The Godhead: One In Purpose

By Emilia Julian | April 4, 2019

When I began my adventure in blogging a few years ago, I introduced myself to my readers and mentioned that in time, they would get to know a little more about me through my writings.  There have been numerous experiences that have been life-changing to me, but the one that will stick to me for an eternity will be the changes that have transpired in my life because of my conversion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

As I had mentioned in my previous blogs, I grew up in a Christian family.  I believed in God, was always reminded of the sacrifices that Jesus Christ made for us, but I never really knew where the Holy Ghost fit in.  As far as I was taught, the three of Them, God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit were the same person.  The belief of the Trinity confused me to no end, and no matter how many times my teachers tried to teach it, or priests tried to preach about it, I always ended up having more questions than ever.

If Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father are one person, then who was Jesus praying to in the Garden of Gethsemane?  Who was He speaking to while on the cross in Calvary?  If Jesus Christ is actually Heavenly Father, then whose voice was heard coming from heaven when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist?  And where did the dove fit in?  These were only a fraction of the questions that entered my mind as a young girl.  It was difficult for me to have a real relationship with my Saviour or my Heavenly Father if I didn’t know or understand Their true characters or Their role in the Godhead.

This experience turned out to be one of those moments when I knew that God had a plan for me and part of that plan was for me to learn of the true doctrine of Jesus Christ’s Church.  I didn’t know it at that moment, but the Holy Ghost, a member of the Godhead Himself, testified to me that what I was learning from the missionaries was indeed true.  I thirsted for more!

I remember clearly when the missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints taught me about the Godhead.  I had asked so many questions about the Godhead through the years that, although I didn’t fully understand the concept of the Trinity, I thought I could teach them a thing or two about it.  I undoubtedly was wrong.

This experience turned out to be one of those moments when I knew that God had a plan for me and part of that plan was for me to learn of the true doctrine of Jesus Christ’s Church.  I didn’t know it at that moment, but the Holy Ghost, a member of the Godhead Himself, testified to me that what I was learning from the missionaries was indeed true.  I thirsted for more!

While today’s traditional Christian churches claim that the three members of the Godhead are all one person (called the “Trinity,” a belief based on a man-made council that wrote the Nicene Creed in A.D. 325), I learned that the Father and the Son each have bodies of flesh and bones.  I also learned that the Holy Ghost is a personage of spirit, separate from God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.  Ancient prophets have testified that the Father and the Son are separate beings, and then later, I learned that even Joseph Smith, a latter-day Prophet, also saw Them standing next to each other and spoke with them.

One in Purpose

Astonishment began to settle within me as things finally started to become crystal clear in my mind and in my heart, and the questions I have had for many years were finally being answered with precise accuracy, and it all made sense to me!  Heavenly Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three distinct personages, but they share one purpose.

I can’t begin to articulate the immense joy I felt in learning about this vital piece of doctrine.  Who was Jesus talking to in the Garden of Gethsemane?  His Father!  While suffering on the cross, feeling alone and abandoned, Jesus Christ wasn’t uttering a prayer to Himself when He said, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”.  He was speaking to His Father at the moment He needed Him most.  When the Father bore witness of His Son after John baptized Jesus, it was the Holy Ghost that descended from heaven like a dove.  It’s so simple.  Jesus was being baptized…Heavenly Father bore witness of His Son…and the Holy Spirit, being a personage of spirit, came from heaven in the form of a dove.  Three distinct and separate beings, one in purpose.

Jeffrey R. Holland taught:  “Having made the point of Their separate and distinct physical nature, we declare unequivocally that They were indeed and are ‘one’ in every other conceivable way–in mind and deed, in will and wish and hope, in faith and purpose and intent and love.”

In addition to learning the real characters and roles of the Godhead, I was able to have the desired and needed relationship with all three of Them.  In attaining this knowledge, I also came to understand that I am a literal spirit daughter of my Heavenly Father and that I was created in His image and He loves me and knows me individually.  He sent me here to earth to receive my body and gain knowledge and experience that will strengthen me and help me to progress to a higher way of life in the eternities.  Jesus Christ’s divine mission was to save me…save us!  He is our Saviour and our Redeemer, and He is our Mediator with the Father.  He needed to have the immortal traits of being the Only Begotten Son of our Heavenly Father in the flesh in order to be able to atone for our sins and be resurrected like He was.  His sacrifices are a powerful reminder to me that Jesus loves me, and like His Father, wants to give me every opportunity to know Them and show my love for them by following Them and keeping the commandments.

Finally,  one of the purposes of the Holy Ghost is to testify of truth, and through Him, I can gain a testimony of Jesus Christ, among other things, and know what the will of my Heavenly Father is.

I always enjoy listening to Elder Jeffery R. Holland.  He has such a powerful way with words, and when he speaks, I can truly feel the Spirit testifying to me. In the short video below, Elder Holland addresses the nature of the Godhead.

An excerpt from “The Only True God and Jesus Christ Whom He Hath Sent,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2007, 41. (1:49)