Mormon Terminology

Authority

“The claim of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to be the only true and living church on the earth is centered on the concept of authority. The LDS belief has been well stated by President Joseph F. Smith: “As to the question of authority, nearly everything depends upon it. No ordinance can be performed to the acceptance of God without divine authority.  Authority is a divine commission or calling from God….The name given to this kind of authority in the scriptures is priesthood (Heb. 7:11-12, 14, 24; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9; D&C 84:107).”  Encyclopedia of Mormonism, pg. 88.

Jesus told everyone in Matthew 28:18-20; “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”

Jesus didn’t make exceptions to the ‘who, what, where, when and why and how’.  He simply said, ‘go’.  He also stated that He would be with us unto the end of the world.  Three things come to mind with this:  either Jesus lied, He was wrong or He gave us authority.  The latter is what is consistent throughout the whole of the Bible.  Someone once said that “the great omission of the Great Commission is not obeying”.