THE REVEALER OF CHRIST

 

“The gift of the Holy Ghost inspires virtue, kindness, goodness, tenderness, gentleness, and charity. It develops beauty of person, form, and features. It tends to health, vigor, animation, and social feeling It invigorates all the faculties of the physical and intellectual man. It strengthens, and gives tone to the nerves. In short, it is, as it were, marrow to the bone, joy to the heart, light to the eyes, music to the ears, and life to the whole being.” (Parley P. Pratt, “Key to the Science of Theology”, p 101).

 

Considering all he CAN do, the gift of the Holy Ghost is God’s greatest gift pertaining to this life. All he DOES do, however, is very much up to us. It is one thing to have a gift, any gift, and another to be enjoying the same. I want to bear witness of what the Holy Ghost has done for me. He has invigorated my spiritual senses and opened my mind to understand the truths of eternity, he has endeared me to the things of the spirit and enabled me to distance myself from the world, he has recalled to my memory events of my pre-existence, and the greatest thing He has done is reveal to me the Christ. It is very seldom that my daily scripture study will not bear fruit to this fact. I see the Saviour on every page and I see who He is: His character, His personality, His attributes, His passions, His devotion, His love, His mercy. But this is the beginning of something greater.

 

Elder Holland has stated that besides His atoning sacrifice, Christ’s purpose of coming to this earth was to reveal to us the Father (Jeffrey R. Holland, The Grandeur of God, GC, October 2003). The Saviour spoke often of Him being one with the Father, in every respect: spiritually, intellectually, physically (John 14:9). All the Saviour was and did in mortality was a reflection of the Father. The Holy Ghost has not only brought this to my intellectual understanding, but has helped me see in my heart the distinction between the two most important personages in my life. The closeness I have felt with each can only come through the medium of the Holy Ghost who has brought to my remembrance my eternal association with both. This is the greatest blessing that has come to me in this life. And I owe that to the one person who works so tirelessly to help us see the path of salvation through Christ and the way home to the Father. 

 

The days you embrace my heart

I can scarce contain my tears.

You are the Witness,

The Testator of truth,

The illuminator of my path.

I crave your presence

In the caverns of my heart.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: As One (Father, Son and Holy Ghost) by Danny Hahlbohm)

THE SUM OF US

 

“Some have wondered why the Lord would appear to an enemy of the Church like Saul and subsequently call him to His ministry. Elder Bruce R. McConkie explained that this difficulty is resolved by understanding that the Lord’s plan of salvation encompasses our premortal life: ‘Saul was foreordained; nothing he had done on earth qualified him for what was ahead; but his native spiritual endowment, nurtured and earned in pre-existence, prepared him for the coming ministry’ (Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 2:91)” (New Testament Institute Student Manual, Gospel Library)

 

It is truly amazing that the Lord would call two of the worst sinners to be mighty men in His Church and to bring thousands of souls to repentance. I speak of Saul of Tarsus, known as Paul the apostle, and Alma the Younger. When the Lord revealed the eternal nature of spirits to Abraham, he was shown the intelligences that ‘were organised before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones’ whom He determined to make rulers on earth (Abraham 3:22,23). Amongst those great ones were no doubt Paul and Alma. And this is what makes this doctrine one of comfort……imagine if we were judged only on the merit of this fallen world that we reside in now. How many of us would be fit for anything? Another comforting thought…..imagine if there was no room for error whilst in mortality! How many of us would be doomed??? The answer is, ALL. 

 

I am an idealist. I struggle with this life and what I am like here. I want the ideal me, now. I long to be the me I once was before my mortal birth: zealous, fearless and of perfect faith. Another comforting thought: God remembers me from that time and sees me in my entirety. My dearest friend always reminds me of that. My greatest attribute is that I love the truth and am very passionate about it. It keeps me afloat and ensures I stay on the straight and narrow. It keeps me grounded. Another comforting thought……the Saviour atoned for us as we are now, in this imperfect sinful world. Sometimes we feel inadequate and even worthless but I am certain He looks at us and thinks: If only you knew who you REALLY are!

 

Your truth in my soul, burns and burns

And guides me over and over back to Thee.

I hear the sweet sounds of home

Etched in my everlasting memory.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: The Robe of Righteousness by Phil McKay)

A LEGACY TO TREASURE

 

 

 

Before the Saviour died, He delivered the Olivet Discourse to His apostles wherein He outlined the preaching of His Gospel, the destruction of Jerusalem and the persecution that would come upon the early saints (Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21). He warned the apostles that they would be hated for His sake, persecuted, beaten and killed.

 

Upon the arrival of the Holy Ghost, the early Church spread like wild fire. What the Jewish hierarchy hoped to extinguish with Christ’s crucifixion began to thrive in earnest. People joined the Church by the thousands despite the opposition from Jewish authority and ruling classes in Jerusalem. As the Church continued to outgrow Judea and Samaria and reached the Gentile nations, the opposition turned to horrific levels of persecution in the Roman Empire, for to join the Church in those days was to prepare to die.  If ever there was a dispensation of martyrdom, it was in the Meridian of time. 

 

The Olivet Discourse also tells us what we the saints of the last days are to expect prior to the Second Coming. Ours will be the dispensation of war, carnage, plagues, pestilence, famine, disease and earthquakes.  The worst of all will be the moral decay of our society which has already begun. It is plain to see that evil has taken over the minds of many that is changing the moral landscape of the world. Whatever comes, now is the time like never before to cement our testimonies that we might one day be able to stand the challenge of ridicule and persecution from our neighbours, friends, families and even State. 

 

We, modern Israel have two legacies to live up to: the early Christian saints and the early Church members of this dispensation. Both suffered and became martyrs for the truth. 

I have faith in us….because of Nephi, who saw our day and that even though our numbers were few, ‘the power of God descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb and upon the COVENANT people of the Lord’ and we were armed with righteousness and with ‘the power of God in great glory’ (1 Nephi 14:12-14). And is there a greater assurance than this: “…..my disciples shall stand in holy places, and shall not be moved; but among the wicked, men shall lift up their voices and curse God and die” (D&C 45: 32)

 

May we be like Peter and John who when arrested and beaten by the Jewish council, departed from their presence ‘rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name’…..(Acts 5:41). Are we ready, if need be, to die for Him???? Like He died for us......

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Second Coming by John McNaughton)

AGAINST THE WIND

We very often say that we ‘should’ be Christlike. In fact, the world even judges us Christians by this edict. What we overlook sometimes is that we cannot be Christlike if we do not ‘become’ like Christ by engaging Him in the process of our becoming. When we don’t rely on His enabling power, we are just walking against the wind wishing for the impossible.

Some of us have brought with us spiritual gifts we developed in pre-existence like compassion, patience, tolerance, love, forgiveness. Even if we have these attributes under our belt, they can never equal the level of them that the Saviour possesses. His level is the level of perfection. For instance, I often hear that we should forgive our enemies and those that hurt us abominably like the Saviour did whilst on the cross. I ask, how many of us are capable of such forgiveness in the midst of such excruciating agony? This kind of forgiveness is a higher level that we cannot reach on our own. Forgiveness is central to Christ’s character but not to our own. Comparing us to Christ is like comparing apples to oranges. I had a conversation with a dear sister recently who told me it took her 12 years of intense therapy to forgive someone. I reflected on my own experience of much needed ability to forgive whilst in excruciating pain some years ago, which took only months to obtain through fervent and persistant appealing to the power of the Atonement. By virtue of our discipleship and by being faithful and keeping our covenants, we have ‘increased access to the power of Jesus Christ’ and need not suffer unduly. We can still become free when forgiveness is beyond us. (President Russell M Nelson, “Overcome the World and Find Rest”, Liahona 2022, p 96)

Another example of being ‘Christlike’ is in regards to charity or the pure love of Christ. This is not something that we are capable of, ever, and this is why: The ‘pure’ love means something significant. It means that the Saviour had no motive for self-gratification, self-advancement or self-aggrandizement but that His love motivated Him to put others before Himself, hence the ability to atone for us sinners, as opposed to Satan who wanted advancement of self and nobody else (Moses 4:1-2). Because we are fallen, the natural man tends to gravitate toward focus on ‘self’ rather than others. Also, It is not charity, the pure love LIKE Christ, it is charity, the pure love OF Christ. It is a love that only He is capable of. It is His unique love. We cannot develop it but we can aspire to it through prayerful seeking of it and it will be bestowed upon us if we are ‘true followers of Christ’ (Moroni 7:48). Charity or pure love of Christ is a gift. It is beyond our power to develop for ourselves.

If we don’t focus on the Saviour and His enabling power, we will sink into a river of debilitating ‘shoulds’. We beat ourselves up by our ‘shoulds’ which make us blind to the solution which is always in Christ and His power to heal, deliver, strengthen and endow with such attributes as are needed for us to rise to eventual perfection. He alone can make us like Him.

You enliven my spirit,

You enrich my impoverished heart.

You are the God of power and might;

You make of me what I alone could never be,

You light my way into eternity.

• CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Artist: Against the Wind by Liz Lemon Swindle)

 

A DUTIFUL SON

 

 

A few years ago I had a revelation, the circumstances of which are too personal to relate, in which I was led to understand that the Father loves His firstborn Son the most because of what He has done for the rest of His children. And it should be so because no one deserves it more. Since then I have been mindful of scriptural evidences of their supernal relationship. I saw it most obviously this year as I have studied the New Testament. 

 

I could quote many scriptures I have discovered where the Saviour glorified the Father, how He fulfilled all the Father commanded Him, and how He submitted to Him in all things but that is for all of us to discover for ourselves. In all these scriptural references, the message is the same: ‘in every way and every circumstance, in every situation, in every instance, in mind, body, and will, I am like the Father. If you know Me, you will know the Father, the Father and I are one’ (John 17:11). When Philip asked the Saviour to ‘show’ them the Father, Jesus replied: “…..he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, show us the Father?” (John 14:8,9). Even in looks, The Saviour was like Him, in fact, He was in the express image of His Father and not His Jewish mother (Collosians 1:12-15; Hebrews 1:1-3). Since the Father is not of any nationality of this earth, Jesus did not resemble the other men of His locality and time. He was like His Father, in every sense.

 

I always hear how the Saviour atoned for us because He loved us. That is true, however, I very rarely, if ever, hear anyone say that Christ atoned for humanity because of His love for the Father. When in the Grand Council of heaven the Father asked who was willing to execute His Plan of Salvation and Satan came forward threatening His glory, it was Jesus who stepped up to the plate to defend Him, who said to the Father, not only ‘thy will be done’ but also ‘glory be thine forever’ (Moses 4:2). Christ’s greatest motivation for His sacrifice was to bring glory to the Father because with every saved and exalted child, the Father’s glory increases forever (Moses 1:39).

 

I counted one year 147 references to the Father that the Saviour made during His visit to the Americas (3 Nephi 11-28). This speaks volumes to me of their love. This tells me that the Saviour would do everything and anything, even descend into the bottomless pit of human suffering for the one He loved the most….and this He did, valiantly, selflessly, devotedly…..to honour His Father. He is a dutiful Son who does ‘ALWAYS those things that please Him’ (John 8:29). I long to be a dutiful daughter……. 

 

I wish to gift you my heart

Eternal Father of mine;

I wish to glorify Thy name

Through endless moments of time.

I wish to worship you each day that I greet,

I wish to honour you with each breath that I breathe.

Then one day soon when I kneel at your throne

And bring you my deeds from my earthly home;

Accept them with mercy,

Consider them bliss,

And greet me joyfully

With an holy kiss.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Jesus the Anointed by Greg Collins)

For further understanding of the Father and the Son relationship, I refer you to Elder Holland’s conference talk of October 2003 entitled “The Grandeur of God”.  

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)

THE LION OF JUDAH

 

 

One of the most endearing titles the Saviour has is ‘the Lion of Judah’. It denotes strength and power that balances the picture of the meek and sacrificial Lamb mentioned in Revelation 5:6. The two instances in the scriptures where He is spoken of as the lion are both relative to His protectiveness of the House of Israel (Isaiah 31:4; Hosea 11:9,10). In Hosea, the Saviour laments over Ephraim who has forsaken Him and exclaims, ‘mine heart is turned toward thee, and my mercies are extended to gather thee’ (v 8aJST). Hosea then says ‘He shall roar like a lion and the children shall tremble from the west’ (v10). We Ephraim, in the western hemisphere, have certainly trembled at the sound of His voice as we have been gathered to His earthly kingdom. 

 

On his final visit to the Temple, prior to His crucifixion, the Saviour once again proclaimed His divine Sonship.  For the last time He cried out loud that He who believes Him, believes Him who sent Him (John 12:44). I think of the lion of Judah in Him when I picture this scene. This was the last call to the Jewish nation to believe on Him as the Son of God but instead of belief, the people questioned, ‘who is this Son of Man’ that you say must be lifted up? (v34). 

 

Who is the Son of Man? He is the Son of Man of Holiness, who is God the Father, for Man of Holiness is His name (Moses 5:57); He is the light of the world and whosoever believes in Him will not abide in darkness (John 12:46); He is the Son of God under whose command He came to preach all righteousness and that salvation is through Him and of Him (v49); He is the Father’s servant who came to offer life everlasting to all who believe on His name (v50). He is the bread of life (John 6:35,41,48,51); He is the light of the world (John 8:12; 9:5); He is the good shepherd (John 10:11,14); He is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25); He is the way and the truth and the life (John 14:6).......can you hear the roar???

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: The Lion of Judah by Greg Collins)