Friday, August 2, 2019

Wallace F. Bennett on the "Spirit of God" and the Holy Ghost



The Mormons are careful to distinguish between the Spirit of God and the Holy Ghost. To them, the first is the power and influence that radiates from the personality of God Himself. It reflects His love and will and touches us in much the same way as we are affected by the presence of a dynamic and vital individual. Because God is omnipotent, the influence of His spirit is not limited by time or space, but only by our spiritual capacity to perceive is presence. The Holy Ghost, being also a divine personality, has this same power to project His influence; but His responsibilities are limited and He can only touch the lives of men under certain conditions.

On rare occasions, the presence of the Holy Ghost has been manifest to some who were not necessarily believers—as at the baptism of Christ or on the day of Pentecost. We are told in the New Testament that one occasion He was sent to an unconverted gentile, the centurion Cornelius. But from modern revelation, we learn that He generally comes only to those who have accepted Christ, have become repentant, have been baptized, and have had the Gift of the Holy Ghost bestowed upon them.

The Gift of the Holy Ghost, like other gifts of God to us, is not to be enjoyed without responsibility on our part. It is an opportunity, rather than a right. We are offered the privilege of the companionship of the Holy Ghost, but He can come to us or stay with us only when we are righteous and in spiritual tune with Christ and His precepts and purposes. To enjoy His companionship we must continue to be humble, faithful, and repentant. He cannot perform this mission if we turn away from God. (Wallace F. Bennett, Why I am a Mormon [3d ed.; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1964], 223-24)