“…The Law of consecration could not be kept here, & that it was the will of the Lord that we should desist from trying to keep it, & if persisted in it would produce a perfect abortion, & that he assumed the whole responsibility of not keeping it untill proposed by himself.” Minutes and Discourse, March 6, 1840 (JS Papers, Documents Vol. 7.)

I have spent many years pondering this. Today, while LDS temples are being built and announced in record numbers, giving the impression that our church is growing in leaps and bounds, the fact remains that while we covenant to live the law of consecration, there remains a gross inequality throughout the global church.

1828 Dictionary: ABOR’TION, noun [Latin abortio, a miscarriage; usually deduced from ab and orior.]
1. The act of miscarrying, or producing young before the natural time, or before the fetus is perfectly formed.
2. In a figurative sense, any fruit or produce that does not come to maturity, or any thing which fails in its progress, before it is matured or perfect, as a design or project.
3. The fetus brought forth before it is perfectly formed.

I find Joseph’s usage of the word “abortion” interesting. I believe it refers to the woman’s child mentioned in Revelation Chapter 12. Furthermore, Joseph assuming the whole responsibility for the saints’ refusal/inability to to keep it bore grave results. Zion was never redeemed, and as of today, nearly two centuries later, we are further from Zion than ever before. Consider the following revelation given in 1832:

D&C 78:3 3For verily I say unto you, the time has come, and is now at hand; and behold, and lo, it must needs be that there be an organization of my people, in regulating and establishing the affairs of the storehouse for the poor of my people, both in this place and in the land of Zion—
4 For a permanent and everlasting establishment and order unto my church, to advance the cause, which ye have espoused, to the salvation of man, and to the glory of your Father who is in heaven;
5 That you may be equal in the bonds of heavenly things, yea, and earthly things also, for the obtaining of heavenly things.
6 For if ye are not equal in earthly things ye cannot be equal in obtaining heavenly things;
7 For if you will that I give unto you a place in the celestial world, you must prepare yourselves by doing the things which I have commanded you and required of you.
8 And now, verily thus saith the Lord, it is expedient that all things be done unto my glory, by you who are joined together in this order…

Just two years later, the Lord declared the following:

D&C 105:2 Behold, I say unto you, were it not for the transgressions of my people, speaking concerning the church and not individuals, they might have been redeemed even now.
3 But behold, they have not learned to be obedient to the things which I required at their hands, but are full of all manner of evil, and do not impart of their substance, as becometh saints, to the poor and afflicted among them;
4 And are not united according to the union required by the law of the celestial kingdom;
5 And Zion cannot be built up unless it is by the principles of the law of the celestial kingdom; otherwise I cannot receive her unto myself.
6 And my people must needs be chastened until they learn obedience, if it must needs be, by the things which they suffer.

As long as there is inequality in the church, Zion will not be redeemed within the church. It just can’t be. I believe the Lord will do it His own way with His own “strange act.” In the allegory of the olive trees in Jacob chapter five, the fruit is always corrupt except “in the beginning” and until all the fruit becomes “equal.” Then and only then is the fruit no more corrupt:

Jacob 5: 74 And thus they labored, with all diligence, according to the commandments of the Lord of the vineyard, even until the bad had been cast away out of the vineyard, and the Lord had preserved unto himself that the trees had become again the natural fruit; and they became like unto one body; and the fruits were equal; and the Lord of the vineyard had preserved unto himself the natural fruit, which was most precious unto him from the beginning.

Notice some key words in the next verse:

75 And it came to pass that when the Lord of the vineyard saw that his fruit was good, and that his vineyard was no more corrupt, he called up his servants, and said unto them: Behold, for this last time have we nourished my vineyard; and thou beholdest that I have done according to my will; and I have preserved the natural fruit, that it is good, even like as it was in the beginning. And blessed art thou; for because ye have been diligent in laboring with me in my vineyard, and have kept my commandments, and have brought unto me again the natural fruit, that my vineyard is no more corrupted, and the bad is cast away, behold ye shall have joy with me because of the fruit of my vineyard.

Temples may dot the entire Earth and members covenant to live the law of consecration, all while Zion remains unredeemed (meaning to be brought back into Jesus Christ’s presence as with Enoch and his city). Here in the United States, if we experience a reprieve from a collapse of some sort, and Americans experience a tiny surge of prosperity, what will they do with their new “Golden Age” as President Trump promises? Will it prove our final condemnation? We read what will happen to us in 3 Nephi chapters 20 through 22.

Food for thought.