Approaching Zion: The Destiny of America

Mr. Merrill Goes to Washington

   Experience hath shewn
   that mankind are more disposed
   to suffer, while evils are sufferable,
   than to right themselves
   by abolishing the forms
   to which they are accustomed.

     ― Declaration of Independence

Last week I traveled to Washington D.C. for work.  On Friday night I sat alone on a park bench overlooking the Washington Monument (see photo above; all of the photos in this post are from my trip).

As I previously wrote in The Constitution Shall Hang by a Thread: Part 1, "America was to be a prototype of Zion, where people would learn to govern themselves."  How are we doing?

If you have read this blog at any length, you know I care deeply about America.  With the same scalpel I take to religion, I analyze surgically the affairs of our country.

I try to govern myself according to liberty's laws ― which is to say, to be a follower of truth (John 8:32).  For there is no genuine freedom outside of truth, in which it abides.

So last Friday night I wandered over to the park bench after visiting the Lincoln Memorial ("With malice toward none, with charity for all").

Jupiter perched in the sky over the left shoulder of the obelisk, brighter than I have ever seen it before.  There was hardly anyone around as I pondered the future of our nation.

Sitting in our nation's capital, I felt a range of emotions as I contemplated all that America has been blessed with ("Where much is given, much is required").  She had such promise, and continues to have much potential.

But at the same time, what would it take for America to "repent?"  What does "repentance" even mean, in a national context?

I thought of the "just and holy principles" that undergird the Constitution (D&C 101:78).  And mostly, I pondered on the destiny of this land, called by the Lord "choice" and "promised."

As you know, the future is not fixed.  The pillars of prophecy bend multi-dimensionally according to the interplay of man's agency and the overarching purposes of God.

This is the reason scriptural prophecy is not static.  Prophecy is typological.  Like rolling ocean waves, prophecy cycles through multiple iterations and re-creations, reshaping the shoreline ("The first shall be last and the last shall be first").

But nothing stirs a favorable wind more than faith.

That is why, more than any other barometer of our country's spiritual health, I look to faith.  Do we have faith in God's promises (see 2 Nephi 1:7)?  Do we treasure His word?  Do we believe God can yet use America as an ensign?

And not just the United States: for all of North and South America shall become ― after much tribulation ― the land of "Zion."

There, sitting on the park bench beneath the stars, I prayed for her and her people.  Our mortal lives are so fleeting; our time here is but a drop in the ocean.  But a drop can send ripples rippling across generations.

Looking up at the Washington Monument, I asked, "God, what can I do?  What time do we have left?  What can be done for America?"
​
And Jupiter, watching, was silent; and the waxing moon listened from her exalted station, and was silent.  And the heavens ― usually so chatty ― looked down in silence.

"From Where the Sun Now Stands"

   Whenever any form
   of government
   becomes destructive
   to these ends,
   it is the right of the people
   to alter or abolish it.

      ―​ Declaration of Independence

In 1877 the United States government broke the Walla Walla Treaty it had made with the Native American tribes of the Pacific Northwest, leading to the Nez Perce War.

Hoping to avoid being relocated by the federal government to an Indian Reservation in Idaho, the Nez Perce fled over 1,170 miles with their women and children.  They hoped to find sanctuary with the Lakota tribe who had gone to Canada under Sitting Bull.

The U.S. Army pursued the Nez Perce in an attempt to arrest their retreat to Canada.  The final battle was fought at Snake Creek in Northern Montana, at the base of the Bears Paw Mountains ― just 40 miles from the Canadian border.

Chief Joseph (the leader of the Nez Perce), seeing the survivors among his people who were freezing and starving, finally surrendered.

Chief Joseph laid down his weapons of war and surrendered to General Oliver Otis Howard of the U.S. Army on October 5, 1877.  In his immortal speech, Chief Joseph said:

"Hear me, my chiefs.  I am tired.  My heart is sick and sad.  From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever."
​
I share this not by way of history, but prophecy.  I prophesy that the ground upon which Chief Joseph stood and surrendered is holy, and has been divinely hallowed and consecrated for future use by the Lord's people.

   -----

I flew into D.C. on Wednesday and the first thing I did was take the Metro to the National Archives, where the Declaration of Independence is housed (channeling my best Nicolas Cage).

Emerging from the subway onto Pennsylvania Avenue, I saw a remarkable statue of a woman (see photo below).  She was seated with an enormous book open in her lap, and I wished I were tall enough to see what was written upon its pages.  The statue was sculpted by Robert Aitken and is called "Future."

My eyes were drawn to the inscription at the feet of the woman ― a quote from Shakespeare's The Tempest (and an appropriate perspective on the work that lies ahead as the Lord reshapes the fates of mankind).

   "What is Past is Prologue."

Going Bananas

​   A design to reduce them
   under absolute despotism.

​     ― Declaration of Independence

What do you think is the greatest threat to America?

Is it global warming?  Hyper-inflation?  Urbanization?  Nuclear war?  Korean K-pop bands?  (Looking at you, Gangnam Style.)

No, it is something far worse than that.  Let me tell you a story about bananas.

In the 1950s the dominant specie of bananas was the Gros Michel.  Unfortunately the global banana supply became infected with the Panama Disease ― a fungal pathogen that destroyed the entire worldwide crop of bananas.

The best scientific minds in the world attempted to save the banana.  But despite their best efforts, they were helpless in the face of the disease.  There was no cure, no way to save the household banana.

So we pivoted and made the conscious decision to abandon the specie entirely, which became extinct by 1965.

That's right: the bananas we buy at Walmart today are not the same as the bananas children used to take to school during the era of Howdy Doody.

During the 1960s, banana growers around the world searched for a new genetic line, one that was resistant to the fungus.  They chose the Cavendish Cultivar, which is the banana we know and love today (Bananas Foster, anyone?).

The Cavendish specie was chosen because it was immune to the Panama disease.

But in the process, there was a devil's bargain struck.  The Cavendish came from a monoculture with no genetic diversity.

You see, the Cavendish fruit is sterile and seedless.  New plants are cloned from existing ones (this is why all bananas are identical).

If a new disease infected the Cavendish, it would infect them all.

And this brings us back to my original question.  The greatest threat that America faces, in my opinion, is extinction.

It is my current understanding that, due to a number of contributing factors, the human population shall be diminished to the point they "shall be few, that a child may write them" (Isaiah 10:19) (by comparison, compare how few people survived the global cataclysm of the Flood).

But I am less concerned with demographics as I am with the spiritual well-being of the Lord's people.

One of the greatest spiritual threats we face is analogous to the Cavendish banana, by which I mean, a lack of spiritual diversity.

Monopolies and Monocultures

   We hold these truths
   to be self-evident,
   that all men are created equal.

      ― Declaration of Independence

I visited the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, and passing between the chasm I saw inscribed on the side of the wall, "Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope."

In order to weather the coming storm, we must not create a monoculture; we need the spiritual diversity of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation.

Just as Noah gathered two of every kind, we need to preserve all the diversity and wildness that God has cultivated among us (the allegory in Jacob 5 is a good description of the cross-pollination that is necessary for the vineyard's fruit to be preserved).

​Zion is the promised heritage of all peoples ― it is the restoration and reconciliation of all past technologies, histories, philosophies, traditions, and truths ― into one great whole.

This is what the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times is about.

   And it shall come to pass
   in the last days, that the
   mountain of the Lord’s house
   shall be established
   in the top of the mountains,
   and shall be exalted
   above the hills;
   and all nations
   shall flow unto it.

(Isaiah 2:2)

These words have been co-opted by the Church's neo-conservative temple theology.  But the Church is not the predecessor-in-interest of Zion: the remnant of Jacob is (and from there, to all the peoples of the earth).

This includes the Hindus, and the Buddhists, and the Muslims, and the New Age folks, and all persons of goodwill who are willing to flee Babylon.

They shall come together to create something quite different than anything we have yet seen ― and it will certainly not resemble the hierarchy of the Church (which has made itself into a Cavendish religion, a monoculture).

​Lance Weaver wrote, "The LDS Church was never intended to be the stone cut out of the mountain.  We were merely the catalyst; an Ensign to the nations; a harbinger of the Father commencing His work which is so much larger, and broader, and grander than anything the Church teaches."

The great division to come is not between different beliefs, but different political philosophies on how people should be governed.

It will be between freedom and authoritarianism, between might and meekness, supremacy or service to the least of them.

If you want to find God, go searching among those who you think are least deserving; look among the groups you believe to be furthest from Him; search in the midst of those you think warrant His wrath most.

For what I have learned is that God awaits us ― "hidden" as it were ― where we least expect, among those we find most cringeworthy.  That's the point.  For, if we can find Him there (with "them"), then we can find Him in ourselves.

Christ taught this principle by fellowshipping with publicans and prostitutes; He invited us to find Him in prison (Matt. 25:36) and among prodigals (Luke 15:20).

Look for the Standard of Truth among those you believe to be in error; hoist the Title of Liberty foremost in your own heart.

"Be Still"

​   We mutually pledge to each other
   our Lives, our Fortunes,
   and our sacred Honor.

​      ― Declaration of Independence

The first Person to pledge their "sacred Honor" was Christ.  He said:

   Father, thy will be done,
   and the glory be thine
   forever.

(Moses 4:2)

If you began reading this post hoping to hear about Ezra's Eagle or something ― I am sorry.  There is something more important I wish to end with.

There is a Taoist saying that goes, "Power gathers where there is stillness."

In a coming frantic day when "all things shall be in commotion," we can spot the true followers of Christ by their "stillness."

   Let your hearts be comforted
   concerning Zion;
   for all flesh is in mine hands;
   Be still and know
   that I AM
   God.

(D&C 101:16)

As I rose from the park bench Friday night, I felt stillness.  Stillness holds tension: the tension of past and future, good and bad, and the hurt of hope.  Stillness wraps it all together in peace.

If there is one thing America needs, it is the peace of God.  She is a boiling cauldron of contention.  She will face greater trials than she has yet known.

As we navigate the coming tribulation, we may rely on Christ's promise of peace (John 14:27).

Peace comes from harmony; but harmony is not unison; oneness is not sameness.

Peace arises simply from acceptance.

Acceptance is the precondition to genuine understanding; and understanding is the key to loving one another.  Love is the primary giver of peace, which passeth all understanding.

On the other hand, the law of fear is simply rejection.

​Rejection leads to separation, and separation leads to alienation.  We cannot be reconciled to God while we are alienated from each other, and from our own divine nature.

When we go against the Savior's counsel and try to "resist evil" (Matt. 5:39), we shall discover it only strengthens it.  But accepting evil?  Understanding it?  It will have nowhere to hide and no one to fight.

Evil cannot be quarantined; isolating evil only multiplies it.  Evil cannot be destroyed.  But it can be healed.

Jesus showed us the way to heal evil is to apply pure love and charity.

Are we ready to follow Chief Joseph's example?  Are we ready to follow the Savior's?

​​The world dreams of a utopia where peace and plenty will fill the earth through societal reforms, government programs, welfare states and manifestos ― not realizing that Zion cannot be brought to pass by regulation and social engineering.

It is the province of the meek and pure in heart to find paradise, even those who are the weak things of the earth.

   I call upon the weak things
   of the world, those who are
   unlearned and despised,
   to thresh the nations
   by the power of my Spirit;

   And their arm shall be my arm,
   and I will be their shield
   and their buckler.

(D&C 35:13-14)

And one day, when the lion lies down with the lamb, it will be "a little child [who] shall lead them" (Isaiah 11:6) ― a promise quoted by the angel to Joseph Smith in 1823.

​The thing that keeps the world from a paradisiacal state is enmity, which is the opposite of charity.

Do you want to be Zion?  Then lead the way to a new earth that is enmity-less.

   And in that day
   the enmity of man,
   and the enmity of beasts,
   yea, the enmity of all flesh,
   shall cease from before my face.

(D&C 101:26)

Looking forward we see on the horizon a holy city waiting to be built in this Promised Land.

As Mormon showed us, the greatest adventure of our lives will be learning to love the unlovable (Mormon 3:12).

Xoxo, Tim