A Financial Journey: Fulfilling Prophecy, Blessing Saints
In the early 1830s, the fledgling Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints faced a daunting challenge. Persecuted and forced to flee their homes in New York, they struggled to establish a new community in Kirtland, Ohio. Yet, in the midst of this hardship, a revelation was received that they were to build a temple. However, as one of the saints at the time reported, the membership was so poor, “there was not a scraper and hardly a plow that could be obtained.”
Despite this seemingly insurmountable obstacle, the early saints demonstrated remarkable perseverance and determination. They started digging the temple’s foundation by hand, inspiring the entire community to join in their efforts. On weekends, they would gather stones from the nearby quarry, while during the week, masons would use these stones to build the walls. After a vandalism incident, some even set up security each night to protect the sacred space.
This all-in effort was rooted in the early saints’ adherence to the law of consecration, which called for members to give all they had to the Church to build up the Kingdom of God. While this approach soon evolved, the all-in ethos never went away. Throughout the 20th century, Latter-day Saints were asked to provide not just tithing and fast offerings but also funds for chapel and temple construction, as well as local congregational and activity budgets. For some, these requests often exceeded the “one-tenth” part indicated in the Old Testament, sometimes to nearly double that.
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