2 Nephi 32:2-3

[pam]

2 Nephi 32:2-3 

2 Do ye not remember that I said unto you that after ye had received the Holy Ghost ye could speak with the tongue of angels? And now, how could ye speak with the tongue of angels save it were by the Holy Ghost?

3 Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.

Quotes for Discussion

Tongue 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 Nephi 32:3). 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.

Dallin H. Oaks, Conference Report, Oct. 1998 [salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1998], 51

Three manifestations of the gift of “speaking in tongues” are evident in God’s dealings with his children; (1) speaking the pure Adamic language (Moses 6:6, 46; Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses 3:99-103; HC 1:297); (2) speaking a foreign but known tongue (Acts 2:2, 4-6); and (3) speaking by the power of the Holy Ghost.

R. Millet and J. McConkie, Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon [salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1987], 1:369-370

Of all the best gifts, perhaps none is to be sought more earnestly than the ability to speak with the tongue of angels. Success in many callings depends in large measure upon the convincing power of voice and word. Without the tongue of angels, the servants of God are just ordinary men and women; but, armed with the Spirit and the words of Christ, they become “like unto angels” and teach persuasively and powerfully.

Carlos E. Asay, In the Lord’s Service, 172

Fifty-five years ago, I knew a young man, Robert Williams, who held the office of priest in the Aaronic Priesthood. As the bishop, I was his quorum president. When he spoke, Robert stuttered and stammered, void of control. He was self-conscious, shy, fearful of himself and everybody else; this impediment was devastating to him. Rarely did he accept an assignment; never would he look another person in the eye; always would he gaze downward. Then one day, through a set of unusual circumstances, he accepted an assignment to perform the responsibility to baptize another.

I sat next to Robert in the baptistery of the Salt Lake Tabernacle….I asked him how he felt. He gazed at the floor and stuttered almost uncontrollably that he felt terrible.

We both prayed fervently that he would be made equal to his task. The clerk then said, “Nancy Ann McArthur will now be baptized by Robert Williams, a priest.”

Robert left my side, stepped into the font, took little Nancy by the hand, and helped her into that water which cleanses human lives and provides a spiritual rebirth. He spoke the words, “Nancy Ann McArthur, having been commissioned of Jesus Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, Amen.”

And he baptized her. Not once did he stutter! Not once did he falter! A modern miracle had been witnessed. Robert then performed the baptismal ordinance for two or three other children in the same fashion.

In the dressing room, I hurried to congratulate Robert. I expected to hear this same uninterrupted flow of speech. I was wrong. He gazed downward and stammered his reply of gratitude.

I testify to you that when Robert acted in the authority of the Aaronic Priesthood, he spoke with power, with conviction, and with heavenly help….

Some of you…may be shy by nature or might consider yourselves inadequate to respond to a calling. Remember that this work is not yours and mine alone. We can look up and reach out for divine help.

Thomas S. Monson, Ensign, Nov. 2005 [salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2005], 58

While Elder [Heber J.] Grant was serving in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, his testimony of the Prophet Joseph contributed to the conversion of his half brother Fred, “who had been careless, indifferent, and wayward….” Elder Grant was in the Salt Lake Tabernacle one day, preparing to give a talk, when he saw [his brother] Fred enter the building. He recounted: …

I bowed my head and I prayed that if I were requested to address the audience, the Lord would inspire me by the revelation of His Spirit, to speak in such manner that my brother would have to acknowledge to me that I had spoken beyond my natural ability, that I had been inspired by the Lord….

When it was his turn to speak, Elder Grant walked to the pulpit….After speaking for 30 minutes, he returned to his seat. He later recalled.

“When I sat down after my talk….President George Q. Cannon [First Counselor in the First Presidency] was sitting just behind me…, and I heard him say to himself: ‘Thank God for the power of that testimony!’ When I heard this, I remembered that I had forgotten the sermon I had intended to deliver, and the tears gushed from my eyes like rain, and I rested my elbows on my knees and put my hands over my face, so that the people by me could not see that I was weeping like a child. I knew when I heard those words of George Q. Cannon that God had heard and answered my prayer. I knew that my brother’s heart was touched….

“The next morning, my brother came into my office and said, ‘Heber, I was at a meeting yesterday and heard you preach….You never spoke as you did yesterday. You spoke beyond your natural ability. You were inspired of the Lord.’ These were the identical words I had uttered the day before, in my prayer to the Lord!

“I said to him, ‘Are you still praying for a testimony of the gospel?’

“He said, ‘Yes, and I am going nearly wild.’

“I asked, ‘What did I preach about yesterday?’…

“’You preached upon the divine mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith.’

“I answered, ‘And I was inspired beyond my natural ability; you have never heard me speak at any time as I spoke yesterday. Do you expect the Lord to get a club and knock you down? What more testimony do you want of the gospel of Jesus Christ than inspiration of God, when he testifies of the divine mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith?’

“The next Sabbath he applied to me for baptism.”

Teachings of the Presidents of the Church—Heber J. Grant [salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2002], 11-14

When I first arrived in Holland to fill a mission in 1897, I was unable to learn the language….

One day, when I was alone, visiting among the people at Rotterdam, it was my duty to go back to the homes in which I had left tracts and take up the literature. As I went to gather the booklets, some power, that I cannot understand, possessed me until I quaked and trembled. I stood and looked at the house at which I was to call and felt as if I could not go to the door. But I knew my duty and so, with fortitude and determination I went to the house….Almost instantly, the door opened and an irate woman stepped out and closed it behind her. She talked in a very loud, shrill voice, berating me most severely.

I did not realize for the moment, that I was understanding Dutch as clearly as though she had been speaking English. I felt no supernatural power, or influence, or feeling. I just knew every word she was saying. She spoke so loudly that a carpenter, who was working across the street, building a porch on a little store, heard her and, I suppose, thought I was abusing the woman, for he came over to where we stood and brought his son with him and, greatly to my alarm, he carried a broadax….

I did not grow angry because of the woman’s abuse, but to the contrary, my soul was filled with a burning desire to speak her language and to testify of the divinity of the gospel and of the Lord Jesus Christ….

In a few moments she ceased her abuse and I began speaking. And I spoke the Dutch language. I defended the Truth and bore testimony of the restoration of the Gospel.

I had forgotten the large man who stood near me with his ax, and, as I looked at the woman and delivered my message of truth, he put his arms across my shoulders and, looking the woman in the face, said, “The Mormon Church may have its black sheep, but this is a man of God.”

Her bitterness now gone, the woman replied, “I know it.”

After the conversation, I went back home, hardly touching the ground….[F]or I had spoken the Dutch language intelligently for the first time in my life.

In ecstasy, I rushed home…to tell the president of the mission; but when I attempted to speak, to my great dismay, I was the same as before. I could not understand nor speak the language.

President Farrell asked me if I would go to meeting that night….

I went to meeting, and everything progressed nicely, as I thought, until Brother DeBry, the Branch President, arose and,…announced, “We shall now hear from Elder Hinckley.”

President Farrell stepped forward,…and asked, “Brother Hinckley, shall I interpret for you?”

I felt a power I can not describe. “Wait, President Farrell,” I said as I stood upon my feet. And then I began to speak, not in my native tongue, but in the Dutch language. And, then and there, I delivered the first discourse in my life in the tongue of that mission. The following morning I was sent to preside over the Amsterdam District (Bryant S. Hinckley, The Faith of Our Pioneer Fathers, pp. 231-33).

As quoted by Alonzo A. Hinckley, Exceptional Stories from the Lives of Our Apostles, Compiled by Leon R. Hartshorn [salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1973], 91-93

Edited July 4, 2011 by pam