by John P. Pratt
3 Oct 2020, Tabernacles (PH, E, S), Atonement (J)
©2020 by John P. Pratt. All rights Reserved.
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1. The United Order 2. The Sealed Book 3. Step by Step Approach 3.1 Desire to Join 3.2 Overcome Negativity 3.3 10 to 100% of Surplus 3.4 Begin with Wealthiest 3.5 Managed by Leaders 3.6 Timed Goals for Poor 3.7 Willing to Give All 4. Conclusion Notes |
The fully developed Church of Christ in all ages has been recognized by the members having all things in common, with no poor among them (Moses 7:18-19). That spiritual and physical law of sharing is a commandment which will be a requirement of the future city of Zion (D&C 105:3-5), which is to be established to receive the people of Enoch before the Second Coming of the Lord. Early in the history of the restored Church of Christ, several attempts were made by leaders of the LDS Church to implement this law, all of which failed. Those attempts were followed by efforts to have the saints at least buy from each other or make other preparations to live the law. Apparently the LDS Church has now entirely abandoned such efforts to prepare its members, but that does not change the fact that the city of Zion will be required to live this law.
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Well, it turns out, the Lord had the foresight to prepare exactly such a manual. It was written by one of the three Nephites who was a disciple in their church, who was instrumental in founding the United Order among his people. He wrote a book called Acts of the Three Nephites which is included in The Sealed Book. It was published last year, having been translated from the first few plates of the sealed Plates of Mormon.[1] It provides exactly what is needed at this time to found the United Order in these last days. His instructions are summarized in this article.
The "United Order of Enoch" (or "United Order", "Order of Enoch", the "Order", or the "Law of Consecration") is a financial system employed by the Church of Christ, designed to share voluntarily the goods and wealth of the community with each other so that there are neither rich nor poor among them. It has been described as "having all things in common". One New Testament scripture describes well just what that meant:
And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common." -- Acts 4:32.
That is, the Order implements the concept of being a "steward" over property. It is a formal acknowledgement that everything belongs to the Lord. We are really only stewards or caretakers of what we consider to be "ours". We have a responsibility to keep it and develop it if possible, but not to think we own anything. It is a healthy state of mind and the Order is a formal acknowledgement of the truth that we are only sojourners here, and cannot take any material things with us when we die.
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The Prophet Joseph Smith was commanded by the Lord to organize the "United Order", which was an implementation of the commandment given to the people of God in all ages to share their goods so that there would be no poor among them (D&C 92:1). That is one requirement for the people of Zion, which Joseph was attempting to found near what is now Independence, Missouri. Unfortunately, his attempt failed, ending with the saints being driven out of the state by angry mobs. The Lord explained that the reason for their failure and loss of their inheritances was that His people were not of one heart and mind, but instead had jarrings, contentions, envyings, lust and covetousness (D&C 101:6).
In 1868, the second president of the Church, Brigham Young, attempted to implement the United Order in Utah, but that attempt also failed. Then he started the cooperative business of Zion's Cooperative Mercantile Institution (ZCMI), a business owned by the Church, so that they would at least all benefit from the profits. He also tried to implement the United Order in certain cites, such as Orderville, Utah. It was tried there from 1875-1885, but it too failed. And now ZCMI has failed too.
President Heber J. Grant gave a talk in general conference pleading with the saints to at least buy from each other, rather than from those who were not members of the Church. He stated that instead of fleeing Babylon, they loved and supported Babylon, referring explicitly to New York City as representative.
Continuing on the path away from Zion, now most LDS members buy their goods from China, apparently solely because slave labor is less expensive. Do you remember any talks in general conference in the last few decades with instructions for members to begin to prepare to live the United Order, which will be required on the Lord's church in the Millennium?
Fortunately the Lord has indeed provided explicit instructions through a living seer on exactly how to implement the United Order to have a people ready to receive Him at the Second Coming. This article is a summary of those instructions.
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The last book in that volume is the Acts of the Three Nephites, having been written by Jonah, son of Nephi (3 Nephi 19:4), who was one of the Three Nephites who were translated (3 Nephi 28:6-9) to continue to work among the followers of Christ.
Two years after the Savior's visit, the Nephites began the United Order among themselves, as required to be the fully implemented Church of Christ. The Three Nephites were there at the beginning of that Order, and lived all during its success for two centuries. Jonah made the effort to record the steps which were followed in order to ensure success. Those steps are summarized below. They are exactly what is needed at this time because all efforts of the modern Church have failed so far.
The large corporate LDS Church based in Utah has not yet accepted this book as scripture, but the United Order is currently being implemented by a "reborn" version of the original Church founded by Joseph Smith. It is called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (no hyphen in Latter Day), headquartered in Brazil. Information about it is available for those in the United States at the website secondinvitation.info, which name refers to a second invitation to join the Church of Christ, Joseph Smith having offered the first invitation.
The instructions of just how to found the United Order of Enoch are given in chapters 8 to 11 of the Acts of the Three Nephites (abbreviated as A3N in references given herein). The following is my arrangement of the commandments to be implemented in our day, divided into seven steps. This is strictly my interpretation of what is stated in the book. It does not represent an official stance of the Church in Brazil.
The first step is clearly stated that a member of the Church must desire to be part of the Order. That includes acknowledging the Lord as the owner of all things, not only our possessions but also our time and talents (A3N 8:9). Membership is entirely voluntary.[3] The minimum requirement to be worthy to be a member of the Church of Christ is to pay tithing, as defined in the law of Moses (A3N 9:2). Tithing is not only necessary to pay, but it is also a sufficient financial requirement to be a member in good standing of the Church. Tithing is also the minimum requirement to join the United Order.
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When a member of the Church had decided to join the Order, their name was recorded, along with an analysis of their faith and amount of their pledge. If it was a married man, it was also noted whether or not his whole family also willingly agreed to join the order (A3N 8:11).
The instructions make it clear that the most important requirement for a people to succeed at living the United Order is to become a loving and virtuous people:
The Nephite people, taken then, by their highest sentiments, banished from their midst all resentment that came from the evil one, beginning with sorrow and rancor, then anguish and fear, anger, covetousness and lasciviousness, and many others derived from satan, and whenever an adverse feeling to the heavenly gifts was identified, a record was made of it for the purpose of being worked out at church meetings in general, for the purpose of being replaced by those noble sentiments derived from the bigger Gift, coming from the name of our God, one at a time, until strife between brethren ceased to exist, and there were no more quarrels among the Nephite people. -- A3N 8:1.
Note that an actual method to improve in these areas is also implemented. Each person decides on a fault or weakness they have in failing to be virtuous. This fault is presented to the church in general, and a written goal is set to improve in that area. It might be to stop swearing, to stop complaining, or to control one's anger or lust.
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It is interesting that the list quoted above of negative attributes to overcome is presented as an ordered list, suggesting that they are to be overcome in that order. Indeed, some negative attributes are easier to overcome than others, perhaps depending on the individual, so it is wise to overcome the easiest first and then move on to more difficult challenges.
Although it is not mentioned in the text, it seems that the same method could be used to develop positive attributes. For example, "This month I will demonstrate my love for others by cheerfully serving one person every day by easing their burden or making them happy."
Thus, a systematic method was used to overcome satanic attributes and develop those of Jesus Christ.
While the minimum donation to enter the United Order is tithing, being 10% of one's surplus, a member may also enter with a higher percentage, or raise the percentage when he truly desires in his heart to do so. The donation must always be given with love and the desire to help others who are less fortunate. The eventual goal is to raise the fraction of donated surplus to be 100%.
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The book explains that when the Order is begun, it begins with the wealthiest who desired to join were called by name and asked to present their goods and declare how much of them they were willing to consecrate to the Lord (A3N 9:2). Thus, right from the start there are funds to be shared with the poor. That also makes sense because it is the rich who might have the most problem sharing their goods, until their heart is truly more on relieving the burdens of others than it is on increasing their own opulence.
This procedure is reminiscent of when members in the Church of Christ shortly after His resurrection were asked to present their goods to the Church. One couple held back a piece of land in their declaration, and died on the spot (Acts 5:1-11)! When word of that got around, it was a real incentive for those following to be totally truthful with the Lord!
In any case, it looks like a very similar procedure was used among the Nephites to implement the United Order among themselves.Many reasons are given in the instructions about the need for this system to be managed by one high priest along with a group of righteous men called the high council (A3N 9:14). Donations are accepted by them, and they are in touch with the group closely enough to know where best to place the funds.
There is also a system of checks and balances built into the system. It is stated that the High Priest over the system (Presiding Bishop) cannot just take the improvements in their stewardship of a very productive family without the mutual agreement of the entire High Council, as being necessary to alleviate the suffering others. Moreover, if a needy family is overlooked by all of those leaders, a general meeting of all of the members of the Order, can point out their need. In that case, it is still necessary for both the Bishop as well as the high council to validate that need before asking to take improvements from the productive family (A3N 11:6). Note that part of the improvements could be to raise more food for others, so it would be counterproductive to take from them, for example, the new tractor they have acquired. In other words, that tractor would not be surplus. It is up to the productive family themselves to determine what is surplus.
Again, this example shows the need for the entire system to be based on love and good feeling towards others!
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Thus, those who are idle are not to wear the clothes nor eat the food of the laborer, which matches what was revealed to Joseph Smith in the Law of the Church (D&C 42:42). Everyone is expected to contribute at whatever level they can.
As mentioned above, the goal of the Order is to have no poor and to, at least in principle, share all of their goods with each other as needed. That is, it is to have all things in common.
This order helps the group to remember that everything we have really belongs to the Lord. We are just stewards of His property. The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof.
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If a member of the Order at the 100% consecration level refuses to give some non-surplus goods when they are required to help those in need of sustenance, he could be cut off from being in the Order, but not from membership in the Church (A3N 9:12).
There are two sides to the legends of Native Americans trading Manhattan Island in New York to the Europeans in exchange for some beads and gold. The story as told by the European invaders is that the natives were stupid to trade valuable land for so little. The Native Americans, on the other hand, have thought that the Europeans were stupid enough to believe that people can own land at all. They acknowledge that the earth is all owned by the Creator, so they did not put up fences to claim it as their own. They also note that they saw that the Europeans were going to take the land anyway, so they were glad to get what they could for it.
Native Americans in their natural culture are also well known for sharing whatever the hunting party could provide with the entire tribe. That is indeed the spirit of having all things in common.
Many efforts have been made by the LDS Church to implement the United Order as was given by commandment to the Prophet Joseph Smith, but all have failed. Each attempt to prepare members involved easing the requirements, but the failure has been so complete that Church members now buy most of their goods from China rather than from each other.
The city of Zion needs to be founded in order to prepare for the return of the Enoch's city of Zion as well as the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. That city must live the United Order, the law of the Celestial Kingdom. That needs to happen soon because there is little time left.
Fortunately, instructions have now been provided with the translation of some of the sealed Plates of Mormon which explain in detail how that system was implemented successfully for two centuries among the Nephites. Those instructions are briefly summarized in this article in seven steps. They are (1) have the desire to join, (2) systematically overcome negative attributes, (3) commit to donate from 10-100% of surplus, (4) begin with the wealthiest, (5) manage with Church leadership, (6) the poor have timed goals to be self-sustaining, and (7) be willing to give all possessions if necessary.
See secondinvitation.info for more information. All are invited to prepare themselves to participate in this Church and this Order, which have now been restored by the Lord.