BEFORE HE COMES

 

It has been over 2,000 years since the Lord’s first advent. Many of us are eager to see Him return. I have heard a lot of anxious members of the Church speak of it as if it could happen within months. I understand. We are all tired of the wickedness of this world, however, He will not come until all the prophecies of His return are fulfilled, “…nor until everything for the Bridegroom is ready (“History of the Church” Volume V, p 291).

The readiness of the Kingdom is very much dependent on the readiness of its members : “He told his disciples that the day would come when men were unawares, as the thief in the night. For this reason we should watch and pray, “For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth” (Luke 21:34-35). There is no excuse for any of us, then, not to be prepared, for we have been fully and frequently warned.” (President Joseph Fielding Smith, “Church History and Modern Revelation”, 1:157)

And here is something very important: “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night…..But ye, brethren, are NOT in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are children of light, and the children of the day: we are NOT of the night, nor of darkness” (1 Thessalonians 5:2-5).

This is our advantage…. We as members of His Church, are not the ones that are unaware…..we live in the light as opposed to many in the world who do not have that advantage and live in darkness. Our advantage is the Holy Ghost, the scriptures, continuous revelation and the living prophets.

 I am always amazed when I hear a teacher at Church ask this pointless question: “If you knew that the Saviour was coming tomorrow, what would you do to prepare?” I am equally amazed by some answers such as, missionary work. I ask, how much missionary work could you do in one day to make up for years of not doing it? My answer is, you could do nothing in one day to prepare for His coming. The time to start preparing is yesterday.

The signs of His coming are too numerous to mention here. It is the responsibility of each of us to search them in the prophecies that we might know them and recognize them as they come. We are the chosen for this time and this place to usher in the greatest event of the history of mankind. The winding up scenes will not be easy, they will not be pleasant, but they will be worth the sacrifice, the perseverance, the wait…..and when He comes, the tears of the faithful….

 

When in clouds of glory I see you come,

I will run….

I will run to meet You with hope of

Everlasting life.

I will bend the knee and offer You my heart,

Lived these many years in Your glorious light.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Behold He Comes by Danny Hahlbohm)

KING OF KINGS

 

“He came into the world in time’s meridian to put into full operation all the terms and conditions of his Father’s plan: to bring to pass immortality and to make eternal life available to man; to abolish death and bring life and immortality to light through his gospel.

“And he shall come again……These are the most glorious events in the whole history of planet earth. From Adam to John, called the Baptist, all the prophets looked forward to both of these comings; and from Peter to the last apostle who shall rise up in this dispensation, all have and shall testify of his destined return in power, attended by the hosts of heaven, to bring surcease from all care and sorrow to those who have been valiant in the cause of truth and righteousness.”  (Bruce R. McConkie, “The Promised Messiah”, Deseret Book 1978, p 2)

“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True…..

“His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns….

“And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.

“And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”   (Revelation 19:11-16)

And the beast who said in the beginning, “I will exalt my throne above the stars of God and I will be like the most High”, and who fought to dethrone our God is fighting still but when this earth is rolled as a scroll, he will ascend out of the bottomless pit he will be thrown into when the Lamb of God appears and will go into  perdition (Isaiah 14:13-16; Rev 17:8).

The scriptures and the writings of the prophets indicate that during the Millenium people living a terrestrial level of righteousness will be on the earth, but eventually all will have the opportunity to receive the gospel (see Isaiah 11:9; Habakkuk 2:14; Jeremiah 31:34). Those who do not receive the gospel will be swept off the earth (see Isaiah 65:20). Zechariah taught that the heathen nations who will not come to worship in Jerusalem will eventually be destroyed from the earth (Zechariah 14:16; see also “Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith” pp 268-9)

Think about what it means to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ. It means to become like Him and with Him an heir to all the Father has. It means to inherit eternal life. Refusing His gospel means the opposite. Think about who would want to stop people from accepting the Gospel.

Next time you hear the cry of ‘no kings’ know that it has nothing really to do with the governmental power of the promised land today but everything to do with the adversary subtly sowing in the minds of people rejection of the KING OF KINGS who is yet to come and is ‘even at the doors  (D&C 110:16). This came to me with great force the other day. How clever he is to echo that proclamation upon the very land which is the Millenial seat of Him who will come to subdue all kingdoms under his feet (D&C 103:7).

I testify that Christ is THE KING (Psalms 5:2;10; 16;44:4; 47:6-7; 89:18; Isaiah 6:5; 43:15; Jeremiah 23:5; 46:18; 1 Timothy 1:17). The only King who can bring peace to this troubled world and the hearts of men. He will come and He will reign and He will embrace all those who believe in Him. And when He comes we, who believe in Him, will be ever so grateful for the real King.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: The King Is Coming by Danny Hahlbohm)

GLORIOUS GRACE

 

Some of my regular readers will know that I have been in acute pain for almost two years. The lessons I have learnt in that time have come deep and fast. For that alone my suffering has been worth it.

The doctors I consulted outlined the medical path which would end in surgery. I didn’t want to get to that point and over the counter pain medication was not doing much. Being heavily invested in scriptures, and having been impressed with healings in Jesus’ day, I decided that I would also be healed.

Even though I have not seen any miraculous healings in the Church, I reasoned we have the priesthood and there are many scriptures that speak of healing in our dispensation (D&C 35:8,9; 42:48-51). I became perplexed that we, the Church members rely more on the medical profession than we do on the priesthood and concluded that most of us lacked faith to be healed and I was going to be different. I fasted for three days and asked my ministering brother to heal me. The blessing came but without a healing. I had five subsequent priesthood blessings over time and no healing. I concluded that none of the brethren had the courage to say: “rise up and walk” (Acts 3:6).

From there I decided to appeal to God to heal me himself. I was certain that we had the right to be healed just like people of the past and one day I would wake up without pain. Months went by and no healing and I was getting worse but I kept persisting thinking all I needed was the faith of the Brother of Jared…..I was sure I did not need to go down the medical path.

When I started questioning God and His mercy for me then a certain scripture came to me with incredible force: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5). I knew straight away that I had mis-understood. With that realisation came the proper understanding in two parts.

The first was that the miracles of the past had a specific purpose for that time and that today we cannot be ‘a Church of miracles’ as some evangelical ministries claim today. If we were, people would flock to the Church exclusively for this purpose and not for the eternal truths and salvation the Church represents. Even in His day, Jesus admonished some who were healed to ‘tell no man’ (Matthew 8:4; 9:30) and rebuked some for coming to Him for this purpose alone.

The second was about grace which came to me in the form of another scripture: “it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.” (2 Nephi 25:23). I understood in that moment that I had not done all that I “could do” by seeking all the available help and understanding of my condition. I didn’t want to put in any of the work needed on my part. I wanted the magic wand.

The second part was the most important lesson of all. All that I was taught was not really about miracles or healing. God merely used this stage of my life to teach me about grace for one reason….He wanted me to remember on my darkest days when mortal exhaustion of pain sets in and I am tempted to distrust my power of endurance, that grace will only secure my salvation in the end ‘after all I can do’…….this was about enduring to the end….no matter what….at all cost.

I still believe in miracles because I believe in the God of miracles who is the same yesterday, today and forever and ‘ceaseth not to be God’….(Mormon 9:8-10,19)

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Reflections of Grace by Ivan Guaderrama)

A SACRED HOPE

 

As I reflected on my life recently I had a surreal experience where I saw myself before the Father who was asking me questions about my mortal experience. As I stood before Him I could not answer one question such as: How did you enjoy your mortal probation, what do you think you learnt from it, how do you think you did overall? Every time I opened my mouth, I could say nothing.

I understood there and then that there was nothing I could hide or tell half-truths about because He knew the very essence of my being: my innermost thoughts and intents, my sins, my rebellious moments in response to my sufferings, the times I had questioned Him and His goodness, my dislikes and likes, my conduct, my earthly indignities, my ingratitude, everything that made me tick….there was nothing, absolutely nothing about me or in me that He did not know.

I felt He was not watching me but looking into the very depths of my soul. It was as if He was inside me. I understood clearly as I understand that day follows night because I can see it, that God is so inter-connected with His children that it defies our mortal understanding. We, here and now, do not know and cannot fathom our spiritual origin or the Father’s connection with His children. God is beyond our understanding.

Then hope flooded my being. I had nothing to say and would not need to. There was someone who would absorb the totality of my life to answer all the questions the Father would have of my conduct, my intentions, my achievements, my failings. It would all be absorbed in the atoning blood of The Advocate who suffered for my soul. He would with His strength make up for my fragility.

This is grace, the ultimate all-encompassing gift, second only to eternal life. This grace too is beyond our understanding. We will fully come to know it when we are face to face with justice of the Father. We will know then who the Saviour truly is…a sacrifice that none of us could give, a hope of salvation, another God we are yet to comprehend.

When those who accept the gospel stand before the judgment bar of God, the Lion of Judah, the protector, will step forward in all His majesty and might as the guardian of our redemption. He will then ask the Father to judge His righteousness instead, to appease justice, saying:

“Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified; Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life.” (D&C 45:4,5)

 

I marvel that you could perceive

every thought of my heart,

Long before you gifted one to me;

That you trusted my will to obey

With You so dim in my memory.

I stand amazed at Your sufferance

Of the struggling sinner like me,

And the steadfast flow of help you bestow

From the merciful heart that is in Thee.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Strength and Fragility by Greg Collins)

CONSECRATING SELF

 

 

The year I studied animal sacrifice in depth, I came to understand the Atonement at a deeper level. I was absolutely mesmerised by this practice and being a visual person I wished I could witness it in the flesh. Understanding animal sacrifice has made me see the necessity of the principle of consecration in my life.

This is what touched me the most: A part of the animal sacrifice ceremony included the priest applying a small amount of animal’s blood to the tip of the right ear, the right thumb and the great toe of the right foot of the person to be consecrated.  This is what it meant:

·         On the tip of the ear: sanctifying the organ of hearing God’s word;

·         On the thumb of right hand: sanctifying the organ of action;

·         On the great toe of right foot: sanctifying the organ of walking and following God.

When I read this I wondered how I could apply this symbolism to my personal consecration to God and it came to me that just as Christ sacrificed Himself totally and completely for my sake, my sacrifice to God must be equally so: through my thoughts, my speech, my attitudes, my beliefs, my desires, my intents, my actions.

I began to consecrate myself verbally to God in prayer daily through thought, word and deed and promised to walk in paths of righteousness. As I uttered those words, the image of the priest applying sacrificial blood to my ear, thumb and toe would come into my mind. That image of the priest became indelibly impressed upon my mind. I have been doing this for a long time now and it has made a significant difference to my daily conduct.

The Saviour expects nothing of us that He himself did not do. Consider His total consecration to the Father which made Him ‘the lamb without blemish’ (1 Peter 1:19): “Had there been one thought in the mind of Jesus which was not perfectly given to God; had there been but one affection in the heart of Jesus which was not yielded to His Father’s will; had there been one step in the walk of Jesus which was taken not for God, but for His own pleasure; then He could not have offered Himself or been accepted as a ‘whole burnt- offering….but Jesus gave up all: He reserved nothing. All was burnt, all consumed, upon the altar.” (Jukes, Law of the Offerings, pp 63-64).

I kneel before Thy throne each day

Never knowing what first to say.

Then I remember what my soul foremost needs

Is my heartfelt devotion to only Thee.

My thoughts, my words, my earthly deeds

I consecrate as a memorial in prayer to Thee.

I spread my heart before Thy feet,

As the sacrificial lamb I come to see.

I see You smile, I hear You say:

You are in my heart today.

The sacrifice was mine to give,

Your soul I purchased that you might live.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: The Lamb by Stephen Sawyer)

KNOWING HIM

 

When Moses ascended Mt Sinai for the second time, Jehovah descended in a cloud before him and passing by him, He proclaimed:

“ The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth; Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.”  (Exodus 34:6,7)

This is so significant. This was not someone stroking his ego by listing His amazing qualities. This is a proclamation of someone who knows who He is and what His purpose is. Take notice of the attributes and qualities the Saviour listed: mercy, grace, longsuffering, goodness, truth, forgiveness….these are all qualities that benefit the human family. The proclamation was and still is: “I am your God and I am here to save you.”

But make no mistake, He is also a judge, as he indicates at the end of His statement, and He seeks accountability for the sins we commit and pass on to our children for generations to come. In other words, He is also a God of power, truth and justice. There is no fault in Him, only balance.

Moses wrote down how Jehovah described himself and no doubt He shared that description with the Hebrews he presided over because it was imperative that they knew who the source of their salvation was and what He was like.

“We live in a day of restoration when we know that God exists. However, the knowledge of his existence is only preliminary to our knowing his characteristics and attributes. When the challenges and traumas of life arise – and they are a natural part of this mortal experience – though we know there is a God, the issue will depend more critically on what He is like.

“The questions in those difficult times will center on whether I can depend on and trust in Him implicitly. Does He, for instance, have knowledge and power sufficient to save me? And for that matter, does he have the mercy and desire to do so?” (Jerry A. Wilson, “The Great Plan of Happiness – Insights From The Lectures on Faith” p 27)

Some years ago I determined that I would get to know what the Saviour is like through the Book of Mormon. I noted all His attributes and qualities I could see in the margins of my book. Mercy was the most prevalent attribute and it was just about on every page. I don’t know where I would be today if I didn’t know that He would be merciful towards my blunders, my imperfections and my humanity.

 

Aside from the scriptures, our convictions of who the Saviour is and what He is like, born from personal interactions with the spirit would have to be our greatest knowledge. Consider this tender image President Heber C. Kimball had of God:

 

“I am perfectly satisfied that my Father and my God is a cheerful, pleasant, lively, and good-natured Being. Why? Because I am cheerful, pleasant, lively and good-natured when I have His Spirit. That is one reason why I know and another is – the Lord said, through Joseph Smith, “I delight in a glad heart and a cheerful countenance.” That arises from the perfection of His attributes. He is a jovial, lively person, and a beautiful man. (“Journal of Discourses” 4:222)

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Jesus Loves Me by Chris Brazelton)

 

THE WAITING ROOM

 

“God can provide miracles instantaneously, but sooner or later we learn that the times and seasons of our mortal journey are His and His alone to direct. He administers that calendar to every one of us individually. For every infirm man healed instantly, as he waits to enter the Pool of Bethesda, someone else will spend 40 years in the desert waiting to enter the promised land.

“For every Nephi and Lehi divinely protected by an encircling flame of fire for their faith, we have an Abinadi burned at a stake of flaming fire for his. And we remember that the same Elijah who in an instant called down fire from heaven to bear witness against the priests of Baal is the same Elijah who endured a period when there was no rain for years…one’s life cannot be both faith-filled and stress-free. It simply will not work…..

“Christianity is comforting, but it is often not comfortable. The path to holiness and happiness here and hereafter is a long and sometimes rocky one. It takes time and tenacity to walk it…..

“The point is that faith means trusting God in good times and bad, even if that includes some suffering until we see His arm revealed in our behalf. That can be difficult in our modern world when many have come to believe that the highest good in life is to avoid all suffering, that no one should ever anguish over anything. But that belief will never lead us to “the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.”

-          Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, “Waiting On the Lord” GC October 2020

 

You tell me I must

stay and conquer

Like You conquered

Your turbulent sea;

I understand,

But oh how I long to see

The shores of eternity.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Deep Calls to Deep by Aeron Brown)