To Turn Our Hearts

Although this blog mostly concerns family history regarding the Brooks family and extended lines, I have often expressed my thoughts regarding the work of family history. This blog is an expression of recent thoughts on family history work.

I recently attended a meeting of family history consultants in Lake Oswego, Oregon. The speaker, Webster, was from Ogden, Utah and was an area director for family history. He began his talk by introducing the topic “Family History and Salvation”. The suggestion was that family history work should be considered as a resource for fulfilling the three objectives of the Church, i.e. Redeeming the Dead, Preaching the Gospel throughout the world and Strengthening its members. This new suggestion is titled “To Turn the Hearts”. The phrase comes from a scripture in Malachi, verses 5 and 6 in the last chapter: “Behold, I will send you 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, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” We know the Elijah has already appeared and conferred the keys needed to redeem the dead. This is evidenced by the great surge in genealogy throughout the world, i.e. finding our ancestors and connecting ourselves to our fathers and the extensive building of temples. This seems to fulfill the later part of the prophecy in Malachi of turning the heart of the children to their fathers. I have often wondered how the first part of Malachi’s prophecy comes into play, “turn the heart of the fathers to the children.”

I believe there is strong evidence that the world of departed spirits and the world of the living upon this earth are closely connected. Bruce R. McConkie upon addressing a group of assembled saints referred to his father making a statement a few hours before his passing, saying; my children, you have always been in my prayers and you will continue to be in my prayers after I leave this life. I believe that as we become acquainted with our departed fathers, mothers and others who are deceased, that they become a strength to us who live in a world of turmoil and uncertainty, a world filled with the power of Satan; a strength needed to overcome the forces of evil. The strength comes from our acquaintance with them and them with us. We truly need the strength from our departed fathers to live during these times so that salvation may come to us by being faithful to them and to the Savior.

To those who attend the temple regularly and receive of its power and safety, how is that possible without our hearts being turned to our fathers. A once in a life time trip to the temple would be of little help to us in staving off the influence of Satan. Temples are primarily for redeeming the dead and in the process bring salivation to the living. I am beginning to marvel at how interwoven the two worlds are and the blessings that flow from one to the other. Helping God’s children to become acquainted with their fathers is a blessing that flows from the fathers to the children and is of great value to the children of men during these latter days before the Savior comes to dwell with them. We realize the importance that our living fathers have upon their children, but often overlook the significance that our fathers who have passed from this life have upon us. What a great blessing it would be if the living fathers would sit down with their children and help them to become acquainted and develop a love with the grandfathers who have passed into the spirit world. Might they feel: ”I cannot get involved with sinful things because it would dishonor my grandfathers whom I love so very much”?

I hope my invited authors will respond to these thoughts and perhaps provide any personal experiences that are related to this great family history work.

RHB