Friends. Let me tell you a story. I did NOT receive a witness when I first prayed to know if the Book of Mormon was true. This painful fact was among the primary causes of my apostasy. But it wasn’t until after God showed me how stupid I was and brought me back into the fold that I finally received the witness I so longed for. So why didn’t I receive the witness at first? For a long time, I theorized that my apostasy was written in stone and I HAD to do it to gain my experience and contrast. But that’s a load of crock. After years of analyzing why I fell, one day I finally understood. You see, when I first prayed about it, I didn’t pray because I WANTED to know. I didn’t pray with a WILLING heart, ready to do all things the Lord asked of me. No, I prayed about it because that’s what was expected. I read the Book of Mormon not because I wanted it to be true, but because that’s what a “good member” did. And I prayed mechanically, expecting some grand vision to occur when I prayed. But I got nothing. Silence. And a confused feeling that lingered with me for years before I finally stepped away. That confused feeling led me to find fault all over the Church. What I didn’t know then was that me telling people I “received no witness” was actually me lying. Not knowingly, but ignorantly lying. Why? Because I never actually fulfilled the conditions the Lord laid out before me, and then I acted as though my non-answer was proof sufficient for others to also abandon their faith. And so I went about, seeking to destroy the Church in my own way. The pain in my heart that I still experience by just typing that sentence is phenomenal. And everything was great! — for a season. I was the king of my own little world. My friends loved me, and I was exalted among them. But all good worldly things have an end. And when things began getting bad, they got bad FAST — almost entirely because of the lies I had told finally catching up to me. But I am so grateful it happened. I am so grateful my mighty throne was laid low — because in that depth, the Lord was finally able to pierce my soul, and remind me of what I already knew deep down: That the Lord loves me and wants me back. And so I came back. My witness didn’t come yet. That took several more months of fully dedicating myself to the Lord. But it did come. And now I testify of it to the world. And so when I hear people claim that God told them the Book of Mormon / Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is false, I do not believe them — because I once stood in that same place myself, speaking confidently about things I had never actually sought in the manner God required. I know what self-deception looks like. Because I lived it. This is my testimony. And I bear it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.