The Book for Any Season of Life
Photo by Ben White
Many of us are familiar with this quote from the Prophet Joseph Smith, included in the introduction of the Book of Mormon:
“I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon is 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”.
The Book of Mormon has gone under around 500+ revisions (mostly grammatical) since its initial release in 1830. So what does the prophet mean when calling the book the ‘most correct…on earth’? I’m sure he wasn’t talking about grammar but rather the doctrine and the truths which the book contains. Applying those correct doctrines and principles is what will draw one nearer to God than any other book on earth.
How the Book of Mormon helped my family while my brother was in Afghanistan
Ezra Taft Benson, a former president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, testified:
“It is not just that the Book of Mormon teaches us truth, though it indeed does that. It is not just that the Book of Mormon bears testimony of Christ, though it indeed does that, too. But there is something more. There is a power in the book which will begin to flow into your lives the moment you begin a serious study of the book. You will find greater power to resist temptation. You will find the power to avoid deception. You will find the power to stay on the strait and narrow path. The scriptures are called ‘the words of life’ (D&C 84:85), and nowhere is that more true than it is of the Book of Mormon. When you begin to hunger and thirst after those words, you will find life in greater and greater abundance.”
I know that these promises are true, and I am sure that many of you have received a witness of that. The word which stands out most to me in President Benson’s quote is power. This power was very real to me recently as my family and I were faced with my brother being in Kabul, Afghanistan during the recent U.S. withdrawal. My father described feeling ‘sick’ as we received word that my brother and his fellow soldiers in the Army’s 82nd Airborne were sent in to help contain the situation that was taking place. I related to that same ‘sick’ feeling my father described. As we prayed and hoped for the best, I continued my daily reading of the Book of Mormon and came across this scripture:
“While many thousands of others truly mourn for the loss of their kindred, yet they rejoice and exult in the hope, and even know, according to the promises of the Lord, that they are raised to dwell at the right hand of God, in a state of never-ending happiness” (Alma 28:12).
While being personally vested in hope for a positive outcome in Kabul, and with the death and destruction that had already taken place, these words gave me the needed power to retain hope and put my faith in Christ.
And just like that I found utmost meaning with a ‘war’ chapter of the Book of Mormon, which segments we sometimes skim over or find unsettling. I became grateful Mormon included war and conflict as an integral part of the Book of Mormon (something I had honestly been somewhat annoyed about in the past). I realized that different parts of the Book of Mormon will speak to us individually and as a church at different times in our lives and at different times throughout history.
Thankfully my brother and his battalion returned home safely and I returned to normal life with a new understanding of the ‘wise purpose’ God has for each verse found in the Book of Mormon.
Experiences like this allow us to see the power that flows from the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. Christ is also referred to as the ‘Word’. Therefore, the power which we feel from continual study and contemplation of the Book of Mormon is the Power of God: Jesus Christ. It is Him who we feel through the ink printed on the pages.
A vision my ancestor, Lydia Downer, had of the Book of Mormon
Our experiences with Christ through His word is worthy to be passed down to those in our immediate families and to future generations. My 4th great-grandmother’s experience has been an impactful story on my testimony of the Book of Mormon. My 4th great-grandmother Lydia Downer was born in Vermont in 1810. Asa young girl she began having vivid dreams of reading a book. After all the nights she dreamed about the book, she could remember how it felt, looked and the feeling she got while reading it. Although she couldn’t remember many details of what she read in it, she felt a certain power.
Later in her life during the 1830s, she was house sitting for an aunt who was going away on trip. At her aunt's home she began looking through her aunt's book chest. As she glanced through the chest, a familiar book caught her eye. It was the book of her dreams. A feeling of joy swept over her. She later said:
“I felt as light as a feather. I felt as though I would rise to the ceiling! I opened the book and began to read and as I did so, I remembered having read it before. I read it through, and it was just like reading a book for the second time.”
Lydia and her husband, Samuel Gates joined the church once the missionaries arrived at their home in Michigan in 1838. This story has continued to strengthen my own testimony of the Book of Mormon and of Christ’s gospel. Life will bring many more challenges and there will be tough days ahead, but fortifying our testimony in Christ through the Book of Mormon will offer strength and protection to get through those times.
The Book of Mormon provides comfort in times of trouble and protection for days to come. President Nelson has shared, “I promise that as you prayerfully study the Book of Mormon every day, you will make better decisions—every day.” This can be true for all of us.