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  • I was introduced to God or the concept of God by my mom.

  • I can remember I was about two or three years old

  • kneeling by my bed.

  • We had this little Bible with loads of

  • beautiful pictures of them.

  • I remember Moses parting the Red Sea, Abraham, Samson, King

  • David taking down Goliath.

  • Those first experiences really left a mark on me.

  • My name is Chris Cook.

  • I live in London, England, and I'm a serving bishop in the

  • Mormon faith right now.

  • A bishop is an unpaid minister in the Church.

  • The Church's official name is the Church of Jesus Christ of

  • Latter-day Saints.

  • We are called the Mormons as a nickname, and this comes from

  • the Book of Mormon which is a book like the Bible.

  • I think that the Book of Mormon actually helps to

  • complete the message that the Bible is sharing to the world.

  • Around 600 BC during the time of Jeremiah the biblical

  • prophet, another prophet named Lehi was commanded to leave

  • Jerusalem and take his family into the wilderness where they

  • would build a ship and cross the sea.

  • They arrived in a promised land, what we know as the

  • American continent, where they created a civilization which

  • endured many centuries.

  • Lehi's sons populated the line and communicated with God from

  • time to time.

  • Mormon was one of the last descendants of these people.

  • All the writings of the prophets were compiled by him

  • and are known as the Book of Mormon.

  • When I first met the missionaries, they showed me

  • the Book of Mormon.

  • I was compelled to read it.

  • It makes sense that God would continue to speak to us.

  • The significance of God speaking to me through

  • prophets and apostles, through reading the scriptures, means

  • that he's there.

  • And he's actively engaged in providing for me.

  • So the whole experience has changed my whole life.

  • Yes.

  • "Behold it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the

  • spirit of all men, as soon as they depart this mortal body,

  • yea, the spirit of all men, whether they be good or evil,

  • are taken home to that God who gave them life.

  • And then shall it come to pass that the spirit of those who

  • are righteous are received into a state of happiness,

  • which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of

  • peace, where they shall rest from all of their troubles and

  • from all care and sorrow."

  • When I read that, those words, I felt the Spirit.

  • And if I can try to describe it, it was a feeling of peace.

  • My mind was enlightened.

  • I felt like it was true.

  • Where I'm from in Jamaica, it's very superstitious place.

  • It was very unpleasant thing to contemplate death.

  • The scripture points out to me that it is a

  • part of God's plan.

  • There is a place prepared for people that die.

  • And I'm happy that I was able to come to that knowledge, and

  • I've got the Book of Mormon and that experience

  • to thank for it.

  • "And he shall go forth suffering pains and

  • afflictions and temptations of every kind, and this that the

  • word might be fulfilled which sayeth it will take upon him

  • the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

  • And he will take upon him death that he may loose the

  • bands of death which binds his people.

  • And he will take upon him their infirmities, that his

  • bowels may be filled with mercy according to the flesh,

  • that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his

  • people."

  • This verse of scripture is saying there that Jesus Christ

  • has taken upon himself my sicknesses, my pains, my

  • challenges, which puts him in a position to

  • understand me better.

  • When I read the scripture and it really touched me.

  • I just felt like I wanted to be a good person.

  • It left me with the feeling that I never want to do

  • another bad thing for the rest of my life.

  • "And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort

  • you that you 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 and 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."

  • I came to a knowledge that the book is

  • true I would say gradually.

  • It came through little experiences here on that page,

  • and a little experience there on that page, and always

  • accompanied by the Holy Ghost. The way the Book of Mormon has

  • changed me the most, it has filled me with the desire to

  • become one in Jesus Christ. What the Book of Mormon does

  • is it makes me want to share it with as many people I see

  • on the street.

  • I want this book to fill the world, man.

I was introduced to God or the concept of God by my mom.

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