Joseph Smith and the Restoration of Temple Doctrine and Ordinances—The First Visions, Part 2

Elijah Restores the Power to Seal Families for Eternity, by Gary E. Smith c. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

In contemplating how God restored temple doctrines and ordinances through the Prophet Joseph Smith, it becomes clear that the revelatory process is as much about the spiritual growth of the receiver of the revelation as it is about the revelation itself. The messenger (God’s revelator) and the message (God’s revelation) are inextricably intertwined. Among other things, revelation requires a revelator capable of obeying the revelation, “for all those who have [a] law [or principle] revealed unto them must obey the same” (D&C 132:3). We each experience this, of course, over the weeks, years and decades of our own temple attendance—our understanding of the temple increases as our capacity to live the principles we learn in the temple increases (and vice versa).[1] This, in effect, is the purpose of temple ordinances, that the “power of godliness”—receiving divine help to become “godly”—is “manifest” in our lives (D&C 84:20). Thus, a study of Joseph Smith’s (or any prophet’s) spiritual growth in a very real sense is a study about the divine purpose of temple ordinances and their potential effect in our lives.

As this principle distilled upon my mind in preparation for this blog post, the question occurred to me, “if we can learn so much about the temple from the life of Joseph Smith, which can only be known through a careful reconstruction and understanding of 200+-year old historical records, what about the living prophet, who is before our very eyes? What could we learn about the temple from studying his life and teachings?” So I turned immediately to review Spencer L. Condie’s Russell M. Nelson: Father, Surgeon, Apostle. While President Nelson’s parents were not active in the Church until his early 50’s[2], they sent him to Sunday School, which he generally attended, except for the times when, dressed for church, he acted “as if he were going to Sunday School,” but would then divert to Harvard Park to play football with his friends. Rusell’s parents also received their home teacher, John Ryser, who talked them into letting Russell, at age 16, and his three siblings be baptized. Importantly, his mother taught her son to pray at night.[3] By his own account, however, President Nelson “gained [his] testimony of the divinity of God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ” “during medical school” at the University of Utah,[4] which he attended from ages 20-23. His temple marriage to Dantzel White, who throughout her life was “totally committed to the Lord and to His church,” surely was also a great influence in his conversion.[5] Moreover, as with the Prophet Joseph’s divinely appointed ancestry,[6] the faith, devotion and spiritual experiences of President Nelson’s ancestors (one great-great-grandfather and all eight of his great-grandparents joined the Church in Europe and, after immigrating to the United States, settled in Ephraim, Utah[7]) also played a crucial role in the development of his prophetic gifts. Condie describes, for example, the “profound impact”[8] one particular ancestor’s journal entry had on Russell. The journal entry by his grandfather, A.C. Nielson, described in detail a remarkable visit he had on April 6, 1891 from his deceased father, Mads Peter Nielsen, who had died about two months previously. “Neatly dressed in a suit of light gray clothes,” A.C. wrote, “Father came in” A.C.’s bedroom “and sat on the side of the bed.” Noting that A.C. had not been present when Mads died and that he “had a few spare minutes,” Mads reported:

I have been travelling together with Apostle Erastus Snow ever since I died; that is, since three days after I died; then I received my commission to preach the Gospel. You can not imagine, my son, how many spirits there are in the Spirit world that have not yet received the Gospel; but many are receiving it, and a great work is being accomplished. Many are anxiously looking forth to their friends, who are still living, to administer for them in the Temples. . . . .

“Will all the spirits believe you, father, when you teach them the Gospel?” “No they will not. . . .”

“Father, can you see us at all times, and do you know what we are doing?” “No, my son, I can not. I have something else to do. I can not go where and when I please. There is just as much, and much more, order here in the Spirit world than in the other world. I have been assigned work and that must be performed.”

A.C. then told his father that he and his family planned to go to the temple and be sealed to him. “That, my son,” Mads responded, “is partly what I came to see you about. We will yet make a family and live throughout Eternity.”[9]

Moroni’s Rendition of Malachi’s 5th Century B.C. Prophesy about Elijah. The soul-penetrating substance of the revelation Mads Nelson imparted during his visit from the spirit world to his son no doubt ministered to President Nelson’s prophetic preparation. Likewise, Moroni’s visit to Joseph in 1823, including his “quotation” of Malachi’s 5th century B.C. prophesy about the latter-day mission of Elijah, ministered profoundly to Joseph Smith’s growing capacity to understand and restore eternal temple doctrines and ordinances. Joseph Smith would “see” Malachi’s prophecy six years later (about June 1829) through the Interpreters when he “translated” Mormon’s abridgment of the Savior’s quotation of Malachi 3-5 to the Nephites at their temple.

[Moroni] first quoted part of the third chapter of Malachi and he quoted also the fourth or last chapter of the same prophecy though with a little variation from the way it reads in our Bibles. Instead of quoting the first verse as [sic] reads in our books he quoted it thus, “For behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud <yea> and all that do wickedly shall burn as stubble, for <they> that cometh shall burn them saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” And again he quoted the fifth verse thus, “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.” He also quoted the next verse differently, “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 the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.”[10]

Joseph first recorded Moroni’s recitation of Malachi’s prophecy in 1838, ten plus years after the visit.[11] As one scholar has noted, “the angel’s words obviously made a deep impression on the teenage seer. Whether he understood all the words that night is not clear, but they remained in his mind and heart until he witnessed their fulfillment and comprehended them well.”[12] For purposes of this blog post, we will focus on Moroni’s variations from the King James’ version of Malachi 4:5-6, which versions are also found in 3 Nephi 25:5-6 and D&C 128:17, from our present-day perspective—particularly the glosses prophets and trustworthy commentators have put on them.

Comparing JS-H 1:36-39/D&C 2 with Malachi 4:5-6. In order to better appreciate Moroni’s instructions to the nascent prophet (recalling President Nelson’s description of Moroni as an emissary sent by God the Father specifically to train and mentor Joseph to grow into his foreordained role), it is helpful to compare these verses side-by-side (as Scripture Central commentators suggest, with “words and phrases in the KJV that aren’t present in Moroni’s quotation highlighted with italics” and “words and phrases in Moroni’s quotation that aren’t in the KJV bolded”[13]):

Malachi 4:5–6 (KJV)	Doctrine and Covenants 2 (cf. Joseph Smith—History 1:37–39)
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:	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 turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers,	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.
lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.	If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.

Who was God to send and why? Bible commentators in Joseph Smith’s day neither agreed on who the Elijah Malachi prophesied would return would be or which “coming” of the Lord he would precede, some opining that he was John the Baptist, who came before Christ’s first coming or mortal ministry, others that it would be Enoch and still others that Elijah would personally return.[14] Moroni, however, clarified not only who would come but why he would come—the Lord would send Elijah,the Tishbite of 1 Kings fame and “the last prophet to hold the sealing power before Christ.”[15]

How would God sending Elijah before the Savior’s Second Coming “turn” the hearts of the fathers to their children? The King James version of Malachi’s prophesy states that upon his return Elijah would “turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers.” Brigham Young University scholars point out that the Greek version of the Old Testament “speaks of returning, stating that Elijah will ‘restore the heart of father to son and the heart of man to his neighbor lest [the Lord] come and smite the earth grievously,’” using “the Greek word apokatastesei, which means to turn again or to restore, suggesting that Elijah will assist in ‘bringing people back into the relationships of love and concern that once prevailed.’” The Masoretic Hebrew texts of the Old Testament employ “the Hebrew verb shûb, which . . . connotes restoring or returning, even bringing home again, often with a strong sense of repentance, both of turning away from evil and of returning to the good.” From “the Septuagint and Masoretic texts of Malachi 4,” these scholars suggest, “Elijah’s task will be to restore relationships between fathers and children to the way they once were, perhaps in the premortal state or at some earlier point in human history.”[16] Thus, a key element of Elijah’s mission is to “restore” parental relationships (and especially the influence of fathers) to their pre-industrialization status (where in a “predominant[ly] ‘agricultural and rural setting’ fathers and mothers were more ‘intimately involved in the daily lives of their children’”)[17], before modern influences (such as the emphasis on “individualism” or, I would add, the “feminization” of modern culture) drove a wedge between parents and children.

What do we learn from Moroni’s explanation that God would “reveal the priesthood” by the hand of Elijah? A. Keith Thompson with the Interpreter Foundation notes that Moroni said God would “reveal” the priesthood through Elijah, not “restore” the priesthood, suggesting that God would be doing something more than merely sending Elijah to the Kirtland Temple in April 1836 to “commit” “the keys” of the sealing power “into the hands” of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery (D&C 110:16). “This choice of word strongly suggests that either Elijah, or what follows his visit, will explain the purpose of God’s priesthood in a way that was then unknown on the earth.”[18] Thompson argues that Moroni’s phrase (which he would repeat four times), “I will reveal the priesthood,” “may have [been] intended” to draw Joseph’s mind back to the Lord’s instruction in the First Vision. When the Lord told Joseph that the ministers of his day “draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” and “teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof,” He wasn’t only commenting on the truth or falsity of the religious “sects” of Joseph’s day, but also teaching about what Thompson refers to as “priesthood power,” or in other words the Lord’s subsequent promise that His obedient Saints would be “endowed with power,” as for example in D&C 38:32, 38; 43:16; 105:11; 132:59. Twelve years later the Savior would reveal to the Prophet that the “power” of “godliness” He referred to in the First Vision is inextricably linked to the priesthood and its ordinances: “And this greater priesthood administereth the gospel and holdeth the key of the mysteries of the kingdom, even the knowledge of God. Therefore, in the ordinances thereof, the power of godliness is manifest. And without the ordinances thereof, and the authority of the priesthood, the power of godliness is not manifest unto men in the flesh; For without this [power of godliness] no man can see the face of God, even the Father, and live” (D&C 84:19-22).

Christ’s answer to Joseph’s First Vision question about which church to join, Thompson explains, “blended the words of Isaiah [“this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men”(Isaiah 29:13)] with some that Paul had written to Timothy” [“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves  . . . Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away” (Timothy 3:1, 2, 5)]. “How was it that religious teachers in both the first and nineteenth centuries denied the power of godliness?” Thompson asks. Referring back to Section 84’s reference to the “mysteries of godliness,” a clear reference to temple doctrines[19], Thompson responds that Joseph would later learn “that the power of godliness was revealed in the ordinances of the Melchizedek priesthood and the ordinances of the Melchizedek priesthood [would make] men and women kings and priests, queens and priestesses in the kingdom of his Father so that they could learn to become gods themselves. Christ’s charge was that the Christian teaching that had come down to Joseph’s day had changed the ordinances that Christ had originally revealed, so they denied that human beings were of the same species as God and were intended not only to be saved, but also to be exalted with Him.”[20] Thus, Thompson summarizes, we clearly see in the scriptural phrases used in the First Vision the Lord preparing Joseph’s mind to understand the purposes and ordinances of temples—what Thompson describes as the “doctrine of sealing”—in his very first appearance to Joseph Smith.

What are the “promises” and who are the “fathers” Moroni mentions? Moroni further explains to Joseph that Elijah would “plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers” and that “the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers.” Until very recently, I have understood Moroni’s use of “fathers” in these two phrases as a reference to our deceased ancestors (which the phrase “their fathers” clearly does refer to), drawing from President Joseph Fielding Smith’s explanation of this phrase: “The fathers are our dead ancestors who died without the privilege of receiving the gospel, but who received the promise that the time would come when that privilege would be granted them. The children are those now living who are preparing genealogical data and who are performing the vicarious ordinances in the temples. The turning of the hearts of the children to the fathers is placing or planting in the hearts of the children that feeling and desire which will inspire them to search out the records of the dead.”[21] However, President Nelson recently amplified President Smith’s interpretation when he taught that Moroni’s rephrasing of Malachi’s prophecy to include the “promises to the fathers” “surely include Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” [22] suggesting that the word “promises” refers to the promises God made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—what we all know as the Abrahamic Covenant[23]. These promises include innumerable seed, even “as the dust of the earth” (Genesis 13:16; 28:14) and the “stars of heaven” (Genesis 22:17; 26:3-4; see also Genesis 26:60 (Rebecca to be the mother of “thousands of millions”)).

Among the blessings of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob sealed upon us in the holy temple are the “blessings of the Gospel . . . even of eternal life” (Abraham2:11). As described in Section 132, those who “abide” in the New and Everlasting Covenant of marriage receive “exaltation and glory in all things, as hath been sealed upon their heads, which glory shall be a fulness and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever” (D&C 132:19). Joseph would learn much more about the promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (and other of the ancient patriarchs or fathers) as he began the translation of the Bible soon after the organization of the Church (the subject of future blogs). Suffice it to say, as Church scholars have documented, the “fathers” who received the supernal “promises” God catalogued in the Abrahamic Covenant include Adam and his “birthright” sons whom he ordained (or were ordained under his direction), including Seth, “his grandson Enos, great-grandson Cainan, great-great-grandson Mahalaleel, as well as third, fourth, and fifth great-grandsons Jared, Enoch, and Methuselah. In turn, Seth ordained Methuselah’s son, Lamech, and Methuselah ordained his grandson Noah. (See D&C 107:44–53; compare Genesis 5:3–32; Moses 6:10–25; also see D&C 84:6–16.)”[24] Even more importantly, however, as we learn from President Nelson’s temple teachings, the “fathers” and mothers who have received these supernal “promises” include “all other devoted disciples of Jesus Christ—since the world was created” who, he taught, “have made the same covenants with God. They have received the same ordinances that we as members of the Lord’s restored Church today have made: those covenants that we receive at baptism and in the temple.”[25]

Why isn’t the Savior’s quotation of Malachi 4:5-6 to the Nephites in 3 Nephi 25:5-6 the same as Moroni’s quotation of these verses to Joseph Smtih (in JS-H 1: 37–39 and as canonized in D&C 2)? When the Prophet arrived at 3 Nephi 24 in the Nephite record, where Mormon is describing how Jesus commanded His disciples to “write the words which the Father had given unto Malachi” (3 Nephi 24:1), the translation the Lord gave Joseph Smith of Malachi’s words as they now stand in 3 Nephi 25:5-6 is identical to the King James translation of Malachi 4:5-6. Why didn’t the Lord have Joseph Smith include the changes quoted by Moroni? In short, He has not told us. Critics accuse Joseph Smith of “lifting bodily” passages from the Bible into the Book of Mormon. Hugh Nibley responded eloquently to these arguments in the 1960’s. Quoting from Nibley’s writings, FAIR’s website answers in part (see link in the footnote for the full response): “As to the ‘passages lifted bodily from the King James Version,’ we first ask, ‘How else does one quote scripture if not bodily?’ And why should anyone quoting the Bible to American readers of 1830 not follow the only version of the Bible known to them? Actually the Bible passages quoted in the Book of Mormon often differ from the King James Version, but where the latter is correct there is every reason why it should be followed.”[26]

We will look more deeply in future blogs at the things we are learning from the Joseph Smith Papers and other original historical sources that are coming forward about the process Joseph followed to translate the Book of Mormon—particularly about how that revelatory process was preparing his mind to understand and later reveal temple doctrines and ordinances. But to truly appreciate how the Lord treats truths about His temples (including those truths in Malachi 4:5-6 we are exploring in this blog), it is worth noting the findings of Royal Skousen, editor of the Book of Mormon critical text project and The Book of Mormon: The Earliest Text (Yale University Press, 2009), about the revelatory process the Lord employed to bring forth this key-stone volume of scripture in the course of the unfolding restoration:

Joseph Smith was literally reading off an already composed English-language text. Taken as a whole, the evidence in the manuscripts and in the language of the earliest text supports the hypothesis that the Book of Mormon was a precise text. I do not consider this conclusion apologetic, but instead as one demanded by the evidence.

The opposing viewpoint, that Joseph Smith got ideas and translated them into his own English, cannot be supported by the manuscript and textual evidence. The only substantive argument for this alternative view has been the nonstandard nature of the original text, with its implication that God would never speak ungrammatical English, so the nonstandard usage must be the result of Joseph Smith putting the ideas he received into his own language. Yet with the recent finding that the original vocabulary of the text appears to date from the 1500s and 1600s (not the 1800s), we now need to consider the possibility that the ungrammaticality of the original text may also date from that earlier period of time, not necessarily from Joseph’s own time and place. The evidence basically argues that Joseph Smith was not the author of the Book of Mormon, nor was he actually the translator. Instead, he was the revelator: through him the Lord revealed the English-language text (by means of the interpreters, later called the Urim and Thummim, and the seer stone). Such a view is consistent, I believe, with Joseph’s use elsewhere of the verb translate to mean “transmit” and the noun translation to mean “transmission” (as in the eighth Article of Faith).[27]

Thus, “rather than looking at a Bible (the absence of a Bible now near-definitively confirmed by the manuscript evidence and the unequivocal statements of witnesses to the translation to the Book of Mormon), Joseph was provided a page of text via his gift of seership. This page of text contained, in this view, the King James Bible text. Joseph was then free to alter the text for his audience.”[28] In other words, the Lord gave to Joseph (in King James English) the same words He asked his Nephite scribe(s) to record on the plates of Nephi in their language.

But why, we might further ask, wouldn’t the Lord want Moroni’s clarifications to be in the text of the Book of Mormon? Again, He has not said. The answer, however, may have something to do with the sacred nature of the subject matter. John W. Welch and other scholars, for example, have written extensively about temple themes that run through both Malachi’s writings and Jesus’ teaching at the temple (which we will explore later in greater detail), including the following:

Possible Temple Elements Reflected in Malachi 3–4 (3 Nephi 24–25) 

Scripture           Temple Reference  3:1 (24:1)          the coming of a messenger of the covenant “suddenly to his temple” 3:3–10               making pure consecration of tithes and offerings 3:11                   rebuking Satan, the devourer 3:12                   being called “blessed” in a delightsome land           3:14                   abiding the day of his coming judgment 3:16                   those who fear the Lord speaking often one to another 3:16                   keeping a book of remembrance of the names of the righteous 3:18                   being able to discern between the good and the evil 4:2 (25:2)          The Sun (Son) of Righteousness shall heal the sick 4:4                     remembering the Ten Commandments given at Mount Sinai 4:5                     sending the prophet Elijah 4:5–6                 bringing parents and children, ancestors and posterity, together 2:16                   hating divorce; covering violence with a garment 2:17                   preparing for the coming judgment of God[29]

Recall that after the Savior had quoted Malachi 3–4 to the Nephites, Jesus “expounded them” (3 Nephi 24:1; 26:1), revealing things (including possibly administering ordinances) that they were presumably asked not to write down (or, if they were written, Mormon and Moroni were directed not to include in their abridgement of those records).[30] As one commentator noted, the Nephites gathered at the temple in Bountiful “were spiritually prepared and mature in their righteousness in the gospel,” “qualified by personal righteousness,” as Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote, “to see the face of their God.”[31] In like manner, we see in the life of Joseph Smith, President Nelson and even in our own lives a similar pattern: “he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day” (D&C 50:24).

Russell and Dantzel Nelson Wedding Reception c. Church News

How can our understanding of Moroni’s “explanations” about Malachi’s prophecies help us today? As I reflect on the process God used to spiritually educate, mentor and “raise up” His chosen leader for this, the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times, on which so much of God’s plans for this earth and all of those who have, do and will people it depends, I find comfort. As Keith Thompson observes, “It is likely that Joseph was not immediately familiar with Malachi 4:1, 5–6, and that he only noticed the differences in Moroni’s version of those verses later on when he read and pondered them. . . . Moroni knew that Joseph did not need to understand all he taught during that first night of instruction. Though there are those who might ask why Moroni gave Joseph so much information in one lecture, Moroni knew what he was doing. These verses from Malachi were given first for good reason. Moroni focused on the essential core of Joseph’s foreordained responsibility. The work that Joseph was called to do would prepare the earth for the great and dreadful day of the Lord that would usher in the millennium.”[32] Likewise, each of us may not yet fully understand all that God has revealed about His holy house and the indispensable ordinances we receive there. But He knows what He is doing. If we will but do our best to follow the counsel of the leaders He has chosen, He will lead us along.

In the meantime, we can trust in His promises to us, given through the ordinances, through our patriarchal and fathers’ blessings and other priesthood ministrations, even from apostolic blessings delivered from our pulpits. I offer just one example from the life of Oscar W. McConkie, Jr. (famous among LDS lawyers like myself for his legal work for the Church), who in writing about the “promises” Moroni referred to when he quoted Malachi 4:5-6 shared:

Finally, I turn for an example to the one who both taught me the meaning of the Abrahamic covenant in our day and who acted it out in the name of God—my father. I was in high school and had not reached my eighteenth birthday. The United States Navy sent a representative to our school. He was suggesting the possibility of an officers training program after we graduated. World War II was a time of universal military service commitment. I passed a series of tests that he administered. The Navy sent me to San Francisco for more testing, physical and mental. I agreed to go into the Naval V-12 program. After graduation from high school, I would be sent to a university with a naval unit to become an officer in the U.S. Navy. For the first time in my life, I was troubled. My life at home in Salt Lake City had been a sheltered one. Family and church had protected me from the world. Was I ready for Navy life? I had specific questions. Was I mature enough to be firm in the faith? Would I keep my father’s name in honorable remembrance? Just how much power does Satan have? Did I have the physical and mental strength and the ability to do the responsibilities that would be thrust upon me? Did I have the intellect? Fear was upon me.

I went to my father. He customarily gave formal written father’s blessings to his children when they went on missions or got married. Could I have mine a little early, before I was to be shipped out to the V-12 program at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque? The fact that I asked was all the evidence of maturity that was necessary for my father. He took me into the privacy of a back bedroom. Mother came with a yellow legal pad and a pencil. Mother and I sat on the edge of the bed. Dad stood by me and put his hands on my head. Mother wrote in longhand as he spoke: “Oscar, my son, . . . unto you it is given to bear my name.” And then particularly, slowly enough for mother to write, he intoned the answers to each of my worried but unspoken questions

My fears left me. I was comforted. All my questions were answered and dismissed. A just-turned-eighteen-year-old boy became a man that day under his father’s hands. I felt an awareness—as I had so often seen in my father—that I, too, was a subject of divine notice. By acting as voice, in a father’s blessing from God, my natural patriarch protected me.[33]

God be praised for patriarchs, ancient and modern! May we ever trust that God, the Eternal Father and Patriarch of us all, is “able” to help us, even to “make [us] holy” as He has promised to do (D&C 60:7).

[1] See Stephen L. Fluckiger, Drawing Upon the Spiritual Treasures of the Temple (Springville, Utah: CFI—An imprint of Cedar Fort, Inc., 2024), 177 (“The object of our learning in and outside of the temple is not just intellectual ‘knowing’ but applying what we know to become more like the Savior. In this regard, it is noteworthy that ‘the word endow as used in the New Testament comes from the Greek word enduein, meaning “to dress, clothe, put on garments, put on attributes, or receive virtue.”’ Receiving ‘virtue,’ in the context of the endowment, means receiving the ‘capacity to act’ or ‘potency,’ meaning ‘the ability or capacity to achieve or bring about a particular result.’”); 284 (being “neither . . . barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:5–8) “refers . . . to our character or natures—‘this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent’” (John 17:3). [2] Spencer L. Condie, Russell M. Nelson: Father, Surgeon, Apostle (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book, 2003), 27-29. [3] Ibid. 33-34. [4] Russell M. Nelson, “The Lord Jesus Christ Will Come Again,” Liahona, November 2024, 122. President Nelson entered the University of Utah at age 17 and worked on his bachelor’s and MD degrees “simultaneously, ”receiving his BA in 1945 and his MD in 1947 at age 22. Russell M. Nelson, Heart of the Matter: What 100 Years of Living Have Taught Me. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2023, 5. [5] Condie, 55. [6] In his history, Joseph Smith recorded that his “Grandfather Asael Smith [had ]long [before] predicted that there would be a prophet raised up in his family, and my Grand Mother was fully satisfied that it was fulfilled in me. My Grand Father Asael, Died in East Stockholm St Lawrence Co New York, after having received the Book of Mormon, and read it nearly through, and he declared that I was the very prophet that he had long known, would come in his family.” JSP, JS, History, 1838–1856, vol. B-1, created 1 Oct. 1843–24 Feb. 1845, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1838-1856-volume-b-1-1-september-1834-2-november-1838/308?highlight=Asael%20Smith#source-note.   [7] Condie, 3. [8] Ibid. 11. Condie did not say when President Nelson first learned about this visitation from the Spirit World, but that “on occasion, Elder Nelson has quoted excerpts at funerals of various family members.” President Nelson also shared A.C.’s “vision” during the 2017 RootsTech conference. See “President Nelson’ Grandfather’s Visit from the other side of the Veil and Family History Work,” YouTube video from President and Sister Nelson—Rootstech Family Discovery Day Opening Session 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjBwuL0ogJs. A.C. Nelson died 10 years before President Nelson’s birth, but his wife, Amanda Jensen Nelson, lived to attend President Nelson’s and Dantzel’s temple wedding activities. [9] Condie, 9-10. [10] JS History, circa June 1839–circa 1841 [Draft 2], p. 6, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed February 6, 2025, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-circa-june-1839-circa-1841-draft-2/5 & 6 (emphasis added). [11] Regarding the Prophet’s record-keeping efforts and recalling Lord’s April 6, 1830 commandment that “there shall be a record kept among you” (D&C 21:1), the Introduction to Histories, Volume 1: Joseph Smith Histories, 1832–1844 of the Joseph Smith Papers project, notes: “In November of 1843, when Willard Richards and William W. Phelps were compiling the ‘History of Joseph Smith,’ they reported that noise from a nearby school ‘disturbed the history & prevent[e]d its progress.’ Joseph Smith immediately instructed that the class be relocated. “’The History must continue, and not be disturbed,’ he declared; ‘there are but few subjects that I have felt a greater anxiety about than my History.’ On another occasion he told Phelps of a message that had come to him in a dream: ‘the history must go ahead before any thing.’ . . . With the assistance of Frederick G. Williams, Joseph Smith first set about recording his own history in the summer of 1832. In it he recounted for the first time in writing his first vision of Deity and the discovery of the gold plates. Two years later a more ambitious project, the 1834–1836 history, was initiated. This history drew largely on existing records, including Oliver Cowdery’s account of the translation of the Book of Mormon and the conferral of priesthood authority. Like the 1832 history, this manuscript remained unfinished. In April 1838, Joseph Smith began work on a new ‘history of this Church from the earliest perio[d],’ the work that would eventually become the multivolume History of the Church.” [12] Steven C. Harper, “Joseph Smith and the Kirtland Temple, 1836,” in Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer, ed. Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Kent P. Jackson (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2010), 233–60. See also Steven C. Harper, “Probation of a Teenage Seer: Joseph Smith’s Early Experiences with Moroni,” in Raising the Standard of Truth: Exploring the History and Teachings of the Early Restoration, ed. Scott C. Esplin, Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 28 (“How much Joseph Smith understood [at the time] is not clear; but over time he learned of Moroni’s meaning: God had chosen Joseph to restore the powerful priesthood ordinances in which solemn covenants could bind families to God and, by leading them to eternal lives, fulfill the plan of redemption that this was created to facilitate.”). [13] D&C KnoWhy #591, “Why Did Moroni Quote Malachi about Elijah’s Coming?” BMC Team, January 19, 2021, https://doctrineandcovenantscentral.org/knowhy/why-did-moroni-quote-malachi-about-elijahs-coming/. [14] Kenneth L. Alford, “I Will Send You Elijah the Prophet," in You Shall Have My Word: Exploring the Text of the Doctrine and Covenants, ed. Scott C. Esplin, Richard O. Cowan, and Rachel Cope (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2012), 34–49. [15] Fluckiger, 238, quoting David A. Bednar, “Let This House Be Built unto My Name,” Ensign, May 2020, 85. See generally, chap. 17, “The Spiritual Treasures from the Mission and Keys of Elijah,” 237-52. [16] Alan J. Hawkins, David C. Dollahite and Clifford J. Rhoades, “Turning the Hearts of the Fathers to the Children: Nurturing the Next Generation,” BYU Studies Quarterly, 33, no. 2 (1993): 276, https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2850&context=byusq. The authors, members of BYU’s School of Family Sciences, note that “having freed themselves from the bonds that selfless caring for others necessarily brings, [those who follow the doctrine of individualism, [which] insists that individuals must be unfettered to pursue personal courses of self-fulfillment] may find themselves so disconnected from familial, community, and institutional relationships that their unfettered self-fulfillment feels like desperate loneliness. Such a world might well be described as ‘cursed.’” They go on to cite research showing there are “encouraging signs that many fathers are responding to the Spirit of Elijah and turning their hearts to the children,” including evidence that “(1) a small but growing number of fathers are becoming more involved in the daily care and nurturing of their children, (2) the status of children is improving, and (3) people are showing greater concern for the natural environment that will be passed on to future generations.” [17] Scripture Central KnoWhy #219, “Why Will God Turn the Hearts of the Fathers to the Children?” October 28, 2016, quoting Hawkins, Dollahite and Rhoades, https://doctrineandcovenantscentral.org/knowhy/why-will-god-turn-the-hearts-of-the-fathers-to-the-children/. [18] A. Keith Thompson, “Joseph Smith and the Doctrine of Sealing,” Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture, vol. 21, 2016, 1-21, https://interpreterfoundation.org/joseph-smith-and-the-doctrine-of-sealing/. [19] Fluckiger 40-41 (section entitled “Knowing the Nature and Purposes of God and Jesus Christ and Our Relationship to Them Are the First ‘Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven’ Taught in the Temple”). [20] Thompson, 6. [21] Joseph Fielding Smith, “The Promises Made to the Fathers,” Improvement Era, July 1922, 829, quoted in Fluckiger, 238-39. On another occasion, President Joseph Fielding Smith taught that Malachi’s reference to “promises made to the fathers,” which would be “planted” in the hearts of their children, refers to “certain promises made to those who died without a knowledge of the gospel, and without the opportunity of receiving the sealing ordinances of the Priesthood in matters pertaining to their exaltation. According to these promises, [their] children in the latter days are to perform all such ordinances in behalf of the dead.” While President Smith did not explicitly teach this, my personal belief, as stated in Drawing, is that “some premortal spirits agreed to come to the earth knowing that the gospel would not be available but were comforted by the assurance that other premortal spirits, their children or descendants, had promised that, as they had opportunity to receive the gospel themselves, either by being born in the covenant or baptized as new converts, they would do the family history work and temple ordinances for their progenitors, without whom they could not have been born.” Fluckiger, 239, quoting Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 2:127–28. [22] Russell M. Nelson, “The Everlasting Covenant,” Liahona, October 2022, 4, citing D&C 27:9–10. [23] See generally Fluckiger, chapter 16, “The Spiritual Treasures from the Dispensation of the Gospel of Abraham,” 215-36. [24] Craig James Ostler, “The Promises Made to and the Right Belonging to the Fathers,” in An Eye of Faith: Essays in Honor of Richard O. Cowan, ed. Kenneth L. Alford and Richard E. Bennett (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center; Salt Lake City, 2015), 159–73, https://rsc.byu.edu/eye-faith/promises-made-right-belonging-fathers. [25] Russell M. Nelson, “Come, Follow Me”, Liahona, May 2019. [26] “Does the Book of Mormon plagiarize the King James Bible?” FAIR: Faithful Answers, Informed Response, https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/answers/Bible_passages_in_the_Book_of_Mormon#cite_note-1. [27] “Royal Skousen: My Testimony of the Book of Mormon, Scholarly and Personal,” FAIR, https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/testimonies/scholars/royal-skousen. 28] “Does the Book of Mormon plagiarize the King James Bible?” FAIR. [29] Scripture Central, John W. Welch Notes, “3 Nephi 24,” https://archive.bookofmormoncentral.org/sites/default/files/archive-files/pdf/welch/2020-09-29/3_nephi_20-26_formatted.pdf. [30] “Mormon and Moroni likely knew from additional records available to them what the Savior taught on this occasion. The context in 3 Nephi suggests that the resurrected Jesus spoke to His Twelve [disciples] about covenants, priesthood, and sealing. Thus, when speaking to Joseph Smith, Moroni’s variation of Malachi’s words may well have been based directly on the clarifications and teachings of the Lord that aren’t found in the Book of Mormon.” Doctrine and Covenants Central KnoWhy #591, “Why Did Moroni Quote Malachi about Elijah’s Coming?” January 19, 2021, https://doctrineandcovenantscentral.org/knowhy/why-did-moroni-quote-malachi-about-elijahs-coming/. Of course, when Moroni visited Joseph Smtih he was resurrected (JS-H 1:30-33) and, as Keith Thompson points out, “presumably walk[ed] and talk[ed] with Christ and God and others of the ancient prophets, including potentially Malachi himself” (Thompson, 9). Thus, what Moroni then knew about Malachi’s prophesy in all probability far exceeded what he and Mormon would have gleaned from the Nephite records to which they each had access in mortality. In giving Joseph Smith the King James translation of Malachi 4:5-6 for 3 Nephi 25:5-6 and later directing Moroni to amplify on that translation in his first appearance to the Prophet (and to later direct that this amplification be canonized in D&C 2), the Lord was not only teaching Joseph, but all who would sincerely read and study His revelations, “line upon line” and “precept upon precept.” [31] Gerald Hansen Jr., "Gathering to the Temple: Teachings of the Second Day," in The Book of Mormon: 3 Nephi 9–30, This Is My Gospel, Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, 1993, 211–23, quoting Bruce R. McConkie, Promised Messiah, 609. [32] Ostler, “The Promises Made to and the Right Belonging to the Fathers,” 12-13. [33] Oscar W. McConkie Jr., “Living Up to Our Patriarchies,” in A Witness for the Restoration: Essays in Honor of Robert J. Matthews, ed. Kent P. Jackson and Andrew C. Skinner (Provo: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2007), 281–305, https://rsc.byu.edu/witness-restoration/living-our-patriarchies.