“Hold on to the Book of Mormon.”
That was Elder Matthew S. Holland of the General Authority Seventy’s advice to the thousands of Brigham Young University students who filled the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah, on Tuesday, January 20th.
In his address titled “The Path and Power to the Promised Land,” Elder Holland testified to the power of the Book of Mormon to draw souls closer to Jesus Christ.
“I know,” he said, “that it is the very word of God and reflects the pure love and righteousness of God.” “Help yourself through the good times and the bad, and you will remain steadfast in the face of hardship and overcome your goals to reach your full potential and fulfill your divine destiny,” Elder Holland promised, later adding.
wandering in the wilderness
Elder Holland said that while serving as a full-time missionary in Scotland, he was transfixed by the words of then-new prophet President Ezra Taft Benson.
In a sermon that Elder Holland “changed for me and the entire Church,” President Benson explained, “The Book of Mormon must be at the center of our study because it was written for our time. The Nephites never had that book. . . . It was meant for us” (“The Book of Mormon: A Keystone of Our Religion,” October 1986 general conference).
Elder Holland pointed out that many times in the Book of Mormon stories, people are commanded to depart into the wilderness.
Latter-day Saint scholar Hugh Nibley found at least 336 references to the wilderness in the Book of Mormon (more than one on every other page), Elder Holland said.
So why did the editors of the Book of Mormon make the wilderness such a focus? How does this apply today? he asked.
“My impression about all of this is that the Book of Mormon is filled with so many episodes of righteous people wandering in a literal wilderness because God knew that in these latter days many of us would be wandering in a figurative wilderness often,” Elder Holland said.
Some of us may be lost in the wilderness of academics, the wilderness of friends and dating, the wilderness of marital fulfillment, the wilderness of career choices, the wilderness of faith crises, the wilderness of health challenges, the wilderness of moral transgressions.
“If this applies to you in any degree today, I offer you this advice: Cling to the Book of Mormon,” Elder Holland said.
Those who do so will realize that they are not alone and that their journey has a purpose: God is leading them to the “grand promised land.”
Elder Holland recalls his father’s death
Elder Holland made his message sweet and personal, speaking of the recent death of his father, the late President Jeffrey R. Holland, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Elder Holland called his father his “best friend on earth” and his “greatest hero,” saying, “Losing him left a huge hole in me. For as long as I can remember, my father brought laughter, confidence, and wisdom to my life like no other.”
The elder Holland said the reality of that loss hit him recently, and he realized he had to turn on his cell phone and remove his father from his list of favorites.
“I would never again receive a phone call and hear that cheerful, upbeat voice. I would never again receive a text-based love note, an inside joke, or a gentle correction on how to be a better man. I would never again be able to pick up the phone to get the advice I needed. Raw emotions spilled out. I was overwhelmed with grief,” Elder Holland said.
Later that night, following his recurring urge to read the Book of Mormon, he picked up where he left off at Alma 58. “We were full of sorrow and fear… Therefore we poured out our souls and prayed to God, that He might strengthen us and deliver us… Yes, and the Lord our God spoke peace to our souls and gave us great faith, that we might hope for salvation in Him” (vv. 9-11).
Elder Holland said: “Every word was burned into my heart. I knelt down and called out to the Lord, and in Him I found, and continue to find, the strength, peace, and deliverance that I lacked that perplexing afternoon. The Book of Mormon was that conduit, but that power was in Christ.”
Elder Holland concluded by testifying, “No matter what situation you’re facing, I know that Jesus Christ is the way, and the Book of Mormon makes this clearer than any other book on earth.”
“Your wilderness is not a destination, it is a way through. Beyond every wilderness lies the Promised Land, your Promised Land. Take one step at a time toward it with optimism and faith,” he assured listeners.
To those who are experiencing detours and hardships like the wilderness, Elder Holland quoted Isaiah 51:3: “For the LORD will comfort Zion; the LORD will comfort all her desolate places; and the LORD will make her wilderness like Eden, and her wilderness like the garden of the LORD, where joy and gladness shall be found.”
Elder Holland said, “My bright, young and beautiful friends, your preordained destination is no other destination.”
