We are living in the prophesied time “when peace shall be taken from the earth” (Doctrine and Covenants 1:35), when “all things shall be in commotion; and … men’s hearts shall fail them” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:91). We are surrounded by challenges on all sides, but with faith in God, we trust in the blessings He has promised those who keep His commandments and prepare.

As part of our preparation to meet Him, the Lord has commanded, “Stand ye in holy places, and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come; for behold, it cometh quickly” (Doctrine and Covenants 87:8). What are those “holy places”? Surely they include the temple, attended by those who keep their covenants faithfully. Surely they include places of service by faithful missionaries and others called by priesthood authority. As we stand in holy places, we exercise and are subject to priesthood authority and we seek the ordinances required for exaltation and eternal life.

Thirty years ago, I had an experience with how priesthood authority in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints differs from other kinds of authority. The wife of a prominent Protestant minister came to my office. For many years she and her husband had served the Lord with great diligence in a Christian ministry. Now she wanted to join the restored Church, but she had a reservation.

She came to ask me why she had to be baptized when she had already been baptized a Christian by her minister husband, who had baptized many people in his congregation. She asked, “Are you telling me that my husband didn’t have any authority to baptize all those people he baptized?”

The Spirit came to my aid, as we pray for in these situations.

“No, I am sure your husband had authority for those baptisms,” I replied. “He had all the authority his church, his congregation, and the laws of the land could give him. He used that authority in baptizing, performing marriages, employing persons for the physical needs of his church building, and appointing persons to participate in its worship services. We don’t question that authority, but we want you to know of a different kind of authority: the power God delegates to mortals.”

I explained that what causes us to require baptism for persons converted to the restored Church of Jesus Christ is the need for baptism by the divine authority Jesus gave to Peter and the other Apostles. With that authority, He told them whatsoever they bound on earth would be bound in heaven (see Matthew 16:19; 18:18). In other words, it would be valid and effective beyond the veil of death to satisfy the requirements of heaven. I testified to her that this authority has been restored and now exists only in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Sometime later, both this woman and her husband were baptized. I have known them for many years as faithful members.

The importance of authority is evident in many scriptural accounts of our Savior’s earthly ministry. We read that the people He taught “were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (Matthew 7:28–29; see also Mark 1:22; Luke 4:32). In a synagogue they were “amazed” that “with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him” (Mark 1:27; see also Luke 4:36). Jesus told the questioning scribes “that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins” (Mark 2:10; see also Luke 5:24).

Later, the chief priests and elders asked Him by what authority He acted (see Matthew 21:23–27; Mark 11:27–33). They did not meet His requirement for an answer. But what He later said and did reveals His answer. When He called His Apostles, He “ordained” them (John 15:16), “that he might send them forth to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils” (Mark 3:14–15; see also Matthew 10:1; Luke 9:1; Acts 8:18–19). When He called the Seventy, He gave them “power” (Luke 10:19).

The Savior had divine power and authority, and He shared it. As John the Baptist said, the Father “hath given all things into his hand” (John 3:35).