"Miracles, Angels, and Priesthood Power"

Last updated on October 3rd, 2024 at 12:58 am

General Conference Applied

S3 E26 – Sunday, September 15, 2024 | “Miracles, Angels, and Priesthood Power” by Elder Shayne M. Bowen; April 2024 General Conference

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Podcast Episode Outline

Introduction

Bio

“Elder Shayne M. Bowen was sustained as a General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 1, 2006. He had been serving as an Area Seventy in the Idaho Area prior to his call as a General Authority. From 2006 to 2010 he served in the South America South Area Presidency, serving as President from 2008 to 2010. From 2010 to 2014 he served at Church headquarters in various capacities. From 2014 to 2018 he served in the Philippines Area Presidency, serving as President from 2016 to 2018, and in 2019 he served in the North America Southeast Area Presidency. Elder Bowen also served as a member in the North America Southeast Area Presidency, an Assistant Executive Director of the Temple Department, and in various other assignments. He was granted Emeritus status effective August 1, 2024.

“Elder Bowen has served in a number of Church callings, including full-time missionary in the Chile Santiago Mission, president of the Spain Barcelona Mission (2000–2003), stake president twice, high councilor, bishop, high priests group instructor, elders quorum president, and Varsity Scout leader.

“Elder Bowen attended Brigham Young University and in 1977 graduated cum laude with a bachelor of arts degree in English and a minor in Spanish. He studied insurance and finance at the American College, becoming a chartered life underwriter in 1984 and a chartered financial consultant in 1999. Elder Bowen pursued a career in insurance, owning and operating his own agency.

“Shayne Martell Bowen was born in Rigby, Idaho, on August 29, 1954. He married Lynette Mortensen in December 1976. They are the parents of seven children, one of whom is deceased.”
This was Elder Bowen’s fourth general conference address:
- “The Atonement Can Clean, Reclaim, and Sanctify Our Lives” – October 2006 General Conference
- “‘Because I Live, Ye Shall Live Also’” – October 2012 General Conference
- “The Role of the Book of Mormon in Conversion” – October 2018 General Conference

“Many today say that miracles no longer exist, that angels are fictional, and that the heavens are closed. I testify that miracles have not ceased, angels are among us, and the heavens are truly open.” -Elder Bowen

3 Nephi 2:1-2 – “[1] And it came to pass that thus passed away the ninety and fifth year also, and the people began to forget those signs and wonders which they had heard, and began to be less and less astonished at a sign or a wonder from heaven, insomuch that they began to be hard in their hearts, and blind in their minds, and began to disbelieve all which they had heard and seen— [2] Imagining up some vain thing in their hearts, that it was wrought by men and by the power of the devil, to lead away and deceive the hearts of the people; and thus did Satan get possession of the hearts of the people again, insomuch that he did blind their eyes and lead them away to believe that the doctrine of Christ was a foolish and a vain thing.”
The same unbelief exists in our day, right before the Second Coming of Christ.

What is the speaker inviting me to do, and how might I consider taking action?

Invitations

1: “If you desire the blessings of the priesthood, including miracles and the ministry of angels, I invite you to walk the path of covenants God has made available to each of us. Members and leaders of the Church who love you will help you take the next step.”

Stay on the covenant path and love others enough to help them take the next step on the covenant path.
Questions:
1. After reading Elder Bowen’s address, do I believe in miracles?
2. What do I need to do in my life to receive God’s priesthood power?
  - “Heart of the Matter: What 100 Years of Living Have Taught Me” by President Russell M. Nelson: “Every woman and every man who makes covenants with God and keeps those covenants, and who participates worthily in priesthood ordinances, has direct access to the power of God. Those who are endowed in the house of the Lord receive a gift of God’s priesthood power by virtue of their covenant, along with a gift of knowledge to know how to draw upon that power.
    
    “The heavens are just as open to women who are endowed with God’s power flowing from their priesthood covenants as they are to men who bear the priesthood! Women have the right to draw liberally upon the Savior’s power to help their families and others they love.
    
    “The process for doing so is not spelled out in any manual. However, for all who want to better understand, the Holy Ghost will be your personal tutor. He will teach you what the Lord would have you study, know, and do. The process of learning how to draw upon priesthood power is neither quick nor easy, but it is spiritually invigorating. What could possibly be more exciting than laboring with the Spirit to understand God’s power—priesthood power?
    
    “Accessing the power of God in our lives requires each of us to do the same things that the Lord instructed Emma to do. As each sister in the Church prayerfully studies section 25 of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Holy Ghost will enlighten her mind.
    
    “Learning to draw upon priesthood power requires each sister to put aside many things of this world. Sometimes we speak almost casually about walking away from the world with its temptations and false philosophies. But doing so requires us to examine our lives repeatedly. As we do so, the Holy Ghost will prompt us about what is no longer needful or worthy of our time and energy.”
3. Do I have the eyes to see miracles that are both realized now and realized in the future?
  - “Know that while not all circumstances turn out like we may hope and pray for, God’s miracles will always come according to His will, His timing, and His plan for us.” -Elder Bowen
  - “‘Because I Live, Ye Shall Live Also’“, Elder Shayne M. Bowen, October 2012 General Conference: “On February 4 of 1990, our third son and sixth child was born. We named him Tyson. He was a beautiful little boy, and the family greeted him with open hearts and open arms. His brothers and sisters were so proud of him. We all thought he was the most perfect little boy who had ever been born.
    
    “When Tyson was eight months old, he aspirated a piece of chalk that he had found on the carpet. The chalk lodged in Tyson’s throat, and he quit breathing. His older brother brought Tyson upstairs, frantically calling, ‘The baby won’t breathe. The baby won’t breathe.’ We began to administer CPR and called 911.
    
    “The paramedics arrived and rushed Tyson to the hospital. In the waiting room we continued in fervent prayer as we pled to God for a miracle. After what seemed a lifetime, the doctor came into the room and said, ‘I am so sorry. There is nothing more we can do. Take all the time you need.’ She then left.
    
    “As we entered the room where Tyson lay, we saw our lifeless little bundle of joy. It seemed as though he had a celestial glow around his little body. He was so radiant and pure.
    
    “At that moment it felt as if our world had come to an end. How could we return to the other children and somehow try to explain that Tyson wasn’t coming home?
    
    “I will speak in the singular as I relate the rest of this experience. My angel wife and I experienced this trial together, but I am inadequate in expressing the feelings of a mother and would not even try to do so.
    
    “It is impossible to describe the mixture of feelings that I had at that point in my life. Most of the time I felt as if I were in a bad dream and that I would soon wake up and this terrible nightmare would be over. For many nights I didn’t sleep. I often wandered in the night from one room to the other, making sure that our other children were all safe.
    
    “Feelings of guilt racked my soul. I felt so guilty. I felt dirty. I was his father; I should have done more to protect him. If only I would have done this or that. Sometimes even today, 22 years later, those feelings begin to creep into my heart, and I need to get rid of them quickly because they can be destructive.
    
    “About a month after Tyson died, I had an interview with Elder Dean L. Larsen. He took the time to listen to me, and I will always be grateful for his counsel and love. He said, ‘I don’t think the Lord would want you to punish yourself for the death of your little boy.’ I felt the love of my Heavenly Father through one of his chosen vessels.
    
    “However, tormenting thoughts continued to plague me, and I soon began to feel anger. ‘This isn’t fair! How could God do this to me? Why me? What did I do to deserve this?’ I even felt myself get angry with people who were just trying to comfort us. I remember friends saying, ‘I know how you feel.’ I would think to myself, ‘You have no idea how I feel. Just leave me alone.’ I soon found that self-pity can also be very debilitating. I was ashamed of myself for having unkind thoughts about dear friends who were only trying to help.
    
    “As I felt the guilt, anger, and self-pity trying to consume me, I prayed that my heart could change. Through very personal sacred experiences, the Lord gave me a new heart, and even though it was still lonely and painful, my whole outlook changed. I was given to know that I had not been robbed but rather that there was a great blessing awaiting me if I would prove faithful.
    
    “My life started to change, and I was able to look forward with hope, rather than look backward with despair. I testify that this life is not the end. The spirit world is real. The teachings of the prophets regarding life after death are true. This life is but a transitory step forward on our journey back to our Heavenly Father.
    
    “Tyson has remained a very integral part of our family. Through the years it has been wonderful to see the mercy and kindness of a loving Father in Heaven, who has allowed our family to feel in very tangible ways the influence of Tyson. I testify that the veil is thin. The same feelings of loyalty, love, and family unity don’t end as our loved ones pass to the other side; instead, those feelings are intensified.
    
    “Sometimes people will ask, ‘How long did it take you to get over it?’ The truth is, you will never completely get over it until you are together once again with your departed loved ones. I will never have a fulness of joy until we are reunited in the morning of the First Resurrection. …
    
    “I have learned that the bitter, almost unbearable pain can become sweet as you turn to your Father in Heaven and plead for His comfort that comes through His plan; His Son, Jesus Christ; and His Comforter, who is the Holy Ghost.
    
    “What a glorious blessing this is in our lives. Wouldn’t it be tragic if we didn’t feel great sorrow when we lose a child? How grateful I am to my Father in Heaven that He allows us to love deeply and love eternally. How grateful I am for eternal families. How grateful I am that He has revealed once again through His living prophets the glorious plan of redemption.”
4. What miracles have I experienced in my life?
5. As President Russell M. Nelson invited, am I ‘[watching] for miracles to happen in [my] life’?
6. What does helping others ‘take the next step’ on the covenant path look like?
  - My Elders Quorum President recently spent a week and a half in South America with Elder David A. Bednar. He said that when Elder Bednar was asked what ‘ministering’ means to him, he said: ‘Two words – Next Covenant’. In other words, ministering means preparing others for their next covenant. Perhaps you minister to a family with children who are preparing for baptism, teenagers who are preparing for the temple, or young single adults who are preparing for marriage. Or, perhaps you minister to endowed, sealed individuals who are preparing to partake of the sacrament this Sunday. Ministering means determining how to help others ‘take the next step’.
7. Have I ever experienced a time in my life when I wasn’t prepared or worthy to help when called upon for a priesthood blessing?
  - Yes
  - “Discipline Is Destiny: The Power of Self-Control” by Ryan Holiday: “A journalist once asked [Angela] Merkel (Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021) if it bothered her, after all she accomplished, that people in her hometown still referred to her as ‘the pastor’s daughter.’ That’s who I am, she replied. No matter what changes in her life, that will remain true.
    
    “The same went for Cato the Elder, whose early austerity made him stand out against Rome’s decadent leaders. ‘What was even more remarkable,’ Plutarch wrote, ‘was that he followed the same habits, not merely when he was young and full of ambition, but even when he was old and gray headed and had served as a consul and celebrated a triumph, and that he continued, like a champion athlete, to observe the rules of his training to the end.’
    
    “Such is the paradox of success. Precisely when we think we’ve earned the right to relax our discipline is exactly when we need it most. The payoff for all our efforts? So much more temptation. So many more distractions. So many more opportunities.
    
    “The only solution?
    
    “Even more self-mastery!”
  - “In 1989, our family of seven was returning from a ward outing. It was late. Lynette was expecting our sixth child. She felt a strong prompting to fasten her seat belt, which she had forgotten to do. Shortly thereafter we came around a bend in the road; a car crossed the line into our lane. Going about 70 miles (112 km) an hour, I swerved to avoid hitting the oncoming car. Our van rolled, skidded down the highway, and slid off the road, finally coming to a stop, landing with the passenger side in the dirt.
    
    “The next thing I remember hearing was Lynette’s voice: ‘Shayne, we need to get out through your door.’ I was hanging in the air by my seat belt. It took a few seconds to get oriented. We started lifting each of the children out of the van through my window, which was now the ceiling of the van. They were crying, wondering what had happened.
    
    “We soon realized that our 10-year-old daughter, Emily, was missing. We yelled her name, but there was no response. Ward members, who were also traveling home, were at the scene frantically looking for her. It was so dark. I looked in the van again with a flashlight and, to my horror, saw Emily’s tiny body trapped under the van. I called out desperately, ‘We have to lift the van off of Emily.’ I grabbed the roof and pulled back. There were only a few others lifting, but the van miraculously flipped onto its wheels, exposing Emily’s lifeless body.
    
    “Emily was not breathing. Her face was the color of a purple plum. I said, ‘We need to give her a blessing.’ A dear friend and ward member knelt with me, and by the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood, in the name of Jesus Christ, we commanded her to live. In that moment, Emily took a long raspy breath.
    
    “After what seemed like hours, the ambulance finally arrived. Emily was rushed to the hospital. She had a collapsed lung and a severed tendon in her knee. Brain damage was a concern because of the time she was without oxygen. Emily was in a coma for a day and a half. We continued to pray and fast for her. She was blessed with a full recovery. Today, Emily and her husband, Kevin, are the parents of six daughters.
    
    “Miraculously, everyone else was able to walk away. The baby Lynette was carrying was Tyson. He too was spared any harm and was born the next February. Eight months later, after receiving his earthly body, Tyson returned home to Heavenly Father. He is our guardian angel son. We feel his influence in our family and look forward to being with him again.
    
    “Those who lifted the van off of Emily observed that the van seemed to weigh nothing. I knew that heavenly angels had joined with earthly angels to lift the vehicle off of Emily’s body. I also know that Emily was brought back to life by the power of the holy priesthood.” -Elder Bowen
8. Would others describe me as a reliable priesthood holder?
9. In what ways are miracles just as much for the person being blessed as they are for the person administering the blessing?
  - “I testify that miracles and ministrations are continually occurring in our lives, often as a direct result of priesthood power. Some priesthood blessings are fulfilled immediately, in ways we can see and understand. Others are unfolding gradually and will not be fully realized in this life. But God keeps all of His promises, always, as illustrated in this account from our family history:
    
    “My paternal grandfather, Grant Reese Bowen, was a man of great faith. I vividly remember hearing him recount how he received his own patriarchal blessing. In his journal, he recorded: ‘The patriarch promised me the gift of healing. He said, ‘The sick shall be healed. Yea, the dead shall be raised under your hands.”
    
    “Years later, Grandfather was piling hay when he felt prompted to return to the house. He was met by his father coming toward him. ‘Grant, your mother has just passed away,’ his father said.
    
    “I quote again from Grandfather’s journal: ‘I didn’t stop but went hurrying into the house and out on the front porch where she lay on a cot. I looked at her and could see there was no sign of life left in her. I remembered my patriarchal blessing and the promise that if I were faithful, through my faith the sick would be healed; and the dead would be raised. I placed my hands on her head, and I told the Lord that if the promise that He had made to me by the patriarch was true, to make it manifest at this time and raise my mother back to life. I promised Him if He would do this, I should never hesitate to do all in my power for the building up of His kingdom. As I prayed, she opened her eyes and said, ‘Grant, raise me up. I have been in the spirit world, but you have called me back. Let this always be a testimony to you and to the rest of my family.”” -Elder Bowen
  - “The Power of the Priesthood in the Boy“, Elder Tad R. Callister, April 2013 General Conference: “In 1878 my great-grandfather George F. Richards was 17 years of age. As was sometimes the case in those days, he had already been ordained an elder. One Sunday his mother was groaning in intense pain. As his father was not available, the bishop and several others were invited to give her a blessing, but no relief came. Accordingly, she turned to her son George and asked him to lay hands on her head. He wrote in his diary, ‘In the midst of my tears for my mother’s suffering and the task of performing an administration such as I had never yet done, I retired to another room where I wept and prayed.’
    
    “When he became composed, he laid his hands on her and gave her a very simple blessing. He later noted, ‘My mother ceased her groaning and received relief from her suffering while my hands were yet on her head.’ He then recorded in his diary this most insightful observation. He said he had always felt that the reason his mother did not get relief from the bishop’s blessing was not because the Lord failed to honor the bishop’s blessing but because the Lord had reserved this blessing for a boy, to teach him a lesson that the priesthood in the boy is just as powerful as the priesthood in the man when exercised in righteousness.”
10. Am I willing to commit to always being worthy to exercise the priesthood?

Closing Testimony

“I testify that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, lives and leads His Church through living prophets who hold and exercise priesthood keys. The Holy Ghost is real. The Savior gave His life to heal us, reclaim us, and bring us home.

“I witness that miracles have not ceased, angels are among us, and the heavens are open. And oh, how open they are!” -Elder Bowen

Take Action

How will you take action on the invitation extended in this General Conference address?

Conclusion

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