History of the Church 7:258; “The Whole of America Zion. To those who want to go away from this place, I would say wait until the time comes. I will give you the key. North and South America is Zion and as soon as the Temple is done and you get your endowments you can go and build up stakes, but do not be in haste, wait until the Lord says go.” – Brigham Young, August 18, 1844
Revelation 14:1; “And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.”
Sion is the Greek form of the Hebrew word Zion.
Zion is/was a mountain on the south side of Jerusalem that was captured by King David when he defeated the Jebusites – 2 Samuel 5:7 – he renamed it the City of David. It’s sometimes referred to as the church in the New Testament – Hebrews 12:22 and it’s referred to as the place where Jesus will appear at the end of time – see Revelation 14:1 mentioned above.
Zion/Sion is not in, on or even near the Continental US, it’s definitely not Utah and has nothing at all to do with anything in Mormonism.
Brigham Young was a smart guy. When the Mormons decided to go west and settle in the Rockies after Smith’s death, Young along with his buddies decided to call many of the cities they settled after the names of people and towns we read about in the Bible.
He picked this little insight up from his predecessor Joseph Smith who used names of people, places and events from the Bible and the local geography and events as inspiration for names we find in the Book of Mormon.
Once Brigham had the Saints isolated out in the middle of nowhere he used Smith’s techniques to keep the people in a state of confusion. It’s easy to manipulate people’s thoughts when they’re in a vulnerable position and if anyone was ever in that category, the pioneers certainly fit the bill.
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