Do you young people want a sure way to eliminate the influence of the adversary in your life? Immerse yourself in searching for your ancestors, prepare their names for the sacred vicarious ordinances available in the temple, and then go to the temple to stand as proxy for them to receive the ordinances of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. As you grow older, you will be able to participate in receiving the other ordinances as well. I can think of no greater protection from the influence of the adversary in your life.
While temple and family history work has the power to bless those beyond the veil, it has an equal power to bless the living. It has a refining influence on those who are engaged in it.
As you go back in time, the records become less complete. As others of your family search out ancestors, you will discover that the ancestor you find has already been offered the full blessings of the temple. Then you will have a difficult and important choice to make. You will be tempted to stop and leave the hard work of finding to others who are more expert or to another time in your life. But you will also feel a tug on your heart to go on in the work, hard as it will be. As you decide, remember that the names which will be so difficult to find are of real people to whom you owe your existence in this world and whom you will meet again in the spirit world. When you were baptized, your ancestors looked down on you with hope. Perhaps after centuries, they rejoiced to see one of their descendants make a covenant to find them and to offer them freedom. In your reunion, you will see in their eyes either gratitude or terrible disappointment. Their hearts are bound to you. Their hope is in your hands. You will have more than your own strength as you choose to labor on to find them.
Have you prayed about your own ancestors’ work? Set aside those things in your life that don’t really matter. Decide to do something that will have eternal consequences.
I have no expectation that I'll ever be provided external evidence sufficient to relieve me of the responsibility of choice or of the burden of faith...
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. And I urge you to help other people identify their family histories. As you respond in faith to this invitation, your hearts shall turn to the fathers. The promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will be implanted in your hearts. Your patriarchal blessing, with its declaration of lineage, will link you to these fathers and be more meaningful to you. Your love and gratitude for your ancestors will increase. Your testimony of and conversion to the Savior will become deep and abiding. And I promise you will be protected against the intensifying influence of the adversary. As you participate in and love this holy work, you will be safeguarded in your youth and throughout your lives.
A temple recommend is one of the highest accolades we may receive. To use it regularly permits us to participate in the choicest gifts within the keeping of the Church. Those who attend feel a special spirit there. Peace comes. I know that their service there assists a departed one to gain exaltation. And I know that they in turn qualify for blessings from the other side of the veil. And I know that blessings will follow you home from the temple.
Anyone who wears a veil, whether it is a bride on her wedding day, a nun taking her vows, or an ancient queen at her coronation, often does so to outwardly signify an elevation in her status, sanctification, and power. Veils convey the idea that the object or person within the veil is precious, holy, and powerful.
Like Moses on Mount Sinai who shone with the glory of God (Exodus 34:33–35), women who wear a veil, especially in temple settings, signify that they have now obtained the knowledge and preparation necessary to exude the glory and power of godliness.
Our labors in the temple cover us with a shield and a protection, both individually and as a people. So come to the temple — come and claim your blessings. It is a sacred work.
The Lord will bless us as we attend to the sacred ordinance work of the temples. Blessings there will not be limited to our temple service. We will be blessed in all of our affairs.
Temples are the very center of the spiritual strength of the Church. We should expect that the adversary will try to interfere with us as a Church and with us individually as we seek to participate in this sacred and inspired work. Temple work brings so much resistance because it is the source of so much spiritual power to the Latter-day Saints and to the entire Church.
No work is more of a protection to this Church than temple work and the family history research that supports it. No work is more spiritually refining. No work we do gives us more power.
Much of the teaching relating to the deeper spiritual things in the Church, particularly in the temple, is symbolic.
Before going to the temple for the first time, or even after many times, it may help you to realize that the teaching in the temples is done in symbolic fashion. ... Have you ever wondered why it is that many patrons of the temple can go session after session, week after week, month after month, year after year, and never become bored or tired or resistant? At the end of that time they are quite as anxious to go as they were in their beginning days. That is a testimony indeed. By that time, you might imagine, they could have the entire endowment memorized. Yes, they could, and I suppose some of them do, particularly those who are temple workers. How, then, could they continue to learn? The answer to that lies in the fact that the teaching in the temple is symbolic. As we grow and mature and learn from all of the experiences in life, the truths demonstrated in the temple in symbolic fashion take on a renewed meaning. The veil is drawn back a little bit more. Our knowledge and vision of the eternities expands. It is always refreshing. ... If you will go to the temple and remember that the teaching is symbolic you will never go in the proper spirit without coming away with your vision extended, feeling a little more exalted, with your knowledge increased as to things that are spiritual.
Nothing is more important than marrying the right person at the right time, in the right place, and by the right authority.
Ordinances that are received worthily and remembered continually open the heavenly channels through which the power of godliness can flow into our lives. We do not come to the temple to hide from or escape the evils of the world. Rather, we come to the temple to conquer the world of evil. As we invite into our lives the “power of godliness”19 by receiving priesthood ordinances and making and keeping sacred covenants, we are blessed with strength beyond our own20 to overcome the temptations and challenges of mortality and to do and become good.
Go to the temple to provide food for your family. Both physically and spiritually. Go and work it out with the Lord.
You are going out to teach people the true philosophy of life, the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the power of God unto salvation. The world is longing for it.
The words family history should probably never be said without attaching the word temple to them. Family history research should be the primary source of names for temple ordinances, and temple ordinances are the primary reason for family history research.
When we enter the temple, we leave the world of make-believe.
“It’s hard to live in this world without getting cut and hurt spiritually or … emotionally, and symbolically sort of bleeding all over ourselves. Or other people get hurt and they bleed all over us because they don’t know what they’re doing either,” Dr. Ulrich says. “And so we come in [to the temple] prepared to be filled with the Spirit, to be washed and anointed as they would wash and anoint and clothe priests in the ancient temples of Israel.”
The temple ceremony was given by a wise Heavenly Father to help us become more Christlike. The endowment was revealed by revelation and can be understood only by revelation. The instruction is given in symbolic language. The late Apostle John A. Widtsoe taught, "No man or woman can come out of the temple endowed as he should be, unless he has seen, beyond the symbol, the mighty realities for which the symbol stands."
If we are a temple-going people, we will be a better people, we will be better fathers and husbands, we will be better wives and mothers. I know your lives are busy. I know that you have much to do. But I make you a promise that if you will go to the house of the Lord, you will be blessed, life will be better for you.”
All of our vast family history endeavor is directed to temple work. There is no other purpose for it.
I know that your lives are busy. I know that you have much to do. But I make you a promise that if you go to the house of the Lord, you will be blessed; life will be better for you.
The temple is a holy place where revelation comes to us easily if our hearts are open to it and we are worthy of it.
Let us share with our children the spiritual feelings we have in the temple. And let us teach them more earnestly and more comfortably the things we can appropriately say about the purposes of the house of the Lord.
Let us prepare every missionary to go to the temple worthily and to make that experience an even greater highlight than receiving the mission call.
Let me suggest that the reason why temple building and temple worship have been found in every age, on every hand, and among every people, is because the Gospel in its fullness was revealed to Adam, and that all religions and religious practices are therefore derived from the remnants of the truth given to Adam and transmitted by him to the patriarchs. The ordinances of the temple in so far as then necessary, were given, no doubt, in those early days, and very naturally corruptions of them have been handed down the ages. Those who understand the eternal nature of the gospel—planned before the foundations of the earth—understand clearly why all history seems to revolve about the building and use of temples.
The seen and the unseen worlds are closely connected. One assists the other. Those who fail to partake of the privileges and blessings of temple work deprive themselves of some of the choicest gifts within the keeping of the church.
...those who give themselves with all their might and main to this work receive help from the other side, and not merely in gathering genealogies. Whoever seeks to help those on the other side receives help in return in all the affairs of life.
If he will leave his problems behind and in the temple work for himself and for his dead, he will confer a mighty blessing upon those who have gone before, and quite as large a blessing will come to him, for at the most unexpected moments, in or out of the temple will come to him, as a revelation, the solution of the problems that vex his life. That is the gift that comes to those who enter the temple properly, because it is a place where revelations may be expected.
The endowment is so richly symbolic that only a fool would attempt to describe it; it is so packed full of revelations to those who exercise their strength to seek and see, that no human words can explain or make clear the possibilities that reside in the temple service. The endowment which was given by revelation can best be understood by revelation.
The holy endowment is deeply symbolic. 'Going through the temple' is not a very good phrase; for temple worship implies a great effort of mind and concentration if we are to understand the mighty symbols that pass in review before us. Everything must be arranged to attune our hearts, our minds, and our souls to the work. Everything about us must contribute to the peace of mind that enables us to study and to understand the mysteries, if you choose, that are unfolded before us. We would not give our family dinners out of doors, in the crowd; why should anyone ask us to do our most sacred work in the face of the crowd. ... We live in a world of symbols. We know nothing, except by symbols. We make a few marks on a sheet of paper, and we say that they form a word, which stands for love, or hate, or charity, or God or eternity. The marks may not be very beautiful to the eye. No one finds fault with the symbols on the pages of a book because they are not as mighty in their own beauty and the things which they represent. We do not quarrel with the symbol G-o-d because it is not very beautiful, yet represents the majesty of God. We are glad to have symbols, if only the meaning of the symbols is brought home to us. I speak to you tonight; you have not quarreled very much with my manner of delivery, or my choice of words; in following the meaning of the thoughts I have tried to bring home to you, you have forgotten words and manner. There are men who object to Santa Claus, because he does not exist! Such men need spectacles to see that Santa Claus is a symbol; a symbol of the love and joy of Christmas and the Christmas spirit. In the land of my birth there was no Santa Claus, but a little goat was shoved into the room, carrying with it a basket of Christmas toys and gifts. The goat of itself counted for nothing; but the Christmas spirit, which it symbolized, counted for a tremendous lot. We live in a world of symbols. No man or woman can come out of the temple endowed as he should be, unless he has seen, beyond the symbol, the mighty realities for which the symbols stand.
The endowments given to members of the Church in the temples are, essentially, courses of instruction relative to man's existence before he came on this earth, the history of the creation of the earth, the story of our first earthly parents, the history of the various dispensations of he Gospel, the meaning of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the story of the restoration of the Gospel, and the means and methods whereby joy on this earth and exaltation in heaven may be obtained. To make this large story clear and impressive to all who partake of it, every educational device, so far known to man, is employed; and it is possible that nowhere, outside of the temple, is a more correct pedagogy employed. Every sense of man is appealed to, in order to make the meaning of the Gospel clear, from the beginning to end.
Whatever is known, is known through symbols.
...eternal truths encompassing all that man is or may be, cannot be expressed literally, nor is there in the temple any attempt to do this. On the contrary, the great and wonderful temple service is one of mighty symbolism.
Temple work is the safety of the living and the hope of the dead.
We need the temple more than anything else.
President Nelson has testified that God’s power flows to all who are endowed in the temple as they keep their covenants.
What can I say to others about my experience in the temple? You can talk about what the interior of the temple looks like, and you can freely share the feelings you have in the temple. However, temple covenants and ordinances, including the words used, are too sacred to be discussed in detail outside the temple. By avoiding discussion of these sacred things outside the temple, we protect them from mocking, ridicule, or disrespect. Do not be casual when talking about your experiences in the temple.
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.
In this typological scenario, Eve (or the Church) worked through the mediator Adam (or Christ). In either a symbolic or literal interpretation, Paul described this empowering veil as a sign of unique female authority to pray and prophesy (1 Corinthians 11:5). By covering her head, female saints received “power on her head” and could interact with angels (1 Corinthians 11:10).
Paul’s verses on veiling women encourage a positive interrelationship between man, women and God; they do not promote gender supremacy.
“We invite all of God’s children on both sides of the veil to come unto their Savior, receive the blessings of the holy temple, have enduring joy, and qualify for eternal life.”
We can also hear Him in the temple. The house of the Lord is a house of learning. There the Lord teaches in His own way. There each ordinance teaches about the Savior. There we learn how to part the veil and communicate more clearly with heaven. There we learn how to rebuke the adversary and draw upon the Lord’s priesthood power to strengthen us and those we love. How eager each of us should be to seek refuge there.
Even this year, when access to our temples has been seriously limited, your endowment has given you constant access to God’s power as you have honored your covenants with Him.
If it had not been for the faith and knowledge that was bestowed upon us in that temple..., our journey would have been like one taking a leap in the dark. To start out...in the winter as it were and in our state of poverty, it would seem like walking into the jaws of death. but we had faith in our Heavenly Father, and we put our trust in Him feeling that we were His chosen people..., and instead of sorrow, we felt to rejoice that the day of our deliverance had come.
In short, men and women who are endowed receive privileges in the temple that open up the heavens for those who learn how to do so.
President Howard W. Hunter pleaded with us to "look to the temple of the Lord as the great symbol of [our] membership." The importance of that statement cannot be overemphasized. Baptism opens the gate to the celestial kingdom, but the temple opens the gate to exaltation.
In the temple, we learn how to learn about the things of God.
For all the many times I've been to the temple, the depth and breadth of all the Lord has for us in His house---the covenants, privileges, promises, knowledge, and power--far exceed what my puny mind at present comprehends. But going there regularly puts me in the best possible position to grow, learn, and step completely outside the world into a place where I can be reminded abou things as they really are and really will be.
The temple isn't supposed to be easy to understand. It is a step-by-step ascent toward God--and there's nothing simplistic about that.
[He] counseled us about how to conduct the tours. "Less is more," he said. "When it comes to guiding people through the temple, the Lord likes to do His own teaching in His own house." And so He does.
As we love the temple, touch the temple, and attend the temple, our lives will reflect our faith. As we come to these holy houses of God, as we remember the covenants we make within, we shall be able to bear every trial and overcome each temptation. The temple provides purpose for our lives.
Think of the decision of a fourteen-year-old boy who had read that if anyone lacked wisdom, he should ask of God, "that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." (James 1:5.) He made the decision to put to the test the epistle of James. He went into the grove and he prayed. Was that a minor decision? No—that was a decision that has affected all mankind and particularly all of us who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. What are the important decisions our youth must make? First, what will be my faith. Second, whom shall I marry. And third, what will be my life's work.
It takes just as much to save a dead man as a living man.
After my lackluster trip to the temple, I was talking with my mom about how long it felt, how repetitive it was, and how awful I felt for thinking that. What she told me really humbled me. She said, “Remember that the person you are there doing work for has not experienced temple ordinances before, and they’ve been waiting an even longer time to have them.” It’s both a true and remarkable thought.
And, as my mom said, if we ever get a bit selfish with our time and impatient about our temple experience because our schedules just seem too busy, we should remember that some of our brothers and sisters have been waiting dozens to hundreds of years for someone to spend two hours doing their work for them. In those two hours, eternity is made possible for every one of us. It would be a shame for us to not recognize the gift that is.
When we remember that it is a new experience for someone else, we can recognize the beauty and power of the temple, the remarkable gift of covenants, and that temple attendance is much more about becoming than it is about doing.
Kindness begins with me
Do you young people want a sure way to eliminate the influence of the adversary in your life? Immerse yourself in searching for your ancestors, prepare their names for the sacred vicarious ordinances available in the temple, and then go to the temple to stand as proxy for them to receive the ordinances of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. As you grow older, you will be able to participate in receiving the other ordinances as well. I can think of no greater protection from the influence of the adversary in your life.
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