Divine Power Throws Man to Ground and Convicts Him of Sin
Published March 25, 2026 at 3:33 AM
Contributed by
Todd Morgan
Beaumont, CA, 92223
At a Methodist revival meeting, after most of John Lowe Butler's companions had received religious conversions but he had not, he resolved to hide his spiritual seeking from them and determined that if there was religion, he would find it and keep it to himself. As he crossed a room where his friends were rejoicing, a power came upon him that threw him to the ground. Every nerve in him seemed to be numb, and his hands cramped. The first thing he knew, he cried out for the Lord to have mercy upon him. He lay there for about six hours (though it seemed much shorter to him), experiencing a supernatural conviction of sin and the need for salvation. Though he felt calm when he first arose, darkness and the same bad feeling returned to him. This powerful supernatural encounter with divine power was the beginning of his serious spiritual seeking.
In Their Own Words
“They all got in the house and I tarried out for a while and finally concluded to stiffen myself up and keep them from knowing there was anything the matter with me, determined at the same time if there was such a thing as religion to find it and keep it to myself. I started in the house when they were still shouting and when crossing the room there was a power came on me that threw me to the ground and every nerve in me seemed to be numb, and my hands cramped and the first thing I knew I cried for the Lord to have mercy upon me. I lay there for some six hours, but I did not think it more than one. When I came to myself I felt as calm as a summer morning. I arose and went out of the house and walked about, but the darkness and the same bad feeling returned to me again, and I felt that I was a lost sinner and that there was no mercy for me.”
— John Lowe Butler, Autobiography
Sources & References
John Lowe Butler, Autobiography (1808-c.1858), typescript, HBLL; full text: http://earlymormonism.com/john-lowe-butler-1808-1861/ Full first-person account: William G. Hartley, My Best for the Kingdom: History and Autobiography of John Lowe Butler, a Mormon Frontiersman (Salt Lake City: Aspen Books, 1993), 26. http://earlymormonism.com/john-lowe-butler-1808-1861/
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