[This material was taken directly from an old book printed
in 1920 by R.C. Evans. You should read the Preface which
presents his reasons making this material available to the public. Page numbers from the
original book are indicated in brackets.]
Two Priesthoods in the Mormon Church, Melchisedec and
Aaronic
"There are in the church two priesthoods, namely the
Melchisedec and the Aaronic, why the first is called the Melchisedec priesthood is because
Melchisedec was such a great high priest. Before his day it was called "The Holy
Priesthood, after the order of the Son of God." The second priesthood is called the
priesthood of Aaron because it was conferred upon Aaron and his seed throughout all their
generations." D.C. 104, 1-8.
No Salvation Only Through The Mormon Priesthood
"Ye are mine apostles--even God's high priests, I say unto you again that every soul
who believeth on your words, and is baptized by water for the remission of sins, shall
receive the Holy Ghost. They who believe not your words and are not baptized in water in
my name, for the remission of their sins, shall be damned and shall not come into My
Father's kingdom, and this revelation unto and commandment is in force from this very hour
upon all the world." D. C. 83, 10-12.
"They are priests of the most high God after the
order of Melchisedec, which was after the order of the only begotten Son, wherefore it is
written they are God's." D. C. 76, 5.
"Respecting the Melchisedec priesthood, the sectarian
world never professed to have it, consequently they never could save anyone, and would all
be damned together, the sectarian world are going to hell by hundreds and thousands and by
millions." Joseph Smith, in Mill Star, Vol. 22, page 54.
"The priesthood having been caught up to heaven, no
man on earth has authority to minister in gospel ordinances and hence the necessity for
new revelation." Apostle W. H. Kelley, Presidency and Priesthood, page 224.
"Behold, there is save it be Two Churches, the
one is the Church of the Lamb of God. and the other is the Church of the Devil, wherefore,
whoso belongeth not to the Church of the Lamb of God, belongeth to that great church,
which is the mother of abominations, and she is the whore of all the earth." Book
of Mormon, page 40; Nephi, Ch. 3, Vol. 220-223.
"In the first revelation published in the Book
of Doctrine and Covenants Christ is said to have told Smith, when speaking of the Mormon
church, as ‘The only true and living Church upon the face of the whole earth and
with which, I the Lord, am well pleased.’" D.C. 1, 5.
[page 159] "The nature of the message in the Book of
Mormon as such, that. if true no one can possibly be saved and reject it." O.
Pratt in La Rue, page 81.
The claim made is clear that no salvation can come to a
soul on the earth unless they obey the Mormon faith, and be immersed by a priest of
that church, as it is the only church that God is pleased with upon the earth, and as the
priesthood was lost for more than twelve hundred years, no one of the many churches has
authority of priesthood to administer the gospel ordinances save the men who received it
from Joseph Smith, who it is claimed received the Aaronic priesthood by ordination under
the hands of John the Baptist, and the Melchisedec priesthood under the ordination
conferred upon him by three angels, named Peter, James and John.
We will examine the claims for these angelic ordinations
in their order, and will show, first, that the claim made that the Aaronic priesthood was
conferred upon Smith by the angel John the Baptist is false.
"While we (Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery), were
praying in the woods, a messenger from heaven descended in a cloud of light and having
laid his hands upon us, he ordained us saying unto us: "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." This messenger said that his name was John, the same that
is called John the Baptist in the New Testament. It was on the fifteenth day of May,
1820." Ch. Hist., Vol. 1, pages 3,1-35.
First, let me say, Oliver Cowdery one of those said to
have been ordained by John the Baptist, left the Mormon church a few years after this
ordination and said, when speaking of the visit of the angel John the Baptist: "The
voice of John the Baptist did most mysteriously resemble the voice of Elder Sidney,
Rigdon." Shook's Origin of Book of Mormon, pages 49-54.
This is a mild way of saying that Rigdon was the John the
Baptist who did the ordaining, but let us permit Smith to give the whole thing away.
"This second priesthood is called the Priesthood of
Aaron because it was conferred upon Aaron and his seed throughout all their generation,;-"No
man has a legal right to this office to hold the keys of this priesthood except he be a
literal descendent of Aaron." D. C. 104, page 8.
This is said to be a revelation from Christ, while we
believe that Christ had nothing to do with it, yet admitting for the arguments sake that
He gave this revelation, then it follows that only the literal descendants of Aaron can
exercise in this priesthood, that being true, then it follows that John the Baptist, alias
Sidney Rigdon, had no right to ordain Smith and Cowdery to that priesthood and the
hundreds and thousands of Mormons who have been ordained as Priests, Teachers and
Deacons, have acted under a counterfeit ordination and are not priests of God at all.
The Work of Aaronic Priests
[page 160] The ceremony of the consecrations of the Aaronic priests is described in 28th
and 29th chapters of Exodus, also in Lev. 8th and 9th chapters, as
well as in Numbers 18th chapter. Moses washed with water, Moses put oil on their
heads till it ran down their whiskers, Moses killed a ram, and put the blood
thereof on the right ear, the thumb of the right hand and upon the great toe of the right
foot, thus did be perform with Aaron and his sons. Ex. 29, 20.
We learn further that Aaron and his sons were
dressed with garments made to order by the Lord's instructions, consisting of linen
drawers, with a close fitting cassock, also of linen, the white cossack was gathered
around the body with a girdle of needle work, into which, as in the more gorgeous
belt of the High Priest, blue, purple, and scarlet were intermingled with white,
and worked in form of flowers. Ex. 28, 30-40. Upon their heads they were to wear
caps or bonnets in the form of a cup-shaped flower, also of fine linen. In all their
ministrations they were to be bare-footed, they were not to shave their heads. Ezek. 44,
20. They were to have gold bells attached to their garments to make a noise.
"When he goeth in and cometh out, that he die not." Ex. 28, 34-35.
Then there was the killing and dressing of all these
animals named bulls, goats, lambs, rains, calves, doves, with their blood sprinkled on the
altar and on the clothing of the priests, and a full description as to what to do
with fat, the rump, the inwards, the gall, the liver, the kidneys, the skin and the
dung. Ex. 28, 29: Lev. 8 and 9th chapters.
The chief duties of these Aaronic priests were to watch
over the fire on the altar of burnt offerings, and to keep it burning. Lev. 6, 12;
2 Chron. 13, 11. To feed the golden lamp with oil, Ex. 27, 20-21; Lev. 24, 2. To offer the
offering, Ex. 29, 38-44, and several other duties recorded in the Bible.
When Joseph Smith was ordained to this Aaronic priesthood,
did he wear these breeches, bonnets, bells and girdles, did he go barefooted. Did John,
alias Sidney, sprinkle his garments with the blood of rams, did he have blood put upon his
ear, toe and thumb? Did he kill all these animals and look after their fat, kidneys,
inwards, gall and dung? Nay, verily.
History informs us that the Aaronic priesthood starting
with Aaron to offer bloody sacrifices became sensual, covetous, tyrannical, drunkards,
adulterers, Isaiah 28, 7-8 and 56, 10-12; Jer. 5, 25-31; Lam. 4, 12-16; Zeph. 3, 4.
"In the scenes of the last tragedy of the Jewish
history, the order passes away without honor, dying as a foot dieth-the destruction
of Jerusalem deprived the order at one blow of all but an honorary
distinction, their occupation was gone." Smith's Bible Dict. Art. Priest.
The history of the high priests, beginning with Aaron and
ending with Phannias-they arranged themselves into three groups, those before [page 161]
David, those from David to the captivity and those from the return of the
Babylonian captivity, till the cessation of the office at the destruction of
Jerusalem." Ibid. Art High Priest.
Aaronic Priesthood Abolished in Christ
The Mormon presumption that John the Baptist was an Aaronic
Priest and that he therefore ordained Smith, is without support. There is nothing to prove
that John the Baptist was an Aaronic priest, the Bible is silent as to when and where he
was ordained or acted in that office, nowhere do we find anything about John killing rams,
lambs, goats, bulls or doves. No where do we find that he wore the garments of a priest
above described, but to the contrary, we are told that he denounced the works of the
priests and that "he had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his
loins." Matt. 3, 1-17.
The truth is, John was called and inspired to preach the
gospel and prepare the way of the Lord, not to kill rams and lambs, goats and
bulls. The history of John condemns Smith's story and confirms the statement that he was a
gospel preacher. Matt. 3, Mark 1, Luke 3, John 1.
To conclude this part of the article, let me show
that the Law of Moses, with its sacrifices of bulls, goats, rams, lambs and doves,
together with the Aaronic priesthood who was ordained for the purpose of offering those
bloody sacrifices was abolished and done away, nailed to the cross and that when
the law of sin and death was abolished there was a change in the priesthood, the gospel of
the more abundant life was not to be ministered by the men called to kill sacrifices and
take care of the fat, skin, rump, kidneys, inwards, gall and dung under the law, but that
the Melchisedec priesthood, over which Christ presided forever, was to preach the gospel
and administer in the ordinances of the Lord.
- Rom. 10, 4: For Christ is the end of the Law.
- Col. 2, 14: Took it out of the way, nailing it to the
cross.
- Rom. 3, 20: By deeds of law, no flesh justified.
- Rom. 8, 2-3: Law of sin and death was weak.
- Col. 2, 17: Law
was a shadow of things to come.
- Heb. 7, 19: The law made nothing perfect, but the bringing
in of a better hope did.
- Heb 9, 9: Gifts and sacrifices could not have made them
perfect
- Heb. 9, 10-16: Blood of bulls, goats, ashes of red heifer,
imposed until reformation.
- Heb. 10, 1-4: Not possible for the blood of bull to take
away sin, comers not perfect.
- Heb. 10, 9: Take away the law, establish the gospel
covenant.
- Gal. 2, 16: No flesh justified by the law.
- Gal. 2, 21: Righteous came not by the law.
- Gal. 3, 13: Redeemed from the curse of the law.
- Gal. 3, 19: Law added because of transgression.
- Gal. 3, 24: Law only a school master to bring us to
Christ.
- Matt. 5, 17: Christ came to fulfill the law.
- [page 162] Heb. 7, 11: Law given under Levitical or Aaronic
priesthood, need of Melchisedec priesthood.
- Heb. 7, 12: For the Priesthood being changed there
is made a change of the law.
- Heb. 9, 9-16: Law had divers washings, Gospel one baptism,
Eph. 3, 5; Kings 5, 14.
The Aaronic Priesthood Abolished and the Melchisedec Introduced
- Heb. 7, 11-12: Priesthood changed from Aaronic to
Melchisedec.
- Heb. 5, 1-8: Christ called of God a High Priest after the
order of Melchisedec.
- Heb. 7, 1-6: Melchisedec priesthood without descent, abide
continually.
- Heb. 7, 11-28: Law and its Aaronic priesthood made nothing
perfect, but gospel administered by the Melchisedec priesthood did.
Here we have a perfect statement that the Law of Moses and
the Aaronic priesthood given to Aaron and his posterity to administer it, has failed,
passed away, was abolished and ended with Christ, and that there being no further use for
the shadows under bull and goats, rams and lambs, and the bloody work ending in sin and
death, and added because of transgression, when abandoned, was set aside and the beautiful
gospel of Jesus Christ, the Law of Life, the Law of the new birth, the Law of redemption,
the power of God unto salvation, the perfect law of liberty, was introduced and the holy
priesthood known as the Melchisedec priesthood was introduced, God calling Christ to that
office, and Christ calling his brethren to act therein, was to continue to bless the sons
of men, till under the perpetual benediction of that blessed saving power, every knee
shall bow and tongue confess, that Jesus is the Christ to the glory of the Father.
So we must consider the wild ravings of Joseph Smith and
his product, Mormonism, with its counterfeit Aaronic priesthood, to be the lying wonder of
the Latter Days.
If he lied about the John the Baptist ordination story, as
has been proven, even so did he lie about his wonderful story of Peter, James and
John coming to ordain him to the Melchisedec priesthood, as exposed in another part of
this little booklet, and so we dismiss Mormonism with its counterfeit priesthoods and all
its other frauds and thank God that we have been permitted to see Christ and his Gospel
ministry and perfect law of liberty, that is destined to break the fetters of priestcraft
from every honest soul and bring them all to glorify God.
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