The Power of Temple Covenants

The temple is equipped with many wonderful and miraculous powers, one of which is the saving power it obtains in order to reunite families beyond the veil, and to save wayward children.

A statement made my Elder Orson F. Whitney contains the essence of this promise:

“The Prophet Joseph Smith declared—and he never taught more comforting doctrine—that the eternal sealings of faithful parents and the divine promises made to them for valiant service in the Cause of Truth, would save not only themselves, but likewise their posterity. Though some of the sheep may wander, the eye of the Shepherd is upon them, and sooner or later they will feel the tentacles of Divine Providence reaching out after them and drawing them back to the fold. Either in this life or the life to come, they will return. They will have to pay their debt to justice; they will suffer for their sins; and may tread a thorny path; but if it leads them at last, like the penitent Prodigal, to a loving and forgiving father’s heart and home, the painful experience will not have been in vain. Pray for your careless and disobedient children; hold on to them with your faith. Hope on, trust on, till you see the salvation of God.”

In the Doctrine and Covenants, Section 68 the Lord says, "And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized, that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents.”

Our responsibility as parents are to rear our children in love and righteousness. It is a divine calling which we must fulfill to the best of our ability. What about those parents, however, who feel that they have not fulfilled their calling because their child has wandered from the teachings which they have taught? 

Success in parenthood is not defined by the choices your children make, instead it is measured by the love and kindness in which you have raised and taught your children. 

I cannot imagine the love of a parent, it is deep and abiding, must like our Heavenly Fathers love for each of us. When one of our children wander, our Heavenly Father weeps with us. 

The scriptures are full of examples of righteous parents who have raised their children in love and righteousness, yet whose children have still gone astray. We read of the prodigal son, whose father welcomed him with open arms and threw a feast for his son the moment he returned. 

"President Howard W. Hunter observed that “repentance is but the homesickness of the soul, and the uninterrupted and watchful care of the parent is the fairest earthly type of the unfailing forgiveness of God.” Is not the family the nearest analogy which the Savior’s mission sought to establish?" 

For those whose children may have gone astray, or for those whose siblings struggle with disobedience, remember that they righteousness of a mother and father can work miracles in saving their children. Hold on to hope, and endure in righteousness. The Lord is the good shepherd and watches over all his sheep and he will not let them be lost.