So Great a Cause

In President Ballard’s talk at general conference, he quoted these words of the Prophet Joseph: “Brethren [and sisters], shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren [and sisters]; and on, on to the victory! … Let us, therefore, as a church and a people, and as Latter-day Saints, offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness” (Doctrine and Covenants 128:22,24).  He then suggested, “As we listen to the Spirit during this 200th anniversary celebration this weekend, consider what offering you will present to the Lord in righteousness in the coming days. Be courageous—share it with someone you trust, and most important, please take the time to do it!”  As I have written before, this offering that Joseph referred to is the great work that will be done in the temples for our dead.  The rest of the verse explaining this offering reads, “Let us present in his holy temple, when it is finished, a book containing the records of our dead.”  Some day we will present the records of our ancestors—with the innumerable ordinances that have been completed—to the Lord as our offering as a church.  Clearly we can’t offer an offering of temple service right now with all of the temples closed, but certainly one natural choice for an offering we could make is some sacrifice of time to participate in family history work, to make one drop in an ocean of efforts to prepare that record as a Church.  It just may be that this “offering” we give is simply the whole of FamilyTree with its information about billions of individuals and temple ordinances that have been performed. 

               The importance of the work of temples and family history was a theme throughout the conference.  For example, Elder Bednar focused on the temple and the Spirit of Elijah.  He said, “The restoration of the sealing authority by Elijah in 1836 was necessary to prepare the world for the Savior’s Second Coming and initiated a greatly increased and worldwide interest in family history research…. Planting in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers—even Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—turning the hearts of the children to their own fathers, conducting family history research, and performing vicarious temple ordinances are labors that bless individuals on both sides of the veil. As we become anxiously engaged in this sacred work, we are obeying the commandments to love and serve God and our neighbors.”  In the very next talk, President Nelson invited us, “While worshipping in the temple is presently not possible, I invite you to increase your participation in family history, including family history research and indexing. I promise that as you increase your time in temple and family history work, you will increase and improve your ability to hear Him.”  Our efforts to participate family history work will help us not only to bring saving ordinances to our dead but also to hear the voice of the Savior ourselves.    

Other speakers at this general conference also emphasized the importance the spirit of Elijah.  Elder Gong highlighted Elijah’s coming in the latter days, saying, “In fulfillment of prophecy and as part of the promised restoration of all things, Elijah did come as promised, at Easter and the onset of Passover. He brought the sealing authority to bind families on earth and in heaven. As Moroni taught the Prophet Joseph, Elijah ‘shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. If it were not so,’ Moroni continued, ‘the whole earth would be utterly wasted at [the Lord’s] coming.’ The spirit of Elijah, a manifestation of the Holy Ghost, draws us to our generations—past, present, and future—in our genealogies, histories, and temple service.”  Elder Rasband similarly spoke of Elijah’s mission and the importance of the temple work he initiated: “Malachi spoke of Elijah turning ‘the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers.’ Elijah has come, and as a result, today we have 168 temples dotting the earth. Each temple serves worthy members making sacred covenants and receiving blessed ordinances on behalf of themselves and their deceased ancestors.”  President Eyring spoke of FamilySearch in particular and its importance as part of the Restoration.  He said, “The spirit of Elijah is changing the hearts of young and old, children and parents, grandchildren and grandparents. Temples will soon again be happily scheduling baptismal opportunities and other sacred ordinances. The desire to serve our ancestors and the bonding of parents and children are growing.”  Surely to have this many of our prophets and apostles speak about the spirit of Elijah and the work of temples and family history is a clear indication of where our priorities should be.  As the Prophet Joseph said, speaking specifically of this great work for our dead, “Shall we not go on in so great a cause?”