Difference between revisions of "Priesthood Authority"
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Revision as of 18:30, 9 August 2017
The priesthood has been vested in chosen individuals since the world began. Bible prophets and apostles all held this power. Through it, they received guidance and truth from the Lord, performed miracles and blessings for the benefit of those whom they led, and officiated in important, sacred rituals and ordinances such as baptism. In general terms the priesthood serves as a special and official connection between heaven and earth, between God and man, between Christ and His Church.
There have been times in history when people of the earth have lost the priesthood through disobedience to God’s commandments. They have rejected and fallen away from the truth, and by so doing have been left with a severely decreased understanding of the workings of God. Among Mormons this state is known as apostasy. The worst of these periods was called the Great Apostasy, occurring after those Jesus Christ left to govern His Church, the apostles, were murdered, along with many other faithful followers of Christ. The pure teachings of the Church were corrupted, and new religious organizations were established without divine sanction or authority. The western world was plunged into a time of spiritual and secular ignorance known commonly as the Dark Ages.
Each period of apostasy has been followed by a restoration of divine teachings and authority to the earth. Joseph Smith was chosen by God as the prophet who should restore the true Church of Jesus Christ and the priesthood in our time. So it was, that in 1829 he received a degree of the priesthood by the hands of the heavenly messenger, the resurrected John the Baptist. Later Joseph received the priesthood in completeness from Jesus’ apostles Peter, James, and John, also in their resurrected state. Thus, Jesus Christ passed His authority on to His apostles, and they later passed it to Joseph Smith, who conferred it upon others. They, in an unbroken chain, have passed it on to worthy male members of the Mormon Church up to this generation.
The restoration of the Aaronic and the Melchizedek Priesthoods brought back priesthood power and authority required for the organization of the Church on earth. "The Prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery received the Aaronic Priesthood, with its authority to baptize, on 15 May 1829. The Melchizedek Priesthood was restored next, bringing to earth all the power and authority necessary to organize and direct the Church of Jesus Christ and to perform additional saving priesthood ordinances. While the Prophet and his associate, Oliver, did not record the date that they received the Melchizedek Priesthood, historical records and the testimony of witnesses indicate that it occurred between the day after the Aaronic Priesthood restoration and 28 May 1829. Both the scriptures and the testimony of contemporaries attest that the brethren on whom the Lord had bestowed the keys of the Melchizedek Priesthood—the Prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery—acted in the authority of those keys as they organized the Church on 6 April 1830."[1]
