Doctrine and Covenants 94-97: Temple Builders

 TEMPLE BUILDING IN THE LATTER DAYS

 

This painting by the amazing Walter Rane is from JosephSmith.net.

The sacrifices of the early Saints to build their first temples are legendary. This week, rather than a discussion of the scripture, I'll share examples of three of them.

VILATE KIMBALL

“Our women were engaged in knitting and spinning, in order to clothe those who were laboring at the building.  And the Lord only knows the scenes of poverty, and tribulation and distress, which we all passed through to accomplish it.  My wife would toil all summer.  She took 100 pounds of wool to spin on shares which, with the assistance of a girl, she spun, in order to furnish clothing for those engaged in building the temple.  And although she had the privilege of keeping half the quantity of wool for herself, as her recompense for her labor, she did not reserve even so much as would make a pair of stockings.  She spun and wove and got the cloth dressed and cut and made up into garments, and gave them to the laborers.  Almost all the sisters in Kirtland labored in knitting, sewing, spinning, etc, for the same purpose, while we went up to Missouri” (Heber C. Kimball quoted in Kelly, Latter-day History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, p. 163).

JOHN TANNER

Sometimes it’s easier to give when you don’t have very much to lose.  When a man has a lot of wealth, sometimes he tends to define himself by it and cling to it like a lifeboat.  But not John Tanner.

John Tanner was a wealthy convert.  He had outlived two wives, and then married a third (having a total of 21 children!) when the missionaries found him.  His infected leg was healed by the missionaries, and the next day he was baptized.  He committed to help the church and sustain the prophet.  He was so wealthy that he used six wagons to move his family from New York to Kirtland, and provided ten more for other church members.

The day after his arrival in Kirtland in early 1835, he met with Joseph Smith and the high council and lent them $2,000 to pay off the mortgage on the temple property, plus another $13,000 for other purposes.  He contributed to the temple building fund, and he signed a $30,000 note for merchandise to help Saints move to Kirtland.  (Whoa!  $30,000 in 1835!!!)

When he moved his family from Kirtland to gather with the saints in Missouri three years later, he had to borrow a wagon.  He had very little money left.  He endured all the trials of Missouri and Illnois.  Despite his humble circumstances, a few months before Joseph Smith was killed, “John returned the $2,000 noted signed in Kirtland as a gift to the Prophet and was blessed by Joseph that he and his posterity would never beg for bread.”

He provided food and help to the saints as they left Nauvoo, arriving in Salt Lake City himself in 1848.  He died two years later, a faithful and humble friend to the end (Garr, Cannon and Cowan, Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History, p. 1219-1220).

REYNOLDS CAHOON

Reynolds Cahoon had left Kirtland to serve a mission to Missouri.  After his release, he asked whether he could return to Missouri, to “Zion.”  The answer given was no, he was needed to serve on the Kirtland Temple building committee (D&C 94:14-15).  He fulfilled that position well.

Later his family was chased out of Kirtland with the rest of the saints, and then chased out of Missouri, finally settling in Nauvoo.  Again Brother Cahoon was called to the temple building committee, a calling which scared the daylights out of him.  “I think I never was placed in so critical a position since I was born,” he said.

He moved to Salt Lake City with the saints and died there in 1861.  His obituary in the Deseret News called him, “a true friend to the prophet of God while he was living, full of integrity and love for the truth and always acted cheerfully the part assigned him in the great work of the last Days.”  (Susan Easton Black, Who’s Who in the Doctrine and Covenants, p. 46-48)

SACRIFICE REWARDED

It took the saints 3 years to build the Kirtland Temple, and they had to leave it behind after only two years of service, but they took with them the blessings they had received through sacrificing to build the temple and through their participation in the temple after it was built.  The physical body of the temple decayed (later to be restored) but the spirit of the temple moved on with the saints and is still with us today.

BECOMING A TEMPLE PEOPLE

President Howard W. Hunter encouraged us to become “a temple people.”  Our predecessors in the Church had to make sacrifices to build and attend temples. We likewise must sacrifice to enter the temple. 

What kind of sacrifices have you had to make (or will you have to make) to enter the temple? What kind of sacrifices do you make to help others enter temples in their home countries? 

Smithfield, Utah Temple, August 2025

Photo from ChurchofJesusChristTemples.org

I live in Logan, Utah. There is a temple 3.5 miles from my home. I could walk there in an hour. Another will soon be finished 6 miles from my home in Smithfield, Utah. Also, I have a car so I don't have to walk to either one. And if I didn't drive, I could ride the free city bus.

Meanwhile, another temple is being built on the other side of the world, in the poorest country in Africa, Sierra Leone. My brother and sister-in-law lead the Sierra Leone Bo Mission. The temple is being built in the neighboring Freetown Mission. Even though Sierra Leone is smaller than the state of Maine, and Bo is only 170 miles (273 km) from Freetown, it will take the people in Bo 4 hours to get to the temple if they can get access to a motorized vehicle. Sierra Leone has one of the lowest vehicle ownership rates globally, with only 25 vehicles per 1,000 people, or 1 vehicle per 40 people. 

Freetown Temple site, satellite image

from ChurchofJesusChristTemples.org

Building this small temple takes a herculean effort because there are few good building materials readily available, few skilled craftsmen, few tools, and again, no highways. The foundation has been built three times as these craftsmen learn to build and as different materials must be tried. Now the upper structure has begun. It likely will also be built three times before it is satisfactory temple-quality work.

Freetown Temple; same source

And who is paying for this temple? The people of Sierra Leone certainly cannot! Their per capita income is less than $900 a year. 

Here is the joy of being in a worldwide church community: those of us who have so much, who already have temples, who already have highways, who already have cars--we are paying for this temple with our tithing. And the saints of Sierra Leone deserve this! It is a country exploding with gospel joy as people flock to the church--and stay.

120 people were baptized in Moriba Town, Sierra Leone, August 23, 2027.

The previous month, 110 were baptized in the same location.

It is likely that Sierra Leone Bo has the fastest growing church membership in the world. The Bo Mission opened July 1, 2024. In its first year 2,910 people joined the church. And the number seems to be increasing exponentially, at least in some places like Moriba Town. Last year, each pair of missionaries baptized an average of 58 people. Some missionaries baptized 100-200.

With the help of their brothers and sisters in the worldwide Kingdom of God, the saints in Sierra Leone will get their temple and be endowed and sealed as families. As the gospel flourishes in Sierra Leone, the country will rise and prosper.

In Jesus Christ's living church, "it's always 1830 somewhere in the world."

See yesterday's Church News post about Moriba Town's baptism here.

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Note to all my readers: 

If you are a retired couple (or know of one) who would like to serve in this amazing mission, email me and I'll get you a Zoom meeting with my brother and his wife to see if you think it's a good fit. You can choose how long you serve. If you are able to teach piano lessons, there are many missionaries there with keyboards in their apartments, anxious to learn from a real teacher. My husband and I are not retired and my medications are not available in Sierra Leone so we cannot serve there, but I feel we are really missing out! My sister-in-law says the mission is all-consuming but because of that they are filled with joy and love every minute! Every missionary feels like their own son or daughter. Children flock around them and treat them like grandparents. If you feel the desire, don't wait for a call--make that call yourself! You'll serve under two of the kindest, smartest, humblest mission couples ever! (And they even took a pizza oven with them!)

Email me at thepianoisgrand@gmail.com or check out the "Sierra Leone Bo Mission President and Sister Wyatt" Facebook page.

Doctrine and Covenants 93

The revelation received on May 6, 1833, is a deep, deep dive into doctrine. We don't know what the context of this revelation was--what question may have been asked, what circumstances led up to it--but it picks up and expounds upon doctrine in the New Testament.

The first verse is a general outline of the doctrine of Christ.

1 Verily, thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass that every soul who ^aforsaketh his ^bsins and cometh unto me, and ^ccalleth on my name, and ^dobeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall ^esee my ^fface and ^gknow that I am;

This May 6 revelation helps us see who Jesus Christ is, who God the Father is, and who we are. It follows up on the truths taught in Section 88 about the Light. (Please see a previous lesson on Section 88.)

The Record of John: Learning of Christ

Since Section 93 contains the record of John (presumably John the Baptist) it is really helpful to first read John the Beloved's record of John the Baptist's testimony in the New Testament alongside it. (I hope that didn't confuse you...) I'm mixing the order up a little bit in order to align between the two.

John 1:

1 ^aIn the ^bbeginning was the Word, and the ^cWord was with God, and the ^dWord was ^eGod.

I was always so confused by this. Why was Christ called "the Word?" 

D&C 93 clarifies:

8 Therefore, in the beginning the ^aWord was, for he was the Word, even the messenger of salvation.

Words are communication. Christ was the communicating link between God the Father and His children. He was the message, the connection from God to us. And with God, words are the same as actions because he has complete integrity. So He spoke and the world was created. Christ was the Word God spoke that saved us.

John 1:

2 The same was in the ^abeginning with God.

3 All things were ^amade by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

4 In him was ^alife; and the life was the ^blight of men.

5 And the ^alight shineth in ^bdarkness; and the darkness ^ccomprehended it not.

D&C 93:

9 The ^alight and the Redeemer of the world; the Spirit of truth, who came into the world, because the world was made by him, and in him was the life of men and the light of men.

10 The worlds were ^amade by him; men were made by him; all things were made by him, and through him, and of him.

John 1:

6 ¶ There was a man sent from God, whose name was ^aJohn.

7 The same came for a ^awitness, to bear ^bwitness of the Light, that all men through him might ^cbelieve.

8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

9 That was the true ^aLight, which ^blighteth ^cevery man that cometh into the world.

D&C 93 adds clarification upon the New Testament doctrine that Jesus Christ is both divine and human. It also makes it clear that John saw the premortal Christ:

2 [Every soul that sees my face will know] ...that I am the true ^alight that lighteth every man that cometh into the world;

3 And that I am ^ain the Father, and the Father in me, and the Father and I are one—

4 The Father ^abecause he ^bgave me of his fulness, and the Son because I was in the world and made ^cflesh my ^dtabernacle, and dwelt among the sons of men.

5 I was in the world and received of my Father, and the ^aworks of him were plainly manifest.

6 And ^aJohn saw and bore record of the fulness of my ^bglory, and the fulness of ^cJohn’s record is hereafter to be revealed.

7 And he bore record, saying: I saw his glory, that he was in the ^abeginning, before the world was;

John 1:

10 He was in the ^aworld, and the ^bworld was ^cmade by him, and the world ^dknew him not.

11 He came unto his own, and his own ^areceived him not.

12 But as many as ^areceived him, to them gave he ^bpower to become the ^csons of God, even to them that believe on his ^dname:

13 Which were ^aborn, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word was made ^aflesh, and ^bdwelt among us, (and we ^cbeheld his ^dglory, the glory as of the ^eonly ^fbegotten of the Father,) full of ^ggrace and truth.

This verse has left a huge doctrinal question that has confused theologians for centuries: How could a God be born as a baby that has physical needs, that cries and fusses and grows into a child that skins his knees and maybe has a tantrum occasionally, if he is a God, full of grace and truth?

Section 93 teaches that Christ received "grace for grace," or in other words, in his earthly experience He developed His godly characteristics as He practiced them, through the grace of His Father in Heaven. He was not born fully formed, and even He had to exercise patience and practice and take time to grow into His role. 

D&C 93:

11 And I, John, ^abear record that I beheld his ^bglory, as the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, even the Spirit of truth, which came and dwelt in the flesh, and dwelt among us.

12 And I, John, saw that he received not of the ^afulness at the first, but received ^bgrace for grace;

13 And he received not of the fulness at first, but continued from ^agrace to grace, until he received a fulness;

14 And thus he was called the ^aSon of God, because he received not of the fulness at the first.

John 1:

15 ¶ John bare ^awitness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.

D&C 93:

15 And I, ^aJohn, bear record, and lo, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Ghost descended upon him in the form of a dove, and sat upon him, and there came a voice out of heaven saying: This is my ^bbeloved Son.

John's Record: Becoming Like Christ

John then tells us that we, as Christ's followers, have received part of his fullness of grace. We also are growing, grace for grace.

John 1:
16 And of his ^afulness have all we received, and ^bgrace for grace.

17 ^aFor the ^blaw was given by Moses, but ^cgrace and ^dtruth came by Jesus Christ.

18 No ^aman hath ^bseen God ^cat any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath ^ddeclared him.

And the Joseph Smith Translation adds an important verse:

19 And no man hath seen God at any time, except he hath borne record of the Son; for except it is through him no man can be saved.

D&C 93 tells us that John also saw the resurrected and glorified Christ who had a fullness of glory, and that we also can obtain a fullness of glory, through Him.

16 And I, John, bear record that he received a fulness of the glory of the Father;

17 And he received ^aall ^bpower, both in heaven and on earth, and the glory of the Father was with him, for he dwelt in him.

18 And it shall come to pass, that if you are faithful you shall receive the ^afulness of the record of John.

19 I give unto you these sayings that you may understand and know how to worship, and ^aknow what you worship, that you may come unto the Father in my name, and in due time receive of his fulness.

Notice the word "that" in the middle of this verse. "That" is a key word in scripture connecting cause and effect. It is important to know God and how to worship Him, so that we can be united with Him and become like Him.

20 For if you keep my ^acommandments you shall receive of his ^bfulness, and be ^cglorified in me as I am in the Father; therefore, I say unto you, you shall receive ^dgrace for grace.

This astounding new doctrine (or clarification of lost or misunderstood doctrine) teaches, far beyond what the religions of the past 2,000 years ever taught, that we also can grow grace for grace until we are divine through Christ. Keeping His commandments will bring more grace upon us as we progress through life.  

Grace Upon Grace

It is hard for us to remember in our instant-gratification world, that God sends grace upon grace. He also sends knowledge "line upon line, here a little and there a little." This concept is so important, we find it multiple times in the scriptures. (See Isaiah 28:10; 2 Nephi 28:30; D&C 98:12.) Here is how it is expressed in D&C 93:

21 And now, verily I say unto you, I was in the ^abeginning with the Father, and am the ^bFirstborn;

22 And all those who are begotten through me are ^apartakers of the ^bglory of the same, and are the ^cchurch of the Firstborn.

23 Ye were also in the beginning with the Father; that which is ^aSpirit, even the Spirit of truth;

24 And ^atruth is ^bknowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come;

25 And whatsoever is ^amore or less than this is the spirit of that wicked one who was a ^bliar from the beginning.

26 The Spirit of ^atruth is of God. I am the Spirit of truth, and John bore record of me, saying: He ^breceived a fulness of truth, yea, even of all truth;

27 And no man receiveth a ^afulness unless he keepeth his commandments.

28 He that ^akeepeth his commandments receiveth ^btruth and ^clight, until he is glorified in truth and ^dknoweth all things... (italics added)

Skipping down to verse 36, we find a truth that defines our theology:

36 The ^aglory of God is ^bintelligence, or, in other words, ^clight and truth.

In Section 88 we learned that truth, light, knowledge, power, glory, and joy are all expressions of the same thing: being one with God. (Here's that link again.) This is what we will experience in heaven: a fullness of glory, intelligence, light, truth, joy. It's going to be awesome!

Learn and Grow, While Living By Faith

Walter Scott

Walter Scott, one of the leaders of the Campbellite movement had outlined the essential elements of the gospel as "faith, repentance, baptism, remission of sins, the Holy Spirit, and eternal life" and labeled them "the plan of salvation" before Joseph Smith used that term (Mark Lyman Staker, Hearken, O Ye People: The Historical Setting of Joseph Smith's Ohio Revelations, 320-321). Scott taught wonderful gospel truths as a founder of the Disciples of Christ or Campbellite Church. He and his colleagues moved their followers away from the Calvinistic belief in a God of hellfire and damnation, ready to strike down any soul who committed the slightest sin, and back toward a belief in a loving Heavenly Father who wants His children to return to His embrace and will do all He can to aid them.

Sidney Rigdon had been a preacher of the Campbellite theology before the first missionaries came to Kirtland. The Lord said Brother Rigdon had been "sent for even as John, to prepare the way before me" (D&C 35:4). When Rigdon learned more truth from Joseph Smith, he accepted it joyfully, bringing many of his congregants with him. Those who had been in his Campbellite congregation found the first principles and ordinances of the gospel very familiar. (See Article of Faith 4.) In fact, Walter Scott complained that "Rigdon filched from us that elementary method of stating the gospel which has so completely brought it within the grasp of every one who hears it" (Staker, 331). 

The Lord had more to reveal than Scott wanted, however. The Vision of the Three Degrees of Glory (D&C 76), which Rigdon witnessed along with Joseph Smith, was abominable to him. He became very antagonistic toward the Church, rejecting expansion of knowledge beyond his own. Quite a few members of the Church had difficulty accepting that Vision as well, since it went beyond knowledge they previously held. Some even left the Church. Brigham Young was initially repulsed by the doctrine taught in the Vision because of his own religious background. He later said, "My traditions were such, that when the Vision came first to me, it was so directly contrary and opposed to my former education, I said, wait a little; I did not reject it, but I could not understand it" (Staker, 332). 

And yet today, the knowledge brought by this vision is cherished by Latter-day Saints: that Heaven is huge and that a merciful Heavenly Father plans to save everyone in the degree of glory in which they will be comfortable.

D&C 93 teaches us that "the glory of God is intelligence." God wants us to keep learning through our entire lives, and will bestow upon us knowledge, line upon line. This means, by definition, that no matter how old or how educated we are, we don't know everything right now. So if we hear something jarring about Church history, if we find a doctrine in the scriptures that doesn't make sense to us, if we don't understand the temple ceremony, if we miss receiving a blessing that we desperately want, if we disagree with a Church policy, we should just keep learning and living the gospel. We don't even need to put it (whatever it is) "on a shelf." We can keep studying it, while we realize we don't know everything yet, and trust that when we do, it will make sense. We hang on to what we do know--that God loves us and His love motivates everything He does. A little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing, it is true, but asking questions, studying and learning, asking more questions, studying and learning more--this is the way to knowledge, light, truth, power, and ultimately joy.

It is important for us to remember that, just as we are learning "line upon line," so the Restoration unfolds and is still unfolding, "here a little and there a little." Even as a Church, we don't have all the knowledge yet. (I invite you to check out Anthony Sweat's YouTube video series, "The Unfolding Restoration," on the Doctrine and Covenants Central channel.)

Hugh Nibley

There can be few people in this dispensation who studied the gospel, Church history, and world religions more thoroughly than did BYU professor Hugh Nibley. Hugh Nibley's book, An Approach to the Book of Mormon, was actually the Melchizedek Priesthood manual in the 1950s.  My father loved this book and loved the other writings of Hugh Nibley. My own testimony has been strengthened by reading Nibley's books and watching his rambling lectures on YouTube. 

A few days prior to his death at age 94, Brother Nibley "visited the other side" or had a near-death experience. His colleague, Brent Hall, asked if he would share what he saw there. 

Brother Nibley responded, 

"Well, it's really very simple. It comes down to two scriptures: One is that 'The glory of God is intelligence' and the next one is that 'Man is that he might have joy.' When I was there, I knew everything. Because of that, I was really happy." 

We must all keep learning and keep growing in grace. In this life, we will never know the last thing, however, even if we are Walter Scott, Sidney Rigdon, Brigham Young, or Hugh Nibley, because as we are we required to learn, we are also required to live by faith. And thus we grow in grace.

(You can watch Brother Hall tell the story here.)