THE BAPTISM OF FIRE

 I have not shared this except with my wife.  But it needs to be disseminated.  A very necessary step.

All I can say is that this is sublime.  I made a pretty big mistake as a youth.  I needed to confess and repent.  I really remember being harrowed up.  I was allowed to go through the wringer for it.  This is the learning process and why daily and even hourly repentance is so necessary.  The outcome of it all was that I was cleansed and given the confirming stamp of approval from God (do not get me wrong, I have made innumerable serious goof ups since then, to the point that I can just picture Father shaking His head in disbelief in my long term prospects as a son of thunder…

The first event was an overwhelming dream wherein I woke and I had been crying.  My pillow was literally soaked.  It felt like it had been doused with cups and cups of water.  I had been pleading my case in front of Jesus.  I felt a huge sense of overwhelming joy.  The only thing close in my life was the night our kid died of SIDS, when I am positive he had just been in the presence of Jesus and then came to see us.  The love could not be adequately described in the human language from that night before we found him the next morning.

After the pillow soaking experience, I remember being drunk in the overwhelming joy of love that pervaded me for days.  I was so concerned that I finally confided in my lovely older (60ish) Seminary teacher because I did not know what had come over me.  I thought something was seriously wrong and while I could concentrate and function at school, I felt somewhat lost in emotion/love and realized I could not live in the world in this state forever.  I experienced the dichotomy of being in the world but not of it.  This as a 17 year old.  My seminary teacher cried, she was so happy to hear my tale.  We hugged.  She assured me I was fine.  One of the dumbest things I have done (multiple times now) was to attempt to suppress these gifts so I could operate “normally” in the world.  It is offensive to the Spirit to do so.  It is a rejection of epic proportions.

Around this time, I was tasked with helping set up YW/YM Summer Youth Conference.  I was on a Stake Committee to plan it.  I remember working with Brother Adair and Brother Litchfield to secure food, entertainment and to prepare the venue (a somewhat rustic summer camp set in the large Douglas fir grove on a cliff overlooking the Puget Sound).  I had my summer job but I could come and go as I needed to mesh the needs of the camp and the job.  I ended up spending time going to some classes, hanging out with some girls, eating some great food, doing the dance with a popular girl a year older than me who liked my brother and I at different times and then being there for the closing fast and testimony meeting and camp teardown.

In that fast and testimony meeting, I was again overcome and it was like I had no control over my body.  I shot up from my log bench in the grove overlooking the cliff and ocean as the sun was setting to the west and I broke down in overwhelming tears as I bore my budding testimony.  I sat down and was even in shock over how that all went.  I had never had such a thing happen up to that point.  The closest thing to that was the night I received my baptism and Gift of the Holy Ghost.

Here is some doctrine swiped off the web:

There is a singular, peak, indescribable, wonderful life-changing, spiritual experience referred to in scripture many times in many ways: the baptism of fire, born again, old man dead and new man made alive, promise of the Father, earnest of our inheritance, adoption by Jesus Christ, the gate, the way, Holy Spirit of Promise, Gift of the Holy Ghost, power in the priesthood, salvation, conversion, etc.

It is a very unique Mormon doctrine, we are the only significant group of Christians that believes that Adam was born again and that the gift of the Holy Ghost was viable and active well before the New Testament era. The Book of Mormon contains many testimonies of baptism of fire tied together by a travel and war narrative. Of course the central theme of the Book of Mormon is Jesus Christ and the testimony of the Book of Mormon prophets is that we come unto Jesus through our baptism of fire.

It is Nephi’s gate, it is the joy of Alma the Younger, it is the power that knocked the followers of King Benjamin to the ground, it is the conversion of the Lamanite Kings, and it was so powerful that the murdering Lamanites afterward laid down their weapons and allowed themselves to be killed.

The baptism of fire ratifies our baptism covenant, is the sign of our salvation, it’s the method by which we enter into the new and everlasting covenant. Without it we cannot enter the Kingdom, without it  we are not saved from hell.

Those who experience it describe an open vision of fire or bright light and many of the following:

Overwhelming or intolerable peace, love, joy

Sins being burned out of them

Speaking in tongues

Praising God in the tongues of angels

No more desire for sin

Greater understanding of scripture

A sure testimony of Jesus

A burning desire to serve Jesus by rescue others

Priesthood Power: heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons,

Prophecy, visions, and other miracles

Joseph’s first vision included a baptism of fire

The Kirtland Temple included a Baptism of Fire

Many early pioneers wrote about their baptism of fire

“The baptism of water,4 without the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost5 attending it, is of no use; they are necessarily and inseparably connected. An individual must be born of water and the Spirit in order to get into the kingdom of God.” Joseph

“We are commanded and instructed to so live that our fallen nature is changed through the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost. President Marion G. Romney taught that the baptism of fire by the Holy Ghost “converts [us] from carnality to spirituality. It cleanses, heals, and purifies the soul. … Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, and water baptism are all preliminary and prerequisite to it, but [the baptism of fire] is the consummation. To receive [this baptism of fire] is to have one’s garments washed in the atoning blood of Jesus Christ” (Learning for the Eternities, comp. George J. Romney [1977], 133; see also 3 Nephi 27:19–20 Bednar October 1980

“In 1831 the Lord revealed to the Prophet the following:

. . . he that receiveth my gospel receiveth me; and he that receiveth not my gospel receiveth not me.

And this is my gospel—repentance and baptism by water, and then cometh the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost  D&C 39:5-6

“There is one other thought companion to these. Testifying that fundamental to everything we believe and hope for and have faith in is the great sacrifice of the Son of the Living God, knowing that he requires of us that we accept his great gift, there is something else necessary if we are to enjoy the high spiritual possibilities which it is within our capacity to achieve. Let me refer to the teachings of Nephi to his people after he had taught them faith, repentance, baptism, and the reception of the gift of the Holy Ghost, as previously quoted. Said he,

And then are ye in this straight and narrow path which leads to eternal life; yea, ye have entered in by the gate; ye have done according to the commandments of the Father and the Son . . .” Marion D Hanks October 1956

“The Lord has summed up the gospel in these words: "And this is my gospel—repentance and baptism by water, and then cometh the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, even the Comforter, which showeth all things and teacheth the peaceable things of the kingdom" D&C 39:6” Harold B Less April 1959

“Every member of Christ’s church in the meridian of time received the gift of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is a revelator. To receive him is to be spiritually reborn. Remember, Jesus said to Nicodemus: “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” John 3:5

To receive the gift of the Holy Ghost is to be born of the Spirit. The Lord instructed the priesthood officers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints “to confirm those who are baptized into the church, by the laying on of hands for the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, according to the scriptures.” D&C 20:41

The priesthood and the power of the Holy Ghost is what gives life to the Church and its members:

“… the special office of the Holy Ghost is to enlighten and ennoble the mind, to purify and sanctify the soul, to incite to good works, and to reveal the things of God.” (James E. Talmage, Articles of Faith, p. 167.)

Without this gift, the Church would be as dead and impotent as an electric powerhouse without electricity.” Marion G. Romney October 1972

Our baptism of fire is not the second comforter nor calling and election made sure but it is such a powerful experience that Paul and Nephi both warned us that once we have the gift, if we entirely turn away, we will not be able to repent.

The baptism of fire is described in or made reference to in hundreds of passages of scripture. It is one of the most broadly taught doctrines in all scripture. There is one reference in the Book of Mormon that the Lamanites received it and they k new it not. Given the sum of the many verse and narratives the best interpretation of that passage is likely that the darkened Lamanites experienced a powerful supernatural gift but they did not know what it meant or what to call it.

Because I write and speak often and openly about this subject many members have approached me and said, “I have never shared this with anyone but…” They then go on to describe an open vision, being immersed in the pillar of fire, amazing joy, love, or peace, and a new life.