Glimpses into
the Spirit World
dispensation, that we are closely related to our kindred, to
our ancestors, to our friends and associates and colaborers who have preceded us into the spirit world.
Ezra Taft Benson – Sometimes the veil between this life
and the life beyond becomes very thin. Our loved ones
who have passed on are not far from us. (Ensign, June 1971, p.
… [Speaking of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and others] I
claim that we live in their presence, they see us, they are
solicitous for our welfare, they love us now more than
ever. For now they see the dangers that beset us; they can
comprehend better than ever before, the weaknesses that
are liable to mislead us into dark and forbidden paths.
They see the temptations and the evils that beset us in life
and the proneness of mortal beings to yield to temptation
and to wrong doing; hence their solicitude for us and their
love for us and their desire for our wellbeing must be
greater than that which we feel for ourselves. (Conference
33.)
Report, April 1916, p. 3, Gospel Doctrine, ch. 24.)
Joseph Smith – The spirits of the just are exalted to a
greater and more glorious work; hence they are blessed in
their departure to the world of spirits. Enveloped in flaming
fire, they are not far from us, and know and understand
our thoughts, feelings, and motions, and are often pained
therewith. (History of The Church, v.6, p. 51-52.)
Truman G. Madsen – Wilford Woodruff often spoke of his
experiences with the spirit world. On record is a
conversation which I think typifies this man as a spiritual
amphibian; it's as if he lived in two worlds simultaneously.
He was walking down the street when he saw a friend.
"Brother John, it's good to see you," President Woodruff
said. Then after a pause he said, "You know, I don't think
I've seen your father since he died.” (The Presidents of the
Revelations 20:12 – And I saw the dead, small and great,
stand before God; and the books were opened ... (See also
D&C 128:4-6.)
Closeness to Us
Benjamin F. Johnson – Then with a deep-drawn breath, as
a sigh of weariness, [Joseph Smith] sank down heavily in his
chair, and said, "Oh! I am so tired—so tired that I often
feel to long for my day of rest. For what has there been in
this life but tribulation for me? From a boy I have been
persecuted by my enemies, and now even my friends are
beginning to join with them, to hate and persecute me!
Why should I not wish for my time of rest?"
His words and tone thrilled and shocked me, and like an
arrow pierced my hopes that he would long remain with
us. I said, as with a heart full of tears, "Oh! Joseph, what
could we, as a people, do without you and what would
become of the great latter-day work if you should leave
us?"
He was touched by my emotions, and in reply he said,
"Benjamin, I would not be far away from you, and if on the
other side of the veil I would still be working with you, and
with a power greatly increased, to roll on this kingdom.”
(Hyrum L. Andrus and Helen Mae Andrus, They Knew the Prophet, p. 97.)
Joseph F. Smith – If we can see by the enlightening
influence of the Spirit of God and through the words that
have been spoken by the holy prophets of God, beyond the
veil that separates us from the spirit world, surely those
who have passed beyond, can see more clearly through the
veil back here to us than it is possible for us to see to them
from our sphere of action.
I believe we move and have our being in the presence of
heavenly messengers and of heavenly beings. We are not
separate from them. We begin to realize more and more
fully, as we become acquainted with the principles of the
Gospel, as they have been revealed anew in this
Church, no page given. Also in Br. Madsen’s, Joseph Smith the Prophet,
p. 48..)
William Taylor – [Joseph Smith] seemed to be just as
familiar with the spirit world, and as well acquainted with
the other side, as he was with this world. (Hyrum L. Andrus
and Helen Mae Andrus, They Knew the Prophet, p. 161.)
Social and Organization
Lucy Walker Kimball – [Joseph Smith] anticipated great joy
in meeting his parents and friends beyond the grave. He
believed that as soon as the spirit left the body we were
shaking hands with and greeting our friends. (Hyrum L.
Andrus and Helen Mae Andrus, They Knew the Prophet, p. 139.)
Heber C. Kimball – [Jedediah M. Grant] said to me, brother
Heber, I have been into the spirit world two nights in
succession, and, of all the dreads that ever came across
me, the worst was to have to again return to my body,
through I had to do it. But O, says he, the order and
government that were there! When in the spirit world, I
saw the order of righteous men and women; beheld them
organized in their several grades, and there appeared to be
no obstruction to my vision; I could see every man and
woman in their grade and order. I looked to see whether
there was any disorder there, but there was none; neither
could I see any death nor any darkness, disorder or
confusion. He said that the people he there saw were
organized in family capacities; and when he looked at them
he saw grade after grade, and all were organized and in
perfect harmony. He would mention one item after
another and say, "Why, it is just as brother Brigham says it
is; it is just as he has told us many a time.”
That is a testimony as to the truth of what brother Brigham
teaches us, and I know it is true, from what little light I
have. He saw the righteous gathered together in the spirit
world, and there were no wicked spirits among them. He
saw his wife; she was the first person that came to him. He
saw many that he knew, but did not have conversation
with any except his wife Caroline. She came to him, and he
said that she looked beautiful and had their little child, that
died on the Plains, in her arms, and said, "Mr. Grant, here
is little Margaret; you know that the wolves ate her up, but
it did not hurt her; here she is all right.”
"To my astonishment," he said, "when I looked at families
there was a deficiency in some, there was a lack, for I saw
families that would not be permitted to come and dwell
together, because they had not honored their calling here.”
He asked his wife Caroline where Joseph and Hyrum and
Father Smith and others were; she replied, "they have gone
away ahead, to perform and transact business for us.” The
same as when brother Brigham and his brethren left
Winter Quarters and came here to search out a home; they
came to find a location for their brethren.
He also spoke of the buildings he saw there, remarking that
the Lord gave Solomon wisdom and poured gold and silver
into his hands that he might display his skill and ability, and
said that the temple erected by Solomon was much inferior
to the most ordinary buildings he saw in the spirit world.
In regard to gardens, says brother Grant, "I have seen good
gardens on this earth, but I never saw any to compare with
those that were there. I saw flowers of numerous kinds,
and some with from fifty to a hundred different colored
flowers growing upon one stalk.” We have many kinds of
flowers on the earth, and I suppose those very articles
came from heaven, or they would not be here.
After mentioning the things that he had seen, he spoke of
how much he disliked to return and resume his body, after
having seen the beauty and glory of the spirit world, where
the righteous spirits are gathered together. (Journal of
Discourses, 4, p.136.)
Wilford Woodruff – While in the St. George temple I had a
son, who was in the north country, drowned. He had a
warning of this. In a dream he was notified how he would
die. We had testimony of that after his death. I asked the
Lord why he was taken from me. The answer to me was,
"You are doing a great deal for the redemption of your
dead; but the law of redemption requires some of your
own seed in the spirit world to attend to work connected
with this.” That was a new principle to me; but it satisfied
me why he was taken away. (The Discourses of Wilford Woodruff,
edited by G. Homer Durham, p. 292.)
The Work
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.)
D&C 138:29-32 – … I perceived that the Lord went not in
person among the wicked and the disobedient who had
rejected the truth, to teach them; 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.
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. 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.
Bruce R. McConkie – Until the death of Christ these two
spirit abodes [paradise and hell] were separated by a great
gulf, with the intermingling of their respective inhabitants
strictly forbidden. After our Lord bridged the gulf between
the two, the affairs of his kingdom in the spirit world were
so arranged that righteous spirits began teaching the
gospel to wicked ones. (Mormon Doctrine, p. 762.)
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, … among those who are in darkness and
under the bondage of sin in the great world of the spirits of
the dead. (Gospel Doctrine, p. 461; see also D&C 138.)
Brigham Young – Father Smith and Carlos and Brother
Partridge, yes, and every other good Saint, 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, edited by
John A. Widtsoe, p. 378.)
Joseph Fielding Smith – May I say for the consolation of
those who mourn, and for the comfort and guidance of all
of us, that no righteous man is ever taken before his time.
In the case of the faithful saints, they are simply
transferred to other fields of labor. The Lord's work goes
on in this life, in the world of spirits, and in the kingdoms of
glory where men go after their resurrection. (Quoted in The
Life Beyond by Robert L. Millet and Joseph Fielding McConkie, p.vii.)
Is it Easier and Faster to Learn in the Spirit World?
Caution
Hartman Rector, Jr. – It may be very difficult to gain
forgiveness for these kinds of sins. President Brigham
Young said it is a hundred times easier to repent here on
the earth than it is in the spirit world. By the same token, if
we go there in the right condition, it is a hundred times
easier to learn in the spirit world than it is here in this life.
So we should do what we can do best where we are. Now
is the best time to repent; then will be the best time to
learn. (Conference Report, October 1970, Afternoon Meeting, p.74-75.
Russell M. Nelson – [A book publisher] was interested in
the topic of possible continuation of life after what we
know as death. The publisher asked if I could contribute
stories from patients who had come close enough to death
to experience the other side and yet had survived to share
those accounts. Sensing public interest in that subject, he
would entitle the book Life after Life. When I considered
that request, I remembered many such incidents which had
been whispered in confidence to me over the years. But
those seemed too sacred to share in a worldly way,
especially to the benefit of a commercial venture. Besides,
what would be the validity of isolated stories of life after
life without supporting testimonies of witnesses? To me,
much more logical and convincing would be a study of
well-documented and carefully witnessed evidences of life
after life. (Conference Address, Ensign, May 1987, p. 8.)
Note: This does not appear to be an accurate paraphrase of President
Young. The only relevant quote we could find is below.)
Brigham Young – I shall not cease learning while I live, nor
when I arrive in the spirit-world; but shall there learn with
greater facility; and when I again receive my body, I shall
learn a thousand times more in a thousand times less time;
and then I do not mean to cease learning, but shall still
continue my researches. (Journal of Discourses, v. 8, p. 10.)
Robert L. Millet and Joseph Fielding McConkie – Is it easier
or more difficult to learn in the world of the spirits? Again
we return to the touchstone given us by Peter – spirits are
to be judged according to men in the flesh. If learning
were easier and repentance quicker in the spirit world,
then there would be little meaning in the declaration of the
Lord that "If a person gains more knowledge and
intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience
than another, he will have so much the advantage in the
world to come" (D&C 130:19.). Might we not say that those
who have trained their eyes to see and their ears to hear
will see and hear with far greater facility, while those who
have not done so must then learn to do so with painstaking
effort? (The Life Beyond, p.68.)
The Nature of the People
Alma 34:34 – Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that
awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God.
Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth
possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life,
that same spirit will have power to possess your body in
that eternal world.
Joseph Smith – Their relatives and friends are only
separated from their bodies for a short season: their spirits
which existed with God have left the tabernacle of clay
only for a little moment, as it were; and they now exist in a
place where they converse together the same as we do on
the earth. (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 353.)
Bruce R. McConkie – Life and work and activity all continue
in the spirit world. Men have the same talents and
intelligence there which they had in this life. They possess
the same attitudes, inclinations, and feelings there which
they had in this life … The great work in the world of spirits
is the preaching of the gospel to those who are imprisoned
by sin and false traditions. (Mormon Doctrine, p. 762.)
Appreciation and Joy
Henry Eyring (the father of President Eyring.) – One sees
good people cut off by death in their prime. This seems to
me to be evidence for a life after death. It is impossible to
reconcile such incompleteness with any other idea than
that we will live again and that what we have lost through
no fault of our own will be made up to us in full by a just
God. (From his chapter in Of Heaven and Earth: Reconciling Scientific
Thought with LDS Theology, edited by David Clark, p. 64.)
Neal A. Maxwell – On the other side of the veil, there are
perhaps seventy billion people. They need the same
gospel, and releases occur here to aid the Lord's work
there. Each release of a righteous individual from this life
is also a call to new labors. Those who have true hope
understand this. Therefore, though we miss the departed
righteous so much here, hundreds may feel their touch
there. One day, those hundreds will thank the bereaved
for gracefully forgoing the extended association with
choice individuals here, in order that they could help
hundreds there. In God's ecology, talent and love are
never wasted. The hopeful understand this, too.
(Notwithstanding My Weakness, p. 55..)
Brigham Young – We have more friends behind the veil
than on this side, and they will hail us more joyfully than
you were ever welcomed by your parents and friends in
this world; and you will rejoice more when you meet them
than you ever rejoiced to see a friend in this life; and then
we shall go on from step to step, from rejoicing to
rejoicing, and from one intelligence and power to another,
our happiness becoming more and more exquisite and
sensible as we proceed in the words and powers of life.
(Journal of Discourses, v. 6, p. 349.)
(By Zan and Misty Larsen, www.elarsen.net/lessons)
Additional Material
Joseph Smith in a Hurry
Wilford Woodruff – Joseph Smith visited me a great deal
after his death, and taught me many important principles.
On one occasion he and his brother Hyrum visited me
while I was in a storm at sea. I was going on my last
mission to preside in England. My companions were
Brother Leonard W. Hardy, Milton Holmes, Dan Jones, and
another brother, and my wife and two other women. We
had been traveling three days and nights in a heavy gale,
and were being driven backwards. Finally I asked my
companions to come into the cabin with me, and I told
them to pray that the Lord would change the wind. I had
no fears of being lost; but I did not like the idea of being
driven back to New York, as I wanted to go on my journey.
We all offered the same prayer, both men and women; and
when we got through we stepped on to the deck and in
less than a minute it was as though a man had taken a
sword and cut that gale through, and you might have
thrown a muslin handkerchief out and it would not have
moved it. The night following this Joseph and Hyrum
visited me, and the Prophet laid before me a great many
things. Among other things he told me to get the Spirit of
God; that all of us needed it. He also told me what the
twelve apostles would be called to go through on the earth
before the coming of the Son of Man, and what the reward
of their labors would be; but all that was taken from me for
some reason. Nevertheless it was most glorious, although
much would be required at our hands.
Joseph Smith continued visiting myself and others up to a
certain time, and then it stopped. The last time I saw him
was in heaven. In the night vision I saw him at the door of
the temple in heaven. He came to me and spoke to me.
He said he could not stop to talk with me because he was
in a hurry. The next man I met was Father Smith; he could
not talk with me because he was in a hurry. I met half a
dozen brethren who had held high positions on earth, and
none of them could stop to talk with me because they
were in a hurry. I was much astonished. By and by I saw
the Prophet again and I got the privilege of asking him a
question.
"Now," said I, "I want to know why you are in a hurry. I
have been in a hurry all my life; but I expected my hurry
would be over when I got into the kingdom of heaven, if I
ever did.”
Joseph said: "I will tell you, Brother Woodruff. Every
dispensation that has had the priesthood on the earth and
has gone into the celestial kingdom has had a certain
amount of work to do to prepare to go to the earth with
the Savior when he goes to reign on the earth. Each
dispensation has had ample time to do this work. We have
not. We are the last dispensation, and so much work has
to be done, and we need to be in a hurry in order to
accomplish it.”
Of course, that was satisfactory, but it was new doctrine to
me. (The Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, edited by G. Homer Durham,
p. 288-289.)
Description of the Spirit World
Parley P. Pratt – Now, how are they situated in the spirit
world? If we reason from analogy, we should at once
conclude that things exist there after the same pattern. I
have not the least doubt but there are spirits there who
have dwelt there a thousand years, who, if we could
converse with them face to face, would be found as
ignorant of the truths, the ordinances, powers, keys,
Priesthood, resurrection, and eternal life of the body, in
short, as ignorant of the fulness of the Gospel, with its
hopes and consolations, as [are the political and religious
leaders of our day].
And why this ignorance in the spirit world? Because a
portion of the inhabitants thereof are found unworthy of
the consolations of the Gospel, until the fulness of time,
until they have suffered in hell, in the dungeons of
darkness, or the prisons of the condemned, amid the
buffetings of fiends, and malicious and lying spirits.
Take another class of spirits-pious, well-disposed men; for
instance, the honest Quaker, Presbyterian, or other
sectarian, who, although honest, and well disposed, had
not, while in the flesh, the privilege of the Priesthood and
Gospel. They believed in Jesus Christ, but died in ignorance
of his ordinances, and had not clear conceptions of his
doctrine, and of the resurrection. They expected to go to
that place called heaven, as soon as they were dead, and
that their doom would then and there be fixed, without
any further alteration or preparation. Suppose they should
come back, with liberty to tell all they know? How much
light could we get from them? They could only tell you
about the nature of things in the world in which they live.
And even that world you could not comprehend, by their
description thereof, any more than you can describe
colours to a man born blind, or sounds to those who have
never heard.
What, then, could you get from them? Why, common chit
chat, in which there would be a mixture of truth, and of
error and mistakes, in mingled confusion: all their
communications would betray the same want of clear and
logical conceptions, and sound sense and philosophy, as
would characterize the same class of spirits in the flesh.
Who, then, is prepared, among the spirits in the spirit
world, to communicate the truth on the subject of
salvation, to guide the people, to give advice, to confer
consolation, to heal the sick, to administer joy, and
gladness, and hope of immortality and eternal life, founded
on manifest truth? (Journal of Discourses, v. 1, p. 11-12.)
Joseph Smith – When you climb up a ladder, you must
begin at the bottom, and ascend step by step, until you
arrive at the top; and so it is with the principles of the
gospel-you must begin with the first, and go on until you
learn all the principles of exaltation. But it will be a great
while after you have passed through the veil before you
will have learned them. It is not all to be comprehended in
this world; it will be a great work to learn our salvation and
exaltation even beyond the grave. (History of The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, v. 6, p.306–307.)
Regarding Joseph F. Smith and D&C 138
Robert L. Millet – At the April 1916 general conference [2.5
years before receiving D&C 138] President Smith delivered
a remarkable address, the thrust of which established a
theme for the next thirty months of his life, and most
important for this discussion, laid the foundation for his
final doctrinal contribution—the Vision of the Redemption
of the Dead. In his opening sermon entitled "In the
Presence of the Divine," Joseph F. spoke of the nearness of
the world of spirits, and of the interest and concern for us
and our labors exercised by those who have passed beyond
the veil. He stressed that those who labored so diligently
in their mortal estate to establish the cause of Zion would
not be denied the privilege of "looking down upon the
results of their own labors" from their post-mortal estate.
In fact, the President insisted, "they are as deeply
interested in our welfare today, if not with greater
capacity, with far more interest, behind the veil, than they
were in the flesh.” Perhaps the keynote statement of the
Prophet in this sermon was the following: "Sometimes the
Lord expands our vision from this point of view and this side
of the veil, so that we feel and seem to realize that we can
look beyond the thin veil which separates us from that
other sphere.” This remark, both penetrating and
prophetic, set the stage for the next two and one-half
years.
…As finite man stands in the twilight of life, he is
occasionally able to view existence with divine perspective
and is thus capable of opening himself to the things of
infinity. "If we live our holy religion," President Brigham
Young taught in 1862, "and let the Spirit reign," the mind of
man "will not become dull and stupid, but as the body
approaches dissolution the spirit takes a firmer hold on the
enduring substance behind the veil, drawing from the
depths of that eternal Fountain of Light sparkling gems of
intelligence which surround the frail and sinking tabernacle
with a halo of immortal wisdom.” (Studies in Scripture, v. 1: The
Doctrine and Covenants p. 556–558.)
Joseph Smith – Hades, the Greek, or Shaole, the Hebrew:
these two significations mean a world of spirits. Hades,
Shaole, paradise, spirits in prison, are all one: it is a world
of spirits. The righteous and the wicked all go to the same
world of spirits until the resurrection. "I do not think so,"
says one. If you will go to any house any time, I will take
my lexicon and prove it to you. The great misery of
departed spirits in the world of spirits, where they go after
death, is to know that they have come short of the glory
that others enjoy and that they might have enjoyed
themselves, and they are their own accusers. (History of The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, v. 5, p. 424-26.)
Does D&C 138 say that just after his death the Savior
taught not just those who had died in the spirit world but
also people who had not yet been born?
D&C 138: 53, 56 –The Prophet Joseph Smith, and my
father, Hyrum Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford
Woodruff, and other choice spirits … Even before they
were born, they, with many others, received their first
lessons in the world of spirits …
Robert L. Millet – By the power of the Holy Ghost
President Smith perceived the identity of many of the
noble and great from the beginning of time, including
Adam, Seth, Noah, Abraham, Isaiah, the Nephite prophets
before Christ, and many more. In addition, the President
recognized Mother Eve and many of her faithful daughters.
Joseph F. had taught a number of years earlier that women
minister to women in the spirit world, even as they do in
holy places on earth.
It would appear at this point that President Smith's vision
shifted in time—from a first century A.D. gathering to a
scene of workers in the spirit world during the final gospel
dispensation. A change in time-frame is common in visions,
as can be seen from the experiences of Nephi (1 Ne. 13-14.),
John the Apostle (Rev. 11-12.), and Joseph Smith (D&C 76.).
President Smith saw in the spirit world his predecessors in
the presidency of the restored Church, and other noble
leaders who played such a critical role "in laying the
foundations of the great latter-day work" (vv. 53-54.).
It may be that the vision shifted again in time, allowing
President Smith a glimpse into the pre-mortal world. He
observed that the great leaders of the latter-day Church
were "among the noble and great ones who were chosen
in the beginning to be rulers in the Church of God," and he
became aware of their pre-mortal lessons, preparation,
and foreordination (w. 55-56.). (From his chapter in Studies In
Scripture: Vol. 1: The Doctrine and Covenants, p. 559-560..)
Travel Ability; Faith Just to Stay
Brigham Young – … When disease seizes our systems, we
do not know what to do, and death often overcomes us,
and we bury our friends. This is hard for us, but what of it?
We will follow them, they will not come back to us. The
time will come when they will come back, but that will be
when Jesus comes. We shall be with them then; but we
shall perhaps sleep in the dust long before that time, that
is, many of us.
Perhaps some in this house will live until Jesus and the
Saints come, but I expect to sleep. I have no promise of
living until then. I can say with regard to parting with our
friends, and going ourselves, that I have been near enough
to understand eternity so that I have had to exercise a
great deal more faith to desire to live than I ever exercised
in my whole life to live.
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. (Journal of Discourses, v.
The brightness and glory of the next apartment is
inexpressible. It is not encumbered with this clog of dirt
we are carrying around here so that when we advance in
years we have to be stubbing along and to be careful lest
we fall down. We see our youth, even, frequently stubbing
their toes and falling down. But yonder, how different!
They move with ease and like lightning. If we want to visit
Jerusalem, or this, that, or the other place-and I presume
we will be permitted if we desire-there we are, looking at
its streets. If we want to behold Jerusalem as it was in the
days of the Savior; or if we want to see the Garden of Eden
as it was when created, there we are, and we see it as it
existed spiritually, for it was created first spiritually and
then temporally, and spiritually it still remains.
Bruce R. McConkie – Occasionally in the overall
perspective someone came along who so lived that he was
translated, but that's not particularly for our day and
generation. When we die, our obligation is to go into the
spirit world and continue to preach the gospel there. So,
as far as people now living are concerned, our obligation is
to believe and live the truth, and chart a course to eternal
life. And if we do it, we get peace and joy and happiness in
this life; and, when we go into the eternal realms ahead,
we continue there to work in the cause of righteousness.
And we will not fail! We go on to eternal reward. (Sermons
And when there we may behold the earth as at the dawn
of creation, or we may visit any city we please that exists
upon its surface. If we wish to understand how they are
living here on these western islands, or in China, we are
there; in fact, we are like the light of the morning, or, I will
not say the electric fluid, but its operations on the wires.
God has revealed some little things with regard to His
movements and power, and the operation and motion of
the lightning furnish a fine illustration of the ability and
power of the Almighty. If you could stretch a wire from
this room around the world until the two ends nearly met
here again, and were to apply a battery to one end, if the
electrical conditions were perfect, the effect of the touch
would pass with such inconceivable velocity that it would
be felt at the other end of the wire at the same moment.
This is what the faithful Saints are coming to; they will
possess this power, and if they wish to visit different
planets, they will be there. If the Lord wish to visit His
children here, He is here; if He wish to send one of His
angels to the earth to speak to some of His children, he is
here. (Journal of Discourses, v.14, p. 231.)
Gather Together in Societies
D&C 130:1-2 – When the Savior shall appear we shall see
him as he is. We shall see that he is a man like ourselves.
And that same sociality which exists among us here will
exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal
glory, which glory we do not now enjoy.
Brigham Young – The spirits that dwell in these tabernacles
on this earth, when they leave them, go directly into the
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
2, p. 137.)
Translation Is Not for Us
and Writings of Bruce R. McConkie, p. 55.)
We’re In a Sort of Hell Now;
Same Personality There as Here
Heber C. Kimball – If you do not cultivate yourselves, and
cultivate your spirits in this state of existence, it is just as
true as there is a God that liveth, you will have to go into
another state of existence, and bring your spirits into
subjection there. Now you may reflect upon it, you never
will obtain your resurrected bodies, until you bring your
spirits into subjection. I am not talking to this earthly
house of mine, neither am I talking to your bodies, but I am
speaking to your spirits. I am not talking as to people who
are not in the house. Are not your bodies your houses,
your tabernacles or temples, and places for your spirits?
Look at it; reflect upon it. If you keep your spirits trained
according to the wisdom and fear of God, you will attain to
the salvation of both body and spirit. I ask, then, if it is
your spirits that must be brought into subjection? It is; and
if you do not do that in those bodies, you will have to go
into another estate to do it. You have got to train
yourselves according to the law of God, or you will never
obtain your resurrected bodies.
You are talking about heaven and about earth, and about
hell, etc.; but let me tell you, you are in hell now, and you
have got to qualify yourselves here in hell to become
subjects for heaven: and even when you have got into
heaven, you will find it right here where you are on this
earth.
[God] is near by, His angels are our associates, they are
with us and around about us, and watch over us, and take
care of us, and lead us, and guide us, and administer to our
wants in their ministry and in their holy calling unto which
they are appointed. We are told in the Bible that angels
are ministering spirits to minister to those who shall
become heirs of salvation.
He [Willard Richards] has gone; and it will not be long
before Brother Brigham and Brother Heber follow after.
He has gone to the world of spirits to engage in a work he
could not do if he had remained in the flesh. I do not
believe he could have done as much work for the general
good of the cause of God, had he remained in the flesh, as
he can accomplish now in the spirit; for there is a work to
do there—the Gospel to preach, Israel to gather, that they
may purify themselves, and become united in one heart
and mind.
What! In the spirit world? Have I not told you often that
the separation of body and spirit makes no difference in the
moral and intellectual condition of the spirit? When a
person, who has always been good and faithful to his God,
lays down his body in the dust, his spirit will remain the
same in the spirit world. It is not the body that has control
of the spirit, as to its disposition, but it is the spirit that
controls the body. When the spirit leaves the body the
body becomes lifeless. The spirit has not changed one
single particle of itself by leaving the body. Were I to fall
into a mud-hole I should strive to extricate myself; but I do
not suppose I should be any better, any more righteous,
any more just and holy when I got out of it than when I was
in it.
It seems natural for me to desire to be clothed upon with
immortality and eternal life, and leave this mortal flesh;
but I desire to stick to it as long as I can be a comfort to my
sisters, brethren, wives and children. Independent of this
consideration I would not turn my hand over to live five
minutes. What else could give birth to a single desire to
live in this tabernacle, which is more or less shattered by
the merciless storms which have beat upon it, to say
nothing of the ravages made upon it by the tooth of time?
While I cling to it I must of necessity suffer many pains,
rheumatism, headache, jaw-ache and heartache;
sometimes in one part of my body and sometimes in
another. It is all right; it is so ordained that we may not
cling with too great a tenacity to mortal flesh, but be
willing to pass through the veil and meet with Joseph, and
Hyrum, and Willard, and Bishop Whitney and thousands of
others in the world of spirits. (The Life of Heber C. Kimball, p.
459-466.)
Heber C. Kimball – On the other hand, when righteous
persons die, their spirits also go into the spirit world, but
they go to work with the servants of God to help to do
good, and to bring about the purposes of the Almighty
pertaining to this earth; while wicked spirits, those who
have been wicked in this probation, take the opposite
course, just the same as they did here. I have said, a great
many times, that that spirit which possesses us here will
possess us when our spirits leave our bodies, and we shall
there be very much the same as we are here.
If you are subject to rebellious spirits, or to a spirit of
apostacy here, will you not have the same spirit beyond
the vail that you had on this side? You will, and it will have
power over you to lead you to do wrong, and it will control
your spirits. If, then, you are opposed to the truth while
you are here, you will be occupied in that opposition
hereafter, for the spirit that is opposed to the work of God
here, will be opposed to that work when beyond the vail. I
do not guess at this, because I have been at the other side
of the vail, in vision, and have seen a degree of its
condition with the eyes that God gave me. I have seen it
and have seen those that lived in the faith and had the
privilege of seeing Jesus, Peter, James, and the rest of the
ancient Apostles, and of hearing them preach the Gospel. I
have also seen those who rebelled against them, and they
still had a rebellious spirit, fighting against God and His
servants. (Journal of Discourses, v. 4, p. 274.)
Evil Influences
Brigham Young – We may enquire where the spirits dwell,
that the devil has power over? They dwell anywhere, in
Preston, as well as in other places in England. Do they
dwell anywhere else? Yes, on this continent; it is full of
them. If you could see, and would walk over many parts of
North America, you would see millions on millions of the
spirits of those who have been slain upon this continent.
Would you see the spirits of those who were as good in the
flesh as they knew how to be? Yes. Would you see the
spirits of the wicked? Yes. Could you see the spirits of
devils? Yes, and that is all there is of them. They have
been deprived of bodies, and that constitutes their curse,
that is to say, speaking after the manner of men, you shall
be wanderers on the earth, you [the devils] have got to live
out of doors all the time you live. (Journal of Discourses, v. 3, p.
368-369.)
Parley P. Pratt – Many spirits of the departed, who are
unhappy, linger in lonely wretchedness about the earth,
and in the air, and especially about their ancient
homesteads, and the places rendered dear to them by the
memory of former scenes. (Key to the Science of Theology, p.
117.)
George Q. Cannon – There are influences in the
atmosphere that are invisible to us that, while we are here
upon the earth, we ought to resist with all our might, mind,
and strength-influences which, if we would be led by them,
would lead us to destruction-influences that are opposed
to the Spirit of God-influences that would bring upon us
destruction here and hereafter, if we would yield to them.
These influences we have to resist. We have to resist the
spirit of adultery, the spirit of whoredom, the spirit of
drunkenness, the spirit of theft, and every other evil
influence and spirit, that we may continually overcome;
and, when we have finished our work on the earth, be
prepared to govern and control those influences, and
exercise power over them, in the presence of our Father
and God. I have no doubt that many of my brethren and
sisters have sensibly felt in various places and at various
times evil influences around them.
Brother Joseph Smith gave an explanation of this. There
are places in the Mississippi Valley where the influence or
the presence of invisible spirits are very perceptibly felt.
He said that numbers had been slain there in war, and that
there were evil influences or spirits which affect the spirits
of those who have tabernacles on the earth. I myself have
felt those influences in other places besides the continent
of America; I have felt them on the old battle grounds on
the Sandwich Islands. I have come to the conclusion that if
our eyes were open to see the spirit world around us, we
should feel differently on this subject than we do; we
would not be so unguarded and careless, and so indifferent
whether we had the spirit and power of God with us or
not; but we would be continually watchful and prayerful to
our heavenly Father for His Holy Spirit and His holy angels
to be around about us to strengthen us to overcome every
evil influence. (Journal of Discourses, v. 11, p. 30.)
Hugh Nibley – [Quoting Brigham Young,] "There are
invisible agencies around us in sufficient numbers to
encourage the slightest disposition they may discover in us
to forsake the true way, and fan into a flame the slightest
spark of discontent and unbelief. The spirits of the ancient
Gadiantons are around us." (Brother Brigham Challenges the
Saints, ch. 7.)
We Are Now Disorganized
Robert L. Millet – Some time after Joseph Smith's death,
he appeared to Brigham Young and gave specific and
pointed instructions as to why the members of the Church
must labor to acquire and keep the Spirit of the Lord. "Tell
the people to be humble and faithful," Joseph Smith
counseled his successor, "and be sure to keep the Spirit of
the Lord and it will lead them right.
"Be careful and not turn away the small still voice; it will
teach them what to do and where to go; it will yield the
fruits of the kingdom. Tell the brethren to keep their
hearts open to conviction, so that when the Holy Ghost
comes to them, their hearts will be ready to receive it.
They can tell the Spirit of the Lord from all other spirits; it
will whisper peace and joy to their souls; it will take malice,
hatred, strife and all evil from their hearts; and their whole
desire will be to do good, bring forth righteousness and
build up the kingdom of God. Tell the brethren if they will
follow the Spirit of the Lord, they will go right. Be sure to
tell the people to keep the Spirit of the Lord; and if they
will, they will find themselves just as they were organized
by our Father in Heaven before they came into the world.
Our Father in Heaven organized the human family, but they
are all disorganized and in great confusion.
"Joseph then showed me the pattern," President Young
continued, "how they were in the beginning. This I cannot
describe, but I saw it, and saw where the Priesthood had
been taken from the earth and how it must be joined
together, so that there would be a perfect chain from
Father Adam to his latest posterity. Joseph again said, 'Tell
the people to be sure to keep the Spirit of the Lord and
follow it, and it will lead them just right.'" (Selected Writings of
Robert L. Millet: Gospel Scholars Series, p. 428. His source is Journal
History, 23 Feb. 1847.)
Stephen E. Robinson – [Regarding the pseudepigrapha:]
The Book of Enoch teaches that the spirits of the dead are
segregated into special areas according to their degrees of
righteousness to await the resurrection and the judgment
(1 En 22). (“Background for the Testaments,” Ensign, Dec. 1982, p. 25.)
Closeness
Joseph F. Smith – Sometimes the Lord expands our vision
from this point of view and this side of the veil, that we feel
and seem to realize that we can look beyond the thin veil
which separates us from that other sphere. If we can see,
by the enlightening influence of the Spirit of God and
through the words that have been spoken by the holy
prophets of God, beyond the veil that separates us from
the spirit world, surely those who have passed beyond, can
see more clearly through the veil back here to us than it is
possible for us to see to them from our sphere of action.
I believe we move and have our being in the presence of
heavenly messengers and of heavenly beings. We are not
separated from them. We begin to realize more and more
fully, as we become acquainted with the principles of the
gospel, as they have been revealed anew in this
dispensation, that we are closely related to our kindred, to
our ancestors, to our friends and associates and colaborers who have preceded us into the spirit world. We
cannot forget them; we do not cease to love them; we
always hold them in our hearts, in memory, and thus we
are associated and united to them by ties that we cannot
break, that we cannot dissolve or free ourselves from.
If this is the case with us in our finite condition, surrounded
by our mortal weaknesses, shortsightedness, lack of
inspiration and wisdom, from time to time, how much
more certain it is, and reasonable and consistent, to
believe that those who have been faithful, who have gone
beyond, are still engaged in the work for the salvation of
the souls of men, in the opening of the prison doors to
them that are bound and proclaiming liberty to the
captives, who can see us better than we can see them—
that they know us better than we know them.
They have advanced; we are advancing; we are growing as
they have grown; we are reaching the goal that they have
attained unto; and therefore, I claim that we live in their
presence, they see us, they are solicitous for our welfare,
they love us now more than ever. For now they see the
dangers that beset us; they can comprehend better than
ever before, the weaknesses that are liable to mislead us
into dark and forbidden paths. They see the temptations
and the evils that beset us in life, and the proneness of
mortal beings to yield to temptation and to wrong doing;
hence their solicitude for us and their love for us and their
desire for our well-being must be greater than that which
we feel for ourselves.
I thank God for the feeling that I possess and enjoy, and for
the realization that I have that I stand, not only in the
presence of Almighty God, my Maker and Father, but in the
presence of his Only Begotten Son in the flesh, the Savior
of the world; and I stand in the presence of Peter and
James (and perhaps the eyes of John are also upon us and
we know it not) and that I stand also in the presence of
Joseph, and Hyrum, and Brigham and John, and those who
have been valiant in the testimony of Jesus Christ and
faithful to their mission in the world, who have gone
before.
Kent P. Jackson – Here then we have an account of our
Savior preaching to the spirits in prison, to spirits that had
been imprisoned from the days of Noah. And what did he
preach to them? That they were to stay there? Certainly
not. Let his own declaration testify: "He hath sent me to
heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the
captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at
liberty them that are bruised" (Luke 4:18). Isaiah has it, "to
bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit
in darkness from the prison house" (Isaiah 42:7). It is very
evident from this that he not only went to preach to them
but to deliver, or bring them out of the prison house
…Those who were disobedient in the days of Noah were
visited by our Savior, who possessed the everlasting
Melchizedek Priesthood, and had the gospel preached to
them by him in prison. And in order that they might fulfill
all the requisitions of God, their living friends were
baptized for their dead friends and thus fulfilled the
requirements of God. (Joseph Smith's Commentary on the Bible, p.
202.)
When I go, I want to have the privilege of meeting them
with the consciousness that I have followed their example,
that I have carried out the mission in which they were
engaged, as they would have it carried out; that I have
been as faithful in the discharge of duty, committed to me
and required at my hand, as they were faithful in their
time, and that when I meet them, I shall meet them as I
met them here, in love, in harmony, in unison, and in
perfect confidence that I have done my duty as they have
done theirs. (Gospel Doctrine, ch. 24.)
Neal A. Maxwell – [After quoting Moses 6:59 …] Note that
baptism and the Holy Ghost permit us to "enjoy the words
of eternal life in this world." In the absence of these two
prerequisites, however, individuals will not really "enjoy"
the holy scriptures or the words of the living prophets.
This is no small clue as to why some are put off by, rather
than become attached to, the Church and the gospel. (If
The Savior in the Spirit World
Alma 56:47-48 – Now they never had fought, yet they did
not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of
their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had
been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt,
God would deliver them. And they rehearsed unto me the
words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our
mothers knew it.
Moses 7:38-39 – 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 pled 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.
JST 1 Peter 3:19-20 – For which cause also, he went and
preached unto the spirits in prison; Some of whom were
disobedient in the days of Noah, while the long-suffering of
God waited, while the ark was preparing, wherein few, that
is, eight souls were saved by water.
Joseph Fielding Smith – From this we learn that the Lord
has prepared a prison for the souls of all those who
rejected the testimony of the [pre-flood] prophets, where
they were to remain in torment until the time when Jesus
should atone for their sins and return to the Father.
(Doctrines of Salvation, v. 2, p. 157.)
Neal A. Maxwell – Did not this good and true Shepherd
forego repose after the glorious but awful Atonement in
order to establish His work among the lost sheep,
disobedient in the days of Noah? (Ensign, Nov. 1981, p. 8.)
Thou Endure It Well, p. 38.)
Miscellaneous
Alma 22:14 – And since man had fallen he could not merit
anything of himself; but the sufferings and death of Christ
atone for their sins, through faith and repentance, and so
forth; and that he breaketh the bands of death, that the
grave shall have no victory, and that the sting of death
should be swallowed up in the hopes of glory; and Aaron
did expound all these things unto the king.
D&C 138:23-24 – And the saints rejoiced in their
redemption, and bowed the knee and acknowledged the
Son of God as their Redeemer and Deliverer from death
and the chains of hell. Their countenances shone, and the
radiance from the presence of the Lord rested upon them,
and they sang praises unto his holy name.
Joseph Smith – The great misery of departed spirits in the
world of spirits, where they go after death, is to know that
they come short of the glory that others enjoy and that
they might have enjoyed themselves, and they are their
own accusers. (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 310-11.).
For more great material see the manual Teachings of the
Presidents of the Church, Brigham Young, chapter 38, on
the spirit world.
Ezra Taft Benson – David O. McKay and President Harold B.
Lee used to relate an experience from his life that is
instructive to all of us.
A son of Bishop and Sister Wells was killed in a railroad
accident in Emigration Canyon, east of Salt Lake City. He
was run over by a freight car. Sister Wells could not be
consoled. She received no comfort during the funeral and
continued her mourning after her son was laid to rest.
Bishop Wells feared for her health, as she was in a state of
deep anguish.
One day, soon after the funeral, Sister Wells was lying on
her bed in a state of mourning. The son appeared to her
and said, "Mother, do not mourn, do not cry. I am all
right." He then related to her how the accident took place.
Apparently there had been some question-even suspicionabout the accident, because the young man was an
experienced railroad man. But he told his mother that it
was clearly an accident.
He also told her that as soon as he realized that he was in
another sphere, he had tried to reach his father but could
not. His father was so busy with the details of his office and
work that he could not respond to the promptings.
Therefore, the son had come to his mother. He then said,
"Tell Father that all is well with me, and I want you not to
mourn anymore." (Come unto Christ, p.18.)
Institute Manual – Soon after Lorenzo Snow was baptized,
he received a blessing from Patriarch Joseph Smith Sr.
Among other blessings, Lorenzo was promised that “if
expedient the dead shall rise and come forth at thy
bidding” (quoted in Romney, Life of Lorenzo Snow, 406.). This
promised blessing was literally fulfilled many years later
when President Snow, then President of the Quorum of the
Twelve Apostles, blessed his niece Ella Jensen, of Brigham
City, Utah, and called her spirit back from the spirit world
after she had been dead for three hours.
Ella Jensen wrote the following about her experience: “On
the 1st of March, 1891, I was taken severely ill with the
scarlet fever, and suffered very much for a week. It was on
the morning of the 9th that I awoke with a feeling that I
was going to die. As soon as I opened my eyes I could see
some of my relatives from the other world ... I then asked
my sister to assist me in getting ready to go into the spirit
world. She combed my hair, washed me, and I brushed my
teeth and cleaned my nails that I might be clean when
going before my Maker ... I then bade my dear ones good
by, and my spirit left my body.
“For some time I could hear my parents and relatives
weeping and mourning, which troubled me greatly. As
soon, however, as I had a glimpse of the other world my
attention was drawn away from them to my relatives
there, who all seemed pleased to see me ... I saw so many
of my departed friends and relatives, all of whom I have
mentioned many times afterwards, and with many of them
I conversed ... After having stayed with my departed
friends what seemed to me but a very short time, yet it
lasted several hours, I heard Apostle Lorenzo Snow
administer to me, telling me that I must come back, as I
had some work to do on the earth yet. I was loath to leave
the heavenly place, but told my friends that I must leave
them ... For a long time afterwards I had a great desire to
go back to the place of heavenly rest, where I dwelt so
short a time” (“Remarkable Experience,” Young Woman’s Journal,
Jan. 1893, p. 165, Presidents of the Church [Institute manual], p. 84.).
Heber Q. Hale – I readily observed their displeasure at our
use of the word ‘death’ in referring to the transition from
mortality to immortality. They use there another word,
which I do not now recall, and I can only approach its
meaning as the impression was left upon my mind by
calling it a new birth … A sweet calmness pervades
everything. The people I met there I did not think of as
spirits, but as men and women, self-thinking and selfacting individuals, going about important business in a
most orderly manner. There was perfect order there and
everybody had something to do, and seemed to be about
their business ... the wicked and unrepentant are confined
to a certain district by themselves, the confines of which
are so definitely determined and impassable as the line
marking the division of the physical from the spiritual
world, a mere film, but impassable until the person himself
has changed … People were seen coming from the higher
to the lower spheres in pursuit of their missionary
appointments … a tremendously great and extensive world,
even greater than our earth, and more numerously
inhabited. (UoU J. Willard Marriott Library, Special Collections,
Collect Number: UU_Accn0287. See the document “Heavenly
Manifestation, Heber Q. Hale.doc for the full version..)
Harold B. Lee – I was suffering from an ulcer condition that
was becoming worse and worse. We had been touring a
mission; my wife, Joan, and I were impressed the next
morning that we should get home as quickly as possible,
although we had planned to stay for some other meetings.
On the way across the country, we were sitting in the
forward section of the airplane. Some of our Church
members were in the next section. As we approached a
certain point en route, someone laid his hand upon my
head. I looked up; I could see no one. That happened again
before we arrived home, again with the same experience.
Who it was, by what means or what medium, I may never
know, except I knew that I was receiving a blessing that I
came a few hours later to know I needed most desperately.
As soon as we arrived home, my wife very anxiously called
the doctor. It was now about 11 o’clock at night. He called
me to come to the telephone, and he asked me how I was,
and I said, “Well, I am very tired. I think I will be all right.”
But shortly thereafter, there came massive hemorrhages
which, had they occurred while we were in flight, I
wouldn’t be here today talking about it. (“Stand Ye in Holy
Places”, Ensign, July 1973..)
George Albert Smith – I stand here to plead with you, my
brethren and sisters, not to permit words of criticism or of
unkindness to pass your lips about those whom the Lord
has called to lead us. … [If you do,] because of your
selfishness and your blindness you will have been led away,
and your loved ones …. will be sorrowing on the other side
of the veil because of your weakness and your folly.
(Teachings of the Presidents of the Church, George Albert Smith, p. 6.3.)
Neal A. Maxwell – Death does not suddenly bestow upon
the disbeliever full awareness of all reality, thereby
obviating the need for any faith. Instead, what follows
death is a continuum of the basic structure in mortality until the Judgment Day, when every knee shall bow and
every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ (see Rom. 14:11;
Philip. 2:10; D&C 76:110.). Until then, we "walk by faith, not by
sight" (2 Cor. 5:7.). How will God ensure this condition in the
spirit world? We do not know. Yet He has certainly so
handled the second estate in relation to the first estate,
hasn't He? The memories of the first estate are not
accessible in the second estate. The spirit world will be so
arranged that there will be no legitimate complaints later
over the justice and mercy of God (see Mosiah 27:31; Alma
12:15.). (That Ye May Believe, p. 94..)
Spencer W. Kimball – My uncle, David Patten Kimball, left
his home in Arizona on a trip across the Salt River desert.
He had fixed up his books and settled accounts and had
told his wife of a premonition that he would not return. He
was lost on the desert for two days and three nights,
suffering untold agonies of thirst and pain.
He passed into the spirit world and described later, in a
letter of January 8, 1882, to his sister, what happened
there. He had seen his parents. "My father … told me I
could remain there if I chose to do so, but I pleaded with
him that I might stay with my family long enough to make
them comfortable, to repent of my sins, and more fully
prepare myself for the change. Had it not been for this, I
never should have returned home, except as a corpse.
Father finally told me I could remain two years and to do all
the good I could during that time, after which he would
come for me …” He mentioned four others that he would
come for also …
Two years to the day from that experience on the desert
he died easily and apparently without pain. Shortly before
he died he looked up and cried, "Father, Father.” Within
approximately a year of his death the other four men
named were also dead. (Tragedy or Destiny.)
Alex Haley – [Kunta’s father Omoro] said that three groups
of people lived in every village. First were those you could
see – walking around, eating, sleeping, and working.
Second were the ancestors, whom Grandma Yaisa had now
joined. "And the third people – who are they?" asked
Kunta. "The third people," said Omoro, "are those waiting
to be born." (Roots: The Enhanced Edition: The Saga of an American
Family, p. 24.)
Ezra Taft Benson – Nothing is going to startle us more
when we pass through the veil to the other side than to
realize how well we know our Father and how familiar his
face is to us. And then, President Young said, we’re going
to wonder why we were so stupid in the flesh. (“Jesus
Christ—Gifts and Expectations,” BYU Speeches, Dec. 10, 1974, also
“Insights: We Seek That Which Is Praiseworthy," Ensign, Jul. 1975, p. 6263. Although this quote appears multiple times at lds.org, we could not
find the original quote.)
Brigham Young – Yet, if we live our holy religion and let the
spirit reign, it will not become dull and stupid, but as the
body approaches dissolution the spirit takes a firmer hold
on that enduring substance behind the veil, drawing from
the depths of that eternal Fountain of Light sparkling gems
of intelligence which surround the frail and sinking
tabernacle with a halo of immortal wisdom. (Journal of
Discourses, v. 9, p. 288.)
Brigham Young – When death is past, the power of Satan
has no more influence over a faithful individual; that spirit
is free, and can command the power of Satan. The penalty
demanded by the fall has been fully paid; all is
accomplished pertaining to it, when the tabernacle of a
faithful person is returned to the earth. All that was lost is
passed away, and that person will again receive his body.
When he is in the spirit world, he is free from those
contaminating and condemning influences of Satan that we
are now subject to. Here our bodies are subject to being
killed by our enemies—our names to being cast out as evil.
We are persecuted, hated, not beloved: though I presume
that we are as much beloved here as the spirits of the
Saints are in the spirit world by those spirits who hate
righteousness. It is the same warfare, but we will have
power over them. Those who have passed through the veil
have power over the evil spirits to command, and they
must obey. (Journal of Discourses, v. 7, p. 240-241.)
Brigham Young – When the breath leaves the body, your
life has not become extinct; your life is still in existence.
And when you are in the spirit world, everything there will
appear as natural as things now do. Spirits will be familiar
with spirits in the spirit world—will converse, behold, and
exercise every variety of communication with one another
as familiarly and naturally as while here in tabernacles.
There, as here, all things will be natural, and you will
understand them as you now understand natural things.
You will there see that those spirits we are speaking of are
active; they sleep not. And you will learn that they are
striving with all their might—laboring and toiling diligently
as any individual would to accomplish an act in this world—
to destroy the children of men. (Journal of Discourses, v. 7, p.
239.).
Brigham Young – When we pass into the spirit world we
shall possess a measure of his power. Here, we are
continually troubled with ills and ailments of various kinds.
In the spirit world we are free from all this and enjoy life,
glory, and intelligence; and we have the Father to speak to
us, Jesus to speak to us, and angels to speak to us, and we
shall enjoy the society of the just and the pure who are in
the spirit world until the resurrection. (Journal of Discourses, v.
14, p. 231.)
The Secret Book of John – I went into the realm of great
darkness and continued until I entered the midst of the
prison. The foundations of chaos shook, and I hid from
them because of their evil, and they did not recognize me.
Again I returned, a second time, and went on. I had come
from the inhabitants of light—I, the remembrance of
forethought.
I entered the midst of darkness and the bowels of the
underworld, turning to my task. The foundations of chaos
shook as though to fall upon those who dwell in chaos and
destroy them. Again I hurried back to the root of my light
so they might not be destroyed before their time.
Again, a third time, I went forth—
I am the light dwelling in light,
I am the remembrance of forethought—
so that I might enter the midst of darkness and the
bowels of the underworld. I brightened my face with
light from the consummation of their realm and entered
the midst of their prison, which is the prison of the
body.
I said,
Let whoever hears arise from deep sleep.
A person wept and shed tears. Bitter tears the person
wiped away, and said, Who is calling my name? From
where has my hope come as I dwell in the bondage of
prison?
I said,
I am the forethought of pure light,
I am the thought of the virgin spirit, who raises you to a
place of honor.
Arise, remember that you have heard
and trace your root,
which is I, the compassionate.
Guard yourself against the angels of misery,
the demons of chaos and all who entrap you,
and beware of deep sleep
and the trap in the bowels of the underworld.
I raised and sealed the person in luminous water with
five seals, that death might not prevail over the person
from that moment on.
(Also known as The Apocryphon of John, or The Secret Revelation of
John, translated by Marvin Meyer, http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/
apocjn-meyer.html)
Hugh B. Brown – I assume that if the unborn babe could
speak, he would rebel at the prospect of birth; he would
say, “I cannot live if you take me out of my present
environment beneath my mother’s heart. My life is so
definitely a part of her life that if you separate us I am sure
I will die and cease to be.” And yet, that babe, when born,
finds himself in an environment suited to his undeveloped
organs and functions. He finds that someone has made
provision for his coming, that there is water and food and
air to satisfy his stomach and lungs which, though present,
were not needed in his pre-natal state.
I wonder if when we die, we are in fact just born into
another sphere. Personally, I am quite content to leave the
outcome with the same good God who made provisions for
my coming here, and personally I believe that I might have
certain spiritual organs which will function fully only when I
am born into an environment suited to them. (Letter to a
friend, http://lds.net/blog/faith/defending-the-faith/never-seen-letterdoubt-hugh-b-brown/)