Poems based on President Benson's talks

Flooding the Earth with the Book of Mormon

The Book of Mormon is the instrument
Designed by God to sweep all of the earth.
With a flood to gather out His elect
This sacred volume moves the gospel work

We need to daily read from these scriptures
It should be central in all that we preach
And not just when it rotates every four years
To learn of Jesus of whom it does teach

This Book will help man get nearer to God
If we'd learn and abide by its precepts
We testify as we hold to the rod
Never doubting a far reaching effect

The Book of Mormon is the mind of God
Here He voices to all men of His will
We must arouse men's interest and awe
It answers questions with a voice that's still

May we display it at home and at work
And display its quotes and scenes on our walls
As we hold to the rod, let no man shirk
To witness, every member has been called

I have a vision of homes alerted
Of classes alive and pulpits aflame
As the characters are richly painted
So too artists will depict the themes named

I have a vision of missionaries
Who take many passages they've memorized
Into a world that desperately needs it
As God lifts what condemnation's denied



Take Time to Meditate

Take time to meditate
As did the Joseph boy
For who knows what does await
To help you there in rejoice

Meditate a passage
From the holy writ
Ponder its true message
And apply your own self to it

Let the solemnities of heaven
Rest upon your mind
There to lift and leaven
Unto peace of heart and mind

Take time to be immersed
With words filled with the Spirit
Then through kind words rehearsed
May others through you hear it

For, if in all of your thoughts
The Light of Christ comes up first
You’ll end up at the top
Assured with peace through the worst

Study much out in your mind
Then in prayer ask to learn
And if in fact it be right
Your bosom within will burn (D&C 9:8)

Too, we should constantly strive
To have the Holy Ghost
As it’s our companion through life
That we are taught the most

Keep your hearts open for conviction
That unto the worthy does reach
Through our thoughts, feelings, or diction
The Holy Ghost dwells to teach

Lastly, this Latter-Day work is spiritual
For the Lord is within whispering distance
And through service for Him that’s habitual
We’ll feel immersed in love that’s intense

President Ezra Taft Benson
Seek the Spirit of the Lord
Ensign, April 1988, 2



The Greatest Gift of Value


The greatest gift of value
For mankind here today
Is the Book of Mormon
The keystone of our faith

Prepared by the Lord's hand
O'er a period of many years
In fact more than a thousand
To testify so clear

In our day, the Lord's borne witness
That the words there in are true
That it contains the gospel fullness
Telling what great faith in Christ can do

It laid the sure foundation
For the restoration of all things
And as our path of inspiration
It's a gift with solemn warnings

For once received unto righteousness
A journey of faith begins to crown
That when we trifle with and think it less
Our spirit darkens on its way down

The word testament means covenant
Thus we've the old and the new
But, we've another covenant
We've the Book of Mormon too

The early Saints were rebuked
For treating this great book lightly
It should be a lifetime pursuit
As a keystone holds things highly

This central stone of our religion
Like an arch would crumble without
It lies there to keep us safe from sin
That unto good works, we're about

It's testimony is undiluted-
Of the divinity of our Savior
And its power can't be disputed
As its promised witness is prayed for

It teaches in plain language
As it was written for our inspection
And the warnings keep us on edge
From those who fell to destruction

It provides a complete explanation
Of what the Atonement means
And of doctrines required for salvation
Indeed it's the book of our dreams

Unmistakably, it points to Christ
As they knew of His miraculous birth
And they awaited signs in the sky
That would tell them He was on the earth

And as all things seem to parallel
Moroni saw what's similar with our day
This gave him hope through his peril
For he could, at least, warn us of what's coming our way

The evils of secret combinations
The path of persecution and apostasy
The downfall of pride upon the nation
All this, he saw, in graphic and chilling reality

Through the book we learn how to live in times of war
And that wickedness never is happiness
We find words that give us power and comfort
For its a marvelous work and a wonder that does witness

A man can get nearer to God by its precepts
As with it we've Him more in our daily walk
For we're blessed constantly with His presence
As through prayer and the book we can talk

As we read a power does flow
To help us resist temptation
And of how to repent we'll know
As it assists our education

....lastly, it lifts us from condemnation

Hunger and thirst for each truth
And prayerfully put them to test
Help teach and expound to our youth
And hold to the rod for the best!

The First Presidency Message
The Keystone of our Religion