THE CREATION

 

In April 2000 General Conference, President Nelson recalled the following experience in his talk titled, “The Creation”:

“While visiting the British Museum in London one day, I read a most unusual book. It is not scripture. It is an English translation of an ancient Egyptian manuscript. From it, I quote a dialogue between the Father and the Son. Referring to His Father, Jehovah – the premortal Lord says:

“He took the clay from the hand of the angel, and made Adam according to Our image and likeness, and He left him lying for forty days and forty nights without putting breath into him. And He heaved sighs over him daily, saying, ‘If I put breath into this man, he must suffer many pains’. And I said unto My Father, ‘Put breath into him; I will be an advocate for him’. And My father said unto Me, ‘If I put breath into him, My beloved Son, Thou wilt be obliged to go down into the world, and to suffer many pains for him before Thou shalt have redeemed him, and made him to come back to his primal state’. And I said unto My Father, ‘Put breath into him; I will be his advocate, and I will go down into the world, and I will fulfil Thy command.” 

(“Discourse on Abbaton by Timothy, Archbishop of Alexandria”, in Coptic Martyrdoms etc. in the Dialect of Upper Egypt, ed. and trans. E.A. Wallis Budge (1914) 482. Timothy, archbishop of Alexandria, died in A.D. 385)

Archbishop Timothy was also the 22nd Pope of the Church of Alexandria in Egypt, for three years before his death. I don’t know if this piece of poetic writing was given to him by revelation or not but I am astounded with how well it corresponds with our doctrine of the Plan of Salvation.

What arrested my attention when I read this piece, was ‘forty days’ and ‘forty nights’. I am fascinated with meaning of numbers and this number comes up a lot in the scriptures:

-        In Noah’s time, it rained for forty days: (Genesis 7:11,12)

-        Jesus fasted forty days before beginning his ministry (Matthew 4:2)

-        Moses fasted forty days twice: (Deuteronomy 9:9, 18, 25)

-        Elijah fasted forty days: (1 Kings 19:8)

-        Ammon, a descendant of Zarahemla, and his group travelled forty days to deliver Limhi’s people from bondage: (Mosiah 7:4)

Considering the nature of each of these events, this scriptural definition of number 40 seems to fit: “In scripture, the number forty represents a period of trial, testing, probation or mourning” (Gaskill, The Lost Language of Symbolism, 137).

I have often wondered how Heavenly Father felt sending us into mortality knowing that some of us will never return. The Archbishop’s story suggests a trepidation and a heavy heart of a loving Father who knew full well that His Plan of Salvation was necessary for our eternal well-being. Did He mourn for forty days for our impending loss of innocence? Did He mourn for the suffering of His Son? I would imagine it might have been like it is with us when we see our children grow up to make their own choices and lives away from our influence and control. It is not always pleasant and often times we do so with trepidation.

The Father watches over us with assurance that the path has been paved by His Beloved Son so that we might return to Him. I am certain He longs for us just as much as his obedient, faithful children long for him. May we bring Him joy and be a delight in His hand forever. And may our hearts be overflowing with gratitude for the Son who has made the path to this joy possible.

I will come to Thee Father

In whose arms I belong,

Whose arms I left so long ago.

No earth’s breath between us

To mar the union of our souls,

No desires of heart to match

Our eternal joy. 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: God the Father, AI Generated)

THE POWER OF WORDS

 

I am always delighted to read in the scriptures about people who have invoked the blessings of heaven through the use of the Saviour's name.  Consider Alma in the Book of Mormon. After days of verbal and physical abuse by their captors, Alma must have realised that just any simple prayer was not going to get him and Amulek out of captivity. Whether Alma thought the only way out was by breaking down the walls of the prison or not, he knew too well where the power to do so lay and his words reflected that knowledge. Alma cried: “O Lord, give us strength according to our faith which is in Christ, even unto deliverance” (Alma 14:26). The cords with which they were bound broke and the walls of the prison were ‘rent in twin’ (v 27).

I am passionate about words. Some years ago I studied about their power. It so happened that at the same time, I was going through the worst experience of my life which left me very broken. This led me to study about the Atonement also.  I decided there and then that my petition to God for a healing could not be just ordinary pleading for help but would have to express my faith in the power of the Atonement. I carefully worded a plea I uttered many times during the day which began like this: “Through my faith in Jesus Christ and the power of His Atonement, I ask…..” The healing came and everything I asked for in that prayer was given. I emerged a better person than I had ever been and my faith in the Atonement was cemented.

Whether we are in need of freedom from bondage due to sin, rising above a debilitating weakness or in need of emotional or physical healing, our petitions need to be next level prayers which affirm our faith in Christ, because when we do this, we have claim on His power. When we place a petition before the Father’s feet and affirm our faith in His Beloved Son, the gate to the power of the Atonement opens. Petitions so uttered carry much more faith that we will receive than mere prayers with the mention of Christ at the very end. Our petitions are more readily granted when they are uttered through our firm faith in the power of the Son.

Whatever prison you are in, the walls will crumble at the mention of your faith in the Son of the living God. There is nothing He cannot do. That power emerged with Him when He emerged from the tomb.

With what heavy steps

You approached the garden’s gate!

You suffered, You atoned,

You hung lifeless on the cross,

As you met Your appointed fate.

 

I waited for my turn on earth

And watched with angels

Your rise from the darkened tomb

That could not contain

The magnitude of You.

 

I saw Your glory that shone so bright

Defeating death and making all anew

And I wept for the greatness of hope

That rose with You.

 

 - CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Faith Has Saved You by Randy Friemel)

 

 

HEAVENLY PEACE

 

I have always liked this picture of Jesus with a white dove. I have wondered what the artist tried to say with it. She titled the piece, The Creator. Yes, He created everything, including the birds of the air, but why was the white dove featured to represent all creation? I knew that scripturally a white dove is a symbol of the Holy Ghost. I researched further and found out that there are many positive attributes that are associated with white doves such as: hope, honesty, purity and peace. When I read the last attribute, I immediately remembered that famous scripture: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.” (John 14:27). And so now I tend to think that the focus of this painting is on Christ who represents all these attributes but especially that of peace.

What did the Saviour mean when He said, ‘my peace I give unto you’? It means, if you know Me, you will have peace; if you follow Me, you will have peace; if you seek Me, you will have peace; if you live my Gospel, you will have peace; if you allow me to help you do what you cannot do, you will have peace; if you allow me to make of you, what you should be, you will have peace. This kind of peace does not come from the world, hence the proclamation, ‘not as the world giveth’. We cannot have peace if we have our feet in both camps because we receive wages of the master we obey.

My greatest witness of Christ’s peace came through my experience with forgiveness. Some people have a forgiving nature all around, some can forgive small acts, some hold a grudge about anything and everything. The hardest to forgive is an offence perpetrated against you that hurts the most. These offences fall into the category of ‘too hard to forgive’ but they are not impossible because there is a way.

The whole premise of the Atonement rests on the principle of forgiveness. The Saviour died so that forgiveness would be possible. Forgiveness is central to His character. There is nothing like peace that forgiveness can bring to your heart. I speak from experience and my personal frame of reference. I had an opportunity many years ago to seek His ability to forgive when I could not do so on my own merit. The emotional pain I was in during the crucible of my life was beyond me to repair but I knew someone who could. I sought the gift of forgiveness, through my faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, multiple times a day. The pain was extreme but when the peace came, it was a freedom I had not known before. This experience in my life was the defining moment of my true discipleship.

Imagine what kind of peace the world can offer. It is a world where tribulation abounds and suffering is rife. Even the most righteous are not exempt from a world of opposition but endurance and overcoming of the world is possible through Him who has overcome it all. If you are in a boat that is enduring a storm, there is hope. Whatever the crucible of your life, it will be your defining moment that will lead you to know the Prince of Peace.

He, who with His word caused the earth to be,

Spoke to the Galilean tempest: “Peace, be still”.

He who has all things under His command,

Calmed the troubled sea of dismay in the souls of men.

He, who holds all humanity in the palm of His hand,

Caused the waves of the sea to whisper His name.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: The Creator by Liz Lemon Swindle)

DESIRES OF THE HEART

 

Is there a more poetic scripture in the Book of Mormon than this: “O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance to every people!” (Alma 29:1). In my last post I wrote about joy. In this chapter, Alma mentions joy six times. He hungers to be an instrument in God’s hands that he might bring some soul to repentance for, says he, this would be his joy (v 9).

Alma’s affirmed that God grants unto men according to their desire (v 4). Consider the process of fulfilment of desires and how they affect our personal development and eventually determine our eternal blessings:

“Desires….become real determinants, even when, with pitiful naivete, we do not really want the consequences of our desires…..therefore, what we insistently desire, over time, is what we will eventually become and what we will receive in eternity….Righteous desires need to be relentless, therefore, because, said President Brigham Young, ‘the men and women, who desire to obtain seats in the celestial kingdom, will find that they must battle every day’ (in Journal of Discourses, 11:14). Therefore, true Christian soldiers are more than weekend warriors…..

“President Joseph F. Smith declared that, ‘the education of our desires is one of far-reaching importance to our happiness in life’ (Gospel Doctrine, 5^th ed. [1939], 297). Such education can lead to sanctification until, said President Brigham Young, ‘holy desires produce corresponding outward works’(in Journal of Discourses, 6:170). Only by educating and training our desires can they become our allies instead of our enemies!” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1996, 26-28, or Ensign, Nov 1996, 21-22). In other words, be careful what you desire.

It is clear that educating and cultivating your righteous desire means doing everything possible that is our part in its fulfilment. The cultivation of Alma’s desire evolved into relentless missionary service so much so that ‘he could not rest’ when his sons went to preach ‘and he also went forth’ (Alma 43:1). I am also certain that his personal spiritual preparation was such that the time came for him to be given to speak with the tongue of angels (2 Nephi 32:2).

His desire to be an angel preaching repentance was no doubt realised past his natural mortal life. We are told that Alma was translated, even like Moses ‘to be a ministering angel unto many planets’ until the time of resurrection (Alma 45:18,19; Deuteronomy 34:5,6; Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 4:210)

Alma achieved something incredibly significant through his righteous desire. We are told that he sorrowed greatly and continually for the sins of the people (Alma 7:5; 8:10,14; 31:1,2,30,31; 35:15). Sorrowing for others is a Christ-like attribute. In all his yearning, Alma didn’t only work for the salvation of others but he became like the Master he served. This should be the outcome of every desire of our hearts.

ODE TO ALMA:

He stood between you

And the gaping jaws of hell,

He cherished your soul

And snatched you from everlasting

Misery of the damned.

He planted the seed of faith

In your willing heart

But you, you tilled the ground

And nurtured the tree of faith

Growing the fruit, so exquisite and sweet.

So heavy in your overflowing arms

You sought to feed the spiritually maimed.

He who stood at the gates of Hell

Your soul to save

Gathered the fruit,

Your path to His throne to pave. 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art by Briana Shawcraft)

JOY UNSURPASSING

 

I have been of late fascinated with the people in the Book of Mormon who were overcome by the spirit to the point where it exceeded their physical strength and caused unconsciousness: Alma, Ammon, Lamoni, his wife, their servants….(Alma 19:6; 14; 27:17; 36:16-21). It would seem this phenomenon is linked with conversion and I think this is so because when we are being converted to the truth, we are inviting and receiving Christ into our hearts. Alma testified of this when he described his conversion experience at the onset of which he said: “I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me….” (Alma 36:18). If you look at each instance of this separation of body and spirit that happened in the scriptures I have quoted, you will see that one particular word is mentioned in each.

In his reflection on the missionary success of the sons of Mosiah, Alma explains what this word is that overwhelms a person: “Now, when I think of the success of these my brethren my soul is carried away, even to the separation of it from the body, as it were, so great is my JOY” (Alma 29:16). Once again, this joy is linked to the conversion that the sons of Mosiah had success with in their labours.

In D&C 11:13, the Saviour tells us that joy comes through the medium of His spirit; in 52:43, He tells us that He will crown the faithful with joy; in 93:33 and 138:17, He tells us that resurrection will give us a fulness of joy; and then in 101:36, the ultimate promise: “Wherefore, fear not even unto death; for in this world your joy is not full, but in ME your joy is full”. This suggests that being in His presence, resurrected and sanctified, will give us the fulness of joy. I don’t know that we, in our present, mortal state, can even comprehend this state of joy that awaits us. This will be joy un-surpassing.

Last Sunday, I woke up at dawn and memories of my conversion flooded my soul instantly. Perhaps because of my contemplation of this subject. These memories stayed with me most of the day. I reflected over and over on the day I was baptized at the tender age of 18. The minute I was raised out of the water I was so overcome with the spirit that I burst into tears. Reflecting on my journey in the Gospel filled my heart with such joy that I wept most of the day. I recalled the many spiritual moments I have had over the years and many revelations and even memories from my pre-existence and how they all lifted me and grounded my testimony in spiritual awakening. The spirit would not leave me all day on Sunday and I felt I was at heaven’s gate. 

You met me at dawn

With my memories so vast;

I remembered coming to You

Long ago through the water’s gate,

So wide open for my soul to embrace.

 

You flowed through my heart since that day

Showing me the wonder of You;

I have seen Your agonising sacrifice,

Never to be erased.

I hear You, I am Your sheep,

I know You and Your sacrificial pains,

For the believing blood of Israel

Runs through my veins.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Find Perfect Joy by B. Laura Wilson)

THE REALITIES OF MISSIONARY SERVICE

 

Every time I study the Book of Mormon, I come across evidences that Joseph Smith could never have written this book. I am amazed by its historical complexities, its prophecies, its textual correctness, its overwhelming spirit. I save these discoveries not to prove to me that the Book of Mormon is true, because I know that with every fibre of my being, but because it reminds me of so many truths: that Joseph Smith was a prophet, that this book is indeed the second witness of Christ and that we are so blessed to have additional scripture that enhances the Bible and makes clear so many points of Christ’s doctrine.  

Take special note in the last paragraph of how Elder F. Burton Howard of the Seventy became convinced of the validity of the Book of Mormon:

“I was reading again the twenty-sixth chapter of Alma and the story of Ammon’s mission, I read out loud, as I sometimes do, trying to put myself in the position of the characters in the book, imagining that I was saying or hearing the words, that I was there. Once more I went over the report, and, with a clarity which cannot be described and which would be difficult to comprehend by one who has not experienced it. The Spirit spoke to my soul, saying, Did you notice? Everything that happened to Ammon happened to you?

“It was a totally unexpected sentiment. It was startling in its scope; it was a thought that had never occurred to me before. I quickly reread the story. Yes, there were time when my heart had been depressed and I had thought about going home. I too had gone to a foreign land to teach the gospel to the Lamanites. I had gone forth among them, had suffered hardships, had slept on the floor, endured the cold, gone without eating. I too had traveled from house to house, knocking on doors for months at a time without being invited in, relying on the mercies of God.

“There had been other times when we had entered houses and talked to people. We had taught them on their streets and on their hills. We had even preached in other churches. I remembered the time I had been spit upon. I remembered the time when I, as a young district leader assigned by the mission president to open up a new town, had entered, with three other elders, the main square of a city that had never had missionaries before. We went into the park, sang a hymn and a crowd gathered.

“Then the lot fell on me, as district leader, to preach. I stood upon a stone bench and spoke to the people. I told the story of the restoration of the gospel, of the boy Joseph going in to the grove and the appearance of the Father and the Son to him. I remembered well a group of teenage boys, in the evening shadows, throwing rocks at us. I remembered the concern about being hit or injured by those who did not want to hear the message.

“I remembered spending time in jail while my legal right to be a missionary in a certain country was decided by the police authorities. I didn’t spend enough time in prison to compare myself to Ammon, but I still remember the feeling I had when the door was closed and I was far away from home, alone, with only the mercies of the Lord to rely on for deliverance. I remembered enduring these things with a hope that ‘we might be the means of saving some soul’ (Alma 26:30).

“And then one day as I read, the Spirit testified to me again, and the words remain with me even today: No one but a missionary could have written this story. Joseph Smith could never have known what it was like to be a missionary to the Lamanites, for no one he knew had ever done such a thing before” (“Ammon: Reflections on Faith and Testimony,” in Heroes From the Book of Mormon [1995], 124, 125)

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Ammon Before Lamoni, Artist Unknown)

IN PRAISE OF THE KING

 

 

ALMA CHAPTER 26:

“I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full….. and I will rejoice in my God” (v 11)

• ·        “Behold, how many thousands of our brethren has he loosed from the pains of hell….because of the power of his word….” (v 13)

There is nothing He cannot do…..

• ·        “He has loosed our brethren from the chains of hell” (v 14)

There is nothing He cannot do….

• ·        “Who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men?” (v 16)

There is nothing He cannot do….

• ·        “Behold, he did not exercise his justice upon us, but in his great mercy hath brought us over that everlasting gulf of death and misery, even to the salvation of our souls.” (v 20)

There is nothing He cannot do….

• ·        “Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success.” (v 27)

There is nothing He cannot do…..

• ·        “….this is my life and my light, my joy and my salvation and my redemption from everlasting wo” (v 36)

There is nothing He cannot do…..

“He has all power, all wisdom, and all understanding; he comprehendeth all things, and he is a merciful Being…..his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy and my great thanksgiving, yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever.” (v 35,37)

 

You are the God of power and might,

You enliven my spirit;

You bring me to life.

You make of me what I alone could never be;

You light my way into eternity.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Come and See by Tyler Anderson)