Behold, verily, verily, I say unto my servant, Sidney, I have looked upon thee and thy works,

and I have heard thy prayers, and prepared thee for a great work.

Doctrine and Covenants, section 35 verse 3.

Hey listeners, this is Nick from Book of Mormon Central, and today's podcast addresses the question,

what converted Sidney Rigdon to the

Book of Mormon?

Sydney Rigden had spent a decade from 1821 to 1830 as a respected minister and impressive

preacher of the Baptist faith in Pennsylvania and Ohio when four missionaries, Oliver Cowdery, Peter Whitmer

Jr. Parley P. Pratt and Zaba Peterson came to mentor Ohio in October 1830 with the Book of Mormon.

Rigden was Pratt's former minister and mentor and had been looking for the pure New Testament

Church. Pratt, after discovering and converting to

the Book of Mormon himself, hoped that Rigden too would recognize it as the Word of God.

Thus, Rigdon's home was the first one in that area visited by the missionaries.

Initially, Rigden felt very much prejudiced against the Book of Mormon.

Nevertheless, he agreed to read it and see what claim it has upon my faith.

He assured them that he would give it a full investigation.

In the meantime, he was willing to allow Oliver Cowdery and Parley Pratt to preach to his congregation

and encouraged the audience to give the matter a careful investigation and not turn against

it without being fully convinced that it was false. Brigden himself set the example. As he began

reading it, he was skeptical. His daughter said he did not believe a word of it at first, and

others reported that he partially condemned it. But he did not drop the matter after only

a superficial purview of the book. As his son later remembered, Rigdon got so engaged in the book

...