UNION OF THE HEARTS

 

“Hearken unto me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord: look unto the rock from whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit when ye are digged. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you……”  (Isaiah 51:1,2)

There is no greater exemplary marriage in the scriptures than that of Abraham and Sarah. She honoured his priesthood in every way and he honoured God in every way. This is true marriage. God taught us this in the beginning. After Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit, God knew it was Eve who instigated the disobedience, nevertheless, He called on Adam to account for what they had done because Adam shouldered the responsibility for his union with his wife.  

This was Abraham and Sarah. He led and she supported that role. Marriage is one of the greatest responsibilities of the priesthood and both Sarah and Abraham understood that well. The more I read about Abraham’s life, the more I become amazed at their union and how well they enacted the mission that was given them to bless the nations of the earth.

Abraham’s life was fraught with trial but “in every test to which the Lord subjected him, he had been found faithful, and he was not impatient, nor was he slow to act, for he….loved the Lord” (Judean Antiquities 1.223-24, in Feldman, “Josephus”, 85-87). In my mind, Abraham could have never led the life he did and been the man he was if he did not have an equally committed wife by his side. This was Sarah.

One example of their united commitment that has had an impression on me is their arrival in Canaan, the promised land. After two years in Haran and the prosperity that they enjoyed there and the ‘souls they won’ there through missionary work, they arrived in a land that was no picnic. It was a land seeped in idolatry and overrun with heathen-worshipping sons of Cain. It was obvious the land which Jehovah promised Abraham for an inheritance was first and foremost a mission. Not only that, he encountered something unexplainable, a famine that was ravaging the land.

Imagine Abraham’s concern for bringing his wife and his converts to such a place. No doubt they all expected something much better. It is my opinion that Sarah helped him bear this burden because Sarah’s lack of criticism and complaint in the scriptures speaks volumes:

“She above anyone else had cause – even the right – to protest, for if Abraham had been told to come here by the Lord, she had been told only by Abraham. She might easily have complained also of the fact that, despite Abraham’s report of God’s promise of posterity, she yet continued childless. But her love for her husband was too great, her commitment to her covenants too strong, her faith in the Almighty too unyielding, to allow her to criticize or complain. In the words of the learned Muslim scholar al-Tabari, Sarah “was one of the best human beings that ever existed”. She would not disobey Abraham in any way, for which God honoured her.” (E Douglas Cleark, “The Blessings of Abraham” p 106,107)

I am pretty sure that Sarah’s first concern was for the feelings of her husband and the responsibility that rested on him for the welfare of their family. This is true marriage, when you put your spouse before yourself. That is a win-win situation.

Sarah’s support of her husband rested on one thing: his commitment to God and his priesthood. This means he was a righteous man and therefore all his actions aligned with God’s will. Men, this is the true sign of your right to bear the priesthood after the Order of the Son of God. And this is the ultimate safety for any woman in the covenant.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Artist Unknown)

THE LOVE

 

“According to John Taylor, the Melchizedek Priesthood conferred upon Abraham “would be the means of introducing him into the presence of God” and “some of the greatest and most sublime truths that ever were made known to man……

“Since John Taylor’s day, a number of ancient sources have emerged that describe in striking detail an occasion when Abraham was indeed introduced into the presence of God in heaven, who taught him and showed him his posterity as they would exist through the ages.” (E. Douglas Clark, “The Blessings of Abraham” 143)

This ascension to God’s throne is not recorded in Genesis and Abraham does not mention it in his book in the Pearl of Great Price, but I have often wondered if this was the occasion when he was shown the stars of heaven and the pre-mortal life of man he speaks of therein.

The account of this ascension is amazing and too long to expound here but this is the tenderness of Christ I gleaned from the account of this event in Abraham’s life: “Rising from his throne, the Lord “revealed Himself to Abraham, and took him in His bosom” and “kissed him on his head, and He called him, Abraham my beloved”! (Sefer Yetzira 6:7 in Kaplan; see also Ginzberg, “Legends of the Jews”, 5:210 n.13)

“Jewish tradition insists that Abraham was the epitome of the love of God, and that Abraham summoned mankind to believe in God out of his own great love for Him” and served Him out of love by showing loving-kindness” (hesed) to mankind and thus ‘doing the same work as God – a pattern that would be followed by Joseph Smith, who “because of his love for his fellowmen, never missed an opportunity to preach the gospel” (Joseph B. Wirthlin, “The Example of Joseph Smith” in “The Prophet and His Work”, 92) – (E. Douglas Clark, “The Blessings of Abraham”, 100)

“The divine attribute of love “was incarnate in Abraham. Not by control or compulsion would Abraham change the world or win the hearts of mankind, but rather by the principles of righteousness and love upon which the rights of the priesthood are always based (see D&C 121:41-42)”  (ibid, p 101)

This love, this “hesed”, is what made Abraham the greatest patriarch of all time. It is because of this love that he was chosen to bless the nations of the earth through his posterity.

The Hebrew word “hesed” is difficult to render in English. It is usually translated as ‘steadfast love’. It is a covenant word that refers to the faithfulness or loyal love that binds two people together in covenant.

This love is motivated by an inner loyalty which arises out of the relationship itself and not by legal obligation. Such covenant love has the quality of constancy, firmness and steadfastness. It is a love you have for another that you would never break because of deep loyalty you feel towards them.

This is the love that Abraham had for Jehovah and Jehovah in turn had for him. I am rather certain that this love began when Abraham stood in the midst of the noble and great ones and was chosen before he was born, when  ‘the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy’ (Job 38:7).

This is when the covenant of ‘hesed’ was born for all of us. We covenanted to come to earth, to be proven, to be used as instruments of God to spread the truth and the love of God to all mankind. This is ‘hesed’, the eternal and undying love of God who had covenanted with us that we will have eternal life.

 

How can I contain You

In the chambers of my overflowing heart?

Your greatness, Your mercy, Your love,

Are far too vast.

 

All that I am, I give to you:

My heart, my soul, my all,

I lay at your feet forever more.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Eternal Love for You by B. Laura Wilson)

ABRAHAM, GATHERER OF SOULS

 

 

The moment young Abraham faced death on the sacrificial table of the priest of Elkenah is the moment he learnt that it pays to worship the one true and living God. It is the moment he heard his voice saying: “Abraham, Abraham, I am Jehovah and I have come to deliver you….” (Abraham 1:16)

After his rescue, Abraham became a relentless missionary and a Zionist at heart. His study of the Book of Remembrance gave him a glimpse of Enoch and Melchizedek and the Zion communities they established and he longed to do the same (Abraham 1:31). As he was led by the Lord on his way to Canaan, he wasted no time in this endeavour. He comments in the Book of Abraham that he left Haran where they temporarily resided enroute with all their substance that they gathered ‘and the souls that they had won in Haran’ (Abraham 2:15).  

Abraham’s humane spirit and his piety attracted people to him so he could teach them in a large-scale missionary effort wherever he went. He extended hospitality to all and considered  his temporal blessings from God were opportunities to bless the lives of others.

According to the Qur’an, Abraham was an elegant speaker blessed with a gift of teaching and power to convey the truth unto others, and according to the Jewish tradition, “he called out in a mighty voice to all the world and he led them to righteousness” by speaking persuasively as their hearts were changed and they felt to declare the “the Lord, He is God in the heavens above the earth below, and you are Abraham, His prophet”. “Thus was Abraham fulfilling his baptismal covenant to stand as a witness of God “at all times and in all things, and in all places” (Mosiah 18:9). (E. Douglas Clark, “The Blessings of Abraham, Becoming a Zion People” 86)

“The Jewish tradition claims that Abraham’s converts came to be numbered into the thousands and tens of thousands. If this seems exaggerated, one need only remember the remarkably rapid growth of the Church restored by Joseph Smith, who, like his forefather Abraham, was also a missionary par excellence…..According to Hugh Nibley, “Abraham founded his Zion, and those who wished to follow became the followers of Abraham. By special rites and ordinances they were adopted into the family….

“Such were the fervent efforts to build the kingdom of God by the man who, as he himself said, had left Ur seeking “peace, happiness and rest” – not by looking forward to retirement, or by building his dream house away from humanity, but by living among them and serving them tirelessly. The “rest that Abraham sought was not a life of affluent ease. He was striving to “enter into the rest of the Lord”, obtainable only by serving Him with all of one’s heart, might, mind, and strength.” (E. Douglas Clark, “The Blessings of Abraham, p 87)

Abraham was exceptional even before the beginning of his mortal life. When he was shown the great spirits that resided in pre-existence, he was told that he was one of them and that he was ‘chosen before he was born’ (Abraham 3:23). When Jehovah came to rescue Abraham from imminent death, He came not just to prolong his life but to ensure Abraham would be able to embrace his divine destiny.

Abraham is known by more than one name, the most known being ‘the father of the faithful’ (D&C 138:41) and ‘the friend of God’ (James 2:23). I personally love ‘the gatherer of souls’ because he gathered them unto God wherever he went. This in my mind made him the prototype of Christ who gathered souls unto Him through His infinite sacrifice and who commanded Abraham: “walk before me,and be thou perfect” (Genesis 17:1). And walk he did…..following Him all the way to his exaltation (D&C 132:37)

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(ART: Follow Me by Liz Lemon Swindle)

FATHER ABRAHAM

 

I could write pages about Abraham. He is my favourite patriarch. And so he should be to everyone who receives the Gospel as by virtue of the Abrahamic covenant we are counted as his children (Abraham 2:10). He is the father of the faithful who obey the mandate to ‘do the works of Abraham’ (D&C 138:41; 132:32). In this respect it should be our quest to know him.

Right at the beginning of his record in the Pearl of Great Price, Abraham tells us who he is. A man is as good as his desires for desire is the catalyst of all good and bad works. These are the desires that Abraham had from the very beginning of his life:

To have the blessings of the priesthood; to possess great knowledge; to be a greater follower of righteousness; to be a father of many nations; to be a prince of peace; to receive instructions from on high; to keep the commandments of God. (Abraham 1:2)

The fact that he harboured these righteous desires in an apostate family that turned away from God through idolatry blows my mind. And here is one hint how these desires could have been born….Abraham was reading scriptures. Whilst still in the land of Ur he had somehow obtained the Book of Remembrance wherein wrote the earlier patriarchs and all inspired people called of God such as the people of Enoch (Moses 6:5; 46; Abraham 1:31). A good proof that we become what we invest ourselves in.

Another important factor in his quest for righteousness is the fact that he rubbed shoulders with the right crowd. Through modern revelation we learn that Abraham received his priesthood from Melchizedek. Most students of scripture assume that this ordination happened when Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek in Palestine (Genesis 14:19-20).

Abraham however clarifies this by saying that he became a High Priest in the land of Chaldeans, at the residence of his father (Abraham 1:1-2). Nowhere else in scripture do we find details of that ordination but considering the apostate condition of the land of Chaldeans, it is easy to assume that Abraham had contact with Melchizedek during his early manhood and that Melchizedek had strong influence upon Abraham. One clue is the fact that one of his desires was to become a ‘prince of peace’, as we know Melchizedek was known to be (Alma 13:18).

All of Abraham’s righteous desires were granted by God. These desires took him to a life of such righteousness that he has already been granted his exaltation (D&C 132:28-37). And this is where we want to be. Whereas I appreciate the generations of my family that went before me, I give thanks for one exemplary progenitor, the true father of my heart, Father Abraham.

 

When in heaven we meet

Knit together under the covenant

Of your name

Will you consider us your children

Will we in your heart forever remain?

 

Will you gather us in your arms

And kiss us each as

Your long-awaited son?

Will your heart then rest

When at last we are one?

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Artist Unknown)

MIGHTY MELCHIZEDEK

 

Following the disastrous Babel and confounding of tongues, God proceeded to preserve His ways among the people by establishing communities of righteous groups in various parts of the earth who held the Priesthood:

“One of the most important colonies raised up by the members of the Priesthood during the life time of Noah was in Palestine. Most of this territory was dominated by the seed of Ham. The land was even named after Ham’s oldest son, Canaan. But the seed of Seth had carved out a mountainous kingdom over toward the northern end of the Dead Sea called Salem. This is the territory which surrounds the modern city of Jerusalem (Jeru-salem) (Bible Dictionary under “Salem”). (W. Cleon Skousen, “The First 2,000 Years” p 253)

The kingdom of Salem was governed by the prophet-king called Melchizedek. This amazing, righteous ruler had an effective tool for counteracting wickedness and apostasy that was engulfing his land and this was it: “But Melchizedek, having exercised mighty faith, and having received the office of the high priesthood according to the holy order of God, did preach repentance unto his people. And behold, they did repent; and Melchizedek did establish peace in the land in his days; therefore he was called the prince of peace ….” (Alma 13:17)

Throughout history it has been proven by people who have embraced the gospel that peace is one of its by-products. Permanent peace to every soul only comes through repentance, righteousness and saving ordinances of the priesthood.

This is what fascinates me and it should fascinate every member of the Church. Perhaps the most familiar mention of Melchizedek is in connection with Abraham who paid tithes to him following his battle with the kings who took his nephew Lot (JST Genesis 14:36-39; Genesis 14:18-20). There is no more mention of him in the Old Testament. Melchizedek did not remain in existence for long. What we do know of him comes from latter-day revelation and the Book of Mormon.

By the time Abraham needed to find a wife for Isaac of proper lineage, there were none of the righteous people of Melchizedek left in the land of Canaan.  Therefore, he had to send a servant all the way to Mesopotamia to get a wife for Isaac.

And this is what happened to the people of Salem: “Melchizedek and his people had been allowed to enjoy the blessings of Enoch….and were translated and taken up into heaven. And his people wrought righteousness and obtained heaven, and sought for the city of Enoch which God had before taken….” (JST 14:32-34).  

My point is this. We now have two groups of saints who have given us the pattern of becoming a Zion people…..the followers of the mighty Enoch and the mighty Melchizedek. Both of them achieved the state of Zion amongst the greatest wickedness of their time. Our time is no different but there is hope for us too, given through repentance, righteousness, and purity of heart: all fruits of the gospel of peace of our Saviour Jesus Christ, our God and our King.

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.

I love You more dearly;

I serve you more freely;

I become what I alone could never be.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Christ and the Dove of Peace by Doc Christensen)

UNSPOTTED FROM THE WORLD

 

“The scripture says Noah lived 350 years after the Flood (Genesis 9:28). He lived to see Abraham’s day – Abraham being among the tenth generation of Noah’s descendants! During those ten generations extending over 350 years Noah saw many of his descendants re-establish the wicked abominations of the pre-flood period.” (W. Clen Skousen, “The First 2,000 Years” p 241)

It always seems to start with someone who seeks for power and in Noah’s day it was his great-grandson Nimrod. His message to the people he sought to control was not denial of God but rejection of God as he proclaimed: “Depart from the religion of Shem, and cleave to the institutes of Nimrod! (ibid)

It’s worth noting what these institutes were because some of them persist to this day:

1.      Placing man above God: Nimrod did this well by making a seat for himself in imitation of the seat of God in the tower of Babel…and as he sat upon it, all nations came and paid him divine homage. (Ginzberg, L., “The Legends of the Jews”, Vol. 1, p 1788)

2.      Elevating animals above humanity: “In many cases animal life was made more sacred than human life, and humans were sacrificed to animal gods. The curse of animal worship and the false philosophy associated with it survive to this day among large segments of humanity.” (“The First 2,000 Years” p 243) One such nation is India which considers cows sacred and links them to various gods, including Shiva (whose steed is Nandi, a bull) and Krishna, a cowherd.

3.      Astrology and Zodiac signs: The idea that human beings are somehow influenced in their daily actions by the sun, moon and stars destroys the concept of free agency and their horoscope predictions reflect divination and sorcery. Astrology crept into Israel’s idolatry and played a big part in replacing the worship of Jehovah in Jeremiah’s day (Jeremiah 10:2).

Heathen religions were popular because they were devoted to the stimulating and satisfying of human passion. They institutionalized immorality. Heathen’s religious practices, namely sexual perversions, mutilation of bodies and child sacrifices were so satanic in nature that they are too confronting to human sensibilities to be mentioned here in detail.

This is the most interesting part. Modern day historians attribute these degenerate religious practices to the ‘primitive minds’ of yesteryear and seek to excuse idolatry with its perversions to be an ‘upward reach of man’ and a means of expressing the ‘instinctive desire to worship’. (“The First 2,000 Years” p 246).

The truth is these heathen religions were promoted in contradiction of God’s truth which was already upon the earth. They were the means for man’s ‘instinctive desire to grasp for power’. We all know who is behind this power.

So much in our world is designed to addict us to ‘the natural man’ through the ways of the world which promote power, greed, self-gratification and self-promotion. The gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us to keep ourselves unspotted from the world and to ‘come out from the wicked, to be separate and touch not their unclean things’  (Alma 5:57; 2 Cor 6:17; James 1:27; D&C 59:9).

It’s a gospel of love….for God, for our fellowman, for the eternal within us and for everything that is true, noble and good….

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: The Gospel of Light by B. Laura Wilson) 

THE MATTER OF THE STONES

 

When the city of Babel became a strong metropolis under the dictatorial government of Nimrod, the Lord pronounced judgment upon that city by confounding their language ‘that they may not understand one another’s speech’ and so that they may be scattered ‘upon all the face of the land, and unto every quarter of the earth” (JST Genesis 11:5)

Living in the city of Babel was a group of righteous people who had resisted the teachings of Nimrod. One of them was Mahonri-Moriancumr, better known as the Brother of Jared (see Book of Mormon Student Manual Rel. 121-122 (2009) p 362).

Jared had so much faith in his brother, who was highly favoured of the Lord (Ether 1:34) that he asked him to pray to God so that their language and that of their friends would not be confounded. Another request was for God to lead them to a possible ‘land which is choice above all the earth’ (Ether 1:38)

A choice land above all the earth indeed…..enter the Book of Mormon which records in detail the entire history of the Jaredite civilization in the western hemisphere. There is just one significant thing I want to point out about the authenticity of this account. It’s to do with the stones of light that the Brother of Jared procured for their journey in the barges they built.

A few years ago I sought to gain a broader view of the Jaredites. I went to Hugh Nibley’s book, “An Approach to the Book of Mormon” and came across something that left my mouth gaping:

“Nothing in the Book of Mormon has elicited louder whoops and howls of derision than the account in the second and third chapters of the book of Ether of the ships of the Jaredites…..According to J.C. Bennett, the illumination by shining stones, was the “climax” of all of Joseph Smith’s indiscretions, in which he “used his utmost endeavours to see how far he could impose on the gullibility of mankind. It would be useless to make further comments to prove the absurdities of this extraordinary book.

“In 1855 T. Taylder declared this story to be nothing less than “a libel on the wisdom of God”. “It seems impossible”, another investigator wrote, “for sensible men to credit such trash”.  “My soul is filled with disgust at this monstrous absurdity”, cried the Reverend C. Fenwick Ward as he perused the pages of Ether, “that I dare not trust myself to comment upon it”.

“Fawn M. Brodie claimed that “Joseph Smith wrote the book of Ether as a sort of afterthought to cover up the scientific blunders and inaccuracies of the rest of the Book of Mormon which were causing him disturbing doubts and misgivings”.  (Hugh Nibley, An Approach to the Book of Mormon, p 340,341)

Brother Nibley also quoted many ancient sources that have since come to light comparing the Brother of Jared’s stones to that of Noah who also had a stone for light in the ark and many other ancient practices with likewise stones. He pointed out that none of these ancient sources would have been available to Joseph Smith in his time or to the critics of his day.  And the critics of our day wouldn’t bother searching them.

To the people of Babel, the details of Noah’s ark and the Flood was a certainty that everyone believed in. The tower of Babel was built out of fear of another flood (“Josephus” Book 1, chapter 4).  So I ask, where else would the Brother of Jared gain the knowledge of the stones???? Chapter 3 of Ether does not say that he deliberated and agonized over the solution of light for the barges. It states he went immediately to the mount Shelem and ‘did molten out of a rock sixteen small stones…as clear and transparent as glass’ (Ether 3;1).

I am astounded that anyone could read the Book of Mormon and not be affected by the spirit of it….that such a small thing as sixteen stones could prevent belief of all that is in this amazing book. Once again, I am reminded of: “My sheep hear my voice” (John 10:27).  If you believe, you are that sheep…..you are His. 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Brother of Jared by Emily Pugmire)