THE PRINCE AND THE KING

 

There is a place in Daviess county, Missouri, which is called Spring Hill. This place “was named by the mouth of the Lord, Adam-Ondi-Ahman” (“History of the Church”, 3:34-35). This is the place where one of the most tender events occurred on the American continent.

This is where Adam, the Ancient of Days, called his righteous posterity three years prior to his death, to bestow upon them his last blessing (D&C 107:53-56). Picture this solemn occasion where the Saviour appeared to this congregation, upon which appearing, Adam’s posterity “rose up and blessed Adam, and called him Michael, the prince, the archangel”. The Lord then administered comfort unto Adam and said unto him: I have set thee to be at the head; a multitude of nations shall come of thee, and thou art a prince over them forever.” (D&C 107:54-55).

After the Lord administered to him, Adam stood up even though he was ‘bowed down with age, and being full of the Holy Ghost, predicted whatsoever should befall his posterity unto the latest generation’ (v 56). When Joseph Smith visited Spring Hill in 1876 he was privileged to see Adam, the Ancient of Days, in a vision of this momentous meeting (“Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith” p 158). This is one vision I would love to have.

Adam lived 930 years according to Genesis 5:5 and Moses 6:12 but died in the ‘same day’ he partook of the fruit as the promise of death was spoken by God when the earth was still subject to the Lord’s time which was after the time of Kolob (Abraham 5:13). Imagine living and toiling that long…..

There will come a time when Adam will return to Adam-Ondi-Ahman: “He will call his children together and hold a council with them to prepare them for the coming of the Son of Man”…..The Son of Man will stand before him, and there will be given him glory and dominion. Adam will deliver up his stewardship to Christ, who holds the keys of the universe, but will retain his standing as head of the human family (“Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith” p 157).

This is the great Council of which neither the Church members nor the world will know about which will take place prior to the Saviour’s Second appearing as a ‘thief in the night’ (D&C 106:4) (Elder Joseph Fielding Smith, “Way to Perfection” pp 290-91; also D&C Student Manual p 288)

There is no greater summation of the Plan of Salvation that is as emotionally touching as this.  Adam, the head of the human family, having fulfilled his role so righteously as the father of all living, delivers his stewardship to the Saviour, the head of the Plan of Salvation, at the winding up scenes of this earth. Promises kept, mission completed, humanity reared and saved.

Whereas Adam is the prince over us ‘forever’, the Saviour is the King. If not for Him, we would not be. No one can rival His power and His glory.  May it be His forever and ever!

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

ART:  Beside Still Waters by LDS Bookstore

 

THE PRIVILEGED CHURCH

 

With General Conference behind us I have reflected on the divine structure of our Church which is like no other on the earth today and this is why. Our Church is founded on something no other Church has. It goes back to the meridian of time when Jesus acknowledged ‘the rock of revelation’ through which Peter, the first President of His Church, received a witness of Jesus’ divinity (Matthew 16:13-18).

This privilege of revelation the Church is founded on continues with every new President that is sustained by the entire congregation of the Church. Having the God ordained structure of the Church with prophets, seers and revelators, offers the Church membership security against the deceptions of the world. This is a privilege like no other.

The latter-day prophets are here to guide, warn and direct us as the need of these last days dictate but the core of our doctrine is in Doctrine and Covenants as given by revelation to the prophet of this dispensation. We cannot go past the elemental knowledge concerning the nature of the Godhead that we owe to Joseph beginning with the First Vision and added upon by so much more:

“While visiting with brother Joseph in Philadelphia, a very large church was opened for him to preach in, and about three thousand people assembled to hear him. Brother Rigdon spoke first, and dwelt on the Gospel, illustrating his doctrine by the Bible. When he was through, brother Joseph arose like a lion about to roar; and being full of the Holy Ghost, spoke in great power, bearing testimony of the visions he had seen, the ministering of angels which he had enjoyed; and how he had found the plates of the Book of Mormon, and translated them by the gift and power of God.” (Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, p 260)

The legacy of revelation this Church is built upon is indeed a ‘marvellous work and a wonder’: “I, the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith Jun, and spoke unto him from heaven….to bring forth out of obscurity and out of darkness, the only TRUE and LIVING church upon the face of the whole earth….” (D&C 1:17,30)

What makes the Church the true Church? The correctness of the organisation as established by Christ himself when upon the earth. There is, however, only one thing that makes it a living Church and that is continuous revelation from heaven. This is the privilege. This is the saving grace…..because God is not dead. He lives and He cares….as much as He ever did.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Jesus Radiance of Divine Revelation by Ivan Guaderrama)

LOVE

 

“I am struck by the similarity between the process of developing a testimony and the process of falling in love. Love and testimony are two of the most important human experiences, yet often we are unsure how we can be certain that either has come fully into our lives.

“In finding the love we seek during the courtship years, we often have in mind the personal qualities we are looking for. But even when we meet someone who has everything on our list (the test of reason), there may be something missing: the “spark”, that mysterious something that makes us FEEL love, not just think it (the test of feeling). Yet rational satisfaction and good feelings are still not enough.

“To know if this relationship is the real thing, we must give it some time (the test of experience). We must see how things go when the “new” wears off. We need to know how the relationship holds up under pressure, whether it grows and stirs, almost whether it takes on a life of its own. As it is in the search for love, so it is in the search for testimony…….through reason, feeling, and experience.”  (Bruce C.Hafen, “The Believing Heart”, p 23-4)

Out testimony is in essence, a courtship. Whether it will lead to marriage when the Saviour appears is something we are yet to see. The marriage depends on one thing: if “the spark” has passed the test of time. I often hear some converts say that they miss those early days of their Church membership: the excitement, the discovery of spiritual moments and doctrine, the motivation of Church involvement. I know it all because I have been through it. But so often the spark dulls over time and is sometimes even lost altogether. That’s when people leave.

The path is clear: “If thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.”  (Deuteronomy 4:29). For those who leave the seeking seems too much work.

The degree of our acceptance of Christ as our personal Saviour and our testimony of His Gospel is proportionate to our love for Him and vice versa. Seeking Christ and the truth does not end at baptism. It is just the beginning. How much we seek Him thereafter will determine how bright the spark is on the wedding day. It’s about the heart and about the love. Is it any wonder the Saviour compared our relationship with Him to a marriage covenant?

I followed all Your footsteps

And I sacrificed everything.

I did Your bidding no matter

What You asked of me.

I trusted, I had faith, I endured

All the pain that was given me.

I kept my love burning like a flame

Until I came to see the reality:

It is not my love, but Yours,

That is consuming me.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: His Love Fills My Heart by Greg Collins)

THE LESSONS

 

I wrote yesterday about the practical knowledge of mortality that is essential for us in our rise to godhood. We acquire this knowledge through lessons we are given that provide an opportunity for acquisition of godly attributes and skills.

Every single quality I desired in life and asked for was not freely given. What was given was a practical lesson in difficulties I had to go through to acquire the skill I wanted. Indeed, just knowledge of it could not develop a godly character. It’s a matter of doing. I have wondered which of my lessons I didn’t need and the answer is I needed all of them. I have likewise asked myself what lessons I missed that had to be repeated because I was at the time unyielding.

I think of the Saviour and wonder which ones He could have skipped. Even He had to wade through the probationary state of mortality step by step receiving “grace for grace until He received a fulness”…..and he received all power, both in heaven and on earth, and the glory of the Father was with him….” (D&C 93:12,13,17).

Now relate this to us. Verses 19 and 20 of Section 93 state that we too can receive of the fulness if we follow the example of the Saviour…but we too shall receive it “grace for grace”, one step at the time, one lesson after another. Would we have that example of fulness if the Saviour didn’t embrace ALL of His mortal experience? His subjection to receiving ‘grace for grace’ was for the benefit of the human race. He showed the way to perfection.

“He is the way, the truth, and the light, and no one can come back into the presence of our Father in heaven except through him. Christ is God the Son and possesses every virtue in its perfection. Therefore, the only measure of true greatness is how close a man can become like Jesus. (President Ezra Taft Benson, in CR, Oct 1972, p 53 or Ensign Jan 1973, p 57)

I often reflect on Him ‘who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross’ (Hebrews 12:2) and know that I can hope for the same joy if I follow Him to the end of my mortality……grace for grace…..

The lessons of my life flowed like a river

Winding through days, months and years;

I rescued a few but missed so many

From the currents as I saw them passing;

They drowned in a daze of my ignorance,

Unwanted and ignored but yet abiding.

I fish them now from the pool of my memory

And give them life everlasting.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Jesus the Symbol of Hope by Ivan Guaderrama)

COMPELLING MORTALITY

 

I read recently Elder Hafen’s rational explanation of the necessity of mortality from a vantage point I had never seen before. I was reading about the value of ‘the veil’ in his book, “The Believing Heart”, with my mouth open. He answered so logically the question many of us have asked at one stage or another: why would a loving Father devise a plan of free experience in mortality knowing that many of His children would never come back to Him? Could there not have been another way?

To me ‘the veil’ was something we lived behind in order to be tested through faith but there is so much more to this principle. It’s a matter of knowledge. Elder Hafen explains that there are two different kinds of knowledge. One involves gathering information and the other is about skill development. One is intellectual and the other is practical. You can guess which category mortality falls into. Consider this example of the importance of that:

“Imagine an innovative music school with a revolutionary approach, in which the piano students did not have to practice. The school would teach in a purely theoretical way all the rudiments; describe in detail how to move one’s fingers; go deeply into music theory and history; teach thoroughly how to read music. The students would memorize all the best books that have ever been written on how to play the piano. The course could last for four years.

“The students would each have a project, such as memorizing the score of a major piano concerto. They would be able to close their eyes and see the manuscript for both piano and orchestra flow through their minds – they could tell you everything about it. Then, when the first graduate of the “Do It Without Practice Piano Course” walks onto the stage of Carnegie Hall to perform his debut with the orchestra, what do you suppose will happen? Not much. Why?  Even though ‘thinking’ is an essential element in any form of learning, some things can be learned only by practice.”  (“The Believing Heart” p 43)

Having been through the process of qualifying for godhood, the intellectual knowledge is something Heavenly Father could give us in pre-mortal life but He could not give us the knowledge that comes through experience. No intellectual formula He could give us could produce the reality of godhood without the experience of the process. It is experience that yields skill and godly attributes.

And here is the crowning glory of this principle: “We must do all within our power, but the final achievement of celestial capacity comes ultimately through the bestowal of divine endowments…..”for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do” (2 Nephi 25:23)….”for by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ” (Moroni 10:32) (ibid p 50)

FATHER TO HIS CHILD:

Long ago, when you lived in my arms

You wanted to fly in the vast expanse of the skies.

I gifted you wings, and promised

I would teach you to fly.

Just remember, I am here but

It is your turn now, not mine,

To rise.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Jesus of Nazareth by John Zamudio)

DECEPTION

 

“The Book of Mormon exposes the enemies of Christ. It confounds false doctrines and….fortifies the humble followers of Christ against the evil designs, strategies, and doctrines of the devil in our day. The type of apostates in the Book of Mormon are similar to the type we have today.

“God, with his infinite foreknowledge, so molded the Book of Mormon that we might see the error and know how to combat false educational, political, religious, and philosophical concepts of our time.” 

-          President Ezra Taft Benson (in CR April 1975, p 94-95)

Twelve years earlier President Benson gave us the formula through which we could identify deception (in CR Oct 1963, p 16-17):

1.     What do the standard works say about it?

2.     What do the latter-day presidents of the Church have to say on the subject… Particularly the living President?

3.     The test of the Holy Ghost…this test can only be fully effective if one’s channels of communication with God are clean and virtuous and uncluttered with sin.

The third reminds me of President Nelson saying that in the last days we will not be able to survive spiritually without the constant guidance of the Holy Ghost.

Nephi went one step further and advised us to feast upon the words of Christ because the words of Christ will tell us all things what we should do because the words of Christ are administered by the power of the Holy Ghost (2 Nephi 32:3).

The Holy Ghost is the most important element of the abovementioned formula. The words of Christ are relative to both the standard works and the prophets of the Church but the Holy Ghost provides the confirmation of these words and testifies of their truth.

The Church has a dual purpose: to administer the saving ordinances of the Gospel and to instruct and protect the elect of God from the ideologies of the world hence the administrative structure of prophets, seers and revelators.

Deception has only one outcome:  spiritual bondage from which we might never recover. Truth offers us freedom here and now and in the world to come. Falsehood enslaves us now and forever. The war continues, the battleground is here, one person offers us captivity and one person offers us freedom. We know who is who.

And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free…… (John 8:32)

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Set My Spirit Free by Greg Collins)

FAITH

 

“There are two kinds of faith. One of them functions ordinarily in the life of every soul. It is the kind of faith born of experience; it gives us certainty that a new day will dawn, that spring will come, that growth will take place. It is the kind of faith that relates us with confidence to that which is scheduled to happen.

“There is another kind of faith, rare indeed. This is the kind of faith that CAUSES things to happen. It is the kind of faith that is worthy and prepared and unyielding, and it calls forth things that otherwise would not be. It is the kind of faith that moves people. It is the kind of faith that sometimes moves things…..It is a marvellous, even a transcendent power, a power as real and as invisible as electricity. Directed and channeled, it has great effect….” 

-          Elder Boyd K. Packer, “What Is Faith” (1983) p 42

Sometimes I wonder if we profess to have faith in Jesus Christ without ever putting His promises to the test. Often, we profess to have faith in Him yet we negate it with our fears and our words. For instance, sometimes we pay tithing and then go about our days complaining that we never have enough money or that we can never earn enough. Here is an example of faith that proves the opposite:

“Consider President George Q. Cannon’s approach to tithing when he was an impoverished young man. When his bishop commented on the large amount of tithing poor young George was paying, George said something like: “Oh Bishop, I’m not paying tithing on what I MAKE. I’m paying tithing on what I WANT to make.” And the very next year George earned exactly the amount he had paid tithing on the year before!”  (Wendy Watson Nelson, “Becoming the Person You Were Born To Be” , Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults, January 10, 2016, BYU Hawaii)

When I read Elder Packer’s quote, I immediately thought of the Brother of Jared. I have for a long time tried to comprehend what goes into developing a faith that manifests before your eyes that which you see in your mind. This is not a faith of empty words but a faith of inner power of belief. A faith without any semblance of doubt. A faith that brings great reward. And the Brother of Jared’s reward was great. There is no greater reward in this life than to see the Christ.

The manifesting power of the Saviour’s faith brought worlds into being by His word (John 1:1-3). If you want a glimpse of this power read the incident of the fig tree which withered at His word before the eyes of the disciples (Matthew 21:19-21). We have no greater example of the power of faith than that of Christ, the Son of God.

If we will be gods one day, we need to follow in the footsteps of the Master and believe that this power is within us too. 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Creation by Yongsung Kim)