A History of Mormon Landmarks in Utah:: Monuments of Faith by Weeks Andy

Author:Weeks, Andy [Weeks, Andy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
Published: 2015-11-30T05:00:00+00:00

TEMPLES AS SPIRITUAL MONUMENTS

To the faithful Mormon, temples are sacred edifices where the pinnacle of worship is achieved. Through temple ordinances revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith, and administered by priesthood authority, husbands and wives are sealed together not just for time but, if they remain faithful to their covenants, for all eternity. By the same union, their children are eternally theirs. Parents and children and grandchildren and so forth sealed together through the generations thus form one big family in the hereafter.

Outside of the church, temples often spark controversy. Many wonder and speculate about what goes on inside. Baptism for the dead, a popular ordinance officiated in modern-day temples, raises the ire of many so-called Christians who call such an act blasphemy at best and devilish at worst. To the devout Latter-day Saint, however, temples are not secret establishments but sacred buildings like Solomon’s Temple.

As for proxy baptism for deceased persons who never heard of or had the opportunity to accept Jesus Christ or his gospel in the flesh, it was the Apostle Paul, who, speaking to the Corinthian saints, said, “Else what shall they do that are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead?” 101 In essence, Paul was saying that this was a true principle and that the resurrection is real. This knowledge, lost among apostate Christendom, was revealed in the latter days as part of “restitution of all things.”

On or near every Mormon temple is the inscription: “Holiness to the Lord, the House of the Lord,” affirming how church members view their temples. They verily believe that such edifices, specially dedicated to the Most High, are houses of the Lord, sacred sanctuaries where his spirit and, at his will, his physical presence may be known.

Following are several spiritual experiences that took place in Utah’s early temples.

MIRACLE AT ST . GEORGE

The first temple to be completed in Utah was the St. George Temple, a white monolith that stands amid the red rock of southern Utah. Dedicated on April 6–8, 1877, by Daniel H. Wells, it is the first operating temple in the church and, according to LDS history, has some remarkable spiritual episodes that happened within it.

Wilford Woodruff, third president of the church who conducted a private site dedication on January 1, 1877, claimed that on August 21, 1877, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and other early American patriots visited him while he was inside the St. George Temple. According to Woodruff, these spirits wanted to know why the church had not yet done proxy baptism for them. The twenty-six-volume Journal of Discourses , which contains hundreds of sermons and other teachings from early church leaders, shares Woodruff’s testimony:

I will here say, before closing, that two weeks before I left St. George, the spirits of the dead gathered around me, wanting to know why we did not redeem them. Said they, “Have you had the use of the Endowment House for a number of years, and yet nothing has ever been done for us.

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