PERFECTION OF CHARACTER

 

Jesus Christ Our Lord by Edit Voros

Over and over again I come across the inexhaustible mercy of Christ in the Old Testament. I used to think His mercy was excessive and that He should have wiped people off the face of the earth more often than He did, until I realised one day if His mercy was any less than what it is, there would not be any people left … that’s how frustrating humanity is and that’s how tolerant God is.

I mentioned in one of my recent posts that I have been collecting Christ’s attributes and characteristics for many years as I find them in the scriptures. I would like to mention a few that I see in Him and why so I will start with MERCY.

I have always felt a stronger sense of justice than mercy and wondered how Christ came to be so merciful until one day during reflection I saw the Saviour in my mind on the cross and I understood that even though He possessed this attribute before He came to earth, His inexhaustible mercy was born during His earthly life and in particular on that fateful day when He bore the culmination of all pain and sorrow and He understood to the depths of His soul our humanity.

I also see the Saviour as a God of STRENGTH. Strength has to come with mercy because strength brings with it self-control. It is His strength that doesn’t allow us to be obliterated because we are weak and stumbling in the dark most of the time. But at the same time strength is needed to correct, chastise and command the children in us.  

With strength also comes power and with this POWER He does not spare the wickedness that proceeds from the enemy who seeks to destroy us. I have noticed this especially this year in the book of Ezekiel. His mercy does not rob justice but neither does justice rob His mercy. Because of this we can be assured that the balance between justice and mercy will be so perfect on Judgment Day that we will not be able to question it.

Another quality I admire in the Saviour is MEEKNESS. Meekness is not weakness but self-restraint. The Saviour never used His godly power for His own purposes whilst in mortality. It was solely used for the purpose of humanity’s salvation. There are examples of this in the scriptures.

The temptations of Christ are a perfect example to this end. When Satan came to Jesus after 40 days of fasting in the desert, following His baptism and at the onset of His ministry, he appealed to His ego by tempting Him to prove that He was the Son of God and therefore had power to assuage His, by then, overwhelming hunger (Matthew 4:3-4). Turning stones into bread was easy. The Saviour knew it and Satan knew it. What lay at stake was succumbing to the use of His power for His gain and His purpose. This Satan also knew. He knew that Christ’s power was only meant to be used for the benefit of others and not His own. And so the Saviour of mankind would not feed Himself even at the peril of His life but He would feed 5,000 others who ‘might’ have been hungry whilst listening to Him (Matthew 14:13-21).

Another example….after walking from Judea to Samaria, He was thirsty, hungry and weary. As He sat at Jacob’s well to rest while His disciples went to buy provisions, He who had power to draw food and drink from the elements, who could have transported himself at will to any location, didn’t. He chose instead to subject himself to the proper experiences of mortality and waited for food to come to Him and asked a Samaritan woman to draw water for Him to drink (John 4:6-10)

The greatest example comes from the pinnacle of the temple where He confronted Satan’s temptation to perform some dazzling feat by casting himself off the temple’s heights which would attract crowds of amazed onlookers to prove His superiority. It would have given Him public recognition and would have caused many to believe that the Messiah had indeed come. It would have been so easy for His ministry to prove who He was by such a feat.

It is one thing to study the scriptures and be informed, educated, spiritually fed and even entertained but to know the Saviour through them is the real challenge. I realised this years ago. We are meant to know HIM, not to know OF Him.

I have come to see Him differently in each book of the Holy Writ. In the Old Testament I see the Merciful Jehovah; in the New Testament I see the Loving Saviour; in the Book of Mormon I see the Resurrected Christ; in Doctrine and Covenants I see the Powerful God; in the Pearl of Great Price I see the Promised Messiah. He is all of that and more……He is everything.

Speak to me softly

What you would have me hear;

Speak to me gently

In my willing ear.

Leave nothing unsaid

Kind, good and everlastingly true;

Speak to me softly

And reveal the splendour of you.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

A WORLD OF PRIDE 1

 

He Pierces My Soul by Greg Collins

I was reading chapter 9 of Ezekiel yesterday with my mouth open. In this vision Ezekiel was shown the vengeance of God that was coming upon the kingdom of Judah in their final stage. After instructing the angels of destruction to mark in the foreheads those few who were to be spared, the Lord told them to go through the streets of Jerusalem and slay every man, woman and child with this explanation: “….mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will recompense their way upon their head.” (v 10)

The ‘way’ of the Israelite’s that took them to their last breath was idolatry. There is another grievous sin, however, which brings destruction upon the nations, the sin of pride. Ezekiel prophesied that this sin will be the fall of many nations and empires in the ancient world which is a warning to us in our dispensation of time as well.

I was mesmerised with the fall of Tyre as I studied Ezekiel one year, which is clear proof of Ezekiel’s predictions . This island was anciently located between Carmel in Israel and Beirut in Lebanon. In short, Tyre was a major destination for merchant ships in the eastern Mediterranean. Because of this commerce, Tyre amassed obscene wealth and became the crown jewel of the seas (Ezekiel 27:5-9). The Lord compared it to the Garden of Eden….until iniquity was found in her (Ezekiel 28:15). 

So great was Tyre that Ezekiel devoted three chapters to lament the fall of its glory (chapters 26,27,28). Chapter 26 states the reason for the fall. Tyre rejoiced in the fall of Judah but an even more serious crime becomes evident by chapter 28: “Thus saith the Lord God: Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou has said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God.” (v2).

This is the outcome of those who elevate themselves to the status of God: “I will destroy thee…I will cast thee to the ground….I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth…and never shalt thou be any more (vs 16-18). Because of its strong fortifications, nobody could conquer Tyre and so the more detailed prophecies of its destruction (in chapter 26) remained unfulfilled for nearly three hundred years….until 332 B.C. when Alexander the Great swept in and reduced this island to rubble. Today the island of Tyre is nothing more but a small peninsula jutting into the sea where the local fishermen come to spread their nets to dry. (see Old Testament Student Manual Book 2 p 280 for more descriptive end of this island)

I look at the world today and I see the pride of Tyre….even those who are not swimming in wealth are lifted up in the pride of their hearts elevating themselves and fortifying the culture of self-importance and self-identity. We are encouraged from all sides to put ourselves first so we can become our own gods and worship the father of me-ism who is Lucifer, son of the morning (Isaiah 14:12);  the author of all sin (Helaman 6:26-31); the source of ultimate pride (Moses 4:1); the thief in the night who comes to steal our spiritual identity, kill our faith in God and destroy our commitment to Christ (John 10:10).

Make no mistake about it, the Lord wants to care for us and protect us but He will not allow the enemy to win and the wickedness to prevail. He who loves God the Father without comparison has ensured the penitent will not be swallowed up in the despair of the damned. He has ensured our victory over death and sin. He has saved us and paved the way to our safety. He is the antidote to all the destruction the adversary can bring upon us. He is the light, the truth and the way. To all who want to be saved He says:

 

I wait for you to come

Into the shadow of my wings;

I have paid the price: come unto Me,

Your God and Your King.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

 

 

HE LIVES

 

The Ascension of Jesus Christ N3040 by Edit Voros

There is a certain phrase I have noticed in the scriptures where the Lord bears witness of Himself. This phrase is: “AS I LIVE”. It is mostly used in conjunction with His promises to carry out judgment on rebellious Israel, or blessings in time of gathering. This phrase can be found in Ezekiel 12 times: 5:11; 14:16; 16:6,48; 17:16,19; 18:3; 20:3,33; 33:11; 34:8; 35:6.

There is another phrase in Ezekiel that the Saviour uses often stating that He will affirm His existence to us either through His just punishment or His saving grace and that phrase is: “YE SHALL KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD”. It can be found in Ezekiel 24 times: 6:7,14; 7:4,9; 11:10,12; 12:20; 13:9,14,21,23; 14:8; 15:7; 16:62; 17:21; 20:38,42,44; 24:24,27; 25:5,7; 36:11; 37:6. This phrase is also used in conjunction with His promises to carry out His judgment upon the inhabitants of the earth where He proclaims: “and they shall know that I am the Lord” thus flooding the earth with knowledge and proof of His existence (6:14; 30:19,26; 32:15; 35:4,9,15; 38:23; 39:6).

I can bear witness to the ‘saving grace’ nature of the second phrase. Some years ago, I took a certain petition to God in prayer and, as is my custom, I retreated to the scriptures afterwards to see if He would give me an answer through His written word. The scriptures opened to a page with only one phrase highlighted: “Ye shall know that I am the Lord”……I knew in that instant that the Saviour lived, that He had heard my prayer, and that He would grant me my heart’s desire. I knew that I was kneeling in front of Him who has all power, might, mercy, wisdom and love. I knew the Lord that day because He bore witness to me of Himself.

 

How great Thy wisdom,

How great Thy mercy,

How great Thy love

That fills my joyful heart;

How very great Thou art!

 

 - CATHRYNE ALLEN 

 

STEADFASTNESS OF GOD

 

Crucifixion of Jesus Christ by Edit Voros

Imagine if God called you to a calling in the Church and told you your calling will yield no success in any way. The people will be not be interested in what you do, they will not listen to you and your efforts will be wasted. Yet He told you He wanted you to do it and if you didn’t do it, He would make you accountable on Judgment Day for their sins. Would you do it?

This was Ezekiel’s life in exile. Having been appointed as a ‘watchman unto the house of Israel’ in Babylonia, God made it clear to Ezekiel that if he didn’t step up to this responsibility, He would hold him responsible for Israel’s sins (Ezekiel 3:17-21).

And this is an interesting thing….Ezekiel was instructed of God to stage the predictions of the fall of Kingdom of Judah which one could say were nothing short of theatrics (see chapters 4 and 5). He wanted the exiles to know of the fate of the rebellious house of Israel and thus call them to repentance. With every instruction the Lord gave Ezekiel, He told him the people will not believe him because ‘the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted’ (Ezekiel 2:7).

Six times He called the Israelites ‘a rebellious house’ (Ezekiel 2:5,6,7,9,26,27). And not only would they not believe him but they would gather to listen to him and consider him as entertainment (Ezekiel 33:30-33). Imagine an ancient amphitheatre with eager Jews clutching buckets of popcorn in anticipation to hear ‘the latest crazy thing’  Ezekiel had to tell them and show them. My heart bleeds when I read about this man…..

I am amazed that Jehovah would even waste His time with those He knows would not repent. Because of His foreknowledge, He knew which one of us would be saved and which would be lost. You would think because of this foreknowledge the Saviour didn’t have to atone for everyone. It would certainly lessen the pain of Gethsemane. Yet He hung on the cross despite His power to end it, until every soul was accounted and atoned for, until He could say: “It is finished” (John 19:30).

Most of us would say it is because of His love and mercy. We seem to focus on these two attributes the most these days but the Saviour is a God with the full spectrum of emotions and a perfect balance of attributes. I have been collecting evidence of this through the scriptures for years. I have come across numerous scriptures too lengthy to list here where He speaks of His fury, anger and even hatred when He deals with unrepentant people and nations.

 I will mention a couple in Ezekiel: “I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury…” (35:5,6); “I will send mine anger upon thee…mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity, but I will recompense thy ways upon thee….and all thine abominations” (7:3). In fact, the exact phrase “neither will I have pity” shows up three more times in Ezekiel – 7:9; 8:18 and 9:10. In the last three scriptures the Lord pairs it with “mine eye shall not spare”, as part of a warning of judgment on persistent wickedness.

We can be assured that God’s mercy and love has a different side to it than we think. It also manifests itself as chastisement. If we need correction and misfortune to bring us back to Him, He will bring such upon us without hesitation. I have an inactive daughter who no longer lives the Gospel. I have done everything possible for her over the years. When I came to the end of my self-sacrificial road for her and could do no more, I left her in God’s hands. I no longer even pray for her because I am aware that she might have to be brought down to her knees to repent and return. If I prayed for her protection, ease and comfort in her current state, these blessings might just be the worse thing for her so I refrain not wanting to sabotage her progress and trust God to know best what she needs for her repentance.

Why would the Lord be so steadfast in doing whatever is necessary to ensure our return? Because He is where the salvation lies. He didn’t climb up onto that cross at Calvary for fun. If he was willing to save us back then, He is willing still. And thank goodness for that because without chastening some of would never reach the heights of salvation but would end up like spoilt, insufferable children not capable of much in this life or the next. And that is just not acceptable.

I stood on holy ground of your fragile heart

And saw your tender moments

Bathed in hurtful tears.

I saw your sins that you tried in vain to hide,

And the years you lived with futile pride.

I bore your life with crimson drops

And sought forgiveness on your behalf;

To pay the price of justice

And mend your broken heart.

 

I wait for you to come

Into the shadow of my wings;

I have paid the price: come unto Me,

Your God and Your King.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

ON PERMISSIVENESS

 

“The growing permissiveness in modern society gravely concerns us. Certainly our Heavenly Father is distressed with the increasing inroads among his children of such insidious sins as adultery and fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, abortions, pornography, population control, alcoholism, domestic violence, child abuse, dishonesty,  vandalism, violence, and crime generally, including the sin of living together without marriage.

“We call upon our Church members everywhere to renew their efforts to strengthen the home and to honour their parents, and to build better communications between parent and child.

“Important as it is, building stronger homes is not enough in the fight against rising permissiveness. We therefore urge Church members as citizens to lift their voices, to join others in unceasingly combating, in their communities and beyond, the inroads of pornography and the general flaunting of permissiveness. Let us vigorously oppose the shocking developments which encourage the old sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, and which define the human body as the temple of God….

“God will not be mocked. His laws are immutable. True repentance is rewarded by forgiveness, but sin brings the sting of death….

“As we think back upon the experiences of Nineveh, Babylon, Sodom and Gomorrah, we wonder – will history repeat itself? What of our world today? Are we forgetting in our great nations the high and lofty principles which can preserve the nations?

“When the patience of the Lord with us is exhausted, shall we stand trembling while destruction comes upon us? Or shall we wisely see the handwriting on the wall and profit by the sad experience of the past and return unto the Lord and serve him?”

-          (Spencer W. Kimball, in Conference Report, October 1977, pp 5-7; or Ensign Nov 1977, pp 5-6)

This warning was given to us in 1977. Since then we have added these blatant sins, amongst others: human trafficking, organised gang rapes, butchering of our bodies through sex change, numerous sexual orientations, gender identities and sex variations,  mothers murdering their children, full term abortion, rogue judges who acquit criminals thus perpetrating further crime, government fraud, government sponsored drug inducing centres, abduction of children and most heinously an increase in murder. We have permitted it all in the name of ‘progressiveness’. We have lifted ourselves above all the laws and call ourselves civilised and progressive….when in fact we are collectively just a plain, evil society bereft of peace and a sound mind.

In 1800s the Prophet Joseph Smith prophesied of a time when no one would have peace except in Zion: “I saw men hunting the lives of their own sons, and brother murdering brother, women killing their own daughters, and daughters seeking the lives of their mother. I saw armies arrayed against armies. I saw blood, desolation, fires. The Son of Man has said that the mother shall be against the daughter and the daughter against the mother. These things are at our doors. They will follow the Saints of God from city to city. Satan will range, and the spirit of the devil is now enraged. I know not how soon these tings will take place.” (History of the Church, 3:391)

This is the true picture of our society. At one stage I was following the ‘true crimes’ Youtube channel. It was all about murder and in each instance I could predict it was either the husband or wife or one of children. It was so amazing to me and made me remember Joseph Smith’s vision. I couldn’t watch that channel for very long.

I agree with President Kimball about history. The dangerous thing about it is that history repeats itself. The destruction that came to ancient cities will one day come to us because God will indeed not be mocked. Evil will be wiped off the face of the earth together with all those who have upheld it.

When the Saviour comes again He will subdue all enemies under his feet and most of all his archenemy Lucifer, Satan, the devil, the father of all lies who so shrewdly and subtly leads us “by the neck with a flaxen cord” to do his bidding, until he binds us with “his strong cords forever” (2 Nephi 26:22).

We are here on a spiritual battle ground. How’s your armour???  (Ephesians 6:11-18)

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

THE HEIGHTS OF MERCY

 

I Would Gather Thee by Liz Lemon Swindle

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem...how often would I have gathered thy

children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens

under her wings, and ye would not!

(Matthew 23:37)

No other book of scripture highlights the mercy of Christ as does the Old Testament. Most people will challenge this thought saying that honour belongs to the New Testament due to the account of the Saviour’s Atonement.

The Old Testament is my book. It is the root of the covenant of God with His people. A covenant He has sworn He will never break (see Deuteronomy 4:31; Leviticus 26:44,46; Isaiah 49:15,16; 2 Kings 13:23). Over and over Jehovah worked with His prophets to preserve His people, to declare His undying love, and to make promises of restitution no matter how far they stray.

And stray they did and earned themselves the name of ‘backsliding Israel’ (Jeremiah 3:6,8,11,12,14,22; 31:22; 49:4; Hosea 4:16; 11:7; 14:4). Using the imagery of marriage, Israel became a ‘harlot’ who had betrayed her love for her husband, ‘upon every high mountain and under every green tree’….. (Jeremiah 3:6). For this unfaithfulness Israel paid a high price of bondage but even then only the promised mercy of her God will bring her back to His fold:

“For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.” ( Jeremiah 30:11).

And herein lies the lesson of futile idolatry for which Israel rejected the Holy One: “All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not; for I have [caused thee to be wounded] with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity…..” (Jeremiah 30:14b)

And then the sting of payment for their sin with a hope of healing : “…thy bruise is not incurable, although thy wounds are grievous. Is there none to plead thy cause, that thou mayest be bound up? Hast thou no healing medicine?.... Is thy sorrow incurable?” (JST Jeremiah 30:12,13,15)

 “….because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee….but all they that devour thee shall be devoured; and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity…For I WILL restore health unto thee, and I WILL heal thee of thy wounds…the whirlwind of the Lord shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked…..And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God” (Jeremiah 30:16,17,22,23)

When will this healing and restoration happen? Over two millennia after the promise….when the lessons have been learnt, the price for disobedience paid and a willingness to repent born…’when He has performed the intents of his heart….in the latter days when they shall fully understand this’ (v 23,24; see also 2 Nephi 25:8-11).

And this is the lesson that they need to understand….every disobedience carries with it consequences. Yes the mercy and deliverance will come but after many wars, captivity and sorrow…..the experience of consequences crucial towards repentance, a broken heart and a contrite spirit for the restorative power of mercy is only offered to the penitent (Alma 42:24,25). It’s something all of us need to remember.

There is a prevalent belief in Christendom today that Christ is all about love and mercy and that is true but this love and mercy is not freely given because no man can be saved in his sins. He can only be saved from them. If he was saved prematurely in them, without repentance, he would continue to sin and the mercy would be of no benefit.

The Kingdom of Judah proved that they were not ready for the Saviour’s mercy to deliver them from the dominance of their enemies. When he manifested himself to them in the flesh, they rejected him “because of their iniquities, and the hardness of their hearts, and the stiffness of their necks” and they crucified Him instead (2 Nephi 25:12,13). The  salvation was offered but the repentance was still in embryo, unborn…the lesson of bondage and the loss of freedom not yet fully learnt and so it continues to this day with the price of hatred, killing and wars.

Because they despised the Holy One of Israel they have wandered in the flesh and perished, and become a hiss and a byword and been hated among all nations…but He will remember His covenants which he made to their fathers when they no more turn their hearts against him (1 Nephi 19:14,15)

As Israel, we have trodden worldly paths

That have left us battered, scarred,

And parched in search of love.

Our lovers were many but

Our hearts were empty.

At long last

We embrace the love that lasts,

We prepare for the wedding feast

And abandon our treacherous past.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

THE LONG SUFFERING OF GOD

 

Jesus Christ in the Light by Edit Voros

Perhaps equal to Jeremiah’s personal suffering at the hands of his enemies and tormentors was his burden of living amongst continual wickedness which was indescribable but people prospered and there was peace, until Jehovah saw fit to send Babylon....and the kingdom of Judah was devoured before Jeremiah’s eyes in 587 B.C.

What caught my eye one day as I was studying Jeremiah was this: Jeremiah became so oppressed by wickedness around him that he complained to the Lord and asked how much longer will he allow this wickedness to persist and the unrighteous to prosper (Jeremiah 12:1-4). It reminded me of Jonah who attempted to escape his calling to preach to wicked Nineveh. So incensed was he at their wickedness which surpassed any of the ancient world, that he felt they did not deserve a second chance, which he knew God’s mercy would afford them should they repent (Jonah 4:2).

In short, the wicked Nineveh did repent and was given almost 100 years more to prove their repentance. That repentance didn’t last. What it proved instead is that God is a God of long-suffering but long-suffering does not mean ‘never’. The destruction of Nineveh was colossal. We will visit that chapter when we study the book of Nahum. Nineveh and the destruction of the Assyrian empire is also a lesson in God’s justice. A huge lesson…..

Our world is getting insanely wicked. Many of us have wondered how much worse it has to get before the Saviour comes and puts an end to the madness. Like to Jeremiah, to some of us our present world seems unbearable. And here is where the similarity between Jeremiah's world and ours lies....the Lord replied to Jeremiah's impatience by asking him if he can't bear it whilst there was relative peace, how will he ever survive when things got worse (Jeremiah 12:1-4)? Like Jeremiah's world, our world will get worse....until He comes. And when He comes, it will not be pretty:

1.       Mountains will flow down at His presence (D&C 133:40; Micah 1:4)

2.       The waters on the earth will boil (D&C 133:41)

3.       All nations will tremble at His presence (D&C 133:42)

4.       The sun will hide, the moon will withhold its light, and the stars will be hurled from their places (D&C 133:49)

5.       The wicked will be burned by the brightness of fire of the glory of the Lord (Malachi 4:1-3; 2 Thessalonians 2:8)

It is now time to become people of valour so that we can endure whatever more is to come....and more will come until the Saviour deems we are ripe for destruction. Now more than ever we need to strengthen our faith in God to be able to endure the oppression, the persecution, the lack of freedoms, increased wickedness and injustice, all of which is coming our way.

In answer to Jeremiah's lament about the situation of his day, the Lord clearly shows how long-suffering He is in the midst of human corruption. It would seem He allows us to get to the utmost worst until the day of reckoning to give as many as possible the chance to repent and turn to Him. May we recognise and acknowledge His mercy, His patience, His love, His tolerance, His long-suffering and most importantly, His saving power trailing from the cross of Calvary, sealed with His hour of agony….

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

THE STRAIT AND NARROW PATH

 

Peace to Your Heart by Greg Collins

“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.

BEAUTY AMIDST THE ASHES

 

Jesus Christ and the Crown of Thorns by Edit Voros

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

THE POWER WE SPEAK

 

In the Beginning by Greg Collins

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…..

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN  

THE SEVENTH DAY

 

Light Vessel by Annie Henrie Nader

“If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:

“Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”   (Isaiah 58:13,14)

“Keeping of the sabbath as a day of surcease from ordinary toil was a national characteristic, by which the Israelites were distinguished from pagan peoples, and rightly so, for the holiness of the Sabbath was made a mark of the covenant between the chosen people and their God. (James Talmage, Jesus the Christ, p 203).

This characteristic of Sabbath observance lives with us still as a commandment within the House of Israel to be a standard and an ensign to the world. In Hebrew the term Sabbath means ‘rest’. This rest constitutes quiet tranquillity, peace of mind and spirit, however, the main benefits promised by Isaiah regarding the Sabbath are three-fold:

·         Sanctification: It is called a holy day because ‘holy’ means set apart or sanctified for the work of God (see also Exodus 31:13);

·         Revelation and communion with God (I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth);

·         Exaltation (I will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father)

Other promises are ones of temporal plenty, divine protection and spiritual power.

The most important of these three is sanctification. So important was this sanctification that violation of the Sabbath was a capital crime punishable by death under the Mosaic dispensation and this is why….. it impressed upon ancient Israel the seriousness of spiritual death (see Numbers 15:32-36). Without sanctification you cannot have eternal life but instead suffer spiritual death. Whereas eternal life means a life with God, spiritual death means to be cut off from His presence (Alma 42:1-9; D&C 29:41).

“Alma taught that certain early Saints entered the “rest of the Lord” after being made pure through a process of sanctification (Alma 13:12). In other words, God’s work is the sanctification of His children to the point where they can enter into the ultimate rest, which is the fulness of His glory.

“Once each week man is commanded to cease his own labours and allow God to perform His work of sanctification on him. Resting on the Sabbath, then, implies far more than taking a nap or stopping normal activities. Mankind must enter into the Lord’s work on that day. This work involves making themselves and others more godlike, another way to speak of sanctification.

“Doing the work of the Lord (sanctification) often involves great activity on the Sabbath day, and the day may not be restful in the usual sense. One can assume that if doing good to an animal on the Sabbath is approved by the Lord (see Matthew 12:11; Luke 13:15), then doing good to men is an even higher good. The two commandments for the Sabbath are rest and worship (see D&C 59:10). The Hebrew verb la-avodh, “to worship”, means also “to work” and “to serve”. This holy work then creates a new and holy man;  so the Sabbath is tied into the work of creation.”  (Old Testament Student Manual Book 1, p 130)

Sometimes I fear that we have lost the holiness of the Sabbath in our day and age. When I was growing up in Croatia, our Catholic community was very observant of the Sabbath. Nobody worked, nobody partied. We usually made the best meal on Sunday with the only dessert of the week, usually a cake or a slice that could be shared in case any guests should come by. My mother would not allow us girls to even knit on Sunday. It was a peaceful, calm day of the week when we went to Church and sometimes met with extended family or friends but it was a meeting devoid of any entertainment.  I always felt a special spirit on Sunday. I felt it was God’s day. This is the Europe I remember of some 50 years ago.

The Australia of today where I live now is vastly different. Consumerism has destroyed a lot of values we once used to have, children’s parties are rampant on Sundays as are sporting events and competitions. Sometimes I feel like we observe the Sabbath day if there isn’t anything else going.

We, modern-day Israel have a higher obligation than just abstaining from work and frivolity. We are to turn away our foot (the symbol of following or obeying) from doing our own pleasure on the Sabbath and to remember the Lord’s work which is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man (Moses 1:39). If we did so we would be drawn to God in the greatest way possible (see The Old Testament Student Manual Book 1, p 181). It would be the beginning of our path to eternal life. And when we came to it, we would hear God say: “Well done thou good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21).

- CATHRYNE ALLEN