Endowed with Power | What the Temple Endowment Is Really For — Peter B. Rawlins, BYU 2012 (LDS)

Send us Fan Mail What is the endowment really for — and does it have a purpose beyond personal salvation? Peter B. Rawlins, retired director of proselytizing in the Church's missionary department, argues in this BYU article that virtually all scriptural references to the endowment are in the context of missionary work — and that its primary, immediate purpose is to empower the Saints to fulfill the mission of the Church on both sides of the veil, not only to prepare them for eternity. In January 1831, the Lord gave two reasons for gathering the Saints to Ohio: "There I will give unto you my law" and "there you shall be endowed with power from on high" — power to go forth among all nations. Without the power, the law would be ineffectual. The article traces each temple ordinance to its missionary dimension: washing cleanses us not only from our own sins but from the blood and sins of this generation (making us accountable as watchmen); anointing confers the same Holy Ghost power with which Jesus "went about doing good"; the endowment itself parallels ordination to the priesthood — not just authority, but real, usable, God's-own power to work for the salvation of others. President Boyd K. Packer's observation anchors the urgency: "We have priesthood authority planted nearly everywhere. But distributing the authority of the priesthood has raced ahead of distributing the power of the priesthood." Tia adds her own witness throughout: when we perform these ordinances for our ancestors, we are giving them the same missionary power — enabling them to become emissaries of Christ in the spirit world, where the work cannot move forward without the endowment we provide.Q: What is the purpose of the temple endowment, according to LDS teaching?A: Peter B. Rawlins argues from scripture that the endowment's primary purpose is not merely personal preparation for eternity, but empowerment for missionary service — now. In the Doctrine and Covenants, the phrase "endowed with power from on high" is almost always used in the context of preaching the gospel and building the kingdom. Joseph Smith taught: "The endowment was to prepare the disciples for their missions unto the world."Q: What is the difference between priesthood authority and priesthood power?A: President Boyd K. Packer observed: "We have priesthood authority planted nearly everywhere. But distributing the authority of the priesthood has raced ahead of distributing the power of the priesthood." Authority is the right to act; power is the actual capacity to do so effectively. The temple endowment is designed to bridge this gap — conferring not just authorization but real, enabling power from God.Q: How does temple work empower ancestors in the spirit world?A: Tia Smith adds throughout this reading that the same power the endowment confers on the living — the Holy Ghost, the anointing, priesthood power — is conferred on ancestors when their ordinances are performed vicariously. Without these ordinances, they cannot serve as effective missionaries in the spirit world; with them, they are empowered to preach the gospel to those who have not yet received it (Doctrine and Covenants 138).Q: What does "clean from the blood of this generation" mean?A: The washing ordinance relates to the watchman principle from Ezekiel: God holds us responsible for the sins of those we failed to warn when we had the knowledge and opportunity. If we faithfully proclaim the gospel, we are cleansed from that responsibility. President John Taylor taught: "If you do not magnify your callings, God will hold you responsible for those whom you might have saved had you done your duty." YouTube: Endowed with Power Video: https://youtu.be/3Lz70Z_pm0QYouTube Thinning of the Veil Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@UCAA9WnYhYvCp1ffCe-AGUQQ  SUPPORT THE SHOW: Website: Thinning of the Veil: https://www.thinningoftheveil.com/Venmo:  https://account.venmo.com/u/thinningoftheveilPayPal: https://paypal.me/thinningoftheveil?country.x=US&locale.x=en_USBook: "Patterns of Revelation":  https://www.amazon.com/Patterns-Revelation-Spiritual-Foundations-Hearing-ebook/dp/B0BWGLZ8VXEmail: [email protected]: https://www.instagram.com/thinning.of.the.veil/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thinning.of.the.veil/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thinning.of.the.veilCITATIONS: Rawlins, Peter B. "“Endowed with Power”." Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel 13, no. 1 (2012): https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/re/vol13/iss1/13 Support the show