1 Thessalonians 5:19

Quench not the Spirit.

As I taught my children this Come, Follow Me lesson on Sunday, this verse jumped out at me and has not left my mind. Quench means to extinguish, and I pointed out that there is something interesting about using the verbiage quench, because in order to quench something, you must first recognize it. We recently went camping, and enjoyed sitting around the campfire and laughing and having a good time. Well, when we were ready for bed, I quenched the fire with water. I couldn’t just sprinkle water on it, I had to pour lots of water on it and then wait and see if anything is still burning and then pour even more water on it until it was fully quenched or put out.

There are many lessons to be learned here as we compare the Spirit to fire. To start off we need to make sure we are all on the same page as to what the Spirit is including its role in our lives. The Spirit is different from the Holy Ghost, although they oftentimes work hand in hand. The Spirit is Jesus Christ’s spirit as we learn from Doctrine and Covenants 84:45–47:

45 For the word of the Lord is truth, and whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is Spirit, even the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
46 And the Spirit giveth light to every man that cometh into the world; and the Spirit enlighteneth every man through the world, that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit.
47 And every one that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit cometh unto God, even the Father.

Another name for the Spirit is the Light of Christ, and as we just learned is given to “every man that cometh into the world.” Another name for the Light of Christ is our conscience. Stephen R. Covey shared this insightful paragraph about the difference between the Spirit and the Holy Ghost:

“We need to teach our children that the Lord speaks to us in many ways, but more particularly through his servants, the prophets, ancient (scriptures) and modern (conferences, writings), and through his still, small voice. We teach them that their heart is the ear of the spirit and that their conscience is His voice. President David O. McKay taught that for those in the Church in the line of their duty, the Holy Ghost normally speaks through the conscience. To a group of seminary and institute people, Elder Bruce McConkie of the Council of the Twelve once used a radio analogy, suggesting that the transmitter is the Holy Ghost, we are the receivers, and the Spirit of Christ represents the radio waves. Moroni taught that the gifts and powers of the Spirit come by and through the Spirit of Christ. (Moro. 10:7–17.)”

Hopefully, that is clear, but the bottom line is that our conscience is literally Christ’s voice in our heart, giving us personal guidance and direction to come “unto God, even the Father.”

Take a minute to ponder on that.

Now, really understand what I am saying here. We hear in our mind and feel in our heart the voice of Christ when our conscience speaks to us, and like a burning fire, it is undeniable, because we hear it and feel it. As a matter of fact we have heard and felt it/His protection, guidance, warmth and light on a consistent basis all throughout our lives.

What happens is that when our conscience speaks to us, we begin a process either on one hand or on the other. We either hear and obey and come unto God, or we begin the process of quenching the Spirit and move away from God.

Another lesson learned in comparing the Spirit to a burning fire, is that quenching a burning fire requires conscious, active effort to quench it. Plus, that conscious, active effort is made while we feel it’s warmth on our faces and see it’s light with our eyes. Can you see the connection? When we quench the Spirit, we are quenching or extinguishing the voice of Christ to us personally, all while we feel His warmth, light, and protection. We choose darkness rather than light while staring at the light (2 Nephi 26:10). It is impossible to quench something that you don’t see, feel, and know is there.

Imagine now, saying “no” to Christ, next time your conscience speaks to you to not sin, how will that make you feel? With this knowlege, we can’t hear our conscience and treat it as we have before. We know too much, we know the truth. We now know who it is that we are quenching/rejecting when we say no to our conscience, or try and drown it out by the noisiness of the world. 3 Nephi 13:24 makes so much more sense now:

No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.

When we want to sin, we hate/despise our conscience and wish that it would just leave us and let us be alone, but now we know that it is Christ that will not leave us or let us be alone. Isn’t that so powerful?

We can’t serve God and Mammon, and Christ will always be there until we willingly choose to effectively quench or totally extinguish the Spirit in our lives, this is known in the scriptures as hardening our hearts.

Doctrine and Covenants 38:6
And even so will I cause the wicked to be kept, that will not hear my voice but harden their hearts, and wo, wo, wo, is their doom.

The wonderful thing about this life and the plan of salvation is that we get to choose. It is never too late for us to again choose Christ and begin to hear and obey His voice, and to have His atoning sacrifice begin to work within us. Let us no longer quench the Spirit, but hear and obey and come unto God, even the Father.

Craig