A Shield From the Adversary's Mischief

I was reminded yesterday of this teaching from President Boyd K. Packer: “Now, fathers, I would remind you of the sacred nature of your calling. You have the power of the priesthood directly from the Lord to protect your home. There will be times when all that stands as a shield between your family and the adversary’s mischief will be that power. You will receive direction from the Lord by way of the gift of the Holy Ghost.” He continued, “The adversary is not actively disturbing our Church meetings—perhaps only occasionally. By and large we are free to assemble as we wish without much disruption. But he and those who follow him are persistent in attacking the home and the family.” I have actually witnessed one of those “occasional” attempts at actively disturbing our Church meetings. On my mission in one area there was a man who professed belief in the Church but had been previously excommunicated and clearly was struggling with mental illness and very unstable. We had been warned when he moved into our ward that he was very dangerous, and I was there the day he was in an interview with the bishop and became upset about something so he hit the bishop in the face with the church phone. I watched him as he threw the phone on the ground and stomped on it, and two other missionaries who were there had to hold him back to prevent further violence. I wrote this in my journal: “I’ll always remember the Bishop standing there, saying nothing, his lip bleeding—doing what a real Shepard in Israel would do.  I could feel in my heart the importance of Priesthood leaders throughout the Church—they represent Jesus Christ and take care of His Sheep.” From then the bishop had to ban him from attending our meetings because of the threat of violence to other members, and I was there on another occasion as he tried to disrupt the early morning baptismal service of someone who was returning to the church. But the bishop through the priesthood keys he held shielded us from danger.  

                As I think about that experience and this quote from President Packer I realize how important it is for me to protect my family spiritually through the priesthood that I hold. I have the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood, given to me by my father in an experience I’ll never forget many years ago, but I must learn to develop power to do the work of the Lord through that priesthood. In this same talk President Packer said, “We have done very well at distributing the authority of the priesthood. We have priesthood authority planted nearly everywhere. We have quorums of elders and high priests worldwide. But distributing the authority of the priesthood has raced, I think, ahead of distributing the power of the priesthood. The priesthood does not have the strength that it should have and will not have until the power of the priesthood is firmly fixed in the families as it should be.” He emphasized further, “The authority of the priesthood is with us. After all that we have correlated and organized, it is now our responsibility to activate the power of the priesthood in the Church. Authority in the priesthood comes by way of ordination; power in the priesthood comes through faithful and obedient living in honoring covenants.” We have the authority of the priesthood and now more than ever we need its power to bless and protect our families.  

So how do we individually activate the power of the priesthood in our homes? Surely the key is given to us in section 121 of the Doctrine and Covenants: “The powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness. That they may be conferred upon us, it is true; but when we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man.” We then have a list of those attributes we must strive to develop personally to really have power in the priesthood: “No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile” (v36-37, 41-42). I know that we as fathers must symbolically be like that bishop was to our ward as we preside over my own family and seek to protect them from the mischief of the adversary. We who hold priesthood authority must develop more fully these attributes so that the power of the priesthood can be a shield and protection in our homes from the relentless attacks of the evil one.