What does 'Household of Faith" mean when Consecrating Oil or Giving a Priesthood Blessing?

 

   WHAT is “The Household of Faith?”

Mentioned in Doctrine and Covenants 121:45 and Galatians 6:10, a wide view of the term is it is all members of “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (according to churchofjesuschrist.org).

And, to other Christian faiths, it is usually God’s “spiritual children.”

Priesthood blessings in the LDS Church decades ago, used to almost always state this phrase, when consecrating oil or giving a blessing of healing:

“ … anointing and blessing the sick and afflicted, in the household of faith.”

Today, according to the Church’s website, “in the household of faith” is not listed on its guidance for priesthood blessings.

A friend of mine believes that is for the sake of brevity in today’s world – and he may be right.

But what does “in the household of faith” mean in this context, of consecrating oil, and giving blessings?

There have been several LDS General Conference talks given over the decades that included “Household of Faith” in their titles and yet nowhere in those discourses was a definition of the term specifically outlined.

Searching deep a few pages of results on Google, one Christian faith stated that it was a reminder to Christians to not forsake their fellow Christians – meaning those outside their own family.

When my Google search hit the 9^th page of results, this came up: a November 2006 talk by Elder Craig A. Cardon of the Seventy, titled, “Moving Closer to Him.”

 In that discourse, Elder Cardon quoted Doctrine and Covenants 121:45:

“Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven.”

Then, Elder Cardon stated: “It is significant that after inviting us to have charity toward “all men,” the Lord added the phrase “and to the household of faith.” Why? Doesn’t “all men” include the household of faith? Consider the implications when this added phrase is understood to mean more specifically “your very own household of faith.” Unfortunately, there are a few within the Church who exhibit greater charity toward nonfamily members than toward their own spouses and children, siblings and parents. They may show feigned kindness publicly while privately sowing and cultivating seeds of contention, demeaning those who should be closest to them. These things should not be.”

So, perhaps this is the meaning of “Household of Faith” in blessings and consecrating oil – it is a caution to NOT neglect your own immediate family in a quest to serve and bless others (and the opposite view of another Christian Church’s belief on its meaning).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How the Gospel Returned to Supai, Arizona After a 19-year Absence

 

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                A red rock skyline surrounds Supia, Arizona                     Photo by Ravell Call

 

  SUPAI, Arizona is perhaps the most isolated village in the lower 48 states. One either hikes, rides on horseback, or helicopters into this village, that lacks paved roads or automobiles – and it is an 8-mile haul into the Grand Canyon.

  Lynn Arave, this blog Author, led a group of nine people (including three of his children) into Supai on a trip back on April 6-7, 2004.

  From his first look at the village of about 500 people, the Author was fascinated with the remote town. Even after he had seen the roaring waterfalls, located about two miles extra from Supai, the resident Native Americans were his biggest fascination.

  The Author spent 15 minutes talking to the minister of the Bible Church, the lone church in town.

                                                          The Bible Church in Supai.          Ravall Call photo.

  The Author eventually co-wrote a long travel/outdoor story about the group’s trip to Supai and it was published in the Deseret News on May 9, 2004, under the headline: “Havasupai Canyon and the Village of Supai.”

  (Ray Boren, co-wrote the story and another Deseret News colleague, photographer Ravell Call, took pictures of the trip.)

 About two weeks after the publication of the story in the Deseret News, Arave got a telephone call from the Kingman, Arizona Stake President, Scott H. Charon. He said that the LDS Church had basically abandoned dozens of Church members in Supai, shortly after President Spencer W. Kimball died, on November 5, 1985.

  (In fact, many Native American programs in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, dried up and quit altogether soon after President Kimball's passing, as one of his accents had been such programs.) 

  Surprisingly, President Charon said that it was the story in the Deseret News that had reminded area Church leaders about Supai – and the lack of an LDS presence there for more than 19 years.

  He said that the Church had now rented a building in Supai and were now holding Sunday services there. Also, it was a coveted High Council assignment to be the member each month who gets to hike the eight miles (and 2,135-foot elevation drop) down to speak at the church service.

 

       Part of the hiking group to Supai on April 6-7, 2004.                Photo by Ravell Call.

   During the next three years, the Church was able to secure a building and add a white steeple to its top. (That small church chapel is one of the first structures travelers see today as they enter Supai.)

  The First Counselor in the Bishopric of the Peach Springs Branch, Doug Angle, also became very interested in the Church members living in Supai. From 2004-2007, he identified about 60 church members there; organized numerous service projects; and was instrumental in the branch organization there. By 2007, Supai had its first full-time missionary couple in town, and they lived in the rear of the meetinghouse.

  While it is sad that the Church abandoned members for almost 20 years in Supai, it was equally strange that the Deseret News story was the spark that put the church back in town.

  AND, that is not the end of the story, at least for the Author of this blog, as he received a "reward," of sorts:

Greg Witt, a Salt Lake author and hiking enthusiast, also became intently interested in Supai after reading the Deseret News story. He not only went there often, but wrote several hiking guides for the area and even assisted in service projects for the village (as it suffered periodic flooding damage).

In 2011, Wilderness Press was looking to expand its extensive “Walking” city book series to Salt Lake City. They contacted Witt about doing a “Walking Salt Lake City” book, but he said he thought Lynn Arave and Ray Boren were better suited for that endeavor.

In 2012, that book was published and it launched the book writing career for Arave and Boren. The pair would co-write two more books together and Arave would separately write another 7 books, as of 2026, with a contract for two additional books in the future (12 books total).

  Today, Supai and its waterfalls are an extremely popular outdoor mecca and reservations to visit have to be made in advance and sell out quickly.

 

            Havasupai Falls and Lynn Arave's hiking group, in 2004.  Photo by Ravell Call.

 

 

 

Jesus Christ is physically NOT in the Spirit World

                 Jesus Christ will appear in all-red attire when he returns for his "Second Coming."

    

  THE Spirit World seems to a confusing doctrine for many Latter-day Saints.

 Latest example: A High Council member speaks in my ward and he is not 30 seconds into his talk when he states that Jesus Christ will look very familiar to us when we see him in the Spirit World.

What?

  Although there's little doubt Christ's spirit and influence can be felt in the Spirit World, he is NOT there physically.

Why?

  After all, the Spirit World is a realm created just for spirits. Jesus Christ himself spent just three days there after his death, but could only be there because he was in spirit form there, before his resurrection.

   Spirit World residents still have to live by faith there, as we do on Earth. Prayer is also likely our communication tool in the Spirit World, as it is here.

  It just seems strange that members can't seem to grasp this doctrine.

  Other church members hold to the inaccurate "he was called home" idea too, regarding the Spirit World. How can it be "home," when one has never been there before and it is certainly not a permanent place of residence in the afterlife. Other than deceased friends and family are in the Spirit World, the "called home" idea is not correct either.