The Book of Mormon is a volume of holy scripture comparable to the Bible. It is a record of God’s dealings with ancient inhabitants of the Americas and contains the fulness of the everlasting gospel.
The book was written by many ancient prophets by the spirit of prophecy and revelation. Their words, written on gold plates, were quoted and abridged by a prophet-historian named Mormon. The record gives an account of two great civilizations. One came from Jerusalem in 600 B.C. and afterward separated into two nations, known as the Nephites and the Lamanites. The other came much earlier when the Lord confounded the tongues at the Tower of Babel. This group is known as the Jaredites. After thousands of years, all were destroyed except the Lamanites, and they are among the ancestors of the American Indians.
The crowning event recorded in the Book of Mormon is the personal ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ among the Nephites soon after His resurrection. It puts forth the doctrines of the gospel, outlines the plan of salvation, and tells men what they must do to gain peace in this life and eternal salvation in the life to come.
After Mormon completed his writings, he delivered the account to his son Moroni, who added a few words of his own and hid up the plates in the Hill Cumorah. On September 21, 1823, the same Moroni, then a glorified, resurrected being, appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith and instructed him relative to the ancient record and its destined translation into the English language.
In due course the plates were delivered to Joseph Smith, who translated them by the gift and power of God. The record is now published in many languages as a new and additional witness that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God and that all who will come unto Him and obey the laws and ordinances of His gospel may be saved.
Concerning this record the Prophet Joseph Smith said: “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.”
In addition to Joseph Smith, the Lord provided for eleven others to see the gold plates for themselves and to be special witnesses of the truth and divinity of the Book of Mormon. Their written testimonies are included herewith as “The Testimony of Three Witnesses” and “The Testimony of Eight Witnesses.”
We invite all men everywhere to read the Book of Mormon, to ponder in their hearts the message it contains, and then to ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ if the book is true. Those who pursue this course and ask in faith will gain a testimony of its truth and divinity by the power of the Holy Ghost. (See Moroni 10:3–5.)
Those who gain this divine witness from the Holy Spirit will also come to know by the same power that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, that Joseph Smith is His revelator and prophet in these last days, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord’s kingdom once again established on the earth, preparatory to the Second Coming of the Messiah.
We know a prophet is a true prophet when the fruit, the voice, and the witness all align with the pattern God has always used. When we read the Introduction to the Book of Mormon through that question—How do we know if the prophet is a true prophet?—the text itself gives us a pattern we can walk together. Each movement in the Introduction answers the question not by argument, but by covenantal markers: God acts, God speaks, God confirms, and we respond.
The pattern of a true prophet in the Introduction
1. A true prophet stands inside God’s
ongoing work with His people.
The Introduction begins by placing the Book of Mormon inside the long story of God’s dealings with His children. True prophets never appear in isolation; they stand in the same stream as Adam, Enoch, Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, Peter, and John.
We see this when the record is described as “a volume of holy scripture comparable to the Bible” and as a continuation of God’s ancient work among the Nephites and Jaredites.
A false prophet breaks the story. A true prophet extends it.
2. A true prophet speaks by the Spirit
of prophecy and revelation.
The Introduction tells us the book was written by “many ancient prophets by the spirit of prophecy and revelation.”
This is the same Spirit that rested on Moses, Isaiah, and John.
A true prophet does not rely on charisma, intellect, or novelty. He relies on revelation.
We, as disciples, discern truth by the same Spirit that gave the message.
3. A true prophet leads us to Jesus Christ.
The Introduction centers everything on the crowning event: the risen Christ ministering to the Nephites.
A true prophet always brings us to Christ—not to himself, not to a movement, not to a new ideology.
The Book of Mormon’s purpose is to testify that “Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God.”
If the fruit leads us to Christ, the root is true.
4. A true prophet’s work is confirmed
by multiple witnesses.
The Introduction emphasizes that Joseph Smith was not left alone.
We are given the Three Witnesses and the Eight Witnesses, each testifying soberly that they saw and handled the plates.
God has always used witnesses—“in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.”
A false prophet hides. A true prophet invites others to see.
5. A true prophet’s message invites us to
seek God directly.
The Introduction ends with Moroni’s promise:
If we read, ponder, and ask God with real intent, “he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.”
A false prophet demands blind loyalty.
A true prophet sends us to God, trusting that God will answer.
6. A true prophet’s message produces
spiritual fruit in us.
The Introduction promises that those who receive the witness of the Spirit will also come to know:
• Jesus is the Savior
• Joseph Smith is His prophet
• The Church is His kingdom
These are not conclusions we force. They are fruits the Spirit grows in us.
A true prophet’s message enlarges our faith, deepens our charity, and anchors our hope.
Bringing it together
When we ask, “How do we know if the prophet is a true prophet?” the Introduction answers:
We know because the message fits God’s ancient pattern, is delivered by revelation, centers on Christ, is confirmed by witnesses, invites us to seek God ourselves, and bears the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.
This is not an abstract test. It is a lived one.
We walk it together—reading, pondering, asking, and receiving.
And as the Spirit speaks, we come to know not only that the Book of Mormon is true, but that its prophet is true, and that its purpose is to bring us to the True and Living Christ.
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