We have heard many of these theories. Most set requirements which are impossible to achieve in this life, or the next. When we consider the ramifications of the blessing we may determine that we are not and could never be qualified to receive it. We also determine that it is impossible for anyone we know to receive it. (We are very judgmental creatures.)

Satan has propagated such ideas in an attempt to prevent good people from obtaining these blessings. When people disqualify themselves, even God's promise will not give them the blessing because they refuse it.

The solution is to trust in God and the Holy Ghost that speaks for God. If the promise comes to you, do not deny it, but rather embrace it. Remember, It is a mockery of God to believe that we know better than Him when we are worthy. God knows what requirements we need to meet. If God finds us worthy by giving the promise, then we should not argue.

It is only for us to follow the spirit and learn by His hand until He gives us the promise. There are many who have received the promise and did not recognize it because it did not come in the way they expected. One such woman was told multiple times for weeks before she understood and recognized the promise. This brings us to the Mode and Method of receiving the promise. I have met many who have been given the promise but could not accept it. They could not believe or comprehend that they had just received their Calling and Election made sure. So, they didn't, but only because they did not know they had. And, the blessing is of no use if the person doesn't know they have it or if they refuse to accept it.

There is much speculation on the topic regarding how it really happens. Some such scenarios require that this blessing can only be received from the hand of the prophet in the temple, in the room known as "the Holy of Holies". Often times, as people discuss the ordinance, they speculate that the prophet introduces Christ to people who are ready. We would not presume to say that this blessing will NOT happen this way, as it is God who ultimately decides how and where this gift is given. What we will say is that in the majority of such sweet instances, these assumptions are far from accurate.

This brings us to the Grand Key upon which we will receive our Calling and Election made sure, that key is the Holy Ghost. We must first learn to recognize and rely on the Holy Ghost, realizing that the Holy Ghost is the messenger of truth and as God, the Holy Ghost CAN NOT lie. Once we realize this, and we learn from and follow its direction, we will begin to recognize that this spirit will make various promises. When the Holy Ghost promises a thing, it is called the "Witness of the Holy Spirit of Promise" or the "Holy Spirit of Promise". Because this spirit cannot lie, its promises are certain and sealed in heaven and approved by God. When this witness bears record to your soul that your place in heaven is sure, then you have received the promise of God that you have already met the criteria needed and will be exalted.

Sometimes, when this promise is given, some people will look at their own faults and judge themselves as unworthy of such a promise. They suppose they know better than God and so they set the requirements for this gift and blessing beyond their own reach. They refuse to be perfected in and through Christ and unknowingly they have rejected the atonement as they attempt to earn perfection by their own merits and works. This is an issue of Faith in God and a lack of their ability to trust or recognize his Spirit's still small voice.

Perhaps rather than dissecting the experience and thus taking away from the majesty and wonder that comes with it, I will provide examples which plainly answer in their simplicity all these questions. Once we understand how it happens we can begin to see this blessing being received by many throughout the scriptures and around us.

Rather than using our own words to provide the examples, we refer to the words of President Marion G. Romney, who said:

Quote:

"As I read the sacred records, I find recorded experiences of men in all dispensations who have had this more sure anchor to their souls, this peace in their hearts.

Lehi's grandson Enos so hungered after righteousness that he cried unto the Lord until "there came a voice unto [him], saying: Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed." (Enos 1:5.) Years later Enos revealed the nature of this promised blessing when he wrote:
Quote:

"I soon go to the place of my rest, which is with my Redeemer; for I know that in him I shall rest. And I rejoice in the day when my mortal shall put on immortality, and shall stand before him; then shall I see his face with pleasure, and he will say unto me: Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the mansions of my Father." (Enos 1:27.)

To Alma the Lord said, Quote:

"Thou art my servant; and I covenant with thee that thou shalt have eternal life." (Mosiah 26:20.)

To His twelve Nephite disciples, the Master said:
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"What is it that ye desire of me, after that I am gone to the Father?
"And they all spake, save it were three, saying: We desire that after we have lived unto the age of man, that our ministry, wherein thou hast called us, may have an end, that we may speedily come unto thee in thy kingdom.
"And he said unto them: Blessed are ye because ye desired this thing of me; therefore, after that ye are seventy and two years old ye shall come unto me in my kingdom; and with me ye shall find rest." (3 Ne. 28:13.)

As Moroni labored in solitude abridging the Jaredite record, he received from the Lord this comforting assurance:
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"Thou hast been faithful; wherefore, thy garments shall be made clean. And because thou hast seen thy weakness thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father." (Ether 12:37.)

Paul, in his second epistle to Timothy, wrote:
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"I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
"Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day." (2 Tim. 4:68.)

In this dispensation many have received like assurances. In the spring of 1839, while the Prophet Joseph and his associates were languishing in Liberty Jail, Heber C. Kimball, our president's grandfather, labored against great odds caring for the Saints and striving to free the brethren who were in jail. On the sixth of April he wrote:
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"My family having been gone about two months, during which time I heard nothing from them; our brethren being in prison; death and destruction following us everywhere we went; I felt very sorrowful and lonely. The following words came to mind, and the Spirit said unto me, 'write,' which I did by taking a piece of paper and writing on my knee as follows: ...
"Verily I say unto my servant Heber, thou art my son, in whom I am well pleased; for thou art careful to hearken to my words, and not transgress my law, nor rebel against my servant Joseph Smith, for thou hast a respect to the words of mine anointed, even from the least to the greatest of them; therefore" --listen to this-- "thy name is written in heaven, no more to be blotted out for ever." (Orson F. Whitney, Life of Heber C. Kimball, Bookcraft, 1975, p. 241; italics added.)

To the Prophet Joseph Smith the Lord said:
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"I am the Lord thy God, and will be with thee even unto the end of the world, and through all eternity; for verily I seal upon you your exaltation, and prepare a throne for you in the kingdom of my Father, with Abraham your father." (D&C 132:49; italics added.)

Now my beloved brethren, by way of summary and conclusion, I bear witness to the verity of these great truths. I know that the Spirit of Christ enlighteneth "every man that cometh into the world; and [that] the Spirit enlighteneth every man through the world, that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit." (D&C 84:46.)
I know that everyone who, following the whisperings of the Spirit, develops faith, is baptized, and receives the Holy Ghost through the laying on of hands by those having authority, may, by compliance with the teachings of the gospel, receive the gifts and the power of the Holy Ghost.

And I bear further witness that every such person who, having come this far, will follow the Prophet's admonition to "continue to humble himself before God, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and living by every word of God" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 150), may obtain the more sure word of prophecy." - Marion G. Romney, "The Light of Christ," Ensign, May 1977, 43.

Each person has a different experience. The words are never the same, but the meanings are very clear. The places and situations vary wildly. President Romney selected these particular examples because none of these examples received the promise in the Temple, or by the hand of a man or even the Prophet.

He was speaking to the entire church in general conference.

These specific examples were selected because the majority of the membership will receive the blessing in the same way as these examples. They will receive it alone in the quite moments from directly from God through his still small voice known as the Holy Spirit of Promise. They will recognize it because they have built on the rock and have learned to know and trust the Holy Ghost as the voice of God, (D&C 64:3-4).

Christ did not appear to most of them at that instance, though he would certainly appear personally at some later time. There is in all these experiences only one thing in common. That is that the spirit witnessed thereby personally sealing the promise of exaltation to the soul of the person as a witness from God.