PRIESTHOOD POWER

 

The most important element of the restoration of Christ’s Church through the Prophet Joseph would have to be the priesthood. Elder Bruce R. McConkie spoke in the October 1977 General Conference of the ten blessings of the priesthood. Notice how many you can identify that relate to the priesthood ordinances in the Church and consider the amazing privileges the priesthood represents for all of us, married or not:

First, being members of the Church and receiving the fulness of the everlasting gospel;

Second, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and the other gifts of the Spirit.

Third, becoming sanctified by the Spirit, thereby becoming fit to dwell with God.

Fourth, representing Jesus Christ in administering salvation to mankind.

Fifth, becoming children of God in the family of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Sixth, having the opportunity of eternal marriage, without which there is no exaltation in the highest degree of the celestial kingdom.

Seventh, having the power to govern all spiritual and temporal things.

Eight, having power to gain eternal life, the greatness of all the gifts of God.

Ninth, having power to make one’s calling and election sure while yet in mortality.

Tenth, having the power and privilege, if pure in heart, to see the face of God while yet in mortality.

-          (As quoted by Bruce C. Hafen in “The Belonging Heart” p 213-4)

When we consider that the author and the source of the priesthood is Christ himself, the importance of it goes way beyond the privileges listed. When we participate in the ordinances of the priesthood we inadvertently receive of His power and influence in our lives. This is evident through the ritual of the sacrament which promises His Spirit will be with us as we symbolically partake of His body and His blood. (D&C 20:77).

It is Christ’s power which sustains us in this life and prepares us for the next. Without it there would be no salvation. The forgiveness which we are granted through the Atonement and His suffering would be wasted if there was no priesthood to move us along the path of progression to the eternal reward.

May we remember this source of power next time we press the cup to our lips….. 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Restoration by Liz Lemon Swindle)

TO KNOW YOURSELF

“Why did the Lord ask such things of Abraham? Because, knowing what his future would be and that he would be the father of an innumerable posterity, He was determined to test him. God did not do this for His own sake for He knew by His foreknowledge what Abraham would do; but the purpose was to impress upon Abraham a lesson to enable him to attain unto knowledge that he could not obtain in any other way.

“That is why God tries all of us. It is not for His own knowledge for He knows all things beforehand. He knows all your lives and everything you will do. But He tries us for our own good that WE MAY KNOW OURSELVES; for it is most important that a man should know himself.”

-          George Q. Cannon, “Gospel Truth, comp. Jerreld L. Newquist, 2 Vols [1974] 1:113

I can bear witness of this truth. I was drowning in despair. It was a test of my faith I did not expect and I wondered if God understood that He was asking of me more than I could give. I had gone through some tests before and I was weary. I had begun to believe this one was beyond me. To make matters worse, the heavens were silent. No explanation, no help.

I began to lose my desire for eternal life and returning to God’s presence, something I had arrived to over the years that exceeded every other desire I had. When you lose hope of something better at the end of the tunnel you are in, life becomes pretty bleak. Losing faith and hope in eternal life which was my over-riding goal, gave me only one alternative, darkness. It was suffocating me.

One morning I made it to the bathroom crying and begging God to send me something or someone to lift me, to help in some way….. and then I caught my reflection in the mirror. I could barely recognise myself. My face was haggard from the despair it wore. This is what came to me: “this isn’t me, not the me I once knew. I am not this person. I am strong and fearless…….”

I left my bathroom that morning crying again because God did send me someone….He sent me ME. And I understood the purpose of the test…..I had somehow over time felt beaten by life and had stopped believing in myself. I struggled with a will to live. But the test….what I considered a calamity, dug deep into my soul and showed me who I truly am and I saw HIM at the end of the tunnel once again.

So God tested Abraham so Abraham would know himself and his commitment to God. If you find yourself standing at a precipice one day, know that the moment of your decision will show you who you are and you will see the Saviour at the end of the dark tunnel where He stands beckoning…..

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: His Hand Is Stretched Out Still by Yongsung Kim)

 

TRIALS

 

"While you are passing through your trials, the pain and difficulty that comes from being enlarged will continue. If all matters were immediately resolved at your first petition, you could not grow. Your Father in heaven and His Beloved Son love you perfectly. They would not require you to experience a moment more of difficulty than is absolutely needed for your personal benefit or for that of those you love."

- Richard G. Scott, "Trust In the Lord", Ensign Nov 1995

You brought me to the foot of
Your throne today.
You pierced my soul
And understood all I had to say.
You opened my heart
And whispered the
truths I needed to know.
I surrender
My sins, my all, in gratitude
Of the suffering You bore.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Jesus Serene Saviour by Ivan Guaderrama)

A BELONGING

 

“When Jesus completed His atoning act, He uttered these words from the cross: “It is finished” (John 19:30).  When the meaning and purpose of His Atonement are first realised in our lives, we may say, “It has begun”. What has begun? The process of becoming forever “at one” with him – belonging to him.

“Those who come unto Christ also enter into a spiritual child-parent relationship with him. They take upon themselves his name – not only “Christians” in a general sense, but as King Benjamin wrote of those who accepted Christ’s Atonement and His gospel, “ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters, for behold this day he hath spiritually begotten you” (Mosiah 5:7).

“The unlimited parental commitment the Saviour feels for those who are in this sense His children is anchored deeply in the sacrifice of His Atonement. A mother descends into the dark valley of pain and death, risking her life to bring forth the life of her child. And when the child is born, she feels the awesome limitlessness of maternal bonds that are stronger than the cords of death.

“This sacrifice, understandable to any parent, yet most understandable to mothers, mirrors both the Saviour’s sacrifice and His everlasting commitment to nourish and cherish the children of Christ for whom He offered His body and His blood (see 1 Nephi 21:15-16)”

-          Elder Bruce C. Hafen, “The Belonging Heart” p 142-144

Elder Hafen goes on to say that the parent-child relationship which we are in with the Saviour goes beyond His commitment to nourish and cherish us as His children. The crucial component of this relationship is that the child develops and grows to become like the parent: “Ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him…” (Moroni 7:48).

It gives the phrase “you are just like your father” a whole new meaning, does it not?

The day You climbed the fateful hill

And embraced the pain of Calvary

You freed us from this world of sin

And from every agony.

 

How noble, how enduring

How strong You must have been

To fight my soul’s enemy

In the Garden of Gethsemane.

 

I give You my heart

I give You my all

To one day see Your

Reflection in my soul.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Sands of Serenity and Joyful Teachings by Ivan Guaderrama)

THE REWARD OF THE RIGHTEOUS

 

 

Some years ago I was conversing with a friend from my Ward when she said to me: “If the Saviour came to our Ward next Sunday, He would walk right past you and go to the struggling sinners  instead.” I understood what she meant, the Shepherd would always be concerned about His straying sheep, but it hurt me deeply to think that I would not matter just because I was being obedient.

I guess we tend to think that the sinner is more worthy of His attention because of the scripture that says that more joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repents that over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance (Luke 15:7). Because this scripture followed the parable of the lost sheep, I believe the Saviour was on that occasion speaking of the value of one soul, who should not be lost.

Cast your mind on the Parable of the Prodigal Son. When the good son felt threatened by the return of his erring brother, his father said to him: “Yes, it is wonderful your brother has repented and is back but make no mistake, all that I have is yours because you did not stray (Luke 15:31,32).

Consider the insight regarding this concept: “There is no justification for the inference that a repentant sinner is to be given precedence over a righteous soul who had resisted sin; were such the way of God, then Christ, the one sinless Man, would be surpassed in the Father’s esteem by regenerate offenders.”  (James Talmage, “Jesus the Christ”, p 461)

The reward for righteousness is this: if the Saviour came to your Ward next Sunday, and you were one of the faithful, He would gather you in His arms and bless you for your faithfulness. I am convinced of this because of President Joseph F. Smith’s vision of the spirit world.

When the Saviour arrived in the spirit world following His triumphant mortal mission, the multitude of FAITHFUL spirits who ‘awaited the hour of their deliverance from the chains of death’ rejoiced and bowed before Him acknowledging Him as the Redeemer and Deliverer, their countenance shone and they sang praises unto His holy name (D&C 138:18,23,24).

Was it not fitting that after the rejection, humiliation, derision and torture of the Garden and the cross at the hands of sinners, the Saviour would come to the faithful who rejoiced in His sacrifice, who believed in Him, who accepted Him, who loved Him??? Did they not deserve to be the ones He came to?

The Saviour never went to the unjust and the ungodly in the spirit world and to them His voice was not raised for they resided where the darkness reigned (vs 20,21,37) but following such heart rendering joy, the never ending merciful heart of the Saviour of the world would not forget that He atoned for them also and so to them He sent ‘the spirits of the prophets who had testified of Him in the flesh’ to proclaim His power of deliverance (vs 28,29,30,36).

The lesson is this: the danger is in straying. Every repentant soul can come back and recoup what he had lost but not all do. The gravity of sin is very real and some never can catch up to those who never stray hence the promise of eternal life can be lost.

The Saviour did not come to earth just for the sinners but also for those who would believe. He came to offer salvation to all but if you are one of the faithful, know also that you are one of the “favourites of heaven”  (Joseph Smith, Lectures On Faith, Lecture 6, p 66)

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Home by David Bowman)

SAMPLING GETHSEMANE

 

“Our unity with the divine presence brings us peace and comfort, at first through the Holy Ghost. But that is not all; for not only the Holy Ghost may abide with us, but the good Master too: “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.”  (John 14:18)

“The term ‘comfortless’ in this passage of the New Testament is translated from the Greek term for ‘orphans’, suggesting that the Saviour might have said, “I will not leave you orphaned”. This usage would underscore the parent-child relationships between Christ and His followers, and it echoes the sense of belonging and parent-like bonding…

“Among the Lord’s most intimate and personal reassurances to us are his words in modern revelation to the children of Christ, teaching us that belonging to Him in this doctrinally based sense is the ultimate source of safety and peace – the spiritual fulfilment of our belonging: “Fear not, little children, for ye are mine, and I have overcome the world, and you are of them that my Father hath given me; and none of them that my Father hath given me shall be lost.” (D&C 50:41-42)”

- Bruce C. Hafen, "The Belonging Heart" p 148-149

I wondered why You were absent

When I most needed Thee;

I felt so alone in my suffering,

Yet You promised You’d be with

 us in everything.

 

I thought I was in my own

Garden of Gethsemane,

Until I saw Your footprints

And Your drops of blood

that had eluded me.

 

I looked around and I understood

You knew every tree,

Every shrub, even every blade

Of grass in Your vicinity.

I was in Your garden, not mine,

That beckoned me.

 

I realised You are there still

Praying for my weak soul

to come to Thee;

I will come, I will honour Thee;

Let me first sit under this tree

A while and reflect upon Your suffering.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: My Child by David Bowman)

BLESSED SORROW

 

When I was a very enthusiastic convert in the Church at 18 years of age, I was convinced that if I was obedient to the Gospel teachings, my life would be a dream, a picture of perfection, devoid of hardship and pain. This of course, never happened.

Very seldom do we reflect on our first parents to remind ourselves of the reality of life. I read an amazing poem this week, which left me in tears, written by Arta Romney Ballif called “Lamentation” in which she imagined Eve’s experience of losing her two sons. The poem depicts her cries for understanding and through it, her quest to know God, something we all experience. The poem is long but I have edited it lightly for the sake of this post:

God said, “BE FRUITFUL, AND MULTIPLY”

And God said, “I WILL GREATLY MULTIPLY THY SORROW”

Thy sorrow, sorrow, sorrow –

I have gotten a man from the Lord

I have traded the fruit of the garden for fruit of my body

For a laughing bundle of humanity.

 

Adam, where are the boys?

Where is Abel?

He is long caring for his flocks.

Are the ewes lambing in this storm?

 

Why your troubled face, Adam? Are you ill?

Why so pale, so agitated?

Dead?  What is dead?  Merciful God!

 

I am trying to understand.

You said, “Abel is dead.”

But I am skilled with herbs….

Herbs will not heal?  Dead?

 

And Cain? Where is Cain?

Listen to that thunder.

Cain cursed?

God said, “A fugitive and a vagabond?”

But God can’t do that.

They are my sons, too.

I gave them birth in the valley of pain.

 

This is his home

This the soil he loved

Where he toiled for golden wheat

For tasseled corn.

 

To the hill country?

Quick, we must find him

I worry, thinking of him wandering

With no place to lay his head.

Cain cursed? A wanderer, a roamer?

 

Abel, my son dead?

And Cain, my son, a fugitive?

Two sons Adam, we had two sons

Both – oh, Adam – multiply sorrow.

 

Dear God, why?

Tell me again about the fruit.

Please tell me again,

Why?

“Ultimately, the gospel of Jesus Christ was not given us primarily to PREVENT our pain. The gospel was given us to HEAL our pain. That is the promise of the scriptures: the Atonement not only heals us – it can sanctify our trying experiences to our growth.

“Our doctrine is not just that adversity can help us learn and grow; rather, it is that Christ, because of what flows from the redemption, gives us the power to make weak things strong, to sift beauty from the ashes of our lives.”

-          Bruce C. Hafen, “The Belonging Heart”, p 90-1

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Eve by Rose Datoc Dall)