Is the Book of Mormon Scripture from God?

In my last post entitled, "Where is God Working?", I outlined my trials and path to becoming a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  I would like to share a little more about how I arrived at that testimony. 

My early days as a Latter-Day Saint were a little overwhelming but also a little exciting.  I finally found the place where I felt peaceful and edified.  I was still having my eyes opened to new ideas about the Gospel of Jesus Christ as taught in the Church.  Some things were new to me in the beginning, but once I began to learn and understand them, I began to have a greater appreciation for the beauty and majesty of God's creation and His great plan for salvation.  However, there was one important component for which  I didn’t at first fully appreciate.  That component was the Book of Mormon. 

I know that might sound odd to most people.  After all, I did pray sincerely to know that  the Book of Mormon is a true record and account of past prophets and others who traveled to the Americas from Jerusalem, and that the book was presented to Joseph Smith by an angel of the Lord to translate it for the purpose of re-establishing Christ's Church on this earth.  And in doing so I was rewarded with a powerful impression from the Holy Spirit, one which I would assume die than to deny.  But I did not fully appreciate what a gift the Book of Mormon truly is. 

During my time as an investigator of the Church, I was able to correlate and tie many of the teachings found in the Book of Mormon, back to the Bible.  Maybe it was due to my familiarity with it , its teachings, and its world-wide acceptance among all Christians, that caused me to cling to the Bible so tightly. But I found myself to be grateful that there was a second testimony of Jesus Christ, whose teachings were the same as what I learned in Bible.  It has been said by many that the only thing one needs, in order figure out whether or not the Book of Mormon is true scripture, is the book itself.  Between its covers you have everything you need to gain a testimony of its divine authenticity. One must also rely on the Holy Ghost to help gain that testimony.  I recently read a book by Tad R. Callister entitled "A Case for the Book of Mormon."  I found this book to be fascinating and it’s a great read for anyone who wants to strengthen their own testimony.  I found it interesting that Mr. Callister points out some of the same intersections that helped strengthen my testimony of the Book of Mormon's divine authenticity.

As Christians, everyone knows that the prophets in the Old Testament all prophecy of the coming of Jesus Christs. Some of the most specific examples can be found in Micah 5, Isaiah 7, Isaiah 53, Zachariah 9 & 11 and Psalm 22.  If you are spiritually minded, you know that these prophecies are speaking specifically of the coming of Jesus Christ, even though none of them mention him specifically by name. 

Mr. Callister noted in his book, "But even with all these specific references, many, if not most, of the people in the meridian of time could not accept that Jesus Christ was the literal fulfillment of those prophecies.  Nonetheless, those prophecies were there to be discerned by the spiritually enlightened.  And so it is with the Book of Mormon.  The Bible prophesies of its coming forth and its purpose, not by name, but by events and descriptions that are sufficiently clear and precise."  Just as Christians who are familiar with New Testament writings know that the prophets of old speak of Jesus Christ, those familiar with the Book of Mormon understand and recognize prophecies related to the coming forth of the Book of Mormon and the people, and lands, described within.

The Book of Isaiah has always been a mysterious text.  There are so many prophecies within its pages that have been easy to point and recognize their fulfillment.  However there are a few that Latter-Day Saints understand better than most.  In Isaiah 29:1-12, he prophesies of the destruction of a group of people (in verse 2) who would be like the people of Jerusalem ("it shall be to me AS Arial [Jerusalem]" [emphesis added]).  These people would have an enemy "camp against" them, "lay siege against [them] with a mount" and raise forts against [them]" (Isaiah 29:2).  In 2 Nephi 26:15- 16, we see the same fate with the Nephites as happened with many who were left in Jerusalem.  In fact, these passages are one and the same prophecy because the Nephites were the descendants of those in Jerusalem who God rescued and sent to far away lands.  But what is interesting is Isaiah 29:10-12 prophecies that the voice of the prophets will be silenced for a period, and then a book (the Book of Mormon) will come forth out of the ground and will be delivered up to one that is unlearned (Joseph Smith).  Verse 18 speaks of this time as a day of joy when "the deaf shall hear the wonders of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness."  What book could they be speaking of?  The bible didn’t come out of the ground after a period of apostacy.  The scriptures have been around for centuries.  In fact they have been translated and retranslated, and edited so many times that many of its precepts and teachings have been lost or altered over time.  I will speak of these more in later writings.

Ezekiel, another Old Testament prophet prophesied in Chapter 37 of the Book of Mormon coming forth. 

The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,

16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:

17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.

18 ¶ And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what tou meanest by these?

19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.

20 ¶ And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.
(Ezekiel 37:15-20)

So what we find from Ezekiel is that the Stick of Judah, which is the record of Judah's descendants found in the Bible, and the Stick of Joseph, which is the record of Joseph's descendants, are joined together into one stick, or book, as one complimentary witness of Jesus Christ.  In the Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 3:12 reads:

11 But a seer will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins; and unto him will I give power to bring forth my word unto the seed of thy loins—and not to the bringing forth my word only, saith the Lord, but to the convincing them of my word, which shall have already gone forth among them.

12 Wherefore, the fruit of thy loins shall write; and the fruit of the loins of Judah shall write; and that which shall be written by the fruit of thy loins, and also that which shall be written by the fruit of the loins of Judah, shall grow together, unto the confounding of false doctrines and laying down of contentions, and establishing peace among the fruit of thy loins, and bringing them to the knowledge of their fathers in the latter days, and also to the knowledge of my covenants, saith the Lord.

Chapter 3 of 2 Nephi is about a blessing given to another Joseph in the 6th century BC, who is a descendent of the House of Joseph of Egypt, who was sold by his brothers in the book of Genesis.  It is quite a scriptural marvel in itself in that it not only prophecies of Joseph Smith and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, but it also ties nicely back to God's purpose of using a separated group of people and scripture to link his divine works together and deliver His people to another promised land, the America's. This demonstrates how God used prophets  throughout time to prophesy of various pieces to foretell his mission so that when it came true, for those who were willing to pray for understanding, would see God's hand at work and His promises being kept.

One of my favorite books of the Bible is Genesis.  I have always been fascinated and strengthened by the life and role of Joseph, son of Jacob, and his role in the destiny of God's great plan.  For many years, the Holy Spirit had planted a question in my mind that I had wrestled with and for years I could not understand why this question continued to nag at me.  When my view was limited to just the scriptures of the Bible, I could not seem to find my answer anywhere.  I am sure I even petitioned the Lord for an answer to this because it just puzzled me.  The question revolved around this great mystery for me:  It was obvious that God loved Joseph so much as to bless his life and use him to save the people of Israel from famine.  And likewise, Joseph was the only one of Jacob's twelve sons who had his own posterity make up two of the twelve great tribes of Israel.  And it was Joseph, we find in 1Chronicles 5:1-2, who received the birthright of Israel.  So that being said, why wouldn’t Jesus be of the lineage of Joseph rather than Judah?  I always felt I was missing something.  After all what better way to show thanks to Joseph for all of his trials, and hardships, and faithfulness than to reward him by bringing forth the Savior of the world from his lineage?  Instead, It was Judah who was given this honor.  We never know the mysteries and ways of the Lord, right? 

I am sure Judah was a fine man, especially in the eyes of God, but from a Biblical context, we know so little about him.  He was the one who helped execute God's plan by persuading his brothers not to slay Joseph in Genesis 37 and instead sell him to the Ishmeelites.  And again in Genesis 43, he is the one who sticks his neck out and shoulders responsibility to take Benjamin to Egypt to see Joseph.  But that’s about all we know about Judah.

In Genesis 49, It is Judah and Joseph who receive the richest of blessings from Jacob.

Genesis 49:

8 ¶ Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee.

9 Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?

10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be

Jacob proclaims that his children will all bow down to Judah and that the sceptre shall not part from the lineage of Judah and that his lineage will rule until Christ comes.  It was Joseph's blessing though that seemed to leave me perplexed. 

22 ¶ Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:

23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:

24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)

25 Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:

26 The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.

After studying this, it appears that Joseph's lineage would prosper and would be fruitful.  The mention of branches running over the wall was never clear to me but from my studies I took that to mean that somehow his offspring would fill many parts of the earth.  From my research, little is mentioned concerning the offspring of Joseph, especially after the tribes were scattered.  The chief characters among Old Testament writings tend to be of other lineages, primarily Judah.  So I came to wonder, what ever happened to Joseph's lineage, and where were evidences of Jacob's prophecy being fulfilled?  Why would Biblical scripture only give us half of the story.

The Lord knows me well.  After I had promised the missionaries that I would read the Book of Mormon, I reluctantly sat down one evening and started to read in the Book of 2 Nephi.  I didn’t have to read very far when something clicked immediately for me.  Right there in center of the page, these words jumped right out at me:

5 Wherefore, Joseph truly saw our day. And he obtained a promise of the Lord, that out of the fruit of his loins the Lord God would raise up a righteous branch unto the house of Israel; not the Messiah, but a branch which was to be broken off, nevertheless, to be remembered in the covenants of the Lord that the Messiah should be made manifest unto them in the latter days, in the spirit of power, unto the bringing of them out of darkness unto light—yea, out of hidden darkness and out of captivity unto freedom.

I immediately began to understand the connection from the Bible to the Book of Mormon.  From that point on, many other references from 1 Nephi and throughout the rest of the scripture began to correlate and make perfect sense to me.  I began to understand what people meant when they said the Book of Mormon helps you see the fullness of the Gospel.  I now had the "rest of the story" as Paul Harvey would say, to a question that burned in my soul for years.  Joseph's posterity was going to again be responsible for leading the way in the "Gathering of Israel" that was prophesied by Biblical prophets.

Another correlation I wish to highlight is found in the Book of John from the New Testament.  Here, Jesus speaks about other sheep that must hear his voice.  When you introduce the Book of Mormon and the people it represents, that passage seems to take on an even greater meaning. 

16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

John 10:16

Jerusalem had for a long time been a melting pot and that is especially true after the fall to the Romans.  Jesus was constantly surrounded by Gentiles.  He even preached among them himself.  So why would he need to speak of taking his message to another fold in John  10:16?  And why do it in the same context of laying down his life?  Wasn’t he already delivering his message to the Gentiles and teaching them the way to salvation?  So where was this other fold He speaks of? 

There could have been other folds but at least one which we know about is found in the Book of Mormon.  The Nephites were now on the other side of the world away from everything going on in Jerusalem.  They too had the ancient scriptures of past prophets which foretold of the coming of Christ.  They too were anxiously awaiting the Savior and longed for the signs of His coming.  In 3 Nephi, Jesus appears to the Nephites, soon after his resurrection, and proclaims his Gospel just as promised.  He even selected 12 disciples within this people and taught them and consecrated them so that they could spread his Gospel further and continue his ministry on this continent.  In chapter 15, he gives us an explanation of John 10:16 and why he never expounded any further on the topic.

12 Ye are my disciples; and ye are a light unto this people, who are a remnant of the house of Joseph.

13 And behold, this is the land of your inheritance; and the Father hath given it unto you.

14 And not at any time hath the Father given me commandment that I should tell it unto your brethren at Jerusalem.

15 Neither at any time hath the Father given me commandment that I should tell unto them concerning the other tribes of the house of Israel, whom the Father hath led away out of the land.

16 This much did the Father command me, that I should tell unto them:

17 That other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

18 And now, because of stiffneckedness and unbelief they understood not my word; therefore I was commanded to say no more of the Father concerning this thing unto them.

19 But, verily, I say unto you that the Father hath commanded me, and I tell it unto you, that ye were separated from among them because of their iniquity; therefore it is because of their iniquity that they know not of you.

20 And verily, I say unto you again that the other tribes hath the Father separated from them; and it is because of their iniquity that they know not of them.

21 And verily I say unto you, that ye are they of whom I said: Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

22 And they understood me not, for they supposed it had been the Gentiles; for they understood not that the Gentiles should be converted through their preaching.

(3 Nephi 15:12-22 Book of Mormon Scriptures)

Notice in verse 16 where Jesus implies the Father would only allow him to make the statement in John 10:16.  This is yet another example of where God used the words of his prophets and Jesus to tie another stitch into the fold that binds these two canons together, the Bible and the Book of Mormon.  In the remainder of John 10, you can see the reaction that the Jews had to Jesus's message.  They became enraged and began plotting to kill him.  No wonder he didn’t expound any more on the subject. 

I could go on for days with other correlations and ties between the Bible and Book of Mormon but I think I have shared enough to prove my point.  I didn’t gain all these insights at once but many came quickly as I studied more thoroughly.  As I stated earlier, while I was truly grateful for this new information,  I hadn't fully gained an appreciation of the Book of Mormon.  I was still new in this journey toward conversion.  I felt comforted by the Spirit as I read it, just as I did the Bible, but I wanted to make sure I thoroughly investigated it for what it was and what it had to offer.  I began to analyze the book in other ways.  I looked carefully at its prose and its sentence structures and wondered, could I have written such a remarkable piece of literature in my early twenties?  After all, I did graduate college, and Language Arts has always been one of my strengths.  I quickly came to the conclusion that I could not.  As talented as I may think I am, I would not have been able to make up such a remarkable and well crafted piece of literature such as this.  There were just too many links back to the Bible, some of which I didn't understand at the time.  I did not have a thorough enough understanding of Biblical scriptures at that age to even begin to make up and tie specific principles and teachings back to the Bible in quite the same way that the Book of Mormon does. 

Another fact about the Book of Mormon is that it was completely translated from ancient writings in about 60 days with no editing, and doesn’t contradict itself or the Bible in anyway.  Over the past few years, I have grown a fond appreciation for the works of Dr. Hugh Nibley.  He is perhaps one of the most intelligent men that has ever walked this earth. Thanks to YouTube, I have been able to hear his lectures directly from his mouth, even though he has been long deceased.  Many years ago, Dr. Nibley introduced what has become known as the Book of Mormon Challenge in which he asks his BYU students to do exactly what critics of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon have always supposed.  Create a manuscript, historical in nature, over 500 pages in roughly six weeks time, related to wandering Jews in ancient times, without ever contradicting yourself, and make no changes as you write it.  There was much more in his requirements but one can research "Book of Mormon Challenge" to reveal the complete assignment.  To date, no one has completed the challenge.  I know I couldn’t do it even now.  It has taken years of study to gain the knowledge I have.  It would probably take an unlearned person 10 or 20 years to create such a master piece and still find time to scrape together an honest living and raise a family.

When I was investigating, I quickly noticed how well written the Book of Mormon was. After reading the biography of Joseph Smith, which someone shared with me out of the Pearl of Great Price, I gained a better understanding of its divine nature. A farm boy in rural New York with little more than a third grade education could never have invented such a magnificent literary work.  As the book approaches its 200th anniversary of its publication, It has never been proven as anything other than what Joseph Smith said it was.

Jeffrey R. Holland, an Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, in his October 2009 General Conference talk entitled "Safety for the Soul" made a remarkable statement about the Book of Mormon.  He powerfully proclaimed the following excerpt in his talk. 

For 179 years this book has been examined and attacked, denied and deconstructed, targeted and torn apart like perhaps no other book in modern religious history—perhaps like no other book in any religious history. And still it stands. Failed theories about its origins have been born and parroted and have died—from Ethan Smith to Solomon Spaulding to deranged paranoid to cunning genius. None of these frankly pathetic answers for this book has ever withstood examination because there is no other answer than the one Joseph gave as its young unlearned translator. In this I stand with my own great-grandfather, who said simply enough, “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.” (From <https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2009/10/safety-for-the-soul?lang=eng> )

I highly recommend this talk for anyone who is questioning the authenticity of the Book of Mormon.  Elder Holland makes several great points that I find impossible to argue against.  But my favorite is the last sentence of the paragraph above where he quotes his grandfather's sentiments that "No wicked man would create such a work, and no good man would write it, unless it were true and he were commanded of  God to do so."  Satan would never inspire such a deceptive work that is focused on teaching people the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And any good man would never try to fictitiously pass off a writing as another authentic testament to the divinity of Jesus Christ and still be considered good in the eyes of the Lord. 

I will conclude by making one final point.  As Joseph Smith himself once stated,  "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.”  The Book of Mormon in fact is the keystone to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and if it could ever be proven false, as a work of fiction, the foundations which this church is built on would come crumbling down.  This is a world-wide church and nearly the only one growing in a world of wickedness and sin.  Temples are continually being constructed and renovated for the purpose of sanctification and exaltation for the living and the deceased.  In fact there is a Raleigh Temple Open House near our home this week (September 21-28, 2019) where anyone can come and learn more about our Temples.  You will surely feel the Spirit of God as you enter this holy place.  If you have never googled the term LDS Temples, I encourage you to do so and view the magnificent structures that are being built all over the world.  I testify from my continued studies and observations and witness that this is the restored Church of Jesus Christ and encourage everyone to read the Book of Mormon to find out for themselves. Each individual must decide whether or not to be bold and open minded enough to read and examine its text. 

You can order one for yourself for free at https://www.comeuntochrist.org.  There is a ton of information on this site about the church. 

Where Is God Working?

In 2011 I found myself in a faith crisis.  At 41 years old, I had been a Sunday School teacher for nearly 7 years in a local Baptist church, my marriage of 15 years had recently ended, and my family had been broken apart.  I remember coming home one day after church, feeling mostly empty inside.  I felt like a walking shell of a man who was lost.  I remember thinking and wondering how God could let me fall like that.  After all, here I was striving to teach my kids right from wrong, trying to be a role model, taking them to church every Sunday, reading my Bible almost daily, praying personally and together with my family before every meal and sometimes at bedtime.  Was I not doing enough?  Why did God not protect my family from Satan's grasp?  Why were my children not spared the agony of growing up in a split home like I had to endure as a child.  Why were their precious lives being torn apart, especially when I felt like I was doing my part to uphold my calling in Church.  Shouldn't I had been afforded some protection from all this misery? 

I remember reading an article one day after church about a minister who felt called to abandon his post, pickup everything and move somewhere in the world to start a new church not knowing how or where the funds would come from.  I admired his courage and boldness to step out like that with blind faith.  When he arrived at his destination, the funds began to show up and he was able to complete his mission and build that new church.  I have heard of many stories like this and have seen many movies about similar experiences.  As I finished the article, I began to pray and ask God to show me where he was working?  I wanted to be a part of his work.  Although I loved and adored all the members of my church, I just didn’t feel like I was growing personally and that I was not a part of God's current efforts in the world.  I also felt like I was just going through the motions and wasn’t really being spiritually nurtured like I wanted to be.  So I  was inspired to do something about it.  

I began by seeking literature from other great leaders and writers of faith to see how they did it.  I often found myself looking through the racks at the Lifeway Bookstore in Rocky Mount, where I worked, trying to find the right  instrument to lead me to God's work.  I searched and found books to try to help me hear the Holy Spirit better so I could discern God's plan for my life.  I read books by author's such as Charles Stanley, Joel Osteen, and countless others, which energized me, in effort to want to claim my role in God's ministry.  These books helped a little at first but the effects were only temporary.  At the end of the day I still felt empty and unedified.   I had been attending a men's Bible Study class for a couple years which met once a week and I learned so much, yet the emptiness would not leave me.  I still felt like God had better plans for my life and I was not going to stop until I figured out where those plans led.  I began to pray for God to reveal his plan for me and use me as a laborer in his vineyard.  I was completely willing to submit myself to His will.

I tried the dating scene for a while, thinking that maybe having someone else in my life would help me feel whole again.  My  desire was to find a sweet, loving Christian companion who was as equally yoked in the Gospel as I was trying to be.  I had a few dates here and there but was quickly discouraged by all of it.  The best method of meeting people at the time seemed to be online dating.  One of the profile questions related to faith, and it seemed like many of the women who used the sight chose the "Spiritual but not Religious" option.  I felt like they were either trying to be cool and afraid to put themselves out there or they just weren't Christian at all.  Either way I was turned off by it.  After a few months, I decided to just drop it and if the right person came along then so be it.  

Those who know me well can attest that one of my favorite past times is hunting.  I enjoy the outdoors and the fall of the year and so I find myself spending as much time as I can at my hunting club.  As a child, I grew up tagging along with my father and grandfather on this land whenever they would let me go with them.  The club was started in 1969 and some of the members there have been there almost from the beginning and it is like a brotherhood.  The legacies of those who have passed are kept alive through countless stories.  Many of them are still referred to by Nicknames, which often came about from CB handles in those days.  The hunting woods is like a retreat for me.  I love the peaceful outdoor setting.  It's where I feel closest to God.  It is there that I often find myself immersed in my scriptures and preparing Sunday School lessons.

One Saturday morning about a week before Thanksgiving in 2011, one of the members brought his daughter with him hunting that day.  When I first saw her I remember thinking how beautiful she was.  I could also tell she had a bit of a fiery personality, which I liked.  Could this be God's plan; to meet my future wife dressed in camouflage in the middle of the hunting woods?  It must have been divine intervention indeed. I didn’t know that day God was beginning to work in my life where I could see.  He was beginning to lay a foundation where I would be able to actively participate in his plan.  I married Christy just 10 short months later and have never been happier. 

I had come to know many members of Christy’s family for years, I just hadn’t met her.  Many of her uncles, cousins, her brother, and her father all were in our hunting club.  I knew they were Godly men because they often spoke about having to leave the hunt early to do this or that with the church on occasion.  I think it was our fourth date when Christy said the following words:  “You know that I am Mormon don’t you?”  She asked me if that was problem.  In turn, I asked her, “Well do you guys believe in Jesus?”  She said “yeah”.  So I said,"Well I honestly didn’t know, but as long we both believe in the Savior, we can figure out the rest." I found out that day, that probably half of my Hunting Club were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  Most of them attended the local Woodington Ward (Wards are what they call local churchlike meeting houses.)  I had no idea I was surrounded by Mormons.  These guys were like family to me for so many years.  I didn't really know what to think at the time.  I had often heard people speak of the "Mormons" as a cult.  The only exposure I had really had up to that time is a brief 6 months I spent with the Boy Scouts in Hickory at age 15.  I didn’t find anything odd.  They all seemed like very friendly people at the time I really enjoyed my brief time with them.  Life got in the way and I wasn’t in the Boy Scouts for very long.  Once I turned 16, I got a job at the local grocery store and didn’t have much time for other things outside of work, school, and sports.

Now I was just sure that since I was a Baptist Sunday School teacher, and having read the bible about 7 times all the way through, it was going to be easy to convert Christy to the Baptist faith.  And like a good fiancée and eventual wife, she did attend with me on Sundays.  We bought a house in Wilson and settled down there with our 4 kids.  One day, a few weeks after we were married, she said, "You know Honey, I miss my church.  If you don’t mind, I would like to attend the Wilson Ward down the street for a couple of Sundays."  I was reluctant but I let her go her way and I went to teach my class at the Baptist Church. 

Little did I know that it would be like old home week at the Wilson Ward. Christy walked in day one and discovered that she knew many of the Wilson members from her childhood from Albertson and Woodington Wards. I thought this was quite a coincidence. I was glad she felt at home but was still concerned and baffled that she didn’t like my church better. After all she was getting to know my friends and seemed to like them, and they liked her.

At this point, I live with a Mormon wife, but I have no intention of getting involved with the Mormon church.  In fact, I know absolutely nothing about it.  One day out of the blue, Christy walks up to me and says, "Baby, you know how much I love you, right?"

"Uh huh", I replied.  

"I would really like for you to take the discussions with the missionaries and just learn about my church.  I don’t care if you join or not, I just want you to understand more about my beliefs." 

So, like any loving husband would do, I shrugged my shoulders and said, "Sure baby.  I’ll do that for you.  If we run into them I will ask them to fill me in."

I should have known she was up to something because it was merely a day or so later that she announced to me that the missionaries were coming over for dinner.  We have been together for almost a year at this point and I had never laid eyes on any missionaries and now, suddenly, we were supposed to feed them.  As a matter of fact, the only time I had heard the term Elders was in my bible study and once when we had dinner at Christy’s sister’s house and she announced just as we arrived that we just missed the Elders, they had stopped by.  Well to be quite honest, I assumed they were talking about some Elderly people from church, not these young missionaries.  

Dinner went fine.  We exchanged pleasantries and I learned they were not from North Carolina at all.  And they seemed to be intrigued by my knowledge of scripture for some reason.  Well, right after dinner they asked if they could share a message with me.  I figured it couldn’t hurt. After all I promised to hear them out and I figured I could give them about 15 or 20 minutes of my time, since that would be all the time I needed in order to figure out what I should know and satisfy my wife’s request.  And besides, no 18 or 19 year old is going to be able to persuade me to join the Mormon church.  I had old Sunday School bulletins crammed in my bible that were older than they were.  So we sat down together in our living room and I was about as uninterested as I could possible get and they pulled out a couple of copies of the Book of Mormon and asked if we could read.  They proceeded with a lesson of the first vision and I will never forget the words we read right there in the introduction.  

“We invite all men everywhere to read the Book of Mormon, to ponder in their hearts the message it contains, and then to ask God, the Eternal Father,  in the name of Jesus Christ if the book is true?”  

These words pierced my heart instantly.  I knew right there this was a game changer.  These young men weren’t  here to persuade me of anything.  This journey was primarily going to be between me and the Holy Ghost.  I knew that my God would undoubtedly show me through his Spirit whether or not this is a true account of Jesus Christ.  I knew I could count on him to not lead me astray.  This quickly became very serious for me.  I knew that after reading those words, I had to study and wrestle with it to see whether or not it was all true.  I know how much I adored my wife and kids and I know that it was up to me to get to the bottom of it and make sure I investigated all of this thoroughly.  I wanted to make sure this was the real deal for the sake of my families salvation.  If it wasn’t, then I needed to get them away from it.  If it was a true account of Jesus Christ, and this was his restored church, then I needed to grasp every single concept whole heartedly and do anything necessary to become a member.  My first lesson with the missionaries ended and as they left I thanked them for coming.  

As we closed the door behind them, my wife looked at me and smiled and said, “Well what did you think?”   Like a good loving husband, who has just experienced a large dose of cognitive dissonance, I smiled back and said, "Don’t ever invite them back."

Well, I later learned through Christy that she and the Elders had spoken and they were worried about what to do, so she told them just to stop by unannounced and I would let them in because I am too nice not to.  I believe at that time there were supposed to be 11 lessons, or so but I think I had about 111.  I learned to like those young men and did enjoy our conversations.  They were very patient with me and even though I was sometimes a bit stubborn with them, they always seemed grateful and understanding and their spirits never weakened.  I eventually discovered that the missionaries' primary purpose was to answer questions, share their testimony, hold me accountable to read the Book of Mormon like I promised and pray to learn its truth, and lead me through discussions about the Doctrines of the church after I had began to gain a testimony of my own.  Their role was to act as a guide through this process.  

I did read a majority of the Book of Mormon right away.  I was intrigued by it and quickly found myself tying it back to the bible.  In fact, on several occasions I went to Brother Mason Lee, a childhood friend of my wife and former Bishop, with questions and he was able help me.  The missionaries continued to be very patient with me even though I asked them some hard questions that they had to ponder upon to gain answers.  I think I investigated for about 4 or 5 months.  

One of the difficult things I struggled with early on was the Baptist belief in the Holy Trinity.  It had basically been indoctrinated in me for years.  But when I went to investigate it and research its origins, I learned that there was no Biblical basis for it.  In fact, I started to see many scriptures in the Gospels differently from that point on that disproved the notion of the Trinity.  That was the just the beginning for me.  I was determined to learn more truths.  I was beginning to get bolder in asking questions to our Heavenly Father.  I was no longer afraid of what I might find.

As my time with the missionaries progressed, they would always ask me if I was praying to receive revelation about the Book of Mormon.  I assured them that I was but  if I have to be honest, I don’t know that I was praying correctly because I kind of felt like the book was all "True" but I wanted that revelatory "AHA" moment from the Holy Spirit.  I wanted to know without a shadow of a doubt.  The missionaries encouraged me to turn to Moroni 10:3-5 and I read the following:

3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.

4 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.

5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

A couple things stood out to me immediately about these verses.  First, I needed to ponder and prepare my heart.  The words "with real intent" assured me that if I wasn’t planning to follow through and be baptized,  then he might as well not bother answering me at all.  The Lord knows our heart, so he knew my reservations.  He was not going to answer that prayer if I didn’t intend to do my part after I got my answer.  Second, the word NOT jumped out of the page at me.  By praying the way Moroni advises, It takes some of the pressure off of me and seems to aim it toward the Spirit to step up and tell me once and for all if I am wasting my time or not.  If all of this was not the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, then I needed to be tending to other tasks at hand and keep searching for whatever the Lord’s real objectives were for my life, and see all of this as if it was an obstacle thrown in my way by Satan.  So I did it.  I changed the way I prayed about it and ask the Lord to show me if this was NOT true and let me know to move on.  

One evening, my wife and I were invited to the home of Bishop Duncan, who was then the current Bishop for the Wilson Ward.  Our discussion that evening with him and his family centered around fasting.  I remember his daughter Emily sharing her testimony with me about God answering her prayers when she fasted. I recalled the words that Jesus spoke about fasting and thought if somethings for Him were difficult enough to require fasting, then this was probably a good thing for me to do as well.  So I fasted.  

A few days later, on a Monday I believe it was, I was riding to work and I had my bible app reading to me as I drove down the road.  The scripture that day was from Matthew 7.  When the narrator got to verse 16 -20, I heard the following words:

16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

When I heard verse 20, I was instantly overcome by the Holy Spirit.  I felt a strong, warm, energetic sensation rush through me from head to toe.  I saw every good deed of every person in this Church that I had known flash before my eyes, even back to my days as a youth.  I knew it was good fruit.  The Spirit had given me the AHA moment I was desiring.   I called my wife and the missionaries right then and told them I wanted to be baptized on Thursday evening, March 28, 2013.  Knowing what I know now, you would have thought they parted the Red Sea.  That is the only Thursday evening baptism I have ever attended.  Everything fell into place and I was shocked at the turnout of the small army of people who had been helping those missionaries for months try to help me gain that testimony.  I am thankful for each and every one of them.  

As I stated before, I prayed fervently that God would show me where I should be and what he has in store for my life.  Well, looking back, I can see his hand at every turn. From that chance meeting of my eternal wife to every person along the way who opened their homes and lives to me so I could learn or hear their testimony.  In fact, he even sent the right set of missionaries who were not afraid to challenge me and who quickly became life long friends. 

I was asked to give a talk back in 2018 concerning my conversion to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Rocky Mount.  I was surprised when so many people came to me after and shared how similar my conversion was to theirs and how much they appreciated my talk because it helped strengthen theirs.  

It has been a blessing to see the Lord's hand at work.  I have never personally witnessed or heard of more miracles happening than I have and have seen in this restored Church of Jesus Christ. As I devote this blogsite to the sharing of my learning, I hope that the testimony of others can indeed be strengthened through my testimony.  My prayer is that people can follow my example and put aside the false presumptions and biases heard second hand through others about this Church and really seek council from the Spirit and truly investigate everything about the Church.  The term investigator is what Latter-Day Saints call non-members.  It's very accurate because every aspect of the Church should be investigated thoroughly so one can find out for themselves if everything about the church is "True" doctrine.  

You will hear many people use the word "True" when they give their testimony.  I thought it was quite over used and redundant when I first attended.  However, I have come to understand that there is not really a better way to state it, and the more you hear it, the more it makes sense to the outcome of your investigation.  That is, if you do diligently seek a testimony.  When you agree to baptism, you are practically testifying that you know that the Doctrines of this Church are true, and that it was restored by Christ through Joseph Smith.  I found during my investigation that some doctrines were difficult to understand and were much different than the teachings I learned growing up in the Baptist Church.  However, as I prayed and wrestled with them, I learned quickly to fall back on my testimony on the things I was sure of.  I found that God does teach us through His spirit, line upon line, precept upon precept, and that in time, he will reveal answers and understanding as we diligently and prayerfully seek answers.  Sometimes though, we have to work for those answers. 

I have found over the past few years that God is working in many churches and that there are doctrinal truths found in each. But I recall how I used to feel back in the days prior joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, it seemed like there was a glass ceiling to my salvation and that there was nothing more I could do to increase my knowledge and understanding of God.  The Book of Mormon opened my eyes to many more truths and opened the door to many more opportunities to understand the meaning of life here on the earth and where I fit in His eternal plan.  

In closing, I testify that I have a strong testimony to the accuracy in the Doctrine of this church.  Through my continuous study, I will reveal and record evidences I have found which support this.  I promise that you will not know the reach and capability of God's hand until you truly investigate for yourself. I also promise that if you have read this blog and have never seen the workings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, then your eyes are about to be opened and the Light of Christ is about to start pointing out where the tentacles of this church have intersected with your life and you will begin to take notice of its fruits.  Its up to you to truly open your heart and sincerely investigate and want to be a part of this ministry.  

Introduction to Isaiah 28

This site is dedicated to my children, in hopes that they will come to know the things shown to me by our Heavenly Father.  I pray that as they make their way through life, they will turn to God for comfort and knowledge and learn to converse and seek Him in all things.  I am inspired by the words found in Isaiah 28.  I testify that the Lord does desire to teach us in all truths if we are willing to humble our hearts and commune with Him daily.  I pray that my children will be inspired to seek truth and to live more righteously than I have.

Isaiah 28: 9-10, 16-18 (KJV)

⁹ Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
¹⁰ For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little

The Lord requires us to be like children and eagerly grasp those things which he teaches.  He makes the workings of the universe known to us bit by bit, line upon line, precept upon precept.  We can't just take a crash course in Universe 101 and know all that he wants us to know.  It requires patience, prayer, and practice living as righteously as we can at all times, repenting when we mess up, and learning to put away pride and accept his grace and mercy.  I learned early in life that people don't value things that are freely given to them.  We have to work hard for the things we have and the blessings we obtain or we would simply never appreciate them.  That's why God allows us to go through trials in our lives.  If we press forward and rely on Him, He will enrich us and give us the understanding that we need to make it through those trials.  A friend once compared our lives to a still pond or puddle of water.  Just when everything is going great and the water is calm and still, God sticks his finger in or tosses a pebble so that ripples are created in our life.  Those ripples represent our trials.  They become the catalyst for our learning and growth and cause us to seek Him. This process enables us to build our witness and testimony of the gospel, and allows us to grow closer to our Heavenly Father.

¹⁶ So this is what the Sovereign Lord says:“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone,  a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic.

¹⁷ I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line;  hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie, and water will overflow your hiding place.
¹⁸ Your covenant with death will be annulled; your agreement with the realm of the dead will not stand.

Just like all other true prophets of God, Isaiah makes a prophesy about  the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  This was over 700 years before Christ's birth in Bethlehem.  Jesus Christ is the stone Isaiah speaks about which has been tested.  Jesus will be the cornerstone on which the foundation of the Gospel is formed.

The Lord speaks of making Justice the measuring line for our lives.  This means that we will be held accountable for our actions when we die.  We will be measured against the perfect life of our Savior. This should not discourage us however, because he gives us a special tool to help us become spotless again.  That tool is repentance.  I will speak more on repentance in a future blog.

Righteousness is our plum line.  A plum line is basically a weight on a string that builders use to make sure their structures are straight and upright (perfectly vertical, 90 degrees to the earth) by relying on the forces of gravity.  Without a plum line, our structures would lean one way or another.  Without righteousness in our lives, we will never be able to be upright with God and will constantly struggle because the forces of the earth (sin) will always keep us from being upright and sinless.

We will not be able to hide from God's judgement, as it suggests in latter part of verse 17.  However, if we learn to live righteously, our sins will be forgiven and as verse 18 declares, we will overcome death thanks to Jesus Christ's atonement for our sins, and we will live eternally.

As I conclude this introduction, I must point out that I have two purposes for this blog.  First, I pray that my children and others find peace and comfort in the words that I share and are able to use it as reference to help them find direction.  And second, I pray that somehow over time, with God's help, the words of this site can be archived and serve as a journal which blesses not only me, by revealing God's hand in my daily life, but also blesses my future posterity so that they too can see God's divine mission and know that no matter how much the world changes over time, He is still in control and will continue to have His hand in all things.