Rely on the Spirit

On Saturday December 2, 1989, in my last area, we tracted into an older gentleman named Ben and set up an appointment for the following evening.  We ended up teaching him for three hours.  We met Ben at his office, which was filled with Born Again literature, instead of in his home.  We started teaching the first discussion and got through the Joseph Smith story.  When we started talking about the Book of Mormon, Ben asked why another book was necessary.  “We are all prophets and apostles,” he said.  Then he asked us to find one truth in The Book of Mormon that is not in the Bible.

I started flipping pages and praying for help, but I did not seem to get an answer.  So I prayed harder.  Meanwhile, my companion brought up the doctrine of eternal marriage.  As my companion and Ben hashed over Matthew 22:25-30, I had a very strong impression from the Spirit.  It said, “Every truth in The Book of Mormon is in the Bible, yet more clearly explained in the Book of Mormon.”  I was then impressed to turn to Moroni Chapter 8 and ask Ben for his feelings on infant baptism.  He said it was wrong and unnecessary and quoted the Apostle Paul as saying, “Before I had the law I was alive, but once I had the law I was dead.”  I agreed with him and then read Moroni 8:12.  He agreed with the passage and this served to confirm the earlier impression that I had received.

We talked about a few other things but eventually came back to the Book of Mormon.  My comp asked Ben if he would accept more scripture if God brought it forth.  We had to make sure that he understood that it was God that was doing it.  He answered that he would only accept it if he could find a foundation for it in the Bible.  He then repeated his challenge about finding a truth in the Book of Mormon that is not in the Bible.  The impression I got from the Spirit at this point hit me like a brick.

I said, “Wait, just a moment ago you said that if you could not find foundation for something in the Bible you would not accept it.”  Then I asked, “How can we find a truth in the Book of Mormon that is not in the Bible if you will not accept anything without a foundation for it being in the Bible?”  That got him.  He hemmed and hawed for a moment and then said that he meant a truth he had not yet found in the Bible.  “Sir,” I said, “you give us an impossible challenge, for we are not mind readers and we cannot know what you do and do not know.”  Again, he hemmed and hawed before again reissuing his challenge.

It was at this point that we concluded our meeting.  We had to hurry home so that we could be on time for the First Presidency’s Christmas Devotional satellite broadcast.  But first, I tried to give Ben my testimony and tell him how I knew these things were true.  He passed it off as irrelevant.  We gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and challenged him to read and pray about it.  Then we departed.

Throughout this whole experience, my companion and I each had some big impressions from the Spirit.  My companion later told me that he had one impression that kept repeating; it said, “If you believe not these words, you believe not in Jesus Christ.”  He thought it was a scripture and kept asking for the reference.  Meanwhile, as Ben was bashing the Book of Mormon, we both felt the Spirit and knew that it was independent of anything he said.  In a situation where our faith might have been shaken, we both knew by virtue of the spirit that the Book of Mormon was true.  There simply could be no doubt.

During the April 2012 General Conference, President Henry B. Eyring said that "We never need to feel that we are alone or unloved in the Lord’s service because we never are. We can feel the love of God. The Savior has promised angels on our left and our right to bear us up. And He always keeps His word."  My companion and I were not left alone during our three hour teaching appointment with Ben.

In the Doctrine and Covenants we read, "Neither take ye thought beforehand what ye shall say; but treasure up in your minds continually the words of life, and it shall be given you in the very hour that portion that shall be meted unto every man. . . . And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up" (D&C 84:85, 88).

Finally, in John 14:26, we read, "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."


Missionaries need to study the scriptures and rely on the Holy Ghost. if they do that, they may receive help from the Spirit when teaching.  It is important to note, however, that the Comforter cannot bring something to our remembrance that we have not studied.