Doctrine & Covenants Lesson # 39 “The Hearts of the Children Shall Turn to Their Fathers”

Doctrine & Covenants Lesson # 39

“The Hearts of the Children Shall Turn to Their Fathers”

Introduction

Part of the additional material for this lesson is an account of Susa Young Gates who championed family history from the end of the 19th century. She was one of the first to hear about what is now Section 138 from President Joseph F. Smith. Section 138 was made part of the Doctrine and Covenants in 1979—before many of you were born—so for you it is on a par with the other revelations—equally “ancient.” When you are looking at revelations that came hundreds of years before your mortal existence, it is hard to differentiate between centuries and millennia. Please take the time to look at all the additional material (links at the end of this post) if possible, but the account of Susa Young Gates is especially eye-opening.

It is interesting that the end of October and beginning of November are celebrated in very different ways in different cultures. We might see Halloween—All Hallows Eve—as a time for children to dress up, but as I walk round Provo, I see the stuff of nightmares. Not celebrating death, but making it fearful, ghoulish. In contrast, the Mexican Day of the Dead celebrates ancestors and recognizes their contributions to their living descendants. Asian cultures revere their ancestors, and by and large so do we, except perhaps for 31st October.

“Doing” family history has never been easier, nor more popular worldwide. What started in 1894 as the Utah Genealogical Society is now Familysearch, an online resource used and appreciated by people from all countries and creeds. Just last weekend, nearly 80,000 people participated in the Worldwide Indexing Event, indexing over 7.25 million records. Those records will soon be available to anyone who visits Familysearch. Last year we had a project to index US marriage records as an agreement with FindMyPast for members of the Church to have free access to that website. Those records have been bringing information to hundreds of thousands of descendants searching for their kindred dead.  

From the indexing party at the Siegel’s last Sunday, to Familysearch research; from Kayta and Kalea walking down to the temple to do baptisms, to Ruben at the recommend desk, to Julie working with the brides, to me in an initiatory booth, and Pres. Ostergar officiating as a sealer, it is all part of the Lord’s work and glory.

1. Elijah: “The keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands.”

D&C 2; 110:13–16; 138:47–48; Joseph Smith—History 1:37–39.

How important is the sealing power? Here is Elder Holland:

God made those promises to the ancient patriarchs—Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and so forth—and we undoubtedly made them to our own lineal fathers and mothers, those who came to earth before the gospel was restored but whom we promised to provide its saving ordinances . . . [Without the sealing power] no family ties would exist in the eternities, and indeed the family of man would have been left in eternity with ‘neither root [ancestors] nor branch [descendants].’ Inasmuch as … a sealed, united, celestially saved family of God is the ultimate purpose of mortality, any failure here would have been a curse indeed, rendering the entire plan of salvation ‘utterly wasted’ (Christ and the New Covenant, 297–98).

I asked myself what “utterly wasted” means. Joseph Fielding Smith provides an answer

Why would the earth be wasted? Simply because if there is not a welding link between the fathers and the children—which is the work for the dead—then we will all stand rejected; the whole work of God will fail and be utterly wasted [see D&C 128:15–18]. Such a condition, of course, shall not be” (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:121–22).

So perhaps wasted in this sense is not “made desolate” i.e barren, but mortality would have been a waste? I am still pondering that one.

I know many of you have stories of information coming to you about your kindred dead in miraculous means. There is a great story in My Heritage about a newspaper being miraculously delivered from Newbury, England to Logan, Utah in 3 days when the only method of travel was by ship and would take several weeks. With God, nothing is impossible.

2. President Wilford Woodruff: “Somebody has got to redeem them.”

On the hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Utah Genealogical Society, Pres. Nelson said:

Events of that historic year established family history research and temple service as one work in the Church. . . . No mortal mind could have conceived this divine work. It is evidence of the restoration of the gospel in its fulness and is sparked by the Spirit of Elijah. “Let us, therefore, as a church and a people … offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness; and let us present in his holy temple … a book containing the records of our dead … worthy of all acceptation.” Then we shall bless and be blessed as saviors upon mount Zion.[1]

I have asked Br. Arredondo to talk to us about how our Stake Family History Center can help us in this work. I was cheered to see last week how many of you have had experience with indexing. Those of you who are starting out as a family—actually I was going to say this is an ideal time to start working on your family history, but there is never a non-ideal time to do this work. Here is the quote from Pres. Woodruff:

For the last eighteen hundred years, the people that have lived and passed away never heard the voice of an inspired man, never heard a Gospel sermon, until they entered the spirit-world. Somebody has got to redeem them, by performing such ordinances for them in the flesh as they cannot attend to themselves in the spirit, and in order that this work may be done, we must have Temples in which to do it” (in Journal of Discourses, 19:228–29).

3. President Joseph F. Smith: “The eyes of my understanding were opened.”

I’ll refer you again to the additional material that talks of Susa Young Gates who was good friends with Pres. Joseph F. Smith. Hopefully we will have time to look at this revelation in detail. It is so integral to our understanding of the gospel that it is hard to imagine that there are other opinions out there. It is instructive to look at who the Savior did and did not visit during the time His body was in the tomb (D&C 138:12–21).

Currently, there are 157 operating temples (which includes 2 previously dedicated, but closed for renovation), 12 under construction, and 13 announced (not yet under construction). As the Bishop said last Sunday, within a 20 mile radius, we have 4 to choose from (he might have said 5). Like tithing, it is the “windows of heaven” principle. No matter how much work we do preparing and taking names to the temple, the blessings we receive as a result of this service far outweigh our efforts.

Additional resources for this lesson

• “Susa Young Gates and the Vision of the Redemption of the Dead”: This article gives context for the vision that has been canonized as Doctrine and Covenants 138. 
• “Glad Tidings: The History of Baptisms for the Dead”: This seven-minute video discusses how Alvin Smith’s death helped shape the questions that led to revelation on baptism for the dead.
• “Ministry of Wilford Woodruff: The Work of the Temple”: This two-minute video highlights Wilford Woodruff’s teachings on redeeming the dead. 
• “Ministry of Joseph F. Smith: A Vision of the Redemption of the Dead”: This three-minute video introduces the vision recorded in Doctrine and Covenants 138. 

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[1] https://www.lds.org/ensign/1994/11/the-spirit-of-elijah?lang=eng.

Doctrine & Covenants Lesson # 38 “In Mine Own Way”

Doctrine & Covenants Lesson # 38

“In Mine Own Way”

Having obligated everyone to at least try web indexing, I hope some of you were able to and thereby found a new way to serve in a missionary context, since whatever work we do for the dead is surely a form of missionary work.

As a reminder, Kara is teaching the lesson next week, so this is just by way of my thoughts on the upcoming lesson.

I was at a luncheon with some friends a couple of weeks ago and, although from different wards, three of them had experience with the Church’s relatively new self-reliance initiative. I say relatively new because Harold B. Lee set up the Church’s welfare program in the 1930s. Having listened to my friends, serving as both facilitators for one of the groups in their Stake, and as participants, I was firstly surprised I hadn’t heard much about this particular aspect, and then grateful as they recounted the wonderful and inspiring experiences they were all reporting.

When I got home, I was reading the October 2017 Ensign, and there was a whole article on the subject. Here is an excerpt:

Under the direction of local priesthood leaders, more than 500,000 Latter-day Saints in more than 100 nations have participated in the self-reliance initiative since 2014. The Church is now introducing the initiative throughout North America.The initiative includes courses and resources “to help members of the Church learn and put into practice principles of faith, education, hard work, and trust in the Lord. Accepting and living these principles,” the First Presidency says, “will better enable [us] to receive the temporal blessings promised by the Lord.” “It has always been a cardinal teaching with the Latter-day Saints,” said President Joseph F. Smith (1838–1918), “that a religion which has not the power to save people temporally and make them prosperous and happy here, cannot be depended upon to save them spiritually, to exalt them in the life to come.” We should not be surprised, then, that by strengthening the temporal, we also strengthen the spiritual. [1]

There is also a website srs.lds.org. Apparently participation is by invitation, and I am trying to find out if we are going to have this program in our Stake (for all I know it might already be taking place).

The remarkable thing, to me, is that as we work together on physical self-reliance, spiritual self-reliance is also increased. And that is the focus of the lesson.

Interestingly, I believe I mentioned the lack of emphasis on physical self-reliance during recent General Conferences. There was a time when this was an ongoing theme, but it is a main factor of this initiative. So how do we develop spiritual self-reliance as  result of physical self-reliance. Does the one precede the other, or not? It’s a strange analogy, but even those who shut themselves away in cloisters to spend their time in spiritual contemplation have to develop physical means of support. One dubious example of this is the Benedictine monks who gave the world a particularly strong liqueur!

Here is what President Packer said:

 “We have been taught to store a year’s supply of food, clothing, and, if possible, fuel—at home. … Can we not see that the same principle applies to inspiration and revelation, the solving of problems, to counsel, and to guidance? We need to have a source of it stored in every home. … If we lose our emotional and spiritual independence, our self-reliance, we can be weakened quite as much, perhaps even more, than when we become dependent materially” (Ensign, May 1978, 91–92).

Perhaps being self-reliant spiritually, then, gives us the tools to be able to cope with physical challenges. In that lovely talk called “Hope Ya Know, We Had a Hard Time,” Elder Cook said:

The scriptures and modern prophets have made it clear that there will be lean years and plentiful years. The Lord expects us to be prepared for many of the challenges that come. He proclaims, “If ye are prepared ye shall not fear.” . . . One of the great blessings of the scriptures is that they warn us of challenges that are unexpected but often occur. We would do well to be prepared for them. One form of preparation is to keep the commandments. In numerous places in the Book of Mormon, the people were promised that they would prosper in the land if they would keep the commandments. This promise is often accompanied by the warning that if they do not keep the commandments of God, they shall be cut off from His presence. Clearly, having the blessings of the Spirit—the ministration of the Holy Ghost—is an essential element to truly prosper in the land and to be prepared.[2]

Of course, it is always a matter of learn then teach. Once we have it down, so to speak, we should be looking for ways to help others, as we, no doubt, have been helped. The Ward Council directs us in how we can help within the ward boundaries, but the Lord will always give us to know what we can do on a day to day basis. We had some great counsel today about thinking of ways our home and visiting teachers can help us. Striving to see how we can serve other—and I think that might be an embodiment of Sis. Black’s lesson on love casting out fear—we might fear to reach out, but our love for our brothers and sisters should help us overcome that fear.

Additional resources for this lesson

• “Ministry of Harold B. Lee: Organizing the Church Welfare Program”: This three-minute video highlights the role of Harold B. Lee as a young stake president and then as an Apostle in the foundation of the Church’s welfare plan. 
• “Teachings of George Albert Smith: A Personal Creed: Care for the Needy”: This two-minute video discusses Church relief efforts after World War II. 
• “Teachings of Thomas S. Monson: Rescuing Those in Need”: This five-minute video discusses Thomas S. Monson’s commitment to personal ministry to those in need. 
• “That We Might Be One”: This 12-minute video describes how Dutch Saints overcame hard feelings to serve German Saints after World War II.

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[1] https://www.lds.org/ensign/2017/10/let-us-be-self-reliant-and-independent?lang=eng.

[2] https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2008/10/hope-ya-know-we-had-a-hard-time?lang=eng.