This House Armed With Power

It struck me today as I listened to President Eyring’s conference talk from last weekend—titled All Will Be Well Because of Temple Covenants—that all three talks from the First Presidency were focused on the temple. Surely this should give increased importance to their invitations to make the temple more important in our lives. President Eyring told of how in June 1976 he and his wife attended the temple in Idaho Falls while his four boys were being watched by a babysitter in Rexburg. He recounted, “Our experience in the temple that day was wonderful, as it always was. However, after the conclusion of the temple sealing—and as we were preparing to return home—we noticed many temple workers and patrons nervously conversing in the lobby of the temple. Within moments, one of the temple workers told us that the newly constructed Teton Dam in eastern Idaho had collapsed! More than 80 billion gallons (300 million cubic meters) of water were flowing through the dam and into the 300 square miles (775 square km) of neighboring valleys. Much of the city of Rexburg was underwater, with homes and vehicles carried away by floodwaters. Two-thirds of the 9,000 residents were suddenly homeless.” President Eyring continued, “As you might imagine, our thoughts and concerns turned to the safety of our dear children, hundreds of college students and faculty, and a community we loved. We were less than 30 miles (50 km) from home, and yet on this day, long before cell phones and text messaging, we had no way of communicating immediately with our children, nor could we make the drive from Idaho Falls to Rexburg, as all the roads had been closed.” They ended up staying the night in a hotel, unsure of whether their children were okay. As his wife continued to express concern for their sons’ safety, President Eyring felt the Spirit confirm these words as he said them, “Kathy, whatever the outcome, all will be well because of the temple. We have made covenants with God and have been sealed as an eternal family.” The message from President Eyring and the whole First Presidency this conference is clear: safety and protection and happiness are found in the temple and our commitment to keeping our covenants made there.

As I think about this story from President Eyring, I can’t help but compare it to the flood of evil that has been unleashed upon our children in the past two decades through the internet, smart phones, social media, and everything else. Once we made the internet and powerfully addictive apps available to them on a device that goes with them everywhere, it was indeed like a dam that burst with a constant flow of evil available the touch of a finger. So how do we protect our children from the pornography, the cyber bullying, the violence, the vitriol, the misinformation, and everything else that Satan is trying to fill their minds with in a virtual world? Perhaps the first answer is, as President Eyring suggested, to focus on the temple and our covenants we make there, trusting that this will help even our children. The Savior gave us this promise about the blessings of His house: “And we ask thee, Holy Father, that thy servants may go forth from this house armed with thy power, and that thy name may be upon them, and thy glory be round about them, and thine angels have charge over them” (Doctrine and Covenants 109:22). How we need those angels and that power more than ever today! And our children need it too—it is no wonder that the Lord has enabled youth starting at age 11 to come to His house. What a blessing it is for them and for us to put aside their phones and their cares of the world and join together in a sacred space to feel the Spirit of the Lord. How marvelous it is for all of us to join together in a quiet, peaceful, and solemn place to ponder the divine and connect ourselves both to the Lord and to our ancestors who have died. I love this promise from President Monson that President Eyring quoted in his talk: “As we attend the temple, there can come to us a dimension of spirituality and a feeling of peace. … We will grasp the true meaning of the words of the Savior when He said: ‘Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. … Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid [John 14:27].’” We and our children will not find that peace in the world or some virtual counterfeit. It is only in the real world—the temple of God—that the lasting peace we all seek will be found.