Posted on 03/17/2010 2:50:32 PM PDT by reaganaut
I write today for my son and other young men about what an extraordinary privilege it is to be an Aaronic Priesthood holder. You have been ordained and given POWER, by someone with authority from God, to act in God’s name on the earth today.
You know all about superheroes. It’s fun to watch movies and see the powers superheroes like Spiderman, Batman and Superman have. But that’s just the movies and not real.
However, from the moment you are ordained a deacon in the Aaronic Priesthood, you are given more power than all the superheroes in the world combined -- and it is REAL power. It’s a special power, of course, and it can only be used if you are living the commandments.
It’s also a power that lets you help others, but you can’t use it for selfish reasons: to get things or do things that Heavenly Father doesn’t want done. However, when you use your priesthood power righteously, wonderful things will happen and you will see miracles, from simple to awe-inspiring, in your life.
What does it mean to be ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood? First, it means God has enormous confidence in you. Imagine a powerful king who rules over millions of people telling you he trusts you so much that he is going to give you his signet ring.
When you have his ring you have the authority and power to do things in the king’s name. That king would have to love you very much and he would have to have enormous faith that you will make good decisions and do what is right.
But this is not a make believe situation; it’s real. Priesthood is the greatest power in the universe and our Heavenly king, God, will trust you with his power throughout your life as long as you remain worthy. He expects you to be sober, to keep the commandments, share the gospel and use priesthood power to help and serve others.
Second, more than the fact that you have power, being an Aaronic Priesthood holder means that you have duties and responsibilities given you. God requires you to do certain things and you will answer to him somedayabout how well you did what he asked you to do.
You can still have fun and enjoy life, but he wants you to be serious in representing him, honoring the priesthood and setting a righteous example for others.
A good way to understand what it means when you are ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood is to consider some of the responsibilities and blessings that come to you as a deacon, a teacher and a priest. All young men ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood hold the keys of the ministering of angels.
This is a literal promise and at times angels with attend and watch over you although you will not necessarily see them.
As a deacon you are to pass the sacrament, watch over the church, bear testimony of Christ, warn, expound, exhort and invite all members to come unto Christ. To do this you will need to keep the commandments, and carefully study the scriptures and the teachings of today’s prophets and apostles.
You are charged with helping the bishop by gathering fast offerings, caring for those in need, fellowshipping quorum brethren, and strengthening and uplifting the members.
When you become a teacher, under the direction of your priesthood leaders, you are to prepare the sacrament and are charged with speaking well of others and strengthening members by encouraging them to live the commandments.
You too warn, expound, exhort, teach and invite all to come unto Christ by home teaching, speaking in church, being an example of righteousness and integrity, and speaking kindly about others.
A priest adds to these duties baptizing and administering the sacrament. He is commissioned to visit members in their homes and to urge them to pray and attend to their family duties.
Isn’t it amazing how much the Lord trusts the young men in the church and how much he depends on them?
When Wilford Woodruff went on his first mission, he "went out as a priest, and my companion as an elder, and we traveled thousands of miles, and had many things manifested to us.
"I desire to impress upon you the fact that it does not make any difference whether a man is a priest or an apostle, if he magnifies his calling. A priest holds the key of the ministering of angels. Never in my life, as an apostle, as a seventy, or as an elder, have I ever had more of the protection of the Lord than while holding the office as a priest.
"The Lord revealed to me by visions, by revelations, and by the Holy Spirit, many things that lay before me.”
What a wonderful honor it is to hold the Aaronic Priesthood and how important it is to do everything in your power to always be worthy of this great privilege given you by God.
LOL
Joey Smith and somer buddies were in a canoe that tipped over and they almost got drowned
One of the idiots with him decided that he saw the devil at the time or something...
So from that idiot joey smith wrote a doctrine denouncing the waters and that its dangerous to travel on water...
However thaty didnt include CANALS (as in Erie etc) where you could just as easily get drowned LOL
Anyhoo, missionaries are not allowed to go swimming while they are on a mission etc...
Which base ???
How very romantic :-)
My ancestors also came over from Ireland but in the 1850’s. We have names and facts but no stories.
I’m sure they’ve all been posthumously baptised into the LDS church by now.
By 1890 the Church in St. George realized it had made a big mistake in accepting wine and grapes in its tithing office.
__________________________________________
In SLC Brigham Young accepted a black slave as a tithe...
His name was Green flakes and he was brought to Utah by his “owners”
he actually drove the carriage Brigham Young travelled in ...
So BY knew there were slaves in his theocracy...
After a few years his “massa” died so the widow gave him as her tithe to the mormon corporation...
BY didnt say no...
Later he escaped into California...
Hill
Proof. Let’s start with Archaeological proof of ANYTHING in the BoM (nope), how about 100% true prophecies (req’d in the Bible) from the LDS ‘prophets’ (nope), how about the gold plates (nope), how about the Book of Abraham matching the scrolls (nope), the bones of Zelph (nada).
Then you cite “moroni’s promise” and claim personal revelation. Let’s look at that closer, shall we? Moroni’s promise is self fulfilling. If you do not get the answer the Missionaries tell you there must be something wrong with YOU, not the BoM.
It assumes you will know it is ‘true’ if you have...
a sincere heart,
real intent,
having faith in Christ,
THEN he will manifest the truth of it unto you.
Christians accept the idea of personal revelation but we recognize that if a revelation DOES NOT AGREE with the Bible, then it is NOT OF GOD.
Praying the BoM is ‘true’ is NOT BIBLICAL. God doesn’t tell us to pray to determine if something is true, we are told to compare doctrines with Scripture (the Bible) to judge if it is true.
Our feelings can and do lead us astray and therefore is not a good marker if something is ‘true’ or not.
He married a girl who was born here of Palatine Germans who had arrived in July 1710...
She was a heroine also in her own right...
20 years after her hero husband had died foir his country, the American revolution arrived on her doorstep...
She was arrested and put into a rebal/Patriot prison in Albany along with her children and young grandchildren...
her trading post and lands were burnt and confiscated...
When the house burnt an invalid son was trapped inside and died...
a granddaughter died in the prison...
They were let out of prison because St Leger was coming..
they escaped north to canada with him...
She went on to be a heroine as a Loyalist...
She spoke the Mohawk languages and was sent back down by herself to the “castles” on the Mohawk River to convince them to help the British..
and she came down a second time to warn them to escape into Canada towards the end of the war as the white men would go back to killing them
She is credited with saving many lives..
another son was wounded that time at Stone Arabia
She is listed by the UELAC as a Loyalist...
I can get a certificate for her
I have FIVE Loyalist ancestors...
:)
United Empire Loyalist Association of Canada
Do you agree with the author one should not pray to God to know whether the Book of Mormon is true?
- - - - - - - - - - - -
I do. To pray about a book that contradicts the Bible is not necessary and unscriptural.
The Bereans SEARCHED the Scriptures, not prayed about them and nowhere in the Bible are we told to.
Do you pray to know if robbing a bank is wrong?
IIRC, magritte is an ex-Christian who is now Noachide (’righteous gentile’).
I’m sure they’ve all been posthumously baptised into the LDS church by now.
_____________________________________
I know most of mine have been...
against their will and 1st Amendment rights...
Whats one small bucket of water when the mormons dead dunk your whole body...
and after youre dead so you cant fight back and protect yourself...
at least Saundra’s friend lived to tell about it...
Great post...
Is there a verse about the “burning-in-the-bosum” ???
Or is that just made up tradition and not doctrine ???
wow, our family geneology is just a bunch of dry facts.
We can trace our German side back to Germany at the time of the French Revolution, then we just disappear.
We used to like to imagine that we were French Nobility who fled France (figures) and reinvented ourselves in Germany.
Oh well, between the French wine and the German and Irish beer, I could never be a Mormon!
If your family were Huguenots they may well have been French nobility...
Huguenote fled into the Protestant countries...Germany, Holland, England etc...
They changed the spelling etc of their names to hide out in the new country...
Ive got lots of beer and wine in my veins from my tavern owning beer making ancestors
One ancestor had a trading post where he would have made his good German beer..
LOL
One of my ancestors made some of the first beer in NYC...
Red Lion Beer...
He had a tavern near Wall street..
He was mentioned with his tavern in a PBS program about early NYC about a or so ago year ago...
His name was Isaac De Forest...
My 8th g grandfather...
I wont
I have some of those too
:)
GOtta put my French/Irish/German-American self to bed. Good night. You’re a blessing to me :-)
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.
you’re a blessing to me too sweetie
(((((HUGS)))))
:)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.