It seems to me that people in the early Mormon church talked about visions and heavenly visitations much more than they do today. I’m not sure if that means there are less visions from God, or if people just don’t talk about it as much.
In the early church, it wasn’t uncommon to have a prophet get up and talk about a vision or dream he’d had for the church as a whole. In modern times, I’ve only occasionally heard a prophet or apostle get up and discuss a heavenly dream or vision they had. The main one that comes to mind for me is when an apostle, David B Haight, gave a talk in General Conference about a vision he had of Jesus Christ.
With this in mind, I found the most recent quote from Elder Holland interesting. The following quote is from the article:
Elder Holland said that because many Africans are spiritually in tune, they experience spiritual privileges “not always seen in this day and age elsewhere in the world.” As an example, he mentioned a woman of another faith at a press conference in Sierra Leone who explained that she had seen his face in a dream. Having such an experience “isn’t a common experience in my life,” Elder Holland said, “but I think it’s quite a common one in theirs.” He said that people like her, guided by the Spirit, will identify and cling to the Church. “This is one way that God responds to their faith. It’s intuitive; it is fundamental. I’ve said repeatedly that it seems to me what life hasn’t been able to give them materially, heaven has more than made up for spiritually.”
This quote implies that if we don’t experience the gift of heavenly visions that we are not as spiritually in tune with God.
I don’t remember reading anywhere that one spiritual gift is better than another. I do remember reading that God gives the gifts out how and to whom He wants to and the Church benefits as a whole as members utilize their gifts they’ve been given. Although one gift isn’t better than the other, a person needs to be spiritually in tune to receive the gift, which is what Elder Holland is talking about, I think.
I believe that if we seek a gift humbly, and if it is God’s will to give the gift, that we can experience visions. Personally, I’ve had a couple times in my life where certain events of the future have been shown to me by God. One was at a very young age warning me that I needed to change direction in my life. The other was a vision when I was seeking guidance on marrying my wife. In both of these situations, I didn’t just sit down and pray and God granted me a vision. I needed to humble myself through fasting, worship, scripture study, and prayer. I wasn’t expecting a vision in either instance, but that is how God chose to answer me and it came unexpectedly.
As I reflect on my personal experiences, I agree with Elder Holland that the gift of having a vision is something uncommon, or at best not discussed today like it was before. Perhaps modern technology and medical advancement have clouded our spiritual senses and we don’t rely on God as we once did. Perhaps we are more materialistic and hence less likely to receive a vision. Perhaps we rely more on our own knowledge and less on God.
The more I reflect on the subject, the more I agree with Elder Holland that one must be more spiritually in tune with God to receive a vision.
What are your thoughts?
13 comments
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July 12, 2012 at 10:33 am
Howard
I wouldn’t call one spiritual gift better than another but they tend to build on one another, as your skills increase with one it opens the door to the next. We can spend our time doing “dos” and “don’ts” lists or we can spend it learning to commune with God. The church has far too much focus on pharisaical rules and far too little on enlightenment which is why we don’t see as much evidence of these gifts today. Many on spiritual paths outside the church are enjoy these gifts at or near the intensity of the early saints!
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July 12, 2012 at 8:47 pm
Doug
Reading “Rough Stone Rolling” I have to agree that the early years of the LDS church were marked by visions and intense emotional experiences-some of them recognized by Joseph as being demonic. In later years the Latter-day Saints have followed the trend of other churches in putting less emphasis on these manifestations. I believe Christians must walk a fine line between emotional fanaticism and a dry Pharisaical religion as Howard pointed out-either one hinder the movement of the Holy Spirit.
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July 13, 2012 at 6:13 am
Cal
Very good post & comments.
That was especially good of Elder Holland to recognize “a woman of another faith” who had seen the Lord’s face in a dream. As Elder Holland indicated, there are circles within the body of Christ where visions and prophetic dreams are common. As GraceforGrace and Howard indicated, these avenues of communication with God are more often experienced by those who desire them, pray for them, and expect them.
However, sometimes believers who have little faith for visions, and even unbelievers, do have them.
One time I asked God to give me a little vision (picture) and speak to me. I saw a pair of sneakers. Then he said to me, “Remember, it’s a race you’re running. To win a race you don’t take any detours [he said this sentence twice]. You don’t take the long way. You take the shortest route. You’re not walking it out, you’re running it out [hence, the pair of sneakers!].”
As usual, God spoke exactly what I needed to hear the most at the moment. I tend to let myself get distracted—take detours—from the perfect path God has for me (like too much blogging. 🙂 )
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July 13, 2012 at 9:40 am
Jared
When we accept the Book of Mormon as the word of God we will focus our attention properly. The doctrine of Christ is taught over and over again in the Book of Mormon.
…by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word, behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost; yea, then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost…the gate by which ye should enter is repentance and baptism by water; and then cometh a remission of your sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost.
(Book of Mormon | 2 Nephi 31:13,17)
Yea, blessed are they who shall believe in your words, and come down into the depths of humility and be baptized, for they shall be visited with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and shall receive a remission of their sins.
(Book of Mormon | 3 Nephi 12:2)
The goal isn’t gifts and etc. The goal is to receive a remission of sins. The Book of Mormon refers to this using a variety of terms: mighty change, born again, becoming a son or daughter of Christ.
The gifts of the Spirit should be sought after but they are not the primary goal, the gift of the Holy Ghost is the immediate goal-the First Comforter, then we are in position to receive the 2nd Comforter.
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July 20, 2012 at 12:37 pm
graceforgrace
Hi Jared,
That’s a good point not to focus too much attention on the gifts of the Spirit as the end result.
However, don’t you think that if we are experiencing and recognizing gifts from the Spirit, that is an indication that we’re on the right track?
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July 21, 2012 at 3:23 pm
jared91
I think the gifts of the Spirit are vital. We should diligently seek them. Having them is an indication we’re doing something right.
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July 14, 2012 at 5:56 am
Howard
Jared,
The goal is to commune with God during our mortal life and to return to his presence. There are many proper ways to focus on this, not just one way. Remission of sins is one step in several necessary to achieve these goals. There is nothing wrong with desiring or seeking spiritual gifts. The BoM offers insight, it is one path but it isn’t the only path.
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July 14, 2012 at 6:00 am
Cal
Hi Jared!
I agree that remission (forgiveness) of sins and reception of the gift of the Holy Ghost come before the gifts. All the gifts of the Spirit are given by the Holy Ghost.
I accept everything in the Book of Mormon except for anything that disagrees with the Bible.
If you have the gift of the Holy Ghost, that makes you my brother in the Lord! If you don’t think I’m a true brother, well, I’ll just turn the other cheek and continue to pray for you.
Have a great day!
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July 14, 2012 at 7:16 am
Jettboy
Can someone explain to me what a vision is or describe the experience? Depending on what you mean I probably have had them or not. If I have had them then I would describe them more as intence mental insights than sensory perception.
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July 14, 2012 at 9:31 am
Howard
Jettboy,
There is a continuum of: imagination > intuition > inspiration > revelation depending on the source of the image (or knowledge) and how clear and detailed it is. We tend to call them visions when we perceive the source to be outside ourselves. There are many different kinds of visions and variations of them.
A dream is a common vision. A dream while awake is a vision. Imagining the image of the face of someone you know is what a waking vision looks like. Once you are experienced with this they can become much clearer and more detailed than that with practice.
Visions can be received through our sight and they appear at first as a transparent ghost-like image, they are very difficult to see in the beginning requiring a lot of concentration and practice. Low light is best for viewing them and it helps to have a prop like a seer stone, also called a scrying stone. The glossy surface of the stone is used as a focal point for your eyes making it easier to see. This explains why Joseph had his face and seer stone in his hat. A crystal ball can also be used in the same way or to see small three dimensional holographic type images within the translucent ball. With practice you no longer need the seer stone or crystal ball training aids and these images become quite detailed giving a some what wispy but clear impression of up to a high quality black & white photo or movie image.
There is also a minds eye vision that is difficult to accurately describe. It results from a detailed description of an image that is downloaded to your mind. Imagine a James A. Michener description received in data form and rapidly unpacked in your mind. It is experienced less as an image and more as an instantaneous perception.
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July 14, 2012 at 9:51 am
Howard
They can also be seen in color but for me they lack resolution making the colors appear slightly cartoonish.
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July 15, 2012 at 9:53 pm
ezra
Q: Are we less Spiritually in tune if we do not have Visions from God?
A: No. We are more in tune if we simply do as Jesus said: “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.” God comes to us in the Word, providing both Law and Gospel. The Law convicts us of our sin and leads us to repentance. The Gospel is the good news of our Savior Jesus; we find in him our righteousness. Through the gifts of the Word, the blessing of baptism and reception of Jesus Christ in the sacrament of holy communion is sufficient. Seeking anything else does not make us more spiritual, but open to spirits who are eager to deceive.
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July 20, 2012 at 12:39 pm
graceforgrace
Hi Ezra,
Great quote and good points….your words almost reflect the Book of Mormon verbatim…have you been reading it? 🙂
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