Friday, March 29, 2013

Power to convert

1 Nephi 2:14 Lehi spoke to Laman and Lemuel while being so filled with the power of the Spirit that their bodies shook and they were confounded. Then the did as he said and obeyed. But they were not converted.

Asimismo, in 1 Nephi 17:48, Nephi speaks to them when they want to throw him into the sea to drown, and speaks with such force and power of the Spirit that they dared not touch him because if they did they would be shocked and would shrivel up and die! But they were not converted.

In Mosiah 13:5 King Noah and the wicked priests did not dare lay their hands on Abinadi because he was so filled with the power of the Spirit that he face "resplandecio con un brillo extraordenaria". They were brought under submission long enough for him to deliver his entire message and did not touch him. But they were not converted - except Alma.

Why? All of those examples of someone having so much of the Spirit of God with them while they preached didn't convert them because the Spirit didn't (or couldn't) enter in their hearts.  No matter how much power of testimony or how filled with the Spirit the speaker or missionary is, he cannot convert anyone. He can have so much power that touching him would kill them, or make their bodies shake, but they cannot convert them. We have no such power.

The only thing that can convert is to have the Spirit enter into the other person. It cannot be an external experience; it has to be internal. The person has to have a heart that is soft enough to let the Spirit in and not be 'past feeling' like Laman and Lemuel.

Conversion only comes from the Spirit entering into a person's heart. We cannot convert no matter how strong our Spirit is or how strong the Spirit is in us.

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