🌿 When Everyone Claims to Be Building Zion
🌿 When Everyone Claims to Be Building Zion
A Down-to-Earth Way to Recognize the Real Thing
As the world becomes more divided, expensive, lonely, and unstable, I believe we will hear more people talking about Zion.
Some will organize gatherings.
Some will establish camps or communities.
Some will purchase land.
Some will claim special revelation, priesthood authority, prophetic gifts, ancient records, superior knowledge, or a divine assignment to gather the Lord’s people.
Many of these people may be completely sincere. They may recognize that Babylon is failing and genuinely desire something better.
But sincerity alone does not create Zion.
History has shown that religious communities can begin with beautiful intentions and still end in control, financial exploitation, spiritual abuse, or the elevation of one leader above everyone else.
Jesus warned us:
“There shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders.”
—Matthew 24:24
If counterfeit Zion groups arise, they probably will not introduce themselves by saying, “Welcome to counterfeit Zion.”
They will use beautiful words:
Covenant. Gathering. Remnant. Refuge. Consecration. Priesthood. Safety. Preparation. Common consent.
They may quote all the right scriptures.
So how can ordinary people tell the difference?
The Nemenhah Records, the Book of Mormon, and the teachings of Jesus give us some remarkably down-to-earth tests.
🕊️ Test One: Who Is at the Center?
The first question is simple:
Does this group continually point people toward Jesus Christ, or does it gradually make them dependent upon a particular leader?
A true servant helps people recognize the Savior’s voice for themselves.
A counterfeit leader may speak continually about Christ while quietly becoming the necessary middleman between the people and Christ.
Watch what happens when someone receives personal revelation that differs from the leader.
Are they allowed to prayerfully disagree?
Are they invited to counsel?
Or are they accused of pride, rebellion, darkness, or disloyalty?
The Peacemaker taught that the purpose of the Nemenhah religion was for individuals to come into the presence of the Creator and know Him personally.
He said:
“Most of all, my little flock, come unto me. Seek my face. Seek and you shall find me.”
—The Second Book of Tsi Muhayl 9:49
A genuine Zion community helps you depend more upon the Peacemaker.
A counterfeit community makes you increasingly dependent upon its leader.
👂 Test Two: Does the Group Honor Your Connection to God?
Nephi taught:
“The Holy Ghost…will show unto you all things what ye should do.”
—2 Nephi 32:5
That promise was given to ordinary disciples—not just institutional leaders.
A healthy community teaches people how to hear the Spirit, test revelation, repent when mistaken, and grow in spiritual maturity.
A dangerous group says, in effect:
“You can receive revelation for little things, but the leader receives the important answers for everyone.”
The Nemenhah pattern begins with individuals receiving a commission from the Peacemaker through revelation. Councils help people discern and administer their stewardships, but the council does not replace the Haymehnay.
Ask yourself:
Am I becoming more confident in recognizing the Savior’s voice?
Am I allowed to ask honest questions?
Can I say, “I have not received that confirmation”?
Is personal revelation respected—or only when it agrees with the leader?
A group cannot build Zion by silencing the very voice that creates Zion.
👑 Test Three: Follow the Power
The Peacemaker gave one of the plainest warnings found in the Nemenhah Records:
“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
That gives us a powerful test:
Who holds the power, and who can correct them?
Do not merely examine the group’s organizational chart. Watch what happens in real life.
Can leaders be questioned?
Are important decisions made openly?
Are councils allowed to reach a different conclusion?
Do women possess a genuine voice?
Are records and finances transparent?
Can a leader be released?
Is there an honest process for reporting abuse?
Does common consent actually mean anything?
A group may use councils while one person controls every decision behind the scenes.
It may conduct sustaining votes while members know that opposing a proposal will bring shame or punishment.
That is not common consent.
That is control wearing the clothing of consent.
Doctrine and Covenants 121 warns that it is the nature of many people, once they receive a little authority, to begin exercising unrighteous dominion.
The Lord then declares:
“No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood.”
—Doctrine and Covenants 121:41
Authority without accountability is not Zion.
💰 Test Four: Follow the Money
This is one of the most practical tests of all.
Ask:
Who owns the land?
Who controls the bank accounts?
Who receives a salary?
Are financial reports available?
What happens to property if the community dissolves?
Can members retain personal stewardships?
Who benefits financially from the labor of the people?
Is the leader’s lifestyle different from everyone else’s?
Are people pressured to donate, invest, or surrender property quickly?
The Peacemaker taught:
“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
In the Nemenhah pattern, consecration was intended to eliminate poverty and enlarge the condition of one’s neighbor.
It was not a method for transferring the people’s wealth to a leader.
Never confuse consecration with signing everything over to somebody else.
True consecration is voluntary, transparent, Spirit-led, and directed toward ensuring that nobody remains in want.
If the leaders grow wealthy while the members continually sacrifice, something is wrong.
⛓️ Test Five: Can You Freely Say No?
The Peacemaker declared:
“Tsiahn cannot be established in any form of bondage or compulsion.”
—The Second Book of Tsi Muhayl 9:26
That may be the simplest test of all:
Can you freely say no?
Can you decline an assignment?
Can you keep your property?
Can you choose not to move?
Can you leave the community without losing your family, reputation, livelihood, or supposed salvation?
Can you question a revelation attributed to a leader?
Can you take time to pray before making a commitment?
Counterfeit groups often manufacture urgency:
“The destruction is almost here.”
“You must gather immediately.”
“This is your final opportunity.”
“If you leave, you will lose divine protection.”
“Only our community will survive.”
“Questioning the leader means questioning God.”
Fear makes people surrender judgment they would ordinarily exercise.
The Spirit may warn and prompt urgently, but He does not require us to abandon wisdom, conscience, and moral agency.
If a group cannot tolerate a peaceful “no,” it cannot be Zion.
👨👩👧👦 Test Six: What Happens to Families?
Babylon sacrifices families to the economy.
Counterfeit religious systems may sacrifice families to the organization.
Watch carefully:
Are marriages strengthened or weakened?
Are parents respected?
Are children safe?
Are young people free to mature and make choices?
Does the group interfere unnecessarily in marriage?
Are members encouraged to distrust family members outside the group?
Does loyalty to the leader outrank loyalty to one’s spouse?
Are private interviews with children conducted safely?
Are allegations of abuse reported to proper civil authorities?
Jesus taught that we recognize a tree by its fruit.
A community producing fear, broken marriages, isolated children, secret abuse, and divided families is not producing Zion—regardless of its doctrine or spiritual manifestations.
Zion strengthens righteous family relationships. It does not demand that the organization become the new family.
🌾 Test Seven: Are the Poor Actually Lifted?
Many movements talk about Zion while directing most of their energy toward meetings, teachings, conferences, books, property, and leadership.
The Peacemaker gave a more practical definition of true religion:
“Succor the poor, feed the hungry, visit the widow and judge the fatherless. This is true religion.”
—The First Book of Ohuhgohuh, Main Record 256
Look around the proposed community.
Are lonely people included?
Are widows cared for?
Do struggling families receive real assistance?
Can young couples afford homes and children?
Are the elderly treated as valuable relations?
Are disabled people honored and supported?
Does everyone work according to capacity?
Is anybody quietly going hungry while leaders discuss Zion?
King Benjamin taught:
“Are we not all beggars?”
—Mosiah 4:19
The Nemenhah practiced the Sacred Giveaway whenever somebody perceived a need.
“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
The fruit of Zion is not an impressive headquarters.
The fruit of Zion is that nobody is abandoned.
🌎 Test Eight: How Does the Group Treat the Land?
A Zion community cannot endlessly consume without restoring.
The Nemenhah Records teach:
“It is the custom of the Nemenhah to care for the Earth and to steward all that She does give us.”
—The Second Book of Ohahtsahtsay Pen 2:10
Ask:
Is the land treated as a sacred stewardship?
Is the community producing anything useful?
Is water conserved?
Is soil being restored?
Are animals treated responsibly?
Is waste reduced?
Are the people learning to live within the land’s capacity?
Or is “Zion” merely another real-estate development?
Buying land does not establish Zion.
Consecrated people caring for the land may begin to.
🧱 Test Nine: Is Anyone Actually Living the Blueprint?
Some groups will have detailed plans, beautiful diagrams, powerful lectures, and exciting prophecies.
But where is the fruit?
Are the leaders themselves living simply?
Are they consecrating their surplus?
Are they serving their neighbors?
Are they forgiving enemies?
Are they practicing common consent?
Are they caring for the poor?
Are they accountable to councils?
Are they doing what they teach—or merely selling the blueprint?
The translation council’s note in Volume Two makes a blunt observation: all the talking, good intentions, and spiritual manifesting in the world will not establish Enduring Peace. It depends upon what people actually decide to do.
James said:
“Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only.”
—James 1:22
Do not judge a Zion movement by its promises.
Judge it by its present practices.
🪶 Test Ten: Are the People Becoming More Christlike?
This is the final test.
After participating in the group, are people becoming:
More loving?
More patient?
More honest?
More forgiving?
More peaceful?
More responsible?
More spiritually independent?
More willing to serve?
Less concerned with status?
Less fearful of outsiders?
Less dependent upon the leader?
Or are they becoming:
Suspicious
Angry
Superior
Secretive
Fearful
Obsessed with destruction
Cut off from family
Dependent upon the group
Unable to question authority
Certain that everyone outside is deceived
Moroni gave us the measuring rod:
“That which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God.”
—Moroni 7:13
The fruit tells the story.
⚠️ Counterfeit Zion May Begin With Good People
We should not assume every failed or unhealthy community began with evil intentions.
A person may sincerely receive inspiration to teach about Zion. People may gather with honest hearts. Beautiful spiritual experiences may occur.
But if they fail to establish accountability, transparency, common consent, and protection against dominion, their good beginning can become corrupted.
That is why we should examine systems, not merely intentions.
A good person given unchecked authority may gradually become controlling.
A sincere teacher surrounded by unquestioning followers may begin believing every personal thought is revelation for the group.
A temporary emergency measure may quietly become permanent control.
The safest Zion community is not one that promises perfect leaders.
It is one organized so that imperfect leaders cannot easily become kings.
🧭 A Plain Checklist Before Joining Any Zion Group
Before moving, surrendering money, purchasing communal property, or placing your family under another group’s authority, ask:
Does this lead me directly to Jesus Christ?
Is my personal revelation respected?
Can the leaders be questioned and corrected?
Are finances and property ownership completely transparent?
Can I freely say no or leave?
Are marriages, parents, and children protected?
Are the poor genuinely lifted?
Does common consent have real power?
Are women given a meaningful governing voice?
Are leaders living the same sacrifices they teach?
Is the community producing useful goods and caring for the land?
Are members becoming more loving, free, humble, and Christlike?
And perhaps one more:
What happens when somebody disagrees with the leader?
The answer to that question may reveal more than a hundred sermons.
🌿 Preparation or Counterfeit?
Not every Zion gathering is counterfeit.
A conference can awaken people.
A camp can help families learn useful skills.
A teacher can open scriptures in a powerful way.
A community can begin imperfectly and grow through repentance.
The question is whether the effort continually points beyond itself to the Peacemaker.
A legitimate preparation says:
“Come and learn. Pray about everything. Take what the Spirit confirms. Keep your agency. Follow Jesus Christ.”
A counterfeit says:
“We possess the complete answer. Safety is found by joining us. Follow the person God placed in charge.”
One prepares free people for Zion.
The other gathers followers for an organization.
🕊️ The Real Zion Will Be Difficult to Counterfeit
Real Zion will not be identified by the grandest claims, the largest following, or the most impressive leader.
It will be recognized by its fruit:
No poor
No kings
No compulsion
No secret combinations
No spiritual middleman replacing Christ
Honest councils
Meaningful common consent
Consecrated stewardships
Strong families
Protected children
Honored mothers
Cared-for land
Repentance and forgiveness
People of one heart and one mind
The Peacemaker said the culmination would 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
That does not sound like a powerful leader gathering admirers around himself.
It sounds like humble people quietly learning to hear the Peacemaker and live His teachings together.
The safest rule may be this:
Do not follow anyone merely because they claim to be building Zion. Walk with people whose daily lives already produce the fruits of Zion.
The real builders of Zion will not ask us to surrender our relationship with Christ.
They will teach us how to strengthen it.
They will not seek power over us.
They will help us become free.
They will not merely preach consecration.
They will live it.
They will not build their own kingdom and place the name “Zion” upon it.
They will decrease so that the Peacemaker may increase.
And when Zion finally comes, perhaps nobody will need to advertise it.
We will recognize it because the people are free, the poor are cared for, the earth is honored, the councils are united, and Jesus Christ—not another mortal—stands at the center.
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