CYRUS THE GREAT

 

“When we say God has a plan, He truly has a plan – not simply a grand scale, but for each of us as individuals, allocating some special talent to this dispensation and some to another. I regard God as the perfect personnel manager, even though He must work with and through all of us who are so imperfect.

“I assume, gladly, that in the allocation to America of remarkable leaders like Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln, the Lord was just as careful. After all, if you’ve got only one AbrahamLincoln, you’d better put him in that part in history when he’s most needed – much as some of us might like to have him now.”

-          Neal A. Maxwell, Deposition of a Disciple, p 46

God uses people with talents and skills that He needs to accomplish His purposes and whom He can trust to do so, whether they be His followers or not: “God the father of us all, uses the men of the earth, especially good men, to accomplish his purposes. It has been true in the past, as it is true today, it will be true in the future.” (Elder Ezra Taft Benson, In Conference Report, April 1972, pp 48-49)

Cyrus, the King of Persia, who conquered Babylon in 539 B.C., and inherited the exiled Jews, whom the Saviour called ‘my shepherd’ and ‘my anointed’ was one such person whose destiny was planned by God of Israel himself and who has used him for His purpose. Cyrus was born between 580-590 B.C. The destruction of Solomon’s temple and the final wave of Judah’s exile into Babylon happened in 586 B.C. One hundred and forty years before the exile and before Cyrus was born, prophet Isaiah prophesied of his specific earthly mission for which God would raise him up, to liberate the captive Israel after 70 years of servitude (Isaiah 44:28-45:1-5).

“To trace the life of Cyrus from his birth to his death, whether he knew it or not, it looked as he lived by inspiration in all his movements. He began with that temperance and virtue which would sustain any Christian country or any Christian king….Many of these principles followed him, and I have thought many of them were worthy, in many respects, the attention of men who have the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” (Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses, vol 22, p 207)

The military conquests of Cyrus were nothing short of remarkable. Empires virtually fell into his hands and by the time he reached Babylon, he was considered a liberator and not a conqueror. The citizens of Babylon welcomed him with open arms because of his intended reforms that would make life better and easier for the common man. Babylon that was a fortress to be reckoned with was overthrown in one night as the city opened its gates to him without a battle and this is why:

“Cyrus was a born ruler of men. He inaugurated a new policy in the treatment of conquered peoples. Instead of tyrannizing over them and holding them in subjection by brute force, he treated his subjects with consideration and won them as hie friends. He was particularly considerate of the religions of conquered peoples. The effect of this policy was to weld his subjects to him in a loyalty which made his reign an era of peace.” (Elmer W.K. Mould, Essentials of Bible History, pp 348-49)

Numerous commentators have denied that Isaiah named Cyrus as the liberator of the Jews so many years before he appeared. They have argued that his name was added to Isaiah’s prophecy after his conquest of Babylon and the help he gave to the Jewish nation. Josephus, the Jewish historian, recognized Isaiah’s prophecy to be valid by quoting letters from Cyrus confirming the prophet’s predictions (see Josephus, Antiquities, XI, 1,2).

Cyrus not only had respect for the people he governed but he had respect for God whom he acknowledged as the fountain of his success. The God of Israel worked with this man to ensure he fulfilled his purpose:

“…the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying: Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, the Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? His God be with him and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel, HE IS THE GOD……”  (Ezra 1:2,3)

If only all of us were so willing to obey and to acknowledge God as the fountain of our blessings…..

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Cyrus the Great by Unknown)

OUR EARTHLY ABODE

 

I recently read a BYU speech by President Oaks in which he pointed out 20 ways that Satan uses to attack us through our strengths, not our weaknesses. He listed our strong desire to understand everything about every principle of the gospel as Number 3. He went on to say that this desire can cause us to search mysteries to which there are no answers rather than seeking greater understanding of the gospel principles (Dallin H. Oaks, “Our Strengths Can Become Our Downfall” June 7, 1992)

I have an example of this. Some years ago I did a post in which I quoted the seven days of Creation form the scriptures. I suggested the seven days were really 7,000 earthly years as 1 God’s day is our 1,000 years (Abraham 3:4; 2 Peter 3:8; Psalms 90:4). One reader called me naïve because according to the scientific evidence our planet is millions and millions of years old.

My comeback was that we don’t really know how long the creation took as time only is measured unto men (Alma 40:8) and that days of creation are really just “periods between two identifiable events – a division of eternity” (see “The Creation” by Russell M. Nelson, April 2000 GC). So because we don’t really know, I am going with what the scriptures say as a point of reference. She replied that scriptures were just symbolic and are not to be taken literally and that scientific proof cannot be ignored. I asked her if we should not then take the Atonement literally…..and I wondered by what method science can ascertain that something is 60 million years old…….she didn’t answer.

There are many theories about the age of the earth. One of them is that the earth was ‘organised’ from elements of older worlds which had come and gone (Moses 1:35). This appeals to me as the greatest explanation. The word “created” really comes from a Hebrew word which means “to organise”. The elements of everything are eternal and cannot be created out of nothing so the Lord’s power of creation is really His organising power.

And here is something important: “Apparently it was not easy for the Lord to present the creation story. It is obvious from His statements to Moses that He was conscious of the fact that the children of men do not have the present capacity to comprehend many of the eternal principles used during the creation process. To describe the creation in detail would have raised more questions than it would have answered.” (Cleon Skousen, “The First Two Thousand Years” p 19)

I tend to believe that even science creates more questions than its ‘proofs’ can answer but there will come a day when the Saviour returns and all things will be revealed to us including how the earth was made …..and then, its “purpose and the end thereof” (D&C 101:33,34)…..but we already know that, don’t we? And knowing that the purpose of the earth is OUR purpose is all we need to know for now.

But the most important revelation of all will not be how and what but it will be the magnificence of the God who created it……

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: The Creator by Chris Brazelton)

PURPOSE

 

Over the years I have had revelations that had given me clarity about my life’s difficulties but this morning I was given such clear understanding that it made me reflect on our purpose here at a deeper level.

I am beginning to see that salvation is not an individual responsibility but a collective effort to save the human family. We are not single entities but links in a chain that binds us together in the Plan of Salvation. Some of us might never survive without the efforts of those around us.

And here is an important component of this principle. We cannot strengthen others without having had experience in difficulties ourselves which give us compassion, empathy and wisdom. Alma is a great example of this. Alma became the single greatest missionary in the ancient Americas who baptised ‘thousands of souls’ (Alma 4:4,5)

He could never have obtained his zeal for relentless missionary service had he not faced the jaws of hell during his 3 days of repentance (Alma 36:6-24; 43:1). His amazing sorrowing for people was born walking through the fire of his own experience with sin ((Alma 7:5; 8:10,14; 31:1,2,30,31; 35:15).

One of the greatest lessons I learnt from the Old Testament is about being a link in the chain. As ancient Israel conquered cities before them, lands were appropriated to them for their settlement. Among the first to receive land were the tribes of Reuben, Gad and half of Mannesah. They settled in the land of Gilead which divided them from the rest of Israel by the river Jordan (Numbers 34:14,15; Deuteronomy 3:12,13; Joshua 22:9).

After they had assisted in further conquest of the land, Joshua sent them back to Gilead to live peacefully in their newly appointed inheritance. Upon their return home, these tribes built an altar by the river Jordan. When the rest of Israel heard of it they were outraged presuming the altar was built for idol worship.

These three tribes had to defend themselves by explaining the altar was built to be "a witness between us that the Lord is God" (Joshua 22:34) and that even though they were geographically divided from the rest, they were still a link in the chain. They knew that if they turned to the worship of other gods, the ripple effect would be detrimental to the spiritual salvation of the whole House of Israel.

My greatest lesson in all this is my belief that the difficulties we go through are not just for our benefit but for a human being we might have the ability to save. We are the under-shepherds and saviours on mount Zion following in the footsteps of the greatest healer who did the same by taking upon himself our infirmities that His bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh that He might know how to give relief and aid to the human family in their suffering (Alma 7:12).

I am just now beginning to understand the willingness of Him who embraced pain for our sake…..

Next time you are suffering through something, know there might be a greater purpose….

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Knock and Ye Shall Receive by LDS Art)

THE SOUL'S SINCERE DESIRE

 

Hymn 145 in our Hymnal tells us that prayer is the soul’s sincere desire.

Our prayers reveal so much about us: our humility or our pride, our submissiveness or our possessiveness, our progression or our regression, but most especially they reveal where we are in life in regards to our overall desire. Consider the following scripture:

“Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive, knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Whatsoever ye ask the Father in my name it shall be given unto you, that is expedient for you.” (D&C 88:63,64)

There is a word in this scripture that is of vital importance for us to understand and that word is ‘expedient’. The dictionary defines this word as ‘tending to promote a desired objective or a means of attaining an end’. In considering the importance of prayer as a communication with the Divine, this  means that God is giving us help through prayer with immediate situations in this life that will be advantageous for our ultimate desired objective and that is to become as God is. Therefore, it reveals His will for us and it affirms our purpose for being here.

Prayer itself is a process of progression. On one end of the spectrum is a prayer of a child through which the child is taught about faith: you pray to Heavenly Father and you have faith that He will hear you and answer your prayer. On the other end of that spectrum is a prayer of a spiritually evolved adult who prays with the ‘true order of prayer’:

“We pray to our Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Ghost. This is the true order of prayer.”  (Russell M. Nelson, CR April 2003, Ensign May 2003, p 7)

“When we pray unto the Father in the name of Jesus for specific personal things, we should feel in the very depths of our souls that we are willing to subject our petitions to the will of our Father in heaven….The time will come when we shall know the will of God before we ask. Then everything for which we pray will be ‘expedient’. Everything for which we ask will be ‘right’. That will be when as a result of righteous living, we shall so enjoy the companionship of the spirit that he will dictate what we ask.” (President Marion G. Romney, in CR Oct 1944, 55-56)

So often I am reminded of President Nelson’s advice that we will not be able to survive these last days without the guidance of the Holy Ghost. He is crucial in all the guidance we get as a result of our petitions to God. The prayer circle in the Temple teaches us the role the Holy Ghost plays in our communication with the Divine. The officiator represents the Holy Ghost in telling those gathered what to say, they in turn repeat the words of the prayer directing them to Heavenly Father in the name of His Son.

If you pray this way, you are well and truly on your way to achieving the purpose of your mortal probation. If the purpose of your journey is to become like God, prayer is the path to know how to travel it. May you receive your heart’s sincere desire and may we in the end meet at Jesus’ feet. 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: My Prayer by Danny Hahlbohm)

A TIME SUCH AS THIS

 

 

I studied the last week of the Saviour’s ministry reluctantly, not only because of His impending death but because I have savoured every morsel of fresh insight I received into Him this year. I saw the man, the Son, the God, and I did not want that to end. At times I felt that I was on the shores of Galilee in awe of the Galilean whom the people thronged for His mercy with hope to inhale His holiness into their souls. I reflected often on what it would have been like to be alive back then to see the rise of His fame and all the work He did that was given to Him of the Father (John 17:4) but I recoil at the memory of the cross. I know that I wept with the hosts of heaven when that time came. 

 

Neal A Maxwell defined the peopling of the earth in this way: “When we say God has a plan, He truly has a plan – not simply a grand scale, but for each of us as individuals, allocating some special talent to this dispensation and some to another. I regard God as the perfect personnel manager….after all, if you’ve got only one Abraham Lincoln, you’d better put him in that part in history when he’s most needed…..” (Deposition of a Disciple, p 46). A Jewish woman in exile, known as Esther, who married a king, is well known for her uncle’s prophetic advice to her that she was born for ‘such a time as this’, a time when she could prevent annihilation of all Jews in Persian empire (Esther 4:14).

 

We all know why Jesus came. His time had to be 2023 years ago when the conditions of the earth were perfect for His purpose. Because the Jewish iniquities, superstitions and hardness of heart were at its peak and because of it there was no other nation on earth that would crucify their God (2 N 10:3), the Meridian of Times was Christ’s time. The crescendo of Christ’s earthly purpose was suffering hence also the necessity of Roman Empire’s cross and the crucible of Calvary. 

 

I know I was not suited for the earthly experience in the Meridian of Times. I enjoy, with gratitude, having a voice in the world as a woman today and I draw strength from the promise the Saviour made through prophet Joel that in our day He will pour out His spirit upon all flesh and we women will prophesy and men shall dream dreams and see visions (Joel 2:28). It rends my heart with gratitude because I live for this. 

 

I was tempted my problems

To lay to Your charge;

I considered them acutely unfair.

Then you opened my heart

And showed me Your godly task,

Beyond human capacity to bear.

Knowing where you had gone

I would never have to go,

I sorrowed and sought

My arrogance to bury;

In humility I assent,

Your mortal burden,

So valiant, so holy,

I would never in this life

Have to carry.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Radiant Saviour by Greg Collins)

THE PATH TO PERFECTION

 

A friend suggested to me that the Saviour’s admonition to be 'perfect' is a verb as it was originally written, that it virtually means to be ‘perfecting’. She also said, ‘that feels totally doable’ and it certainly does because it suggests that perfection is a life long journey.

I don’t have a reference to back up that the Saviour said ‘perfecting’ as in both the Bible and the Book of Mormon it says ‘perfect’ but I have something else to offer which might support this theory. It is interesting to note that when Jesus commanded us to be perfect (Matt 5:48), He did not say ‘sinless’. For us to be sinless living by faith in this telestial mortality is an impossibility. However, what is more interesting in His statement is this: The Greek word for sinless is ANAMARTETOS. The Greek text, however, does not use this word but rather it says ‘be ye therefore TELIOS’. ‘Telios’ means to be brought to its’ end, finished, fully developed, having fulfilled one’s purpose or having fulfilled the measure of one’s creation. What is our purpose? To be tried and tested without forsaking God. This can be proved by the Saviour’s example. He said to the Jews ‘be ye therefore perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect’ (Matt 5:48) but to the Nephites He included himself in that statement (3 Nephi 12:48). Why? Because he had by then finished His purpose and endured to the end.

When it comes to perfection our focus should be first and foremost in surviving our trials without losing faith and trust in God and secondly, it is the striving to become that is the process of perfection. This is our path for now more than anything but when we are sanctified (cleansed) and justified (brought back in alignment with God), our faithfulness to Him will complete the circle of perfection.

In my quest for perfection I have found this: the closer I get to my Father in heaven, the less appealing my weaknesses and sins become because a desire to please Him has taken over the ‘I should’ mentality. It is always easier when you tackle something out of desire rather than compulsion. I spoke of this in my last post. If you gain a genuine desire to please God, your inclination to engage in your sins and weaknesses will gradually dissipate. When our desire to bring honour and glory to the Father is genuine in our hearts, our focus on self diminishes and our journey to perfection is assured. This is the path that the Saviour travelled from beginning to the end. May we follow in every footstep He left behind that we may return into the loving arms of the Father who is patiently waiting…..

I long for God’s acceptance

Of the paltry offering of my heart;

Never seeing His approval

Manifested plainly in mortal sight.

Yet crafted with the heaven’s pen,

Given through the heaven’s door,

Sealed with love and sent direct

From the seat of His eternal throne.

• CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(ART: God Calling by Youngsung Kim)