Joseph Smith, first prophet and founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (or Mormon Church), wrote, “We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.”  The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are each distinct Persons, who have one purpose.  This single purpose makes them one – they work as one Being, but they are separate.  This is the Godhead.
 
According to Mormonism, God the Father is our father – the Father of everyone who has ever lived on earth and who will yet live on earth.  While our individual mothers and fathers are the parents of our physical bodies, God is the Father of our spirit bodies.  But He is not just a spirit, Himself.  Mormons believe that He has both a perfect spirit and a perfect, immortal physical body—bloodless, yet having flesh and bone.

Before we had bodies, we lived happily with Heavenly Father as spirits.  However, we couldn’t progress far as only spirits.  Mormons believe that God has a plan for us, called the plan of salvation.  This plan required us, spirits at the time, to live on earth – our spirits housed in physical bodies like God’s . . . only imperfect.  This period of life on earth would give us the opportunity to grow and mature more independently.  We would need to follow God’s commandments without living in His constant presence, as we did in the spirit world.  As we would be born free, and born forgetting our life in the spirit world, our Heavenly Father knew that we would make mistakes.  His plan, thus, included a Savior.  This Savior would come to live a perfect life on the earth, then suffer and die to pay for our sins.  The law of justice would normally prevent anyone who sinned (and we would all sin) from returning to God’s presence.  But the Savior would allow the use of another law – the law of mercy.  If we would accept the sacrifice of the Savior and turn to Him in faith, humility, and obedience, if we would repent, we would be saved in mercy and grace.  The Savior would take the brunt of justice for us.

Jesus, the eldest of God’s spirit children, was chosen as the One to bear the awesome burden of Redeemer of the world.  Thus, He already was starting to take on divine characteristics as the second member of the Godhead.  Mormons believe that Jesus Christ made the earth we live on, under God the Father’s direction.  Mormons also believe that the unborn Jesus Christ was the Jehovah of the Old Testament.  The New Testament recounts His miraculous birth and more miraculous life.  He offered himself in suffering and death to atone for the sins of all mankind.  And He was resurrected, immortal, His body and spirit joined together again forever.  Like God the Father, His body is of flesh and bone.  Like God the Father, He cannot die.  Not again.
 
The third member of the Godhead is the Holy Ghost.  Like the Father and the Son, He is distinct, He is an individual, but He does not have a physical body.  He is a spirit.  He endlessly testifies of the other two members of the Godhead, he guides us in the way we should go, he comforts us.  He makes our lives more sacred.  He is sometimes described as a “burning in the bosom” – the warmth He bestows upon us is given in times of trouble or grief, in times when we need confirmation of a decision or a truth.  He will speak truths to us – in our minds and in our hearts.  He will teach of Christ and He will teach of the gospel.  When we read the scriptures, when we read prophetic teachings, when we listen to the prophet, the Holy Ghost makes himself known.  But the Holy Ghost’s presence is not constant for most people.  When any of us do good, or are searching for more spiritual truth, the Holy Ghost will often be felt, encouraging and confirming that what we do is good.  But the gift of the Holy Ghost is a special bestowal for those who have entered into the Lord’s true Church (as the Mormons believe their Church truly is) through baptism.  Mormon men who hold the priesthood (God’s authority) place their hands on the head of a recently baptized person and pronounce this gift upon him or her.  The gift of the Holy Ghost makes the Holy Ghost’s presence continual.  As long as a person with the gift of the Holy Ghost remains faithful and worthy, the Holy Ghost will guide and protect them.  Sin can drive the Holy Ghost away – members of the Mormon Church are encouraged to be very careful when they feel the Spirit withdrawing.  Something is usually wrong. 

Mormons believe that God spoke the following revealing and hopeful words to Moses: “. . . this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Pearl of Great Price, Moses 1:39).  The plan of salvation is God’s purpose, the plan of salvation is meant to give us the opportunity to grow to become more like God.  We have been given mortal bodies, but, after we die, we will be resurrected and obtain our physical bodies again in immortal form.  Our spiritual progress depends on our ability to be faithful and obedient to God, although we are separated from him.  Our progress depends on our ability to repent for our mistakes, our sins.  Mormons believe this as the revealed word of Heavenly Father, through his prophets, a revealed word confirmed in human hearts and minds by the power of the Holy Ghost.  Our responsibility is ever and always to make our decisions based on, not only our knowledge, but the knowledge God would bestow upon us.