Dear Readers of this Blog, please note that Google advertisements appear throughout this blog post. They were not solicited by me and I do not profit from them. I did request particularly that Google not place them within scriptures which I often use in my blog posts. It appears they have honored that request of mine. Thank you Google!
I have just discovered an add that was placed in the scripture I use in this blog post you are reading. I withdraw that "Thank you."
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TODAY'S THEME:
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| Mormon Abridging the Plates -by Tom Lovell |
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Moroni, Now a resurrected man, (an Angel), delivers those Plates of Gold to Joseph Smith in 1830 -by Kenneth Riley |
Mormon 9: 7 And again I speak unto you who deny the revelations of God, and say that they are done away, that there are no revelations, nor prophecies, nor gifts, nor healing, nor speaking with tongues, and the interpretation of tongues;
8 Behold I say unto you, he that denieth these things knoweth not the gospel of Christ; yea, he has not read the scriptures; if so, he does not understand them.
9 For do we not read that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and in him there is no variableness neither shadow of changing?
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.
12 Behold, he created Adam, and by Adam came the fall of man. And because of the fall of man came Jesus Christ, even the Father and the Son; and because of Jesus Christ came the redemption of man.
13 And because of the redemption of man, which came by Jesus Christ, they are brought back into the presence of the Lord; yea, this is wherein all men are redeemed, because the death of Christ bringeth to pass the resurrection, which bringeth to pass a redemption from an endless sleep, from which sleep all men shall be awakened by the power of God when the trump shall sound; and they shall come forth, both small and great, and all shall stand before his bar, being redeemed and loosed from this eternal band of death, which death is a temporal death.
14 And then cometh the judgment of the Holy One upon them; and then cometh the time that he that is filthy shall be filthy still; and he that is righteous shall be righteous still; he that is happy shall be happy still; and he that is unhappy shall be unhappy still.
15 And now, O all ye that have imagined up unto yourselves a god who can do no miracles, I would ask of you, have all these things passed, of which I have spoken? Has the end come yet? Behold I say unto you, Nay; and God has not ceased to be a God of miracles.
16 Behold, are not the things that God hath wrought marvelous in our eyes? Yea, and who can comprehend the marvelous works of God?
17 Who shall say that it was not a miracle that by his word the heaven and the earth should be; and by the power of his word man was created of the dust of the earth; and by the power of his word have miracles been wrought?
18 And who shall say that Jesus Christ did not do many mighty miracles? And there were many mighty miracles wrought by the hands of the apostles.
19 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.
20 And the reason why he ceaseth to do miracles among the children of men is because that they dwindle in unbelief, and depart from the right way, and know not the God in whom they should trust.
21 Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth.
22 For behold, thus said Jesus Christ, the Son of God, unto his disciples who should tarry, yea, and also to all his disciples, in the hearing of the multitude: Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature;
23 And he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned;
24 And these signs shall follow them that believe—in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover;
25 And whosoever shall believe in my name, doubting nothing, unto him will I confirm all my words, even unto the ends of the earth. (emphasis added by Neil Birch)
I am sure that those of you who are viewing this particular blog post of mine come from many different backgrounds, but whatever your view of miracles has been I want you to know that I from my own personal experience can testify that the Lord, Jesus Christ is a God of miracles!
A particular miracle that I was blessed to experience recently was not an astounding miracle, but nonetheless it was a miracle in my view and in the view of several leaders with whom I'm assigned to work in my church service assignment at a local hospital here in the Salt Lake Valley in the State of Utah (U.S.A.)
I relate this experience of mine to you in order to help each of you know that miracles continue to happen in our day and time on earth. As usually is the case this miracle was, in my humble opinion, given to me to strengthen my, and the faith of others who come to learn of this experience of mine, including each of you, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
On about the second Sunday of this March, 2012 about five minutes early I entered the room in which our branch Sacrament Meetings are held. Just after I sat down somewhere near the front of the room as I usually do, Brother Al McBride of the branch presidency began walking toward me. I quickly realized that he most likely was just about to ask me to help with the Sacrament.
That turned out be his intention, but instead of asking me to pass the Sacrament which I have done a good number of times, he instead asked me to bless the Sacrament. He asked me if it would be difficult for me to kneel (knowing I had had knee problems as a boy) and I replied: "no."
I had never been asked to do that before in one of our branch sacrament meetings, in the two and a half years I had been assigned by our stake president to the Murray Fourth Branch, and I never really expected to be asked to do so because when Melva and I were first assigned to serve in the branch we were asked whether there was anything that would be too difficult for either of us to do that is usually done in the branch. I most likely told that member of the presidency in reply that it would be difficult for me to bless the Sacrament because my voice had become somewhat raspy. I might also have mentioned that I had two new knees which were implanted surgically.
Anyway, as I was seating myself next to the right of the other man who would also be blessing the Sacrament, Brother Al McBride right then walked over and told both of us "Priests" that we would have to read the Sacrament Prayers loudly and clearly that day because the Branch's Sacrament microphone was not functioning and wasn't even there.
I then silently and urgently asked the Lord to bless me that when I would soon be reading the Sacrament Prayer on the Bread that my voice would be sufficiently loud and clear so all in attendance could hear the sacred words of the prayer clearly and feel their meaning!
Soon the Sacrament song had been sung and I knelt down on the little stool provided me and began reading the Prayer on the Bread. Kneeling was not a problem but I recalled I had asked the Lord for His help in reading the Sacrament Prayer sufficiently loudly and clearly so all could hear these so very sacred words.
Book of Mormon, Moroni 4:3 O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it; that they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him, and keep his commandments which he hath given them, that they may always have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.As I began reading, I instantly and clearly realized that my prayer, despite the absence of a microphone, was very loud and had been somehow magnified and was being very clearly heard throughout that good sized room with the usual large number of branch members along with a number of patients and hospital workers in attendance also.
I even felt an impulse to tone down the loudness of that prayer, but instantly I knew intuitively that was something I should not do. My voice was not raspy! It was my voice I was hearing, but it was an amazingly clear voice and was being greatly magnified! I sensed that I was experiencing a miracle!
When it was time for the Water to be blessed, my "Priest" partner had difficulty praying loud enough to be heard as clearly as I realized mine had been. He mentioned to me just after we had finished the Sacrament service that my prayer had been sufficiently loud but his hadn't. I didn't attempt to explain to him what I believe had happened during the prayer I had offered.
No one else that day mentioned anything about the loudness and clarity of my reading of the Sacrament prayer. Soon while standing each time in various patients' rooms, I took turns reading each of the Sacrament prayers a good number of times while serving with several couples who were also branch members.
Each time while taking turns reading those Sacrament prayers I experienced my usually somewhat raspy voice. The magnified voice I had been blessed with earlier that morning downstairs in the meeting was no longer with me and wasn't really needed in those settings!
I later decided that most of those who heard me read the Sacrament prayer on the bread earlier that morning must have assumed the Sacrament microphone was working just fine and that when the second man read the prayer on the water they most likely could have assumed the microphone (which most of them couldn't have seen even if it had been there that day) had accidentally been turned off.
Several Sundays later I reminded Brother Al McBride about that experience we had that Sunday earlier in the month when the Sacrament table microphone wasn't working . He then told me:
"That microphone wasn't working and wasn't even there on the Sacrament table, but we heard you loudly and clearly."I told him that although it was my voice that was heard reading the sacrament prayer on the bread, I knew I was doing it with special assistance from the Lord! He smiled and nodded.
Later on that same Sunday after finishing my assignment upstairs in the Hospital with the group to which I had been assigned, I ran into the other counselor in the branch presidency, Brother John Riches. I mentioned to him the experience I had earlier in the month when the Good Lord had magnified my voice when it needed to be magnified.
He said he realized that was happening when it happened because he knew the Sacrament table microphone wasn't working and wasn't even there at all. He then told me:
"That was just a very good example of the miracles that take place all the time in this Hospital Branch in which we have been assigned to work by the Lord!"I believe the reason why that special reading of that holy Sacrament prayer occurred can be explained by something that President Thomas S. Monson, the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said during his closing remarks in the April (2012) General Conference Priesthood meeting:
"Do your duty that is best, and then leave unto the Lord the rest."Respectfully and Gratefully Submitted, J. Neil Birch
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DISCLAIMER
This Blog is not owned by or affiliated with the Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes called the Mormon or LDS Church). The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the position of the Church.
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TO ACCESS NEIL BIRCH'S BLOG INDEX: To Either Read the Full Index Item Which Refers To This Blog Post, (Or To Search The Index For Any Other Blog Post You Desire To Access), After You Have Read All of This Paragraph, Please Scroll Back Up And Click on the Following: Miracles Also Occur in Our Day and Time! -Post 44s. When The Picture of Our Savior, Jesus Christ Sitting Next To a Little Boy Comes Onto Your Screen, Please Scroll Down In The Index To Your Target Item Or Use the Alphabetical Scrolling Device (When It Has Been Installed).
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I deeply appreciate your readership and hope you found very beneficial, that which was presented to you in this blog post.
If you have any questions about what you have read or viewed in this post or in any previous posts of mine, or if you even have a curiosity about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and or its teachings, please e-mail me. I'm Neil and my e-mail address is: jneilmelva@gmail.com. If you contact me I'll get back to you just as soon as possible.
I invite you to let your friends and relatives know about this blog if you think they would be interested in it. Please be advised that I also have an additional blog. It is in Spanish: Its content is translated from the English in this blog.
Neil Birch
2 comments:
Hi Brother Birch!
I really appreciate your story. If we look, we will see the daily miracles that Heavenly Father provides. Look all around--they are there. From the rising of the sun, the chirping of the morning birds, to each breath we take. Some times it is easy to take our lives for granted--we never know when Heavenly Father will call us home again...Thus, it is a good thing to be reminded of the little miracles that happen daily...and to appreciate them.
Thank you for sharing such a personal experience.
Have a superb day!!
--Laura W
Dear Anonymous Laura W., Thank you for the very special words you wrote!
Neil Birch
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