Meg's Talk for Sunday on Feburary 28th

"The Light Divine"

Our Conscience (the Light of Christ) is a gift from our Heavenly Father

Description of the Light of Christ

The prophet Mormon described the Light of Christ or Spirit of Christ in Moroni 7:16-17,

"For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge: for every thing which inviteth to do good, and persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.

But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him."

The Spirit of Christ is also called the Light of Christ because as it says in Doctrine and Covenants 84:46 that it "giveth light to every man that cometh into the world."

The more we understand the Light of Christ, the more we will understand about the world we live in and we will have a deeper love for those around us. It can be viewed as a "guardian angel" for every person.

The Light of Christ enlightens our mind as we seek to discover the mysteries of heaven and earth. As President Boyd K. Packer shared it "can enlighten the inventor, the scientist, the painter, the sculptor, the composer, the performer, the architect, the author to produce great, even inspired things for the blessing and good of all mankind."

President Joseph Fielding Smith wrote:

"Those who make these discoveries are inspired of God or they would never make them. The Lord gave inspiration to Edison, to Franklin, to Morse, to Whitney and to all of the inventors and discoverers, and through their inspiration they obtained the necessary knowledge and were able to manufacture and invent as they have done for the benefit of the world. Without the help of the Lord they would have been just as helpless as the people were in other ages."

The Spirit of Christ and the Holy Ghost

President Joseph F Smith taught:

"We often say the Spirit of God when we mean the Holy Ghost; we likewise say the Holy Ghost when we mean the Spirit of God. The Holy Ghost is a personage in the Godhead, and is not that which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. It is the Spirit of God which proceeds through Christ to the world, that enlightens every man that comes into the world, and that strives with the children of men, and will continue to strive with them, until it brings them to a knowledge of the truth and possession of the greater light and testimony of the Holy Ghost."

One of the purposes of the Light of Christ is to prepare. It is there to prepare us to receive the temporary testimony and witness of the Holy Ghost, which is then followed by the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands after we are baptized.

President Boyd K Packer shared, "It is important for a teacher or missionary or a parent to know that the Holy Ghost can work through the Light of Christ. A teacher of gospel truths is not planting something foreign or even new into an adult or a child. Rather, the missionary or teacher is making contact with the Spirit of Christ already there. The gospel will have a familiar 'ring' to them."

And president Joseph Fielding Smith shared, "Every man can receive a manifestation of the Holy Ghost, even when he is out of the Church, if he is earnestly seeking for the light and for the truth. The Holy Ghost will come and give the man the testimony he is seeking, and then withdraw… He may have the constant guidance of … the Spirit of Christ."

Everyone has the Light of Christ, and the Holy Ghost can visit anyone, but the gift of the Holy Ghost can only come through obeying the commandments and being baptized. Our purpose is to help bring souls to the point where the Holy Ghost can visit them, and then in due time they can be baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands.

I would like to share the experience of my Grandma from Scotland and how the Spirit of Christ helped prepare her for the Holy Ghost...

Grandma Valerie Finnegan's Conversion

On a cold and rainy day in Scotland, the missionaries knocked on the door of my grandma's family and my great Gran let them in because she felt sorry for them being out in the cold.

My grandma soon came home from work and was not at all interested in what the missionaries had to share. She thought it was ridiculous that a 14 year old boy could have gone into a grove of trees and come out with the start of the true church.

Her younger sister Evelyn immediately felt the Spirit of Christ fill her soul. My grandma, being the oldest child of 7, was extremely against this and made her feelings known, but Evelyn kept persisting.

Their parents were very concerned, but Evelyn would beg for them to allow her to be baptized. One night when my great grandparents were going from room to room saying goodnight, they found Evelyn kneeling on the floor praying to her Father in Heaven that the spirit of the Lord would touch the hearts of her parents so that they would allow her to be baptized. The next morning they told her that she could be baptized.

Her entire family attended the baptism and my grandma felt a tingling feeling in her heart that she didn't recognize.

After the baptism, the mission president wanted all the members to act as local missionaries. Evelyn immediately began work on my grandma. She would tell my grandma that she needed to practice the discussions and so my grandma would listen as she shared them. My grandma would even tease her about them.

It took a very long time but my grandma found herself completely intrigued by the plan of salvation. The Light of Christ touched her soul and allowed the Holy Ghost to enter in to bear testimony that it was true. Slowly but surely she came to the knowledge that the church was indeed true.

She didn't want to know that it was true, but she came to know with every fiber in her being that it was the true church of our Heavenly Father and she was baptized with 3 of her other sisters all on the same day.

The Light of Conscience

While the purpose of the Spirit of Christ can be shown to us in multiple ways, perhaps the most personal and possibly the most important is how it is expressed as our conscience, or knowing "good from evil".

With the wars, heartache, suffering, anger, sadness, and anguish that are going on in the world around us, I feel that it is vital to understand the happiness that can come from feeling peace of conscience. Heavenly Father wants us to each feel this great blessing. It provides the freedom from all these worldly sorrows and the true foundation of happiness in these last days.

This peace of conscience can only be felt when we live a righteous and obedient life. It comes from what we personally do in our life.

As Richard G. Scott shared a troubled conscience can be, "a constant reminder of the need to correct your past mistakes, to resolve an offense to another, or to repent of transgression… it can be temporarily masked by physical stimulation of the mind and body where one yields to the temptations of alcohol, drugs, pornography, and worse. All this is at the cost of an increased appetite for false efforts to calm an aching conscience with the risk of incurring unrelenting addictions."

There is a better way to bring the Spirit of Christ or a peace of conscience back into our lives. The Lord gave us this blessing of our conscience to help us to succeed in our life and not to feel the never ending anguish for the sins we have committed in the past. The Spirit of Christ gives life and light to all things. It helps us to know right from wrong. It can be brought back into our lives when we properly repent of our sins and transgressions.

When we sin it can cause us true anguish of our mind, heart and soul. Heavenly Father, knowing that we will unintentionally or intentionally commit sin, provided a way for us to replace the anguish or despair, with peace and love. It is by full repentance through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement with obedience to His commandments. It requires action as we follow the familiar steps of confession and abandonment of sin, restitution, obedience, seeking forgiveness, forgiving others offenses against us, and most importantly forgiving yourself.

President Harold B. Lee explained, "That light (or the Light of Christ) never entirely goes out… Its glow may be so dim that we can hardly perceive it, but it is there for us to fan into flame that shall burn brighter with understanding and with knowledge."

Satan wants us to believe that it isn't possible for us to be forgiven of our sins. I testify that the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ made it possible through his Atonement. In Alma 38:8-9 it shares, "And now, my son, I have told you this that ye may learn wisdom, that ye may learn… that there is no other way or means whereby man can be saved, only in and through Christ. Behold he is the life and light of the world."

Jesus Christ gave his life so that we can return to our Father in Heaven. In 3 Nephi 9:21-22 he invited us to come unto him, "Behold, I have come…to bring redemption unto the world, to save the world from sin. Therefore, whoso repenteth and cometh unto me as a little child, him will I receive…; therefore repent, and come unto me…and be saved."

When we have fully repented of our sins, we have been cleaned and we can have a new outlook on life. For those of you that find yourself having a difficult time forgiving yourself for past sins, we must remember the promise of the Lord recorded in Doctrine and Covenants 58:42 when it says, "Behold he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more." Satan wants you to continue to suffer. As Richard G. Scott shared, Satan's "goal is to bind and enslave you. Satan will press you to continue to relive the details of past mistakes, knowing that such thoughts make forgiveness seem unattainable."

He continues to share, "I testify that when a bishop or stake president has confirmed that your repentance is sufficient, know that your obedience has allowed the Atonement of Jesus Christ to satisfy the demands of justice for the laws you have broken. Therefore you are now free. Please believe it. To continually suffer the distressing effects of sin after adequate repentance, while not intended, is to deny the efficacy of the Saviors Atonement in your behalf."

We must replace our suffering with joy, and gratitude for the Saviors love and forgiveness.

In the Gospel Ideals it shares, "It is glorious when you can lie down at night with clear conscience, knowing you have done your best not to offend anyone and have injured no man. You have tried to cleanse your heart of all unrighteousness, and if you put forth precious effort, you can sense as you pray to God…that you are God's child, not a mere cog of the state, but a person whose soul God wants to save. You have the strength, the sense of resistance to evil… You also have the realization that you have made the world better for having been in it." (page 502)

Rich Blessings

I testify that this amazing gift of the Light of Christ was given to us before we were born. It is such a blessing to help us know the good from the evil. It will be with us at every moment and will not leave us even after we leave this world. Every man, woman, child of every nation, no matter what they believe, has the Light of Christ. I know that our Savior lives and He is my dear friend and brother. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.