I've Got the Power!

Last week I shared Zeezrom’s story.  I shared my thoughts about his conversion and healing.  What I didn’t do and intend to address now is specifically how his healing came about.

I mentioned the Priesthood.  If you break it up, you get 2 parts that most people recognize.  First, most everyone could identify a priest as a member of some Christian denominations’ clergy.  And –hood is the same suffix we find in the word “brotherhood”.  It implies a connected group.  Combining the two, it’s natural to assume that the Priesthood could refer to some sort of religious organization.  If that was your thought process when you first read/heard that word, it’s pretty awesome you would think that way, but you’re also very right.

The Priesthood, in Japanese, is written: 神権.  The character on the left means God.  The one on the right means authority.  Therefore, if you take these two parts you get exactly what the Priesthood is; it’s God’s authority given to men.  Yes, people hold the priesthood.  Adam, Noah, Moses, and other Old Testament prophets held the Priesthood.  Lehi, Nephi, Alma, and other Book of Mormon prophets also held the priesthood.  Jesus Christ held the priesthood and gave it to his disciples when he set up his church.  The Priesthood was the special power these prophets held.  Their actions qualified them to communicate with God and gave them the authority to share his teachings with the world.  However, prophets have never been known to say very nice things.  If he said something that opposed one of your habits, you would begin to second guess whether or not he had actually spoken with God.  There came times where, as a group, the people who once believed the prophet rejected him because he was telling them to stop whatever misdeeds they were guilty of.  They stopped listening to him, and God removed the prophet and his priesthood.  I mean, if you were talking to your friend and said the same thing over and over and over again, you’d assume he couldn’t hear you and hang up.  God knew they weren’t listening, so he stopped talking.  When he knew they were ready to listen again, he assigned a new prophet and gave him the Priesthood.  Jesus Christ was one of these new prophets.  Up to today, countless people have looked to him and his teachings for guidance and salvation.  However, 2000 years ago, he wasn’t respected quite as much.  He said some beautiful things, but they were hard to follow, and he was rejected.  He was killed, and his apostles who held the Priesthood and authority to communicate with God soon followed him along the martyr’s path.

The heavens seemed to have been silent.  It was thought that everything needed was known.  The Bible had become the source of many religions that all interpreted it in different ways.  And, without living prophets, no one could tell them they were wrong.  Joseph Smith found this confusing.  He saw that what these churches were spreading was their teaching, not necessarily God’s.  So, he looked diligently for God’s truth.  He found it in a small forest where God and Jesus Christ, two separate beings, appeared to him as an answer to his prayer and searching.  First John the Baptist, then Peter, James, and John came and gave Joseph Smith the priesthood and he received the authority to once again act as God’s mouthpiece for us.  Joseph Smith gave the priesthood to other men.  And, like many of the prophets before him, he was murdered.  However, unlike his predecessors, Joseph had given the priesthood to other men who then were appointed by God in his stead to be his prophet.  One followed another, and today we are lucky to have a prophet on the earth today, named Thomas Spencer Monson.  There are 12 apostles “under” him who also have the priesthood, and 70 other men that are area administrators…the same organization as Christ’s church.  And they give the Priesthood to Stake Presidents(they look over a smaller area of the church), who then give it to Bishops that use it to teach and guide a congregation.  The Bishop gives it to other men in his ward(congregation) until every worthy male over 12 years old holds the priesthood. 

It’s the power to do what God would if he were here.  According to God’s will and the faith of the recipient and priesthood holder, it is the power to work miracles, as was the case with Zeezrom.  It’s the power to talk with God.  Though anyone influenced by the Holy Ghost can receive personal messages, Priesthood holders can receive guidance for those they have been assigned by God to look after.  Fathers receive guidance for their families; bishops for their wards, stake presidents for their stakes, and prophets receive revelation for the world. 

I am grateful for the opportunity I have to hold the priesthood.  I have a duty to serve everyone around me and strive harder to live more like Christ.  I have no power to bless myself-only to help others.  I know that Joseph Smith received his power and authority to be a prophet directly from God.  What is taught in the Bible and in the Book of Mormon are true, and you cannot go wrong if you follow the teachings in both.  If you don’t know our current prophet, President Monson, listen to him speak.  Learn about him.  The more you know, the more impossible it is to deny his calling.  He is a prophet.