A Welding Link

To my son,

                Recently something very exciting happened in the Church: we purchased the Kirtland Temple from the Community of Christ. As you know, the Kirtland Temple was the first temple built in this dispensation, and it was dedicated on your birthday in 1836. The events surrounding the dedication included some of the most incredible spiritual manifestations ever recorded. One history summarized what happened: “After the temple dedication, manifestations of the Lord’s Spirit and power enveloped Kirtland. On the evening of the dedication, Joseph met with church leaders in the temple, and the men began to speak in tongues, as the Savior’s apostles had done at Pentecost. Some at the meeting saw heavenly fire resting on those who spoke. Others saw angels. Outside, Saints saw a bright cloud and a pillar of fire rest over the temple.” A few days later after another meeting in the temple, “The Spirit again descended on the men in the temple, and they began to prophesy, speak in tongues, and exhort one another in the gospel. Ministering angels appeared to some men, and a few others had visions of the Savior. Outpourings of the Spirit continued until the early morning hours. When the men left the temple, their souls were soaring from the wonders and glories they had just experienced. They felt endowed with power and ready to take the gospel to the world.” The most incredible event, though, happened exactly one week after the dedication on the afternoon of Easter Sunday. After administering the sacrament to the congregation, Oliver Cowdery and Joseph Smith went alone to pray, and the Savior Himself appeared. Joseph wrote, “We saw the Lord standing upon the breastwork of the pulpit, before us; and under his feet was a paved work of pure gold, in color like amber. His eyes were as a flame of fire; the hair of his head was white like the pure snow; his countenance shone above the brightness of the sun; and his voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters, even the voice of Jehovah, saying: I am the first and the last; I am he who liveth, I am he who was slain; I am your advocate with the Father” (Doctrine and Covenants 110:2-4). The Lord accepted the sacrifices of the Saints and the house they had built them, and Joseph and Oliver were subsequently given the keys of the priesthood to gather Israel and turn the hearts of the children to their fathers through work in the temple. What an incredible time this must have been!

                Unfortunately, the Saints left Kirtland the next year and the temple was lost to the Church. Later, after Joseph Smith died, some of the Saints did not follow Brigham Young and the apostles, and they started their own church called the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This church eventually took possession of the Kirtland Temple, and their name was later changed to the Community of Christ. They have owned the temple since then, but recently our church purchased the building (along with several other historic buildings) and it is now once again in our possession. I remember visiting it many years ago thinking that one day our church would own it again, and now that day has finally come. I hope someday to be able to take you there to visit it and to see other historic sites from the early days of the church. But, more importantly, we have temples available to us today where we can continue the work that was started in Kirtland. Soon you will have the opportunity to go to the temple open house near us and in not too many years you will be able to do baptisms for your ancestors. As you do, remember that it all started in the Kirtland Temple when the Lord and other heavenly messengers restored the keys for the work that we do there. And remember this teaching of the Prophet Joseph Smith about the work that we do there: “It is sufficient to know, in this case, that the earth will be smitten with a curse unless there is a welding link of some kind or other between the fathers and the children, upon some subject or other—and behold what is that subject? It is the baptism for the dead. For we without them cannot be made perfect; neither can they without us be made perfect” (Doctrine and Covenants 128:18).

Love,

Dad