Joining Families Together - Testimony of Brother Kay, a Sealer

We are on vacation in Hawaii and had the great opportunity to go to the Laie, Hawaii temple. We went through an endowment session (1.75 hour session where we're taught about God's plan of salvation for the human family). Afterwards we joined a sealing session (30 min-1 hour session in which families can be joined together officially in the next life). That is quite a statement, that the sealing session involved "certifying" marriages in the next life and also certifying the parent-child relationship in the next life. This has scriptural precedent - Matt 16:

19 And I will ^agive unto thee the ^bkeys of the ^ckingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt^dbind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Peter had the ability to say, "this is valid on earth and heaven". That power exists in the church today and that's what we were participating in on Thursday. At the end of the session, I asked the sealer to give us his thoughts on the work. He said that the work we're doing is as real as anything on the earth. He participates in the work in a weekly basis and gave us his word that the work we're participating in is absolutely valid and affects people in the next world in a significant way. He mentioned that occasionally there are unusual experiences that help showthe work is real.

It's always worth going to the temple. It is a special place. I also know all the things that happen there are real and affect people in the next life. I feel that is true.

Our Days - All Prophets Looked Forward to Now

Many prophets had a glimpse of the future things that would happen on the earth. We know that all dispensation heads (Enoch, Adam, Noah, Moses, Abraham) all had visions of the earth and what would happen on it and so did Nephi, John, the brother of Jared, and others.

Why was this necessary?

I believe it's because they needed to know how the people of their time who didn't accept the gospel would be saved. The plan of salvation requires a couple of critical events that happen(ed) at specific times in the world's history:

1) Atonement of Jesus Christ

2) Ordinances performed for all people

Many prophets saw our time when temples would be all over the earth and members would perform ordinances for those who have passed on. This helped those prophets understand how all people would have the chance to accept the gospel. Being a part of this work is a tremendous blessing as it is one of the most important works that has transpired in the history of the earth.

Notice how happy Joseph Smith is when describing this work:

21And again, the voice of God in the chamber of old ^aFather Whitmer, in Fayette, Seneca county, and at sundry times, and in divers places through all the travels and tribulations of this Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! And the voice of Michael, the archangel; the voice of ^bGabriel, and of Raphael, and of divers^cangels, from Michael or ^dAdam down to the present time, all declaring their ^edispensation, their rights, their ^fkeys, their honors, their majesty and glory, and the power of their priesthood; giving line upon line, ^gprecept upon precept; here a little, and there a little; giving us consolation by holding forth that which is to come, confirming our ^hhope!

22Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. ^aCourage, brethren; and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad. Let the earth break forth into ^bsinging. Let the ^cdead speak forth anthems of eternal praise to the ^dKing Immanuel, who hath ordained, before the world was, that which would enable us to ^eredeem them out of their ^fprison; for the prisoners shall go free.

23Let the ^amountains shout for joy, and all ye valleys cry aloud; and all ye seas and dry lands tell the wonders of your Eternal King! And ye rivers, and brooks, and rills, flow down with gladness. Let the woods and all the trees of the field praise the Lord; and ye solid^brocks weep for joy! And let the sun, moon, and the ^cmorning stars sing together, and let all the sons of God shout for joy! And let the eternal creations declare his name forever and ever! And again I say, how glorious is the voice we hear from heaven, proclaiming in our ears, glory, and salvation, and honor, and ^dimmortality, and eternal life; kingdoms, principalities, and powers!

We are part of a great work. Enjoy going to the temple and performing baptisms for the dead and other ordinances for those who have passed on.

Sacrifice and Offering - Temple work

My wife and I had temple recommend interviews on Sunday. One thing the Bishop said to me is that those who do have temple recommends have a tough time going as often as they should in their busy lives. That's definitely been true for me.

So, this verse really hit home while reading today. From D.C. 84:

31Therefore, as I said ^aconcerning the sons of Moses—for the sons of Moses and also the sons of Aaron shall offer an acceptable^boffering and sacrifice in the house of the Lord, which house shall be built unto the Lord in this generation, upon the consecrated^cspot as I have appointed—

It's pretty clear from other verses that the offering made by the sons of Aaron (i.e., those with the Aaronic Priesthood) will be a book with the records of those who have had their baptismal ordinances performed.

D.C. 128 says the following:

24Behold, the great ^aday of the Lord is at hand; and who can^babide the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appeareth? For he is like a ^crefiner’s ^dfire, and like fuller’s soap; and he shall sit as a ^erefiner and purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of ^fLevi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an ^goffering in righteousness. Let us, therefore, as a church and a people, and as Latter-day Saints, offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness; and let us present in his holy temple, when it is finished, a book containing the ^hrecords of our dead, which shall be worthy of all acceptation.

The offering of the sons of Levi (remember Levites were those who held the priesthood in the Old Testament) is a book with the records of the dead. The great offering at the end of the Millennium is going to be the records of the temple work done. In this case, it's the baptismal work (and D.C. 128 is about baptism for the dead). I think it's safe to presume that the offering the by Melchizedek Priesthood holders mentioned in D.C. 84 refers to all other temple ordinances.

In our busy times, it's fitting that this work is termed an offering and a sacrifice. In this time of relative abundance, sacrificing money is not as hard for most people as sacrificing time. Certainly that's true for me. As priesthood holders, one of our great duties is to do the work in the house of the Lord. (Don't get me wrong, there are many other great things to do and some of them take precedence over this at times - for instance, the two most important groups in the church are the youth and the young single adults; further, getting families activated who aren't is beyond valuable.)

Interesting how the Lord changes the modes of worship in different times to more effectively help his people come unto Him and accomplish His work. That could be a whole other discussion. :)

I look forward to doing more temple work in the near future.

Enjoy the temple. It's a great blessing.

LaDon

Keys of the Aaronic Priesthood

So my uncle is speaking on the Aaronic Priesthood Keys on Sunday and was kind enough to ask if I had any thoughts. So, I put this together in about 30 minutes right now. It's not terrible well formatted, but here's what I think about Aaronic Priesthood Keys.

Also, Dale asked a great question in my comments two days ago. I'll give an answer (not the answer, just an answer - hopefully there'll be some good thoughts) tomorrow or Saturday. Thanks Dale.

Keys of the Aaronic Priesthood:

D.C. 13 says what the keys are - so does D.C. 107:

Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah I ^aconferthe ^bPriesthood of Aaron, which holds the ^ckeys of the ministering of ^dangels, and of the gospel of ^erepentance, and of ^fbaptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth, until the sons of ^gLevi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in ^hrighteousness.

So the Aaronic Priesthood has the keys for these main areas:

Ministering of Angels – I believe in this a lot. My patriarchal blessing actually mentions using this. I believe angels have a much larger role in this life than we realize. For example, Elder Hafen mentions them in the last chapter of his book, “Believing Christ”. He says that they help and provide support in numerous situations. Also, Elder Holland gave a talk about angels and their role.

http://lds.org/general-conference/2008/10/the-ministry-of-angels?lang=eng

Also, Elder Hales.

Elder Hales spoke of his health problems as the first speaker in the Saturday morning session of the 170th Semi-annual General Conference held October 7, 2000.

After recovering from three major surgeries which have prevented me from speaking in the past two general conferences, what a joy it is to be able to stand in this beautiful Conference Center today to teach and bear testimony to those who desire to hear the word of the Lord.

In the past two years, I have waited upon the Lord for mortal lessons to be taught me through periods of physical pain, mental anguish, and pondering. I learned that constant, intense pain is a great consecrating purifier that humbles us and draws us closer to God's Spirit. If we listen and obey, we will be guided by His Spirit and do His will in our daily endeavors.

There were times when I have asked a few direct questions in my prayers, such as, "What lessons dost Thou want me to learn from these experiences?"

As I studied the scriptures during this critical period of my life, the veil was thin and answers were given to me as they were recorded in lives of others who had gone through even more severe trials.

"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" (D&C 121:7-8).

Dark moments of depression were quickly dispelled by the light of the gospel as the Spirit brought peace and comfort with assurances that all would be well.

On a few occasions, I told the Lord that I had surely learned the lessons to be taught and that it wouldn't be necessary for me to endure any more suffering. Such entreaties seemed to be of no avail, for it was made clear to me that this purifying process of testing was to be endured in the Lord's time and in the Lord's own way. It is one thing to teach, "Thy will be done" (Matt. 26:42). It is another to live it. I also learned that I would not be left alone to meet these trials and tribulations but that guardian angels would attend me. There were some that were near angels in the form of doctors, nurses, and most of all my sweet companion, Mary. And on occasion, when the Lord so desired, I was to be comforted with visitations of heavenly hosts that brought comfort and eternal reassurances in my time of need.

There’s the Elisha scripture that mentions, “more be with us than be with them.” 2 Kings 6:16-17

16And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.

17And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his ^aeyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and^bchariots of fire round about Elisha.

Finally, my own thoughts – when my companions were sick on the mission and we wouldn’t go out and work, I thought that nothing would get done and the progress of the work would slow down. However, that wasn’t my experience. Things still moved along. I got the idea in my mind that it must be because there’s other people besides those here on earth working in my areas, helping with the work. It’s the most reasonable explanation I could come up with. I believe that. Also, there have been a couple of times in life that I have asked for the help of angels with specific things, and I believe it is well within my rights to do so based on the above scriptures. I also believe those requests have been honored.

Gospel of repentance – Major duty to share the gospel. Jonas remarked that his mission president said the youth are an underutilized resource as far as sharing the gospel. I think this is true for a few reasons.

1) Just as it’s a time when our youth can be influenced in major ways for good and bad because they’re so young, so can other youth be influenced in major positive ways by our youth.

2) Our youth associate with lots of different people. School connects people from all kinds of backgrounds, so it’s a great place to interact constantly with non-members. A lot of non-working moms don’t do this much for instance.

3) God has given them the duty to preach the gospel of repentance – and as Pres. Monson says, “who the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies.” See the following verse in particular:

a. Concerning deacons, the youngest of the Aaronic Priesthood: D.C. 20:59

b. 59They are, however, to warn, expound, exhort, and teach, and invite all to come unto Christ.

c. Preaching the gospel is a duty and a key (i.e., Heavenly help will be given when sought for) deacons receive.

Baptism by immersion –

Short here – priests baptize. Interestingly, they baptize and raise their hand to the square without really knowing why – you don’t know until you get endowed. However, they have the key over this ordinance. It follows that they would since deacons on have the key of preaching the gospel – priests also have the key to baptize (which is the natural result of preaching the gospel). Also, there’s some connection between temple baptisms and the Aaronic Priesthood – explained below.

Temple work – So perhaps not the keys for this, but definitely a stewardship here. The line “offer an offering in righteousness” mentioned in D.C. 13 refers to baptism for the dead, which the youth have a large role in and even a stewardship. Sons of Levi were the Aaronic Priesthood holders. It is not a coincidence that we are first allowed into the temple when we are 12.

Here’s the connection to the above verse: what’s the offering the sons of Levi will offer? See D.C. 128:24:

24Behold, the great ^aday of the Lord is at hand; and who can^babide the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appeareth? For he is like a ^crefiner’s ^dfire, and like fuller’s soap; and he shall sit as a ^erefiner and purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of ^fLevi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an ^goffering in righteousness. Let us, therefore, as a church and a people, and as Latter-day Saints, offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness; and let us present in his holy temple, when it is finished, a book containing the ^hrecords of our dead, which shall be worthy of all acceptation.

The church will offer an offering in righteousness, which is doing the work for the dead. And when this offering has been completed (i.e., all temple work done of which the Aaronic Priesthood has a MAJOR role in baptisms for the dead), a book containing the records of the dead will be presented to the Lord. The offering is doing the work. The result of the offering is the book that will be presented. Then, no more need for the Aaronic Priesthood. Everyone will be baptized on earth and in heaven so no more preaching needed, no more support from angels needed, no more baptisms needed, and the keys for those specific things will no longer be necessary. Everyone will just have the Melchizedek Priesthood or nothing. J