 |
|
 DESERT BLOSSOMS #166
by Ted L. Gibbons
Brigham Young observed that “we never began to build a temple without the bells of hell beginning to ring” (Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 410). They continue to ring when the building is finished and dedicated.
April 6, 1893, the first day of the dedicatory services, was stormy. The fierce storm of the morning became bitter snow in the afternoon. The foul weather continued throughout the day.
“It had been predicted [that] the Devil would howl, and sure enough he did, for
Salt Lake City
had never witnessed such a storm, wind, rain and snow, many houses and trees were blown over. Hundreds of people stood in the snow for hours waiting for the temple doors to open” (Lucy Flake Autobiography of Lucy Hannah White Flake, Special Collections, BYU, Harold B. Lee Library).
Inside the fourth floor assembly room, however, one supposes participants experienced a divine tranquility. I spent an hour or two with prophets in that room many years ago and still carry with me the sense of stately grandeur and spiritual power. The ceiling must be over twenty-five feet high. The sculpted walls were decorated in white and gold. The pulpits at each end reminded me of the temple in Kirtland. The First Presidency, Wilford Woodruff, George Q. Cannon, and Joseph F. Smith presided as they and the Twelve occupied seats near the Melchizedek Priesthood pulpits. President Smith arose to speak.
“Susa Young Gates, the official stenographer for the dedicatory services, attended the first session of the dedication. “I was sitting on the lower side of the east pulpits, at the recorder’s table,” she wrote. “Almost as soon as President [Joseph F.] Smith began to address the Saints, there shone through his countenance a radiant light that gave me a peculiar feeling. I thought that the clouds must have lifted, and that a stream of sunlight had lighted on the President’s head. I looked out of the window, and somewhat to my surprise there was not the slightest rift in the heavy, black clouds above the city; there was not a gleam of sunshine anywhere. Whence had come the light that shone from the face of President Smith? I was sure that I had seen the actual Presence of the Holy Spirit, focused upon the features of the beloved leader. I cherish the occurrence as one of the most sacred experiences of my life.” Sister Gates was not the only person to witness the light surrounding President Smith. An elder seated at the opposite end of the room saw a light of “yellowish or golden tint and exceedingly brilliant” appear around President Smith as he spoke” (LaRene Gaunt, “The Power of God Was with Us,” Ensign, Mar. 1993, 29, 30).
Dedicatory services continued over a two-week period, and manifestations of spiritual power and divine acceptance continued as well.
“For example, on
Monday, 17 April 1893
, Brother Andrew Smith, Jr., a member of the Tabernacle Choir, opened his eyes as President Cannon read the dedicatory prayer. He said of the experience, “I saw a bright light appeared above his [President Cannon’s] head and behind him from his shoulders upwards. This light remained in that position a few moments and then raised until I could see the face of a personage in the midst of it. It was the countenance of President Brigham Young. I turned my gaze away for a moment and then I beheld the person of President John Taylor. I also saw a personage whom I took to be Hyrum Smith then Orson Pratt, whom I at once recognized. When the prayer was concluded and just before and during the sacred hosanna shout, I noticed a bright halo of light surrounding several of the brethren. I was overcome and wept for joy” (LaRene Gaunt, “The Power of God Was with Us,” Ensign, Mar. 1993, 30–31).
|
|
|
Most of the people who attack the Book of Mormon have never read it. They re-hash the old charges and threadbare arguments proposed by enemies since 1827. You might find some success in helping such people by bearing your witness of the book, and in refuting their charges by giving them a copy of the book and inviting them to get back to you when they can tell you what the book really says.
The Inexhaustable Gospel 
