Wilford Woodruff

Many prophets and apostles have had remarkable visions of what happens beyond the veil—particularly, what is to come in that next world and the angels who are guiding our lives today.

While traveling from Maine to Illinois in 1838, President Wilford Woodruff experienced many hardships, including the death of his wife.

The following is an excerpt from President Wilford Woodruff's October 1881 general conference talk published in theJournal of Discourses, Volume 22. The Church recently made all of President Woodruff's journals available online, which you can study and access here.

Some of you have read the history of the power of the devil in England, when the fallen angels that are upon the earth made war upon Brother Kimball, Brother Hyde, Brother Fielding and Brother Russell, who had all they could do to live in the midst of that kind of warfare. These evil spirits knocked down Brother Russell and Brother Hyde. They didn't Brother Kimball; but that power fell upon him. His eyes were opened. He saw the spirits before him; he saw what kind of beings they were. They gnashed their teeth; they were mad; they wanted to destroy the lives of the brethren. These men held the priesthood. Brother Kimball held the keys of the priesthood so far as England was concerned. These spirits had not, therefore, the power to destroy them.

President Thomas S. Monson, in addressing the women of the Church in April 2005, gave evidence of his loving nature: “My dear sisters, may God bless you. We love you; we pray for you.” President Monson’s words reiterated a significant teaching: “Remember that you do not walk alone. The Lord has promised you: ‘I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.’”1 In at least three general conference addresses, President Monson has also declared, “How glorious and near to the angels is youth that is clean.”2

LDS Perspectives Podcast recently interviewed Sharalyn D. Howcroft, an archivist for The Joseph Smith Papers, regarding the recent release of Foundational Texts of Mormonism, edited by Mark Ashurst-McGee, Robin Scott Jensen, and Sharalyn D. Howcroft.

Wilford Woodruff had so many accidents he came to believe he was a "marked man." The Prophet Joseph Smith once said, "Remember, brethren, that time and chance happen to all men." There are in this world real accidents. A full-scale determinist would say they are inevitable, but sometimes we can correctly say, No, it's just the way things happen.

The people of Connecticut in those days thought it wicked to believe in any religion, or belong to any church, except the Presbyterian. They did not believe in having any prophets, apostles, or revelations, as they had in the days of Jesus, and as we now have in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

President Heber J. Grant told a wonderful story about work for the dead:

Through the years, President Thomas S. Monson has felt a special kinship with President Wilford Woodruff, the fourth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

MR says: Phebe Carter's parents were set against her leaving their home in Maine to join the Saints in Kirtland, but this faithful sister sacrificed everything to "link her life with the Saints of God."

Many Mormons are familiar with the story of how then-apostle Wilford Woodruff had a vision of the Founding Fathers in the St. George Temple and how they asked him to do their temple work. Some Mormons may also be vaguely aware that when Woodruff did the Founding Fathers' work that he also performed the ordinances for about 45 “other eminent men” from history.