2 Nephi 32: 2-3
Do ye not remember that I
said unto you that after ye had received the
Holy Ghost ye could speak with the tongue of
angels? And now, how could ye speak with the tongue of angels save it were by
the Holy Ghost?
Angels speak
by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ.
Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon
the words of
Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you
all things what ye should do.
Alma 32:22-23: Therefore
[God] desireth, in the first place, that ye should believe, yea, even on his word.
And now, he imparteth his word by angels unto men, yea, not only men but women
also.
Now this is not all; little children do have words given
unto them many times, which confound the wise and the learned.
Abraham 1:15
An Angel Saves Abraham
3 Nephi 19:13–14 After they were baptized, the
disciples received the Holy Ghost. Fire seemed to surround them, and angels
came down from heaven and ministered unto them.
President
Russell M. Nelson, “The Temple and Your
Spiritual Foundation”, CR October 2021
And to each of you who has made temple covenants, I plead
with you to seek—prayerfully and consistently—to understand temple covenants
and ordinances. Spiritual doors will open. You will learn
how to part the veil between heaven and earth, how to ask for God’s angels to
attend you, and how better to receive direction from heaven. Your diligent
efforts to do so will reinforce and strengthen your spiritual foundation.
Elder Dallin H. Oaks: “In general, the blessings of
spiritual companionship and communication are only available to those who are
clean...through the…ordinances of baptism and the sacrament, we are cleansed of
our sins and promised that if we keep our covenants, we will always have His
Spirit to be with us.
I believe that promise not only refers to the Holy Ghost but
also to the ministering of angels, for ‘angels speak by the power of the Holy
Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ.’” (Oct Conf. 1998, “The
Aaronic Priesthood and the Sacrament”)
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland stated: “I believe we need to
speak of and believe in and bear testimony to the ministry of angels more than
we sometimes do. They constitute one of God’s great methods of witnessing
through the veil” (“A Standard unto My People” [address delivered at the Church
Educational System Symposium on the Book of Mormon, Aug. 9, 1994], 11;
si.lds.org).
Elder
Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Ministry of Angels,” Oct 2008
From the beginning down through the dispensations, God has
used angels as His emissaries in conveying love and concern for His
children. Usually such beings are not seen. Sometimes
they are. But seen or unseen, they are always near. Sometimes
their assignments are very grand and have significance for the whole world.
Sometimes the messages are more private. Occasionally the angelic purpose is to
warn. But most often it is to comfort, to provide some form of merciful
attention, guidance in difficult times.
I testify that angels are still sent to
help us.
May we all believe more readily in, and have more gratitude
for, the Lord’s promise as contained in one of President Monson’s favorite
scriptures: “I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on
your left, … my Spirit shall be in your [heart], and mine angels round about
you, to bear you up.” In the process of praying
for those angels to attend us, may we all try to be a little more
angelic ourselves.
President Joseph F. Smith “When messengers are sent
to minister to the inhabitants of this earth, they are not strangers, but from
the ranks of our kindred, friends, and fellow-beings and fellow-servants.
The ancient prophets who died were those who came to visit their fellow
creatures upon the earth …
In like manner our fathers and mothers, brothers, sisters
and friends who have passed away from this earth, having been faithful, and
worthy to enjoy these rights and privileges, may have a mission given
them to visit their relatives and friends upon the earth again, bringing from
the divine Presence messages of love, of warning, or reproof
and instruction, to those whom they had learned to love in the flesh.”
(Gospel Doctrine, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1970, pp. 435–36. bold and
italics added)
Joseph F. Smith. We are told by the Prophet Joseph
Smith, that "there are no angels who minister to this earth but those who
do belong or have belonged to it" [D&C 130:5]. Hence, when messengers
are sent to minister to the inhabitants of this earth, they are not strangers,
but from the ranks of our kindred, friends, and fellow-beings and
fellow-servants.
Joseph F. Smith. If we can see, by the enlightening
influence of the Spirit of God and through the words that have been spoken by
the holy prophets of God, beyond the veil that separates us from the spirit
world, surely those who have passed beyond, can see more clearly through the
veil back here to us than it is possible for us to see to them from our sphere
of action. I believe we move and have our being in the presence of heavenly
messengers and of heavenly beings. We are not separated from them. . . .We are
closely related to our kindred, to our ancestors, to our friends and associates
and co-laborers who have preceded us into the spirit world. We cannot
forget them; we do not cease to love them; we always hold them in our hearts,
in memory, and thus we are associated and united to them by ties that we cannot
break, that we cannot dissolve or free ourselves from. If this is the case with
us in our finite condition, surrounded by our mortal weaknesses,
shortsightedness, lack of inspiration and wisdom, from time to time, how much
more certain it is, and reasonable and consistent, to believe that those who
have been faithful, who have gone beyond, are still engaged in the work for the
salvation of the souls of men, in the opening of the prison doors to them that
are bound and proclaiming liberty to the captives, who can see us better than
we can see them—that they know us better than we know them. . . .I claim
that we live in their presence, they see us, they are solicitous for our
welfare, they love us now more than ever. For now they see the dangers that
beset us; they can comprehend better than ever before, the weaknesses that are
liable to mislead us into dark and forbidden paths. They see the temptations
and the evils that beset us in life, and the proneness of mortal beings to
yield to temptation and to wrong doing; hence their solicitude for us and their
love for us and their desire for our well being must be greater than that which
we feel for ourselves (Gospel Doctrine, 430). April Conf. Report, 1916, p.
2-4
Elder
Jeffrey R. Holland, “Place No More for the Enemy of My Soul,” Apr. 2010
Pray without ceasing. Ask for angels to help you. Remember
that the temple arms you “with [God’s] power, … [puts His] glory … round about
[you], and [gives His] angels … charge over [you].”
John A. Widstoe, quoted in Boyd K. Packer’s The
Holy Temple, 252.
Whoever seeks to help those on the other side receives help
in return in all the affairs of life.
Bruce C. Hafen: “Some of these personal visits [from
angels] were dramatic and powerful. Think of the angels who ministered to the
Nephite children in the account of 3 Nephi 17, or the angel who chastised Alma
and Mosiah’s sons in answer to a father’s prayer. (See Mosiah 27.)
“Other personal manifestations have been so quiet that those
who received them were unaware of the angelic presence. The ministry of these
unseen angels is among the most sublime forms of interaction between heaven and
earth, powerfully expressing God’s concern for us and bestowing tangible
assurance and spiritual sustenance upon those in great need” (“When Do
the Angels Come?” Ensign, Apr. 1992, 12).
Francis Webster.
I have pulled my handcart when I was so weak and weary from illness and
lack of food that I could hardly put one foot ahead of the other. I have looked
ahead and seen a patch of sand or a hill slope and I have said, 'I can only go
that far and there I must give up, for I cannot pull the load through it.' I
have gone on to that sand and when I reached it the cart began pushing me! I
have looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart, but my eyes saw no
one. I knew then that the Angels of God
were there. Was I sorry that I chose to come by handcart? (Relief Society Magazine, January, 1948, 8).
(Journal of Discourses, Vol.3, p.230, Heber C. Kimball,
March 2, 1856).
[T]he Lord has said that there are more for us than there
can be against us. “Who are they,” says one? Righteous men [and women] who have
been upon the earth.
The God whom I serve . . . has millions of angels at His
command. Do you suppose that there are any angels here today?
I would not wonder if there were ten times more angels here
than people. We do not see them, but they are here watching us, and are anxious
for our salvation”
(Collected Discourses, Vol.2, George Q. Cannon, November,
1890).
“Now, this is the truth. We humble people; we who feel
ourselves sometimes so worthless, so good‑for‑nothing; we are not so worthless
as we think.
There is not one of us that [God] has not cared for and
caressed. There is not one of us that He has not given His angels charge
concerning.
We may be insignificant and contemptible in our own eyes,
and in the eyes of others, but the truth remains that we are the children of
God, and that He has actually given His angels‑‑invisible beings of power and
might‑‑charge concerning us, and they watch over us and have us in their
keeping
(Collected Discourses, Vol.3, James E. Talmage, June 25,
1893).
“[Our Heavenly Father] has greater affection than we can
comprehend by [a] father’s love for His children. As a result of that great
love, He has set heavenly beings to watch over us and to guard us from the
attacks of evil powers while we live on earth. Do we realize that in our daily
walk and work we are not alone, but that angels attend us wherever our duty
causes us to go? It is only when we stray into unholy places, only when we
tread upon forbidden ground, that they leave us to ourselves; and then they
watch us from the distance with sorrow and tears.
Our eyes are so heavy, our ears so dull, that we see and
hear only the things of earth. Could our vision be opened, we would see in
this room at this very moment more worshippers than are occupying these seats;
could our ears be unstopped we would hear more than our own feeble voices
joining in the hymns of praise that we sing.
“When at times trouble comes upon us, and we feel almost
given up to despair, and think we have been deserted by friends, let us
think of the heavenly companions whom God has assigned to us; (Collected
Discourses, Vol.3, James E. Talmage, June 25, 1893).
Wendy Watson Nelson, “My Soul delighteth in the covenants
of the Lord.” 2 Nephi 11:5,
BYU Women’s
Conference, April 30, 2015
As we keep our covenants, to what else do we have access?
Joseph Smith declared that if we as covenant women “live up to (our)
privilege,” the angels will not be able to be restrained from being our
associates. Our “privilege” includes our covenants. Our covenants are a
“privilege”! Therefore, as we live up to our covenants, the angels will not be
able to be restrained from being our associates.3
We could also say it this way: As we keep our covenants, we
can ask for angels to help us. Literally!
It was during Elder Jeffrey R. Holland’s April 2010 general
conference talk that I first learned this truth. He said, “Ask for angels to
help you.” He said it with such clarity, and yet in a manner that implied this
was something we all knew. But for me it was an entirely new principle. I
wanted to call out, “Wait! Wait! What? You mean I could have been asking for
angels to help me all this time?”
Without intending to sound too dramatic, I can say with all
candor that Elder Holland’s six words changed my life. “Ask for angels to help
you.” That counsel changed my prayers, changed my understanding of the very
real help from heaven that is always available to us as we keep our covenants.
I started to ask for assistance from those on the other side
of the veil from that moment on. Now I’m not talking about praying for fantasy
angels with wings to magically fairy-dust our problems away. I’m not talking
about praying to angels. I’m talking about praying to your Heavenly Father, in
the name of Jesus Christ, for those on the other side to be “dispatched” (Elder
Holland’s word) to assist you. Perhaps a loved one or two could be sent to help
you with whatever you need.
Can you imagine the effort it took those angels who pushed
from the rear of handcarts as they helped the pioneers over the steep, snowy,
windy, freezing, jagged terrain of Rocky Ridge? If angels can manage that, they
can certainly help you and me over our present Rocky Ridges. We know the Lord
gets His work done with the help of His angels. So could you use a little more
help in your life?
If so, keep your covenants with more exactness than ever
before. And then ask for angels to help you with whatever you need. Or ask for
them to be dispatched to help those you love.
(continued)
Does your child need help? Is your husband in trouble? Does
your aunt need comfort? Does your best friend need direction? Ask for angels to
be assigned to help them. As a covenant-keeping woman, you can do just that!
One of my former institute students, let’s call her Barbara,
followed through with that suggestion with thrilling results. Barbara has
served as proxy for many of my ancestors. During a few particular temple
sessions, Barbara had special experiences with a woman named Genevieve and with
Genevieve’s sisters. Barbara felt a deep connection with them.
So she prayed and asked if Genevieve and her sisters, who
now live on the other side of the veil, could be dispatched to help Barbara’s
own sister, who lives on this side of the veil. Barbara’s sister had not been
active in the Church for years, and she was having heart-wrenching difficulties
with some rigorous life events.
Here are Barbara’s words: “I prayed that my sister could
find peace in this world; that she could find direction back to Heavenly
Father; that the sisters of Genevieve could help her find her way back, and
watch over her in this process. A few weeks later my sister told me that she
was taking her three boys to church! Later she asked me how to get her
patriarchal blessing. The eldest boy turned eight this summer and was baptized.
And my sister is now attending temple preparation classes.”
How can we explain such miracles? Mormon tells us, “My
beloved [sisters], have miracles ceased? Behold I say unto you, Nay; neither
have angels ceased to minister unto the children of men. . . . And the office
of their ministry is to call men [and women] to repentance, and to fulfill and
to do the work of the covenants of the Father.”
Wendy Nelson, “How Angels Can Help Us More in Our Lives”
“Now, I’m not talking about praying to fantasy angels with
wings to magically fairy-dust our problems away. I’m not talking about praying
to angels. I’m talking about praying to our Heavenly Father, in the name of
Jesus Christ, for those on the other side to be “dispatched” (Elder Holland’s
word) to assist us. Perhaps a departed loved one could be sent to help you with
whatever you need.”
“So, could you use a little more help in your life? If so, keep your covenants with more
exactness than you ever have before! And then ask for angels (a.k.a. your
ancestors and other loved ones) to help you… Or ask for them to be dispatched
to help those you love!
