Nephi teaches us, “…then can ye speak with the tongue of angels, and shout praises unto the Holy One of Israel.” (2 Nephi 31:13)
This has always been a topic of great interest to me. I just read this article, https://mormonhub.com/blog/faith/how-do-you-receive-the-tongue-of-angels/ which is good but there is so much more to it. After the article, I read the comments and was very impressed with the first comment. Don summarized my feelings on the subject so very well.
Comment by Don Sadlier
“A person will not be able to speak with the tongue of angels until they receive the Baptism of Fire. Nephi gave that as a prerequisite:
“Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ, by baptism-yea, by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word, behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost; yea, then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost; and then can ye speak with the tongue of angels, and shout praises unto the Holy One of Israel.” (2 Nephi 31:13)
The problem is that most do not receive the Baptism of Fire thus will not be able to experience it. When one has received the Baptism of Fire they have offecially found the Straight Gate and entered on to the narrow path:
“17 Wherefore, do the things which I have told you I have seen that your Lord and your Redeemer should do; for, for this cause have they been shown unto me, that ye might know the gate by which ye should enter. For the gate by which ye should enter is repentance and baptism by water; and then cometh a remission of your sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost.
18 And then are ye in this strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life; yea, ye have entered in by the gate; ye have done according to the commandments of the Father and the Son; and ye have received the Holy Ghost, which witnesses of the Father and the Son, unto the fulfilling of the promise which he hath made, that if ye entered in by the way ye should receive.” (2 Nephi 31:17-18)
“It is Jesus Christ that told us there will only be a few members that find it:
“For strait is the gate, and narrow the way that leadeth unto the exaltation and continuation of the lives, and few there be that find it, because ye receive me not in the world neither do ye know me.” (D&C 132:22)
“Because of the infrequency that members receive the Baptism of Fire it is a largely misunderstood and unknown event. The event itself takes place just as as recorded in the Bible as happened to Jesus: the Holy Ghost slowly descends through a person beginning at the head, down through the body, and on down to the bottom of feet and to the end of the toes. It is a very glorious, intense sensation. The closest word in our vocabulary in describing it is as a fire within that does not scorch or injure the person. And, just as John witnessed, a message is received from God to the affect of ‘well done; now endure to the end and you shall have Eternal Life’.
“The Baptism of Fire only comes after we have adequately truly repented. But true repentance is another doctrine that is largely misunderstood and that’s why few ever get to the Baptism of Fire. True repentance doesn’t mean refraining from injuring or offending others, or merely refraining from breaking the commandments. It means to turn the heart to God. If we are merely refraining but not changing the heart then we are not repenting no matter what we verbalize.
“What are we to repent of? That’s also misunderstood. Most of assume that we repent of our breaking the commandments. That’s hitting the target but not the bullseye. What we are commanded to repent of is anything we have done that offended the Holy Spirit! When we violated a commandment we have offended the Holy Spirit and, if we had the Spirit, the Spirit withdrew. The withdrawing of the Spirit is our ‘heads up’ that we have offended God and need to repent. If our true desire is to have the Spirit with us all the time then we WILL feel sorrow over having offended the Spirit and will make the necessary changes to never offend the Spirit again.
“Most of us have been to the temple and received a spiritual boost. We feel the Spurit and love the feeling! But after we get home does that same Spirit remain with us at the same intensity? How about the next day, is the Spirit still with us as strong? If not then what is the course of action? For most it is taught to get back to the temple! But the correct answer is to repent! The true repentance will yield that same Spirit in the home and with us personally, 24/7. The lack of earnest desire to get the Spirit back and to maintain the presence of the Spirit is a statement to Heavenly Father that we are not that interested in being with Him because Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are One – we can’t be indifferent toward one without being indifferent toward all of Them.
“As we truly repent we will have the Spirit with us more and more. Our heart and devotion will be toward always having the Spirit with us just as is found in the temple. We will find ourselves living our life so as to never offend the Spirit which yields greater peace and joy. Along the way we will have more experiences of being consumed with the Spirit (the fire within) but don’t confuse that with the Baptism of Fire. All you need to do is ask yourself which part of your body first felt the manifestation of the Spirit and there will likely be no identifiable spot or it will be the heart. With the Baptism of Fire one will unmistakably feel the intensity begin at the head then descend down through the body ‘as a dove’ (notice how they don’t drop like a rock when coming down but rather descend more slowly). One will only receive the Baptism of Fire after they have made a dedicated effort to have the Spirit with them 24/7 and have succeeded. Then a person has finally received the Holy Ghost as ordained to at the time of their confirmation into the church. THEN a person will be able to speak with the tongue of angels.
“What does it mean to speak with the tongue of angels? It happens when one is under the influence of the Spirit and speaks as prompted by the Spirit. What is said is carried to the hearts of EVERYONE with power and authority. Remember Joseph in jail and rebuking the guards? He spoke with the tongue of angels and that’s why it went directly to their hearts and they quivered before him. Remember when Nephi commanded his brothers to help build the ship? That was with the tongue of angels and it was driven right to their hearts whether they wanted to belueve it or not – and they quivered.
“Normally a person has to have the Spirit with them and listening by the Spirit to receive messages spoken by the Spirit (D&C 50:19-22). But when one speaks with the tongue of angels it is driven right to their heart by the Spirit even if they are not trying to receive by the Spirit.”
Also read these two really good articles on this subject.
Image source: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=65D2UX2btoU
Craig
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