The Church of Jesus Christ in Former Times

A new calling and a new adventure for me, Yahoo. I am so excited about being the new blogger. I have to be honest though I have never blogged before in my life so this will be an interesting experience for me. I hope that I can compete with Kristy.

On Sunday, we had a wonderful lesson from Bunnie Kantro on 'The Church of Jesus Christ in Former Times', lesson #16. So how many of us remember the 6th Article of Faith. "We believe in the same organization that existed in Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth" (Articles of Faith 1:6).

We discussed that when Jesus was here on earth, he established his church which is what we have today, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. There are six features that the church has which I will briefly go over:

1) Revelations: "...the Church of Jesus Christ was directed by God and not by men" (pg 87).
2) Authority from God: Our Heavenly Father gave the authority of the priesthood to his son Jesus Christ who then passed it onto his Apostles.
3) The Church Organization: The church must have order, that is why it was "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, [with] Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone" (pg 89). Jesus called other officers called Seventies to go and preach the gospel in pairs. He appointed other officers in the Church such as "evangelists (patriarchs), pastors (presiding leaders), high priest, elders, bishops, priests, teachers and deacons" (pg 89).
4) First Principles and Ordinances: Our Apostles taught two basic principles which are faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and repentance. As these new coverts received these things, they then received two ordinances, Baptism by immersion and the receiving of the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands making these the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as stated in the 4th Articles of Faith.
5) Ordinances Performed for the Dead: So that everyone would have the opportunity to hear the gospel even after death. And finally,
6) Spiritual Gifts: These gifts were given to individuals according to their needs, capacities and assignments. Such gifts were faith with the power to heal and be healed; prophecy and visions. Many of Jesus' disciples actually performed these many miracles, they prophesied and had visions through the power of the Holy Ghost.

Bunny continued on to discuss how the church slowly left the earth. As we know, many people tried to destroy the work of the Lord, even during the time of Jesus and after his death. Many members began teaching their old ideas from their old pagan or Jewish beliefs and some just rebelled. There was persecution from the outside and many members were tortured and killed for what they believed, including the Apostles. One by one, they slowly were killed off or taken from the earth by our Heavenly Father. And because of this, the wickedness and the apostasy grew and the "priesthood keys" were finally taken from the earth. This is how the church became churches of men and no longer The Church of Jesus Christ (see 4 Nephi) (pg 92).

How blessed we are to live in a time where we have the scriptures and a church of Jesus Christ, one that has the proper keys and priesthood and proper authority. I don't think I could imagine living in those "dark ages" where no true church existed. It must have been an era of confusion and chaos. I encourage all of you to read the lesson. There are many scriptures to look up so make sure you have yourself a tall glass of water, or your favorite drink, yummy healthy snacks to snack on along with your scriptures with you by your side so you can be looking up these scriptures while you're reading and learning about 'The Church of Jesus Christ in Former Times'.

Be sure to join us next week or stay turned for the next update when we will be discussing 'Tell me the Stories of Jesus' by Elder Neil L. Anderson, April General Conference talk, taught by Sister Debbi Adams. Until next time...

Kelly