Ark of the Covenant

Lots of people know about the Ark of the Covenant. I mean, Indiana Jones basically summarized everything people need to know. It was the container that the ancient Israelites put the tablets containing the ten commandment into and was considered it's holiest relic. Anyone who touched it who wasn't suppose to died, but I don't know about weird ghost things and people's faces turning into mayonnaise. For more information you can look at the Bible Dictionary page.

Not many of the Old Testament scriptures jumped out to me this time around, but what really stuck out to me was 1 Chronicles 22:19:

19 Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God; arise therefore, and build ye the sanctuary of the Lord God, to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and the holy vessels of God, into the house that is to be built to the name of theLord.

When you walk into a Mormon church, you'll notice that it has some nice art on the walls, but no real relics for worshiping. During the service the bread and water are blessed at a table set aside for that purpose, but there isn't anything amazing about the table. The sacrament trays aren't fancy or expensive, and the blessed water is served in miniature plastic or paper cups that are thrown away afterward. The left over bread it's self loses it's specialness once the sacrament is over and is thrown away or left out for the birds to eat. Because of the simplicity of our ceremony some people may say that Mormons can't relate to the sacred, but that isn't true.

We don't have objects that we believe were blessed by God, but we do have temples. And in those temples there is a sacred atmosphere where everything inside is treated with respect because it is God's House. Our weekly service is done so simply that it can be held anywhere in the world under almost any circumstance, but the temple is where the sacred reverence mirrored in how the Israelites treated the Ark of the Covenant comes to mind. Though we aren't doing the same ceremonies as thousands of years ago, the ceremonies that are performed there have the same purpose of learning, growing closer to God and securing our place in His eternal family.

Ark

These scriptures are about Noah's Ark, as in the Bible story of the big boat and all the animals and it raining for forty days and forty nights. You know, that story. What was interesting for me was how many times the Noah story is referenced in the scriptures. This scriptures list has seven scriptural references - I did not know that this story was so referenced!

The scripture that really stuck out to me is from Hebrews 11:7:

7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

I love this chapter in any case because of the great insights it give me to faith, but I thought it was very interesting that the story of Noah was used as an example of faith.

When you hear the story as a kid, it sounds a lot like a boss/employ relationship between God and Noah - God gave him a job and Noah went off and did it. I've heard modern comedians and commentators try and put a more human element into it of Noah being skeptical, but they always made it so humorous that I guess what they were trying to say was lost on me.

I think I've said in the past that I see faith as a mental decision to choose to believe when you really have nothing to convince you. With this definition in mind, I wonder what Noah's experience actually was like. Was it really a voice from the sky, or was it more of a quite inspiration that lead him sometimes to wonder if he was just crazy - but he chose to move forward anyways.

Noah is remembered at being obedient and a great builder, but I would also like to remember him as a man of faith. That even on days that he might not have felt anything, he chose to keep on building.

Arise, Arose

Topics without scriptures: Arimathaea.

These scripture have three main topics that I could take a post writing about for each. One for our rising up and doing God's work, the next about the resurrection and the dead rising up, and the last is about the miracles of Christ in healing the sick and raising the dead.

What I found interesting reading these topics is what I had always hoped I would notice when I started this scripture reading project. As I was reading through the scripture list, I was reading about the resurrection and contemplating it's significance, when I continued down the list and read about the man with palsy. I stopped in my tracks as I realized something I hadn't before. Here is a scripture about the resurrection from Isaiah 26:19:

19 Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.

And here is the scripture about the man with palsy in Matthew 9:6:

6 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.

What if the stories of Christ healing the sick is not just stories portraying his power and compassion, what if they were meant as types of Christ bringing about our resurrection? That we were dead, but then Christ will call us to life?

When I was very sick a couple of years ago and couldn't leave my bed very often, I use to look at the picture of "Jesus Raising Jairus's Daughter" by Greg K. Olsen. I'm a little fuzzy about the copyright laws, so just go to the link to see it. I remember looking at it and seeing the trust and the knowledge in the girl's eyes, that she had heard Christ call her back and that she knew who he was. And then the look in Christ's eyes, that he knew her and loved her - and that he had the power to call her back from the dead. Look at these two scriptures first from Ephesians 5:14, and then from Mark 5:41:

14 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

41 And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.

I use to look at that picture and imagine Christ raising me up off my bed like her, knowing that it probably would not happen in that way, but also knowing that the truth's reflected in the eyes of the painting where truths that did apply to my life.

Is this how it is going to be at the resurrection? Will I be there, looking steadfastly towards Christ to call me? I don't know the details of how exactly the resurrection is going to happen, but from these stories of healing I can begin to understand what I might be feeling when it does happen.

Aright

Topics without scriptures: Areopagus; Argument; Ariel.

I started this topic with a trip to dictionary.com to find out the definition of "aright." I could guess what it meant by looking at the parts of it, but as it was an unfamiliar word I wanted to make sure. Not surprisingly, this is what I got:

Aright (adverb): rightly, correctly, properly.

In other words, something is "aright" if it is done or said how it should be done or said. But who makes the standard of what is correct? That is an easy answer in the context of scriptures, as all the standards and definitions of what is correct come from God. In Jeremiah 8:6 it says:

6 I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle.

In this scripture, it is speaking about how people are not speaking aright - or they are not preaching the word of God, and because of it they have no direction in their life.

Last weekend was a big event for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, as it was our semi-annule world general conference. Unlike most conferences where you go to hear new policies or vote on decisions, this conference consists of ten hours spread out over three days (one of them is the weekend before) to listen to sermons by leaders in the Church. The highlight of the conference is the sermon given by the President and Leader of the Church Thomas S. Monson. I always try and pay extra attention to what he says, not only so I can have a response to the question "Oh, you have a living prophet? What has he said recently?", but also because I take what he says seriously as things I need to be working on right now.

In this last conference, President Monson spoke on how this world is loosing it's footing and that it is because of the belief in moral relativism, or in other words that everyone is free to do whatever they wanted and that there is no "right" and "wrong." He declared that the standards of God are not old fashion for a past age, that they are to be lived in our day and that we are as accountable to those laws as ever. He also pretty much said the exact same thing as Jeremiah - that without these standards set by God we end up drifting in this life.

I believe what he says. I can see proof of it around me everyday in my own life and in the lives of others. I can tell you right now, that our living prophet "speaks aright," and that we should listen.

Archangel

Topics without scriptures: Aquila; Arabia; Arart.

In the scriptures, there are many angels who are messengers from God. They rebuke wickedness, warn righteous people, declare good tiding, and a host of other tasks. But in the scriptures there is only one archangel and he only appears once at the end of the world to usher in the second coming of Christ, the resurrection of all and the final judgement. It reads in 1 Thessalonians 4:16:

16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

Something else we know about him from Jude 1:9 is that his name is Michael:

9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.

And that is as far as the Bible goes in telling us more about him, who he is and what he does. However, in LDS modern scripture from prophet's of this dispensation we can know a little more about him. In Doctrine and Covenants 107:54 we find out that the archangel actually had a much larger role to play in God's plan for the Earth:

54 And the Lord appeared unto them, and they rose up and blessed Adam, and called him Michael, the prince, the archangel.

In case you did not catch that, we believe that the archangel Michael is also Adam, the first man to ever live. This might seem weird to some people, but think about it. Why did Adam get to be the first person ever to get a body? Was is random selection, or was it because he was already an important player for God's side? In the second coming, Michael will bring in the host of heaven to the Earth and ultimately clear the path for Christ to come - how is that different than what he did the first time in making it possible for the host of heaven to come to Earth in body's and initiate the Fall so Christ could then come to fulfill the atonement?

This information, though interesting, is not really that important for us in getting to Heaven - in other words there are bigger things to sweat. Personally though, this little tid-bit of information brings some peace to me. It tells me more about who God is. He said that all things are one eternal round and having the first man also as the one to bring in the second coming helps me understand that everything, from the beginning to the end, was constantly in his sights. If that is true for the entire existence of the world, then I can also know that he's watching out for my life. From the beginning down to the end, I can have faith that he has a plan.

Aprons

The scripture for this topic is Genesis 3:7 which says:

7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

Though this scripture and the idea of Adam and Even making themselves aprons may not be very startling on the surface, I want to point out a few things I've learned about this story.

First is the idea of modesty. Though little children do not seem to mind running around without clothes on, adults have an instinctive idea and desire for modesty. If anything, this furthers the idea that Adam and Eve were once at the stage of little children, and after partaking of the fruit they began to "grow up."

The second point is a look into Adam and Eve's attempt to cover themselves. They did not have that many resources available to them, and they did the best they could, but there is no way a couple of leaves would be able to provide adequate coverage for them. In the next few verse, we find out that the Lord made coats of skins for them.

Now here is the interesting idea behind all this. Adam and Eve transgressed and would have to go out into the world and be exposed to the elements. They did their best to cover themselves, but ultimately it was a hopeless effort. The Lord stepped in and killed an animal to make a covering for them. Or in other words, a sacrifice was made so that they would be protected from the fallen elements of this world.

This is all about the atonement. We sin and are exposed to the fallen nature of this world. We can try and do our best to make everything ok, but in the end we fall hopelessly short. Our only hope is in our Savior to step in and provide protection for us through His sacrifice on the cross.

The Old Testament is amazing - if you are paying attention even the smallest things bare testimony of Christ.

Approve, Approved

A common concept that leads people to have problems with religion is the concept of faithful obedience. The idea that we follow blindly, because to do otherwise would be to show a lack of faith in God and in his appointed leaders, brings many people to be turned off in the belief that their free-will is being taken away. Though we do stress obedience as the way to get to heaven (much like an airplane pilot or a heavy machine operator would stress obedience to do a job safely), we do not believe in blindly following someone without putting any effort into finding out if they are worth following.

This does not mean that if someone isn't perfect or qualified by the world's standards that they are not approved of by the Lord. The qualifications for having a leadership role in God's church in spiritual guidance is described by the following criteria in Romans 14:18:

18 For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men.

In other words, are they doing their best to be in tune with the Holy Ghost and to follow the commandments. However, there is also a stipulation that once we have been given a job to do in God's Kingdom that we don't slack off. In Doctrine and Covenants 107:100 it reads:

100 He that is slothful shall not be counted worthy to stand, and he that learns not his duty and shows himself not approved shall not be counted worthy to stand. Even so. Amen.

I once knew someone who left the church because she got offended by how a church leader treated her sister. I don't know the particulars, but the sister was leaving the church and her bishop had tried to talk to her, and I guess he wasn't blessed with the best social communicative skills and came off harsh. The sister got offended, and then my friend got offended along with her, declaring that the church couldn't be true because it says we have to follow guys that come off as "jerks." I don't know what happened to this friend, but it was really depressing for me to watch this happen. Leaders come and leaders go, and I hold onto the belief that I didn't join this church because my leader at the time happened to be really great people person, so I'm not going to leave it because I happened to have for a couple of years a bishop that was rude.

When someone is called in our church to a leadership position, their names are presented during church to the congregation for a "sustaining vote," and we all raise our hands to accept them and support them in this job. When we raise our hands we aren't saying that they will do a great job exactly to our specifications, like we would in an election, but we are pledging ourselves to help and support them as well as accept their responsibility and authority over us. We are "approving" them, and approving our belief in God's ability to give revelation in our day.

Appoint

There are a lot of things in this life that we have control over and can determine if and when they will happen. We can control when we brush our teeth, what we will eat for breakfast, who we will talk to, and when we think we've done enough work for the day. There will be consequence for these choices, but we do have control over the initial actions.

Things we don't have control over may be how quickly our teeth will decay, if our breakfast will upset our stomach, what the mood of the people we talk to will be, and the amount of work that we should do every day. Some of these things are determined by the choices of others, but some of these may simply be the result of being part of the universe.

These scriptures talk about these two types of events, those we have control over and those we don't. The first one is about us being appointed for specific callings by God to do specific things. God has a plan that involves us (in actuality it really is all about us), but he has also made it very clear that our involvement in that plan is completely up to us. Just like with an appointment at work, we can choose not to show up one day, to do a sloppy job, or even turn down the appointment to begin with.

Something that makes our church different than any other church I've come into contact with is how member driven it is. Every single member of every single congregation has a job to do, and we believe it is a reflection of our faith to accept these appointments when they come. Why it is a reflection on our faith is because of two facts that we as members of our church accept - that these appointments come by revelation just like it was in the New Testament (so it really is God calling you to these jobs), and because we believe in order to become like Christ and truly be his disciples we have to learn how to serve selflessly and constantly where the need is, not just where we would like to.

The other type of appointment these scriptures talk about are things that are like check points in God's plan. Huge ones like The Creation, The Fall, The Atonement, and The Second Coming, are ones that have/will effect everyone on the planet in a very obvious way.

But there are also smaller ones that are more individual. The one that comes to mind is everyone's appointment to death. It says in Doctrine and Covenants 42:48:

48 And again, it shall come to pass that he that hath faith in me to be healed, and is not appointed unto death, shall be healed.

and again in Hebrews 9:27:

27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

These scriptures say to me that people don't just die - that one day they are fine and walking around and the next they are taken from us. These scriptures tell me that it was all part of the plan, that God wanted them home, that they were done here and were then able to move forward. We get angry about it because of the separation, because we don't want to be alone, and I can't even conceive of how hard it would be to even try to have an eternal perspective in these cases - but I know that God has a plan for us, that our lives and the days that we have on this Earth are meticulously counted in Heaven, and that He would not separate us from our loved ones for the short time between their death and ours unless it was absolutely necessary. I believe in a loving God, who really is not in the business of making us hurt unless it was ultimately for our eternal happiness.

Apple

Topics without scriptures: Appetite.

Did you know that the phrase "apple of my eye" comes from the scriptures? I didn't until I read this topic. There are three scriptures that use this phrase. I guess it means what the familiar usage of the phrase means, that to be the apple of someone's eye means that you are looked at with great favor and specific attention. For an example here is Deuteronomy 32:10:

10 He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

God is paying attention to us. He is blessing us even if we can't see it. Sometimes I lay awake at night and think about how blessed I am, to have my husband and I in good health, to have a nice apartment, and the list goes on and on. I don't have to have all these things. They can be taken away so easily, and the vulnerability I then feel leads me to be grateful for another moment and day of peace and happiness in my life. It really is a gift.

Appearing

Today the sun went away. Actually, it went away about three days ago - and I'm having a hard time dealing with it. Fall is upon us, and with it the long, blue-sky days of summer are now beginning to be replaced with gray over cast, earlier sunsets, and cold air seeping through the windows.

I had a bit of hope brought to me in the mail yesterday in the form of a Christmas catalogue for cute little gifts. Normally I would be annoyed that they are starting to sell Christmas stuff in September, but in this case I felt like it was a gift from heaven. Why, would you ask, was I so grateful to look at fiber optic snowflakes and snowman cookie jars? Because it reminded me that when it gets darker outside that means that Christmas is coming!

Today it was dark outside again, and even though I had the catalogue I still felt very blue. Though I'm looking into getting a light box or something to help with my strong emotional reaction to light, I wanted to bring up what came to my mind while I was reading this morning through the scriptures for this topic.

They are all about the second coming of Christ, how he will appear and how glorious that appearance will be. But there were two scripture in particular that stuck out to me. The first was 2 Timothy 1:10 which says:

10 But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:

With my introduction to this topic I'm sure you can guess why this one stuck out to me. It speaks of light, and how that light will be immortal and everlasting. To never have to wake up and feel your insides come crashing down at how dark it is outside. But it isn't just natural light that this scripture is talking about, it is talking about all light. All knowledge and wisdom and hope and faith, and everything else in the world that is desirable because it is good and uplifting will come with Christ when he appears and we will get to be part of that.

Sometimes people say religion was made up by people to make them feel better with wishful hoping for all their dreams to come true. I say that these people needs to stop and think about when they were last feeling down, and what it was that brought them back up. It usually was a feeling, a loving word from a friend, a song telling them to hang in there, or just the sun coming through the clouds. If they could only realize that all this "wishful hoping" was based on the reality of these small, little up lifts, then maybe they would not be so cynical in our hope that one days we can feel those good, bright feelings all the time.

This is all great to see written down, and looking at my computer screen I feel better already. But then I look away towards the window, and though those feelings of hope are still there, I can feel them rapidly disappearing. This is where 1 Peter 1:7 comes in:

7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

The glorious appearance of Christ in the second coming is true and wonderful, but it is also only something I can look forward to in my mind. This scripture brings hope into the reality of what I'm feeling right now - a trial of my faith. That when I'm feeling low, I can take a small bit of hope that what I'm going through will bring me closer to Christ, and that even though angels are not singing with the clouds parted, I can know that Christ is making his own personal appearance in my heart.

Appearance

My fashion sense throughout the years has gone through some very interesting phases. When I was little, I was all into leggings with the socks on the outside along with the amazing "I don't brush my hair" hairstyle. In middle school my fashion evolved to baggy cotton pants, white socks, running shoes, and sweaters that were a size or two too big. Could I shout insecure with my body any louder?

High school is when I realized that how you dress could also be an art form. I went to skirts with scarves, experimented with different styles of make-up (including a very goth-like phase), and took much better care of myself with the end goal of expressing myself through my clothes.

College was my final evolution. There were defiantly some days that reverted to the "I just want to survive this day and really don't care how I look, you all see me every day anyways" style, but over all found the happy medium of "All I want you to be able to tell about me from how I look is that I'm a nice, put together young lady that you would like to get to know better."

I didn't want to look like a movie star or a nerd, I instead wanted to express the inner me that doesn't change with whatever phase of life I'm going through. I wanted the real me, the eternal me, to be represented. Oh, I still wear skirts and scarves, but I don't dress in all black in mourning of my "lost soul" (oh high school...).

What I'm now trying to do is to make how I look more like what the Lord commanded everyone to see in 1 Samuel 16:7:

7 But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.

According to this scripture, who I am is not surface deep. There is a lot of talk about "it doesn't matter how you look, what matters is what is inside," and while that is true is some situations (like poverty, a stressed/hectic life, or me in middle school), I think that this scripture is also talking about bringing out what God sees inside you onto the surface.

However it is important to remember that all these goals and views for your appearance are just that, YOUR goals and views. There is another scripture in 2 Corinthians 10:7 which reads:

7 Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trust to himself that he is Christ’s, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ’s, even so are we Christ’s.

This is saying that every person is Christ's, and that as Christ's disciple we are to look at others how he looks at them - bypassing the outward and searching for the real person inside their hearts.

No matter what, we are all going to have opinions that jump into our minds whenever we look in the mirror or see a stranger on the street. What matters isn't so much that we have these thoughts, but what we choose to do with them. Whether we choose to honestly believe that we can gain 20 pounds over night (because it really does look that way in the mirror), or to believe that the best way to make ourselves and others beautiful starts with our own ability to smile.

Appear

Grand and exciting news, the Topical Guide page got fixed! All the topics are the same font size instead of shrinking half way down the page! I think I will allow this to make my day.

The scriptures for this topic tend to have two themes: one of Christ appearing, and the other of us appearing to Christ. Both have to do with a judgement of sorts. In the first case, Christ appeared in his resurrected state to his followers. He had looked into them and judge of them that they had enough faith to see him. They had reached a state where they could behold his glory, and have their faith completed with the knowledge given by a first hand witness.

I've been reading lately about faith and thinking about what it means to have faith. My definition tends to get tweaked every few years as I learn more, but right now my definition of faith is that it is a type of belief. Hope is also a type of belief, but where they differ is in how this belief plays into our lives. Faith is the action of our belief, it is what makes a farmer plant grain and what makes us ask someone out on a date. Some might call it "taking a risk," but it isn't reckless with no grounding, it is the intelligent decision that we believe something that hasn't happened yet is going to happen so we're going to move forward like it did happen. Once the event takes place (like seeing God face to face) we no longer can have faith in it, as that faith has been replaced with concrete knowledge.

Seeing Christ back then, or now, would mean a lot to me in this uncertain world. There is peace and fulfillment we're all trying to achieve, but there is also a need to find truth and what is real. I guess that's what the amazing thing is about faith, that is can give us just as much comfort and assurance as knowledge can give even though all we have to go off of is what we can feel with our hearts. But isn't that what all those books and movies are about? To find something that is true that can only be confirmed within our hearts?

Appeal

This is one of those choice topics that has a total of one scripture. This is a blessing because now I can look at it in detail. The scripture is Acts 25:11 which says:

11 For if I be an offender, or have committed any thing worthy of death, I refuse not to die: but if there be none of these things whereof these accuse me, no man may deliver me unto them. I appeal unto Cæsar.

A little background - Paul was preaching in Jerusalem towards the end of his life. The Jews were mad at him for preaching Christianity and wanted him dead. However, because Paul technically had Roman citizenship, he had the right to appeal his case to be tried by Roman law in Rome.

Why does this matter? Well, for Paul it meant that he was not subject to the Jews pushing their Roman Overlords around to have him killed like they did with Jesus. The Romans cared a lot about how their own official citizens were treated and Paul was guaranteed as fair treatment as could be expected at the time by playing his Roman card during the trial.

Why does this matter to us? We can take a lesson from Paul about moving forward with our work against resistance. Before this return to Jerusalem, many people tried to keep Paul from going because of the danger. More than that, Agabus prophesied that if Paul went back to Jerusalem then he would be imprisoned (Acts 21:10). But Paul knew what he needed to do, and made it work. He actually more than just "made it work" as he had the opportunity to preach to kings and great rulers as well as write four epistles while in prison that we still have today.

We need to remember to not always depend on things going smoothly just because we're doing the work God has called us to do, or that angels will swoop in to save us - but that one way or another we too can "make it work."

Apparel

The scriptures for this topic cover clothing and it's significance. Modesty is not talked about in all these scriptures, and if you want to see more of my thoughts on modesty go to my entry on Adorn, Adorning.

What is different about these scriptures is that I feel like they go deeper into why clothing is important from a spiritual perspective. It isn't something you really think about or notice on a regular basis, but can clothing be spiritually significant? Just a little blurb on clothing, I was told as a teenager that how you dressed was a reflection of how you felt about yourself and other people. In the church's pamphlet on standards For the Strength of Youth under the section on Dress and Appearance it states:

"Your body is God's sacred creation. Respect it as a gift from God, and do not defile it in any way. Through your dress and appearance, you can show the Lord that you know how precious your body is. You can show that you are a disciple of Jesus Christ."

The first scripture in this section describes the first clothing ever used, and that was by Adam and Eve in the garden in their attempt to cover themselves (Genesis 3:7). They had partaken of the fruit, and knew that they were naked and did not want the Lord to see them that way. This brings up questions in my mind such as "What made them care now?" and "Why do they think God would care now?" I don't know the answer, but I do know that they acted because of how they felt. That is where we can begin.

What came next was God clothing them himself before sending them out into the untamed world (Genesis 3:21). The pattern I want to point out is that clothing came when there Adam and Eve got their knowledge, and that Adam and Eve's attempts to clothe themselves was not enough. They had to be cover by Christ.

In D&C 29:34 it says that there are no temporal laws but that all laws are spiritual. I believe this is true, and I believe that how we dress has a direct impact on our spirits.

Apostles

When I was a little girl, I knew who the apostles were. They were twelve men the age of my grandpa who would talk on the TV twice a year and tell me that Jesus was real (see General Conference).

I did not know then, but I can appreciate now that this is remarkable. As I got older and could understand the scriptures better, I learned that the original apostles were called by Jesus Christ to lead his church and to proclaim the gospel as special witnesses of his divinity. The fact that this definition has not changed and is still how you would describe the modern day apostles is further proof to me of God's unchanging plan for his children and brings comfort into my life.

So what makes an apostle? A deciple is someone who is just a believer and follower, a prophet is someone called by God to preach the gospel, so what is it about apostles that make them so different?

To begin with, we could look at the original apostle's call. The original twelve have the great and heart-felt account given in Matthew 4:19:

19And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

This is great and teaches much about those called to follow Christ, but this isn't a new or unique experience. Everyone who is a follower of Christ can lay claim to Christ calling them to follow him.

The next step in the Apostle's calling, where Christ makes them a bit more different and gives them a bit more authority, is in Matthew 10:1:

1And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.

This is once again special as they now have authority to act in God's name to perform miracles and manage temporal blessing. But once again, later in Luke 10:1 he gives this authority to the Seventies, so it is not a distinguishing characteristic of the Twelve Apostles.

So what is an Apostle?

* He is someone called of God to be Jesus's companions while he was on Earth, to preach the gospel and to heal the sick (Mark 3:14):

14And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach,

15And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils:

* He is someone who has power to seal on Earth and seal in Heaven (Matthew 16:19):

19And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

* He is someone who has authority to judge the members of the church (Matthew 19:28):

28And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

* He has been specially selected to be a specific witness of Christ's Resurrection (Acts 1:22):

22Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.

* He is to be a part of the Twelve that runs the affairs of the church. Though this isn't specifically mentioned in the New Testament, the fact that we have letters of them doing just that is proof enough. For a specific scripture we can turn to Doctrine and Covenants 107:33:

33The Twelve are a Traveling Presiding High Council, to officiate in the name of the Lord, under the direction of the Presidency of the Church, agreeable to the institution of heaven; to build up the church, and regulate all the affairs of the same in all nations, first unto the Gentiles and secondly unto the Jews.

* He is to be traveling to all the different parts of the church (D&C 107:23):

23The twelve traveling councilors are called to be the Twelve Apostles, or special witnesses of the name of Christ in all the world—thus differing from other officers in the church in the duties of their calling.

This is a long list, and you can even go into further details with their specific duties. What I think the role of an apostle boils down to is in Christ's admonition to Peter before his ascension into Heaven recorded in John 21:15-17:

15So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.

16He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

17He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

The role of an Apostle is different from that of a CEO of a company or a politician of a country. His power to serve only comes from God, not through his own efforts, and is only to be used for service to his fellow man. All he does is for others with the understanding that once he starts thinking of himself he will lose his power. That is the miracle of Apostles to me, that they are men just like you and me, but they are able to give their all for their God and for their fellow man that Christ loved so much, in following Christ's call to them to "feed my sheep."