My
life is a bag of choices I dare to make,
A
dream of perfection eluding me still.
I
grope in darkness
Hoping
my choices are pleasing to Thee;
And
when I leave this weak and mortal shell
And
kneel on hallowed ground at Thy feet,
I will cry to Thee, my Lord and my God,
Forgive
my reckless sins a thousand tears deep.
-
Cathryne Allen
The
tragic dispersion of the House of Israel is also a message of love. It stands
as a monument of God's infinite mercy towards His children and his undying love
for even the vilest sinner who He longs to see return to Him. Even though the
Kingdom of Judah got what it deserved, they are not forever abandoned for the
Lord made them a promise through Jeremiah that He will visit them after seventy
years of bondage and cause them to return to Jerusalem (Jeremiah 29:11-13)
This
promise was fulfilled by Cyrus, the Great….the King of
Persia, who conquered Babylon in 539 B.C., and inherited the exiled Jews. He
was raised for such a purpose by Jehovah himself, who called him ‘my shepherd’
and ‘my anointed’ (Isaiah 44:28; 45:1-4).
The God of
Israel worked with this man to ensure he fulfilled his purpose and this was
it….not to free the captive Israel for the sake of freedom but to send them
back to Jerusalem to build His temple (Isaiah 44:28). Jehovah was calling His people to return to
Him….it is in the temple that they would once again raise their right hand to
the covenant they had forsaken and would receive a second chance (Isaiah
44:20).
That second
chance didn’t last. The second temple was built and lasted until 70 A.D. when
Titus, the Roman Emperor, sacked Jerusalem and dispersed Judah into all the
nations of the earth. But before that tragedy, the Messiah himself appeared and
prophesied of this fall in his Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24:1-2; Mark 13:1-2;
Luke 21:20-21). Yet another chance for salvation in vain. But Messiah’s mercy
endures forever….
On 22
February 1879, Elder Wilford Woodruff, issued an epistle to the world and
addressed himself to the dispersed of Judah in this dispensation:
“For the
fulness of the Gentiles has come in, and the Lord has decreed that the Jews
should be gathered from all the Gentile nations where they have been driven,
into their own land, in fulfilment of the words of Moses their lawgiver. And
this is the will of our great Eloheim, O house of Judah, and whenever you shall
be called upon to perform this work, the God of Israel will help you.
“You have a
great future and destiny before you and you cannot avoid fulfilling it; you are
the royal chosen seed, and the God of your father’s house has kept you distinct
as a nation for eighteen hundred years, under all the oppression of the whole
Gentile world. You may not wait until you believe on Jesus of Nazareth, but
when you meet with Shiloh your king, you will know him; your destiny is marked
out, you cannot avoid it.
“It is true
that after you return and gather your nation home, and rebuild your City and
Temple, that the Gentiles may gather together their armies to go against you to
battle, to take you a prey and to take you as a spoil, which they will do, for
the words of your prophets must be fulfilled, but when this affliction comes,
the living God, that led Moses through the wilderness, will deliver you, and
your Shiloh will come and stand in your midst and will fight your battles; and
you will know him, and the afflictions of the Jews will be at an end…..and all
will be fulfilled, according to the sayings of Ezekiel, Zechariah, and other
prophets. Though the heavens and the earth pass away, not one jot or tittle
will fall unfulfilled.” (in Matthias F.
Cowley, Wilford Woodruff, pp 509-10)
The
gathering of Israel has begun in earnest and the mighty promise by Ezekiel is
being fulfilled. The fulfilment of this promise began when the Saviour saw His
people with compassion ‘because they were as sheep not having a shepherd’ and
He fed them with loaves and fishes in symbolism of their return to the
mountains of Israel where they will be fed forevermore:
“For thus
saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep and seek them
out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep
that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep and will deliver them out of
all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.
“And I will
bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will
bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the
rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.
“I will
feel them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their
fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they
feed upon the mountains of Israel…..I will seek that which was lost and bring
again that which was driven away….” (Ezekiel 34:11-16)
Compassion rent His godly heart
When He saw His scattered sheep,
Upon the high mountains of Israel
Running to His shelter,
His promise for Him to keep.
A promise He would honour
That His lost sheep He would find,
Upon the high mountains of Israel
That heartless shepherds left behind.
So His promise He valiantly fulfilled
As His sheep sat hungry on Bethsaida’s
hill,
And fed upon the loaves and fishes
That multiplied upon His will.
(Mark 6:33-44)
-
CATHRYNE ALLEN
My heart overflows with gratitude
For my darkest nights
Because they bring You to me
Flowing like a river with its strongest might.
I bask in Your presence,
I surrender my soul,
I am grounded in Your strength
I am strong enough to carry on.
- Cathryne Allen
"Hear
ye and give ear; be not proud: for the Lord hath spoken. Give glory to the Lord
your God, before he causes darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark
mountains, and while ye look for light, he turns it into the shadow of death,
and make it gross darkness. But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in
secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with
tears, because the Lord's flock is carried away captive". (Jeremiah
13:15-17)
Seeped in iniquity the Northern Kingdom of
Israel fell in 721 B.C. and was taken captive by Assyrians. One hundred years
later the remaining Kingdom of Judah totally abandoning the God of Israel faced
extinction at the hands of Babylon.
So total was
Judah’s rejection of Jehovah that they turned to animal worship "turning a
large room in the temple into a chapel for its' services... the sun worship
also finding a footing in its' court...in the very holiest spot of the
sanctuary, about twenty-five men, presumably representatives of the high
priest...stood with their back to the temple-the open sign of apostasy-and
worshipped the rising sun, their faces turned to the east...they even offered
their children in sacrifice to god Molech (Jeremiah 32:35) (Old Testament
Student Manual, 1 Kings-Malachi, p 261).
The moral
corruption of Judah was astounding and qualified them for utter destruction:
"Instead of doing righteous works, the people swore falsely, showed no
repentance or compassion, they turned to the houses of prostitution, they
coveted their neighbour's wife, had a 'revolting and rebellious heart', laid
snares for other men and grew fat with illegal gains (Jeremiah 5:1-31).
When the
Lord was ready to deal with Sodom and Gomorrah, he promised deliverance of
these cities if 10 righteous souls could be found there. For Judah he made the
promise that it would be spared if ANY could be found who lived justly or
sought the truth (Jeremiah 5:1) but no such person could be found. Judah was
filled with corrupt prophets and priests and people seeped in sin who 'loved to
have it so' (Jeremiah 5:31). The real national tragedy was Judah's
unwillingness to 'give ear' and repent. Over and over they rejected the sound
political counsel and a call to repentance until they came to the point of no
return.
Jeremiah,
ordained to his calling long before he was born (Jeremiah 1:4,5) did not cease
striving to save his people begging them in vain, for 40 years, to turn back to
God. The persecution he suffered during his ministry at the hands of his
countrymen was who were full of venom and hated him because he wouldn’t pander
to their wickedness, was astounding.
Even though
he was full of despair and no one would pay any heed to his words, Jeremiah
could not desist from his calling which burned within him like a fire: "I
am in derision daily, everyone mocketh me. For since I spake, I cried out, I
cried violence and spoil; because the word of the Lord was made a reproach unto
me, and a derision, daily. Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor
speak any more in his name. But his
word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was
weary with forbearing and I could not stay" (Jeremiah 20:7-9).
Despite the
undeserved treatment he received at their hands, he sorrowed greatly for his
people and is known today in Christendom as ‘the weeping prophet”:
"Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears,
that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my
people!" (Jeremiah 9:1)
The siege of
Jerusalem was savage and lasted 18 months. During that time 'the people of
Jerusalem were starved to the point of cannibalism (Lamentations 4:8-10). As
the final defenses broke down and the Babylonians became victorious, King
Zedekiah and his army fled toward the Jordan River but were captured. He was
forced to watch as his family was murdered and after the Babylonians put out
his eyes they took him captive to Babylon. The city was burned, Solomon's
temple was destroyed, and the fall of the kingdom of Judah began....the
Babylonians took the remnant of the people to Babylon except for some who were
left behind under Babylonian rule....to harvest the crops ' (Old Testament
Student Manual p. 261).
And so Judah
joined the Northern Kingdom of Israel in the scattering prophesied by Moses in
Deuteronomy 4:25-31. Their captors changed hands from Assyria to Babylon to
Medes to Persians to Greeks to Romans. It began in 721 B.C. and ended in 70
A.D. with the sacking of Jerusalem at the hands of Titus who himself was sick
at heart at the daily horrors he witnessed. Six thousand Jews perished in the
burning of the second temple the Jews built under Cyrus’ decree and more than a
million and a half people died in the siege with many sold into slavery and
thus were ‘scattered among all nations’ (D&C 45:19-21).
Mercifully,
there is Part 2…..
We
roam this earth
Lost,
scattered, disowned,
Yet
forgotten nevermore.
From
the anguish of Your heart
You
have promised to gather the lost
To
keep them safe in Thy keep;
Thou
art the Shepherd
Who
desires in His bosom
The
flock of His beloved sheep.
Jeremiah is the prophet of my heart. He was a prophet of suffering
called to cry repentance among a people for whom there was no hope. Jeremiah preached
for 40 years to the unrepentant Jewish nation. He faced continuous opposition and insults
from the priests, the King and the army (Jeremiah 20:2; 36:19; 38:4). During his
ministry he was accused of political treason, put in stocks, thrown in prison,
persecuted, and hunted by men of his hometown who sought to kill him (Jeremiah
11:19). Because his prophecies came true, he so angered the elders of the Jews that
they cast him into a dungeon which is often called 'a pit prison'. Jeremiah was
lowered into this dungeon with cords through a hole in the top. As there was no
drainage in this pit, the bottom was a sea of mud into which Jeremiah sank
(Jeremiah 38:6).
Jeremiah was in continuous suffering for the sake of the word. In the
midst of his afflictions, his humanity made him wish he was never born but his
persistence in preaching despite the persecutions he suffered and his love for the stubborn and unrepentant people
he tried to save speaks ever so loudly of his worth as a righteous vessel of
God and a prophet of Israel (Jeremiah 9:1; 20:9; 14-18).
Jeremiah was ‘chased like a bird, without cause’ (Lamentations
3:52) all the days of his ministry, until he met his end in Egypt where the
remaining Jews took him after the fall of Jerusalem and where they stoned him
to death (Jeremiah 43:6; see also Bible Dictionary). Despite it all, including
his horrific death, Jeremiah remained devoted to the God of heaven.
Upon his call to the ministry, the Lord told Jeremiah: “Before I
formed thee in the belly I knew thee…” (Jeremiah 1:5). The word ‘knew’ in
Hebrew is “yada” which connotes a very personal and intimate relationship,
suggesting that Jeremiah resided in Jehovah’s bosom long before he was born,
and I am certain this is where he is still.
Give me Oh God Jeremiah’s heart
That I might weep day and night
For the salvation of my people;
Ignite the fire in my bones
That I might speak of Thy name to
Thy praise forever.
Give me Oh God lips
that they may speak the truth
And a heart that it may seek Thy favour
Isaiah,
Israel’s greatest prophet and seer who prophesied for 40 years, whose
understanding of Jehovah was so vast and visions of future so daunting,
finished his book with an exhilarating end highlighting Jehovah’s mercy like no
other, on two counts:
1.
Recovering
ancient Israel that rejected Him in favour of idolatry: “I have spread out my hands all
the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good,
after their own thoughts, a people that provoketh me to anger continually to my
face; that sacrificeth in gardens and burneth incense upon altars of brick”
(Isaiah 65:2,3).
When
the Saviour appears for the second time, He will come among the distressed and
nearly vanquished sons of Judah who rejected Him as their Messiah and ‘their
nation will be born in a day’ (Isaiah 66:8). At the criss of their fate, during
the mighty battle of Armageddon, “when the hostile troops of several nations
are ravaging the city and all the horrors of war are overwhelming the people of
Jerusalem, he will set his feet upon the Mount of Olives, which will cleave and
part asunder at his touch.
“Attended
by a host from heaven, he will overthrow and destroy the combined armies of the
Gentiles, and appear to the worshipping Jews as the mighty Deliverer and
Conqueror so long expected by their race; and while love, gratitude, awe, and
admiration swell their bosoms, the Deliverer will show them the tokens of his
crucifixion and disclose himself as Jesus of Nazareth, whom they had reviled
and whom their fathers put to death.
“Then
will unbelief depart from their souls, and ‘the blindness in part which has
happened unto Israel (see Romans 11:25) be removed…..They will be baptised for
the remission of their sins, and will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and
the government of God as established in Zion will be set up among them, no more
to be thrown down for ever.” (Elder Charles W. Penrose, The Second Advent,
p 583)
When
in the clouds of glory You appear
To
save Judah distressed and all alone
Your
mercy will flow from the dreaded hill
Where
in times past they crucified their own.
When
on the Mount of Olives suddenly you meet
They
will know You
And accept salvation at Your feet.
2.
Ushering
in of the Millenial Era and gathering all nations unto Himself: The second advent of Jesus Christ will
not gather just Israel but also the Gentiles who will hear His gospel and
become His people also: “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and
the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind…For by fire and by his
sword will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be
many…it shall come that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall
come and see my glory….and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles
(Isaiah 65:17-25; 66:15-19).
This
is the expectation on the horizon which will end the corruption, wickedness,
sickness, sorrow and hardship of this world we have created:
“Great
and marvellous though the changes will be incident to life during the
millennial era, yet mortality as such will continue. Children will be born,
grow up, marry, advance to old age, and pass through the equivalent of death.
Crops will be planted, harvested, and eaten; industries will be expanded,
cities built, and education fostered; men will continue to care for their own
needs, handle their own affairs, and enjoy the full endowment of free agency.
“Speaking
a pure language (Zeph. 3:9), dwelling in peace, living without disease, and
progressing as the Holy Spirit will guide, the advancement and perfection of
society during the millennium will exceed anything men have supposed or
expected. (Elder Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, pp 496-97).”
“And
it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath
to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord” (Isaiah
66:23)
When amidst the clouds of glory
You appear on Your trusted steed,
Our heads will bow,
Our knees will bend,
Our tongues be loosed to confess,
Your Sonship and Your Kingship,
Worlds without end.
“I once wondered if those
who refuse to repent but who then satisfy the law of justice by paying for
their own sins are then worthy to enter the celestial kingdom. The answer is
no. The entrance requirements for celestial life are simply higher than merely
satisfying the law of justice. For that reason, paying for our sins will not
bear the same fruit as repenting of our sins.
“Justice is a law of
balance and order, and it must be satisfied, either through our payment or his.
But if we decline the Saviour’s invitation to let Him carry our sins, and then
satisfy justice by ourselves, we will not yet have experienced the complete
rehabilitation that can occur through a combination of divine assistance and
genuine repentance. Working together, those forces have the power permanently
to change our hearts and our lives, preparing us for celestial life.
“By analogy, the
criminals who fill our prisons are not necessarily “rehabilitated” when they
pay their debt to society by serving a fixed number of years. The payment of
that debt may satisfy our sense of retribution, but only a positive process of
character change can rehabilitate a lawbreaker.
“The doctrines of mercy
and repentance are rehabilitative, not retributive, in nature. The Saviour asks
for our repentance not merely to compensate him for paying our debt to justice,
but also as a way of inducing us to undergo the process of development that
will make our nature divine, giving us the capacity to live the celestial law.
The “natural man” will remain an enemy to God forever – even after paying for
his own sins – unless he also “becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ
the Lord, and becometh as a child.” (Mosiah 3:19)
“As King Benjamin here
suggests, the Atonement does more than pay for our sins. It is also the agent
through which we develop a saintly nature. When the Saviour accepts our
repentance and blesses us with his mercy, he restores our spiritual balance
from a negative position to a neutral position.
“This complete process
requires active faith, changes in our lives, and baptism or the meaningful
renewal of baptismal covenants. But when we have taken these sometimes arduous
steps, we are then only ready to enter the “strait and narrow path which
leads to eternal life” (2 Nephi 31:17-18)
-
Elder Bruce C. Hafen, The Broken Hear –
Applying the Atonement to Life’s Experiences, p 7,8
A
river of peace floods my mortal being;
I
struggle to contain such a merciful gift.
With
grace You enlarge
the
sparse capacity of my heart
And
righteousness moves within me
as
the waves of the sea.
Eternal
hope floods my mortal being
And
brings me to Thee;
I
love You more dearly;
I
serve you more freely;
I
become what I alone could never be.
You
took my soul and rescued me
From
the river of my tears
And promised I’ll be more than I could be
If
I surrender all my fears;
Your
sacred promise like a flame of hope
Locked
in my heart these many years.
-
Cathryne
Allen
In
speaking of the physical restoration of Zion in the last days, Isaiah used the
marriage figure to depict the covenant between the Lord and His people. Zion is
a “bride” adorned with pearls who awaits her “husband”, Jesus Christ. It’s a
beautiful depiction of the joy awaiting the saints of the latter-days (see The
Old Testament Student Manual Book 2, p 207):
“I
will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he
hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the
robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a
bride adorneth herself with her jewels.” (Isaiah 61:10)
A
prophet who used the imagery of the ‘garments of salvation’ on a more personal
level is Nephi of the Book of Mormon. Nephi leaves me breathless when I read
his lamentation over his humanity and his pleading that the “gates of hell be
shut continually before him” so that he may have a broken heart and a contrite
spirit and “walk in the path of the low valley….” (2 Nephi 4:32). What makes it
heart rending is that Nephi was an incredibly righteous man. Anyone who laments
over their humanity though, which diverts one’s course of righteousness, would
relate to Nephi’s heartfelt remorse for his sins and imperfections.
What
he said next, however, is what tugs at my heart. Nephi was an ardent admirer of
Isaiah and he referred to him simply as ‘the prophet’. He quoted Isaiah’s
reference to ‘the robe of righteousness’ in the very next verse and he did so
with great meaning and reason:
"Oh
Lord, wilt thou encircle me around in the robe of thy righteousness! O Lord,
wilt thou make a way for mine escape before mine enemies! Wilt thou make my
path straight before me! ......Oh Lord, I have trusted in thee and I will trust
in thee forever.........I will lift up my voice unto thee; yea, I will cry unto
thee, my God, the rock of my righteousness. Behold, my voice shall forever
ascend up unto thee, my rock and mine everlasting God." (2 Nephi 4:33,35)
And this
is the reason why Nephi appealed to God for His ‘robe of righteousness’. Lehi,
his father was a successful and rich merchant and the family lived on the
outskirts of Jerusalem. Living and trading so
close to the desert means the family would have been accustomed to Bedouin’s
way of life. Nephi would have been very familiar with the significance of ‘the
robe’:
"In Arabic culture, when a person is running away, he
runs to the tent of any great sheikh he can find. He goes in and kneels down
before the sheikh and says, 'I am thy suppliant'. The sheikh is then obligated
to put his caftan over his katef which is the same as shoulder - to put the hem
of his garment over his shoulder and say, 'Ahlan wa-sahlan wa-marhaban'. This
is your tent, this is your family'....He says, 'We'll make a place for you'.
Then the lord or the chief is under obligation to defend you against the
enemies that are chasing you. You are now under his protection, and he will
protect you." - Hugh Nibley, Teachings of the Book of Mormon,
Semester 1. (Provo, Utah: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies),
p. 252
The
significance of ‘the robe’ was well known throughout the ancient Near East.
Cast your mind back to Jesus’ time when the woman from Capernaum who had
suffered for 12 years with 'an issue of blood' understood this concept too. She
had spent everything she had on treatments that had been fruitless and had
brought her no relief from her chronic condition. Then there came a ray of
hope. She had heard of Jesus whom many proclaimed to be the Messiah who spoke
with authority and when He spoke people were healed.
The
possibility of a healing worked in her to the point of complete faith that this
man was her only hope. When she pressed through the crowds, however, she did
not pat the Messiah on His back, she descended to the hem of his robe for the
point of contact to release her faith for a miracle in her life. The touch
needed, the robe crucial, for attached to the robe of His garment were tassels
which represented the word of God (Numbers 15:37-41) and the authority of Yeshua whose divinity she
was acknowledging.
One would
think this sacred act of faith is sufficient for a faith promoting story but
this story teaches us about more than faith on behalf of this woman. This story
teaches us about the protective nature of the Lord's robe of righteousness.
According to the Levitical law it was forbidden for this woman to be in public
for she was considered socially unclean (Lev. 15:25). The Saviour knew that she
was healed when she touched His robe and she knew that she was healed but
nobody else would have known had He not made her faith known to the gathered
crowd. How else could she have proved her healing to those who would have to proclaim
her socially clean? The Saviour knew this and announced her cleanliness amidst
many witnesses. That’s protection of His robe of righteousness.
Another
wonderful example. In the country of the Gadarenes there was a man who was
beset by a legion of devils who lived in tombs and cried night and day, cutting
himself with stones (Mark 5:1-5). The Gospel of Luke tells us this man wore no
clothes (Luke 8:27). In scripture, to be naked is to have your sins,
vulnerabilities and weaknesses exposed. When all Jewish men wore robes and
prayer shawls with tassels which reminded them of God, the legions of devils
residing in this man must have wanted his nakedness exposed to signify lack of
God's protection from his sins.
The idea of
having our sins and vulnerabilities enfolded in the Saviour's robes, which can
offer us protection from the same, is seen when John the Baptist rebuked the
Pharisses and Sadduccees, warning them: "If ye receive not me, ye receive
not him of whom I am sent to bear record; and for your sins ye have no
cloak" (JST Matthew 3:34). The possessed man was not only freed from devil
possession but was given protection from his sins by His robe of righteousness
as he sat, fully clothed, in his right mind, at the feet of the Saviour (Luke
8:35).
The robe of
righteousness exists for the spiritually astute of this day also. We might not
have visual reminders of God’s protection, but it is there for the asking every
time we kneel in prayer before His throne…..
You sowed Your
truth
Deep within my
heart;
So deep, the
enemy cannot
Sever us
apart.
You bid me
nurture the seeds of faith
So you can
forever cherish my name,
You are my
keeper of salvation’s flame.
-
CATHRYNE ALLEN
This
event of the Saviour’s ministry would have to have been the lowest point in his
mortal life. Having returned form 40 days of fasting in the wilderness, having triumphantly
overcome the temptations tailored to His godship, the Saviour returned to
Galilee where ‘the fame of him went through the whole region’ as He taught in
their synagogues (Luke 4:13-15).
When
He came to Nazareth on Sabbath day, He proclaimed His divinity in the
synagogue, through the words of Isaiah:
“The
spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach good
tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to
proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are
bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of
our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to
give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning……..” (Isaiah 61:1-3)
And
then the words which sealed his fate: “This day is this scripture fulfilled in
your ears.” (Luke 4:21)
What
followed makes you want to weep: “And all they in the synagogue, when they
heard these things were filled with wrath. And rose up and thrust him out of
the city and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built,
that they might cast him down headlong.” (Luke 4:28,29)
Just
as the Jews denied Jesus’ divinity in their day, we in our day sometimes deny His
Atonement, not fully understanding its power and for what it was given:
“We
need to understand the Atonement more fully than we do, both because outsiders
may misperceive our doctrine and because we may view the Atonement too narrowly
in our own lives. For example, Newsweek magazine has stated: “Unlike
orthodox Christians, Mormons believe that men are born free of sin and earn
their way to godhood by the proper exercise of free will, rather than through
the grace of Jesus Christ. Thus Jesus’ suffering and death in the Mormon
view…do not atone for the sins of others.” (Newsweek, 1 Sept 1980, p 68)
“It
disturbs me that Newsweek would miss the point of our core doctrine,
even though the article purported not to summarize our theology but to report
what Latter-day Saints actually believe. It is unfortunate when we convey
incorrect ideas to others; but it is worse when we by our limited doctrinal
understanding, deny ourselves the reassurance and guidance we may
desperately need at pivotal moments in our lives.” (Bruce C. Hafen, Beauty for Ashes: The
Atonement of Jesus Christ, Ensign April 1990)
Elder
Hafen goes on to say that according to Isaiah’s definition of the Saviour’s
role, His Atonement is not only the healing power for sin, but also for
carelessness, inadequacy, and all mortal bitterness. The Atonement is not just
for sinners but for all who need relief from weaknesses, shortcomings,
disappointment, harmful effects from our ignorance, neglect, sickness, and
heartbreaks that form the deliberate fabric of mortal life. The Atonement’s
effects are meant not only for the Judgment Day but for here and now. It is a
rich source of strength to deal productively with difficulties of mortal life.
It is, in essence, beauty amidst the ashes of mortality.
The
key to activating the power of Atonement in our lives is our understanding of
grace. Nephi wrote, “For we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after
all we can do. (2 Nephi 25:23). Christendom at large believes more in grace
than in the second part of the process whilst some Latter-Day Saints tend to
focus too much on it. Being saved by grace alone in spite of whatever we may
do, tends to deny free will,” implying that God will elect those he will save
without regard to their conduct or even their preference.” (see Elder Hafen’s
quoted article).
Those
who believe in being saved by grace alone tend to exonerate themselves from any
wrongdoing while those who focus on their good works only as a means of
salvation often drop out of the race believing the path to eternal life is just
too hard.
“We
need grace both to overcome sinful weeds and to grow divine flowers. We can do
neither one fully by ourselves. But grace is not cheap. It is very expensive,
even very dear. How much does this grace cost? Is it enough simply to
believe in Christ? The man who found the pearl of great price gave “all that he
had” for it (Matt 13:45,46).
“If
we desire “all that the Father hath, God asks all that we have (D&C
84:38). To qualify for such exquisite treasure, in whatever way is ours, we
must give the way Christ gave – every drop He had: “How exquisite you know not,
yea, how hard to bear you know not (D&C 19:15). Paul said, “If so be
that we suffer with him”, we are “joint-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17).
All of His heart, all of our hearts.”
“What
possible pearl could be worth such a price – for Him and for us? This earth is
not our home. We are away at school, trying to master the lessons of “the great
plan of happiness” so we can return home and know what it means to be there.
Over and over the Lord tells us why the plan is worth our sacrifice – and
His…..Of necessity, the plan is full of thorns and tears – His and ours. But
because He and we are so totally in this together, our being “at one” with Him
in overcoming all opposition will itself bring us “incomprehensible joy” (Alma
28:8).
Activating
the power of the Atonement in one’s life is not just a matter of a simple common
prayer. It is our opportunity to acknowledge and affirm our faith in Jesus
Christ and His power to save…..the words that should be spoken are: “through my
faith in Jesus Christ and the power of His Atonement, I ask…..”
May
you find the pearl of beauty amidst the ashes of your mortal life….
How
vast You are that
You
can fill the immensity of space
Yet
so small You can fit
Into
my heart with eternal grace.
How
small and insignificant am I
Among
the countless children
Of
this earth’s dust and fleeting pace
But
of what importance
To
Your saving grace!
- Cathryne
Allen
In need I reach for heaven’s door,
To concede, in spirit, I am forever
poor.
I find Him waiting and knowing all,
No reprimand,
Just grateful I heard His call.
He took my heart into His hands,
The sacred balm, like honey,
soothed my aches.
- Cathryne Allen
I am passionate about
words. They are an expression of the soulful nature of our being, our
experiences, our attitudes and our cumulative growth. I love words that feed my
soul, like poetry. Consider what the Lebanese poet Kahlil Gibran said about this
genre of literature: “Poetry is not an opinion expressed. It is a song that
rises from a bleeding wound or a smiling mouth.” Never a greater truth has been spoken. When I
write poetry, I write what I feel, from all my wounds and all my happy moments
of the heart.
Words of poems that touch
me are like seeds that had been sown in my heart. I believe the experiences of
the poets that write them. American poet Sara Teasdale’s poems of love touch
the very nerves of my heart. When I read
her poem about the ‘sensitive, shy years, that strove to sing with voices
drowned in tears’ years before ‘she saw his face’ I tend to believe in love
even though all I know of it is pain but I also know the years drowned in tears
and so I can believe in love too (see her poem “The Years”)
Another poet of my heart
is American poet Emily Dickinson. Her words of life and death and all that’s in
between bring to me the reality of mortal life and the memories of it we will
take with us when we cross the bar. Her poem “Retrospect” dissolves me into
tears just by simple awakening of memories of my childhood. When she says “It
was just this time last year I died. I know I heard the corn, when I was
carried by the farms – it had the tassels on”, I remember the fields of corn of
my childhood.
And who could not be
touched by the lyrical poetry of the Irish W.B. Yeats who wished he had ‘the
heaven’s embroidered cloths’ so he could spread them under “your feet: but I,
being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; tread
softly because you tread on my dreams.” (Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven).
I believe in the beauty
of words and I also believe in their power. They evoke emotion, memory, innermost
beliefs, spiritual awakening, hope and faith. I am enthralled when I read the
scriptures and see examples of words of faith that bring the impossible into
possible. Such is the power of words.
Consider
Enoch who was called to his holy calling when he was ‘slow of speech’ (Moses
6:31). The Lord promised him that He will give him ‘utterance’ and He will
‘justify’ all his words (Moses:32-34). So because Enoch trusted this promise,
given to him by God himself, his weakness turned into his greatest strength,
and he became so powerful that when he spoke the people trembled and could not
stand in his presence (Moses 6:47). That my friends is turning the impossible
into possible.
Worthy spoken words have the power to resonate with the spirit of
God and empower us to achieve things we could not ordinarily do on our own.
An example of this is calling upon the power of the Atonement to enable
us to overcome a certain weakness or to receive a healing. I have had
experience to this end and can testify that the power of the Atonement, when
prayed for, can heal you, as does hearing His word which ‘heals the wounded soul’ (Jacob 2:8). The vibration of words carries with it power that creates
a pathway for manifestation of that which we pray for. Admonition to pray is prolific in scriptures
for exactly this reason.
Spoken word
and faith are inter-related. The great exemplar of this is the
Saviour himself, who created the world by the power of His word (Jacob 4:9;
Mormon 9:17; Genesis 1; John 1:1). I believe when the Saviour spoke the words
of creation, He spoke by the power of faith. This is obvious to me through a
small incident in His mortal life when He came upon a fig tree that had no
fruit to feed His hunger. He cursed the tree and the tree withered the moment
He spoke (Matthew 21:18-21). When His
disciples marvelled at what they saw, Jesus told them that if they had faith
and doubted not, if they said the word for mountains to move, it would be so
(v21).
I have to speak of Enoch
again. During
his interlude with God, Enoch pleaded with Him that God would have ‘mercy upon
Noah and his seed’ (Moses 7:50) but he did so in the most powerful way that a
prayerful plea should ever be uttered. He said: “I ask Thee, O Lord, in the
name of thine Only Begotten, even Jesus Christ, that thou wilt….”(v50). In
other words, he did not use Jesus' name as an ending afterthought, like we are
accustomed to do so at the end of our prayers. He began with the Saviour’s name
as an acknowledgement of his faith in the source of power through which his
petition can be granted.
As a result of his faith in the
Saviour and the power of His name, God could not withhold from covenanting with
Enoch that He would grant his petition (v 51). So powerful did Enoch become in
speaking ‘the word of the Lord’ that the earth trembled and the mountains fled
(v13). Without a doubt, he commanded the mountains to flee in the name of Jesus
Christ. Likewise, the mountains of our lives can crumble at the mention of His
name. Believe in the power of your faith in Him at whose appearing the
mountains will flow down at His presence, the elements will melt with fervent
heat, the waters will boil and the sun will hide its face in shame (Hebrews
12:29; D&C 133:40-44, 49). Is this not power greater than any mountain on
your path?
Dare to create the life
that God would want you to have by becoming your best self. Aim higher than you
have ever aimed before. The Saviour wants you to be like Him, in every way. He
would have you learn to harness the power of faith that you might rise to
godhood through your power of manifestation. That power is already in you……He made sure of
it. So speak the power…..
