Stop Trying? Really?

 “You’re Number One today, so you can stop trying.” That was the greeting I received yesterday in the brothers dressing room at the Mount Timpanogos Temple from one of the ordinance workers who was assigning the lockers. (I got assigned to locker F-1). I went there for an endowment session with my daughter Emily, then later we went to her home so she could trim my silver locks.

That greeting has stayed trapped at the frontal lobe of my brain for the last twenty-four hours. I haven’t been able to shake its implications since I heard it.

Of course, he was simply using an analogy (if that’s what it was), but I can’t help wondering if we ever reach a point in our eternal progression where we “can stop trying.”

Since it’s timely, and the World Series starts tonight (it’s October 25, 2024), think about what’s going through the brains of the players on the field for the Dodgers and the Yankees. Each won their respective NLCS and ALCS championships as the Number One teams in their respective National and American Leagues, but don’t think for one minute that anyone on that field tonight is thinking their work is done. Each is still trying to win the World Series, because finishing second just isn’t an option.

And that’s true across the board in every sport. Being Number One is always the goal, and nothing less will satisfy. 

I can’t help reflecting on why we learn so little about the Telestial and the Terrestrial Kingdoms in the scriptures. Instead, our Father in Heaven reveals A LOT about Celestial Glory, particularly the highest degree of the Celestial Kingdom. Why? Because He’s interested in showering upon us ALL that He has upon conditions of repentance. Nothing less will satisfy His hopes for each of us.

It’s why President Russell M. Nelson seems so fixated upon the temples these days. He is preparing a kingdom of mortal people for the Celestial glory that awaits the faithful in these latter days. He teaches about the atonement of Jesus Christ as the key to obtaining those glorious blessings. The Savior died for us in a voluntary sacrifice for our sins, and when we repent of our sins He saves us and qualifies us for eternal life. President Nelson is ignoring EVERYTHING else. If he were a gambling man, we would say he is “ALL IN” on his bet on the Savior. 

He invites us to keep trying to obtain eternal life. I can’t imagine him ever saying to any of us, “You’re Number One now, so quit trying.” I envision him as Number One among us mortals, certainly, but do I think President Nelson is done trying? He’s 100 years old now, and he continues trying to expand our faith, our vision for the future and our eternal prospects. And I suspect he will continue doing so until he draws his last breath on this planet.

Yesterday I was drawn to the story of Amulek. I reflected on this prophet’s life as I read in the Book of Mormon in the chapel while I was waiting for the session to begin. He became Alma’s missionary companion (start reading about him in Alma 8). An angel stopped Amulek along the road one day, and instructed him to return to his home where he would meet a prophet of God who was hungry and needed Amulek’s sustenance. He was told Alma would bless him and his whole posterity if he would be obedient.

Amulek proved to be a blessing for Alma, and together they had much success among an extremely wicked population of the city of Ammonihah in those days, not unlike what we are witnessing in the world today. They kept trying, nevertheless, even though the record gives little doubt Alma was rejected - the scripture states they “reviled him, and spit upon him, and caused that he should be cast out of their city” - so he was abused and imprisoned for his efforts. Alma had given up the position of chief judge among the people so he could become a full-time missionary. Because he no longer held the “title” he was rejected by his tormentors, but still he kept trying to bring as many souls to Christ as he could.

And that’s just one example from scripture - there are scores more. 

I will be forever grateful to living prophets among whom I have lived. I have a testimony of the priesthood authority and the power that goes with it if we are true and faithful. 

Just this week I witnessed it in my brother, who was initially diagnosed with acute occlusions in two of his heart arteries and was scheduled for an installation of stents. He asked for a priesthood blessing from his two brothers and his son-in-law. He asked me to be voice, but I was merely a conduit to the heavenly throne of our Father in Heaven. 

An angiogram is a scan that uses X-rays, CT scans, or MRIs to examine blood vessels and blood flow in the body. A contrast dye is injected into a blood vessel to make the blood vessels visible on the scan. When my brother's angiogram was performed, the doctors were surprised by the finding. The occlusions, instead of being in the 90% category as originally diagnosed, were found to be in the 20-30% range and did not qualify for insertion of stents. The minimum threshold protocol calls for 50% occlusion. What’s the explanation for such a wide dichotomy on the findings?

My brother was blessed by priesthood power. He will be the first to tell you he received a miracle from his Heavenly Father. If he continues to be mindful of his ongoing genetic tendency toward heart disease and takes precautions, his life will be extended. His faith in God will also be a companion to his medical care taking.

These principles I have written about this morning are real, and they are as efficacious in our year of 2024 as they were in the year 62 B.C. when Amulek and Alma were trying to bless their people with the gifts of the gospel.

I love each of you, and I encourage you to never stop trying in all your righteous endeavors. Heavenly Father is the epitome of good in our lives, and is the True Number One in our universe. 

He will never stop trying to bless us with everything that is good for our blessing and the blessing of those we serve. It’s what He does, and He has always done it. So must we as His emissaries across the globe wherever we are called to go and minister.

Like Amulek, if we remain true and faithful our entire posterity will be blessed.

A Thousand Million Gazillion

This will seem a little frivolous to some, given the tendency I have to being serious most of the time, but I will proceed anyway.

The fall is heralding the changing of seasons as a harbinger of winter that won't be far behind. The temperatures are moderating too, reduced to the 70s and 80s in contrast to the 90s and 100s of summertime. I even saw a light dusting of snow the other night.

But nothing can compare to the onslaught of houseflies that has invaded my living space when they seem to materialize from nowhere. Their numbers are what prompted the title of today's post. Keep your comments about satire and hyperbole to yourselves. I have no idea if that number is even a reality, but it gives some approximation of the fantasy world in which I am living. I suppose they are seeking what little remaining heat may be found indoors. They seem to prefer climbing all over the inside of the windows when the sun is out.

So all of that said, I went searching in an attempt to find some useful purpose that the common housefly might offer to humankind like me. Here's what I discovered this morning in a simple Google search.

Houseflies play several useful roles in the environment, including: 

Waste management

Housefly larvae can break down a wide range of decaying organic matter, including household waste and animal manure. This helps recycle nutrients and reduce the amount of waste that ends up in landfills. 

Food source

Housefly pupae are a food source for many animals, including birds, reptiles, and insects. Maggots are also used as bait by freshwater fishermen and as feed for tilapia. 

Pollination

Flies pollinate many cultivated crops, including apples, strawberries, carrots, onions, bell peppers, black pepper, and coriander. 

Wound treatment

Maggots can be used to treat gangrenous wounds without antibiotics. Sheep blowfly larvae can be used to treat diabetic ulcers, bedsores, and other wounds. 

However, houseflies can also transmit pathogens and are a nuisance to livestock. The most effective way to control housefly populations is to use an integrated pest management approach that targets both adults and larvae. 

Flies can be harmful to humans and animals in a number of ways, including:

Disease transmission: 

Flies can carry and spread pathogens that cause diseases like food poisoning, dysentery, cholera, typhoid fever, and more. They can contaminate food and surfaces by landing on them, regurgitating, and defecating.

Biting: 

Some types of flies, like mosquitoes, can bite humans and other animals to feed on their blood, which can transmit disease.

Economic losses: 

Flies can cause economic losses.

Nuisance: 

Flies can be a nuisance pest. Flies are attracted to rotting animal and plant waste, which can contain pathogens and parasites. They can also be found around pet waste, which they can carry bacteria from to other places. 

* * *

I can accept that there may be useful purposes for houseflies, but (and this is a BIG BUT) - I draw the line when I find them climbing into bed at night with me. 

So, having done my due diligence to satisfy my curiosity, I can clearly state I am in the category this morning of attempting to control housefly populations. I routinely spend an inordinate amount of time vacuuming up both dead and live houseflies. If you ask me to estimate the number of houseflies I have dispatched to the hell from whence they came into my home during this fall season, my conservative estimate is a thousand million gazillion to date and that's where I lost count.

For wholesale destruction of houseflies, I recommend the use of a fly bomb. My product of choice is always the Hot Shot, distributed by Spectrum Group, a division of United Industries Corporation in St. Louis, MO. It's a simple-to-use fogger you can find at your local grocery store in the pest control aisle. (That tells you all you need to know about categorizing houseflies). It comes in a handy spray can. You hit the trigger at the top after making certain all the windows and doors are closed, then evacuate for three hours. You will return to your home to find at least a thousand million gazillion dead flies everywhere and blessed silence prevails in your home.

Take out your vacuum and commence sucking them all up. It's a task, but compared to putting up with all the annoyance it's a small price to pay for your reclaimed independence, believe me. 

I have looked over the list of useful purposes the common housefly might provide, as cited above, but for me the best houseflies are the dead ones. I have learned that it only takes one male and one female to produce hundreds of larvae, so don't be surprised if you have to repeat the use of the fogger. It's worth it. 

There's another sure cure for ridding yourself of houseflies. 

It's called WINTER. 

"Few, If Any. . ."

I’m awake this morning at 6:00 a.m., still basking in the afterglow of our shared sealing session last night in the Orem Temple. My dear friend Hank Nelson, along with his wife Kristy who was seated at the sealing desk in the office, conducted the session at my request. 

It was a heavenly outing for me, exactly what I prayed it would be. We had 19 of our family members, including Harold and Catherine, acting as proxies for 44 of our deceased ancestors. We sealed couples and children to parents. It was a happy time for all who attended, and some silent tears were shed in acknowledgement of the rich outpouring of the spirit that attended us. I noted every teardrop that fell in quiet reverence.

I will add that I also noted son-in-law Clark’s temple shoes, originally owned by President Harold B. Lee, then by me, now by Clark, and I pondered anew where those shoes have been and what they have surely seen. He first wore them when he was a newly-sustained Apostle in 1941 on April 10th. Their tattered and well-worn appearance testified anew to me of the true calling of living prophets. To qualify for ownership of those shoes one must be a proper size 9, and Clark and I both qualified.

Our session went a little late, since we were the last group to occupy a sealing room last night. We exited the temple in darkness, but a group of young adult young women snapped this picture for us as a treasured memory. 

There are those who have asserted over the years in the Church that we don’t really know whether or not the departed spirits of our family members will accept the proxy work we do in the temples, but I have a different view. 

I remembered this following statement last night, and suggested it to daughter Dianne as we rode down the elevator after the session had concluded, then I checked the reference this morning:

President Wilford W. Woodruff

“’All who have died without a knowledge of this Gospel, who would have received it if they had been permitted to tarry, shall be heirs of the celestial kingdom of God; also all that shall die henceforth without a knowledge of it, who would have received it with all their hearts, shall be heirs of that kingdom, for I, the Lord, will judge all men according to their works, according to the desire of their hearts.’ [D&C 137:7–9.] So it will be with your fathers. There will be very few, if any, who will not accept the Gospel. … The fathers of this people will embrace the Gospel.” (Millennial Star, May 28, 1894, 339–40, emphasis mine).

Brigham and Wilford in St. George Temple

At the time, President Wilford W. Woodruff had lived to witness the construction of the first four temples in Utah, and dedicated the magnificent Salt Lake Temple that took 40 years to build. He and President Brigham Young had worked in tandem in St. George to fulfill the Prophet Joseph’s request to arrange the temple ceremonies more accurately, and that is exactly what they did.

“President Young has said to us, and it is verily so, if the dead could they would speak in language loud as ten thousand thunders, calling upon the servants of God to rise up and build Temples, magnify their calling and redeem their dead.” (Deseret News: Semi-Weekly, March 26, 1878, 1).

“If [we] knew and understood the feelings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and those of his brethren associated with him, and the feelings of the millions of the human family who are shut up in their prison houses, we would not tire. … We would labor for the redemption of our dead.” (Deseret News: Semi-Weekly, October 26, 1880, 1).

“The eyes of the heavens are over us; the eyes of God himself, the eyes of every Prophet and Apostle in the spirit world, are watching you, watching this Priesthood, to see what they are doing and what they are going to do. It is of far more importance than we realize and comprehend. Let us awake to the ordinances of the House of God and do our duty, that we may be justified.”  (In Conference Report, October 1897, 47).

Think for a moment how powerful Wilford Woodruff’s statement is that there would be few, if any, of our deceased ancestors who will not accept the fulness of the gospel in the spirit world. 

Those, for example, who rejected the Book of Mormon in this mortal life will surely be attending a class somewhere in the spirit world taught by the Lamanites and the Nephites and all the other “ites” mentioned in the record. Imagine the surprise on the faces of those recalcitrant spirits who hear their firsthand testimonies in the spirit world and ask yourself how they could possibly resist any longer. 

I am a great believer that repentance and progress occurs in the spirit world. We certainly believe people can change here in mortality because we have witnessed it. So why not believe people can and do change in the spirit world? I KNOW they do.

President Russell M. Nelson

It’s why our living prophet today, President Russell M. Nelson, now nearing this 100th birthday on September 9th, is the very embodiment of the leadership President Woodruff foresaw in the building of temples worldwide. And we are living witnesses of the fulfillment of the prophecies of President Woodruff.

“Eternal progression” is a concept that is often misunderstood, more so in years gone by than it is today. I have always valued the perspective of Brigham Young on this topic:

“Instead of pleading with the Lord to bestow more upon you, plead with yourselves to have confidence in yourselves, to have integrity in yourselves, and know when to speak and what to speak, what to reveal, and how to carry yourselves and walk before the Lord. And just as fast as you prove to him that you will preserve everything secret that ought to be — that you will deal out to your neighbors all which you ought, and no more, and learn how to dispense your knowledge to your families, friends, neighbors, and brethren, the Lord will bestow upon you, and give to you, and bestow upon you, until finally he will say to you, ‘You shall never fall; your salvation is sealed unto you; you are sealed up unto eternal life and salvation, through your integrity.’” (Discourses of Brigham Young, 93).  

I have assurances borne to me by the Holy Ghost that we are in the correct path leading to exaltation and eternal life in the highest degree of the Celestial Kingdom. I can never hear those inspired words of the temple sealings without my whole soul reaching out to my Heavenly Father and longing for the fulfillment promised in those sacred ordinances. 

Patsy Goates

I pondered all night last night what Patsy must have surely been feeling as she witnessed her posterity doing that sacred service. I’ll bet she was certainly assisting “at the veil” and hugged and kissed each one we served. Her spirit filled me with that assurance as I laid my head on my pillow later.

Thank you, each one of you in my posterity, who participated. We have done our small part in reaching out to the “ones” who President Nelson invited us to search out and bless with the promises of eternal life. Do not despair or lose faith in family members who may not yet have accepted the gospel. Remember these promises permeate every stage of our existence and hope on without reservation or doubt. These are BIG ideas, truly, and they require BIG and CONTINUING faith in their fulfillment. 

Our forefathers for whom we serve in the temples are the seminal trees from which we sprang - they are the roots and we are the branches. Those roots will flourish when nurtured and groomed with the message of the fulness of the gospel in the spirit world. 

I love you all now and eternally. We will never be separated in this life or the next because of our faith and our faithfulness. We are bound together by sacred and enduring covenants, the keys to which are held by living Apostles and Prophets.

What Is Your Best Advice for Raising Children?

The first thought when I saw this question this morning was, “Well, I’d do it just the way we did it.” I’m not kidding here, because all I have to do is judge our efforts by the results. We raised awesome (not perfect but awesome) children. And we were together in that endeavor. We would all have to credit Patsy for her prodigious contributions in raising our children. It’s a team effort in parenting, I believe.

To answer the question more directly I would quickly add this perspective: Heavenly Father is probably the best role model we could offer as an example of powerful parenting. Here are some of my humble observations about how He goes about raising His children:

1. He offers moral agency to His children right off the jump in the Garden of Eden. He lets them choose for themselves. He gives them choices to make and encourages good choices with ample (I would say almost unfathomable) opportunities coupled with incredible promises that perpetuate themselves into the eternities ahead. There are no limits in His plan. He tells His children “All that I have is yours on conditions of obedience.”

2. He makes ample provisions for failure. He knows all things in advance and He makes allowances for our mistakes as children. He doesn’t pace up and down in the vast expanse of the universe wringing His hands and fretting and worrying about the poor choices we make as His children. No, He has provided His Beloved Son as a Savior who has paid “the uttermost farthing” in answering the demands of the laws we have broken upon the condition that we repent. Then He forgives and He forgets without reservation and He remembers our sins no more. He allows for our growth and maturity.

3. He never micromanages our decisions. He in essence gives us the keys to drive the family vehicles, insures against the losses that may ensue, and gives us a wide enough berth to stretch our wings. Even as our premiums increase He remains calm, trusting in His gospel truths that have stood the tests of time in a universe full of other worlds and other children. He encourages the expanding of our opportunities, knowing we have it within us to excel because He trusts the Parentage that brought about our existence in the first place. He teaches us correct principles, and then allows us the space in which to put those principles into action. In short, He allows us to expand naturally and normally without fear of a few fender-benders. Miraculously, in our family there were plenty of totaled vehicles, but no fatalities.

4. Psychologists will confirm that the human mind is not fully developed until well into the twenties, and that’s usually when our children are out of our homes. They may have harbored resentment as teenagers at the way they were raised, but in time as maturity sets in there is often forgiveness as they become parents themselves and they conclude their parents did a pretty good job of raising them. Then they learn how to forgive the trespasses of their own teenagers and we see a sweet pattern of ongoing development that leads to outcomes for which we hope.

5. So what’s my profound advice for raising children? It’s simple really - trust in God's plan of salvation. It’s what we assented to in the pre-existent council in heaven. Sometimes in the pressure of the moment we are tempted to abandon all hope in the exigencies we confront, but the path I would advocate is the covenant path that has stood the test of time worlds without end.

***

I salute each of my married children, self-styled as "The Goates Kids," for the work they are doing as parents. They are outstanding examples of all that is good and right in today’s fractured world. So many of them are seeing others who are struggling and who have left the Church for a myriad of reasons of their own making. But I advise that they continue in the path - they are true and faithful to that which they know to be true. 

To all of us, I encourage that we trust in those feelings and those answers to your prayers as they present themselves to you. When you are living by the guidance of the Holy Ghost, you will have all the assurances you need to move ahead with confidence. 

Most importantly, you can trust your children. Let them spread their wings and experience life on their own. Continue to teach them, love them unconditionally, point them to their Savior for redemption when they need His healing in their lives, assure them all is never lost and that all will be well with them when they seek the truth.

Be comforted and inspired by these words:

And our father Adam spake unto the Lord, and said: Why is it that men must repent and be baptized in water? And the Lord said unto Adam: Behold I have forgiven thee thy transgression in the Garden of Eden.

Hence came the saying abroad among the people, that the Son of God hath atoned for original guilt, wherein the sins of the parents cannot be answered upon the heads of the children, for they are whole from the foundation of the world.

And the Lord spake unto Adam, saying: Inasmuch as thy children are conceived in sin, even so when they begin to grow up, sin conceiveth in their hearts, and they taste the bitter, that they may know to prize the good.

And it is given unto them to know good from evil; wherefore they are agents unto themselves, and I have given unto you another law and commandment.

Wherefore teach it unto your children, that all men, everywhere, must repent, or they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God, for no unclean thing can dwell there, or dwell in his presence; for, in the language of Adam, Man of Holiness is his name, and the name of his Only Begotten is the Son of Man, even Jesus Christ, a righteous Judge, who shall come in the meridian of time.

Therefore I give unto you a commandment, to teach these things freely unto your children, saying:

That by reason of transgression cometh the fall, which fall bringeth death, and inasmuch as ye were born into the world by water, and blood, and the spirit, which I have made, and so became of dust a living soul, even so ye must be born again into the kingdom of heaven, of water, and of the Spirit, and be cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only Begotten; that ye might be sanctified from all sin, and enjoy the words of eternal life in this world, and eternal life in the world to come, even immortal glory;

For by the water ye keep the commandment; by the Spirit ye are justified, and by the blood ye are sanctified;

Therefore it is given to abide in you; the record of heaven; the Comforter; the peaceable things of immortal glory; the truth of all things; that which quickeneth all things, which maketh alive all things; that which knoweth all things, and hath all power according to wisdom, mercy, truth, justice, and judgment.

And now, behold, I say unto you: This is the plan of salvation unto all men, through the blood of mine Only Begotten, who shall come in the meridian of time.

And behold, all things have their likeness, and all things are created and made to bear record of me, both things which are temporal, and things which are spiritual; things which are in the heavens above, and things which are on the earth, and things which are in the earth, and things which are under the earth, both above and beneath: all things bear record of me. (Moses 6:53-63).

Let those words of scripture sink deeply into your hearts as parents. Trust in them, trust in your children, and trust in God our Eternal Father who really does know what is best for us. He is our divine Exemplar when it comes to parenting. 

As we learn to think like Him, we become more like Him in our decisions as parents. Let the scriptures become so familiar to you that you reflect their outcomes in your family lives here and now. 

These ancient words from prophets are real, they are true, and they are the stuff of which eternal lives are made now and forever.

Being "Born Again" - Alma's Teachings

I was once seated many years ago next to our stake patriarch outside the bishop's office while we waited to be interviewed for our temple recommends. He was a wonderful man in his mid-eighties still going strong. In a whimsical mood, I dared to ask him, "Brother Nelson, do you ever lose the desire to sin?" To which he responded with a wink, "Never the desire, only the ability." I've thought a lot about that response. To be truly born again is to submit willingly, not kicking and screaming when old age overtakes us.

And that is the process of true born again conversion. It is not a one time event. I have spoken to people who can give me a date and a time when they were born again. However, what is more accurate is to say we gradually grow into a powerful testimony obtained from the Holy Spirit when that member of the Godhead tells us that the work of God on this earth and in the spirit world and in the resurrection is true, and his great function in that field is to bear testimony of the truth.

For example, at seven weeks old when our youngest child, Adrienne, died unexpectedly in the night, there was burned into my soul by the power of the Holy Ghost a firm and unshakable conviction that the literal resurrection of her body (and by extension all of ours) would allow her to come forth from the grave someday, and that death could claim no permanent victory. When other much-beloved family members have died, similar droplets of testimony were vouched safe to us -- we knew then, and the witness grows stronger with each passing year we will someday see them and be reunited beyond the grave. The Holy Ghost is the source of those powerful assurances as the Testator bears witness to our souls.

Beyond the witness, we are cleansed from sin and are born again and become converted to the truth when we receive the constant companionship of that member of the Godhead. Remember, it is an invitation to accept a gift from our Father in Heaven of the Holy Ghost, not an automatic berth in which we repose without effort on our part to comply to the terms of the covenant. Each week in the sacramental prayers on the bread and water symbols we covenant to remember Christ's atonement for us so that we may always have the Spirit of the Holy Ghost to be with us. (D&C 20:77; 79).

It goes without saying that nobody actually has that companionship of the Holy Ghost all the time, because no one is perfect and no one lives in the ideal and perfect state consistently. But we are admonished by the Spirit continually to do the very best we can, and to get enough of the companionship of the Holy Ghost to have our sins burned out of us as though by fire. And that is what we mean when we say "the baptism of fire," meaning the baptism of the Holy Ghost. That is symbolism that means dross and evil are being burned out of us as thoroughly as if a fire were set ablaze within us. It is the only way to become a new creature, as Alma explained.

So you become "born again." You become something new -- a new creature. There has been a discernible if not a complete change. There has been a true conversion. In the past you walked after the manner of the world, but now you walk as becomes a saint of God. 

The question is often asked, and sometimes we become discouraged, and sometimes we wonder, "How do I know that this change is happening?" My answer is that there are token payments made in spiritual confirmation that may not seem like much as they happen, but the fact that they are happening routinely in your life means you are becoming a partaker of the divine nature (see 2 Peter 1:4), even though you may not be in the Spirit every waking moment of your life -- the tokens you receive -- the "still, small voice" experiences along your journey -- are ample evidence that you are on the strait and narrow path leading toward eternal life despite your remaining imperfections.

We are a testimony-bearing people. Everywhere and always in our meetings somebody is saying, "I know that the gospel is true, or I know the Church is true, or I know the plan of salvation is true." The ultimate expression of knowledge is to get the witness that we are true. This is sound and this is good; Joseph Smith even went so far as to say, "This is good doctrine. It tastes good. I can taste the principles of eternal life, and so can you." (TPJS, 355). I love that way of expressing it! This is the way things ought to be. We ought to bear testimony nearly all the time, because when we bear testimony it strengthens the testimonies of other people. We are then partaking of a delicious meal together, feasting at the ample banquet table of the Lord. We get to dispense the tokens of eternal life to one another by the power of the Holy Ghost!

Sometimes it is more important to bear testimony than it is to teach doctrine. We have each had experience with that. Some do not have a strong doctrinal or scriptural foundation, but they are pillars of power in testimony. Don't ever excuse yourself from an expression of testimony because you may fear your lack in doctrinal horsepower. Bear testimony of the things the Holy Ghost has revealed to you. Remember what Joseph Smith said: "It is one thing to see the kingdom of God, and another thing to enter into it. We must have a change of heart to see the kingdom of God, and subscribe the articles of adoption to enter therein. No man can receive the Holy Ghost without receiving revelations. The Holy Ghost is a revelator." (TPJS, 328). The doctrines can be accumulated in due course.

I'm always intrigued with Alma's sudden and miraculous 180 degree turnaround. His testimony was acquired suddenly, instantly. It is not always thus. We may have testimonies without being converted. But all of us ought to be in the process of getting converted — and it is a process.

A person may get converted in a moment, miraculously. That is what happened to Alma the younger. He had been baptized in his youth, he had been promised the Holy Ghost, invited to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, but he had never received it. He thought himself superior in some way -- too knowledgeable, too sophisticated. He went off with the sons of Mosiah to destroy the Church and to do away with the teachings of his father, who in effect was President of the Church. He was fighting in opposition to the truth. He was like the college freshman who thinks he knows more than the Lord because he has learned a little science, and he may think the theory of evolution is more fact than the mere testimony of his parents. Alma was immersed in his rebellious state when this miraculous new light came into his soul. He was changed in an instant from his fallen and carnal state to a state of righteousness. His conversion is what the parents of wayward children dream about and hope for their own.

However, do not be deceived. This is not the way it happens with most people. With most of us true conversion, being born again, is a process. We go timid and furtive step by step by step, degree by degree, level by level, from a lower state to a higher, from grace to grace (see D&C 93:12-20 that describes this beautifully), until the time we can recognize within ourselves that we are wholly turned and passionately more interested in righteousness than wickedness. This means we gradually overcome -- one sin today, another sin tomorrow.

We perfect our lives by the power of the Holy Ghost building our altars of sacrifice brick by brick. I always liked the way Elder Neal A. Maxwell expressed it: "Real, personal sacrifice never was placing an animal on the altar. Instead, it is a willingness to put the animal in us upon the altar and letting it be consumed!" (Ensign, May 1995, 68). We daily sacrifice our tendency to do wickedly. We do it by offering up our moral agency, the only really unique gift we can give back to God, since He has imbued us with everything else already. The conversion process goes on until it is completed, until we become, literally, as King Benjamin admonishes, saints of God instead of natural men (Mosiah 3:19).

We overuse a word in the Church: striving. It's useful only if we recognize that striving is not arriving. What we are striving to do is to be converted. It is not enough to have a testimony. We read in D&C 76:71-80 about the terrestrial kingdom. And it says that those who are not valiant in the testimony of Jesus, do not obtain the kingdom of our God. If people who are not valiant in testimony go to the terrestrial kingdom, who is it that goes to the celestial, which is the kingdom of God? Obviously, the way you go to the celestial kingdom is to be valiant in testimony. I think it means we are working at it. Too often we see those who assent with their lips that the Church is a good idea, that it's a good way of life in which to raise a good family. We engage in a wishful "going along to get along" lack of commitment kind of fuzzy thinking. Instead, we need to make of our religion a working, living thing in our lives. The way we measure our performance in whether we are truly striving or just thinking we have arrived is embodied in three expressions: "Strengthen thy brethren," "Feed my sheep," and "Keep my commandments." (See John 15:7-14; 21:15-17; D&C 76:5-10).

Here's a self-correcting test proposed by Elder Bruce R. McConkie:

Try a little test on yourself. You know you have a testimony; that is not open to question. You already know the work is true. Are you converted? Have you been born again? Read the fifth chapter of Alma for the recitation of the tests [Alma poses 42 questions for your consideration] that tell a person whether he has been born again and how he knows. You know if you have been born again, or you know the degree to which you have been born again; it is the measure to which you keep the commandments and feed the Lord's sheep and strengthen your brethren. In other words, it is the measure of your involvement in the things of the Spirit, in the things of the Church.

Religion is not just a theological matter. It is not just a matter of analyzing some passages of scripture and coming up with some conclusions. Religion is a matter of doing something.

"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world" (James 1:27). That is two things. It is involvement and service, which means righteous living. It is visiting the fatherless and the widows; it is strengthening your brethren; it is keeping the commandments, being thereby unspotted from the world.

Religion is a thing that has to live in the lives of people, and hence all these expressions to the effect that we show our faith by our works (James 2:18), and that we are not hearers only, but doers (James 1:22), or should be. You can be a hearer if all that is involved in religion is this matter of theology, of studying and analyzing passages of scripture. But you are a doer if you get religion into operation in your life. You are a hearer, in part at least, if all that you have is testimony. But you become a doer when you add to a testimony this pure conversion of which we are speaking. Peter is the classical example, as long as we understand that in the experiences of his life he was as he was because the Holy Ghost had not yet been given in full.

The Holy Ghost has been given in full in our day in the sense that the companionship of that member of the Godhead is available to us.

We want to be involved in the things of the Spirit. We do not want to sit on the sidelines and look in at some people who are converted. We want to be converted and participate in religion; we want to feel the promptings of the Spirit; we want to work miracles. We want to heal our sick; we want the gifts and graces that God gives the faithful. And they come when we get involved in the religion that he has so graciously and beneficently given us in this day. ("Be Ye Converted," BYU First Stake Conference, 11 February 1968).