Digital Only: Answers from an Apostle
What Does It Mean to Teach by the Spirit?
We can teach so that people will want to do the things that will let them experience the Holy Ghost over a lifetime.
Adapted from an address given at a seminar for new mission presidents on June 20, 1996
Years ago my sweetheart, Kathleen, and I had the blessing of being in a meeting where two young missionaries were teaching a man in his neighbor’s home. They asked what the man was feeling when they taught him. They hardly had to ask because they knew that all in the room felt the power of the Holy Ghost.
The ward mission leader asked the man to set a baptismal date. The man resisted a little, and so some of us tried to help. We talked about what it might mean to have the companionship of the Holy Ghost. He asked what it was, and we said it is to have Him as your constant companion.
I guess because he was an engineer, he wanted to find out what “constant” meant. He said, “Well, do you feel it like this all the time?” And bless my sweetheart’s heart, because she said, “No. Life is life, and there are times when you feel it this way, but not always.” He liked that because he knew it was honest.
It became clear that the reason he resisted setting the baptismal date was that the Holy Ghost told him what that really meant, and he wasn’t sure he could make that large of a commitment. We persuaded him to show the Lord that he had faith.
His neighbor baptized him, and I conferred the gift of the Holy Ghost.
My Goal in Teaching by the Spirit
When I teach, I don’t think of what I can do to feel the Spirit, nor even what others can do to feel the Spirit. My goal is for people to feel it and to want it so much that they go back again and again and are taught by the Spirit over their lifetimes.
It is not just me teaching you or even just giving you a feeling that you may have the Holy Spirit for this moment, nor is it just an emotion. It is an experience with the Holy Ghost. Then I want you to do the things that would let you have that experience over a lifetime.
I knew if my engineer friend would go on doing what he was doing, he would have light upon light added to him. It is not a moment, nor is it just getting him established in the Church; it’s forever.
A Process, Not an Event
This is a process, not an event, not a sudden feeling. When the Holy Ghost testifies to a person of gospel truth, that leads to obedience. And obedience leads to conversion, the mighty change—all of which are functions of the Holy Ghost.
The Holy Ghost testifies particularly of the Father and of the Son, Jesus Christ, and of the plan that They have for us. When that testimony comes, it leads to a desire to conform to Their will. And when a person conforms and is obedient, then because of the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost performs another function: it is a cleanser and sanctifier.
My goal is that you might be impelled to want to do something to be obedient, because I know that as you do, the Atonement of Jesus Christ will work in your life and you will find the mighty change occurring and you will become the person you want to be.
Keep It Simple
As you teach and testify, keep it simple. The Holy Ghost doesn’t need a lot of help—flowery language and even touching stories. I left out some of the most touching parts of my missionary experience on purpose because I didn’t want to get too fancy. I didn’t want to just pull at your heartstrings. I wanted to just tell you the truth the best I could. That’s what I mean by keep it simple.
The Holy Ghost is a testifier of truth. So if you speak the truth clearly and simply, then it is most likely that the Holy Ghost can testify to the heart of the person you are speaking to. Now, there are certain things that make it more likely that He will testify. So I will end that way.
My Testimony
I know God the Father. Since I have been a little boy, I know Him and love Him, and I know He loves me, and He loves you.
I know Jesus is the Christ because I have felt the power of the Atonement cleansing my life.
I know the Holy Ghost can be a companion because He has been my companion. I know that sometimes you can feel a burning in the bosom that is as real as any physical feeling you will ever have. At other times, I have known that ideas came to me, feelings, inspirations, warnings. I know the Holy Ghost is real and speaks to me and is trying to speak to you.
I know that as we obey those promptings, a mighty change is possible for you and for me, for every person, because Jesus, the Christ, paid for the sins of every person you will ever meet and loves them and has prepared the way. If they can just know the truth and obey, they may have “peace in this [life] and eternal life in the world to come” (Doctrine and Covenants 59:23). Offer that to the children of our Heavenly Father.