(Continued from last week…)

Here are more accounts of our Father and Savior manifesting Themselves to our fellow-human beings…

JOSEPH SMITH & OLIVER COWDERY  
In the Kirtland temple, one week after its dedication, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery experienced a visitation of the Savior:

“We saw the Lord standing upon the breastwork of the pulpit, before us; and under his feet was a paved work of pure gold, in color like amber.

“His eyes were as a flame of fire; the hair of his head was white like the pure snow; his countenance shone above the brightness of the sun; and his voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters, even the voice of Jehovah, saying:

“I am the first and the last, I am he who liveth, I am he who was slain; I am your advocate with the Father” (D&C 110: 2-4).

ALFRED DOUGLAS YOUNG
On the morning of September 17th, 1841, while conversing about the gospel with his older brother, William, in the woods near his home, Alfred Young was visited by an angel, which caused his body to lose energy and sink to the ground. His brother, not seeing the angel, but noticing the change in Alfred, caught hold of him, and laid him gently down. Alfred’s spirit left his body, and seeing it on the ground with his brother next to it, heard the angel say to him, “Follow thou me.” The angel ascended upwards, and Alfred’s spirit followed him. He relates what happened next:

“He took me into the presence of God the Father and of his son Jesus Christ, with the exception there was a rail between us; but I saw them seated on a throne. I had in my hands many sheaves of wheat of the purest white. There was an altar on my left hand and also one directly in front of me. The one on my left appeared to be about three feet in height; the one in front about eighteen inches. I laid the sheaves of wheat that were in my hands on the altar to my left as an offering to the Lord. I bowed myself on my knees on the altar in front of me, which was also in front of the throne. I prayed God the Father in the name of his son Jesus Christ to accept of the offering I had laid upon the altar.

“While I prayed, the rail was removed and I stood upon my feet. Jesus arose and stepped from the side of his Father and came near where I stood. I was in their presence and I gazed upon their glory.

“Jesus then said to me, ‘Your offering is accepted and wouldst thou know the interpretation thereof?’ I replied, ‘Yes, Lord.’ The angel, my conductor, said, ‘Look,’ and I saw as it were, an innumerable company that had come up from all nations, kindreds and peoples around the throne of God and they fell down and worshipped him and gave glory to Him. Jesus then said, ‘These are they [whom] thou shalt be the means of bringing into my Father’s kingdom and this is the interpretation of the offering thou hast laid upon the altar’” (Autobiography of Alfred Douglas Young, 1808-1889, BYU Special Collections, pp. 3-5).

DAVID JOHN
David John was born in Wales, in 1833, where he was raised in a Baptist family. When he was eight years old, he had the following dream:

“I saw God the Father and the Son in a dream….They called me to them and asked if I knew them. I replied [that I did]….The Father addressed the Son, saying: ‘David has not forgotten me.’ The Father raised me on his knee, kissed me and blessed and told me to be a good boy and do right.  He said, ‘Handle me and feel my flesh and bones for you will be taught that I have no body. [But now] you have felt and seen me; this you must not forget when you grow up….[You] are my boy. I will bless [you] and take care of [you]. [You] must yet do a work on the earth’” (Journal Book of David John, entry of Saturday, Dec. 31, 1881, pp. 327-28; found in Eternal Testimonies, by Joseph Heinerman, 1982, p. 166).

EMMA SMITH
“Sister Elizabeth Revel, Emma Smith’s nurse, explained that a few days before Emma died, Emma had told her that Joseph came to her in a vision and said, ‘Emma, come with me, it is time for you to come with me.’ ‘As Emma related it, she said, “I put on my bonnet and my shawl and went with him; I did not think that it was anything unusual. I went with him into a mansion, and he showed me through the different apartments of that beautiful mansion.” And one room was the nursery. In that nursery was a babe in the cradle. She said, “I knew my babe, my Don Carlos that was taken from me.” She sprang forward, caught the child up in her arms, and wept with joy over the child. When Emma recovered herself sufficient she turned to Joseph and said, “Joseph, where are the rest of my children.” He said to her, “Emma, be patient and you shall have all of your children.” Then she saw standing by [Joseph’s] side a personage of light, even the Lord Jesus Christ.’” (Alexander Hale Smith, sermon given 1 July 1903, Bottlineau, North Dakota; found in Ensign, August 1992, “My Great-Great-Grandmother, Emma Hale Smith,” Gracia Jones.)

(to be continued…)