Editor’s note: To support personal and family gospel learning, the Church News is publishing articles on messages from October 2025 general conference. It is recommended to listen to or read the full address in addition to reviewing these resources.
About this talk
- “And Now I See”
- President Jeffrey R. Holland | President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
- Sunday morning session of October 2025 general conference.
- Theme: Evidence of truth and God’s work is found in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Read the full message here.
Read a summary of President Holland’s message here.
Outline
- John 9 records the experience of Jesus healing a man born blind. This story illustrates the importance of evidence of the works of God.
- God can bless His children by whatever method He chooses, like Christ did with the unlikely ingredients of spit and dirt to heal the blind man. God has sent His majestic message through an unlearned farm boy and a baby lying in a manger.
- Answers to prayer may come in plain or convoluted ways, and it may not always be clear what is being done or why. Persevere and keep trying to live Christ’s gospel, “no matter how much spit and clay it takes.”
- The holy priesthood, conferred only by the laying on of hands, follows an unbroken sequence back to Jesus Christ, who is “the source of all divine authority.”
- Another “marvelous evidence” of the Church’s truthfulness is the blessings and covenants extended to deceased kindred. The “merciful, salvific work” performed in temples shows God’s universal love for the living and the dead.
- President Holland’s first encounter with real evidence of truth came while reading the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. For him, the Book of Mormon is a rod of safety for the soul, a light of revelation and illumination of the path when mists of darkness come.
- President Holland came to his conviction that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ’s New Testament Church restored because he could not deny the evidence of that Restoration. Since his first experiences, he supposes he has had thousands of other evidences.
Reflection questions
What did you learn about God and how He works from the biblical account of the blind man being healed?
“Are we willing to persevere, to keep trying to live Christ’s gospel no matter how much spit and clay it takes?”
What evidence of God’s work do you see in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?
What experiences have you had with evidence of truth? In other words, how did you come to know the Church is true?
How did you feel after reading/listening to President Holland’s closing testimony?
Speaker quotes
- “Like Naaman resisting the River Jordan or the children of Israel refusing to look at the serpent on the staff, how easy it is for us to dismiss the source of our redemption because the ingredients and the instruments seem embarrassingly plain.”
- “My first sight-giving, life-giving encounter with real evidence of truth did not come with anointing clay or in the pool of Siloam. No, the instrument of truth that brought my healing from the Lord came as pages in a book, yes, the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ.”
- “The impact of the Book of Mormon in my life is no less miraculous than was the application of spit and dirt placed on the blind man’s eyes. It has been, for me, a rod of safety for my soul, a transcendent and penetrating light of revelation, an illumination of the path I must walk when mists of darkness come. And surely they have, and surely they will.”
Reference scriptures
- “When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.”
- “Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner. He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.”
- “For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.”
Invitations and promises
- “So what if the answers to our prayers come in plain or convoluted ways? Are we willing to persevere, to keep trying to live Christ’s gospel no matter how much spit and clay it takes? It may not always be clear to us what is being done or why, and from time to time, we will all feel a little like the senior sister who said, ‘Lord, how about a blessing that isn’t in disguise?’”
- “Consider the evidence of another truth, this one regarding the holy priesthood. In documenting the organization of the meridian Church, Luke’s first line reads, ‘Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority’ (Luke 9:1), gifts not granted on the basis of impressive credentials nor determined by tradition or birthright. They are not bestowed by a divinity school or a theological seminary. They are conferred only by the laying on of hands by one who has had authorized hands laid on him in an unbroken sequence back to the source of all divine authority, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
- “And in a church that understands the gift of mercy, wouldn’t it be another marvelous evidence of that church’s truthfulness to see these blessings and covenants go to our deceased kindred, those of our families who have gone before us?”
Stories
- John 9 records the experience of Jesus healing a man born blind. This story illustrates the importance of evidence of the works of God. It also highlights that God can bless His children by whatever method He chooses, like Christ did with the unlikely ingredients of spit and dirt.
- President Holland shared that his first sight-giving encounter with real evidence of truth came through the Book of Mormon, “the instrument of truth that brought my healing from the Lord.” He described the Book of Mormon as a rod of safety for his soul and an illumination of the path when mists of darkness come.
Additional resources
- Related image: “Blind Man Healed on the Sabbath”
- Related video: “Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind”
- Related hymn: No. 1010, “Amazing Grace”
Recent conference talks on truth
- Sister Tracy Y. Browning: “Seeking Answers to Spiritual Questions” (October 2024)
- Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf: “Nourish the Roots, and the Branches Will Grow” (October 2024)
- President Russell M. Nelson: “What Is True?” (October 2022)
Who is President Holland?
- President Jeffrey R. Holland was ordained a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on June 23, 1994; set apart as acting president of the quorum on Nov. 15, 2023; and announced as president of the Twelve on Oct. 14, 2025. President Holland was called as a General Authority Seventy in April 1989. He served as the ninth president of Brigham Young University, where he was also a professor of English and ancient scripture.
