Having worked in the temple for about 9 years, this scripture is true. Over the years there have been many manifestations to many temple patrons. Some experiences are too personal to share, and some are submitted to the temple presidency to be recorded in the temple history books for that temple. Those books are not shared publicly. We do, however, have many publicly shared experiences. I will share a few with you in this post. My goal in sharing these experience is that it will instill in you a greater desire to attend the temple.
First of all, you should not go to the temple seeking appearances or special experiences. The Lord doesn't work that way. These things come in his own time and in his own way. To open yourself to receiving such experiences, it is important that your mind, heart and body are clean before the Lord. This takes time and preparation.
I'd like to start off with a few from the Kirtland Temple. This temple was the first temple built in the latter days, and because of that, had many spiritual manifestations. The Lord was pleased and the angels rejoiced. Heber C Kimball wrote this in his journal:
"During the ceremonies (The dedication of the temple), an angel appeared and sat near President Joseph Smith, Sr., and Frederick G. Williams so that they had a fair view of his person. He was a very tall personage, black eyes, white hair, and stoop-shouldered; his garment was whole, extending to near his ankles; on his feet he had sandals. He was sent as a messenger to accept of the dedication. During the whole of the dedication each quorum was placed in its respective station. Everything was conducted in the best of order, and profound silence maintained. While these things were being attended to, the beloved disciple, John, was seen in our midst by the Prophet Joseph, Oliver Cowdery and others.
One early church member left this interesting account of a meeting held on January 28th, 1836: "The Lord blessed His people abundantly in that Temple with the Spirit of prophecy, the ministering of angels, visions, etc. I will here relate a vision [30] which was shown to me. It was near the close of the endowments. I was in a meeting for instruction in the upper part of the Temple, with about a hundred of the High Priests, Seventies and Elders. The Saints felt to shout, "Hosannah!" and the Spirit of God rested upon me in mighty power and I beheld the room lighted up with a peculiar light such as I had never seen before. It was soft and clear and the room looked to me as though it had neither roof nor floor to the building; and I beheld the Prophet Joseph and Hyrum Smith and Roger Orton enveloped in the light: Joseph exclaimed aloud, "I behold the Savior, the Son of God." Hyrum said, "I behold the angels of heaven." Brother Orton exclaimed, "I behold the chariots of Israel." All who were in the room felt the power of God to that degree that many prophesied, and the power of God was manifest, the remembrance of which will remain with me while I live upon the earth."
The late Apostle Marriner W. Merrill, President of the Logan Temple, related this extraordinary incident:
He was sitting in his office one morning, he said, when he noticed from the window a company of people coming up the hill to the Temple. As they entered the Temple grounds they presented rather a strange appearance, not only in dress but in their mode of travel. Some were riding on horses, others were in conveyances, and still others were afoot. He wondered who they could be as he was not looking for a company of such size that particular morning. They dismounted from their horses, stepped down from their conveyances, put their animals under the shade and walked about complacently as if they had a perfect right to be there.
A little later a person unknown to Brother Merrill entered the room. Brother Merrill said to him: "Who are you and who are these people who have come up and taken possession of the Temple grounds unannounced?" He answered and said: "I am Satan and these are my people." Brother Merrill then said: "What do you want? Why have you come here?" Satan replied: "I don't like the work that is going on in this Temple and feel that it should be discontinued. Will you stop it?" Brother Merrill answered and said emphatically, "No, we will not stop it. The work must go on." "Since you refuse to stop it, I will tell you what I propose to do," the adversary said. "I will take these people, my followers, and distribute them throughout this Temple district, and will instruct them to whisper in the ears of people, persuading them not to go to the Temple, and thus bring about a cessation of your Temple work." Satan then withdrew.
President Merrill, commenting on this strange interview with the Evil One, said that for quite a period of time the spirit of indifference to Temple work seemed to take possession of the people and very few came to the House of the Lord. The presumption was that Satan had carried out his threat which caused a temporary lull in Temple work.
Here is one that happened in the Salt Lake Temple to one of the laborers who helped to build the temple: Along about March, 1893, I found myself alone in the dining room--all had gone to bed. I was sitting at the table when to my great surprise my old brother Alfred walked in, sat down opposite me at the table and smiled. I said to him (he looked so natural): "When did you arrive in Utah?" (He had lived in New Zealand and from whom I had not heard in years.)
He said: "I have just come from the Spirit World; this is not my body that you see, it is lying in the tomb. I want to tell you that when you were on your mission you told me many things about the Gospel, and the hereafter, and about the Spirit World being as real and tangible as the earth. I realized that you had told the truth. I attended the Mormon meetings." He raised his hand and said with much warmth: "I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ with all my heart. I believe in faith and repentance and baptism for the remission of sins, but that is as far as I can go. I look to you to do the work for me in the temple." He continued: "You can go to any kind of sectarian meeting in the Spirit World. All our kindred there knew you were trying to make up your mind to come and work on the temple. You are watched closely, every move you [107] make is known there; and we were glad you came. We are all looking to you as our head in this great work. I want to tell you that there are a great many spirits who weep and mourn because they have relatives in the Church here who are careless and are doing nothing for them." He then disappeared.
He was sitting in his office one morning, he said, when he noticed from the window a company of people coming up the hill to the Temple. As they entered the Temple grounds they presented rather a strange appearance, not only in dress but in their mode of travel. Some were riding on horses, others were in conveyances, and still others were afoot. He wondered who they could be as he was not looking for a company of such size that particular morning. They dismounted from their horses, stepped down from their conveyances, put their animals under the shade and walked about complacently as if they had a perfect right to be there.
A little later a person unknown to Brother Merrill entered the room. Brother Merrill said to him: "Who are you and who are these people who have come up and taken possession of the Temple grounds unannounced?" He answered and said: "I am Satan and these are my people." Brother Merrill then said: "What do you want? Why have you come here?" Satan replied: "I don't like the work that is going on in this Temple and feel that it should be discontinued. Will you stop it?" Brother Merrill answered and said emphatically, "No, we will not stop it. The work must go on." "Since you refuse to stop it, I will tell you what I propose to do," the adversary said. "I will take these people, my followers, and distribute them throughout this Temple district, and will instruct them to whisper in the ears of people, persuading them not to go to the Temple, and thus bring about a cessation of your Temple work." Satan then withdrew.
President Merrill, commenting on this strange interview with the Evil One, said that for quite a period of time the spirit of indifference to Temple work seemed to take possession of the people and very few came to the House of the Lord. The presumption was that Satan had carried out his threat which caused a temporary lull in Temple work.
Here is one that happened in the Salt Lake Temple to one of the laborers who helped to build the temple: Along about March, 1893, I found myself alone in the dining room--all had gone to bed. I was sitting at the table when to my great surprise my old brother Alfred walked in, sat down opposite me at the table and smiled. I said to him (he looked so natural): "When did you arrive in Utah?" (He had lived in New Zealand and from whom I had not heard in years.)
He said: "I have just come from the Spirit World; this is not my body that you see, it is lying in the tomb. I want to tell you that when you were on your mission you told me many things about the Gospel, and the hereafter, and about the Spirit World being as real and tangible as the earth. I realized that you had told the truth. I attended the Mormon meetings." He raised his hand and said with much warmth: "I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ with all my heart. I believe in faith and repentance and baptism for the remission of sins, but that is as far as I can go. I look to you to do the work for me in the temple." He continued: "You can go to any kind of sectarian meeting in the Spirit World. All our kindred there knew you were trying to make up your mind to come and work on the temple. You are watched closely, every move you [107] make is known there; and we were glad you came. We are all looking to you as our head in this great work. I want to tell you that there are a great many spirits who weep and mourn because they have relatives in the Church here who are careless and are doing nothing for them." He then disappeared.
This following experience I heard first hand, when I was serving as an Elder's Quorum President, when Mom and I were first married. Back in those days the temples allowed you to hold special firesides inside the temple. I had planned a fireside in the Provo Temple. We had the temple president, President Orville C. Gunther, speak to us. I loved hearing President Gunther speak, because he was so open on talking about the endowment, it's symbols and meanings. It was from President Gunther that I learned a lot of what I know about the temple robes and the endowment.
During this fireside President Gunther related an experience he had one night. He woke up in the middle of the night and felt an urgency to go down to the Provo Temple. He didn't know why, but got dressed and was heading out his door, when the phone rang. It was President Harold B. Lee. President Lee said "Brother Gunther, I've been asked to call you. I know that you feel an urgency to go to your temple. The Savior is at your temple right now doing some work and doesn't need your assistance at this time, so go back to sleep. Well, President Gunther said he couldn't go back to sleep.
President Gunther said that he shared this experience, one of many, to illustrate that the work that goes on in the temples is the Lord's work and he is closely envolved in this work.
While serving last year in the Jordan River temple, I had President Chamberlin relate many similar types of experiences. He said that the Lord is constantly in the Jordan River Temple. He considers this his workhorse temple. More work is done in this temple that any other temple in the Church. I'll relate one experience that President Chamberlin related.
He, President Chamberlin was in the upper rooms of the temple observing the work and had a temple patron come up and ask who that person was over there, as he was not wearing the same temple robes as everyone else. President Chamberlin asked if he saw him. And the patron said that he did. He then told him that he has just seen the Savior, and that he is there often overseeing the work in this temple.
There are many more that I could share with you, but I don't want this post to go too long. If we are together some time, ask me and I would be glad to share a few more.
Again, my goal in sharing some of these experiences is to motivate you to attend the temple often. Know that when you attend, you are not alone. There is just as much in attendance, maybe more, from the other side of the veil as there is from this side.
Isn't this work wonderful?
Love, Dad
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