Ever since the Book of Mormon was translated by the Prophet Joseph Smith in a matter of months in 1829 and published in March 1830, presidents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have testified of and extolled the divinity of this volume of scripture.

A source of power and another testament of Jesus Christ, the Book of Mormon is described in its introduction as "a volume of holy scripture comparable to the Bible. It is a record of God's dealings with the ancient inhabitants of the Americas and contains, as does the Bible, the fulness of the everlasting gospel."

Appreciating the Book of Mormon

When President Russell M. Nelson was first called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, President Ezra Taft Benson summoned him to his office. He expressed a deep concern that Church members did not fully appreciate the Book of Mormon. Then-Elder Nelson recounted this experience in a September 1999 general conference address:

"I shall never forget that lesson," he said. "Since then, President Howard W. Hunter, President Gordon B. Hinckley, and many other leaders of the Church have continued to extol the Book of Mormon to people throughout the world."

President Nelson added his own testimony to the divinity of the Book of Mormon and has continued to do so. Eighteen years later, while serving as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, he said, “My dear brothers and sisters, I testify that the Book of Mormon is truly the word of God. … The truths of the Book of Mormon have the power to heal, comfort, restore, succor, strengthen, console and cheer our souls."

Keystone of our religion

Fittingly, Joseph Smith's testimony is included in the introduction of the Book of Mormon.

"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."

President Harold B. Lee said that this statement had a greater significance than many members of the Church understood.

Ancient prophets who lived on the American continent wrote the records of their people on plates of ore. These writings contained the teachings of the prophets and the account of Jesus Christ’s visit to the Americas after His Resurrection. A prophet named Mormon made a shorter account of the writings on gold plates, and his son, Moroni, buried the plates in a hill. The resurrected Moroni gave the plates to Joseph Smith, who translated the writing on the plates with the help of Heavenly Father. The translation is called the Book of Mormon. Credit: Intellectual Reserve, Inc., Intellectual Reserve, Inc.

"If one wants to get close to God, he can do it by reading the Book of Mormon."

Further explaining the Book of Mormon's role as the "keystone of our religion" in his September 1986 general conference address, President Ezra Taft Benson said that just as an arch crumbles if the keystone is removed, so does The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints without the Book of Mormon.

“The enemies of the Church understand this clearly. This is why they go to such great lengths to try to disprove the Book of Mormon, for if it can be discredited, the Prophet Joseph Smith goes with it. So does our claim to priesthood keys, and revelation, and the restored Church. But in like manner, if the Book of Mormon be true — and millions have now testified that they have the witness of the Spirit that it is indeed true — then one must accept the claims of the Restoration and all that accompanies it.”

Similarly, Brigham Young many years earlier taught that one cannot say the Bible is true and that the Book of Mormon is not.

"There is not that person on the face of the earth who has had the privilege of learning the gospel of Jesus Christ from these two books, that can say that one is true, and the other is false. No Latter-day Saint, no man or woman, can say the Book of Mormon is true, and at the same time say that the Bible is untrue. If one be true, both are; and if one be false, both are false.”

Challenges to read the Book of Mormon

More recently, prophets have encouraged members of the Church to read the Book of Mormon and study it for themselves.

In a First Presidency message in August 2005, President Gordon B. Hinckley challenged Church members to read the Book of Mormon before the end of the year.

"Without reservation I promise you that if each of you will observe this simple program, regardless of how many times you previously may have read the Book of Mormon, there will come into your lives and into your homes an added measure of the Spirit of the Lord, a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to His commandments, and a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God."

In the last general conference address he gave before he died, President Thomas S. Monson asked for those who are not reading the Book of Mormon each day to please do so.

“If you will read it prayerfully and with a sincere desire to know the truth, the Holy Ghost will manifest its truth to you. If it is true — and I solemnly testify that it is — then Joseph Smith was a prophet who saw God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.

A replica of Book of Mormon plates that silversmith Gordon Andrus made as they are displayed in “The Heavens Are Opened” exhibit at the Museum of Church History and Art. Credit: Welden C. Andersen, Intellectual Reserve, Inc., Intellectual Reserve, Inc.

"Because the Book of Mormon is true, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord’s Church on the earth, and the holy priesthood of God has been restored for the benefit and blessing of His children."

President Joseph Fielding Smith taught that every member should read the Book of Mormon and possess a testimony of this book of scripture.

"It seems to me that any member of this Church would never be satisfied until he or she had read the Book of Mormon time and time again, and thoroughly considered it so that he or she could bear witness that it is in very deed a record with the inspiration of the Almighty upon it, and that its history is true. … No member of this Church can stand approved in the presence of God who has not seriously and carefully read the Book of Mormon."

Testimonies of the Book of Mormon

Other prophets have testified simply of the divinity of the Book of Mormon.

“I bear testimony that Joseph Smith was raised up by Almighty God as a Prophet in the last dispensation and fullness of times; that he brought forth the Book of Mormon and translated it by the gift and power of God for the benefit of the world in the latter days," President Wilford Woodruff taught. "I know that the Book of Mormon is true and is a divinely inspired record.”

President Joseph F. Smith said, “The Book of Mormon (is) a book of scripture that was translated by the gift and power of God, for the voice of God declared to the three witnesses that it had been translated by the gift and power of God and that it was true."

"Today (the Book of Mormon), which was translated by Joseph Smith as the instrumentality of the Lord, stands out supreme. It is today the greatest missionary that we have for proclaiming this gospel; there is nothing else to compare with it," President Heber J. Grant taught.

“The Book of Mormon is true, just what it purports to be," Joseph Smith was recorded as testifying, "and for this testimony I expect to give an account in the day of judgment.”