The philosophies of Zion and Babylon are exact opposites. We can trace their origins back to the pre-mortal world. Celestial law and Godlike characteristics defined Zion , and telestial counterparts defined Babylon . Our understanding the basics and beginnings of these two orders will help us recognize them today then flee Babylon and come to Zion.

The philosophy of Babylon , we understand, began with a conspiracy that led to war in heaven. Lucifer hatched a plot to wrest the kingdom from God. ¹ Eventually, that conspiracy involved one third of the hosts of heaven—an astonishing number. Those who took part in that conspiracy evidently entered a covenant that required a sacrifice²—their agency. ³ It was a sinister plan made to appear like God's New and Everlasting Covenant, which also required willingness to sacrifice everything that one has and is, even to the sacrifice of his own life. ⁴ In heaven, Christ and his Zion prevailed and Lucifer and his Babylon failed, but that did not stop the war. The battlefront simply shifted to a new location—earth.

Nothing much has changed: We, who supported Jehovah, were on the frontlines there, and we are on the frontlines here. The philosophies and the issues are the same; so are the blessings and the risks. The call to action was the same then as it is now: Flee Babylon and come to Zion !

After God had created Adam and Eve, he immediately introduced them into a Zion-like atmosphere. Immediately thereafter, Lucifer introduced the philosophy of Babylon to Cain and his co-conspirators. Let us take a look back in time.

When God completed the creation of the earth, he looked upon his work and pronounced it “good.” ⁵ Then when he placed Adam and Eve in the garden of the earth, he pronounced the Creation “very good.” ⁶ The term seems more than a convenient modifier. Once, when a rich young man questioned Jesus, the man saluted the Lord as “Good Master.” Jesus quickly replied, “Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God.” ⁷ That Jesus would equate good with God is telling. That God would pronounce his Creation with Adam and Eve on it “very good” seems to suggest that he considered everything Godlike.

We are told that Heavenly Father patterned this Creation after our heavenly home— Zion . ⁸And truly it was perfect-- Godlike . Could we expect anything less from a perfect being? “The word Zion may derive from the Hebrew root tsayan, meaning ‘perfection,' which is also a meaning of the former city name Salem or Shalem, ‘city of perfection.'” ⁹ Therefore, Adam and Eve began their journey in a place that was preeminently good— that “very good” place called Zion.

Adam and Eve's subsequent fall from Zion shot cataclysmic changes through their bodies and all Creation. This earth has never experienced such a violent change. Where there had been unity, equality, peace, abundant health, immortality, spontaneously growing fruits and flowers, incorruption and the presence of God, there now existed discord, competition, enmity, illness, death, tormenting thorns, briars and noxious weeds, and worst of all, separation from God.

Adam and Eve had just fallen into a telestial environment!

The profound differences between Zion and Babylon were now frighteningly apparent. (Remember: Adam and Eve had firsthand experience with both orders.) Our first parents' immediate reaction was to find a way out of Babylon , and they knew that there was only one Person who knew the way: the King of Zion. ¹⁰ Therefore, they built an altar and prayed. The answer that they received became the universal answer for all of us, their children: The New and Everlasting Covenant.

No greater message of hope has ever been delivered to man. Adam and Eve were going home—back to Zion ! By accepting the Atonement of Jesus Christ and entering into the Covenant that God had offered them, they could once again enjoy the happiness of heaven and experience the presence of God— in this life! That was good news— God's news.

This is Zion —the Atonement!

According to Elder McConkie, The New and Everlasting Covenant (the Covenant) is “the fulness of the gospel. (D&C 39:11; 45:9; 66:2; 133:57). When men accept the gospel, they thereby agree or covenant to keep the commandments of God, and he promises or covenants to give them salvation in his kingdom. The gospel is the everlasting covenant because it is ordained by Him who is Everlasting and also because it is everlastingly the same…Each time this everlasting covenant is revealed it is new to those of that dispensation. Hence the gospel is the new and everlasting covenant.” ¹²

This is Zion —the Covenant!

Immediately, Adam entered into the New and Everlasting Covenant by accepting the ordinance of baptism and thereafter receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. Upon Adam's doing so, God declared that those saving ordinances had been recorded in heaven, and thus they were valid “henceforth and forever.” ¹³Imagine! Babylon could no longer hold Adam captive; he could enter into the Covenant, which would have the effect of ushering him into Zion , where there was safety.

But gaining personal salvation was not enough for Adam. It never is for Zion people. Adam wanted to perpetuate the Covenant among his children and bring as many of them to Christ and Zion as he could. Therefore, he sought for and received the authority of God to administer the Covenant to his children so that they might too escape Babylon and come home to Zion.

God said to Adam, “And thou art after the order [priesthood] of him who was without beginning of days or end of years, from all eternity to all eternity. Behold, thou art one in me, a son of God; and thus [by receiving the Holy Priesthood] may all become my sons. Amen.” ¹⁴ No one can do Godlike work without the authority and power of God.

This is Zion —the Priesthood!

How grand is the Father's plan—the Atonement, the Covenant and the Priesthood! Now the once-doomed Adam could become the Adam who was reconciled with God. Now the once-fallen Adam could become the redeemed, saved and exalted Adam. Now Adam could become one with God in knowledge, might, dominion, life style, and now he could become heir to all that the Father has. Furthermore, now Adam could qualify to receive God's authority and power, the Holy Priesthood, to bless others with the Covenant and thereby do God's work: the work of redemption.

These are Zion people—the reconciled, the redeemed, the saved, the exalted, the heirs of God and his kingdom forever!

Having thus received the Atonement, Covenant and Priesthood, Adam became a true citizen of Zion —a son of God ¹⁵ in the similitude of the Son of God. ¹⁶ He was empowered to become a savior to his family ¹⁷ like the Savior was to the family of God.

Because of the Fall, Adam was required to work for his support; but now that he had received the Atonement, the Covenant and the Priesthood, he redefined his work as the work of God. That reprioritization is essential to becoming a Zion person. Although Adam would continue to work to support his family, he would adopt as his real work the teaching, preaching and administering of the Covenant to all the souls of men.

And Eve was his helpmeet (a power or strength equal to) in all his labors: “And Adam and Eve blessed the name of God, and they made all things known unto their sons and their daughters.” ¹⁸

How, then, do we, the children of Adam and Eve, likewise flee Babylon and find our way back to Zion ? By following the example of our first parents: receive Jesus Christ and his Atonement; receive and keep the Covenant; and receive the Priesthood and its blessings to bring others to Zion with us. If the definition of Zion is “perfection,” then the definition of a Zion person is someone who receives the Atonement, Covenant and Priesthood blessings for the purpose of becoming perfect. A Zion person strives to become pure in heart and desires to become one with God. Such a person will find his way home.

Again, only the Atonement of Jesus Christ makes the Covenant possible; and only by entering into the Covenant can we receive the Priesthood and its blessings. These three—Atonement, Covenant, Priesthood—have the power to make of us Zion people. Like Adam and Eve, when we accept the Father's terms and endure to the end faithfully in the Covenant, we will be delivered from Babylon (redeemed), we will be provided the Savior's grace to become Zion people, we will return home to Zion (saved), and we will be blessed to become ultimately Zion-like, as is God (exalted).

Accepting the Atonement, making and keeping the Covenant, and seeking to qualify for the Priesthood and its blessings are worth the effort. The Book of Mormon prophet, Ether, said, “Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world….” ¹⁹ That better world is Zion, a place devoid of pettiness, selfishness and wickedness, a place of abundance and no lack, a place of oneness, equality and righteousness—a place where “surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God.” ²⁰

The Savior is King of Zion ²¹; his habitation is Zion. ²²Zion begins in each person's heart. ²³ Hearts are changed and purified by the atonement of Jesus Christ and by entering into and abiding in the Covenant.

The articles in this column are adapted from a soon-to-be-published book called The Three Pillars of Zion. Many of us long to become Zion people. I invite your comments. Please visit my website: www.larrybarkdull.com.

“Portrait of a Zion Person”

¹ See D&C 29:36; Moses 4:1

² See Moses 5:29-30; The conspiracy in heaven, with its required covenants and sacrifices, would play out again on earth. Satan began by conspiring with Cain and his brethren; the conspiracy required

³ See Moses 4:3

⁴ See Joseph Smith, "Lectures on Faith" p.58-60

⁵ Genesis 1:25

⁶ Genesis 1:31

⁷ Mark 10:17-18

⁸ See D&C 77:2; Moses 6:63

⁹ David B. Galbraith, D. Kelly Ogden, Andrew C. Skinner, Jerusalem —The Eternal City , p.41

¹⁰ See Moses 7:53

¹¹ Moses 5:6-12, emphasis added

¹² Bruce R. McConkie, “New and Everlasting Covenant,” Mormon Doctrine, p.529

¹³ See Moses 6:64-66

¹⁴ Moses 6:68, insertion added

¹⁵ See D&C 45:8; Abraham 1:18

¹⁶ See Moses 1:6, 13, 16

¹⁷ See Mark E. Petersen, Conference Report, October 1959, p.14

¹⁸ Moses 5:12

¹⁹ Ether 12:4

²⁰ 4 Nephi 1:16; see Moses 7:18

²¹ See Moses 7:53

²² See Psalms 132:13

²³ See Brigham Young, Discourses of Brigham Young, selected and arranged by John A. Widtsoe, p.118