|
DIRECTORY
Home
General LDS Information
Basic LDS Beliefs
LDS Videos
Critics' Questions
Submitted Questions
Scriptures/LDS Literature
Genealogy/Family
LDS Temples
Missionary
Music and Arts
LDS Online Stores
Priesthood, Humor, Miscel.
Site Map
Suggest a Site
Now accepting banner ads!
|
|
HAROLD - It is said that at the return of jesus at the last days his first project will be to cleanse the temples. As a temple worker how could that be. There are no more dedicated individuals on the earth than those attending and working in the temple of our Lord.
No one works harder than those called to serve in the temple, and it hard for me to conceive that the lord is displeased with his servants who work there.
Have I heard wrong on this, and could you clarify please?
JOEL - Actually we are already cleaning the Temples for Him before He comes. I recently spent an entire Saturday cleaning the Sacramento temple with the rest of my ward. :-)
You would have to give me a reference of where you heard it specified that He would start His cleansing in our temples. I can't find any scriptural references for that. Of course we know that at Christ's second coming he will cleanse the earth of telestial wickedness which will usher in the Millennium. And when it comes time to cleanse the earth in the last
days, the Lord has said he will begin within his own house:
"23. Verily, verily, I say unto you, darkness covereth the earth, and gross darkness the minds of the people, and all flesh has become corrupt before my face.
24. Behold, vengeance cometh speedily upon the inhabitants of the earth, a day of wrath, a day of burning, a day of desolation, of weeping, of mourning, and of lamentation; and as a whirlwind it shall come upon all the face of the earth, saith the Lord.
25. And upon my house shall it begin, and from my house shall it go forth, saith the Lord;
26. First among those among you, saith the Lord, who have professed to know my name and have not known me, and have blasphemed against me in the midst of my house, saith the Lord" (D&C 112:23-26).
The verse in question is #25 where he says "And upon my house shall it begin". Because our temples are called "the House of the Lord", one might interpret this to mean that he will start his cleansing of the earth within our temples. I think however a more generalized interpretation of this scripture would be more appropriate, relating "my house" to
the church membership in general; similar to the term "House of Israel".
Timothy equates the "house of God" with the "church of the living God":
"But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.(1 Tim. 3:15, see also 1 Pet 4:17)
President Joseph F. Smith seemed to agree with this as he spoke in a general conference address in 1880:
". . . I further testify, that unless the Latter-day Saints will live their religion, keep their covenants with God and their brethren, honor the Priesthood which they bear, and try faithfully to bring themselves into subjection to the laws of God, they will be the first to fall beneath the judgments of the Almighty, for his judgment will begin at his own house." (Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference Report, April, 1937, p. 60.)
In the D&C God explains why it will begin in his house:
"Nevertheless, there are those among you who have sinned exceedingly; yea, even all of you have sinned; but verily I say unto you, beware from henceforth, and refrain from sin, lest sore judgments fall upon your heads.
For of him unto whom much is given much is required; and he who sins against the greater light shall receive the greater condemnation." (D&C 82: 2-3)
Any church members who have "sinned against the greater light" will no doubt be the first to be destroyed by Christ's glory when He comes again; even those who might happen to be in a temple at the time it happens.
|
|
|
