Last weekend Brother Roper and I went to Phoenix to visit our daughter and her family. With both of us being educators by profession and I particularly being a reading recovery teacher we are always interested in how her daughters are doing with their reading. She has two daughters, ages 9 and 5. So we spent some time talking about reading and how they are doing in school. My 9 year-old grand-daughter told us about the book she is reading at home and the book she is reading at school. Later that day, we were walking through the botanical gardens and I thought, I wonder if Brinley is reading her Book of Mormon. I knew her mother had covered a Book of Mormon for her a couple of years ago and that her parents had given her a nice set of scriptures when she was baptized. So I decided to ask her, “Brinley, you told me all about the books you are reading earlier, are you reading your Book of Mormon too?” Her reply was, “Yes, but I only read 2 pages every day!” Wow, if a 9 year-old girl will read her Book of Mormon only 2 pages every day, then I know she will gain the testimony she needs and the faith that is necessary to make correct choices in her life. She is on the right track. And what a great example for all of us to follow.
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’ (History of the Church, 4:461). …
Pres. Hinckley said: “Read the Book of Mormon itself. Read it again and again. Ponder its beauty. Reflect upon its many magnificent passages. Think of the complexity of the detail of its historical accounts. Pray about it, and the Holy Ghost will bear record to you, as he has to me and to millions of others, that it is the word of God, a voice crying from the dust to this generation in declaration of the divinity and the reality of the Lord Jesus Christ as the living Son of the living God. The Lord Himself has spoken concerning our study of this great latter-day work. He has said: “Search these commandments, for they are true and faithful, and the prophecies and promises which are in them shall all be fulfilled.” (D&C 1:37)
I love the story of Parley P Pratt when he was first introduced to the Book of Mormon. He said:
“I opened it with eagerness, and read its title page. I then read the testimony of several witnesses in relation to the manner of its being found and translated. After this I commenced its contents by course. I read all day; eating was a burden, I had no desire for food; sleep was a burden when the night came, for I preferred reading to sleep.
“As I read, the spirit of the Lord was upon me, and I knew and comprehended that the book was true, as plainly and manifestly as a man comprehends and knows that he exists” (Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, ed. Parley P. Pratt Jr. [1938], 37).
We all need at least a little bit of that hunger that Parley P. Pratt had for reading the Book of Mormon. As we read this book, it will build our faith.
Throughout the book there are countless examples of people who had sufficient faith to do what they were commanded to do.
This book begins with the great example of Lehi and how he had faith to take his family and leave Jerusalem and go to the unknown. 1 Ne 2: 4 And it came to pass that he departed into the wilderness. And he left his house, and the land of his inheritance, and his gold, and his silver, and his precious things, and took nothing with him, save it were his family, and provisions, and tents, and adeparted into the wilderness. What great faith!
Lehi had faith that he needed to send his sons back to get the brass plates. He knew that they would need the scriptures to give them the guidance and foundation they needed to start their new lives. Nephi showed his father that he exemplified the same faith that he had: 1 Ne. 3: 7 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I awill go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no bcommandments unto the children of men, save he shall cprepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.
Nephi also had faith to go back to Laban the second time, even though he didn’t know how he was going to get the plates from him, he knew that the Lord would guide him and help him to accomplish that task. Nephi was unwavering in his commitment to obey the Lord’s commandments. He reasoned with his brothers this way: “Let us go up again unto Jerusalem, and let us be faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord; for behold he is mightier than all the earth, then why not mightier than Laban and his fifty, yea, or even than his tens of thousands?” (1 Ne. 4:1).
Alma had faith in the words of Abinadi and was willing to not only write his words down so that they wouldn’t be lost, but he also began preaching his word to others, even after seeing Abinadi’s horrible death. Mosiah 18: 7 And it came to pass after many days there were a goodly number gathered together at the place of Mormon, to hear the words of Alma. . . . . And he did ateach them, and did preach unto them repentance, and redemption, and faith on the Lord.
This same Alma had faith in God enough that he never stopped praying for his wayward son. He had so much faith that an angel visited his son Alma. Mosiah 27: 14 And again, the angel said: Behold, the Lord hath aheard the prayers of . . . his servant, Alma, who is thy father; for he has cprayed with much faith concerning thee that thou mightest be brought to the dknowledge of the truth; therefore, for this purpose have I come to econvince thee of the power and authority of God, that the fprayers of his servants might be answered according to their faith.
And as you young sisters should know, my favorite example of faith was the 2000 stripling warriors who had faith enough to obey with exactness. They didn’t deviate. They went forward with faith and battled bigger forces than themselves, and came out so victorious that not one soul of them was lost.
There are countless more examples that I don’t have time to mention, but I don’t want to leave out Mormon and his son Moroni, who had so much faith that they gave their whole lives in preserving the plates so that they could come forth in our day. They knew that these plates, these records of so many valiant people, were never intended for their time. Mormon speaks directly to us about our day and why we need this book. He says:
35 Behold, I speak unto you as if ye were present, and yet ye are not. But behold, Jesus Christ hath shown you unto me, and I know your doing.
President Ezra Taft Benson reaffirmed the fact that the Book of Mormon is of particular value to our time when he said:
“The Book of Mormon was written for us today. God is the author of the book. It is a record of a fallen people, compiled by inspired men for our blessing today. Those people never had the book—it was meant for us. . . . God, who knows the end from the beginning, told Mormon what to include in his abridgment that we would need for our day” (“The Book of Mormon Is the Word of God,” Ensign, May 1975, 63).
Mormon said that our day would be filled with pride, whoredoms, deceiving others, all manner of abominations, robbing, lying, murders, envying and strifes, malice, persecution, all manner of iniquities, lovers of money, hypocrites, secret works, and more. He truly saw our day.
With so much evil going on around us, we would be stupid to not take a few minutes everyday to immerse ourselves in this book. It will give us the strength and faith needed to avoid becoming involved in any of these things.
Faith converts and faith teaches. It takes faith to be obedient. We have to have faith if we are to have testimonies. We have to have faith if we want to progress and grow in this gospel. So as we read the Book of Mormon it teaches us the ways of God and of Jesus Christ. And as we learn, it builds and increases our faith and blesses us with the companionship of the Holy Ghost. It then gives us strength and courage to be obedient. And as we are obedient and listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost, our faith is strengthened. It is a vicious circle, continually in motion.
We often hear the phrase, if you want more faith, be more obedient. So today I’m going to say: If you want more faith, read more from the Book of Mormon. (Which is in itself being obedient).
With sufficient faith, you will be able to resist the ever battling temptations that come before you. You will be prepared to make the decisions which you are faced with, whether big or small. It will help you make educational and eventually career decisions and you will be able to continually move forward in your life. You will be the person your Heavenly Father knows you have the potential to be. Your ever increasing faith will help you to spread the gospel, to follow the words of the prophet and be obedient, to prepare you to make sacred covenants in the temple, to prepare you for the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ and be prepared to receive eternal life.
I know I am not perfect and I know I need all the help I can get, so I am going to read my Book of Mormon, even if it’s only 2 pages each day. And when I have finished it, I will start again. I will study and read and ponder so I can have the faith I need to be obedient to God’s laws and be blessed with the Holy Ghost in my life. So I can have eternal life.
I know this is God’s work. This is Jesus Christ’s church. We are lead by a prophet of God. The Book of Mormon is true and contains the words we need in our lives.
