Evidence Fifty-Four:
“Mighty Prayer”©
Introduction:
This morning in my personal study time before Church I made what has to be one of the most remarkable spiritual discoveries in my almost seventy-five years of mortality. I am presently working on two projects. First, I have been making a study of prayer. At the moment I am studying the prayers in the Old Testament. Second, I am embarking upon what looks to be an intensive and long, perhaps three or more years long study of 3 Nephi. This morning the two projects converged.
As I worked on 3 Nephi 1:11-12, I decided to examine the idea of “mighty prayer” suggested by the statement in verse 12 that Nephi “cried mightily unto the Lord, all that day.” I brought up my trusty Bible search software WordCruncher and typed “mighty prayer” in the search line and hit enter. To my great surprise and shock, the phrase does not appear in the KJV of the Holy Bible! Really? If, I would have asked you how many times you thought the phrase “mighty prayer” existed in the Bible, my guess is that your response would be something like mine and that of my wife–“Oh, maybe a half dozen times.” But no. It isn’t in there at all. Astonishing!
Almost nothing in the Bible:
So I tried other phrases. “Pray mightily.” Nothing. “Prayed mightily.” Nothing. “Cried mightily” is in Revelation 18:2, but not in reference to prayer. “Cry mightily unto the Lord.” Same result “Cry mightily unto God” shows up one time, in Jonah 3:8. This comes from the king of Nineveh when his people accepted Jonah’s warning, and the king said, “But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.” So the Bible is not without the concept, but it is hardly prominent. Many of the commentaries I checked for this verse said nothing about “cry mightily unto God.” Most were concerned with the syntax of the verse and sought to make it clear that the king was not advocating that the beasts were crying mightily unto God. Thus, there is only one peaked reference in the Bible to this potent idea.
When I turned to the Internet I was confident that some preacher or minister or some other Bible believing soul would have given a sermon or written a blog about mighty prayer. But almost nothing here either! Moreover, anything I could find, did not use a Biblical passage as a text upon which to build the idea. Can you believe it? It is probably because the concept is not prominent in the Bible.Is it possible this is a new religious idea? I really doubt it.Surely in the 6,000 years plus history between Adam and 1830 when the Book of Mormon was published, someone somewhere has discussed “mighty prayer.” But if they have, there isn’t much indication of it on the Internet as of mid-July 2018.
Another side to the coin:
There is, however, another side to this coin. The phrase “mighty prayer,” and similar phrases mentioned above, do appear in modern scripture. Surprisingly, most of them are in the Book of Mormon. Here is a breakdown. The phrase “mighty prayer” may be found six times in the Book of Mormon and twice in the Doctrine and Covenants. It is in 2 Ne. 4:24; Enos. 1:4; Al. 6:6; 8:10; 3 Ne. 27:1; Moro. 2:2; D&C 5:24; and 29:2. “Cried mightily” is found in Mos. 29:20 in reference to prayer; and 3 Ne. 1:11-12. “Prayed mightily” is in Al. 2:28 and 46:13. “Cry mightily to God” is in Mosiah 21:14". Cry mightily to/ unto the Lord” is in Mosiah 9:17; 11:25; and Morm. 9:6 (see the variation here).
It is obvious that the Book of Mormon champions the idea of “mighty prayer” and those who engage in it. This is in stark contrast to the Holy Bible. It appears that the Lord wanted the concept of “mighty prayer” to be a significant element in the Restoration of the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
All of this, of course, leads to a rather obvious question. If the Book of Mormon is not a translation of an ancient sacred record; if it is a whole-cloth creation of Joseph Smith alone; if it comes from one whom many enemies characterize as a Satan-inspired religious knave, impostor and immoral megalomaniac, why does it contain the very specific, very righteous, and very important idea of “mighty prayer” which is only barely hinted at by a pagan king in the Bible? It is one more evidence to me of the divine nature of his call as a prophet/translator whom the Lord used as his instrument to begin the restoration of the fullness of the everlasting Gospel in the last days.
A follow-up question surfaces. Is it possible this is one of those “plain and precious” things that Nephi tells us was left out of the Bible?
Let’s think together again, soon.
