Elijah

-There are many miracles recorded in the Old Testament that Elijah performed.
Name two of them.
pronouncements upon the life and death of Ahab and Jezebel (and their
subsequent fulfillment);
*calling down fire from heaven;
*sealing the heavens with no rain for 3 years;
*blessing the widows meal and oil;
*raising a boy from the dead
there appeared a chariot of fire, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into
heaven
-Elijah appeared unto Peter, James, and John in the New Testament. Where did I do it
and who else was present?
He appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration in company with Moses (also
translated) and conferred the keys of the priesthood on Peter, James, and
John (Matt. 17:3).
-The first recorded revelation in the Doctrine and Covenants contains a reiteration of
a famous prophecy of Elijah. What was the prophecy concerning?
D&C 2:1-3
1 Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the
prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
2 And he 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.
3 If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.
-Elijah taught that without the sealing power the earth would be (?) at the Lords
coming.
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland taught that without the sealing power, no family ties
would exist in the eternities, and indeed the family of man would have been
left in eternity with neither root [ancestors] nor branch [descendants].
Inasmuch as a sealed, united, celestially saved family of God is the
ultimate purpose of mortality, any failure here would have been a curse
indeed, rendering the entire plan of salvation utterly wasted.

Latter-day revelation
-What was President Smith doing when he received the vision of the redemption of
the dead?

See D&C 138:111.

He was pondering the scriptures and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. As he
pondered, he was led to read 1 Peter 3 and 1 Peter 4, which include
information about Jesus ministry in the post mortal spirit world.
-This prophet declared that by the end of the century, we would have 100 temples
in operation.
Gordon B. Hinckley:
There are many areas of the Church that are remote, where the membership
is small and not likely to grow very much in the near future. Are those who
live in these places to be denied forever the blessings of the temple
ordinances? While visiting such an area a few months ago, we prayerfully
pondered this question. The answer, we believe, came bright and clear.
We will construct small temples in some of these areas, buildings with all of
the facilities to administer all of the ordinances. They would be built to
temple standards, which are much higher than meetinghouse standards.
They would accommodate baptisms for the dead, the endowment service,
sealings, and all other ordinances to be had in the Lords house for both the
living and the dead.
We are determined to take the temples to the people and afford them
every opportunity for the very precious blessings that come of temple
worship
-To which prophet did many American founding fathers appear, asking for their work
to be done for them?
President Woodruff:
The spirits of the dead gathered around me, wanting to know why we did not
redeem them. Said they, You have had the use of the Endowment House for
a number of years, and yet nothing has ever been done for us. We laid the
foundation of the government you now enjoy, and we remained true to it
and were faithful to God. These were the signers of the Declaration of
Independence [of the United States of America], and they waited on me for
two days and two nights. I straightway went into the baptismal font and
called upon Brother McAllister to baptize me for the signers of the Declaration
of Independence, and fifty other eminent men, making one hundred in all,
including John Wesley, Columbus, and others.
-During the April 1894 general conference, President Woodruff announced that he
had received a revelation about genealogical work. He declared that God wanted
the Latter-day Saints to trace their genealogies as far as (?)
To trace their genealogies as far as they can, and to be sealed to their
fathers and mothers. Have the children sealed to their parents and run this
chain through as far as you can get it. This is the will of the Lord to his
people.

-At a 1906 conference in Bern, Switzerland, he stretched out his hand and declared,
The time will come when this land will be dotted with (?)
The time will come when this land will be dotted with temples, where you
can go and redeem your dead. The first latter-day temple in Europe, the
Swiss Temple, was dedicated nearly half a century later in a suburb of the city
where President Smith made his prophecy. President Smith dedicated land for
a temple in Cardston, Alberta, Canada, in 1913 and for a temple in Hawaii in
1915.
-President Joseph F. Smith received a vision of the Spirit World. In this vision he
witnessed a visit. Who was visiting whom?
The Savior went to the spirits who:
1. Had been faithful in the testimony of Jesus while they lived in mortality
(D&C 138:12).
2. Had offered sacrifice in the similitude of the great sacrifice of the Son of
God (D&C 138:13).
3. Had suffered tribulation in their Redeemers name (D&C 138:13).
4. Had departed the mortal life, firm in the hope of a glorious resurrection,
through the grace of God the Father and his Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ
(D&C 138:14).
5. Were filled with joy and gladness, and were rejoicing together because the
day of their deliverance was at hand (D&C 138:15).
Why did the Savior visit these people? To organize a rescue of the dead.
While serving in the Quorum of the Twelve, Elder Wilford Woodruff taught:
For the last eighteen hundred years, the people that have lived and passed
away never heard the voice of an inspired man, never heard a Gospel
sermon, until they entered the spirit-world. Somebody has got to redeem
them, by performing such ordinances for them in the flesh as they cannot
attend to themselves in the spirit, and in order that this work may be done,
we must have Temples in which to do it (in Journal of Discourses, 19:228
29).
-Latter-day apostles have encouraged these members of the Church, who generally
have a greater interest and capacity for newer technologies, to become involved in
geneology.
Youth:
Elder J Ballard Washburn of the Seventy:
After a stake conference, I was talking with a family with teenage children. I
said to them, You must live righteously so that someday you can go to the
temple with your parents. A sixteen-year-old daughter responded, Oh, we go
to the temple with our parents almost every week. We go and do baptisms for

our family file names. I thought, What a wonderful thing, for families to go to
the temple together (in Conference Report, Apr. 1995, 12; or Ensign, May
1995, 11).

Restoration of Keys
-Moroni taught Joseph that Elijah would plant in the hearts of the children the
promises made to (?) Whom?
President Joseph Fielding Smith taught: What was the promise made to the
fathers that was to be fulfilled in the latter days by the turning of the hearts
of the children to their fathers? It was the promise of the Lord made through
Enoch, Isaiah, and the prophets, to the nations of the earth, that the time
should come when the dead should be redeemed.
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve said, God made those
promises to the ancient patriarchsAdam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and
so forthand we undoubtedly made them to our own lineal fathers and
mothers, those who came to earth before the gospel was restored but whom
we promised to provide its saving ordinances.
-What temple was the first to perform endowments for the dead in this
dispensation?
St. George temple
-Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith and quoted many passages from the Old
Testament. What were they?
Malachi 3 and 4
Isaiah 11
Acts 3:22-23
Joel 2:28-32
-After the dedication of the Kirtland Temple, council and spiritual meetings were held
in the buiding almost daily. The Prophet Joseph Smith wrote of his activities on 3
April 1836: In the afternoon, I assisted the other Presidents in distributing the
Lords Supper to the Church, receiving it from the Twelve, whose privilege it was to
officiate at the sacred desk this day. After having performed this service to my
brethren, I retired to the pulpit, the veils being dropped, and bowed myself, with
Oliver Cowdery, in solemn and silent prayer. After rising from prayer, the following
vision was opened to both of us. What was the vision?
A vision of the Glorified Christ who accepted the temple as His House. Also
Elias, Elijah, Moses and others appeared to confer keys of the priesthood.

In conclusion

The Prophet Joseph Smith said: The Bible says, I will send you Elijah the Prophet
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord; and he shall turn the
hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers,
lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. [Malachi 4:56.]
Now, the word turn here should be translated bind, or seal. But what is the object
of this important mission? or how is it to be fulfilled? The keys are to be delivered,
the spirit of Elijah is to come, the Gospel to be established, the Saints of God
gathered, Zion built up, and the Saints to come up as saviors on Mount Zion.
But how are they to become saviors on Mount Zion? By building their temples,
erecting their baptismal fonts, and going forth and receiving all the ordinances,
baptisms, confirmations, washings, anointings, ordinations and sealing powers upon
their heads, in behalf of all their progenitors who are dead, and redeem them that
they may come forth in the first resurrection and be exalted to thrones of glory with
them; and herein is the chain that binds the hearts of the fathers to the children,
and the children to the fathers, which fulfills the mission of Elijah. And I would to
God that this temple was now done, that we might go into it, and go to work and
improve our time, and make use of the seals while they are on earth.
The Saints have not too much time to save and redeem their dead, and gather
together their living relatives, that they may be saved also, before the earth will be
smitten, and the consumption decreed falls upon the world. (History of the Church,
6:18384.)