followHIM - Malachi Part 2 • Dr. Barbara Gardner • Dec. 12 - Dec. 18

Episode Date: December 7, 2022

Dr. Gardner continues to examine the Book of Malachi and evidence of God's love for all his children–on both sides of the veil.Please rate and review the podcast!Show Notes (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese): https://followhim.co/old-testament/Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/follow-him-a-come-follow-me-podcast/id1545433056Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followhimpodcastSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/15G9TTz8yLp0dQyEcBQ8BYThanks to the follow HIM team:Steve & Shannon Sorensen: Executive Producers, SponsorsDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: Marketing, SponsorLisa Spice: Client Relations, Editor, Show NotesJamie Neilson: Social Media, Graphic DesignWill Stoughton: Video EditorKrystal Roberts: Translation Team, English & French Transcripts, WebsiteAriel Cuadra: Spanish TranscriptsIgor Willians: Portuguese Transcripts"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com

Welcome to part two of Dr. Barbara Morgan Gardner, the book of Malachi. John and Hank, there's a great talk by Elder Holland where he talks about the reasons that we pay our tithing. I think it's called like a watered garden. I love this talk, but it gives different reasons for paying tithing. For jumping to this, he just says the first reason to pay tithing is to do so for the sake of your children and grandchildren, the rising generation, so they can grow up in the church. We can build temples, et cetera. He says, the second reason to pay your tithing is to rightfully claim the blessings promised to those who do so. And then he quotes the scripture prove be here with. I just want to share, I recognize a lot of the

blessings of tithing are not monetary. And frankly, it's the monetary blessings that we talk about, but I do want to share a couple of them. And I think if we were to send this out to every single person listening to this podcast, everyone could share how they have tested the Lord or proved the Lord in a sense, and he has proven himself to us. I'll just share one verse. I have 12 siblings, and I remember my eighth sister, so the eighth child down, was the first one to get married. And she called my dad and said that she was going to get married. Frankly, she was young and my dad said that she wasn't mature enough, but that's a story for another day. But in so doing, she asked my dad for some money so that she could have a reception. I remember 13 children. My dad worked for the church. My mom

was a stay-at-home mom who worked very hard, but did not receive an income. But they were ardent. I mean, they paid their tithing, and that was important to all of us. And we knew they paid their tithing, and we all paid our tithing. We all worked from a young age. But I remember my dad telling us that when he was asked by Sherry if she could help, she gave him a specific number. I don't know, I don't remember the number exactly, but I want to say $500. And my dad said he knew he didn't have $500, but he also knew that Sherry wanted to get married and she wanted to get married in the temple. And so he said at work, he literally fell to his knees and said, Heavenly Father, my daughter is trying to have a covenant marriage in the temple. And I would love to be able to celebrate this with the family and with friends for her.

And she is asking for $500 and I don't have it. But I have paid my tithing consistently since I joined the church. And we have sacrificed and we've tried to do the right thing. Please bless us with this $500. I remember the story so well because what I remember really was when my dad came home that day, our car had been totaled. Well, he drove it up to the side of our house and it was already an old car. We never had a new car. And my older brother who had just turned 16 came out and said to my dad, what happened? And he said, I just got in a car accident.

And my brother said, are you going to fix it? And he said, well, let me tell you the story. He talked about Sherry and her need for this $500. And they went to see how much it would cost to have the car fixed. And they received the report from the insurance company. It was $500. It was to the exact penny that my dad had asked for. I think sometimes the Lord manifests himself in mysterious ways. And in this case, for us, it was a ruined car, but it was the answer to a very thoughtful, sincere, sacrificing father who didn't genuinely care about his car at all. He never did. But what he cared about was the covenant that his daughter was about to make and proving the Lord for his children and setting that example.

And I also remember that's miracle number one. The miracle number two, as my dad would often say, is that David said, my older brother said at the time, I'm never going to go on a date then. And my dad said, you know, great, because he wanted to take the car to go on his first date when he turned 16. And my dad said, it's fantastic. You're not going to drive the car. And I have a daughter getting married. This is perfect. I think we all have these tithing stories and we have proved the Lord and he has come out proving himself to us over and over and over again. That's a basic question for anyone entering the temple is, are you paying a full tithe? And those who are covenant making,

keeping members of the church say yes. And I think they say so with a smile on their face, with again, their hearts completely testifying that this principle is one principle that helps us be 100% committed to God. Frankly, I believe anybody who will pay 10% will give their all. If you're willing to pay whatever God asks, 10%, if we're willing to do so, then we are also going to keep our temple covenants, which is, as we've been taught by Elder Bednar so recently, one of them being that we are willing to live the law of consecration. If we're willing to pay 10% and we're serious about it and we're giving the full 10%, we're going to be willing to give our all. It says something about the heart. I want to share a tithing story.

This is from Sydney S. Reynolds, first counselor in the primary general presidency way back in 2003. She says, many years ago, John Orth worked in a foundry in Australia, and in a terrible accident, hot molten lead splashed onto his face and body. He was administered too, and some of the vision was restored to his right eye, but he was completely blind in his left. Because he couldn't see well, he lost his job. He tried to get employment with his wife's family, but their business failed due to the depression. He was forced to go door to door seeking odd jobs and handouts to pay for food and rent. One year, he did not pay any tithing and went to talk to the branch president. The branch president understood the situation, but asked John to make it a matter of prayer and fasting so that he could find a way to pay his tithing. John and his wife Alice fasted and prayed and determined that the only

thing of value they owned was her engagement ring, a beautiful ring bought in happier times. After much anguish, they decided to take the ring to a pawnbroker and learned it was worth enough to pay their tithing and some of their outstanding bills. That Sunday, he went to the branch president and paid his tithing. As he left the office, he happened to meet the mission president, who noticed his damaged eyes. Brother Orth's son, now serving as bishop in Adelaide, later wrote, we believe that the mission president was an eye doctor, for he was commonly called President Dr. Reese. He spoke to Dad and was able to examine him and offer some suggestions to help his eyesight.

Dad followed his advice and in due course, sight was restored. 15% sight to his left eye and 95% sight to his right eye. And with the help of glasses, he could see again. With his vision restored, John was never unemployed again. He redeemed the ring, which is now a family heirloom and paid a full tithing for the rest of his life. The Lord knew John Orth and he knew he could help him. And then Sister Reynolds says, President Dr. Reese was my mother's father.

And he probably never knew of the miracle that was wrought that day. Stories don't always work out like that, but don't you just love the ones that do? It's the Mary Fielding Smith story that we know about as well, where she's being asked as she's with five fatherless children at this point, and she's trying to lead this wonderful family, and she's being told that she doesn't have to pay her tithing. And her response, and Elder Holland talks about this in that same talk, he says, William, this is what she says to the man, William, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. Would you deny me a blessing? If I do not pay my tithing, I should expect the Lord to withhold his blessings from me. And this is such a classic statement.

I pay my tithing not only because it is a law of God, but because I expect a blessing by doing it. I need a blessing. By keeping this and other laws, I expect to be able to provide for my family. I'm going to share just one more story with that, is that idea of expecting. And sometimes it's hard, but when God commands and we obey, He is bound, as it says again in the Doctrine and Covenants 82. I remember my dad was called as a stake president years ago. And as exciting as that was, our stake center was 45 minutes one direction, and our church

building that we would attend was 20 minutes another direction. This is in Oregon. And we only had one car and we had 13 children. And I remember my dad saying to us, I don't know how this is going to work, but we've paid our tithing and the Lord wants me to be a state president. And we had a 15 passenger van. That's all we had. And I know that he is going to make this happen. I just know. But I need you to fast and pray and talk to the Lord about that we've paid our tithing and know that he'll take care of us.

This comes in with my dad legitimately expected that the Lord would provide for him and provide for our family. So we did. We fasted and prayed as a family. We continued to pay our tithing. And I remember my dad was asked to go. He worked for the church in family services, and he was asked to go to an adoption meeting in Washington, D.C. Of course, the church paid for his trip, but he had told all of us growing up that if we

saved, at the time they had these box tops, that if you saved enough box tops, you could actually get a free airplane ticket. So one of my brothers actually saved the box tops and was given a free ticket. So he joined my dad on this trip. And in the airport, he met a man who, long story short, was very kind to him and ended up sitting with him on the airplane. In the conversation with this man, my brother, I wanted to introduce him to my dad. He introduced this man to my dad who was in the back of the airplane. And this man said to my dad, who are you? My dad just basically said, I'm Al Morgan. I'm here working as an agent for adoption and things. And he said, well, I don't know if this makes sense and why I feel this way, but I'm a Catholic and I don't know why I feel this way, but do you need a van? I own a car dealership in Michigan, and I just feel like I need to give you a free van.

If I sent you and your wife out to our dealership, would you be willing to come and just pick up a van? I mean, you can't make this stuff up. And I realize that this doesn't happen to everyone all the time, and these aren't the answers. It wasn't like we had a lot of money. When my parents paid their tithing, they didn't expect a mansion, but they did expect that the Lord would help us keep our covenants. We expected that the Lord would help him be a stake president and at the same time that his children would be able to go to church.

The expectation wasn't that we would ever get rich. We never were. But the expectation from my father and my mother was if they paid their tithing, the Lord would help us keep our covenants. And he always did. He helped my sister get married in the temple and have that family relationship. He helped us be able to go to church. My parents lived in a tent for a while at a park, but yet they were paying their tithing. And we've seen the benefit, not financially, but I've seen the benefit as far as the sacred. And again, I saw two people, my parents, and hopefully it's gone with the rest of us far from perfect, but the Lord will

take care of those who pay their tithing. He just will, according to what the Lord needs and not according to other people. That's what Mary Fielding Smith saw. That's what Elder Holland is teaching. And that's what we all see. It's such a sacred thing. And I believe that that is one of the reasons that it's a temple recommend question and brought up here that the Lord is asking. Again, he wants us. The third reason that he says for painter tithing is a declaration that possessions of material goods and accumulations of worldly wealth are not uppermost goals. And then fourth, we pay our tithings and offerings out of honesty and integrity.

And then I love this last one. We pay our tithes because we want to give something back. And then Elder Holland says, but I never want to be in King David's words, that which cost me nothing. The Lord knows that sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven. And he knows that sacrifice is what is required to become as he is. He's trying to help purify us. And some people just don't want to be purified in this chapter. Purification is a lot of work. That was awesome, Barb. I can't believe the guy

offered you guys a van. The crazy thing is, first of all, they made a rule that nobody under the age of 25 could drive the van, which was like almost all of us still at that point, which I think is hilarious that they did that. Let's make a rule. But also, yeah, it was actually really, I'm sure my dad made it up, but whatever. Anyway, the other one was when my dad was released as a stake president, the gentleman's name was Al Bauer. When he was released as a stake president, Al didn't even know that he had been released. He was not a member of the church. As I said, he was a Catholic. He called my dad within, I don't know, two days of his release date and said, I'm assuming that your van probably is

wearing out at this point. As a state president's time, I don't know, nine or 10 years. And he said, would you like to come back and have another van? To which my parents were like, we can't take advantage of you. And his response to my parents was, the love that your family has shown me is worth much more than any vehicle on my lot. And of course, we weren't trying to win any favors with them, but that relationship that was built with a man who was willing to sacrifice for the Lord was very real. And he spent his last Christmas with us at our home with our family and passed away shortly after. Just an older gentleman who didn't have a lot of family support who wanted to serve however he could with his money.

I love that too. Not a member of our church, but there's so much goodness out there among so many people. And for him to get that, I mean, that's like a revelation. That was for him discernment that I don't know why I need to give your family a van. What a great story. As my dad says, it was so funny. He just said, I don't know why a Catholic would have this impression, but do you need a van?

I feel like I'm supposed to give you a van. Again, I'll say the reality is we were fasting and praying at home. He had been called as a stake president. He hadn't even been ordained or set apart yet. It was in the intermediate between when he was called and when he was set apart. So that first Sunday, we knew that there was already an answer ready to go. We drove. Actually, we didn't fly.

My dad wanted to make it a family trip, of course. So we drove from Oregon to Michigan in a Junker, a major Junker, to say the least. And we picked up our first nice vehicle that we ever had. And we drove it home. And my dad used it for steak work. My dad used to say, our car has air conditioning 460. Dad, our car doesn't have air conditioning. No, it has air conditioning 460. What's that, dad? Four windows down and 60 miles an hour. We used to ask my dad, why can't we have a dishwasher in our home? Because everybody

had a dishwasher. My dad said, I have 13 dishwashers and none of them work. That was his joke. So now all of us as siblings, we all have dishwashers and we use them. Paying our tithing didn't get us a dishwasher. Barb, that was just beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. I attended a Deseret book meeting once and President M. Russell Ballard was there. He reported on a trip that he and President Packer had just taken to back east, talked to New York reporters about the sesquicentennial of the Pioneers arrival in the Valley. So we're talking 1997. This was a long time ago. And President Ballard said that President Packer got up to this group of reporters and said, we're here to answer all of your questions.

I will answer the easy ones. Elder Ballard will answer the hard ones. And I will determine which ones are easy and which are hard. But President Ballard, and I suppose in 97, they were probably both Elder Ballard and Elder Packer. But today, President Ballard, he continued, he said, there were two questions that no matter how hard we tried to answer, we just couldn't seem to do it to the satisfaction of the reporters. The two questions were, how do you get those young

people to go on missions? And how do you get people to pay tithing? Because they just didn't get it. And it reminded me of a poster I saw when I was at BYU. It was in one of the photocopy centers. And the poster on the wall said, those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music. I love that idea of we can hear the music of the gospel. And Elder Ballard and Elder Packer could not convince them.

No matter how hard they tried, they just didn't understand how that works. Young people going on missions and people paying tithing. And I think hearing these stories from Barbara and from you, Hank, about the one you read, just they're common. Thousands of people listening have their own story they could contribute. Maybe not that they got rich, but the Lord helped them get through and have what they needed to keep going. And all of us have stories like that, I think. And we're proving the Lord, like Malachi asked us to, like the Lord's asking us to prove me.

He does. He opens the windows of heaven. Unlike you both, my heart is pure. I struggled with tithing. I think I married a good woman who the Lord said, I know you struggle with this one, so I'm gonna help you, you know, and give you someone who doesn't struggle.

But every month or every year when tithing is paid, I think of that phrase, the Lord asked to Peter, do you love me more than these? Pointing to the fish, pointing to his income, his livelihood, do you love me more than these? And I love having that check on my life. I just love being able to answer that question over and over and over. Yes, Lord, that I love thee. Tithing is a blessing to me. It's an opportunity. And Barbara's story is so interesting. The Lord didn't have 500 bucks magically show up. He totaled his car. Then the insurance gave him 500. Yeah, it'll cost you your car, but here's the 500.

Well, and I'll just say in a sense, that was the beauty of watching my parents. I think so many people live the gospel. It's never about the money. You're not going to get rich being a covenant keeper. Some people will, some people won't. That's not the point. It's not that kind of richness. It's just like he says, we talked about already in chapter three, where he says, I will make up my jewels. Like we are the money to the Lord. We are his great value. We are his glory. It's people. And that's the thing with tithing. It's not about the money. It's about what God is creating. It's he's creating his jewels as we give up our jewels.

That's the beauty is we get so much more. And I think also in verse 16, that's one of the beauties of verse 16 of chapter three is they that feared the Lord spake often one to another and the Lord hearkened. I just love that and heard it. I mean, he answered their prayers. He's talking about tithing that he's talking about these people they're talking about. It's vain to serve God. Well, no, it's only vain to serve God if you don't understand God. You'll never understand tithing until you pay it.

And then I love this and heard it. And a book of remembrance was written before him. And I think that's also one of the beauties and asking you, how do you get your children to pay their tithing? I think part of it is telling true, honest, miracle stories. I mean, I will tell my daughters when we get to Malachi, we will have a discussion about our family stories and about my personal family stories about paying my tithing. And then I will bless them with the experience of paying their own tithing, and they will be

telling their own stories to their children because God will be proved and he will always come out having proven himself. This book of remembrance, I think, is so critical, especially when you start getting into family history with Elijah in the next chapter. But this book of remembrance, the writing down of these miraculous experiences when we do pay our tithing makes it so those who may see it as vain really aren't reading also the miracles and the stories of other people. The Lord has proved himself. So if we can keep these stories, we can keep them alive, use stories of other people, help

them experiment upon the words themselves, and then write that in the book of remembrance. That is one thing I think that helps future generations be willing to pay their tithing is they trust us as we speak about our own experiences, and they trust others as they speak about their experiences. It's one of the beauties of family history, I think. Speaking of family history, when I was on my mission in the Philippines, I asked my dad for some help on teaching about tithing. And he investigated the church in his 20s.

And the stake missionaries read to him this promise of Malachi, which is just poetry. Prove me, I will open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing. And my dad was like, wow, really? And this letter, I'm reading it on my mission. So I started paying tithing as an investigator to see if it would work. It did. And when I think about my dad, and he worked three jobs when they were first married to make ends meet. But our family history is dad always paid his tithing because he found that

promise true. And it was helpful to me to remember when I get to grumble, dad worked three jobs. One of them was spraying mosquitoes out in the swamps near the Great Salt Lake. Dad worked three jobs. One of them was spraying mosquitoes out in the swamps near the Great Salt Lake. He worked three jobs. And so it wasn't easy, but he always paid his tithing. I remember his testimony. It helped me. I'm going to open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing. You won't even be able to receive it. It'll be so big. So I'm glad you said that because that family story means a lot to me. I remember when I first got married, this is nothing against an ecclesiastical leader, but you'll see my side. I remember I missed the tithing settlement that my husband and I had set up with our bishop. And the bishop asked Dustin if we were full tithe payers and he said yes.

And it was the first time that I remember in my entire life having a year where I wasn't personally asked. And I called the bishop back and said, I want you to know I appreciate that Dustin is speaking for both of us, but I need to declare to you that I'm a full tithe payer. Because that is critical for me. I need to be able to tell you as a representative of the Lord that I am paying my tithing fully. Again, nothing against anyone, but it was anyone, but I have just come to learn for myself that it's a very sacred privilege. I have a friend who just returned from being a mission leader, and he was President Monson's bishop and went down to give President Monson a temple recommend interview. And he said when he asked the questions, President Monson hit the table and said, yes, yes, yes to each of the questions.

That's awesome. I'm a temperate man. I've always loved that story. I was adamant. Yes. As we talked about all these blessings, I really feel strongly that one of the reasons I love studying the scriptures is simply because of the Lord opening up the windows of heaven of revelation. And I really do believe that tithing also allows for that. It allows for a purity. It puts us in the mode of being willing

to sacrifice for the Lord. And he gives us the blessing. For me, the windows of heaven, although I told those stories, they have nothing to do with the physical or the monetary. For me, the windows of heaven, although I told those stories, they have nothing to do with the physical or the monetary. For me, I see the windows of heaven coming through blessings of revelation and inspiration and an understanding of who God is and discernment. It's those blessings that are associated with the temple discussed again in section 84 and section 107 of the keys of knowledge and the godliness. All the things associated with the temple are the windows of heaven, the blessings of the windows of heaven and the godliness. All the things associated with the temple are the windows of heaven, the blessings of the windows of heaven being poured upon us. This is going to date me a bit, but I remember watching a movie,

a movie, not a video, a movie, like on a film projector. We used to call it in the ancient of days. I was sitting next to Wilford Woodruff in seminary that year. And no, it was called the windows of heaven. And it was about this drought in St. George, Hank's hometown, and how it was really a difficult time for the saints in St. George.

And they were just not getting enough water. I remember in the movie, they were carrying buckets of water around planting corn and just asking the Lord to please bless them. Well, Lorenzo Snow gets this prompting to go to St. George and they show the trip in the movie. They act out the trip, but he's in a wagon. How long does it take to get to St. George in a wagon? He's an old man and he's bumping around and everything. And he gets up in the St. George Tabernacle in front of all the saints and says, I know the Lord wanted me to come here, but I don't know why.

And in the middle of the talk, he suddenly kind of stands up and looks up and is strengthened. All of a sudden, he looks down and he starts to preach tithing. I know why I've come here. And he promises them in a literal way that the windows of heaven will open if they will pay their tithing. And for them, a lot of it was paying tithing in kind with goods and things like that. But then they show this movie and President Snow leaves and he goes to other parts of the church on his way home and preaches the same message about tithing and promises that if we prove the Lord, he'll open the windows of heaven. The end of the movie, they show these farmers out in their field and all of a sudden here come these clouds. And they just dump. Just dump the rain and you see this guy putting his barrel underneath the rain gutter

and then just falling to his knees you know and i remember at the end of the movie the words saying since that time the church has never been in debt that's what i remembered about that that this was a time where there's kind of a reminder for the whole church to prove the Lord and watch what happens. And that movie made an impression on me as a teenager. Have you seen that? Well, I'm just glad you said you weren't old enough to remember Lorenzo Snow visit St. George. That's what I thought you were going to say. But if you go visit the St. George Temple, I think the missionaries there tell you that story about how in the middle of a

talk, he got this revelation and started preaching tithing and the Lord literally opened the windows of heaven and the drought ended in St. George. That's awesome. I remember watching that movie many, many, many times growing up. It was a Sunday afternoon. What else are you going to do? That John Baker's Last Race, The Mailbox. Yeah. All those good ones.

Watch some church movies. But yeah, I remember that one. That's a great one. Sorry, it made me emotional, but I just remember when the rain came, how they just, I mean, it gushed. It was awesome. Yeah. John, again, back to my parents and the tenderness of your story. I remember asking my dad and mom one day how they were able to raise a family on the budget they had with so many children.

And his answer was, we worked hard and we paid our tithing. Why did you pay your tithing? You had so little. And I remember just as you, very emotional. His response was just so full of, Barb, we can't afford not to. But it was such a sacred thing. And like you're saying, the rain poured. Figuratively speaking, our fields would not grow if he did not. We could not have afforded it. Yeah. Reminds me of the hymn, we doubt not the Lord nor his goodness. We have proved him in days that are past. Yep. And he's asking, prove me. Watch. Watch what I'll do.

Again, it's the beauty of this book of Malachi is the Lord is just pleading with them to let him bless them. But it takes a sacrifice. But let me, please, let me, let me do these things. What a loving father who is just, I really want to bless you. Yep, exactly. Well, Barb, that brings us to the very last chapter of the Old Testament for this year. We're excited to hear from you. Yep, exactly. Well, Barb, that brings us to the very last chapter of the Old Testament for this year. We're excited to hear from you. I love this chapter. It is a critical chapter that we see repeated over and over again in all of the other standard

works where he just starts out, for behold, the day cometh. And this is again Malachi who has the burden of the word. For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as again Malachi, who has the burden of the word. For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, all that do wickedly shall be stubble. And the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. I can't imagine him having to say that to the people then, but also prophesying for the future.

And then he continues on. But unto you that fear my name shall the son, S-O-N, S-U-N here, but clearly it's the son of righteousness arise. And you see again with healing in his wings, that healing and that son, and what the Lord is trying to teach them. And they, the people need it. They've been through a lot. The children of Israel have suffered and he shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall and ye shall tread down the wicked for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, sayeth the Lord of hosts.

Remember ye the law of Moses, my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel with the statutes and the judgments. And then this beautiful behold, I will send you Elijah, the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. I mean, that's the end of the world.

The last day, you know, you're just seeing this like, and 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 heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. We know that we see this. Elijah is so critical to this. Why is it so important that it's Elijah? We know that Elijah was the last prophet who had these keys of sealing between this time and the time of the coming of Christ. Elijah was the only prophet who was able to pass on the ability for families to be eternal. And then, as it says in section two of the Doctrine and Covenants, this visit from Moroni, where he's going to be stating this promise, 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. 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 if it were not so. And this is the part that is so critical. The whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming. So Malachi, the end of the Old Testament is just stating here, the Lord is going to send Elijah. And although the earth will be burned at the coming of Jesus Christ and it will be a stubble, Elijah will make it so the whole earth will not be utterly wasted at his coming. Elijah will come forth.

He will have these keys. He will reveal to the world, the priesthood. And because of this, the world is going to be able to withstand this burning and frankly, will be celestialized. And the purposes of the earth will be accomplished, which is eternal life, The glory, which is the purpose of God and all that he has done. It's just, it's such an amazing scripture. Yeah. I see that way back in verse one, chapter four, verse one, he talks about the wicked burning and being left without root or branch. You can kind of feel the sense of family there in roots and branches.

That sin destroys families. That's what verse one tells me. Sin destroys families. No roots, no ancestors, no branches, no children, no family units. And Elijah is going to come and make sure that doesn't happen. The temple ceiling saves families. And in fact, Joseph Smith talks about this, the importance of Elijah. He says, the spirit, this, the importance of Elijah. He says, the spirit, power, and calling of Elijah is that you have power to hold the key of the fullness of the Melchizedek priesthood. That fullness is critical because in fullness, he's talking

eternal family. He's talking the holy order of the son of God. He's talking your calling and election being made sure that fullness of the priesthood is temple. That's temple terminology. That's eternal family. That's the ceiling. And then he continues, the spirit power and calling of Elijah is that ye have the power to hold the key of the fullness of the Melchizedek priesthood and to obtain all the ordinances belonging to the kingdom of God, even unto the turning of the hearts of the fathers unto the children and the hearts of the children unto the fathers, even those who are in heaven. I mean, you think about Joseph Smith at this time, and you think about what Elijah is going to give, what Malachi is prophesying. I mean, if there is a hope for all

people, the children of Israel that have this wickedness and they're not completely willing to commit, there is still a hope. I mean, the Lord will not lose hope. Even for them, Elijah will come and even they will be saved because temple work will continue on both sides of the veil. The fullness will still come. And that does come as we know, Elijah is going to come to the Kirtland temple. He's going to reveal those keys and this is going to happen years later. So in here where he's saying this prophet will come, we know he's come and he is going

to give these keys to Joseph Smith. And Joseph Smith is going to be using these keys when he gets to the Nauvoo temple, where the fullness of the Melchizedek priesthood is used. And he is going to seal these families together. I don't know if Joseph knew back in section two, what it meant that Elijah was coming. Joseph was so young. Personally, I can't imagine. But by the time of the Kirtland temple, he recognizes that there was a promise coming from Moroni that was repeated multiple times that was extremely important. And then when section 110 happens, I should say, when Elijah really comes, prophecy has been fulfilled a decade and a half later. And now, although I don't know how much he understood for sure, even then, I would imagine he understood at that point, the importance of families, the importance of what this means

to his brother, Alvin, the importance that it's going to have to his father, as he's saying, make sure the temple work is done for Alvin later on. But this is the point where all hope, all the glory, all the graciousness of the Lord comes to fruit with Malachi saying, Elijah will come because we know what that means. It's the ceiling key. When I teach 3 Nephi 25, I put verses 1, 5, and 6 next to Joseph Smith history

because they're slightly different. And it's so fun to look that it's not that one is true and one isn't. It's that one gives us a little bit more. The day that cometh shall burn them up. But in Joseph Smith history, they that come shall burn them. That's fascinating. But I will send you Elijah the prophet in 3 Nephi 25 or Malachi. And then I will reveal unto you the priesthood by the hand of Elijah the prophet. And I love to ask my students, wait a minute, who restored the priesthood? Oh, I thought that was Peter, James, and John, and John the Baptist, right? So maybe I will reveal unto you the

priesthood means something different than restore, which you just talked about. It's the sealing keys he's going to bring. And then when in Mal malachi he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children but in joseph smith history maron i said he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers which sounds like abrahamic covenant it's one gives us a lot more and elder bruce r mcconkie, this is what is involved in the promise that the Lord would reveal unto us the priesthood by the hand of Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. By restoring the sealing keys, Elijah revealed the greatest use to which the priesthood may be put by mortals on earth. And that's what you were just talking

about. And so we're so glad that Elijah came. Yeah. And to make sure we understand this is something that President Benson talks about. Elder Bednar has quoted this. Elder Eyring has quoted this, but you have the keys that are restored through Peter, James, and John in 1829. That gave Joseph Smith the ability to have the presiding authority over the church, but that did not give him the keys necessary to seal. It did not give him the keys necessary to have missionary work. It wasn't until we received section 110, 1836, that Kirtland temple, that Joseph Smith receives the authority to do what other apostles and prophets before him had the ability to do, including Adam. So that restoration that comes in the temple is

absolutely critical. Elijah is the great prophecy. That is the culmination of everything. So when Elijah finally comes, as has been prophesied there, Joseph Smith for the first time now receives the keys that he's able to turn the hearts of the children to their fathers and the fathers to the children, et cetera. And I'll just put this point, and I think this is critical. When we say hearts of the children to their fathers, I hope we understand that we also mean, as President Packer says, to their parents. This is talking about, again, temple. This is priesthood, power being restored. This is making covenants. This is the temple. This isn't talking about the father-son relationship as much as it's talking about the family relationship, the eternal relationship. Again, President Benson talks about it's the family priesthood.

It's the government of God, which is family. It's eternal family. It's the possibility of the government of God that's being restored. And that's why Kirtland is so big. That's why you have angels coming from everywhere. We have all these journal entries of the spirit of Elijah that was there. And that is a real serious restoration. This is when genealogy really does start in the world. After this 1830, we see nothing before 1830, really, even in the United States. But after this, we just start seeing a little bit and a little bit. And then we have

the Boston Genealogical Society. All these people start coming out almost out of the woodwork and people start turning. This spirit of Elijah is real. The hearts of the children really did turn to their fathers. Sometimes we can talk about Joseph Smith trying to understand this and recognizing that his hearts are also being turned to his fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But just as a reminder, as he's turning to his fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he's also turning to the Abrahamic covenant, which is Abraham and Sarah. It's the Abrahamic covenant. This returning to the fathers is a family he's learning about and desiring an eternal family and these covenants of eternal posterity. And that's what's happening

here is Malachi as he's closing this book, although we don't know if necessarily the last book, but as this book is closing, we're seeing this, but it's not over yet, people. It's not over yet. Elijah is going to come. Everyone's going to have a chance again. Jesus Christ is going to heal people and families are going to be sealed for eternity. And that's the first thing really that Joseph writes about. It's the first revelation chronologically in the Doctrine and Covenants is this response from Moroni to him. And again, it's written over and over again. There's this beautiful painting in the Kirtland Visitor Center of Joseph and Oliver at the pulpits and these angels coming down, Moses and Elijah and restoring keys like you just talked about.

It reminds me of the hymn, the visions and blessings of all the returning and angels are coming to visit the earth. And also there's a chart in the Religion 211 student manual, which shows that the very same characters who appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration appeared again in the Kirtland Temple. The elegance of that is just really kind of the symmetry of the way the Lord brought about the restoration and these same characters. And they needed to because, as you just said, Barbara, to restore those keys of gathering of Israel, keys of sealing and all that sort of thing. And so I love that you said that. And what's that part of the Abrahamic covenant?

To bless all the families of the earth. Exactly. Again, it's all about the family. It's all about eternal family and having that possibility. And again, only through the atonement of Jesus Christ, which starting with chapter one, verse one, you know, we talked about that difficulty there, but you get to verse two, I have loved you. I have loved you so much that I sent my son.

And all I'm asking you to do is make these covenants with me, keep these covenants with me. And I want to bless you through the atonement of Jesus Christ to have what I have, which is all that I have. You see that from Adam and Eve, the covenant starts at the very beginning, the role of Elijah had been foreordained. And then we have prophets prophesying of it all the way until 1836, when it actually comes. I mean, 1836, I can't imagine that day, April 3rd, when Elijah appears and the sealing keys are given to the prophet Joseph Smith and he is able to go back. We are able to go back all the way as far as our genealogy will take us to bring all these

families together for eternity. I'm not a family history nerd because I don't know how to do it very well. If there's a struggle for me, sometimes it's I have a lot to do. And anytime I get doing family history, all of a sudden everything else takes backseat and it feels like, like angels are walking by my side. It's very hard. Like I say, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I don't have time for this. I can't start with the spirit of Elijah. I mean, this is so real to me when I was living out in Boston. So I was the chaplain and serving as the director of the institute there and the coordinator of seminaries and institutes. I was still single and my mother had passed away recently, which is important to the story. She had passed away just a year before I had moved out there. And my mom was a genealogist.

She just really tried to help people on both sides of the veil. It was constant for her. But one day I was driving to go visit one of the early morning seminary classes. It was, I don't know, 4.30 or 5 in the morning. I got lost. I mean, I was in Boston. It's not a big surprise that I got lost, but I got lost and had no idea where, literally no idea where I was, middle of nowhere. I was in this little tiny town, not even a town, just a little tiny area. And it was just grassy with a few homes distant from each other. So this is south, way south of the Boston area. I pulled off to the side to kind of look at my GPS. And as I looked over to the left, I saw this cemetery.

I mean, literally in the middle of nowhere, five o'clock in the morning. And I just thought, that's odd. There are a lot of cemeteries out there. But for some reason, this one really caught my attention. That's odd. So I got out of my car. I had my little phone with me and I jumped the fence, which sounds worse than it is because the fence was low and I don't jump. I jumped this

fence. I crawled over the fence and I looked at the first gravestone and it said LeBaron. And I just stopped dead in my tracks because LeBaron was my mom's maiden name. And my mom was searching for her ancestors before she passed away. And I didn't know which one she was searching for. Then I looked at the next gravestone and it said LeBaron and the next one LeBaron and the next one LeBaron. And I had never been to Boston. That area, my mom had never, that was one of her dreams was to go out there and do family history. I started taking pictures of all of these gravestones and taking meticulous notes instead of going and

watching that seminary class. And then I flew home over Christmas break and I went to find my mom's family history work that she had all lined up and was as organized as she could. I pulled off the last book, which is a little black binder, went to the last page. And the name I found in that cemetery was the name she was looking for when she passed away. The last name in her three-ring binder was the one I found in that cemetery at five o'clock in the morning in the middle of nowhere. And all the names around it were all the names she couldn't find anywhere. She couldn't find it in any book, any historical site, any ancestry.com. No one had the record, but I ran into it. It's the spirit of Elijah. It's real. Many people have asked,

especially students, is there life after death? There is life after death. I have no question. And does family history matter? Yes. One of the beauties that I have found in family history, especially when I was single, but even now is I am never alone because those are people that are real and they're walking by our sides and they want to be found. Again, you can't make that stuff up. I have all these stories, but when it comes to this kind of stuff, I can testify of stories and share stories. But just recently, actually just a couple of months ago, I was doing some research on women in the church and their early conversion stories. And in the process of doing so, I realized, I remember that I had a great, great grandmother who had joined the church in

England and had come to the United States on the good ship Amazon. But we didn't have any information about her really. And we didn't have very much. But years before my parents were young BYU students, my father's great aunt had passed away and said, and his father contacted and said, you can have anything in that house that you wanted. Well, there wasn't anything in the house that he really wanted that he kept. So he told my dad afterwards, this was in Idaho. He said, there's nothing there that I want. That night, my dad had a dream. In the dream, he saw my great aunt's shack. Literally, it was a shack in Malad, Idaho. And in the shack was a rug. And under the rug was a trapdoor. And under the trapdoor were boxes.

And he knew that he was supposed to go back to Mlad as a little BYU newly married student, convincing my mom that they need to spend the money, go back to Mlad, Idaho, and see if this dream was real. So they did. They went back to Mlad, Idaho. These little poor BYU students, literally poor, went and pulled this rug off, opened this trap door and found boxes of family history. Wow. There was no monetary value in the things that they found, but they found the family history. Priceless. This woman that I found in England, a little city called Huntington Shire, was the great-great-grandmother. And her information was found in one of these boxes.

Her name was Sarah Annie Sykes. I was able then, because of this random dream that my dad had years ago, to find the cemetery of my great-great-grandmother and find her gravestone, and then find all the people around her that the family had married into, et cetera, et cetera, that no one had records of anywhere in the world. But again, found them and was able just this last month to do temple work and have them sealed forever. The point isn't just like the weirdness of the miracle. It's that they want to be found. They want to be saved. I know that Sarah Annie Sykes wants her name and her story remembered. She wants some things cleared up. She wants her testimony revealed. She wants people to know that she made covenants.

She wants my nephews and nieces and my daughters to know in the book of remembrance that she chose God and she gave it all, left her country, came to the United States, left it all at home, made covenants and left her little box of books in Millat, Idaho under a trap door for my dad to find. The only member of the church because he was a convert. Just the right person, right place. But sometimes, somewhere along the way, somebody would be able to tell her story

again. He's a convert because her son actually ended up leaving and then her son left. So my dad ended up joining the church later on his own. It's just like tithing in Malachi. Everyone can share family history stories. People can share these stories. They have these experiences. The Lord continues to reveal these truths and this reality of family history because it was what matters. Not everyone will have these extreme stories and maybe can't share everything so strong, but everyone who starts doing family history is going to be filled with the spirit of Elijah. All of us have a desire to know where we come from, but I don't know that we always have. I believe that after this time, this 1836 visitation and this revealing of these priesthood keys, these sealing keys, that's when it all really began in our country and throughout the world. You look historically, it all starts after this day of this family history and this genealogy research. This happens, the doors are open after

this. And now we look at our day today and wow, the Lord has made it possible for us to find people. That's a miracle in and of itself is this turning of hearts to the children and vice versa. One of the greatest uses of the internet, which is a tool and it can be a weapon, sadly, is genealogy. What it has done for people looking for family connections is huge databases. Family search is just amazing. It's not a joke. People who have gone beyond the veil are very much alive. There's one thing I have learned after the passing of both of my parents and the passing of Dustin's parents and other people that are very close to me.

I used to wonder. There is no question. Zero. This is not a faith thing for me. This is a knowledge for me. People live beyond the veil. Death is a comma, and they want to be found. And we are working together for the salvation. Jesus Christ paid the price through his atonement to make it so that we can have eternal families. And those on the other side of the veil, just as it says, I think it's fascinating section 138 at the very end.

Now the doctrine and covenants we get Joseph F. Smith talking himself about becoming heirs and about the dead looking upon the long absence of their spirits. And the Lord taught and gave them power to come forth after his resurrection. And we hear all of this and this blessing in verse 47. The prophet Elijah was to plant in the hearts of the children the promises made their fathers. Foreshadowing the great work to be done in the temples of the Lord and the dispensation of the fullness of times for the redemption of the dead. And the sealing of the children to their parents. Lest the whole earth be smitten with the curse and utterly wasted in his coming. He has a vision of this then. But this is section 138.

Malachi closes the Old Testament with Elijah. Joseph F. Smith closes the Doctrine and Covenants as it is today with Elijah and the Abrahamic Covenant. To me, this parallel is so clearly important. And then verse 54, including the building of the temples and the performances of the ordinances therein for the redemption of the dead were also in the spirit world. I observed that they were also among the noble and great ones who were the chosen in the beginning to be rulers in the church of God, even before they were born. And then he continues on about the souls of men in this vineyard and becoming the heirs

of salvation, which is again, to receive all that God has, which is, again, not the mansions. It's all that he is. We're able to become as he is with eternal families, those eternal relationships of people that we love. And that's the beauty of chapter 1, verse 1. It's he loves and he wants us to experience his love, and he wants us then to be able to give his love. And that's the beauty of becoming parents is our opportunity to not just receive, but to give as he gives. I didn't realize how temple-centric this entire book is, Barb. Surprise, surprise, isn't it?

I have this strange thing that I often teach is when you really start looking at the scriptures, we find a lot more about the temple than we realize if we're really looking because the temple is the key to eternal life. The book of Malachi is a temple chapter. It is sealing its Old Testament. So therefore, it is temple. It's patriarchal order. It's the fullness of the priesthood. It's what is revealed to Joseph Smith, Kirtland Temple, Elijah. It's then Nauvoo. It's eternal family, covenants, sealings, and then it's receiving the fullness in that order of the priesthood. That's one of the reasons why it is so sacred and it's so beautifully put at the very end of this book. This is while you're talking temple. I also love right at the very end, after he talks about all those things, he says, it's kind of like this final appendix, as is said by many, and he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the heart of

the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with the curse. And then just in ours, it just says the end of the prophets. Well, the end of the prophets here, but it's almost just like, okay, are you going to follow the prophet or not? Are you going to wait for Elijah? When Elijah comes, are you going to follow the prophet or not? Are you going to wait for Elijah? When Elijah comes, are you going to recognize him? Are you going to jump on the chance? This is what happened to the children of Israel. These scriptures are coming to you too. Now it's your chance. Now prove yourself. Give it all. Wait for Elijah. The Lord has these promises. He loves you. He loves them. I just love it. I love this very sacred temple book.

Barb, given how temple-centric this is and knowing how much research you're doing on the temple, I know you've got a book coming out soon on the temple, and you've already had this book on women in priesthood power. I've got a daughter going through the temple soon. What would you say to a parent who's got a child ready to go through the temple for the first time? How do we help them prepare? Yeah, what can we say? Oh my goodness. I so appreciate the question, to be honest, because I think a lot of people back away from talking about the temple, not because they can't, but because they don't know what they can and can't say. Rather than making a mistake, they don't say anything at all, which causes the youth to think that the temple's a scary thing or it's an uncomfortable thing and they go as not as

prepared as they could otherwise go. But one thing that's critical is really helping our youth and young adults understand the temple. And so for leaders, we need to understand the temple because if we can't answer their questions, there are other places they can go now. And Google is a very easy place for people to search for things and they can find answers that are not helpful and frankly could be very damaging. So the more we can know about the temple and the more we know what we can talk about, which is frankly, if you were to say percentage wise, I'm not a statistician, but I would say 90% of what we know about the temple can be spoken of and needs to be spoken of and a price to be paid to understand it better so we can explain it in a simple fashion.

This is from Elder Bednar, and he's quoting President Benson. He says, I believe a proper understanding or background, referring to the temple, will immeasurably help prepare our youth for the temple and will foster with them a desire to seek their priesthood blessings just as Abraham sought his. And then he says two basic guidelines can help us achieve the proper understanding emphasized by President Benson. So then these are Elder Bednar's two guidelines. Guideline number one, because we love the Lord, we always should speak about his holy house with reverence. We should not disclose or describe the special symbols associated with the covenants we receive in sacred temple ceremonies. Neither should we discuss the holy information that we specifically So guideline one, remember that it's sacred.

We get that. But then as far as the things not to reveal, not to talk about outside the temple is the special symbols that's specific to the special symbols. And then the specific information that we have been told not to reveal, which isn't very much. If you think about your temple, you think about the temple endowment and your whole experience, there's very little that we are told not to reveal. And then guideline number two, the temple is the house of the Lord. Everything in the temple points us to our Savior, Jesus Christ. We may discuss the basic purposes of and the doctrine and principles associated with the

temple ordinances and covenants. And then quoting President Punter, let us share with our children the spiritual feelings we have in the temple. Let us teach them more earnestly and more comfortably the things we can appropriately say about the purposes of the house of the Lord. And then I also love in that same talk, he talks about the covenants that we make in the temple. I think when the youth and the young adults are preparing to go to the temple,

they like to know what they're getting themselves into. Nobody wants to be caught off guard. I think it's critical in our day, especially to just say, when you go to the temple, this is what to expect and really walk them through. When you go through, you're going to give them the temple recommend. I love that President Nelson recently has actually made public the temple recommend questions. So they know exactly what they're going to be asked, what they're going to commit to. So talk about the temple experience. Talk about the garments. If you go to temples.churchofjesuschrist.org, you can find out so much about the temple. I mean, they've done such a great job on that website of talking about the temple garments, showing the temple garments, what they mean. They talk about the covenants. In this case, Elder Bednar says, we covenant to keep the law of obedience, the law of sacrifice,

the law of the gospel, the law of chastity, and the law of consecration. It would be very beneficial if parents or those that are helping prepare someone to go to the temple would talk about those covenants and have a discussion regarding what those covenants are and what they're covenanting to do as a result of going to the temple. But then also I would say going to that website, there are many books. Elder Packer has a great book on the temple, which most people I think read and are familiar with, The House of the Lord. But recently in the last 10 years, just like the topic of the priesthood is clearly a prophetic priority, the house of the Lord. But recently in the last 10 years, just like the topic of the priesthood is clearly a prophetic priority, the topic of the temple is a prophetic priority. And so you will see, if you just search temple and just go through and start looking at these talks,

I actually had one of my TAs doing this recently for me, but I do it all the time anyway. But in the last 10 years, you will see talk after talk after talk by the First Presidency Quorum of the Twelve. Just search churchofjesuschrist.org and just look at the general conference talks on the temple and they are just abounding. I mean, they're everywhere now. You can find so much on the temple. Come to followhim.co and come to our show notes and we'll link a bunch of those there, including the ones you've been talking about here, Barb. Frankly, I keep my own list of temple talks as I go through this to make sure that I'm kind of going back and forth in different books.

Elder Talmud's book on the temple is a great one, but there are so many more. Tony Sweat has written off you on the temple recently and others are as well. It's just becoming, it's so helpful to understand. But yes, if I could just plead with parents to pay the price to know what you can talk about, which again is most, the more comfortable we are knowing what we can talk about, the less shy we are and less concerned we are with breaking any promises. Most of the time you're not going to, but more is helpful in this case. The more we can talk to our children, show them your temple garments, show them the robes of the priesthood as they're preparing

to go to the temple and help them to see how sacred and holy this is and help them to understand it. We had a lot of dirty clothes growing up in our house, and I watched my parents do a lot of laundry. And I know you guys know this, but I honestly can't say I ever saw temple garments on the floor. And I'm not saying that that's necessarily a doctrine of the church. It's not. But the sacredness of the holy garments and the sacredness of the temple was critical to my parents, which appreciate because i knew that again they depended upon the covenants that they made with god i would say i highly recommend that we are more open with our children help them to see the promises help them to understand the covenants prepare them well for that experience that's

going to be happening to them as they make sacred cup so instead of being something that's odd it's something that's sacred and fun yeah and positive experience That's my hope is that she'll walk out having a positive experience. I think you've really helped here. Yeah. As you testify of it, it's going to help her a lot, but really Hank and everyone talk to her, let her ask you any question. I do this with my students. I often will just say anybody who wants to ask any question regarding the temple, especially when we're talking doctrine covenant section 110 or other scriptures or in our Eternal Family class talking about covenants, ask out loud or write on a piece of paper any question that you have about the temple. And if there is anything I can't say, I will just simply pass on the card. And I can honestly say it's a rare moment when I get a question I can't answer.

Not because I'm smart, but I mean, I can't answer it because I've been told not to. Yeah. It's rare that those kinds of questions are asked. So yes, help your daughter go to the temple by teaching her everything you can. And I would say the practical things, especially like, what is she preparing for? What is she wearing? Just, you know, what to expect when she goes from the temple recommend desk and then she's going to change into the white clothes and then she's going to have a locker room that's

going to be just for women. And then she's going to have a sacred experience in the initiatory where she's going to be given very specific promises that are associated with her covenants that you can find and read Exodus with her. So she knows what's going to be even said and then talk to her about the new name and talk to her about the sacredness of having the Lord grant us a new name and how that's associated with covenants. And then going to the endowment session and even that men and women are separated in that. And it's symbolic until we get to the celestial room, you know, just kind of walk through those kinds of experiences

that we're going to have. The beauty of going through the veil and the symbolism of the atonement of Jesus Christ and the altar of Christ. And then going through the celestial room and being able to hug those that we love is symbolic of, again, the blessing of those covenants. And then the sealing and the promises that we make and go back into the Doctrine and Covenants and look at these sections of the Doctrine and Covenants, section 132, where we know that the promises that the Lord is going to keep. Section 132, verse 19, thrones, kingdoms, principalities, powers, dominions, heights, and depths, the book of life, read that to them, the sealing covenants. Here's some promises associated with the new and everlasting covenant of marriage. It's right here in the doctrine and covenants.

And then, then shall they be gods because they have no end. Therefore they shall be from everlasting to everlasting. I just think the more we can kind of share these things with them in preparation and talk about the altar and symbolic of Christ being the center of marriage. And a husband and wife kneeling across that altar together making a covenant where they're giving, again, back to Malachi, 100%, not holding anything back. And as we give our 100% to God, as it says in verse 20 of section 132, he gives us all power because we were willing to abide my law. Again, that's Malachi. They weren't willing to abide the law, so he couldn't bless them with his love and all that he had. But for those who will abide his law, he gives them all that he has, all of his power, and they continue and receive everlasting lives, eternal lives. Again, Malachi is the pleading of people to keep those covenants and receive the love of God.

And as we talk to our children and students and those we have those relationships with, to really be open, get to the scriptures and share the practical and the spiritual promises they're making. And I would even say as much as you can, tie it into Eve and Adam. Talk about Eve's decision to eat that fruit and what a blessing it is that we can have posterity in. Just talk. Talk and follow the spirit. Pray that Heavenly Father will guide you through it, but don't be afraid. Sometimes I'm more concerned that we say not enough than we say too much. Actually, I am genuinely concerned that

we say not enough. I don't want my children or my nephews, nieces, my students to go to the temple and be scared. And I don't want them to go to the temple feeling like somebody had just tricked them like i want them to go as prepared as they possibly can so when they're making those covenants with heavenly father they are doing so 100 using their agency and feeling the blessings associated with it that god wanted to bless them with and he always has since the days of adam and eve which speaking of which the old testament i mean that is it starts with Adam and Eve starts with, you know, prologue, great price, that sacred covenant with Adam and Eve that they made with heavenly father. It ends the book of Malachi promising that Elijah is going to come and these covenants continue on.

It's a covenant book. Beautiful. Barbara, this has been great. Thank you so much. That story about under the rug. Oh my goodness. To have a dream that specific is so revelatory. That's just awesome. I don't want to be unreal, but in my family, this is just... That's real. Since my parents have passed away, I've been going through the genealogy, the family history.

And just this last week, I have the boxes that were under the rug at my house. I'm going through them piece by piece, reading the diaries of my great grandparents. And again, the fascinating thing with that dream is my dad was the only member of the church in his family. It's not just that there was rug, they were going to burn the place down the next day. So my dad, my grandpa just said, they're burning the place down if there's anything more that you want. And my dad didn't want me. There was nothing of value in there as far as he was concerned until the dream came and then they rushed back. And then legitimately the next day, that little cottage was burned down. Doesn't exist today.

Priceless. What was there was priceless. Priceless. Irreplaceable. Yeah. The Lord will keep his promises. So cool. That's just the reality. I love it too, because these were covenant keeping people that kept these journals. And then all the generations between them and my dad, frankly, I'm not the judge, but they weren't.

From their journals, from their writings, they clearly said, I do not believe there is a God. It's very interesting to see in my own family that pattern. And then 150 years later, another person who's willing to keep his covenants receives a dream to go save. Wow. The records of the earlier generation, those covenant keepers.

To me, it's just the writings on the wall with the Lord. He's going to keep his promises. That's the turning their hearts turning this way and turning back. It's so cool. Yep. As we're talking about Elijah and we're talking about second coming and the preparation and the end of this book and then the end of Doctrine and Covenants and the end of Old Testament. And then also we're being in the second coming time today and the prophecies of President Nelson, especially as we're preparing and trying to create a Zion people.

In context of these chapters of Malachi, Joseph Smith shares this quote about building Zion. And I think that's really what the Lord is trying to do. And Malachi is trying to do, he's trying to create a people who are a Zion people. He's trying to help them be united and one heart, no poor among them, that whole idea. But Joseph Smith says the building up of Zion is a cause that has

interest at the people of God in every age. It is a theme upon which prophets, priests and Kings have dwelt with peculiar delight. They have looked forward with joyful anticipation to the day in which we live and fired with heavenly and joyful anticipation. They have sung and written and prophesied of this our day, but they died without the sight. It is left for us to see, participate in, and help to roll forward the latter day glory.

I love that it's our day that we get to do this. And then finally he finishes, the heavenly priesthood will unite with the earthly to bring about those great purposes, a work that God and angels have contemplated with delight for generations past, that fired the souls of the ancient patriarchs and prophets, a work that is destined to bring about the destruction of the powers of darkness, the renovation of the earth, the glory of God, and the salvation of the human family. And then I also just love in connection with as a woman, I think it's so important that we understand priesthood and temple, but I just love President Eyring at his talk where

he was speaking to women specifically. And he just says, my experience has taught me that heavenly father's daughters have a gift to allay contention and to promote righteousness with their love of God. And with the love of God, they engender in those they serve. For all of us together, women and men working together as we are creating Zion, to remember that this idea of priesthood and temple is women and men together, working together for the salvation of all of our heavenly parents' children. And it's an exciting, fun, glorious work.

What a beautiful way to finish. Thank you. We want to thank Dr. Barbara Morgan beautiful way to finish. Thank you. We want to thank Dr. Barbara Morgan Gardner for being with us today. Thank you for taking time. Thank you for the invitation, you guys. Yeah, we loved it. John, I don't know how we got this lucky

to have this job. It is wonderful. We have people to thank. We want to thank our executive producers, Steve and Shannon Sorenson. We want to thank our sponsors, David and Verla Sorenson. And we hope you all will join us next week as we talk Christmas on Follow Him. We have an amazing production crew we want you to know about. David Perry, Lisa Spice, Jamie Nielsen, Will Stoughton, Crystal Roberts, and Ariel Cuadra. Thank you to our amazing production team.