And this is not all—it has been made manifest unto me, for I have heard and seen; and it also has been made manifest unto me by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, I know if there should be no atonement made all mankind must be lost.
More powerful than hearing and seeing is the power of the Holy Ghost to convince us of the truth. We hear and see things all the time that are not true. The film making industry thrives on the ability to show us things that are not real. Yet despite how real the images on the screen look, we know they are the product of computers, props and engineering. The Holy Ghost, on the other hand, has the power to not just make us think something is real, but to testify to the reality. Seeing an angel is not convincing unless the Holy Ghost testifies to our hearts and mind that we have seen an angel. That is why Laman and Lemuel could see angels and hear the voice of God and still rebel. They did not allow the Holy Ghost to testify to them. Which suggests another principle about the power of the Holy Ghost, namely, that it is never coercive. He never exercises his power without an invitation. If we do not ask, he does not act.
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