Putting on Christ is a roadmap of our heroic journey to Spiritual Rebirth, also referenced in the holy writ as "the gate" that leads to eternal life. This gate is the First Comforter which is received and initiated through a "baptism of fire" and manifestation of the Lord's Spirit. The Savior said, "Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able" (Luke 13:24).
For the true seeker and truth seeker, Putting On Christ may prove a valuable guide for the journey along this straight and narrow path which leads to obtaining the knowledge of God on the level as if we had seen Him. When we receive this knowledge, we will have been healed and cleansed by Christ Himself of our sins, vices, and spiritual wounds . This knowledge then opens the door to "obtain all other things pertaining to life and godliness" (Lectures On Faith 7:18). Putting On Christ includes the stories of nine people who were born of the Spirit or born of God in our latter day-six of whom are personally known to me. These nine have obtained the same knowledge-even the perfect knowledge as to God's reality. This experiential knowledge obtained is on par with many who have entered God's Presence through a near-death experience. In either scenario, one can never be the same thereafter. Each will have received "a mighty change" or conversion of the heart towards God.
This same knowledge is available to all who have come under heavenly contract with God through the ordinances by proper authority. The Lectures on Faith teach that "whatsoever constitutes the salvation of one will constitute the salvation of every creature which will be saved" (Lectures on Faith, 7:9).
Jesus said to Nicodemus: "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3:5). Being born of the Spirit is much more than receiving the Father's promise through "confirmation" after being baptized by water. There is a broken-hearted covenant and cry of the soul we must each make in the depths of repentance, performed in complete surrender, having a committed willingness to do His will in all things thereafter. Once these and other conditions are met, the fulfillment of the Father's promise can then be made experientially "real" for us in our lives-unto the praise and glory of God. This is when we transition from the knowledge about God to the actual, perfect knowledge of God. Indeed, this is salvation.
The path is real and He is coming. Waste no time.
-Steven Anthony Bishop
