Members Guide to Temple and Family History Work Pdf
The Nifty Plan of Happiness
Before you lot were born, you lived with Heavenly Begetter. He wanted you to be happy and to get like Him. He presented a plan for y'all and for all His children to come to world and and then render to His presence. Your life is intended to exist a homeward journeying to the presence of God in His celestial kingdom.
This journey would exist impossible without the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ. The Savior's Atonement enables us all to apologize and be forgiven of our sins and to be resurrected. We obtain the full blessings of the Atonement by receiving gospel ordinances and making and keeping sacred covenants with God.
An ordinance is a sacred act or anniversary performed past say-so of the priesthood. Some ordinances are essential for exaltation. These include baptism, confirmation, Melchizedek Priesthood ordination for men, and temple ordinances. Receiving these ordinances should be the goal of every Latter-solar day Saint. Each of these essential ordinances includes covenants or promises made with God.
President Boyd Yard. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles explained the part of ordinances and covenants:
"Ordinances and covenants become our credentials for admission into [God's] presence. To worthily receive them is the quest of a lifetime; to continue them thereafter is the challenge of bloodshed. Once we have received them for ourselves and for our families, nosotros are obligated to provide these ordinances vicariously for our kindred expressionless, indeed for the whole human family" (in Briefing Study, Apr. 1987, 27; or Ensign, May 1987, 24).
Eternal Families Are Part of the Plan
Families are essential in Heavenly Male parent'south plan of happiness. You lot are office of a heavenly family and an earthly one. President Gordon B. Hinckley taught:
"God is the designer of the family. He intended that the greatest of happiness, the most satisfying aspects of life, the deepest joys should come up in our associations together and our concerns 1 for some other as fathers and mothers and children" (in Conference Report, Apr. 1991, 98; or Ensign, May 1991, 74).
Y'all accept a knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ and take received at least some of the ordinances of the gospel. Not anybody in your family unit has had the same privilege. Many of your ancestors—and maybe even some of your immediate family members—have died without hearing the gospel or receiving saving ordinances. Heavenly Father is just and merciful, and He has provided a way for them to have these blessings.
Your deceased ancestors live in a place called the spirit world. At that place they have the opportunity to hear and accept the gospel of Jesus Christ. However, they cannot receive the ordinances of the gospel for themselves, and they cannot progress until others provide these ordinances for them.
Your privilege and responsibility is to give your ancestors this gift by identifying them and ensuring that ordinances are performed in their behalf in the temple. They may then choose whether to accept the work that has been done.
Your effort in behalf of your ancestors is patterned afterward the work of the Savior, although on a much smaller scale. The Savior enables all of us to render to Heavenly Father's presence through the Amende, and yous help your ancestors receive the blessings of the Amende by making ordinances bachelor to them. You exercise a saving work for them that they cannot practice for themselves.
The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that Latter-day Saints are to become saviors on Mount Zion. He explained:
"How are they to go saviors on Mount Zion? By edifice their temples, erecting their baptismal fonts, and going forth and receiving all the ordinances … upon their heads, in behalf of all their progenitors who are dead, and redeem them that they may come forth in the first resurrection and exist exalted to thrones of celebrity with them" (History of the Church, 6:184; see also Obadiah i:21).
Temple and family history work unites families. Husbands and wives, parents and children tin be sealed through sacred temple ordinances. The goal of this process is that "the whole concatenation of God'due south family shall be welded together into 1 chain, and they shall all go the family of God and His Christ" (Joseph F. Smith, Millennial Star, Oct. 4, 1906, 629).
The Mission of Elijah
The keys of the welding or sealing ability of the Melchizedek Priesthood were bestowed upon Elijah, a prophet of the Old Testament. This priesthood includes the authority to perform ordinances that bind families together eternally.
Aboriginal prophets foretold the return of Elijah earlier the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The Lord Himself shared this prophecy with the Nephites: "I will ship you Elijah the prophet earlier the coming of the great and dreadful twenty-four hours of the Lord; and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the world with a curse" (three Nephi 25:5–6; see likewise Malachi iv:five–half dozen; D&C 2:one; Joseph Smith—History ane:38–39). This prophecy was as well ane of the first messages that Moroni gave to immature Joseph Smith.
President Henry B. Eyring of the Showtime Presidency taught:
"It is of import to know why the Lord promised to send Elijah. Elijah was a great prophet with great ability given him by God. He held the greatest power God gives to His children: he held the sealing ability, the power to demark on globe and have it bound in heaven. … And the Lord kept His hope to send Elijah. Elijah came to the Prophet Joseph Smith on April 3, 1836, just after the dedication of the Kirtland Temple, the first temple built after the Restoration of the gospel" (in Briefing Report, Apr. 2005, fourscore; or Ensign, May 2005, 78).
When Elijah appeared to the Prophet Joseph, he said, "Behold, the time has fully come … to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers. … Therefore, the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands" (D&C 110:xiv–sixteen).
Since that time, the sealing power has been conferred on men every bit authorized by the President of the Church. These priesthood holders utilise the sealing power to perform ordinances in the temple for the living and the dead. Elijah'due south return marked the beginning of a worldwide interest in genealogical research that continues to grow.
Elderberry Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught that an outpouring of the Holy Ghost accompanied Elijah's return:
"Elijah came to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the children to the fathers. With that, natural affection between generations began to be enriched. This restoration was accompanied by what is sometimes chosen the Spirit of Elijah—a manifestation of the Holy Ghost bearing witness of the divine nature of the family. Hence, people throughout the globe, regardless of religious amalgamation, are gathering records of deceased relatives at an ever-increasing rate.
"Elijah came not merely to stimulate inquiry for ancestors. He also enabled families to exist eternally linked beyond the bounds of mortality. Indeed, the opportunity for families to exist sealed forever is the existent reason for our enquiry" (in Briefing Report, Apr. 1998, 43; or Ensign, May 1998, 34).
The Blessings of This Work
President Thomas Due south. Monson emphasized that nifty blessings come to those who participate in temple work:
"Today is a day of temple building. Never earlier take so many temples been erected and dedicated. … Temples volition bless all who attend them and who cede for their completion. The light of Christ will shine on all—fifty-fifty those who have gone beyond" (in Briefing Written report, April. 1999, 76; or Ensign, May 1999, 56).
Temple and family history work tin bless and protect you and your family. President Boyd K. Packer promised:
"Our labors in the temple cover us with a shield and a protection, both individually and as a people" (The Holy Temple [1980], 182, 265).
As y'all fix your family history and go to the temple for your ancestors, y'all will experience the influence of the Holy Ghost more than powerfully in your life. Y'all will exist strengthened to practise this work and the other tasks of your life more efficiently. Every bit you do the piece of work of the Lord, you will know Him better and become more like Him.
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Source: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/manual/members-guide-to-temple-and-family-history-work/chapter-1-the-purpose-of-temple-and-family-history-work?lang=eng
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