It is a remarkable thing how two people can be seated beside one another, hear exactly the same message preached, and come away with two different conclusions regarding the import of the declaration. To one listener the presentation is as the gibberish of alien tongues; to another, as manna from heaven. To one listener the messenger is seen as weak and unpolished, the pronouncement as unimportant and unnecessary; to the second, the messenger seems to be fired with the power of Almighty God and his sermon deep and profound.
Indeed, to some it is given to know the mysteries of God and to see the power of God resting upon his servants, simply because they are prepared to so receive, because they are open to truth. in regard to what the scriptures call the “mystery of godliness,” Elder Bruce R. McConkie has written: “To those devoid of spiritual understanding, it is as though the inspired authors had set out, deliberately and with earnest intent, to sow the seeds of darkness and misunderstanding as to the God or Gods who live and abide and are.... At least to the spiritually sick and to the spiritually dead, who seek God through reason and the intellect alone, the scriptures appear to be a compilation of confusion and contradiction. And it was not intended to be otherwise, for salvation is of the Spirit and comes only to those who are spiritually alive and well, those who come to know God, not by reason and the intellect alone, but through the spirit of prophecy and revelation.” (Promised Messiah, p. 113.)