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.”
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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