Posted on 02/07/2011 7:23:46 PM PST by Paragon Defender
Sydney S. Reynolds
First Counselor in the Primary General Presidency
Sydney S. Reynolds, "A God of Miracles", Ensign, May 2001, 12
I believe that all of us can bear witness to these small miracles.
With Moroni of old, I believe in a God of miracles. Moroni wrote to the people of our dispensation, “Behold, I will show unto you a God of miracles, … and it is that same God who created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are” (Morm. 9:11). Moroni proclaimed that Jesus Christ did many mighty miracles, that many mighty miracles were wrought by the hands of the Apostles, and that a God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever must be a God of miracles today (see Morm. 9:18; Morm. 9:9).
Think of the miracles of the Old Testament. Remember Moses and the parting of the Red Sea. For all future generations of Israelites, the great miracles that led to their deliverance from Egypt provided undeniable proof of God’s existence and His love for them.
Many Book of Mormon prophets, including Nephi, pointed to the story of Moses to encourage faith and belief in a God who could deliver His people in their distress (see 1 Ne. 4:1–3). Other Book of Mormon prophets reminded the people that they themselves had witnessed miracles that should convince them of God’s power.
In the New Testament, the Apostle John shared his reason for recording many of the Savior’s miracles—namely, “that [we] might believe that Jesus is the Christ” (John 20:31).
In this dispensation we witness the great miracle of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth. It began when a young boy entered a grove of trees near Palmyra, New York, and poured out his heart and his questions to a God he believed could answer him—the God of miracles. And miracles have followed in this dispensation—mighty miracles—including the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, which is itself another testament of Jesus Christ.
Just as important as these “mighty miracles” are the smaller “private miracles” that teach each of us to have faith in the Lord. These come as we recognize and heed the promptings of the Spirit in our lives.
I am grateful for a teacher who encouraged his students to keep a journal of the whisperings or promptings of the Spirit in their lives. He directed us to note what we felt and what resulted. Little things became evident. One day I was frantically trying to complete some assignments and prepare for a trip. I had just been down to the laundry area of the dorm to move my clothes from the washer to the dryer. Unfortunately, all the dryers were in use, and they all had many minutes to go. I went back upstairs discouraged, knowing by the time those dryers finished, I had to be on the road. I had barely returned to my room when I felt prompted to go back downstairs and check the laundry again. Foolishness, I thought—I had just been there, and I didn’t have time. But because I was trying to listen, I went. Two of the dryers were empty—and I was able to meet all my commitments. Could the Lord possibly have been concerned about smoothing my way in such a small but, to me, important matter? I have learned since through many such experiences that the Lord will help us in every aspect of our lives when we are trying to serve Him and do His will.
I believe that all of us can bear witness to these small miracles. We know children who pray for help to find a lost item and find it. We know of young people who gather the courage to stand as a witness of God and feel His sustaining hand. We know friends who pay their tithing with the last of their money and then, through a miracle, find themselves able to pay their tuition or their rent or somehow obtain food for their family. We can share experiences of prayers answered and priesthood blessings that gave courage, brought comfort, or restored health. These daily miracles acquaint us with the hand of the Lord in our lives.
My mind has been much on this topic because of an experience our family has had in the last few months. Our daughter and her husband took a while to find each other and then, though they wanted children with all their hearts, over a number of years had difficulty realizing that dream. They prayed and they sought priesthood blessings and medical help, and eventually were thrilled to learn they were expecting twins.
Things did not go smoothly, however, and three and a half months before the babies were due to arrive, the mother-to-be found herself in the labor and delivery section of the hospital. The doctors at first were hopeful that they could stop the labor for a few more weeks. Quickly, however, the question became, would they even have the 48 hours necessary for medication to prepare the babies’ immature lungs to function?
A nurse came in from the newborn intensive care unit to show the couple pictures of the machines the babies would be hooked up to if they were born alive. She explained the risks for eye damage, for lung collapse, for physical impairment, for brain damage. The couple listened, humbled yet hopeful, and then, despite all the doctors could do, it was obvious that these babies were coming.
They were born alive. First the baby girl and then the baby boy—weighing less than four pounds together—were rushed to the intensive care unit and put on ventilators, with umbilical tubes and intravenous lines and constant attention. They can’t have too much light, they can’t have too much noise, their chemical balances need constant monitoring, as the hospital, with millions of dollars of equipment and many wonderful doctors and nurses, attempted to replicate the miracle of a mother’s womb.
There are multitudes of little miracles every day: a collapsed lung heals and then, despite the odds, continues to function properly; pneumonia is beaten back; more deadly infections invade and are overcome; IV lines go bad and are replaced. After two and a half months, the baby boy has gained two pounds and can breathe with an oxygen supplement. His ventilator is gone, he learns to eat, and his grateful parents take him home with monitors attached.
The baby girl keeps pulling her ventilator tube out, setting off alarms across the nursery. Maybe she wants to keep up with her brother, we think, but her throat closes off each time, and she just can’t breathe on her own. Her throat is so inflamed that at times the respiratory therapists have great difficulty reinserting the tube, and she almost dies. Her normal progress is stymied by her continued dependence on the ventilator.
Finally, after her baby brother has been home for two months, the doctors feel they are forced to suggest surgery for her—a surgery that will allow her to breathe by opening a hole in her throat, a surgery that might solve the stomach problems by opening a hole in her side, but a surgery that will impact her little body for many more months and maybe for the rest of her life. As the parents wrestled with this decision, a beloved aunt sent a message to all the family. She explained the situation—the critical issue of timing, the importance of getting off the ventilator—and suggested that we join our faith once again, and in prayer and fasting ask for one more miracle—if it was the Lord’s will. We would culminate our fast with a prayer the evening of December 3.
Let me read from a letter that was sent to the family the morning of December 4. “Dearest Family, Wonderful news! Blessings from the Lord. Our heartfelt thanks for your prayers and fasting in behalf of our little girl. Yesterday morning she came off the ventilator and has been off for 24 hours at this writing. To us, it is a miracle. The medical staff are still guarded about predicting the future, but we are so grateful to the Lord and to you. We are praying that this will mark the beginning of the end of her hospital stay. And we even dare to hope that she’ll be home for Christmas.”
She did make it home for Christmas, and both babies are currently doing “just fine.” Our family has had its own “parting of the Red Sea,” and we are prepared to testify that there is today, as there was yesterday and will be forever, a “God of miracles” who loves His children and desires to bless them.
Now, we know, as you do, that all petitions to the Lord and all fasts do not receive this same hoped-for answer. Our extended family also has faced the death of loved ones, serious illness, the trial of divorce, and children who are choosing another path. We do not always understand the reasons behind the tests that come with mortality. But our faith has grown, and perhaps yours has too, as we have watched loved ones, friends, and people we know only by reputation endure with faith in the Lord the most severe trials. They, too, know the God of miracles and witness in their extremity that whatever the future holds for them, the Lord knows them and loves them and is blessing them. They are sealed to Him and to each other forever, and they are willing to submit their wills to His.
How have they come to such a point? How do we access the quiet miracle that the Lord works as He transforms us, His children, into worthy heirs of the kingdom of God? I believe it is made possible because “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). I believe it comes as we yield to the enticings of the Spirit, put off the natural man, and are filled with the love of God (see Mosiah 3:19). “Through the Atonement of [Jesus] Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel” (A of F 1:3). All mankind—that includes me, that includes you—we can each have part in the Atonement, the greatest of all God’s miracles.
God did part the Red Sea, and He did give us the Book of Mormon. He can heal us of our sins, and He can and will bless us, His children, in our daily lives. I know that He lives and loves us and is today a God of miracles, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
One of the beautiful things about the Free Republic is that thousands of people see a news item of interest and post it. Readers then share opinions, comments or other facts, or correct errors.
It saves TIME. When I have a legal question in my business, I ask my attorney. I don't do legal research. I ask the person who is supposed to know the answer.
Same situation here. You SAY there is a simple answer to my question. You SAY you know the simple answer to my question. But you REFUSE to share that simple answer.
Well yeah, but, well ...........
I think you are incorrect, I do not believe PD knows the answers.
You will note that PD has made a game of not responding at all to some posts and citing only his/her/its links as answer to other posts.
It is blasphemy to place Joseph Smith at the gates of heaven, as if one needs his approval to enter the heaven of Momronism. This demotes Jesus and sullies what Jesus and His Holy Spirit have taught to men as we read int he Bible. And that is why I now view Mormonism as a vile, demonically inspired cult which works to send souls to the fatehr of Mormonism ... in Hell their leadership has claimed to be the heaven of/where now is Joseph Smith.
If I didn't want to know the answer, I wouldn't ask the question.
I will share a story. When I lived in Florida years ago, I was Chairman of the Catholic Scouting Committee in a Diocese. When we had campouts, I always arranged for a Priest to come say Mass for us at the event – the parents and the scouts didn’t have to worry about rushing to Mass. At one camporee, I saw a guy sitting way in the back – obviously not Catholic. After Mass, I approached him and asked him what he thought. It was the first time he saw a Catholic Mass. He said he was amazed at the amount of Scripture.
We chatted, and then he asked a question – “Why do Catholics confess sins to a Priest and not directly to God?”
A very good question, and I happened to have my bible with me. I quoted from John -
“On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” John 20:19-23
So I told him, “First, note the phrase “he breathed on them.” I told him there is only one other place in the Bible where God breathes on man – “the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” Genesis 2:7 So, I continued, that from Scripture alone, you can see that something special is going on here. And then look at the next part - “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” Christ is giving certain men the power to forgive sins. The only way they could know if a sin is to be forgiven or retained is to Hear It. At that point Christ instituted, with his priesthood, the sacrament of Penance, or confession.
We became friends, and I was his sponsor when he entered the Catholic Church a few years later.
Imagine what would have happened if in response to his question I said, “Go look it up.”
Now I know many here will have a different interpretation of this passage, and I don’t want to hijack the thread. But Christ’s command to “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Sprit” requires far more than a “Go look it up” response.
Your inability to provide a simple explanation has me convinced that you know not of which you speak.
I am not tattling on you. An honorable person lives within the rules. I am observing by your posts, you are not living within the Religion Forum Rules.
No you are just as I called it. I have no dishonorable posting history unless you twist it in your mind to be so.
I was not called out for attacking another faith as I have never attacked another faith. I was made aware of JR’s beliefs on these matters and shown his power as the owner of these boards.
Personal life? What strange tangent are you off on now?
Your desperation is glaring. Maybe it will pay off and your subterfuge will be successful. That would be a shame.
I believe you can post anything you want without “questions” by labeling it a “LDS Caucus” When you post in an open forum you invite open debate and questions. If you can’t or won’t answer questions, do not post in an open forum. Simple solution.
I was shown that I cannot trust the Caucus designation to work as you describe. The owner of the board removed one of my caucus labels and even changed the posting area.
Nice idea though. Thanks for the suggestion.
It saves TIME. When I have a legal question in my business, I ask my attorney. I don’t do legal research. I ask the person who is supposed to know the answer.
Same situation here. You SAY there is a simple answer to my question. You SAY you know the simple answer to my question. But you REFUSE to share that simple answer.
I am helping you to do exactly what you say you want to do. I am sending you where you can go to get your question answered. In the time you have gone back and forth in this forum you could have gotten many of your questioned easily and quickly answered.
This isn’t the right place for your sincere questions on these subjects. Would you go to a GB Packers forum and ask how to get a tryout for the Steelers? Not the same but you get the idea. Oh wait! Someone might accuse me of reading your mind. Do you get the idea? There that’s better.
You are doing no such thing. You have provided NOTHING of value.
FOF - "I want a recipe for a buerre blanc sauce"
PD - "It is in a book somewhere in the library of Congress."
Totally accurate. Completly useless.
I'd like an answer like, "Page 96 , Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" Volume 1.
You continue to demonstrate that you know not of what you speak.
FOF was not an “antagonist” or and Anti Mormon. You had a chance to answer their question before your “influx”...
You failed to do so, instead falling to your tired and overplayed rhetoric...
I believe you may have created yet another defended of Gods real truth, and another against the lies of Mormonism...
Thanks and good work..
Keep up the good work PD...
LOL...
Discuss the issues all you want, but do not make it personal.
Accusing another poster of telling a lie is “making it personal” because it attributes motive, the intent to deceive. However, remarking a statement is false attributes no motive to the poster and is therefore not “making it personal.”
??? You make no sense.
1. This is a post by a LDS
2. I quoted LDS writings
Why isn't this the right place? I certainly wouldn't post a question about LSD theology on a Jewish thread.
I wrongfully assumed that someone who believes the LDS theology would know something about it, and could answer a question.
No; you haven't.
You are an ACCUSER - and that is ALL you are.
PROVE your claims; MORMON!
You bet your A.. uh, Sweet Bippy! it is!
All of the HERESY of MORMONism is in FULL veiw; and it CANNOT stand the exposing of it.
Things go better with COKE®!
Poor baby: thinks our motives are HIDDEN!
Matthew 15:16
"Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them.
Matthew 231. Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:
2. "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.
3. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.
4. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
5. "Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long;
6. they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues;
7. they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them `Rabbi.'
8. "But you are not to be called `Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers.
9. And do not call anyone on earth `father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.
10. Nor are you to be called `teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ.
11. The greatest among you will be your servant.
12. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
13. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.
14. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
15. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.
16. "Woe to you, blind guides! You say, `If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.'
17. You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred?
18. You also say, `If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.'
19. You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
20. Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.
21. And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it.
22. And he who swears by heaven swears by God's throne and by the one who sits on it.
23. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
24. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
25. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
26. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
27. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean.
28. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
29. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous.
30. And you say, `If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.'
31. So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.
32. Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers!
33. "You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?
34. Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.
35. And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
36. I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation.
37. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.
38. Look, your house is left to you desolate.
39. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, `Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.' "
Mark 7:26-27
26. The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.
27. "First let the children eat all they want," he told her, "for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."
And St. Paul chimes in...
Galatians 5:12
As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!
Translation - no hat neede:
You petulant little children had BETTER get to your room and read your lessons: RIGHT NOW!
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