A Season for Gratitude (Mormon

This is a season for giving and a time for gratitude. We remember with appreciation the birth of the Prophet Joseph Smith, which is celebrated this same month of December, two days before Christmas.

How great indeed is our debt to him. His life began in Vermont and ended in Illinois, and marvelous were the things that happened between that simple beginning and tragic ending. It was he who brought us a true knowledge of God, the Eternal Father, and His Risen Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. During the short time of his great vision he learned more concerning the nature of Deity than all of those who through centuries had argued the matter in learned councils and scholarly forums. He brought us the marvelous Book of Mormon...To him, from those who held it anciently, came the priesthood, the power, the gift, the authority, the keys to speak and act in the name of God. He gave us the organization of the Church and its great and sacred mission. Through him were restored the keys of the holy temples, that men and women might enter into eternal covenants with God and that the great work for the dead might be accomplished to open the way for eternal blessings.

We stand in reverence before him. He is the great prophet of this dispensation. He stands at the head of this great and mighty work which is spreading across the earth. He is our prophet, our revelator, our seer, our friend. Let us not forget him. Let not his memory be forgotten in the celebration of Christmas...

PD seems to need someone to answer for him/her/it. I suppose remaining ignorant is as good a defense of an heretical religion as any, but I think readers might like to understand the dissconnects in Mormonism.

The Melchizadek Priesthood was the predecessor to the Great High Priest of the Tabernacle. There was only one at a time, and death ended the position of High Priest (it could be ended other ways, but there was always only one at a time).

The Bible is very clear that Jesus is our Great High Priest, in the order of Melchizadek, a Priest forever now because He is risen and thus alive forever more. There can only be one at a time and Jesus is the only One now, so the mormonism faux melchizadek priesthood is not only fake, it is a great blasphemy toward the Jesus of the Bible. But then, the jesus of Mormonism isn't the same Jesus of the Bible anyway, so I suppose Mormon men claiming the melchizadek preisthood can excuse themselves for their blasphemy. I don't think God will excuse them, though ... are you reading along, Sandy? The Mormonism melchizadek priesthood is a blasphemy, one of many in Mormonism, Sandy.

"What is the Priesthood authority in your church and where does it come from?" There is only one High Priest in Christianity, and in fact for the whole of humanity, Jesus Christ.[Heb 4:14] You can read Paul's explanation of why ONLY Jesus fulfills the position now, since He entered the Holy of Holies with His blood.

The offices administering to/with the Bride of Christ were begun by Jesus following His resurrection, when He appointed the Apostles to go unto all the world preaching the Gospel of Grace and Baptizing int he name of the Father and of The Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Because a person Born Again by the entering into their human spirit of the Holy Spirit of God has God's Spirit to renew their mind from the state of deadness prior to being Born Again, the appointment of Ministers and Deacons, teachers and laborers for the maintenance of the properties and functions of charity and outreach to the community, well that appointment is doen by consensus of those believers making up the body of the the Church.

The authority to baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of The Holy Spirit comes from the presence of His Spirit within. The Catholic Church claims to trace their authority back to Peter and establishment of a papacy through origins in Peter. You should ask a Catholic Priest your question. I will not answer for other than we proddies.

Traditions of men have added lots of bells and whistles, but if one goes back to the beginning, any Born Again believer has the authority to Baptize so long as they are following the Spirit's urging. The authority comes from Jesus from the start of it all in the Church Age (which is drawing to a close, according to prophecy). God calls those He chooses ... there really is such a thing as 'a calling'.

There is a mistaken belief that human institutions are the flesh of the Chruch, that orgs and sects are vying for authority. But that is only true int he minds of those who believe they have gained some superior knowledge of the most simple yet powerful plan of God The Creator. The Chruch Age is an parenthesis to the Jewish relationship between God and men. It is the most important parenthetical calling out because it is directed to Jew and gentile, and is the re-establishment of direct connection between God and humankind.

Because we are in the flesh outside of the Garden, and our High Priest is 'back' in Heaven, our understanding is incomplete with regard to the working of 'God in you to will and to do of His good pleasure.' God put hundreds of milliuons of us here at the same time int he flesh, so I reckon He expects we will share the gleenings He gives to the individuals in that number since the very differences of each of us cause a filtering of the glory He graces us with. Men tend to work toward exclusivity, while Jesus with the urging to Peter through Cornelius and the appointment of Paul to the Gentiles makes it clear that exclusivity is not His Way for all of humanity.

There is an interesting lesson to be gleened from the stories of Peter and Cornelius and Paul, a Pharisee fo the Gamilelian School of strict Pharisees, regarding the mistaken notions of men and their appointment to responsiblities by God, but that is grist for another grinding.

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