A few weeks ago in Gospel Doctrine class, someone asked, “What does it mean that the Aaronic Priesthood holds the keys of the ministering of angels?”
The answer is straightforward: It means that after a long period known as the “dark ages,” angels can once again, by virtue of priesthood restoration, watch over and bless the lives of mortals on this earth.
In the restored Church of Jesus Christ, worthy bearers of the Aaronic Priesthood have the right to the companionship of angels. Even young deacons age 12 to 13 hold these keys and may exercise them when needed. President Gordon B. Hinckley often reminded the youth of the value of this important gift.
Angels minister to church members after faith, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Moroni wrote, “It is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men...” (Moroni 7:37).
The right to the ministering of angels extends to our faithful sisters by virtue of priesthood restoration. Elder Dallin H. Oaks said that all those who hold the Aaronic Priesthood and “who are clean” open the door for all Church members who worthily partake of the sacrament to enjoy the companionship of the Spirit of the Lord and the ministering of angels (Ensign, November 1998).
What do angels do when they appear and minister?The scriptures indicate that angels announce important events, preach the gospel, declare the coming of Christ, declare the words of Christ, and bring to earth the rights, keys, honor, and power of the priesthood. Indeed, the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods were both restored to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery by angels sent from God. The Angel Moroni taught Joseph Smith and showed him where the golden plates were buried.
The term angels may refer both to spirits and to resurrected or translated beings. Today, angels minister by watching over, protecting, warning, and comforting us. They work among us in times of need. President Joseph F. Smith provided further insight about angelic beings:
“When messengers are sent to minister to the inhabitants of this earth, they are not strangers, but from the ranks of our kindred, friends, and fellow-beings and fellow-servants. The ancient prophets who died were those who came to visit their fellow creatures upon the earth. They came to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; it was such beings—holy beings if you please—who waited upon the Savior and administered to him on the Mount. The angel that visited John, when an exile, and unfolded to his vision future events in the history of man upon the earth, was one who had been here, who had toiled and suffered in common with the people of God. … In like manner our fathers and mothers, brothers, sisters and friends who have passed away from this earth, having been faithful, and worthy to enjoy these rights and privileges, may have a mission given them to visit their relatives and friends upon the earth again, bringing from the Divine Presence messages of love, of warning, or reproof and instruction, to those whom they had learned to love in the flesh.” (Gospel Doctrine, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1970, pp. 435–36).
