🌿 How Will Zion Actually Be Built?
🌿 How Will Zion Actually Be Built?
The Nemenhah Blueprint for Enduring Peace
For generations, believers have talked about building Zion.
We sing about Zion. We pray for Zion. We attend conferences about Zion. We create organizations, write books, and wait for a great leader to tell us when and where to gather.
But what if Zion will not begin with a location?
What if it begins when ordinary people finally decide to live differently?
The Nemenhah Records use the word Tsiahn, which is translated as Enduring Peace. A note in the published Volume Two explains that Tsiahn is not primarily a piece of real estate or the name of an institution. It is a spiritual and social condition—a people living in lasting peace with the Creator, one another, and the earth.
That changes the question.
Instead of asking, “Where will Zion be built?” perhaps we should first ask:
What kind of people are capable of living in Zion?
The Nemenhah Records give a clear and surprisingly practical answer.
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🌿 Zion Begins in the Human Heart
The Peacemaker first establishes Tsiahn within individuals.
He teaches:
“Take of your abundance and enlarge the station and condition of your neighbor. Then shall you establish Tsiahn in your own heart.”
—The Second Book of Tsi Muhayl 9:31
That is where Zion begins.
It begins when I stop asking how much I can accumulate and begin asking whose life I can lift. It begins when another person’s suffering becomes important to me. It begins when I hear the voice of the Peacemaker and act upon what He tells me.
Zion cannot be produced merely by changing governments, joining organizations, or moving to a new location. People can carry Babylon with them wherever they go.
Before we can come out of Babylon physically, Babylon must come out of our hearts.
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🔥 A People Must Leave Babylon Behind
Mohrhohnahyah saw a future generation that would become capable of establishing Tsiahn. They would be prepared by the sacred records to “come again out of Pahbaylohn.”
He wrote:
“For if in the last days there may remain any who will give up this wickedness and repent and turn away from it altogether…then shall Tsiahn be established again.”
—The Book of Mohrhohnahyah 4:23
He continues:
“If it so be that the Peacemaker shall bring again Tsiahn, it shall be among a people that have cast aside the things of the world and its unrighteousness in preparation for a generation of peace.”
—The Book of Mohrhohnahyah 4:23
This does not mean abandoning civilization or refusing every modern convenience. It means abandoning the spirit of Babylon:
- Pride
- Greed
- Competition
- Unrighteous dominion
- Consuming without giving back
- Measuring people by wealth or position
- Seeking gain while others remain in want
The translation council’s note makes this point forcefully: all our talking, good intentions, and spiritual “manifesting” will not produce Zion. Enduring Peace depends upon what people actually decide to do.
Zion must become more than a beautiful idea.
It must become our way of life.
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🪶 The Established Churches May Prepare the Way
Mohrhohnahyah saw that the Foreign Strangers would receive sacred records and accomplish a great preparatory work. They would spread the message throughout the world and help prepare a future generation.
But he makes an important distinction:
“They shall not bring again Tsiahn. Nevertheless, they shall prepare the way before those that shall.”
—The Book of Mohrhohnahyah 4:25
Religious institutions may preserve scripture, preach Christ, build meetinghouses, send missionaries, and prepare hearts. These things can accomplish enormous good.
But no institution can manufacture Zion for us.
Eventually, a people must actually live what the scriptures teach.
John the Baptist prepared the way, but Jesus Christ performed the work of redemption. In the same manner, churches and movements may prepare the way—but only the Peacemaker can establish Enduring Peace among a people willing to follow Him.
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🌾 Consecration Replaces Competition
The Peacemaker gave the foundation of Zion’s economy:
“Set no man above another. Nay, let not one man be valued above another, but let each receive according to his wants and give according to his ability.”
—The First Book of Ohuhgohuh, Main Record 258
This is the Pillar of Consecration.
It does not mean that everyone performs the same work or possesses identical gifts. Each person receives a stewardship. Every family works diligently, enjoys the fruit of its labor, and produces an increase when possible.
The difference is what happens to the surplus.
Instead of endlessly accumulating while a neighbor suffers, the surplus is offered for the welfare of the community. The purpose is simple:
There should be no poor among them.
This is not forced redistribution. It is not an economic system imposed by powerful rulers. Consecration must flow from changed hearts and personal revelation.
The Peacemaker’s law cannot be lived through compulsion.
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🎁 The Sacred Giveaway
The Nemenhah practiced something called the Sacred Giveaway.
When an individual saw another person in need, that person sought guidance from the Haymehnay and responded directly.
The record explains:
“We make a Sacred Giveaway when we perceive a need, and in this way do we ensure that no member of our community is found in want of anything.”
—The Second Book of Ahyahpahleksihluhm II 2:5
It continues:
“Each individual is guided in it by the Haymehnay.”
—The Second Book of Ahyahpahleksihluhm II 2:6
There was no regulation controlling this personal giving. The individual listened to the Spirit and decided what, how, and how much to give.
Community surplus was also placed in a storehouse and administered through stewardship. But the individual never surrendered the personal responsibility to notice suffering and respond.
The Sacred Giveaway was not merely charity. It was worship.
“When a sacrifice is made so that another might not want, it is in the similitude of that Great Sacrifice made for us by the Prince of Peace.”
—The Second Book of Ahyahpahleksihluhm II 2:11
We give because He first gave to us.
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⛓️ Zion Cannot Be Built by Force
One of the strongest teachings in the Nemenhah Records is this declaration from the Peacemaker:
“Tsiahn cannot be established in any form of bondage or compulsion.”
—The Second Book of Tsi Muhayl 9:26
That single sentence eliminates many false versions of Zion.
Zion cannot be created by:
- A dictator
- A religious hierarchy
- A government program
- Threats and punishment
- Controlling another person’s conscience
- Declaring leaders infallible
- Forcing people to become righteous
The moment leaders use compulsion, the Haymehnay withdraws. Without the Spirit, the heavens become sealed and the people lose the very power that could have transformed them.
Leadership in Zion is not about climbing above others.
The Peacemaker taught:
“If your calling seems to give you power over your neighbor, then behold, you have not understood your calling.”
—The Second Book of Tsi Muhayl 9:29
True ministers are servants.
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🔥 The Four Sacred Pillars
The Nemenhah temple tradition teaches four pillars:
Knowledge — Learn to recognize the voice of the Peacemaker.
Sacrifice — Give up whatever prevents you from following that voice.
Virtue — Walk uprightly and become trustworthy before God and your neighbor.
Consecration — Dedicate your gifts, labor, abundance, and entire life to the Creator’s purposes.
These pillars describe the kind of person who can live in Zion.
Knowledge without sacrifice produces pride.
Sacrifice without virtue can become empty performance.
Virtue without consecration can remain centered upon oneself.
Consecration completes the journey because the person finally says:
“Everything I am and everything I possess belongs to the Creator. How would He have me use it?”
Zion is built when enough people sincerely live that covenant.
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👩👧 The Mothers and the Councils
The Nemenhah did not place unlimited power in one king, prophet, priest, or council.
Their communities were organized through councils, common consent, and the voice of the mothers.
A new community could not be created until a Mothers’ Council was convened. The Mothers’ Council nominated individuals to serve, but those names still had to receive the common consent of the people.
If the hearts of the people were not united concerning a name, the matter returned to the Mothers’ Council.
—The Second Book of Ohahtsahtsay Pen 2:1–3
Even decisions made by a Great Council were returned to the local communities for a sustaining vote:
“If the people are not of one heart and one mind on the matter, behold, they are free as a Community to set aside the decision of the Great Council.”
—The Second Book of Ohahtsahtsay Pen 2:16
The system was designed to prevent councils from becoming kings.
Authority moved through revelation, councils, stewardship, and common consent—not domination.
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🌎 Caring for Mother Earth
The Nemenhah kept their communities relatively small. Their customary limit was approximately 150 families before another community was organized.
The record explains why:
“It is the custom of the Nemenhah to care for the Earth and to steward all that She does give us. And in keeping our villages small, we do not hurt the Earth.”
—The Second Book of Ohahtsahtsay Pen 2:10
For them, caring for the earth was not a political slogan. It was part of their religion.
Zion cannot be built by people who consume the earth without gratitude, restraint, or restoration. Enduring Peace must include peace with the land that sustains us.
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❤️ One Heart and One Mind
Having “all things in common” means more than placing possessions in a storehouse.
It means having a common heart.
The people must learn to forgive, repent, listen, counsel, share, and seek the welfare of the whole community. They become spiritual relations—not because they agree upon every small matter, but because they are united in their devotion to the Peacemaker.
He commanded:
“Walk righteously and follow me. Seek always the good of others and serve them. Love one another. Sustain and support each other.”
—The Second Book of Tsi Muhayl 9:48
This sounds very much like the people described in Fourth Nephi:
“There were no contentions and disputations among them, and every man did deal justly one with another.”
—4 Nephi 1:2
And:
“They had all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor.”
—4 Nephi 1:3
The Book of Mormon gives us the witness.
The Nemenhah Records give us a detailed blueprint for attempting to live it.
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🕊️ The Meek Will Accomplish It
We may expect Zion to arrive through brilliant leaders, wealthy benefactors, mighty institutions, or powerful governments.
But the Peacemaker says something very different:
“The culmination of the ushering in of the fullness of times, and the fullness of knowledge, and the fullness of wisdom, and a fullness of the Haymehnay, shall be accomplished by the meek, not by the wise, and by the weak not the mighty. Yea, it shall be by the slave, not by the master.”
—The First Book of Ohuhgohuh, Main Record 242
Zion will not be handed down from the powerful.
It will rise among humble people who hear the voice of the Peacemaker and possess the courage to obey it.
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🌿 So How Will Zion Be Accomplished?
The Nemenhah blueprint may be summarized simply:
- Hear the Peacemaker.
- Repent and come out of Babylon.
- Live the Four Sacred Pillars.
- Reject hierarchy, bondage, and compulsion.
- Consecrate voluntarily.
- Care for the poor and give through the Sacred Giveaway.
- Organize through councils, mothers, revelation, and common consent.
- Care for the earth.
- Become one heart and one mind.
Zion is not merely something we are waiting for Jesus Christ to bring.
It is what Jesus Christ is waiting for us to become.
The Peacemaker must first establish Tsiahn within our hearts. Then, as we follow His voice and live His teachings together, that Enduring Peace spreads from one heart to another, from one family to another, and from one community to another.
Zion will not begin when somebody announces that we have arrived.
It will begin quietly, among the meek, when a people finally decide to live what the Peacemaker has been teaching all along.
Zion is not something somebody builds for us. The Peacemaker builds it within us—and then we prove it is real by the way we live together.
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