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LYNN - What exactly does an angel do to be ministering. Some examples would be much help in understanding this concept.
JOEL - The scriptures speak of ministering angels who have served in the past, in the present and those who are to be ministering angels in the future.
All angels who minister to this earth either belong to it or have belonged to it. (D&C 130:5.) Such personages may be spirits who have not yet been born into mortality, or who have lived on the earth but who have not yet been resurrected. Or they could be beings with tangible bodies who have been either resurrected or translated. (D&C 129:1–9.)
President Joseph F. Smith gave us some insight about angels who minister to those on the earth:
“When messengers are sent to minister to the inhabitants of this earth, they are not strangers, but from among our kindred, friends, and
fellow-beings and fellow-servants. The ancient prophets who died were those who came to visit their fellow creatures upon the earth. They
came to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; … such beings … waited upon the Savior and administered to him on the Mount. … Our fathers and mothers, brothers, sisters and friends who have passed away from this earth, having been faithful, and worthy to enjoy these rights and privileges, may have a mission given them to visit their relatives and friends upon the earth again, bringing from the divine Presence messages of love, of warning, or reproof and instruction, to those whom they had learned to love in the flesh.” (Gospel Doctrine, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1970, pages 435–36.)
Ministering angels are sometimes sent to guide, comfort, protect, and instruct the Lord’s servants and other faithful individuals in times of
need. Here is a list with scripture referencces of the kinds of tasks performed by ministering angels:
—They announce and testify of events pertaining to God’s work and glory (see Matt. 1:20–21; Matt. 28:1–6; Luke 1:11–20; Luke 2:8–14; Rev. 14:6–20; and D&C 88:92–110);
—They preach the gospel and minister “unto the children of men, to make manifest concerning the coming of Christ” (Moro. 7:22; see also Moses
5:58);
—They declare “the word of Christ unto chosen vessels of the Lord, that they may bear testimony of him” (Moro. 7:31; see also Mosiah 3:1–27);
—They bring to earth “their rights, their keys, their honors, their majesty and glory, and the power of their priesthood” (D&C 128:20-21; see
also D&C 27:12; D&C 110:11–16; and JS—H 1:68–70);
—They protect and guide the servants of God in times of trouble so that they may accomplish his purposes (see Acts 5:18–20; Dan. 3:28; 1 Ne. 3:29; and Hel. 5);
—They bring comfort, instruction, and warnings to faithful individuals in times of need (see Gen. 16:7; Ex. 23:20–23; Matt. 2:13, 19–20; 1 Ne. 11:14–15:30; and Alma 8:14–18).
Those who have obtained the Aaronic priesthood are entitled to the ministering of angels:
"Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah I aconfer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the ckeys of the ministering of angels,
and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth,
until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness." (D&C 13)
President Wilford Woodruff once said to the boys of the Aaronic Priesthood:
“I desire to impress upon you the fact that it does not make any
difference whether a man is a Priest or an Apostle, if he magnifies his calling. A Priest holds the keys of the ministering of angels,” said
he. “Never in my life, as an Apostle, as a Seventy, or as an Elder, have I ever had more of the protection of the Lord than while holding the
office of a Priest.
Think of it, my dear young brethren. This priesthood which you hold carries with it the keys of the ministering of angels. That means, as I
interpret it, that if you live worthy of the priesthood, you have the right to receive and enjoy the very power of heavenly beings to guide
you, to protect you, to bless you. What boy, if he is thoughtful, would not welcome this remarkable blessing?"
(Millennial Star, 53:629.)
In the future eternities we know that resurrected beings who have obtained the Celestial kingdom but not exaltation, will be assigned as
ministering angels to those who have been exalted.
"Therefore, when they are out of the world they neither marry nor are given in marriage; but are appointed angels in heaven, which angels are
ministering servants, to minister for those who are worthy of a far more, and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory.
For these angels did not abide my law; therefore, they cannot be enlarged, but remain separately and singly, without exaltation, in their saved condition, to all eternity; and from henceforth are not gods, but are angels of God forever and ever. (D&C 132: 16-17)
There will also be angels who will minister to inhabitants of the different levels of heaven. (D&C 76: 80-88)
Mormon testified of the faith required to expereince the ministreing of angels:
“It is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men; wherefore, if these things have ceased wo be unto the children of men, for it is
because of unbelief.” (Moro. 7:37.)
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