Lessons of 2025
Lesson No. Twenty-Seven

We are Given Power as We Study the Book of Mormon Daily

The First Vision was the most important event in over 2,000 years. As I write this Lesson Susan and I are on a Church history tour with 25 of our children, their spouses, and our grandchildren. The first two days were in the Palmyra area. We started with the Sacred Grove. Joseph’s First Vision was the most important event that has taken place in the history of this world since the resurrection of Jesus Christ over 2,000 years ago.

My personal experience with the power of The Book of Mormon. The rest of the first two days of our tour focused on the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. This was the second major event of the Restoration. As a 19 year old missionary in London I learned to love The Book of Mormon, and I studied it daily. This practice continued while we raised our family. As a mission president I taught my missionaries to do the same. I studied The Book of Mormon daily for 18 years as an adjunct professor of religion at the BYU Salt Lake Center where I taught a weekly class on the Book of Mormon. I read The Book of Mormon daily while in the Salt Lake Temple presidency and as President of the Louisville Kentucky Temple. More recently, I have found it important to make a conscious effort each day to insure this happens.

Latter day Prophets promise that studying the Book of Mormon daily will bring us power:

President Ezra Taft Benson taught: “Not all truths are of equal value, nor are all scriptures of the same worth. What better way to nourish the spirit than to frequently feast from the book which the Prophet Joseph said would get a man “nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book”? (History of the Church, 4:461.) ( A New Witness for Christ, Ensign, November 1984).

“It is not just that the Book of Mormon teaches us truth, though it indeed does that. It is not just that the Book of Mormon bears testimony of Christ, though it indeed does that, too. But there is something more. 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. You will find greater power to resist temptation. You will find the power to avoid deception. You will find the power to stay on the strait and narrow path” (The Book of Mormon—Keystone of Our Religion, Ensign, Nov 1986, emphasis added).

“The Book of Mormon is studied in our Sunday School and seminary classes every fourth year. This four-year pattern, however, must not be followed by Church members in their personal and family study. We need to read daily from the pages of the [Book of Mormon]” (Flooding the Earth with the Book of Mormon, Ensign, Nov. 1988, 4).

President Thomas S. Monson taught: “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.

“We live in a time of great trouble and wickedness. What will protect us from the sin and evil so prevalent in the world today? 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 (The Power of the Book of Mormon, Ensign, May 2017, emphasis added).

President Russell M. Nelson taught: “When I think of the Book of Mormon, I think of the word power. The truths of the Book of Mormon have the power to heal, comfort, restore, succor, strengthen, console, and cheer our souls.

‘My dear brothers and sisters, I promise that as you prayerfully study the Book of Mormon every day, you will make better decisions—every day. I promise that as you ponder what you study, the windows of heaven will open, and you will receive answers to your own questions and direction for your own life. I promise that as you daily immerse yourself in the Book of Mormon, you can be immunized against the evils of the day, even the gripping plague of pornography and other mind-numbing addictions” (The Book of Mormon: What Would Your life Be Without it, Ensign, Nov 2017).

There are unique and wonderful blessings given to that those who study the Book of Mormon. And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would 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” (Moroni 10:3-5.)

“Those who gain this divine witness from the Holy Spirit will also come to know by the same power that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, that Joseph Smith is His revelator and prophet in these last days, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord’s kingdom once again established on the earth, preparatory to the Second Coming of the Messiah” (The Book of Mormon, Introduction).

The Book of Mormon is the important book on earth. The Prophet 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” (Ibid). By this definition alone, the Book of Mormon is not only the most correct book on earth, it is also the most important book on earth. There is nothing more important than to “get nearer to God.”

Testimony. I love the Book of Mormon, and I am determined to study it every day because I desire the power and blessings that come from doing so.

Released on July 13th. 2025.