11 Times People Glowed Like Jesus/Moses Outside of Scripture
For a baseline – here’s a smattering of scriptural references:
Exodus 34:
29 ¶ And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with
the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he
came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.
30 And when Aaron and all
the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they
were afraid to come nigh him.
That’s Moses lighting up. It happened when he spoke to
Jehovah. Jesus lit up too, ironically, when he spoke to an angelic-messenger
Moses (and Elias):
Matthew 17:
1 And after six days Jesus
taketh Peter, James, and John his
brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,
2 And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as
the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
3 And, behold, there
appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.
The Book of Mormon isn’t left out of this whole human-lighthouse
thing. Abinadi radiated holy light too:
Mosiah 13:
5 Now it came to pass after Abinadi had spoken
these words that the people of king Noah durst not lay their hands on him, for
the Spirit of the Lord was upon him; and his face shone with
exceeding luster, even as Moses’ did while in the mount of Sinai, while
speaking with the Lord.
All this is interesting, of course. But have glowing people ever been
recorded outside of scripture? If you count people who live within a one-mile
radius of active nuclear power plants – yes! If you count people that capsize
their canoe in Puerto Rico’s Bioluminescent Bay – then double yes!
Also – if you count people who have
been caught up in intense spiritual moments – the answer is astoundingly still
yes! Read this Edward Stevenson account (spelling corrected):
“The Prophet [Joseph Smith] stood at a table for
the pulpit where he began relating his vision and before he got through he was
in the midst of the congregation with uplifted hand. I do believe that there
was not one person present who did at the time being or who was not convicted
of the truth of his vision, of an Angel to him his countenance seemed to me to
assume a heavenly whiteness and his voice was so piercing and forcible for my
part it so impressed me as to become indelibly imprinted in my mind....” (http://scottwoodward.org/firstvision_edwardstevenson.html)
The quote
up there is “his countenance seemed to me
to assume a heavenly whiteness.” It says what it says but it’s not overly
explicit. It gets better, as early church member Mary Anne Winters attests:
“I stood close by the Prophet while he was
preaching to the Indians in the Grove by the Temple. The Holy Spirit lighted up
his countenance till it glowed like a halo around him, and his words penetrated
the hearts of all who heard him and the Indians looked as solemn as Eternity” (https://rsc.byu.edu/archived/joseph-smith-prophet-man/14-joseph-smith-and-lamanites)
Well that’s just two people that spoke
of Joseph glowing. Surely they are both mistaken! They are not – as this third
account strongly implies. It involves an account by Anson Call of Joseph Smith
seeing the Rocky Mountains in vision:
“…
and now [I] saw, while he was talking, his countenance change to white, not the
deadly white of a bloodless face, but a living, brilliant white. He seemed
absorbed in gazing upon something at a great distance and said, "I am
gazing upon the valleys of those mountains."”
You see where we’re going with this.
There really are a lot of accounts of Joseph Smith glowing like Moses. Here’s a
shotgun blast of several more accounts:
“In
late 1833, while staying with the Nickerson family, [Lydia Goldthwaite Bailey]
heard Joseph Smith preach and saw his face “become white and a shining glow
seemed to beam from every feature.”” (https://www.lds.org/ensign/1989/01/the-knight-family-ever-faithful-to-the-prophet?lang=eng)
Wilford Woodruff said:
“His
face was clear as amber. The room was filled with consuming fire.” (http://www.ldschurchnewsarchive.com/articles/30867/Conference-moments-With-Spirit-and-power.html)
Philo Dibble reported:
“[Joseph] seemed to be dressed in an element
of glorious white, and his face shone as if it were transparent” (https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/m-russell-ballard_came-kirtland/)
Lorenzo Snow:
“At
times [Joseph] was filled with the Holy Ghost, speaking as with the voice of an
archangel, and filled with the power of God; his whole person shone and his
face was lightened until it appeared as the whiteness of the driven snow.” (http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865663550/What-pioneers-wrote-of-their-impressions-of-the-Prophet-Joseph-Smith.html)
Here’s a good one. It’s from the
ultimate pioneer source Mary Lightner. She really gets specific here:
“The Smith family was driven from New York, and a small church had been
organized. Oliver Cowdery, Peter Whitmer, and Ziba Peterson were members. Well,
I being anxious, though young, to learn about the plates from those who knew
all about it, my mother and I went up to the Smith family the next night after
they came to Kirtland. As I went in, there were two or three others present.
They were all there, from the old gentleman and his wife to all the sons and
daughters. As we stood there talking to them, Joseph and Martin Harris came in.
Joseph looked around very solemnly. It was the first time some of them had ever
seen him.
“Said he, "There are enough here to hold a little meeting."
They got a board and put it across two chairs to make seats. Martin Harris sat
on a little box at Joseph's feet. They sang and prayed. Joseph got up and began
to speak to us. As he began to speak very solemnly and very earnestly, all at
once his countenance changed and he stood mute. Those who looked at him that
day said there was a search light within him, over every part of his body. I
never saw anything like it on the earth. I could not take my eyes off him; he
got so white that anyone who saw him would have thought he was transparent. I
remember I thought I could almost see the cheek bones through the flesh. I have
been through many changes since but that is photographed on my brain. I shall
remember it and see in my mind's eye as long as I remain upon the earth.” (https://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/932967)
“I could almost see his cheek bones through
the flesh.” That’s pretty
powerful. Also note how she says “Those
who looked at him that day said…” Lightner has the only written account I
know of for this incident (I assume there are others), but clearly other
witnesses in the room talked about it.
All thse accounts so far have been accounts only of Joseph Smith glowing. It shouldn't be a surprise, really. After all - he could tell people exactly when they would see angels. But before
we start to think it was only Joseph Smith who ever glowed in these latter days,
look at these accounts. This first one includes Smith glowing with someone else, and the
second includes Smith in the room while someone else glows. The third one is of
a glowing person long, long after Smith died:
From the diary of Oliver B. Huntington, regarding Sarah Conrad:
“Sunday, June 13, 1897- I conversed with one old lady
eighty-eight years old who lived with David Whitmer when Joseph Smith and
Oliver Cowdery were translating the Book of Mormon in the upper room of the
house, and she, only a girl, saw
them come down from [the] translating room several times when they looked so exceedingly white and
strange that she inquired of Mrs. Whitmer the cause of their unusual
appearance, but Mrs. Whitmer was unwilling to tell the hired girl the true
cause, as it was a sacred, holy event
connected with a holy, sacred work which was opposed and persecuted by nearly
everyone who heard of it.
“The girl felt so strangely at seeing so strange and
unusual appearance, she finally told Mrs. Whitmer that she would not stay with
her until she knew the cause of the strange looks of these men.
“Sister Whitmer then told her what the men were doing in
the room above and that the power of
God was so great in the room that they could hardly endure it; at times
angels were in the room in their glory, which nearly consumed them. This
satisfied the girl.” (https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=12246743)
This
wasn’t the only time Lady Conrad talked about this. She also told her grandkids:
“And she said they would go up into the attic, and they would
stay all day. When they came down, they looked more like heavenly beings than
they did just ordinary men.” (https://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/11254763)
This
one comes from another great, early record keeper – Zebedee Coltrin. It shows
someone else glowing when Joseph was not:
“This
appearance occurred about two or three weeks after the opening of the school
[of the prophets]. After the Father had passed through, Joseph told us to again
take our positions in prayer. We did so, and in a very short time he drew our
attention and said to us that Brother Reynolds Cahoon was about to leave us,
and told us to look at him. He (Brother Cahoon) was on his knees and his arms
were extended, his hands and wrists, head, face and neck down to his shoulders
were as a piece of amber, clear and transparent, his blood having apparently
left his veins. Upon the attention of the brethren being thus called to Brother
Cahoon, the change seemed to pass away and Joseph said that in a few minutes
more, Brother Cahoon would have left us, but he came to himself again.” (http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/ZebC.html)
And here’s
the last one – David O. McKay had a glowing experience as related by Hugh B.
Brown:
“President Hugh B. Brown spoke of the burdens President McKay
carried, and then he said,
“"I will give you an example. Recently my phone rang and
President McKay said, "Come in." So I left my office and went into
his. "President Brown," he said, "I've been searching for a
counselor" (This is after the death of President Henry D. Moyle.) "I
have been praying but I have not received an answer. I'm going over to the
temple. I'm going to that sacred room, and I'm going to get my answer."
“My inference was that he wanted President Brown to pray for
him, but he did not say that specifically. President Brown continued, "Sometime
later my phone rang again. President McKay
said, "Come in." I went to the door and it was partly ajar and I
could see him sitting behind his desk." Then president Brown said,
"You know that when Moses descended from the Mount his face shone and "he
wot not", which is to say he did not know that it shone. I saw that on the
face of David O. McKay. When I sat down he said, "President Brown, it has
been made known to me in as clear a manner as anything I've ever received of
the Lord that Nathan Eldon Tanner is to enter the First Presidency. What do you
know of him?" (David O. McKay by Truman G. Madsen beginning at approximately 1:02:40)
David O.
McKay, the ninth President and Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-Day Saints, glowed like Jesus, Moses, Abinadi and Joseph Smith. That is
both interesting and informative.
It is really
a pretty long and impressive list presented – 11 non-scriptural instances of
someone lighting up through their skin. It’s important to note that I don’t
believe any of the listed incidences up there repeat themselves – each being an
account of a different instance of the glow. This list is not all-inclusive by
any means. I don’t know if it would be possible to gather all of the accounts of
the human night lights (reminiscent of the list of people who used/still useseer stones), but it is enough to make you sit back wide-eyed and wonder.
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