Step Two: Come to believe that the power of God can restore me to complete spiritual health.
Healing is associated with conversion or spiritual rebirth (among other terms) several times in the scriptures. It appears that the first person to link the two ideas was Isaiah, quoting Jehovah:
"Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed" (Isaiah 6:10).
Jesus quoted or paraphrased this scripture Himself multiple times (see Matt. 13:15, 3 Ne. 9:13, 3 Ne. 18:32, D&C 112:13). John wrote that the people refusing to believe Jesus despite all the miracles He performed was a fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy (John 12:40). Paul also felt like Isaiah's prophecy was fulfilled during his own ministry (Acts 28:27).
I've read a lot about being spiritually reborn over the last year. It's a topic Mike Stroud (podcasts #8 and #45) and John Pontius (both on his blog and in his books1) have taught about. I was pretty surprised to learn that being converted (aka being spiritually reborn, being baptized by fire, and many other terms) was an event, not a process like I'd been taught much of my life. I did some reading in the scriptures to determine the truth for myself, and learned the idea of conversion being a process is not scriptural!!!2 No wonder Jesus taught "Straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it" (Matt. 7:14, 3 Ne. 14:14, 3 Ne. 27:33), because most members of the church aren't actively seeking a remission of their sins through receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. They either think their sins were remitted at baptism (as if their sins were left behind in the water) or that they received the Holy Ghost when they were confirmed (which rarely is the case). If you don't realize you don't actually have the gift of the Holy Ghost, you probably aren't seeking after it.
In my research online, I've read dozens of stories of normal, everyday members of the church being baptized by fire. It's not just limited to prophets and GAs! Those who have borne testimony of their own spiritual rebirth have given me so much hope that it can and will happen to me too! I look forward to the day when I also can testify that it's possible for average church members to receive this great blessing; to testify that conversion truly is an event, not a process; and to give others hope that it's attainable for them too.
1 As usual, no kickbacks.
2 See Enos, Mosiah 4-5, Alma 36:10-24, Hel. 5:21-52, and 3 Ne. 19:9-14. Frequently we quote 3 Ne. 9:20 to argue that you can be converted and not know it, but that verse is referring to the story found in Hel. 5. The dissenters clearly knew something had happened to them, but didn't know what it was. There is a footnote on Hel. 5:45 linking to 3 Ne. 9:20. Before the 1981 edition of the Book of Mormon, there was a footnote on 3 Ne. 9:20 linking in the other direction back to Hel. 5:45. Had that footnote remained, perhaps the idea of imperceptible conversion would never have taken hold in the church.
