Sunday, September 11, 2011

Temples The Gates to Heaven

1st of all I apologize for not posting in over a month.

  No major incidents to report or having been to exotic places.  We were invited to 2 special Sunday dinners.  One for Fathers Day here in August in which the fathers were given a calculator and a pen, and the other for singing in the choir for ward conference.  We really did have a nice choir.  We did enjoy the practices and the performance as well.


What I want to write about is some thoughts about the sacredness of the temple as related to us by our temple president.  When you are in tune with the spirit, like the president is, you can hear things contained in the scriptures that you hadn't heard before.  Below is text from the book of Genesis describing a dream that Jacob had while on the way to Haran when his brother Esau wanted to kill him.  Verse 12 and 16,17 are of particular note for my purpose.  He is given to know that the place where he was, was sacred "Surely the lord is in this place" and a ladder connected heaven and this place with angels "ascending and descending on it."

Genesis 28:10-17
 10 ¶And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran.
 11 And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.
 12 And he adreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the bangels of God ascending and descending on it.
 13 And, behold, the aLord stood babove it, and said, I am the cLord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the dland whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;
 14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the anorth, and to the south: and in thee and in thy bseed shall all the cfamilies of the earth be dblessed.
 15 And, behold, aI am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bbring thee again into this cland; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.
 16 ¶And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.
 17 And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of aheaven.


Our temples Holy are places where angles come and go, some on this side of the veil and some on the other side.  These thoughts have caused me to search lds.org for other talks.  I found this talk.

In  April of 1971 Elder Marion G. Romney   Of the Council of the Twelve gave a conference talk entitled,

Temples—The Gates to Heaven

in the closing part of the talk he had this to say about these verses of Genesis.

"Because he had met the Lord and entered into covenants with him there, Jacob considered the site so sacred that he named the place Bethel, a contraction of Beth-Elohim, which means literally “the House of the Lord.” He said of it: “… this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” (Gen. 28:17.)
Jacob not only passed through the gate of heaven, but by living up to every covenant he also went all the way in. Of him and his forebears Abraham and Isaac, the Lord has said: “… because they did none other things than that which they were commanded, they have entered into their exaltation, according to the promises, and sit upon thrones, and are not angels but are gods.” (D&C 132:37.)
Temples are to us all what Bethel was to Jacob. Even more, they are also the gates to heaven for all of our unendowed kindred dead. We should all do our duty in bringing our loved ones through them."
 Click HERE for the full talk.

An excerpt from President Monson's talk April 2011

"My beloved brothers and sisters, may we make whatever sacrifices are necessary to attend the temple and to have the spirit of the temple in our hearts and in our homes. May we follow in the footsteps of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who made the ultimate sacrifice for us, that we might have eternal life and exaltation in our Heavenly Father’s kingdom. This is my sincere prayer, and I offer it in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord, amen."

One other thought to ponder.
Are there Temples in Heaven?

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