Should We Pray to Know if the Book of Mormon is True?

Should you pray to know if the book of Mormon is true? The end of the Book of Mormon (Moroni 10) says:

“And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that 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.” (Moroni 10:4-5)

Missionaries often compel people to pray with real intent to know if the Book of Mormon is true or not – but should Christians do this? We don’t think so. Here’s why:

The Bible never tells us to use prayer as the primary means of discerning truth.

We know that false spirits in the world deceive people (1 John 4:1-6), that Satan APPEARS as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:4), that false prophets will LOOK like the real thing (Matthew 7:15-20), and that we cannot trust our heart or experiences (Jeremiah 17:9).

Because of these things, relying on our feelings as the certain and infallible response to our prayers could leave us susceptible to false spirits.

How can we know, for example, that our feeling is not a “strong delusion sent by God” as 2 Thessalonians speaks of (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12)? How can we be objectively confident of whether a spirit that answers our prayer is a true or false spirit (1 John 4:1)? That’s a significant matter up to fickle and corrupted human feelings!

Fortunately, God has made it clear how we can know if something is true, which brings us to our 2nd point:

Scripture commands us to test prophecy by comparing it to the teaching of the New Testament

The epistle of 1 John commands Christians – “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (1 John 4:1).

We KNOW there are false spirits, and we KNOW there are false prophets—but how can we know WHO is false and who is true? This text gives us 2 specific ways to test the spirits: 

“By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.” (1 John 4:2-3)

This book was partially written to confront a specific error in John’s day that claimed Jesus was only a heavenly being who merely had the APPEARANCE of a human. John makes it clear: anyone who says Jesus didn’t physically come to earth is NOT from God.

But then he provides a broader test to apply:

“[These evil spirits] are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” (1 John 4:5-6)

These spirits are from the world, but (in contrast) “WE” – referring to the Apostles, “are from God.” John gives this method of testing various teachings:

“Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” (1 John 4:5-6)

We can know the Spirit of truth and error by looking at who listens to the Apostles and their teachings! 1 John NEVER tells us to pray to know whether these Spirits are true or not. Instead, we’re commanded to compare the teaching of spirits against the teaching of the Apostles.

When we neglect the clear command of God in order to indulge a revelation received through prayer—we dishonor God

Proverbs 28:9 says,

“If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.” (Proverbs 28:9)

“The Law”, here, refers to God’s instruction. On numerous occasions, Latter-day Saints have told me to put aside the Bible for a moment, and just pray to God—asking Him if the Book of Mormon was true or not. Christians cannot do this—that prayer would be an abomination!

God instructed us to test prophecy against the Old and New Testaments, and the Book of Mormon teaches things contrary to those writings.

If, while knowing this, a follower of Christ prays about the Book of Mormons’ truthfulness, that person intentionally turns their ear away from God’s Law—blatantly ignoring the proper tests that GOD gave us.

It dishonors God if we pray about the Book of Mormon’s truthfulness WHILE knowing it is contrary to the Old and New Testaments…That prayer is an abomination to Him!

Where does this leave us? 

I do want to note – God DOES answer prayers, and we are told to pray for wisdom (James 1:5). But a prayer for discernment, wisdom, and help is a long way from praying to know if the Book of Mormon is true, especially given the Biblical commands that tell us how to test the spirits and prophets.

Christians should not pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true, rather, we are commanded to evaluate its teachings and compare them to the Bible.