Is Jesus Christ a God of Miracles?

My Come Follow Me studies for this week took me to Mormon 7-9 in a lesson titled “I Speak unto You as if Ye Were Present.” The lesson was introduced by the following information. 

Moroni knew what it felt like to be alone in a wicked world—especially after his father died in battle and the Nephites were destroyed. “I even remain alone,” he wrote. “I have not friends nor whither to go” (Mormon 8:3, 5). Things may have seemed hopeless, but Moroni found hope in Jesus Christ and his testimony that “the eternal purposes of the Lord shall roll on” (Mormon 8:22). And Moroni knew that a key part of those eternal purposes would be the Book of Mormon—the record he was now diligently completing, the record that would one day bring many people “to the knowledge of Christ” (Mormon 8:16; 9:36). Moroni’s faith in these promises made it possible for him to declare to the future readers of this book, “I speak unto you as if ye were present,” and “I know that ye shall have my words” (Mormon 8:35; 9:30). Now we do have his words, and the Lord’s work is rolling forth, in part because Mormon and Moroni stayed true to their mission, even when they were alone.

This reading block, like most of them, contains several principles that are worthy of further discussion, such as (1) “Believe in Jesus Christ” and “lay hold upon [His] gospel” (Mormon 7), (2) The Book of Mormon is of great worth (Mormon 7:8-10; 8:12-16; 9:31-37), (3) I can keep the commandments even when others do not (Mormon 8:1-11), and (4) The Book of Mormon was written for our day (Mormon 8:26-41; 9:1-30). However, I feel prompted to discuss this principle: Jesus Christ is a God of miracles (Mormon 9:1-25).

Mormon concluded his message with a powerful message in Mormon 7. However, Moroni added an epistle from his father in Mormon 8. Mormon compiled the Book of Mormon from numerous records written over 1,000 years. Mormon and Moroni both knew that the record was written for future generations. In Mormon 9, Moroni wrote a powerful message for people living today who do not believe in miracles.

Mormon wrote in his epistle to Moroni that the record that he was compiling on gold plates would come forth “in a day when it shall be said that miracles are done away” (Mormon 8:26). Moroni wrote the following:

1 And now, I speak also concerning those who do not believe in Christ….

10 And now, if ye have imagined up unto yourselves a god who doth vary, and in whom there is shadow of changing, then have ye imagined up unto yourselves a god who is not a God of miracles.

11 But behold, I will show unto you a God of miracles, even the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and it is that same God who created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are.

Moroni writes about miracles in the remaining verses of chapter 9. He wrote because it is important for us today to know that God still performs miracles because there are still people who believe in Jesus Christ. If there is no faith in Christ, there can be no miracles.

My family and friends were recently reminded that God does perform miracles today. My son (age 49) recently fell thirty feet – upside down – while mountain climbing in August. He had serious injuries and is still healing from them, but he had no brain damage, no spinal cord damage, and no problems with breathing. He will eventually heal completely from his injuries and is already living a normal life with a splint on his wrist.

Miracles took place as he was falling. When I asked God why He had not answered my prayers to protect my son, the Spirit answered that He was protecting him from more serious injuries. Miracles took place in the air rescue from the mountain. The rescue team was preparing for a practice rescue and had all their equipment ready to put in the helicopter when the call came into the center. Miracles took place in the actual rescue because there was no wind in an area where air rescues are usually prevented by winds. My son was in the hospital in two and a half hours rather than the usual twelve hours.

My son’s recovery has been just as miraculous. His bones and brain have taken time to heal, but he has made steady progress since he arrived home from the hospital within a week. The miracle is that there is no permanent damage. He does and will live a normal life and recently returned to work as an emergency room doctor.

I know that Jesus Christ is a God of miracles!

 

Do Miracles Happen in Our Day?

            My Come, Follow Me studies for this week took me to 2 Kings 2-7 and the story of Elisha the prophet. Elisha was a student of Elijah and saw him taken into heaven. The mantle of Elijah fell upon Elisha, and the people observing the experience proclaimed, “There is a prophet in Israel.” The lesson material was introduced with the following information.

A prophet’s main mission is to teach and testify of the Savior Jesus Christ. Our record of the prophet Elisha, however, doesn’t include much of his teaching or testifying. What the record does include is the miracles Elisha performed, including raising a child from the dead (see 2 Kings 4:18-37), feeding a multitude with a small quantity of food (see 2 Kings 4:42-44), and healing a leper (see 2 Kings 5:1-14). So, while we don’t have Elisha’s words bearing witness of Christ, we do have, throughout Elisha’s ministry, powerful manifestations of the Lord’s life-giving, nourishing, and healing power. Such manifestations are more plentiful in our lives than we sometimes realize. To see them, we need to seek the miracle Elisha sought when he prayed on behalf of his fearful young servant, “Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see” (2 Kings 6:17).

            A prophet works for the Lord, so those who receive the Lord’s servant receives Him (see Doctrine and Covenants 84:36). The principle for this post is that the words of the Lord through His prophets will be fulfilled. As He does with His prophets, the Lord inspired Elisha to prophesy of things to come – things that seemed, from the perspective of others, unlikely to occur. One such prophecy is found in 2 Kings 4:8-17:

8 And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread.

9 And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually.

10 Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither.

11 And it fell on a day, that he came thither, and he turned into the chamber, and lay there.

12 And he said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Shunammite. And when he had called her, she stood before him.

13 And he said unto him, Say now unto her, Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this care; what is to be done for thee? Wouldest thou be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host? And she answered, I dwell among mine own people.

14 And he said, What then is to be done for her? And Gehazi answered, Verily she hath no child, and her husband is old.

15 And he said, Call her. And when he had called her, she stood in the door.

16 And he said, About this season, according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son. And she said, Nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid.

17 And the woman conceived, and bare a son at that season that Elisha had said unto her, according to the time of life.

            The Lord fulfills His words given through His prophets, and He fulfilled the words to this faithful Shunammite woman. She showed her love for God by her kindness to His chosen servant Elisha. She, in turn, was assured that she would be blessed with a child. Like the widow who helped Elijah, she received a special blessing from the prophet.

            Millions of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints testify of miracles in their lives. President Gordon B. Hinckley shared one such miracle in the restoration of sight:

I recall once when I arrived in Hong Kong I was asked if I would visit a woman in the hospital whose doctors had told her she was going blind and would lose her sight within a week. She asked if we would administer to her and we did so, and she states that she was miraculously healed. I have a painting in my home that she gave me which says on the back of it, “To Gordon B. Hinckley in grateful appreciation for the miracle of saving my sight.” I said to her, “I didn’t save your sight. Of course, the Lord saved our sight. Thank Him and be grateful to Him”

(Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley (1997), 343).

            Miracles do not come to the unbelieving because faith precedes the miracle. We must believe in Jesus Christ and in His power to bless us before we will receive miracles. Most people receive more miracles than we recognize. If we recognize Christ as the Savior and look for miracles, we may see more of them.

A Miracle of Safety

            Today I wish to write words of gratitude to my Father in Heaven. Thursday I went to purchase Christmas gifts and brought home a few basic groceries. As I pulled into the Costco parking lot, I looked at the gas gauge in the car and noticed that it was barely below half full. I thought, “I better fill the tank in case we get caught somewhere and need to run the car to stay warm.” I thought that I was simply exercising a little bit of wisdom, but I knew the next day that I had been warned.

            I was awoken Friday morning, November 30, 2018, at 8:29 a.m. by the violent rocking of an earthquake and thought that I was safest just staying in bed. I could not see anything because the power was out and the sun had not yet come up. I could not hear anything over the noise of the earthquake. As I lay in bed wondering how long the shaking would continue, I realized that the lamps on the headboard of my bed could come crashing down on my head at any moment, and I reached up to stabilize them before they could fall.

            Once earthquake finally stopped, I courageously arose from my bed and began to exam my home. I could see the flashlight because it was shining in its holder plugged into the outlet in the kitchen because the light comes on whenever the power goes out. In the now semi-darkness I kicked something on the floor and realized that it was an unbroken vase that had once been on the top of the kitchen cabinet. I could see some of the cabinet doors wide open and several items that fell from them onto the floor.

            I walked into the living room and saw that the top of the piano was bare. I searched for the figurines of Christ that once sat on top of the piano and found both of them unbroken. I found pictures of grandchildren with unbroken frames. I whispered a sigh of relief that I was slow putting up Christmas decorations this year because I feared that many of the pieces of my thirty-plus nativity sets would have broken if they had been out.

            I continued into the dining area and almost tripped over the head of a Dall sheep mount that had once graced the wall above the door. It did not seem to have any damage. I checked the bathrooms and found water around the toilets. I did not know if the water had sloshed out of the toilets or had leaked from the tank from all the quaking. I cleaned up the water and determined that there was no more leakage. I checked the bedrooms and found numerous items that had fallen from closet shelves, dressers, and bedside tables. Yet, none of them seemed to be broken.

            I went downstairs to the family room and found books spread out on the floor and others perched on the edges of the shelves. I did not see anything broken in this room or the downstairs bedroom next to it. I glanced in the garage and could not see any great damages. I found items had fallen in every room of the house with none of them breaking. This is an absolute miracle!

            I received a text from my daughter telling me that she was okay and asking about me and my husband. I later learned that she had taken shelter under her desk at work and barely escaped being hit in the head by a light fixture cover that had fallen and hung over her chair. Her building was later declared unstable, and she was sent home from work. Her husband had been sitting on the toilet at home when the quake started and moved out of the bathroom just before a shelf fell and hit the toilet, breaking the lid on the toilet tank.

            I contacted my son and learned that he was okay. He was at his job as a dispatcher for the police department and was extremely busy. He asked me to check on his wife who is currently having chemo treatment for brain cancer. I sent a text and received no answer. I tried to call her cell phone from my house phone and received no answer. I manually opened the garage door to drive the two miles to her home and panicked when I received no answer at the door. I walked back to my car wondering what I should do. Do I tell my son and make him worry? Do I break into the house? As I was pondering possible actions, I noticed a car pulling up behind me and my daughter-in-law getting out. A friend had taken her to the school to pick up her nine-year-old daughter. She told me that she and her daughter were downstairs when the quake hit because she was awakened by a strong premonition to get out of bed and pray.

            Even though chaos was crashing all around us, my family and I survived a 7.0 earthquake without any serious damage to our bodies or to our property, and we were prepared to go for a long time before we would need to visit a grocery store or gas station. Other homes, schools, churches, hospitals, stores, office buildings, roads, on/off ramps, and bridges all sustained damaged, but our homes did not. I do not know why my family was so blessed, but we were. Maybe it was the prompting to pray that my daughter-in-law received. Maybe it was simply a loving Father in Heaven who knew that my husband and I were dealing with about all that we can handle this week. For whatever reason for the blessing, I wish to express my gratitude for the wonderful watchful care we received.

Miracles

                We see and hear of miracles every single day, but we may not recognize them as miracles.  We may not see the parting of the Red Sea, the feeding of 5,000 people with just a few loaves of bread and a few fishes, or be swallowed by a whale and spit out on dry ground.  We usually see small miracles, but large miracles really do happen.

                “God blesses with major miracles only according to need, and then to fit the time.  But the quieter, subtler actions of the Holy Ghost that affect only one person, or, a few, are common in every dispensation.  Saints of all ages have been blessed with special experiences with the Spirit – and those are indeed miracles – such as healings, prophecies, answered prayers, spiritual insights, changes in lives, dreams.  As Moroni said over fifteen hundred years ago, `I will show unto you a God of miracles ....  And who shall say that Jesus Christ did not many miracles?  And there were many mighty miracles wrought by the hands of the apostles.

                “And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being?  And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles’ (Book of Mormon – Another Testament of Jesus Christ, Mormon 9:11, 18-19).

                “Most miracles today occur privately, and are kept privately within the heart, or within the family, or are shared only with a few close friends who will understand.  But sometimes, appropriately, they are shared as expressions of gratitude and faith in fast and testimony meeting.”  (See Jay Parry, “Miracles Today,” Liahona, July 1978.)   

                The Bible Dictionary tells us that miracles “are an important element in the work of Jesus Christ….  Christianity is founded on the greatest miracle of all miracles, the resurrection of our Lord.  If that be admitted, other miracles cease to be improbable.  Miracles should not be regarded as deviations from the ordinary course of nature so much as manifestations of divine or spiritual power.  Some lower law was in each case superseded by the action of a higher….”

                The ancient American prophet Mormon asked an important question:  “Has the day of miracles ceased?” (Moroni 7:35)….  Behold I say unto you, Nay; for it is by faith that miracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men; wherefore, if these things have ceased, wo be unto the children of men, for it is because of unbelief, and all is vain” (Moroni 7:38).

                In address to students at Brigham Young University in 2001, Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke about miracles.  “A miracle has been defined as `a beneficial event brought about through divine power that mortals do not understand and of themselves cannot duplicate’ (in Daniel H. Ludlow, ed., Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 5 vols. [1992], 2:908).  The idea that events are brought about through divine power is rejected by most irreligious people and even by some who are religious.  All of us have known people who have what Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles once called `the anti-miracle mind-set.’  (See “Not My Will, But Thine” [1988], 25.)  This rejection of miracles in the last days was prophesied.  The prophet Nephi foretold that the Gentiles would `put down the power and miracles of God, and preach up unto themselves their own wisdom and their own learning, that they may get gain’ 
(2 Nephi 26:20).  He also prophesied that churches would be built up in which persons would teach with their learning, deny the power of God, and tell the people that if someone should `say there is a miracle wrought by the hand of the Lord, believe it not; for this day he is not a God of miracles’ (2 Nephi 28:6).  (See “Miracles,” Ensign, June 2001.) 

                Several thousand years ago a miracle occurred when Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt and through the Red Sea on dry ground.  People, who believe in miracles and believe in God’s power to perform miracles, believe in the Exodus miracles, for this was one of many miracles occurring at that time.  Scientists, archeologists, etc. are finding hard evidence of the exodus from Egypt.  I found this video to be very interesting and encourage you to watch it.  

                The great Christian author C.S. Lewis wrote about miracles in his book titled Miracles.   “Miracles do not, in fact, break the laws of nature.”  In another spot he wrote, “In Science we have been reading only the notes to a poem; in Christianity we find the poem itself.”  Yet another quote comes from his book:  “Nothing can seem extraordinary until you have discovered what is ordinary.  Belief in miracles, far from depending on an ignorance of the laws of nature, is only possible in so far as those lows are known.”

                I believe in miracles.  In fact, I have seen miracles, many miracles, in my life.  I know a young woman who had a baseball-size tumor taken out of her brain and is able to carry on her duties as wife and mother.  I have personally been confined to a remote cabin with heavy overcast skies that prevented our flying home; I have seen an opening suddenly appear in those heavy clouds, an opening that was just large enough for us to fly through and continue our journey home above the clouds.  In a few days or weeks I will experience once again the annual miracle of life appearing after a long, dark and cold winter.  Yes, I believe in miracles and encourage you to open your eyes and see the miracles occurring all around you!

Faith in Jesus Christ

Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the first principle of His gospel. One of the requirements of salvation is to have faith in Jesus Christ. Faith requires action and gives power to motivate us in our daily lives. Faith has been described as a "hope for things which are not seen, which are true" (Alma 32:21; see also Hebrews 11:1). We would not study and learn if we did not believe we could gain knowledge and wisdom. We would not work if we did not hope to accomplish something. We would not plant if we did not hope to harvest something. We exercise faith every day when we act upon things we hope for without being able to see the results. There are numerous examples in the scriptures of great things being accomplished by exercising faith. Acting in faith Noah built an ark and saved his family during the great Flood. (See Hebrews 11:7.) By faith Moses parted the waters of the Red Sea. (See Hebrews 11:29.) With faith Elijah called down fire from heaven. (See 1 Kings 18:17-40.) By faith Nephi called for a famine and then asked God to end the famine. (See Helaman 11:3-5, 9-17.) By the power of faith many miracles have taken place and many prayers have been answered. Faith is a strong belief of truth that leads us to do good. For faith to be most powerful, it must be centered in the Lord Jesus Christ. When we have faith in Jesus Christ, we trust Him enough to obey Him. With faith in Jesus Christ, we become His obedient disciples, receive forgiveness for our sins, and prepare to return to God's presence. Numerous prophets have taught that there is no one else, no other name in the world that can save us. (See Acts 4:12; 2 Nephi 9:23; Mosiah 3:17.) When we have faith in Jesus Christ, we will also have faith in Heavenly Father. We will also have faith that They will send the Holy Ghost to teach us all truth, to protect us, and to comfort us. Many blessings come to those people who exercise faith in Jesus Christ. We can increase our faith in Jesus Christ the same way that we develop any skill. When we study, work and practice at any skill, we improve. The same is true with faith in Jesus Christ. If we want to increase our faith in Jesus Christ, we must work at it. The first step in building faith in Jesus Christ is the desire to have it. We can increase our faith by praying to Heavenly Father about our hopes, desires, and needs. We cannot expect faith to come simply because we ask for it. We must work to obtain faith even though it eventually comes as a gift from God. We can also increase our faith by hearing the word of God as it is taught at our church meetings and by studying the scriptures. There is a direct relationship between faith and action. Faith motivates us to act, and then our faith is strengthened by our actions. Many blessings come through the gift of faith: miracles are wrought, angels appear, prayers are answered, and men become the sons of God. "When faith comes it brings … apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, gifts, wisdom, knowledge, miracles, healings, tongues, interpretation of tongues, etc. All these appear when faith appears on the earth, and disappear when it disappears from the earth; for these are the effects of faith …. And he who possesses it will through it, obtain all necessary knowledge and wisdom, until he shall know God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, whom he has sent - whom to know is eternal life" (Lectures on Faith [1985], 83).