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3 Nephi 23-25

LESSON QUOTES:

Elder John H. Groberg:

Some people say, “I don’t have anything to record. Nothing spiritual happens to me.” I say, “Start recording, and spiritual things will happen. They are there all the time, but we become more sensitive to them as we write.” (CR Ensign, May 1980)


Elder David A. Bednar:

“I now invite the attention of the young women, young men, and children of the rising generation as I emphasize the importance of the Spirit of Elijah in your lives today. My message is intended for the entire Church in general—but for you in particular.

“Many of you may think family history work is to be performed primarily by older people. But I know of no age limit described in the scriptures or guidelines announced by Church leaders restricting this important service to mature adults. You are sons and daughters of God, children of the covenant, and builders of the kingdom. You need not wait until you reach an arbitrary age to fulfill your responsibility to assist in the work of salvation for the human family.

“The Lord has made available in our day remarkable resources that enable you to learn about and love this work that is sparked by the Spirit of Elijah. For example, FamilySearch is a collection of records, resources, and services easily accessible with personal computers and a variety of handheld devices, designed to help people discover and document their family history. These resources also are available in the family history centers located in many of our Church buildings throughout the world.

“It is no coincidence that FamilySearch and other tools have come forth at a time when young people are so familiar with a wide range of information and communication technologies. Your fingers have been trained to text and tweet to accelerate and advance the work of the Lord—not just to communicate quickly with your friends. The skills and aptitude evident among many young people today are a preparation to contribute to the work of salvation.

“I invite the young people of the Church to learn about and experience the Spirit of Elijah. I encourage you to study, to search out your ancestors, and to prepare yourselves to perform proxy baptisms in the house of the Lord for your kindred dead (see D&C 124:28–36). And I urge you to help other people identify their family histories.” (The Hearts of the Children Shall Turn, October 2011 General Conference)

Elder Neal L. Andersen:

“Our days are not unexpected days, and the Lord has provided for our spiritual safety and for the safety of our students. As evil increases in the world, there is a compensatory power of revelation and spiritual gifts given to the righteous. The Lord gives us added power as we are willing to remain righteous in a wicked world.

“When I was the age of your students, there were only 13 temples in the entire world. With the upcoming temple dedication in Gilbert, Arizona, this Sunday, and in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in early May, there will be 143 operating temples. Eighty-five percent of the membership of the Church now live within 200 miles of an operating temple. There are 27 more temples that are under construction or in design. The blessings of the temple are one compensatory gift to this generation.

“With temples has also come technology, and with technology the blessing of more fully turning the hearts of the children to the fathers. This past year, for the first time, we have been able to see our generations online. Earlier this month at the RootsTech conference here in Salt Lake City, I encouraged the youth to prepare as many names for the temple as baptisms they perform in the temple.18 It is a noble goal. I would challenge your students to embrace this same goal to prepare as many names for the temple as baptisms they perform in the temple. I invite you to visit LDS.org and explore the RootsTech conference. There is spiritual power in tying our youth more completely to their fathers. (Evening with a General Authority, Feb. 2014).

President Joseph Fielding Smith:

“The fathers are our dead ancestors who died without the privilege of receiving the Gospel, but who received the promise that the time would come when that privilege would be granted them. The children are those now living who are preparing genealogical data and who are performing the vicarious ordinances in the Temples.

“The turning of the hearts of the children to the fathers is placing or planting in the hearts of the children that feeling and desire which will inspire them to search out the records of the dead. Moreover the planting of the desire and inspiration in their hearts is necessary. This they must have in order that they might go into the house of the Lord and perform the necessary labor for their fathers, who died without a knowledge of the gospel, or without the privilege of receiving the fulness of the gospel” (DofS, 2:127–28).

Prophet Joseph Smith Jr.:

“The greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us is to seek after our dead…  for it is necessary that the sealing power should be in our hands to seal our children and our dead for the fulness of the dispensation of times—a dispensation to meet the promises made by Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world for the salvation of man.

“…Hence, God said, ‘I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.’ [Malachi 4:5–6.]”

“But what is the object of this important mission? or how is it to be fulfilled? The keys are to be delivered, the spirit of Elijah is to come, the Gospel to be established, the Saints of God gathered, Zion built up, and the Saints to come up as saviors on Mount Zion [see Obadiah 1:21].

“But how are they to become saviors on Mount Zion? By building their temples, erecting their baptismal fonts, and going forth and receiving all the ordinances… in behalf of all their progenitors who are dead and redeem them… and herein is the chain that binds the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, which fulfills the mission of Elijah. (Teachings pp. 472–73)

President Russell M. Nelson:

“Elijah’s return to earth occurred at the first temple built in this dispensation, where he and other heavenly messengers, under direction of the Lord, entrusted special keys of priesthood authority to the restored Church…

“Elijah came not only to stimulate research for ancestors. He also enabled families to be eternally linked beyond the bounds of mortality. Indeed, the opportunity for families to be sealed forever is the real reason for our research.” (“A New Harvest Time,” Ensign, May 1998, 34)

Elder David A. Bednar: 

“The Spirit of Elijah affects people inside and outside of the Church. However, as members of Christ’s restored Church, we have the covenant responsibility to search out our ancestors and provide for them the saving ordinances of the gospel. “They without us should not be made perfect” (Hebrews 11:40; see also Teachings: Joseph Smith, 475). And “neither can we without our dead be made perfect” (D&C 128:15).

“For these reasons we do family history research, build temples, and perform vicarious ordinances. For these reasons Elijah was sent to restore the sealing authority that binds on earth and in heaven. We are the Lord’s agents in the work of salvation and exaltation that will prevent “the whole earth [from being] smitten with a curse” (D&C 110:15) when He returns again. This is our duty and great blessing. (CR Oct. 2011)

STORY FROM LESSON:

Logan Temple Story:
"Probably one of the mightiest preachers the Mormon church ever had was Apostle Melvin J. Ballard. He had had heavenly manifestations, and did not hesitate to declare the word of the Lord, and with power. 

"Elder Ballard sat at our baptismal font one Saturday while nearly a thousand baptisms were performed for the dead. As he sat there, he contemplated on how great the temple ceremonies were, and how we are bringing special blessings to the living and the dead. His thoughts turned to the spirit world, and he wondered if the people there would accept the work we were doing for them. 

"Brother Ballard said: `All at once a vision opened to me, and I beheld a great congregation of people gathered in the east end of the font room. One by one, as each name was baptized for, one of these people climbed a stairway over the font to the west end of the room. Not one soul was missing, but there was a person for every one of the thousand names done that day.'

"Brother Ballard said that he had never seen such happy people in all his life, and the whole congregation rejoiced at what was being done for them.

"For the rest of his life, Apostle Ballard preached to the Church in all his travels, that the work we do in the temples is accepted, and that the people themselves are permitted to attend and receive the blessings personally.

"This testimony has cheered the hearts of tens of thousands of faithful Latter-day Saints who have labored in the temple for their dead ancestors" (Nolan P. Olsen, Logan Temple: The First 100 Years, 170-71).

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