Baptism of Fire and the Holy Ghost

All week I have been pondering about the reference of Baptism of Fire and the Gift of the Holy Ghost. It came from a reference that a fellow saint made when he put out a question “What is your thoughts on Baptism of Fire?”.  Naturally I have a response but I do not know why that stuck with me all week. Even when we took time discussing baptism at church I could not help it but realize that I didn’t have a clue; in that moment I had become as a little child and was again working on understanding the gospel of Christ.  So at this time I would like to show you what I have learned and how limited my knowledge of the subject is.

A fellow at church made a point while discussing it at priesthood meeting that when a surgeon finishes operating on a person or animal (let’s not leave out veterinarians), when they are finished their instruments are cleaned again for further use. This is not a mere washing of the outside with water but put through intense heat to insure that it is clean and can be used for the next person or beast.  I reflected on that and said within myself that perhaps this too is necessary for our souls. Along with the outside of the soul being washed and renewed through the baptism and sacrament, we go through a refiners fire to be a vessel of the Lords; a Baptism of Fire.

A few months ago it was shown to me that the two sacrament prayers are distinctly different from one another. The speaker told us that one prayer was for those who could wholly keep the higher law while the second was for those of us that when we couldn't keep the higher law would then be blessed by the lesser law. Many of the saints are blessed to have the baptism of water and are clean and declared a member of the Lords church but fail to keep their second estate or baptism through exercising faith and renewing their covenants. Though they are still saints they have their issues and cannot have the spirit of fire with them to teach them new things and bring new things to their understanding. I forget that the Lord is smart and uses fail safe processes to insure that his children have a means to come back to him. I forget that there is two parts to baptism, two parts to sacrament. He (the Lord) repeats for both redundancy and clarity. He has taught through his servants that prophets that we can repent and that as long as we are alive that we can return to him through prayer and fasting. Nothing can stop that.

I am certain that now I am rambling so I will close. I thank God that he is my teacher and that plain and simple truths have been revealed to me and my brethren and sisters; that our teacher is not giving us a pass by making life simple just because we have the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Father really cares about my success here and I am grateful for it and though it is hard at times I am better for it. Have a great week and I will post soon again.

Refer to Loren C. Dunn’s talk for more insight on the subject. 

Comical image is from Mormon Cartoonist