Book of Mormon Lesson 50 (Moroni 10)
December 4–20
MORON1oni closes with “a few words by way of exhortation.” To exhort means to advise or urge strongly. To whom is this chapter addressed?
● Moroni 10:3–30 The things Moroni exhorts his readers to do. (Ask class members to read aloud each of the verses that contains an exhortation).
v. 3 “Remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men.”
v. 4 “Ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true.”
v. 7 “Deny not the power of God”
v. 8 “Deny not the gifts of God”
v. 18 “Remember that every good gift cometh of Christ”
v. 19 “Remember that [Christ] is the same yesterday, today, and forever”
v. 27 “Remember these things [that Moroni has written]”
v. 30 “Come unto Christ”
● Moroni 10:4–5 What is the role of the Holy Ghost in our gaining testimonies of spiritual things, including the Book of Mormon?
— 1 Cor. 2:11 Why can’t we gain our testimonies through our intellect alone?
— Alma 26:21–22
— Moroni 10:6–7
● Dr. Daniel H. Ludlow said: “When a person follows this divine formula, the results are certain: He will gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon. God cannot and does not lie, and his promises made through his prophets are sure. Therefore, any person who claims to have followed the various requirements but says he has not gained a testimony should check to see which step he has not followed faithfully or completely:
1. He should read and ponder the Book of Mormon—all of it.
2. He should remember the methods God has used in working with the peoples of both the Book of Mormon and the Bible-and ponder these things in his heart.
3. He should put himself in a frame of mind where he would be willing to accept (receive) all of ‘these things’-the Book of Mormon, the Bible, and the way God works with men.
4. ‘With a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ,’ he should ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Jesus Christ ‘if these things are not true.’
5. He should be able to recognize the promptings and feelings which will be evidences to him of the truth of ‘these things’ (including the Book of Mormon) as they are made manifest unto him ‘by the power of the Holy Ghost.'”1
● Moroni 10:4 We must “ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ,” before “he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost” (v. 4).
● With a sincere heart: Not “testing the Lord” with skepticism, but really wanting to know the truth directly from our Heavenly Father.
● With real intent: Not just to “satisfy curiosity,” but committed to “act upon” the answer—be baptized, follow the prophets, etc.
● Having faith in Christ: Believing that Jesus is the Christ, and being willing to keep His commandments.
● “By the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things” (v. 5).
● Keith B. McMullin said: “[The Holy Ghost] has a more powerful effect upon the soul than anything else received in any other way. A millennium of experience through sight, sound, touch, taste, smell, and all the powers of the universe combined cannot approach the sublime and complete experience of one brief moment under the influence of the Holy Ghost.”2
An Example of One Person Who Followed Moroni’s Invitation
One cold day in February 1910, Vincenzo di Francesca, a Protestant minister, came across a weather-beaten copy of a religious book with no title page. Curious, he wrapped the book in newspaper and took it with him. At home he cleaned and read the book. “I read and reread, twice and twice again, and I found it fit to say that the book was a fifth gospel of the Redeemer,” he said.
The book he had found was the Book of Mormon. When he had read it, he followed the admonition in Moroni 10:4. “At the end of the day, I locked the door of my room, knelt with the book in my hands, and read chapter ten of the book of Moroni. I prayed to God, the Eternal Father, in the name of his son, Jesus Christ, to tell me if the book were of God, if it were good and true, and if I should mix its words with the words of the four gospels in my preaching.
“I felt my body become cold as the wind from the sea. Then my heart began to palpitate, and a feeling of gladness, as of finding something precious and extraordinary, bore consolation to my soul and left me with a joy that human language cannot find words to describe. I had received the assurance that God had answered my prayer and that the book was of greatest benefit to me and to all who would listen to its words.”
The testimony Vincenzo di Francesca received at this time helped him through many difficult experiences. He was stripped of his position as a minister because he taught from the Book of Mormon. It was 1930 before he learned the name of the book and the name of the Church that published it. Because of war and other political problems, another 21 years passed before he was able to be baptized. Throughout these difficulties, he maintained a strong testimony of the truth-fulness of the Book of Mormon.”3
Deny Not the Witness or the Gifts of the Holy Spirit
● Moroni 10:6–7 Moroni exhorts us to “deny not the power of God” nor the gifts of God.
● Moroni 10:7 In what ways might we sometimes deny God’s power?
● Elder Jeffrey R. Holland taught, “The Savior said, `Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. . . .Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid’ (John 14:27).
“I submit to you, that may be one of the Savior’s commandments that is, even in the hearts of otherwise faithful Latter-day Saints, almost universally disobeyed; and yet I wonder whether our resistance to this invitation could be any more grievous to the Lord’s merciful heart. I can tell you this as a parent: as concerned as I would be if somewhere in their lives one of my children were seriously troubled or unhappy or disobedient, nevertheless I would be infinitely more devastated if I felt that at such a time that child could not trust me to help or thought his or her interest was unimportant to me or unsafe in my care. In that same spirit, I am convinced that none of us can appreciate how deeply it wounds the loving heart of the Savior of the world when he finds that his people do not feel confident in his care or secure in his hands or trust in his commandments.”4
Spiritual Gifts of Those Who Come Unto Christ
● Moroni 10:8–16 Moroni’s list of spiritual gifts.
v. 9 Teaching wisdom;
v. 10 Teaching knowledge
v. 11 Exceedingly great faith;
v. 11 The gift of healing;
v. 12 Working mighty miracles;
v. 13 The gift of prophecy;
v. 14 Beholding of angels and ministering spirits;
v. 15 The gift of tongues;
v. 16 Interpretation of tongues;
● Moroni 10:17 All these gifts come by the Spirit of Christ; and they come unto every man severally, according as he will.
— D&C 46:11–12 Why do we each receive different gifts from God?
● Moroni 10:18 Every good gift cometh of Christ.
● Bruce R. McConkie said, “The receipt is always predicated upon obedience to the law, but because they are available to all the obedient they are called gifts. They are . . . reserved for the faithful and none else.”5
● Moroni 10:19 Spiritual gifts are always present in the true Church of Christ.
Coming Unto Christ and Being Perfected In Him
● Moroni 10:26–29 Moroni bears witness that his words come from Christ.
● Moroni 10:30–31 An invitation to come unto Christ.
● Moroni 10:32–33 We can be perfected through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
● Neal A. Maxwell said, “Moroni declared the need for us to deny ourselves `all ungodliness,’ thus including both large and small sins. While boulders surely block our way, loose gravel slows discipleship, too. Even a small stone can become a stumbling block. . . . Putting off the views and appetites of the natural man is such a large part of denying oneself, a process sometimes accompanied by scalding shame and the reflux of regret (JST, Luke 14:28). Even so, in today’s world, individual appetites, far from being denied, are actually celebrated! As one writer noted, this mantra has its own incessant `beat,’ and it goes `Me . . . Me . . . Me!’ (David Frum).’”6
● Bruce R. McConkie said, “Similarly the gospel cause commands every man to take up his cross and follow him who carried his own cross to Golgotha. That is, the Saints are to carry the cross of service and consecration, the cross of devotion and obedience. `If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me,’ our Lord said. And now for a man to take up his cross, is to deny himself all ungodliness, and every worldly lust and keep my commandments’ (JST Matt. 16:25–26).”7
Gaining A Personal Witness of the Book of Mormon
● President Gordon B. Hinckley said, “I would like to urge every man and woman . . . and every boy and girl who is old enough to read to again read the Book of Mormon during this coming year. . . .There is nothing we could do of greater importance than to have fortified in our individual lives an unshakable conviction that Jesus is the Christ, the Living Son of the Living God. . . . That is the purpose of the coming forth of this remarkable and wonderful book.”8
● President Joseph Fielding Smith said, “No member of this Church can stand approved in the presence of God who has not seriously and carefully read the Book of Mormon.”9
● President Ezra Taft Benson said, “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 that will get a man ‘nearer to God , by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book’ (History of the Church, 4:461).”10
● President Benson also said, “Every Latter-day Saint should make the study of this book a lifetime pursuit.”11
MORONI’S FINAL FAREWELL
● Moroni 10:33–34 Moroni’s final farewell.
— Thus ends the writings and testimony of the prophet Moroni, but it was not the end of his story. This is the same angel-or at least one of them-whom John the Revelator saw “flying in the midst of heaven, bringing the everlasting gospel to preach unto them who dwell on the earth” (Revelation 14:6).
— Moroni is the same angel who appeared as a resurrected being to the Prophet Joseph Smith and committed the record into his hands for translation in the latter days, and then appeared to multiple other witnesses to verify its authenticity.
— And this the same angel who appeared to the Prophet Joseph at least 22 more times between 1823 and 1829 as he guided Joseph in the process of the restoration.
— Moroni was certainly a major force in the restoration of the Book of Mormon and the Church of Jesus Christ in these latter days. And when we shall meet him at the “pleasing bar of the great Jehovah” we shall surely know that he was a mighty prophet, called of God.
Notes:
1. “I Have a Question,” Ensign, March 1986, 50–51.
2. Ensign, May 1996, 9.
3. Vincenzo di Francesca, “I Will Not Burn the Book!” Ensign, Jan. 1988, 18–21.
4. “Come unto Me,” Ensign, April 1998, 19.
5. Mormon Doctrine, 2nd ed. [1966], 314–315.
6. Ensign, May 1995, 66–67.
7. Mormon Doctrine, 173.
8. Church News, 4 May 1996, 2.
9. Conference Report, October 1961, 18.
10. Conference Report, October 1988, 3; or Ensign, November 1988, 4.
11. Conference Report, April, 1975, 97; or Ensign, May 1975, 65.