About Christmastime when I was 15 years old, with the tree all decorated, I wondered what would happen if I
took a piece of the lead tinsel we still used then and fed it through the holes
in the ends of a light plug, and plugged it in. Not exactly a genius move.
Instantaneous loud POP ,
louder than a gunshot, and a black streak a foot long up the wall!
Of course, electrical studies 101
would identify the tinsel as a sort of fuse that popped on contact with
electrical current. It was never meant to handle the 120 volts in the wall
plug, or even any voltage at all. Luckily, my makeshift fuse was in line before
the lights on the tree, or who knows what might have happened? (Might have
smoked me instead of the wall!) I guess I was lucky that the tree didn’t catch
fire, because the plug was behind the tree!
I have relived this particular
experiment many times in my mind. As I grow older (but not necessarily more
mature or wiser), I have realized many times over how lucky I was that no real
damage was done. I suppose that there are a lot of incidents in my life that
fall into that category.
Electricity is a measurable,
physical force that behaves according to well-defined rules which mortal
science, to this day, does not fully understand. Yet we are able to use its
power without complete knowledge.
But there are spiritual forces that
operate on our minds and hearts that can be more powerful than any physical
force, and through study and prayer, (even though we cannot fully understand them
in mortality) we can use them for our good. Elder James E. Talmage, in the Articles
of Faith, page 146, identifies these forces:
Subtler, mightier, and more mysterious than any or all of
the physical forces of nature are the powers that operate upon conscious
organisms, the means by which the mind, the heart, the soul of man may be
energized by spiritual forces.
In our ignorance of the true nature of electricity we may
speak of it as a fluid; and so by analogy the forces through which the mind is
governed have been called spiritual fluids. The true nature of these
manifestations of energy is unknown to us, for the elements of comparison and
analogy, so necessary to our human reasoning, are wanting; nevertheless the
effects are experienced by all.
As the conducting medium in an electric circuit is capable of
conveying but a limited current, the maximum capacity
depending upon the resistance offered by the conductor, and, as separate
circuits of different degrees of conductivity may carry currents of widely
varying intensity, so human souls are of varied capacity with respect to the
higher powers.
But as the medium is purified, as obstructions are removed,
so resistance to the energy decreases, and the forces manifest themselves with
greater intensity. By analogous processes of purification our spirits may be
made more susceptible to the forces of life, which are emanations from the Holy
Spirit. Therefore are we taught to pray by word and action for a constantly
increasing portion of the Spirit, that is, the power of the Spirit, which is a
measure of this gift of God unto us.
The major spiritual force by which
the Holy Ghost operates, the innate conscience of mankind (and certainly
womankind), is the Light of Christ. It is no coincidence that this power has
the word “light” in its name. It is the universe-wide, immutable, powerful,
omni-present network by which the Holy Ghost can communicate with us and
illuminate our personal needs and concerns with the light of the gospel.
Quoting Robert L. Millet from his book, Alive
in Christ: The Miracle of Spiritual Rebirth, page 39:
As we traverse the roads of a darkened world, we receive the
beckoning invitation to come out of the darkness unto Christ our Savior. Each
of us is born with the Light of Christ, or the Spirit of
Jesus Christ, a moral monitor that leads us toward greater light and truth; it
helps us to reason, discern, and know right from wrong. If we will hearken to
the light we will be led, either here or hereafter, to the covenant gospel and
to the greater light of the gift of the Holy Ghost (Moroni 7:16-19; D&C
84:45-48; Smith, Gospel Doctrine, 67-68; McConkie, New Witness, 260).
The Light of Christ is an eternal
phenomenon, a gift from Father-in-Heaven. It is the means by which the Holy
Ghost can perform his mission. It is, among many other things, the
universe-wide wireless network which any of us can connect to simply by
“attuning our souls” As Elder McConkie informs us in his book, A New Witness for the Articles of Faith,
p. 70:
The light of Christ (also called the Spirit of Christ and
the Spirit of the Lord) is a light, a power, and an influence that…is
everywhere present and accounts for the omnipresence of God. It is the agency
of God’s power and the law by which all things are governed. It is also the
agency used by the Holy Ghost to manifest truth and dispense spiritual gifts to
many people at one and the same time. For instance, it is as though the Holy
Ghost, who is a personage of spirit, was broadcasting all truth throughout the
whole universe all the time, using the light of Christ as the agency by which
the message is delivered. But only those who attune their souls to the Holy
Spirit receive the available revelation. It is in this way that the person of
the Holy Ghost makes his influence felt in the heart of every righteous person
at one and the same time.
It is easy to disconnect from this
pervasive network. All it takes sometimes is a few stray thoughts or an action
that deviates from the Great Plan of the Eternal God (Alma 34:9). Reconnecting
may not be as easy as we would like because repentance may be required before
communication can be re-established. In the words of President Joseph Fielding
Smith, (The Way to Perfection, p. 230)
we learn:
The Lord has not left us to grope in darkness, but has given
to every man that is born with understanding the power to discern between good
and evil, truth and falsehood, through the power of the intelligence, light of
truth, or light of Christ, born with him. However, as man departs from the
truth, the power of intelligence forsakes him and for that cause he does not
come unto God.
I could have used some of that
“power of intelligence” when I tried the experiment with the wall plug. I am
still in need of that kind of help every day. Sometimes, my connection fades,
and I often know when it does. I have to look at what I am doing that is
causing the Lord to seem far away – sometimes it is difficult to strengthen the
signal.
With a mortal network, there are
troubleshooting tools that help to determine the cause of signal loss, and make
it possible to isolate the problem and repair it. With the Light of Christ,
there is only one cause of signal loss, and it is always my fault. There are
eternal troubleshooting tools here: faith, prayer, scripture study, self-evaluation,
and repentance. These tools, if they are used properly, are far more powerful
than meters and gauges. Proper use of them results in a spiritual connection
that can guide our life and our actions along the strait path to eternal life.
You need special training to use
mortal networking tools, but each one of us can use eternal tools immediately
and miraculously, with the help of the eternal master of the light, the Savior
himself, and the keeper of the light, the Holy Ghost. Faith is the key. The
passage of scripture in Mark 9:23-25 that relates a conversation between the
Lord and a man whose son had a devil is instructive of the Savior’s willingness
to support us even though our faith is small:
Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are
possible to him that believeth.
And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said
with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he
rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge
thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.
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