·
Zion is real.
·
The center of Zion is in the Lord’s hands.
·
As we heard the missionaries speak of the things
that happened in these places or read plaques of explanation or saw with our
eyes the vastness of the area we know that the saints who were driven from
Missouri did not lose their faith and had their hearts centered in the gospel
of Jesus Christ always willing to endure any hardship or persecution for that
gospel.
·
They were ready at any moment to sacrifice, to
always be obedient and to be patient with their trials and afflictions.
·
They knew the meaning of waiting upon the Lord.
·
We often think of Missouri has a dark period of
time but for the saints it was a period of great happiness. The hymn, Now Let Us Rejoice, written by W.
W. Phelps, had deep meaning for the saints as they were building Zion as well
as when they were expelled from Missouri.
·
They knew the meaning of “hardship” but those
who had a deep and abiding testimony and understood the atonement never gave
up.
·
Some of Missouri’s twelve thousand Saints lost
faith in the cause of Zion, but most of them remained loyal to their prophet.
At each stage of the accelerating persecution, some left but others realized
that “after much tribulation come the blessings” (D&C 58:4). As early as
1833, huddled in temporary quarters on the Missouri River bottoms, W. W. Phelps
had written: “It was right that we should be driven out of the land of Zion,
that the rebellious might be sent away” (Star, Jan. 1834, p. 8).
·
Their “center” was in the center of the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and not on the edge.
·
There is much to be learned from Liberty
Jail. Note the following scriptures which
are etched in the walls of the rotunda where the Liberty Jail has been
replicated from Doctrine & Covenants section 121—
Verses 41-44:
41 No power or influence can or ought to be
maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only
by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned;
42 By kindness,
and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile—
43 Reproving
betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing
forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee
to be his enemy;
44 That he may know that thy faithfulness is
stronger than the cords of death.
Verse 37:
37
That they may be conferred upon us, it is true; but when we undertake to cover
our sins,
or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to exercise control or dominion
or compulsion
upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold,
the heavens withdraw themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is
withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man.
Verses 34-36:
34
Behold, there are many called, but few are chosen. And why are they not chosen?
35 Because their
hearts are set so much upon the things of this world, and aspire to the honors
of men, that they do not learn this one lesson—
36 That the rights of the priesthood are
inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that
the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles
of righteousness.
Verses 45-46
45
Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of
faith, and let virtue
garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the
presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul
as the dews from
heaven.
46 The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant
companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of
righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and
without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever. Joseph Smith had to learn just as we have to
learn that this world full of trials, temptations and triumph are for “our
experience”. D & C 122:7 is at the
heart of Liberty Jail.
Verse 7
And
if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the
deep; if the billowing surge conspire
against thee; if fierce
winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the
very jaws of hell shall gape
open the mouth wide after
thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee
experience, and shall be for thy good.
·
Note that God called Joseph His son. Let us not forget that we are of a noble
birthright, sons and daughters of a Heavenly King.
·
Also etched on the same wall is the Declaration
of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, on the Constitution of the United States of
America: “Here
is a principle also, which we are bound to be exercised with, that is, in
common with all men,
such as governments and laws and regulations in the civil concerns of life. This
principle guarantees to all parties, sects, and denominations, and classes of
religion, equal,
coherent, and indefeasible rights; they are things that pertain to this life; therefore all
are alike interested; they make our responsibilities one towards another in matters of
corruptible things, while the former principles do not destroy the latter, but bind us
stronger, and make our responsibilities not only one to another, but unto God also."
"Hence
we say, that the Constitution of the United States is a glorious standard; it
is founded in the
wisdom of God. It is a heavenly banner; it is to all those who are privileged
with the sweets of liberty, like the cooling shades and refreshing waters of a great rock in a
thirsty and weary land. It is like a great tree under whose branches men from every clime
can be shielded from the burning rays of the sun."
·
For added depth to these lessons we also
remembered the phenomenal talk given by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland—Lessons
From Liberty Jail. This talk is
one of those talks that should be read and pondered and studied from time to
time. We have added it here for
convenience so the reader can skip ahead to continue if desired.
Ensign,
September 2009
From a CES Fireside given on September 7, 2008,
at Brigham Young University. For full text, see speeches.byu.edu.
The Prophet in Liberty Jail
One of the most trying
times in the history of the Church, both in terms of its impact on the Church
generally and in the life of the Prophet Joseph Smith personally, occurred during the winter of 1838–39. The Prophet,
who bore the brunt of the persecution in that period, had been imprisoned in
the ironically named Liberty Jail. Until his martyrdom five and a half years
later, there was no more burdensome time in Joseph’s life than this cruel,
illegal, and unjustified incarceration.
Liberty Jail, one of the
more forbidding structures in that region, was considered escape proof, and it
probably was. Surrounded by stone walls four feet thick, the floor-to-ceiling
height in the dungeon was barely six feet. Inasmuch as some of the men,
including the Prophet Joseph, were over six feet tall, this meant that when
standing they were constantly in a stooped position. When they lay down, it was
mostly upon the rough, bare stones of the prison floor covered here and there
by a bit of loose, dirty straw or an occasional dirty straw mat.
The food given to the
prisoners was coarse and sometimes contaminated, so filthy that one of them
said they “could not eat it until [they] were driven to it by hunger.” 1 On as many as four
occasions poison was administered to them in their food, making them so
violently ill that for days they alternated between vomiting and a kind of
delirium, not really caring whether they lived or died.
In the Prophet Joseph’s
letters, he spoke of the jail being a “hell, surrounded with demons … where we
are compelled to hear nothing but blasphemous oaths, and witness a scene of
blasphemy, and drunkenness and hypocrisy, and debaucheries of every
description.” 2 “We have … not blankets
sufficient to keep us warm; and when we have a fire, we are obliged to have
almost a constant smoke,” he said. 3 “Our souls have been bowed
down” 4 and “my nerve trembles from
long confinement,” Joseph wrote. 5 “Pen, or tongue, or
angels,” could not adequately describe “the malice of hell” that he suffered
there. 6 All of this occurred during
what, by some accounts, was considered the coldest winter on record in the
state of Missouri.
A Prison-Temple Experience
Most of us, most of the
time, speak of the facility at Liberty as a “jail” or a “prison”—and certainly
it was that. But Elder Brigham H. Roberts (1857–1933) of the First Council
of the Seventy, in recording the history of the Church, spoke of the facility
as a temple, or, more accurately, a “prison-temple.” 7 Elder Neal A. Maxwell
(1926–2004) used the same phrasing in some of his writings. Certainly this
prison-temple lacked the purity, beauty, comfort, and cleanliness of our modern
temples. The speech and behavior of the guards and criminals who came there
were anything but temple-like. In fact, the restricting brutality and injustice
of this experience at Liberty would make it seem the very antithesis of the
liberating, merciful spirit of our temples and the ordinances performed in
them.
So in what sense could
Liberty Jail be called a “temple,” and what does such a title tell us about
God’s love and teachings, including where and when that love and those
teachings are made manifest? In precisely this sense: that you can have sacred,
revelatory, profoundly instructive experiences with the Lord in any
situation you are in. Indeed, you can have sacred, revelatory, profoundly
instructive experiences with the Lord in the most miserable experiences of
your life—in the worst settings, while enduring the most painful
injustices, when facing the most insurmountable odds and opposition you have
ever faced.
In one way or another,
great or small, dramatic or incidental, every one of us is going to spend a
little time in Liberty Jail—spiritually speaking. We will face things we do not
want to face for reasons that may not be our fault. Indeed, we may face
difficult circumstances for reasons that were absolutely right and proper,
reasons that came because we were trying to keep the commandments of the
Lord. We may face persecution, we may endure heartache and separation from
loved ones, we may be hungry and cold and forlorn. Yes, before our lives are
over we may all be given a little taste of what the prophets faced often in
their lives.
But the lessons of the
winter of 1838–39 teach us that every experience can become a redemptive
experience if we remain bonded to our Father in Heaven through it. These
difficult lessons teach us that man’s extremity is God’s opportunity, and if we
will be humble and faithful, if we will be believing and not curse God for our
problems, He can turn the unfair and inhumane and debilitating prisons of our
lives into temples—or at least into a circumstance that can bring comfort and
revelation, divine companionship and peace.
Lessons from Liberty Jail
The truths Joseph received
while in Liberty Jail reveal that God was not only teaching Joseph Smith in
that prison circumstance, but He was also teaching all of us, for generations
yet to come. How empty our lives as Latter-day Saints would be if we did not
have sections 121, 122, and 123 of the Doctrine and Covenants! They are contained in a mere six pages of text, but those six
pages touch our hearts with their beauty and their power. And they remind us
that God often “moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform.” 8 He certainly turned
adversity into blessing in giving us those sacred writings and reflections—so
pure, noble, and Christian in both tone and content, yet produced in such an impure, ignoble,
and unchristian setting.
1. Everyone Faces Trying Times
The first lesson from
Liberty Jail is inherent in what I’ve already mentioned—that everyone,
including, and perhaps especially, the righteous, will be called upon to face
trying times. When that happens we can sometimes fear that God has abandoned
us, and we might be left, at least for a time, to wonder when our troubles will
ever end. As individuals, as families, as communities, and as nations, probably
everyone has had or will have an occasion to feel as Joseph Smith felt when he
cried from the depth and discouragement of his confinement: “O God, where art
thou? … How long shall thy hand be stayed … ? Yea, O Lord, how long
shall [thy people] suffer … before … thy bowels be moved with compassion toward
them?” (D&C 121:1–3).
Whenever these moments of
our extremity come, we must not succumb to the fear that God has abandoned us
or that He does not hear our prayers. He does hear us. He does see
us. He does love us. When we are in dire circumstances and want to cry,
“Where art Thou?” it is imperative that we remember He is right there with
us—where He has always been! We must continue to believe, continue to have
faith, continue to pray and plead with heaven, even if we feel for a time our
prayers are not heard and that God has somehow gone away. He is there.
Our prayers are heard. And when we weep He and the angels of heaven weep
with us.
When lonely, cold, hard
times come, we have to endure, we have to continue, we have to persist. That
was the Savior’s message in the parable of the importuning widow (see Luke 18:1–8; see also Luke 11:5–10). Keep knocking on that door. Keep pleading. In the meantime,
know that God hears your cries and knows your distress. He is your Father, and
you are His child.
When what has to be has been
and when what lessons to be learned have been learned, it will be for us as it
was for the Prophet Joseph. Just at the time he felt most alone and distant
from heaven’s ear was the very time he received the wonderful ministration of
the Spirit and the glorious answers that came from his Father in Heaven:
“My son, peace be unto thy
soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;
“And then, if thou endure
it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes” (D&C 121:7–8).
Even though seemingly
unjust circumstances may be heaped upon us, and even though unkind and
unmerited things may be done to us—perhaps by those we consider enemies but
also, in some cases, by those whom we thought were friends—nevertheless,
through it all, God is with us.
We are not alone in our
little prisons here. When suffering, we may in fact be nearer to God than we’ve
ever been in our entire lives. That knowledge can turn every such situation
into a would-be temple.
Regarding our earthly
journey, the Lord has promised, “I will go before your face. I will be on your
right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine
angels round about you, to bear you up” (D&C 84:88). That is an everlasting declaration of God’s love and care for
us, including—and perhaps especially—in times of trouble.
2. Even the Worthy Will Suffer
Second, we need to realize
that just because difficult things happen, it does not mean that we are
unrighteous or that we are unworthy of blessings or that God is disappointed in
us. Of course, sinfulness does bring suffering, and the only answer to that
behavior is repentance. But sometimes suffering comes to the righteous too. You
will recall that from the depths of Liberty Jail when Joseph was reminded that
he had indeed been “cast … into trouble,” had passed through tribulation and been
falsely accused, had been torn away from his family and cast
into a pit and into the hands of murderers, nevertheless, he was to remember
that the same thing had happened to the Savior of the world, and because
He was triumphant, so shall we be (see D&C 122:4–7). In giving us this sober reminder of what the Savior went
through, the revelation from Liberty Jail records, “The Son of Man hath
descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?” (D&C 122:8).
No, Joseph was not greater
than the Savior, and neither are we. And when we promise to follow the Savior,
to walk in His footsteps, and be His disciples, we are promising to go where
that divine path leads us. And the path of salvation has always led one way or
another through Gethsemane. So if the Savior faced such injustices and
discouragements, such persecutions, unrighteousness, and suffering, we cannot
expect that we are not going to face some of that if we still intend to call
ourselves His true disciples and faithful followers.
In fact, it ought to be a
matter of great doctrinal consolation to us that Jesus, in the course of the
Atonement, experienced all of the heartache and sorrow, all of the
disappointments and injustices that the entire family of man had experienced
and would experience from Adam and Eve to the end of the world in order that we
would not have to face them so severely or so deeply. However heavy our load
might be, it would be a lot heavier if the Savior had not gone that way before
us and carried that burden with us and for us.
Very early in the Prophet
Joseph’s ministry, the Savior taught him this doctrine. After speaking of
sufferings so exquisite to feel and so hard to bear, Jesus said, “I, God, have
suffered these things for all, that they [and that means you and I and
everyone] might not suffer if they would repent” (D&C 19:16). In our moments of pain and trial, I guess we would shudder to
think it could be worse, but without the Atonement it not only could be
worse, it would be worse. Only through our faith and repentance and
obedience to the gospel that provided the sacred Atonement is it kept from being
worse.
Furthermore, we note that
not only has the Savior suffered, in His case entirely innocently, but so have
most of the prophets and other great men and women recorded in the scriptures.
The point is this: if you are having a bad day, you’ve got a lot of
company—very, very good company. The best company that has ever lived.
Now, don’t misunderstand.
We don’t have to look for sorrow. We don’t have to seek to be martyrs. Trouble
has a way of finding us even without our looking for it. But when it is obvious
that a little time in Liberty Jail waits before you (spiritually speaking),
remember that God has not forgotten you and that the Savior has been where you
have been, allowing Him to provide for your deliverance and your comfort.
3. Remain Calm, Patient, Charitable, and
Forgiving
Third, remember that in the
midst of these difficult feelings when one could justifiably be angry or
reactionary or vengeful, wanting to demand an eye for an eye and a tooth for a
tooth, the Lord reminds us from the Liberty Jail prison-temple that “the rights
of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that
the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only [or ‘except’] upon
the principles of righteousness” (D&C 121:36). Therefore, even when we face such distressing circumstances in
our life and there is something in us that wants to strike out at God or man or
friend or foe, we must remember that “no power or influence can or ought
to be maintained … [except] by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and
meekness, and by love unfeigned; … without hypocrisy, and without guile” (D&C 121:41–42; emphasis added).
It has always been a
wonderful testimony to me of the Prophet Joseph’s greatness and the greatness
of all of our prophets, including and especially the Savior of the world in His
magnificence, that in the midst of such distress and difficulty they could
remain calm and patient, charitable and forgiving—that they could even talk
that way, let alone live that way. But they could, and they did. They
remembered their covenants, they disciplined themselves, and they knew that we
must live the gospel at all times, not just when it is convenient and not just
when things are going well. Indeed, they knew that the real test of our faith
and our Christian discipleship is when things are not going smoothly.
That is when we get to see what we’re made of and how strong our commitment to
the gospel really is.
Surely the classic example
of this is that in the most painful hours of the Crucifixion the Savior could
say, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). That is a hard thing to ask when we’re hurting or have been
offended, are tired or stressed out or suffering innocently. But that is when
Christian behavior may matter the most. As Joseph was taught in his
prison-temple, even in distress and sorrow we must “let [our] bowels … be full
of charity towards all men … ; then [and only then] shall [our]
confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and … the Holy Ghost shall be [our] constant companion” (D&C 121:45–46).
Remaining true to our
Christian principles is the only way divine influence can help us. The Spirit
has a near impossible task to get through to a heart that is filled with hate
or anger or vengeance or self-pity. Those are all antithetical to the Spirit of
the Lord. On the other hand, the Spirit finds instant access to a heart
striving to be charitable and forgiving, long-suffering, and kind—principles of
true discipleship. What a testimony that if we strive to remain faithful, the
triumph of a Christian life can never be vanquished, no matter how grim the
circumstance might be. How I love the majesty of these elegant, celestial
teachings taught, ironically, in such a despicable setting and time.
Do All Things Cheerfully
As a valedictory to the
lessons from Liberty Jail, I refer to the last verse of section 123: “Therefore
… let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we
stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for
his arm to be revealed” (D&C 123:17; emphasis added).
What a tremendously
optimistic and faithful concluding declaration to be issued from a
prison-temple! When he wrote those lines, Joseph did not know when he would be
released or if he would ever be released. There was every indication that his
enemies were still planning to take his life.
Furthermore, his wife and
children were alone, frightened, often hungry, wondering how they would fend
for themselves without their husband and father. The Saints, too, were without
homes and without their prophet. They were leaving Missouri, heading for
Illinois, but who knew what tragedies were awaiting them there? Surely, to say
it again, it was the bleakest and darkest of times.
Yet in these cold, lonely
hours, Joseph says let us do all we can and do it cheerfully. And then
we can justifiably turn to the Lord, wait upon His mercy, and see His arm
revealed in our behalf.
What a magnificent attitude
to maintain in good times or bad, in sorrow or in joy!
I testify that the Father
and the Son live and that They are close, perhaps even closest via the Holy
Spirit, when we are experiencing difficult times. I testify that heaven’s kindness
will never depart from you, regardless of what happens (see Isaiah 54:7–10; see also 3 Nephi 22:7–10). I testify that bad days come to an end, that faith always
triumphs, and that heavenly promises are always kept. God is our Father, Jesus
is the Christ, and this is the true and living gospel—found in this, the true
and living Church. I testify that President Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God, our prophet for this hour and this day. I
love him and sustain him as I know you do. In the words of the Liberty Jail
prison-temple experience, “Hold on thy way. … Fear not … , for God
shall be with you forever and ever” (D&C 122:9).
The lessons of the winter of 1838–39 teach us that every
experience can become a redemptive experience if we remain bonded to our Father
in Heaven.
The height of the dungeon in Liberty Jail was barely six feet.
Some of the men, including the Prophet Joseph, when standing had to stoop
constantly.
We must not succumb to the fear that God has abandoned us or that
He does not hear our prayers. He does hear us. He does see us. He
does love us.
Joseph was to remember that the same thing had happened to the
Savior of the world. “The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art
thou greater than he?” (D&C 122:8).
In our moments of pain and trial, I guess we would shudder to
think it could be worse, but without the
Atonement it not only could be
worse, it would be worse.
In the most painful hours of the Crucifixion the Savior could say,
“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).
In the cold, lonely hours, Joseph says let us do all we can and
do it cheerfully. And then we can justifiably turn to the Lord, wait upon
His mercy, and see His arm revealed in our behalf.
Letter written by Joseph Smith while in Liberty Jail. The letter later became Section 121 of the
Doctrine and Covenants. Courtesy Church History Library. Inset left: Liberty Jail
by C. C. A. Christensen. Inset right: Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail
© Greg K. Olsen, may not be copied.
Notes
1.
Alexander McRae, in
B. H. Roberts, in A Comprehensive History of the Church, 1:521.
2.
Joseph Smith, History of
the Church, 3:290.
3.
Letter to Isaac Galland,
Mar. 22, 1839, in Personal Writings of Joseph Smith, comp. Dean C.
Jessee (2002), 456.
4.
Letter to the Church in
Caldwell County, Dec. 16, 1838; “Communications,” Times and Seasons,
Apr. 1840, 85.
5. Letter to Emma Smith, Mar.
21, 1839, in Personal Writings, 449.
6.
Letter to Emma Smith, Apr.
4, 1839, in Personal Writings, 463, 464; spelling and capitalization
standardized.
7.
See Comprehensive
History, 1:521 chapter heading; see also 526.
8.
“God Moves in a Mysterious
Way,” Hymns, no. 285.
Official Web site of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints
© 2014 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All Rights Reserved
© 2014 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All Rights Reserved
·
We had heard from friends about Adam-ondi-Ahman. We will just say here that it has to be
experienced to fully understand. We will
add here the scriptures that teach us about Adam-Ondi-Ahman”:
D&C 116:1
Spring
Hill is named by the Lord Adam-ondi-Ahman, because, said he, it is the place where Adam shall
come to visit his people, or the Ancient of Days shall sit, as spoken of by
Daniel the prophet.
D&C 107:53
Three
years previous to the death of Adam, he called Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch,
and Methuselah, who were all high priests, with the residue of his posterity
who were righteous, into the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman, and there bestowed upon them his
last blessing.
D&C 117:8
Is
there not room enough on the mountains of Adam-ondi-Ahman, and on the plains of
Olaha
Shinehah, or the land where Adam dwelt, that you should covet that which is but the
drop, and neglect the more weighty matters?
D&C 78:15
That
you may come up unto the crown prepared for you, and be made rulers over many kingdoms,
saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Zion, who hath established the foundations
of Adam-ondi-Ahman;
D&C 117:11
Let
my servant Newel K. Whitney be ashamed of the Nicolaitane band and of all their
secret
abominations, and of all his littleness of soul before me, saith the Lord, and
come up
to the land of Adam-ondi-Ahman, and be a bishop unto my people, saith the Lord,
not
in name but in deed, saith the Lord.
D&C 107
...decisions
are to be made in unity and righteousness; 39–52, The patriarchal order is established from
Adam to Noah; 53–57, Ancient Saints assembled at Adam-ondi-Ahman, and the Lord
appeared to them; 58–67, The Twelve are to set the officers of the Church in
order; 68–76, Bishops serve as...
Adam
From
the Guide to the Scriptures...Gen.
3 (Moses 4). Adam was 930 years old at his death, Gen. 5:5 (Moses 6:12). Adam was
the first man, D&C 84:16 Before his death Adam called his righteous
posterity together at
Adam-ondi-Ahman and blessed them, D&C 107:53–57 Adam offered sacrifice, Moses 5:4–8 Adam was
baptized, received the...
Adam-ondi-Ahman
From
the Guide to the Scriptures
The
place where Adam blessed his righteous posterity three years before he died
(D&C 107:53–56)
and where he will come before the time of the Second Coming (D&C 116).
·
Far West came as frosting on the cake. We found that we did have time to experience
this sacred place also. Who would have
thought that in Far West we would encounter a very unique Deseret Book Store
before arriving at the Far West Temple site?
We appreciated the conversation we had with the clerk that day. She told us why the bookstore was
there—someone wanted there and so it was there—she also told us about an
experience about a youth conference that was going to be held near the site and
how the priesthood brethren had to take care of the “thorny locust” trees
before the event and that we could see one at the site—she also pointed out a
CD or book from Randall C. Bird entitled “Discovering Adam-ondi-Ahman” which we
purchased and listened to on our way to Hannibal, Missouri. This was quite thought provoking and
interesting and we would recommend it to anyone wanting to know more about
Adam-ondi-ahman.
·
The site of the Far West Temple is once again
sacred ground. Seeing the cornerstones
that were laid and the monument the church has there was so inspiring and
thought provoking. Each cornerstone has
reference to the Priesthood. This
website pretty much covers what we would say about the Far West
Temple site and
we highly recommend reading more about it:
http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/farwest/
·
Here is what is inscribed on the 3-paneled
monument:
FAR WEST
A CONSECRATED
AND HOLY LAND
The Name of the
Church
From a revelation to Joseph Smith: For thus shall my
church be called in the last days, even The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints.
Verily I say unto
you all: Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for the
nations.
Doctrine and Covenants 115:4–5
The Law of Tithing
From a revelation to Joseph Smith:
And this shall be
the beginning of the tithing of my people.
And after that,
those who have thus been tithed shall pay one-tenth of all their interest
annually; and this shall be a standing law unto them forever, for my holy
priesthood, saith the Lord.
Doctrine and Covenants 119:3–4
From a revelation to
Joseph Smith:
Let the city, Far
West, be a holy and consecrated land unto me; and it shall be called most holy,
for the ground upon which thou standest is holy.
Therefore, I
command you to build a house unto me, for the gathering together of my saints,
that they may worship me.
Doctrine and Covenants 115:7–8
The First Great
Missionary Call Across the Waters Given to the Members of the Twelve Apostles
in this Day
From a revelation to and prophecy by Joseph Smith:
And next spring
let them depart to go over the great waters, and there promulgate my gospel,
the fulness thereof, and bear record of my name.
Let them take
leave of my saints in the city of Far West, on the twenty-sixth day of April
next, on the building-spot of my house, saith the Lord.
Doctrine and Covenants 118:4–5
As we conclude this chapter let us once again testify that
there is a palpable witness by the spirit in these sacred places which
solidified our testimonies of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We felt a witness that the destiny of these
sacred places has yet to be fulfilled but will be. There is a quiet, peaceful confidence
hovering over the land. There is no
feeling of Armageddon but that things are quietly and peacefully moving forward
in the Lord’s time and in the Lord’s way.
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