Lorenzo Snow's Vision of Jesus Christ in the Temple (1898)

Shortly after Wilford Woodruff's death in September 1898, Lorenzo Snow, then an apostle, entered the temple and experienced one of the most remarkable visionary events in modern Latter-day Saint history.

Snow's granddaughter, Allie, recorded her grandfather's own account of the experience. Speaking in reverent, hushed tones in the temple itself, Snow told Allie:

"It was right here that the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to me at the time of the death of President Woodruff. He instructed me to go right ahead and reorganize the First Presidency of the Church at once and not wait as had been done after the death of the previous presidents, and that I was to succeed President Woodruff [as President of the Church]."

Snow then held out his left hand and said, "He stood right here, about three feet above the floor. It looked as though he stood on a plate of solid gold."

Snow described the Savior's appearance as so glorious and bright that he could hardly look at Him. The experience included face-to-face communication; Snow testified that he actually saw and talked with the Savior.

Snow then placed his right hand on Allie's head and said with deep solemnity: "Now granddaughter, I want you to remember that this is the testimony of your grandfather, that he told you with his own lips that he actually saw the Savior, here in the temple, and talked with him face to face."

This vision had immediate historical consequences. Following the Savior's instruction, Lorenzo Snow became the fifth President of the Church in 1898 and reorganized the First Presidency without delay—a break from the pattern of the previous two successions, which had involved lengthy periods before the First Presidency was reorganized.

The account was preserved and published in the Friend magazine (August 1993), making it one of the most widely documented first-person testimonies of a direct appearance of Jesus Christ in Latter-day Saint history.