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Dear Gramps, I have a question that I wish someone could answer satisfactorily. I have asked this question since I was 16. I am the only member of the church on my mother's side. I often get the heat from them for belonging to a cult, but we also exchange our beliefs. The one thing I am having a hard time explaining to them is the power of the Priesthood. I tell them it is the only authority on earth to use the power of God. I tell them it is to heal and comfort. They all explain to me that prayer does the same thing, and that millions are healed because of prayer, so what do you need the Priesthood for? Can you help me know what to explain to them? Thanks, Sheila, Alberta Canada |
Dear Sheila,
Both the prayer of faith and the power of the priesthood are effective in
calling down blessings from heaven. James tells us, "And the prayer of
faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have
committed sins, they shall be forgiven him" (James 5:15.)
There is a difference between the efficacy of prayer and the power of the
priesthood. A prayer on behalf of the sick is an appeal to the Father to
intercede in their behalf. A prayer may be offered by any one of our Father's
children. He will listen to and bless those who live in righteousness and who
exercise faith in the Lord.
Those who hold the Holy Priesthood, however, speak officially in the name of
Jesus Christ, and through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, may invoke the
blessings of the Father on those who are ill. Brigham Young said, "When I
lay hands on the sick, I expect the healing power and influence of God to pass
through me to the patient, and the disease to give way. I do not say that I heal
everybody I lay hands on; but many have been healed under my
administration" (Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 162.)
The power of the Priesthood goes far beyond the blessing of the sick. The
priesthood is the power by which worlds are organized and brought into
existence. It is the power through which God administers in the affairs of men.
Through the power of the priesthood the true and living Church was restored to
the earth, and therein through that same power are the ordinances of salvation
administered. President John Taylor added, "This same power has also been
abundantly manifested in these latter days in the midst of the Saints of God, in
deliverances from evil, in escapes from enemies, in the quelling of mobs, in the
stilling of the angry waves of the sea, in the healing of the sick, in the
casting out of unclean spirits, and in many other miraculous manifestations of
the power and goodness of God, and of the authority with which He has invested
His servants who are endowed and clothed upon with the Priesthood, which is
endless and after the order of the Son of God" (Mediation and Atonement,
Ch.10.)
Gramps