“For we have seen and hefted, and know of a surety that the said Smith has got the plates.” (From “The Testimony of Eight Witnesses.”)

Thud. If you dropped the golden plates, they would have made a pretty big dent in the floor — or worse, they probably would have crushed your foot. Joseph Smith carried them around, hid them in a log, a bean barrel, boxes and under hearthstones. They were picked up and fingers flipped through the metallic leaves, frrrrrrp! Emma Smith had to move them out of her way occasionally while doing housework.

The golden plates were just so — tangible, physical and, well, real. But just how big were they? How much did they weigh? How many plates were there? What were they made of?

Joseph Smith wrote in the Wentworth Letter that the plates were “six inches by eight inches long.” Martin Harris and David Whitmer remembered 7 by 8 inches. Joseph Smith wrote that the plates were “something near six inches in thickness.” Harris remembered it being about four inches.

Take Joseph Smith’s estimate (sorry, Martin) of 6 inches by 8 inches by 6 inches, and that gives us 288 cubic inches. Metallurgist Read H. Putnam, in an Improvement Era article in September 1966, wrote that a “solid block of gold totaling 288 cubic inches would weigh a little over 200 pounds.” But, of course, the plates were not a solid block.

The individual plates were not perfectly shaped. “The unevenness left by the hammering and air spaces between the separate plates would reduce the weight to probably less than 50 percent of the solid block,” Putnam wrote.

That gives us about 100 pounds. Not impossible to move around, but still pretty heavy.

But the plates were not likely made of pure gold. The Book of Mormon merely says they were made of “ore” 1 Nephi 19:1. (See also Mormon 8:5.)

The Eight Witnesses described them as having “the appearance of gold.”

Pure gold would be too soft to use anyway.

“The metal would need to be soft enough at the surface to accept the engraver’s tool, yet firm enough in the center to keep the plate from distortion under the pressure; it would also have to be smooth enough for the lines and figures to retain their proportions,” Putnam wrote. In other words, the plates, if they were to match their description, had to be an alloy.

As it turns out, ancient Americans used an alloy of gold and copper — the two colored metals. The Spaniards called this metal alloy “tumbaga.” Properly made, a plate of this alloy would have the right properties for engraving and would also look like ordinary gold. But it would also weigh less. Putnam estimated a solid block of the ideal engraving-friendly copper/gold alloy would weigh about 107 pounds. Take half of that away to account for air between the plates and “the weight of the stack of plates would be about 53 pounds.”

Putnam wrote that the weight would be higher as the ratio of gold to copper went up.

Just for contrast, a block of sand that size would be about 17 pounds, a solid block of granite about 29 pounds.

It shouldn’t be a surprise then to learn that witnesses put the weight of the plates at about 60 pounds. Harris said “from forty to sixty lbs.” William Smith said “about sixty pounds.”

William Smith also said the plates were “a mixture of gold and copper” — the precise alloy that Putnam found was used by ancient Americans.

Putnam calculated that each plate could have been .02 inches thick (average copier paper is five times thinner or about .004 inches thick). Emma Smith said, “They seemed to be pliable like thick paper, and would rustle with a metallic sound when the edges were moved by the thumb, as one does sometimes thumb the edges of a book.”

By judging how much space a plate would take in a stack, Putnam deduced it would be about 20 plates to the inch. “The unsealed portion (one-third of the whole) would then consist of 40 plates or 80 sides.”

Only 80 sides for the whole Book of Mormon — plus the lost Book of Lehi? In an April 1923 issue of the “Improvement Era,” Janne M. Sjodahl proved that 14 pages of the Book of Mormon could be written in Hebrew in a space that was only 7 by 8 inches. “That is to say, the entire Book of Mormon … could be written on 40 3/7 pages — 21 plates in all.”

John Gee, senior research fellow at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at BYU, reexamined Sjodahl’s article in 2001 and concluded that the small characters used in Sjodahl’s experiment are similar in size to actual Hebrew characters engraved on ancient objects found in Israel.

When you take into consideration that the plates were engraved in space-saving reformed Egyptian, because, as Moroni wrote, “if our plates had been sufficiently large we should have written in Hebrew,” there appears to be room to spare (See Mormon 9:33).

Just don’t drop them on your foot.

In addition to the articles mentioned in the text, this column was based on information found in “Journal of Book of Mormon Studies,” Volume 10, Number 1.

I invite all who hear me today to read the Book of Mormon and to apply the promise it contains. Those who do will know that the book is true.

Good morning, dear brothers and sisters. I feel a profound joy and honor in speaking to you today. I pray that God may guide my words and that His Spirit may be with us so that “he that preacheth and he that receiveth, [may] understand one another, and both [may be] edified and rejoice together” (D&C 50:22).

I consider June 2, 1940, to be a very important day in the history of my family. On this day my father was baptized into this Church.

Writing to his father, Elder Jack McDonald, one of the missionaries who baptized my father, described the day with these words:

“Last Sunday was an especially beautiful day. We missionaries went out to a secluded spot on the river’s edge, out in the country, and there Elder Jones and I [Elder McDonald] made our first baptism. Antony Aidukaitis entered into the icy waters and became a member of the Church. … Everything was perfect. The sky so blue, the countryside so still, so green, so lovely that none of us could help feeling the presence of some great influence.

“[As we walked] with our new member, he said that he just couldn’t explain how wonderful this day had been for him, how he actually felt like a new man. … That was our first baptism—no credit to me or anybody. He converted himself.”

This event changed the history of my life. I am not sure my father was able to foresee the wisdom of his act, but I love him for what he did that day. He passed away more than 30 years ago, but I will honor and bless his name forever.

My father was the son of Lithuanians, but he was born in Scotland. He moved to Brazil when he was still young. His ability to speak English facilitated his conversion since he could read the Book of Mormon in English, and there was not yet a reliable translation into Portuguese. This language barrier prevented my mother from joining the Church until a few years later, but when she did, she became a powerful example of dedication to others and love of God in our family. She is now 92 years old, and she is here today. It gives me great joy to say that I love her for her great faithfulness. I will also honor and bless her name forever.

I admire the courage my father had to be baptized into the Church in spite of the circumstances he faced at the time. It was not easy for him. His wife did not get baptized with him. The vices of drinking alcohol and smoking were strong temptations for him. He was poor. His mother was against his joining the Church, and she told him that if he were baptized, she would no longer consider him her son. With fewer than 300 members in Brazil, the Church did not have a single chapel there. I am truly astonished by my father’s determination and courage.

How could he make such a decision in the face of so many unfavorable circumstances? The answer is simple: it was because my father read the Book of Mormon. When he read it, he came to know of the truthfulness of the message of the Restoration. The Book of Mormon is a proof that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. Preach My Gospel teaches that “the Book of Mormon, combined with the Spirit, is [the] most powerful resource in conversion” ([2004], 104).

President Gordon B. Hinckley declared: “Those who have read [the Book of Mormon] prayerfully, be they rich or poor, learned or unlearned, have grown under its power. …

“… Without reservation I promise you that if you will prayerfully read the Book of Mormon, regardless of how many times you previously have read it, there will come into your hearts … the Spirit of the Lord. There will come a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to his commandments, and there will come a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God” (“The Power of the Book of Mormon,” Ensign, June 1988, 6; see also “The Book of Mormon,” Tambuli, Oct. 1988, 7).

These promises came true for my father and for my family. In accordance with what we have been taught, we read the scriptures as a family every day. We have done so for many years. We have read the Book of Mormon several times in our home, and we will continue to do so. As promised, the Spirit of the Lord has come into the heart of our family, and we have felt a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to His commandments and a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God.

When you know that the Book of Mormon is true, you know that Joseph Smith was called by God to restore the Church of Jesus Christ to the earth. You know that Joseph Smith saw the Father and the Son. You know that there is only one faith and one valid baptism. You know that a prophet of God lives on the earth today and that he has all the keys of the priesthood and the right to exercise them, as Peter did anciently. You know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the only name whereby you can receive salvation. You know that God the Father lives and that He loves us. You know that His plan of salvation is perfect, and you have the desire to perform ordinances, live the commandments, and endure to the end.

I feel sad when someone who has been given the Book of Mormon and had these things explained to him still refuses to read it. I feel sad that some people allow themselves to be influenced by others, refuse to investigate the book, and set it aside as something without worth, never participating in the spiritual banquet it offers. To me, this is incomprehensible. It is as if a son or a daughter, separated from a loving father, refused to read a letter from him without even opening the envelope. Those who make such a choice are like spoiled children who refuse to even taste the meal tenderly prepared for them by their loving mother.

God reveals His truth when people follow Moroni’s exhortation in Moroni 10:3–5. Preach My Gospel summarizes Moroni’s instructions as follows:

• • One, “read the Book of Mormon and ponder its message concerning Jesus Christ.”
• • Two, “pray to God with faith in Jesus Christ to receive a testimony that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith is the prophet of the Restoration.”
• • Three, “pray sincerely and have real intent, which means that they intend to act on the answer they receive from God” (111).

To those who may argue that we cannot know these things, I testify that we can, when we are humble enough to do as God has instructed us through His prophets on this earth. To believe otherwise would be to accept the absurd notion that God also does not know where truth can be found or does not have the power to show it to us. Just because someone has not acted on the promise of this book does not mean that others have not done so.

Why do I love and honor the name of my father? Because my father read and acted on the promise of the Book of Mormon. Why do I love and honor the name of my father? Because he did not recoil from the answer he received, even while facing great challenges. Why do I love and honor the name of my father? Because he blessed my life, even before I was born, by having the courage to do what God expected him to do.

I invite all who hear me today to read the Book of Mormon and to apply the promise it contains. Those who do will know that the book is true.

I bear my testimony that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. Because of this, I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. I know that he did not write the Book of Mormon but translated it by the power of God. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God on the earth today, the only man on the earth who holds all the keys of the priesthood and has the right to exercise them. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that He lives. I know that God lives and loves us. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Michael R. Ash

As we continue our discussion about the Book of Mormon translation, some members may be troubled that the process doesn’t match their conceptions of how they thought the process worked. For members who were unaware of the seer stone in the hat, at least two questions or concerns may arise: 1) Is it strange that Joseph used a stone in a hat? 2) Why have we have always been told that Joseph used the Urim and Thummim?

To answer the first question we might also ask: Is it strange that a man could rise from the dead, walk on water, heal the lame, create the heavens, and answer the prayers of billions of people? There are basically two kinds of non-Mormons who reject LDS beliefs: A) those who believe that there is no God (or that if such a being exists he doesn’t interact with humans), and B) those who believe that a supreme being exists and has communicated with mankind.

For those who don’t believe in a God, all supernatural and miraculous events are automatically brushed aside as imaginary, impossible, etc. All spiritual experiences are seen as “strange,” superstitious, and possibly the result of the evolutionary process of the mind. Joseph’s translation process is just as strange as any other supernatural claim. 

For those who believe that God can and has communicated with mankind, it seems hypocritical to summarily dismiss Joseph’s method of translation because it doesn’t fit with pre-conceived views of how God communicates. As with all spiritual claims, the only way to know if they come from God is to ask God for a witness.

For Mormons who think the seer stone in the hat is strange compared to a translation through the Nephite Interpreters, one might ask: Why is a translation through a stone outside of a hat (the Nephite Interpreters) acceptable, while a translation through a stone inside of a hat (the seer stone) is unusual? It should be obvious that if someone finds the one normal and the other odd, that such a perspective is based on nothing more than pre-conceived assumptions.

Number 2: Why have we have always been told that Joseph translated the book with the Urim and Thummim? The answer is simple: The early Saints referred to both the Interpreters and the seer stone as the “Urim and Thummim.” The real problem is not that the seer stone is called the Urim and Thummim, but rather that when most modern members hear the phrase they typically envision the Interpreters. Why is this? The critics claim that most members don’t know about the stone and the hat because the church hides the information. This claim, however, is false.

That Joseph used a seer stone in a hat to translate the Book of Mormon has been mentioned in several official church publications such as the Improvement Era, the Ensign, and even the Friend by such people as B.H. Roberts, Richard Lloyd Anderson, Neal A. Maxwell and Russell M. Nelson. It stretches the imagination to believe that the church would hide this information if it has been included in official church magazines.

So why are some members unfamiliar with the translation process? The answer is a bit more complex. This topic and the frequent but false claim that the church “hides its history from members” will be discussed in greater depth in a future issue.

Number 3: Why isn’t the seer stone used today? In Joseph’s world, he and many of his contemporaries believed that God could reveal things through a seer stone. Joseph’s mind was already open and prepared for revelation and a translation process through the Urim and Thummin. The Lord utilized Joseph’s worldview to help restore the gospel. If Joseph had been skeptical of seer stones, he may not have been receptive to translating the Book of Mormon.

As Joseph continued to receive more revelations, he discovered that the seer stone was merely an elementary tool for teaching him how to focus his thoughts on the things of God. By the time he was working on the Inspired Version of the New Testament, he no longer needed the seer stone. Joseph apparently told Orson Pratt that the Lord gave him the Urim and Thummim “when he was inexperienced in the Spirit of inspiration. But now he had advanced so far that he understood the operations of that Spirit and did not need the assistance of that instrument,” (Richard L. Anderson, BYU Studies 24:4, 489-560).

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

I want it absolutely clear when I stand before the judgment bar of God that I declared to the world . . . that the Book of Mormon is true.

Prophecies regarding the last days often refer to large-scale calamities such as earthquakes or famines or floods. These in turn may be linked to widespread economic or political upheavals of one kind or another.

But there is one kind of latter-day destruction that has always sounded to me more personal than public, more individual than collective—a warning, perhaps more applicable inside the Church than outside it. The Savior warned that in the last days even those of the covenant, the very elect, could be deceived by the enemy of truth.¹ If we think of this as a form of spiritual destruction, it may cast light on another latter-day prophecy. Think of the heart as the figurative center of our faith, the poetic location of our loyalties and our values; then consider Jesus’s declaration that in the last days “men’s hearts [shall fail] them.”²

The encouraging thing, of course, is that our Father in Heaven knows all of these latter-day dangers, these troubles of the heart and soul, and has given counsel and protections regarding them.

In light of that, it has always been significant to me that the Book of Mormon, one of the Lord’s powerful keystones³ in this counteroffensive against latter-day ills, begins with a great parable of life, an extended allegory of hope versus fear, of light versus darkness, of salvation versus destruction—an allegory of which Sister Ann M. Dibb spoke so movingly this morning.

In Lehi’s dream an already difficult journey gets more difficult when a mist of darkness arises, obscuring any view of the safe but narrow path his family and others are to follow. It is imperative to note that this mist of darkness descends on all the travelers—the faithful and the determined ones (the elect, we might even say) as well as the weaker and ungrounded ones. The principal point of the story is that the successful travelers resist all distractions, including the lure of forbidden paths and jeering taunts from the vain and proud who have taken those paths. The record says that the protected “did press their way forward, continually [and, I might add, tenaciously] holding fast” to a rod of iron that runs unfailingly along the course of the true path.⁴ However dark the night or the day, the rod marks the way of that solitary, redeeming trail.

“I beheld,” Nephi says later, “that the rod of iron . . . was the word of God, [leading] . . . to the tree of life; . . . a representation of the love of God.” Viewing this manifestation of God’s love, Nephi goes on to say:

“I looked and beheld the Redeemer of the world, . . . [who] went forth ministering unto the people. . . .

“ . . . And I beheld multitudes of people who were sick, and who were afflicted with all manner of diseases, and with devils and unclean spirits; . . . and they were healed by the power of the Lamb of God; and the devils and the unclean spirits were cast out.”⁵

Love. Healing. Help. Hope. The power of Christ to counter all troubles in all times—including the end of times. That is the safe harbor God wants for us in personal or public days of despair. That is the message with which the Book of Mormon begins, and that is the message with which it ends, calling all to “come unto Christ, and be perfected in him.”⁶ That phrase—taken from Moroni’s final lines of testimony, written 1,000 years after Lehi’s vision—is a dying man’s testimony of the only true way.

May I refer to a modern “last days” testimony? When Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum started for Carthage to face what they knew would be an imminent martyrdom, Hyrum read these words to comfort the heart of his brother:

“Thou hast been faithful; wherefore . . . thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father.

“And now I, Moroni, bid farewell . . . until we shall meet before the judgment-seat of Christ.”⁷

A few short verses from the 12th chapter of Ether in the Book of Mormon. Before closing the book, Hyrum turned down the corner of the page from which he had read, marking it as part of the everlasting testimony for which these two brothers were about to die. I hold in my hand that book, the very copy from which Hyrum read, the same corner of the page turned down, still visible. Later, when actually incarcerated in the jail, Joseph the Prophet turned to the guards who held him captive and bore a powerful testimony of the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon.⁸ Shortly thereafter pistol and ball would take the lives of these two testators.

As one of a thousand elements of my own testimony of the divinity of the Book of Mormon, I submit this as yet one more evidence of its truthfulness. In this their greatest—and last—hour of need, I ask you: would these men blaspheme before God by continuing to fix their lives, their honor, and their own search for eternal salvation on a book (and by implication a church and a ministry) they had fictitiously created out of whole cloth?

Never mind that their wives are about to be widows and their children fatherless. Never mind that their little band of followers will yet be “houseless, friendless and homeless” and that their children will leave footprints of blood across frozen rivers and an untamed prairie floor.⁹ Never mind that legions will die and other legions live declaring in the four quarters of this earth that they know the Book of Mormon and the Church which espouses it to be true. Disregard all of that, and tell me whether in this hour of death these two men would enter the presence of their Eternal Judge quoting from and finding solace in a book which, if not the very word of God, would brand them as imposters and charlatans until the end of time? They would not do that! They were willing to die rather than deny the divine origin and the eternal truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.

For 179 years this book has been examined and attacked, denied and deconstructed, targeted and torn apart like perhaps no other book in modern religious history—perhaps like no other book in any religious history. And still it stands. Failed theories about its origins have been born and parroted and have died—from Ethan Smith to Solomon Spaulding to deranged paranoid to cunning genius. None of these frankly pathetic answers for this book has ever withstood examination becausethere is no other answer than the one Joseph gave as its young unlearned translator. In this I stand with my own great-grandfather, who said simply enough, “No wicked man could write such a book as this; and no good man would write it, unless it were true and he were commanded of God to do so.”¹⁰

I testify that one cannot come to full faith in this latter-day work—and thereby find the fullest measure of peace and comfort in these, our times—until he or she embraces the divinity of the Book of Mormon and the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom it testifies. If anyone is foolish enough or misled enough to reject 531 pages of a heretofore unknown text teeming with literary and Semitic complexity without honestly attempting to account for the origin of those pages—especially without accounting for their powerful witness of Jesus Christ and the profound spiritual impact that witness has had on what is now tens of millions of readers—if that is the case, then such a person, elect or otherwise, has been deceived; and if he or she leaves this Church, it must be done by crawling over or under or around the Book of Mormon to make that exit. In that sense the book is what Christ Himself was said to be: “a stone of stumbling, . . . a rock of offence,”¹¹ a barrier in the path of one who wishes not to believe in this work. Witnesses, even witnesses who were for a time hostile to Joseph, testified to their death that they had seen an angel and had handled the plates. “They have been shown unto us by the power of God, and not of man,” they declared. “Wherefore we know of a surety that the work is true.”¹²

Now, I did not sail with the brother of Jared in crossing an ocean, settling in a new world. I did not hear King Benjamin speak his angelically delivered sermon. I did not proselyte with Alma and Amulek nor witness the fiery death of innocent believers. I was not among the Nephite crowd who touched the wounds of the resurrected Lord, nor did I weep with Mormon and Moroni over the destruction of an entire civilization. But my testimony of this record and the peace it brings to the human heart is as binding and unequivocal as was theirs. Like them, “[I] give [my name] unto the world, to witness unto the world that which [I] have seen.” And like them, “[I] lie not, God bearing witness of it.”¹³

I ask that my testimony of the Book of Mormon and all that it implies, given today under my own oath and office, be recorded by men on earth and angels in heaven. I hope I have a few years left in my “last days,” but whether I do or do not, I want it absolutely clear when I stand before the judgment bar of God that I declared to the world, in the most straightforward language I could summon, that the Book of Mormon is true, that it came forth the way Joseph said it came forth and was given to bring happiness and hope to the faithful in the travail of the latter days.

My witness echoes that of Nephi, who wrote part of the book in his “last days”:

“Hearken unto these words and believe in Christ; and if ye believe not in these words believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, . . . and they teach all men that they should do good.

“And if they are not the words of Christ, judge ye—for Christ will show unto you, with power and great glory, that they are his words, at the last day.”¹⁴

Brothers and sisters, God always provides safety for the soul, and with the Book of Mormon, He has again done that in our time. Remember this declaration by Jesus Himself: “Whoso treasureth up my word, shall not be deceived”¹⁵—and in the last days neither your heart nor your faith will fail you. Of this I earnestly testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

NOTES
1. See Matthew 24:24; see also Joseph Smith—Matthew 1:22.
2. Luke 21:26.
3. See History of the Church, 4:461.
4. 1 Nephi 8:30.
5. 1 Nephi 11:25, 27–28, 31.
6. Moroni 10:32.
7. Ether 12:37–38; see also D&C 135:5.
8. See History of the Church, 6:600.
9. Joseph Smith, in History of the Church, 4:539.
10. George Cannon, quoted in “The Twelve Apostles,” in Andrew Jenson, ed., The Historical Record, 6:175.
11. 1 Peter 2:8.
12. “The Testimony of Three Witnesses,” Book of Mormon.
13. “The Testimony of Eight Witnesses,” Book of Mormon; emphasis added.
14. 2 Nephi 33:10–11; emphasis added.
15. Joseph Smith—Matthew 1:37.

Richard Neitzel Holzapfel was amazed at how often Joseph Smith was identified as “the Seer” in John Whitmer’s record of the early history of the LDS Church. Whitmer wrote the record from 1831 to 1838. Holzapfel read the book to prepare for a class he was teaching at BYU’s Campus Education Week.

“Dozens and dozens of times as (Whitmer) was writing out this faithful history  — commanded (to be kept) by the Lord Jesus himself — he would say, ‘Joseph the Seer said,’ or ‘the revelation was given to Joseph the Seer,’” Holzapfel said. “It struck me that the early church members knew Joseph in a way in which, maybe, we don’t appreciate.”

Holzapfel, a professor of church history and doctrine at BYU, told the class at Education Week why Joseph was known as “the Seer” and why his use of a seer stone to receive revelations eventually ended.

“Joseph Smith’s story didn’t start in the Sacred Grove,” Holzapfel said. Joseph was identified as a seer long before he was born. The ancient Biblical patriarch, Joseph, prophesied, “A seer shall the Lord my God raise up, who shall be a choice seer unto the fruit of my loins” (2 Nephi 3:6).

“Imagine. What must it have been like for Joseph to translate this very passage and all-of-a-sudden dawn on him the he’s the choice seer?” Holzapfel said.

According to Holzapfel, the Book of Mormon teaches that a seer is someone who uses the seer stones (see Mosiah 8:13). The terms “seer stones” and “Urim and Thummim” were used interchangeably in early Mormon documents.

In the Old Testament, the Urim and Thummim were stones used for divining the will of God. Holzapfel indicated that these were the translators given to Joseph with the gold plates. Joseph also found another stone that became his seer stone.

When a historical record says that a revelation was given through the Urim and Thummim, Holzapfel said we can’t be sure if it was the Urim and Thummin Book of Mormon “translators” or the Prophet’s seer stone.

Richard Neitzel Holzapfel speaks at BYU education week. Photo by Michael De Groote

“The use of the seer stone constitutes you becoming a seer. But the purpose of the seer stone is to make you a seer,” Holzapfel said. “The instruments are not magic. They help us concentrate our faith so that we begin to receive confidence so that we can do the right thing.”

Holzapfel compared it loosely to a wedding ring or a CTR ring. The rings help some people remember their covenants or “choose the right.” But the rings do not help everybody. Some choose the wrong. There is nothing magic about the rings. “But those objects can be means to recall and remember and have faith,” he said. “But obviously the real purpose is to move beyond those objects to become that person that (doesn’t need the objects).”

This is what happened to Joseph.

Orson Pratt remembered watching Joseph Smith receive inspiration while reviewing the New Testament. He wondered why Joseph didn’t need the Urim and Thummin or seer stone like he did when he translated the Book of Mormon. “Joseph … looked up and explained that the Lord gave him the Urim and Thummim when he was inexperienced in the Spirit of inspiration,” Pratt said. “But now he had advanced so far that he understood the operations of that Spirit and did not need the assistance of that instrument.”

Joseph at first used the Urim and Thummim and/or the seer stone for translating the Book of Mormon. Holzapfel said that by the end of the Book of Mormon translation process, Joseph was no longer even using the plates in front of him. He was receiving the translation from the seer stone directly. It wasn’t much longer before Joseph did not even need the seer stone to receive revelation.

Joseph Smith was taught by the Lord and grew in spiritual maturity. This is why, according to Holzapfel, Joseph was called the choice seer. “He wasn’t a person who used the seer stone. He became a seer stone.”

James E. Faust

After many years, I still remember holding in my hand my mother’s copy of her favorite book. It was a timeworn copy of the Book of Mormon. Almost every page was marked. In spite of tender handling, some of the leaves were dog-eared and the cover was worn thin. No one had to tell her that she could get closer to God by reading the Book of Mormon than by any other book. She was already there. She had read it, studied it, prayed over it, and taught from it. As a young man I held her book in my hands and tried to see, through her eyes, the great truths of the Book of Mormon to which she so readily testified and which she so greatly loved.

But the Book of Mormon did not yield its profound message to me as an unearned legacy. Indeed I question whether one can acquire an understanding of this great book except through singleness of mind and strong purpose of heart, manifest through study and prayer. We must not only ask if it is true, but we must also ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Said Moroni, “Ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.” 1

Why a Keystone?

Joseph Smith, who translated the gold plates from which the Book of Mormon came, had this to say: “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.” 2

One dictionary defines keystone as “the central wedge-shaped stone of an arch that locks its parts together.” A secondary definition is “the central supporting element of a whole.” 3

The Book of Mormon is a keystone because it establishes and ties together eternal principles and precepts, rounding out basic doctrines of salvation. It is the crowning gem in the diadem of our holy scriptures.

It is a keystone for other reasons also. In the promise of Moroni previously referred to—namely, that God will manifest the truth of the Book of Mormon to every sincere inquirer having faith in Christ 4—we have a key link in a self-locking chain.

A confirming testimony of the Book of Mormon convinces “that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God” 5 and also spiritually verifies the divine calling of Joseph Smith and that he did see the Father and the Son. With that firmly in place, it logically follows that one can also receive a verification that the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price are true companion scriptures to the Bible and the Book of Mormon.

All of this confirms the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the divine mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, led by a living prophet enjoying continuous revelation. From these basic verities, an understanding can flow of other saving principles of the fulness of the gospel.

What It Is and Is Not

It is important to know what the Book of Mormon is not. It is not primarily a history, although much of what it contains is historical. The title page states that it is an account taken from the records of people living in the Americas before and after Christ; it was “written by way of commandment, and also by the spirit of prophecy and of revelation. … And also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations.”

President George Q. Cannon (1827–1901), First Counselor in the First Presidency, stated: “The Book of Mormon is not a geographical primer. It was not written to teach geographical truths. What is told us of the situation of the various lands or cities … is usually simply an incidental remark connected with the doctrinal or historical portions of the work.” 6

What, then, is the Book of Mormon? It is confirming evidence of the birth, life, and Crucifixion of Jesus and of His work as the Messiah and the Redeemer. Nephi writes about the Book of Mormon: “All ye ends of the earth, hearken unto these words and believe in Christ; and if ye believe not in these words believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ.” 7

Nephi and his brother Jacob join with Isaiah to constitute three powerful pre-Messianic voices proclaiming the first coming of Jesus. Nephi quotes Isaiah extensively because Isaiah was the principal Old Testament prophet who prophesied of the coming of the Messiah.

The Book of Mormon establishes the truthfulness of the Bible. 8 It is evidence “to the world that the holy scriptures are true.” 9 It foretells the establishment of the fulness of the gospel of peace and salvation. It was written to give us principles and guidelines for our eternal journey.

One of the ultimate messages of the Book of Mormon, and indeed of the Old Testament and all human history, is that mankind cannot reach perfection on our own. There is another message that comes through loud and clear from its pages. It is the often unpopular and seemingly harsh injunction “Repent or perish.” When the Book of Mormon people listened to this prophetic message, they flourished. When they forgot the message, they perished.

In Galatians Paul said, “The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ.” 10 The records maintained by the Book of Mormon prophets—and portions of what is now the Bible brought from the eastern continent—served, according to Abinadi, “to keep them in remembrance of God and their duty towards him.” 11 So the Book of Mormon is a schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ. 12

Scriptural and Personal Testimonies

The test for understanding this sacred book is preeminently spiritual. An obsession with secular knowledge rather than spiritual understanding will make its pages difficult to unlock.

To me it is inconceivable that Joseph Smith, without divine help, could have written this complex and profound book. There is no way that an unlearned young frontiersman could have fabricated the great truths contained in the book, generated its great spiritual power, or falsified the testimony of Christ that it contains. The book itself testifies that it is the holy word of God.

References to teachings in the Old Testament and the New Testament are so numerous and overwhelming throughout the Book of Mormon that one can come to a definitive conclusion by logic that a human intellect could not have conceived of them all. But more important than logic is the confirmation by the Holy Spirit that the story of the Book of Mormon is true.

All scriptures are one in that they testify of Jesus. Jacob, a Book of Mormon prophet, reminds us “that none of the prophets have written, nor prophesied, save they have spoken concerning this Christ.”13 Speaking of the scriptures, the Psalmist said, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” 14

The Book of Mormon will encourage only righteousness. Why, then, has hostility been engendered against the book? In part, no doubt, it may have come because the origin of the book was from golden plates delivered to Joseph Smith by an angel. These were seen and handled by selected witnesses but not put on public display. Perhaps hostility comes also because the book is claimed to be primarily the work of ancient prophets here on the American continent.

The Savior Himself declared the great worth of the Book of Mormon. He said in 3 Nephi, “This is my doctrine, and it is the doctrine which the Father hath given unto me.” 15

The Redeemer further declared in the Book of Mormon, “Behold I have given unto you my gospel.” 16

As a special witness, I testify that Jesus is the Christ and that Nephi’s and Isaiah’s prophecies of His coming have in fact been fulfilled. Like Nephi, “we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ.” 17

I testify through the sure conviction that springs from the witness of the Spirit that it is possible to know things that have been revealed with greater certainty than by actually seeing them. We can have a more absolute knowledge than eyes can perceive or ears can hear. God Himself has put His approval on the Book of Mormon, having said, “As your Lord and your God liveth it is true.” 18

I can now see more clearly through the eyes of my own understanding what my mother could see in her precious old worn-out copy of the Book of Mormon. I pray that we may live in such a way as to merit and gain a testimony of and abide by the great truths of the Book of Mormon. I testify that the keystone of our religion is solidly in place, bearing the weight of truth as it moves through all the earth.