This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Priesthood Session of the October 1998 Conference.
I have studied the topic of ministering angels in the scriptures before, but I don't know how I somehow missed Elder Oaks' talk in this session where he makes a connection I'd never made before: between the ministering of angels and the sacrament!
His reasoning goes something like this: ministering angels come as a gift of the spirit. If we want the spirit to be with us, we need to thoughtfully and worthily take the sacrament every week. Then we will be worthy to receive the ministering of angels.
It's better in his words:
Baptism is for the remission of sins, and the sacrament is a renewal of the covenants and blessings of baptism. Both should be preceded by repentance. When we keep the covenants made in these ordinances, we are promised that we will always have His Spirit to be with us. The ministering of angels is one of the manifestations of that Spirit.
Elder Oaks goes through some scriptures supporting his point, and then elaborates:
“The word ‘angel’ is used in the scriptures for any heavenly being bearing God’s message.” The scriptures recite numerous instances where an angel appeared personally…When I was young, I thought such personal appearances were the only meaning of the ministering of angels. As a young holder of the Aaronic Priesthood, I did not think I would see an angel, and I wondered what such appearances had to do with the Aaronic Priesthood.But the ministering of angels can also be unseen. Angelic messages can be delivered by a voice or merely by thoughts or feelings communicated to the mind. President John Taylor described “the action of the angels, or messengers of God, upon our minds, so that the heart can conceive … revelations from the eternal world.”
I thought that was so interesting because it seems like angels might almost…share the work of the Holy Ghost? That is, I'm used to thinking that if I have thoughts or impressions, it is the Holy Ghost speaking to me. But it's cool to think that it might be an ancestor or some other ministering angel who has a special interest in me, speaking by the power of the Holy Ghost, but with their own emphasis or personality coming through. There actually have been times I have felt this might be the case in my life, but I've been unsure how it's done. (I'm still unsure, but this is another piece of the puzzle!) It also sounds like the message may be enhanced or clarified through that specific person's bringing of it, almost like a person who loves you has power through your shared connection to help you understand the things of God. I love that idea!
Making the connection one more time (never let it be said that an Elder Oaks talk is unclear):
In general, the blessings of spiritual companionship and communication are only available to those who are clean. As explained earlier, 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.” So it is that those who hold the Aaronic Priesthood open the door for all Church members who worthily partake of the sacrament to enjoy the companionship of the Spirit of the Lord and the ministering of angels.
Other posts in this series:
For my sons—by Rozy
Well. You know this is a post I can’t not love! I just … love angels so much! And feel so much the truth that often the direction we receive, etc comes to us through them. Though, like you, I get confused in my mind sometimes! Because I do think and speak of it as the Holy Ghost, and yet … maybe often it truly is simply that it is through him that they are able to commune with us? I don’t know how it all works. And I certainly don’t want to diminish any role! But I get the same sort of confusion sometimes when I’m asking for the Spirit to help me with some gift I need … and also sort of knowing it is really Christ’s enabling power I am asking to receive. Anyway … my point being that I’m not always clear on exactly how and in what distinct or combined ways the heavens help us. But! I do feel so similarly to just what he said about thinking, when he was young, that angels would be seen if they ministered at all, and now feeling more sure that it is as John Taylor said: they somehow work in tandem with the Holy Ghost so our hearts might more easily “conceive revelation”. And I’ve felt too what you said, very strongly in fact (!) that getting to know my ancestors better and sharing a connection with them makes us MORE able to receive those messages. I’ve told you the story with my foot infection and my 2nd heart grandpa who died from an infection. I really felt like that opened a connection that allowed him to more easily work (through whatever ways the Savior and the Spirit have angels working) in my life.
ReplyDeleteAnd I’ve also thought about this very thing with the Aaronic Priesthood having the keys of the ministering of angels. Someone must have shared the ideas from this talk with me before, because in my mind I’ve somehow connected Oaks with teaching that through the Aaronic Priesthood ordinances we can receive the Holy Ghost—which is the power through which angels speak to us. And BEFORE understanding that, I think I’d sort of assumed that verse from D&C 107 meant that only Aaronic Priesthood holders had some special access to angels. But! Understanding it this way—that they have the keys to bring that to us, is so beautiful! And makes me feel so happy about the similar wording for the Melchizedek Priesthood! It having “the keys of all the spiritual blessings of the church—To have the privilege of receiving the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, to have the heavens opened unto them …” etc! Not that only Melchizedek Priesthood holders receive these things, but that through those higher ordinances available through that priesthood, we receive those things!
Anyway … my comment is now longer than your post! But I should have liked to have chatted this all out in a conversation with you!