The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Holds Groundbreaking of Benin City Nigeria Temple
By Simeon OSAJIE
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has embarked on the Ground Breaking of the Benin City Nigeria Temple where children of God can seek spiritual guidance for crucial decisions.
In his remarks and dedicatory prayer during the epoch making event in Benin City, the General Authority Seventy First Counselor, Africa West Area, Elder Adeyinka Ayodeji Ojediran said the temple is where the children of God receive revelations and draw closer to God.
“Temples are sacred places where we make sacred covenants with God and receive blessings for ourselves and families, living and dead.
“They are houses of the lord, places of Peace and learning. Their principal purpose is to provide ordinances and covenants necessary for the children of God to enable them return to dwell with Him.
“Temple ordinances and covenants lead to the greatest blessings available through the atonement of Jesus Christ,” he noted.
According to him, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, believe that part of the restoration of the gospel are temples and ordinances of gospel, administered in the House of the Lord.
“The Church has built numerous temples worldwide since its early days. We currently have 382 temples worldwide, in operation, under construction and announced.
“The keys of this dispensation committed to the Prophet Joseph Smith by Moses, Elias and Elijah were given to save us and our ancestors and prepare us for the great and dreadful day of the Lord.”
While calling on the children of God to rededicate their lives to God as they prepare to worship in the house of the Lord that are currently in operation and when this construction is completed and the temple is dedicated, Elder Adeyinka Ayodeji Ojediran said President Russell M. Nelson has promised that time in the temple can change our lives.
“Our dear Prophet, President Russell M. Nelson said,” the temple is a place of Peace and Power, and spending time there will literally change a person’s life.
“The construction of these temples may not change your life, but your time in the temple surely will. In that spirit, I bless you to identify those things you can set aside so you can spend more time in the temple.”
He disclosed that the significance of the construction of this temple in Benin City, is that children of God do not have to travel far.
“We have a temple in Aba and before the construction of that one, children of God had to travel to South Africa. But with this temple in Benin, those in Benin and environs do not need to travel far.
“The temple is different from our regular meeting houses. We worship the Lord every week in our meeting houses to honour the Sabbath and partake of the sacrament as emblems of the atonement of Jesus Christ.
“The temple of the Lord are the holiest, most sacred structures in the kingdom of God and the importance was established in the old biblical times and later restored in these latter days,” he added
The highpoint of the ground breaking of The Benin City Nigeria Temple which will be built on a 2.17 acre land for a two-Storey building of approximately 30, 700 square feet, as well as an arrival center and patron housing was the formal soil turning.
