--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Rey L. Pratt collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 24 number: 4 published: 1921-02 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Rey L. Pratt, "Signs Following the Believer—an Example," *Improvement Era* 24, no. 4 (February 1921): 296–300.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2404unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera2404unse start_page: 296 end_page: 300 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1921-02) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2404unse publication_year: 1921 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1921, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Signs Following the Believer—an Example Signs Following the Believer — an Example' By Elder Rey L. Pratt I am very grateful, my brethren and sisters, that I have the I am thankful to the Lord that privilege of attending this conference. we have inspired men to teach us the principles of the gospel, and I am more grateful than I could possibly express for the gospel that has been restored to us in these days in which we live. I am thankful to the Lord for the gifts and the blessings of it. I am thankful to the Lord that I have a testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel, and that the power of the Priesthood is upon the earth today and I know as I know that I live that the men who stand ; today at the head of the Church are men endowed with the power of the Lord, and they are in very deed prophets, seers and revelators unto the people. I should like to read to you the words of the Savior, for we believe that the gospel restored to us is none other than that set up by him when he ministered among men here upon the earth, and I believe that the same powers and the same gifts and the same blessings follow those who believe and those who minister in his name and by his power. After he had appeared unto his apostles he gave unto them a commandment, as follows: And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. We as a people stand up and bear this message and this testimony in the world. Your sons and your daughters, many of them, are today in the world crying repentance to the children of men, and they are fearless and are boldly declaring to the people that if they will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, have faith in him, and repent of their sins, and be baptized, they will be saved. And just so fearlessly and firmly do they declare that if they will not do so, they will come under the condemnation of the Lord. I believe, my brethren and sisters, that there is no other system in the world, no other plan, no gospel given to man save that which we have that is "the power of God unto salvation." And we declare to the people of the world that these signs spoken of here by the Savior shall follow the believer, and I am *Delivered at the General October Conference. 1920, SIGNS FOLLOWING THE BELIEVER 297 a witness to you today that these things are true. The people of the world among whom we labor believe that the signs followed the be- lievers in days of old. They believe in the miracles recorded in the Bible, in the New Testament but men are wont to tell us in this day ; that we are not living in a day when these powers are made manifest unto the children of men. They believe that the apostles of old had great powers, and ministered unto the restoring of people to health 'and strength that the blind were made to see, the deaf to hear, the ; dumb to speak, and the lame to walk but when we tell them that these ; things are a part of the gospel to us, they are skeptical, and they do not believe, and they do not have faith sufficient to bring these things down upon their heads for their blessing. They believe that the Lord's hand has been shortened and his power has been lessened. But I am glad to say that we can witness before them that these things do exist in the world today through the gospel, as it has been restored and as we enjoy it. There is an account here, in the third chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, of a remarkable healing, that I would like to read to you. This is accepted and believed by the people of the world, I think, because it happened so long ago Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him b> the right hand, and lifted him up; and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him. And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly wondering. And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye nlen of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made the this man to walk. The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up and let him denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to go. As I world believe that this man, although paralyzed, say, the was restored so that he walked with the brethren who had restored point him, by the power of God. Now, do we believe—that is the vital for us to consider—that the same power that rested upon these men Church today? When our little ones are sick, when sick- exisfs in the the same ness comes into the homes, can we call upon the elders with faith as evidenced here, believing firmly that the prayer of faith will heal the sick? Time will not permit me to speak long, but I want to 298 IMPROVEMENT ERA bear you my witness, I have seen many manifestations of the healing power of the Lord. I recall an incident in far off Mexico, where a little girl came into the presence of the elders, having suffered from smallpox, and as a result of that dread disease, a white film had grown over one of her eyes, causing total blindness in it. The elders administered to her and they testify that when she left them, the afflicted eye was as clear as the other one. Last June I was visiting the elders in the city of Laredo, Texas. On Sunday night we held a meeting in a hall we had rented, there being about eighty in attendance, and as Elder Pierce, the presiding elder,was speaking, I noticed a little confusion at the door, and as I looked more closely, saw that it was two persons supporting a man who was paralyzed, and bringing him into the meeting. They placed him on a rear seat, and all listened attentively till the meeting was out. Soon after the meeting was over, all those who had attended dispersed, with the exception of the man referred to and those who had brought him. I approached them and asked them what it was they wished, and one of the men who had helped to bring in the sick man replied We have heard the teachings of these young elders and the claims by them made that the signs shall follow the believers in the gospel which they teach, and we believe what these elders have told us, and that they are endowed with power to lay hands upon the sick and they shall recover. It is our wish that you should lay hands upon this paralyzed man and bless him. The case looked to be a very hopeless one to me, but I said to the elders, "Brethren, the Lord has said that these things can be done, so let us exercise all the faith we can." So we gathered around the man and blessed him, after which we put him in his wagon and sent him on his way home. The next night we held meeting in the same place with about the same sized crowd present. This night the sick man was again present, but came before the services started, and I spoke to him, asking him how he felt, to which he replied, "I feel much better." I am sure I could not see wherein he looked any better, but I have no doubt that even then the Spirit of the Lord was operating in him and that he did really feel better. After the meeting we again blessed him. The next day I left Laredo, visiting in other parts of the mission, and it was ten days before I returned home. On reaching home and looking over my mail, I found a letter from one of the elders in Laredo who had assisted in administering to the sick man. He asked, "Do you remember the paralyzed man ? We have found that he was stricken a year ago, and during that time he has not been able to stand alone or to walk, but today he is walking all over." Brethren and sisters, that did not happen 2,000 years ago, but it was only three months ago. Peter said to the people who marveled when they witnessed the wonderful healing of the paralyzed man at SIGNS FOLLOWING THE BELIEVER 299 the temple gate that it was not by his power, nor that of his brethren that it had been done, but that once again the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had manifested his power through his Son, Jesus Christ. So it was in the case I have related. It was not by my power, nor by the power of my brethren, but by the power of the Holy Priesthood that the paralyzed man was made well. God had once again made manifest his power through the Holy Priesthood and through his Son, Jesus Christ, in the healing of that man. I testify that this is true. About a month ago I visited Laredo again and learned that the sick man, subsequent to his healing had been baptized a member of the Church. He was not so wholly cured that he was able to walk without a cane, but had been walking with the assistance of a cane. On my last visit he asked that we administer to him again and after we had done so, he said, "I feel that I can now walk without the assistance of this cane," and he left the hall walking straight to the door with no assistance, very much to the surprise of all those who saw him. I call your attention to these circumstances in order that our faith may be renewed, and that we may believe that the Lord is the same yesterday, today and forever, and that there is no change, no variation, in him, and that his power and blessings may be made manifest wherever the faith of the people is sufficient to call down these blessings upon their heads. I testify that the Holy Priesthood, by which these things are done, is upon the earth today, just as much as it ever was. I have a clipping here from the Cosmopolitan magazine for the month of August, dealing with this subject which seems to be troubling the minds of some people, and the writer of this article asks, Why is it that we do not find in the religious world today, a manifestation of the power of God in the healing of the sick and in the revealing of his mind and will to man? Why is it that Elijah, Moses and the prophets of old, were able to see beyond the veil and tell the people what they saw, and to do other wonderful and mighty things which modern ministers say cannot be done? He asked the religious world some very perplexing questions which I think would do them good to contemplate seriously. Speaking of the example cited, he said "While these examples may not be of gifts we should class as psychic, , they are instances of power. If the Old Testament is to be taken seriously, man was once in control of universal law beyond the point at which he stands today. But as I have stated, what was once a law is still a law, and if things were ever done, they can be done again. The question naturally arises here as to whether the Old Testament is to be taken seriously or not. If it is not, then its mass of evidence as to universal powers once in the possession of man is worthless. But my appeal in the present series of articles is to those who believe the Old Testament to be the inspired word of truth. If that is so, how are these declarations of power, love, and the sound mind to be treated? Are they to be flatly denied, or deprived of substance by being explained away, or taken as historic? Either man had these powers or he had not. If he had not, shut the Old Testament and 300 IMPROVEMENT ERA banish it from the churches. But if he had, why not seek to recover them? If Moses or Joshua or Peter or Paul of two or three thousand years ago could see beyond the material veil, and tell us what they saw, why cannot the Moses or Joshua or Peter or Paul of the twentieth century do the same? Has it not become a matter of life and death to the whole Christian system that it should demonstrate its possession of power and love and the sound mind by deeds rather than by declarations?" I power of God today work the same miracles ask, can not the that could in the days of old? I maintain that it can, and truly it it seems to me that it has become a matter of life and death to the whole Christian system to demonstrate that it is in possession of this power, and I maintain that if the religious systems of the world continue without incorporating into their systems this power, their whole system will crumble under them and come to naught. I maintain that the Peters and the Pauls and the Joshuas and the Moses of this dispensation, as represented in the leaders of this Church, are endowed with power to look beyond the veil and to reveal to the children of men the thing that the Lord would have them know, and also to work through faith the same mighty miracles that were wrought through the Priesthood by those who held it in times that are past. And I testify that the signs spoken of by the Savior of the world, will follow those who truly believe, in this day, just as much as in the time when the Savior himself was upon the earth. The Little Things We Do The days go by and somewhere over yonder, The hour-glass sifts its sands for you and me, And plans that take our days and nights to ponder, How trite and little all their worth must be The sun shines on with fervor unabating, And every hour sounds the Allah call, Yet you and I would keep the May-time waiting, To dream our dreams that matter not at all. The years pile up and all our yearn and urging Can never wrest one hour from the past, Yet at the very threshold of diverging, We scheme our schemes and know they will not last. The day so big we fill with things so little, Our own big selves we mock with deeds so lame, That rutted there we worry not a tittle, But frit tomorrow's chances just the same. Mesa, Arizona Bertha A. Kleinman