My love affair with the word of God

I love the Book of Mormon. I love the doctrine of Christ it teaches. I love the witness of Christ it bears. I love the spirit that accompanies it.

There is no book I have read more thoroughly or consistently throughout my life. I first read it as a twelve-year-old boy, influenced largely by my Grandma Batt, and it formed an important foundation for my faith and understanding and testimony. I do not know how many times I may have read it through in the years since then, but it has been more than once a year ever since President Ezra Taft Benson in the mid-1980s put renewed emphasis upon its centrality to our faith and testimony. So perhaps fifty times.

My love affair with the Book of Mormon in no way diminishes the regard and esteem and appreciation I have for the companion volumes of sacred writings compiled in the Holy Bible, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price.

A simple insight from tonight's reading in 3 Nephi, that portion of the Book of Mormon that contains some of the resurrected Savior's teachings to the Nephites, echoing His similar teachings to the people in the Holy Land:

Jesus said, "Beware of false prophets" (3 Nephi 14:15). Much of the rest of the Christian world would esteem Joseph Smith and his duly appointed successors down to our day to be false prophets, but without regard it seems to me to the verse that follows: "Ye shall know them by their fruits" (3 Nephi 14:16).

The abundant fruits of Joseph's mission are public record, beginning first with the Book of Mormon itself. It is a remarkable achievement by any standard. John Taylor mentions some of the other fruits in what is now section 135 of the Doctrine and Covenants (see, for example, D&C 135:3). I think I could list a dozen more positive fruits that are evident from the life and ministry and teachings of the Prophet Joseph. Perhaps on another occasion.