“There is no peace for those whose lives are out of balance temporally or spiritually. They can become tossed to and fro by the winds of discouragement and the storms of frustration. Yet just as the Savior stilled the storm on the Sea of Galilee (see Matt. 8:26), He can bless our lives with His calming, comforting, and guiding influence if we will slow down, run only as fast as we have strength, and yet “press forward with a steadfastness in Christ” (2 Ne. 31:20).”
(Top, Brent L. Top, A Balanced Life)
Here is a fabulous podcast series of 10 Episodes titled, Church History Matters: Temple Worship by Scott Woodward and Casey Griffiths, both managing directors at Scripture Central. Here is Episode 1: The Beginnings of LDS Temple Worship through their YouTube channel, Doctrine and Covenants Central. The other episodes are listed below with links to the podcasts. These are an excellent series with lots of great nuggets throughout and are very much worth the time to listen.
Episode 2: The Kirtland Endowment: What it Was and Why it Matters
Episode 3: Restoration of "the Priesthood" Through Temple Ordinances?
Episode 4: The Origins of the Temple Endowment
Episode 5: An Interview with an LDS Freemason
Episode 6: Marriage Sealings: A High Fusion of Theology + Ritual
Episode 7: Discontinued/Obscure Temple Rituals
Episode 8: Temple Work Without Temples
Episode 9: Temple Garments and Temple Changes in the 20th and 21st Centuries
After my 17 year old daughter died in a car wreck I had an experience with 'another function of guardian angels.' We had moved into our new Ward just before the wreck and our Church membership records came after her death. LDS Wards send membership records into Church Headquarters in Salt Lake City for all who are deceased. When our family membership records finally came from our previous Ward the clerk came by to have us check our daughter's record to make sure everything was accurate before sending it in. I looked over it, she was born on May 4th, died April 4th and at that time I hadn't remembered...but she had been baptized on June 4th. So that is what stood out to me...the same as it did my husband when he looked at it. All those 4th of the month...it was interesting! The Clerk left us that copy of her record and after he left I took it upstairs and set it in her room thinking that if she were allowed to check in on us she would see it. I went to my room and laid on my bed and just sobbed over the loss of this sweet daughter.
Unexpectedly...out of nowhere came a voice to my mind. It was so loud and so clear, "IT IS NOT CORRECT!" The crying stopped instantly and I rushed into her room to check and sure enough...on the line: 'sealed to parents' it was blank. It should have had 'BIC' (Born in the Covenant) on it. I had been a Genealogy Librarian years before and was familiar with checking over records but somehow I had missed it. A call was made to the clerk to make the needed correction.
What a comfort it has been in the deepest of grief and sorrow to know the blessings of the Temple that allow families to be sealed together for eternity. And as 'children of the covenant' special divine blessings as well as sacred obligations are theirs. What greater gift could loving and righteous parents give to their children through the Gospel of Jesus Christ? 'Families are Forever' through the wonderful blessings of Temple covenants.
Several months later I was reading the book 'Life Everlasting' by Duane S. Crowther when one story he related struck me with such force in light of my experience. Quote:
"Another function of guardian angels was clearly reveled to Elder John Mickelson Lang, a temple worker in the St. George Temple, in 1928.
"One day while baptismal rites were being performed, I distinctly heard a voice at the end of the font, very close to the ceiling, calling the names of the dead to witness their own baptism, allowing a moment for each spirit to present itself. After hearing many names called, I noticed a difference in the pronunciation of some of them. It seemed that the spirit who was calling must have a different list to ours.
"I was so impressed at the time that I placed my arm about the shoulders of Bro. W. T. Morris, clerk, who was passing, and called his attention to the sound of the voice, but it was not discernable to him.
"This occurrence had taken place in March of 1928, and it continued to prey upon my mind for some months, until one day in Oct. I had gone to an upper room of the Temple, as was my custom, to offer secret prayer, asking for the assistance of God in my work, and to thank Him for showing me that there was a recording angel in His house, to keep a perfect record of that which transpired. I had finished my prayer and was about to leave the room when the question flashed through my mind, 'But where and how does He get these names? Some of them were not pronounced the same as ours.'
"God knew my thoughts; I never asked of Him to know. The explanation came to me in these words: 'Every spirit that comes to earth has a guardian angel, whose duty it is to keep a record of the individual's parentage, the conditions under which it was born, its inheritance, environment, thoughts and desires, and when the individual's life is completed, the guardian angel's mission ends. It returns, makes its report and hands in the record it has kept. This record is placed upon the other book, spoken of as The Book of Life.'
"All this gave me to understand that in this other book is preserved the names and perfect dates of every spirit that ever came to the earth.
"It is also made plain therein, how all things will be proven by two or three witnesses; for instance, in case a child is left on a doorstep, the guardian angel of the child, that of the father and of the mother constitute three witnesses to the child's parentage. There are two witnesses to all things which transpire between any two persons. Also, God can give into the Temples a perfect record of the Lamanites, for instance, or any other people who have no earth record.
"God is perfect. His record is perfect. We will be judged from the books.
"I bear record that this testimony is true, for I received it from an angel in the house of the Lord."
('Life Everlasting' by Duane S. Crowther; "A Testimony Received by John Mickelson Lang in the St. George Temple in the Year 1928," unpublished manuscript in the possession of Sister Ruth Gregory, Smithfield, Utah.)Links to paintings: Heavenly Hands by Greg Olsen The St. George Temple by Marcia Johnson Also see: Angelology: The Doctrine of Angels
"The great medieval cathedrals of Western Europe have been described as Paupers’ Bibles, communicating the teachings of Christianity to the poor and unlettered. In fact this interpretation undervalues the extent to which programmes of images could be embedded in stone to contain values and narratives that the spoken or written word often found difficult to communicate.
"Many cultures have sought to tell the great truths in ways that transcend the spoken word and the written word. Be it the theatricalities of ritual or the mechanics of the picture, the telling of truths by the path of the Visual is a challenge demanding of great power and ingenuity, particularly, as we are told, we are today awash in a sea of images."
"The esoteric doctrines are so profound as to defy their enunciation in writing. With the help of painting however their obscurities may be understood."
"...he [Christ] shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." (Acts 1:3)
"And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written." (John 21:25)
"And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book" (John 20:30)
Also see:In an article titled, Jesus Christ, Forty-Day Ministry and Other Post-Resurrection Appearances of, by author, John Gee, relates how the “New Testament mentions the forty-day ministry but provides only limited detail. For example, during this time Jesus appeared to the Twelve with Thomas present (John 20:26—29), spoke of “things pertaining to the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3), “and many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book” (John 20:30). Paul mentions that on one occasion Jesus “was seen of above ve hundred brethren at once” (1 Cor. 15:6). Finally, before his ascension Jesus commanded the apostles to go “into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15—16; cf. Matt. 28:18—20; Luke 24:47—48; John 21:15—17; Acts 1:4—5).”
A temple becomes a temple when it is dedicated. It is not the house of the Lord until it is given unto Him.
Just as the Muslims can not profane the image of Mohamed because it is a law of God; We can not profane the temple or it's ceremonies because it is God's law.
When God first gave the tabernacle to the Israelites, he commanded that only those who belonged to the covenant could enter into the outer area where ordinances were performed. Only the priests could enter the portion of the temple where the sacred vessels were stored. And only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies.
When the first and second temples were built, the same law applied.
When the nation of Ephraim was restored in the form of "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," temples were also restored.
The same laws that applied to the temples of our ancestors, apply to the temples of the latter-days.
We do not profane the temple or it's ceremonies because it is God's law.
"To James the Just and to John and Peter after the resurrection the Lord conveyed the gnosis, these handed it on to the rest of the Apostles and in turn to the Seventy." So we have a true gnosis, a certain knowledge, entrusted to the general authorities of the church after the resurrection and, as far as we know, to no one else. This was precisely the knowledge which the so-called Gnostics later claimed to have. From the titles and contents of recently found Gnostic writings it is plain that their special boast was to possess "What Christ taught to the Apostles after the Resurrection."(Nibley, Hugh. 'The World and the Prophets'. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company. 1988. pp.65-66.)
"Of the beliefs and practices whether generally accepted or publicly enjoined which are preserved in the Church some we possess derived from written teaching; others we have received delivered to us "in a mystery" by the tradition of the apostles...." (Basil of Caesarea, Treatise De Spiritu Sancto 27, in NPNF Series 2, 8:40-41.)
"In the same manner the Apostles and Fathers who laid down laws for the Church from the beginning thus guarded the awful dignity of the mysteries in secrecy and silence, for what is bruited abroad random among the common folk is no mystery at all. This is the reason for our tradition of unwritten precepts and practices, that the knowledge of our dogmas may not become neglected and contemned by the multitude through familiarity. "Dogma" [doctrine] and "Kerugma" [preaching] are two distinct things; the former is observed in silence; the latter is proclaimed to all the world. One form of this silence is the obscurity employed in Scripture, which makes the meaning of "dogmas" difficult to be understood for the very advantage of the reader...." (Basil of Caesarea, Treatise De Spiritu Sancto 27, in NPNF Series 2, 8:42.)
"We ought not then to parade the holy mysteries before the uninitiated, lest the heathen in their ignorance deride them, and the Catechumens being over-curious be offended." (Athanasius, Defense Against the Arians 1:11, in NPNF Series 2, 4:106.)
"These mysteries which I shall give you, preserve, and give them to no man except he be worthy of them. Give them not to father nor to mother, to brother or to sister or to kinsman, neither for food nor for drink, nor for woman-kind, neither for gold nor for silver, nor for anything at all of this world. Preserve them, and give them to no one whatsoever for the sake of the good of this whole world."( The Two Books of Jeu, NTA 1:263.)
Temples have always been revered and reserved as sacred ground. Anciently, the prophet Ezekiel declared, "Thus saith the Lord GOD; No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary" (Ezek. 44:9). The Prophet Joseph Smith prayed that "[the temple] may be sanctified and consecrated to be holy, and that thy holy presence may be continually in this house" (D&C 109:12), "and that no unclean thing shall be permitted to come into thy house to pollute it" (D&C 109:20).
