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You are listening to Part 2 with Dr. Jordan Watkins, Doctrine and Covenants 125 to 128.

When we talk about temple work, we don't usually focus on records of temple work.

That's what 127 and 128 are all about. Records of baptisms for the dead. The sections of the doctrine

covenants that talk about work for the dead

are these sections, and the focus is on records. We'll get to why it's interesting. So in verse six,

the Lord instructed the saints, when any of you are baptized for your dead, let there be a recorder,

and let them be an eyewitness of your baptisms. Let him hear

with his ears that he may testify of a truth, sayeth the Lord, that in all your recordings

it may be recorded in heaven. Now we'll come back to that second part in a little bit.

This instruction relates to the first command the Lord gives the church.

April 6th, 1830, Joseph gets a revelation, and the Lord says,

there shall be a record kept.

At various points, the Lord gives further commands to keep records.

Joseph and the Saints made efforts to fulfill those commands with mixed results.

Sometimes they're great, sometimes they weren't great.

The saints kept various kinds of records, and the purpose of record keeping in the church

shifted in relationship to distinct circumstances.

Sometimes, the attempt to keep records

and to compile information was an effort

...