All Must Hear the Gospel Before Final Judgment
Joseph Smith
• The great Jehovah contemplated the whole of the events connected with the earth, pertaining to the plan of salvation, before it rolled into existence, or ever “the morning stars sang together” for joy; the past, the present, and the future were and are, with Him, one eternal “now;” He knew of the fall of Adam, the iniquities of the antediluvians, of the depth of iniquity that would be connected with the human family, their weakness and strength, their power and glory, apostasies, their crimes, their righteousness and iniquity; He comprehended the fall of man, and his redemption; He knew the plan of salvation and pointed it out; He was acquainted with the situation of all nations and with their destiny; He ordered all things according to the council of His own will; He knows the situation of both the living and the dead, and has made ample provision for their redemption, according to their several circumstances, and the laws of the kingdom of God, whether in this world, or in the world to come. (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.220)
• All those who have not had an opportunity of hearing the Gospel, and being administered unto by an inspired man in the flesh, must have it hereafter, before they can be finally judged. (History of the Church, 3:29)
Joseph Fielding Smith
• Of course, I realize that there are thousands of people who have never heard the gospel. They are not going to be punished for that. We cannot expect a person to observe a commandment he has never heard. But all those who have never had the privilege of hearing it will at some time have that privilege. If it is not in this life it will be in the spirit world. And every soul will have the opportunity to accept the mission of our Savior Jesus Christ or to reject it. (Conference Report, April 1967, p. 121)
• The Lord has so arranged his plan of redemption that all who have died without this opportunity shall be given it in the spirit world. There the elders of the Church who have died are proclaiming the gospel to the dead. All those who did not have an opportunity here to receive it, who there repent and receive the gospel, shall be heirs of the celestial kingdom of God. (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:132-133)
Christ Organized the Work in the Spirit World
Joseph F. Smith (D&C 138)
25 I marveled, for I understood that the Savior spent about three years in his ministry among the Jews and those of the house of Israel, endeavoring to teach them the everlasting gospel and call them unto repentance;
26 And yet, notwithstanding his mighty works, and miracles, and proclamation of the truth, in great power and authority, there were but few who hearkened to his voice, and rejoiced in his presence, and received salvation at his hands.
27 But his ministry among those who were dead was limited to the brief time intervening between the crucifixion and his resurrection;
28 And I wondered at the words of Peter--wherein he said that the Son of God preached unto the spirits in prison, who sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah--and how it was possible for him to preach to those spirits and perform the necessary labor among them in so short a time.
29 And as I wondered, my eyes were opened, and my understanding quickened, and I perceived that the Lord went not in person among the wicked and the disobedient who had rejected the truth, to teach them;
30 But behold, from among the righteous, he organized his forces and appointed messengers, clothed with power and authority, and commissioned them to go forth and carry the light of the gospel to them that were in darkness, even to all the spirits of men; and thus was the gospel preached to the dead.
31 And the chosen messengers went forth to declare the acceptable day of the Lord and proclaim liberty to the captives who were bound, even unto all who would repent of their sins and receive the gospel.
32 Thus was the gospel preached to those who had died in their sins, without a knowledge of the truth, or in transgression, having rejected the prophets.
36 Thus was it made known that our Redeemer spent his time during his sojourn in the world of spirits, instructing and preparing the faithful spirits of the prophets who had testified of him in the flesh;
37 That they might carry the message of redemption unto all the dead, unto whom he could not go personally, because of their rebellion and transgression, that they through the ministration of his servants might also hear his words.
What is Taught in Spirit Prison?
Joseph F. Smith (D&C 138)
33 These were taught faith in God, repentance from sin, vicarious baptism for the remission of sins, the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, 34 And all other principles of the gospel that were necessary for them to know in order to qualify themselves that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. 35 And so it was made known among the dead, both small and great, the unrighteous as well as the faithful, that redemption had been wrought through the sacrifice of the Son of God upon the cross.
Neal A. Maxwell
Understandably emphasized is vicarious baptism for the dead, because that ordinance is absolutely essential for their cleansing and salvation. Furthermore, the recipients can there by qualify to become members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by developing sufficient faith and also by showing sufficient repentance in the spirit world. Typically, in that connection, we here do not emphasize as much the other essential part of what can happen vicariously – confirming Church membership and the bestowal of the great gift of the Holy Ghost. Because the accompanying and essential ordinances remain to be accomplished vicariously on our side of the veil, it would be well if more of the intensity characteristic of the work in the spirit world were displayed by us in mortality. Indeed, the gifts of the Holy Ghost also help recipients there to lend a hand and to function more effectively in the spirit after they are empowered by the vicariously given gift of the Holy Ghost! (The Promise of Discipleship, p. 109)
The Vastness of the Work in the Spirit World
Neal A. Maxwell
• Often Church members suffer from a lack of perspective, perhaps understandably, as to the vastness and intensity of the Lord’s work in the spirit world. The scope is enormous! Demographers estimate that some sixty to seventy billion people have lived on this planet thus far. Without diminishing in any way the importance of the absolutely vital and tandem work on this side of the veil, we do need a better grasp of “things as they really will be” (Jacob 4:13). Otherwise, we can so easily come to regard family history as a quaint hobby and its resulting temple work as something we will get around to later. Not only does the word vastness characterize the work there but so does intensity. (The Promise of Discipleship, p. 105)
• Is one reason we are not told more about the details of God’s work in the spirit world perhaps the intimidating larger scale of things there? The scope of the work there is so large that it might embarrass those of us here. Probably twelve times the earth’s present population live there. For sure, twelve times as many Presidents of the Church in this dispensation alone are in residence and at work there! Perhaps God thus protects us in our present provinciality from feeling diminished by considerations of scale. (That Ye May Believe. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1992, p 93)
Spirit Prison (or Hell) is a Place for Teaching, Disciplining, & Redemption
James E. Talmage
Hell is no place to which a vindictive judge sends prisoners to suffer and to be punished principally for his glory; but it is a place prepared for the teaching, the disciplining of those who failed to learn here upon the earth what they would have learned . . . No man will be kept in hell longer than is necessary to bring him to a fitness for something better. When he reaches that state, the prison doors will open and there will be rejoicing among the hosts who welcome him into a better state. (Conference Report, April 1930, p.97.)
Brigham Young
How long the damned remain in hell, I know not nor what degree of suffering they endure. If we could by any means compute how much wickedness they are guilty of, it might be possible to ascertain the amount of suffering they will receive. They will receive according as their deeds have been while in the body. God’s punishment is eternal, but that does not prove that a wicked person will remain eternally in a state of punishment. (Journal of Discourse, 9:147-148.)
Harold B. Lee
To those who are righteous, it will be a paradise. There they will rest from all their earthly labors, and there shall be peace and harmony, joy and love, all described by a great Book of Mormon prophet. But to those who die in their wicked state, not having repented, the scriptures say the devil shall seal them as his own (see Alma 34:35), which means that until they have paid the uttermost farthing for what they have done, they shall not be redeemed from his grasp. When they shall have been subjected to the buffetings of Satan sufficient to have satisfied justice, then they shall be brought forth out of the grasp of Satan and shall be assigned to that place in our Father’s celestial, terrestrial, or telestial world merited by their life here upon this earth. (The Teachings of Harold B. Lee, p. 59)
Joseph Fielding Smith
• Paradise is a term which means a place of departed spirits according to the Prophet Joseph Smith. “Hades, the Greek, or Sheol, the Hebrew, these two significations mean a world of spirits.” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 310.) Before the resurrection of Christ, the wicked were shut up in darkness and were not visited. In this awful state they suffered the torment of their consciences not knowing what their fate would be, just as Alma has pictured it. We are given further light on the condition of the wicked in this spirit world from the words of the Lord to Enoch.
“But behold, their sins shall be upon the heads of their fathers; Satan shall be their father, and misery shall be their doom; and the whole heavens shall weep over them, even all the workmanship of mine hands; wherefore should not the heavens weep, seeing these shall suffer?
“But behold, these which thine eyes are upon shall perish in the floods; and behold, I will shut them up; a prison have I prepared for them. “And That which I have chosen hath plead before my face. Wherefore, he suffereth for their sins; inasmuch as they will repent in the day that my Chosen shall return unto me, and until that day they shall be in torment. Wherefore, for this shall the heavens weep, yea, and all the workmanship of mine hands.” (Moses 7:37-40.)
From these paragraphs we learn that the Lord does not delight in punishment, however there is the demand of justice which must be met, and therefore the wicked are forced to suffer, and this suffering helps to cleanse them from their sins. Before the visit of our Savior to the spirit world there was a gulf separating the righteous from the wicked, and the wicked were evidently without knowledge as to what fate awaited them. (Luke 16:19-31.) Savior after his crucifixion bridged this gulf and the gospel was carried to those who sat in this darkness and through the instruction of those who held the priesthood, these miserable spirits were taught the gospel. They were granted some measure of blessing according to their works on earth and according to their opportunity or lack of it, to hear the gospel when living on the earth, and accept the same in the spirit world. (Answers to Gospel Questions, 2:84
• Why did he preach to these disobedient spirits?
Surely not to increase their torments, to taunt them for not accepting of his truth in the days of the prophets! Was it to tantalize them and make them more miserable because of the blessings they had lost! Jesus was a merciful Redeemer, who suffered as no other man suffered that he might save the children of his Father. He would take no pleasure in the suffering of the wicked.
It was his nature to plead for them, to entreat his Father for mercy in their behalf. Therefore, whatever his mission was, it was one of mercy and comfort to those prisoners. Peter tells us that the object of his visit was that the gospel might be preached also to the dead, “that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.”
The visit of Christ to the spirits in prison was not made in vengeance, to show them that he had power to triumph over the grave, while they, who died without the remission of their sins, should remain in that condition of punishment forever. He took the glorious message of the gospel and proclaimed it to the dead with the promise that they, if they would obey it, should partake of its blessings.
What good reason can be given why the Lord should not forgive sins in the world to come? Why should man suffer throughout the countless ages of eternity for his sins committed here, if those sins are not unto death? There are many good, honorable men who have wilfully wronged no man, have lived to the best of their opportunities, righteously, yet have not received the gospel, for one reason or another. Where would be the justice in condemning them forever in hell, “where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched?”
We learn from the Doctrine and Covenants that eternal punishment, or everlasting punishment, does not mean that a man condemned will endure this punishment forever, but it is everlasting and eternal because it is God’s punishment, and he is Everlasting and Eternal. Therefore, when a man pays the penalty of his misdeeds and humbly repents, receiving the gospel, he comes out of the prison house and is assigned to some degree of glory according to his worth and merit.... That sins are forgiven in the world to come, we need only refer to the words of the Savior: “All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.” This shows that some sins will be forgiven in the world to come. We are also informed in First Corinthians that, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But we have hope in Christ both in this life and in the life to come. (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:159-161)
The Faithful in Mortality Preach to the Spirits in Prison
Joseph Smith
Now, all those [who] die in the faith go to the prison of spirits to preach to the dead in body, but they are alive in the spirit; and those spirits preach to the spirits that they may live according to God in the spirit, and men do minister for them in the flesh; and angels bear the glad tidings to the spirits, and they are made happy by these means. (The Words of Joseph Smith, p. 370)
Joseph F. Smith
I beheld that the faithful elders of this dispensation, when they depart from mortal life, continue their labors in the preaching of the gospel of repentance and redemption, through the sacrifice of the Only Begotten Son of God, among those who are in darkness and under the bondage of sin in the great world of the spirits of the dead. (D&C 138:57)
Wilford Woodruff
• When Joseph Smith had laid the foundation of this word he was taken away. There are good reasons why it was so. Jesus sealed his testimony with his blood. Joseph Smith did the same, and from the day he died his testimony has been in force upon the whole world. He has gone into the spirit world and organized this dispensation on that side of the veil; he is gathering together the elders of Israel and the Saints of God in the spirit world, for they have a work to do there as well as here. Joseph and Hyrum Smith, Father Smith, David Patten and the other elders who have been called to the other side of the veil have fifty times as many people to preach to as we have on the earth. There they have all the spirits who have lived on the earth in seventeen centuries – fifty generations, fifty thousand millions of persons who lived and died here without having seen a prophet or apostle, and without having the word of the Lord sent unto them. They are shut up in prison, awaiting the message of the elders of Israel. We have only about a thousand millions of people on the earth, but in the spirit world they have fifty thousand millions; and there is not a single revelation which gives us any reason to believe that any man who enters the spirit world preached the gospel there to those who lived after him; but they all preach to men who were in the flesh before they were. Jesus himself preached to the antediluvian world, who had been in prison for thousands of years. So with Joseph Smith and the elders – they will have to preach to the inhabitants of the earth who have died during the last seventeen centuries; and when they hear the testimony of the elders and accept it there should be somebody on the earth, as we have been told, to attend to the ordinances of the house of God for them. (The Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, p.151)
• The same priesthood exists on the other side of the veil. Every man who is faithful is in his quorum there. When a man dies and his body is laid in the tomb, he does not lose his position. The prophet Joseph Smith held the keys of this dispensation on this side of the veil, and he will hold them throughout the countless ages of eternity. He went into the spirit world to unlock the prison doors and to preach the gospel to the millions of spirits who are in darkness, and every apostle, every seventy, every elder, etc., who has died in the faith, as soon as he passes to the other side of the veil, enters into the work of the ministry, and there is a thousand times more to preach there than there is here. (The Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, p.77)
• I have felt of late as if our brethren on the other side of the veil had held a council, and that they had said to this one, and that one, “Cease thy work on earth, come hence, we need help,” and they have called this man and that man. It has appeared so to me in seeing the many men who have been called from our midst lately. (The Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, p.77)
• And I will here say that every elder of Israel who lays down his life, whether he dies in his bed, or is put to death by the enemies of truth, when he goes into the spirit world his works follow him, and he rests in peace. The priesthood is not taken from him, and he has thousands more to preach to there than he ever had here in the flesh. But it depends upon the living here to erect temples, that the ordinances for the dead may be attended to, for by and by you will meet your progenitors in the spirit world who never heard the sound of the gospel. You who are here in Zion have power to be baptized for and to redeem your dead. (The Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, p.77)
Ezra Taft Benson
• The death of a righteous individual is both an honorable release and a call to new labors. (President Nathan Eldon Tanner Funeral Service, Salt Lake City, Utah, 30 November 1982.) [Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p.33]
• The work to be done on the other side of the veil is far more extensive than here. There, billions must hear the gospel preached. Joseph F. Smith, sixth President of the Church, received this revelation: “I beheld that the faithful elders of this dispensation, when they depart from mortal life, continue their labors in the preaching of the gospel of repentance and redemption, through the sacrifice of the Only Begotten Son of God, among those who are in darkness and under the bondage of sin in the great world of the spirits of the dead” (D&C 138:57).
Bruce R. McConkie will continue his ministry there – only on a much more enlarged and expanded scale. Amelia and family members, I pray the benediction of our Heavenly Father’s Spirit on all of you that you may have the perfect peace and assurance that our Heavenly Father’s will was done in the calling of your husband and father to the other side of the veil. His ministry will carry forward as he now joins with other prophets of this dispensation in furthering the work of the Lord which he loves so much. (Bruce R. McConkie Funeral Service, Salt Lake City, Utah, 23 April 1985.) [Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p.36)
• We preside over the great redemptive work for the dead. Before the Savior can present this kingdom to His Father, all the descendants of Shem, Ham and Japheth who have not received the gospel in the flesh must have the opportunity to hear the gospel. That work is going forward on the other side of the veil with greater acceleration than it is here. Our work is to officiate in the temples of God for them. We don’t build temples until the Church is well established in a country. Our predecessors have prophesied that temples will dot the landscape of North and South America, the isles of the Pacific, Europe, and elsewhere. If this redemptive work is to be done on the scale it must be, hundreds of temples will be needed. Our first step then is to see that nations are opened to receive the gospel so that stakes may be established. (Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p.247)
Brigham Young
• The spirits that dwell in these tabernacles on this earth, when they leave them go directly into this world of spirits. What! A congregated mass of inhabitants there in spirit, mingling with each other, as they do here? Yes, brethren, they are there together, and if they associate together, and collect together, in clans and in societies as they do here, it is their privilege. No doubt they yet, more or less, see, hear, converse and have to do with each other, both good and bad. If the Elders of Israel in these latter times go and preach to the spirits in prison, they associate with them, precisely as our Elders associate with the wicked in the flesh, when they go to preach to them. (Discourses of Brigham Young, p.378)
• They are just as busy in the spirit world as you and I are here. They can see us, but we cannot see them unless our eyes were opened. What are they doing there? They are preaching, preaching all the time, and preparing the way for us to hasten our work in building temples here and elsewhere, and to go back to Jackson County and build the great temple of the Lord. They are hurrying to get ready by the time we are ready, and we are all hurrying to get ready by the time our Elder Brother is ready. (Discourses of Brigham Young, p.378)
• Suppose, then, that a man is evil in his heart – wholly given up to wickedness, and in that condition dies, his spirit will enter into the spirit world intent upon evil. On the other hand, if we are striving with all the powers and faculties God has given us to improve upon our talents, to prepare ourselves to dwell in eternal life, and the grave receives our bodies while we are thus engaged, with what disposition will our spirits enter their next state? They will be still striving to do the things of God, only in a much greater degree -- learning, increasing, growing in grace and in the knowledge of the truth. (Discourses of Brigham Young, p.379)
• Spirits are just as familiar with spirits as bodies are with bodies, though spirits are composed of matter so refined as not to be tangible to this coarser organization. They walk, converse, and have their meetings; and the spirits of good men like Joseph and the Elders who have left this Church on earth for a season to operate in another sphere, are rallying all their powers and going from place to place preaching the Gospel, and Joseph is directing them, saying, go ahead my brethren, and if they hedge up your way, walk up and command them to disperse. You have the Priesthood and can disperse them, but if any of them wish to hear the Gospel, preach to them. (Discourses of Brigham Young, p.379)
Those on the Other Side are in a Hurry Doing the Work
Wilford Woodruff
I will say here that in my dreams I have had a great many visits from the Prophet Joseph since his death. The last time I met him was in the spirit world. I met him at the Temple. He spoke to me. Calling me by name, he said, “I cannot stop to talk to you, for I am in a hurry.” I met Father Smith. He, too, said to me, “I am in a hurry.” I met a great many of the Apostles and others who are in the spirit world, and they all seemed to be in a hurry. I marveled at this, and wondered very greatly in my mind why anybody should be in a hurry in the Paradise of God.
I had an interview with the Prophet Joseph afterwards and asked him the question, “Why are you all in such a hurry here?” I said, “I have always been in a hurry in the world since I was born, but I thought there would be no occasion for it when I died and entered the spirit world.” He replied, “Well, I will tell you: The Prophets and Apostles in this dispensation have had no time nor opportunity to prepare themselves to go to the earth with the great bridegroom when He goes to meet the bride, the Lamb’s wife. We in this dispensation have not had time. We have first as much work to perform, to prepare ourselves, as in other dispensations.”
... I have had a many interviews with President Young since he died, a great many teachings from him, and from others who held important positions here in the flesh, but who have gone into the spirit world, and seem, in a measure, to have an interest and watch-care over the Church and Kingdom of God though they have passed to the other side of the veil. (Collected Discourses, Vol.2,October 4, 1890)
Spirits Have Agency to Repent or Reject the Gospel
Orson Pratt
It is intended that, in these sacred and holy places, appointed, set apart and dedicated by the command of the Almighty, genealogies shall be revealed, and that the living shall officiate for the dead, that those who have not had the opportunity while in the flesh in past generations to obey the Gospel, might have their friends now living, officiate for them. This does not destroy their agency, for although they laid down their bodies and went to their graves in a day of darkness, and they are now mingled with the hosts of spirits in the eternal worlds, their agency still continues, and that agency gives them power to believe in Jesus Christ there, just as well as we can who are here. Those spirits on the other side of the veil can repent just the same as we, in the flesh, can repent. Faith in God and in his son Jesus Christ, and repentance are acts of the mind--mental operations--but when it comes to baptism for the remission of sins they cannot perform that, we act for them, that having been ordained to be performed in the flesh. They can receive the benefit of whatever is done for them here, and whatever the Lord God commands his people here in the flesh to do for them will be published to them there by those holding the everlasting Priesthood of the Son of God. If, when the Gospel is preached to them there, they will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, they will receive the benefits of the ordinances performed on their behalf here, and they will be partakers, with their kindred, of all the blessings of the fullness of the Gospel of the Son of God; but if they will not do this they will be bound over in chains of darkness until the judgment of the great day, when they will be judged according to men in the flesh. We are here in the flesh, and the same Gospel that condemns the disobedient and the sinner here, will, by the same law, condemn those who are on the other side of the veil. (Journal of Discourses, 15:51)
Not All Will Accept the Gospel
Joseph Fielding Smith
I have no idea in my mind that every soul that has lived upon the face of the earth, who has died and gone to the spirit world, is going to repent and receive the gospel. There will be many that will not do that. Our scriptures point to that fact. They are not going to receive the gospel in the spirit world, when their souls are full of bitterness and hate towards the truth, but they have a right to have it taught to them. (Conference Report, 1959, p. 23).
Evil Spirits Hinder the Preaching of the Gospel
Brigham Young
Those who have died without the Gospel are continually afflicted by those evil spirits, who say to them--“Do not go to hear that man Joseph Smith preach, or David Patten, or any of their associates, for they are deceivers.” (Journal of Discourses, 3:371)
Our Progenitors will Most Likely Accept the Gospel
Wilford Woodruff
Another principle connected with this subject I want to talk about. A man has married a woman, and they have a family of children. The man lays down in death without ever hearing the Gospel. The wife afterwards hears the Gospel and embraces it. She comes to the temple and she wants to be sealed to her husband, who was a good man. The feeling has been to deny this and to say, “No, he is not in the Church, and you cannot be sealed to your husband.” Many a woman’s heart has ached because of this, and as a servant of God I have broken that chain a good while ago. I have laid before every woman this principle and let her have her choice. Why deprive a woman of being sealed to her husband because he never heard the Gospel? What do any of us know with regard to him? Will he not hear the Gospel and embrace it in the spirit world? Look at Joseph Smith. Not one of Joseph Smith’s fathers or brothers or sisters were in the covenant when he received the keys of the kingdom of God and translated the Book of Mormon. They afterwards received it. Every brother and sister that he had, and his father and his father’s brothers, except Uncle Jesse Smith, embraced the Gospel. Now, suppose that any of these had died before they had the opportunity of entering into the covenant with the Lord through the Gospel, as his brother Alvin did; they would have been in the same position as Alvin, concerning whom the Lord, when Joseph saw him in the celestial kingdom, said: “All who have died without a knowledge of this Gospel, who would have received it if they had been permitted to tarry, shall be heirs of the celestial kingdom of God; also all that shall die henceforth without a knowledge of it, who would have received it with all their hearts, shall be heirs of that kingdom, for I, the Lord, will judge all men according to their works, according to the desire of their hearts.” So it will be with your fathers. There will be very few, if any, who will not accept the Gospel. Jesus while His body lay in the tomb, went and preached to the spirits in prison, who were destroyed in the days of Noah. After so long an imprisonment, in torment, they doubtless gladly embraced the Gospel, and if so they will be saved in the kingdom of God. The fathers of this people will embrace the Gospel. It is my duty to honor my father who begot me in the flesh. It is your duty to do the same. When you do this, the Spirit of God will be with you. (Messages of the First Presidency, 3:257-258)
Joseph Fielding Smith
It is our opportunity, in this dispensation, and our privilege and duty to spend our time in searching out our dead. We are of the house of Israel. We learn that through revelation; and that being true, then we reach the conclusion, unless we have been adopted through the gospel and were gentiles, that our ancestors were also of the house of Israel. In other words, the promise made to Abraham, that through the scattering of his seed all nations would be blessed, has been fulfilled, and our lineage has come down generation after generation through the loins of Abraham and the loins of Israel. Therefore our fathers are more likely to receive the gospel (if they did not hear it in this life, to receive it in the spirit world), than are those whose descendants are not in the Church and who refused to receive the gospel here. (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:133)
Honorable Mortals Most Likely Will Accept the Gospel
Neal A. Maxwell
Surely those just and honorable mortals who have done so well here with the light they have received are the most likely to respond in paradise and the spirit world, when the fulness of the light of the gospel is given to them there. Consider the comments of the Prophet Joseph Smith about the important role of spiritual knowledge:
“Knowledge does away darkness, suspense and doubt, for where Knowledge is there is no doubt nor suspense nor darkness. There is no pain so awful as the pain of suspense. This is the condemnation of the wicked; their doubt and anxiety and suspense causes weeping and gnashing of teeth.”[Joseph Smith, The Words of Joseph Smith. A. Ehat, and L. Cook (Ed.s). Provo, UT: Grandin, 1991, p. 183]
The “pain of suspense” apparently will necessarily operate to some extent in the spirit prison because of uncertainty–along with a price to be paid as part of repentance for transgressions. The Prophet Joseph also said:
“A man is his own tormentor and his own condemner. Hence the saying, They shall go into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. The torment of disappointment in the mind of man is as exquisite as a lake burning with fire and brimstone. I say, so is the torment of man.” [Joseph Smith, The History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint, 1932-51, 6:314].
The word prison carries with it the connotation of “a state of confinement,” including a conceptual confinement. The Prophet Joseph Smith said, for instance, that God has “made ample provision for their redemption, according to their several circumstance,... Whether in this world, or in the world to come.” [Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1938, p. 220]
The Prophet also consoled: “God has administrators in the eternal world to release those spirits from Prison. The ordinances being administered by proxy upon them, the law is fulfilled.” [Joseph Smith, The Words of Joseph Smith. A. Ehat, and L. Cook (Ed.s). Provo, UT: Grandin, 1991, p. 372]
Likewise, the Prophet, wen speaking of us and our chance to become “saviors... on Mount Zion,” instructed as to how the merciful salvation for the dead “places the human family upon an equal footing, and harmonizes with every principle of righteousness, justice and truth.” [Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1938, p. 223] (The Promise of Discipleship, pp. 111- 113)
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