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.
Here’s a question - do the uncompressed spirits have genders?
LOL!
Oh well that is what happens to some in that they are walking in darkness at noon-day.
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Since you posted the exact same thing on another thread, I will just repeat my response.
Exactly, Resty! So come on out of the darkness of Mormonism and into the Light of Christ!
BTW, don’t you think it is arrogant for the LDS to call themselves High Priests when the Bible is SO clear that Christ is our ONLY High Priest now?
It seems like they are trying to take Christ’s place in atoning for sin (the role of the HP in the OT).
Think about it.
I’ll be right there.
I guess maybe they dumped a pile of chocolate bars onto the pre-existant dining room table and all the uncompressed spirits who shrieked and made a dive for them were proven to be female pirits.
It woulda worked with me :-)
BTW, don’t you think it is arrogant for the LDS to call themselves High Priests when the Bible is SO clear that Christ is our ONLY High Priest now?
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BTW, don’t you think it is arrogant for Resty to teach mormonism without the authority of the mormon pesthood ???
Does her bishop know what shes doing ???
That is so true. Very humbling.
Well you do not have the original manuscripts only copies 2 or 3 times removed.
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And the LDS don’t have the Gold Plates.
At least we have MSS to reference.
“sounds more like the tradition of men continuing to guard their cash cow!” [resty]
ROFL resty. NO ONE goes into biblical studies to get rich. Believe me, you do it for love not money.
“The Lord only restored ONE True Church in the Latter Days on earth all the rest are wantabees! “[Resty]
How do you know SLC isn’t a wannabe. There are other breakoffs of the LDS that are much, much closer to what JS founded.
“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. “ [Resty]
Resty, everything you cited is from D&C, those are the words of Smith, not God. If you want to prove your point that you have to ‘keep the commandments’ to have the Holy Spirit, you need to quote the BIBLE. Otherwise, it is false teachings.
And the key that I have found is that priesthood is really linked closely with our roles as adopted children of God.
The apostle Paul emphasized that we are to be adopted children
-- he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will (Eph. 1:5)
-- and not children of some pre-existence; hence, even the Book of Mormon like passages from Mosiah talks about Mormons becoming children -- NOT that they always have been children).
In fact, Paul describes this adoption as future tense: we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. (Rom. 8:23)
Aside from Paul's verses about spiritual adoption, the key verse I am talking about here is John 1:12-13:
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.
The Greek word, "right" there is exousia...authority...right.
Resty or Logo, why would your God want to withhold the authority He gives His children? If we're all His children, as Lds maintain, why would He say, "It's ONLY for this sect, but NONE of the others"???
Jesus, through John, indicates that this "childhood of God" doesn't arrive through "natural descent" -- like being born a Mormon. It's only through being "born of God." [And again, if this was talking about some pre-existence, Paul's verses about being "adopted" as His children would be ludicrous]
Finally, I see our God as not being legalistic and that -- say an 11 yo (pre-Lds "aaronic priesthood" age) could immediately receive the promise found in Romans 8:14-16: ...those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.
“I find I often know more than most active LDS.”
I find that you most certainly do not. For example, Patriarchal Blessings. CTR.
It is interesting that you said “lose friends”. I have sisters and brothers in Christ that have come and gone in my church but our connection in Christ does not change.
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And that is how is should be, but in the LDS it is so much a ‘good old boys’ club and if you leave (become an apostate) then you become tainted, evil, a sinner, an ‘anti’.
When someone first leaves or goes ‘inactive’, then often they will be ‘love bombed’. Members of your ward you have never really known will show up with cookies, gifts, send cards, visit, whatever, trying to ‘love’ you back into the church.
When it becomes clear you are not coming back (especially if you have become a Christian), they drop you, lest you hurt their testimony.
There were a few close friends who stuck by me, but it was 4 out of 40 or more. The rest just ‘wrote me off’.
It is sad, but it is also telling of how much of the LDS church is social.
“The LDS ‘christ’ is NOT MY SAVIOR!”
I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He died for all of us. He suffered and shed His precious Blood for all of us, including Mormons. This is Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation for all mankind. The Holy Ghost has sealed this in my heart.
I have printed the Articles of Faith. This is what I believe. I still don’t know what you believe except that you believe Mormons are all going to hell despite the fact that we cling to Jesus Christ as our Savior and Redeemer.
This is so sad.
The Bible is perfectly clear on most things, most denominational differences are matters of organization and government or matters that are considered non salvific (consicence).
All Christian denominations agree on the basics of the Person, work, and nature of Jesus Christ.
The LDS do not therefore they are not Christian.
My analysis of James 1 is correct and agrees with most Bible Scholars for the past 200 years or more.
You are obviously reading it through the filters of the LDS.
There is a difference between asking God for wisdom (and even discernment) and praying to know if a book (or a doctrine) is ‘true’.
If you have to pray about something the Bible already is clear on (’another gospel delivered by an angel of light’) then you are showing a very clear lack of trust of God.
Saundra,
“I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He died for all of us. He suffered and shed His precious Blood for all of us, including Mormons.”
Are you referring to the Mormon Jesus:
- Created Being, like every angel and person (not God)
- came to earth as an ordinary man (and not God)
- Didn’t have an infinite life to lay down for anyone (since he was simply a man)
- Couldn’t therefore be a Savior to anyone
- worked his way up to mormon godhood, to join the billions of other gods in the mormon pantheon of gods
OR
The REAL Biblical Jesus:
- Never created or made
- God from eternity to eternity
- Came to earth, never losing his eternal Godhood
- Had an infinite, perfect, sinless life on earth
- Laid down His perfect, infinite life to pay for the sins of mankind
- Is Savior, therefore, to all who place faith in His Gracious Gift (the gospel)
- Ascended back to heaven after rising from the dead and sits at the right hand of God the Father
Which one are you not ashamed of Saundra?
The mormon jesus or the Real Jesus?
best,
ampu
Welcome to 2010!
Do you have a comment about the 1830's you'd like to make?
Of course!
So much for AUTHORITY!!
Did JS think he was IMMORTAL?
Not NEED any line of succession?
GOD's TRUE prophet afte JS' death; would have HELD the church together - just like JS claimed!
WHY didn't that happen??
Bears repeating.
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