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Kirtland Temple Pentecost

February 18, 2010 in Temple by Greg | 3 comments

The following is the beginning of a series of articles about the Kirtland Temple. This was the first temple built by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Many reported that the events which accompanied its dedication on March 27, 1836 were similar in nature to the events which transpired on the day of Pentecost as recorded in Acts 2.

Kirtland Temple Angels Pentecost means “the fiftieth day” and is directly related to the Jewish harvest festival of Shavuot which commemorates the Lord’s appearance on Mount Sinai fifty days after the exodus of the children of Israel out of Egypt.1 Pentecost is also celebrated by many Christian religions since it commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles, fifty days after the Savior’s resurrection.2

Those who compiled Joseph Smith’s history recorded the significance of similar events at the Kirtland Temple dedication:

Brother George A. Smith arose and began to prophesy, when a noise was heard like the sound of a rushing mighty wind, which filled the Temple, and all the congregation simultaneously arose, being moved upon by an invisible power; many began to speak in tongues and prophesy; others saw glorious visions; and I beheld the Temple was filled with angels, which fact I declared to the congregation. The people of the neighborhood came running together (hearing an unusual sound within, and seeing a bright light like a pillar of fire resting upon the Temple), and were astonished at what was taking place.3

Writing just a few years after the temple dedication, one participant wrote:

At the same time the saints in Kirtland, Ohio, were actively engaged in building a Temple to the Lord. The branches of the Church in the east were doing all they could to assist them to build and prepare for the day of Pentecost. The news from the west caused sorrow and lamentation, it was a day never to be forgotten. In the spring following, Elders Joseph and Hyrum Smith, in company with two hundred male members of the Church, went up to Missouri, for the purpose of rendering all the assistance they could to the afflicted saints. The dark clouds seemed to break away, the spirit of mobocracy was checked for a short time, and the beams of light once more dawned on the afflicted. After they had done all in their power to do at that time, Elders J. and H. Smith and many others, returned to Kirtland, Ohio. The same fall and winter a large school convened for instruction, composed of Elders, and members of the Church. Elders Smith, Rigdon, and others, acted as teachers. In the course of the winter the Quorum of the Twelve was chosen and ordained, also one Quorum of the Seventies. The next spring many of the Elders went forth to preach the word, to prove themselves worthy of the blessings expected at the day of Pentecost. In the spring of 1836, the lower room of the Temple being finished, some three hundred or over of the official members of the Church, assembled for the purpose of attending to the ordinances of washing and anointing, and the sacraments, that they might be sanctified before the Lord, and prepared for the reception of the Holy Spirit from on High. Prayer and fasting were attended to, the ordinations and anointings were sealed with great solemnity. The Holy Spirit descended in power as in bye-gone days, when it rested on the disciples at Jerusalem, some spoke with tongues and others prophesied—the visions of Heaven were also opened to some, intelligence burst upon their understanding, enabling them to comprehend things past, present and future.4

Another participant in the dedicatory events recorded that the gift of tongues and other Spiritual Gifts were given to many:

Kirtland Temple Pentecost »»

  1. See Exodus 19 – 24; cf. D&C 84:19 – 27.↩
  2. For an explanation of these events, see Gift of the Holy Ghost a Higher Endowment.↩
  3. Roberts, Brigham Henry, ed. History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1912. 2:428.↩
  4. Grant, Jedediah M. Collection of Facts, Relative to the Course Taken by Elder Sidney Rigdon in the States of Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, and Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Brown, Bicking, & Guilbert, 1844. 8-9.↩

Mayan Temple at El Mirador

November 2, 2009 in Temple by Greg | 3 comments

I recently came across the videos below about the Mayan Temple at El Mirador in Guatemala. The temple is located in the Mirador Basin which contains the Petén rainforest, the last tract of virgin rainforest in Central America.1

Dr. Richard Hansen, an archaeologist from Idaho State University, is the current director of the Mirador Basin Project. He recently took CNN’s Brooke Baldwin on a tour of the site and the surrounding area.

In the video clip below, Dr. Hansen shows Ms. Baldwin an artefact of the Popol Vuh. The Popol Vuh was written by anonymous members of the Quiché-Maya nobility, a branch of the Maya that dominated the highlands of western Guatemala prior to the arrival of Spanish conquerors in 1524 and contains the creation story of the Mayas.

El Mirador appears to be one of those “‘powerhouses’ that attest to ‘the fading or fictive nature of the vaunted powers from on high.’”2

Sources:

  1. Baldwin, Brooke. “Uncovering a masterpiece the Mayans left behind“. 15 Oct 2009. CNN. 31 Oct 2009.↩
  2. See Nibley on Book of Mormon Geography.↩

Endowment Ceremony

August 23, 2009 in Temple by Greg | 8 comments

Writing in a book heralding the richness of women’s heritage in helping lay the foundation of the latter-day kingdom, Carol Cornwall Madsen quoted John A. Widtsoe who provided one of the most “explicit descriptions” of the LDS temple endowment ceremony.1 She wrote:

Carol Cornwall Madsen As the message of the temple became clearer, the Saints came to understand that it was not enough to live Christ-like lives and to develop their own private relationship with the Savior. As meritorius as this life pattern might be, it alone could not assure them a place in the celestial kingdom, the dwelling place of the Father. However, accompanied by the saving ordinances of the gospel, it promised a meaningful life here and eternal life hereafter. Thus in Mormon doctrine the temple is the heart and core of the gospel, and all else derives meaning and purpose from it. Yet not all were ready to receive this saving knowledge. “There are a great many wise men and women too in our midst,” Joseph Smith lamented, “who are too wise to be taught; therefore they must die in their ignorance, and in the resurrection they will find their mistake. Many seal up the door to heaven by saying, So far God may reveal and I will believe.”2 Had the Saints been more spiritually prepared, Joseph explained, he could have revealed more to them sooner than he did.3

Endowment Ceremony »»

  1. Madsen, Carol Cornwall in Maureen Ursenbach Beecher and Lavina Fiedling Anderson, eds. Sisters in Spirit: Mormon Women in Historical and Cultural Perspective. University of Illinois Press, 1987. 89.↩
  2. Smith, ed., Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 309.↩
  3. History of the Church, 2:309-10, 426. George A. Smith told a congregation of Saints in Salt Lake City in 1855 that, at the time of the completion of the Kirtland Temple, had the Lord “revealed one single sentiment more, or went one step further to reveal more fully the law of redemption, I believe He would have upset the whole of us. The fact was, He dare not, on that very account, reveal to us a single principle further than He had done, for He had tried, over and over again, to do it.” 18 March 1855, Journal of Discourses 1:215. Note: For a more complete explanation, see Elder George A. Smith’s comments in the post O Jerusalem – Ed.↩

Baron Rothschild, John Taylor, and the Temple

August 19, 2009 in Temple by Greg | 4 comments

In keeping with this week’s theme, the following is a story told by John Taylor about his conversation with Baron Rothschild and a latter-day temple to be built in Israel.

Temple Mount Jerusalem In looking still forward we find that there are other things ahead of us. One thing is the building of Temples, and that is a very important item, and ought to rest with force upon the minds of all good Saints. I remember, some time ago, having a conversation with Baron Rothschild, a Jew.

I was showing him the Temple here, and said he—“Elder Taylor, what do you mean by this Temple? What is the object of it? Why are you building it?” Said I, “Your fathers had among them Prophets, who revealed to them the mind and will of God; we have among us Prophets who reveal to us the mind and will of God, as they did. One of your Prophets said—“The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his Temple, but who may abide the day of his coming? For he shall sit as a refiner’s fire and a purifier of silver.”

“Now,” said I, “Sir, will you point me out a place on the face of the earth where God has a Temple?” Said he, “I do not know of any.” “You remember the words of your Prophets that I have quoted?”

Said he—“Yes, I know the Prophet said that, but I do not know of any Temple anywhere. Do you consider that this is that Temple?” “No, sir, it is not.” “Well, what is this Temple for?” Said I, “The Lord has told us to build this Temple so that we may administer therein baptisms for our dead (which I explained to him,) and also to perform some of the sacred matrimonial alliances and covenants that we believe in, that are rejected by the world generally, but which are among the purest, most exalting and ennobling principles, that God ever revealed to man.”

Baron Rothschild, John Taylor, and the Temple »»

Savior’s Appearance to Lorenzo Snow

August 18, 2009 in Temple by Greg | 6 comments

In 1933, LeRoi C. Snow wrote about the Savior’s appearance to his father, Lorenzo Snow, within the confines of the Salt Lake Temple in 1898. At this time, Lorenzo Snow was the President of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles and next in line to succeed Wilford Woodruff as Prophet, Seer and Revelator and President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He relates:

Salt Lake Temple Corridor For some time President Woodruff’s health had been failing. Nearly every evening President Lorenzo Snow visited him at his home. This particular evening the doctors said that President Woodruff could not live much longer, that he was becoming weaker every day. President Snow was greatly worried. We cannot realize today what a terrible financial condition the Church was in at that time—owing millions of dollars and not being able to pay even the interest on its indebtedness.

LeRoi went on to relate that his father repaired to the Salt Lake Temple and,

. . . there plead to the Lord to spare President Woodruff’s life, that President Woodruff might outlive him and that the great responsibility of Church leadership would not fall upon his shoulders. Yet he promised the Lord that he would devotedly perform any duty required at his hands. . . .

. . . [On 2 September 1898, after receiving word of the death of Wilford Woodruff, President Snow] went to his private room in the Salt Lake Temple.

Savior's Appearance to Lorenzo Snow »»

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