FLOODING THE EARTH AND OUR LIVES WITH THE BOOK OF MORMON

"There is a power in (the Book of Mormon) which will begin to flow into your lives the moment you begin a serious study of the book."

Today, Sister Andrea Buchan presented Chapter 10 from The Life of Ezra Taft Benson, about the Book of Mormon and its importance in today's world.

This chapter begins with a quotation from President Ezra Taft Benson's message in the April, 1989 general conference, read by President Thomas S. Monson. This message was directed to the children of the Church and expresses President Benson's joy at receiving hundreds of personal letters from children telling him that they were reading the Book of Mormon.

He said, "How pleased I am to hear of your love for the Book of Mormon.  I love it too, and Heavenly Father wants you to continue to learn from the Book of Mormon every day. It's Heavenly Father's special gift to you. By following its teachings, you will learn to do the will of our Father in Heaven."

As we read the responses of some members' reactions to the Prophet's request that blessings would come to those who answered the call to "flood the earth and (their) lives with the Book of Mormon", Sister Buchan asked for answers to when we should begin teaching children from this book of scripture. Class members contributed various suggestions of how to help our children study the Book of Mormon from an early age, as early as possible, actually. Today we are blessed to have wonderfully entertaining picture books and animated videos designed to tell the Book of Mormon stories in such a way that even very young children can grasp the meaning, understand and grow to love the lessons given. Planting the seeds of knowledge early helps children to obtain and build a strong testimony of the gospel. One sister proclaimed that reading the Book of Mormon together also helped her children increase their reading skills while learning of the gospel. We should never underestimate our children's ability to learn and be inspired by the lessons of the Book of Mormon.

Another question prompted discussion of what vision we receive when we think of a "flood". One answer was that of a great power and movement of water sweeping away everything in its path. When we ponder some of the 'problems' we foresee in being a part of the Prophet's exhortation to flood the earth with the Book of Mormon on an individual basis, many different ideas take shape. We may have a fear of rejection or criticism, a concern not only that others may think poorly of us for offering a copy of the book, but of what may come of our existing relationship with those people. But, if we have faith and pray for the spirit of the Holy Ghost to aid in our efforts, any and all fears can be overcome. We can join in the 'flood' and bring others to Christ through the teachings of the Book of Mormon. We may have them thank us and perhaps see some of them be baptized into the Church. One story given in the lesson exemplifies the doubts of one brother who ended up having great success in giving Books of Mormon to his entire neighborhood and then to many co-workers at his job. Many baptisms resulted from his efforts and he testified that,

"It started to become easier to offer copies of the Book of Mormon to acquaintances . . .
"I love the Book of Mormon. I think of it as the Lord's calling card, and I have been amazed at how easy it is to start a spiritual flood with it on a personal scale. When we do the work of the Lord, we have His help."

Another brother told of the transformation that occurred in his testimony as he followed President Benson's counsel. He explained that the New Testament had taught him about the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ and helped him to know what Jesus did for people in the Holy Land, but "the Book of Mormon gave me a deeper understanding of what he has done for me." Studying the Book of Mormon helped him gain a testimony of the infinite Atonement of the Savior. The Book of Mormon's teachings can give us comfort and strength in the face of adversity.

The Book of Mormon was written for us.

We read that the Book of Mormon was written for our day. Neither the Nephites nor the Lamanites had the book in ancient times. It was meant for us. President benson says that "Mormon wrote near the end of the Nephites civilization. Under the inspiration of god, who sees all things from the beginning, he abridged centuries of records, choosing the stories, speeches, and events that would be most helpful to us. Each of the major writers of the Book of Mormon testified that he wrote for future generations."

As we read and study the Book of Mormon, we should be asking ourselves why the Lord inspired Mormon (or whichever prophet we are studying) to include this particular piece of scripture in his record. And, what the lesson is that would be learned from that entry to help us to live through the difficulties and challenges in the world today.

The Book of Mormon gives us a consistent pattern to prepare for the Second Coming. What we should and should not be doing. We can see what lead some people to be destroyed in events preceding the Lord's appearance after his crucifixion and what brought others to be in the land of Bountiful at the temple in the same time period.

Some of the things we can learn from the Book of Mormon are:
How disciples of Christ live in times of war.
That we can see the evils of secret combinations in all their graphic reality.
That we can learn lessons for dealing with persecution and apostasy.
How to do missionary work.
More than anywhere else, we see the dangers of materialism and setting our hearts on the things of the world.
In the Book of Mormon, we can find great power, great comfort, and great protection.

The basic teachings of the Book of Mormon, for us and for future generations, are to receive the Savior, be baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, repent, develop faith, share the gospel with others and know that the gospel will never again be taken from the earth.

As we study the Book of Mormon daily, the power of the book will flow into our lives

President Benson promises that as we study the book, we will find greater power to resist temptation. We will find the power to avoid deception. We will find the power to stay on the strait and narrow path. He says that as the scriptures are called "the words of life" (Doc. & Cov. 84:85) nowhere is that more true than it is of the Book of Mormon. He also proclaims to us that "Men may deceive each other, but God does not deceive men." So, the best test for determining the truthfulness of the book is to ask God if it is true as we can read in Moroni 10:4.

We must partake of the spiritual food offered in the Book of Mormon on a daily basis, for "an infrequent reading of 'the most correct of any book on earth,' as Joseph smith called it, is not enough. This is the book that the Prophet Joseph smith said would get a man 'nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book."

President Benson continues by saying that we should use the Book of Mormon to become committed to Christ, that we need to be convinced and committed. He entreats us to, "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."

Satan is gaining power over man in our day. He puts a confusing 'spin' on everything to make us question and doubt the things we believe are true. The challenges of our era will "rival any of the past, and these challenges will increase both spiritually and temporally. We must be close to Christ, we must daily take His name upon us, always remember Him and keep His commandments.

We must flood the earth and our lives with the Book of Mormon.

Each of us needs to develop our own testimony of the divinity of the Book of Mormon through the Holy Ghost, then, as we share the teachings of the Book of Mormon with others, they can know through the Holy Ghost of its truthfulness.

President Benson's conviction is that, "The more we teach and preach from the Book of Mormon, the more we shall please the Lord and the greater will be our power of speaking . . . we shall greatly increase our converts within the Church and among those we proselyte . . . The Book of Mormon is the instrument that God designed to 'sweep the earth as with a flood to gather out [His] elect . . . The time is now!

The conclusion of this chapter from President Benson is that, ". . . I have a vision of flooding the earth with the Book of Mormon.
"May I commend  you faithful Saints who are striving to flood the earth and your lives with the Book of Mormon. Not only must we move forward in a monumental manner more copies of the Book of Mormon, but we must move boldly forward into our own lives and throughout the earth more of its marvelous messages."

Sister Buchan concluded her lesson by playing a portion of Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's October 2009 talk from General Conference in which he bears his powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon for all the world to hear. He proclaims that, "I testify that one cannot come to a full faith in this latter-day work - and thereby find the fullest measure of peace and comfort in these, our times - until he or she embraces the divinity of the Book of Mormon and the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom it testifies.

"I want it absolutely clear when I stand before the judgment bar of God that I declared to the world, in the most straightforward language I could summon, that the Book of Mormon is true, that it came forth the way Joseph said it came forth and was given to bring happiness and hope to the faithful in the travail of the latter days.

"My witness echoes that of Nephi, who wrote part of the book in his "last days":

"Hearken unto these words and believe in Christ; and if ye believe not in these words believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, . . .and they teach all men that they should do good.

"And if they are not the words of Christ, judge ye - for Christ will show unto you, with power and great glory, that they are His words, at the last day."

"Brothers and sisters, God always provides safety for the soul, and with the Book of Mormon, He has again done that in our time. Remember this declaration by Jesus Himself: "Whoso treasureth up my word, shall not be deceived" - and in the last days neither your heart nor your faith will fail you. Of this I earnestly testify in the name of Jesus Christ. amen."

To which I can only add my own "Amen".

Your bloggess,
Karen