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.
BTW as a mormon female you dont have the mormon pesthood...
so you dont have the authority, the power, the discernmemt to decide what mormons believe...
But not to worry...
as a Christian with authority directly from the Christian Jesus of the Christian Bible...
I’ll help you out...
Stick around me, kid and I’ll pass onto you what I know and hear from the Holy Spirit...
:)
Please do so. What is the "Gospel?"
I'll be waiting.
We Mormons are a peculiar people. Indeed.
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Well nobody every said dead dunking was normal...
and polygamy is the only way to get into the mormon after life..
Now that is a dizzy doozy...
and Satan and the mormon jesus are brothers ???
Odd...
And there are men living on the moon and the sun...
OOOOOKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK
and the mormon jesus sweated to save the mormons...
Ah Huh
Yessirreee Bob err Joey...
The mormons are pagan nutz...
Orson Pratt was married to ten women. At age 57 Pratt married a sixteen year old girl, his tenth wife Margaret Graham, younger than his daughter Celestia, causing his first wife Sarah, an outspoken critic of polygamy, to lash out in an 1877 interview,
| “ | Here was my husband, gray headed, taking to his bed young girls in mockery of marriage. Of course there could be no joy for him in such an intercourse except for the indulgence of his fanaticism and of something else, perhaps, which I hesitate to mention.[6] | ” |
Pratt and all of his wives and children struggled with poverty.[7]
In 1886, Orson's wife Sarah Pratt claimed in an interview that, while in Nauvoo, Illinois, Joseph Smith, Jr. was attracted to her and intended to make her "one of his spiritual wives" while Orson was in England on missionary service.[8] To Smith's proposal Sarah replied, "Am I called upon to break the marriage covenant … to my lawful husband! I never will. I care not for the blessings of Jacob, and I believe in NO SUCH revelations, neither will I consent under any circumstances. I have one good husband, and that is enough for me."[9] Pratt issued an ultimatum to Smith: "Joseph, if you ever attempt any thing of the kind with me again, I will tell Mr. Pratt on his return home. Depend upon it, I will certainly do it," [10] a warning that elicited the threat from Smith, "Sister Pratt, I hope you will not expose me; if I am to suffer, all suffer; so do not expose me. … If you should tell, I will ruin your reputation, remember that." After her husband Orson returned from England, Pratt later claimed an incident between Pratt and Smith at her home occurred, and "Sarah ordered the Prophet out of the house, and the Prophet used obscene language to her [declaring that he had found Bennett in bed with her]," according to Sarah Pratt's neighbor, Mary Ettie V. Smith.[10] Sarah told her husband about the incident; Orson took Sarah's side and confronted Smith, who denied Sarah's allegation and responded that she was Bennett's lover.[7] The resulting estrangement between Smith and Orson Pratt, who stood by Sarah in preference to the denials of Joseph, who warned his disciple that "if [Orson] did believe his wife and follow her suggestions he would go to hell,[11].
However, in the local and Mormon press, Sarah Pratt was accused of having had an adulterous relationship, not with Smith, but with Bennett, and numerous affidavits were printed in local and pro-Mormon Nauvoo publications,[12][13] including the leading councils of the church and from members such as Jacob B. Backenstos, a relative of the sheriff of Hancock County. Van Wagoner has dismissed the adultery charges against Sarah Pratt as "highly improbable" and that J. B. Backenstos's affidavit stating that Bennett continued the adulterous relationship with Sarah Pratt after Orson returned from England could "be dismissed as slander."[7]
Orson Pratt became estranged from the church and Smith. Wilford Woodruff stated that "Dr. John Cook Bennett was the ruin of Orson Pratt".[14] Van Wagoner and Walker note that, on August 20, 1842, "after four days of fruitless efforts at reconciliation, the Twelve excommunicated Pratt for 'insubordination' and Sarah for 'adultery'".[15]
Orson soon returned to the church and denounced Bennett. Van Wagoner cites a letter written by Orson's brother Parley P. Pratt,
| “ | Bro. Orson Pratt is in the church and always has been & has the confidence of Joseph Smith and all good men who know him....As to Bennett or his book [The History of the Saints, 1842] I consider it a little stooping to mention it. It is beneath contempt & would disgrace the society of hell and the Devil....His object was vengeance on those who exposed his iniquity.[7] | ” |
Orson wrote a postscript to his brother's letter: "J.C. Bennett has published lies concerning myself & family & the people with which I am connected".[7]
To: Saundra Duffy
This is what I believe and I am not ashamed to shout it from the rooftops.
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I’d like to see that...
shall we say tomorrow at noon on the roof of the mormon temple in Salt Lake City ???
I’ll be watching the news...
49 posted on Wednesday, February 10, 2010 1:20:53 AM by Tennessee Nana
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Courtesy PING to # 525
I will be happy to climb up on my rooftop and shout about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
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You promised me that SIX WEEKS AGO...
I’m still waiting...
We would all be lost if it weren’t for Him and His Atoning Sacrifice.
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If that so called “atoning sacrifice” of the under arm sweat of your mormon jesus is all you are relying on, then yes...
You are still lost...
Heck, I’d be impressed if she’d just tell us in print on FreeRepublic.
Please, please, please, Sandy - - tell us, what is the Gospel?
Do you need a hint? http://lds.org
Real Jesus Christ placemarker
Why is this offensive to you?
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Kid I’m laughing my butt off...
I’m not a bit offended...
But I also feel sorry for you...
Why are you offensive when I inform your non-mormon pesthood self and therefore non-discerning, that you are believing a lie and you are deceiived by religious demons ???
Yes, I will shout it from the rooftops.
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Again with the empty promises...
But then you dont have anything of substance to shout about...
How do you shout anything from those pointy wedding cake type roofs?
Its Saundra’s shout not mine...
she’s buying...
What’ll ya have
:)
Oh wrong kind of shout...
Well i guess when a mormon boasts its up to the boastees (the ones who were boated to) to pick the time and place...
And then the boaster comes across (or not)
I just figured the most comfortable place for Saundra to do her shouting would be the roof of the SLC mormon temple...
Look at the temple recommend brownie points she would earn err work for herself
Ya think I should give her the option of St Patrick’s Cathedral ??? A St Patrick Day’s theme ???
Do the Baptist’s have any real big tall buildings ???
Saundra wants a big crowd...she wants to be seen... mormon PR is always big...
:)
I worry about that shout if Sandy shouts what she is writing on FR (with the exception “I am a mormon”), they may boot her out.
Ya does yer boasting, ya pays yer money, ya takes yer chances...
You think the Catholics will be more understanding ???
OK let’s make it St Patricks cathedral...
Saundra can tell the Catholics up close what Joey Smith thought of them
I worry about that shout if Sandy shouts what she is writing on FR (with the exception “I am a mormon”), they may boot her out.
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I thought she was suppose to “bear her testimony” ???
(possible accompanying comments censorred)
If she does it during so called “sacrament time” it should be OK..
Monson might get up there with her...he loves to preen...
And Larry King...the ratings will go through the foof...
Hmmm bad choice of words...
Why would God choose as his prophet the adopted son of a pagan princess, a man who killed another man and tried to cover it up?
Why would God choose as an apostle a zealous bigot who persecuted innocent Christians and assented in their deaths?
Why would God choose any of us for any purpose, miserable sinners that we are?
Whatever his faults, Joseph Smith was chosen by God to be his prophet. I am not inclined to question God's choices.
(You need not respond to the latter point: I will take it as given that you do not believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet. We will simply have to agree to disagree.)
By the way, your logic is still faulty. If God chooses to reveal anything to us by whatever means, we can rest assured that it will give no advantage to Satan.
Why would God choose any of us for any purpose, miserable sinners that we are?
The mormon god makes conditions...the Christian God loves us unconditionally and chooses us..sins and all. Do you not know that there was only ONE perfect Man?
"Jesus Comforts His Disciples 1"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. John 14;1-3
He doesn't say I will come back and take you to be with me...IF....
He doesn't set little chores for us to do, nor set mortal men to judge our "worthiness" as does the mormon god.
"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Rom 10:9
There has been no "restoration". Christ died that we may live.
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