What a joy it is to know the simple statement that Moroni gave after telling us how we might gain a testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. How do we know what's real? It's through the power of the Holy Ghost.
Many people in the world for ages have confused their concept of reality, attributing things veridical to only those things that lay within the measurable realm of the five senses; they have claimed that nature and its laws are the governing body, and that our physical bodies are the barometers of nature's phenomena. I personally believe that the natural laws are in force, and what we can see, feel, smell, taste and hear are real; however, this only a half-truth. Many of the philosophers, scientists, and other brains in their primes mistook the other half for farce, and a pity it is because it is the most powerful testator of truth in existence. This witness, of course, is the Holy Ghost, which pierces into the depths of our hearts, achieving an uncanny balance between "great force" (JS--H 1: 12) and "perfect mildness" (Hel. 5:30).
I personally know this witness is real because it leads me to do good, which I somehow know in my heart of hearts is what will make me happy. I know the Spirit is real because it reveals to me things I would otherwise not have the occasion to learn. I know the Spirit is real because through its promptings I am led to believe things that I cannot perceive physically; in other words, through the Spirit I am capable of so much more than I would be if I were not in tune.
The great theme of the Spirit is that Jesus is the Christ, and that His Church has been established again in these latter-days in preparation of His Second Coming. I gained a testimony that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true and living church on the face of the earth by first gaining a testimony that Joseph Smith was a true prophet, that through the power of God he restored Christ's Church, as personally directed by Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. One "linchpin" experience that led me to this knowledge was personally asking God for this witness in a grove of pines in the Sierra Nevada, a peaceful place much like the grove where Joseph knelt to ask a similar question.
Some seven years later, I finally had the occasion to visit the Sacred Grove, where I know Joseph Smith received the First Vision, in which God and Jesus Christ appeared to him, telling him that none of the churches of the day had God's authority, and that Joseph was to be the means by which it would be restored. I walked through the peaceful canopy, and was truly happy to be there; but make no mistake, this was no pilgrimage. The greatest thing I learned from being in the Grove was that I did not have to be there to know that what happened there truly happened. At that very point, my natural senses were useless, but the Spirit gladly compensated, reaffirming to me that the things I had been taught since childhood were in fact real.
For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do.
Behold, this is the doctrine of Christ, and there will be no more doctrine given until after he shall manifest himself unto you in the flesh. And when he shall manifest himself unto you in the flesh, the things which he shall say unto you shall ye observe to do.
2 Nephi 32: 5-6
2 Nephi 32: 5-6
How grateful am I for the above truth expressed by the prophet Nephi in ancient times, ever so applicable today. I am grateful for the Spirit, which bears testimony to my Spirit, that I am a child of God (see Romans 8:16). I am grateful to know that I have a divine nature, and a divine potential (see the nature of man), for these things are real.
Have a great week!
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