Borrowed Light from the Scriptures

We have already received instruction to prepare for the coming storms in these latter days. The prophet warned us that we must seek our own light of Christ within us, showing that we cannot progress on our spiritual path while depending on the light from others. Elder Charles Dider had said,

Borrowed light is not a substitute for the Holy Ghost, because borrowed light means to lean on others who carry God’s light. (Past) President Ezra Taft Benson said,

President James Faust said,

A person who borrows does not have enough of God’s light of his or her own within them. To have God’s light within you requires the inward presence of the Spirit (Ezekiel 36.26 / Alma 32:28) Without the inward seeding of the Lord’s word, by the Holy Ghost, you cannot have his light within you. This is the crucial point. It differentiates between a person who has the light of God within him, or not. The light must be "within" us in order for us to carry it.

To borrow light is akin to sharing something that belongs to another person. It is similar to meeting someone who is happy, and when he leaves, you feel some of that happiness still around you. It does not last long because it does not reside within you, nor did you create it, you cannot sustain it, therefore after a time it dissipates. In order to acquire this same "happy spirit" the same way, you would need to be with that type of person again. In a way, this makes that person dependent, one who cannot sustain him/herself and depends on others to do it for them.

In one way, this dependency depicts an infant in the gospel, which refers to the references of being fed "milk". One who is new in the gospel will depend on others who are established with the Lord, but it is God’s intent to establish all of us, individually, into his light. IN other words, bring us to feed on the "meat" of his word and wean us off the milk. Unfortunately, people tend to get caught at the milk stage, and that will eventually work against a person, as all dependencies eventually do. The problem at this stage is that the person will have problems dealing with evil influences, and will not be able to spiritually discern things.

This form of dependency is an "outward" method of acquiring the light of God. Since it is from "another person" outside him/herself that bears the light of God within them. This outward method of obtaining light is only temporary and a borrower will not have the root of God within him/her. (Please note the word "borrower", and consider what occurs in life with those who borrow all the time - Proverbs 22:7 Try to translate the affect of borrowing in this situation. For example, the borrower is always empty, short or absent of, or cannot sustain the things they seek out to "borrow" all the time).

To have God’s light with you all the time, you must acquire the light yourself from God for it to reside within you. This is the purpose to the seed parable (Matthew 13:18-24) and the new wine bottle parable (Luke 5:36-38) spoken by Jesus Christ. To have root in God’s word and light requires the seed to take root within you.

Here is an analogy using the "storm" to depict the affect of borrowing light from others.

Some may disagree with this analogy, but to those, I ask them not to be quick to judge. Consider that each person is responsible for their own spiritual state. The analogy depicts the individual strength of the attachments which does not change just because they borrow stablility from the house.

Translated into life, that even if the prophet lived in your home, he cannot protect you from any lack of "light" within you. Consider what Jesus said to those he healed, "Sin no more". This shows how our own thoughts, choices and state of mind and heart determines our spiritual stability in times of tribulations, afflictions, persecutions and storms.

The attachments on the house symbolize what can occur to people who fail to acquire their own spiritual foundation in the Lord. A foundation that must be established from the light through the Spirit of God. A foundation that is built from the "seed" of truth, planted by the Holy Ghost only if you seek the Holy Ghost. Then, through proper nurturing with the Spirit of God, the "seeds" will root deeply and create the "rock foundation" spoken by the Lord.

For anyone to assume that it is sufficient to lean on or borrow some one else’s light, yea even the prophets, would be a foolish thing to do, in the end, as such will not sustain anyone when the storms arrive. As with the house analogy, the storms will sweep people away, akin to the attachments on the house. The ones who are rooted on the rock of God will remain.

What is also important about acquiring the inner light of Christ to properly root you, is the change and spiritual purification it acheives. To lean on others for the spiritual light will not change you as God wants. Then in the final judgment, you stand unaltered. Now ask yourself, "Which heaven will you enter?" The celestial heaven requires a change and purification only acheived by and through the Spirit of God, directly within you.

What I speak of in this article is the focus and practice of beliefs people use which leads them to think that things outside of us is the main source of God's light. This includes the scriptures, being the written word, hence the title of this article, "The Borrowed Light from the Scriptures". If the written word called the scriptures is so filled with light, then why is it that people have used the Bible in such wicked ways?

Be careful how you choose to read this. I do not deny the scriptures. I address the manner in which many people, inside and outside of this church, use the scriptures. In how many have failed to make the Spirit of God a regular presence within them, and how many are really loosing out when not seeking the Lord through his Spirit.

If you study the scriptures properly, the Lord clearly says that we are to pray diligently to him, seek him to teach us, which is using the gift of the Holy Ghost. It is also said that the inward man is renewed (because of the Spirit), while the outward man perishes (2 Cor.4:16) . It is through this gift, gained and used inwardly, that we obtain a testimony of Jesus Christ through the Holy Ghost (1 Cor.12:3), which does its part to renew us day by day, keeping us rooted with the Spirit.

It is because the "storm" is in spiritual terms, meaning that it affects you inwardly, not outwardly. Those who have no spiritual root within them will be uprooted. This means there is more to being rooted in God than just believing. This truth is found in the words of Jesus when he said "...what defiles a man comes from within (Mark 7:15)" (paraphrased).

Translated, what will fall a person in times of the great trial, will come from within him/her, not from outside of them.

We must read the scriptures diligently, to learn the written word of God, but we must also put our intellectual pursuits into proper spiritual perspective. This is to realize that any intellectual relationship, by itself, with God's word is insufficent. Look at the people who contend with this Church and the restored gospel. Some are intellectually adept with the Bible, yet they have not the Spirit of God within them. Intellectual prowess is not enough.

Elder Lionel Kendrick explained that it was not enough to read the scriptures, and in his article "Search the Scriptures", you can read how he explains the process of learning the gospel which will help you gain the inner Spirit and light of God.

Looking around, there are many people who do study and know the "letter" of God's word, but, unfortunately, they do not know the "spirit of the word", which is how the Lord seeds and roots the word is within them. When the word is not seeded and rooted within them, the "spirit and life" of the word is missing (John 6:63 / 2 Cor. 3:6) . To have the word of God as spirit and life within you is the very teaching and example of Jesus Christ.

The "intellectual relationship", by itself, with the Lord's scriptures, is an outward focus toward God. This outward "intellectual focus" has been the root of all the contentions, arguments and battles between churches or from one group to another. The use of the gospel to attack another church may sound justified on the outside, by all outward appearances, but within the hearts of these people is the spirit of contention and wickedness. (Matthew 23:25,28).

How does the General Authority within this Church, ward off the potential of evil in their "intellectual" pursuits with the gospel? The answer is they seek the Spirit of the Lord through the Holy Ghost; there is no other way.

This is how their faith became rooted, protected, nurtured, fed, developed, honed, and if they succeed, gain perfect knowledge, needing faith no more (Ether3:20) . By example, each of us must gain the light of God. Not from others, or not just by reading the scriptures, but also by the exercise of our hearts and minds in true faith to the Lord. Which is to seek him in proper worship (John 4:23), proper study of the scriptures, appropriate writings, and most of all, directly seek the Spirit of God to teach, change and purify. To take you beyond the mere intellectual growth, to teach the spirit and life of the word. That is more than just a belief, that is the living word of God in your breath and very life. All of this is the true exercise of faith in all things to God.

Take what you learn and study inwardly to the Lord and seek him. Establish his Spirit within you, because there is not much time left.

Mark Warbinek

• Benson, Ezra Taft - "Valiant in the Testimony of Jesus," Ensign, May 1982, 62
• Didier, Charles - "Building a Bridge of Faith," Ensign, Nov. 2001, 10
• Faust, James E. Faust, "The Voice of the Spirit," Liahona, Sept. 1995, 17