The Reality of Zion
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
The world's a little weird right now, don't you think?
You've probably noticed; the shift is real. Things are not as they've always been, and changes are coming faster.
To me, it kind of reminds me of when you're about to deliver a baby. One minute, you know the baby is coming any day, but everything is still the way it's always been. Then quite suddenly, the baby is coming TODAY. And once that hard labor starts, you are living in an intensity you're pretty sure you're not going to survive... until suddenly the baby comes.
Am I the only one who feels like that describes modern life right now - an intensity you're pretty sure you're not going to survive? Somehow, it's starting to feel like the whole planet is yearning for the return of the Savior - even if those who don't worship Him don't recognize the feeling, much less anticipate His return. This might be a stretch, but to me, the Marvel world is a multi-million dollar craze that seems to be expressing the world's craving a savior.
I've told friends lately that I feel like the whole world is in a spiritual kind of labor. The intensity of everyone's lives is so extreme - it feels like every single one of us in hard labor - living in the rhythm of breathing, pushing, and resting until the next contraction. Somehow we're all managing to have relationships with each other between contractions.
Neal A. Maxwell taught:
"God will also 'hasten' His work (D&C 88:73). He will also "shorten' the last days 'for
the elect's sake" (Matthew 24:22); hence, there will be a compression of events (see JS-
M 1:20). Furthermore, 'all things will be in commotion" (D&C 88:91). (Neal A. Maxwell,
"My Servant Joseph," General Conference, April 1992)
I don't know about you, but I feel that compression everywhere. One of the things that makes the relentless intensity so challenging is that it puts most of us - almost chronically - in an emotional fight-or-flight state. Because of this, if I'm not careful, it's too easy to react as an object with no agency. I feel the need to more intentionally practice acting like never before.
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf spoke about how to navigate turbulent times in his October 2010 conference address, "Of Things That Matter Most" (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2010/10/of-things-that-matter-most?lang=eng). His counsel is still relevant 15 years later; living at this heightened level of intensity makes it crucial to purge non-essential activities and pay more attention to reducing and eliminating distractions (ironic, as you're most likely reading this on your phone).
I've found that when I'm finally left with what matters most, it's what the scriptures call real (see Jacob 4:13 and Alma 32:35). Real is lasting - it's always so - it doesn't change. In a fallen, fickle world, that is deeply comforting to consider - even though real is messy and unpredictable and cannot be controlled.
No wonder so many are annoyed by real.
Yet - when your life becomes only about real, it becomes more obvious that there is simply no time left for pretense or fake - for counterfeits. And the more you invest in real, and pretense is incrementally left behind, you start to realize there was never time for anything but real all along.
Here's the weird part about how the world has shifted: this topic used to be a bit of a DUH. But in this more intense world where AI is filtering algorithms to curate increasing online residence, it feels more important to recognize the difference between real and not real.
Not real = counterfeit.
In a world prior to the Bridegroom returning, let's just call not real what it really is - counterfeit. Counterfeits are designed with the explicit purpose of looking and feeling like real - with the intent to deceive. Counterfeit connotes something more than something simply not real. It implies by design. Which only makes sense when you think of a Creator and a destroyer.
If you're familiar with scripture, you'll recognize the disparity between real and counterfeit in the building of two kingdoms simultaneously on the planet - God's kingdom and the world's kingdom - which Satan has been noisily attempting to rule and reign over since Adam and Eve exited Eden.
Anciently, the building of God's kingdom was so successful at one time it was literally taken up into heaven. Moses chapter 7 in the Pearl of Great Price recounts the conditions which caused this miraculous departure:
"And the Lord called his people ZION, because they were of one heart and mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them." (Moses 7:18)
Incredible timing: shortly thereafter, work began on the construction of the Tower of Babel. I've often wondered if Zion leaving the earth was an impetus for the first centralized project of building the counter kingdom - scripturally referred to as Babylon.
Zion and Babylon have been building simultaneously since the world began. They've both been recruiting citizens as well.
It's helpful to study the conditions which characterize each kingdom - particularly through the lens of reality. Look at what is being built and how it's being built. Most importantly, study outcomes by contrasting the potential fruit of each.
I started this side-by-side list a few years ago to better compare the two kingdoms. I continue to add to it as I consider another aspect of each. This is what I have so far:
Zion—REAL | Babylon—COUNTERFEIT |
Eternal | Temporal (can’t be sustained indefinitely) |
Built on faith—hope—charity | Built on greed—hostility |
Change flows UP | Change flows DOWN |
Focuses on individuals & families | Focuses on the collective whole |
Service oriented | Oriented on selfishness—BEING served |
Decisions based on principles | Decisions based on emotions/personalities |
Education is for self-governance & self-reliance | Ignorance is preferred for subservience (education is for job training only) |
Reliance upon God | Reliance upon the State |
Creates abundance and lives in it - fosters cooperation | Creates scarcity and lives in it - fosters competition - winners & losers |
Lives by & honors the law of the harvest | Seeks for instant gratification & erasing natural consequences |
Citizens freely choose to live God's law | Citizens must be bribed or threatened into compliance |
This list has been helpful in two important ways. First: it's helped me recognize patterns in the scriptures - particularly the Book of Mormon. Motives and objectives are more clear; it's easier to recognize effective methods for intended outcomes - whether they were intentional or not. From the city of Enoch and the Tower of Babel to the communities of 4th Nephi and the end days of Mormon and Moroni - the patterns play out predictably.
This list has also been important because if those patterns are predictable through the millennia of scriptural records, they are in our day as well. Since human nature doesn't change, the patterns continue to play out, and will until the Savior returns.
Somehow, with the intensity of living we're facing, knowing this makes it easier to navigate without fear. One kingdom is being built to last - forever. Knowing the other is temporal - temporary - exposes the folly of aligning with it in any way.
Suddenly, stripping away anything not real takes on a different urgency.
Knowing Babylon is temporary underscores the resounding witness of President Dallin H. Oaks as he simply testified: "This is real. Let us be a part of it." (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2025/10/58oaks?lang=eng)