Elder Jeffrey R. Holland stressed "emphatically" in his priesthood session address "that the priesthood of God, with its keys, its ordinances, its divine origin and ability to 'bind in heaven what is bound on earth' is as indispensable to the true Church of God as it is unique to it.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

Elder Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve added, "In this commemorative year in which we are celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the 175th year since the organization of the Church, I wish to add my testimony of — and express my eternal gratitude for — the restoration of the holy priesthood, this hallowed consequence, this sovereign gift, and the role it plays in our lives on both sides of the veil."

He traced the link in priesthood authority to Christ, citing the Savior's statement to His senior apostle Peter that He would (soon) give to him the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Six days later, on a mountaintop, the Savior was transfigured before Peter, James and John and prophets from previous dispensations appeared in glory also and conferred the various keys and powers that each held.

"Unfortunately those apostles were soon killed or otherwise taken from the earth and their priesthood keys were taken with them, resulting in more than 1,400 years of priesthood privation and absence of divine authority," Elder Holland explained. "But part of the modern miracle and marvelous history we celebrate tonight is the return of those same earlier heavenly messengers in our day and the restoration of those same powers they held for the blessing of all mankind."

He then related the account of the restoration of priesthood authority, including the keys of the apostleship, with John the Baptist and subsequently Peter, James and John appearing to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. He spoke of what President Gordon B. Hinckley once called the "Kirtland cascade" of revelation in which the Savior Himself, plus Moses, Elijah and Elias appeared in glory to Joseph and Oliver and conferred keys and powers from their respective dispensation upon these men.

Divine authority "cannot be generated by theological training or a commission from the congregation," Elder Holland observed. "No, in the authorized work of God there has to be power greater than that already possessed by the people in the pews, or in the streets, or in the seminaries — a fact that many honest religious seekers had known and openly acknowledged for generations leading up to the Restoration."

Regarding priesthood authority, Elder Holland affirmed: "I have beheld the power of God manifest in my home and in my ministry. I have seen evil rebuked and the elements controlled. . . . I know what it means to have the destroying angel 'pass them by.' To have received the authority and to have exercised the power of the Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God, is as great a blessing for me and my family as I could ever hope for in this world. And that, in the end, is the meaning of the priesthood in everyday terms — its unequaled, unending, constant capacity to bless."