Family History Work: Our Link to Salvation, Not an Activity
Is temple and family history work an integral part of your gospel life? Do you sacrifice and ensure you have time to work on it, just as you make time to read the scriptures, pray, or strive to become more like the Savior?
Unfortunately, many members see this work as an activity, done only when there’s “nothing better to do” or perhaps as something to do only as a ward activity. While progress continues to be made, in the Africa West Area we find that most temple-goers use names provided by the temple rather than bringing the names of their own ancestors. This suggests that members don’t recognize the importance of family history as an integral part of the gospel, a divine work essential for their salvation and that of their ancestors (see Doctrine and Covenants 128:15).
A Key Work and Principle of the Restored Gospel
So how integral is family history work to the Restoration of the gospel? The angel Moroni made this abundantly clear when four times within one day, he visited the young Joseph Smith and quoted Malachi, saying:
“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 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” (Joseph Smith—History 1:38–39; compare Malachi 4:5–6). This “turning the hearts of children to fathers” is a direct reference to family history work.
It’s significant that this scripture is the only scripture recorded in all four of the standard works of the Church. It becomes even more significant when we realize it was quoted by Christ Himself to the people of the Book of Mormon (see 3 Nephi 25:5–6). Ponder the implication of the last phrase of that scripture and what it means. If this work isn’t performed, the whole earth created in accordance with God’s plan would utterly be wasted. Christ’s great atoning sacrifice, the Restoration of the gospel, Christ’s Second Coming—wasted!
A Sacred Work
For the power of this sacred work to be restored, the Saints were commanded to build a temple, a house of the Lord. Upon completion of the Kirtland Temple, the Savior, Moses, Elias, and Elijah restored priesthood powers and keys necessary for the Restoration to move forward.
Regarding Elijah, the Prophet Joseph stated, “This is the spirit of Elijah, that we redeem our dead, and connect ourselves with our fathers which are in heaven, and seal up our dead to come forth in the first resurrection; and here we want the power of Elijah to seal those who dwell on earth to those who dwell in heaven”. He declared this work to be “one of the greatest and most important subjects that God has revealed”.
The significance to our salvation and that of our ancestors is reemphasized in Doctrine and Covenants 128:15: “These are principles in relation to the dead and the living that cannot be lightly passed over, as pertaining to our salvation. For their salvation is necessary and essential to our salvation, as Paul says concerning the fathers—that they without us cannot be made perfect—neither can we without our dead be made perfect.”
Saviors on Mount Zion
When we do work for our departed relatives, we become, as the scriptures say, “saviors on Mount Zion” (see Obadiah 1:21). When we sacrifice time and effort to prepare and help our ancestors receive proxy ordinances and covenants in the temple, we become partners with the Savior, building welding links from family to family, generation to generation back to the Father’s kingdom.
President Russell M. Nelson taught, “Our ancestors watch and wait for us to identify them and see that their temple ordinances are performed so that they have the opportunity to be gathered eternally into the Father’s fold”. They can be released from spiritual bondage to continue on the covenant path.
As you provide service for them in the house of the Lord, you begin to love them as the Savior loves them. You can become deeply connected to the Savior in accomplishing His work and glory “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39).
Blessings in Our Lives
Doing family history and going to the temple to perform proxy ordinances not only blesses our ancestors; it also blesses us in our daily lives. Specific blessings promised by prophets and apostles could fill pages. President Nelson has explained that “nothing opens the heavens quite like the combination of increased purity, exact obedience, earnest seeking, daily feasting on the words of Christ in the Book of Mormon, and regular time committed to temple and family history work”.
Does that sound like just an activity? His wife, Sister Nelson, shared her experience with personal blessings this work has provided in her life: “I realized that if I was working on an overwhelming project and I was out of time, energy, and ideas, if I would make a sacrifice of time by finding the ordinance-qualifying information for some ancestors or by going to the temple to be proxy for them, the heavens opened and the energy and ideas started flowing. Somehow, I had enough time to meet my deadline. It was totally impossible, but it would happen every time. Temple and family history work bring me a joy that is truly not of this world”.
Do you want to receive these kinds of blessings in your life? If so, do temple and family history work for your ancestors.
Family history work is tied to temple work, and temple work is tied to our salvation. Elijah came to turn the hearts of the children towards the fathers. If your heart has not yet been turned, pray for help and support. Remember how important this work is to you and your ancestors, and ponder this quote from the Prophet Joseph Smith: “The greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us is to seek after our dead”.
You can start your own family history research at FamilySearch.org/Africa.