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MELCHIZEDEK PRIESTHOOD
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3
In Mormonism, the Melchizedek priesthood is one of the two or three types, or "orders" of priesthood. Mormons believe that this priesthood has the power to seal, heal and do all number of things in "Jesus'" name.
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-Click For More- | | One Sunny Day In Stockholm -- The Power Of The Priesthood! |  |
DATE POSTED: | Jul 21, 2005, at 10:50 AM |
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Above the mission office in Stockholm there is a conference room. In the middle of the room is a large attractive hardwood table. As an office elder, I would have companionship study every morning here with my comp and the AP's. Usually, this consisted of reading through the Missionary Guide and answering Mormon trivia while sliding belly first across the table while trying to shoot the Nerf basketball into the hoop fastened to the top of one of the doors. On the far end of the room was a giant (by 1993 standards) TV, VCR's with both NTSC and PAL formats, lots of old church movies and, hidden behind the TV console, a bootleg copy of the classic 1991 BYU-SDSU game.
One day, one of the God Squad mentioned that modern p-hood blessings deviated significantly from both the NT miracles and the pioneer FPR's in that the latter reportedly healed people immediately and completely. This was the germ of an idea which came to fruition about two weeks later.
We had about four hours left in our P-day, so we headed to the park with the Frisbee. Eventually, we started playing 2-on-2 ultimate and Elder Smith was running to catch the Frisbee when Elder Cook tackled him from behind. Elder Smith screamed in pain, clutching his knee. We headed back to the mission office, broke out the magic oil and Elder Cook gave him a blessing.
Elder Cook pronounced Elder Smith healed and declared with all due solemnity that Smith would not require surgery.
The doc disagreed and Smith's crushed ACL was surgically repaired three days later.
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-Click For More- | | Priesthood Envy: Still Another Reason The LDS Church Is A Fraud | |
DATE POSTED: | Sep 7, 2006, at 10:53 AM |
ORIGINAL AUTHOR: | Skeptical |
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This past weekend my family had dinner with another family in the process of leaving the LDS Church. While we were speaking the other father mentioned that he had somewhat resented his priesthood office of elder. He is in his mid-forties and all of his friends are high priests.
As many here know, the LDS Melchizedek priesthood consists of several offices: elder, high priest, patriarch and apostle. In order to a be a bishop, bishop’s counselor, stake president, stake president’s counselor, stake high counselor, or high priest group leader or assistant, a man must be a high priest.
According to LDS Scripture and practice, all presiding offices of the church require the office of high priest (see D&C; 107:10).
For many men, such as my friend, failure to become a high priest is a social stigma for several reasons. First, these men are not deemed qualified for presiding responsibilities. Second, they are forced to remain in elder’s quorum meetings with younger men while their contemporaries meet separately. Third, they are seen by others as unfit for advancement.
This sort of stigma for a man is very difficult. The alleged Holy Priesthood of God becomes a class system.
But the basis of the need for high priests as a matter of theology is bogus, even in the LDS belief system.
Allegedly, God revealed to Joseph Smith God’s requirement that any man who presides within the Church must hold the office of High Priest.
As a temple worker, I ordained countless men who were acting as proxy for the dead to the office of elder, not high priest. The office of elder is all that is needed to become a god, to preside over worlds, endless spirit children and endless priesthood.
So, on earth a man must be a high priest to preside, but in heaven a God need only be an elder.
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-Click For More- | | How Mormonism Claims The Only Priesthood Authority On Earth - Mormon Men Have To Be Important | |
DATE POSTED: | Feb 21, 2007, at 06:38 AM |
ORIGINAL AUTHOR: | Grape Nephi aka William |
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The whole priesthood for all males thing is totally bogus. And the BoM people having the priesthood is very bogus too. No one could initiate in the temple unless they were a Levite. Now there was discussion as to whether it had to be an actual descendant of Aaron or not but that is another discussion.
Smith came up with the priesthood authority line to give himself credence. Plain and simple. The following is an in-depth discussion of it that I wrote up a while back.
Mormons teach that in order to administer the ordinances of the Gospel, a person must have the priesthood of God.
Catholic and Orthodox sects teach that their authority comes through apostolic succession from the time of the Apostles who obtained their authority from Jesus himself. Protestant churches who split from the Catholic tradition trace their authority back through the same succession and another facet of Protestantism teaches that all in the body of Christ, i.e. all members of the protestant church, are part of the priesthood of all believers.
Mormons believe that they have the exclusive authority of God to act in his name on earth. They believe that soon after the deaths of the original apostles, the priesthood, or the authority of God, was lost and that after a complete apostasy from Jesus’ church that a restoration of the Gospel was necessary. On the other side of the equation Eastern Orthodoxy teaches that they preserve Tradition. At the outset of the 18th century the Eastern Patriarchs said the following:
“We preserve the Doctrine of the Lord uncorrupted, and firmly adhere to the Faith He delivered to us, and keep it free from blemish and diminution, as a Royal Treasure, and a monument of great price, neither adding any thing, nor taking any thing from it.”
Mormons also teach that unless a person is baptized by one holding proper authority, i.e. a priesthood holder in the Mormon Church, that person will not be able to enter heaven. Churches such as the Greek or Russian Orthodox Church are able to show their priesthood line back to the apostles. Churches that split off from the Orthodox or Roman Catholic are also able to show their priesthood pedigree. The Mormon Church has only the claim that their priesthood comes from Peter, James and John when the three supposedly visited Joseph Smith and bestowed it upon him. The Mormon priesthood is split into two main levels, the Aaronic or lesser priesthood and the Melchezedec or greater priesthood.
The Aaronic priesthood is divided into three levels; deacon, teacher and priest. When young Mormon boys reach the age of twelve they are ordained to the priesthood and become deacons in the church. At fourteen they are ordained to the office of a teacher and at sixteen they are ordained to the office of a priest. In order to baptize one must at least be a priest. However, Christ brought an end to the Aaronic priesthood.
Romans:10:4: For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
Hebrews:7:27: Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.
The Melchezedec priesthood is also split into three levels; elder, seventy and High Priest. The office of an elder allows a person to officiate meetings in the church and also to confirm members of the church and bestow the gift of the Holy Ghost. The office of Seventy is basically defunct now but was an office of missionary work. The High Priest office is the office of officiation in the church. Bishops and higher officials in the church are High Priests.
During Christ's ministry he called Apostles to help him in the ministry. After the death and resurrection of Christ the Apostles set up the ministry as instructed. After the resurrection Paul was called by Christ through a vision. The original apostles were all individuals that knew Christ personally, either by knowing Him before the crucifixion or seeing Christ after the resurrection.
In Truth Restored by Gordon B. Hinckley, current prophet of the Mormon Church, in chapter three he recounts the restoration of the Mormon priesthood. “Among the doctrines taught in the ancient record was that of baptism for the remission of sins. Joseph Smith had never been baptized, for he had not become a member of any church. As he and Oliver discussed the matter, he resolved to inquire of the Lord concerning the ordinance. They retired to the seclusion of the woods along the banks of the Susquehanna River. It was the 15th day of May 1829. While they were engaged in prayer a light appeared above them, and in it a heavenly messenger descended. He announced himself to them as John, known in scripture as John the Baptist... He said he had come under the authority of Peter, James and John, Apostles of the Lord, who held the keys of the priesthood, and that he had been sent to confer upon them the priesthood of Aaron with the authority to administer in the temporal affairs of the Gospel”.
The Mormons believe the Aaronic priesthood to be a lesser priesthood that cares for the temporal needs of the church and that also confers the authority to baptize. Now, John the Baptist’s Father Zachary was a priest in the Temple, but unless Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were of the tribe of Levi they were ineligible to receive the Aaronic priesthood which is reserved for the sons of Levi which included Aaron and Moses. Mormons may claim that since John’s father was a priest that John would be of the lineage of Aaron. However looking at the familial relationships as outlined in the New Testament we may find that Elizabeth was of the daughters of Aaron. The only problem is that this was from her father’s side of the family. So she herself was not a Levite as lineage is passed down through the mother according to Jewish custom. So, John the Baptist would not have been considered one of the sons of Aaron.
The Mormons also believe in a greater priesthood called the Melchezedek Priesthood. This greater priesthood cares for the spiritual needs of the church. Holders of this priesthood may confer the Holy Ghost and administer the church. Unlike the supposed restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood, no specific date is given for the restoration of this greater priesthood. Neither Joseph Smith’s own writings or the various annals of the church delineate when exactly this occurred. In the Doctrine and Covenants, section 128 Joseph Smith said “And again, what do we hear? Glad tidings from Cumorah. Moroni, an angel from heaven, declaring the fulfillment of the prophets--the book to be revealed. A voice of the Lord in the wilderness of Fayette, Seneca county, declaring the three witnesses to bear record of the book. The voice of Michael on the banks of the Susquehanna, detecting the devil when he appeared as an angel of light. The voice of Peter, James and John in the wilderness between Harmony, Susquehanna county, and Colesville, Broome county, on the Susquehanna river, declaring themselves as possessing the keys of the kingdom, and of the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times." This is 12 years after the time that the restoration was said to have occurred. Quoting from Truth Restored again; “It was not long thereafter that another remarkable and even more significant event occurred. It took place “in the wilderness between Harmony, Susquehanna county [Pennsylvania], and Colesville, Broome County [New York], on the Susquehanna River.” The ancient Apostles Peter, James and John appeared to and conferred upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery the higher powers of the priesthood and they became “apostles and special witnesses” of Christ. With this ordination there was restored to the earth the same authority to act in God’s name that had been enjoyed in the primitive Church.” I should note that the 1833 Book of Commandments (precursor to the Doctrine and Covenants) does not make any mention of a visitation of Peter, James and John. In the History of the Church vol I, page 40 footnote it states that Oliver Cowdery indicated that a single Holy Angel restored the higher priesthood to he and Joseph. Not three. Do you think that if Peter, James and John had visited that this would make a lasting impression?
David Whitmer, one of the witnesses to the Book of Mormon wrote "This matter of 'Priesthood,' since the days of Sydney Rigdon, has been the great hobby and stumbling-block of the Latter Day Saints. Priesthood means authority; and authority is the word we should use. I do not think the word priesthood is mentioned in the New Covenant of the Book of Mormon. 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 old 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 Joseph to inquire, etc. He would inquire, and as mouthpiece speak out the revelations just as they had it fixed up in their hearts....according to the desires of the heart, the inspiration comes, but it may be the spirit of man that gives it.... 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."
Not only that, but Whitmer noted that revelations were changed to reflect the new ideas on the priesthood. This may be confirmed by reading the Book of Commandments and comparing it against the Doctrine and Covenants. Both of the these books are available on the internet.
“You have changed the revelations from the way they were first given and as they are today in the Book of Commandments, to support the error of Brother Joseph in taking upon himself the office of Seer to the church. You have changed the revelations to support the error of high priests. You have changed the revelations to support the error of a President of the high priesthood, high counselors, etc. You have altered the revelations to support you in going beyond the plain teachings of Christ in the new covenant part of the Book of Mormon.”
To summarize this section I will quote Grant Palmer: “Like the early narratives about how the Book of Mormon came to be, the early accounts of priesthood restoration are more numerous and fascinating than the simple unified story that is told today”.
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