Three Nephite Sightings

[Rain]

28 minutes ago, ZealouslyStriving said:

Moroni 7:27

"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased because Christ hath ascended into heaven, and hath sat down on the right hand of God, to claim of the Father his rights of mercy which he hath upon the children of men?"

Would you please share why you posted this?

[Calm]

23 minutes ago, Pyreaux said:

Well, I'm certain 80% of the time its indeed just members or even total strangers listening to the spirit and timely helping out. Like if it happened on Christmas, I don't think Santa Claus literally exists, but I'm not sure there wasn't ever a Santa, or there are no Christmas miracles that happen, even material blessings, by some sort of actual divine being that may as well be Santa, even though 80% of the time is just kind people willing to take no credit and it gets attributed to Santa. I do like to think the world may have more in it we don't see.

My guess would place it more at 99%.  I just think it’s too big of a benefit for us mortals to help out, someone like the 3 Nephites or a true Saint/Santa wouldn’t need those kinds of blessings, so God would give the opportunity to those who need it.

[Bernard Gui]

2 hours ago, Rain said:

It's interesting that all the stories are easy things the 3 can do.  Sit in a car for a few minutes.  Give someone a blessing.  You never hear about the hard things they can do like spend heartbreaking hours, day after day after day, helping people in rehab.  I know some people would bring up aging pr something, but realistically, they could stick around for a few years and no one would know they weren't aging.  

“….Clemente would tell the children of his being in trenches with soldiers…..”

Edited June 26, 2025 by Bernard Gui

[ZealouslyStriving]

58 minutes ago, Rain said:

Would you please share why you posted this?

Because it seems that some here accept miracles in scriptural days, but can't wrap their head around the fact of the miracle of translated beings in our day. 

Seemed germane.

Edited June 26, 2025 by ZealouslyStriving

[Pyreaux]

2 hours ago, Calm said:

My guess would place it more at 99%.  I just think it’s too big of a benefit for us mortals to help out, someone like the 3 Nephites or a true Saint/Santa wouldn’t need those kinds of blessings, so God would give the opportunity to those who need it.

I was allowing for 80% the most claims of seemingly miraculous interventions are certainly just 'unidentified human' interventions. Reserving 20% to allow any type of non-human, angelic interventions, even if suspiciously ordinary. We are told angels walk among us, ministering to us, of which we are mostly unaware.

"Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." (Hebrews 13:2)

 

Edited June 27, 2025 by Pyreaux

[Rain]

57 minutes ago, ZealouslyStriving said:

Because it seems that some here accept miracles in scriptural days, but can't wrap their head around the fact of the miracle of translated beings in our day. 

Seemed germane.

Could it be they accept modern day miracles, but just don't believe that everything that other people think is a miracle is always a miracle?

Edited June 26, 2025 by Rain

[ZealouslyStriving]

32 minutes ago, Rain said:

Could it be they accept modern day miracles, but just don't believe that everything that other people think is a miracle is always a miracle?

To be clear... I'm not speaking of being dubious of some/many/most incidents claimed as intervention of translated beings, but the scoffing at the very idea that there are actual translated beings that could, in fact, intervene.

Edited June 27, 2025 by ZealouslyStriving

[Rain]

24 minutes ago, ZealouslyStriving said:

To be clear... I'm not speaking of being dubious of some/many/most incidents claimed as intervention of translated beings, but the scoffing at the very idea that there are actual translated beings that could, in fact, intervene.

I don't think anyone is actually scoffing at it are they?  Just more stating they don't believe it.  At least that's how I'm reading people, but maybe I'm wrong.

[Calm]

3 hours ago, Pyreaux said:

We are told angels walk among us, ministering to us, of which we are mostly unaware.

And in LDS doctrine angels are simply those who are God’s messengers and can be mortal in my understanding.

Quote

At least that's how I'm reading people, but maybe I'm wrong.

I am open to the idea, so not scoffing.

Edited June 27, 2025 by Calm

[Calm]

6 hours ago, Rain said:

Could it be they accept modern day miracles, but just don't believe that everything that other people think is a miracle is always a miracle?

Define what a miracle is.  Do we believe God’s miracles break the laws of nature or just appear to because lack of our God’s superior knowledge and skills?  My understanding is LDS doctrine is the second.  It would make sense that as we learn more of the laws of nature, less things become labeled as miraculous in our eyes.

Edited June 27, 2025 by Calm

[MustardSeed]

Hi, my name is Mustardseed. I experience miracles on the regular. 

Edited June 27, 2025 by MustardSeed

[bluebell]

12 hours ago, Calm said:

Define what a miracle is.  Do we believe God’s miracles break the laws of nature or just appear to because lack of our God’s superior knowledge and skills?  My understanding is LDS doctrine is the second.  It would make sense that as we learn more of the laws of nature, less things become labeled as miraculous in our eyes.

In this context I wonder if 'caused by divine intervention' is a necessary part of the definition of the type of miracle that Moroni is speaking of?  That doesn't preclude the miracle continuing to function according to natural laws we don't understand of course.  

[marineland]

On 6/26/2025 at 11:07 AM, Stargazer said:

"The Savior told John that he would “prophesy before nations, kindreds, tongues and people” and become “as flaming fire and a ministering angel [and] minister for those who shall be heirs of salvation who dwell on the earth”

Was Billy Graham one of his manifestations?

[Stargazer]

5 hours ago, marineland said:

Was Billy Graham one of his manifestations?

I doubt it, but how would I know?  

Actually, it appears that those who wander the earth in this capacity do not self-identify. 

I guess I will use a former TV series to explain further. Do you remember "Highway to Heaven"? Michael Landon starred as Jonathan Smith, a "probationary" angel going about on "assignments" to correct problems people were having. The only person aware of his actual status is a retired policeman, Marcus Gordon (played by Victor French), and he went about with him helping give assistance to people in need. 

So there you have a type or example for John and the Three Nephites. 

Is this so hard to believe? Paul advised that we should entertain strangers, because sometimes they are angels.

Edited June 27, 2025 by Stargazer

[Stargazer]

On 6/26/2025 at 7:44 PM, Calm said:

I do believe there are times when the Spirit speaks directly to us.  I have had it happened, I believe, three times.  The first was “your daughter has diabetes”.  There was always a very significant purpose to it though.

I've had that happen as well. 

Years ago I was reading a book written by Elder Dallin Oaks, "The Lord's Way," and something he wrote suggested to me that I needed to document my spiritual life. Either for my own remembrance, for my descendants, or for some other reason. So I went ahead with the project, and at 73 I think it is largely finished. There may yet be more to document, but that's unpredictable. I started with a brief autobiographical note, then went on to my conversion story. 

 

[JAHS]

A general authority many years ago told an experience he had as a Seventy. He was supposed to speak at a ward sacrament meeting so he traveled there and realized he was late because the meeting had already started. So he decided to just walk up and take a seat on the stand. Then another speaker said something that made him realize he was in the wrong ward meeting, so he got up and left. Later there was a buzz going around in the stake that that ward had a visit from one of the three Nephites. 😂

Edited June 29, 2025 by JAHS

[marineland]

On 6/27/2025 at 5:29 PM, Stargazer said:

I doubt it, but how would I know?  

Actually, it appears that those who wander the earth in this capacity do not self-identify. 

I guess I will use a former TV series to explain further. Do you remember "Highway to Heaven"? Michael Landon starred as Jonathan Smith, a "probationary" angel going about on "assignments" to correct problems people were having. The only person aware of his actual status is a retired policeman, Marcus Gordon (played by Victor French), and he went about with him helping give assistance to people in need. 

So there you have a type or example for John and the Three Nephites. 

Is this so hard to believe? Paul advised that we should entertain strangers, because sometimes they are angels.

I remember the show. I don't recall Jesus or the gospel being mentioned though. 
Instead of God, the term "Boss" is used. The focus is more on universal values 
like kindness, redemption, compassion, and hope.  In short, many lanes (religions)
on the highway to heaven.

[CV75]

I have three graphite writings

[Tacenda]

I'm inept with a lot of things in the church, and the three Nephite's story escapes me. The only thing I know is that they never die and may be walking the earth today. Back when my first child was blessed in Sacrament Meeting, there was a mysterious man who came into the church building and went to the stand and sat down. No one around me knew who it was, and nothing was mentioned from the pulpit either. Someone near me on the bench said maybe it's one of the three Nephite's, lol. I guess I better not be lazy and look it up, plus I was not good at reading my scriptures, but loved the Ensign/New Era/Friend so something came through.

[Tacenda]

On 6/28/2025 at 7:32 PM, JAHS said:

A general authority many years ago told an experience he had as a Seventy. He was supposed to speak at a ward sacrament meeting so he traveled there and realized he was late because the meeting had already started. So he decided to just walk up and take a seat on the stand. Then another speaker said something that made him realize he was in the wrong ward meeting, so he got up and left. Later there was a buzz going around in the stake that that ward had a visit from one of the three Nephites. 😂

Oh my goodness, I barely posted about a man who did this in my ward when it was my first child's blessing day, same thing happened and we wondered if it was a third Nephite. Now I solved the puzzle.

[Tacenda]

On 6/26/2025 at 10:03 AM, Stargazer said:

LOL, one of my daughters once said something similar about unusual spiritual things.

Although I feel the need to point out that when the three Nephites were called to that service, Christ was among them.

It's a perfectly good and appropriate word for the topic. Definition of weird from the Cambridge dictionary: "very strange and unusual, unexpected, or not natural" 

Here's another weird something...

Our chapel here in Worthing, England, apparently has a ghost. Or poltergeist, I don't know which. My wife told me about a time over twelve years before when she was there alone one day. She was the Primary president getting something or other ready for Sunday. She heard a voice say "Hello!" quite distinctly, but there was nobody there. She had heard of previous minor "spookings" I guess I will call it, and figured it must be the ghost. She was a bit disconcerted, and decided to leave then and there. What do I think about that? Something odd happened when I happened to be there by myself just a few years ago, so I am not a complete unbeliever in that regard. It also doesn't worry me. 

As for the three Nephites, when I re-read the chapter of the Book of Mormon that Mormon wrote to tell about them, I get a spiritual confirmation of the story's reality. To start with, why couldn't it be true? John's own testimony about his promise from the Lord in the gospel of John says something similar to that of the Nephites, and Elijah was carried into heaven in a chariot of fire, not tasting of death. There's precedent, at least. 

After reading your comment, my mind went to the sightings of "Big Foot", and some are really convincing. 

[Teancum]

On 6/24/2025 at 12:34 AM, Pyreaux said:

Three Nephites

To begin, The Three Nephites come from 3 Nephi 28 in the Book of Mormon. Jesus Christ arrived in the Western hemisphere and chose Twelve Nephite disciples, grants nine of His disciples the desire to come quickly to Him after death, but three request to remain on Earth until His Second Coming (similar to the apostle John 21:20–23). Christ blesses them to tarry in the flesh until his second coming (3 Nephi 28:4-9), they can show themselves unto whatsoever man seems to them as good. There is an ever-increasing body of stories circulating among the people of three or two strangers, sometimes in white, who suddenly appear (not miraculously but no one sees to know where the come from) to individuals in physical distress, helps them solve their problems, and then suddenly disappear the way they came, not to be seen again. Like three big guys protect a woman, healing illnesses, leading a person to a difficult to find library book or family history resource.

"Translated" State: Temporary Immortality, they aren't quite Resurrected Beings. When they do resurrect, they won’t suffer pain or death as mortals do. Immune to prison, fire, wild beasts, and other harm. Freedom to travel and preach to all people.

LDS Folklore and Legends:

Over time, many unofficial stories arose in the early LDS and testimonies emerged of mysterious strangers doing good deeds that are ultimately attributed to the Three Nephites. These stories usually feature: 1-3 strangers, helping someone in need; often stranded travelers, struggling farmers, missionaries, etc. The strangers disappear mysteriously after the good deed. The upon retrospection the helped person realizes the man was “not ordinary”—perhaps even divine. The tale often become secondhand or thirdhand folktales. You know someone who knows someone.

Common settings include: Frontier Utah life, early LDS missionary efforts elsewhere, natural disasters or life-threatening situations. Remote places with no plausible help nearby.

Usually in disguise, they are only identified by their unidentifiability and their elusiveness. Three Nephites never identify themselves and disappear, no records. Usually they'll present as missionaries. Yet they don’t eat, rest, or stay, unlike normal missionaries. There are thousands of Three Nephites stories collected by folklorists like William A. Wilson. BYU and other LDS institutions have recorded many of these, showing how faith and folklore blend.

Eastwood Hatton and the Three Nephites

 

My family has a Three Nephite account.  Somewhere in bath county Kentucky. I don't remember the year, before the World Wars, but the family remembers it clearly. Young Eastwood Hatton is gravely ill. Then, without warning, two LDS missionaries appear at the door on foot. Only say they were there to bless Eastwood.

They enter the home, lay hands upon Eastwood’s head, and give him a blessing in the name of Jesus Christ. When the blessing is over, they leave quietly, walking away the same direction they came. Eastwood recovers completely. No one knows where they came from, nor where they went, and are never seen again. Attempts to track down the missionaries evidently fails. The family believes these men were not ordinary missionaries, but possibly even two of the Three Nephites. Their sudden arrival, the healing, and the vanishing without a trace all point to something divine. The story has passed down through the family.

So, How 'boutit?

Have any of you have an encounter with the Three Nephites or heard of a story in your family about the Three Nephites or mysterious visitors who helped someone and disappeared without a trace? I’d love to hear if your family has similar stories. If you aren't LDS, perhaps you've met an angel, or The Wandering Jew, or St. John. Please share if you’re comfortable.

Are you actually serious?  Do you really believe that there are three humans the existed a few thousand years ago that are sill running around doing some sort of deeds?  Interesting that the three Nephites never identify themselves. Seems pretty convenient doesn't it? I think your chance of running into elves, hobbits and orcs are about the same odds as running into the three Nephites or John the Beloved.😉

[bluebell]

31 minutes ago, Teancum said:

Are you actually serious?  Do you really believe that there are three humans the existed a few thousand years ago that are sill running around doing some sort of deeds?  Interesting that the three Nephites never identify themselves. Seems pretty convenient doesn't it? I think your chance of running into elves, hobbits and orcs are about the same odds as running into the three Nephites or John the Beloved.😉

If a religion believes and accepts that someone can come back from the dead in an immortal body, which will never die again, after suffering all of the sins and pain and sorrows of the entire human race since the beginning of time, and then that person will resurrect all of those people as well, are the three nephites really that big of a jump?  

(also, my speech to text wrote “three knee fights” and I laughed out loud at that visual)

[Calm]

3 hours ago, Teancum said:

Are you actually serious?  Do you really believe that there are three humans the existed a few thousand years ago that are sill running around doing some sort of deeds?  Interesting that the three Nephites never identify themselves. Seems pretty convenient doesn't it? I think your chance of running into elves, hobbits and orcs are about the same odds as running into the three Nephites or John the Beloved.😉

I am not a fan of 3 Nephite stories, but just speculating here as to whether or not it is so far fetched to have those with extended, protected life spans.

Assuming God exists (we can even simply define him as an extremely advanced being) and he has massive (won’t even call it perfect to put it in a more practical frame) knowledge due to existing eons (we can also ignore the spiritual side of things), wouldn’t he have a sufficient knowledge of human anatomy and medicine to remove aging effects and be able to increase the body’s own healing process to accelerate healing of injuries from accidents?  That would leave death by massive injuries still needing to be avoided in order to survive, but if his medical knowledge is advanced to the point he can bring people back to life, even that might not be an issue.  

If we can imagine the possibilities of the away team for Star Trek where they had individual force fields to protect from injury, transporter beams to remove them immediately from danger, I speculate that God—with his millions of years more to think of and then experiment and create devices—could create much more effective ways of doing the same thing.

I don’t see it as an impossibility if we first assume there is a God watching over humanity’s development on earth…whether there is anything spiritual or perfect about him or he is a very advanced being, possibly a human creating more of his kind for whatever reason….makes sense to me it could be done with enough advanced science and medicine.

Edited July 2, 2025 by Calm

[Pyreaux]

5 hours ago, Teancum said:

Are you actually serious?  Do you really believe that there are three humans the existed a few thousand years ago that are sill running around doing some sort of deeds?  Interesting that the three Nephites never identify themselves. Seems pretty convenient doesn't it? I think your chance of running into elves, hobbits and orcs are about the same odds as running into the three Nephites or John the Beloved.😉

I don’t believe every reported UFO is an alien spacecraft either, but neither do I think all of them are weather balloons and hoaxes. I'd take it a little more seriously. Dismissing everything unusual just because it's not wrapped in a press release isn't critical thinking, it’s just convenient skepticism. The Three Nephites, like many spiritual phenomena, not every story is authentic, but that doesn’t mean none are. The fact that they don’t identify themselves isn’t ‘convenient’, but it’s consistent with the broader theme of divine interventions being subtle, and often only recognized in hindsight. Mocking people who’ve had experiences you haven’t had is hardly intellectual rigor.

Your comparisons to elves and hobbits just echos of Dawkins New Atheism to dismiss people who report their experiences and historical documents as fairy tales just because they’re hard to verify, regardless of context, evidence, or tradition. That’s not skepticism, that’s laziness. It saves you from having to actually engage with what people are claiming, the context of those claims, or why they persist across generations. Flattening everything into mockery so you don’t have to think too hard, and a shortcut to feeling superior to others by pretending all mystery is stupidity.