📒 2 Nephi 31
📜 17 Wherefore, do the things which I have told you I have seen that your Lord and your Redeemer should do; for, for this cause have they been shown unto me, that ye might know the gate by which ye should enter. For the gate by which ye should enter is repentance and baptism by water; and then cometh a remission of your sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost.
Nephi declares that he was shown the Savior’s path so we might know “the gate.” This gate is not metaphorical fluff—it’s the actual entrance into covenantal relationship with Christ. It’s the beginning of the strait and narrow path that leads to eternal life.
By President Marion G. Romney
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
October 1980 General Conference
"True repentance, followed by baptism and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, brings forgiveness. Such repentance is impossible without faith in the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ."
By Elder F. Burton Howard
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
April 1983 General Conference
"There is a similar process whereby men and women are purified. The misuse of their lives is forgotten, and they are renewed and changed. This principle, of course, is repentance. When accompanied by authorized baptism, it provides not only an initial cleansing but an ongoing remission of sins as well. Participating in this purifying process is perhaps the most thrilling and important thing we can ever do. It has far-reaching, even eternal, consequences. Of more immediate interest, however, the rewards of repentance are peace and forgiveness in this present life."
By Elder F. Burton Howard
Of the Seventy
April 1991 General Conference
"The danger in thinking that the end justifies the means lies in making a judgment we have no right to make. Who are we to say that the Lord will pardon wickedness done to attain a perceived “greater good.” Even if the goal is good, it would be a personal calamity to look beyond the mark and fail to repent of the wrong we do along the way."
Embrace the Lord’s Gift of Repentance
By Elder Jorge M. Alvarado
Of the Seventy
October 2024 General Conference
"Obstacles will come. Let us not wait for things to get hard before turning to God. Let us not wait until the end of our mortal lives to truly repent. Instead, let us now, no matter which part of the covenant path we are on, focus on the redemptive power of Jesus Christ and on Heavenly Father’s desire for us to return to Him."
"I testify of God’s love and of the infinite power of His Son’s Atonement. We can feel it profoundly as we sincerely and wholeheartedly repent."
🕊️ Step 1: Repentance
- Not mere behavior modification.
- True repentance is born of godly sorrow—a broken heart and contrite spirit (2 Nephi 2:7).
- It’s a turning toward Christ, not just away from sin.
- President Benson clarified: even positive change without reference to Christ is not true repentance.
📒 Mosiah 18
🗝📜 10 Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?
📗 Isaiah 1
📜 16 ¶ Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
📕 Mark 1
🗝📜 4 John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.
📜 5 And there went out unto him all the land of Judæa, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.
📜 6 And John was clothed with camel’s hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey;
📜 7 And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.
📜 8 I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.
🗝📜 9 And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.
(Note OG translation: And it came to pass in that day Jesus came the Nazarene from Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.)
📒 Mosiah 18
📜 8 And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;
📜 9 Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—
📘 Section 13
An extract from Joseph Smith’s history recounting the ordination of the Prophet and Oliver Cowdery to the Aaronic Priesthood near Harmony, Pennsylvania, May 15, 1829. The ordination was done by the hands of an angel who announced himself as John, the same that is called John the Baptist in the New Testament. The angel explained that he was acting under the direction of Peter, James, and John, the ancient Apostles, who held the keys of the higher priesthood, which was called the Priesthood of Melchizedek. The promise was given to Joseph and Oliver that in due time this higher priesthood would be conferred upon them. (See section 27:7–8, 12.) The keys and powers of the Aaronic Priesthood are set forth.
📜 1 Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness.
📚 Moses 6
📜59 That by reason of transgression cometh the fall, which fall bringeth death, and inasmuch as ye were born into the world by water, and blood, and the spirit, which I have made, and so became of dust a living soul, even so ye must be born again into the kingdom of heaven, of water, and of the Spirit, and be cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only Begotten; that ye might be sanctified from all sin, and enjoy the words of eternal life in this world, and eternal life in the world to come, even immortal glory;
📚 Joseph Smith—History
📜 69 Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah, I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness.
📜 73 Immediately on our coming up out of the water after we had been baptized, we experienced great and glorious blessings from our Heavenly Father. No sooner had I baptized Oliver Cowdery, than the Holy Ghost fell upon him, and he stood up and prophesied many things which should shortly come to pass. And again, so soon as I had been baptized by him, I also had the spirit of prophecy, when, standing up, I prophesied concerning the rise of this Church, and many other things connected with the Church, and this generation of the children of men. We were filled with the Holy Ghost, and rejoiced in the God of our salvation.
📚 Articles of Faith
📜 4 We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.
💧 Step 2: Baptism by Water
- A priesthood ordinance, not symbolic alone.
- Fulfills righteousness (Matthew 3:15; 2 Nephi 31:5–6).
- Follows Christ’s example—He, though sinless, was baptized to show the way.
- Baptism is the visible covenant, the public declaration of discipleship.
📗 Ezekiel 36
📜 27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
📕 John 16
📜 8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
📜 13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
📜 14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
📒 Moroni 10
📜 3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.
📜 4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
🗝📜 5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.
🗝📜 7 And ye may know that he is, by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore I would exhort you that ye deny not the power of God; for he worketh by power, according to the faith of the children of men, the same today and tomorrow, and forever.
📘 Doctrine and Covenants 121
📜 46 The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever.
📚 Moses 6
📜 5 And a book of remembrance was kept, in the which was recorded, in the language of Adam, for it was given unto as many as called upon God to write by the spirit of inspiration;
📜 64 And it came to pass, when the Lord had spoken with Adam, our father, that Adam cried unto the Lord, and he was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord, and was carried down into the water, and was laid under the water, and was brought forth out of the water.
📜 65 And thus he was baptized, and the Spirit of God descended upon him, and thus he was born of the Spirit, and became quickened in the inner man.
📚 Joseph Smith—History
📜 73 Immediately on our coming up out of the water after we had been baptized, we experienced great and glorious blessings from our Heavenly Father. No sooner had I baptized Oliver Cowdery, than the Holy Ghost fell upon him, and he stood up and prophesied many things which should shortly come to pass. And again, so soon as I had been baptized by him, I also had the spirit of prophecy, when, standing up, I prophesied concerning the rise of this Church, and many other things connected with the Church, and this generation of the children of men. We were filled with the Holy Ghost, and rejoiced in the God of our salvation.
🔥 Remission of Sins
📗 Isaiah 1
📜 18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
📕 Acts 2
📜 38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
📒 Moroni 10
📜 33 And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot.
📘 Doctrine and Covenants 84
📜 64 Therefore, as I said unto mine apostles I say unto you again, that every soul who believeth on your words, and is baptized by water for the remission of sins, shall receive the Holy Ghost.
📜 74 Verily, verily, I say unto you, they who believe not on your words, and are not baptized in water in my name, for the remission of their sins, that they may receive the Holy Ghost, shall be damned, and shall not come into my Father’s kingdom where my Father and I am.
🔥 Step 3: Remission of Sins by Fire and the Holy Ghost
- Baptism by water is “but half a baptism,” said Joseph Smith.
- The Holy Ghost sanctifies, purifies, and seals the covenant.
- This is the moment of spiritual rebirth—when the gate becomes a path.
Not just a church. Not just a lifestyle. Nephi says we’re entering a relationship with Jesus Christ—a covenantal journey empowered by the Holy Ghost.
This gate is the threshold of transformation. It’s where meekness meets fire, and where the soul begins its ascent.
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