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.
Thanks for that updated list, Elsie...I’ve saved it for future use.
Indisputable fact? Not only redundant but false.
There are two exceptions to the inheritance rule in biblical times: If a man has no sons, his daughters are to inherit, but they must marry a man of their own tribe so that the wealth stays "in the family".
The geneology of Jesus in the gospel of Luke is diffrent than that in Matthew because it is the geneology of Mary's line.
Mary had no brothers so she inherited her father's wealth and married Joseph, also of her tribe (Judah).
There is not Greek word for "son-in-law"". For all intents and purposes, Joseph became the son of Heli, Mary's father, and the line is then traced back to David.
Thats Jesus came from the line of David is prophecied in the Old Testament so here we see that not only "legally" (by being the adopted son of Joseph), but but blood (thru the line of Mary), Jesus is indeed from David's line.
Yes, a false God. The finite, ex-human god of the Mormons. He'll fix you right up while Satan laughs with delight.
I also find that even the most Conservative of folks have joined the Oprah Winfrey school of Christian thought when it comes to defending the faith. Conflict is distasteful in the current go along to get along mind set we are enduring. This too shall pass and fads do not change universal truths or directives, in this case that we are charged with defending our faith and even more so our brother Christ from those who oppose or distort his mission and Church for their, or the Evil one’s, ends.
At some point in time the reality of what the LDS stands for sinks in and even the most agreeable Christian, finally realizing exactly what stories and slander they are saying about our most precious family member, finally has enough.
Have you read the Old Testament prophecies of the coming Messiah? There are about 300.
Which new testament? The one that has passed virtually intact to us through 2000+ years or the "restored" one that Joseph Smith cobbled together?
It's a trick question of course because I know the lDS teach that the Jesus and the apostles had the Mormon scriptures in their hands and that the Christians twisted it around and lost part of it.
Thus it needed to be restored.
I never read anywhere in the bible where Jesus told us that we should cultivate smarts or pray for more brains.
Just truth.
Let’s talk about what’s inside the Hill Cumorah.
Fox watching hen house is not a valid scholarly methodology.
Where are the peer reviews by independent sources.
This should easy if LDS/BYU scholarship is valid.
Upon publication of their “discoveries” the independent scientific community would want to validate the findings and further the research.
Where is that exactly?
Which one...
I think that it was Paul writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit warned us to test everything, hold fast to that which is true and beware of (Satan) preachers dressed in wolf’s clothing seeking to devour those people with itchy ears wanting to believe what they say... only thing we can do is pray for those people caught up in cults like LDS and JW’s .....
Jesus said: "It is finished"
But if you don't think it was enough, keep looking.
For some reason, when to spiritual matters, even the most brilliant folk seem to get a little “touchedâ€...
When I was mormon, this saying was heard often..."The glory of God is intelligence"...Doctrine and Covenants 93:36
Funny, I haven't run across that statement in all my research for a long time.
Amen
There is more than one Hill Cumorah?
***Mary’s lineage is irrelevant in these regards...***
Well it can’t be through Joseph (by way of Solomon) as the scripture says no son of Jechonias would ever sit on the throne of David.
That leaves Mary, the daughter of Heli by way of Nathan.
The is the “real” one and several “theortical” ones...
Cumorah (also called Mormon Hill) is a drumlin near Manchester, New York, where Joseph Smith, Jr. said he found a set of golden plates which he translated and published as the Book of Mormon. In the text of the Book of Mormon, “Cumorah” (originally Camorah,1830 edition) is a land situated in “a land of many waters, rivers and fountains”.[1] In this land, one hill is named the “hill Cumorah”. The Book of Mormon describes the hill Cumorah as a place where two hundred thirty thousand Nephite soldiers were killed in a final battle with the Lamanites,[2] and where centuries earlier, the last battle of the Jaredites took place, which destroyed their civilization. The hill “Cumorah” (its Nephite name) was previously called the hill Ramah by the Jaredites.[3]
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church)—the largest of the Latter Day Saint churches that use the Book of Mormon—has no official position on the geography of the Book of Mormon, nor is there currently any official claim of correspondence between the hill mentioned in the Book of Mormon and the hill in New York.[4] Numerous LDS Church authorities have, in the past, indicated that Cumorah of the Book of Mormon resides in the Finger Lakes region of western New York.[5] It has been argued that LDS scripture also locates Cumorah in this region.[6] In an 1842 letter to the Church that has been canonized into LDS Church scripture, Joseph Smith stated that the church had received, “the gospel … truth out of the earth … glad tidings from Cumorah”.[7] Smith did not specifically refer to the Hill Cumorah in this letter.[8]
In the 20th century, scholars from the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS Church) and later the LDS Church speculated that the Book of Mormon’s Hill Cumorah is in southern Mexico, Central America or South America.[9] This hypothesis has been controversial and has been opposed by some leaders and members of the church[10] but embraced by others.[11]
Some mainstream scholars who specialize in 19th-century American literature place the original literary setting for the Book of Mormon among the mythic mound builder people of North America.[12] Accepting the mound-builder setting, at least one LDS researcher has pointed out that no proposed Central or South American setting for the Book of Mormon is likely to be accepted by mainstream academia as a legitimate representation.[13]
Moroni was the lone survivor (according to Smith’s alleged translation) of the Nephites Indian tribe that was destroyed by the Lamanites at Hill Cumorah, near Palmyra, New York, in a tremendous battle, during which hundreds of thousands were slain with the sword. (B.O.M. Mormon 6:11,12,13)
No artifacts, or any evidence that such a battle took place at this location have ever been found. This is one of the fantasies written in the "Book of Mormon," which the Church Authorities teach as true and authentic history.
It's funny how the LDS have refused to allow archeologists to examine the evidence of such a mighty battle that must surely be there. What further proof would one need to substantiate all JS's claims?
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