So I watched it happen and noticed other things happening at the same time. I noticed that as the moon got closer and closer to blocking the sun, clouds rolled in and began covering the sun. At the same time, as would be expected, it got darker and darker for us. I didn't think much of these things at the time and just kept enjoying the phenomenon that I was witnessing. I very much enjoyed getting to watch the eclipse and when it was over I went back to my usual missionary activities.

Before I get into my thoughts on the matter, I should explain something that is central to our beliefs as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. When Christ came to the earth, He established and lead His Church which was established with the authority of God's priesthood. The priesthood is the power and authority that God has given to man to act in His name and to basically stand in His place. The priesthood was help by all of the prophets such as Adam, Moses, and Noah. It is what gave them the authority to be a prophet! And just like previous prophets, Jesus Christ also held this priesthood authority and lead His Church with it. After He was crucified and resurrected, He gave this prophetic authority to Peter who became the next prophet. Over the years as hatred grew for those who followed the teachings of Jesus Christ until they were all killed, including those who help this priesthood authority.
When they were killed it began a period known as the great apostasy, which is to say, a time when the priesthood authority to lead Christ's Church was no longer on the earth. During this time many of Christ's teachings were slowly distorted and changed. Churches rose up with parts of Christ's truth contained within them, just not all of it. This period lasted for hundreds of years until in 1820 the fullness of Christ's teachings were restored to the young, 14-year-old boy, Joseph Smith.
So there's the background information, now how does this relate to the eclipse? Well as I sat thinking about how the eclipse could be symbolic, all of these thoughts rushed through my mind and I realized that the eclipse is just like the great apostasy!
When Christ was on the earth, He taught His gospel in fullness and with simplicity. Just as the sun before the eclipse began, it was perfectly bright with no obstructions. At first, even after He was crucified His gospel was still taught in it's completion. But just as the moon slowly blocked the sun and impeded its light, over time, the darkness of Satan got in the way and slowly blocked out what had once been perfectly clear and bright. Of course there was still light and people could spiritually see, but it wasn't as clear as before the Apostles were killed. And just like with the eclipse, this caused an intense darkness to come across the land as the teachings of Christ were obscured and hidden by the philosophies of man.

Not to kiss up, but I just love your blogs. You take some of the most common of topics and turn them into a great lesson about our Savior. :)
ReplyDeleteWell thank you Eric! That really means a lot to me! :)
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