The Holy Ghost- A Guide to All Truth

Guide to All Truth- A talk by Leon H. Jackson
While preaching in the wilderness of Judea, John the Baptist declared, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire” (Matt. 3:11)
Sometime later, in speaking to his disciples of the Holy Ghost, Jesus said: “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine. Therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall give it unto you.” (John 16:13-15)
How does one receive the Holy Ghost and the baptism of fire, spoken of by Christ? What are the functions of the Holy Ghost? And how may he alter our lives?
Lorenzo Snow- June 1836
What are the reasons why Lorenzo Snow received a baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost? He understood that the scriptures promised those who obeyed the gospel that they would be baptized with the Holy Ghost. His assurance in the scriptural promise was such that he expected to receive this baptism. He desired to receive it. He was honest and mature in his spiritual desires and was baptized by one having authority.
John the Baptist came preaching “the preparatory gospel; which gospel is the gospel of repentance and of baptism, and the remission of sins, and the law of carnal commandments…” If those principles and the ordinances that terminate in baptism for the remission of sins constitute the preparatory gospel, the question may be asked, For what does it prepare man? Among other things, the preparatory gospel prepares him for the gifts, endowments, and blessings of the Holy Ghost. It is in the manifestations of the Holy Ghost that the gospel is given to man.
To see the nature and importance of the baptism of the Holy Ghost it is necessary to understand that the Holy Ghost is a spirit-being of glory and power. One of his special functions is to bear witness to the divinity of Jesus Christ. When his power and influence is visibly manifested to man, it has the appearance of a divine fire. Thus on the day of Pentecost the power of the Holy Ghost appeared as cloven tongues of fire. This was the baptism of the Holy Ghost, which is sometimes called the baptism of fire, or the baptism of the Holy Ghost and of fire.
If baptism of water is an actual immersion of the earthly element, the baptism of fire, must in like manner, be an actual immersion in the heavenly element of glory. Both baptisms are essential to man’s salvation. By the first, man’s sins are washed away; and by the second, he is purified from the effects of sin and filled with the light and truth of God’s glory.
Having promised his disciples the Holy Ghost, Jesus later “breathed on them, and saith unto them, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost” (John 20:22) It is apparent from the scriptures that he also gave the apostles power to give the Holy Ghost to others. For instance, when Philip, who held the lesser Priesthood, converted and baptized many people in Samaria, he sent for Peter and John, “who, when they were come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost”. The record continues, “Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost”. Likewise, when Paul found some at Ephesus who professed to be disciples, he inquired, “Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?” When they confessed that they knew nothing about the Holy Ghost, Paul had them rebaptized. “And when Paul had laid his hands upon them,” the scripture states,”the Holy Ghost came on them and they spake with tongues and prophesied”.
The Book of Mormon also states that to the Nephite Twelve, Jesus gave power to give the Holy Ghost to others. Of the procedure they were to follow in doing so, Christ said: “Ye shall call on the Father in my name, in mighty prayer; and after ye have done this ye shall have power that to him upon whom ye shall lay your hands, ye shall give the Holy Ghost; and in my name shall ye give it, for thus do mine apostles" (speaking of the apostles in Palestine).
The Book of Mormon gives explicit examples of the extent to which man may receive the divine endowments of the Holy Ghost in the gospel. Some time prior to Christ’s appearance upon the western hemisphere, two faithful Nephite missionaries were laboring among the Lamanites when they were thrown into prison. Because of their faith, the Lord intervened in their behalf when the Lamanites came to kill them, and the Lamanites found “that Nephi and Lehi were encircled about as if by fire, even insomuch that they (the Lamanites) durst not lay their hands upon them…. Nevertheless,” the record continues, “Nephi and Lehi were not burned; and they were as standing in the midst of fire and were not burned.”
Having beheld this marvelous manifestation, the Laminites began to exercise faith in God. As they did, they were given an endowment similar to that which Nephi and Lehi received. The record states,”…behold they saw that they were encircled about, yea every soul by a pillar of fire. And Nephi and Lehi were in the midst of them; yea, they were encircled about; yea, they were as if in the midst of a flaming fire, yet it did not harm them, neither did it take hold upon the walls of the prison, and they were filled with that joy which is unspeakable and full of glory. And behold, the Holy Spirit of God did come down from heaven and did enter their hearts, and they were filled with fire, and they could speak forth marvelous words.”
The question may be asked, what about us today? Can we receive the Holy Ghost in the same measure as the Nephites did?
The New Testament teaches that all who believe in Jesus Christ, repent of their sins, and are baptized for the remission of sins should receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. This is the message of the gospel that Christ’s apostles taught. On the day of Pentecost, Peter declared, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." The gift of the Holy Ghost was to be given to as many as the Lord should call to embrace the gospel. Peter made no exceptions.
Unless man receives the manifestations and blessings of the Holy Ghost, he does not receive the positive benefits and powers of the gospel. Joseph Smith stressed this point when an inquirer asked, “May I not repent and be baptized and not pay any attentions to dreams, visions, and other gifts of the Spirit?” In his reply the Prophet likened the endowments of the Spirit to the food man must partake to sustain the physical body and cause it to grow, concluding that in like manner, the manifestations of the Holy Spirit are necessary to sustain man in righteousness and mature the divine nature or glory of God, within man.
By receiving the Holy Ghost, man is placed upon that path that leads to the full endowments of God’s glory in the world to come. Nephi wrote, “For the gate by which ye should enter is repentance and baptism by water; and then cometh a remission of your sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost. And then are ye in this straight and narrow path which leads to eternal life.”
By definition, eternal life consists of being endowed with the glory of the highest degree in the celestial Kingdom. When man is given the full endowments of the Holy Spirit so that he is glorified in the celestial world, he thereby possesses eternal life. To attain eternal life, man must receive the Holy Ghost and continue to partake of its divine fruits, gifts, and powers until he goes on to receive the highest rewards in the Celestial Kingdom.
The baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost constituted a major difference between the old covenant that God established with Israel through Moses and the new covenant that Christ brought. Here may be seen on the one hand, the challenge that confronts those who believe in Christ, and the other hand, the blessings they are offered. Speaking of the covenant of the gospel, Jeremiah prophesied that the time would come when God would make a new covenant with his people. Of the new covenant, he quoted the Lord as saying, “I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts.”
The apostle Paul spoke of this new covenant and declared that each individual who embraced it became a living epistle of Christ, “written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone (as was the old covenant God gave to Israel by Moses), but in the fleshy tablets of the heart.
Nephi declared that God “is the same yesterday, today, and forever,’ and that the Holy Ghost “is the gift of God unto all those who diligently seek him, as well in these times as in times of old, and as well in times of old as in times to come." By receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and applying the laws of the gospel in our lives, we may all be sanctified by the powers of the Holy Spirit and develop such a spiritual union with Christ that his glory and power will be manifested in all we do. This is what it means to follow Christ, for he is a divine being in possession of the glory and power of his Father; and it is his desire to develop his divine truth and power in man. The basic channel through which the truth and power of God’s glory is given to man, is the gift of the Holy Ghost.
In the name of Jesus Christ- Amen