THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON AS A SYMBOL OF THE BODY OF MAN

Whoa!!! This stuff blows my mind. You have to read each page and keep on clicking the links at the bottom of each page taking you to the next level.

This stuff is astounding! The amount of detail on the temple of Solomon and the earlier structure is cool - let alone the details about how it corresponds to the human form. And how it all ties into the endowment of our modern temples. Truly mind blowing stuff!

CLIKC HERE

HIGH PRIEST'S GARB WORN ON THE DAY OF ATONEMENT

I thought the following was interesting (scroll down for the picture of the white robes worn on that special day):

CLICK LINK HERE

IOHANI WOLFGRAMM - FAMILY HISTORY

I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR THIS FOR QUITE SOME TIME. IT MAY WELL BE THE MOST FASCINATING BOOK I HAVE EVER READ - AND I READ SOME PRETTY GREAT STUFF. TAKE THE TIME TO READ HOW LIFE SHOULD BE LIVED IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO MAKE IT BACK TO GOD'S PRESENCE......

THIS IS WHY I DONATE A FEW BEN FRANKLINS A YEAR TO THE BYU SPECIAL COLLECTIONS LIBRARY!!:

IOHANI WOLGRAM FAMILY HISTORY - THE GOOD STUFF

http://contentdm.byu.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/FH27&CISOPTR=31717&REC=12&CISOSHOW=31478

HERE IS A TASTE FROM THE ABOVE HISTORY FROM THE CHAPTER ON HEALINGS:

IOHANI SOUGHT FROM A DREAM

It was the first Sunday of November 1979 and I was getting ready for an 8:00 a.m. priesthood meeting. I heard a knock at the door so came to answer it and found a woman at the door that I had never before met. She said, "I'm looking for Iohani Wolfgramm who is living at this address." I noticed she had been crying.

I said, "I'm Brother Wolfgramm, what can I do for you?" "I've come because my brother, Mr. Smith, died at the Cottonwood hospital last Friday and we have asked the doctor if he would bear with us and just leave him there in the room because we have a feeling that his life will return. This Sunday morning his wife went home to Bountiful to feed the children and get them ready for Church, while his sister and other family members are at his room, keeping their eyes on Brother Smith. The reason I came: In a dream my husband saw Brother Smith come to him and ask if he would look for a man by the name of Iohani Wolfgramm and gave him this address, and said, 'Go and ask Brother Wolfgramm to come and call my spirit so it can enter my body again.' That's why I came this moming. Will you come and give him a priesthood blessing?"

I said, "I would like to help you but I can't. My bishop and stake president won't allow me out of the jurisdiction of my stake or ward to exercise my priesthood." The woman said, "May I please go and see your bishop and give him the information that my husband received?" So she went and spoke to the bishop. After she told the bishop the story, she was sent to the stake president. After the stake president heard the story, he gave his permission and said, "If this brother needs his help, he may go."
So the woman returned to my house and took me in her car to the hospital. When we entered the room I noticed all the family sitting around. His sister told me her brother had died on Friday. I met the brother-in-law who had the dream and asked if he would assist me in the administration. The brother-in-law told me to anoint the oil and he would give the blessing. I said, "Thank you." and we went ahead and gave Brother Smith his blessing. After we said 'amen' everyone sat down. They waited for about 15 minutes, nothing happened. They waited for another 30 minutes, nothing happened.

This went for an hour and still nothing. The sister began to cry again and called me aside and said, "My husband doesn't have enough faith when he prays, that's why my brother came in that dream and wanted you to give him the blessing because of the faith that you have. Would it be too much if we could all unite in faith and prayer and ask the Lord to bless my brother, and through your faith you can raise him from the dead?"

The brother-in-law returned only this time 1 offered the prayer. In my prayer I said, "Our Father in Heaven, we are here together with the rest of Brother Smith's family to offer a special prayer on his behalf. We know that he has been dead since Friday, but his spirit has come and asked if I could give him a blessing and call for his spirit to return to his body. We pray for his health to return to normal. We pray that his heart will start to function, his lungs and circulation start to work and each and every one of his veins and arteries will begin to function. Through the power of the priesthood and in the name of the holy Savior Jesus Christ, I command you, Brother Smith, for your spirit to now enter your body. And when you revive from your death bed you will know that it was through the power of Christ that your spirit has returned to your body. And you will stand as a witness to God that this is His gospel and this is one of the miracles that He performed among the people before His second coming. I pray for you that everything will function normally as we come to the end of our blessing and say this to you in the name of Jesus Christ and in the power of the holy Melchizedek priesthood which we bear."

Right after Brother Smith heard my voice, he slowly got up. When his sister saw her brother get up she started to cry loudly and ran up to him, and the rest of the family came running and hugged and kissed him. At that moment the phone rang and it was his wife. She asked her sister-in-law how her husband was doing. She asked if she would like to talk to him and handed Brother Smith the phone. They sat there and talked on the phone as if nothing had happened. They gave me a big hug and I was finally brought home.

Brother Smith knew he had to come back to finish his work on earth, and it was only through the priesthood blessing that this,could be accomplished. He told the family that for three days he had been there wanting to return to his body, but didn't know how. He saw his body laying there but no one could hear what he was saying. That's why his spirit went to his brother-in-law to find someone that had great faith and was given Iohani's name and address.

I received a call from the Stake President after I returned home wanting to know what happened to the man. I told him the Lord had heard my prayer and his life was revived. The Stake President told me that he would take away my restrictions, and I would be free to go anywhere that the Lord wanted me to go to bless the people.

PRETTY EXCELLENT STORY - AND THERE IS ALOT MORE LIKE IT IN THE WOLFGRAMM FAM HISTORY. READ UP!

WHEN WE FOUND OUR LITTLE DALLIN JACOB DEAD ON APRIL 4TH, THE FIRST THING THAT I DID (AFTER COMPLETELY FREAKING OUT) WAS TO CALL MY HOME TEACHER SO THAT WE COULD DO THE SAME THING IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST. IT WAS NOT UNTIL A LITTLE LATER THAT I REALIZED THAT THIS SIMPLY WAS NOT THE WILL OF THE LORD. I WILL ADD THE WHOLE EXPERIENCE TO THE BLOG AS A WITNESS THAT GOD LIVES AND LOVES EACH OF US. IT WAS RIGHT IN LINE WITH THE SWEET SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE THAT THE SMITH FAMILY HAD - JUST WITH A DIFFERENT OUTCOME.

TEMPLE ENDOWMENT AND MASONIC CONNECTION

This is simply the beginning of what will become a very long read. The original seed was from a reply to another blog that sought to make the claim that our modern endowment came from the Masons.

Of course, I could not refrain to at least throw a high level answer out there to get people to dig in and ask a few more questions of history and the facts.

Here it is (and there will be much more to come as time goes on):

First of all, I want to say that I like your blog with its thoughtful input.

As a missionary in Brazil, my mission President (a convert and the first black 2nd quorum of the 70), Helvecio Martins was a former Mason and this topic got kicked around alot back in the day. My wife and I have dug into this one, as well.

For me it is very simple - and it is the same question that always comes up about our doctrine as the only church of a "restorationist" nature where we claim not to have "new wine put into old bottles" but to have "new bottles", etc where others are either from the mainline religion that departed from the new testament church to the point that there is little resemblance to structure, doctrine and priesthood type and authority. The only other option is belonging to a group that protests the doctrines and beliefs of the main body. We claim that our church is the same as the church that existed when Christ was upon the earth and that the ancient church (other than sacrifice by the shedding of blood as a type and foreshadowing of Christ's sacrifice) is the same basic organization that existed with the earlier peoples of the earth (house of Israel). In other words, the answer to the chicken and egg argument (in regards to the temple ceremony) is that it was always here and practiced by ancients (including those at Qumran) in the day when the original temple was built by Solomon by those of the "masonic" guild. In order to build the temple, they had to have the higher priesthood with its endowment given to them and thus were initiates to what every one who possessed the higher priesthood had. This knowledge, like everything was watered down through apostasy over hundreds of years and then was lost to history and then re-obtained when the Knights Templar escavated Jerusalem during a crusade to re-Christianize the Holy Land.
Through a series of events, this was taken back to Europe and then spread to the U.S., etc. where Joseph Smith happened onto it and asked questions and was given the answer that we know as our modern temple endowment. I have studied just enough of the Masons (even got a Junior Achievement award and dinner in their 'endowment room' unbeknownst to me at the time) that I know that they have portions of the truth and that it definitely based off of the original 'masons union' that was given this sacred info in order to qualify in the building of the temple. Thus the name, the builder's symbols, and the most striking is their two pillars Boaz and Joachim still used in their entry way to the building - same as the two bronze pillars of Solomon's Temple.

As always, the Church is accused of imitating something that already existed - when all I want to say is thank you very much for noting the obvious - and then asking the question, would you like to be part of the restored original, or would you like to continue with the cheap and mostly unrecognizable knockoff that you are currently part of? I prefer fresh earthenware myself, thank you very much.

Hope I have not offended anyone - but I had to jump in here and throw my two cents in. Glenn Beck and many others attend our Sacrament Meetings and have felt something unusual and special and that has motivated them to make changes in their lives to be a part of that. I go to the Temple and that same Spirit is there - but ten fold. I have a deep and abiding knowledge that the Temple IS The House of the Lord because of that very Spirit that resides there. I will not even go into the spiritual experiences that I have had that further cement that witness. It is the 'Lord's University' for those that prepare themselves spiritually. Many people have a spiritual "grade school" education and choose to mock those who have seen the beauty of learning and who seek higher education. Unfortunately, for many who choose to throw stones at things they know not of, they cannot even comprehend because they will not take the first step forward in faith. The gospel is truly line upon line and precept on precept until we all come to a full knowledge in Christ.

I sometimes come across as arrogant in how I speak but I truly love all men and my only desire is that they find the truth that makes my life and joy full and gives it meaning and full purpose.

I am not trying to be rude by not replying but my time is limited. I hope this reply sparks further study and learning.