“I had seen a vision”

The Prophetic Role of Joseph in the Restoration

Ezra Taft Benson

The temple work for the fifty-six signers of the Declaration of

Independence and other founding fathers has been

done. All these appeared to Wilford Woodruff when he was President of the St. George Temple.

President George Washington was ordained a High Priest at that time. You will also be interested to know that according to Wilford Woodruff's journal, John Wesley, Benjamin Franklin, and Christopher Columbus were also ordained High Priests at the time

John Wesley

"It does not appear that these extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit were common in the church for more than two or three centuries… From this time, the gifts of the spirit almost totally ceased…

The real cause of it was that the love of many was waxed cold. The Christians had no more of the spirit of Christ than the other heathens."

King Follett DiscourseApril 8th, 1844

You don't know me -- you never will. You never knew my heart. No man knows my history. I cannot do it. I shall never undertake it.

I don't blame you for not believing my history. If I had not experienced what I have, I could not have believed it myself…

When I am called at the trump and weighed in the balance, you will know me then.

From Jewish Tradition

The Talmud refers to four Messianic personages who are called Artisans (Horoshim).

They are: Messiah Ben David Messiah Ben Joseph Elijah The Righteous Priest (Melchizedek) (Menorah Ministries)

Wilford Woodruff…there was not one of the ancient

prophets who did not see and prophesy about the great Zion of God in the latter days…And when we say this of them, we say it of every Apostle and Prophet who ever lived upon the earth…

These mighty prophecies were like a band of iron which governed and controlled Joseph Smith in his labors.

Archibald F. BennettIn 1928, I was instrumental in tracing the ancestry of Lucy Mack Smith through her

mother back to these Mayflower passengers and to Rev. John Lathrop and Hannah House. When the records were complete the Smith Family members promptly attended to the temple ordinances for all progenitors then known of the Prophet Joseph Smith. I had been told that all the sealings were completed, and the Prophet was linked up by sealing with all of these foreparents.

Later I accompanied Bishop Joseph Christenson to Cardston, Alberta, on a convention. On July 16, 1930 we attended a session in the Alberta Temple. I received the endowment blessings that day in behalf of my 7th great-grandfather, Henry Rowley, a member of Pastor Lathrop's congregation.

Just as I was about to leave the temple, President Edward J. Wood sent a messenger to request me to return to the sealing room. I did so. President Wood said, "Brother Bennett, I don't know just why I want you here, but I feel that you should be here to witness these sealings." I said I would gladly take part.

"We are performing sealings for the ancestors of the Prophet Joseph Smith," he explained, and then to the group of participants, "Who knows but what Brother Bennett may have had some part in tracing the connections with these very people?"

The first names he read to be sealed for eternity were those of Rev. John Lathrop and his wife Hannah House. Then I knew why he had been impelled to send for me! This was their way of showing appreciation for being "found."