If the Book of Mormon is true then..

One night I was picking up a guy at a hotel downtown. I picked him up at the Hilton and we were heading into a neighborhood. I asked him if he was going to an Airbnb and he said no, he was visiting friends.

I asked her where he was from and he said Cody, Wyoming. I know a lot of people from that area. My MTC companion was from Cody and still lives there today. My sister lives in Burlington which is just a little ways away and she teaches school in Cody.

We played the who do you know game. As I started talking to him I looked at him and thought that he was a dry Mormon for sure. A dry Mormon is someone who lives the gospel who hasn’t been baptized. He knew the vernacular and he had the feel of somebody who had lived right for the most part. I felt the distinct impression that he was not a member of the church but that he had grown up obviously in Mormon communities so he knew everything about the church.

I received the impression that he had been approached many times and that there was a specific reason that he had never wanted to tell anybody about why he didn’t get baptized. So I went right in with that.

I asked, you’re not a member of the church are you? He said no, but everyone of his friends were. He said that he was Catholic but that he didn’t go to church so he didn’t consider himself to be much different than his friends who are members of our church.

I asked, do you mind if I ask you a question? He said no, go ahead. I said growing up in Cody with all of your friends being members of the church, obviously they took you to church, they had you play ball with them at the church, and you did scouting with them, is that true? He said yes, that’s exactly what happened. He said, I guess culturally I would say we are the same.

I said, obviously there was something in the teaching of the church or in the belief system that didn’t work for you. Clearly there was something that bothered you and you didn’t want to offend your friendship by bringing it up so you just went with the culture.

He said, no one has ever asked me that question. He said, it’s not like I wanted to come straight out and challenge their beliefs. I like the results of their beliefs but there is something that just was hard for me. I asked what it was.

He said it was the Indians. He said, I don’t know how I could believe that the Indians came from Jerusalem. Where the Indians come from is my question. When I asked that they never felt comfortable or were able to make me feel comfortable in their answer so I quit asking it. He said that without this it didn’t make sense.

Sometimes we are really good at living a religion but not so great at explaining our religion. I looked back at him and said so the Book of Mormon is the issue? He said, yes. Not with the teachings because I think it’s a good book but it just doesn’t seem possible that the Indians came from Jerusalem.

I asked him if he thought God was all powerful. He said yes. I asked him if God loved everyone in the world. He said yes. I asked him if he loved people in one place more than he loved them in other places and he said, no.

I asked him how God showed love to his children. He thought for a minute and said that he gives them blessings. I asked him if he just blesses them regardless of how they act and he said no. He gives them blessings when they do what he says, when they act like he wants them to act.

I asked him how people knew what God wanted them to do and how he wanted them to act. He said that’s why we have the Bible. I said, God revealed his will to the prophets who then relayed that information to the people and wrote it down. This is why we have the Bible. He said yes. I asked him who had the Bible and he said the people in Jerusalem and later everyone in the world in the last 200 years.

I asked him if we need to know about Jesus Christ to be saved and he said yes. I asked him if we need to be baptized to be saved and he said yes.

I said, if God loves all of his children the same and they’re scattered all over the world why would he choose only one group of people to have his word and not all of his children. He thought for a minute And said, I don’t know. That’s a good question.

I asked, if God is all powerful as you said and he loves everyone the same like you said why wouldn’t he give his love or his commandments like you said to all of his children everywhere not just his children in Jerusalem?

He said wow! I never thought of it that way. I said that is the Book of Mormon. The people who lived in America could not get the words from the prophets in Jerusalem at that time. God loved them just like he loves the people of Jerusalem,or you and I, and he wanted them to have blessings. That’s why he gave them prophets. They wrote down their prophecies and that’s why we have the Book of Mormon. It’s a record of God blessing the people, his children, who lived in America because God loves everyone.

He said that makes a lot of sense. The spirit was strong in the car and I testified of Joseph Smith and how he translated the Book of Mormon and how it was the word of God. I could feel it and I could feel this young man readily accept that spirit because he had felt it in his life.

I asked, do you feel that? He said, yes it feels good! It feels right! I said think about the things I just said to you. They are not normal things in the world but how did you feel when I said them? He said I felt good. I said it didn’t feel strange, did it? He said no.

I said that’s because it’s true and the spirit is telling you it’s true.

I said, in the Bible Jesus said other sheep I have which are not of this fold and that he was going to visit them because he had been commanded by his father. This is more evidence I said. I said God loves all of his children and if an all powerful God loves all of his children who is he going to send his son to? He said, all of his children.

I said in the Book of Mormon it contains the record of the visit of Jesus Christ to America. Jesus descended from heaven brilliant and beautiful. He stood on the steps of the temple and the people felt the prints of the nails in his hands and the prints the nails in his feet. They asked him for salvation and he gave them baptism and the authority to baptize. He instructed them how to baptize. My rider said wow that’s amazing. I told him that those people had already been baptized but Jesus brought a new covenant, a new level and instructed them to be baptized by that power to that level.

I told him Jesus didn’t spend any time demeaning the previous baptism that they had received. He gave them a new level and a new way to have more power. He said that’s amazing. I said that’s the Book of Mormon.

Then Jesus said still other sheep I have which are not of this land or the land of Jerusalem or the lands roundabout. He had received a commandment from his father to go to them too so they could hear his voice and be counted among his sheep.

I said this happened because God loves all of his children not just the ones in Jerusalem or America. He said that makes sense.

I said do you feel that spirit again, he said yes. He was astounded by the feeling. He said that it was overwhelming. I asked what does that mean and he said it means it’s true.

Now that he’d had a witness of the spirit I just had to have some fun and I pulled up a picture of Tulum. Tulum is an ancient Mayan temple built around 700 A.D.. In the tower of the temple it’s got three doors and three spaces on top of those doors where images were carved.

He looked at it with interest. I asked , do you know what those carvings above those doors are? He said no. I said, above the first door it is a carving of a king God with robes and a crown.

I said above the second door there is a carving of a God descending from the sky. Just like Jesus descended from the sky to the people in America.

I said above the third door it is empty.

I said, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. The father, the King God, the son descending from heaven like he did in America and the Holy Ghost. He said, with no carving because there is no body with the Holy Ghost. I said, that’s right. I asked him how it was that they got that information in America 700 A.D. when that building was built.

He was stopped in his tracks, he couldn’t put that together. He said, I have no idea. That’s amazing. There were no planes or boats to bring that knowledge there. People didn’t even know America existed. No phones, no TV, no communication at all. He said, that’s right.

How did they get this knowledge that is very specific? He said I don’t know. I said, didn’t someone need to bring it? He said yes, Jesus obviously brought it with him.

I asked him again how he felt, he said that this cleared everything up for him. I could tell that his concern about the Indians was swallowed up in the knowledge of Jesus Christ’s visit and the words of God‘s prophets here in America. He said, I will have to go on the internet and research that. I laughed and said , I have a better idea. He said what? I asked if his best friends were members and RM’s. He said yes

I said, go to them and tell them what you have learned and felt in the ride. I told him to talk about how the spirit felt. He said he would He said, “this will be fun”.

I asked if he had a Book of Mormon. He said dozens of them. I said, you should be reading them then. He chuckled and got out of the car.

I feel bad that all of those years he let the fear of that question keep him from the full blessings of the gospel. I am stoked for his friends and their opportunity.

Here is a copy of that photo of Tulum that I showed him.