I agree that the ‘light of Christ’ or ‘our conscience’ which we all are born with that helps everyone discern right from wrong deep down, is different then the Holy Spirit which can give us revelation just like the Adversary can give us revelation, both true and false.

But I believe we gain the Holy Ghost or access to the Holy Spirit by keeping Christ’s commandments not because someone in authority blessed us with it. Thus why anyone of any or no religion can gain the Holy Spirit if they truly follow Christ’s commandments.

For 1, Christ surely knew that finding a righteous person was and always is rare and near impossible to do and if people had to find a righteous person who happened to also have ‘authority’, whether 200o years ago or today, in order to gain the Holy Spirit is like trying to find a needle in a haystack, pretty near impossible. For of course if someone had such ‘authority’ they would have to keep all of Christ’s commandments in order to keep such authority and I have never known of such a person or prophet who has proved to be able to do that, except probably John the Baptist, who Christ said was the greatest prophet.

And Christ of course understood that it would be impossible to pass on any such authority from person to person down thru the ages or even person to person today since again, righteous people worthy of such Spirit or authority are so rare it’s hardly possible to find anyone to pass it to.

Even some or all of Christ’s own apostles admitted and found it hard or impossible to keep all his commandments, so surely Christ knew that people around the world would have to have another way to access the Holy Spirit themselves then hoping to somehow come across a righteous person who just happened to have authority too.

For Christ taught us that no one is a true follower of him, let alone a true prophet, (and have any kind of authority) if they don’t keep all his commandments. He said that is how we know false prophets from true ones, etc. And I don’t know anyone in our generation or since Christ who fits that bill. Though I’m sure there have been some few souls who have and do keep his commandments but they are so rare I many never meet one.

I agree. Everyone on earth has the gift of the Holy Ghost (It’s not a Mormon thing), if they don’t ignore it by doing wrong, for then it can grow silent. Then the Adversary come in and makes us feel really at peace or good about doing really wrong things and we think it’s the Holy Spirit still.

Thus why Christ said to ‘test the spirits’ or prophets, to make sure they are teaching truth to us. His commandments being the standard of truth to test by, of course.

I am not LDS anymore, because I believe in Christ’s teachings.

But I learned all that I talked about above in the LDS Church. But I grew up in the LDS Church when it still encouraged people to ‘search, study, ponder and prove all things’ instead of today’s preaching of letting the thinking be done for us by the Spirit or by the Prophet.

Even Joseph Smith was very knowledgeable about how easy it was for him to be wrong or for everyone to be deceived by feelings or false inspiration from what we think is ‘the spirit’ or from angels or prophets, etc.

I have found that most LDS don’t appear to be LDS. And don’t seem to believe or live what their own religion teaches, especially when it comes to Christ.

Glenn

It doesn’t appear you are LDS. If it turns out your are, then you are a different brand than I am.

Feelings and emotion is not at all a reliable way to tell truth from error, or every religion on the planet is just as true as the LDS Church, for countless non-members receive just as strong or stronger revelation and confirmations that ‘their’ church is the only true church or religion.

And as Joseph Smith taught, our feelings, revelation, dreams, visions, visitations, impressions, etc, can easily be from the Adversary or from our own mind as much as from the right Spirit.

The adversary or our own heart or mind can cause us to feel really good and wonderful about very wrong things and very bad and uncomfortable and even fearful of very true and right things.

Everyone, even so called prophets as we have seen in history and in the scriptures is very easily deceived by false revelation and false spirits and falsehoods that can sound so right and feel so good to us, even bringing great joy, peace and seeming love.

The Adversary, like false prophets, leads us astray by telling us 99 wonderful truths while slipping in 1 good lie that hardly anyone ever catches, cause they are so impressed and convinced by all the truths and knowledge they are being taught that they just become very accepting of whatever they are told by what they think is a true prophet or the spirit.

But Christ warned us to ‘test the spirits’ and test those who profess to be true prophets or true followers of Him, by whether or not they teach and really keep his commandments and not something different or contrary. He taught us to prove all things by facts, not feelings, before we believe any precept or person to be true and correct.

But in order to be able to discern by using Christ’s commandments, we would have to study and live them ourselves, which is very rare for anyone to do, otherwise we will easily and unknowingly be led astray by the false prophets and falsehoods that Christ warned that most everyone would fall for, all the while thinking we are righteous and right.

So Christ made it very easy to discern truth from error and true prophets from false prophets, for they will be pretty much perfect, for they will keep all his commandments and only teach his commandments and not add in their own or anything contrary to Christ’s commandments.

But even if we were to ever find such a true prophet, like Jesus said John the Baptist was, (who by the way proved he lived Christ’s commandments like no other prophet in history ever has), Jesus said to not ever follow Prophets or anyone, nor let anyone be your leader but Him. Christ taught that only he could be trusted to lead us correctly and never be wrong. For even true prophets always have the possibility of falling or leading people astray no matter how well intentioned, for everyone usually feels they are right no matter how wrong they may be.