Touching Heaven & Removing Barnacles

Last night I was reading President Monson’s talk in the May 1988 Ensign titled “You Make A Difference” and ran across this story about King Darius and Alexander the Great.

“Darius, through the proper rites had been recognized as legitimate King of Egypt. His rival Alexander the Great had been declared legitimate son of Ammon. He, too, was Pharaoh. Alexander, finding the defeated Darius on the point of death, laid his hands upon his head to heal him, commanding him to arise and resume his kingly power, concluding, “I swear unto thee, Darius, by all the gods, that I do these things truly and without fakery.” Darius replied with a gentle rebuke, “Alexander, my boy, … do you think you can touch heaven with those hands of yours?” (quoted by Hugh Nibley, Abraham in Egypt p. 192).”

President Monson relates this story at least four other times in General Conference:
That We May Touch Heaven (November 1990)
Your Eternal Voyage (May 2000)
The Call For Courage (May 2004)
True To Our Priesthood Trust (November 2006)

I’ve had a hard time finding the source of this story (other than the Nibley reference), but if it is true, what an amazing analogy for priesthood holders. I’ve always wondered what happens when a priesthood holder gives a blessing or otherwise exercises his priesthood unworthily, can his hands “touch heaven” as it were? We do know “that the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness.” (D&C 121:36)

So if someone is not worthy to exercise the priesthood, but does anyway, does it “count”? The next verse says when we “undertake to cover our sins…the spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man.” At that point I think the blessing becomes more like a prayer, not directly under the authority of the priesthood. Although I suppose the faith of an individual receiving a blessing can make up for the lack of worthiness of the priesthood bearer, and achieve the same outcome. Ordinances are a completely different situation. I would think if someone unworthily ordains someone else, the ordinance has to be valid, but I’ve heard that individual “drinks damnation” to his own soul.
In the same talk, President Monson gives another analogy regarding barnacles.

“To some it may seem strange to see ships of many nations loading and unloading cargo along the docks at Portland, Oregon. That city is 100 miles from the ocean. Getting there involves a difficult, often turbulent passage over the bar guarding the Columbia River and a long trip up the Columbia and Willamette Rivers.

“But ship captains like to tie up at Portland. They know that as their ships travel the seas, a curious salt water shellfish called a barnacle fastens itself to the hull and stays there for the rest of its life, surrounding itself with a rock-like shell. As more and more barnacles attach themselves, they increase the ship’s drag, slow its progress, decrease its efficiency.

“Periodically, the ship must go into dry dock, where with great effort the barnacles are chiseled or scraped off. It’s a difficult, expensive process that ties up the ship for days”. But not if the captain can get his ship to Portland. Barnacles can’t live in fresh water. There, in the sweet, fresh waters of the Willamette or Columbia, the barnacles loosen and fall away, and the ship returns to its task lightened and renewed.

“Sins are like those barnacles. Hardly anyone goes through life without picking up some. They increase the drag, slow our progress, decrease our efficiency. Unrepented, building up one on another, they can eventually sink us.

“In His infinite love and mercy, our Lord has provided a harbor where, through repentance, our barnacles fall away and are forgotten. With our souls lightened and renewed, we can go efficiently about our work and His” (“Harbor of Forgiveness,” 30 Jan. 1988, p. 16).

Unlike some analogies, this one makes a lot of sense to me, and when you read more about barnacles, they really can do damage to what they adhere to, especially animals. They root themselves so deep that the typical shedding of the outer layer of skin doesn’t get rid of them. Applying that analogy could mean that you have to go deeper to remove the sin, it’s not just something superficial on the surface.