Virtue's Arm: Light

Light, one of my favorite subjects, written about here on a fairly new blog, Virtue's Arm. Many great insights. A must-read.

A Firm Mind

Our family motto is a scripture written by the Book of Mormon prophet, Jacob.

Jacob 3:2

O all ye that are pure in heart, lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his love; for ye may, if your minds are firm, forever.

Love is the desired object. The audience is the pure in heart, or Zion. There are many great words that could be written about the entire sermon which begins in chapter 2 and continues until 3:12. But this verse stands out to us because of Jacob's use of the words, "a firm mind."

The word, "firm," and its synonyms, immoveable, unshakeable, steadfast, and fixed, occur frequently throughout scripture, but to have a "firm mind" is unique to Jacob and then used again by Moroni in chapter 7:30. Jacob also uses the words, "firmness in the Spirit," in the last verse in chapter 4, right before he begins the lengthy allegory of the olive trees.

While we could probably agree on a good, religious definition of what a firm mind generally means, this is one area I would have liked to quiz Jacob on in person. Unfortunately, the prophets of ancient scripture don't always define every word, phrase, and verse, and time and language act as barriers to what was intended, so there is always a lot left to interpretation. I think most of us would agree, though, that to have a firm mind connotes integrity, strong character, diligence, and endurance. Since we probably have the correct definition of a firm mind, the more important question becomes, how exactly does one develop a firm mind?

Since I can't have a conversation with Jacob (unless there's an app for that), I will add a word we don't always hear in the church to what a firm mind might mean, and that is, "concentration," a skill I feel I lack. In Truman G. Madsen's, Joseph Smith the Prophet, he outlines how the power of concentration makes for more effective councils, but I think this can apply generally to the idea of developing this skill in a way that moves us a step toward a firm mind:

At a council of high priests and elders in Kirtland, the Prophet said: "No man is capable of judging a matter, in council, unless his own heart is pure…we frequently are so filled with prejudice, or have a beam in our own eye, that we are not capable of passing right decisions." Joseph continued: "In ancient days councils were conducted with such strict propriety, that no one was allowed to whisper, be weary, leave the room, or get uneasy in the least, until the voice of the Lord, by revelation, or the voice of the council by the Spirit was obtained, which has not been observed in this Church to the present time. It was understood in ancient days, that if one man could stay in council, another could; and if the president could spend his time, the members could also; but in our councils, generally, one will be uneasy, another asleep; one praying, another not; one's mind on the business of the council, and another thinking on something else." 1

The Prophet's reference to weariness is intriguing. Not allowed to be weary! How can one prevent weariness? Notice the assumption about the strength we will have if we will truly seek the Lord – even the strength to cope with weariness. This and the other human distractions common to Church meetings are preventable. The unity the Lord promised as a presupposition of his most powerful responses to prayer comes from that time of genuine concentration. His fellow Saints said that the Prophet Joseph Smith had immense power to concentrate on the topic at hand. 2

There is a book called, "The Power of Concentration," published in 1918 and now long out of print, that inspired me in this area some years back. Although out-dated it is available for free at http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1570/pg1570.html and is a quick & easy read; an early 20th century self-help book.

Also, a July 1980 Ensign article on "The Strait Gate" which touches on the power of concentration.

I would write more but I need to concentrate on getting to sleep now, where I can dream of becoming one of the Sleep Elite, and therefore have more awake time to practice concentrating.

"The Inhabitants of the Earth are Asleep"

There is a wealth of information in the History of the Church volumes. I can turn to almost any page within each volume and find something new and enlightening that I have never come across. And I find that troubling.

I would like to think that at this stage in my life, at the very least, I would find no new Joseph Smith quotes. I understand that the Joseph Smith Papers are barely underway and there are still unpublished archives that are not easily accessible to the masses, so maybe I'm justified in not reading every possible document chronicling the early years of the church. However, the History of the Church volumes contain not all, but many direct, indirect, and transcribed words of Joseph Smith. These have been in my possession for several years, and growing up in an active LDS household, I knew at a young age exactly where these volumes were kept.

So getting that out of the way, I have no excuse to have not studied at least that which was available to me. But I'm also a bit troubled that many of these stories and experiences are available to all church members, yet I rarely hear many of them taught, even though I have sat in classes of instruction my entire life, totaling many thousands of hours. Almost unbelievably, I continue to find information from these early years of the church (i.e. the Joseph Smith era), even words of Joseph Smith, that are still new to me.

This is not a criticism of the church or the many volunteers who prepare lessons or give talks/sermons each Sunday. The purpose of talks and lessons is not to create historians, but rather to help us all live more Christ-like lives.

I think it's fair to say, however, that there are already very many revealed truths in the Restored Gospel that have yet to be revealed to many of us in today's church because of a lack of "feasting" on the word in its entirety, both the canon and the non-canon.

If you are LDS, think of the classes, lessons, and talks you have heard in your lifetime in the church. Consider the pool of scriptural verses, stories, and quotes that are drawn from in each talk or lesson that you have heard and see if this purely anecdotal data goes along with your experience.

• 25 Shakespeare or C.S. Lewis quotes
• 75 verses from scripture (see post on True Scripture Mastery)
  
• 100 scriptural stories (most taken from Book of Mormon and New Testament, fewer from Doctrine & Covenants and Old Testament, and I'll be generous, about four or five from the Pearl of Great Price)
  
• 500 conference quotes (or more since the Internet has simplified research). I have no problem with conference quotes, I use them and study them myself. My only issue with an over-abundant reliance on them is that the typical quote wraps everything up neatly in a soundbite, which is pleasing to the ear, but it deprives us the opportunity to come up with our own "soundbites" or pearls of wisdom derived from our own "toiling" in personal study. By the sweat of our brow...you get the idea.
• The remaining time in a typical lesson is spent on personal experiences and stories, along with challenges and invitations to better practice our religion.
  

All of this is well and good. My only concern is are we striking the right balance in our instruction. How many scriptures should be shared in a sacrament meeting talk? How many conference quotes? Of course, there is no quota. We will prepare based on our knowledge-base on the topic at hand.

Which leads me back to the History of the Church, and two quotes I recently found that I had never heard before.

#1
Joseph Smith (Vol. 5, p. 402):

"I could explain a hundred fold more than I ever have of the glories of the kingdoms manifested to me in the vision, were I permitted, and were the people prepared to receive them.

"The Lord deals with this people as a tender parent with a child, communicating light and intelligence and the knowledge of his ways as they can bear it. The inhabitants of the earth are asleep; they know not the day of their visitation."

Earlier in Volume 5, in an unrelated passage, I think Joseph Smith offers an explanation on how the "inhabitants of the earth" are likely asleep. I would include myself in that group, because I often feel "asleep" in spiritual matters. And I love the analogy of being asleep because there is a stark difference between being awake and asleep. I have felt awake in the spiritual sense but there are many times when my eyes are open yet I'm just going through the motions of life without realizing there is a greater purpose.

How do we awaken from such a spiritual slumber? Faith! The following quote will seem a little disjointed to the current discussion, but try to stick with me.

#2
Joseph Smith (Vol. 5, p. 218):

"Because faith is wanting, the fruits are. No man since the world was had faith without having something along with it. The ancients quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, women received their dead, &c. By faith the worlds were made. A man who has none of the gifts has no faith; and he deceives himself; if he supposes he has. Faith has been wanting, not only among the heathen, but in professed Christendom also, so that tongues, healings, prophecy, and prophets and apostles, and all the gifts and blessings have been wanting."

In the first quote, we learn that light and intelligence is withheld from the inhabitants of the earth only as they can bear it. The second deals with the concern that fruits of faith are lacking on the earth because faith is lacking.

Perhaps our faith can improve as we are given more light and intelligence through diligent study of all that is available to us, and then, we can be found bearing the many fruits that are available to those who have exercised the needed faith.

True Scripture Mastery

Most people in the world today simply do not have enough information to formulate an opinion on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Suppose you were one of those people. Maybe you knew one of the church's members but aside from rumors or a few facts you had heard about their church, the one thing that stood out was their belief in an additional volume of scripture they call the Book of Mormon. A copy ends up in your hands, and you decide to flip the book open and randomly read wherever the page lands. The verse you find reads:

But thou art the same yesterday, today, and forever; and thou hast elected us that we shall be saved, whilst all around us are elected to be cast by thy wrath down to hell; for the which holiness, O God, we thank thee; and we also thank thee that thou hast elected us, that we may not be led away after the foolish traditions of our brethren, which doth bind them down to a belief of Christ, which doth lead their hearts to wander far from thee, our God. --Alma 31:17

I've thought of that scenario when reading verses that don't describe official teachings of our church, but could be interpreted as such by lazy scholarship or dishonest individuals who oppose the church. ("See, it's in their Bible!") Hopefully that practice is rare. What is more common however, is when we in the greater Christian community rely on a single verse of scripture to teach a certain principle or doctrine. (Alma 31:17 describes a daily prayer offered by a community that had rejected Christianity.)

In the Latter-day Saint faith, we are living in the "scripture mastery" generation. Scripture mastery is a program within the church's youth seminary which is a class for high school aged Latter-day Saints. Scripture mastery offers about 25 sections of scripture (usually one or two verses) to memorize, learn, and apply. The goal is to learn the context, background, and other important points about that scripture. While scripture mastery is a great tool for young people to learn (there's even an iPhone app for it), the program cannot possibly replace hundreds of other excellent scripture verses, nor could it replace the importance of a multitude of discovered and undiscovered treasures contained around the verses.

For a long time I was guilty of what I will call a "one verse" method of approaching scripture. A verse in the Book of Mormon illustrates this point well. Out of all the lists that are out there of what we can do achieve a certain positive spiritual outcome, this one, to me, seemed to be the most simple and straightforward.

Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day. --Alma 37:37

If I counsel with the Lord, praying night and day, following the simple formula outlined, will I then be, "directed for good," and, "lifted up at the last day," or saved? Adherents to the beliefs of the LDS faith believe there is much more to working out your salvation than simply offering a couple of prayers a day, even if those prayers are the most sincere in the world. I was guilty of misinterpreting the qualifier, "if ye do these things," which led me, in my one verse mindset, to believe that Alma was referring to the "things" listed in that one verse. Looking at it a little more closely, however, I found that Alma's, "things" referred to a much longer list of necessary actions and attributes that include the following counsel to his eldest son, Helaman:

• Learn wisdom in youth; learn to keep the commandments of God (35)
• Cry unto God for all support (36)
• Let all actions and thoughts be unto the Lord (36)
• And then verse 37 as summarized in the paragraph, all which result in salvation

But that wasn't the only counsel he was giving to his son. In fact, that counsel begins earlier when Alma says Helaman should go out and teach the people the following, "things," that would bring, "rest to their souls" (34):

• An everlasting hatred of sin and iniquity (32)
• Repentance and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ (33)
• To humble themselves and be meek and lowly in heart (33)
• To withstand every temptation of the devil (33)
• To never be weary of good works, but to be meek and lowly in heart (34)note how "meek and lowly in heart" is repeated twice in Alma's counsel

These verses together seem to point to qualifications that can lead one to salvation.

In five or six verses, we learn a great deal, however we cannot ignore Alma's words in chapters 36 and 37, where much more instruction and testimony is given that really brings the bulleted items above to life. Not only that, we can then compare the counsel Alma gives to his son Helaman to the counsel given to his other two sons. What is said to each son? What is to be meant by the brief counsel given to one son and a very lengthy counsel to the other? Why did he record counsel to all three to begin with? And then when reading of Alma's toils and troubles, preaching, miracles, political involvement, journeys, etc, a much more complete portrait is painted of the man Alma, from which we can draw many life lessons. Leaving Alma, we read more of Helaman's progress in the faith, and so on. Yes, those few verses in chapter 37 are powerful and insightful, but there is so much more!

If lists and doctrines were sufficient to bring us closer to divinity in this life and salvation in the life to come, the scriptures would be much shorter in length. We would study only the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, and several other lists of commands, laws, and counsel. Instead we have before us thousands of pages of stories of individuals, families, towns, and civilizations that illustrate so many ways of broadening our understanding of the important commandments interspersed throughout them.

I have come to appreciate how the scriptures are meant to be read in their entirety, not just a verse here or a verse there. The Book of Mormon is a great example. The culminating event in the Book of Mormon is the literal visitation of the resurrected Jesus Christ on the American continent. So much can be learned from the words the Savior teaches, their placement and order and the various reactions of the people to His words. But we have to ask ourselves why the stories spanning a thousand years preceding and following this event are there (and add to that the Jaredite record). Are there not clear lessons that can be applied from those stories to our time, today?

There are many other verses in scripture that can either be taken out of context or not fully appreciated if we apply the one verse approach to our study and/or overall understanding of the Gospel. It is true there are many beautiful scriptures that consist of one, two or three verses a piece, but there is so much more.

I am convinced that our understanding of the Gospel is not only derived from the doctrines gleaned from individual verses, it is greatly enriched by the full accounts of those who lived long ago, recorded in scripture.

The Gathering

What comes to mind when you think of the "the gathering of Israel?" Until reading the words of Elder David Bednar several years ago, my understanding of the gathering principle was very limited, mostly focused on the "literal gathering" cited in the Articles of Faith and the general concept taught that we gather in the stakes of Zion. Since reading the article, however, I have learned that the gathering is one of the more all-encompassing doctrines of the restored Gospel, and beautifully expressed in another article I encourage you to read, "The Gathering is All About the Atonement."

Elder Bednar's teachings were cited in an LDS Church News article in 2006 covering a devotional he gave the day of the ground breaking for a new auditorium at BYU-Idaho. The entire manuscript can be found here. For brevity, I include an excerpt from the Church News story:

Elder Bednar said that all things are spiritual unto the Lord (Doctrine and Covenants 29:34) and observed that the Manwaring Center and the auditorium will share a common spiritual purpose; they will both be primarily places of gathering.

"The gathering of Israel is one of the fundamental principles of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. The Lord gathers His people when they accept Him and keep His commandments. The spirit of gathering is an integral part of the restoration of all things in this, the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times."

Elder Bednar used the scriptures to review several basic purposes of gathering, places of gathering and blessings of gathering. He explained how the Lord gathers His people to worship (Mosiah 18:25), to build up the Church (Doctrine and Covenants 101:63-64), for a defense (Doctrine and Covenants 115:6) and to receive counsel and instruction (Mosiah 18:7).

He named the primary places of gathering as into the Lord's restored Church (Doctrine and Covenants 101:64-65), into holy temples (Alma 26:5-6), into stakes of Zion (Doctrine and Covenants 109:59) and into families (Mosiah 2:5). He also discussed the blessing of gathering as blessings of edification (Ephesians 4:12-13), preservation (Moses 7:61) and strength (Doctrine and Covenants 82:14).

Elder Bednar taught how the spirit, purposes and blessings of gathering also occur on campus. "At BYU—Idaho you gather to worship the Father in the name of the Son, to build up the Church and the university, to find defense and protection and to receive counsel and instruction."

This gathering has been discussed since the days of ancient prophets. The first instance in the Bible of the gathering doctrine comes in Genesis 49:10, when the aged prophet Jacob blesses his son, Judah. In that blessing, he promises that the lawgivers will come from his seed, "until Shiloh [Jesus Christ] come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be."

We know from the Pearl of Great Price, restored scripture, that prior to Jacob's time, this principle was taught by Enoch, one of the great and earliest patriarchs.

In addition to the many gathering teachings in the Old and New Testaments, The Book of Mormon's emphasis on the gathering can't be ignored. One of the first doctrines Nephi introduces in his writings is the gathering. To him, the gathering played great significance. One hundred years prior to Nephi in Jerusalem, ten tribes of Israel had been taken and subsequently lost contact with the remaining two tribes of Israel. Nephi's family played a prominent role in the scattering along with Mulek, a son of Zedekiah, as they left Jerusalem at different times for the Americas. And many more of these two tribes were scattered by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.

Early in his record, Nephi wastes no time before introducing the doctrine of the gathering of Israel, a prophecy I'm sure brought great peace to him. Two and a half millenia later, his writings are now central to the gathering that has taken place for the last 181 years.

Elder Russell Nelson in, "The Gathering of Scattered Israel" calls the Book of Mormon "central to this work" of the gathering. He continues by making a bold declaration about the connection between the book and the modern day gathering:

[The Book of Mormon] declares the doctrine of the gathering. It causes people to learn about Jesus Christ, to believe His gospel, and to join His Church. In fact, if there were no Book of Mormon, the promised gathering of Israel would not occur.

Why is the Book of Mormon called the Book of Mormon?

Why is the Book of Mormon called the Book of Mormon? Why not the Book of Moroni or some other name? After all, it is Moroni who finished his father, Mormon's, brief, self-titled book near the end of the overall Book of Mormon, writing the last two chapters (8 & 9) to wrap it up. After doing so, he goes on to insert a condensed history of the Jaredite civilization in the remaining space. Moroni finishes with ten chapters of concluding thoughts bearing his own name to round out the overall book that Nephi began 1,000 years before his time.

But that wasn't all Moroni did for the Book of Mormon. For a period of at least 36 years (see this Attention Activity section on how to derive that number!), Moroni's mission was to lug around the heavy, metallic record without getting caught by blood-thirsty enemies who wished extinction upon his race. He managed to find a good location for the record along with several other heavy items. And 1,400 years later as a glorified angel "sent from the presence of God" (v.33), Moroni played the principal role of instructing a young Joseph Smith on his latter-day mission, with specific guidance on how to retrieve the same record Moroni had buried as a mortal.

Yes, Mormon compiled the majority of the book, where in the "Words of Mormon," a transition chapter near the beginning of the record, he calls it his record and his book, but there is no indication that he intends to name the book after himself. So the question becomes, was it Mormon who named the book after himself, or did his son, Moroni, name it after his father?

The often skipped-over Title Page of the Book of Mormon offers clues that Moroni named the book after his father (see an analysis of that theory by BYU's Maxwell Institute here). If true, the significance of Moroni naming the book after his father shows an act of selflessness, love, devotion, and honor. All available evidence points to Moroni naming the great work, "The Book of Mormon."

I would take it a step further by saying that Moroni's naming the Book of Mormon is yet another witness of the book's divinity. If concocting a great fictional tale of multiple civilizations chronicled by multiple writers, Joseph Smith could have named the book anything he wanted. It would have made more sense for him to claim an angelic visitation from Mormon rather than Moroni, or to name the book after Moroni if he stuck to the Moroni visitation claim. But no, both father and son play primary roles in bringing the book to Joseph, just as Nephi begins the book, but not without first acknowledging his "goodly parents" and then proceeding to first give an account of why his parents are so good (a possible example of chiasmus).

Out of all of the things we learn from the Book of Mormon, it is this small detail that fits so comfortably with the Gospel and the purposes of the restored Priesthood. A devoted son endures great hardship for nearly four decades after his father's death, in order to honor his father's magnum opus, the purpose of which is to bring all living and those who have passed on, to Christ. Moroni finishes his father's work by writing the Title Page, naming the great record after his father.

There is something deeply moving about the story behind the naming of the book. It is therefore no surprise that after three distinct visitations in one night to young Joseph, Moroni strikes on this theme by commanding Joseph in a fourth visit the following morning that Joseph should tell his father of the visit. Joseph then states:

"I obeyed; I returned to my father in the field, and rehearsed the whole matter to him. He replied to me that it was of God, and told me to go and do as commanded by the messenger." Joseph Smith - History 1:50

In each of four visits on this occasion, Moroni is uniquely qualified to instruct Joseph this sweet truth, having lived it in mortality and perfected by it in immortality: "Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet...And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers."

We, too, bear the name of his father when we are called, "Mormons." I have a feeling that Moroni would have it no other way.

Zenos on prayer

Like most people, I usually read silently, however reading the Book of Mormon out loud as a family has its perks. What jumped out to me this evening was the words of a prophet named Zenos, who apart from the few verses quoted to us by Nephi, Jacob, Alma, Helaman, and the Lord in 3 Nephi, we know very little.

I guess we know enough to say confidently that he lived either during or prior to the time of Lehi, with enough time to have made it on to the brass plates retained by Laban. I haven't done much research on the man but FARMS may have looked at his words, his name, and delved into his possible origins.

What was pleasing to me tonight is the structure of Zenos' prayer.

First, Alma asks his audience what they remember of the Zenos scripture on prayer/worship (I like how to Alma, prayer and worship are virtually interchangeable):

Alma 33:3 Do ye remember to have read what ^aZenos, the prophet of old, has said concerning prayer or ^bworship?

Now, Zenos is quoted:

4 For he said: Thou art merciful, O God, for thou hast heard my prayer, even when I was ^ain the wilderness; yea, thou wast merciful when I prayed concerning those who were mine ^benemies, and thou didst turn them to me.

My take away: God heard me in the WILDERNESS

5 Yea, O God, and thou wast merciful unto me when I did cry unto thee in my ^afield; when I did cry unto thee in my prayer, and thou didst hear me.

God heard me in the FIELD

6 And again, O God, when I did turn to my house thou didst hear me in my prayer.

God heard me in my HOUSE

7 And when I did turn unto my ^acloset, O Lord, and prayed unto thee, thou didst hear me.

God heard me in my CLOSET

A small thing, but nonetheless a simple way of outlining how the Lord hears us. Zenos prays in each example, yet the setting changes from a wide-open expanse (wilderness) to the smallest possible space (closet) in four quick illustrations and through each one, he represents how the Lord can hear us in any possible setting.

In verse 9 below, he mentions another unique setting, where he prays, "in the midst of thy congregations," which congregations I interpret to be the Lord's church-goers. All of whom are likely praying to the Lord at the same time, and yet Zenos shows that the Lord still heard Zenos, even while tending to the rest of his flock.

8 Yea, thou art merciful unto thy children when they cry unto thee, to be heard of thee and not of men, and thou ^awilt hear them.

9 Yea, O God, thou hast been merciful unto me, and heard my cries in the midst of thy congregations.

Then he turns again to the original prayer, which is "concerning his enemies."

10 Yea, and thou hast also heard me when I have been ^acast out and have been despised by mine enemies; yea, thou didst hear my cries, and wast angry with mine enemies, and thou didst ^bvisit them in thine anger with speedy destruction.

Even during the times of great sorrow was he heard. And why was he heard?

11 And thou didst hear me because of mine afflictions and my ^asincerity; and it is because of thy Son that thou hast been thus merciful unto me, therefore I will cry unto thee in all mine ^bafflictions, for in thee is my joy; for thou hast turned thy judgments away from me, ^cbecause of thy Son.

He was heard because of his afflictions and his sincerity, because of the Savior.

Movie night

LDS Scholars Present Evidence for Book of Mormon


This video runs a little over an hour and seeks to refute another video called "The Bible vs. The Book of Mormon." Very well done.

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While movies with religious, scholarly, or spiritual themes don't always catch the attention of the masses, a growing collection of videos is appearing online that I love to watch when I have some downtime. The problem I've had with most videos online is they are usually very short. I'm sorry, but if I'm watching a brief clip of a presentation without much context, I'm less likely to take the time to view it.

Since YouTube recently increased the time limit for uploaded videos, there is now an opportunity to view more content in one setting without clicking through different segments.

Since 1830 when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was established, rumors quickly spread to discredit the new church and its founder, Joseph Smith. As the scholars point out in the video, many of the claims made in those early days are still being made today. The difference is that there is a significant amount of evidence to debunk these theories of old.

For more such videos, see:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Mormon?feature=chclk
http://www.youtube.com/user/mormonmessages?blend=2&ob=4
http://www.youtube.com/user/MormonMessagesYouth
http://www.youtube.com/user/fairldsorg

Malachi: A commandment and prophecy

Two scriptures in the book of Malachi are often cited when discussing the Spirit of Elijah (temple work/sealing ordinance) & the law of the tithe (paying 10% of one's increase to the Lord), but I don't recall ever hearing the two linked together. I think they may have more in common than we realize:

The commandment
Tithing

Malachi 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

The prophecy
Spirit of Elijah

Malachi 4:5 ¶Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:
4:6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

Connecting the two

So what does tithing have to do with families, or vice versa? I argue that the two are almost inseparably linked. If it wasn't for the law of tithing being faithfully practiced in the church, it would be nearly impossible for the great work of the temple to take place.

Okay, you say, sure, but the odds of Malachi linking the two intentionally is a reach. Well, hear me out because I think there is good evidence it was very much intentional.

Many Latter-day Saints would say that the work linking families across generations, carried out in temples, is the core tenet of our faith, so it is no surprise that Joseph Smith in his canonized history relates the prophecies of Malachi as given to him from his first meeting with an heavenly messenger:

Joseph Smith – History 1:36 After telling me these things, he commenced quoting the prophecies of the Old Testament.

[note that so far, the angel's remarks have been fairly limited. These are the first scriptures cited]

36 He first quoted part of the third chapter of Malachi;

[we don't know which part is quoted, but probably the first verse which describes a messenger preparing for the Second Coming of the Savior --- which Malachi follows by saying the Lord will come to his temple!]

36 and he quoted also the fourth or last chapter of the same prophecy, though with a little variation from the way it reads in our Bibles. Instead of quoting the first verse as it reads in our books, he quoted it thus:

37 For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall burn as stubble; for they that come shall burn them, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

38 And again, he quoted the fifth verse thus: Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

39 He also quoted the next verse differently: And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.

So the first scriptures quoted by the messenger in this ushering in of the new and last Gospel dispensation, are those directly citing the need for temples. Where does Malachi make the connection to tithing? I believe it is made in the verse preceding the tithing verse:

Malachi 3:7 ¶Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?
8 ¶Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

The Lord is saying how we can return to him, and he makes clear it is through ordinances. Tithing is not considered an ordinance. The Old and New Testaments speak of ordinances as different from laws or statutes. The way to return to the ordinances is through the law of tithing, for it is tithing that will provide the means to build a House of the Lord, a temple, wherein the work of Elijah can go forward and we can return to the Lord, so He can "return unto [us.]."