READINESS

 

I was amazed to read of the state of the world that the Saviour was born into. It had never occurred to me that He was born into such intense spiritual darkness that enveloped this earth. Upon reflection, it seems fitting that it was so for Him to acclaim and reveal His ability to disperse the powers of sin and death through His godly light.  

Another aspect of His birth that I never considered before is how the omnipotent wisdom of God had organised and orchestrated everything to perfection in readiness for His Son’s birth, leaving nothing to chance. Such a crucially important event could not be a failure in any way because the hosts of heaven depended on it.

All that was connected with the Saviour’s birth and life and ministry and resurrection and ascension to eternal glory must have conformed to what the prophets have foreseen, foreknown and foretold for four thousand years prior. From the spiritual preparations, to temporal circumstances to the ‘Jewish culture at its low ebb, and the Jewish religion but a space away from the gates of hell’ to the Roman yoke that would take Christ to the hill of Calvary. (see Bruce R. McConkie, “The Mortal Messiah Book 1, p 284-5).

It has occurred to me that the Saviour’s Second Coming with be perfectly orchestrated too. For it to be a successful triumphant return there had to be a liberation of the American continent and establishment of religious freedom, the restoration of His Church, the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, the building of temples, the gathering of Israel and strengthening of Zion. All this was also foretold by the prophets of old and must not be left unfulfilled.

I hear friends in the Church expressing hope that the Saviour would come tomorrow because the world is so wicked but there is still so much that needs to be fulfilled, namely the three major prophecies: the return of the Lost Tribes, the building of the New Jerusalem and the building of the Jewish temple in Israel.

Yes the world is wicked and Satan reigns supreme but this time the King of Glory must come to an established Kingdom with priesthood power at its helm and saints ready to receive Him, and when He comes, Satan will be bound and the saints will come to New Jerusalem singing songs of everlasting joy (D&C 45:66-71). All this must be in readiness but most of all we must be ready for Christ cannot come if there is no kingdom and we ARE the kingdom.

The God of Glory will reveal His light upon the earth once more and there will be no need for the sun and the moon to give light to God’s covenant people for He will be an everlasting light (Isaiah 60:19-22; D&C 133:57-58; “Journal of Discourses” 14:355-56).

Thou art our everlasting God

Jehovah, our King,

Hide us under the shadow of Thy wings

That we might never stray

And cause Thee sorrow;

And help us wait for Thee

In the dawning of tomorrow. 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Light Divine by Greg Collins)

A LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS

 

“God sent His Son to overcome the world – the world of carnality and evil; the world of lust and lewdness and license; the world of hate and sin, of war and murder, of wickedness and ungodliness. The Son of Righteousness came to bring righteousness and peace. And when he came, the world had sunk into a lower abyss than at any time since all flesh, being corrupt and evil, save eight souls only, had been drowned in the waters of Noah.

“Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and all the kingdoms of the world had ruled by blood and the sword, by torture and death. But always there had been a leaven of righteousness, a kingdom devoted to goodness, a few people who loved the Lord and sought His face.

“But now, in the time set apart for our Lord’s coming, corruptions and evils were everywhere. A few righteous souls – a Zacharias here, an Elisabeth there – stayed, as it were, the plagues of destruction, but the wickedness of the world was everywhere and the stench of sin covered the earth.

“Even the covenant people, in the main, had gone astray. No longer were they a leaven to the worldly lump; subject to their priestcrafts, they would soon be in a state where they would crucify a God. Naught but a new day of righteousness and light, ushered in by one greater than the prophets could bring hope again to men.

“The advent of Christ was the breaking of the ‘dayspring from on high’ through a gloom that had been gathering for ages; a great light dawning on a world which lay in darkness, and in the shadow of death.”

-          Bruce R. McConkie, “The Mortal Messiah Book 1” p 289-292

The day You were born

You split the heavens apart

And angels descended

Trailing in their flight

Golden stars spilling over the night.

 

The moon hid in shame

As the angels spread Your godly light

And from their lips fell homage

To Your glory in the still of the night.

 

How I wish I too could fly

Spreading the message far and wide:

Our God and our King was born

On a Meridian night!

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Light of the World by Jay Bryant Ward)

THE TEST

 

The other day I wrote a post about compassion and I claimed that we are not here to ‘learn and to grow’ but rather to be tried and proven as per the scriptures (Abraham 3:25). One sister thankfully commented: “yet didn’t Christ learn by the things He suffered?”. I immediately recalled the scripture which had not up to now provided a proper understanding for me.

The scripture states: “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8). I had read this scripture many times and always wondered what the Saviour had to learn when His obedience was perfect even before He came here and then all of a sudden it began to make sense for the first time.

Earthly suffering has the power to create animosity towards God and foster the attitude of disobedience (Job 2:4,5). Many people turn away from God because they cannot accept that He allows bad things to happen to good people.

Over the years I have learnt a lot about the Plan of Salvation but there was always a piece of the puzzle missing for me about suffering. I couldn’t understand why it was so necessary for our eventual rise to godhood. I felt the core reason for it was missing for me. Then two years ago I entered a stage of physical suffering that unbeknownst to me was trying to teach me what I wanted to know.

I still stand by my understanding that we came here to be tried and tested but this time I can see the connection between suffering and this test. The connection is obedience. The test is to prove we will be obedient when it is the hardest to be so. If we can be obedient in our extremities, we have arrived.

I think of that perfect baby in the manger. He who was perfect in His obedience before He was born yet He too had to prove Himself. I think of His earthly life and how that proving ground led Him to HIS extremity – His greatest suffering which forged the example of obedience for all mankind when He uttered: Thy will be done. That’s obedience.

And here is the greatest act of mercy on Father’s behalf. His ability to send us to temporary affliction shows His utmost trust in the process of the Atonement, knowing full well that because of it we would survive the test. Our trust in this most miraculous and supernal gift also would have been supreme when we voted for it. No sane person would accept a painful plan with risk of being lost, without a sure way of eventual escape. It would be like entering a tunnel knowing there is no exist at the end. But because of that babe in the manger there is an exit.

This Christmas I am reflecting not only on His birth but His life of suffering as I accept my  own. And I will give thanks for all He has to teach me…..

The baby in the stable

So innocent and sweet,

On the altar of sacrifice

Lay at Father’s feet.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Heavenly Peace by Eileen Whitehead)

THE FIRST APPEARING

 

THE FIRST APPEARING:

“A God is coming to earth to dwell as a mortal among men. His mission: to do that which he alone can do; to work out the infinite and eternal atonement and bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of the offspring of the Father on worlds without number; to do that which never again, in an eternity of time, shall ever occur among the mortals who dwell on this or any of the numberless earths of their creating.

“A God is coming to earth. He is to be sired by an Immortal Father, to be conceived in a mortal womb, to be born in Bethlehem, to be cradled in a manger, to be the natural heir of David, upon whose throne he shall reign.

“A God is coming to earth. He is to grow up in subjection to his earthly parents; to know, when twelve years of age of his divine Sonship, to minister for three and a half years among his Jewish kinsmen; and then to die upon the cross for the sins of the world.

“A God is coming to earth. He is to preach the gospel, heal the sick, raise the dead, and call apostles and seventies to carry his message to the world and to testify of his divinity. He is to be rejected, reviled, spit upon, scourged, and crucified.

“A God is coming to earth and we can scarce record a thousandth or a ten thousandth of the things he was destined to do, the words he was destined to speak, the people he was destined to heal….

“A God is coming to earth and everything connected with his birth and life and ministry and resurrection and ascension to eternal glory must be perfect. It must conform to what the prophets have foreseen, foreknown, and foretold.”

-       Bruce R. McConkie, “The Mortal Messiah Book 1”, p 282-4

Did you miss

Your godly robes

That you traded for

The swaddling cloths of Calvary?

Was the ground rough beneath

Your feet as You traversed

The dusty roads of Galilee?

 

The baseness of This earth,

So willingly suffered despite hostility.

Yet, You came

The Father to reveal

And to Him forever

Our yielding hearts to seal.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Love by Eileen Whitehead)

COMPASSION

 

Whenever I come across someone who seeks to show compassion by benign band-aids we use in the Church, I immediately recognise that this person has not suffered yet.

The familiar band-aids are: 1. We voted for this in our pre-earth life and; 2. We are here to learn and to grow. As if these two magical sentences can make everything better. I find it offensive when someone tells me this which to my mind suggests that they consider me less spiritually astute than I am.

Some of us experience sorrow which can be a passing phase and its impact can lessen to the point where equilibrium can eventually be regained.

Suffering on the other hand can last a much longer time and can leave life- long scars. You see so much of it in the world through abuse, sickness and oppression. The effects of these are so deeply rooted that only those who have suffered the same can understand.

Suffering at its most acute can be through bad mental or physical health. It reminds me of Job. After God took away from him all that he had to prove that he would stay faithful to Him, Satan was quick to point out to God that a man can lose everything and survive if he can keep his life, but afflict him personally through his body and he will curse God to His face (Job 2:4,5).

And so Job was afflicted physically beyond his wildest imagination and he wished he had never been born (Job 3:3). That’s suffering….when you are in so much pain that you struggle with a will to keep living. The reconciliation between his faith in God and his reality took Job to hell and back. That’s suffering. Along the path of such reconciliation one can encounter soul wrenching guilt, anger, bitterness and self-doubt. That’s suffering.

I do not believe we came here to ‘learn and to grow’. My personal belief is that we came here with more knowledge than we can ever acquire in this life. We were schooled and tutored extensively in all matters before we came here (D&C 138:56). The experiences we suffer here just awaken our eternal wisdom we brought with us. Hence our identity as ‘intelligences’ (Abraham 3:22). This is my theory and understanding.

According to my knowledge, there is nowhere in the scriptures that it tells us we came here to learn and to grow. The phrase almost suggests that we have been sent here to kindergarten, which I believe we graduated form long ago. Maybe to add upon the great knowledge we already possess…What the scriptures do tell us is that we came here to be tried and tested (Abraham 3:25). It is the passing of the test that progresses us to salvation.

The way we can show another compassion is by validating the hell they are passing through. Acknowledge that life is hard and what they are feeling is normal. The worst thing we can do is recount our blessings and our recognition of the positive because this only induces guilt in the other person. We don’t know what it is like to live in their skin but there is one who does:

“….and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.”  (Alma 7:12)

That is something to celebrate this Christmas.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Gentle Healer by Greg Olsen)

THE CHOSEN VESSEL

 

“And so we find Mary, about fifteen years of age and inexperienced in meeting the trials of life, under contract to marry one she loved, but with child by the power of the Holy Ghost. We find her in a city of Galilee – rough, rugged, untampered Galilee – where a self-righteous people were quick to condemn, ever ready to punish; where the tongue of gossip would cut her tender feelings to the bone; where she would become a hiss and a byword among her friends and relatives, for she had (as they would view it) committed the sin next only in wickedness to murder.

“Those among whom she dwelt would no more believe her strange tale that an angel had come to her – angels no longer came to mortals, everyone knew that! – or that the Almighty himself was the Father of that which was in her womb; they would no more believe these claims than they would believe the testimony of the fruit of her womb when He testified in their own city that he was the Messiah of whom Isaiah had spoken.

“Thus we find Mary facing the trials of life – there would be others, as her Son ministered among men; as He hung on the cross; as He lay in a borrowed tomb; yes, there would be others, and her present troubles were but the beginning of sorrows…..”

-          Bruce R. McConkie, The Mortal Messiah Book 1, p 322

 

ODE TO MARY

You consented at all cost

To fulfil your duty

Or else, all would be lost.

You carried your precious boy

So close to your beating heart,

Hoping it would protect Him

From the fate that would tear you apart.

You stood weeping at the foot of the cross

In the valley of humiliation and death,

Your pain and sorrow unable to suppress.

You are a mother, like no other……

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Mary Kept These Things in Her Heart by Lonni Clarke)

THE IMPOSSIBLE

 

There were once two women whose sons were to change the history of the world. One was a young virgin called Mary and the other her cousin, advanced in years and past the bearing age, called Elisabeth. They together proved that with God nothing is impossible (Luke 1:37).

 

Elisabeth and her husband Zacharias walked blamelessly before the Lord and even though they prayed many years that Elisabeth would bear a son they arrived at the autumn of their lives childless. It was in the year of his appointed priestly service that Zacharias travelled to the temple in Jerusalem from their village of Hebron to perform sacred rites and ordinances.

 

Just as Zacharias was burning incense inside the temple, the multitude were outside praying for redemption of Israel from the Gentile yoke (Luke 1:10). As the timely prayers ascended, angel Gabriel stood on the right side of the altar of incense and spoke: “Fear not Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard: and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John” (Luke 1:11,13).

 

Six months later the same angel appeared to young Mary advising her she too will bear a son (Luke 1:30-33). Gabriel explained to Mary how the baby would be conceived and to assure her it is indeed possible, he quickly told her about her cousin Elisabeth who was also a recipient of a miraculous conception (Matthew 1:18-25). What comfort that would have been to such a young girl to know she did not stand alone in the realm of hard to explain miracles.

 

Elizabeth, languished for years in 'the waiting room' with her husband Zacharias, longing for a child, not knowing the important role she was to play, that of being the mother to the forerunner of the long-awaited Messiah. But Elizabeth's role of being John’s mother was not her only purpose. Her other purpose was to validate Mary’s pregnancy. She was the proof people were given to believe if one miraculous conception was possible, the other was also.

 

One can only imagine how Mary felt when she came to Elisabeth’s side for refuge and validation, to hear the witness born of the Holy Ghost issue from Elizabeth’s lips: “Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb” (Luke 1:42). Blessed indeed…..

 

ODE TO MARY AND ELIZABETH 

Among valiant sons of God

Who were chosen rulers to be

Stood the daughters so fair

They echoed throughout eternity.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Mary and Elizabeth by Mandy Jane Williams)

PEACE

 

"About fifty years ago, Mr. F.M. Bareham wrote the following:

 

A century ago men were following with bated breath the march of Napoleon and waiting with feverish impatience for news of the wars. And all the while in their homes babies were being born. But who could think about babies? Everybody was thinking about battles.

 

In one year between Trafalgar and Waterloo there stole into the world a host of heroes: Gladstone was born in Liverpool; Tennyson at the Somersby Rectory; and Oliver Wendell Holmes in Massachusetts. Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky, and music was enriched by the advent of Felix Mendelssohn in Hamburg.

 

But nobody thought of babies, everybody was thinking of battles. Yet which of the battles of 1809 mattered more than the babies of 1809? We fancy God can manage His world only with great battalions, when all the time he is doing it with beautiful babies.

 

When a wrong wants righting, or a truth wants preaching, or a continent wants discovering, God sends a baby into the world to do it.”

 

-       Spencer W. Kimball, Faith Precedes the Miracle: pp 84, 85

We have fought many battles since 1809 and today, in 2025, we are still fighting and turmoil reigns supreme. We fight other nations, we fight our own countrymen, we fight our neighbours, we fight our families, we even fight ourselves. And there is one thing we seem to be overlooking, that God sent us a baby 2025 years ago to give us peace.

Every year we celebrate His birth but we do not celebrate Him. Some of us try hard to take Christ out of Christmas and focus on the tradition instead. Maybe animosity between nations and brotherhood of man will cease when instead of Christmas we start celebrating The Prince of Peace. 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Emmanuel by June Jameson)

FORERUNNERS PART 2:

 

I am always amazed at Mary, the mother of Christ. Girls in the meridian of time married young so historians claim that according to the traditions of the day, Mary was a young girl of 15 when she gave birth to Jesus. To take on such a responsibility of raising the child of so much importance would make many of us retreat.

The stigma of pregnancy outside marriage would have been unbearable in Mary’s day. It reminds me of the Jews who spat His birth into the Saviour’s face by calling Him ‘a child of fornication’ (John 8:41). What an incredible insult to the purity of a woman who put her very reputation on the line to enable the salvation of the very people who would crucify the fruit of her womb! Mary would have to be the greatest forerunner of Christ because she gave Him life.

What amazes me even more is what kind of a valiant and righteous spirit she must have been in the beginning to be chosen to be the mother of Christ. I stand in awe of that. Alma called Mary ‘a precious and chosen vessel’ (Alma 7:10).

For such a valiant spirit, there would have to be a protector and that man was Joseph. Not only did he care for Mary and ensured her safety, he was a man spiritually in tune who was willing to receive heavenly instructions and follow them. In this way, he became a forerunner that ensured the safety of Jesus’ life in his youth. Imagine him taking his young family to another country away from family and kin to ensure the safety of a child who was not even his.  How did they live there, what did he do to support them?

And here is an awesome proof that Mary and Joseph paved the way for the Saviour’s earthly mission. We always think that they went to Bethlehem because of the Roman’s tax decree. Elder Bruce R. McConkie reasoned that this decree was just a vehicle to fulfil the prophecy that the Saviour would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:1-8). He goes on to say that Mary and Joseph knew of this prophecy and knowing who Mary’s baby was, would have moved heaven and earth to make it to Bethlehem so He could be born there (The Mortal Messiah Book 1, p 341.

Would women really have been expected to attend accounting of taxes and census? Surely only Joseph would have been required to be there. Any governmental procedure in the ancient world was conducted by men with men. Women came under the jurisdiction of men. Their record keeping tracked only the paternal and not the maternal line. The scriptures attest to this.

So why else would Joseph put Mary ‘heavy with child’ through a journey of eighty dusty, dreary miles from Nazareth, riding on a slow stepping donkey, to Bethlehem if the primary motivation was not Jesus’ place of birth?

Imagine if Joseph had gone to Bethlehem alone and Jesus was born in Nazareth instead. How much cause would the Jewish ruling class have had against Jesus who claimed He was the promised Messiah that was prophesied would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2-4)?! I am certain that Mary and Joseph contemplated this and used it as motivation to fulfil the sacred responsibility they were entrusted with.

Could Jesus have had a better beginning to His life with parental forerunners such as this??? I think not.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Mary and Joseph by Greg Collins)

FORERUNNERS PART 1:

 

In the ancient world there were men who held an important job. They were required to go ahead of a travelling party to clear the path of fallen trees, rocks, undesirable persons or any obstacles that would prevent the travelling party from finishing their journey. They prepared the way. They were called 'forerunners'.

In my patriarchal blessing there is an interesting sentence that goes like this: "As you remain faithful to your trust, your guardian angels will never forsake you. They will go before you to 'prepare the way' and will be close to you and give you strength to resist evil."

I have reflected on this and wondered how much harder I would have struggled in my life had not an obstacle been removed from my path here and there, a temptation repressed, a disaster averted, a hurtful incident prevented. I realised that I could very well have come this far more on the merits of my forerunners than on my own strength.

It amazes me that even the Saviour needed a forerunner. I reflected on this too and realised he had five obvious ones. The most famous 'forerunner' to whom this title was applied symbolically was John the Baptist. John was born according to God's promise to be 'the voice crying in the wilderness' to herald the arrival of one greater than he, as prophesied by Isaiah (40:3) and Malachi (3:1).

His ministry provided a nucleus of faithful baptised believers from whom Jesus could call His apostles. These were men already converted and ready to serve, and well prepared under John’s ministry to believe and act the instant the Saviour called them to abandon everything and follow Him. Such was the power of John the Baptist, a martyr, who valiantly testified, taught and prepared the way and whom Jesus characterized as "a burning and a shining light" (John 5:35).

But John had someone who ‘prepared the way’ for him too….his parents, who are the greatest example of parental forerunners. Stricken in age and childless, they fulfilled an incredible prophesy and brought John into life safeguarding him from murderous Herod so he could grow into manhood and fulfil his purpose. Both John and his father were martyred in the end for their roles as forerunners (See Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p 261; Matthew 23:35; Matt 14:3-12).

There are two other important examples of parental forerunners and they are Mary and Joseph. They were entrusted with a priceless charge of infant Jesus but more on them later. Considering their spiritual calibre, it is not hard to conclude that these five people were handpicked in pre-earth life for this purpose (D&C 138:55,56).

I look back on my parental forerunners and am grateful for the greatest sacrifice they made to take me out of a socialist country in my youth and bring me to Australia so I could have freedom to become who I was destined to be, by taking upon myself the name of Him, through the waters of baptism, who had foreordained me to have His Gospel in this life and to bear witness of His name.

 

What faith You had

In those who held You

by Your mortal hand;

How loyal to their charge

Were they who sustained You

When it all began.

How tender their heart

To see the Hope of Israel

And recognize The Great I am.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Child of Grace by Liz Lemon Swindle)

A HOLY EXPECTATION

 

“In our day we look forward with hope and joy to the Second Coming of the Son of Man, and to the setting up of the millennial kingdom of peace and righteousness, over which he shall assume personal rule for the space of a thousand years. We do not know and shall not learn either the day or the hour of that dreadful yet blessed day. We are expected to read the signs of the times and know thereby the approximate time of our Lord’s return and to be in constant readiness thereof.

“There was an element of this same uncertainty associated with his first coming, although such appears to have arisen because of lack of faith on the part of the people and not from the deliberate design of the Lord to withhold such knowledge from them.”

-          Bruce R. McConkie, “The Promised Messiah”, p 457

The Jews had anxiously expected the Messiah for many generations and by the time the Saviour was born, their whole social structure was alive with the Messianic hope. Therefore, there was no surprise to anyone, when the wise men came from the east, asking: “Where is he that is born King of the Jews?” (Matthew 2:2).

It was prophet Micah, that the chief priests and scribes quoted to Herod, who had prophesied 700 years earlier that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2-4). The Jews knew there were prophecies of His birth but they had ‘no eyes to see and no ears to hear’ (Ezekiel 12:2) and so they did not fully understand the obscured scriptures regarding the time (see Isaiah 49:8; Daniel 9:24-26; Matthew 13:16,17;).

It was the wise men of the east who had prophetic insight. It is presumed that they themselves were Jews who lived in one of the nations of the East as millions of Jews did back then. They were the devoted members of the House of Israel who studied the scriptures under inspiration, read the signs, and became the first witnesses of the birth of their King. The world knew nothing of these prophecies. (see Bruce R. McConkie, The Mortal Messiah Book 1, 358).

So it is with us and the Second Coming. We do not know the day of the Saviour’s return but we are expected to read the signs of the times and be in constant rediness.

Why do we need to be ready? Because this time, the Saviour will not come as a baby but as the King of Kings “to recompense unto every man according to his work…” (D&C 1:10)……We need to be ready because every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ and that He sits upon the throne of God forever and ever…..(D&C 88:104). Our genuine and heartfelt testimony of this will be our passport to the Kingdom of Heaven.

We need to be wise….

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Following the Star by Greg Collins)

THE GREAT I AM

 

When God spoke to Moses out of the burning bush, He identified himself as “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” and commanded him to deliver the children of Israel out of the Egyptian bondage (Exodus 3:6-10).

But Moses was not content to go to Israel telling them ‘the God of your fathers sent me’ so he asked God to identify himself by His name which he would take to the Israelites (v 13). God answered: “I am that I Am. Tell them I AM sent me” (v 14).

I AM is the name that identifies Jehovah. It is the equivalent of “Yahveh” or “Jahveh” now rendered “Jehovah” and signifies “The Self-existent One”, “The Eternal”, “The First and the Last”. So sacred was the name regarded by the Jews that their traditionalism forbade the utterance of it. (see James Talmage, “Jesus the Christ”, p 412)

Hence the Lord was not saying “I AM THAT I AM” but rather, “I am ‘that’ I AM”. I am Jehovah.

During His earthly ministry, the Saviour identified himself as seven main I AM’s as contained in the Gospel of John:

-          I am the bread of life (6:31,51)

-          I am the light of the world (8:12)

-          I am the door of the sheep (10:7,9)

-          I am the good shepherd (10:11,14)

-          I am the resurrection and life (11:25)

-          I am the way, the truth and the life (14:6)

-          I am the true vine (15:1,5)

As I look at these seven proclamations I could summarise them in this one scripture: “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

As we approach this Christmas season and yet again celebrate the Saviour’s birth, may we reflect on who He really is and more importantly, who He is to each of us individually. We should know that. May we think about everything we know of Him and what particular name of His means the most to us.

My favourite name for the Saviour is “The Great I Am” (D&C 39:1) and surely He is. There is no greater.

I marvel at His willingness

To descend from the regions of bliss

That was His heavenly home

To pay the ransom for my soul.

 

He is my greatest gift,

My love and my all,

I bow in reverence

before the foot of His throne.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Artist Unknown)

INFINITE MESSIANIC PROPHECIES

 

This will blow you away….

“How many Messianic prophecies have there been? In the real and true perspective of things, ten thousand times ten thousand is not a beginning to their number. They are in multitude like the sand upon the seashore. Obviously, all the prophetic utterances about Christ and the plan of salvation were Messianic in nature. But such teachings merely introduce the subject. For instance:

“Every proper and perfect prayer uttered by a righteous man, woman or child, from the day Adam stepped through Eden’s portals into his lone and dreary habitation, to the day the angelic hosts acclaimed the birth of God’s own Son, was in fact a Messianic prophecy. The mere saying, with sincerity and understanding, of the words of the prayer itself constituted a Messianic affirmation.

“Why? Because all the prophets, saints, and righteous hosts prayed to the Father in the name of Christ, thus witnessing that they knew that salvation came through him and his atoning blood. Similarly, every true prayer today is a reaffirmation that Jesus is the Lord and that through his blood the believing saints are redeemed.

“Every shout of praise and exultation to the Lord Jehovah was Messianic in nature, for those who so acclaimed worshiped the Father in the name of Jehovah-Messiah who would come to redeem his people.

“And so with every baptism, every priesthood ordination, every patriarchal blessing, every act of administering to the sick, every divine ordinance or performance ordained of God, every sacrifice, symbolism, and similitude; all that God ever gave to His people – all was ordained and established in such a way as to testify of his Son and center the faith of believing people in him and in the redemption He was foreordained to make.”

-          Bruce R. McConkie, “The Promised Messiah” p 27-8

We, the saints of God, are living and breathings testaments of the Saviour Jesus Christ if we live in the way that was ordained for members of His Church to live: every prayer we utter, every testimony we bear, every ordinance we participate in, every sacrament emblem we take affirms our allegiance and loyalty to the Saviour.

And I would add that through every worthy thought of Him we cultivate, every worthy action in example of Him we execute, every unrighteous temptation we resist through our obedience to His commandments, we ultimately increase the spirit of belief throughout the world.  

We are the living scriptures some people will ever read.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Jesus by Joseph Brickey)

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)