They’re helpful for me to read because I can see what it seems like the speaker wants to be the main takeaway.

In the case of the general conference talk delivered by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in October titled “And Now I See,” that subhead reads:

“The impact of the Book of Mormon in my life is no less miraculous than was the application of spit and dirt placed on the blind man’s eyes.”

The miracle of Jesus giving sight to a blind man

Elder Holland was referring to the miracle performed by Jesus in the ninth chapter of John. Explaining the miracle, Elder Holland said:

Ryan Comer, Standard-Examiner

“The ninth chapter of John records the experience of Jesus and His disciples passing near a beggar, blind from birth. This led the disciples to ask Jesus several complex religious questions regarding the origin and transmission of this man’s limitation. The Master responded by doing something very simple and very surprising. He spit into the dirt and stirred a small mixture of clay. He then applied this to the eyes of the man, instructing him to wash in the pool of Siloam. All this the sightless man obediently did and ‘came [forth] seeing,’ the scripture says. How important evidence is, as opposed to wishes or argument or even malice in opposition to the truth.

“Well, afraid this miracle would again add to the threat Jesus already posed to their presumed authority, the enemies of the Savior confronted the newly sighted man and said in anger, ‘We know [Jesus] is a sinner.’ The man listened for a moment, then said, ‘Whether he be a sinner … , I know not: [but] one thing I [do] know, … whereas I was blind, now I see.'”

The miracle of the power Book of Mormon

Later in the talk, Elder Holland connected the Biblical experience to his testimony of the Book of Mormon. He said:

“My first sight-giving, life-giving encounter with real evidence of truth did not come with anointing clay or in the pool of Siloam. No, the instrument of truth that brought my healing from the Lord came as pages in a book, yes, the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ! The claims about this book have been attacked and dismissed by some unbelievers, the anger often matching the vitriol of those who told the healed man that he could not possibly have experienced what he knew he had experienced.

“It has been hurled at me that the means by which this book came to be were impractical, unbelievable, embarrassing, even unholy. Now, that is harsh language from anyone who presumes to know the means by which the book came to be, inasmuch as the only description given about those means is that it was translated ‘by the gift and power of God.’ That’s it. That’s all. In any case, the impact of the Book of Mormon in my life is no less miraculous than was the application of spit and dirt placed on the blind man’s eyes. It has been, for me, a rod of safety for my soul, a transcendent and penetrating light of revelation, an illumination of the path I must walk when mists of darkness come. And surely they have, and surely they will.

“And given the view it has granted me of my Savior’s universal love and redeeming grace, I share with you my witness, justified here as the newly blessed man’s parents said their son should be heard because he was ‘of age.’ Well, so am I. He was old enough to be taken seriously, they implied. Well, so am I. I am two months away from my 85th birthday. I have been at the edge of death and back. I have walked with kings and prophets, with presidents and apostles. Best of all, I have at times been overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit of God. I trust that my witness should be given at least some consideration here.”

The power of Elder Holland’s Book of Mormon testimony

I marvel at the power of Elder Holland’s comparison. A blind man had spit and dirt applied to his eyes and he went from being blind to being able to see. That is objectively a massive miracle. And Elder Holland is saying that the impact the Book of Mormon has had on his life is equally miraculous.

The strength of Elder Holland’s testimony of the Book of Mormon has always been inspiring to me. At the October 2009 general conference, he gave the most powerful testimony of it I can ever remember hearing in a talk called “Safety for the Soul.”

I submit those words here, and though lengthy, they show just how much conviction Elder Holland has. He said:

“When Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum started for Carthage to face what they knew would be an imminent martyrdom, Hyrum read these words to comfort the heart of his brother:

“‘Thou hast been faithful; wherefore, … thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father.

“‘And now I, Moroni, bid farewell … until we shall meet before the judgment-seat of Christ.’

“A few short verses from the 12th chapter of Ether in the Book of Mormon. Before closing the book, Hyrum turned down the corner of the page from which he had read, marking it as part of the everlasting testimony for which these two brothers were about to die. I hold in my hand that book, the very copy from which Hyrum read, the same corner of the page turned down, still visible. Later, when actually incarcerated in the jail, Joseph the Prophet turned to the guards who held him captive and bore a powerful testimony of the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon. Shortly thereafter pistol and ball would take the lives of these two testators.

“As one of a thousand elements of my own testimony of the divinity of the Book of Mormon, I submit this as yet one more evidence of its truthfulness. In this their greatest–and last–hour of need, I ask you: would these men blaspheme before God by continuing to fix their lives, their honor, and their own search for eternal salvation on a book (and by implication a church and a ministry) they had fictitiously created out of whole cloth?

“Never mind that their wives are about to be widows and their children fatherless. Never mind that their little band of followers will yet be ‘houseless, friendless, and homeless’ and that their children will leave footprints of blood across frozen rivers and an untamed prairie floor. Never mind that legions will die and other legions live declaring in the four quarters of this earth that they know the Book of Mormon and the Church which espouses it to be true. Disregard all of that, and tell me whether in this hour of death these two men would enter the presence of their Eternal Judge quoting from and finding solace in a book which, if not the very word of God, would brand them as imposters and charlatans until the end of time? They would not do that! They were willing to die rather than deny the divine origin and the eternal truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.

“For 179 years this book has been examined and attacked, denied and deconstructed, targeted and torn apart like perhaps no other book in modern religious history–perhaps like no other book in any religious history. And still it stands. Failed theories about its origins have been born and parroted and have died–from Ethan Smith to Solomon Spaulding to deranged paranoid to cunning genius. None of these frankly pathetic answers for this book has ever withstood examination because there is no other answer than the one Joseph gave as its young, unlearned translator. In this I stand with my own great-grandfather, who said simply enough, ‘No wicked man could write such a book as this; and no good man would write it, unless it were true and he were commanded of God to do so.’

“I testify that one cannot come to full faith in this latter-day work–and thereby find the fullest measure of peace and comfort in these, our times–until he or she embraces the divinity of the Book of Mormon and the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom it testifies. If anyone is foolish enough or misled enough to reject 531 pages of a heretofore unknown text teeming with literary and Semitic complexity without honestly attempting to account for the origin of those pages–especially without accounting for their powerful witness of Jesus Christ and the profound spiritual impact that witness has had on what is now tens of millions of readers–if that is the case, then such a person, elect or otherwise, has been deceived; and if he or she leaves this Church, it must be done by crawling over or under or around the Book of Mormon to make that exit. In that sense the book is what Christ Himself was said to be: ‘a stone of stumbling, … a rock of offence,’ a barrier in the path of one who wishes not to believe in this work. Witnesses, even witnesses who were for a time hostile to Joseph, testified to their death that they had seen an angel and had handled the plates. ‘They have been shown unto us by the power of God, and not of man,’ they declared. ‘Wherefore we know of a surety that the work is true.’

“Now, I did not sail with the brother of Jared in crossing an ocean, settling in a new world. I did not hear King Benjamin speak his angelically delivered sermon. I did not proselyte with Alma and Amulek nor witness the fiery death of innocent believers. I was not among the Nephite crowd who touched the wounds of the resurrected Lord, nor did I weep with Mormon and Moroni over the destruction of an entire civilization. But my testimony of this record and the peace it brings to the human heart is as binding and unequivocal as was theirs. Like them, ‘[I] give [my name] unto the world, to witness unto the world that which [I] have seen.‘ And like them, ‘[I] lie not, God bearing witness of it.’

“I ask that my testimony of the Book of Mormon and all that it implies, given today under my own oath and office, be recorded by men on earth and angels in heaven. I hope I have a few years left in my ‘last days,’ but whether I do or do not, I want it absolutely clear when I stand before the judgment bar of God that I declared to the world, in the most straightforward language I could summon, that the Book of Mormon is true, that it came forth the way Joseph said it came forth and was given to bring happiness and hope to the faithful in the travail of the latter days.”

What incredible boldness!

Elder Holland gave that talk not knowing how many more years or months or days he would have on this earth. Sixteen years later, he’s sill going, still testifying of the Book of Mormon. And, to me, even despite what he calls his “diminished voice,” his testimony still resonates.

I’m led to think that even if I didn’t believe in the Book of Mormon, even if I didn’t want to believe in the Book of Mormon, I might feel compelled to do so simply because of Elder Holland’s power and conviction.

I wonder how many Saints have gone from believing the Book of Mormon was true to knowing it’s true through the power of the Holy Ghost after listening to Elder Holland’s conviction. I wonder how many Saints have gone from unconvinced the book is true to at least believing that it’s true. I wonder how many have gone from not believing to at least acknowledging the possibility it is true. Suffice it to say, I imagine a lot of testimonies have grown to some degree through listening to Elder Holland over the years.

Other lessons from Elder Holland

There’s so much in this talk that is worth diving into. Elder Holland spoke of truths to be learned from the John 9 narrative.

He talked about how the miracle happened “that the works of God should be made manifest” and suggested the possibility of “the unfolding of an ordinance.”

He talked about how God uses plain and simple things for his purposes.

Speaking of the spit and dirt that was used, he said:

“These very unlikely ingredients declare that God can bless us by whatever method He chooses. Like Naaman resisting the River Jordan or the children of Israel refusing to look at the serpent on the staff, how easy it is for us to dismiss the source of our redemption because the ingredients and the instruments seem embarrassingly plain.

“But we remember from the Book of Mormon that some things are both plain and precious and that prior to Jesus’s birth, it would be prophesied that ‘he [would have] no form nor comeliness; and when we [should] see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.’ How often God has sent His majestic message through a newly called and very anxious Relief Society president or an unlearned boy on a New York farm or a brand-new missionary or a baby lying in a manger.”

He tied that to what we may feel are unimpressive or unclear answers to prayers.

“Are we willing to persevere, to keep trying to live Christ’s gospel no matter how much spit and clay it takes?” he said. “It may not always be clear to us what is being done or why, and from time to time, we will all feel a little like the senior sister who said, ‘Lord, how about a blessing that isn’t in disguise?'”

He discussed priesthood authority being “conferred only by the laying on of hands by one who has had authorized hands laid on him in an unbroken sequence back to the source of all divine authority, the Lord Jesus Christ,” tying it to Luke 9:1, which says Jesus “called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority.” He said that power and authority were “gifts not granted on the basis of impressive credentials nor determined by tradition or birthright” and “not bestowed by a divinity school or a theological seminary.”

Elder Holland discussed the mercy of doing ordinances for the dead.

“Should they be penalized because they did not have access to the gospel or because they were born at a time or in a place when divine ordinances and covenants were not available to them?” Elder Holland said. “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has sacred, dedicated houses of the Lord in which merciful, salvific work is being done vicariously every day and night for these deceased, as well as offering worship opportunities and ordinances for the living. To my knowledge, this particular evidence of God’s truth, His universal love for the living and the dead, is not seen elsewhere in the world–except in one church that demonstrates truth in this particular regard: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

Conclusion

Concluding his speech, Elder Holland said:

“Now, brothers and sisters, I came to my whole-souled conviction that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a true restoration of the New Testament Church–and more–because I could not deny the evidence of that restoration. Since those first experiences, I suppose I have had a thousand–ten thousand?–other evidences that what I have spoken of today is true. So I am delighted now to join my friend huddled on the streets of Jerusalem, where with my diminished voice I sing:

Amazing grace–how sweet the sound–

That saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see.”

Contact Ryan Comer at rcomer@standard.net.