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.
I’m sorry that you have allowed yourself to be deceived.
I’ve read several cases where LDS kids were murdered ....
Really? So how do you explain why a new LDS Aaronic priest had to get a "spiritual blood transfusion".
We've been given power by the very God of the universe Himself! Hallelujiah!
Why we have communion is also why the elements are important, they are symbolic.
All we can do is present the doctrines, and ask people to study and pray about them.
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But God does not tell us to pray about doctrine or even the Bible. Our feelings can and do lie to us.
Instead, we are commanded to search the scriptures (meaning Bible) and compare doctrines to the Bible. The LDS fail to do that.
I did study and research and ponder and that is why I am a Christian and no longer a Mormon.
In spite of my earlier post which was a little flip, I DO believe the elements are important. I tend to overreact to those who make an idol of them however. For instance, the Catholics fairly recently refused to make gluten-free communion wafers (rice would be fine), effectively denying communion to those with celiac disease.
They also refuse to budge on the issue of wine - it must be alcoholic. This can be a problem for, well, alcoholics.
The form should NEVER trump the function. Sabbath was made for man, not the other way around.
The LDS Aaronic priesthood is given to 12 year old boys who continue in it until they are ordained ‘elders’ (usually when they serve an LDS mission). So this is written to young teenage boys.
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So then mormon women are subservient to their own 12 year old mormon sons ???
and female teachers have to take cheek from upstart pre-adolescent idiot delinquints ???
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
so much for the 5th Commandment and what Jesus and Paul had to say about obeying your mother...
Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you. Exodus 20:12
Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you. Deuteronomy 5:16
Jesus replied, “And why do you mormons, for the sake of your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God?
For instance, God says, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’ But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’ In this way, you say they don’t need to honor their parents. And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’” Matthew 15:3-9
“Which ones?” the mormons inquired. Jesus replied, “’Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, Honor your father and mother” Matthew 19:18, 19
And Jesus said to the mormons: “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’ But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: ‘Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban’ (that is, a gift devoted to God), then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.” Mark 7:9-13
“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. But to answer your question, you know the commandments: ‘You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. You must not cheat anyone. Honor your father and mother.’” Mark 10:18, 19
“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’” Luke 18:19,20
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother.” This is the first commandment with a promise: If you honor your father and mother, “things will go well for you, and you will have a long life on the earth.” Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. Ephesians 6:1-4
The LDS see communion as a renewal of the baptismal covenant to ‘take upon them the name of Christ’ and ‘keep His commandments’.
But the use of leavened bread and water, to me, shows it is just another way the denigrate rather than elevate Christ.
back later
What sort of “acts” does an LDS junior high kid do in the name of God? They can’t even match two socks at that age.
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Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
I guess they can “prophecy” themselves less homework...
“Teacher, the mormon god wants me to watch American Idol tonight”
“Oh OK then”
Yeah I bet...
Priesthood: “The Power of Godliness”
The “power of godliness” was restored to the earth in 1829, when Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery received the priesthood by the hands of heavenly messengers. John the Baptist, the last legitimate holder of the Aaronic, or lesser priesthood, conferred it on Joseph and Oliver on May 15, 1829, on the banks of the Susquehannah River in upper Pennsylvania. Later, the two men received the Melchizedek, or higher priesthood by ordination from Peter, James, and John, the last legitimate holders of the keys of that priesthood. In this way, the “power of godliness,” or the power to come back into the presence of God, was restored to the earth.
Why were the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods restored?
The purpose of the Aaronic Priesthood, named for Aaron, the brother of Moses, is to open to us the gates of the celestial kingdom of God. Encompassed in the Aaronic priesthood is the authority to baptize and to administer the sacrament, which is a renewal of the baptismal covenant.
The purpose of the Melchizedek Priesthood, named for Melchizedek, the great high priest who conferred the priesthood on Abraham, is to confer the gift of the Holy Ghost and to open to us the gates of exaltation, or the highest heaven of the celestial kingdom of God. The celestial kingdom contains three heavens or degrees; “and in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood [meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage]; and if he does not, he cannot obtain it” (D&C 131:1-3). Only by the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood can the ordinance of eternal marriage be performed.
Thus, the task of these two priesthoods is to prepare people for the presence of our Father in Heaven. His authorized servants are sent into the world to do bring our Father’s children to the temple, so that they may be completely qualified for eternal life and exaltation. No work is more significant than this — it is truly “a marvelous work and a wonder.”
Adam received both the Melchizedek and Aaronic Priesthoods, which were passed from father to son through Enoch and Noah to Melchizedek, and from Melchizedek to Abraham to Moses. The Lord wanted to confer both priesthoods on the children of Israel at the time of Moses, but because of their hardened hearts, they declined to receive the blessings and responsibilities of the Melchizedek Priesthood. Nevertheless, the Lord in his mercy gave them the Aaronic Priesthood so they could continue to qualify themselves for his kingdom and prepare for even greater blessings (see D&C 84:6-28).
The priesthood ceased among men with the growth of pride, corruption, and sloth in the Church after the time of Christ. Thus, to re-open the gates of salvation and exaltation, the priesthood had to be restored. Duly authorized administrators were sent from the presence of God to confer the priesthood once again on living men. God’s promise is that it will “never be taken again from the earth” (D&C 13:1).
I have a One Hundred and Seventy Years of LDS history on my fathers side that I have very little information on, just trying to catch up.
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When stick around, grasshopper...
I have 2,000 years of Christian history...
I agree with you completely and I don’t like those that make idols out of it. it doesn’t matter to me if it is soda crackers, water crackers, grape juice, or those little juice/cup combos. I’ve even been to Lutheran services that had two trays one with wine and one with grape juice clearly labeled.
But wonder bread and water, when other things are available and more appropriate is an insult to Christ.
I have known a few mormon boys who have held their ‘priesthood’ over their mothers. And a few mothers that have cowtowed to their sons because they held the ‘priesthood’. But I doubt it is universal.
ok. lol.
Every word uttered by lds under the guise of "I am a Christian" is an insult to Christ.
Thanks Grey.
Having water thrown on you
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Hey maybe we’ve been looking at this all wrong...
It was the substance not the act...
Mormons believe that Satan rules the water...
Having water thrown on a mormon would be worse to a mormon than doo doo...
doo doo is just dirty...
Water is “owned” by Satan...
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