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The following post is based on this video.
How often do you think about angels? Perhaps some of us don’t think about them very often, but angels are real. In the New Testament we read that “angels came and ministered unto [Christ]” (Matthew 4:11). Nephi saw angels who would minister to his descendants (see 1 Nephi 12:8) and his brother Jacob said that angels ministered to him (see Jacob 7:5). Shortly before Christ’s visit to the western hemisphere we learn of a prophet whose faith was so strong that “angels did minister unto him daily” (3 Nephi 7:18). Mormon promised, “Neither have angels ceased to minister” (Moroni 7:29).
Some people do not believe in angels. When Martin Harris recounted the coming forth of the Book of Mormon to Charles Anthon, Professor Anthon responded “that there was no such thing now as ministering of angels” (Joseph Smith—History 1:65). Of course this is not true—angels continue to minister in our day. One of the most important angelic visitations in modern times was when John the Baptist appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and ordained them to the Aaronic Priesthood. On that occasion he said, “Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels…” (Doctrine and Covenants 13:1). Other verses in the Doctrine and Covenants tell us that the Aaronic Priesthood “holdeth the key of the ministering of angels” (Doctrine and Covenants 84:26) and that “The power and authority of the…Aaronic Priesthood, is to hold the keys of the ministering of angels” (Doctrine and Covenants 107:20).
Because the ministering of angels is often talked about in connection with the Aaronic Priesthood, some people may mistakenly think that it applies only to those who hold the Aaronic Priesthood. President Dallin H. Oaks explained that the ministering of angels is not based on whether one holds the priesthood, but rather on if we access the ordinances of the Aaronic Priesthood. He said,
“How does the Aaronic Priesthood hold the key to the ministering of angels?… Through the Aaronic Priesthood 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” (2 Ne. 32:3)… So it is that those who hold the Aaronic Priesthood open the door for all Church members…to enjoy the companionship of the Spirit of the Lord and the ministering of angels.”
Sometimes the angels who minister to us will be our own ancestors. In my book, The Founder of our Peace, I share the story of one woman who wrote of the pain she felt after her wayward son viciously criticized her. She was home alone and poured out her heart to the Lord, asking for someone to come be with her. She recalled, “I began to feel a warmth creep across my body. Immediately to my right, I sensed the presence of a grandfather to whom I had been particularly close in my youth. Then, to my left, I sensed the presence of my husband’s grandmother, whom I had met only twice in our early marriage. She was sympathetic to my plight; she had lived her life without seeing any of her sons active in the Church. As these two family members stayed with me, I felt surrounded by love, peace, and the knowledge that families are connected in this life and the next.”
As you and I face serious challenges in our lives, we can have confidence in this promise from Jesus Christ: “I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up” (Doctrine and Covenants 84:88).
Of course, as Elder Jeffrey R. Holland explained, “Not all angels are from the other side of the veil. Some of them we walk with and talk with—here, now, every day. Some of them reside in our own neighborhoods.” Perhaps as you and I pray each day, asking to be an instrument in the Lord’s hands, we can be among those earthly ministering angels as well.
