Compiled by Dennis B. Horne
At Pres. Marion G. Romney’s funeral, Elder
Boyd K. Packer shared this experience:
On one occasion, we were holding a meeting of
mission presidents in Geneva, Switzerland. He arrived a day late, having spent
a day in England to work on a very difficult problem for the First Presidency.
We met him at the airport. I’d never seen him so tired. I pushed my way through
the attendants and walked back where he was waiting for his luggage and he
stood there, looked at me, and finally said, “Hello. What do we have going
tonight?” I said, “Oh, I think maybe you’d better rest.” But he thought he’d
better meet with us.
As we gathered, the rest of the agenda was suspended and he talked to us. Perhaps because he was weary and less guarded in what he might have otherwise said, he spoke openly of inspiration and the process by which we receive divine direction. And then he told us more than he had said publicly about an event in the growth of his testimony.
He
was the missionary boy in Australia on the headquarters staff. Because he used
every opportunity to improve himself, he was permitted one evening to go to the
University of Sydney to study in the library. He boarded the steam powered
streetcar near the mission home and went there alone, as was permitted in those
days. He walked across the extensive lawn which separated the library from the
street and entered the building. He browsed over the stacks of books and those
on the reading table, and finding nothing to interest him, he took from his
pocket the Doctrine and Covenants and began to read the vision of Joseph Smith
and Sidney Rigdon concerning the degrees of glory as recorded in the 76th
Section. Marion had read the revelation many times previously, but this time
something happened to him which had not occurred before.
You’ll
remember the Prophet Joseph Smith called the vision “a transcription from the
records of the eternal world.” He read these words:
“I,
the Lord, am merciful and gracious unto those who fear me, and delight to honor
those who serve me in righteousness and in truth unto the end. . . . To them
will I reveal all mysteries, yea, all the hidden mysteries of my kingdom from
days of old, and for all ages to come, will I make known unto them the good
pleasure of my will concerning all things pertaining to my kingdom. Yea, even
the wonders of eternity shall they know.” (D&C 76:5, 7, 8)
He
meditated upon these things and read, “While we meditated upon them, the Lord
touched the eyes of our understandings and they were opened” (D&C 76:19).
And then these memorable words, “And now, after the many testimonies which have
been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him.
That he lives! For we saw him, even on the right hand of God.” (D&C
76:22-23)
It
was late at night when he finished reading. He went outside, pondering on what
he had read, and started across the lawn toward the street. There was no moon
that night but the stars shown in splendor, the Southern Cross, and other
stars. He glanced up and it happened! He seemed to be carried beyond them by
the Spirit and the things that he had read became a reality to him. This sacred
experience he never tried to explain fully in public gatherings but on that
occasion he spoke more openly than he had before. . . .
He
said to us that night in Geneva, as I have heard him say in even more intimate
circumstances, “I do not know as an apostle or as a member of the First
Presidency of the Church any more surely that God lives than I knew as a
missionary boy those many years ago in Australia. But there is this one
difference. Now, I know the Lord.”. . .[1]
This
account deserves serious pondering…
Gospel
ordinances are for the Celestial Kingdom only…
President
Joseph Fielding Smith (letter):
November
17, 1952
Dear
Brother ____:
You say that some of the members of
your [Sunday School] class are not satisfied with my statement that the words
of our Savior to Nicodemus have reference to the fact that being born of the
water and the Spirit have limitations to the entrance to the celestial kingdom.
I should think, that you, as the teacher of the class, would be able to
convince them of this fact and that this could not have reference to any
kingdom other than the celestial. However, the brethren of the General
Authorities long ago discovered the difficulty in trying to get members of the
Church to comprehend the truth in a futile attempt because there is such a lack
of faith, prayer and study and the Spirit of the Lord cannot function. The
Prophet Joseph Smith once said:
“There has been a great difficulty
in getting anything into the heads of this generation. It has been like
splitting hemlock knots with a corn-dodger for a wedge, and a pumpkin for a
beetle. Even the Saints are slow to understand.”—Teachings, p. 331.
Well, let us reason this matter
through. I take for granted that those who question this doctrine that I
presented, have the idea that baptism will be applied to every soul who will
enter the other kingdoms, terrestrial and telestial, and that only sons of
Perdition will remain outside of the fold. They believe, as indicated in your
letter, that the “kingdom of God” embraces ALL the kingdoms, and therefore the
Savior in speaking to Nicodemus meant that no one could see any one
of these three kingdoms without baptism, nor enter them. So just what does this
imply? That baptism must be performed either in person or by proxy for all the
teeming millions, yes billions, who have dwelt, are now dwelling and will yet
dwell on this earth. This would be a tremendous work, and since the “liars, and
sorcerers, and adulterers, and whoremongers, and whosoever loves and makes a
lie.. . . They who suffer the vengeance of eternal fire”, will be heirs of the
telestial kingdom, they will have to have baptism performed for them. Does this
not seem rather absurd? For the sake of argument, suppose this to be true. Then
how meaningless are the words of our Lord to his disciples after his
resurrection: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every
creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but
he that believeth not shall be damned. For, it is plain to see,
if all are to enter the “kingdom of God” including the liars etc., there will
be none left, except those who are condemned with the devil and his angels, in
other words sons of perdition. So there are none others damned.
Then again how meaningless are the
words of the Lord; “Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the
gate, and broad, is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be
which go in thereat. Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which
leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”
Of course I realize that all of this
argument may fall on deaf ears and hearts that are hard to penetrate, so I will
give you one or two quotations and I would have you remember that the Lord has
said that when his servants speak by the power of the Holy Ghost it is
scripture just as much as it was scripture in days of old.
The following letter is self-explanatory:
“Feb. 11, 1902
President’s Office
Elder [blank]
Centerville [blank]
Dear Brother:
In
your favor of the 7th inst. You say: “Our Elders’ quorum has been
discussing for several meetings the following: Can one enter the telestial
glory without baptism?” but it appears from the context that you cannot agree
on the answer. We think the matter is made exceedingly plain in the Book of
Doctrine and Covenants (Section 76, verses 81-86.):
“And
again we saw the glory of the telestial, which glory is that of the lesser,
even as the glory of the stars differ from that of the glory of the moon in the
firmament.
“These
are they who receive not the gospel of Christ, neither the testimony of Jesus.
(Therefore they were not baptized.)
“These
are they who deny not the Holy Spirit. (because they never received it.)
“These
are they who are thrust down to hell.
“These
are they who shall not be redeemed from the devil, until the last resurrection,
until the Lord, even Christ, the Lamb, shall have finished His work.
“These
are they who receive not of his fulness in the eternal world, but of the Holy
Spirit through the ministration of the terrestrial.”
I
think the foregoing is a complete answer to your queries.
With very kind regards,
Your Brother
(Signed) Joseph F. Smith.”
This [statement] is from the minutes
of the meeting of the First Presidency and Apostles, endorsed by all:
“All ordinances of the Gospel that
have been revealed to the Church and that we teach and practice, appertain to
the celestial kingdom. As there is nothing definitely revealed in regard to the
ordinances necessary to entrance into the terrestrial or telestial kingdoms, if
there be such ordinances, it would be unwise for us
to express ourselves on this question, designating the ordinances that may be
required for entrance into these kingdoms of glory.”
This is from the Prophet Joseph
Smith:
“Every man lives for himself. Adam
was made to open the way of the world, and for dressing the garden. Noah was
born to save seed of everything, when the earth was washed of its wickedness by
the flood; and the Son of God came into the world to redeem it from the fall. But
except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. This eternal
truth settles the question of all men’s religion. A Man may be saved, after the
judgment, in the terrestrial kingdom, or in the telestial kingdom, but he can
never see the celestial kingdom of God without
being born of water and the Spirit.”
– Teachings p. 12.
Very
sincerely your brother,
(signed)
Joseph Fielding Smith
The
same story briefly related and expanded on at a BYU speech by Pres. Smith…
This question comes to me frequently: Will
the ordinances of the Gospel have to be applied to everybody? It was only here,
less than a month ago, that the statement came to me that in one of our classes
somewhere, they had been discussing salvation, and somebody made this
statement, and divided that class into two camps, when he said that every soul
would have to be baptized, and then they argued over it. Someone in that class
wrote to me and wanted to know if that were true, because this individual did
not believe it. Well, if we are going to be baptized for every soul living upon
the face of the earth, then the Savior did not mean what he said to his
Apostles after his resurrection when he said, “Go ye into all the world, and
preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be
saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” If we’re going to baptize
them all, nobody’s going to be damned. . . .
All the ordinances—baptism,
confirmation, the sealings, and ordinances in the Temple of the Lord—all belong
to the Celestial Kingdom, and we are not preaching the Gospel of any other
kingdom. We don’t send missionaries out to bring the people into the
Terrestrial Kingdom. We don’t send them out to bring them into the Telestial
Kingdom. I can tell anybody how to get in the Telestial Kingdom. I wouldn’t
advise it, and so maybe I’d better not tell you. I can tell youi how to get
into the Terrestrial Kingdom. But I’m not concerned with the Terrestrial
Kingdom. You shouldn’t be, and I hope you’re not. All we ought to be concerned
about is our salvation in the Celestial Kingdom of God. And that means
faithfulness to every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God, and the
keeping of His commandments. And if you want to enter there, then you abide in
the covenants. Don’t faitl to receive them, but be worthy to receive them. We
have a great many members of this Church who are satisfied, apparently, just to
be members of the Church. They do not magnify, if they are brethren, the
priesthood which has been restored upon them; there it will be taken away. They
do not care to receive the ordinances of the Temple of the Lord and yet they
think that they’re going to enter into the exaltation and receive this abundant
life or the fullness of life—the life for which we came here. There’re
mistaken. The Lord has spoken definitely in so many of these scriptures, but
there are some members of the Church that don’t believe He means what he says.
They think a man can live any way he wants to, and die in his sins, and then we
can go to the Temple and do the work of him and put him in the Celestial
Kingdom on an equality with every faithful person who has sacrificed and been
true and faithful to every covenant—yet we can take these people who have been
apostate and who have not had faith enough to keep these commandments, and all
we need to do is to go to the Temple and have somebody act as proxy for them,
and vicariously the blessings will be given unto them so that they can receive
the exaltation in the Kingdom of God and I dare say no one has ever read it in
any scripture.[2] (June 15,
1953)
Accepting
and living the gospel in mortality…
“I have in my heart a desire to emphasize the
importance of doing the will of God now while today lasts. Perhaps more hangs
upon what a man does during the short period of his mortal probation than upon
his performance in any other period of equal duration since the spirit hosts
took sides in the great war in heaven.”
“In the light of these teachings, it would seem
to be most unwise to rely upon the doctrine of the so-called second chance and
wait until after death to perform our good works. I am acquainted with the
doctrine that those who have had no opportunity to hear and receive the gospel
in this life will have that opportunity in the world to come, and I rejoice in
it. I rejoice in the vision and the revelation received by the Prophet Joseph
Smith on the 21st day of January 1836, which teaches this doctrine.” [reads
D&C 130]
“All this I accept with joy. However,, it does
not teach, and I have never found anything in the scriptures nor in the
teachings of the prophets which encourages me to believe, that those who have
the gospel taught to them here will be able to make up their loss if they
choose to wait for the next life to obey it. I would not advise anyone to take
that chance. As I understand the scriptures, taking such a hazard would be
fatal.”
“On this point of deferring obedience to the
gospel, we might with profit consider the Savior's parable of the ten virgins.
I do not remember any provision being made in that parable for the five foolish
virgins to enter into the marriage at a later time. I do remember, however,
that after the door was shut they, having in the meantime filled their lamps
with oil, came saying, "Lord, Lord, open to us," and that his answer
was, "Verily I say unto you, I know you not." (See Matt. 25:1-13.)
In 1831 the Lord continued with the lesson he
had in mind to teach with this parable. Speaking to the Prophet Joseph, he
specified some of the blessings to be received by the five wise virgins. Said
he:
And at that day, when I shall come in my glory,
shall the parable be fulfilled which I spake concerning the ten virgins.
For they that are wise and have received the
truth, and have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide, and have not been
deceived—verily I say unto you, they shall not be hewn down and cast into the
fire, but shall abide the day.
And the earth shall be given unto them for an
inheritance; and they shall multiply and wax strong, and their children shall
grow up without sin unto salvation.
For the Lord shall be in their midst, and his
glory shall be upon them, and he will be their king and their lawgiver. (D.
& C. 45:56-59.)
No mention is made in this revelation of the
whereabouts of the foolish virgins. Said the Prophet Joseph,
If men would acquire salvation they have got to
be subject, before they leave this world, to certain rules and principles.
which were fixed by an unalterable decree before the world was.
[Otherwise] the disappointment of hopes and
expectations at the resurrection would be indescribably dreadful (D. H. C. 6:50-51.)
In view of these teachings and the many others
which carry the message that today is the day for us to perform our labors, it
would seem to be wisdom on the part of every soul who has been taught the
gospel, to here and now make a daily conscious and sincere effort to live it.
And this effort should continue to the end of mortal life.
President George Albert Smith:
“Someone has said of the people of the world
that they would rather believe a lie and be damned than accept the truth. That
is rather a severe statement, but I think perhaps it will bear acceptance as
fact.”
The
false theory of progression from a lower kingdom of glory to a higher…
Bruce
R. McConkie:
March
14, 1973
Dear
Sister ___
In your recent letter you asked
whether it is possible to progress from one degree of glory to another and
indicate that various views have been expressed on this subject by different
people.
The scriptures say there is no
progression from one kingdom to another. This really should settle the matter.
This is the whole tenor and meaning of Section 76. The statements in Section 88
about coming forth with different kinds of bodies in the resurrection are on
the same subject. The statement in Section 132 that ministering servants will
remain such and not have exaltation to all eternity is the same teaching. It is
difficult to see how the Lord could have been more express in his language than
he was in this passage in Section 132 or related passages in Section 76 that
say where God and Christ are certain people cannot come worlds without end.
I am not aware that any of the
present or past General Authorities ever thought any differently than this.
President Joseph Fielding Smith has written extensively on the subject. There
are a number of statements in Mormon Doctrine by me on the same matter.
If people choose to believe false doctrine, they do so at their peril. . . .
With
every good wish,
Sincerely,
Bruce
R. McConkie
Excerpt
from Elder McConkie’s
Seven Deadly
Heresies
BYU devotional speech:
There
are those who say that there is progression from one kingdom to another in the
eternal worlds or that lower kingdoms eventually progress to where higher
kingdoms once were.
This
belief lulls men into a state of carnal security. It causes them to say, “God
is so merciful; surely he will save us all eventually; if we do not gain the
celestial kingdom now, eventually we will; so why worry?” It lets people live a
life of sin here and now with the hope that they will be saved eventually.
The true doctrine is that all men will be
resurrected, but they will come forth in the resurrection with different kinds
of bodies—some celestial, others terrestrial, others telestial, and some with
bodies incapable of standing any degree of glory. The body we receive in the
resurrection determines the glory we receive in the kingdoms that are prepared.
Of those in the telestial world it is
written: “And they shall be servants of the Most High; but where God and Christ
dwell they cannot come, worlds without end” (D&C
76:112).
Of those who had the opportunity to enter
into the new and everlasting covenant of marriage in this life and who did not
do it, the revelation says:
Therefore, when they are out of the world
they neither marry nor are given in marriage; but are appointed angels in
heaven; which angels are ministering servants, to minister for those who are
worthy of a far more, and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory.
For
these angels did not abide my law; therefore, they cannot be enlarged, but
remain separately and singly, without exaltation, in their saved condition, to
all eternity; and from henceforth are not gods, but are angels of God forever
and ever. [D&C
132:16–17]
They
neither progress from one kingdom to another, nor does a lower kingdom ever get
where a higher kingdom once was. Whatever eternal progression there is, it is
within a sphere.
What
a gamble…all
eternity/forever at stake…
Joseph
Fielding McConkie:
Consider the on-going argument as to
the possibility of advancing after the resurrection from one degree to another.
More properly stated, can we advance from one resurrection to another? The
debate ignores the scriptural definition of resurrection as the inseparable
union of body and spirit (see Alma 11:45; D&C 138:17). If a terrestrial
body and a terrestrial spirit have been “united never again to be divided,” can
we change them into that which is celestial? The strongest argument in favor of
the hope of advancement from one degree to another is that the scriptures are
not explicit in rejecting it. Tehe scriptures do state that there is no
progression from the telestial kingdom (D&C 76:112) and that there is no
progression in the celestial kingdom (D&C 132:17; [131:1-4]). The unavoidable
point, however, is that we are without the slightest indication in the
scriptures that such could be the case. Surely the fact that the scriptures do
not say that there is no leprosy in heaven is hardly reason to argue that there
is.[3]
Some
false doctrine from a blogger at the liberal-dissident By Common Consent, seeking to
make his views sound reasonable and just (March 2025) Again, what a gamble!:
https://bycommonconsent.com/2025/03/14/on-the-degrees-of-glory/
Explanation of Sons of Perdition (D&C 76:30-49)…
Pres. Joseph Fielding Smith in Q&A:
[Questioner:] He [a Sunday School teacher]
made reference to the fact that Brigham Young, especially, had made some
statements about the dissolution of the body or the spirit of the Sons of
Perdition. I wonder if there are any grounds to that?
Pres. Smith: Well, let’s see—speaking of the
Sons of Perdition, the Lord says this: “And the end thereof, neither the place
thereof, nor the torment, no man knows; neither was it revealed, neither is,
neither will be revealed unto man except to them who are made partakers
thereof.” I don’t think that Pres. Young is going to be a partaker thereof.
Does that answer your question? I give you one passage of scripture which
declares definitely that they remain as though there had been no redemption
[made]. . . . But they cannot die again. Now that’s the doctrine that the
Prophet [Joseph Smith] has taught. I don’t have it with me, and I wish I had,
but the Prophet says that they will endure. President Joseph F. Smith has said
that. President John Taylor has said it. I’ve got the references but I didn’t
think to bring them down here. They [Son’s of Perdition] will endure. Now their
bodies and spirits will be united. . . . But the fact is that they remain—their
spirits and bodies. Now if the Lord revealed something to President Young about
their final destiny and that they’re going to be annihilated or the spirit and
body dissolved, go back into the elements to be created over again someway,
President Young didn’t say that the Lord had revealed anything to him, and
these scriptures say, “no man knows” and no man will know but those who partake
of it. So I don’t know. I don’t know their destiny. I don’t know what’s going
to become of them finally, only that they have their spirits and bodies, and
the scriptures say they can’t die again. Now we do have that and in the words
of the Prophet also—that they cannot die.[4]
The
following approved doctrinal statement is a summary of a discussion by the
Council of the Twelve on this subject:
“In
order to become a son of perdition a man must know the truth by the Holy
Spirit, know it as thoroughly as that the sun shines. Every man in this council
is under obligation to know that and when he turns away, fights the work,
persecutes the brethren, puts them to death or any kind of abuse, he has turned
against the church, against the work, against his priesthood, and when he goes
out and denies the faith, then there is nothing that can be done. He becomes a
son of perdition. He, of course, loses everything.”
[1] The First Presidency, “Marion G.
Romney funeral services, 1988, May 23,” Remarks of Elder Boyd K. Packer, 3-5,
6. Bro. Packer also said of Bro. Romney, “Just a day or two before he passed,
when he had been enfeebled with age and really not able to say a word for many
weeks, he was stirred perhaps by some major physical change in his constitution
and by other influences as well, and for the first time in weeks he spoke,
saying very audibly over and over again, “Joseph, Joseph.”
“There is no Joseph in the Romney
family. And I can see this great venerable leader of ours, this man of great
mind and powerful spirit, now rejoicing in the presence of those who have gone
before us in the leadership of this Church and kingdom of God.”
[2] Remarks of Joseph Fielding Smith,
BYU Leadership Week General Assembly, June 15, 1953, 3-4.
[3] Joseph Fielding McConkie, “A
Scriptural Search for the Ten Tribes & Other Things We Lost, BYU, Annual
Religious Education Faculty Summer Lecture, June 26, 1987, 3.
[4] “The Fundamentals of the Gospel,”
Unpublished presentation to BYU educators, August 25, 1954, 10-11; copy in
author’s possession, 10-11.
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