The Book of Mormon issues a challenge to the world!
The following requirements must be fulfilled in order for a person to bring forth a book equal in stature to and corresponding in value to the Book of Mormon.
- The author must be 23 years old with only three years of formal education.
- The author must write a book with 239 chapters and 522 pages. The book must include 54 chapters on war, 21 chapters dealing with the history of the area, 55 chapters dealing with visitations, visions, and prophecies, 71 chapters dealing with religious doctrine, and 21 chapters discussing a personal ministration of Jesus Christ.
- The author must write a history of two nations, describing their religious, economic, social, and political cultures.
- The author must weave into the book the religion of Jesus Christ and the pattern of Christian living.
- The author must finish the book in 60 days without making any changes in the text; the first edition must stand forever.
- The book must use a vocabulary of not less that 15,000 words. The author must add 15 new names or nouns to the English language (Shakespeare added only 30 in a lifetime of writing).
- The text of the book must fulfill Bible prophecies, being precise and exact in the manner in which it shall come forth, to whom it will be given, and the purposes of the book.
- The author must publish the book to the entire world as the word of God, and hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people must bear witness of its truthfulness.
- There can be no flaws or misstatements in the book.
- Thousands of great men and women, intellectual giants and scholars, must subscribe to the record and its movement, even to the point of laying down their lives for this book.
- Many of the facts, ideas, and statements in your book must be entirely inconsistent with the prevailing beliefs of the world at the time, but thorough investigation, scientific evidences, and archeological discoveries for the next many years, even decades, must corroborate your claims and prove even the minutest details of your history to be accurate and true.
- The author must invite the most able scholars and experts to examine the text with care, and strive diligently to see that the book gets into the hands of all those most eager to prove it a forgery and who are most competent to expose any flaw in it.
- Internal and external prophecies must be confirmed and fulfilled in the next many decades.
- Eleven honest and accreditable witnesses must testify to the entire world that the information contained in the book was given by heavenly means. None of these witnesses can give their testimony for pay or reward of any kind. These witnesses will have to place themselves under hard scrutiny and sacrifice, and they will have to endure severe persecutions which last until they die.
- The author must find someone to finance the book, knowing that no monetary remuneration will ever be given to him or her. The book must be sold at ‘less than cost’.
- The author must include this incredible statement at the end of the work: “And when ye shall receive these things I would exhort you to ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, He will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.”
- Finally, after 20 years of persecution and revilement, the author must give his or her own life willingly for the testimony that the book is true and from God.
Now, wouldn’t you say that Joseph Smith was indeed a man of God and that he was an instrument int he Lord’s hands to bring such a record forth for the furthering of all mankind’s knowledge and understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Looking closely at the above-stated truths, there can only be one conclusion — THE BOOK IS FROM GOD!