Come Follow Me 2021 – Doctrine and Covenants 12-13 (Feb 8-14) – Angels Among Us? – powered by Happy Scribe
What is an angel? Are they chubby babies flying around, shooting people with Cupid’s arrows? Ouch.
Or are they ladies with flowing white robes, wings and halos? The World Church talks a lot about angels, but are they real and are they still around?
Today, Moroni basically asked, are angels still around?
And he answered clearly, Yes. Yes, they are. Today’s stories are about four different angels, one from heaven and three on earth.
Joseph and Emma had bought a farm with a small home near Emma’s parents in Harmony, Pa. Joseph and Oliver were there translating the golden plates when they came to third Nephi 11, where Jesus was teaching the Nephi about baptism.
Christ told the Nephites exactly how baptism should take place, and he gave them power to baptize Oliver. And Joseph wondered, what does that mean? You have to have power to baptize. Joseph had never been baptized in any church and they both had lots of questions about it. So on May 15th, 1829, they went to a beautiful wooded area nearby to pray and ask the Lord about it.
And boy, did they ever get an amazing answer.
An angel appeared to them and said his name was John the Baptist. Yeah, the same John the Baptist who baptized Jesus.
He died by being beheaded by the evil King Herod. But here he was appearing to them as a resurrected angel, very much intact, directed by God.
He came to give Joseph and Oliver the ironic priesthood, which contain the power and authority to baptize this priesthood. Authority had been taken from the Earth after the last of Christ’s apostles had died. But now the priesthood authority, the power to act in God’s name, was restored to the world after centuries of being absent. John told them to immediately go and baptise and then ordained each other to this priest, it so they went to the nearby Susquehanna River and were baptized and ordained instantly.
They were both filled with the Holy Ghost and prophesied about a bunch of things that would soon happen naturally with this priesthood.
They now had the authority and power to baptize other people as well.
So John was a resurrected angel from heaven, delivering a message from God. But not all angels are from heaven. Some are just people on earth who are very much mortals, but who are so good and pure and angelic that we call them angels. One of these mortal angels was Joseph’s older brother, Hyrum. He was five years older than Joseph and one of the best big brothers that ever lived. He wanted to know how he could help his little brother.
So he trekked nearly 300 miles to have Joseph ask the Lord what he was supposed to do to help. The Lord replied that it wasn’t yet time for Hiram to preach the gospel. For now, he should study and prepare, and then the spirit would enlighten his mind. Oh, and he shouldn’t seek wealth, but wisdom not to worry. He would have the chance to preach the Gospel later after this.
Just like a ministering angel, Hyrum spent the rest of his life serving Joseph and the Lord by helping others and bringing people to Christ. The next angelic helpers were Joseph Knight and his wife, Polli brother Knight was one of the first 20 people to believe that Joseph had really seen a vision. He was an older man who lived far away from the Smith family, but he often traveled to visit the prophet in either Permira or Harmonie to offer his help and see how the work was progressing.
In fact, Brother Knight was staying at the Smith’s home on the treacherous night that Joseph first brought home the gold plates.
Joseph had been attacked over and over again on his way home by men trying to steal the place after he finally made it home, exhausted, bruised and with a broken thumb. Night was among those men who stayed a while to protect Joseph and the gold plates.
Later, Joseph told Brother Knight that having the plates is 10 times better than I expected. Joseph Knight was given a revelation in Section 12 of the doctrine and covenants where he was told to be humble and full of life.
And so he was he served with lots of love.
Often when Joseph would pray for help, Knight and his wife Polly would arrive as ministering angels with exactly what Joseph needed food, transportation and even the ink and paper the scribes required for writing.
You know, ink and paper were expensive and a lot harder to get in the hundreds than they are today. Joseph and Paul Knight stayed true to the Gospel for the rest of their lives and filled with humility and love, angelically gave help where needed.
So what do angels look like now, I don’t mean the ones dressed up for the Christmas pageant, though. That’s pretty awesome. They can look like an immortal being from heaven, appearing to deliver a message from God.
Or they can look like you and me when we minister to people and serve them. If we’re willing to serve, the Lord will give us opportunities to be ministering angels. He knows who needs angelic help and he will put them in our path.
Every day we may see people who are lost, lonely, anxious and depressed, some possibly even wondering, should I keep trying or will I ever be accepted and loved? Yes, angels are needed right now. People who are willing to leave their comfort zone to embrace and minister to those in need.
We can be those angels with the help of angels and the restoration of this priesthood authority. A few more major parts of Christ Gospel were again on the Earth. Tune in next time to learn about a whole family of angels. Thanks for watching. If you feel like this video has helped you on your path towards truth and Christian discipleship, share it and subscribe to the channel and click on the little alarm bell to get notified when new videos come out.
Most importantly, go study the scriptures for yourself.
Guest Author
dyejo
