AUTHORITY
When Christ was baptized under the hand of John, was the
authority to perform that baptism given of men or was it given by God?
Christ sought out John the Baptist and asked John to perform
the baptism for Him. We know that John
responded in a humble manner, saying, “I need to be baptized by you and here
you come to ask me?” The Lord responded
that it was necessary to fulfill all righteousness. Having performed the Baptism, the voice of
the Father was heard, saying “This day have I begotten thee.” This was God’s indication that the dying of
the old and a resurrection of the new was acceptable to Him. This example was
provided to show the way for all who would desire to be reborn to a new life
and grow to become the sons and daughters of God. A white dove descended from
Heaven. We are taught that it is a
symbol of the Holy Ghost. The dove was
another sign of God’s acceptance of the ordinance of Baptism. This demonstrates that the Holy Ghost is
received through Baptism.
So I ask you to please consider again this question. When Jesus Christ was baptized under the hand
of John, was it by the authority of men or by the authority of God?
If we say it was by the authority of God, then we are in
agreement with the New Testament on this point.
If we say it was by the authority of God, then we must also
consider how it was that John did not receive his authority from the priests of
his time period. John was working
outside the structure of the organized church.
Please consider the following words, by Christ:
“Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,
Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees
sit in Moses seat: All therefore
whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their
works for they say, and do not. For
they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s
shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their
fingers. But all their works they do for
to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders
of their garments, And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats
in the synagogues, And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men Rabbi,
Rabbi. But be ye not called Rabbi: for
one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the
earth: for one is your Father, which is
in heaven. Neither be ye called masters:
for one is your Master, even he whom your Heavenly Father sent, which is
Christ; for he hath sent him among you that ye might have eternal life. But he that is greatest among you shall be
the servant. And whosoever shall exalt
himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.”
(Mathew 23:1-12)
The ecclesiastic authority of John’s day was the scribes and
Pharisees. They sat in Moses seat,
meaning that they were the appointed authorities of the church. They maintained the authority to govern the
church. Christ never did remove them
from their appointed seats during his mortal ministry. It appears he had no interest in the
authority to rule, but only in the authority to serve. Christ taught the people
to not be concerned about the authority to govern. He wanted them to do the good works that were
taught from the pulpits, but do not chase after the right to rule over
others. He admonished that they should seek
to be the servant. He reminded them that
true authority came from the Father who is in Heaven. Any deference to authority ought to be
offered up unto that God (the Father) and not to any other.
“And when he was come
into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him
as he was teaching, and said, By what
authority doest thou these things?
And who gave thee this authority?
And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing,
which if ye tell me, in like wise I will tell you by what authority I do these
things. The baptism of John, whence was
it? From heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If
we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe
him? But if we shall say, Of men; we
fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet. And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot
tell. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do
these things.” (Matthew 21:23-27).
God works in one eternal round and so, why would our time be
any different?
The High Priests and Elders seek for authority to act in the
name of God. If their heart is single to
the glory of God, then they will recognize that any true authority would come
from only God and can only be found by the hand of God. Although another man may lay hands upon the
head of another and pronounce a blessing or a conferral of priesthood; the
validity of that ordinance can only be received by some direct means obtained
from the Lord. It can be understood
then, that the Lord will give authority to anyone whom he so chooses. Again recognizing the purpose for which he
gives it. It is to make the one with
authority, the servant of the people rather than the ruler.
Those who seek for the right to preside are offended when
another comes along working outside the chain of command. Their envy is apparent as they seek to stop
the “unapproved” from working in the name of Christ. Inadvertently they fight against Christ, who
gives His approval to anyone whom He desires.
As John received his authority from God, so too must anyone who is seeks
to perform a work in the cause of Heaven.
From the exchange between Christ and the chief priests and
the elders, we learn that God does not “work only within proper channels of
authority”. He does not limit himself to
a hierarchy. In fact, he commonly gives
authority to those who abase themselves.
Those who seek no authority at all, but only seek to serve God. These are they who discover that God will
lift them up. Those who seek to keep others
in a strict hierarchy of authority find that very process of organizing an
authoritative chain binds them down from the exaltation that they sought for
themselves.
“And again, we saw the terrestrial world, and behold and lo,
these are they who are of the terrestrial, whose glory differs from that of the
church of the Firstborn who have received the fulness of the Father, even as
that of the moon differs from the sun in the firmament. Behold, these are they who died without
law; And also they who are the spirits
of men kept in prison, whom the Son visited, and preached the gospel unto them,
that they might be judged according to men in the flesh; Who received not the testimony of Jesus in
the flesh, but afterwards received it. These are they who are honorable men of the
earth, who were blinded by the craftiness of men.” (D&C 76:71-75)
We receive a warning in Doctrine and Covenants 76 about
persons who fail in their efforts to receive the Celestial glory which they had
desired to obtain. We know that they
sought for the higher law because they were “honorable”. They lived honest and moral lives. We know this because of the description within the chapter. However, there was a quality that was lacking in them,
preventing them from recognizing and living the higher law necessary to obtain
the fulness of the Father. They were
blinded by the craftiness of men. They
were willing to give deference to men over the counsel of God. They heeded men more than the counsel of God.
We know that it is not enough to rely upon any man, even a
good man. We must be tested in our
capacity to heed the voice of the Lord alone.
We know this is the case as we study Section 76 a little further and see
those who are described to have fulfilled a law even lower than the Terrestrial. The description of those in the Telestial
declares the following:
“For these are they who are of Paul, and of Apollos, and of
Cephas. These are they who say they are
some of one and some of another – some of Christ and some of John, and some of
Moses, and some of Elias, and some of Esaias, and some of Isaiah, and some of
Enoch; But received not the gospel
neither the testimony of Jesus, neither the prophets, neither the everlasting
covenant. Last of all, these all are
they who will not be gathered with the saints, to be caught up unto the church
of the Firstborn, and received into the cloud.
These are they who are liars, and sorcerers, and adulterers, and
whoremongers, and whosoever loves and makes a lie. These they who suffer the wrath of God on
earth…” (D&C 76:98-104)
These are the religious!
The people described here view themselves as holy people. They are people who follow the prophet. All of the names described were true prophets
of God. All of the people listed by name in this verse
performed a work on the earth in the name of Christ and were taken into heaven
to receive a Celestial glory. These were
not false prophets. These were truly the
righteous, but even in their righteousness they could not leave behind an
authority for others to rely upon. The
claims of authority made in the name of Paul, Apollos, Cephas, Christ, John,
Moses, Elias, Esaias, Isaiah and Enoch will not be recognized by the Lord. Who claimed authority in their name? It was the people of their times and
generations. Who are the names in our
day which we might attempt to claim authority?
Joseph Smith could easily be among those names. It is not enough to say we received authority
from the leadership of the church. We
must receive it on a personal basis directly from the Lord, just as the men
listed above did so. Those claiming
authority has been past down from one man to another are included into the
kingdom with “liars, sorcerers, adulterers,
and whoremongers and whosoever loves and makes a lie.”
By this we see that any claim to authority must come
directly from God. Any attempt to claim
authority passed down from another man, even a very righteous man, will condemn
us. Christ said this to the Pharisees as
recorded in the New Testament. Christ
also said this to Joseph Smith as recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants.
Define Authority:
Authority is permission from God to perform a work in His
name. True authority can only be given
by God. True authority cannot be passed
from man to man, but only from God to man. It is given to those who seek to
serve. The humble servants are they who
God will call His children. God gives
his authority to his sons and daughters.
Authority is not given to those who are ambitious or vain or even to
those who seek to lead. They who seek to
rule have a temporary season to govern, but it will not last. If you would have any authority at all, it
must be sought directly from God and not from the hand of man.
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