"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." Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
For those of you who WITNESSED this talk...of Elder Holland's...I would imagine...experienced much of what I experienced..."FIRE to the SOUL"...!!!!
Nearly, "36" years ago...I received my own PERSONAL witness that the Book of Mormon was true...I had been a member of the church "6" months...After months of "persecution" from family and friends...I had to KNOW beyond a DOUBT that the Book of Mormon was true...After "3" weeks...on bended knee...reading and ASKING if the BOOK OF MORMON was TRUE....I received my WITNESS...There is no DOUBT!
My testimony of the Book of Mormon became CRITICAL...on my mission...having been sent to one of the major "Bible belts" of our nation...Tennessee...My TESTIMONY... was BEYOND any doubt...carried me through in my efforts to teach PREACHERS, others, and in one of the major CHURCHES...in the Nashville area...an area that had not had a baptism in over 11 years or so...I was in a THREESOME then...We were asked to teach on the church...to a group in this church...who had individuals who sought to destroy the church...It was NOT our area, but, we were given the assignment...We brought our testimonies into 3 areas...the 3 areas in which...if any one of them was FALSE...the church would fold....The APOSTACY...The RESTORATION (Joseph Smith and the First Vision) and the BOOK OF MORMON...(which was MY assignment)...I testify...that my companions and I experienced...a POWER OF THE HOLY GHOST...in a manner I had imagined...similar at the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:2-4) I was LAST...and after we were done...a man walked up to me....and said something to this affect: "You said this was SCRIPTURE"..."if that is so...I wish to read it and find out for myself." He walked away...This was NOT our area...however, we were told later, that while the Elders tracked...they came across a home...where a man...opened up the door...and wanted to hear their message...REMEMBER, this area had not had a BAPTISM in over 11 YEARS...due to the influence of this church...I had often wondered if the man who opened up his door to these Elders...was the very one who was willing to read the Book of Mormon...Wish I had more to tell you...I do not...I only know this...that on that morning...while 3 Sister Missionaries TESTIFIED to THESE TRUTHS....the HOLY GHOST BORE WITNESS to THEM....and bore it DEEPLY into the 3 of us...
I KNOW with every FIBER of my BEING...the Book of Mormon was INSPIRED and WRITTEN by PROPHETS on THIS CONTINENT!!!! I know Joseph Smith...received the gold plates...and TRANSLATED THEM....by the POWER of the Holy Ghost!!!! The words of this book will..."condemn 'us' at the last day" (2 Nephi 33:14) King Benjamin also testified that his WORDS..."shall stand as a bright testimony against this people, at the judgment day..."
I know no other book that gives a PROMISE like this one that MORONI...presented in Moroni Chapter 10: 3-5...."when ye shall READ THESE THINGS (Book of Mormon)....PONDER it in your hearts...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. And by the POWER OF THE HOLY GHOST, ye may KNOW the TRUTH of ALL THINGS!"
I know this to be TRUE....In the name of Jesus Christ...Amen
This was written by CARLA CRUZ...her TESTIMONY of when she received her answer to prayer regarding the truthfullness of the BOOK OF MORMON:
ReplyDeleteOh how I love this talk. It really brings me back to when I received my own personal revelation that the Book of Mormon was true!
First, let me take you back to when I was first baptized. I was 7 years-old when my mother found the sister missionaries at a health fair the church was conducting for the community. At this time, the church had only been in the Dominican Republic for one year. We came accross one of their booths on dental health being run by the sisters. She started talking to them and they invited us to church. I remember my mom turning to me and asking if I wanted to go to their church. I answered affirmatively that I wanted to go. My mom had been searching for a church to join so she decided to go to church. I also remember a feeling of attraction...a sort of a pull you could say....towards the church. To me it felt like light shining all around us. I still can't believe I remember all of this. It wasn't so much what I saw but what I felt. It just felt like light and I was attracted to it. Like I knew this is where I belonged.
I didn't take long for my mom to be convinced of the truthfullness of the restored Gospel and she was baptized. I had to wait until by 8th birthday!
A year later my mom packed us into a plane to move to New York with extended family. It is here where I gained my testimony of the Book of Mormon.
The year I was in eigth grade...I must have been 11 or 12...I became interested in gaining my own personal testimony of the Book of Mormon. I think it was because there were a lot of lessons and talks that year in church regarding the subject. One day I went into my bedroom and got in my bed and began to read. I started reading with the purpose and intention of obtaining a testimony. I remember thinking in my head that I needed to know if it was true but not only if the book was true but also the church itself becuase if one was false, then it must all be false.... but if the book was true, it was all encompassing...it was all true!
After reading just one chapter I stopped and decided to pray. I didn't want to read any further because I thought one chapter was enough to know.
I didn't kneel, just sat up in my bed, bowed my head and began to pray. My words were simple, I asked Heavenly Father to let me know if the Book of Mormon was true. What followed I can only describe as an explosion at the molecular level within my body. The answer was instantaneous. Every cell within my body woke up that instant with a jolt of electricity that shook me and filled me. I felt love...pure love. It was so overwhelmingly beautiful and I just cried being overcome with one of the most memorable experiences of my whole life.
Looking back on all of this ... at how quickly I got my answer and how powerful it was for being so young...I feel like Heavenly Father was just waiting for me to ask so he could answer.
The memory of that experience has carried me through many trials in my life. I turn to it when things aren't going so well and I'm down. A door was opened to me that day that has never closed again!
Carla
Along with every other member of the church I LOVED THIS TALK. What an amazing and powerful testimony!! Elder Holland has long been one of my very favorites!
ReplyDeleteOne wonderful result of this great testimony was in a Seminary class I attended last week. Zac Cavenaugh (Lake Mary Ward) was asked to give the devotional on the spur of the moment (the person with the assignment was not on time). He stood up and told his thoughts and feelings about Elder Holland's wonderful testimony and then he said "I just feel I must add my testimony to his..." and he went on to share a powerful wonderful testimony of the Book of Mormon. It was so great!
My own testimony of the Book of Mormon came at the minute the Missionaries shared it with me. I knew everything they told me was true as soon as they testified to me. My testimony grew as I read the book for the first time by myself as a young Seminary student. Admittedly I didn't get that much out of it at that time as scripture language etc. were difficult for me. But I did have a warm feeling that the Lord was pleased with my efforts.
It was as a freshman student at BYU that the testimony was burned deep into my heart. I had a great Book of Mormon class but more importantly I had room mates and dorm mates that loved the scriptures. You could hardly stumble out of your room to head to the bathroom in the morning without finding several girls up and down the hall reading the Book of Mormon quietly in the hall in the dark hours of the morning (this was before itty bitty book lights and they read out in the hall so as not to disturb their still slumbering room mates) That kind of love of the scriptures spreads and I can remember coming home tired from classes yet feeling that hunger to read my scriptures before beginning my homework. That hunger continues today and one of the treats of getting to attend 2 wards every Sunday recently is getting to be a student in the Gospel Doctrine lesson I taught just a few hours earlier. These young people in the College Park ward do a wonderful wonderful job!
Have a great week!
Sandee
You know Sandee...your description of students lining up the hallways reading their scriptures...would make a GREAT PAINTING...or even a "photograph"...What is the old saying...that "a picture is worth a thousand words"...THANK YOU...for the image that I can carry around with me, today...(smile)
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