man speaks with another man. This is our privilege, brethren. This is the highest privilege of the Priesthood. Now when you start to look at these kinds of things, you understand what some of the prophets said, speaking to the Priesthood, brethren, we live way below our privileges and below the expectations of God. Think about that for a minute. What does God want you to do? He wants you to do this. Can he force you to do it? No. but if you'll listen to Him, and obey his voice, His voice will guide you step-by-step until this becomes a desire. And then after a desire, it becomes a belief, and after a belief it turns into faith, and eventually your faith turns into perfect knowledge and you stand in His presence. Let's look a little further, watch. You have a feeling for that? Page 11 of 16

12 You receive a mission. The endowment that you received in the temple; all of us go to the temple and we ve received our endowment, right? That s a symbolic endowment of the real thing! Have you ever wondered, What is your endowment? What is the endowment? So if I were to say, You ve been to the temple, and you ve received your endowment, and I say, what does that mean? So tell me. All of us in this room have received our endowment. We've all been to the temple and we've been endowed. What does that mean? What happened? President. Student: You entered into the presence of Jesus Christ. Mike: So what is it about the endowment that makes it possible for you to do that? Gee, I went in there and I saw the creation of the world and I saw Adam and Eve, and we did interesting things and I went through a curtain and we went into a beautiful room. You also received in the endowment, keys. What s a key? What do keys do? They unlock locks. Isn t that what a key does? A key doesn t open a door. A door handle opens the door. The key unlocks the lock. So you receive in the endowment, keys that are designed to unlock locked doors. What s the greatest locked door that we face in the Telestial world? What is the greatest locked door that you just can t get through it no matter how hard you try and no matter how good you are, unless you have a key that opens the lock. The VEIL. That is the locked door. So what do you do? In your endowment you receive keys that will enable you to open the veil and find out what is on the other side. Wouldn t you like to know what is on the other side? I would. When you went to the endowment, you received keys that will allow you, if you use those keys, to unlock the Veil door and find out what s on the other side, to and receive messengers from the other side, and stand in the presence of God who are all on the other side. So, now watch. You have received those keys and you don t even know it, do you? We all go through the temple and we receive the key, and we come out of there and we say, What was that? We look at our first time through the endowment, and we go, Huh? What was that? And we go back and we go back until eventually the Holy Ghost says, You ve just received a gift. The word endowment means what? Gift. You ve received a huge gift from your Heavenly Father. Was that gift knowledge of Adam and Eve? Was that gift knowledge of the creation? No, that s a great gift, but that isn t the gift of the endowment. The gift of the endowment is, you are given certain keys that if you apply those keys, will open the veil and will allow you to stand in the presence of Christ in this life. That s the endowment. Now go with me over here to verse 27. He s been ordained, he s sent forth and he s now the greatest, notwithstanding he is the least and the servant of all. Now in verse 27: D&C 50: 27 Wherefore, (Mike: because of all these things) he is possessor of all things; for all things are subject unto him, both in heaven and on the earth, the life and the light, the Spirit and the power, sent forth by the will of the Father through Jesus When you receive your ordination under the hands of God you now possess all things. What do you mean, possess all things? What is that? Let s look further. It says: D&C 50: 27 for all things are subject unto him, both in heaven and on the earth, the life and the light, the Spirit and the power, sent forth by the will of the Father through Jesus You ve got all that. When this takes place, while you're still a mortal being, and your temple experience is preparing you for this. This is what your endowment in the temple is to prepare you for the real endowment that you can't receive until you stand in the presence of Jesus Christ. It s to prepare you for that. And when you're in His presence, He lays his hands Page 12 of 16

13 on your head, you worship Him, you thank Him, you weep, you embrace, He shows you the creation of the world. The moment you are standing in His presence, what he does is He shows you all the work that His hands have made. Do you know in the endowment? What is the first thing we see in the endowment ceremony. The creation. Do you wonder why we see the creation? Because when you stand in His presence, it s the first thing He s going to show you. Think about Moses. Think about Abraham. Think about Joseph. Think about all the great prophets. When they stood in His presence they saw a vision of everything, from the beginning to the end the whole creation. And in Moses case, there was not one soul that I did not behold, discerning it by the Spirit of God. See? See what the endowment is teaching you? Why are we watching this creation here? Why is it telling me that? When you stand in His presence that is what He s going to show you. You're going to see the real deal. Not some movie. You're going to see the real deal. And since God lives in a state of yesterday, today and forever, and everything with Him is now, when you stand in His presence and He shows you the vision, you're not only going to see the earth, you're going to see you. He s going to show you who you were before you came here. He s going to show you your life now, and He s going to show you who you are to come. Because with Him, everything is now. And when He shows you this vision, and you're in it, you see past, present and future. Now is this worth looking for. Is this kind of stuff worth seeking for? Is this something worth having before the second coming? Because these are the promises of those, that small group of men and women, because women can have all of this. It talks about men, but it s women too. There is nothing that a man can have that a woman can t have. And we can do all of this now. Let s look a little bit further. Watch what He says: D&C 50: 27 Wherefore, he is possessor of all things; for all things are subject unto him, both in heaven and on the earth, the life and the light, the Spirit and the power, sent forth by the will of the Father through Jesus Christ, his Son. 28 But no man is possessor of all things (Mike: What s that? Terrestrial translated state) except he be purified and cleansed from all sin. What are we talking about here? We re talking about moving up and the atonement of Christ. That takes you from Telestial to Terrestrial, that s purified. Last verse: D&C 50: 29 And if ye are purified and cleansed from all sin, (Mike: I love this one, look) ye shall ask whatsoever you will in the name of Jesus and it shall be done. Whew! Man. Now, you just look at these promises right here in these verses and tell me if that s not worth seeking for. And it all begins - with all of these huge, great blessings; all of these tremendous blessings we are talking about here begin with one thing. Listen for, recognize the voice of the Holy Spirit. It starts out as a conscience. It teaches you right from wrong. Listen to it. Listen to it. And when you hear it obey it. Always obey it. If you learn to recognize that little voice, and you are driving down the road, and the speed limit is 65 miles an hour and I am doing 70 miles an hour, and that little voice says to me, Drive the speed limit. I don t sit there and make excuses and say, Well the cops won t bother you as long as you're only 5 miles an hour over the speed limit. If the Spirit says to do it do it! If you can t be obedient in driving the speed limit, how do I expect to command worlds to come into position? How can I expect element to obey me, if I can t obey the still small voice. See what it is? So we learn to listen to that voice in everything. Page 13 of 16

14 You pass your wife and she s washing the dishes and the little voice says, Roll up your sleeves and go wash the dishes for her. That s the voice of the Holy Spirit. Is the Holy Spirit is interested in whether your dishes are washed or not? No. But it is interested in you're learning to be obedient to whatever it asks you to do. It s not what it s asking you to do, it s the process of you being obedient to everything. And as you're obedient to little things, then it graduates up and you receive greater things, and greater things and greater things, until you come to a point where you step through the veil and the Lord ordains you and sets you apart for a ministry and gives you your endowment. When you are in His presence, before He leaves, He s going to ask you a question. He s going to say, What is wanted? He s going to say, What can I do for you? Go to 3 Nephi and let me show you this. This is everything we ve talked about here, Brothers and Sisters, is in the Book of Mormon. It s all in the Book of Mormon. Go to 3 Nephi 28. The Book of Mormon contains the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Everything is in the Book of Mormon that is necessary to bring you into the presence of Christ and stand face-to-face with Him. It s all in the Book of Mormon. Oh, yeah. It s all there. Does it talk about Celestial Marriage? No. Is Celestial marriage necessary in order for you to stand in the presence of God? No. Can single men and women stand in the presence of Jesus Christ? Yes. Go to 3 Nephi 28 and go to verse 1. This is when Jesus it talking to the twelve. 3 Nephi 28: 1 And it came to pass when Jesus had said these words, he spake unto his disciples, one by one, saying unto them: What is it that ye desire of me, after that I am gone to the Father? What did He just say? What is wanted? Nine of them said when our ministry is over we want to die and come to you in your kingdom. So he does what? He touches those nine with His finger and says when you get to be 72 years of age you will die, resurrect and come to me where I am. In other words, those nine wanted to bypass the spirit world. They didn t want to go to the spirit world. That was their desire. It s not a bad desire, because a resurrection is better than a spirit, right? And they understood the fullness of joy can only come when you are resurrected beings, so, what did these nine want? Peter, James and Andrew and Bartholomew, and Phillip and all those and the same with these guys right here. We want to come to you. Then he turns to the three who were kind of doing this and he said to them, What do you want? And they didn t answer. They didn t answer. And look what He says. Let s look what He says - Verse 4. 3 Nephi 28: 4 And when he had spoken unto them, he turned himself unto the three, and said unto them: What will ye that I should do unto you, when I am gone unto the Father? 5 And they sorrowed in their hearts, for they durst not speak unto him the thing which they desired. 6 And he said unto them: Behold, I know your thoughts, and ye have desired the thing which John, my beloved, who was with me in my ministry, before that I was lifted up by the Jews, desired of me. Look at this. This is why it is a better deal to reach this state before the second coming. Look. 7 Therefore, more blessed are ye, for ye shall never taste of death; but ye shall live to behold all the doings of the Father unto the children of men, even until all things shall be fulfilled according to the will of the Father, when I shall come in my glory with the powers of heaven. Look up at verse 3. Look what he said to the nine. Page 14 of 16