Book of Mormon Month - Day 31: A Testimony, a Covenant, and a Witness

By Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Reading the book was the beginning of my light. It was the source of my first spiritual certainty that God lives, that He is my Heavenly Father, and that a plan of happiness was outlined in eternity for me. It led me to love the Holy Bible and the other standard works of the Church. It taught me to love the Lord Jesus Christ, to glimpse His merciful compassion, and to consider the grace and grandeur of His atoning sacrifice.

Because I learned for myself that the Book of Mormon is a true witness—another testament and a new covenant—that Jesus is the Christ, I also learned that Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of God. As my great-great-great grandfather said in the early days of the Restoration, “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.”  Read More or Listen

Book of Mormon Month - Day 15: A Sacred Work

A Sacred Work

By David A. Feitz

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One evening my missionary companion and I knocked on the door of a young man who was an international student studying at one of London’s many universities. He invited us in, and we explained that we were missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He seemed eager to learn more about the Restoration of the gospel, so we testified of the Prophet Joseph Smith and told him about a sacred book from our Heavenly Father called the Book of Mormon. We emphasized that it was sacred because it testifies of Jesus Christ.

We explained that he could know for himself of its truthfulness and offered to give him a copy. As I handed the Book of Mormon to him, he got up from his chair and left the room without saying a word. I held the Book of Mormon in my hand momentarily, and my companion and I looked at each other in puzzled silence, wondering what to do. I put the book down on the table.

We could see our young friend in the kitchen washing his hands and drying them on a fresh towel. He came back into the room and picked up the Book of Mormon from the table and simply said, “My people always wash their hands before they touch something sacred.” Tears came to my eyes as I watched this young man open the Book of Mormon for the first time and turn its sacred pages with his clean hands.

Alma taught that the scriptures are sacred and are preserved to bring souls to salvation. He declared to his son Helaman, “God has entrusted you with these things, which are sacred, which he has kept sacred, and also which he will keep and preserve for a wise purpose in him, that he may show forth his power unto future generations” (Alma 37:14).

I was sent on a mission to teach the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, yet I was the one being taught by this young man with his clean hands. In many cultures—including my own—it isn’t necessary to wash our hands before reading the scriptures, but his simple gesture of respect was a reverent and powerful reminder of the sacredness of the Book of Mormon.

Source

Nephi explains Isaiah to his family (1 Nephi 22)

Nephi was orally teaching his family about Isaiah as well as writing it down. Chapter 22 is devoted to the reaction of Laman and Lemuel to Nephi's interpretation of Isaiah. As we will see in the next book of the Book of Mormon, Second Nephi, this appears to have been a turning point such that the family would soon divide into two opposing tribes.

Their main question, in 1 Nephi 22:1, was whether what Isaiah was describing was "spiritual, which shall come to pass according to the spirit and not the flesh". In other words, in today's terms, their question was somewhat loaded. They wanted to know whether it was meant to be figurative or real.

Nephi gently corrects them by saying that because the words of Isaiah were received through the Spirit, that in that sense they were spiritual. They were also temporal (literal) in that they would someday come to pass.

He describes what today we call "the diaspora", or the great scattering of the twelve tribes of Israel such that ten of those tribes were completely lost in the great populations of the earth.

Nephi goes on to explain that it is through the Gentiles that Israel will be gathered back to their ancestral homeland.

Verses 7-9 describe how the Gentiles would found a great nation which would be instrumental in scattering Laman and Lemuel's posterity. Then, the Lord would restore the Gospel through the Gentiles and gather together the remnant of the people left over. In the LDS Church, we understand the fulfillment of this prophecy to be the founding of the United States of America and the various Latin American countries by European nations (what the Jews would consider "Gentiles").

The Lord would use these events as a catalyst for gathering from all parts of the world every living descendant (and deceased, through restored temple ordinances) of the house of Israel, most particularly those of the lost ten tribes.

At the end of the gathering, the Lord will destroy any worldly organizations that rise up to fight against His Gospel and who try to persecute His servants. He will miraculously preserve the righteous during that terrible time. "Wherefore, the righteous need not fear; for thus saith the prophet [Isaiah], they shall be saved, even if it so be as by fire."

People who read the Bible today often ask the question "In what way will Satan be bound when Christ comes?" While it is tempting to think of Satan, the individual, tied up with ropes so he can't bother us anymore, he is a spirit with free will and cannot be contained in that way, even by God, who will never force anyone to do anything against their will.

Rather, the Book of Mormon clearly teaches that because of the faith in Christ of those righteous people remaining after the destruction, they will be righteous (Christ's atonement covering their sins) "And because of the righteousness of his people, Satan has no power; wherefore, he cannot be loosed for the space of many years; for he hath no power over the hearts of the people, for they dwell in righteousness, and the Holy One of Israel reigneth."

Quite literally, they will not be tempted by Satan because they will not have a desire to sin because of their faith in Christ. They will know where such things lead, based on the experience of witnessing the destruction of the world, and will instead reject temptations when they come and choose to obey only righteous principles.

The overall message Nephi has for his brothers is to repent so that they can be counted among the righteous when the Lord comes the second time at the end of the world.

30 Wherefore, my brethren, I would that ye should consider that the things which have been written upon the plates of brass are true; and they testify that a man must be obedient to the commandments of God.

31 Wherefore, ye need not suppose that I and my father are the only ones that have testified, and also taught them. Wherefore, if ye shall be obedient to the commandments, and endure to the end, ye shall be saved at the last day. And thus it is. Amen.