“Zion Shall Not Be Moved Out of Her Place”
Doctrine and Covenants 101:16–19
16 Therefore, let your hearts be comforted concerning Zion; for all flesh is in mine hands; be still and know that I am God.
17 Zion shall not be moved out of her place, notwithstanding her children are scattered.
18 They that remain, and are pure in heart, shall return, and come to their inheritances, they and their children, with songs of everlasting joy, to build up the waste places of Zion—
19 And all these things that the prophets might be fulfilled.
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said:
“[D&C 101] came as the Saints who were gathered in Missouri were suffering great persecution. . . . Mobs had driven them from their homes. Hostility, even hatred, followed them from county to county as they sought refuge. These frightened Saints lost land, livestock, clothing, furniture, crops, and a host of personal possessions. Threats of death were heard every day. I suppose, at its worst, this was the most difficult and dangerous time—may I say ‘terror-filled’—that the Church had ever known. . . .
“Yet in that frightening time the Lord said to His people: [see D&C 101:16–19].
“So, my . . . friends, let your hearts be comforted concerning Zion. And remember the most fundamental definition of Zion we have ever been given: those who are ‘pure in heart’ (D&C 97:21). If you will keep your hearts pure, you and your children and your grandchildren shall sing songs of everlasting joy as you build up Zion—and you shall not be moved out of your place.”
(In “Terror, Triumph, and a Wedding Feast,” BYU fireside address, Sept. 12, 2004.)
