A HAVEN IN A WORLD OF TURMOIL

I was cleaning out my files when I came across this address given by Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone. It was originally given in 1987, and then the theme was reportedly revisited by him in 1993. A PowerPoint slide show of this talk, interspersed with images of temples, is making its way around the Internet also. It's beautiful.

I hope you'll take a moment to read it and really think about the details, the promises, the admonitions it includes. It will move you. It did me.


June 1, 1987

The season of the world before us will be like no other in the history of mankind. Satan has unleashed every scheme, every blatant, vile perversion ever known to man in any generation. Just as this is the dispensation of the fullness of times, so it is also the dispensation of the fullness of evil. We and our wives and husbands, our children, and our members must find safety. There is no safety in the world; wealth cannot provide it, enforcement agencies cannot assure it, membership in this Church alone cannot bring it.

As the evil night darkens upon this generation, we must come to the temple for light and safety. In our temples we find quiet, sacred havens where the storm cannot penetrate to us. There are hosts of unseen sentinels watching over and guarding our temples. Angels attend every door. As it was in the days of Elisha so it will be for us, "Those that be with us are more than those that be against us."

Before the Savior comes the world will darken. There will come a period of time when even the elect will lose hope if they do not come to the temples. The world will be so filled with evil that the righteous will only feel secure within these walls. The Saints will come here not only to do vicarious work, but also to find a haven of peace. They will long to bring their children here for safety's sake.

I believe we may well have living on the earth now or very soon the boy or babe who will be the prophet of the church when the Savior comes. Those who will sit in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are here. There are many in our homes and communities who will have apostolic callings. We must keep them clean, sweet, and pure in an oh so wicked world.

There will be greater hosts of unseen beings in the temple. Prophets of old as well as those in this dispensation will visit the temples. Those who attend will feel their strength and feel their companionship. We will not be alone in our temples.

The covenants and ordinances will fill us with faith as a living fire. In a day of desolating sickness, scorched earth, barren wastes, sickening plagues, disease, destruction, and death, we as a people will rest in the shade of trees. We will drink from the cooling fountains. We will abide in places of refuge from the storm, we will mount up as on eagles' wings, we will be lifted out of the insane and evil world. We will be as fair as the sun and as clear as the moon.
The Savior will come and honor His people. Those who are spared and prepared will be a temple loving people. They will know Him. They will cry out "Blessed be the name of He that cometh in the name of the Lord. Thou art my God and I will bless Thee, thou art my God and I will exalt thee."

Our children will bow down at His feet and worship Him as the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings. They will bathe His feet with their tears and He will weep and bless them for having suffered through the greatest trials ever known to man. His bowels will be filled with compassion and His heart will swell wide as eternity and He will love them. He will bring peace that will last a thousand years and they will receive their reward to dwell with Him. Let us prepare them with the faith to surmount every trial and every condition. We will do it in these holy, sacred temples.



Come, come, oh come up to the temples of the Lord and abide in His presence.