The Priesthood Power of Women

Key Takeaways

Under Consideration — to be added.

Interconnections

Under Consideration — to be added.

Highlights

• Because more young women are studying and teaching the words of the living prophets and standard works, there are more young women trying to apply the teachings found therein in their own lives. The more spiritually mature are listening to the pleadings of Church leaders to study and know the doctrine of the gospel better and to live their lives based on this revealed truth.
• For leaders, teachers, and parents, it is no longer acceptable to simply sidestep some of their difficult questions and bear our testimony.
• President M. Russell Ballard taught, “When men and women go to the temple, they are both endowed with the same power, which by definition is priesthood power… . Access to the power and the blessings of the priesthood is available to all of God’s children.”
• Imagine the strength of a husband and wife, sealed together in the temple, when the two of them realize that together they have entered into the patriarchal order of the priesthood (the new and everlasting covenant of marriage), that each of them is a contributing partner in the creation of an eternal family, as coequals, without one being the boss over the other.
• All members of the Church, especially the women, are the very ones who need to be prepared to teach truths regarding the priesthood. If we don’t teach them, who will? Who will answer the questions of the young women when they go through the temple for the first time? Who will accurately prepare the Primary girls for their first calling—which they may receive even while still in Primary—and explain to them that they will have priesthood authority?
• How will we as women use the priesthood power we have been endowed with in our homes, communities, and world if we don’t know what it is, let alone how to call upon it?
• Anyone who has any leadership or other connection with women (which is likely everyone) will benefit from a deepened understanding of priesthood power.
• I have noticed that President Russell M. Nelson has emphasized our need for a paradigm shift in our thinking about the relationship between the family and the Church as part of our preparation for the Second Coming.6 In other words, the Church has been instituted to support individuals and families, and not the other way around.
• President Nelson taught, “Nothing opens the heavens quite like the combination of increased purity, exact obedience, earnest seeking, daily feasting on the words of Christ in the Book of Mormon, and regular time committed to temple and family history work.”
• Elder Bruce R. McConkie instructed: “This doctrine of the priesthood—unknown in the world and but little known even in the Church—cannot be learned out of the scriptures alone. It is not set forth in the sermons and teachings of the prophets and Apostles, except in small measure. The doctrine of the priesthood is known only by personal revelation. It comes, line upon line and precept upon precept, by the power of the Holy Ghost to those who love and serve God with all their heart, might, mind, and strength.”
• President Heber C. Kimball expressed that “the greatest torment [the Prophet Joseph] had and the greatest mental suffering was because this people would not live up to their privileges… . He said sometimes that he felt … as though he were pent up in an acorn shell, and all because the people … would not prepare themselves to receive the rich treasures of wisdom and knowledge that he had to impart. He could have revealed a great many things to us if we had been ready; but he said there were many things that we could not receive because we lacked that diligence … necessary to entitle us to those choice things of the kingdom.”
• President Russell M. Nelson has admonished, “I urge you to stretch beyond your current spiritual ability to receive personal revelation, for the Lord has promised that ‘if thou shalt [seek], thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things—that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal’ (Doctrine and Covenants 42:61).”
• President Ezra Taft Benson explained that “the order of priesthood spoken of in the scriptures is sometimes referred to as the patriarchal order because it came down from father to son. But this order is otherwise described in modern revelation as an order of family government where a man and woman enter into a covenant with God—just as did Adam and Eve—to be sealed for eternity, to have posterity, and to do the will and work of God throughout their mortality.”
• Elder Dale G. Renlund and Sister Ruth Lybbert Renlund wrote: “Many members of the Church who accept, love, and appreciate the priesthood may find themselves ‘fuzzy’ on the doctrine and principles. Perhaps that is because the term priesthood is used in at least two ways. First, priesthood is the term used to describe the total power and authority of God. Second, priesthood is also the term used to describe the power and authority that God gives to ordained priesthood holders on earth to act in all things necessary for the salvation of God’s children.” Continuing, they explain, “Thus, the same word, priesthood, refers both to God’s total power and authority and to that portion of His power and authority that He delegates to man on earth.”
• Elder and Sister Renlund compare the way we use the term priesthood with the way we use the term earth.6 Earth can either be the entire globe upon which all of us live, or it can be the dirt that we can pick up with our hands or plant flowers in. If we think of the priesthood solely in terms of the power and authority of God delegated to man—or the dirt in the Renlunds’ analogy—we will find that we have been very narrow in our definition, leaving out much of God’s power and authority. If we think of priesthood as the power and authority of God—or the entire globe in the Renlunds’ analogy—we expand our view and include not only that which is commonly focused on but all that God defines as His power and authority.
• A woman, for example, can go to the temple and receive her endowment and believe she possesses priesthood power and authority, and correctly so. Although not ordained to a priesthood office, she has received this priesthood power and authority through the ordinances of the temple.
• Sister Julie B. Beck, while instructing the women of the Church regarding the priesthood, differentiated between God’s total priesthood power and authority, and that priesthood delegated to man. She declared, “We need never confuse the idea of those who hold the priesthood in trust, with the priesthood. The priesthood is God’s power. It is His power to create, to bless, to lead, to serve as He does… . Don’t confuse the power with the keys and the offices of the priesthood. God’s power is limitless and it is shared with those who make and keep covenants. Too much is said and misunderstood about what the brothers have and the sisters don’t have. This is Satan’s way of confusing both men and women so neither understands what they really have.”
• Elder John A. Widtsoe, who confirmed, “This glorious vision of life hereafter … is given radiant warmth by the thought that … we shall find a mother who possesses the attributes of Godhood.”
• Elder Glenn L. Pace of the Seventy testified to the sisters of the Church that “when you stand in front of your heavenly parents in those royal courts on high and you look into Her eyes and behold Her countenance, any question you ever had about the role of women in the kingdom will evaporate into the rich celestial air, because at that moment you will see standing directly in front of you, your divine nature and destiny.”
• During His mortal ministry Jesus established His Church, an ecclesiastical/hierarchical structure, so that, according to Elder McConkie, the Church could operate in the “easiest and [most] harmonious way because of the social setting that exists in the world. And the social circumstances of the nations and the governments are such today that we can’t operate through families like they did in Abraham’s day. You can’t have civil and ecclesiastical authority combined because the great masses of men don’t belong to the Church.”
• Before and after the Reformation, God blessed men and women, Protestants, Catholics, and non-Christians by His priesthood power and authority as they prayed and lived according to the light and knowledge they received.”
• It seems as if Joseph was trying to learn from the Lord both how to structure a Church, using the hierarchical priesthood structure, and how to create Zion and prepare the members for eternal life as promised in the temple, using the patriarchal structure of the priesthood. In other words, during Joseph’s leadership, the hierarchical structure used in the public Church organization (with Apostles, prophets, seventy, and so on) and the familial or patriarchal structure used in the temple (with men and women receiving the power and authority associated with the patriarchal order of the priesthood) were not only both being used, but they were dependent upon each other. Joseph was evidently receiving revelation from the Lord regarding both priesthood structures simultaneously.
• Thus, only men are authorized to perform priesthood ordinances outside of the temple, but both men and women are authorized to perform certain ordinances in the temple.
• The ordinances and covenants of the gospel of Jesus Christ are represented in the overlapping part of the circles.
• To this end, President Ballard taught: “Although the Church plays a pivotal role in proclaiming, announcing, and administering the necessary ordinances of salvation and exaltation, all of that, as important as it is, is really just the scaffolding being used in an infinite and eternal construction project to build, support, and strengthen the family. And just as scaffolding is eventually taken down and put away to reveal the final completed building, so too will the mortal, administrative functions of the Church eventually fade as the eternal family comes fully into view. In that context, it’s important to remember that our Church assignments are only temporary, and that at some point we will all be released either by our leaders or by death. But we will never be released from our eternal callings within the family.”
• How different would things be if we as members of the Church focused more on the family and the order entered into by Eve and Adam, Sarah and Abraham, Rebekah and Isaac, even Heavenly Mother and Heavenly Father?
• Priesthood authority in the hierarchical structure of the Church is received in two ways: through ordination and through being called and set apart.
• President Oaks elucidated the role of women in regard to the priesthood in the hierarchical Church: “We are not accustomed to speaking of women having the authority of the priesthood in their Church callings, but what other authority can it be? When a woman—young or old—is set apart to preach the gospel as a full-time missionary, she is given priesthood authority to perform a priesthood function.” He continued, “The same is true when a woman is set apart to function as an officer or teacher in a Church organization under the direction of one who holds the keys of the priesthood. Whoever functions in an office or calling received from one who holds priesthood keys exercises priesthood authority in performing her or his assigned duties.”4 Priesthood authority, therefore, is given to both women and men, based on their callings.
• It is critical to not only teach the young men about what it means to hold the keys of the ministering of angels, but to also teach both the young women and young men what it means to have the ministering of angels in their lives.
• President Marion G. Romney gave these four simple principles to keep in mind when determining if a revelation is from God: First, “Does it purport to originate in the wisdom of men, or was it revealed from heaven?” Second, “Does the teaching bear the proper label?” Third, “The teaching must not only come under the proper label, but it must also conform to the other teaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” Fourth, “Does it come through the proper Church channel?”
• With so much information coming over the Internet, so many voices purposefully, innocently, or naively declaring falsehoods as truth, so much ethical relativism, we must know the correct source of information.
• “The closer we are to Jesus Christ in the thoughts and intents of our hearts,” Elder Dale G. Renlund instructed, “the more we appreciate His innocent suffering, the more grateful we are for grace and forgiveness, and the more we want to repent and become like Him.”
• Regardless of ordination to priesthood office, or priesthood authority received through being set apart or receiving temple ordinances, righteousness is a prerequisite to priesthood power.
• My companion and I and all sister missionaries had priesthood authority because we had been called and set apart by a stake president who held priesthood keys of presidency, and we were working under the direction of the mission president, who also held priesthood keys of presidency for missionaries. Although we were not ordained to the office of elder, which authorizes a Melchizedek Priesthood holder to baptize and confirm, we were set apart as full-time missionaries, which gave us the authority of God to teach and bring people to Christ.
• After introducing ourselves, the Young Men president simply stated, “Sister Morgan, as you are new to this calling, may I suggest that I preside at this meeting? At the next meeting, we would appreciate it if you would be willing to preside.” I admit that it caught me by surprise that a stake Young Men leader, who was recently released as a mission president, who had previously served as a bishop and stake president, and who clearly had much more Church leadership experience than I did as a single sister in my early thirties, would invite me to preside at our next meeting.
• Presiding in the Church isn’t dependent upon the male gender or even ordination, but is a matter of the functioning of priesthood keys of presidency.
• As Elder Neil L. Andersen taught: “A man may open the drapes, so the warm sunlight comes into the room, but the man does not own the sun or the light or the warmth it brings. The blessings of the priesthood are infinitely greater than the one who is asked to administer the gift.”
• Priesthood is not something we are. It is God’s power that He authorizes His servants to use for the benefit of others. It would be just as incorrect, after a group of young women performed a musical number, to thank the priesthood (referring to the sisters) for singing as it is for someone to thank the priesthood (referring to the men) for passing the sacrament. The priesthood didn’t sing, and the priesthood didn’t pass the sacrament. People did!
• We concluded that even if a man was perfect, calling any mortal “the priesthood” is demeaning to the power of God.
• Neither is in charge of the other. In fact, the Beehive class president has stewardship over her class, and the deacons quorum president has stewardship over his quorum.
• Perhaps one of the best things a stake president’s wife can do is support her husband. Perhaps one of the best things a Relief Society president’s husband can do is support his wife.
• We do not push, pry, or take offense when confidential matters are wisely kept confidential. We work together as a team, he in his calling and me in mine, both striving to build the kingdom of God on earth.
• Sister Bonnie L. Oscarson declared: “All women need to see themselves as essential participants in the work of the priesthood. Women in this Church are presidents, counselors, teachers, members of councils, sisters, and mothers, and the kingdom of God cannot function unless we rise up and fulfill our duties with faith.”
• President Oaks, on a number of occasions, has cautioned members of the Church to avoid answering questions the Lord has never given answers to: “Let’s don’t make the mistake that’s been made in the past … trying to put reasons to revelation. The reasons turn out to be man-made to a great extent. The revelations are what we sustain as the will of the Lord and that’s where safety lies.”
• President Ballard displayed a perfect example of this when he taught: “Why are men ordained to priesthood offices and not women? … The Lord has not revealed why He has organized His Church as He has.”
• I shared an experience President Boyd K. Packer had with President David O. McKay shortly before President McKay passed away. President Packer remembers President McKay speaking to General Authorities in the temple about sacred ordinances, explaining them and even quoting “at length from the ceremonies.” In this setting, President McKay “paused and stood gazing up to the ceiling in deep thought.” After being in this position for a time, he then declared, “Brethren, I think I am finally beginning to understand.” President Packer reflected, “Here he was, the prophet—an Apostle for over half a century and even then, he was learning, he was growing.”
• Like Moses of old, Joseph Smith “sought diligently to sanctify his people that they might behold the face of God.”7 In both ancient and modern times, sanctification was to be accomplished through the authority and ordinances of the patriarchal/familial order of the priesthood, the highest order of the Melchizedek Priesthood, and it was to be done only in the temple.
• The moment a man begins making covenants, he starts the process of becoming a patriarch. The moment a woman begins making covenants, she starts the process of becoming a matriarch. Every ordinance leads them to the fulfillment of this great patriarchal/familial order of the priesthood.
• Each ordinance gives additional power, blessings, understanding, intelligence, and light to each individual. Each draws us closer, as women and men, to becoming like our Heavenly Mother and Father.
• Elder M. Russell Ballard quoted Elder John A. Widtsoe as saying: “The Priesthood is for the benefit of all members of the Church. Men have no greater claim than women upon the blessings that issue from the Priesthood and accompany its possession.”
• Frankly, the blessings of the temple are innumerable. Some of these blessings are associated with promises made by the Father to His children; some of these blessings are received individually, one miracle, one piece of knowledge, or one answer to prayer at a time.
• Elder J Ballard Washburn of the Seventy stated: “We go to the temple to make covenants, but we go home to keep the covenants that we have made. The home is the testing ground. The home is the place where we learn to be more Christlike. The home is the place where we learn to overcome selfishness and give ourselves in service to others.”
• That being said, I have no question that God will give us compensatory blessings, even if those blessings are delayed until the next life.
• The reality that some of us do not have ideal lives does not discredit the truth of eternal happiness. Frankly, none of us, whether married or single, will have the ideal life until we receive exaltation.
• Elder L. Tom Perry reminded the brethren that in their role as the leader in the family, their wife is their companion. Quoting President Gordon B. Hinckley, he then taught: “In this Church the man neither walks ahead of his wife nor behind his wife but at her side. They are coequals.” Elder Perry explained, “Since the beginning, God has instructed mankind that marriage should unite husband and wife together in unity.” He then adamantly stated: “Therefore, there is not a president or a vice president in a family. The couple works together eternally for the good of the family. They are united together in word, in deed, and in action as they lead, guide, and direct their family unit. They are on equal footing. They plan and organize the affairs of the family jointly and unanimously as they move forward.”
• Similarly, Elder Dale G. and Sister Ruth L. Renlund teach that presiding in the home for a priesthood holder means that he “serves in accordance with the doctrine of the priesthood.” They continue, “His life will be ‘founded on the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ,’ and he will, with his wife as an equal partner, establish a home built on ‘principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activity.’” This presiding priesthood holder, they explain, will “acknowledge error and seek forgiveness; he will be quick to offer praise; he will be considerate of family members’ preferences; he will feel the great weight of responsibility to provide the ‘necessities of life and protection’ for his family; he will treat his wife with the utmost respect and deference. He will listen to understand the challenges facing each family member and then go about helping in the manner the Savior would. He will bless his family.”
• Any man, of whatever position, who acts in a position of authority when entering someone’s home other than his own is out of place. Any man who does so to a woman, regardless of marital status, although often unintentionally, is demeaning to her and her sacred role.
• For some women, the term nurture feels demeaning. It has almost the exact opposite connotation from the word preside. According to the Lord, however, motherhood, and thus nurturing, is divine. In fact, President Hugh B. Brown taught that “Jesus honored womanhood when he came to this earth as a little child through the sacred and glorious agency of motherhood; thus motherhood became akin to Godhood.”42 The First Presidency called motherhood “the highest, holiest service … assumed by mankind.”
• It is in the later years, and especially in the eternities, when we will come to understand the full worth of mothers.
• President Joseph F. Smith taught: “Men and women often seek to substitute some other life for that of the home; they would make themselves believe that the home means restraint; that the highest liberty is the fullest opportunity to move about at will. There is no happiness without service, and there is no service greater than that which converts the home into a divine institution, and which promotes and preserves family life.”
• Bishop Gérald Caussé taught: “In this Church there are no strangers and no outcasts. There are only brothers and sisters. The knowledge that we have of an Eternal Father helps us be more sensitive to the brotherhood and sisterhood that should exist among all men and women upon the earth.”
• As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we do not have a monopoly on truth or on goodness. Some have asked if my relationships with those of other faiths undermine or compromise my testimony. Absolutely not! The more I understand those of other faiths, the more grateful I am, not only for them but for the truth that has been bestowed on us as covenant keepers.
• Mother Teresa, “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”
• Sister Julie B. Beck declared, “The ability to qualify for, receive, and act on personal revelation is the single most important skill that can be acquired in this life.”
• I have thought of how different my future could have been if she had judged me for planning on working full time rather than getting married. How would I have felt if my mother, while I was growing up, had caused me to believe that my life wouldn’t be successful unless I too received awards for the number of children I had borne. Many women struggle enough when they are exceptions rather than the rule; although it is important to teach the rule, it is critical that we are kind, generous, and thoughtful to the exceptions. All of us will be an exception at some point in our lives.
• As I approached an elementary school, I watched three children approach the crosswalk. As they got closer, a car drew near, and the driver, noticing the children, stopped and let them cross. The two boys ran quickly across the street, but the younger girl, likely in kindergarten or first grade, was much slower. As she tried to speed up, she went off balance and fell off her scooter. During this time, a driver pulled up behind the car in front, and, seeing the boys run off, started honking the horn obnoxiously at the driver in front of him. With no motion from the first driver, the driver behind rolled down his window and began yelling for the front car to go. (I’m guessing he thought the driver ahead was on a cell phone and not paying attention.) The driver in front gave the driver behind no heed, but instead waited for the young girl to get back on her scooter and scoot across the street. By this time, I had walked close enough to both drivers to clearly see their expressions. The expression on the second driver’s face as he realized his mistake was unforgettable. At that moment, I thought I heard a simple phrase come to my mind: “Your perspective changes depending on where you are sitting.”
• When he was thirteen, living in Peru, his single mother began feeling that the animals in their neighborhood, especially the dogs, were being treated poorly, like garbage. In fact, she knew that people were literally throwing their dogs away in the garbage cans right before the garbage was being picked up. To resolve this concern, his mother took him and his younger brother to look through garbage cans around the city on the days the garbage was picked up. He called it the “dog rescuing mission.” Over a six-month period, they rescued more than thirty dogs. “What did you do with the dogs?” I asked. “My mother loved animals,” was his candid reply. “We kept every one of them.” One day, his mother decided that rather than going through garbage cans, it would be more effective if she and her two young sons went to the landfill where the garbage was dumped to rescue these dogs. He explained that the landfill in their city was massive and disgusting beyond imagination. The stench was almost unbearable, and there was absolutely nothing of value there. He remembered it being so dark in the landfill that at night he couldn’t even see the stars in the sky. He knew his mother cared for dogs, but this seemed a bit drastic, in his young mind. Because of his great love and respect for his mother, however, and knowing of her pure motivation, he agreed to search for these unwanted dogs. While he was walking through the landfill with his mom and brother, one particular sound caught their attention. They split up, trying to locate the place from where the sound originated. “The landfill was so large and it was so dark, the task was almost impossible,” he explained. After searching for a long time, they realized the sound was near them, but muffled. They began digging through the trash and found, rather than another dog, tiny twin baby girls, only days old, buried in the landfill. “They were near dead,” he explained, “starving and filthy. My mom immediately picked up the girls, cradled them in her arms, and wrapped them in her own clothes.” Engrossed in this incredible story, I inquired, “What happened to them? What did you do with them?” “We brought them home, of course! You think my mom would bring home thirty dogs and give up these girls? They are my sisters!” He then explained, “For months, my mom thought she was being inspired to rescue dogs, but really, the Lord used her love for animals to put her in a position to find the rest of our family.”
• The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that the purpose of the Relief Society was not just to relieve the poor but “to save souls.” “Such is the end point of charity,” he declared, “the pure love of Christ.”
  • Bishop Daniel’s; “alleviate suffering”
• Too often, gender can be used as an excuse, whether intentional or not, for limiting our ability to fill the measure of our creation. Rather than putting limits on ourselves and others, we need to expand our possibilities.
• President Joseph F. Smith instructed the sisters: “It is not for you to be led by the women of the world; it is for you to lead … the women of the world, in everything that is praise-worthy, everything that is God-like, everything that is uplifting and that is purifying to the children of men.”
• In 2001, President Gordon B. Hinckley told the young women of the Church: “The whole gamut of human endeavor is now open to women. There is not anything that you cannot do if you will set your mind to it. You can include in the dream of the woman you would like to be a picture of one qualified to serve society and make a significant contribution to the world of which she will be a part.”
• Whoever we are, whatever our current situation, no matter how much or little we’ve done in the past, the Lord is asking for more. Our prophet has blessed us, using the keys of the holy priesthood and apostleship, “to rise to [our] full stature, to fulfill the measure of [our] creation, as we walk arm in arm in this sacred work.