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Robert Millet, Ph.D., is an author, speaker, and professor of ancient scripture and emeritus Dean of Religious Education at Brigham Young University. Author of 76 published works, he has been involved in BYU Education Week for many years and is well known as a commentator on the BYUTV Scripture Discussions program. He is also manager of Outreach and Interfaith Relations for the Church’s Public Affairs department. Brother Millet’s most recent book is The Holy Spirit: His Identity, Mission and Ministry. His decision to write about this topic is related to his fascination with the work of The Holy Spirit. It is so frequently referred to and discussed, but we might not appreciate all that it is.
Highlights
3:00 Strategy for covering topics: he makes a list and works on it daily, narrowing it down over a period of weeks/months to develop the book. Work on prophetic statements that relate and continue narrowing the information. Also asking “what experiences have I had with this”. He wanted to cover the topics of sons of perdition, the light of Christ, and God’s power. 13:00 How, as leaders, can we have a better understanding of the Holy Spirit: having it, losing it, etc. 13:47 What does it mean to “lose the Holy Ghost”? We lose feeling, we withdraw ourselves. You can’t take a vacation from the Spirit; you can’t sit still; you either fall back or move forward. 19:45 The Holy Ghost “strives with us”. It “battles with us”. There will always be an element of the Spirit to help you; you can’t “lose it”. All people can have the Spirit. They may not have the gift of the Holy Ghost that comes from baptism, but they certainly can have the Spirit and inspiration. 25:40 How do you know when a sin is forgiven? Study Mosiah 4:1-3 (joy, peace of conscience, larger measure of the Spirit). “Just don’t do things that are offending to the Spirit.” 28:40 Where is “grace” in the doctrine? The Holy Ghost is an act of God’s grace to us. We can put ourselves in a position to receive that gift by our actions. “The sun doesn’t stop shining just because I put a bag over my head, it continues to shine”. It is the same with God; He loves us through everything. 32:30 Justification and sanctification 44:10 Be cautious about “I feel impressed that…” It is good to teach what you feel, but if you announce that it came from the Spirit, it comes across as boastful. 45:35 How about church callings and the Spirit? If you pray to start a meeting and pray for the Spirit to guide decisions, you don’t need to kneel individually about all decisions. As we strive to live our lives to keep the Spirit with us, we will see that the Holy Ghost has been guiding us in all decisions and shaped our lives. Those decisions were inspired, and hopefully good judgement. We don’t need to pray over every decision. “The spirit prepares us today for decisions we have to make in the future.” 53:00 Joseph McConkie story about calling stake presidents: The Lord fits us to our assignments. “God honors the servant”. Difference of being called “by God” or “of God”. 55:00 Final story related again to his friend Joseph McConkie, prior to him leaving to Scotland as a mission president. Asked him if he had read everything and felt prepared. “What do you think?” He said, “What could cause us not to worry about 63 rules? I will teach my missionaries this: never do anything that would cost you the influence of the Holy Spirit.” That is a great standard to live by. Callings in the Church are not to be superheroes but to live in the way to be directed by the Holy Spirit. It is a solemn responsibility. Mosiah 26: Alma “feared that he would not do right”. As leaders we need to strive to do that.
Links
The Holy Spirit: His Identity, Mission, and Ministry Grace in the Bishop’s Office | An Interview with Robert Millet Photo of Robert Millet by Richard Crookston
I love Brother Millet! Great interview. His talks on grace saved my soul during the darkest days. I had lost my membership and it felt like I had been through a loving council, then walked to the parking lot, Dodd’s were locked and lights turned off and left there like a naughty Lille boy. My Bishop was great support but was released a few months after. Stake told me to find my way back with a new bishop. Months, many months later the stake president told me that the Bishop had no idea what to do with me. Yet in the time after my court, I felt the spirit more often and more clearly than in my sin. My poor wife resented her ex member husband insinuating that I could feel anything. It has been ten healing filled years And blessings have been restored but in the interim John Pontius book on “ the light of Christ “ was balm of Gilead “. My father needed me to connect my heart to his spirit. Brother Millets talk on grace fro BYU women’s conference was grace to my wife and I and was listened to and shared hundreds of times with other lost children.
Kurt I love you podcasts and your efforts to lift our spirits!!!
Brother Millet said he didn’t want to “establish doctrine” when he related the story of the excommunicated brother who said, “I even enjoyed the Spirit to some extent while I was sinning” (around the 17:15 mark). But I think 3 Nephi 27: 11 shows this is doctrine. While we can’t determine if someone else is confusing the Spirit with pleasure or contentment or something else, the Savior Himself says we might have joy in things opposed to His Gospel…but only for a season, and the aftermath doesn’t sound so good.
Although those of us that are sinners do not live 24/7/365 in sin. Often we compensate for our sinful lives with good acts as if it were. Spiritual bank balance. We do good acts and often serve with gusto in the church to hide our sins. Heavenly Father sends bursts of light or spirit to keep us mindful of his love and our ability like the prodigal to cone back to the light. Can we always say whether we are feeling emotions or spirit? Elder Bednar said this question was most often asked when he conducted family home evenings with students at BYUI. So I admit I cannot judge another.
Sometimes people in a faith crisis begin to question their ability to feel the Holy Ghost. Then they start to question whether they’ve ever felt the Holy Ghost. They forget the many powerful spiritual experiences they have had.
We all have short memory at times. Hence we try to journal and seek to remember. The scriptures teach these principles. But for someone who didn’t journal and doubts their memory, do you have any advice on how to help them recognize the Spirit (again) and begin to remember the times they’ve felt the Spirit?
I loved this podcast! When one of our sons decided to leave the church, and professed to not believe in God, I wasn’t dismayed. I wondered why I wasn’t desperately pleading with the Lord for his repentance, and crying and fasting and worrying. I feel like the Holy Ghost is telling me that all will be well. Initially when our son visited us, my husband would ask me if I felt a dark spirit when he was in our home, as he did. I told him I didn’t, and that I continued to feel love and gratitude that our son hadn’t distanced himself from our family. My husband came to realize that the “dark spirit” he was feeling was his own loss of the presence of the Spirit when he was judging our son. I was so thankful for this perspective. The other day our son stopped by when I was having a computer/tech crisis, and he stayed and helped me sort it out for four hours. As he was leaving, I was so grateful to hear my husband telling our son that he felt that the Spirit had guided him to stop and help his mom, and he was grateful to him that he listened and responded.
Great interview! I’m curious about times when a teacher or speaker in church says something that makes most people feel uncomfortable and awkward, and the whispered comments after the fact about how the Spirit just “flew out of the room.” Is the spirit actually leaving? (I don’t mean literally flying) Or do people mistake a feeling of discomfort as a sign that the Holy Ghost isn’t there? My guess is that whether or not you feel the Spirit leave a place (a spiritual place like a church building) is because of your own thoughts and meanings you make about the awkward comment.
Great podcast. At 38m into the podcast, when brother Millet said, “it’s like saying, ‘prepare yourselves brothers and sisters, we are going to have a great spiritual experience” I couldn’t help but think of Joseph Smith’s statement to Oliver cowdery and Zebedee Coltrin on one occasion, “Now brethren, we will see some visions.”
But that may have been due to an inaccurate recollection as this was not a first person account, and there are some differences between a few different journal entries on this event.
I very much appreciate the podcast and respect the insight/thought process of Brother Millet’s and Brother Francom’s, so I would be interested in getting their ideas on how we differentiate the benefits & purpose of the “Holy Ghost” vs the “Gift” of the Holy Ghost”?. I am familiar with the commonly used statements regarding the Gift of the Holy Ghost (most commonly Parley P Pratt’s statement), but I wonder what you feel the “Gift” offers that isn’t available through the “regular” Holy Ghost? My assumption would be that Brother Millet and Brother Francom would agree the Holy Ghost can influence, guide, comfort, etc… all of God’s children regardless of religious affiliation, so as members what “extra” do we get when we receive the Gift?
My question is not meant to antagonistic or to suggest there isn’t actually something beneficial to receiving the “Gift”- I believe there is, but I am not sure I have heard it discussed in detail, or when I have heard it discussed the conversation starts to feel very Rameumptom-ish…
As I mentioned, I believe there are benefits to the Gift, but from conversations with a good friend, we have developed the idea the Gift is specific to “building the Kingdom”. The basic idea is we receive the Gift the same time we are confirmed members of his Church and are to use this Gift in order to navigate and build the responsibilities we have in building his Kingdom and serving its members. When is comes to decision related to the Kingdom it makes sense that as we join the church we be given this added “Gift”, but I am not sure it means I now receive more inspiration than the rest of God’s children seeking divine guidance for their life (children, job, schooling, spouse, work etc..),
Any merit to this idea? Any additional thought on differentiating the “Gift”
Thanks