Introduction ⎜ Part 2 ⎜ Part 3 | Part 4 ⎜ Part 5 ⎜ Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8
See the Introductory blog (#1) for explanation about this series on hearing the voice of the Lord in the mind. The below are additional accounts shared by those who have experienced this spiritual gift and have thereby been able to bless and enlighten others. Most of these are self-explanatory, but if desired readers wishing further context can (in most cases) go to the original source.
Pres. Harold B. Lee
I have a believing heart because of a simple testimony that came when I was a child, I think maybe I was around ten—maybe eleven—years of age. I was with my father out on a farm away from our home, trying to spend the day busying myself until father was ready to go home. Over the fence from our place were some tumbledown sheds which had attracted a curious boy, adventurous as I was. I started to climb through the fence and I heard a voice as clearly as you are hearing mine—“Don’t go over there!” calling me by name. I turned to look at father to see if he were talking to me, but he was way up at the other end of the field. There was no person in sight. I realized then, as a child, that there were persons beyond my sight and I had heard a voice. And when I had heard and read these stories of the Prophet Joseph Smith, I, too, know what it means to hear a voice because I’ve heard from an unseen speaker.[1]
Pres. Lee referencing the same account in several different sources
We read about Enos, struggling in prayer all day and all night. . . . I’ve been in that circumstance where it wasn’t all one day and one night, but the next day and the next night, and the next day. I’d fast until my strength was fast going, then I’d get a little nourishment and I’d go on fasting. I wasn’t always on my knees, but I was praying. I remember the blessing I was seeking for one I was trying to save. I was all alone in this house where I was staying, and so I was left to my own. I had to go before a judge the next day, in the morning. And so, all day Sunday I made an outline of what I might say when I got before that judge as carefully as I knew how to document it. But in the middle of the night (apparently I had slipped off into a little slumber), suddenly I was awakened (I was as much awake as I am now) and it was as though someone had pulled up a chair and was there right beside me and dictated into my mind exactly what I was to do. It wasn’t what I had planned and what I had written on this paper in outline. I didn’t need any outline. All because I had been close to the Lord. I knew I could trust Him. And I saw a miracle happen, . . . and that judge made a decision. . . .
I felt confident that if I had to struggle much longer there would have been no veil. I would have seen as well as I heard dictated to my mind. So that I know in whom I can trust when I have nowhere else to go.[2]
I was once in a situation where I needed help. The Lord knew I needed help and I was on an important mission [to save a friend]. I was awakened in the hours of the morning as though someone had wakened me to straighten me out on something that I had planned to do in a contrary course, and there was clearly mapped out before me as I lay there that morning, just as surely as though someone had sat on the edge of my bed and told me what to do. Yes, the voice of the Lord comes into our minds and we are directed thereby.[3]
I bear you my testimony that I know that God hears and answers prayers. I have been close to him in the hours of some of my greatest trials, and surprisingly they are the times that I have drawn closest to Him. In fact, in a certain trial that was one of the most severe tests of my life, I feel that if the trial had gone on for a few more hours His presence was so near that I could have seen Him face to face.[4]
Pres. David O. McKay
Thurs., 23 Dec., 1954:
“2:30 p.m. Annual meeting of Church Authorities and Employees of the Church Offices was held in commemoration of the birth of the Savior and of the Prophet Joseph Smith. The main lobby of the building was crowded to capacity—loud speakers had been installed so that those sitting beyond the double doors could hear.
I was the only member of the General Authorities who spoke. I commented upon the remarks of the previous speakers, and then referred to the birth of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 149 years ago today. I said that he was the most favored lad of all time. I then told of the power of prayer and referred to an incident of my childhood when I prayed at night being sorely afraid, and a voice came to me saying, ‘Don’t be afraid; nothing will hurt you.’ I referred to Samuel of old who ‘heard the voice of God;’ to Nephi who was ‘highly favored of the Lord all his days;’ to Joseph Smith, who saw the Father and the Son….
Key employees of the office were also speakers on this occasion; viz., Clare Middlemiss, my secretary, Elders Franklin J. Murdock, Gordon Hinckley, and Joseph Anderson.
It was a very inspirational meeting, and all who attended wre impressed with the spirit of the occasion.[5]
From a memo in Pres. David O. McKay’s diary:
Thursday, January 5, 1961
TO: Clare Middlemiss [Pres. McKay’s secretary]
FROM: Ted Cannon
RE: Interview of President McKay by John Cook, Thursday, January 5, 1961
Mr. Cook, reporter and feature writer for the Sacramento Union, a daily newspaper, visited President McKay in my company on above date….
Mr. Cook then said he was hesitant about asking his next question, and that he hoped President McKay would understand the spirit in which he was asking — not for a part of his story, but strictly from a personal inquiry standpoint, and that he hoped the President would not answer if he did not feel it was a proper question. He then asked President McKay if he had ever seen the Savior.
President McKay answered that he had not, but that he had heard His voice—many times—and that he had felt His presence and His influence. He then told about Peter (saying that he was his favorite among the apostles, even more so than Paul with all his education and learning — that Peter was a rough, simple man, but sincere) and he told how Peter had spoken of being partakers of the divine spirit — of the divine nature, and explained what he felt that to mean.
Then he told how some evidences were stronger even than that of sight, and recalled the occasion when the Savior appeared to His disciples and told Thomas, who had doubted, ‘Reach hither they finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, but believing.’ And he said he liked to believe that Thomas did not actually look up, but knelt at the Savior’s feet and gave his answer, ‘My Lord and my God.’ And then the President repeated the words of the Master,’ Because thou hast seen me, thou has believed; blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.’
President McKay then smiled, and said, ‘That is quite a testimony I have given you…I don’t know when I have given this before…’
Mr. Cook was visibly moved, and after leaving the office he said it had been the greatest experience of his life…that President McKay was like no other man he had ever seen or heard. He was so greatly moved that tears were in his eyes as he left President McKay.
Ted L. Cannon
Jan. 7, 1961
[Ellipses in original][6]
Joseph Fielding McConkie
The Bruce R. McConkie Story: Reflections of a Son (chap. 20):
Another remarkable instance of the power of faith is that of a woman, a mother of two, who had contracted a rare blood disease. Though not fatal, it prohibited her from having more children. In an administration at the hands of her husband, she received the promise that her body would heal itself. Yet all medical efforts proved painful, frustrating, and ineffectual. At a stake conference attended by a member of the Twelve, she experienced the impression that if her faith were great enough, she could be healed. She labored to increase her faith. Six months later another apostle, Elder Bruce R. McConkie, was sent to the stake in which they lived. Her children were ill that Sunday, and though she usually would have been the one to stay with them, she and her husband decided that she should attend the conference. “I took a seat in the middle of the auditorium,” she wrote to Elder McConkie later, “and watched as you shook hands with many before the meeting. I was delighted as I watched the smiles of many I recognized enjoying your touch and smile.
“Throughout the meeting I found it difficult to concentrate, and as it came to a close, I could hardly remain seated. As the closing prayer was said, I felt very calm. Then,” she continued, “the Spirit whispered to me, ‘You could go up on that stage and be healed by Brother McConkie.’ I replied, ‘I don’t want to bother him—look at all those people who want to talk to him. I’m just thrilled to be able to have heard him.’ Then the Spirit reminded me—’just touch the edge of his jacket’—as I recalled the story of the woman who had touched the hem of the Savior’s garment. I’m sure I literally shook my head and said, ‘No. I can’t possibly do that!’” She and the Spirit continued their debate. Finally she went.
“As I made my way through the crowd,” she wrote, “I felt very anxious and wanted to turn around, but I edged forward until finally I was right behind you and you were engaged in conversation. I fixed my eyes upon your jacket edge and held my breath—you were so tall—I reached out and quickly touched with my index finger the hem of your jacket. Suddenly, you spun around and extended your hand to me. I shook it and tearfully uttered, ‘Thank you.’ You simply nodded and returned to your conversation, and I went to my car practically dancing!”
When she entered her home, she announced to her husband that she was healed. They knelt together in a prayer of thanksgiving. The doctor was baffled. At the time of her writing she had become the mother of three more children. Her faith had made her whole.
From the journal of Pres. George Q. Cannon, June 28, 1894:
At 2 o’clock we went to the Temple. There were present, beside the First Presidency, President L. Snow. F. D. Richards, F. M. Lyman, H. J. Grant and A. H. Cannon.
Among other business was the reading of a letter from Brother C. A. Christensen, of Ephraim, concerning doctrine that had been taught by Elder F. M. Lyman at a conference in Sanpete, in which he had stated that the Holy Ghost was a personage of spirit and was the son of the Father, just as Jesus and the rest of us were, and that he was like we were before we took tabernacles. This was doctrine that Brother Christensen could not reconcile with the fact that the Holy Ghost was conferred upon the head of every man and woman that complied with the ordinance of baptism.
The reading of this letter led to considerable conversation on this question, and the words of the Lord in the Book of Doctrine & Covenants and in the Book of Mormon were referred to. Brother Christensen’s letter was addressed to me and he wanted me to answer him through the Juvenile Instructor. He is one of the most intelligent and influential Scandinavian Elders in the Church, and I felt that the question was so important that I would like to hear the views of all the Apostles, as far as possible, upon it, as it is a question that excites a good deal of interest in many minds. The conclusion appeared to be this: that as far as the doctrine taught by Brother Lyman, that the Holy Ghost was a personage of spirit, is concerned, that is correct, it being in accordance with the teachings of the Prophet Joseph; but some of us expressed ourselves to the effect that we did not think it prudent, whatever our belief might be, to say that he was the same as the rest of us, with this difference—that he did not have a tabernacle. That might be entirely correct, but there is nothing written on this subject, and it is not necessary, we felt, to teach or discuss it. At the same time, while the Holy Ghost is a personage of spirit, it does not follow that he himself is divided up into thousands of parts when members of the Church are promised the Holy Ghost. I remarked that we all had felt the Holy Ghost rest down upon us in power, and it had burned within us like a fire. We knew because we had been promised the Holy Ghost. There undoubtedly was, nevertheless, a distinction between the Holy Ghost and the Father and the Son, as plainly set forth in the 5th section of the Lectures on Faith. The Prophet Nephi declares that he saw him in the form of a man. I bore testimony also to the brethren that I had heard the voice of the Spirit of God as a man’s voice.
The conversation on this subject was quite interesting, and we all united in our view upon this matter, and yet confessed our inability to fully explain it.[7]
[1] “Divine Revelation,” BYU Speeches, October 15, 1952, 6; hardcopy in author’s possession; audio available at https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/harold-b-lee_divine-revelation/.
[2] “To be on Speaking Terms with God,” Salt Lake Institute of Religion Noon Devotional, October 12, 1973, 11-12; hardcopy in author’s possession.
