“Book of Mormon Testimony Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow” by: Ryan Best

I am always looking for testaments of the Book of Mormon’s validity while reading. I have had many extremely real experiences when I have known that the Book of Mormon was written by prophets of old and translated by a prophet of God in modern days.  I call a Moroni experience anytime while reading the Book of Mormon where the world stops as it seems for a period of time and God speaks to me one-on-one. I have learned so many beautiful things in the Book of Mormon the most important is that God lives and Jesus is the Christ.  Each time it’s by the Holy Ghost that I learn these things.  It’s been almost 25 years since my first experience and it was just recently that I had my last. Moreover I hope and believe it won’t be long before I have another.  Each time I read I know, and experience that the book is real and true. 

My first experience was at college while studying about the Prophet Joseph Smith and simultaneously finishing the BoM.  I was attending an institute course where I was provided a great syllabus with references and information we would study during the semester. As I scanned the document I noticed the prophets many great accompaniments, stories I had learned or heard about all my life. I knew the prophets stories and as I was reviewing them I was struck by the volume and beauty of his life and his value to the world. At this time in my life, I had just finished reading the Book of Mormon for the first time start to finish without significant gaps. It was at that moment when I knew The Prophet Joseph Smith was a true prophet.  The new knowledge came fast and struck my heart and mind. This burst of knowledge didn’t wither away immediately but stayed for many minutes where I was reminded of all the testaments and proofs that I’d been shown as a youth. I was given confidence beyond description that a boy could not have written a book that had touched my heart so deeply and changed me so dramatically. I was reminded of Moroni’s promise and my prayer about the promise a few days earlier when I had asked if the Book of Mormon was true and was told as with a voice “this is your answer.” The feeling that rushed through my body for those minutes was pure knowledge and love.  I was eternally grateful at the time. 

During my most recent reading the BoM I decided I wanted to kneel and ask again. This time I received a different testament of the truthfulness of the BoM. I was impressed to examine closer the last chapters written by Moroni in the BoM.  When reviewing Moroni’s promise, I saw in my mind’s eye Moroni asking me to pray to know if the words he had used to describe the Savior of the world and the testimonies I had read were true, not if the book was real or if Joseph Smith was a prophet but if Jesus was the Christ?  A beautiful answer came as I realized how much better I knew The Savior because of the Book of Mormon.  I knew the testimony of Christ as given to me by Moroni and other prophets was true.  I knew that Moroni’s efforts, as well as other BoM prophets, had enlarged my understanding of Christ.  This new knowledge that Jesus is the Christ and that the words in the Book of Mormon had helped me to know him was the sweetest answer to any previous requests by myself to the Lord regarding the Moroni promise.