Below you will find Prince’s research excerpts titled, “Temples, 1945.” You can view other years here.
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TEMPLES, 1945.
1945: Mar.: Personal statement on ordination recommend.
[COMPARE WITH KNOWN EXAMPLES OF TEMPLE RECOMMEND QUESTIONS]
“RECOMMENDATION FOR ADVANCEMENT FROM THE AARONIC PRIESTHOOD TO THE MELCHIZEDEK PRIESTHOOD
. . . .
On the back of the above form these nine questions appear:
STATEMENT TO BE FILLED IN BY THE PERSON TO BE ORDAINED
1. Are you morally clean and fit to be ordained a ____ [priesthood office] in the Church?
Answer Yes or No. (If this question is answered in the negative, the form should go no further than the president of the stake.)
2. Will and do you sustain the General Authorities of the Church, and will you strive to live in accordance with the accepted rules and doctrines of the Church?
Answer Yes or No.
3. Do you have any affiliation, in sympathy or otherwise, with any of the apostate groups or individuals who are running counter to the accepted rules and doctrines of the Church?
Answer Yes or No.
4. Are you a full tithepayer?
Answer Yes or No.
5. Are you a part tithepayer?
Answer Yes or No.
6. Are you exempt from paying tithes?
Answer Yes or No.
7. Do you keep the Word of Wisdom?
Answer Yes or No.
8. Will you earnestly strive to do your duty in the Church, to pay a full tithing, observe the Word of Wisdom, attend our sacrament, priesthood and other meetings, and to be active in priesthood affairs?
Answer Yes or No.
9. If you are to be ordained a seventy please indicate your willingness to serve, if called, as a missionary either abroad or in the stake mission at home.
Answer Yes or No.
Date
Signed (By the candidate for ordination.)”
(“Melchizedek Priesthood,” IE 48(3):143, Mar., 1945)
9 Mar.: Temple work for men killed in military.
“Where men lose their lives while engaged in military service, either by accident or in combat, their parents or other relatives desiring to have temple work done for them may do so as soon as it is definitely known that they are dead.” (First Presidency Circular Letter, 9 Mar., 1945. In Clark, Messages of the First Presidency 6:225)
May: Progress of Temple Work Project.
“On September 13, 1943, the First Presidency sent a letter to all presidencies of stakes and presidencies of Melchizedek Priesthood quorums stating that:
During the years that work for the dead has been performed in the temples, the endowment ordinances for women have greatly exceeded the endowment ordinances for men. As a consequence, there are on file in the temples the names of upewards of 100,000 men for whom the ordinances of baptism has been done, but not the endowment ordinances.
In the same letter they suggest
. . . that the duty of clearing these names be turned over to the Melchizedek Priesthood quorums as a quorum project.
If all the brethren who hold the priesthood and who are worthy to enter the temples would take but one or two names during the year, these names could readily be cleared.
Recently a careful check was made, and a little less than half of these names have been cleared since that request was made. The work that has been done by many quorums and groups is very commendable. Some have personally visited the temples, clearing several names; some have sent in money, asking that proxy work be done; and others have sent members of their quorum to the temple for a month or more, paying their expenses, in order to help in this important work.
Reports from the temples tell us that this priesthood project has recently been slowing down, dhowing the need that we be reminded of our opportunity and privilege of doing the temple work for some of these names. The responsibility of ledership in this quorum porject is with the Church service committee in each quorum. It is further suggested that the genealogical committee in each stake could cooperate with the priesthood quorums in this important labor, which should be supervised by the presidency of each stake. This is a priesthood project, and it may be necessary for the brethren to go to the temple without their wives, because of the scarcity of female names.
President Joseph F. Smith gave great emphasis to the sacred obligation that is ours in these words:
We will not finish our work until we have saved ourselves, and then not until we shall have saved all depending upon us; for we are to become saviors upon Mount Zion, as well as Christ. We are called to this mission. The dead are not perfect without us, neither are we without them. We have a mission to perform for and in their behalf; we have a certain work to do in order to liberate those who, because of their ignorance and the unfavorable circumstnces in which they were placed while here, are unprepared for eternal life; we have to open the door for them, by performing ordinances which they cannot perform for themselves, and which are essential to their release from the ‘prison-house,’ to come forth and live according to God in the spirit, and be judged according to man in the flesh.
The Prophet Joseph Smith has said that this is one of the most important duties that devolves upon the Latter-day Saints. And why? Because this is the dispensation of the fulness of times, which will usher in the millennial reigh, and in which all things spoken by the mouths of the holy prophets, since the world began, must be fulfilled, and all things united, both which are in heaven and in the earth. We have that work to do; or, at least all we can of it, leaving the balance to our children, in whose hearts we should instil the importance of this work, rearing them in the love of the truth and in the knowledge of these priciples, so that when we pass away, having done all we can do, they will then take up the labor and continue it until it is consummated.
Believing, as we do, in the eternity of the family organization, and knowing that this eternal blessing can only be obtained by the sealing power of the Holy Priesthood, we can see how important it is to have the endowment work done for these male names, so that the sealing ordinance may be done,–that of sealing the wife to the husband, and the children to the parents, thus perfecting the family unit. Under present conditions, the sealing of parents, and children to parents is forced to wait on the endowment of the fathers, husbands, and sons.
The request of the First Presidency is a call to temple service. Quorum presidencies and quorum members of the Melchizedek Priesthood, the privilege and responsibility of clearing these names has been given to us. We particularly ask that quorums located near the temples arrange at least a monthly visit in response to this assignment, and that those living more distant give careful study as to how best they can fill their part of this great call.” (“Melchizedek Priesthood,” IE 48(5):282-283, May, 1945)
Aug.: Change in expiration dates of recommends.
“The First Presidency has advised that all temple recommends issued after October 1 will be good for the twelve-month period instead of the six-month limit that has been on temple recommends for some time past. All recommends will then expire on September 30 following the date of issue.” (“The Church Moves On,” IE 48(8):457, Aug., 1945)
Oct.: Benefits of the temples.
“THE HOUSE OF THE LORD
“A temple is an edifice in which the most comprehensively sacred ordinances of the Church are performed. It is ‘a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God.’ It is an earthly home of the Lord.
Temples are necessary in every dispensation, for in them the Lord reveals himself in person or by his Holy Spirit, and out of them proceeds the preparation of the world for its final destiny. In the temples, time and eternity are bridged and the unity of the plan of salvation made apparent. Gospel living centers upon and is completed through temple activity.
Spiritual power is generated within temple walls, and sent out to bless the world. Light from the house of the Lord illumines every home within the Church fitted for its reception by participation in temple privileges. The path from the temple to the home of man is divinely brilliant. Every home penetrated by the temple spirit enlightens, cheers, and comforts every member of the household. The peace we covet is found in such homes. Indeed, when temples are on earth, the whole world shares measurably in the issuing light; when absent, the hearts of men become heavy, as if they said, with the people of Enoch’s day, ‘Zion is fled.’
Temples are for the benefit and enlightenment of the members of the Church. In them are revealed the keys of the priesthood, and there power is given men ‘from on high’ to meet the many issues of life. There men may commune with the forces of heaven, until doubt and questioning are replaced by knowledge and certainty. The ordinances and ritual of the temple, profoundly meaningful, set forth completely and comprehensively the truths of life, explain the mystery of existence, and make the gospel more understandable. Those who have received with open hearts the blessings of the temple go out with increased power and a new understanding of life’s problems.
Men may rise through temple work to high levels of character and spiritual joy. Once only may a person receive the temple endowment for himself, but innumerable times may he receive it for those gone from the earth. Whenever he does so, he performs an unselfish act for which no earthly recompense is available. He tastes in part the sweet joy of saviorhood. He rises towards the stature of the Lord Jesus Christ who died for all. Men who thus serve the dead go out of the temple into the marts of men with renewed power to deal fairly with others, to put into practice the golden command, ‘Do ye unto others as ye would have them do unto you.’
Yet there are immediate rewards in such vicarious service. Every time a person receives the temple endowment for another, he reviews the eternal journey of man, is reminded of the conditions of eternal progress and of his own covenants to obey God’s law, is impressed anew with the necessity of making truth alive by use, and beholds again the glorious destiny of righteous man. His memory is refreshed, his conscience warned, his hopes lifted heavenward. Temple repetition is the mother of daily blessings. Wherever one turns, temple service profits those who perform it.
Those who enter the temples and desire to obtain most from the experience must seek to purify their hearts in preparation. Only those who do so share fully in the blessings that flow from the temple. Unworthy persons, or those with minds fixed upon external things, who may enter, will not sense the essential beauty and value of the temple ordinances. The pure in heart shall know that God is in his temple. It must always be kept in mind that the work in the temples, as in all divisions of the Church, is done by mortal, imperfect men, but that the story and lessons and issues of the temple endowment are divine and perfect. All who enter the temple must look through material imperfection into spiritual perfection.
All who use their temple privileges righteously will receive peace, safety, understanding, and joy. Young, middle-aged, and old–all need the help that the temples proffer. And it is well to seek for temple blessings early in life. Much is lost throughout life when marriage is not entered into under the sealing authority of the temple. A temple is ‘a place of thanksgiving for all saints . . . that they may be perfected in the understanding of their ministry, in theory, in principle, and in doctrine, in all tings pertaining to the kingdom of God on earth . . . and my presence shall be there, for I will come into it, and all the pure in heart that shall come into it shall see God.’ Such blessings are needed by every Latter-day Saint, and the whole world is in direct need of them.
Consider how poor we should be without our temples and the truths they represent! We praise the Lord for our temples and for our understanding of the use of them. May we ever be a temple-building, temple-using people!” (John A. Widtsoe, “Editorial,” IE 48(10):584, Oct., 1945)
Oct.: War couples urged to have temple marriages now.
“And so now we counsel, we urge, that those who by the exigencies of war have accepted each other as partners in marriage ‘until death do us part,’ take steps without delay to enter into temples of the Most High.” [Note that no one-year waiting period is stipulated.] (“Editorial,” IE 48(10):584, Oct., 1945)