On the night of March 19th, 1894, he [Wilford Woodruff] had a dream which followed his meditations upon the future life and the work that he had done for the dead. In his dream there appeared to him Benjamin Franklin for whom he had performed important ceremonies in the House of God. This distinguished patriot, according to his dream, sought further blessings in the Temple of God at the hands of his benefactor. President Woodruff wrote: ‘I spent some time with him and we talked over our Temple ordinances which had been administered for Franklin and others. He wanted more work done for him than had already been done. I promised him it should be done. I awoke and then made up my mind to receive further blessings for Benjamin Franklin and George Washington.’
The appearance, therefore, in his dream of Franklin was to him a satisfying conclusion that he had at least received joyfully the blessings that came to him from the ordinances of the Lord’s House.
Sometimes the best info can be found between the lines! I am guessing that he already had all the "lesser" temple ordinances done with the rest, other than the one President that stepped in it hard. For a minute, I thought "Well, it may have been done, but he was not sealed since I am not sure if he were married (he was, click link) and how much of the rumors and his "French women" were true and whether that disqualified him from something. But then, I saw George Washington (whose character is unimpeachable) was on the list - who was sealed to his wife and had the full complement of ordinances done previously.
So, there you have it. How cool is that? A little reading between the lines and a little deductive reasoning. And leave it to the American scientist to do a little digging to find out whether or not he had gotten the full meal deal, or just a cheeseburger with no pickles - and no cheese, hold the patty.....
Here was the original link:
http://www.josephsmithacademy.org/wiki/eminent-spirits-appear-to-wilford-woodruff/
If Martha was sealed to George where does that leave Daniel Custis and the children? Any thoughts?
ReplyDeleteThe list of "Eminent Spirits" is intriguing.
ReplyDeleteBut, what about Abraham Lincoln?
http://www.josephsmithacademy.org/wiki/abraham-lincoln/
"Abraham Lincoln is one of the eminent spirits who appeared to President Wilford Woodruff in the St. George Temple (Latter-day Saint, LDS) on August 21, 1877."
And further on the page are two quotes from latter-day prophets.
President Heber J. Grant:
“Every Latter-day Saint believes that Abraham Lincoln was raised up and inspired of God, and that he reached the Presidency of the United States under the favor of our Heavenly Father."
And George Albert Smith:
“That was the voice of him now stilled in death [Abraham Lincoln], who gave his life because of his desire for the perpetuation of the liberty that was guaranteed under the Constitution of the United States. He was unafraid. When the duty was placed upon him to battle for the liberties of mankind, he dedicated his life to that purpose, and in due time, our Father in heaven accepted his offering, and his name is emblazoned upon the pages of history as a great and noble man who dared to do right, and his praises will be sung and his virtues extolled throughout all time.”
I know IRAQ and others in previous past posts seem to think of Lincoln as an evil person. I believe what has been stated by the prophets about Lincoln, that he was raised up for the mission he fulfilled and he was inspired. Lincoln was a god-fearing, religious person who tried to do his very best with the little bit of light that he possessed. It is too bad many with greater light do so little.
An interesting bit from the link mentioned in IRAQ's post is:
"We discovered in our years of historical research, that history written prior to 1920 was often written of great men and women who performed great deeds. After 1920, history has highlighted the miseries of men."
When we read history, we need to do so with the Spirit. The conquerors of a nation, whether the conquest is through physical battles or through the conflicts of norms and accepted morality of the society (such as the war the LGBT, PC, and other anti-God/family/Constitution/freedoms movements have been waging) are the ones who write history. What was once considered history gets rewritten, and biases reflecting those of the victors are introduced.
This isn't to say the original documents--journals, reports, etc.--of historical significance do not contain biases or errors. Rather, it's a reminder that there are always more than one side of a story. Without the Spirit to testify of truth, the truth can be difficult to find, particularly if we allow half-truths and falsehoods to color our picture of history and prevent us from accepting the truth.