Hank Smith: 00:05 Hello, my friends. Welcome to another followHIM Favorites. My name is Hank Smith. I’m here with the amazing John Bytheway. Welcome John Bytheway.

John Bytheway: 00:12 Thank you.

Hank Smith: 00:13 I just think you’re the best. Hey, John. This week’s question comes from Obadiah. Obadiah is a book in the Bible. It’s only 21 verses long, but on the very last verse, there’s a phrase that says, “A savior shall come up on Mount Zion.” So, John, my followHIM question of the week for you is, what is the savior upon Mount Zion? What does that phrase mean to you?

John Bytheway: 00:39 I used to hear that when I was a kid. I remember being told, “You can be a savior upon Mount Zion.” What? And if you look at the verse, notice that saviors, it’s a small S. It’s not “The Savior”. There’s one savior that is Jesus Christ, of course, but we can act in that role. And what helps me, what is a savior on Mount Zion, is to look at that footnote there. The Topical Guide says, “Genealogy and temple work, mission of Latter-day Saints, and Salvation for the Dead.” So the idea of a savior, I think, if I’m getting this right, is to do something for someone they can’t do for themselves or maybe that they can’t do right now for themselves. We can go to the temple. We can be a proxy for someone who did not have the opportunity to be baptized on this earth and can be baptized for them, or receive an endowment for them in that way. That’s what I understand. We can be a savior upon Mount Zion. I guess Mount Zion means the temple. Am I getting that right?

Hank Smith: 01:38 Yeah, I think so. I think, John, we love Jesus so much. We talk about him and if we were to just sit down with anybody listening, they would say, “I absolutely love Jesus. Well, why? Because of what he has done for me.” Well, in that same vein, we can become, like you said, lowercase S saviors for other people who will look at you very similarly as the way they look at the Savior and say, “I love you. Why? Because of what you have done for me in doing my work at the temple.” And remember, there’s some blessing that comes for us as well, that Joseph Smith said, “They can’t be saved without us.” I totally understand that. They can’t be saved without us. They don’t have physical bodies. But then he added, “We can’t be saved without them, that they are doing work for us on the other side.”

  02:27 And I think you’re the one who taught me that Elder Holland I think said, “Never underestimate your family on the other side of the veil. Never underestimate what the other side of the veil is doing for you.” But in order, I think, to take part in that and have more and more part of it is get yourself to the temple so you can be closer and closer to that veil and to that connection.

John Bytheway: 02:47 Yeah, I think that those people that we get to do work for, I think they’ll want to find us one day. In the journal of Horace Cummings, he wrote that Joseph Smith said that those who had done the work for them, they would pull at their feet, embrace their knees, and manifest the most exquisite gratitude, which just is a fun thing to look forward to. You see those folks at the temple who go every week and have done thousands of names and think of those people and the greeting they will get. But I like that you said that.

  03:22 I remember after my father passed away way back in 2004, I was talking to Dr. Robert Millett, Brother Millett that we’ve had on our program before, and put his arm around my shoulder and said, “Your father will be able to do more for you now than he could have here.” And I’d never considered that before, so I’m glad you brought that up. So we need each other and the Lord has arranged a way for us to help each other, and part of that for us right now is to go to the temple.

Hank Smith: 03:52 Yep. We hope anyone listening right now will just get your calendar out and make an appointment to go to the temple. Or if you have free time today, don’t wait any longer. Go get in the car or go get your shoes on, if it’s not too far away, and get yourself over to the temple so you can take part of this saviors upon Mount Zion role.

John Bytheway: 04:13 And if that’s a step you need to take, if you don’t have a recommend right now, I know the Lord and the Bishop are eager to give you one. I mean, I experienced that. The Lord wants this person in the temple. I used to feel when I was conducting those interviews as a bishop, if that’s a step you need to take, oh, go take that step because there’s just blessings within those walls.

Hank Smith: 04:35 Go renew that recommend and make it a trial of your faith. Say, “Well, I don’t have time to go to the temple.” Well, it’s a good moment of your faith to say, “Well, I’m going to make time. I’m going to make time to get over there. I’m going to cut out some sort of entertainment or I’m going to cut out some other activity and I’m going to get myself to the temple and I’m going to test the Lord on his promises.” And he’ll make good on those promises. We hope you’ll join us on our full podcast. It’s called Follow Him. You can get it wherever you get your podcasts. And join us next week as we come back for another FollowHIM Favorites.