A DISTURBING DREAM
The following story was told to me by a friend:
“When I was bishop of my ward I was frequently praying that I might help them cast out Satan from their lives and follow God’s promptings. One night I dreamed that while I was sleeping, I was suddenly awakened by a loud crashing sound. It seems that a large building had fallen out the sky and landed in the middle of my ward.
When I got to the building I realized it was a gigantic house of ill repute. A carnival barker was beckoning men of my ward inside. Pornography was portrayed on the outside of the structure and men were entering in one door and leaving with women thru the exit door. When I got to the entrance, I realized the carnival barker was Satan and when he saw me he snickered, went inside and locked the door.
I began beating on the door to warn the men of what was happening, when suddenly I awoke. The next Sunday, when I conducted priesthood meeting, I told the brethren of my dream and told them there were those of the congregation that needed to seriously repent of immoral behavior. Over a period of the subsequent weeks, I discovered many men who were caught in this trap and we began to work on their repentance. God had answered my prayers and we began to reverse the desolating scourge which had plagued so many. I am so grateful that God chose to show me the way to prevent this spiritual disease from infecting our entire group.
FAITH IN CHRIST
A friend told me the following: It happened while I was bishop of the ward. A good friend, I’ll call him Ron, experienced a serious accident at age 42, that crippled his leg and forced him to walk with a cane. He and his wife had come into my office so that we could set his wife apart in her new calling. After we had done so, I suddenly felt impressed to give Ron a healing blessing. He said he wanted to be healed and confessed that he had faith in Christ’s power to do so. Stating his full name and under the power of the Priesthood, I commanded him to be made whole.
By the time the blessing was completed, we were all weeping. As he arose from his chair, the pain in his leg was gone. He gave me his cane as a gift. Not long after, our youth group went on a hike up the side of a mountain. Ron led the way, feeling no discomfort and without his cane. To me, it is a testimony of the power of the Priesthood of God.
THE SPIRIT WORLD IS CLOSE
The following was told me by a friend. I shall attempt to put it in my own words as far as I can recollect:
“I was born into a family where the Gospel was not present. We believed in God but certain unfortunate experiences with religion had made my Dad shun a specific church until he got older, when he finally realized its importance. As I grew to adulthood, I was largely confused about what my role should be in the Church.
I served a foreign mission and had great difficulty with the language. It seemed to me that my companions caught on to the language problems quicker than myself and I became discouraged. To add to my grief, an investigator asked my companion and I to bless a blind relative of his, that he might regain his sight. We went thru the form of the priesthood but lacked the faith and therefore failed in our attempt.
One night in prayer, I pleaded to Heavenly Father to help me see what I must do to be successful spiritually and whether or not I was even doing the right thing by serving the Lord for these two years. As I prayed, I felt a hand on my shoulder, but continued to pray until finally I looked to see whose hand it was and saw no hand, despite the fact that I could still feel it. This began a series of soul stirring events that made me realize that the spirit world is close and that God will bless us all as we learn and strive to be worthy.
Many spiritual experiences followed, a number of them too sacred to relate. Later, when I was Bishop of a ward, I was blessed with knowing when we were being visited by those from the spirit world. On one occasion, several of us were with our stake on a trek to Martin’s Cove. After a poignant description from our guide, concerning the privations of those who had gone west in the 1800s, I turned and saw a man and woman and child in pioneer clothing, who stared solemnly at us. I recognized them as part of the actual group that were part of the Martin Handcart Company.
Some of the Young Women in our group, while walking up a hill, saw in vision, their feet wrapped in rags, walking through snow, despite our trek being in summer and they suddenly were overwhelmed with reverberations of utter and extreme exhaustion. Others should have been bitten by rattlesnakes, but instead were pulled away by some unseen force and received no harm. At night strong winds and rain, tore down many of our tents, but a tornado that was heading right toward us was turned away at the last moment as an answer to our prayers. Pray for spiritual experiences and if you are faithful, they will come.”
A FUNNEL OF LIGHT
The following was told me by a friend:
“When I was an LDS Bishop, I was especially struck by the serious health issues of a personal friend who had Leukemia. After battling the disease into remission, and undergoing intense pain, he thought he had his health back only to discover from his Doctor that the sickness had returned with a vengeance. He asked me whether he should continue to fight the disease and endure more pain or just let the disease kill him. I gave him a blessing that he would be inspired to make the right choice.
My friend decided to continue the fight, but when I returned to visit him at the hospital, he mentioned that on one particular night he was in so much pain that he lay on his stomach and prayed to be taken in death. He wept as he told me that at that moment he felt two hands lift him from off his stomach and onto his back. He remembered thinking, ‘my, this person is strong.’ He then realized he was on this person’s lap. His pain was instantly gone and he was filled with the most exquisite and wonderful calm feeling as this Being embraced him. When he looked at the marked hands of his benefactor, he realized they were the hands of the Savior. He died shortly after telling me that story.
Later I was privileged to conduct his funeral and after I had done so, two sisters approached me to tell me that while I was speaking, they saw a funnel of light descend from the ceiling with the Spirit of my friend and the Savior together. As I finished the talk, the funnel of light returned heavenward. I have never forgotten that glorious experience.”
