The Central Figure in the Book of Mormon

Many years ago, my ministering brothers invited me to seriously study the Book of Mormon. When they gave me this invitation, I realized that, although I read a little from the Book of Mormon each day, I wasn’t seriously studying it.

They shared a promise with me that was based on words from President Ezra Taft Benson: “There is a power in the [Book of Mormon] which will begin to flow into your lives the moment you begin a serious study of the book. You will find greater power to resist temptation … to avoid deception … to stay on the strait and narrow path” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Ezra Taft Benson [2014], 141).

I accepted their invitation, and in the following months I saw that their promise was fulfilled. It has changed my life.

A major reason that the Book of Mormon gives us spiritual power is that it draws us closer to Jesus Christ. In President Henry B. Eyring’s article on page 4, he writes, “Those who sincerely read the Book of Mormon, live by its precepts, and pray about its truthfulness will feel the Holy Ghost and increase their faith in, and testimony of, the Savior.”

Jesus Christ is the central figure in the Book of Mormon. As my coauthor, Madison Sinclair, and I share in our article, “Jesus Christ in the Book of Mormon” (page 10), there are more than 7,000 references to the Savior in the Book of Mormon.

I know that as we study the Book of Mormon this year with Come, Follow Me, we will draw closer to Jesus Christ.

With love,

John Hilton III

Professor of Religious Education, Brigham Young University

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woman reading scriptures

Illustration by J. Kirk Richards