(these notes are on a lecture, not the full book bearing this title)

 

Topics: economics, environment, Satan, Babylon, Zion, paradise, academics, money, career, beauty, Eden, guide

-Jewish legend that Adam was only allowed to the parts of the earth that he worked in. That he tilled and cared for.

-There is a difference between working to make a living and taking from the earth. Many of us rob the earth of its beauty for thousands of years in order to live in wealth for a little season. It’s easy to do; all you do is sign a few papers.

-Zion is to be beautiful. It’s always said that Zion is beautiful, then joyful. They come in that order because the beauty is what makes Zion glad. This is not to be mistaken with Babylon, who is described as being beautiful in the scriptures.

-Children are reckless in part because their parents are. The parents go around wasting time but in different forms, like watching football games, watching R rated movies, driving cars, etc.

-Heaven is to be a paradise. So, make Zion that way. Brigham Young said we should plant shade trees and flowers and make rivers until this earth appears as the Garden of Eden. We preach the gospel by how beautiful our towns are. People see it and think, wow this is paradise!

-Brigham Young said that beauty is our surest safeguard. When we see beauty we feel joy. We can trust those feelings to guide us a right!

-Making earth as Eden is not a one-crop enterprise.

-Historically we read of Satan, Cain, Cesar, etc., getting dominion over things by force, and burning wildlife, and killing animals and humans.

-We read of great hunters like Nimrod Cain etc. that kill for sport. Brigham Young said this is sinful, and only to kill animals as we need to for survival.

-Just as sure that Zion will be established, Babylon will be destroyed. She won’t be converted. No, she won’t have that. Her destiny is to be destroyed.

-Babylon is the inverse image of Zion.

-Babylon is the center for commerce and business.

-The economy of Babylon is built on deception.

-Babylon lusts after human slaves.

-When Babylon falls the entire world will be involved. She thinks none see her, but that is not the case. (*She is to be exploited every whit).

-Rome itself was Babylon the great in every respect.

-The Roman Church called itself the church at Babylon.

-The plan Satan proposed to Adam that Adam rejected was to put everything on the earth up for sale, so that you could have anything in this world for money. But you had to have money!

-We are like children in our understanding for we think it’s silly to wander in gardens with seemingly nothing to do and would rather be in the marketplace.

-There is an unbridgeable gap between Babylon and Zion for they lead in two opposite ways.

-Many LDS people teach mixing Babylon with Zion but when that occurs Babylon is already won.

-Hebrew word for money is mammon, and pertains to money and people who deal with money. Thus the financing business is of the devil. Jesus taught we are to avoid such at all costs, and only befriend the mammon of unrighteousness to the needed degree to survive.

-Our society is not like the earth that God designed us to have. There have been times when people have lived without doctors, lawyers, beauticians, auto mechanics, dentists, generals, used car salesmen, garbage men, prostitutes, etc. Some of these can be an unpleasant necessity because of the society we have set up. These are unnecessary just as Kings and Dukes are not necessary in the United States. We are not living in the world the way God intended it to be and we need to get it that way. These things pertain to our glory or our condemnation.

-Nature admonishes that paradise is a reality. Modern revelation tells us that Zion is a reality, and paradise is the natural state of Zion

-We all have full time employment discovering the world