Friday, April 30, 2010

Offices in the Holy Priesthood

It would seem reasonable to me that someone attempting to determine which one of the many modern-day, competing Christian churches is true might use as a template the structure of the Church the Savior Himself established during His mortal ministry as a point of departure for their study. Ought there not to be conspicuous similarities between the offices of the Priesthood in Christ’s original Church and those existing in His Church of modern times? We Latter-day Saints believe so. Thus the sixth Article of Faith of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reads: “We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth.”


I do not believe that we should be surprised to find some dissimilarities between the organizations of the two Churches given the relatively larger Church that exists in this dispensation. The structure needed to administer today’s Church of over thirteen million members scattered as we are over a majority of the earth’s surface is of necessity going to be different from the one that administered far fewer members within mostly the bounds of near Asia in the meridian of time. The differences can be noted right at the top of the organization. From the scriptural record, the Presidency of the High Priesthood in the original Church composed of Peter, James, and John served also as members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Today, the First Presidency is its own Quorum and exists in addition to a full Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Our Church members today sustain these fifteen brethren as “prophets, seers, and revelators.”


Following the wording of the sixth Article of Faith, the office of a pastor should be considered next. A pastor is someone who is responsible for a congregation of the Saints. In the modern Church, brethren are not called to be “pastors” by title but rather are called to be bishops or branch presidents, for example. Taking this thought one step further, it might not be inappropriate to view stake presidents, district presidents, and quorum presidents as being pastors to their flocks as well. Concerning the office of a bishop in the original Church, Paul taught Timothy the following: “This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)” (1 Timothy 3:1-5).


The word “teachers” in this Article of Faith has reference to an office of the Priesthood specifically, an office within the Aaronic Priesthood. The offices of the Aaronic Priesthood are bishop, priest, teacher, and deacon. Having already referred to the position of a bishop, our brief consideration here is for the other three offices. Priests, teachers, and deacons existed in the original Church and do so today as well. References to priests in the Bible are numerous including Acts 6:7 and Revelation 1:6. References to teachers include Acts 13:1 and Ephesians 4:11. As with bishops, Paul instructed Timothy concerning the necessary attributes of deacons (1 Timothy 3:8-13).


The references to teachers and priests in the Book of Mormon are not concerned with offices of the Priesthood. Lehi was a descendant of Manesseh, and Ishmael was a descendant of Ephraim. There is no reference to any member of the party being a descendant of Levi. Apparently then, those who traveled with Lehi to the New World were of the blood of Joseph. If that was the case, then Lehi’s descendants exercised solely the Melchizedek Priesthood. In 2 Nephi 5:26, we read the following: “And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did consecrate Jacob and Joseph, that they should be priests and teachers over the land of my people.” The use of the plural form is complicating if Nephi had reference to Priesthood offices. But quite clearly, he did not intend such a reference. In chapter six, Jacob begins to teach the people, and in verse two he says, “Behold, my beloved brethren, I, Jacob, having been called of God, and ordained after the manner of his holy order, and having been consecrated by my brother Nephi, unto whom ye look as a king,” etc. “His holy order” is the Melchizedek Priesthood. Jacob did not function under the authority of the Aaronic Priesthood.


“An Evangelist is a Patriarch, even the oldest man of the blood of Joseph or of the seed of Abraham. Wherever the Church of Christ is established in the earth, there should be a Patriarch for the benefit of the posterity of the Saints, as it was with Jacob in giving his patriarchal blessing unto his sons, etc.” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 151). And so it is that when a district within Church government is reorganized into a stake organization, the Saints living in the new stake will receive the blessings made possible by the calling and ordaining of a stake patriarch as a member of this enhanced Priesthood organization.


All of the offices enumerated in the sixth Article of Faith have been considered briefly in this writing. However, there were additional Priesthood offices that existed in the original Church that also exist in the Lord’s Church today: high priests, seventies, and elders. New Testament references to these three offices of the Melchizedek Priesthood are as follows: high priests - Hebrews 5:1-5; seventies - Luke 10:1-11; and elders - Acts 14:23, Titus 1:5-6, James 5:14-15.


Hopefully, this writing will be of assistance to any individual who is an earnest seeker of the truth and a reinforcement of the truth for those of us who are believers.


Saturday, April 24, 2010

The Keys of the Priesthood

Since the days of Adam there has been only one true Priesthood on the earth, and that is “the Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God. But out of respect or reverence to the name of the Supreme Being, to avoid the too frequent repetition of his name, they, the church, in ancient days, called that priesthood after Melchizedek, or the Melchizedek Priesthood” (Doctrine and Covenants 107:3-4). “All Priesthood is Melchizedek, but there are different portions or degrees of it” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 180). Thus the Levitical or Aaronic Priesthood is imbedded in the Melchizedek Priesthood.


“The Priesthood in general is the authority given to man to act for God” (Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine, 136). Once the Melchizedek Priesthood is conferred upon a man, he cannot receive any greater Priesthood given that there is none. If he is ordained an Elder at the time the Priesthood is conferred upon him, then during his lifetime, he may receive other callings and ordinations in the Priesthood, but he will never receive more Priesthood. The other offices of the Melchizedek Priesthood to which he may be ordained are Seventy, High Priest, Patriarch, Apostle, and Presidency of the High Priesthood, otherwise known as the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.


Once the Melchizedek Priesthood has been bestowed upon a man, he has the authority to, among other things, baptize and confirm new members of the Church and may confer the Priesthood upon other men. However, the Lord’s house is a house of order. Thus “it is necessary that every act performed under this authority [the Melchizedek Priesthood] shall be done at the proper time and place, in the proper way, and after the proper order. The power of directing these labors constitutes the keys of the Priesthood” (Gospel Doctrine, 136). All of the Priesthood keys are held and exercised by one man only namely, the President of the High Priesthood, the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In order that he might properly administer the Kingdom of God on the earth, he must delegate the exercise of some of these keys to others in order that the Lord’s work may go forth in the earth. As each member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was ordained to that position, all of the Priesthood keys were conferred upon him, but only the President of the High Priesthood may direct the exercise of these keys at any given moment.


So it is that these Priesthood keys are disseminated down through the various administrative levels of Church government until the appropriate ones are conferred upon each functioning stake president, each functioning bishop, and each Melchizedek and Aaronic Priesthood quorum president. A stake president is the presiding Melchizedek Priesthood authority in his stake. As such, he alone possesses the keys necessary to determine when, where, and how each Melchizedek Priesthood ordinance will be performed within his jurisdiction. In the same manner, a Bishop is the presiding Aaronic Priesthood authority in his ward. He alone possesses the keys necessary to determine when, where, and how each Aaronic Priesthood ordinance will be performed within his ward’s boundaries.


Thus it is through the proper exercise of Priesthood keys that order and accountability are maintained in the Lord’s Church in both the organization of the Priesthood as well as its auxiliary organizations.


Sunday, April 18, 2010

The Necessity of Proper Priesthood Authority

Perhaps no issue is more divisive within the conflicted community of churches claiming Christian authenticity than that of priesthood authority. Even a casual investigator of Christianity might suppose that ordinances held up as being necessary for salvation in a Kingdom of Heaven might require adherence to God-established procedures and authority. Yet, the reality is that established, supposedly Christian churches contend with one another for membership aloof of any apparent necessity to as much as seek to demonstrate their possession of proper priesthood authority.


If there is a church that actually has historical roots that stretch back to the Apostle Peter, then no church separating itself from another with such a claim of authority may reasonably or logically claim to possess valid priesthood authority. In all likelihood, that is the reason that churches under the Protestant umbrella spend almost no time proclaiming sole priesthood authority. If there is in fact no church which possesses an unbroken line of priesthood authority from the days of the Savior’s earthly ministry to the present, then claims by any Christian church for authenticity are moot. Little wonder that Joseph Smith and many others living in relatively modern times have been or are so bewildered by the unsubstantiated claims of competing churches of their Christian authenticity. If no existing church can reasonably demonstrate an unbroken line of priesthood authority reaching back to the authorities of the church that the Savior established in the meridian of time, then His Church is no longer on the earth despite impassioned claims to the contrary.


In light of this issue, the Lord’s answer in 1820 to Joseph Smith’s humble and searching inquiry as to which church he should join is very instructive. “I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me [the Lord Jesus Christ] said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: ‘they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof’ “ (Joseph Smith - History 1:19). The question concerning whether one of the professing Christian churches in 1820 was the Lord’s Church was answered emphatically by the Savior Himself. The issue is settled.


Joseph Smith learned during this visitation that in time he would be an instrument in the Lord’s hands whereby the true Church of Jesus Christ would be restored to the earth along with the Holy Priesthood. In earlier posts to this blog, the incremental steps by which this work of restoration proceeded have been detailed. Therefore, now it suffices to say simply that the Melchizedek Priesthood was restored to the earth in 1829 by Peter, James, and John, the Presidency of the High Priesthood in the meridian of time, through the laying on of hands to the Prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. They then were able to trace their Priesthood line of authority back to the Savior Himself. The same may be said for every Melchizedek Priesthood holder in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in this dispensation. Everyone of us may trace our line of authority step by step, brother by brother, back to the Savior Himself.


The fifth Article of Faith of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reads: “We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.”


Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Repentance

Given that through the ordinances of baptism and confirmation we are permitted, figuratively speaking, to place our feet upon the path that is intended to lead us back to God and life eternal, and given also that no unclean thing may exist in God’s presence, it stands to reason that repentance would be a requirement for entrance into His Church or the Kingdom of God on the earth. It is also reasonable to assume that if the ordinances of baptism and confirmation are to accomplish their intended purpose namely, the remission of sins, then proper repentance for past sins must have been accomplished prior to the performance of the enumerated ordinances.


Repentance is a process that requires considerable effort and humility on the part of the repentant person. Initially, the individual must recognize that one or more of God’s laws have been broken, and this recognition must produce feelings of sorrow and remorse. If the wrongful action was responsible for causing hurt to another person, then forgiveness must be sought from the injured individual and, if possible or required, compensation must also be made to the injured party. That accomplished, forgiveness of such sins is then sought through prayer to our Heavenly Father. If the transgressions are not of an unforgivable nature and our seeking of forgiveness has followed the established pattern with honest intent, then forgiveness from God will be forthcoming. As the burden of sin is lifted from us, we actually experience a sense of relief from the sorrow and remorse that we felt. Through the ordinances of baptism and confirmation, the penalties that we brought upon ourselves through sinning are removed. By means of the Lord’s atonement, He took upon Himself the suffering for the sins of all mankind. Thus the penalties stemming from the sins for which we repent have been paid by Him. However, inherent in these two ordinances is a covenant-making process with God pertaining to our future conduct. We covenant to serve Him and to keep His commandments. In return, He promises that His Spirit will be with us subsequent to our receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. As with all such promised blessings, they will be realized in our lives to the extent that we live worthy of them.


Recognizing that His Saints in all dispensations would commit sins after they had been washed clean initially, God provided a means by which the remission of subsequent sins might be accomplished. Until the Lord took upon Himself flesh and fulfilled the Law of Moses, the Saints were commanded to look forward in time and acknowledge the coming day of His atonement in a tangible manner through the sacrifice of unblemished animals. After the Lord fulfilled the Law of Moses, the ordinance whereby we gain a remission of our repented sins is through the partaking of the Sacrament. While we participate in this ordinance, we are commanded to remember His great sacrifice wherein He shed His blood and sacrificed His body for us. Thus the renewal of those covenants whereby the Saints since the days of Adam have entered the Kingdom of God was accomplished through blood sacrifice during the first five dispensations and through partaking of the Sacrament in the final two.


Our progress down that path that is intended to bring us back into the presence of our Heavenly Father and obtain eternal life within His kingdom is very much within our control. Diligence on our parts to adhere as closely as possible to His commandments and expectations thus minimizing our accumulation of sins will facilitate our progress along the path if combined with a humble and repentant approach to living life fully. For no matter how successful we are in emulating the Lord’s example in our individual lives, we will never be found worthy to enter God’s presence based on our efforts alone. For as Nephi clearly taught, “it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do” (2 Nephi 25:23).


Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Faith

At once, the subject of faith is so enormous as to be daunting to the writer of a few words, and yet, faith is the first and most basic of the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Faith is a gift of the Spirit, and clearly not all of Christ’s followers will share in it. For another enumerated gift of the Spirit is the ability to believe and personally progress in the gospel based upon the testimony of others, thereby successfully satisfying the requirement of faith as a pre-condition for repentance (Doctrine and Covenants 46:13-14).


It has been my personal experience that generally an individual is born with the propensity to have faith in spiritual matters or not. Faith is not something that one may give or transfer to another. Yet, it is something that can be learned or awakened in one’s self as the Prophet Alma clearly taught (Alma 32). However also, it has been my experience that those who did not tend toward having faith “naturally” but rather had to “learn” how to have faith, very often prove to be wavering followers of the gospel’s truths. We often hear in Latter-day Saints’ prayers phraseology to the effect that the petitioner would have God bless the Lord’s missionaries in order that they might be led to the doors of those who will be receptive or are waiting to hear the gospel message. Those of us who have served full-time missions remember those experiences when we realized instinctively upon meeting with a new contact whether they were “golden” or not. This situation is understandable given the realization that for the most part the spread of the gospel thus far in this final dispensation has been among the blood of Ephraim. While most of them are not consciously waiting to hear the gospel, once those of the blood of Ephraim hear the gospel message, they tend to be naturally drawn to it because of the familiarity of the Spirit when they experience it. The Lord taught that His sheep know His voice (John 10:27).


The Apostle Paul taught the Hebrews that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). The Prophet Alma taught that “faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true” (Alma 32:21). Faith is not only the first principle of the gospel, it is the most basic principle of human action. “If men were duly to consider themselves, and turn their thoughts and reflections to the operations of their own minds, they would readily discover that it is faith, and faith only, which is the moving cause of all action in them; that without it both mind and body would be in a state of inactivity, and all their exertions would cease, both physical and mental. . . . Are you not dependent on your faith, or belief, for the acquisition of all knowledge, wisdom, and intelligence? Would you exert yourselves to obtain wisdom and intelligence, unless you did believe that you could obtain them? Would you have ever sown, if you had not believed that you would reap? Would you have ever planted, if you had not believed that you would gather? . . . Or, would you have ever knocked, unless you had believed that it would have been opened unto you? . . .” (Lectures on Faith, 1:10-11).


Interesting is it not that very many of God’s children who are dependent upon the exercise of faith in order to get out of bed in the morning and to go about the business of their day as it concerns the acquisition of sustenance and the nurturing of family, etc. do so without ever understanding the necessary role faith is playing in all of their mental and physical endeavors? And then when these same individuals are confronted with the need to exercise faith in order to determine the truthfulness of the gospel message, they are helpless to exercise the faith necessary to make that determination. Astounding but true, this is the reality with which the Lord’s missionaries and religious leaders have been confronted in all generations.


The related role of miracles to faith is an interesting one. Time and time again in the scriptures and in human experience, we are confronted with those who claim that they will believe if only they are shown a sign. Those who do so are only pretenders, and the Lord called such seekers of signs wicked (Matthew 12:39). However, to the righteous believers, signs and miracles should be accepted as confirmations of the truth and confidence builders of their faith and testimonies especially after a period of personal trial. Moroni explained this order of things as follows: “And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith” (Ether 12:6).


In other words, faith is required, it must be exercised, before mental, physical, or spiritual exertion may occur. As this applies to matters of the spirit specifically but not exclusively, we may only receive that witness or assurance we seek, if our faith based actions are consistent with our desired ends. For “there is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated--And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated” (D&C 130:20-21). We have no greater illustration of faith motivated action than the example of the Prophet Joseph Smith going into the grove to pray for heavenly direction as to which church of those in his vicinity he should join after being inspired by the words of James: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed” (James 1:5-6).


The words of James are God’s promise to all who seek to know the truth about our Heavenly Father’s will and His desires for all of His children. The capacity for faith or at least belief was in each of us at one time. Only through their own actions at some point in their progression were some of His spirit offspring able to desensitize themselves to the beckonings of His Spirit. For those who truly desire to know who they are and what they should be about in this mortal probation, the answers to their questions are available. The Lord’s gospel has been restored to the earth, and knowledge of its truthfulness may be had by any earnest seeker who will apply the invitation of James to pray in faith.

Friday, April 2, 2010

The Celebration of Easter

Note: That which follows is my talk given during our ward’s Easter service.


Sister Linford has portrayed for us the major events and the importances of what we now refer to as the Easter story. The events surrounding the resurrection of Jesus Christ have been retold in some form annually in Christian congregations from that day to this for the comfort and edification of their believers.


So important has been this singular event to very many Christians down through the ages that they have been motivated to recommit themselves to the tenets of the religions they accepted and still do accept as being true. In a broader sense, this celebration has served also to give hope and provide assurance to multitudes of believers and non-believers of their productive future through the springtime renewal of nature for yet again another year.


This is a time when we as Latter-day Saints ought to take stock of life, and the way we are living it. We ought to celebrate the affirmation of our future resurrection and concern ourselves with the nature of the resurrection in which we desire to participate. This might give us the needed incentive to improve the quality of our obedience to God’s commandments, and in turn, help us be more grateful for our understanding of the gospel in its fulness and of our possession of the Holy Priesthood.


However, with the recounting each year of the events surrounding the Savior’s resurrection, do we stop to consider the spectrum of our brothers and sisters who have rejoiced and still will do so as a result of what took place in Jerusalem some two thousand years ago? Most of these individuals of whom I speak are largely beyond the understanding of the majority Christian world.


The Apostle Paul referred to Jesus Christ as being the “firstfruits” of the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:20-23). That being the case, all of the righteous Saints who had died from the days of Adam down to the Lord’s resurrection on that historic morning were waiting anxiously for their opportunity to come forth from their graves. They had been hindered in their personal progression and thus were biding their time as disembodied spirits in paradise waiting for the time of their deliverance. We read concerning their condition in Section 138 of the Doctrine and Covenants:


“And there were gathered together in one place an innumerable company of the spirits of the just, who had been faithful in the testimony of Jesus while they lived in mortality; And who had offered sacrifice in the similitude of the great sacrifice of the Son of God, and had suffered tribulation in their Redeemer’s name. All these had departed the mortal life, firm in the hope of a glorious resurrection, through the grace of God the Father and his Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. I beheld that they were filled with joy and gladness, and were rejoicing together because the day of their deliverance was at hand. They were assembled awaiting the advent of the Son of God into the spirit world, to declare their redemption from the bands of death. Their sleeping dust was to be restored unto its perfect frame, bone to his bone, and the sinews and the flesh upon them, the spirit and the body to be united never again to be divided, that they might receive a fulness of joy. While this vast multitude waited and conversed, rejoicing in the hour of their deliverance from the chains of death, the Son of God appeared, declaring liberty to the captives who had been faithful; And there he preached to them the everlasting gospel, the doctrine of the resurrection and the redemption of mankind from the fall, and from individual sins on conditions of repentance. . . . For the dead had looked upon the long absence of their spirits from their bodies as a bondage. These the Lord taught, and gave them power to come forth, after his resurrection from the dead, to enter into his Father’s kingdom, there to be crowned with immortality and eternal life, And continue thenceforth their labor as had been promised by the Lord, and be partakers of all blessings which were held in reserve for them that love him” (D&C 138:12-19, 50-52).


Who were these righteous dead? Some of them were the righteous Saints who experienced their mortal probation in the general area that we today call the Middle East. But numbered among the righteous dead were also those who had experienced much if not all of life in America. For we know from the Bible and the Book of Mormon that many Saints arose from their graves just subsequent to the Lord’s resurrection and went into the cities of Judea and America to bear testimony to the living of the reality of the resurrection (Matt 27:52-53 and 3 Nephi 23:8-13).


How many of the Saints of old arose at that time is a matter of some uncertainty, but we know that their numbers were not a few. Among them were some of the leaders of old who would be instrumental in assisting the Prophet Joseph Smith in accomplishing the complex work of the restoration. The most important of these were John the Baptist, Moses, Elias, and Elijah. Others who assisted in the work of the restoration and were resurrected later included Peter, James, and Moroni, among others.


And what was the experience of the believers among the scattered, lost tribes of Israel when the resurrected Lord appeared to them? While in Jerusalem and before his crucifixion, the Lord spoke of His other sheep to whom He must go (John 10:16). In America, while visiting the Saints there after His resurrection, the Lord told them that they were the other sheep to whom he had reference during His mortal ministry. Also in America, He told the Saints that there were still others of the House of Israel to whom He must go (3 Nephi 15:11-24; 16:1-3). Are we to assume that they had been left without a knowledge of the gospel and thus were totally unprepared for His appearance among them? Are we to assume that among their righteous there were not expressions of awe and thanksgiving at His coming? Are we to assume that He did not organize His Church among them and preach to them the principles of His living gospel? Are we to assume that none of their righteous dead participated in this early resurrection as a testimony to those still living of the truthfulness of the resurrection as was the case in Jerusalem and America? The answers to these and a multitude of other questions will be answered when these scattered peoples are gathered in and allowed to take their rightful place in the Kingdom of God on the earth.


But these are not the only ones who have and are still to rejoice over the Lord’s resurrection. What about all of our brothers and sisters who did not have the opportunity to hear the gospel preached while they were in mortality and were or are waiting in spirit prison? In conjunction with this question, let us not forget the dead of the blood of Ephraim whose earthly mission it was to be born, to live, to beget children, and to die without having an opportunity to hear the gospel in order that the blood of Ephraim might come down through the ages to be the salt of the earth in these last days. The spreading of the gospel in the earth in this last dispensation is largely the gathering of the remnants of scattered Ephraim. Those who died during the era of the dark ages will respond to the gospel message as it is preached to them in spirit prison just as they would have done had they been privileged to live in this great generation.


In addition, let us not forget also the vast multitude of God’s children who have died or will die before they have had the opportunity to hear the gospel preached and are not of Ephraim. They too are now or will be the subjects of the missionary labors taking place literally as we speak in spirit prison. All who accept the gospel as preached to them by faithful Saints, who have died and been called to that labor, will be given the opportunity to accept the saving ordinances of the gospel performed by proxies in temples scattered across the face of this earth. When the repentant dead accept the gospel as it is preached to them and subsequently accept the saving ordinances that have been performed in their behalf, they will be ushered from spirit prison into paradise. True is it not, we may only imagine what the magnitude of this work must be like on the other side of the veil?


Now it is all good and wonderful that we have this understanding of at least some of the rippling ramifications of that first resurrection morning in Jerusalem, but what we do with that understanding that we do possess is even more important. We should reassert ourselves in doing that which we know is required of us. We should become more righteous in fact. We should be more aware of those with whom we come in contact who should hear the gospel message, and we should act on that inspiration. We should be more actively involved in seeking out the names of our kindred dead and seeing to it that the saving ordinances are completed in their behalf in a temple of the Lord. We should improve the support we are giving to others by going to the temple and assisting in the completion of the saving ordinances for their kindred dead. We should be more prepared to “succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees” (D&C 81:5). We should reaffirm to our families the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ that was restored to the earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith.


Thursday, April 1, 2010

"He Is Risen"

Note: This year, Sister Linford and I were asked to speak during our ward’s Easter Sacrament Meeting. Her remarks are presented here. Mine will be posted tomorrow. Happy Easter to all.



The two major earthquakes that recently occurred in this hemisphere, should remind us of the counsel found in the Doctrine and Covenants 38:30, “...if ye are prepared, ye shall not fear.” Even though the events of the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ were foretold throughout the ages by a number of the prophets of the Old Testament as well as of the Book of Mormon, when they happened in fact, they came as a big surprise to many.


During His earthly ministry, Jesus Christ himself quoted the prophets on several occasions concerning his death and his resurrection. His detractors apparently had heard and understood him as is evidenced by their mockery using His own words as He hung on the cross (Matthew 27:40). But how did his close followers and particularly His disciples react? When the time of His crucifixion drew closer, Jesus tried to prepare His disciples for the day on which they would witness His crucifixion and His death on the cross. He wanted them to understand that He would be dead only for a short time, and that He would rise again on the third day. Did His disciples understand His words? Their behavior as recorded in the Bible would indicate, that they had not understood the Lord’s message.

Is there a lesson in this for us concerning another much prophesied event yet to come namely, the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? Should we be on the earth when He comes again, would we understand the meaning of the signs and destructive events preceding His appearance? Would we be prepared and not fear, or would we be confused and unable to function? Would we be excited and rejoice in anticipation of the Lord’s impending appearance, or would we lack confidence and be unbelieving?


What did happen on that momentous “first day of the week” outside of the walls of Jerusalem almost 2000 years ago? The Bible tells us that Mary Magdalene together with other women went to the tomb bringing “sweet spices that they may come and anoint him” (Mark 16:1). Upon their arrival at the tomb, they were perplexed and astonished when they discovered that Jesus was not in the tomb; it was empty except for two angels who addressed them with the following words: ” Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him” (Mark 16:6). “…[R]emember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, Saying, The Son of Man must be delivered unto the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again” (Luke 24:6-7).


The women were very frightened and fled the sepulcher. They ran to tell the disciples. Mary Magdalene reached the disciples first, but she could only recall part of what they had been told by the angels. The key words namely, “He is risen” had eluded her, and all she could report was that the tomb was empty. The disciples considered Mary Magdalene’s report as “idle tales” and “believed her not” (Luke 24:11). However, Peter and John together with Mary Magdalene rushed to the tomb and found it indeed empty; they saw no angels. Peter and John left disappointed and concerned wondering what may have happened to Jesus’ body. As Mary Magdalene stayed behind and lingered at the sepulcher a little longer, her faith was rewarded. This most profound and magnificent event that followed is recorded in John 20:11-16:


“But Mary stood without at the sepulcher weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulcher,

And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.

And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.

And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.

Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.

Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him Rabboni; which is to say, Master.”


Mary Magdalene was the first person to whom the risen Lord had appeared (Mark 16:9). After she recognized Jesus, she apparently had taken a step towards him, but He gently restraint her by saying, “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascended unto my Father and your Father; and to my God, and your God” (John 20:17). Then Mary went back to the disciples and happily reported that she had seen the Lord and that He had talked to her, but she sadly noticed that they believed her not (Mark 16:11).


When the resurrected Lord appeared in the midst of the disciples for the first time that same evening, he knew they had not understood and did not believe. Therefore, he invited them to come and feel the nail marks in his hands and in his feet. He also asked them to give him something to eat so that they would believe and know that he was not a spirit but that he had risen from the tomb and had a body of flesh and bones. And after all that, the Bible states, “Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord” (John 20:20).


One disciple by the name of Thomas was not present when the risen Lord had appeared to the other disciples. When they told Thomas that they had seen the Lord, he was as unbelieving as they had been at first. Finally, when Thomas came face to face with the risen Lord, He said to Thomas, “Reach hither thy finger and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless but believing” (John 20:27). We cannot imagine what Thomas must have felt at that moment. Overwhelmed, he only uttered “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). Then answered Jesus, “Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29).


John reported further that Christ did many signs in the presence of the disciples “which are not written in this book.” However, what He said to Thomas, is written in this book for one important purpose namely, “that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name” (John 20:30-31).


This is my personal belief and my testimony.


Erika J. Linford