Dear Brother [Name Withheld],
I am moved by your current struggle and circumstances and I do relate to the amount of mind racing that must be going on in your life. This is as it should be, for all true Saints in every age will be tested and tried to the utmost. Your faith will be tried in many ways: sometimes it's the agony of possibly losing family members or ties because of your intended course. Sometimes it's the agony of losing your place in your former synagogue or your place of employment and material 'safety'.
The call to Zion has ever been frought with these very decisions at this very moment. It may seem like a dream, but you are really in the crossroads of choosing Zion or the world. The problem is that the veil over our remembrances is so thick that we didn't remember how hard it would be at this moment. We watch with blank stares realizing that our beloved LDS Church, founded on the righteousness and power of the restoration through Joseph Smith, is not even a shadow of its earlier calling. We come face to face with the reality, through the Spirit, that she can never build up Zion. This was the whole purpose of Joseph and the restoration: Zion or bust. You see, if a people somewhere does not do these works of righteousness, and live ALL the laws, then the earth will be utterly wasted at the coming of Christ, because there will be no one prepared to stand in His presence! I, For one, do not want this to happen! I have cast my lot with the effort that, by God's grace and mercy will salt the earth and see Zion redeemed. I know this will be accomplished because I believe in the words of all the Holy Prophets since time began on this earth. Here's the key, [Name Withheld]: God has called out a remnant from among the Mother Church to do the work that the Mother Church has failed to do. A remnant who will be faithful and live all the laws and embrace all the ordinances of exaltation. A remnant who will establish the Church of the Firstborn, so that Zion from below will meet the Zion from above. Look at a couple of these prophetic utterances again:
Many of this people are perhaps preparing themselves, by following after the world in its mad race for wealth and pleasure, to go down with Babylon when she crumbles and falls; but I know there is a people, in the heart's core of this people, that will arise in their majesty in a day that is near at hand, and push spiritual things to the front; a people who will stand up for God, fearing not man nor what man can do, but believing as the prophet Joseph says, that all things we suffer are for our best good, and that God will stand by us forever and ever. (Orson F. Whitney, Deseret News, Aug. 11, 1889)
...for if Zion will not purify herself, so as to be approved of in all things, in His sight, He will seek another people; for His work will go on until Israel is gathered, and they who will not hear His voice, must expect to feel His wrath. (Joseph Smith, TPJS, pg. 18)
I do not know but that it would be an utter impossibility to commence and carry out some principles pertaining to Zion right in the midst of this people. They have strayed so far that to get a people who would conform to heavenly laws it may be needful to lead some from the midst of this people and commence anew somewhere in the region round about in these mountains. (Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, 15:361-362)
Before the great day of the Lord shall come, and the day of righteousness and peace dawn upon this fair creation, two potent cleansing processes shall be in active operation. The first of these is a preparation of a choice people, purified by an application to their lives, as individuals and a community, of the principles of the gospel of peace. Such a body will evolve from those called Latter-day Saints, who as a Church possess the foulness and power of the pure plan of salvation. Out of this community at present in the merely incipient stages of development and from the remnant of the whole house of Israel, will emanate the nucleus or foundation from which will spring the righteous millennial population of our globe. (George Q. Cannon, Millennial Star, 42:585)
And if we as a people do not hold ourselves on the altar ready to be used with our means and all that God has bestowed upon us, according to the Master's bidding, for the upbuilding of His kingdom upon the earth, He will pass on and get somebody else; because He will get a people that will do it. I do not mean to say that He will pass on and leave this people; no, there will come up from the midst of this people that people that has been talked so much about. (Daniel H. Wells, Deseret News, Dec. 9, 1882)
Many will doubtless make shipwreck of their faith and will be led away by the allurements of sin into by and forbidding paths; yet the kingdom will not be taken from this people and given to another, but a people will come forth from among us, who will be zealous of good works, willing to do the bidding of the Lord, who will be taught in His ways, and who will walk in His paths. (Daniel H. Wells,Deseret News,Nov. 6, 1875)
God will preserve a portion of this people, of the meek and the humble, to bear off the kingdom to the inhabitants of the earth, and will defend His Priesthood; for it is the last time, the last gathering time. (Brigham Young, Contributor, 10:362)
Many of this people have broken their covenants... But you cannot do that, for God will cut you off and raise up another people that will carry out His purposes in righteousness, unless you walk up to the line of your duty. (Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses, 4:108)
But the day will come when the Lord will choose a people out of this people upon whom he will bestow his choicest blessings. (Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses, 11:145)
This remnant is alive and doing the works that are required to redeem Zion while the world sinks into destruction. Anything of a Telestial nature will perish. Where does that put the LDS institution? Doesn't look good at all: and guess who the greatest antagonists to Zion actually are? The LDS Church does everything in its power to keep these things from being done because of their rebellion from the same principles they should have embraced; they will have no others try at the very effort they failed at. It is really a jealous, Satanic rage that they are possessed of. They really are wondering what to do about quelling the 'Manti thing'. I'm sure that they will quietly persist in trying to get wicked government to get rid of us much like the Jews turned to Rome to get rid of Christ. The parallels are striking as we compare the mindset and pride of the LDS leadership and institution versus the Scribes and Pharisees of Christ's day.
With all that said, what does [Name Withheld] do today, tomorrow and the next day. Do we agree that it is a tangible reality that the LDS Church is in a scary and perilous state of apostasy and rebellion from the Lord? If so, then where is that remnant that is so amply spoken of in the scriptures? Where is the contingency plan taking place? If the LDS have rejected all the laws that would establish Zion, then where are the people who will at all costs live these laws and keep their covenants? Where are the people who will seek revelation in the way appointed?(TOP) Where is the ordinance system in place where exaltation can be reached? For without the proper ordinances and the authority thereof, Zion cannot be established. I testify in the name of the Messiah that TLC is that remnant who will redeem Zion. We are doing that very thing at this moment. We need the help and support of our brothers and sisters who are awakening in the LDS Church to come forward and see their duty also. Only the Elect by promise and covenant are awakening at this time. It is only the Elect who have the rake to do the hard things. God knows you, [Name Withheld]. He is calling you forward, has tapped you gently on the shoulder and speaks softly in your ear, "My son, it is now time for you to awake and arise and do the work of Zion as you covenanted to do." This is your day to shine, to put on your beautiful garments. This is a day of calling and choosing. Please do not reject your place among the Elect. The laborer in Zion is worthy of his hire, for if you labor for money you will perish. So says the scripture.
You must come forward, repent of your sins, recommit yourself in the new covenant with your God and my God. Be buried in the waters of Baptism and arise a new creature, worthy and empowered to do the works of the Father in establishing Zion with your TRUE brothers and sisters of the fold of Christ. You must retake upon you the name of Christ, for in this day of apostasy and rebellion Christ is calling His people by another name:
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed:
Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit.
And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen: for the Lord GOD shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name." (Isaiah 65:13-15)
Baptism is a cleansing from sin and darkness. It is a necessary ordinance for you to submit to by the true Priesthood of God today. The LDS Church has no Priesthood or recognition before God, now that the remnant has been called forth and empowered. You will need to be re-ordained to the Priesthood and receive an office and calling by revelation.
The Spirit will urgently descend upon you enveloping you with the desire to gather with the Saints. You will see the necessity of gathering, for this is the patterned way of all ages where God's people are able to live all the laws and be tried therein. This also becomes the protection covenant in the remnant's temporal deliverance when calamity and destruction begins in fury the world over. There will be safety in Zion. The foulness of the Priesthood will be wielded by men of God, with the power to set at defiance the armies of men. This power among men again will manifest in the moving of mountains and command over the elements. Once endowed with this full power, the brethren will go out among the decaying and self-destructive world and gather the Elect by power and bring them to Zion and safety. We know that Manti will become a city of Zion, a corner Stake of Zion throughout the Millennium. It all starts here, with the culminating efforts realized in the establishment of the New Jerusalem at the center place, Independence, Mo. But until that day arrives, great destructions will nearly change the face of the earth. Men and wars will feed on each other in a death embrace, the wicked destroying the wicked. You will see America be consumed and ravaged by war, famine, plague and natural calamities of all sorts. This is the fulfillment of prophecy where all those who pollute the Promised Land will be swept off when their iniquity is full. That day is now. The Book of Mormon is true, these things will all come to pass. The LDS Church, that great and spacious building that Lehi saw in dream, will fall to the earth and be remembered no more. Babylon, that great whore has fallen, has fallen. The LDS institution will take part in that great destruction that is planned for all those who rebel against God and mock Him to His face; their fate is sealed and they will be destroyed to rise no more. Only the Elect will be awakened and rescued from among her ranks. You,[Name Withheld], will be a great savior to many of these Elect, by way of your position to go out and bring these people in to the safe place and become a savoir on Mt. Zion to them. They will be adopted to you under the sealing principle as you build your kingdom under Christ's. The order of the human family will begin to take shape and the work of the Millennium will have begun.
All your present toils will be but a small memory as you stand in the literal presence of Christ in the Holy place and are embraced by Him in the Holy Embrace. No earthly interest or distraction can compare with this great event. You must make all of your decisions with this perspective in mind. The fight with sin is real. Push every worthy work along, put your shoulder to the wheel. As the song says, DO WHAT IS RIGHT, LET THE CONSEQUENCE FOLLOW.
I invite you to come to Manti and partake of the waters of Baptism, for it is in this ordinance that you will have the power of the Holy Ghost to give you strength to gather your family and do the rest of your future high and holy calling in the last days.
In Christ Jesus, whom I serve,
Jeff Hanks