contrast with 3 Ne. 19:9, 13-15 [1 Ne. 7:14; Morm. 2:26; 5:16; Ether 2:15; 15:19; Hel. 4:24; 6:35; 13:8; Moses 8:17; D&C 1:33; 19:20; 63:32; Alma 24:30; Gen. 6:3; Moro. 8:27-28; 9:4-5; Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 328; refer in this text to 2 Ne. 26:11; Hel. 13:8]
“Young men, you must live righteously for many reasons. One of them is that you must be accompanied by the Spirit of the Lord as you labor in the mission field. The association of the Spirit of the Lord is dependent upon personal righteousness. If you do not strive diligently for the assistance of the Spirit, you will find your missionary work extremely difficult and your results very disappointing.” (L. Aldin Porter, Ensign, May 1992, p. 46)
“The healing of the sick among us has become so common that it is apparently but little thought of. We have also seen the lame made to walk, and the blind to receive their sight, the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak. These things we have seen done by the power of God and not by the cunning or wisdom of men; we know that these signs do follow the preaching of the gospel. Yet these testimonies of its truth are but poor and weak when compared with the whisperings of the still small voice of the Spirit of God.” (Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine, pp. 83-84)
“Our preaching and our teaching must be by the power of the Holy Ghost. We must ever remember that in this glorious work, the most essential element is the Spirit.” (Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p. 313)
“The gift of the Holy Ghost adapts itself to all these organs or attributes. It quickens all the intellectual faculties, increases, enlarges, expands and purifies all the natural passions and affections… . It develops beauty of person, form and features. It tends to health, vigor, animation and social feeling. It invigorates all the faculties of the physical and intellectual man. It strengthens and gives tone to the nerves. In short, it is, as it were, marrow to the bone, joy to the heart, light to the eyes, music to the ears, and life to the whole thing. In the presence of such persons one feels to enjoy the light of their countenances, as the genial rays of a sunbeam. Their very atmosphere diffuses a thrill, a warm glow of pure gladness and sympathy to the heart and nerves of others who have kindred feelings, or sympathy of spirit. No matter if the parties are strangers, entirely unknown to each other in person or character; no matter if they have never spoken to each other, each will be apt to remark in his own mind, and perhaps exclaim when referring to the interview, ‘O what an atmosphere encircles that stranger! How my heart thrilled with pure and holy feelings in his presence! What confidence and sympathy he inspired! His countenance and spirit gave me more assurance than a thousand written recommendations or introductory letters.’ Such is the gift of the Holy Ghost, and such are its operations when received through the lawful channel, the divine, eternal Priesthood.” (Parley P. Pratt, Key to Theology, pp. 99-101)
“I sat in the office of the first Presidency and President Monson took President Benson by the arm to lead him toward my chair to give me a blessing… . Following that beautiful blessing as I stood and turned to face President Benson … and spoke with him briefly, I was quite unprepared for the magnificence of his spirit, and I realized that as our bodies age and grow old and wear out, our spirits continue to grow.” (Janette C. Hales, BYU Devotional, Mar. 16, 1993)
“If our spirits are inclined to be stiff and refractory, and we desire continually the gratification of our own will to the extent that this feeling prevails in us, the Spirit of the Lord is held at a distance from us; or, in other words, the Father withholds his Spirit from us in proportion as we desire the gratification of our own will.” (Erastus Snow, Journal of Discourses 7:352)
“But during my travels in the southern country last winter I had many interviews with President Young, and with Heber C. Kimball, and Geo. A. Smith, and Jedediah M. Grant, and many others who are dead. They attended our conference, they attended our meetings. And on one occasion, I saw Brother Brigham and Brother Heber … when I was on my way to attend conference; and they were dressed in the most priestly robes… . I asked Prest. Young if he would preach to us. He said, ‘No, I have finished my testimony in the flesh I shall not talk to this people any more, But (said he) I have come to see you; I have come to watch over you, and to see what the people are doing. Then (said he) I want you to teach the people—and I want you to follow this counsel yourself—that they must labor and so live as to obtain the Holy Spirit, for without this you cannot build up the kingdom; without the spirit of God you are in danger of walking in the dark… .” (Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses 21:318)
“The Lord declared to His servants … that He was … withdrawing His Spirit from the earth; and we can see that such is the fact, for not only the churches are dwindling away, … the governments of the earth are thrown into confusion and division; and Destruction, to the eye of the spiritual beholder, seems to be written by the finger of an invisible hand, in large capitals, upon almost every thing we behold.” (Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 1:314)