Month: December 2009

Bruce R. McConkie, “The Book of Mormon” The Improvement Era, June 1961, 402

We are laying the foundation for, and have already actually commenced, the greatest missionary undertaking ever destined to occur in any age of the earth’s history. We are going forth by command of Deity to carry the knowledge of God and of his saving truths to all nations, to preach the gospel to every creature, and to give in due course, in this life or in the next every living soul the opportunity to hear and obey these saving principles.

The ultimate end of this missionary work will be to see the knowledge of God and his saving truths cover the earth “. . . as the waters cover the sea.” (Isa. 11:9.) The ultimate end of this missionary work will be reached when the day arrives in which it will no longer be necessary for every man to say to his brother or neighbor, “Know the Lord,” for all shall know him from the greatest to the least. (See Jer. 31:31-34.)

Now, since we are engaged in the greatest missionary undertaking that has ever been planned as part of Deity’s program, he has also placed in our hands the most effective, compelling, and persuasive missionary tool ever given to any people in any age. The name of this tool is the Book of Mormon.

It goes without saying that conversion in all ages, for all peoples, is dependent upon their receipt of the Spirit. No one gets a testimony of the divinity of the Lord’s work unless he gains it from the Spirit–that is, unless it comes by the power of the Holy Ghost. But the Book of Mormon is the means, the tool, the way which has been ordained and given so that men can get their hearts and souls in a frame of mind, in a condition where they can hearken to the testimony of the Spirit.

It was of this book that the Prophet said: “I told the Brethren [meaning the Twelve, with whom he had that day met] that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding its precepts, than by any other book.” (History of the Church, vol. 4, p. 461.)

This is precisely what we want people to do. We want them to get so near to the Lord that they will come down in the depths of humility, repent of their sins, and accept Christ for what he is, the Son of God. We want them to come to the truth, join the kingdom of God on earth, and have performed for them the ordinances of salvation and exaltation under the hands of those legal administrators whom the Lord has appointed in this day and generation.

Shortly before the Church was organized, April 6, 1830, writing by the spirit of prophecy and revelation, Joseph Smith said that the Book of Mormon, which he had translated by the gift and power of God, was “. . . a record of a fallen people, . . .”; that it contained “. . . the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles and to the Jews . . .”; that it was “. . . given by inspiration, . . .”, that it had been “. . . confirmed to others by the ministering of angels, . . .”, that it had been “. . . declared unto the world by them–” all for this purpose–and note the purpose: To prove “. . . to the world that the holy scriptures are true, and that God does inspire men and call them to his holy work in this age and generation, as well as in generations of old;

“Thereby showing that he is the same God yesterday, today, and forever. . . .” (D&C 20:6-12.)

In other words, the Lord has given the Book of Mormon in this day as the absolute, sure, positive witness of the divinity of his work. We go out in the missionary cause, and we bear testimony in soberness and in truth, knowing the verity of what we say, that the heavens have been opened and that God has spoken again; that angels have ministered to men; that the gifts, powers, and graces had anciently have been restored anew; that the gospel and the plan of salvation are again on earth in all their ancient beauty and glory.

But this witness which we bear is not left to stand alone. The Lord sends with us a written record, a means, a missionary tool, which can be used by any person to gain a knowledge of the divinity of the work. The Prophet’s expression that “the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion” means precisely what it says. The keystone is the central stone in the top of the arch. If that stone is removed, then the arch crumbles, which, in effect, means that Mormonism so-called–which actually is the gospel of Christ, restored anew in this day–stands or falls with the truth or the falsity of the Book of Mormon. Thus our program and our purpose, as witnesses of the Lord in this day, ought to be to devise ways and means and to create inducements that will persuade those who are not of us to read the Book of Mormon and to read it according to the revealed pattern.

Moroni has left us in the Book of Mormon itself the recorded promise that if anyone will read it “. . . with real intent, having faith in Christ, . . .” and will ask “. . . God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, . . .” whether it is true, he shall get a knowledge of its truth and divinity by personal revelation. (See Moroni 10:3-4.) This promise is true. It has been tested by thousands and tens of thousands of people in the world, and they have received this personal revelation. Further, by his own voice, the Lord himself testifies of the truth of the Book of Mormon in these words: “. . . as your Lord and your God liveth it is true.” (D&C 17:6.)

Now, our message to the world centers around three great truths. The first the divine Sonship of Christ; the second, that in this day the knowledge of Christ and his saving truths have been restored through the instrumentality of Joseph Smith; and the third, that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the kingdom of God on earth the organization through which salvation, hope, and peace are offered to all men.

Before any person is prepared to join the Church, he must believe that Jesus Christ is literally the Son of God; that as such he worked out the infinite and eternal atonement whereby all men are raised in immortality, and those who believe and obey his laws gain the additional reward of eternal life; and that he has ordained and revealed a plan of salvation which enables men so to live as to gain peace here and the fulness of salvation hereafter.

Before joining the Church a person must believe that Joseph Smith was called of God to open this gospel dispensation; that he was indeed a prophet who received keys, powers, authority and revelation from heaven; that he was the revealer of the gospel and the knowledge of God, of Christ, and of salvation for this age; and that he was commanded by Deity to set up his Church and kingdom again on earth.

Before baptism a person must believe that this Church is true; that it is in fact the Lord’s earthly kingdom; that the priesthood and keys are here; that those who now officer it are legal administrators sent of God to preach the gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.

The Book of Mormon–which has come forth to prove that God inspires men and calls them to his holy work in this age and generation–establishes the verity of these great truths which comprise the message of the restoration. If the Book of Mormon is true, our message to the world is truth; the truth of this message is established in and through this book.

The Book of Mormon is a new, living, modern witness of the divine Sonship of Christ. It testifies of him and of the doctrines of his gospel. It teaches of his atoning sacrifice; it proclaims that through him men are redeemed from the spiritual and temporal death brought into the world by the fall of Adam. It outlines the course men must follow to gain eternal life.

The Book of Mormon stands as a witness of the divine Sonship of Christ; it has come forth for “. . . the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations–. . .” (Preface to the Book of Mormon.)

This book also is a witness of the divine mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith and of the divinity of the Church set up under his instrumentality. It establishes and proves to the world that Joseph Smith is a prophet, for he received the book from a resurrected personage and translated it by the gift and power of God. And since the Book of Mormon came by revelation, which included the ministering of angels, then obviously Joseph Smith also received other revelations and was ministered to by other heavenly beings. Among those revelations was the command to organize the Church. The Church is thus the one true Church because it was set up by a prophet acting under command of God. Thus the truth of the message of the restoration is established in and through and by means of the Book of Mormon.

No person can read this book, according to the prescribed pattern, and not know that it is true. No person can read this book, in the way Moroni directed, without getting in his heart the absolute, certain, sure knowledge that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. No person can read this book and learn of its divinity “. . . by the power of the Holy Ghost . . .” (Moroni 10:5), without knowing that Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God and that this Church, as now constituted, organized, and set up is God’s kingdom on earth.

As one voice among thousands of others, I certify that I know by the promptings of the Spirit that the Book of Mormon is true. As a consequence I have in addition a personal knowledge, also born of the Spirit, of the divinity of Christ, of the divine mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and of all things incident to this great latter-day work which are essential for the salvation and exaltation of men.

In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Bruce R. McConkie, “The Keystone of Our Religion” The Improvement Era, June 1965, 50

There are in the world great hosts of upright and good people, men and women of goodwill, who desire in their hearts to know the truth about religion. They see conflicting claims everywhere, claims supporting both the philosophies of the world and the various religious systems.

These truth seekers feel in their hearts that there ought to be unity where religion is concerned, unity based on complete, ultimate truth. They see movements afoot to bring organizational unity into the Christian world, and yet they find those who give lip service to unity crying, “Lo here is Christ, or there. . . .” (Matt. 24:23.) They wonder why men do not come to a unity of the faith, why they do not find the ultimate truth about religion, just as men come to a perfect knowledge of truth in scientific fields.

Well, this condition has prevailed over the years. It existed in the days of Joseph Smith. He was in the midst of a religious revival on the frontier area of America. He heard the cry that here was salvation, or there. He reached the conclusion that “. . . the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible.” (Joseph Smith 2:12.)

Then he read these glorious words in the book of James: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him,” followed by the counsel, “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.” (James 1:5-6.) As the Spirit worked upon him, he, meditating upon these words, was led to offer that prayer which ushered in this great, final gospel dispensation.

Now, every person of goodwill, every honest truth seeker, every person with a devout desire to find the truth in the field of religion is faced with the same problem which confronted Joseph Smith, and every person can find the answer in the same way he found it; for God, who is no respecter of persons, in whose sight a soul is just as precious today as it ever was, will give wisdom, will give light and truth and revelation to those who ask in faith.

We are the children of God our Father; he loves us, has an intense interest in our well-being, and desires to see us progress and advance until we become like him. He is willing–provided we pay the investigator’s price–to give us wisdom and knowledge to reveal to us the truth about religion so that we can walk in that course and way in which he would have us go.

In view of this, may I mention a specific way and means which will enable men to get in tune with the Lord, to get themselves in the frame of mind to exercise the necessary faith the faith which will bring a personal manifestation from him as to the truth and divinity of this great latter-day work.

Remember, we proclaim to the world a message, the message of the restoration. This message is that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that salvation is in him, that because of his atoning sacrifice all men are raised in immortality and those who believe and obey his laws are raised unto eternal life. This message is that in our day, primarily through the instrumentality of Joseph Smith, there has been a restoration of the knowledge of Christ and the knowledge of salvation. And this message is, further, that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as now constituted, is the Church and kingdom of God on earth, the one place where salvation is found, the place where men can come to learn the eternal verities in the fields of religion and salvation.

Now, the Lord has placed in our hands the way and the means to present this message to the world, to present it in such a way that every honest truth seeker can be guided and enabled to know where the truth is. By using this means every truth seeker can learn how to get in communion with Deity and how to get personal revelation from that God who does not upbraid and who desires to see his children come to the light and truth of heaven.

This way and means, given of God to establish the truth of his work, is the Book of Mormon. May I call your attention to the inspired words of Joseph Smith, words written by the spirit of prophecy and revelation on the day the Church was organized in this dispensation. In them the Prophet first announces that the Church has been organized. Then he says that “. . . through faith, God ministered unto him by an holy angel, whose countenance was as lightning, and whose garments were pure and white above all other whiteness”; (D&C 20:6.)

He then says he was given commandments, and also the power “. . . by the means which were before prepared, to translate the Book of Mormon.” (V. 8.) Then of that book he says: It “. . . contains a record of a fallen people, and the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles and to the Jews also;

“Which was given by inspiration [meaning that the original prophets who wrote it were inspired of God] and is confirmed to others by the ministering of angels [meaning that angelic ministers delivered it to men on earth in this day], and is declared unto the world by them–” (Vs. 9-10.)

And now these words that follow are the key: “Proving to the world that the holy scriptures are true, and that God does inspire men and call them to his holy work in this age and generation, as well as in generations of old;

“Thereby showing that he is the same God yesterday, today, and forever.” (Vs. 11-12.)

Now, in every age of the earth’s history, when the Lord has had a message for people, he has sent his servants to testify and bear witness of it. They have spoken by the power of the Holy Ghost and have certified of the truth of the revelation. We do this today, most solemnly and soberly, as it has been done in this conference; and I add my personal witness that I know by the revelations of the Holy Ghost to my soul that this work is true. But for our day and our generation, an era in which the Lord is cutting short his work in righteousness, in which he is hastening it in its time and in its season, he has given something additional. He has placed in our hands a volume of scripture which is both ancient and modern and has provided that it will be the sure proof, the conclusive evidence, the added witness of the divinity of the work.

As all who are acquainted with this matter know, if any person will read this book in accordance with Moroni’s promise, having faith in God, and ask the Father in the name of Christ if it is true, that person will learn by the power of the Holy Ghost that it is. (See Moroni 10:3-5.) The still small voice will whisper to the spirit that is within him, telling him in a way that he cannot deny or misunderstand that no man could have written that book, that it is the mind and word and will of God.

Now; if this book is what we say it is, Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God; Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the one by whom salvation comes; and this Church and kingdom was set up, ordained, and established by the opening of the heavens, by the principle of revelation. The Book of Mormon has been given to the world to prove the divinity of the work, and our challenge is that men of goodwill, upright and good people everywhere, will take this book and learn what is in it and then ask God whether it is true.

Joseph Smith said: “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.” (DHC, 4, 461.)

Well, as the keystone of our religion, it is the thing upon which we stand or fall. If it is true, this whole system of religion is true because God’s hand is in it; if it is not true, then our system of religion is false. But thanks be to God, this book is true! And thanks be to him also, he is willing, desirous, by the power of his Spirit, to bear record of that fact to all honest truth seekers in the world in which event they then know of the divinity of the work; and if they are willing to abide and walk in the light having the courage of their convictions they come and join with the Saints of God and get on the path leading to eternal life.

May I quote the words that God himself said in bearing record of the divinity of the Book of Mormon, and make them my testimony also? He said of Joseph Smith, “. . . he has translated the book, even that part which I have commanded him, and as your Lord and your God liveth it is true.” (D&C 17:6.)

In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Bruce R. McConkie, “The Keystone of Our Religion” The Improvement Era, June 1968, 46

We have a volume of sacred scripture known as the Book of Mormon, which contains the mind and will and voice of God to the world today. Like the Bible, with which it is in complete conformity, it contains a record of God’s dealings with a people who had the fullness of the everlasting gospel. Thus, both the Book of Mormon and the Bible present a summary of the doctrines of salvation, of the truths men must accept and live by to gain the celestial heaven, and both record the wondrous blessings poured out by Deity upon those in former days who walked in the light of the Lord and who kept his commandments.

The Book of Mormon is a record of God’s dealings with his ancient American saints; the Bible is a similar and parallel record of his dealings with the saints in the Old World. Both shed forth a flood of light and knowledge about those truths that must be believed and obeyed to gain salvation, to gain peace in this life and eternal life in the world to come. And none now living can gain that salvation, which is the greatest of all the gifts of God, without conforming to those truths of which both books testify.

But salvation is not found in a book, any book, neither the Book of Mormon nor the Bible. Salvation is in Christ; it comes because of his atoning sacrifice; his is the only name given under heaven whereby man can be saved. Salvation comes by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of his Son. As a Book of Mormon prophet said, “. . . salvation was, and is, and is to come, in and through the atoning blood of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent.” (Mosiah 3:18.)

However, salvation is made available to men because the Lord calls prophets and apostles to testify of Christ and to teach the true doctrines of his gospel. Salvation is available only when there are legal administrators who can teach the truth and who have power to perform the ordinances of salvation so they will be binding and will have efficacy, virtue, and force on earth and in heaven.

Now this book, the Book of Mormon, was brought forth in our day by such a legal administrator, one Joseph Smith by name. This man was called of God by his own voice and by angelic ministration. To him was given the ancient record whereon were inscribed the words of prophets and seers who dwelt on the American continent in ages past, holy men who ministered among the land’s inhabitants in much the same way that biblical prophets represented the Lord in the lands of their labors.

Having received the ancient record from a heavenly messenger–from an angel named Moroni, who himself was one of the ancient American prophets–Joseph Smith then translated the book by the gift and power of God. The translated account is the Book of Mormon, a volume of holy writ of some 522 pages. Thereafter Joseph Smith, endowed with the spirit of prophecy and acting pursuant to revelation and at the direct command of God, organized The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sometimes called the Mormon Church because of its acceptance of this Book of Mormon.

With the setting up on earth of the true Church, there came once again a restoration of the fullness of the everlasting gospel, a restoration of the fullness of those truths, keys, powers, and authorities which again enable men to gain a fullness of salvation in the heaven of God our Father.

Thus, the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, the call of Joseph Smith to represent God as a prophet on earth, the restoration of the gospel of salvation, and the setting up anew of the earthly Church and kingdom of God–all these are tied together; they are all woven into one pattern; either all of them are realities or none of them are.

We testify that Joseph Smith received the Book of Mormon record from a resurrected personage and that he translated it by the power of revelation.

Now if the Book of Mormon is a true account of God’s dealings with ancient inhabitants of the American continent, if it contains, as we solemnly affirm, the fullness of the everlasting gospel, then Joseph Smith was a prophet, a legal administrator, who did in fact restore the gospel and set up the true Church again on earth. In other words, if the Book of Mormon is true, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is God’s kingdom on earth, the only true and living Church upon the face of the whole earth, the only place where salvation may be found.

It thus becomes a matter of transcendent import for every truth seeker to learn of the truth and divinity of this volume of sacred scripture–this volume which will open the door to the knowledge of God and his laws; this volume which will introduce the truth seeker to those legal administrators who can, for instance, perform baptisms that will admit penitent persons, not alone to any earthly organization, but to that celestial realm which is God’s eternal kingdom.

In all dispensations past the Lord has called prophets and commissioned them to teach and testify to the people, with the provision that all who believed and obeyed the heaven-sent message would be saved, while those who rejected it would be damned. He has done precisely the same thing in this final gospel dispensation. By his own voice he appointed Joseph Smith to be the first and foremost of his latter-day prophets. Those who have since built on the foundation revealed to Joseph Smith have worn the same prophetic mantle and have and do stand as witnesses to the world of the truth of God’s great plan of salvation in this day.

But in his manifold grace and goodness, God has given an added witness in this day of the eternal verity of his work. Men in this day are as much obligated as men have been in any age to hearken to the voice of the prophets, to lend a listening ear to their sayings, to open their hearts to the truths of heaven which fall from their lips. But today we also have the Book of Mormon to bear record of the truth of the message that has come from a loving Heavenly Father to us, his erring earthly children.

Joseph Smith said that the Book of Mormon was the keystone of our religion.” (Documentary History of the Church, Vol. 4, p. 451), meaning that the whole structure of restored truth stands or falls, depending on its truth or falsity.

Joseph Smith also wrote, “by the spirit of prophecy and revelation,” that the Book of Mormon carne forth to prove “to the world that the holy scriptures are true, and that God does inspire men and call them to his holy work in this age and generation, as well as in generations of old; Thereby showing that he is the same God yesterday, today, and forever. . . . (D&C 20:11-12.)

In the Book of Mormon is found the Lord’s promise to all men that if they will read the record and ponder it in their hearts and then ask the Father in the name of Christ if it is true–asking with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ–he will manifest the truth of it unto them by the power of the Holy Ghost. (See Moro. 10:4.)

Now I am one who knows by the power of the Spirit that this book is true, and as a consequence I also know, both by reason and by revelation from the Spirit, of the truth and divinity of all the great spiritual verities of this dispensation. For instance:

I know that the Father and the Son appeared to Joseph Smith–because the Book of Mormon is true.

I know that the gospel has been restored and that God has established his Church again on earth–because the Book of Mormon is true.

I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet, that he communed with God entertained angels, received revelations, saw visions, and has gone on to eternal glory–because the Book of Mormon is true.

I know that the Bible is the word of God as far as it is translated correctly–because the Book of Mormon is true.

I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the kingdom of God on earth, the one kingdom with legal administrators who can seal men up unto eternal life–because the Book of Mormon is true.

To my testimony of the Book of Mormon I add that of the Lord God himself, who said Joseph Smith “has translated the book, . . . and as your Lord and your God liveth it is true.” (D&C 17:6.)

In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Bruce R. McConkie, “What Think Ye of the Book of Mormon?” Ensign, Nov. 1983, 72

Two ministers of one of the largest and most powerful Protestant denominations came to a Latter-day Saint conference to hear me preach.

After the meeting I had a private conversation with them, in which I said they could each gain a testimony that Joseph Smith was the prophet through whom the Lord had restored the fulness of the gospel for our day and for our time.

I told them they should read the Book of Mormon, ponder its great and eternal truths, and pray to the Father in the name of Christ, in faith, and he would reveal the truth of the book to them by the power of the Holy Ghost.

As every gospel scholar knows, the Book of Mormon proves that Joseph Smith was called of God to minister in the prophetic office and to restore the truths of salvation in plainness and perfection.

The Book of Mormon is a volume of holy scripture comparable to the Bible. It contains a record of God’s dealings with the ancient inhabitants of the Americas. It is another testament of Jesus Christ.

It contains the fulness of the gospel, meaning that it is a record of the Lord’s dealings with a people who had the fulness of the gospel, and meaning also that in it is found a summary and a recitation of what all men must believe and do to gain an inheritance in the heavenly kingdom reserved for the Saints.

As the teachings and testimonies of Moses and Isaiah and Peter find place in the Bible, so the parallel preaching and the same Spirit-guided testimonies of Nephi and Alma and Moroni have come down to us in the Book of Mormon.

This American witness of Christ was written upon gold plates which were delivered to Joseph Smith by an angelic ministrant. This ancient record was then translated by the gift and power of God and is now published to the world as the Book of Mormon.

If this book is what it purports to be–if the original record was revealed by a holy angel; if the translation was made by the power of God and not of man; if Joseph Smith was entertaining angels, seeing visions, and receiving revelations–all of which is an established verity; if the Book of Mormon is true–then the truth and divinity of the Book of Mormon proves the truth of this great latter-day work in which we are engaged.

All of this I explained to my two Protestant friends. One of them, a congenial and decent sort of fellow, said somewhat casually that he would read the Book of Mormon. The other minister, manifesting a bitter spirit, said: “I won’t read it. We have experts who have read the Book of Mormon, and I have read what our experts have to say about it.”

This account dramatizes one of our problems in presenting the message of the Book of Mormon to the world. There are sincere and devout people everywhere who have heard what other people say about this volume of holy writ, and so they do not read it themselves.

Instead of drinking from that fountain from whence clear streams of living water flow, they prefer to go downstream and drink from the soiled, muddy, poison-filled streams of the world.

The plain fact is that salvation itself is at stake in this matter. If the Book of Mormon is true–if it is a volume of holy scripture, if it contains the mind and will and voice of the Lord to all men, if it is a divine witness of the prophetic call of Joseph Smith–then to accept it and believe its doctrines is to be saved, and to reject it and walk contrary to its teachings is to be damned.

Let this message be sounded in every ear with an angelic trump; let it roll round the earth in resounding claps of never-ending thunder; let it be whispered in every heart by the still, small voice. Those who believe the Book of Mormon and accept Joseph Smith as a prophet thereby open the door to salvation; those who reject the book outright or who simply fail to learn its message and believe its teachings never so much as begin to travel that course along the strait and narrow path that leads to eternal life.

Shortly after my experience with these two ministers, two other ministers from the same denomination came to another of our conferences to hear me preach. And, once again, after the meeting I had a private discussion with them.

My message was the same. Taking the Book of Mormon as their guide, they must read, ponder, and pray in order to gain a witness from the Spirit as to the truth and divinity of this great latter-day work.

I told them of my prior experience with their two colleagues and how one of them had refused to read the Book of Mormon, saying that they had experts who had read the book and he had read what their experts had said.

I then said, “What is it going to take to get you gentlemen to read the Book of Mormon and find out for yourselves what is involved, rather than relying on the views of your experts?”

One of these ministers, holding my copy of the Book of Mormon in his hands, let the pages flip past his eyes in a matter of seconds. As he did so, he said, “Oh, I’ve read the Book of Mormon.”

I had a momentary flash of spiritual insight that let me know that his reading had been about as extensive as the way he had just flipped the pages. In his reading he had done no more than scan a few of the headings and read an isolated verse or two.

A lovely young lady, a convert to the Church whose father was a minister of the same denomination as my four Protestant friends, was listening to my conversation with the second two. At this point she spoke up and said, “But Reverend, you have to pray about it.”

He replied, “Oh, I prayed about it. I said, ‘O God, if the Book of Mormon is true, strike me dead’; and here I am.”

My unspoken impulse was to give this rejoinder: “But Reverend, you have to pray in faith!”

This account dramatizes another of our problems in teaching those who read the Book of Mormon how to read it in order to gain the promised witness by the power of the Holy Ghost.

The pattern for this was set in the experience of Oliver Cowdery. He desired not alone to act as a scribe to Joseph Smith but also to translate directly from the plates. After much importuning, the Lord permitted Brother Cowdery to try.

The divine authorization contained these provisos: “Remember that without faith you can do nothing; therefore ask in faith. Trifle not with these things; do not ask for that which you ought not. . . . And according to your faith shall it be done unto you.” (D&C 8:10-11.)

Oliver tried to translate and failed. Then came the divine word: “Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me.” That is, he had not done all that in his power lay; he had expected the Lord to do it all merely because he asked.

“But, behold, I say unto you,” the divine word continued, “that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.” (D&C 9:7-8.)

Now, if the Book of Mormon is true, our acceptance of it will lead to salvation in the highest heaven. On the other hand, if we say it is true when in fact it is not, we are thereby leading men astray and surely deserve to drop down to the deepest hell.

The time is long past for quibbling about words and for hurling unsavory epithets against the Latter-day Saints. These are deep and solemn and ponderous matters. We need not think we can trifle with sacred things and escape the wrath of a just God.

Either the Book of Mormon is true, or it is false; either it came from God, or it was spawned in the infernal realms. It declares plainly that all men must accept it as pure scripture or they will lose their souls. It is not and cannot be simply another treatise on religion; it either came from heaven or from hell. And it is time for all those who seek salvation to find out for themselves whether it is of the Lord or of Lucifer.

May I be so bold as to propose a test and issue a challenge. It is hoped that all who take this test will have a knowledge of the Holy Bible, because the more people know about the Bible, the greater their appreciation will be of the Book of Mormon.

This test is for saint and sinner alike, it is for Jew and Gentile, for bond and free, for black and white, for all of our Father’s children. We have all been commanded to search the scriptures, to treasure up the Lord’s word, to live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God. (See D&C 84:44.) This, then, is the test:

Let every person make a list of from one hundred to two hundred doctrinal subjects, making a conscious effort to cover the whole field of gospel knowledge. The number of subjects chosen will depend on personal inclination and upon how broad the spectrum will be under each subject.

Then write each subject on a blank piece of paper. Divide the paper into two columns; at the top of one, write “Book of Mormon,” and at the top of the other, “Bible.”

Then start with the first verse and phrase of the Book of Mormon, and continuing verse by verse and thought by thought, put the substance of each verse under its proper heading. Find the same doctrine in the Old and New Testaments, and place it in the parallel columns.

Ponder the truths you learn, and it will not be long before you know that Lehi and Jacob excel Paul in teaching the Atonement; that Alma’ s sermons on faith and on being born again surpass anything in the Bible; that Nephi makes a better exposition of the scattering and gathering of Israel than do Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel combined; that Mormon’s words about faith, hope, and charity have a clarity, a breadth, and a power of expression that even Paul did not attain, and so on and so on.

There is another and simpler test that all who seek to know the truth might well take. It calls for us simply to read, ponder, and pray–all in the spirit of faith and with an open mind. To keep ourselves alert to the issues at hand–as we do read, ponder, and pray–we should ask ourselves a thousand times, “Could any man have written this book?”

And it is absolutely guaranteed that sometime between the first and thousandth time this question is asked, every sincere and genuine truth seeker will come to know by the power of the Spirit that the Book of Mormon is true, that it is the mind and will and voice of the Lord to the whole world in our day.

We ask, then: What think ye of the Book of Mormon? Who can tell its wonder and worth? How many martyrs have suffered death in the flesh to bring it forth and carry its saving message to a wicked world?

We answer: It is a book, a holy book, a book of sacred, saving scripture. It is a voice from the dust, a voice that whispers low out of the earth, telling of a fallen people who sank into an endless oblivion because they forsook their God.

It is truth springing out of the earth as righteousness looks down from heaven. It is the stick of Joseph in the hands of Ephraim, which will guide all Israel, the ten tribes included, to return to Him whom their fathers worshipped. It contains the word that will gather the whole house of Israel and make them once again one nation upon the mountains of Israel, as it was in the days of their fathers.

It is an account of the ministry of the Son of God to his other sheep in the day they saw his face and heard his voice and believed his word.

It is the divine evidence, the proof, that God has spoken in our day. Its chief purpose is to convince all men, Jew and Gentile alike, that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, who manifests himself, by faith, in all ages and among all peoples.

It came forth in our day proving to the world that the Bible is true; that Jesus, by whom the Atonement came, is Lord of all; that Joseph Smith was called of God, as were the prophets of old; that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the one place on earth where salvation is found.

It is the book that will save the world and prepare the sons of men for joy and peace here and now and everlasting life in eternity.

As it happens, I am one of the many who have come to know, by the revelations of the Holy Ghost to my soul, that the Book of Mormon is true. And, knowing that I will be accountable for that witness before the bar of the great Jehovah when he judges all men, I testify that as he lives the Book of Mormon is true, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.