Holding Aaronic Priesthood is an extraordinary privilege

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.

Well you do not have the original manuscripts only copies 2 or 3 times removed.”

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You simply do not know what textual criticism is and how we have our modern Bible.

sounds more like the tradition of men continuing to guard their cash cow!

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THAT means nothing. There’s over 150 mormon versions all claiming to be true. So? Most Christian denominations believe the same thing.

The Lord only restored ONE True Church in the Latter Days on earth all the rest are wantabees!

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“It takes the Holy Spirit to discern what is of the word of the Lord in the Bible there are many passages are not open ended, left to man to wonder and to cause a stumbling stone.”

Yes, but only Christians have the indwelling Holy Spirit, not mormons.

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How smuge even I recognize the the Holy Spirit witness to the Lord’s children!

To have the Holy Spirit as a constant companion one must strive to keep the Lord’s commandments and have a humble and contrite spirit.

D&C 121

45 Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven.

46 The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever.

You can hold fast AMPU to your precepts of men but I know these are the words of the Lord to His chilren who has ears to hear and to receive them!

2 Ne. 31: 12
12 And also, the voice of the Son came unto me, saying: He that is baptized in my name, to him will the Father give the Holy Ghost, like unto me; wherefore, follow me, and do the things which ye have seen me do.

Alma 9: 21
21 Having been visited by the Spirit of God; having conversed with angels, and having been spoken unto by the voice of the Lord; and having the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation, and also many gifts, the gift of speaking with tongues, and the gift of preaching, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the gift of translation;

3 Ne. 18: 36-37
36 And it came to pass that when Jesus had made an end of these sayings, he touched with his hand the Disciples whom he had chosen, one by one, even until he had touched them all, and spake unto them as he touched them.

37 And the multitude heard not the words which he spake, therefore they did not bear record; but the Disciples bare record that he gave them power to give the Holy Ghost. And I will show unto you hereafter that this record is true.

Moro. 2: 1-3
1 The words of Christ, which he spake unto his disciples, the twelve whom he had chosen, as he laid his hands upon them—

2 And he called them by name, saying: Ye shall call on the Father in my name, in mighty prayer; and after ye have done this ye shall have power that to him upon whom ye shall lay your hands, ye shall give the Holy Ghost; and in my name shall ye give it, for thus do mine apostles.

3 Now Christ spake these words unto them at the time of his first appearing; and the multitude heard it not, but the disciples heard it; and on as many as they laid their hands, fell the Holy Ghost.
D&C 20: 43
43 And to confirm the church by the laying on of the hands, and the giving of the Holy Ghost;

D&C 33: 15
15 And whoso having faith you shall confirm in my church, by the laying on of the hands, and I will bestow the gift of the Holy Ghost upon them.

D&C 35: 5-6
5 Thou didst baptize by water unto repentance, but they received not the Holy Ghost;
6 But now I give unto thee a commandment, that thou shalt baptize by water, and they shall receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, even as the apostles of old.

D&C 39: 23
23 And again, it shall come to pass that on as many as ye shall baptize with water, ye shall lay your hands, and they shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and shall be looking forth for the signs of my coming, and shall know me.

D&C 49: 14
14 And whoso doeth this shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, by the laying on of the hands of the elders of the church.

D&C 53: 3
3 Take upon you mine ordination, even that of an elder, to preach faith and repentance and remission of sins, according to my word, and the reception of the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands;

D&C 55: 1
1 Behold, thus saith the Lord unto you, my servant William, yea, even the Lord of the whole earth, thou art called and chosen; and after thou hast been baptized by water, which if you do with an eye single to my glory, you shall have a remission of your sins and a reception of the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands;

D&C 68: 25
25 And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized, that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents.

D&C 76: 52
52 That by keeping the commandments they might be washed and cleansed from all their sins, and receive the Holy Spirit by the laying on of the hands of him who is ordained and sealed unto this power;

D&C 84: 64
64 Therefore, as I said unto mine apostles I say unto you again, that every soul who believeth on your words, and is baptized by water for the remission of sins, shall receive the Holy Ghost.

Your ignorance knows no bounds.

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Saundra, ignorance means lack of knowledge. For me quite the opposite is true, I find I often know more than most active LDS, and that was true when I was LDS as well. I’m a bookworm.

Your post (above) is in response to my statement that the LDS used to teach (don’t think they do anymore) that baptism caused a ‘spiritual blood transfusion’, that was taught for a long time, but like so many ‘eternal principles’ of the LDS it gets shoved to the side.

This idea of spiritual blood transfusions covered several areas: the Lamanites becoming ‘white and delight-some’ (that was changed to pure later editions of the BoM), the blacks and the priesthood, and how non descendants of Aaron could hold a priesthood that was restricted to his descendants.

Here are some quotes about spiritual blood transfusions for you (and I have verified the sources and context).

http://www.utlm.org/newsletters/no73.htm

From the time of Joseph Smith until the present there has been a great deal said on this subject. In the History of the Church, vol. 3, page 380, we find these puzzling comments by Joseph Smith concerning a heavenly blood transfusion that the Gentiles must have: “...as the Holy Ghost falls upon one of the literal seed of Abraham, it is calm and serene; and his whole soul and body are only exercised by the pure spirit of intelligence; while the effect of the Holy Ghost upon a Gentile, is to purge out the old blood, and make him actually of the seed of Abraham. That man that has none of the blood of Abraham (naturally) must have a new creation by the Holy Ghost. In such a case, there may be more of a powerful effect upon the body, and visible to the eye, than upon an Israelite, while the Israelite at first might be far before the Gentile in pure intelligence.”

Brigham Young, the second prophet of the church, declared:

“Take a family of ten children, for instance, and you may find nine of them purely of the Gentile stock, and one son or one daughter in that family who is purely of the blood of Ephraim. It was in the veins of the father or mother, and was reproduced in the son or daughter, while all the rest of the family are Gentiles. You may think that is singular, but it is true.... Joseph Smith was a pure Ephraimite...

“Again, if a pure Gentile firmly believes the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and yields obedience to it, in such a case I will give you the words of the Prophet Joseph— ‘When the Lord pours out the Holy Ghost upon that individual he will have spasms, and you would think that he was going into fits.’

“Joseph said that the Gentile blood was actually cleansed out of their veins, and the blood of Jacob made to circulate in them; and the revolution and change in the system were so great that it caused the beholder to think they were going into fits.... we are of the House of Israel, of the royal seed, of the royal blood.” (Journal of Discourses, vol. 2, pages 268-69)

Please stop saying that I don’t know what I believe. And stop saying evil things about my Savior, that He is not my Savior, but rather is your Savior. It is both insulting to me and to my beloved Savior, Jesus Christ.

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I posted the full prayer earlier, just so there was no confusion. As far as everything else, You apparently are not aware of some of the teachings that I have cited (sourced). And that is OK, many rank and file LDS really have little idea of what the LDS church teaches outside of what they hear on Sundays. Quite honestly, your posts do NOT reflect LDS doctrine so either you are lying (which I don’t think) or you really have no idea. One or the other.

And it is possible that you do NOT believe what the LDS church teaches. If so, FANTASTIC. Come back to the real Body of Christ, and leave that evil group that is stunting your spiritual growth.

I AM NOT THE ONE SAYING EVIL THINGS ABOUT CHRIST, THE LDS ARE!!! The LDS ‘christ’ is NOT MY SAVIOR!

As far as insulting, how do you think it make ME (and other Christians) feel when the LDS insult my Savior by saying He atoned in the Garden, that He is our created ‘elder brother’, that He is, in fact, a lesser God, that He was a VICTIM, that He was probably married, that His shedding of blood on the Cross wasn’t enough and we still have to ‘do our part’, and that He is the ‘spirit brother’ of LUCIFER! (and I can source all of those).

THAT is what is insulting. The LDS insult Christ and other Christians all the time and then turn around and say ‘oh, well, we are the only REAL Christians. We are the only ones with the proper authority. You so-called Christians are just wannabes’. THAT is insulting.

So don’t appeal to me to stop, because I will tell the truth about LDS history and doctrine as long as they want to claim the are Christians too. I love my Savior too much to let a religion founded by a fraud and a conman to hijack HIS HOLY NAME!

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