Doctrine and Covenants Lesson 40: Finding Joy in Temple and Family History Work

By the Spring of 1940, Hitler's army had marched through Europe very quickly taking over unprepared and undefended countries while the rest tried to desperately make peace pacts and deals with the Nazi machine. By the time the British realized that pursuing peace was pointless, the German forces had surrounded them in a classic pincer movement in the North of France and Belgium. Winston Churchill, who had just been instated as Prime Minister, immediately recognized the impending disaster and called on all able bodied seamen and seaworthy vessels to sail across the English Channel to rescue as many of the trapped soldiers as possible from the Dunkirk beaches. So gloomy were the predictions that most felt saving 40,000 soldiers would be a miracle. Between May 26th and June 4th 1940 over 700 civilian vessels participated in this impromptu evacuation. Many repeated the journey between Dover and Dunkirk multiple times, navigating through choppy waters filled with mines and constantly trying to avoid the bombs and shelling of the German forces.
In the end over 330,000 soldiers were rescued from the beaches of Dunkirk (almost 10 x more than even the most optimistic predictions). This incredibly successful rescue triggered Winston Churchill's defiant speech "we shall fight them on the beaches, we shall fight them in the air and on the land and on sea...but we shall never surrender".

What has Temple and Family History work got to do with Dunkirk?
When Elijah restored the keys of sealing it set in motion the beginning of the greatest rescue operation known to mankind save the Atonement itself. We have been asked to be a part of that – us in our small vessels.
Do you think people feel overwhelmed sometimes when they think about all the Lord requires - including temple and family history work-  all the while navigating the choppy waters and trying to avoid the mines and bombs of life? What is it that is can feel so daunting about it? 
Remember the Lord does not expect us to run faster than we have strength. For some going to the temple may still be only a dream. For others, having a young family might present its own challenges. The Lord understands this and requires only that which we are able and that which we are willing to offer - no matter how small our offering or vessel.

“There are many tasks to be performed in temple and family history work. We should encourage our members to make prayerful selection of the things they can do in their individual circumstances and in view of their current Church callings…”     Dallin H Oaks

What kind of different things could we do based on individual circumstances that still allow us to participate in temple and family history work? Answers may include prepare your 4 generations of family history using Family Search. Be worthy of and hold a current temple recommend, learn about ancestors lives, keep a personal journal, babysit for families so the parents can attend the temple etc.

“…There are family organizations to be formed, family projects to be planned, hearts to be touched, prayers to be offered, doctrines to be learned, children to be taught, living and dead relatives to be identified, recommends to be obtained, temples to be visited, covenants to be made, and ordinances to be received. ” Dallin H Oaks

Each of us should follow the Spirit's promptings as to what is required of us and how much we can do that allows us to participate in this great work while not running faster than we have strength. One of the great blessings of the modern era is how simple it is to do this work even from our own homes. Back in the 70's President Spencer W. Kimball noted that,

"I believe the Lord is anxious to put into our hands inventions of which we layman have hardly had a glimpse."

When you think about that, isn't it amazing to recognize how great the tools are that He has provided for us over these last few decades? I remember in my early years going to St Catherines House, London where many of the public records of our ancestors were available and sitting there all day as my mother researched the necessary records to complete her family history. It was ultimately rewarding but a very long day. Today I can, with a click of a button on my iPad, open all of that knowledge in an instant right in front of my eyes, as if receiving a glorious vision of my ancestors. This modern technology truly is a marvel and a blessing in this great work.

Watch this video for another great way to include the entire family in this great work. For some families this may be the season for just inspiring their children to learn about their ancestors. This video suggests a couple of great ways to do that. Having "laboured" through many family home evenings and scripture studies and family prayers with 5 young children I got a kick out of the kid telling his dad to let him go at the beginning!

I thought that was an excellent idea to invite your local Family History Consultant to a Family Home Evening. I thought it was an even better idea of hers to get the kids involved by re-enacting an ancestor's story in a play. 

Boyd K Packer said:

“No work is more of a protection to this church than temple work and the genealogical research that supports it. No work is more spiritually refining. No work we do gives us more power”                                   

What do you think he meant when he said "No work gives us more power."?

On May 26th 1940, the soldiers waiting to be rescued at Dunkirk waded into the waters up to their shoulders trying to avoid the bombing and the shells on the beach. Many waited hours in the water like this. 

When you think about these soldiers and how desperately they wanted to be rescued, it is not hard to see how important every single person was with their little ships and every single return trip to the beaches of Dunkirk. 

Now imagine that in the context of the billions of spirits waiting to be rescued by us. This is a long quote by President Eyring but well worth the read.

“Wilford Woodruff spoke of Joseph and Hyrum and David Patten, the first apostle to be martyred in this dispensation, and said that they had 50 times as many people to preach to as we have on the earth, and he said that in 1873. 

Think of the billions who have gone to the spirit world since then. And Lorenzo Snow, who is now preaching with them, said this in 1884: “I believe that when the gospel is preached to the spirits in prison, the success attending that preaching will be far greater than that attending the preaching of our elders in this life. I believe there will be very few indeed of those spirits who will not gladly receive the gospel when it is carried to them. The circumstances there will be a thousand times more favorable.

Yet, with all their faith and skill and hard labor they can only bring people to faith in the Savior and his gospel enough to give them a broken heart and a contrite spirit. They can bring them to the desire to be baptized. Then they must wait again, aching for the blessings of the gospel. Even Joseph the Prophet cannot baptize there. He cannot lay hands on their heads to confer the Holy Ghost. He cannot endow them. He cannot seal them. That can only be done by us, the living, and by those we serve in the sacred temples now spreading across the earth. 

Can you see at least in your minds the myriads waiting? Can you see those great missionaries waiting on us? Have you heard missionaries report, as I did just the other day, that the greatest joy of their lives was to baptize converts and to confer the gift of the Holy Ghost? 

But even David O. McKay and Spencer W. Kimball and Ezra Taft Benson must wait on us, with those in the spirit world they have loved and taught and converted. Imagine the joy of those who died without hearing the gospel when they looked through the veil and saw you or one of your sons or daughters knock on the door of the first of their descendants to hear of Jesus Christ, and of the restoration of His gospel and priesthood with keys.

When you help a member trying to do family history, don't see that single person. See hundreds and perhaps thousands of their ancestors who will be praying to be found and liberated. And think of the faithful missionaries who have waited with them. As you do, you will feel not only the urgency of your service but confidence that prayers, some from this side of the veil and more on the other, will be answered.”  (Elder Henry B. Eyring - An excerpt from the Training Video for Family History Leaders, May 2000)  

 We may have tiny vessels, we may feel overwhelmed, but if we can save even just a few of them is it not worth it?
It is a great work and a very rewarding work. I believe the power it gives is the power that comes when heaven and earth is directly connected. It is a divine power, the power of salvation. We are learning to be saviours in Mount Zion. The hearts of the children are turning to their fathers and as they do they will notice that the hearts of many of their fathers have been waiting anxiously for this spiritual reunion.

Doctrine and Covenants Lesson 30. "The Prisoners Shall Go Free"

Doctrine and Covenants 2; 124:25-55; 127; 128; JSH 1:36-39

For this lesson I want to use Doctrine and Covenants 128 as the main text. We are going to go through this section sequentially to try and capture the spirit of the doctrine contained within and a measure of the pure joy and completeness it brings to the gospel plan. Note that this lesson is very similar in topic to lesson 39 of this year's gospel study. Today we are going to study more the general concept and joy of the doctrine of baptism for the dead while in lesson 39 we will study more the practice of the ordinance and it's effect.

Joseph Smith first shared the doctrine of baptism for the dead with the Saints at a funeral (Seymour Brunson's) in August 1840 and then had expounded on it in various revelations during 1841-42 due to some early procedural issues (recording of baptisms and not in temple font and women being baptized for men and vice versa). One of those revelations was written in a letter to the Saints on September 6 1842 and is now what we call Section 128 of the Doctrine and Covenants.

As you read through this section you will see he certainly clarifies specific points of procedure but more importantly, today, try to feel what Joseph Smith is feeling as he writes this letter, as he declares this doctrine and as he tries to impress upon the Saints how it completes everything in the gospel plan.


v.1 Joseph explains that the subject of baptism for the dead "seems to occupy my mind, and press itself upon my feelings the strongest,..." He is being prompted by the Spirit. Do we recognize and follow such promptings in our personal lives?
v.2-4 Joseph clarifies the necessity of recording the baptisms and the process of recording these baptisms in unison with the Law of Witnesses. In Section 124 he also clarifies the need for these baptisms to be done in the temple and in a font built specifically for these baptisms.
v.5-11 Joseph bears testimony of the principle of recording the baptisms and its part in the great Eternal Plan. He also bears testimony of the sealing power of the priesthood wherein what is bound on earth is bound in heaven.
v.12-14 Joseph explains the symbolism of the baptism and baptism font. Note: in verse 12, talking of the ordinance of baptism for the living, Joseph says "..hence this ordinance was instituted to form a relationship with the ordinance of baptism for the dead" In other words even baptism of the living by immersion itself points to the doctrine of baptism for the dead. For those that like to ponder the "deep" mysteries, this may invoke a study of chicken and egg proportions - which came first in the great Eternal Plan, baptism for the dead or baptism for the living?
v.15-18

15 "these are principles in relation to the dead and the living that cannot be lightly passed over, as pertaining to our salvation. For their salvation is necessary and essential to our salvation...they without us cannot be made perfect - neither can we without our dead be made perfect."                                                  

How important is this work? Teamwork; We are eternally linked to our ancestors, our family. We cannot be saved without saving others. Our salvation rests upon whether we become saviours to others.
Verse 17 "this most glorious of all subjects belonging to the everlasting gospel" and repeats a scripture that Moroni first spoke to Joseph 21st Sept 1823. Remember he visited Joseph with the same message and same scriptures, 3 times that night.

“It is tremendously significant to me that…this repetition of the wondrous words of Malachi concerning the work for the dead, was given to the boy Joseph four years before he was allowed to take the plates from the hill.  It was given before he received either the Aaronic or Melchizedek Priesthood, before he was baptized, and well before the Church was organized. It says much concerning the priority of this work in the plan of the Lord”  

                                                                  Gordon B Hinckley 

18 "for it is necessary in the ushering in of the dispensation of the fulness of times...that a whole and complete and perfect union, and welding together of dispensations and keys and powers and glories should take place and be revealed from the days of Adam even to the present time"

How important is this work? "welding together of dispensations and powers..." and people! This is not just about us and our generation. This gospel was not restored for just us. It was restored for everyone living and the dead. Hence Joseph Smith being quoted Malachi right from the very beginning.

It has been suggested that there have been anywhere from 70 to 110 billion people on the earth since Adam. We have just 7 billion on the earth today. What does that say about the importance of this doctrine to a loving Heavenly Father?

v19-21 What do we hear? Let those that have ears, let them hear? It's almost as if Joseph is asking the Saints if they get it? Do you get the significance of this doctrine? Do you get how important, in the grand scheme, this doctrine is?
i) voice of gladness (gospel plan in general), voice of mercy from heaven (atonement and baptism for dead), voice of truth out of the earth (Book of Mormon and missionary work for living), voice of gladness for living and dead (gospel is for all!)
see also other voices and what they revealed in bringing this plan together in the fulness of times.

v.22 ordained from the very beginning. Not just an afterthought but He "ordained, before the world was, that which would enable us to redeem them out of their prison;"
.
"...For the prisoners shall go free."
1. Who are these prisoners?
2. Why are they prisoners?
3. Who/What is holding them prisoner?
4. Who/What shall free them?

1. Who are these prisoners? They are those that have already died before us. In Spirit Prison
2. Why are they prisoners? "...those who had died in their sins, without a knowledge of the truth, or in transgression, having rejected the prophets." D&C 138:32 Two categories: those that had been sinful but not had a knowledge (ignorant in sin) and those had transgressed and rejected the prophets message. (honorable men but blinded by men) D&C 76:72-75
3. Who/What is holding them prisoner? In short, justice. Like any prisoner they are held captive due to a law being broken and justice demands its prisoner. Moses 7:38 The Lord prepared the prison to satisfy the temporary demands of justice but has prepared a plan that through the Law of Mercy will allow the prisoners to go free upon certain conditions.
4. Who/What shall free them? We shall. "that which would enable US to redeem them" In essence the Lord in giving us the priesthood, in giving us temples and in revealing the doctrine and ordinance of baptism for the dead has given us the key. Either we use it and let them out...or we explain why we did not let the prisoners go free.

“In our preexistent state, in the day of the great council, we made certain agreement with the Almighty.  The Lord proposed a plan, conceived by him.  We accepted it.  Since the plan is intended for all men, we become parties to the salvation of every person under that plan.  We agreed, right then and there, to be not only saviors for ourselves, but…saviors for the whole human family. We went into a partnership with the Lord.  The working out of the plan became then not merely the Father’s work, and the Savior’s work, but also our work.  The least of us, the humblest, is in partnership with the Almighty in achieving the purpose of the eternal plan of salvation”   

                                                                               Elder John A Widtsoe, 1934

What an incredible, amazing complete plan. How merciful is the Lord when you see this as it all fits together here in this final dispensation?
v.23 "...how glorious is the voice we hear from heaven..." This whole verse is like a song of praise. This is a little off topic but there is a great talk by Spencer W. Kimball entitled "What do we hear?" Click on it to listen or read it.
I don't know about you but this letter from Joseph and this talk by Spencer W Kimball seem to invoke a very similar spirit of praise and rejoicing. Tell me what you thought?

v.24

24 "Let us therefore, as a church and a people and as Latter Day Saints...present in his holy temple, when it is finished, a book containing the records of our dead, which shall be worthy of all acceptation"

Would it not be awful to be there and have empty pages where we should have had entries?

Finally, remember the funeral where Joseph Smith chose to first declare this restored doctrine? Seymour Brunson was a well-loved, and respected man among the Saints. Heber C Kimball wrote of Bro. Brunson's funeral later in a letter to John Taylor, that:

"the procession that went to his (Seymour Brunson's) grave was judged to be a mile long and a more joyful season Vitale Kimball (Hebers wife) says she never saw before on account of the glory that Joseph set forth." 

Think of that - all these mourners turned from grief to joy because of the doctrine of salvation for the dead. Now consider all the prisoners who have filled the prison since the world began (an estimated 60 million at least) and how they each and all felt when they first heard this doctrine and then when they first saw a descendant be baptized and become temple worthy. And then consider how they felt as the temple and this ordinance became more easily accessible across the world as more and more temples have been built and continue to be announced.

This is a great work and it is only just beginning.