THE TRANSFORMATION THAT COMES FROM SCRIPTURES

For me, there is no question that the Book of Mormon has played a central role in my conversion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I have been transformed by those words when applied, many times. I am not very intelligent in drawing parallels, searching out patterns, or understanding the doctrine on a scholarly level. But I do know it is real, and there is power in it when I have taken the simple teachings and used them to govern with. I can not deny it.

President Benson said: “There is a power in the Book of Mormon which will begin to flow into your lives the minute you begin a serious study of the book. You will find greater power to resist temptation. You will find the power to avoid deception. You will find the power to stay on the straight and narrow path… You will find life in greater and greater abundance.”

Today, I read about a town and its people during the Reformation’s long dark apostasy— that was transformed through the scriptures. If this town could be changed by reading the New Testament, imagine what our homes could look like if we used the Book of Mormon with all of its promises, applied every word in it, and immersed our children in it. We could start a revolution.

In France, during a period of revival, a swift and graceful transformation passed over the busy town. No profane word was any longer uttered, no ribaldry nor coarse jests were heard. Drunkenness and disorder disappeared; vice hid in the monastery or the cloister. In every factory the Gospels were read as a message from above, and the voice of prayer and thanksgiving mingled with the clamor of the shuttle and clash of the anvil. The rude and boisterous artisans were converted into refined and gentle believers, ever seeking the pure and the true; and the sudden impulse toward a higher life awakened at Meaux by the teachings of Farel and Lefèvre stirred, like an electric shock, every portion of diseased and decaying France. A moment of regeneration seemed near, a season of wonderful advance.”—“Historical Studies,” Eugene Lawrence, pp. 250, 251.

Lucifer trembles at the presence of living, breathing, applied scripture. Scripture, correctly interpreted and used— to govern our children’s education, our places of work or business, and even the family culture we are building through music, movies, art, and amusements, causes the adversary to wither and eventually be bound by the righteousness that ensues. Could you imagine how our homes would be bound by the devil if we used scriptures as the prophets have taught us to do so?