VESSELS OF THE LORD

 

The injunction “be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord” has been given anciently and in our day to the men who have the priesthood upon them (Isaiah 52:11; 3 Nephi 20:41; D&C 133:5). The meaning is that the priesthood holders need to be clean as they handle ‘the sacred vessels and emblems of God’s power’ as they administer the duties of the priesthood such as the sacrament.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland encouraged the men of the Church to be ‘sanctified instruments’ themselves by being clean, not only because of what they do but more importantly because of what they are to be (CR Oct 2000, 51-52; or Ensign Nov 2000, 39). President Gordon B. Hinckley also reminded the gathering of the priesthood of this important principle:

“Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord (D&C 133:5). Thus has He spoken to us in modern revelation. Be clean in body. Be clean in mind. Be clean in language. Be clean in dress and manner.” (CR April 1996, 68; or Ensign May 1996, 48). In other words, don’t just be clean so you can handle the vessels of the Lord, but BE the vessel. When people look at you, they should recognise God’s power within you through your cleanliness. You are the vessel of the priesthood.

I am reminded of Joseph and how people recognised the authority he had when they met him, how much he reflected the powerful spiritual demeanour that was in him and because of it many trusted instantly that he was the prophet and a man of God. I love this story that illustrates that:

“While waiting for the ferry-boat, a man of the world, knowing of the miracles which had been performed, came to Joseph Smith and asked him if he would not go and heal two twin children of his, about five months old, who were both lying sick nigh unto death. They were some two miles from Montrose.

“The Prophet said he could not go; but, after pausing some time, he said he would send some one to heal them; and he turned to me and said: “You go with the man and heal his children.”  He took a red silk handkerchief out of his pocket and gave it to me, and told me to wipe their faces with the handkerchief when I administered to them, and they should be healed…..I went with the man, and did as the Prophet commanded me, and the children were healed.” (Wilford Woodruff, “Leaves From My Journal” [1881] p 65)

There was one other who had the spiritual demeanour that exuded power the people trusted in and that is Apostle Paul: “And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.”  (Acts 19:11,12)

The power of the priesthood works on principles of faith and righteousness. What an incredible privilege for you men to exude inspiration for both.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: The Prophet Joseph Smith by David Lindsley)

LEAVING THE PAST

 

I tend to look back a lot now that I am in my twilight years. Not surprisingly, my rear-view mirror syndrome has brought up a lot of issues that have long been buried and caused me a great deal of guilt that I was not aware of. I have lived a good life but this is what happens when you are very hard on yourself. You are never good enough to the most important person you have to live with – yourself.

I realised in my reverie that I was in sore need of self-forgiveness. This made me reflect on the two men from scriptures who are in my mind perfect examples of this principle, Paul of Tarsus and Alma, the son of Alma.

When I study Paul’s epistles I am amazed at the grand scale of his growth, the depth of his understanding of the doctrine of Christ and his repeated testimony of the only source of our salvation. His words expounding doctrine have been studied for over 2,000 years. Yet in the beginning, presumably because of his guilt, he considered himself ‘the least of the apostles’ and not worthy to be called such because he persecuted the church of God (1 Corinthians 15:9).

Paul eventually came to recognise his good deeds and self-worth through the greatest tool of all: “By the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10). I believe he arrived at that place of self-forgiveness when he could in the end, in clear conscience say: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7).

In his day, Alma became a living testament of the Saviour's power of deliverance.  Not only because Christ forgave him for his sins but because He freed him to become a great man.  After Alma came out of his three days of torment he immediately began to preach of Christ's mercy and His power to save (Mosiah 27:32).

Nowhere in the scriptures does it say that he moped around and agonised over his past sins and felt bad about himself because ‘he had his guilt taken away from his heart, through the merits of God’s Son’ (Alma 24:10). Alma, who went about with the intent to destroy the Church became Alma who led the Nephite armies in battle, who sat naked with Amulek in dungeons, who was spat upon by the unrepentant, who dumbfounded an anti-Christ, who baptised thousands of souls unto repentance (Alma 4:4-5), who the Lord in the end took up unto himself (Alma 45:19). 

When you look at Paul and Alma, do you see broken men with a past or do you see powerful servants of the Lord?  If you are still 'harrowed' up by your past sins, you are missing the person that you could be.  If you believe you are no good, the Lord can make nothing of you.  If you have repented of your sins but can't let them go, you are giving them more power than you are giving God. Your forgiveness is not complete until you allow the Saviour to take away your remorse. The power of the Atonement can complete this process. 

Remember, consequences of sin keeps your wrong doing in your memory discouraging backsliding better than guilt. Guilt just stops you from moving forward.

Mortality is not for the faint hearted. It affects each of us negatively in different degrees but the grace of Him who died to make all things new is our only saving grace (2 Corinthians 5:17)

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Lean On Him by Chris Brazelton)

A LIVING BOOK PART 3:

 

This would have to be the greatest proof that the Old Testament is not a dead book: all scriptures are very much alive because they contain the word of God and God is not dead. His word will live forever.

Cast your mind on the road to Emmaus when the resurrected Saviour joined two travellers who were discussing the hottest topic of the day, His possible resurrection (Luke 24:13-15). They told Him they ‘trusted’ the Galilean was the Messiah who would redeem Israel but were now sceptical because He had died (v 21). It would seem that nobody besides Isaiah understood the necessity of His death.

The Saviour simply expounded ‘unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning HIMSELF….beginning at Moses and all the prophets’ (Luke v 27).  He thought the written word of the past was all they needed as proof of the living Christ. The rest came with the witness of the Holy Ghost which burned within their hearts (v 32).

Now we come to the greatest man of the Old Testament who testified of Christ, of His birth, His ministry, His necessary death: Isaiah, whom Jesus quoted more frequently than He quoted any other prophet. His words have lived through the New Testament, The Book of Mormon, and the Doctrine and Covenants. Why? Because “great are the words of Isaiah”…..(3 Nephi 23:1) This, from the Saviour’s own mouth.

Isaiah’s prophecy of the Messiah as a ‘suffering servant’ in earthly ministry who was “despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” is heart rendering (Isaiah 53:3-8) and his prophecy of Christ’s Second Coming as  the King of Glory when the Saints will praise His ‘loving kindness and the great goodness toward the House of Israel….to give unto them that mourn in Zion, beauty for ashes..” a splendour to look forward to (Isaiah 63:7; 61:3).

How can we ever proclaim dead the eloquence of Isaiah who announced: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). This is the prophecy of the living Christ, the majestic King who will make us His forever.

We cannot think that anything that has been and gone is dead. If we do, we run the risk of believing that the very God we worship is dead also. He who has the whole human family in His hands is more alive than any of us. All that has been will echo throughout eternity, most especially His words that live on….even the words of the Old Testament, the root of our beginning.

“For whatsoever things were written afore time were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope” (Romans 15:4)

I stand in awe of Your sacrifice

And Your soul’s pain;

The body freely given

For nothing of You to remain.

 

I ache, I ache,

Knowing the cost;

Then I read Your living word

And I am comforted

Knowing nothing is lost.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Transcendent Glory by Greg Collins)

A LIVING BOOK PART 2

 

One of the reasons why I believe  the Old Testament is a living book is because all the prophecies have not yet been fulfilled, least of all ‘the marital relationship’ between Jehovah and Israel:

“The Saviour commonly described his relationship with ancient Israel as a marriage. So when Israel descended into patterns of sustained disobedience to Jehovah’s commandments, Israel was “unfaithful”, like an unfaithful spouse. The Lord thus warned through Moses that Israel should not worship other gods, for Jehovah ‘is a jealous God’…..

“In expressing the permanence of his covenants with Israel, again the Lord used the language of marriage: “I will betroth thee unto me forever….and I will say to them….thou art my people, and they shall say, Thou art my God.” (Hosea 2:19,23) (Elder Bruce C. Hafen, “The Belonging Heart” p 142)

Until we, Israel, are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb, we are betroth to the Saviour (Revelation 19:7-9). In plain terms, we are in the ‘engagement period’ awaiting the wedding. And this is something of importance to us as we wait. Ancient betrothal was a legally binding agreement considered as serious and unbreakable as a marriage itself, with a formal divorce required for any separation. The Saviour already considers us His own because of the covenants we have made with Him…..hence He is a jealous God.

Why would the Saviour describe our relationship to Him through the metaphor of marriage? It’s all about love. There is a word in Hebrew which is difficult to render in English. It is usually translated as ‘steadfast love’. The Hebrew word is HESED. It is a covenant word that refers to the faithfulness or loyal love that binds two people together in covenant.

This love is motivated by an inner loyalty which arises out of the relationship itself and not by legal obligation. Such covenant love has the quality of constancy, firmness and steadfastness. It is a love you have for another that you would never break because of deep loyalty you feel towards them. This is the bride that the Saviour wants…..a deeply committed one grounded in love.

The only way to understand HESED is to understand God’s love for the House of Israel. The scriptures are replete with messages of love for us from the Saviour: we are chosen to be a special people above all people upon the face of the earth (Det 7:6); He would sacrifice others for Israel (Isaiah 43:1-7); He has redeemed us because we are His (Isaiah 43:1-3); Israel is ‘the apple of His eye’ (Det 32:9,10; Zechariah 2:8; Psalm 17:8).

And this is the pinnacle of His love: Even though we often wander and break our covenant with Him, the Saviour will NEVER break His covenant with us (Deuteronomy 4:31; Leviticus 26:44,46; Isaiah 49:15,16; 2 Kings 13:23). And this is why: “I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands….” (Isaiah 49:16). This is HESED.

Such love as Yours

Burning bright in our hearts,

We will forever know.

Through highs and lows,

Through depths unknown,

Its flame we will carry with us

Wherever we go.

We await Thy call…..

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Sending Forth the Bride by Danny Hahlbohm)

A LIVING BOOK PART 1

 

The Old Testament is my favourite book of scripture. I cannot tell you how it touches the core of my heart. I believe we need to understand our  history to better understand our present and our future. Once we understand who we, as a group of people really are, we will hope for the destiny that is ours as God’s favoured people.

I have heard it said that the Old Testament is a ‘dead book’. I suppose some think it is so because it contains the fulfilled law of Moses but to me nothing that has been and gone is dead. The law of Moses is not all there is to the Old Testament and indeed the more important content of it is the everlasting covenant between Jehovah and His chosen people.  

Consider the prophets of old who are still very much a part of our dispensation:

-          Father Adam who will yet return to earth and preside at the meeting of Adam-Ondi-Ahman to deliver up his stewardship to Christ, who holds the keys of the universe, but will retain his standing as head of the human family (“Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith” p 157);

-          The righteous Father Abraham who Jehovah himself covenanted with, promising that the covenant would be fulfilled in the latter days and that in “his seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed” (1 Nephi 15:18). This is us and this is our day. We are “the seed” and these are the latter days. The covenant is not dead. It is very much alive. 

-          Ezekiel who prophesied the end of times with the battle of Armageddon that will usher in the Second Coming (Ezekiel 38) and his amazing prophecy of resurrection of the human family (chapter 37). This too is yet to be fulfilled, therefore it is not a dead doctrine.

-          Dear Elijah whose spirit keeps turning the hearts of the children to their fathers to this very day.  The beloved servant of God who came to Kirtland Temple to restore the sealing power so that ‘the whole earth would not be utterly wasted at Christ’s coming’ (D&C 2:3). Christ is yet to come and the temple work for the dead is ongoing in our day to fulfil the earth’s purpose.

-          Moses, the mighty lawgiver of Israel, who conferred the keys of the gathering on Joseph Smith on 3 April 1836 in Kirtland Temple (D&C 110:11). Would we be gathering Israel today without these keys? The keys are not dead, nor is the gathering.

These prophets are still very much alive as is the history they created. And this is how important they are to our dispensation: they validate the calling of Joseph Smith: “If the Bible is evidence for anything, read about the calling of Noah, Abraham, Moses, Isaac, Jacob, Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Paul and John the Revelator. ALL were called in precisely the manner that Joseph was. All spoke with God or angels, just as Joseph did.” (Bruce C. Hafen, “The Believing Heart” p 26)

Even the greatest prophet of Israel, Isaiah, prophesied of Joseph himself down to the finest detail of the failure to authenticate the Book of Mormon by Professor Anton (Isaiah 29:11,12)

The prophets of the Old Testament will remain in my heart forever, because they were all converted and devoted to the same God we worship today, God Jehovah, God’s own Son. Their struggles, their achievements, their contribution to the Plan of Salvation and humanity will never be erased. Their memory might be like ashes blown in the winds of time but their legacy remains. 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: I Was There by Danny Hahlbohm)

CONDITIONAL LOVE

 

There is a dangerous philosophy that we often hear in the Church and that is that God’s love is unconditional. The danger of the word ‘unconditional’ gives us a mistaken belief that we can do whatever we want and we will still be loved and accepted by God hence no need for restrictions and commandments as repeated offences against God will be excused. (see President Russell M. Nelson’s “Divine Love” Ensign, Feb 2003, and Elder D. Todd Christofferson, “Abide In My Love” GC Oct 2016)

This is where the philosophy of ‘unconditional love’ began: “During the last several decades, a heresy regarding God’s love has surfaced. The heresy states that God’s love is unconditional. The heresy first started with humanist psychologists who invented the term. Unconditional love, they taught, is the love parents ought to have for their children.  Eventually, the term was adopted into Christian dialogue to describe God’s love. This is a classic example of mingling the philosophies of men with scripture. This has been true even within the dialogue of the Church. And this is why President Nelson wrote his article.” (Bruce Satterfield, Gospel Doctrine Lesson 44: God Is Love, Nov 2, 2015)

I recently came to understand this philosophy on a deeper level and it is this: there is an important component of God’s love that makes ‘unconditional love’ an impossibility and that is mercy.

I know of someone in the Church who believes that all of God’s children will in the end live with Him again because of His mercy. And this is the problem…. When we believe that God’s love is unconditional, we not only think we can get away with anything, we also believe because He loves us, He will be merciful when the time comes.

If God’s love encompasses mercy and if His love was unconditional then mercy would have to be extended to the unrepentant on Judgment Day and that can never be because of three reasons: 1. Mercy cannot rob justice (Alma 42:25); 2. No unclean thing can enter the Kingdom of Heaven (3 Nephi 27:19); and 3. We cannot be saved in our sins (Alma 11:37).

The third reason seems the most important because it has to do with the Plan of Salvation. If God saved us in our sins, we would not be prepared for eternal life and exaltation. We would not have developed godly attributes that come only through repentance. If God showed mercy to the unrepentant and saved them in their sins, this would negate the purpose of the Plan of Salvation and ultimately His love which put that Plan into effect.

The more righteous we are, the more love we can receive and ultimately, more mercy. Mercy has to be our over-riding goal, a goal bigger than love because it is mercy that will save us in the end. It is mercy that will sanctify us and lift us out of our probationary state of imperfection to the Saviour’s status of perfectness to be co-heirs with Him in the Kingdom of Heaven. This is what He suffered for, this is what He died for.

This is love. God is not the Father of spoilt children. He is the Father of eternal joy and happiness, not short-term indulgence. If we really want to be loved, we will strive to be the children He intends us to be.

“….whose keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected….” (1 John 2:5)

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: The Lord is Good by Chris Brazelton)

HARD THINGS

 

Sometimes God asks us to do some hard things that not everyone else can do. Lehi’s colonisation of ancient America is an amazing proof of that. It shows that God puts in key positions those of His children who He knows would not let Him down. He certainly knew that a rich merchant Lehi would walk away from his riches and cross two oceans to get to where God wanted him to go.

The same with his son Nephi. I love how his father could depend on him when he asked him to return to Jerusalem to get the brass plates (1 Nephi 3:6). Nephi immediately affirmed that the Lord will provide the way for accomplishing such a hard task (1 Nephi 3:7). The whole story thereafter reads like Arabian Nights….

Obtaining the plates took three attempts. Nephi’s perseverance was admirable (1 Nephi 3:15). This is what stands out to me though. Nephi was an obedient person who had lived by the commandments his whole life. Then the Lord asks him to kill someone. I don’t know that I could ever do it knowing how incredibly evil killing is. But God knew that Nephi’s commitment to obedience was strong enough to do such a hard thing and He knew that he could depend on him (1 Nephi 4:17,18).

David slew Goliath in the same manner by cutting off his head, without blinking, and he became a man of war but I don’t recall Nephi killing anyone else for the rest of his life. It was clearly not in his disposition to destroy life. But obedience was.

God knows us incredibly well and this is how: “During the ages in which we lived in the pre-mortal state, we not only developed our various characteristics and showed our worthiness and ability, or the lack of it, but we were also where such progress could be observed…..it was natural for our Father to discern and choose those who were most worthy and evaluate the talents of each individual. He knew not only what each of us COULD do, but also what each of us WOULD do when put to the test and when responsibility was given us.” (President Joseph Fielding Smith, “The Way to Perfection” [1970], 50-51)

The greatest example of this concept is of course the Saviour. The Atonement He performed in mortality was in actual fact just a formality. We could actually draw upon its blessings and power in pre-existence as if it had already happened. Hence, we could be born innocent as the Atonement of Christ also covered our pre-mortal sins. (See Tad Callister, “The Infinite Atonement” p 85). The Father knew that His Son could do it and would do it. And so did we…..hence our vote.

We might not be the Saviour, Nephi or Joseph Smith but we just need to be strong enough to do whatever it is the Father is requiring of us and one day we will find out who we really are and we will be amazed…..

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art by Liz Lemon Swindle)