Being Converted
Distinguishing testimony from conversion — and why testimony alone is not enough to protect us in the latter days.
This talk draws on Elder David A. Bednar’s October 2012 general conference address to explore one of the most important distinctions in the gospel: the difference between having a testimony and being converted.
What Is a Testimony?
“A testimony is personal knowledge of spiritual truth obtained by revelation. A testimony is a gift from God and is available to all of His children.” Testimony comes through sincere prayer and the manifestation of the Holy Ghost. It requires personal effort and does not occur passively.
The passages from Alma and Moroni emphasize that a testimony is received through the Spirit, confirmed by the witness of the Holy Ghost. It is the beginning — but not the end — of the spiritual journey.
What Is Conversion?
Conversion means “the change of one form or state into another.” Consider the Savior’s words to Simon Peter before the crucifixion:
Luke 22:31–32
“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.”
This is remarkable. Peter possessed a powerful testimony of Jesus’s divinity — he had declared, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). Yet the Savior still looked forward to a day when Peter would be “converted.” Elder Bednar explains that Peter required “additional instruction from Jesus about the converting and sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost.”
Knowledge alone is insufficient. As James plainly taught:
James 2:19–20
“Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?”
Even the devils have knowledge — they believe and they tremble. Mere intellectual belief, even correct belief, lacks transformative power unless it is paired with a changed heart and changed life.
True Conversion
Elder Bednar taught: “True conversion brings a change in one’s beliefs, heart, and life to accept and conform to the will of God.”
Rather than a single transformative event, “conversion is an ongoing process” where “gradually and almost imperceptibly, our motives, our thoughts, our words, and our deeds become aligned with the will of God.”
The Lord speaks of this refining process in the context of the Saints’ afflictions:
D&C 101:2–5
“I, the Lord, have suffered the affliction to come upon them, wherewith they have been afflicted, in consequence of their transgressions… that they might be chastened for a little season, and have experience, and know that the Lord their God, and see that it is according to his own will and pleasure. For all those who will not endure chastening, but deny me, cannot be sanctified. Behold, I say unto you, there were jarrings, and contentions, and envyings, and strifes, and lustful and covetous desires among them; therefore by these things they polluted their inheritances.”
Critically: “Testimony alone is not and will not be enough to protect us in the latter-day storm.” The storms of the last days require roots that go deeper than knowledge — they require conversion.
The Diamond Analogy
The talk compares conversion to diamond formation. Diamonds require millions of years under extreme pressure and heat to transform common graphite into a brilliant, durable jewel. Similarly, affliction and trials refine us over time — gradually transforming natural opposition into firm spiritual steadfastness. We become “jewels unto the Lord” not in a single moment, but through sustained pressure and the refining fire of experience.
May we each pursue not merely a testimony, but the converted life — where our hearts, motives, and actions are continuously aligned with the will of God.