This is the Testimony

I know I have heard at some point a story that went something like this: When the Salt Lake Temple was built, they were inspired to leave room for elevators but they didn’t know why. Then when elevators were invented, they were able to miraculously place them in those empty locations in the temple. I’ve never really investigated the story, so I was very interested to hear Brother Keith Erekson, a historian, speak about this in a recent podcast. He said, “This very morning of our recording, I was meeting with the young sister missionaries at Temple Square and answering their questions and helping them with the things that they present. They told me, we hear this story all of the time. Can you help us? The story is that when the Salt Lake temple was completed, the whole interior was done except for these random empty spaces that wind up every floor. Brigham Young told people to leave those open, and then later in the future, elevators were invented and the elevators were plugged right into those spaces. And see, here is the proof that Brigham Young is a great and mighty prophet because he prophesied that they should leave space for this thing that would come in the future. People will tell this story with tears. They'll tell it with conviction. They'll tell it with all of this witness that they're so thankful for a living prophet.” Brother Erekson then commented, “This story about Brigham Young and elevator shafts, every single part of the story is wrong. First of all, elevators were invented a hundred years before the Salt Lake Temple was even under construction. There's no waiting for elevators to be invented. Second, Brigham doesn't do anything with the inside of the temple. It takes 40 years to build the temple. Brigham dies 16 years before it's done because of the way building works, they're just building the outer shell. They're stacking the stones on top of each other. It's gonna be in the 1880s, six or seven years after Brigham's death that the architects sit down and say, oh, what do we do on the inside of the temple? And we get our first rudimentary blueprints in the early 1880s, and we get polished blueprints in the late 1880s. Those blueprints include elevators. They're written right into the blueprints. We have the receipts in the Church History Library for the purchase of elevators. On the day the temple is dedicated there are three functioning elevators in the Salt Lake Temple in 1893. We continue to tell it and people will share it, which has made me think about it and analyze why do we keep telling this story if we're a people who love truth? This isn't oh, kind of a story that's exaggerated. This is wholly, totally made up. And not only that, what's made up is so inconsistent with truth and reality, but we tell this story why?” The story is not just an exaggeration; it is completely false in just about every detail.   

This story is a reminder about where our testimony should be placed: in the manifestations of the Holy Ghost regarding the first principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have to ensure that our faith is in the Savior Jesus Christ and not built upon the shaky foundation of some incredible story, even if it were true. I love how Joseph put it in the great vision that he and Sidney received: “And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives! For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father—That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God” (Doctrine and Covenants 76:22-24). This is the testimony: that Jesus Christ lives. Our testimony is not based on how the Savior inspires prophets to predict future technology in order to save costs; no, it is based on the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the grave to become the first fruits of them that slept. Yes, we believe that He did call prophets and does inspire them, but our conviction does not depend on them making correct predictions about worldly things. We believe and follow living prophets because the Savior ordained them to teach the world about Him. I like how the angel described the role of prophets to Abinadi before the Savior’s first coming: “For salvation cometh to none such except it be through repentance and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord God hath sent his holy prophets among all the children of men, to declare these things to every kindred, nation, and tongue, that thereby whosoever should believe that Christ should come, the same might receive remission of their sins, and rejoice with exceedingly great joy, even as though he had already come among them” (Mosiah 3:12-13). Certainly prophets are seers and can see the future when the Lord so inspires them; but their primary role is to declare to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people that Jesus Christ has come and that we can receive a remission of sins through Him. Most importantly, they teach how we can have an “exceedingly great joy” through Him that we cannot find anywhere else.

In the preface to the Doctrine and Covenants, the Savior said this: “Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and spake unto him from heaven, and gave him commandments; And also gave commandments to others, that they should proclaim these things unto the world;… that every man might speak in the name of God the Lord, even the Savior of the world; That faith also might increase in the earth; That mine everlasting covenant might be established” (Doctrine and Covenants 1:17-22). The Lord called prophets in our day to warn us of calamities, give us commandments, and help every man and women to increase their faith in Jesus Christ and be established in His covenant. The role of prophets is not secular but spiritual, and we should not expect them to make secular predictions about future technology or anything of the sort. What matters most is that we follow their teachings to lead us to Jesus Christ.