The Most Distinguishing Feature

After describing the restoration of priesthood keys given in the Kirtland Temple to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, President Nelson commented, “The significance of these keys being returned to the earth by three heavenly messengers under the direction of the Lord cannot be overstated. Priesthood keys constitute the authority and power of presidency. Priesthood keys govern how the priesthood of God may be used to bring about the Lord’s purposes and bless all who accept the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.” He then gave us this invitation: “Consider how your life would be different if priesthood keys had not been restored to the earth.” He followed with some answers from his own perspective: “Without priesthood keys, you could not be endowed with the power of God. Without priesthood keys, the Church could serve only as a significant teaching and humanitarian organization but not much more. Without priesthood keys, none of us would have access to essential ordinances and covenants that bind us to our loved ones eternally and allow us eventually to live with God. Priesthood keys distinguish The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from any other organization on earth…. Priesthood keys give us the authority to extend all of the blessings promised to Abraham to every covenant-keeping man and woman.” The Church as an organization can and does do a lot of good like many other charitable organizations. What sets it apart are the priesthood keys that give us the power to also bind on earth and in heaven. Because of those priesthood keys we can be baptized for the remission of sins, we can receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, we can be endowed in temples with power from on high, and families can be sealed for eternity. Without those keys, none of that could take place with legitimacy. The Savior gave to Peter the keys of the priesthood when He declared: “And 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” (Matthew 16:19). We gratefully acknowledge that those same keys were restored and given to the Prophet Joseph Smith in our dispensation and can bless the lives of all of God’s children.   

President Nelson’s words remind me of a memorable talk to priesthood holders given by President Jeffrey R. Holland many years ago in general conference called Our Most Distinguishing Feature. He quoted a question given by President David O. McKay who asked a congregation, “If at this moment each one [of you] were asked to state in one sentence … the most distinguishing feature of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, what would be your answer?” His reply was simple, “My answer would be … divine authority by direct revelation.” President Holland added, “That divine authority is, of course, the holy priesthood…. The priesthood of God, with its keys, its ordinances, its divine origin and ability to bind in heaven what is bound on earth, is as indispensable to the true Church of God as it is unique to it and that without it there would be no Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” I am grateful for that priesthood and those keys which have enabled me to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ as a missionary; give blessings for healing and comfort; make covenants in the temple with Jesus Christ; baptize, confirm, and ordain my children; and be bound to my family through the ordinances of the temple. Ultimately all of these blessings coming from the priesthood can be summed up in these words from Alma: “Now these ordinances were given after this manner, that thereby the people might look forward on the Son of God, it being a type of his order, or it being his order, and this that they might look forward to him for a remission of their sins, that they might enter into the rest of the Lord” (Alma 13:16). Because of the priesthood and its keys, we can receive a remission of our sins through Jesus Christ, be bound to Him, and enter one day into His rest with our families. President Holland summarized his message with this powerful testimony: “May we, young and old, boys and men, fathers and sons, cherish the priesthood that through him was restored, priesthood keys and ordinances by which alone the power of godliness is manifest and without which it cannot be manifest. I testify of the restoration of the priesthood and the indispensable ‘distinguishing feature’ of the true Church of God that it has always been, in the name of Him whose priesthood it is, even the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.”