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Aaronic Priesthood
Ordinances
Did you know: The Aaronic priesthood administered the law of Moses which, according to D&C 84:25-27, included repentance, baptism, the remission of sins and the law of carnal commandments. None of these things can save us, even when administered by the Aaronic priesthood. The Aaronic priesthood has no power to save us because it cannot administer the gift of the Holy Ghost which is promised to be given only to those who pass through the gate . The Aaronic priesthood' role is to prepare us to pass through the gate. Every ordinance, law and principal administered by the Aaronic priesthood is given for that purpose. It only holds two keys, the key to the ministering of angels and the key to the Preparatory Gospel. That's it. Those are its keys and both of those keys are used on the unsaved to prepare them for salvation which comes when we pass through the gate and receive the Holy Ghost, not as a fleeting and temporary power, but as a constant companion. Nothing administered by the Aaronic priesthood can save us, it can only prepare us to be saved. Salvation come when we receive the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost which the Aaronic priesthood cannot administer, but can only prepare us to receive. No matter how well we live the principles and ordinances of the Aaronic priesthood, without the baptism of fire which brings the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, we remain unsaved in the Telestial kingdom. Because the Holy Ghost cannot be given to an unworthy person by the laying on of hands, the sacrament is administered each week for the purpose of pointing us to Christ and assisting those who are unworthy and have not yet passed through the gate to eventually do so. It is the constant reminder of Christ and ensures that the gospel of Jesus Christ is taught and administered every week in church regardless of the talk topics. It is final and contual Preparatory Gospel ordinance given to help the members pass through the gate and receive the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost.
D&C 84:25-27 25 Therefore, he took Moses out of their midst, and the Holy Priesthood also; 26 And the lesser priesthood continued, which priesthood holdeth the key of the ministering of angels and the preparatory gospel; 27 Which gospel is the gospel of repentance and of baptism, and the remission of sins, and the law of carnal commandments, which the Lord in his wrath caused to continue with the house of Aaron among the children of Israel until John, whom God raised up, being filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother’s womb.
D&C 22:2 2 Wherefore, although a man should be baptized an hundred times it availeth him nothing, for you cannot enter in at the strait gate by the law of Moses, neither by your dead works.
Joseph Smith "You might as well baptize a bag of sand as a man, if not done in view of the remission of sins and getting of the Holy Ghost. Baptism by water is but half a baptism, and is good for nothing without the other half—that is, the baptism of the Holy Ghost” (History of the Church, 5:499).
Joseph Smith "The baptism of water, without the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost attending it, is of no use; they are necessarily and inseparably connected. An individual must be born of water and the spirit in order to get into the kingdom of God." (History of the Church, 6:316)
We cannot force God to honor ordinances performed by our priesthood, like laying hands on someone to give them the Holy Ghost. If God finds them unworthy they will not receive the Holy Ghost.
D&C 132:10, 7-8 10 Or will I receive at your hands that which I have not appointed? ... 7 And verily I say unto you, that the conditions of this law are these: All covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associations, or expectations, that are not made and entered into and sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise... are of no efficacy, virtue, or force in and after the resurrection from the dead; for all contracts that are not made unto this end have an end when men are dead. 8 Behold, mine house is a house of order, saith the Lord God, and not a house of confusion.
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