Melchizedek Priesthood

In the LDS religion, the Priesthood (aka The Melchizedek Priesthood) is the authority to act in the name of God and direct the affairs of His Church and Kingdom. The Priesthood is conferred on male members beginning at age twelve by the laying on of hands of men previously ordained to the Priesthood. Ordination to the Priesthood is based on the recipient?s personal, moral worthiness without regard to race, education or other socio-economic status. Thus, every worthy, male members is a priest and the Church is led by a lay clergy whose members are generally not compensated for their services. The Priesthood authorizes a man ordained to the Priesthood to perform responsibilities particular to his Priesthood office and calling. Only God and those to whom He has delegated authority have the privilege to execute Priesthood responsibilities and the affairs connected with His Church and Kingdom. No person can take upon himself God?s Priesthood regardless of education, revelation or other circumstances unless that person is specifically called and ordained to the Priesthood by someone who has authority to confer it upon others. According to the LDS, while other Christian denominations may claim to have legitimate Priesthood authority, these claims are dubious given the occurrence of The Great Apostasy.

Priesthood in the LDS church has a different connotation than it does in most other churches, because all worthy males of the proper age may be ordained. There are two branches of the Priesthood, known as the Aaronic Priesthood and the Melchizedek Priesthood. The Aaronic Priesthood is considered a preparatory priesthood, and is given to men from age 12 onward, and the Melchizedek Priesthood is the "full" Priesthood, which is reserved for men over age 18.

Mormons believe that the priesthood was given directly to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. The story, as given by Joseph Smith and as recorded in Joseph Smith - History, is as follows:

". . . we. . . went into the woods to pray and inquire of the Lord respecting baptism for the remission of sins, that we found mentioned in the translation of the plates [the Book of Mormon]. . . . While we were thus employed, praying and calling upon the Lord, a messenger from heaven descended in a cloud of light, and having laid his hands upon us, he ordained us, saying:

"Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah, I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness.

"He said this Aaronic Priesthood had not the power of laying on hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, but that this should be conferred on us hereafter; and he commanded us to go and be baptized, and gave us directions that I should baptize Oliver Cowdery, and that afterwards he should baptize me.

"Accordingly we went and were baptized. . ..

"The messenger who visited us on this occasion and conferred this Priesthood upon us, said that his name was John, the same that is called John the Baptist in the New Testament, and that he acted under the direction of Peter, James and John, who held the keys of the Priesthood of Melchizedek, which Priesthood, he said, would in due time be conferred on us, and that I should be called the first Elder of the Church, and he (Oliver Cowdery) the second. . ..

"Immediately on our coming up out of the water after we had been baptized, we experienced great and glorious blessings from our Heavenly Father. No sooner had I baptized Oliver Cowdery, than the Holy Ghost fell upon him, and he stood up and prophesied many things which should shortly come to pass. And again, so soon as I had been baptized by him, I also had the spirit of prophecy, when, standing up, I prophesied concerning the rise of this Church, and many other things connected with the Church, and this generation of the children of men. We were filled with the Holy Ghost, and rejoiced in the God of our salvation."