Zion has several characteristics:
- It is inhabited by the pure in heart
- It is the city of God
- It cannot fall (see D&C 97:19-21)
- Its people are of one heart, one mind, they dwell in righteousness, and there is no poor among them (see Moses 7:18)
- It will be a place of refuge for Mormon and non-Mormon alike
- It will be a place of safety from war
- The wicked will fear to attack Zion (see D&C 45:68-70)
Other characteristics could be listed and this blog is created as a place to store ideas I have about what Zion is and how to bring it about.
The question is how far are the Latter-day Saints away from creating Zion as described above?
A clue was pointed out to me today at Church. In Deuteronomy 1:2 it says, "There are eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadesh-barnea." A quick consultation with the maps in the back of the Bible reveal the location of Ancient Israel:
They were between points 8 and 12 on the above map. Israel spent 40 years living 11 days from their promised land. Had they been prepared, they could have been in their own Zion in two weeks! We will be surprised to discover how close we already are to Zion once we have it.
When the Prophet Joseph Smith saw his people kicked out of Jackson County, the center point of modern Zion, his motto became: "Next year in Zion."
