Alma, the great Book of Mormon Prophet, describes how angels have a place in our lives: “And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true. And now, behold, I say unto you, and I would that ye should remember, that God is merciful unto all who believe on his name; therefore he desireth, in the first place, that ye should believe, yea, even on his word. And now, he imparteth his word by angels unto men, yea, not only men but women also. Now this is not all; little children do have words given unto them many times, which confound the wise and the learned.” (Alma 32:21–23) St. Francis also testified that angels are present; “Make yourself familiar with the angels, and behold them frequently in spirit; for without being seen, they are present with you.” (St. Francis de Sales)
Angels were present and seen at the Cokeville tragedy described in a recent movie. “Angels Round About,” T.C. Christensen is a filmmaker whose most recent movie is The Cokeville Miracle. The movie retells the true story of the school bombing at Cokeville, Wyoming on 16 May 1986. A madman, David Young, and wife took 136 children and 18 adults hostage at the Cokeville Elementary School. Armed with firearms and a bomb triggered to his wrist, Young demanded a ransom of two million dollars per hostage. Several hours into the standoff, Young transferred the trigger onto his wife’s wrist. She accidentally triggered the bomb, causing a massive explosion. It should have blown the entire building down. Many consider it a miracle that no one was killed, although dozens were injured. In the days that followed, the children began to tell amazing stories. In one clip, a young boy told his parents there were others in the room, all dressed in white. A woman told him to stand by the window and he would be okay when the bomb went off. He thought she was his grandmother who lived in a different town. Later, he identified her with a picture of his deceased Grandmother Elliot. A young girl saw a lady dressed in white who told her to go stand by the window with her brother and everything would be okay. Another girl, Katie Walker, saw angels stand between the children and the “bad guy.” Afterwards, Katie’s mother showed her a locket with a picture of her own mother who had died when she was just fifteen. Katie identified the woman in the locket as her angel. Another girl, Jennie Sorensen, said a woman helped her from the room after the bomb went off. She later identified the woman as her aunt who had died 10 years earlier. At the end of the clip, the first boy also said people, bright like light bulbs, were holding hands in a circle around the bomb. When the bomb went off, they went up through the ceiling, which investigators had determined was the main direction of the bomb blast. “You are interested in family history?” he asked. “I can’t think of a better justification for what you are doing than the Cokeville event.”
In 1999, a gunman entered the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and began shooting people, two fatally. Survivors told of seeing men in white preventing the shooter from leaving the orientation room. (See Emiley Morgan)
Another family was saved by a can of gas that appeared out of nowhere:
The Gas Can
Told by Shannon Firth Williams.
“I was fourteen. My family was on the way home from a weekend of camping. Because of the nice weather Dad suggested that we take the longer but more picturesque route over a mountain pass. As we started up the pass, the gate was pulled closed. ‘That must be a prank,’ said Dad, noting that the temperature was approaching a hundred degrees. He opened the gate and off we went. A half hour later we noticed the winter snows had not completely melted. We laughed about it. Soon there was more snow on the road itself, and it became a problem. About that time we were running low on gas, but Dad said we’d gone too far to retrace our steps. We came to a fork in the road. One path was up a steep incline. The other was blocked by trees.We started up the hill but soon our van was stuck in the snow. The more Dad gunned the engine the more fuel was being used up. We were in trouble. And not sure what to do.It was late afternoon and the night was sure to be freezing. Nobody would be coming to help. Our food was gone. And there was only one match left in the packet. I got out of the van and decided to take a walk back down to the fork. As I walked I wondered how far it was to the nearest telephone or assistance and whether I could hike that far. But truth be known, I was scared. I said a prayer. At the fork I looked in every direction. That’s when a glint caught my eye. I walked toward it. About twenty-five feet off to the side of the road was a shiny red five-gallon gas can. I lifted it up. It was full! The can had been sitting under a pine tree, yet there was not one pine needle on it. Not one water spot. Nor any dirt! I ran back to my father and mother and told them what I’d found. They ran down the road and were amazed as well! We filled the gas tank on the van, got unstuck, turned around, and headed back the way we came. On the way, we tried to figure it out. Was the gas can put there by someone in the forestry department? Maybe…but, given its mint condition and the impassable road, it seemed unlikely anyone had been up that mountain pass that summer. This I know: God saved our lives. By the way. The five gallons of gas in the can…was just enough. I mean JUST enough. We coasted into town and a gas station.
Joseph Smith Jr. was only 14 when he was first visited by two personages whom identified themselves as God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. In September of 1823 he was visited the first time by a prophet from the Book of Mormon times, named Moroni. Moroni visited him several times and later by several other angels, men who had lived on earth in previous times and who had been assigned by God to deliver a message, or to instruct or some other important information to the young Joseph. Angels are sent to earth with specific message or assignment and when their assignment has been satisfied they return and report. They have never stayed to describe where they live and what they do during the course of their time on the other side of the veil. You or I might see an angel if the Lord has a reason to send one to us with a blessing or a message. I believe that is the main reason that angels are sent to earth. I believe without any doubt that they are sent and that many people have witnessed those events. Here are a few questions to God from a few angel children; these were letters children wrote to God in their Sunday school class. Dear God, Instead of letting people die and having to make new ones, why don’t you just keep the ones you have now? …Dear God, Did you really mean, “Do unto others as they do unto you”? Because if you did, I’m going to fix my brother! …Dear God, If you watch me in church Sunday, I’ll show you my new shoes. No one could ever convince me that they are not little angels.