Mormon missionaries encourage people to “pray to know that the Book of Mormon is true”. This phrase is startling for a Church that claims to be the one true Church of Jesus Christ. First, note that they say pray to know that it is true, not pray to know if it is true. God liberally grants wisdom, but you have to be willing to accept His answer. If the Book of Mormon is true, and you pray to know if it is true, the real God, as He is described in the Bible, will confirm it to you. But if it is not, and you pray to know that it is true, whatever Spirit inspired it will prey on your open heart and confirm his own message. A door left open for God will be entered by God (Jeremiah 29:13-14), and He will bash out any demons that try to beat Him to it. But unlike demons, God knocks. If you open a door that’s not for Him, there’s no guarantee that He will enter.
But worse than that, God has already given His answer. The Bible has been around for nearly 1,900 years, the youngest of it’s books having been written, according to common scholarly opinion, in 95 A.D. Contained within the 66 books is everything we will ever need to know about God. Prayer is no substitution for reading the scriptures. To give an example, no Mormon would ever ask you to pray about the morality of sleeping with your neighbor’s wife. Adultery is forbidden many times in both Old and New Testaments. No prayer is needed. So why would we need prayer to determine the truth of the Book of Mormon?
When Paul brought the Gospel to the Bereans, they didn’t pray to know that he was telling the truth, they searched the scriptures to see if he was telling the truth (Acts 17:11). They became believers (17:12), and were called “fair minded” (17:10). Don’t be a rough minded Mormon. Be a fair minded Berean. God gave us the scriptures. The only prayer you need to say is “Lord, send me to the right page”.