“Receive The Holy Ghost”

SUN., JAN. 15, 1984, 5:48 AM
FARM, STUDY

To your ears this is a rather ancient, and even spooky sounding imperative, but you also realize that it is accepted vocabulary for these latter day saints with whom you now are sharing spiritual togetherness. In other terms, it means “Be aware… the Holy Spirit is a personal, viable, dependable force, and He is willing to be a guiding, even directing, force in your life… yes, in your life.” Hear more, o son, of what I have to say about this Ghost whom I know so intimately.

This group of Christians simply takes My presence and My offer of help more seriously than most. They have ritualized the receiving of Myself, and you know that I basically approve of rituals. The ritual/ceremony calls sharp attention to the possible reality of and potential help available through Me. Most eight year old boys are not going to begin immediately to have Me as a close personal companion, but for most this whole ceremony will be memorable. Relationship with Me is just going to be a lot more possible and probable than without this focused attention.

And, yes, I shall affirm that the way I come to most persons is as Brother Richards described… not audibly or visibly, and not tangibly as I come to you, but I have ways of getting messages to spirits that are open to My presence and My power. In a way it does have a magical, ghostly quality to it, but this is accented by your culture’s preference for rational, tangible experiences and explanations for experiences. The realms of spirit are more real, diverse, and pervasive than this realm of tangibility, and many people know this in their spirits, but the culture still says, “no ghosts!” (even holy ones).

One story told to young Weston deserves special comment (though each was a legitimate and important encounter with Me). The story involved an Elder who gave a blessing to a sick person, but did not overtly pray for the person’s healing and return to wellness. The story tells that I told that Elder that the person would soon die and be more directly with Me. Hearing this, he did not pray for recovery. The principle is one you know well: I do not heal and bring recovery to everyone… and I make relatively few miraculous rescues from potential tragedy. Oh, I do some “miracle work”, but I get credit for more than I actually change by intervening. Many, many prayers go apparently unanswered, but that’s because the “wrong prayer” has been offered.

Two important truths I reiterate. Human life is important, but it must be balanced with other forms of life here in the earth. The balance is becoming too heavy on the human side, so there must be a rebalancing. “Untimely” deaths must needs be experienced in this time and in the near future. Because the earth needs to be preserved, individual lives must be shortened, even as others, perhaps less obviously worthy, are extended.

The other vital truth meshes with the first. Hardship and tragedy can be food for the spirit of a quality unmatched by good times and long life. To experience the sickness of, the treatment for, and the death from cancer is a potential spiritual experience of much value. Only a few who develop this condition really achieve what spiritual progress is there in potential. Of those who survive, more realize in retrospect what growth has occurred than do so during the active process of dealing with a cancerous loved one.