quote: Fireside Commemorates 1978 Priesthood Revelation By Lisa Ann Jackson, Church Magazines
Lisa Ann Jackson, “News of the Church,” Ensign, Sept. 2003, 78 In an evening filled with music, testimony, and gratitude, members of the Church gathered at the Salt Lake Tabernacle to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the revelation known as Official Declaration 2 in the Doctrine and Covenants, stating that “all worthy male members of the Church may be ordained to the priesthood without regard for race or color.” The announcement was made on 8 June 1978 under the direction of President Spencer W. Kimball.
“Tonight we commemorate one of the most significant revelations in this dispensation, … a revelation that allows the gospel in its fulness to be taken literally to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people,” said Elder Merrill J. Bateman of the Presidency of the Seventy, who presided and spoke at the fireside.
The program included The Saints Unified Voices, a choir of Church members based in Las Vegas, Nevada, and directed by Sister Gladys Knight. A widely-known rhythm and blues artist, Sister Knight joined the Church about six years ago through the example of her son who had joined about ten years earlier.
Elder Bateman was the concluding speaker at the fireside. He shared his personal experience with the 1978 revelation. In his professional life, Elder Bateman had several opportunities to travel to West Africa. In the 1970s he met groups of people in Africa who had learned of the Church or the Book of Mormon and had organized themselves to discuss and live their teachings. By the mid-1970s Elder Bateman, not yet a member of the Seventy, had met several people in these unofficial congregations who asked him to send missionaries with the true gospel of Jesus Christ.
Elder Bateman was again in Africa on business in late 1977. At the request of Elder James E. Faust, then a member of the Presidency of the Seventy and president of the International Mission, he sought out members who had joined the Church in other places and had returned to their homelands in Africa. “I spent 10 days in Ghana and Nigeria engaged in business by day and visiting African Church members during the evenings and on the weekend,” he said.
He returned to Africa again in May 1978 and reported to Elder Faust the plight of these members. “Many of them were on their own, there were no Church units to attend, and some had not received the sacrament for three or four years,” Elder Bateman said. “But they were faithful with strong testimonies.”
Elder Bateman continued: “Can you imagine my feelings 10 days later when I turned on the car radio and heard a voice say, ‘Flash bulletin! Today, the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced that from this time forward all worthy males may hold the priesthood and all worthy members may enjoy the blessings of the temple.’ Tears ran down my face as I thought of my African friends and the blessings that awaited them.”
Today, 25 years later, the Church continues to grow at a miraculous pace as it spreads to all nations, kindreds, tongues, and peoples. Almost 70 percent of the current Church membership has been added since the 1978 revelation. There are temples across the earth, including one functioning and two under construction in Africa.
“Why does the Lord work in stages in taking the gospel across the earth? Why did He initially send the Twelve only to the house of Israel and not to others during His ministry? Why did it take a special revelation to Peter following the Lord’s Ascension to expand the work to the Gentiles? Why has the Lord phased His work in this dispensation? It is clear that the Lord has a divine timetable,” Elder Bateman concluded. “We are all God’s children, and the great plan of redemption is organized so that every person who has lived, now lives, or will live on this planet will have an opportunity to accept it.”
[photo] Sister Gladys Knight leads a choir at a fireside commemorating the 25th anniversary of the 1978 priesthood revelation. (Photograph by Jason Olson, Church News.)
I bet Sister Knight did some smokin music! I hope they recorded it to post somewhere.
P.S. I wonder if there are any LDS Pips?
[ September 17, 2003, 01:28 PM: Message edited by: ana kata ]
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Clearly the Mormons are genetically modifying fruit trees to create a sweet, tasty mind-altering snack. All true Christians should be careful to only buy kettle corn at state and country fairs from authorized Christian vendors. Be especially wary of vendors who have a "Deseret" or "honeybee" logo on their packaging. And never, ever buy kettle corn from door to door salespersons -- even if they claim that their product is just like regular kettle corn but with additional sweetness.
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lol Yeah, you only WISH you knew how to get popcorn off of apricot trees. It's one of the secrets they tell you *only* when you get baptized.
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Been walkin' a long time So my shoes is all threads Been walkin' a long time Like I was mostly dead. Ain't seen no lovin Ain't seen no sweet home Ain't had no dreams in my head.
Lord the rain keeps fallin, And the wind don't stop to blow Feel like the devil's callin' And I just can't say no. Lord, don't he look fine Lord, don't he speak right And I just can't tell him no.
Man walkin round in the rain He ain't got no home or love. All he got is his own pain And thunder up above. Don't you stop to watch him Don't you speak or touch him Walkin men are dangerous.
[ September 18, 2003, 06:38 AM: Message edited by: Scott R ]
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I looked out the window and what did I see? Popcorn popping on the apricot tree. Spring has brought me such a nice surprise! Popcorn popping right before my eyes. I can take a handful and make a treat. A popcorn ball that smells so sweet. It wasn't really so, but it seemed to be Popcorn popping on the apricot tree.
Imagine appropriate hand motions thoughout.
In what will always be my favorite missionary experience, Elder Mooney and Elder Maxfield and I sat on my front porch one night while they played guitar and sang me "cover versions" of various primary songs as done by contemporary alternative artists. My favorite of all was The Beastie Boys' rendition of Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree. <laughs> I really hope Elder Mooney makes a CD of these someday and they sell it through the church distribution center. It was truly wonderful! How could I not have joined the church after that????
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We had apricot tress in the orchard when I was growing up, and it was a spring ritual that when the apricot trees bloomed, my dad would take us four kids out back and sing the popcorn song to nature/the heavens/the amusement of the horny toads.
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This thread deserves to be bumped. . . if only to read Porce's EXCELLENT blues on the first page. . . which I somehow missed the first go-round.
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quote: The program included The Saints Unified Voices, a choir of Church members based in Las Vegas, Nevada, and directed by Sister Gladys Knight. A widely-known rhythm and blues artist, Sister Knight joined the Church about six years ago through the example of her son who had joined about ten years earlier.
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Here's the only blues song I've ever written; there are notes to it and everything *laugh*:
The Newborn Baby Boogie I got my diaper and my bottle and I'm learning how to toddle away; I can gurgle sixteen letters and my bladder's getting better each day; I got a brand new fuzzy teddy and when we snuggle up in bed we both say, every day:
Oh, baby (ooh aby daby) (gooh aby daby) (goo goo), we do the newborn baby boogie. (goo goo) (gooh) (gooh) I only got twenty years to learn the varsity drag, but for now I get the spotlight with a cool crying jag. (ooh ooh aby daby) (gooh aby daby) (goo goo) We do the newborn baby boogie. (goo goo) (gooh) (gooh) I got all my fingers and I got all my toes, and I got some things I can't use yet but I'll figure out those.
I got a woman here who feeds me and who says she really needs me around; I got a room with cool wallpaper of rhinoceri and capering clowns -- but there's simply nothing finer than this catchy forty-liner I sing: I may not know how to speak yet, but you've got to take a peek at how I swing. Wow, I swing. Take it, Teddy.
[Improv. sax solo: lots of waah-waah]
And I tell ya, baby (ooh aby daby) (gooh aby daby) (goo goo), I do the newborn baby boogie. (goo goo) (wooh) (gooh) If you see me standing up, please just don't knock me down; I'm getting old enough now to be getting around. There's a flat stretch of floor there, and nowhere to fall -- and I sure as hell ain't gonna wait to learn how to crawl. (waaaah--goo aby daby) (gooh aby daby) (goo goo) I do the newborn baby boogie. (goo goo) (gooh) (gooh) I simply got no reason to be singing da blues 'til I gotta go to preschool and start tying my shoes.
[Improv. to end]
Woah, Mama, don't you burp me now.
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1. I can't believe I blew this off. I have to finish the art work and the text tonight, and I don't even have the Pantone color numbers to work with. Why did I do it?
2. <vent> Boss three levels up wants name of web application changed. Boss two levels up doesn't want to spend the work to change the name ON the application (It's on EVERY SCREEN), and instructs us to create marketing, Help, brochures, CD covers, and articles concerning the web application with the new name, and they'll get around the changing the name on the actual application sometime.
That's right. Everything that talks ABOUT the web application calls it a different than the web application calls itself. We are not allowed to mention this in the documentation. Why? Because the documentation is shown to the boss three levels up, but not the application. The net result is...that's right. NOTHING MATCHES!! Does he really think no one will notice? It's like having a movie poster for An Affair to Remember and only selling tickets if you ask for A Love Story. </rant>
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Katharina, bosses can be real jerks. All I can offer is hugs. (((Katharina))). I don't know if it helps, but I hope so.
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quote:A video of primary kids singing the popcorn song was used in an anti video here in Texas to prove that Mormons were bizarre and dangerous occultists.
Very, very funny.
That's hilarious-- my brother sang it at our (Presbyterian) preschool. So I knew it before I ever got near the Nursery!
When my brother and I were 3 and 6, we wrote and recorded a song with my dad called "Bethlehem Blues" (we actually did do a lot of the writing-- and it's not bad for kids our ages at the time!) We gave it out for Christmas presents that year. I'm going to try to find a way to get it digitalized so I can let my online friends hear it, it's pretty darned adorable.
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I was reading this, all confused becaue I didn't see any CT replies but everyone was talking to her at the beginning of this thread...then a lightbulb went off...
I looked at the beginning dates and said to myself " Self, ( ) this must have been written during one of the great CT post-purging times of anitiquity.",