A Heavenly Manifestation given to Heber Q. Hale, President of the
Boise Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as
related by him at the Genealogical Conference held in the auditorium
of the Bishops Building, Salt Lake City, Utah on October 1920,
requested by the Presidency of the Church of 1920.
"It is with a very humble and grateful spirit that I attempt to relate
on this occasion, by request, a personal experience which is very
sacred to me. I must of necessity be brief. Furthermore there were
certain things made known to me which I don't feel at liberty to
relate here. Let me say by way of preface that between the hours of
12.00 and 7.30 on the night of January 20, 1920, while alone in a room
at the home of W. R. Rawson in Carey, Idaho, this glorious
manifestation was vouchsafed to me. I was not conscious of anything
that transpired during the hours mentioned except what was experienced
in this manifestation. I did not turn over in bed nor was I disturbed
by any sound which indeed is unusual for me. Whether it be called a
dream, an apparition, a vision, or a pilgrimage of my spirit into the
world of spirits, I know not. I care not. I know that I actually saw
and experienced the things related in this heavenly manifestation, and
they are as real to me as any experience of my life. For me, at
least, this is sufficient.
Of all the doctrines and practices of the church, the principle of
vicarious work for the dead has been the most difficult for me to
comprehend and whole heartedly accept. I consider this vision as the
Lord's answer to the prayer of my soul on this and certain other
questions.
I passed but a short distance from my body through a film into the
world of spirits. This was my experience after going to sleep. I
seemed to realize that I had passed through the change called death
and I so referred to it in my conversation with the immortal beings
with whom I immediately came in contact. I readily observed their
displeasure at our use of the word death and the fear which we attach
to it. They use there another word in reference to the transition
from mortality to immortality which word I do not recall, and I can
only approach its meaning and the impression which was left upon my
mind, by calling it the new birth.
My first visual impression was the nearness of the world of spirits to
the world of mortality. The vastness of this heavenly sphere was
bewildering to the eyes of the spirit-novice. Many enjoyed
unrestricted vision and unimpeded action, while many others were
visibly restricted as to both vision and action. The vegetation and
landscape were beautiful beyond description, not all green as here,
but gold with varying shades of pink, orange, and lavender as the
rainbow, and sweet calmness pervaded everything. The people I met
there I did not think of as spirits, but as men and women, self
thinking and self acting individuals, going about important business
in a most orderly manner.
There was perfect order there and everybody had something to do and
seemed to be about their business. That the inhabitants of the spirit
world are classified according to their lives of purity and their
subservience to the Father's will was subsequently made apparent.
Particularly was it observed that the wicked and unrepentant are
confined to a certain district by themselves, the confines of which
are as definitely determined and impassable as the line marking the
division of the physical from the spirit world. A mere film but
impassible until the person himself was changed. The world of spirits
is the temporary abode of all spirits pending the resurrection from
the dead and the judgment. There was much activity within the
different spheres, and appointed ministers of salvation were seen
coming from the higher to the lower spheres in pursuit of their
missionary appointments.
I had a very pronounced desire to meet certain of my kinsfolk and
friends but I was at once impressed with the fact that I had entered a
tremendously great and extensive world, even greater than our earth
and more numerously inhabited. I could only be in one place at once,
could do only one thing at a time, could only look in one direction at
a time and accordingly it would require many, many years to search out
and converse with all those I had known and all those whom I desired
to meet unless they were especially summoned to receive me. All men
and women are appointed to special and regular service under a well
organized plan of action directed principally towards preaching the
gospel to the unconverted, teaching those who seek for knowledge, and
establishing family relationships, and gathering genealogies for the
use and benefit of mortal survivors of their respective families, that
the work of baptism and the sealing of ordinances may be vicariously
performed for the departed in the Temples of God on the earth.
The authorized representatives of families in the world of spirits
have access to our temple records and are kept fully advised of the
work done therein, but the vicarious work done there does not become
automatically effective. The recipients must first believe, repent
and accept baptism and confirmation, then certain consummating
ordinances are performed effectualising these saving principles in the
lives of these regenerated beings. And so the great work is going
on... They are doing work there which we cannot do here, and we a
work here that they cannot do there for the salvation of all God's
children who will be saved.
I was surprised to find that there were no babies in arms there. I
met the infant son of Orson W. Rawlings, my first counselor. I
immediately recognized him as the baby who died a few years ago, and
yet he seemed to have the intelligence, and in certain respects, the
appearance of an adult, and was engaged in matters pertaining to his
family and its genealogy. My mind was quite contented upon the point
that mothers will again receive into their arms their children who
died in infancy and will be fully satisfied by the fact that entrance
into the world of spirits is not an inhibition to growth but the
greatest opportunity for development. Babies are adult spirits in the
infant bodies.
I presently beheld a might multitude of men. The largest I had ever
seen gathered in one place, who I immediately recognized as soldiers,
the millions who died, who had been slaughtered and rushed to the
spirit world during the first world war. Among them moved calmly and
majestically a great general in supreme command. As I drew nearer, I
received the kindly smile and generous welcome of a great, loving man,
General Richard V. Young. Then came the positive conviction to my
soul that of all the men living or dead, there is no one who is more
perfectly fitted for the great mission unto which he had been called.
He commands immediately the attention and respect of all the soldiers,
he is at once a great general and a great High Priest of God. No
earthly field of labour to which he could have been assigned, could
compare with it in importance and extent. I passed from this scene to
return later when I found General Young and his vast army of men
completely organized with officers over successive divisions, and he
was preaching the gospel on great earnestness to them. As I passed
forward, I soon met my beloved mother, she greeted me most
affectionately and expressed surprise at seeing me there, and reminded
me that I had not completed my allotted mission on earth. She seemed
to be going somewhere and was in a hurry, and accordingly took her
leave saying that she would see me again soon.
I moved forward covering an appreciable distance and consuming
considerable time, viewing the wonderful sights of landscapes, parks,
trees, and flowers, and meeting people. Some I knew, but many
thousands I did not recognize. I presently approached a small group
of men standing in a path lined with spacious stretches of flowers,
grasses, and shrubs, all of gold and hue, marking the approach to a
beautiful building. The group was engaged in earnest conversation.
One of their number parted from the rest and came walking down the
path. I at once recognized my esteemed President Joseph F. Smith. He
embraced me as a father would his son and after a few words of
greeting, quickly remarked "You have not come to stay." This remark I
understood as a declaration and not an interrogation.
For the first time I became fully conscious of my uncompleted mission
on earth and as much as I would have liked to remain, I at once asked
President Smith if I might return. "You have expressed a righteous
desire," he replied "and I shall take the matter up with the
authorities and let you know later." We then returned and he led me
toward the little group of men from whom he had just separated. I
immediately recognized President Brigham Young and the Prophet Joseph
Smith. I was surprised to find the former a shorter and heavier built
man than I had pictured him to be in my mind. On the other hand I
found the latter to be taller than I expected to find him. Both they
and the president were possessed of a calm and holy majesty which was
at once kind and friendly. We then traced our steps and President
Smith took his leave, saying he would see me again.
From a certain point of vantage, I was permitted to view the earth and
what was going on there, there was no limitation of my vision and I
was astounded to this. I saw my wife and my children at home, I saw
President J. Grant at the head of the great Church and Kingdom of God
and felt the divine power that radiates from God giving it light and
truth and guiding its destiny. I beheld this nation founded as it is
upon correct principles and designed to endure, but beset by evil and
sinister forces that seek to lead man to thwart the purpose of God. I
saw towns and cities, the sins and sickness of men and women. I saw
vessels sailing the oceans and scanned the battle scarred fields of
France and Belgium.
In a word, I beheld the whole world, as if it were put a panorama
passing before my eyes, then there came to me the unmistakable
impression that this earth and scenes and persons upon it are open to
the vision of the spirits only when special permission is given or
when they are assigned to special service here. This is particularly
true of the righteous who are busily engaged in the fields of activity
at the same time, the wicked and unrepentant have still, like the
rest, their free agency and applying themselves to no useful or
wholesome undertaking, seek pleasure, bout their old haunts, and exalt
in the sins and wickedness of degenerated humanity.
To this extent they are still tools of satan. It is these idle
mischievous and deceptive spirits who appear as miserable counterfeits
at spiritualist seances, table dancing and ouija board operations.
The noble and great ones do not respond to the call of the mediums and
to every group of meddlesome enquirers, they would not do it in the
world of mortality. These wicked and unrepentant spirits are allies
of satan and his host, operating through willing mediums in the flesh.
These three forces [Satan, his host, and the unrepentant spirits]
constitute an unholy trinity upon the earth and are responsible for
all the sin, wickedness, distress and misery among men and nations.
I moved forward feasting my eyes upon the beauty of everything about
me glorying in the indescribable peace and happiness that abound in
everybody and through everything. The further that I went the more
glorious things appeared. While standing at a certain vantage point I
beheld a short distance away, a wonderful beautiful temple, capped
with golden domes, from which emerged a small group of men dressed in
white robes who paused for a brief conversation. They were in
uniforms, in this little group of holy men my eyes centered upon one
more splendorous and holy than the rest. While I thus gazed,
President Joseph F. Smith parted from the others and came to my side.
"Do you know him?" he inquired. I quickly answered "Yes I know him,
my eyes behold my Lord and Saviour." "It is true" said President
Smith, and oh how my soul thrilled with rapture and unspeakable joy
filled my heart.
President Smith informed me that I had been given permission to return
and complete the mission on the earth which the Lord had appointed to
me to fulfill, and then with his hand upon my shoulder, uttered these
memorable and significant words. "Brother Heber you have a great work
to do. Go forward with a prayerful heart and thou shall be blessed in
thy ministry. From this time on never doubt that God lives, that
Jesus Christ is the Son, the Saviour of the world, that the Holy Ghost
is God of spirit and the messenger of the Father and the Son. Never
doubt the resurrection of the dead and immortality of the soul—that
the destiny of man is eternal progress. Never again doubt that the
mission of the Latter-day Saints is for all mankind, both the living
and the dead and that the great work in the Holy Temples for the
living and the dead has only begun. Know this, that Joseph Smith was
sent of God to usher in the gospel dispensation of the fullness of
times, which is the last unto mortals upon the earth. His successors
have recognized and ordained head of the Church of Jesus Christ upon
the earth. Give him your confidence and support. Much you have seen
and heard you will not be permitted to repeat when you return. Thus
saying he bade me good bye and God bless you."
I traveled quite a distance through various scenes and passing
innumerable people before I reached the spheres which I first entered.
On my way I was greeted by many friends and relatives certain of whom
sent word of greetings and counsel to their dear ones, my mother being
one of them. One other I will mention, I met Brother John Adamson,
his wife and his son James and their daughter Isabelle, all of whom
were killed by a foul assassin in their home at Carey, Idaho in the
mortality and immediately said, "Tell the children that we are very
happy and very busy and they should not mourn at our departing, nor
worry their minds over the manner by which we were taken. There is a
purpose in it, and we have work to do here which required our
collective efforts and which we could not do individually." I was at
once made to know that the work referred to was that of Genealogy on
which they were working in England and Scotland.
One of the grandest and most sacred things of heaven is the family
relationship. The establishment of the complete chain without any
broken links being a fullness of joy. Links wholly bad will be
dropped out and either new links put in or the two adjoining links
welded together. Men and women everywhere throughout the world are
being moved upon by their departed ancestors to gather genealogies.
These are the links for the chain. The ordinances of Baptism,
Endowments, and Sealings performed in the Temples of God by the living
for the dead are the welding of the links. Ordinances are performed
in the spirit world effectualizing the individual recipient for their
receiving the saving principles of the gospel vicariously performed
here.
As I was approaching the place where I entered, my attention was
attracted towards a number of small groups of women, preparing what
appeared to be wearing apparel. Observing my inquiring countenance
one of the women remarked, "We are preparing to receive Brother
Phillip Worthington very soon." As I gasped his name in repetition I
was admonished, "If you knew the joy and the glorious mission that
awaits him here you would not ask to have him longer detained upon the
earth." Then came flooding my consciousness this awful truth, that
the will of the Lord can be done on earth as it in is heaven, only
when we resign completely to His will and let His will be done in and
through us. On account of the selfishness of many, persons who might
have otherwise been taken in innocence and peace, have been permitted
to live, and have lived to their own perils, man and the assertion of
the personal will as against the will of God. Phillip Worthington
died January 22, 1920, for which I was advised by telegram, and
returning to Boise, preached his funeral sermon on January 25, 1920.
Men, women and children are often called to missions of great
importance on the other side, and some respond gladly while others
refuse to go and their loved ones will not give them up. Also, many
die because they have not the faith to be healed. Others yet live
among and pass out of the world of mortals without any special
manifestation of action of the divine will. When a man is stricken
ill, the question of prime importance is not... is he going to live?
Or is he going to die? What matter is not whether he lives or dies as
long as the will of the Father is done.
Surely we can trust him with God. Herein lies the special duty and
privilege of administration by the right and authority of the Holy
Priesthood. Namely, it is given to the Elders of the Church of Jesus
Christ to divine the will of the Father concerning the one upon whose
head their hands are laid. If for any reason they are unable to
presage the Father's will, then they should continue to pray in faith
for the afflicted ones, humbly conceding supremacy to do the will of
God, that His will may be done in earth as it in done in heaven.
To the righteous person, birth into the world of spirits is a glorious
privilege and blessing. The greatest spirits in the family of the
Father have not usually been permitted to tarry longer in the flesh
than to perform a certain mission; then they are called to the world
of spirits where the field is greater and the workers fewer. This
earthly mission, may therefore, be long or short, as the Father wills.
I passed quietly out where I had entered the world of spirits and
immediately my body was quickened, and I was to ponder over and record
the many wonderful things I had seen and heard.
Let me here and now declare to the world that irrespective of the
opinion of others I do know of my own positive knowledge and from my
own personal experience, that God is the Father of the spirits of all
men, and that He lives, that Jesus Christ is His Son and the Savior of
the world, that the spirit of man does not die but survives the change
called death and goes to the world of spirits, that the world of
spirits is on or near this earth, that the principles of salvation are
now being taught to the spirits and the great work of joining the
Father's family among the living and the dead is now in progress, and
that but comparatively few will ultimately be lost, that spirits will
literally take up their bodies again in the resurrection, and that the
gospel of Jesus Christ has been established upon the earth with all of
its keys, powers, authority, and blessings through the instrumentality
of the Prophet Joseph Smith, that this is the power that will not only
save and exalt everyone who yields obedience to its principles, but
will ultimately save the world, that the burden of our mission is to
save souls unto God, and that the work for the salvation of the dead
is of no less importance than the work for the living.
Two days ago we ran into Christian near our apartment.. I recognized him and we talked for a few minutes.. He still really likes us.. His phone stopped working which he had and was the reason we hadn't been seeing him. He had gotten a new phone and we got his number.. We met with him again and he said he still wants to be baptized.. He was one of my best back in the day.. So hopefully he won't disappear again. If he does make it though.. That's probably one of the reasons I stayed here an extra 8 weeks.. So I could recognize him and help him finish the journey into the church. Or not haha.
