Friday, October 6, 2017

Promises of Daily Reading the Book of Mormon as Given by Prophets and Apostles in General Conference

Prophetic Promises of the Book of Mormon

Joseph Smith:

“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.” 


President Russell M. Nelson, “The Book of Mormon: What Would Your Life Be Like without It?,” October 2017 [See more from Pres. Nelson below.]

3 Promises by President Nelson: My dear brothers and sisters,
1)    I promise that as you prayerfully study the Book of Mormon every dayyou will make better decisions—every day. 
2)    I promise that as you ponder what you studythe windows of heaven will open, and you will receive answers to your own questions and direction for your own life.
3)    I promise that as you daily immerse yourself in the Book of Mormonyou can be immunized against the evils of the day, even the gripping plague of pornography and other mind-numbing addictions.

PRESIDENT MONSON:
This morning I speak about the power of the Book of Mormon and the critical need we have as members of this Church to study, ponder, and apply its teachings in our lives. The importance of having a firm and sure testimony of the Book of Mormon cannot be overstated.

I maintain that a strong testimony of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and of His gospel will help see us through to safety. If you are not reading the Book of Mormon each day, please do so. If you will read it prayerfully and with a sincere desire to know the truth, the Holy Ghost will manifest its truth to you.

My dear associates in the work of the Lord, I implore each of us to prayerfully study and ponder the Book of Mormon each day. As we do so:
·         We will be in a position to hear the voice of the Spirit,
·         to resist temptation, to overcome doubt and fear, and
·         to receive heaven’s help in our lives.
I so testify with all my heart.

     It is my testimony that the Book of Mormon changes lives. May each of us read it and reread it. And may we joyfully share our testimonies of its precious promises with all of God’s children.

PRESIDENT HINCKLEY:  I promise you [if you] read the Book of Mormon, there will come into your lives:
1.      An added measure of the Spirit of the Lord
2.      A strengthened resolution to walk in obedience
3.      A stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God.

PRESIDENT BENSON: 
“The Book of Mormon has not been, nor is it yet, the center of our personal study, family teaching, preaching, and missionary work. Of this we must repent. [President Marion G. Romney] concluded: ‘And so I counsel you... to make reading in the Book of Mormon a few minutes each day a lifelong practice. I feel certain that if, in our homes, parents will read from the Book of Mormon prayerfully and regularly, both by themselves and with their children:
·         the spirit of that great book will come to permeate our homes and all who dwell therein.
·         The spirit of reverence will increase;
·         mutual respect and consideration for each other will grow.
·         The spirit of contention will depart.
·         Parents will counsel their children in greater love and wisdom.
·         Children will be more responsive and submissive to the counsel of their parents.
·         Righteousness will increase.
·         Faith, hope, and charity—the pure love of Christ—will abound in our homes and lives.”

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.  The power:
1.      To resist temptation
2.      To avoid deception
3.      Stay on strait path
When you begin to hunger and thirst after the Book of Mormon, you will find life in greater and greater abundance. 


Last April, President Thomas S. Monson gave a message that stirred hearts across the world, including mine. He spoke of the power of the Book of Mormon. He urged us to study, ponder, and apply its teachings.
He urged us to study, ponder, and apply its teachings. He promised that if we dedicated time each day to studying and pondering and kept the commandments the Book of Mormon contains, we would have a vital testimony of its truth, and the resultant testimony of the living Christ would see us through to safety in times of trouble.
 Like many of you, I felt the prophet’s encouragement and his promise invite me to make a greater effort. Many of you have done what I did: prayed with increased intent, pondered scripture more intently, and tried harder to serve the Lord and others for Him.
 The happy result for me, and for many of you, has been what the prophet promised. Those of us who took his inspired counsel to heart have heard the Spirit more distinctly. We have found a greater power to resist temptation and have felt greater faith in a resurrected Jesus Christ, in His gospel, and in His living Church.
 In a season of increasing tumult in the world, those increases in testimony have driven out doubt and fear and have brought us feelings of peace. Heeding President Monson’s counsel has had two other wonderful effects on me: First, the Spirit he promised has produced a sense of optimism about what lies ahead, even as the commotion in the world seems to increase. And, second, the Lord has given me—and you—an even greater feeling of His love for those in distress. We have felt an increase in the desire to go to the rescue of others. That desire has been at the heart of President Monson’s ministry and teaching.


PRESIDENT KIMBALL:
I find that when I get casual in my relationships with divinity and when it seems that no divine ear is listening and no divine voice is speaking, that I am far, far away.  If I immerse myself in the scriptures the distance narrows and the spirituality returns.

ELDER HOLLAND:  I testify that not one of us can find the fullest measure of peace & comfort in our times until he or she embraces the divinity of the Book of Mormon & the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom it testifies.

ELDER NELSON:  We who are privileged to have the Book of Mormon, to have His gospel, & to keep His commandments know something of God’s infinite love. We know how to make His love our own.

ELDER ANDERSON:  We need our own secure and settled faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and we need help in strengthening our families so that this faith flows into the hearts of our children and grandchildren. This is an important part of the divine mission of the Book of Mormon.

ELDER CHRISTOFFERSON:  Studying the Book of Mormon invites the Spirit, and the Spirit is the medium of revelation. This suggests that we study in a thoughtful, meditative fashion—pondering, praying, and perhaps making notes as we read. This puts us in a condition to receive added light and understanding, both about what we are studying and about other matters.



Why Study the Book of Mormon Daily? By Elder Oaks

 The Book of Mormon is Christ-centered. That is its essential feature, and that is the reason we are commanded to study it continually. 
 In my opinion, one of the principal reasons our Heavenly Father had his prophet direct us into a more intensive study of the Book of Mormon is to help us counteract this modern tendency to try to diminish the divinity and mission of our Savior.
 President Benson has stressed this key point again and again in his messages as President of the Church. “Let us read the Book of Mormon and be convinced that Jesus is the Christ. Let us continually reread the Book of Mormon so that we might more fully come to Christ, be committed to Him, centered in Him, and consumed in Him” (Ensign, Nov. 1987, p. 85).


In their separate remarks, the Nelsons recounted a question that was once posed by a nurse to Dr. Russell M. Nelson after he performed a difficult surgery: “Why are you not like other surgeons?”
Some surgeons, the nurse knew well, could be short-tempered and profane as they performed their pressure-filled duties. Dr. Nelson’s reply?: “Because I know the Book of Mormon is true.”
That answer prompted the nurse and her own surgeon-husband to study the Book of Mormon. President Nelson later baptized the nurse.
Decades passed and President Nelson lost contact with the couple. The husband later died and his wife eventually remarried. While presiding over a stake conference in Tennessee shortly after being called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, President Nelson enjoyed an unexpected reunion with the nurse who, years earlier, had asked why he was not like some of his colleagues.

That woman’s conversion, brought about by the influence of the Book of Mormon, brought about the conversion of 80 more people, said President Nelson.

President Russell M. Nelson, “The Book of Mormon: What Would Your Life Be Like without It?” October 2017 [Here is what Pres. Nelson said in outline form]

I testify that
·         the Book of Mormon is truly the word of God.
·         It contains the answers to life’s most compelling questions.
·         It teaches the doctrine of Christ.
·         It expands and clarifies many of the “plain and precious” truths that were lost through centuries of time and numerous translations of the Bible.
·         The Book of Mormon provides the fullest and most authoritative understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ to be found anywhere.
·         It teaches what it really means to be born again.
·         From the Book of Mormon we learn about the gathering of scattered Israel.
·         We know why we are here on earth.
·         These and other truths are more powerfully and persuasively taught in the Book of Mormon than in any other book.
·         The full power of the gospel of Jesus Christ is contained in the Book of Mormon. Period.

The Book of Mormon both illuminates the teachings of the Master and exposes the tactics of the adversary.
·         The Book of Mormon teaches true doctrine to dispel false religious traditions—such as the erroneous practice of performing infant baptisms.
·         The Book of Mormon gives purpose to life by urging us to ponder the potential of eternal life and “never-ending happiness.”
·         The Book of Mormon shatters the false beliefs that happiness can be found in wickedness and that individual goodness is all that is required to return to the presence of God.

·         It abolishes forever the false concepts that revelation ended with the Bible and that the heavens are sealed today.

No comments:

Post a Comment