In that same article that Bryce uses by Steven Harper, Brother Harper states that there are three principles or doctrines that are core to the law of consecration: accountability, agency and stewardship. Many times in class he would articulate this by describing them as a three – legged stool with each principle as a different leg. The stool cannot stand up without all three legs. Many people have tried to say in the past that consecration is communism or other economic systems, I don’t agree with this. Communism robs people of their agency (at least the way it was practiced by the USSR and other nations). Capitalism holds no one responsible or accountable for what they do with their lives economically, etc. The way that our world works right now, whatever the economy would be considered to be by economists, allows for too many people to do what they want without being accountable for their action (Bankruptcy Laws in the US and other places help spur this on). But the law of consecration is different. Like you said above, its about obtaining “heavenly things.” We need to be accountable to Heavenly Father for how we act and use everything that He has given us in this life. He has granted unto each of us a stewardship; this includes our families, our homes, our physical and monetary possessions, our talents, our skills, literally EVERYTHING that we have He gave it to us. Brigham Young once said “All things are the Lord’s.” We use our agency to see how we use those things and report through accountability to our Heavenly Father on that usage. The Lord’s parables concerning the talents and also Lazarus and the Rich man come to mind on this point. I just fear too many Latter-day Saints have given into this non-accountable way of life and live as though there is no tomorrow at times. I pray they, as well as myself, can remember to thank God for what He has given us and to use those things to build up His kingdom here on earth.

Our capitalistic economy and lifestyles are causing too many people to feel that they are not accountable to anyone when it comes to how they live their lives or spend their money.

Most modern economies, including the United States, are not “capitalistic” economies. At best they are “mixed economies” as demonstrated by the numerous government controls over the economy. A good reference on this subject is Myths of the Mixed Economy. Others, such as Robert Higgs and Charlotte Twight used the term participatory fascism to describe the modern U.S. economy.

Regardless, it appears there is a “plan” to unite the hearts of those who embrace these covenants so they may become equal in obtaining “heavenly things” (D&C 78:5).

Do you believe that the membership of the Church will begin to live the law of consecration more?

This is good work! I’m happy that you have caught many of the “folklores” that are prevalent in Mormon culture today, especially those that surrounding the law of consecration. What saddens me is that fewer and fewer and fewer members actually care to understand the covenants that they make in the Temple. So keep up the good work.

I am actually a research assistant for Brother Harper and have been for two years now. I have even prepared a few articles that are almost ready to send to a journal or two that will discuss principles of the law. I am also giving a paper at the Mormon History Association meeting next week (May, 2011) discussing a new theory about looking at the law of consecration as a development rather than a failure or success. The reason I wanted to post here is to help out with your distinction between the law of consecration and the United Order. You did a wonderful job above! However, there is a little bit of historical context that helps us understand what exactly the United Order is. I’ll provide a few articles below that you can reference to verify what I add here.

The words “United Order” are actually a pseudonym, or code name, for an organization that was called the “United Firm.” The first edition of the Doctrine & Covenants, which was actually named the Book of Commandments, was published in 1833. When Joseph and the other leaders prepared the revelations for publication as part of that book they left some revelations out, like the one that is now section 51. Those revelations appeared for the first time in the 1835 edition of the Doctrine & Covenants. When they did finally publish those revelations Joseph and others decided they needed to protect the leaders of the Church and the Church itself financially from attacks by anti-Mormon groups. So they “codified” people, locations and even organizations, like the United Firm, with what commonly appeared to be Hebrew words. Joseph represented himself with the words “Gazelam” and “Enoch” at times. The Bishop’s Storehouses in Missouri and Kirtland were both codified as well, as were many other important people and places. The actual names of the individuals and places appear in the earliest manuscripts of the revelations, but they were changed to their pseudonym form for the first publication. The United Firm received the pseudonym “United Order” and in actuality it is the only pseudonym that still exists in the D&C today. All the others were replaced due to historical work of Orson Pratt and WW Phelps back in the later half of the 19th Century–when the Church was no longer under threat as a result of publishing those names and other bits of information. Actually, the last few pseudonyms were removed in the most recent edition of the D&C in 1981.

So why does all of this matter? The United Firm was one of the first efforts to implement the law of consecration, not among all the Saints, but by only a few. In fact only a few contemporary members actually knew the Firm even existed (see Mark Staker’s book “Hearken, O Ye People,” pages 231 and 238, note 23, makes that point well). What it was was an effort of a few brethren, I think it reached a grand total of 11 at its highest point, to implement the law among themselves and among the Saints. So when we read the words “United Order” being implemented in section 78 and 82 and then dissolved in 104, it is not the law of consecration but rather this small group of men who were trying to implement the law among the saints in one way. So you are right, the law of consecration is not the United Order or vice versa. This is great work you are doing and I hope you keep at it. I wish I had the time and abilities to do this and thank you for doing it so that I can consecrate my work to the kingdom in other ways.

Here are the articles and books that will help establish this point:

See one of the recent Joseph Smith Papers books (Brother Harper was actually and editor of this one):
Robin Jenson, Robert Woodford, and Steven Harper, “The Joseph Smith Papers, Revelations and Translations: Manuscript Revelation Books,” (Salt Lake City, UT: The Church Historian’s Press, 2009).

Mark Staker, “Hearken, O Ye People: The Historical Setting of Joseph Smith’s Ohio Revelations,” (Salt Lake City, UT: Greg Kofford Books, 2009).

Steven Harper, “Making Sense of the Doctrine & Covenants: A Guided Tour Through Modern Revelations,” (Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book Company, 2008).

Orson Pratt, “Explanation of Substituted Names in the Covenants,” in The Seer, Vol. II, no. 3 (March, 1854): 227-29.

and probably the best of them all,
Max H. Parkin, “Joseph Smith and the United Firm: The Growth and Decline of the Church’s First Master Plan of Business and Finance, Ohio and Missouri, 1832-1834,” in BYU Studies, Vol. 46, no. 3 (2007): 4-66.