9/11 Destruction Allowed Us to Spiritually Rebuild

From the Washington Post's "On Faith" blog, we read the words of the Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:

"The calamity of September 11th, 2001 has cast a long shadow.  Ten years later, many of us are still haunted by its terrible tragedy of lost lives and broken hearts.  It is an episode of anguish that has become a defining moment in the history of the American nation and the world.  This week, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, along with Tom Brokaw, will pay its own homage to the unforgettable events of September 11, 2001.

"There was, as many have noted, a remarkable surge of faith following the tragedy.  People across the United States rediscovered the need for God and turned to Him for solace and understanding.  Comfortable times were shattered. We felt the great unsteadiness of life and reached for the great steadiness of our Father in Heaven. And, as ever, we found it.   Americans of all faiths came together in a remarkable way.
Sadly, it seems that much of that renewal of faith has waned in the years that have followed.  Healing has come with time, but so has indifference.  We forget how vulnerable and sorrowful we felt.  Our sorrow moved us to remember the deep purposes of our lives.  The darkness of our despair brought us a moment of enlightenment.  But we are forgetful.   When the depth of grief has passed, its lessons often pass from our minds and hearts as well.

"Our Father’s commitment to us, His children, is unwavering.  Indeed He softens the winters of our lives, but He also brightens our summers.  Whether it is the best of times or the worst, He is with us. He has promised us that this will never change.

"But we are less faithful than He is.  By nature we are vain, frail, and foolish.  We sometimes neglect God. Sometimes we fail to keep the commandments that He gives us to make us happy.  Sometimes we fail to commune with Him in prayer.  Sometimes we forget to succor the poor and the downtrodden who are also His children.  And our forgetfulness is very much to our detriment.

"If there is a spiritual lesson to be learned from our experience of that fateful day, it may be that we owe to God the same faithfulness that He gives to us.  We should strive for steadiness, and for a commitment to God that does not ebb and flow with the years or the crises of our lives.  It should not require tragedy for us to remember Him, and we should not be compelled to humility before giving Him our faith and trust. We too should be with Him in every season.

"The way to be with God in every season is to strive to be near Him every week and each day.  We truly 'need Him every hour,' not just in hours of devastation.  We must speak to Him, listen to Him, and serve Him.  If we wish to serve Him, we should serve our fellow men.  We will mourn the lives we lose, but we should also fix the lives that can be mended and heal the hearts that may yet be healed.

"It is constancy that God would have from us.  Tragedies are not merely opportunities to give Him a fleeting thought, or for momentary insight to His plan for our happiness.  Destruction allows us to rebuild our lives in the way He teaches us, and to become something different than we were.  We can make Him the center of our thoughts and His Son, Jesus Christ, the pattern for our behavior. We may not only find faith in God in our sorrow.  We may also become faithful to Him in times of calm."

Mormon Theology no. 8 - The Genius of the LDS Church Organization

On 22 November 2009 at 11:20am inside the Provo Tabernacle, I heard Elder D. Todd Christofferson testify of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Priesthood Authority that the Lord has given the LDS Church.  What are the Apostles?  Who are the Seventy?  Where and when do they fit into Jesus' original Church He set up?  In this essay, we will examine these claims.  It must always be remembered that Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church, and that He leads said Church.


The Council of the First Presidency
During certain occasions, the Lord Christ took with Him Peter, James, and John - and only them - to witness certain pivotal events in His ministry.  Such pivotal events were the raising of the daughter of Jairus, the raising of Lazarus, the events on top of the Mount of Transfiguration, and our Lord's sufferings in the Garden of Gethsemane.  The reason the Lord took Peter, James, and John upon the Mount was to ordain them to the Priesthood and give them the Keys that only the First Presidency can exercise.  These three able men eventually led the Church and called and ordained new Apostles such as Paul and Barnabas and Matthias.  Unfortunately, all Christ's original Apostles were killed, and His Authority taken from the Earth.  It was eventually restored under the hands of these same ancient Apostles (Peter, James, and John) upon the heads of Joseph Smith, Junior and Oliver Cowdery near Harmony, Pennsylvania in May or June of 1829.  Four years later on 18 March 1833, the Lord organized the First Presidency, then consisting of Joseph Smith, Junior, President; Sidney Rigdon, First Counselor; and Fredrick G. Williams, Second Counselor.  The First Presidency at the time of the death of Joseph Smith consisted of Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, and Hyrum Smith.  The First Presidency has been subsequently dissolved and reorganized at the death of every Church President since Joseph Smith.  The current First Presidency is Thomas S. Monson, President; Henry B. Eyring, First Counselor; and Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor.

The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
During Jesus' mortal ministry (Matt. 10), He organized the first ever Quorum of the Twelve Apostles which consisted of Peter, Andrew, James, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James, Lebaeus Thaddaeus, Simon, and Judas.  As stated above, this Quorum was all killed off or taken from the Earth by the Lord, thus their Authority going with them.  It was reconstituted by the Lord on 14 February 1835 with Thomas B. Marsh, David W. Patten, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde, William E. McLellin, Parley P. Pratt, Luke S. Johnson, William Smith, Orson Pratt, John F. Boynton, and Lyman E. Johnson as members.  As in former dispensations, at the death or excommunication of a member of the Twelve, a new person in called into the Quorum so as to always have twelve.  The current Quorum consists of: Boyd K. Packer, L. Tom Perry, Russell M. Nelson, Dallin H. Oaks, M. Russell Ballard, Richard G. Scott, Robert D. Hales, Jeffery R. Holland, David A. Bednar, Quinton L. Cook, D. Todd Christofferson, and Neil L. Andersen.  Together, the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles hold and exercise all the Priesthood Keys on the Earth, with the President of the Church the only man authorized to exercise all the keys at one time.

The Quorums of the Seventy
In Acts 6, the Twelve Apostles chose seven able men to assist them in the work of the ministry.  The Savior had previously organized a Quorum of Seventy shortly after the organization, empowerment, and sending forth of the Twelve.  The Seventy were organized to help the Apostles lead the Church.  After the Great Apostasy, the Lord brooded upon Joseph Smith to reorganize the Seventy in the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times.  Just two weeks after the formation of the Quorum of the Twelve apostles in 1835, Joseph Smith organized the First Council of the Seventy.  One of the original members was Elder George A. Smith, a cousin to Joseph, and only 19 years of age at the time

From 1835 until 1975, the Quorums of the Seventy became so numerous that they eventually became unwieldy, which eventually were put under the supervision of the Stakes of Zion.  They were so unwieldy and disorganized, that in 1975, Spencer W. Kimball, then 12th President of the Church, reorganized the First Quorum as a Quorum of General Authority Seventies, with the Stake Seventies remaining under local jurisdiction.  By 1986, the Priesthood office of Seventy was no longer a Stake position, but operated Church wide, with the discontinuance of Stake Seventies.  Also in 1986, the Second Quorum of the Seventy was constituted, also consisting of General Authorities.  Then, in one of the great administrative motions of President Gordon B. Hinckley, he, in 1997, created the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Quorums of the Seventy.  Today, the Church has Eight Quorums of the Seventy.  With the creation of the Seventies Quorum, the Church can grow as large as ever God wills it, because the Quorums of the Seventy can expand to any number, whereas there will always and only be Twelve Apostles.

Seeing, therefore, that the Lord actually established a Church on the Earth when He was mortal, it stands to reason that His Church on the earth would have His same organization and offices in this dispensation as in former dispensations.  To fully know if what we have discussed is true, you, the reader, must read the Book of Mormon, carefully comparing its doctrine with the Bible.  If done with a prayer of faith, you will find that the LDS Church is the only true and living Church upon the face of the whole earth.  I know this is true, because I have done it.  Remember the words of Jesus, "If any man will do [God's] will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself" (John 7:17).  I bear witness of the Lord's establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and that He established no other modern nor ancient Church or religion, save His Church.  In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.