August 2006 Ensign - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

48
I repeat, to be baptized and to receive the Holy Ghost—
link those two together.
All I say is evident and outlined in section 20 of the
Doctrine and Covenants (see vv. 41–43, 45, 68).
There are also some other references where this
message is affirmed (see Acts 8:12, 14–17;
D&C 33:11, 15; 36:2; 39:23; 49:13–14; 55:1;
68:25; 76:51–52; Articles of Faith 1:4).
Joseph Smith said, “The baptism of water,
without the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost
attending it, is of no use; they are necessarily
and inseparably connected” (History of the
Church, 6:316).
Baptism of Fire
I want to talk to you about the baptism of
fire and the Holy Ghost. I also want to talk to
you about angels.
“When they were all baptized and had come
up out of the water, the Holy Ghost did fall
upon them, and they were filled with the Holy
Ghost and with fire” (3 Nephi 19:13).
An excerpt from another verse teaches that
this will come “if it so be that ye believe in Christ, and are
baptized, first with water, then with fire and with the Holy
Ghost, following the example of our Savior” (Mormon 7:10).
Again, there are two parts to baptism—baptism by
water and baptism by fire or the Holy Ghost. If you separate
the two, as the Prophet Joseph Smith said, it is but
half a baptism.
Communication from the Holy Ghost
How does the Holy Ghost communicate?
There is an example in 1 Nephi chapter 17 where Laman
and Lemuel had been brutal to Nephi. They, in fact, had tried
to take his life. In due course he said to them: “Ye are swift
to do iniquity but slow to remember the Lord your God. Ye
have seen an angel, and he spake unto you; yea, ye have
heard his voice from time to time; and he hath spoken unto
you in a still small voice, but ye were past feeling, that ye
could not feel his words” (1 Nephi 17:45; emphasis added).
“The baptism
of water, without the
baptism of fire and
the Holy Ghost
attending it, is of no
use; they are
necessarily and
inseparably
connected.”
—Joseph Smith
That communication seldom comes audibly. Most of the
time it comes through your feelings, as it did in this case.
Another example: The Lord taught this principle to
Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery: “You must study
it out in your mind [work, study]; then you must
ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause
that your bosom shall burn within you [the
fire, burn]; therefore, you shall feel that it is
right” (D&C 9:8; emphasis added). This
applies to all of us.
Speaking with the Tongue of Angels
“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.” Now this important
principle: “And then can ye speak with the tongue of angels,
and shout praises unto the Holy One of Israel.
“But, behold, my beloved brethren, thus came the voice
of the Son unto me, saying: After ye have repented of your
sins, and witnessed unto the Father that ye are willing to
keep my commandments, by the baptism of water, and
have received the baptism of fire [that is the conferring] of
the Holy Ghost, [ye] can speak with a new tongue, yea,
even with the tongue of angels” (2 Nephi 31:13–14;
emphasis added).
Nephi explains clearly what happens after baptism
and confirmation and the reception of the Holy Ghost:
“Wherefore, do the things which I have told you I have
seen that your Lord and your Redeemer should do; for, for
this cause have they been shown unto me, that ye might
know the gate by which ye should enter. For the gate by
which ye should enter is repentance and baptism by water
[which is a symbolic witness of repentance]; and then