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| Harold B. Lee 11th president of the church (Birth 1899 - Death 1973) |
Listed below are some miracles that a handful of leaders of The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ("Mormon" church) have
performed or experienced. The intention here is to have a resource linking some
publicly documented miracles into one place. This is not a complete list, but I
am sharing here some I am personally aware of or have encountered. I have provided summaries of the miracles here and more details can be obtained by visiting the sources provided.
Another intention of this post is to help reinforce the faith of individuals who
already believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world, and that by faith
in Him miracles can be wrought (Mormon 9:9-21).
Additionally, Elder Dallin H. Oaks, a church leader, also gave a talk on miracles somewhat recently that provides great information. I highly recommend reading it. The talk can be accessed here.
Lorenzo Snow raised Ella
Jensen from the dead
"In March 1891, during the time Elder Snow was holding a
stake conference in Brigham City, a fifteen-year-old girl named Ella Jensen
passed away. She had suffered with scarlet fever for over a week. She knew she
was going to die and said good-bye to her family. She could hear her parents
and others weeping, which troubled her greatly. Her spirit entered the spirit
world and remained there several hours.
While Elder Snow was speaking in conference, a note was handed to
him, telling of Ella’s death. He excused himself from the meeting, saying “it
was a call to visit some people who were in deep sorrow” (Romney, The
Life of Lorenzo Snow, p. 413). Taking Elder Rudger Clawson with him,
he accompanied Ella’s father to the Jensen home. They went to the bedroom where
the girl lay dead. President Snow asked President Clawson to anoint her, and
then blessed her himself, using a “‘very extraordinary expression, in a
commanding tone of voice: “Come back, Ella, come back. Your work upon the earth
is not yet completed.”’ …
“‘… More than an hour later, after President Snow administered to
her, … she opened her eyes. She looked about the room, and [asked,] “Where is
he?” [Her parents asked,] “Who?” “Why, Brother Snow,” she replied, “he called
me back.”’"
Sources:
Wilford Woodruff raised his wife Phoebe from the dead
"After Wilford Woodruff’s young wife Phoebe passed away, he
was inspired to administer to her [to give a priesthood blessing] and rebuke
the power of death. He wrote of the incident:
“Her spirit returned to her body, and from that hour she was made
whole; and we all felt to praise the name of God, and to trust in Him and to
keep His commandments.
“While this operation was going on with me (as my wife related
afterwards) her spirit left her body, and she saw it lying upon the bed, and
the sisters weeping. She looked at them and at me, and upon her babe, and,
while gazing upon this scene, two personages came into the room. …
One of these messengers informed her that she could have her
choice: she might go to rest in the spirit world, or, on one condition she
could have the privilege of returning to her tabernacle and continuing her
labors upon the earth. The condition was, if she felt that she could stand by
her husband, and with him pass through all the cares, trials, tribulations and
afflictions of life which he would be called to pass through for the gospel’s
sake unto the end. When she looked at the situation of her husband and child
she said: ‘Yes, I will do it!’
“At the moment that decision was made the power of faith rested
upon me, and when I administered unto her, her spirit entered her tabernacle.
…” "
Source:
Joseph Smith raised
William Huntington from the dead
"William D. Huntington related to Levi Curtis the
story of how the Prophet Joseph Smith literally brought him back to life. Brother Huntington
was one of a large number of members who fell ill in the early days of Nauvoo.
He told of becoming weaker and weaker, until he “presently felt easy, and …
found that he was in the upper part of the room near the ceiling, and could see
the body he had occupied lying on the bed, with weeping friends, standing
around.”
Joseph Smith and two other men came into the room and prepared to
administer a priesthood blessing. They “laid their hands upon the head of his
body, … and as the three stretched out their hands … , he by some means became
aware that he must go back into that body, and started to do so. The process of
getting in he could not remember; but when Joseph said ‘amen,’ he heard and
could see and feel with his body. …
“As soon as the brethren had taken their hands from his head he
raised up in bed, sitting erect, and in another moment turned his legs off the
bed.
“At this juncture Joseph asked him if he had not better be
careful, for he was very weak. He replied, ‘I never felt better in my life.’”
Source:
Joseph Smith healed Elsa
Johnson's (also known as Alice) arm that couldn't be used
"Ezra Booth was a Methodist minister who became acquainted with the
Church in 1831 through reading and discussing the Book of Mormon with John
Johnson of Hiram, Ohio. They traveled to Kirtland and met with the Prophet
[Joseph Smith], and on this occasion they witnessed a miraculous healing of
John Johnson’s wife, Elsa. She had been plagued with chronic rheumatism in her
shoulder that prevented her from using her arm. When Joseph took her by the
hand and said, “I command thee to be whole,” she was immediately healed. Booth
was baptized in May 1831 and served a short mission in the Hiram region."
Source:
Joseph Smith healed Henry
Sherwood, Elijah Fordham, Joseph Noble, dying twin babies and others from
debilitating illness
"In the summer of 1839 [...], Joseph Smith also became ill,
but after several days confinement he was prompted to arise and extend help to
others. The day of 22 July was, in the words of Wilford Woodruff, “a day
of God’s power” in Nauvoo and Montrose. That morning the Prophet arose and,
being filled with the Spirit of the Lord, administered to the sick in his house
and in the yard outside. More sick people were down by the river, and there too
he administered with great power to the faithful. One such, Henry G.
Sherwood, was near death. Joseph stepped to the door of Brother Sherwood’s tent
and commanded him to rise and come out; he obeyed and was healed...
One of the most memorable of the healings in Montrose was that of
Elijah Fordham. When the brethren arrived he was lying in bed unable to speak.
“Brother Joseph walked up to Brother Fordham, and took him by the
right hand. …
“He saw that Brother Fordham’s eyes were glazed, and that he was
speechless and unconscious.
“After taking hold of his hand, he looked down into the dying
man’s face and said: ‘Brother Fordham, do you not know me?’ At first he made no
reply; but we could all see the effect of the Spirit of God resting upon him.
“He again said: ‘Elijah, do you not know me?’
“With a low whisper, Brother Fordham answered, ‘Yes!’
“The Prophet then said, ‘Have you not faith to be healed?’
“The answer, which was a little plainer than before, was: ‘I am
afraid it is too late. If you had come sooner, I think it might have been.’
“He had the appearance of a man waking from sleep. It was the
sleep of death.
“Joseph then said: ‘Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ?’
“‘I do, Brother Joseph,’ was the response.
“Then the Prophet of God spoke with a loud voice, as in the
majesty of the Godhead: ‘Elijah, I command you, in the name of Jesus of
Nazareth, to arise and be made whole!’
“The words of the Prophet were not like the words of man, but like
the voice of God. It seemed to me that the house shook from its foundation.
“Elijah Fordham leaped from his bed like a man raised from the
dead. A healthy color came to his face, and life was manifested in every act.”
They next visited Joseph B. Noble, who was also healed. Wilford
Woodruff remembered this as the “greatest day for the manifestation of the
power of God through the gift of healing since the organization of the Church.”
As the brethren were at the river bank preparing to cross back to
Nauvoo, a nonmember who had heard of the miracles that day asked the Prophet if
he would come and administer to his dying twin babies about two miles from
Montrose. Joseph said he could not go, but he gave Wilford Woodruff a red silk
handkerchief and told him to administer to them, promising that when he wiped
their faces with it they would be healed. The Prophet also promised that the
handkerchief would remain a bond between them as long as Wilford kept it.
Obedient to the charge, Wilford testified that the children were healed. He
treasured the keepsake the rest of his life."
Source:
Brigham Young, Willard
Richards, and Wilford Woodruff give priesthood blessing to May Pitts (or Mary
Pitt) who had been lame for several years and could then walk again
"As Elder Woodruff recorded in his marvelously detailed diary...
A notable miracle was wrought by faith and the power of God in the person of
Sister Mary Pitt at Dymok. She had been confined six years to her bed, with the
spine, which mostly deprived her of the use of her feet and ankles, and had not
walked for 11 years, only with the use of crutches. Elders Young, Richards, and
Woodruff laid hands upon her and rebuked her infirmity and her ankle bones
received strength and she now walks without the aid of crutch or staff."
Sources:
Harold B. Lee healed a
lame boy since birth, Joviniano dos Santos, and was then able to walk
"In Brazil, … two of the elders came to me [Harold B. Lee] and
said, “We have a family here that is investigating. They have a little boy who
is six years old who has never walked. When we told him that there was going to
be an apostle here tonight for the conference, the little boy said, ‘When the
apostle comes, he will bless me and I will walk. …’”
The elder said, “Would you be kind enough to join with us in
blessing this little boy?” I replied that I would.
The president was busy with some other things at the conference,
so I went with the two elders and the father carried this little boy in his
arms and carried him in and sat him on a chair. The mother and two smaller
children sat there, and the only impression I had as the elders and I put our
hands on his head was that the little fellow sat there and cried all the time
we were blessing him. He was overcome by something.
On my way home I got a letter from President Moyle who said, “We
are anxious to have you come home and tell us about the healing that came to
that little boy down in Brazil.” I hadn’t heard anything about the outcome of
the blessing, but when I arrived home I was shown a picture showing this little
boy standing on his feet for the first time.
That miracle didn’t come because of me; it didn’t come because of
the elders; this was because the Lord himself, by my hand and the hands of the
elders, put his hands upon the head of that little boy by our hands and he
received the strength … to stand on his feet for the first time since his
birth."
Sources:
http://gospeldoctrineplus.blogspot.com/2011/02/new-testament-lesson-7-he-took-our.html (informal source)
David Whitmer miraculously
performed labor more quickly and received
angelic assistance in his field
"A late May planting was essential for successful fall crops;
therefore, David Whitmer had to plow and prepare the soil before he could take
his two-horse wagon to pick up Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. At the end of a
day of plowing he found he had accomplished in one day what normally would have
taken two days to do. David’s father was likewise impressed by this apparent
miracle. Peter Whitmer, Sr., said, “There must be an overruling hand in this,
and I think you would better go down to Pennsylvania as soon as your plaster of
paris is sown.” (Plaster of paris was used to reduce the acidity of the soil.)
The next day David went to the fields to sow the plaster, but to his surprise
he found the work had been done. His sister, who lived near the field, said
that her children had called her to watch three strangers the day before spread
the plaster with remarkable skill. She assumed they were men David had hired.
Grateful for this divine intervention, David Whitmer hurried off
on the three-day journey to Harmony. Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery met him as
he approached the town. Although David had not told them exactly when he was
coming, Joseph had seen in vision the details of David’s trip to Harmony. These
three miracles witnessed by David Whitmer exemplified the Prophet’s seership
and the Lord’s intervention for the successful inauguration of the Restoration."
Source:
https://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/english/pdf/language-materials/32502_eng.pdf?lang=eng (Pgs
56-57, Church History in Fullness of Times)
Joseph Smith, Hyrum
Smith, John Whitmer, and David Whitmer were miraculously unrecognized by their enemies
"A few days later Joseph Smith returned to Colesville with
Oliver Cowdery to confirm [confer the gift of the Holy Ghost] those who had
been baptized; they had just arrived when a mob began to gather. They thought
it best to leave, without even taking time to rest. Joseph and Oliver barely
escaped the mob that pursued them throughout the night. Joseph said, “Thus were
we persecuted on account of our religious faith—in a country the Constitution
of which guarantees to every man the indefeasible right to worship God
according to the dictates of his own conscience—and by men, too, who were
professors of religion, and who were not backward to maintain the right of
religious liberty for themselves, though they could thus wantonly deny it to
us.”
Meanwhile the Saints in Colesville prayed that Joseph and Oliver
would again come to visit them. The Prophet’s return to Colesville in early
August involved a miracle. Because hostile feelings persisted, Joseph and Hyrum
Smith and John and David Whitmer prayed mightily before their journey, and as
Newel Knight declared, “their prayers were not in vain. A little distance from
my house they encountered a large company of men at work upon the public road,
amongst whom were some of our most bitter enemies who looked earnestly at the
brethren but not knowing them, the brethren passed on unmolested.”"
Source:
https://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/english/pdf/language-materials/32502_eng.pdf?lang=eng (Pg
73, Church History in Fullness of Times)
Heber J. Grant healed Elder Hugh B. Brown immediately from an illness that threatened to send Elder
Brown home early from a mission
"One other experience greatly impressed Elder Brown during
his mission years. A particular illness struck Elder Brown and even though
another year remained of the original call, President Grant suggested an
honorable release from the mission to enable Elder Brown to return for medical
treatment. He responded by assuring President Grant that a blessing at his
hands would ensure that the mission could be completed in good health. The
blessing pronounced by President Grant produced an instant healing and the
mission was completed without recurrence of the illness."
Source:
Hugh B. Brown
miraculously has words given to him while speaking to a group of 16-17 large
families in England -- every man, woman and child of these families were eventually baptized within three months
"Heber J. Grant, president of the European Mission, assigned
Elder Brown to labor in the Norwich Conference, in the university city of
Cambridge. Mobs had driven out the last pair of elders and Elder Brown was left
without a partner after the first day there. Feeling, he said, the reality of
his situation—a young, inexperienced, uneducated cowboy from Canada in
Cambridge—and after tracting for several days without any sign of success, he
felt a mistake had been made in sending him there. He returned to his lodging
thoroughly discouraged. That evening a man called and explained that his and
sixteen other families had left the Church of England one week earlier because
they no longer believed it was true. All that week they had prayed to the Lord
to send them a new pastor. When the man found a tract Elder Brown had left, he
felt their prayers were answered. “I have come to ask, Sir,” said the man, “if
you will come tomorrow to my home and be our new Pastor.”
Elder Brown accepted, but felt frightened and unprepared. He had
never attended a meeting in the mission field. He had had no training. But he
had a “deep-seated faith that God would see me through” and immediately began a
night and a day of prayer and fasting. When the meeting time finally came, he
was, as he says, “frightened to death.” He began the meeting by singing “O My
Father,” then had them all kneel together in prayer with him. “As I spoke the
name of God, I lost all fear, all worry and all concern and felt sure that He
would take over, which He did in a miraculous way.”
Elder Brown explains that he spoke for forty-five minutes, feeling
throughout that “the Lord spoke to them through me.” At the close of the
meeting those in attendance bore witness that he had shared with them the truth
they had been looking for. Within three months, every person he taught there
that night was baptized."
Sources:
https://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/english/pdf/language-materials/32502_eng.pdf (Pgs.
472-473)