The prophets of God are the messengers of salvation who convey to mankind the words of Christ. For that reason, we are commanded to search the scriptures diligently because they lead us into the pathways of faith, repentance, and baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost—and enable us to endure to the end. Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin has counseled:
Search the scriptures—search the revelations which are published and ask your Heavenly Father, in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, to manifest the truth unto you, and if you do it with an eye single to His glory nothing doubting, He will answer you by the power of His Holy Spirit. You will then know for yourselves and not for another. You will not then be dependent on man for the knowledge of God; nor will there by any room for speculation… . For when men receive their instruction from Him that made them, they know how He will save them… . Again we say: Search the Scriptures, search the Prophets and learn what portion of them belongs to you. (Finding Peace in Our Lives [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1995], 166)
From Elder Bruce R. McConkie we have these words of inspiration:
We believe in gospel scholarship. We think that devout men everywhere, in and out of the Church, should seek spiritual truth, should come to know God, should learn his laws, and should strive to live in harmony with them. There are no truths as important as those that pertain to God and his gospel, to the pure religion that he has revealed, to the terms and conditions whereby we may gain an inheritance with him in his kingdom.
Thus we find Deity commanding: “Search these commandments” (D&C 1:37); “Study my word which hath gone forth among the children of men” (D&C 11:22); “Teach the principles of my gospel, which are in the Bible and the Book of Mormon, in the which is the fulness of the gospel” (D&C 42:12).
Thus we find Jesus saying: “Search the prophets” (3 Nephi 23:5); “Search the scriptures; for … they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39); “Yea, a commandment I give unto you that ye search these things diligently” (3 Nephi 23:1). (Sermons and Writings of Bruce R. McConkie [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1998], 222)