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Priesthood Ordinances and Blessings - Mormon
LDS.org ^

Posted on 04/06/2011 11:00:03 AM PDT by greyfoxx39

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Melchizedek Priesthood


Through the authority [LDS.org] of the Melchizedek Priesthood, Church leaders guide the Church and direct the preaching of the gospel throughout the world. In the ordinances of the Melchizedek Priesthood, “the power of godliness is manifest” (D&C 84:20). This greater priesthood was given to Adam and has been on the earth whenever the Lord has revealed His gospel. It was taken from the earth during the Great Apostasy, but it was restored in 1829, when the Apostles Peter, James, and John conferred it upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery.

Additional Information

“There are, in the church, two priesthoods, namely, the Melchizedek and Aaronic” (D&C 107:1). The Melchizedek Priesthood, which is “after the Order of the Son of God” (D&C 107:3), is the greater of these. It “holds the right of presidency, and has power and authority over all the offices in the church” (D&C 107:8). It also holds “the keys of all the spiritual blessings of the church” (D&C 107:18). It is named after a great high priest who lived during the time of the prophet Abraham (see D&C 107:2-4; see also Alma 13:14-19).

The offices of the Melchizedek Priesthood are Apostle, Seventy, patriarch, high priest, and elder. The President of the High Priesthood is the President of the Church (see D&C 107:64-66).

Men in the Church must be worthy Melchizedek Priesthood holders in order to receive the temple endowment and be sealed to their families for eternity. They have the authority to administer to the sick and give special blessings to family members and others. With the authorization of presiding priesthood leaders, they can bestow the gift of the Holy Ghost and ordain other worthy men to offices in the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods.

When a man receives the Melchizedek Priesthood, he enters into the oath and covenant of the priesthood. He covenants to be faithful, magnify his calling, “give diligent heed to the words of eternal life,” and “live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God.” Those who keep this covenant will be sanctified by the Spirit and receive “all that [the] Father hath.” (See D&C 84:33-44.)

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Doctrine and Covenants

Section 84

Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Kirtland, Ohio, 22 and 23 September 1832 (see History of the Church, 1:286–95). During the month of September, elders had begun to return from their missions in the eastern states and to make reports of their labors. It was while they were together in this season of joy that the following communication was received. The Prophet designated it a revelation on priesthood.
 
 33–44, Men gain eternal life through the oath and covenant of the priesthood
33For whoso is afaithful unto the obtaining these two bpriesthoods of which I have spoken, and the cmagnifying their calling, are dsanctified by the Spirit unto the erenewing of their bodies. 34They become the asons of Moses and of Aaron and the bseed of cAbraham, and the church and kingdom, and the delect of God. 35And also all they who receive this priesthood areceive me, saith the Lord; 36For he that receiveth my servants areceiveth me; 37And he that areceiveth me receiveth my Father; 38And he that receiveth my Father receiveth my Father’s akingdom; therefore ball that my Father hath shall be given unto him. 39And this is according to the aoath and covenant which belongeth to the priesthood. 40Therefore, all those who receive the apriesthood, receive this boath and covenant of my Father, which he cannot break, neither can it be moved. 41But whoso breaketh this acovenant after he hath received it, and altogether turneth therefrom, shall bnot have forgiveness of sins in this world nor in the world to come. 42And wo unto all those who come not unto this priesthood which ye have received, which I now confirm upon you who are present this day, by mine own voice out of the heavens; and even I have given the heavenly hosts and mine angels acharge concerning you. 43And I now give unto you a commandment to beware concerning yourselves, to give adiligent bheed to the words of eternal life. 44For you shall alive by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God

1 posted on 04/06/2011 11:00:09 AM PDT by greyfoxx39
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To: Colofornian; Elsie; FastCoyote; svcw; Zakeet; SkyPilot; rightazrain; Tennessee Nana; ...
Ping

Disclaimer: I am former LDS, PRO-Christian and "anti" mormonism. I post articles from official mormon sources among others, that often relate to current discussions taking place on the forum to provide a means for open discussion in the Religion forum.
 
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2 posted on 04/06/2011 11:05:30 AM PDT by greyfoxx39 (White House war strategy 2011: Sun Tzu meets Barney Fife..H/T Iowahawk)
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To: greyfoxx39

Is this a proselytizing thread?


3 posted on 04/06/2011 11:12:40 AM PDT by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: greyfoxx39
Does that include thin-skinned ex-Mormons as well?
4 posted on 04/06/2011 11:16:38 AM PDT by starlifter (Pullum sapit)
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To: starlifter

Showing what lds really believe is far from proselytizing..at least to any one that reads if and compares to the New Testament or Old Testament.


5 posted on 04/06/2011 11:21:09 AM PDT by Bidimus1
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To: greyfoxx39

I don’t get it.

How is it that Holy Spirit needs permission to enter a vessel(human body) or that a person needs an intercessionary to give consent to the person so them may receive the Holy Spirit?

We pretty much did away with hierarchy thing a couple of hundred years when we realized that our relationship with Jesus, God and the Holy are personal with no imprimatur by a collective for authority on God’s behalf.


6 posted on 04/06/2011 11:24:22 AM PDT by Vendome ("Don't take life so seriously... You'll never live through it anyway")
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To: Jack Hydrazine
Is this a proselytizing thread?

No. On another forum, there was a post regarding a father that was told he "couldn't touch the baby" (HIS baby) during a baby blessing, because he wasn't worthy but he could hold the microphone.

It nudged me to publicize the mormon claims of being the only ones on earth to "hold the Priesthood" and on the explanation of just what the mormon priesthood claims are and that they are claimed to be "revealed" from God to Joseph Smith

I think it also illustrates how legalistic and controlling the religion is.

This information is taken directly from the official LDS site.

7 posted on 04/06/2011 11:28:49 AM PDT by greyfoxx39 (White House war strategy 2011: Sun Tzu meets Barney Fife..H/T Iowahawk)
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To: greyfoxx39

Oh, okay. Thanks for the info then!


8 posted on 04/06/2011 11:30:33 AM PDT by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: Jack Hydrazine
Mormon Legalism vs Christian Grace
9 posted on 04/06/2011 11:49:41 AM PDT by greyfoxx39 (White House war strategy 2011: Sun Tzu meets Barney Fife..H/T Iowahawk)
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To: greyfoxx39

10 posted on 04/06/2011 11:53:08 AM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion
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To: Bidimus1
Did I say anything about proselytizing?
11 posted on 04/06/2011 11:58:32 AM PDT by starlifter (Pullum sapit)
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To: greyfoxx39; All
From the article: An ordinance is a sacred act performed by a man who holds the priesthood...Some ordinances may be performed by brethren who hold the Aaronic Priesthood. But most ordinances are performed by Melchizedek Priesthood holders.

Mormons say these priesthoods are now in sole hands of the Mormon church...per their doctrine that the Christian church went into complete apostasy...and they took over as the "official restoration of Christ's church."

But Mormons seem to ignore the obvious contradictions in their "scriptures":

Joseph Smith prophesied Sept. 22-23, 1832: the “priesthood CONTINUETH IN THE CHURCH OF GOD in ALL GENERATIONS, and is WITHOUT BEGINNING OF DAYS OR END OF YEARS. And the Lord confirmed a priesthood also upon Aaron and his seed, THROUGHOUT ALL GENERATIONS, WHICH PRIESTHOOD ALSO CONTINUETH FOREVER WITH THE PRIESTHOOD which is after the holiest order of God.” (D&C 84:17-18)

(Ya wanna explain for all of us how a priesthood received by Mormon leaders continued IN THE CHURCH OF GOD in ALL generations if 1700 years of those "generations" were supposedly in "apostasy?" How could that happen "without...end of years?" Smith TWICE stressed throughout ALL generations!)

Now, match that with also prophesying in 1832 to 1832 Mormons that this “priesthood hath continued through the lineage of your fathers” (D&C 86:8) — and since almost all of the “fathers” of these 1832 Mormons were either Christian or pagan or deceased or whatever — but certainly were NOT Mormons... ...Then tell, us dear Mormons: On what grounds do you exclude the Christian Church from your dear exclusive priesthood club?
* On what grounds, dear Mormons: Do you exclude us from being the true church (according to D&C 1:30)?
* On what grounds, dear Mormons: Do you call us “apostates” who triggered a needy “restoration” of the gospel and the true Church?
* On what grounds, dear Mormons: Did you claim that the “light of the gospel leading to salvation” was lost for a long period of time on earth?
By labeling us all as such, you openly consign not only Joseph Smith to the garbage bin of false prophets – but even based upon Ephesians 3:21, the apostle Paul! [There, Paul says there would ”be glory IN THE CHURCH and in Christ Jesus THROUGHOUT ALL GENERATIONS, FOR EVER AND EVER! Amen.”

Therefore, either Mormons are internally lying/covering up that they believe Smith is a false prophet, or more likely, they believe Smith was telling the truth in D&C 84:17-18; 86:8...which means they believe that the priesthood was rec'd via "the lineage of their fathers" (86:8) and this was a continuous priesthood passed down "throughout all generations" (84:17-18) – and therefore are in grave error that there was EVER a universal apostasy.

12 posted on 04/06/2011 12:14:19 PM PDT by Colofornian
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To: greyfoxx39
The prayer on the water is as follows: "O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this [water] to the souls of all those who drink of it, that they may do it in remembrance of the blood of thy Son, which was shed for them; that they may witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they do always remember him, that they may have his Spirit to be with them. Amen" (D&C 20:79; Moroni 5:2).

This really shows just how far removed mormonism is from Christianity. The fact that they use WATER instead of wine or grape juice really put down the shed blood of Jesus on the cross. Not that this practice is a shock to me - I've been aware of it for a while, but perhaps lurkers out there haven't heard.

It was taken from the earth during the Great Apostasy, but it was restored in 1829, when the Apostles Peter, James, and John conferred it upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery.

A closer study of mormon history shows that there was no documentation of this priesthood until nearly 5 years after the mormon church was started - around the time of a credibility crisis in 1834 did the men begin to speak of a special, miraculous conferral of authority upon them by apostles of old, which they claimed had happened prior to the organization of the church.

In his accout of the event, Cowdrey stated that the ANGEL (singular) conferred it, not the three apostles. Now which one is telling the truth of the matter. Neither is the event found in any of their journals/diaries covering the period.

As pro-LDS historian Richard Bushman admits in his landmark biography on Joseph Smith (Rough Stone Rolling, 75): “the late appearance of these accounts raises the possibility of later fabrication”--even though he doesn't draw that conclusion himself. Many thinking Mormons do raise that possibility, however. In a nutshell, they believe that there are good reasons to doubt the restoration of the priesthood actually happened in the church, despite Joseph Smith's later descriptions of the events in his 1838 History of the Church. The actuality of those angelic events and the exclusivity of power/authority which such events would denote, are highly questionable.

A good source for the origions of lds priesthood go to (cut and paste)
http://www.mormonthink.com/priesthood.htm

13 posted on 04/06/2011 12:24:47 PM PDT by Godzilla (3-7-77)
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To: greyfoxx39; All

“In no place in the word of God does it say that an Elder is after the order of Melchisedec, or after the order of the Melchisedec Priesthood… This matter of ‘priesthood,’ since the days of Sydney Rigdon, has been the great hobby and stumbling-block of the Latter Day Saints… Authority is the word we used for the first two years in the church—until Sydney Rigdon’s days in Ohio. This matter of the two orders of priesthood in the church of Christ, and lineal priesthood of the older law being in the church, all originated in the mind of Sydney Rigdon. He explained these things to Brother Joseph in his way, out of the old Scriptures, and got Brother Joseph to inquire, etc… This is the way the High Priests and the ‘priesthood’ as you have it, was introduced into the Church of Christ almost two years after its beginning—and after we had baptized and confirmed about two thousand souls into the church… In Kirtland, Ohio, in June, 1831, at a conference of the church, the first High Priests were ordained into the church”—

An Address to All Believers in Christ, David Whitmer, 1887, p. 64


14 posted on 04/06/2011 12:51:01 PM PDT by Godzilla (3-7-77)
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To: greyfoxx39
All ordinances must be performed in the name of Jesus Christ.

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

15 posted on 04/06/2011 1:13:04 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Jack Hydrazine
Is this a proselytizing thread?

Only if the reader's head is mush filled.

16 posted on 04/06/2011 1:14:10 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Colofornian
An ordinance is a sacred act performed by a man who holds the priesthood...

Sorry Ladies...

17 posted on 04/06/2011 1:16:18 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Bidimus1
Did I say anything about proselytizing?
18 posted on 04/06/2011 1:16:59 PM PDT by starlifter (Pullum sapit)
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To: Colofornian
Sorry Ladies...

Galatians 3:28 (niv)

There is neither Jew nor Gentile,
neither slave nor free,
nor is there male and female,
for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

19 posted on 04/06/2011 1:18:07 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: starlifter

Apologizes C-141 sent it to the wrong person...


20 posted on 04/06/2011 1:25:32 PM PDT by Bidimus1
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