Real Life in Jesus Christ's Church

A couple of years ago I typed the Pearl of Great Price as a way to understand it better and discover unique vocabularies. In the process I realized the Restoration led by the Prophet Joseph Smith was not the only restoration. Throughout history, when decadence was the norm and the people became ripe in iniquity, God called a prophet to restore the gospel of Jesus Christ. Each head of each dispensation did a reset on truth, restoring pure doctrine, priesthood, covenants, ordinances, and organization.            It is interesting to me that our shortest book of scripture, just sixty-one pages, contains such specific detail about how the seven heads of the seven dispensations restored the gospel. As a bonus, there are first-person quotes from Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ, and Joseph Smith. To me this testifies that our Father in Heaven’s great and eternal plan is consistent, enduring, and all-encompassing.  As you r...

Prophets and Temples—a Virtual Tour I have been a docent, a museum teacher, for twenty years in the Church History Museum, which is located directly west of Temple Square in Salt Lake City.  One of my favorite opportunities in the museum is to walk visitors through the Presidents of the Church gallery, pointing out interesting facts and trivia about each Prophet, Seer, and Revelator who presided over the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in this dispensation.  Today, if you will come along, I will give you a virtual tour that will focus on temples. At the end, I will ask you: Which president served the longest, which the shortest? During which president’s tenure were the most temples dedicated? Which three prophets doubled the number of temples? How do you feel about the future of temple building in the Church?  Two clarifications before we begin. First, if you are unfamiliar with how a prophet is chosen, you may wonder why prophets serve for differen...