Miraculous Preservation of the Book of Mormon in Fire
Published October 12, 2026 at 6:19 AM
Contributed by
Millennial Star Research
John D. Evans threw a borrowed Book of Mormon into a fire because he was enraged by its contents. It remained in the flames for about five minutes, yet was not damaged, save for slight scorching on the cover.
Fuller account of this event (in the witness’s own words):
To whom it may concern—A friend of mine loaned me the Book of Mormon. After I read carefully a few pages of it, I was enraged in the spirit; the consequence was I threw the book to the fire. It was left in the fire, when there were great flames going up, for about five minutes. When I saw that the book would not burn, I pulled it out. There was no damage on the book, except little on the cover. This I have written with my own hand; and I freely make this statement before David M. Rees. Signed, John D. Evans.
In Their Own Words
“To whom it may concern—A friend of mine loaned me the Book of Mormon. After I read carefully a few pages of it, I was enraged in the spirit; the consequence was I threw the book to the fire. It was left in the fire, when there were great flames going up, for about five minutes. When I saw that the book would not burn, I pulled it out. There was no damage on the book, except little on the cover. This I have written with my own hand; and I freely make this statement before David M. Rees. Signed, John D. Evans — Millennial Star 59:3”
Sources & References
The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star (Manchester, later Liverpool, England, May 1840–1970), 21 January 1897 (Vol. 59, No. 3). https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1897-01-21_59_3 (account extracted verbatim from the issue's Internet Archive OCR text; research confidence: high) Fuller account: The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, Vol. 59, No. 3 (21 January 1897), p. 45 https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1897-01-21_59_3
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