Appearances of the Resurrected Savior Jesus Christ in the Dispensation of the Fulness of TImes

After literally a few years of searching, I finally found enough information to write a post about Jesus Christ's post-mortal appearances to Prophets and Apostles in the dispensation of the fulness of times (see Ephesians 1:10). I will cite instances of a few appearances to Prophets and Apostles except for Joseph Smith, because I assume most visitors to this site know of his many visions of Messiah. Here goes nothing!

I will go in order, from earliest ordination date to the Apostleship to latest date of ordination thereto. The appearances of Christ, as He appeared to His servants the Prophets anciently, in modern times are both in revelatory dreams and in daylight visions; both will be represented here.

President Wilford Woodruff
At the dedication of the Salt Lake Temple in April of 1893, Woodruff stated, "Our Savior had appeard unto [me] in the East Room in the Holy of Holies, & told [me] that He had accepted of the Temple & of the dedication services, & that the Lord forgave us His Saints who had assisted in any manner towards the erection and completion of the Temple."[1]

President Lorenzo Snow
This is a more-well known account, which occurred in the House of the Lord at Salt Lake City immediately after the death of Woodruff. President Snow said that "the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to me at the time of the death of President Woodruff. He instructed me to go right ahead and reorganize the First Presidency of the Church at once and not wait as had been done after the death of the previous presidents."[2]

President George Q. Cannon
This experience also occurred during the almost month-long dedication of the House of the Lord in 1893. President Cannon said, "My mind has been rapt in vision and have saw [sic] the bea[u]ties and Glory of God. I have saw [sic] and conversed with the Savior face to face."[3]

Elder Orson F. Whitney
Elder Whitney was ordained an Apostle in 1906, along with David O. McKay and George F. Richards. His experience happened while he was on his first mission as a youth. He recollected, "One night I dreamed … that I was in the Garden of Gethsemane, a witness of the Savior’s agony. . . . As He prayed the tears streamed down His face, which was [turned] toward me. . . . Three times this happened, until I was perfectly familiar with His appearance—face, form, and movements. He was of noble stature and of majestic mien . . . the very God that He was and is, yet as meek and lowly as a little child. . . . I could endure it no longer. I ran from behind the tree, fell at His feet, clasped Him around the knees, and begged Him to take me with Him. I shall never forget the kind and gentle manner in which He stooped and raised me up and embraced me. It was so vivid, so real that I felt the very warmth of His bosom against which I rested."

Elder Melvin J. Ballard
Elder Melvin J. Ballard was ordained an Apostle in 1919, serving until 1939. Incidentally, he is the grandfather and namesake of current LDS Apostle M. Russell Ballard. Elder Melvin Ballard had this vision while he was a Mission President in Portland, Oregon, shortly before his ordination to the Apostleship. He remembered, "'I saw, seated on a raised platform, the most glorious Being my eyes have ever beheld or that I ever conceived existed in all the eternal worlds. As I approached to be introduced, He arose and stepped towards me with extended arms, and He smiled as He softly spoke my name. If I shall live to be a million years old, I shall never forget that smile. He took me into his arms and kissed me, pressed me to His bosom, and blessed me, until the marrow of my bones seemed to melt! When He had finished, I fell at His feet, and, as I bathed them with my tears and kisses, I saw the prints of the nails in the feet of the Redeemer of the world. The feeling that I had in the presence of Him who hath all things in His hands, to have His love, His affection, and His blessing was such that if I ever can receive that of which I had but a foretaste, I would give all that I am, all that I ever hope to be, to feel what I then felt!' (quoted by Bryant S. Hinckley, in Sermons and Missionary Service of Melvin J. Ballard [1949], 156)."

Elder David B. Haight
This is the most recent, given in a 1989 General Conference talk, wherein the Apostle recollected his comatose-induced vision he had after a heart attack. Elder Haight said, "I was shown a panoramic view of His earthly ministry: His baptism, His teaching, His healing the sick and lame, the mock trial, His crucifixion, His resurrection and ascension. There followed scenes of His earthly ministry to my mind in impressive detail, confirming scriptural eyewitness accounts. . . . I was given, by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost, a more perfect knowledge of His mission. . . . I cannot begin to convey to you the deep impact that these scenes have confirmed upon my soul."

I hope this information is helpful in helping you understand the true meaning of what it means to be an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.

1. Stuy, Brian H., "Come, Let Us Go Up to the Mountain of the Lord": The Salt Lake Temple Dedication", Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 31 (Fall 1998), no. 3, 111.
2. Madsen, Susan Arrington. "Lorenzo Snow and the Sacred Vision." Friend, August 1, 1993.
3. Stuy, "Mountain of the Lord", 119.

Today in History: Abraham O. Woodruff Dies

I haven't blogged in over two years, but now that I have a job with internet access, I can do so. Today is June 20, 2014.

On this day 110 years ago, June 20, 1904, Elder Abraham Owen Woodruff of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles dies in El Paso, Texas of smallpox at the young age of 31.

Ironically, Elder Woodruff said this around the year 1900: "I hope the Lord will take me home before I do anything that will deprive me of my salvation." [1] Woodruff was a staunch supporter of post-Manifesto plural marriage, & took a second wife himself on January 18, 1901, Eliza Avery Clark. [2] It seems that the Lord took Owen at his word & gave him his wish.

Owen was known for his "gentleness, kindness, & Godly charity." He & is wife Helen were modest people, even keeping a pleasantly-looking modest home (in between pages 297 & 299). He & Avery's home in Mexico was also similarly modest (page 27).

1. Driggs, Ken, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 23:2, https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V23N02_41.pdf, 44.
2. Herlin, Clark LeRay, "The Motivations Beyond the Manifesto: Post-Maifesto Polygamy, 189-1904", Utah Valley University digital collections, http://contentdm.uvu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/UVUTheses/id/631, 23.

President Thomas S. Monson's first talk as an Apostle

The following video is all 7:10 minutes of "I Stand at the Door and Knock", President Thomas S. Monson's first talk as an Apostle, given on the day he was sustained, 10 October 1963, in the Salt Lake Tabernacle.

Mormon Marriages and Divorce

This essay is not necessarily a doctrinal exposition, but rather a statement of the facts as they are, and a few remarks on the subject therein elucidated.


According to the United States Census Bureau in their "Marital Events of Americans: 2009", Utah's marriage rate during that year was a full 9% and 7 % higher among men and women, respectfully, than compared with other states in the survey.  However, the divorce rate of Utahns is roughly the same as the national average.  This says a lot about marriage, The Church of Jesus Christ, and Satan.  Let me elucidate further.

Sealing Room in the Salt Lake Temple

The Family: A Proclamation to the World states, "We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children."  This mandate the Church is keeping, as evidenced by the higher marriage rate of Utah men and women than the national average.  We Latter-day Saints know that marriage is not a mere earthly contract, but an eternal bind that stretches forth millennium upon millennium.  The Lord hath said, 

 And again, verily I say unto you, if a man marry a wife by my word, which is my law, and by the new and everlasting covenant, and it is sealed unto them by the Holy Spirit of promise, by him who is anointed, unto whom I have appointed this power and the keys of this priesthood; and it shall be said unto them—Ye shall come forth in the first resurrection; and if it be after the first resurrection, in the next resurrection; and shall inherit thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers, dominions, all heights and depths—then shall it be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, that he shall commit no murder whereby to shed innocent blood, and if ye abide in my covenant, and commit no murder whereby to shed innocent blood, it shall be done unto them in all things whatsoever my servant hath put upon them, in time, and through all eternity; and shall be of full force when they are out of the world; and they shall pass by the angels, and the gods, which are set there, to their 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).

Now, covenants entered into in the Holy Temple must be kept with vigilance and courage, for Satan, as is evident by Utah's divorce rate roughly at the national average, is destroying the family.  How, then, might we nurture the family and the relationships therein sanctified?  Elder Russell M. Nelson, an Apostle of the Lord, taught, "Because it is ordained of God, the intimate physical expressions of married love are sacred. Yet all too commonly, these divine gifts are desecrated.  If a couple allows lewd language or pornography to corrupt their intimacy, they offend their Creator while they degrade and diminish their own divine gifts. True happiness is predicated upon personal purity" ("Nurturing Marriage", April 2006 General Conference).  Let us stay pure, for the Lord saith, "Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy" (Lev. 19:2).

President Ezra Taft Benson, a Prophet, taught, "It is time to awaken to the fact that there are deliberate efforts to restructure the family along the lines of humanistic values.  Images of the family and of love as depicted in television and film often portray a philosophy contrary to the commandments of God" ("Fundamentals of Enduring Family Relationships", October 1982 General Conference).  We must defend the institution of marriage, both within our home and in the media, for Satan wills it destroyed.  The prophet Moses wrote that, "And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed" (Gen. 2:25).  God created Adam and Eve, one man and one woman, and, as evident by the foregoing scripture, married them for eternity, for at this time death had not entered the world - thus showing that marriage is an eternal institution, and not to be entered into outside the House of the Lord, lest that relationship not last forever.  God created Adam and Eve, and not Adam and Steve, thus also showing that homosexual marriage is not marriage at all, but an evil social contract condoning sin.

Lastly, Elder David B. Haight, another Apostle, said, "Scripture reveals that, after the earth was developed, God created man in His own image and gave him dominion over the earth.  By the side of man stood the woman, sharing with him the divinely bestowed honor and dignity of supremacy over all other creations" ("Marriage and Divorce", April 1984 General Conference).  I love how Elder Haight speaks of Adam as having Eve by his side, then stating they two are granted "honor and dignity of supremacy over all other creations".  This means, in my view, that Adam has the honor of nurturing and taking care of all creations - the flowers, fish, fowls, animals, and his wife Eve.  Likewise, Eve has the honor of nurturing and taking care of all creations of God - the flowers, fish, fowls, animals, and her husband Adam.

I know what I have spoken is true.  I know The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only institution on Earth with the Authority and Power to make marriages last forever, and that if not entered into within the walls of a House of the Lord, will not be forever.  I know marriage is an holy institution, given of God that we might become like him - even progress to a God as He is.  I know if we, as led by the Holy Spirit, nurture our marriages, making sure our eternal partner is happy, all will be peace, no matter what the circumstances otherwise.  In the mane of Jesus Christ, amen.