Elder Glenn L. Pace: Holy Ghost triggers spiritual senses
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Spiritual witness — a testimony — comes to those who are young when they are exposed to spiritual experiences, said Elder Glenn L. Pace of the Seventy.
Parents, he said in his Sunday morning address, are good at making certain youth understand the rules. "Perhaps we could pause more often and help you learn to recognize the Spirit. Once you recognize those feelings for what they are, your faith in them will increase," he said.
He told of his own experience as an 11-year-old who read Joseph Smith's testimony. "I was riveted and my heart was filled with joy," he recalled. "I was crying. I didn't understand it then, but I understand it now. I had felt a witness of the Spirit.... It was just me and the Holy Ghost."
Young people may seek a spectacular experience with the gaining of a testimony, but are more likely to experience the same feelings felt on many occasions.
"At 11 years of age, I knew Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God. I didn't hear voices, see angels or anything like that.... I felt elation springing forth from the innermost part of my being which is protected from all deceit. This spiritual sense vibrates only when activated by the Holy Ghost."
Describing the spiritual witness is difficult, "nevertheless, you know it when you feel it."
Sometimes it can come like a memory, a dormant memory lingering past the veil of forgetfulness, he said.
He challenged the youth to read and pray about the Joseph Smith story.
"The wonderful thing about knowing it is true is that you know simultaneously that God the Father and Jesus Christ live and stand at the head of this Church today."
"The Lord wants you to know it is true and He 'will reveal the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost"' (Moroni 10:4).
