Why Would the Earth Be Cursed and Utterly Wasted If the Sealing Powers Had Not Been Restored?
Ratification in heaven is given to all ordinances of the gospel through the sealing powers of the priesthood. This sealing power makes possible the welding together of fathers and children, a work essential for exaltation to the living and the dead (see D&C 128:18). The curse spoken of by Malachi is clarified by Moroni, who explained that “the whole earth would be utterly wasted” at the Lord’s coming if the sealing powers were not restored. President Joseph Fielding Smith explained why: “The sealing power of Elijah makes it possible for this joining of the families, generation to generation, back to the beginning. Now, if these units of authority were not here, then the work of sealing, by which the family units are preserved, could not be performed; then the binding power by which all blessings are sealed in heaven, as well as on earth, would be lacking.
