ETERNAL BEAUTY

 

I know a Russian lady who had a hip defect in her youth which caused her to walk with a gait. Because of it she grew up thinking she was ugly and yearned to be beautiful. When she immigrated to America some years later she had a hip operation that corrected her impediment and she took up yoga and adopted the raw food diet to make herself beautiful.

She has been a raw foodist for over 30 years now and is nearly 70 years old. She maintains a very regimented beauty protocol which is her main focus in life. As a result she looks much younger with flawless skin and a slim toned body. She turned her pursuit of beauty into a business which she runs to this day and has even written books about it.

You will find such committed and dedicated raw foodists on social media today who have made this lifestyle their main focus. This is not a critique of such people. I have for a long time admired their dedication and self-discipline. I certainly have not been as consistent and vigilant in taking care of my own body.

There is, however, a scripture in Doctrine and Covenants that warns against total commitment to the body and negligence of the soul:  “Therefore, care not for the body, neither the life of the body, but care for the soul, and for the life of the soul.” (101:37)

I have always thought this scripture means that our salvation is dependent on the state of our souls and not our bodies…..which is true, but there is something else that is dependent on the soul: our resurrection.

We prize physical beauty in this world way too much and we struggle when youth fades and old age and sickness sets in. Despite our efforts to live in an anti-aging world, we cannot escape the fact that we live in corruptible bodies which will one day meet death. How well we have looked after our bodies here will not be the deciding factor of our eternal beauty.

Everything on this telestial plane is in its crude state of existence. Apostle Paul called our earthly bodies ‘vile’ which the Saviour will ‘fashion like unto His glorious body’ (Philippians 3:20-21). In resurrection, our eternal beauty will be the reflection of our soul and our bodies will reflect the glory of the kingdom in which we will dwell eternally.

Those who inherit celestial kingdom will assume the glory of the sun, even the glory of God. Those who inherit terrestrial kingdom will assume the glory of the moon and those who inherit telestial will assume the glory of the stars….(D&C 76:70,71,81). In short, our brilliance will depend on how much darkness is in us.

All in all, our righteousness determines the eternal beauty we will live with forever. Even the most physically beautiful person on the earth today could end up being just average in eternity….so yes, even though it is important to care for our bodies, if you want beauty, the care of your soul, surpasses that care. We live with our physical bodies for a time but with our resurrected bodies we will live forever.

The Saviour is an immortal, celestialised being of light. There is no darkness in Him because of the perfection of His soul (1 John 1:5; D&C 88:6,7). When He returns to earth in His glory, the sun shall hide its face in shame and ‘the need will disappear for the sun and the moon to give light to God’s covenant people (D&C 133:49; Isaiah 60:19,20; Orson Pratt in Journal of Discourses, 14:355-56). Imagine being so pure and so full of light of truth that you shine brighter than the sun.

I am a visual person. I appreciate beauty in many forms. It lifts my soul to be surrounded by the beauty of flowers, nature, people and homes. Yes, I would like to be one of the beautiful people but above the beauty of the body, I value the purity of my soul more. When I am resurrected I want my righteousness to shine and I don’t want any darkness in me. I want love, kindness and truth in the very depths of my soul to shine throughout immensity of time and space. I want it shining forever.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: The Light by The Land of Dreams)

FULNESS OF JOY

 

When the Saviour was still with His disciples, they asked Him of the signs of His second coming. One might wonder why they would be so anxious to know that, seeing so much time would transpire between the meridian of time and the last days. Herein is the actual answer. They knew it would be a long time and that they would anxiously await the day of Redemption, for one reason: they would look ‘upon the long absence of their spirits from their bodies’ as a ‘bondage’ (D&C 45:17).

The evidence of this truth is recorded in Section 138 of the Doctrine and Covenants which describes the jubilation of the righteous in the spirit world when the Saviour came to them following His death ‘declaring liberty to the captives who had been faithful’ from the chains of death, ‘for the dead had looked upon the long absence of their spirits from their bodies as a ‘bondage’ (v 18).

Years ago I read one General Authority saying that we were so eager to come to earth that we were willing to accept lame, infirm, handicapped and even dysfunctional bodies. It puzzled me terribly because I had never looked upon my body as a great blessing.

At the time I presumed that we understood possessing a body only theoretically but not experientially, that we didn’t really know what it is like to have a body because we had never had one before. It was theory vs reality, like a woman who longed for a child ignorantly, not knowing what giving birth is really like.

So why would we look upon the absence of our bodies as bondage once we have experienced earth life with all its pains and sorrows, most of which are due to having a ‘corruptible’ body subject to illness and discomfort, a body which is ‘subject to the power of the Devil, and is under the mighty influence of that fallen nature that is of the earth’ (David A. Bednar, “Ye Are the Temple of God”, Ensign Sept 2001). This is why:

“When we go out of this life, leave this body, we will desire to do many things we cannot do at all without the body. We will be seriously handicapped and we will long for the body; we will pray for early reunion with our bodies. We will know then what advantage it is to have a body.

“Then every man and woman who is putting off until the next life the task of correcting and overcoming the weakness of the flesh are sentencing themselves to years of bondage, for no man or woman will come forth in the Resurrection until he has completed his work, until he has overcome, until he has done as much as he can do. (Melving J. Ballard, “Crusade for Righteousness, p 213).

A sobering thought, but this is the real reason. We are told that those who awaited the day of Resurrection in the spirit world, awaited it with eagerness ‘that they might receive a fulness of joy’ (D&C 138:17).

Think of all the pain and suffering of this life and contrast that to the perfect happiness we saw our heavenly parents in possession of before we were born. We wanted that……and we wanted this:

“The body that has been given to us was for the purpose of allowing the spirit to exalt itself to a nobler condition.”  (Melvin J. Ballard, “Crusade for Righteousness, p 12)

And so ‘the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy’ when the Saviour of our souls ‘laid the foundations of the earth’ (Job 38:4,7)…..and all glory and honour be to His name!!!  Forever and ever…...

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: World by Greg Olsen)

 

BEYOND THE GRAVE

 

 

“I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” – John 11:25

Imagine if death was the marker of finality. Imagine if all the effort of self-improvement and human evolvement became null and void at death. Imagine the futility of the few years that are afforded to us here: the loss of loved ones, the wasteland of our dreams and hopes and achievements of humanity. No wonder so many of us who don’t believe there is anything beyond the grave, cling to this life so tenaciously. What surprise awaits them when they discover there is more, so much more!

The crowning glory of the Atonement is the Resurrection. If the Saviour did not overcome the sting of death, the suffering of Gethsemane would have been useless, the humiliation of Calvary even more so. What good would all His suffering be if we ceased to exist when mortality lays its claim on us and sends us to Mother Earth? If there is no ‘tomorrow’, ‘yesterday’ was a waste and ‘today’ is futile.

I give thanks to the Father of my soul who created me, who created the plan for my eternal existence, who sacrificed His Son so that I might live and have joy eternally. I give thanks to the Son who considered nothing was too hard to bear in ensuring this plan worked for my advantage and my eternal destiny. He is the truth, the light and the way, He is the resurrection and the life…..

 

If You were not,

I would not be,

Silence would have wept at Calvary!

 

If You were not,

I would not be,

As death would claim me eternally.

 

If You were not,

I would not be,

Joyless would be my destiny.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: On The Third Day by Chris Brazelton)

A PATH TO PERFECTION

 

“Abraham saw in vision all the spirit hosts of heaven. Among them were ‘the noble and great ones’ who participated in the creation of this earth and who were foreordained to serve the Almighty in special capacities while they dwelt in mortality. Christ was there, the foremost spirit of the innumerable host. Of him the account says:

“There stood one among them that was like unto God….in intelligence, in knowledge and understanding, in the possession of truth, in conformity to divine law, and therefore in power. Like God in plan and purpose, in desires for righteousness, in a willingness to serve his brethren, in all things that lead to that fulness of the glory of the Father….. (Abraham 3:24).

“But the Son of the Father had yet to pass through a mortal probation, to overcome the world, to attain a resurrection, and to come back to his Father with his own glorious and tangible body…..He had to work out his own salvation by doing on earth the will of the Father in all things.”

-        Bruce R. McConkie, The Promised Messiah, p 53-4)

It is sobering to think that Christ advanced so far in His development as a spirit child of God that such power was given Him of the Father for the creation of worlds….yet He was not perfect. That perfection could only come through the journey of mortality and resurrection.

The Saviour affirmed this truth when He gave out the mandate to the Jews prior to His death to be ‘perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect’ (Matthew 5:48). Whilst visiting the Nephites after His resurrection, the Saviour included himself in that command, because as a resurrected being, His perfection was obtained (3 Nephi 12:48).

It is equally sobering to think that He too had to pass through a mortal probation to achieve perfection. This important truth stands: one cannot obtain perfection without a resurrected body.

We knew this truth before we were born and we desired it greatly. This opportunity, when presented to us, was ‘so transcendently glorious’ that we burst forth into song and shouted for joy (Job 38:7; see also James Talmage, Jesus the Christ, 8).

I am certain that our shouts of joy and songs of elation echoed throughout eternity giving praise to the Father’s Son who was willing to pave the way to our perfection.

I am certain we sang glory to His name even as the angels heralding His birth. For without birth, there is no death; without death there is no resurrection and without resurrection there is no perfection.

The day you were born

You split the heavens open

And angels descended

Trailing in their flight

golden stars spilling over the night.

 

The moon hid in shame

As they spread Your godly light

And from their lips fell

Homage to Your glory

In the still of the night.

 

How I wish I could fly

Spreading the message far and wide:

Our God and our King was born

On a Meridian night!

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Mother of God by Lester Yocum)

BELOVED MASTER

 

The most exhilarating part of the Saviour's earthly life would have to be post resurrection. I can only imagine the hope and the speculation that would have circulated in the midst of His followers as the news spread that He lived again.

Have a good look at this painting by Eugene Burnand (1898) which was his most known work. It is a depiction of Peter and John running to the tomb of Jesus who was crucified.

Imagine abandoning your life’s work to be an apostle of a man who claimed to be the Son of God. Imagine all the hours you have put in being His disciple, all the hope you had in His promises and His teachings. Imagine the tutoring and the love you have experienced at His side. And imagine receiving a witness that He truly was the Son of God. Then imagine all of that coming to an end as you saw Him crucified for the greatest injustice you have witnessed. All hope seemed gone. Then on the third day, the grief would not end for the Master whom they loved was gone from the sepulchre where He lay. With haste Peter and John ran with eagerness, no doubt with the Master’s words echoing in their ears: “A little while and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me…..ye shall weep and lament….and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy” (John 16:16,20). Did they have hope in His saying that he must rise again from the dead as they ran to that tomb??? (John 20:9).

This was the moment in time when the lives of Peter and John changed forever. The Saviour’s life came to an end but theirs was just beginning. They saw their beloved Master again, in His immortal body, and were given the understanding of the scriptures which spoke of His death and rising from the dead the third day (Luke 24:45,46). And what blessed moment it was to see Him ascend into heaven and which led them into Jerusalem ‘with great joy’ where they ‘were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God’ (John 24:50-53).

Peter and John were spiritually transformed following the ascension of Him whom they called the Beloved Master (Luke 8:24; Mark 9:5; 13:1; John 13:13). A leader in his own right, appointed by the Saviour himself to hold the keys of the Kingdom (Matthew 16:13-19), Peter became a spiritual giant whose very shadow was believed would heal the sick in the streets (Acts 5:15).  He accepted graciously the manner of his death as foretold by Jesus (John 21:18,19; 2 Peter: 1:13, 14) and died in Rome during the reign of emperor Nero in 64 A.D. In the Roman Empire, crucifixions took many shapes which are too indelicate to mention (Seneca, Dialogue “To Marcia on Consolation”, in Moral Essays, 6.20.3). According to tradition, Peter was crucified upside down, which was one of the methods, and which he chose having felt unworthy to die in the same manner as his Master.

And what can we say of John, the most beloved disciple (John 21:7,20)? A man of zeal, who wanted to call down fire from heaven to destroy the Samaritan villagers who refused hospitality to his beloved Master and whom the Saviour named the Son of Thunder  (Luke 9:52-56: Mark 3:17).  He who lives still and sorrows for the sins of the world…..he who could not refrain from following Peter and the Saviour prior to His ascension (John 21:19-21). Peter chose a speedy death to be reunited with the beloved Master but John chose a more noble path by bringing souls unto Him until the end of the world. Such nobility is rarely seen but it is seen in John the Beloved.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Peter and John at the Tomb by Eugene Burnand (1898)

A NEW LIFE

 

 

Out of all my childhood memories, I cherish the ones of Easter the most. I was born and raised in Croatia. I was 13 years old when my family immigrated to Australia. What remains etched in my heart the most about the home of my birth is the land and its’ nature….every wheat field I ran through, every tree I climbed, every patch of grass with blooming spring flowers……it is all so firmly locked in my heart and it is evoked at Easter time.

When I read the Bible, I know what harvests are and what seasonal festivals are and what shepherds are. And I understand many spiritual truths that were taught by the Saviour using the metaphors that related to agrarian way of life. I know all this because of my homeland of Croatia. I know it because I grew up with it.

Easter was a magical time in my youth. It was a time when winter left and spring came and all that was dead under the snow came to life. A time when violets emerged from the earth and the spring flowers adorned the countryside to herald a renewal of life. It was a time when baby chicks were born so no chocolate, only hard-boiled eggs we decorated to help us remember the new birth. A time when my mother made sure my sisters and I had a brand-new dress to wear to Church Sunday morning with our Easter fare in a basket for the priest to bless. It was a time when spring air was the strongest. I cannot remember it ever raining on Easter Sunday. The sun shone always, like it wanted to remind us that it was a day of re-birth.

Such a fitting time for a resurrection, when nature bloomed and new life awakened. It was a time for me when nature allowed me to see His glory. Easter Sundays for me overshadowed Good Friday and Christ’s death. As important as that was, Easter Sundays were what I  remembered the most because the happiness and knowledge of Christ’s resurrection whispered in spring air.

Now that I am an adult and understand the hope of resurrection for myself, my heart is full of gratitude and hope for the new life that the Saviour has made possible. I know that He lives and has overcome the sting of death for my sake. The suffering He bore to make that possible is something I can never repay but the power He gained to exalt me on high is something I will be grateful for forever.

When You rose from Your grave

With healing in Your wings,

With the crucible of the cross

Forever etched in Your memory;

Did I live on in Your heart

As you ascended to Your throne

To seal your eternal fame?

I bow before Thy greatness;

I bow before Thy holy name.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Clothed in Glory by Chris Brazelton)

IN REMEMBRANCE

 

 

The approaching Easter is leading me to ponder a lot about the gift of resurrection. Two significant things have stood out to me from the Book of Mormon, that are leading me to rejoice about the resurrection of Christ:

•  When the Saviour instituted the ordinance of the Sacrament, He instructed His disciples to do this “in remembrance of my body which I give a ransom for you” (JST Matthew 26:26b). The emphasis here is on the broken body of Christ which was offered as sacrifice. When visiting the Americas, He instructed the Nephites, “this shall ye do in remembrance of my body, which I have shown unto you” (3 Nephi 18:7). The emphasis here is on the resurrected body of Christ. In other words, ‘even though I was broken and dead, I am now alive and well. Rejoice, for in me is life’. Each time we partake of the Sacrament, our sorrow for the broken body of Christ should be equaled with our joy for His resurrection and the gift of immortality.

• When yet in mortality, the Saviour told His disciples, “Ye are therefore commanded to be perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (JST Matthew 5:48). When visiting the Nephites, the Saviour included Himself in that statement by saying, “Therefore, I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (3 Nephi 12:48). Why did He include himself? Because you cannot become perfect without resurrection. I am not saying that Christ was not perfect in character and His spirit, which He was. I am talking about perfection as in completion. In other words: resurrected, complete, finished. This should help us understand that we can only become perfect on resurrection day. Not that resurrection alone will grant that perfection, but that having completed our mortal probation and being sanctified through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we will be resurrected to perfection of both body and spirit. Now that is something to rejoice about!

The glory and majesty of the resurrected Christ is unfathomable to me. I yearn for an experience such as this: “When I was doing missionary work with some of our brethren among the Indians…I found myself one evening in the dreams of the night, in that sacred building, the Temple. After a season of prayer and rejoicing, I was informed that I should have the privilege of entering into one of those rooms, to meet a glorious Personage, and as I entered the door, I saw, seated on a raised platform, the most glorious Being my eyes have ever beheld, or that I even conceived existed in all the eternal worlds. As I approached to be introduced, He arose and stepped towards me with extended arms, and He smiled as He softly spoke my name. If I shall live to be a million years old, I shall never forget that smile. He took me into His arms and kissed me, pressed me to His bosom, and blessed me, until the marrow of my bones seemed to melt! When He had finished, I fell at His feet, and as I bathed them with my tears and kisses, I saw the prints of the nails in the feet of the Redeemer of the world. The feeling that I had in the presence of Him who hath all things in His hands, to have His love, His affection, and His blessings was such that if I ever can receive that of which I had but a foretaste, I would give all that I am, all that I hope to be, to feel what I then felt!”   (Apostle Melvin J. Ballard, Temple Manifestations, p 153)

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: The Risen Lord by Arnold Friberg)

THE GREATEST HOPE

 

Imagine this mortal experience being wasted. All your learning, your progress, your growth, your suffering, your family associations, disappearing and coming to naught. What a fruitless and nonsensical exercise this life would be! But the approaching Easter stands before us as a symbol of the greatest hope ever given to mortal men. What is that hope? It is the promise of immortality through the Atonement of the Saviour Jesus Christ. One part of the Atonement in particular, the Resurrection.

From Elder Dallin H. Oaks: “I wonder if we fully appreciate the enormous significance of our belief in a literal, universal resurrection. The assurance of immortality is fundamental to our faith. The Prophet Joseph Smith declared: “The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven, and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], p 121). Of all things in that glorious ministry, why did the Prophet Joseph Smith use the testimony of the Saviour’s death, burial and resurrection as the fundamental principle of our religion, saying that all other things….are only appendanges to it? The answer is found in the fact that the Saviour’s Resurrection is central to what the prophets have called ‘the great and eternal plan of deliverance from death’ (2 Nephi 11:5) (In CR Apr 2000, 17; or Ensign May 2000, p 15)

This is the importance of deliverance from death: “….if the flesh should rise no more our spirits must become subject to that angel who fell from before the presence of the Eternal God, and became the devil, to rise no more. And our spirits must have become like unto him and we become devils, angels to a devil, to be shut out from the presence of our God, and to remain with the father of lies, in misery, like unto himself…..” (2 Nephi 9:8-9). Imagine that as our eternal destiny!

The Saviour’s resurrection offers us something that nothing else can, it offers us a fulness of joy forever (D&C 93:33-34). This is the power of the resurrection for each of us:

We are born into corruption but raised to incorruption;

We are born into dis-honour but raised to glory.

We are born into weakness but raised to power.

(1 Corinthians 15:42, 43)

May we look past the Easter bunny and the chocolate, even past the crucifixion and all the suffering and look towards the greatest hope for all humankind, the gift of resurrection. And may we thank our God for it every day, now and forever….. 

With what heavy steps

You approached the garden’s gate!

You suffered, You atoned,

You hung lifeless on the cross,

As you met Your appointed fate.

 

I waited for my turn on earth

And watched with angels

Your rise from the darkened tomb

That could not contain

The magnitude of You.

 

I saw Your glory that shone so bright

Defeating death and making all anew

And I wept for the greatness of hope

That rose with You. 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Clouds of Heaven by Chris Brazelton)

THE SHADOW OF HIS WINGS

 

Nephi’s testimony of the Saviour Jesus Christ is intoxicating, is it not? In describing, in magnificent detail, the Jewish fate of scattering and gathering in 2 Nephi chapter 25, Nephi’s prophecy of their rejection of Messiah and His consequent death is heart wrenching but the hope he also offers is unmistakable. In verse 13, Nephi says after the Jews shall crucify the Christ and ‘he is laid in a sepulchre for the space of three days he shall rise from the dead’ and here is the hope of all hope and the truth of all truth, on which salvation rests…..’with HEALING IN HIS WINGS’.

In scriptural use of symbolism, the wings are ‘a representation of power, to move, to act, etc.’ (D&C 77:4). So Christ rose from the dead, healed, with power……the power to also heal us, to succor us, to protect us, to enable us, to save us, to resurrect us, to sanctify us, to exalt us.

The Jewish race, God’s covenant people, will one day experience the healing power of their Shiloh (JST Gen 50:24) when He comes to save them from their foes. They will experience the power of His protective wings and be converted to the Holy One of Israel.

Daniel F. Gerhartz who painted this magnificent painting titled ‘In the Shadow of Your Wings’ said: “My desire as an artist is that the images I paint would point to the Creator, and not to me, the conveyor. Johann Sebastian Bach said it well as he signed his work, ‘Soli Deo Gloria’, ‘To God alone be the glory’”…….indeed.

I long to reside in Your presence;

To never know sadness

Or the wretched heat of my tears.

I know I will be safe there

Where fears cannot find me

And trials cannot scar me.

I know there will be safety

In the shadow of Your wings

My burdens You will lift

And wipe away my sins.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: In The Shadow of Your Wings by Daniel H. Gerhartz)

PRESS TOWARD THE MARK

 

Pressing forward is what I learnt from Paul.

In his valiant efforts to convince the Gentile converts that salvation does not come by conforming to the law of Moses, Paul used himself as an example of someone who by all means should believe in the law above all else being an educated man, ‘circumcised the eight day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of all Hebrews, a Pharisee’….(Philippians 3:5). Imagine the prestige, the respect, the grounding he had in the Jewish way of life. But then something marvelous happened to Paul. He met the true source of salvation and abandoned his faith in ‘the law’ (Acts 9:1-5). And not just his faith but ‘the loss of ALL things’ for ‘the excellency of the knowledge of Christ’ [(don’t you love how he put that?] (Philippians 3:8). No doubt the ‘the loss of all things’ included his wealth, respect,  family, friends, associates, fellow Jews…..in summation, his entire way of life.

What is the ‘excellency of the knowledge of Christ’? To Paul it meant two things: 1. salvation comes through Christ only and not through any law. If through the law, we would be capable of perfect obedience, but we are not hence the need for a Saviour (Philippians 3:9); and 2. because of Christ, we have hope of a glorious resurrection (vs 10,20,21). Paul gave up his everything that he ‘might know Him’ considering this knowledge to be of greatest worth of all (v10).

I was 17 years old when I was faced with an agonizing decision of leaving my family for the privilege of being baptized into the Church. It was an event in my life that created a tear in my family that has haunted me for more years than I care to admit. My close friend calls this ‘looking in the rearview mirror’…..but no rearview mirror for Paul, who joined in the fellowship of His sufferings, ‘forgetting those things which were behind’ reached forth for those things’ which were before him and ‘pressed toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus’  (vs 13,14).

Is not pressing toward the mark for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ the greatest worth??? He who gives life, illuminates us with light, offers salvation, freely gives resurrection, carries us in the palm of His hand….is He not worth the sacrifice of all????

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art by Midjourney and Greg Rutkowski)

THE PATH TO PERFECTION

 

“Whoever said that sin was not fun? Whoever claimed that Lucifer was not handsome, persuasive, easy, friendly? Sin is attractive and desirable…..Sin is easy and has a big company of pleasant companions. It promises immunity from restrictions and offers temporary freedoms. It can momentarily satisfy hunger, thirst, desire, urges, passions, wants, without immediately paying the price. But, it begins and grows to monumental proportions – drop by drop, inch by inch.” (Spencer W. Kimball, Faith Precedes the Miracle, p 229)

I recently saw a superb video by a Christian man that supports this statement perfectly. He claimed that Satan always offers us something good to distract us from something great that God can give us. It is only after our acceptance of the good that in time we come to see what we have chosen is bad, because nothing good comes of the adversary. Satan is the master of counterfeit blessings which only discernment and wisdom of good choices can counteract. He is the king of deception. He is a thief, here to kill, steal and destroy, therefore, whatever he offers cannot possibly have a good ending (John 10:10). He does not only want your life but your soul.

This life is not for the faint hearted. Resisting short term happiness and the ease of this life and choosing the refining fire of God that will in the end cast us in His image shows the integrity of heart some of us have brought with us. Those who have this integrity have long ago chosen Christ’s path to everlasting greatness of immortality. What Christ offers is perfection as opposed to Satan’s destruction. Consider Apostle Paul’s take on this (1 Corinthians 15:42-44):

We were born into:         We are raised to:             Immortality makes us:

Corruption                       Incorruption                    Indestructible

Dishonour                       Glory                               Glorified

Weakness                         Power                              Powerful

The Atonement and Resurrection of Christ brings about perfection of the righteous which is ‘the great gift’ that outstrips ‘the good gift’ that comes from the enemy of all righteousness. To this the Saviour testified when He said that He came so that we might have life, and have it more abundantly (John 10:10). I bow before His sacrifice that makes my path to perfection and eternal life possible. His is the honour and glory and eternal flame of righteousness that burns forever…..

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Artist Unknown)

 

JUSTICE AND MERCY

 

 

“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:22)

The resurrection is the greatest example of perfect balance between justice and mercy. Here is how it plays out. President Fielding Smith taught that no person who has lived and died on this earth will be denied the resurrection because “Adam alone was responsible for death, and therefore the Lord does not lay this to the charge of any other person. Justice demands that no person who was not responsible for death shall be held responsible for it….” (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:274, New Testament Student Manual). This is fairness. Justice also, however, has demands which must be met.

When Christ appears to the world in clouds of glory, He will not come bearing a bouquet of roses. He will come to cleanse the earth of wickedness and subdue all enemies under His feet (D&C 76:61). This means all ‘fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, abusers, thieves, drunkards, revilers, liars, extortioners, murderers’ (1 Corinthians 6:9,10). Herein enters mercy. Because of its existence, even the worst sinners, bar the sons of perdition, will be resurrected to a kingdom of glory, the telestial kingdom. When King David fell from his exaltation, he was assured his soul will not be left in hell.  This part of the resurrection is scripturally referred to as ‘the sure mercies of David’. (Acts 2:25-28; 13:22-37; Isaiah 55:1-4; Psalms 16:10; D&C 132:39).

Without justice, the faithfulness of the just would be of no value, and without mercy none of us could be saved for ‘we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God’ (Romans 3:23). On judgment day the balance between justice and mercy will be so perfect that none of us will be able to question it. Had the Saviour not bought us with a price (1 Corinthians 6:20), we would all be lost……something that is unthinkable to God the Father.  I give thanks that He provided a Saviour who was willing to sink into the unthinkable pit of human agony to save us all.

I have seen your sins

And the years you have 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 

(Art: Time Is At Hand by Danny Hahlbohm)

WITHOUT HIM

 

“The greatest definition of ‘the pure love of Christ’ is not what we as Christians try but largely fail to demonstrate toward others but rather what Christ totally succeeded in demonstrating toward us. True charity has been known only once. It is shown perfectly and purely in Christ’s unfailing, ultimate, and atoning love for us. It is Christ’s love for us that ‘suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not’. It is His love for us that is not ‘puffed up, not easily provoked, thinketh no evil’. It is Christ’s love for us that ‘beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things’. It is as demonstrated in Christ that “charity never faileth”. It is that charity – His pure love for us – without which we would be nothing, hopeless, of all men and women most miserable. Truly, those found possessed of the blessings of His love at the last day – the Atonement, the Resurrection, eternal life, eternal promise – surely it shall be well with them….”  (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Christ and the New Covenant [1997], 336-37)

 

If You were not,

I would not be,

Silence would have wept at Calvary!

 

If you were not,

I would not be,

As death would claim me eternally.

 

If You were not,

I would not be,

Joyless would be my destiny.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Christ in Reflection by Greg Collins)

THE SACRED ROAD TO EMMAUS

 

 

 

“Did not our hearts burn within us…….while he opened to us the scriptures?” was the heartfelt reflection of two believers who enjoyed the company of the resurrected Christ on the road to a village called Emmaus (Luke 24:32). 

 

The story goes that the Saviour joined two men, post resurrection, travelling to Emmaus, who were discussing the hottest topic of the day, His possible resurrection. The travellers told Him they ‘trusted’ the Galilean was the Messiah who would redeem Israel but were now sceptical because He had died (v 21). The Saviour was gracious even though He chided them for their unbelief (v 25). He then expounded to them all that was prophesied of Him ‘beginning at Moses and all the prophets’ (v27). His point was, ‘how is it that you know the scriptures but you don’t believe them’??? Indeed, many who were witnesses of His mortal mission did not believe Him because they did not understand the scriptures which testified of Him and what He would do as the Redeemer and Saviour of the world. 

 

Luke tells us that these disciples’ eyes were restrained from knowing Him (v 16a). Could it be that it was more important for Jesus that they believed on Him through the scriptures than through showing them His resurrected body? Did He not say to Thomas, 'blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed'? (John 20:29)

The lesson is this: the ‘burn’ comes from only one place: The Holy Ghost. The lesson is also this: the Saviour is in our midst STILL through the medium of The Holy Ghost. It is he who can open our eyes and our hearts so that we will not only believe but KNOW Christ. And where is the Christ most if not in the scriptures? If we study the scriptures without the presence of the Holy Ghost we are just building upon our knowledge and not our testimony. We need to feel ‘the burn’ to know. We all know what we must do to be worthy of his sacred companionship. As you travel on your personal road to Emmaus may the scriptures be burnt upon the tablets of your heart and may you know, and not just believe, that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Saviour of the world. He is the Resurrection and the life. He is the Redeemer of your soul. He is the road…… 

 

 

I gave you My all:

My heart, my body, my soul.

I paved the way

And conquered death.

I am in your midst;

I am the only,

I am the last,

And I am the first.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: The Road to Emmaus by Liz Lemon Swindle)

PERFECTION PERSONIFIED

 

There lived in the town of Bethany, two miles east of Jerusalem, two sisters by the name of Martha and Mary. They and their brother Lazarus were three of the most intimate friends Jesus had on earth. Because of them, Bethany was a place of refuge for one so widely misunderstood, unaccepted and ultimately rejected. Imagine what restraint Jesus had to exercise not to rush to this town after He received this devastating news from the two sisters: “Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick” (John 11:3). The restraint would have been difficult knowing He could spare the sorrow and anguish of the sisters He loved by healing their brother. Nevertheless, it was exercised because Lazarus was destined to be a part of the Saviour’s ultimate miracle which would glorify Him and solidify the testimony of His divinity in the hearts of the believers. The miracle of bringing Lazarus back from death was one through which Jesus would prove that He was ‘the resurrection and the life’ (v 23). 

 

Now consider this….. He, who knew that Lazarus was dead without receiving news of his death (v 11-14) could have known also where he was laid, yet when He arrived in Bethany, He enquired as to the location (v 34); He who calmed the sea of Galilee could have easily by His word removed the stone of the sepulchre but instead He asked others to do it (v 39); He who could reunite spirit and body could also have freed bound Lazarus from the graveclothes by His word but instead He requested those present to do so (v 44). The Saviour was never about showmanship because He was devoid of pride. In no instance of His life, did He unnecessarily use the superhuman powers He possessed. His divine energy was only ever used as a testament of His divinity and for the benefit of others. The balance between His divine Sonship with all its inherent powers and His humility is beyond admiration. The perfection of His character is transparent in all holy writ but most obvious in the New Testament through which we get but a fraction of His mortal life (John 21:25). Through this most spiritually charged record we see: the man, the dedicated Son, the Saviour, the Redeemer, the God….we see perfection personified. 

 

The raising of Lazarus from death was a nail in the Saviour’s coffin. From then on He was destined for the cross (John 11:53). The cross that would herald to the world, and not just the plains of Judea: “I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (v 25). 

 

 

 - CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: I Am the Resurrection by Liz Lemon Swindle)