“In the Church, an ordinance is a sacred, formal act performed by the authority of the priesthood. Some ordinances are essential to our exaltation. These ordinances are called saving ordinances… Ordinances and covenants help us remember who we are. They remind us of our duty to God. The Lord has provided them to help us come unto Him and receive eternal life. When we honor them, He strengthens us.” (True to the Faith, Ordinances)
When we perform one of these ordinances, it is like making a deal with God; if we promise to keep his commandments and live like his Son, he promises to share all that he has with us after this life. Although many churches believe in baptism, when you make a deal with God, it must be done under his terms, and by his authority—the priesthood—something I’ll explain more later, but there is an interesting scripture that is very important to read, the Lord explains to us the importance of being baptized by the priesthood: “Wherefore, although a man should be baptized an hundred times it availeth him nothing… Wherefore, enter ye in at the agate, as I have commanded” (D&C 22: 2, 4). We also read in the new testament how people who had been baptized before were baptized again because their first baptism had not been according to the way Heavenly Father had set:
“- And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,
- He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
-And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism.
-Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.
-When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 19: 1-5)
- He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
-And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism.
-Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.
-When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 19: 1-5)
The apostle Paul talks about something here that is pretty important. In both this story, and the account of the Savior’s own baptism by Nephi (as well as his apostles), we read of the Holy Ghost. Nephi teaches us more of the vision he had of the baptism of Christ (which I shared earlier):
-Wherefore, I would that ye should remember that I have spoken unto you concerning that prophet which the Lord showed unto me, that should baptize the Lamb of God, which should take away the sins of the world.
- And now, if the Lamb of God, he being holy, should have need to be baptized by water, to fulfil all righteousness, O then, how much more need have we, being unholy, to be baptized, yea, even by water!
- And now, I would ask of you, my beloved brethren, wherein the Lamb of God did fulfil all righteousness in being baptized by water?
- Know ye not that he was holy? But notwithstanding he being holy, he showeth unto the children of men that, according to the flesh he humbleth himself before the Father, and witnesseth unto the Father that he would be obedient unto him in keeping his commandments.
- Wherefore, after he was baptized with water the Holy Ghost descended upon him in the form of a dove.
- And again, it showeth unto the children of men the straitness of the path, and the narrowness of the gate, by which they should enter, he having set the example before them.
-And he said unto the children of men: Follow thou me. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, can we follow Jesus save we shall be willing to keep the commandments of the Father?
- And the Father said: Repent ye, repent ye, and be baptized in the name of my Beloved Son.
-And also, the voice of the Son came unto me, saying: He that is baptized in my name, to him will the Father give the Holy Ghost, like unto me; wherefore, follow me, and do the things which ye have seen me do.
- Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ, by baptism—yea, by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word, behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost; yea, then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost;" (2 Nephi 31: 4-13)
In that scripture, we learn of the importance of being baptized, and of the Holy Ghost. I feel like it is important to talk about the two together right now because one without the other is like half a baptism. You need to have both in order to have a complete baptism. With that being said, I want to explain that having the Holy Ghost is THE greatest blessing that God can give to us while we are here on earth. I feel like I’m making it sound more like an obligation, and although it is completely necessary to achieve salvation, it is the Holy Ghost that is what gives you those feelings of unmatched happiness that I spoke of in my first entry. We receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands by those who have the priesthood after we have been baptized. Honestly, the reason I am writing this blog, is to invite people to come and enjoy that spirit! My life has been so blessed by it. Alma talks about how he has kind of done the same thing, he used to be completely against the church in his day, and actually tried to destroy the church. Here he is talking to his son Helaman about it, and gives at the very end an explanation for all the hard work he has put into trying to share his message with the people:
“3 And now, O my son Helaman, behold, thou art in thy youth, and therefore, I beseech of thee that thou wilt hear my words and learn of me; for I do know that whosoever shall put their atrust in God shall be supported in their btrials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be clifted up at the last day.
4 And I would not that ye think that I aknow of myself—not of the temporal but of the spiritual, not of the bcarnal mind but of God.
5 Now, behold, I say unto you, if I had not been aborn of God I should bnot have known these things; but God has, by the mouth of his holy cangel, made these things known unto me, not of any dworthiness of myself;
6 For I went about with the sons of Mosiah, seeking to adestroy the church of God; but behold, God sent his holy angel to stop us by the way.
7 And behold, he spake unto us, as it were the voice of thunder, and the whole earth did atremble beneath our feet; and we all fell to the earth, for the bfear of the Lord came upon us.
8 But behold, the voice said unto me: Arise. And I arose and stood up, and beheld the angel.
9 And he said unto me: If thou wilt of thyself be destroyed, seek no more to destroy the church of God.
10 And it came to pass that I fell to the earth; and it was for the space of athree days and three nights that I could not open my mouth, neither had I the use of my limbs.
11 And the angel spake more things unto me, which were heard by my brethren, but I did anot hear them; for when I heard the words—If thou wilt be destroyed of thyself, seek no more to destroy the church of God—I was struck with such great fear and amazement lest perhaps I should be destroyed, that I fell to the earth and I did hear no more.
12 But I was racked with aeternal btorment, for my soul was charrowed up to the greatest degree and racked with all my sins.
13 Yea, I did remember all my sins and iniquities, for which I was atormented with the bpains of hell; yea, I saw that I had crebelled against my God, and that I had not kept his holy commandments.
14 Yea, and I had amurdered many of his children, or rather led them away unto destruction; yea, and in fine so great had been my iniquities, that the very thought of coming into the presence of my God did rack my soul with inexpressible horror.
15 Oh, thought I, that I acould be banished and become extinct both soul and body, that I might not be brought to stand in the presence of my God, to be judged of my bdeeds.
16 And now, for three days and for three nights was I racked, even with the apains of a bdamned soul.
17 And it came to pass that as I was thus aracked with torment, while I was bharrowed up by the cmemory of my many sins, behold, I dremembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.
18 Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, ahave mercy on me, who am bin the cgall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting dchains of edeath.
19 And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my apains bno more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.
20 And oh, what ajoy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!
21 Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy.
22 Yea, methought I saw, even as our father aLehi saw, God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels, in the attitude of singing and bpraising their God; yea, and my soul did long to be there.
23 But behold, my limbs did receive their astrength again, and I stood upon my feet, and did manifest unto the people that I had been bborn of God.
24 Yea, and from that time even until now, I have labored without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto arepentance; that I might bring them to btaste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste; that they might also be cborn of God, and be dfilled with the Holy Ghost.” (Alma 36)
“-Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.
-And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. ”(Moroni 10: 3-4)
I just want to invite everyone to go try this. Go READ AND PRAY! I thought for a long time that the Book of Mormon was—although a good book, just that, a good book, and nothing more. I had read it cover to cover when I was younger, but I just did it because that was just how I was raised. It wasn’t until I actually put this promise to the test that I learned that the Book of Mormon was the greatest thing that could ever happen to me. I read and prayed with a true desire to know of its truth, and found out that that promise is no joke. Go find out for yourself!
“-And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.” (Moroni 10: 5)
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