Sons & Daughters of God

"Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters... (Mosiah 27:25 emphasis added).

Becoming "his sons and daughters" is an exalted state, and is not the same as being God's children, as all of the family of Adam are God's children. Let me explain. According to Isaiah, there is an ascension into heaven whereby we move either up this ladder or down. The higher we ascend, the closer we get to God and the more like Him we become. Conversely, the lower we descend, the farther away we get from God and the less like Him we become. I do not like the term ascend as it may imply that it is through our own efforts, but it is definitely a movement upward as we receive and become more. Each rebirth on a higher level is like an awakening from sleep to a deeper awareness, as in more intelligence or more light and truth as we become more like Him. 

The levels he describes are:

Seraphs

Sons-Daughters/Servants

Zion/Jerusalem

Jacob/Israel

Babylon

These are listed in order with Babylon being the lowest, keeping in mind that at the endtime, Babylon and everything and everyone in it will be destroyed. Over time we grow ignorant of anything but Babylon, and by choosing falsely or by aborting life's tests, we forfeit being reborn on higher levels. Isaiah characterizes Babylon as saying: "I exist, and other than I there is nothing!" 

People can't imagine that the end of their world draws near. They have lost touch with the source of salvation, and they put themselves out of reach of deliverance. By rejecting the true God, who gave us the ability to choose for ourselves, in the end they fall into the hands of a false God, or one who wants to be God, who will speak to them in a foreign tongue, the King of Assyria/Babylon.

Jacob/Israel is a beginning point on Isaiah’s ladder to heaven. Ancient Israel's exile from the Promised Land sets the stage for modern Israel's return. In an endtime setting Jacob/Israel comprises people of all nations whom God seeks to reclaim. For us as Ephramite Gentiles who have been gathered in, most still remain in the Jacob/Israel category,  having entered into the covenant, but who, while religious, are not repenting, are not coming to Christ. We will, however, have to move, in one direction or the other, from the Jacob/Israel category. We will either receive more or receive less as we are captured in Babylon. It is better to be ascending now than to wait for the endtime.

In the endtime, the Jacob/Israel category ceases to exist. These make up those who believe in God, but who have not yet turned to Christ, are not yet repenting. God challenges Jacob/Israel to cease clinging to the false idea of him, to do more than merely believe that He exists. They must choose between the true God--the Savior--and the false gods who cannot save. They must choose between Christ and Babylon. 

Even the earth will ascend to the Zion/Jerusalem level as it enters the millennial age. At the end of the world, God destroys Babylon and delivers Zion/Jerusalem. Jacob/Israel disappears into the categories above or below.

According to Isaiah, "Israel" represents those who have renewed the covenant but who are not repenting. "Jacob" represents those who believe in God but who have not yet entered into the covenant or have not yet been baptized. Both groups can, however, ascend to the next level by keeping God's commandment to repent and turn to Him, and then by entering into the new and everlasting covenant.

Simply calling ourselves God's covenant people will not decide our destiny at the end of the world. A person may confess that he is committed to God but at the same time pursues antichrist activities, while not even recognizing these activities as being antichrist.

Zion/Jerusalem consists of those who are repenting, who do more than just believe. These have passed the test and recognize that whatever invites them to love God--to covenant with Him to keep His law and word (are repenting)--is of God, and whatever entices them away from God, to break faith with Him, is evil. But these have chosen God.

When we reach the Zion/Jerusalem awareness, we have received His grace, and He has lifted us up through His power beyond the Jacob/Israel stage. We have repented, and continue to repent, and can now accept God's covenant because we come to know that He only covenants with those who are repenting. We are returning to God, relying wholly upon His merits, putting our faith in Him. Having entered into His covenant, we can find forgiveness of sins and the beginning of a spiritual journey (grace to grace) that eventually brings us into God's presence.

Being in a state of grace and not under the bondage of sin, these move from grace to grace as they ascend to a higher level (D&C 93). In an endtime scenario these are they who are gathered out of the world in an endtime exodus to their lands of inheritance where Zion will eventually be established. 

According to Isaiah only a tenth of all the people in the world will make this exodus, even though there will be others who will later desire to return, even though the time will be short. 

Because these being gathered, as opposed to the Ephramite Gentiles who have already been gathered, are just babes, the Lord's Servant will act as their Lord to gather them from throughout the earth to their lands of inheritance, either to the old or new Jerusalem. For us who should not be babes, having been given the word of God, and who should know better, being still at the Jacob/Israel level is precarious at best.

The Lord says it best:

"Behold, here is the agency of man, and here is the condemnation of man; because that which was from the beginning is plainly manifest unto them, and they receive not the light. And every man whose spirit receiveth not the light is under condemnation" (D&C 93:31-32 emphasis added).

Sons-Daughters of God are those who choose to serve god by serving their fellow human beings. They minister spiritually to levels below their own, while they are ministered to by those above. God makes a covenant with his 'Sons' and 'Daughters' individually, not just collectively as He does with those of Zion/Jerusalem. That individual covenant is first conditional--dependent on the person's accepting completely the terms of the covenant--then unconditional. When it becomes unconditional, God himself ministers to his 'Sons' and 'Daughters.' This means that these levels are not static as we continue to receive more grace and intelligence. It is actually God who does the creating. What we become when we are reborn and ascend is His doing, not ours.

As we have seen, people who are ascending to Zion/Jerusalem are primarily concerned with repenting of their sins and returning to God. By passing tests of loyalty, which tests God orchestrates for them, they show their allegiance to Him. Persons who receive grace for grace to ascend to the Sons-Daughters/Servants level, are primarily concerned with things beyond the forgiveness of their sins. By tending to the spiritual and material needs of others, they follow God's example, developing His attributes and character traits as they receive more grace.

They become examples of righteousness by serving as God's agents of 'deliverance' and 'salvation' to those who are still in need of deliverance. They are willing to be in the world to bring others out of the world. They are in the process of 'sanctifying' their lives in the service of God. God's will is becoming their will. God's Sons-Daughters/Servants, both now and in the endtime, are those who do/will fulfill the role of deliverers and saviors to God's people. These include all those who thrust in their sickles and reap, being concerned for the welfare of the soul, and especially for the souls of their friends and family.

These have been born again and changed from their lost, fallen and carnal state, to a state of righteousness, and become His sons and daughters. Christ promises those who thrust in their sickle and reap while the day lasts, that He will give them power to become 'the sons [and daughters] of God" (D&C 11:30). 

God cannot refuse His sons' and daughters' desire to deliver others as they prove loyal and comply with His will, His will being what is best for all. 

As they become more like God, by learning to love and serve others, by receiving His love for others, they fulfill the role of deliverers and saviors to God's people. God's sons and daughters are not only no longer under the bondage of sin, but under grace, and eventually He will also overcome their iniquities. Because our iniquities impact others, they need to be reversed. Iniquities are the after-effects of sin. This will be done as we become more like God, and God responds to our prayers to turn the effect of our iniquities on others into good, as He has promised those who love Him and keep his commandments.

Those who make this transition in their lives completely change their thought processes. As they open themselves to the influence of God’s Spirit, God enlightens them to his truth, to things as they really are, different from their former, imperfect perception of the truth. They become aware of, and discard, fixed beliefs about themselves and others that have bound them to patterns of living below their potential. The gap between their beliefs and the truth is being eliminated.

Isaiah is a perfect example of ascent to the son/servant level. When he saw the God of Israel, the seraph who ministered to him declared, “Your iniquities are taken away and your sins atoned for.” (Isaiah 6:7.) Isaiah had rejected the ways of his people and accepted God’s ways. (Isaiah 8:11–18.)

Isaiah introduces seraphim in Isaiah 6 and parallels their role with his own in Isaiah 40. Isaiah ascends, through grace to grace, from Son/Servant to Seraph, and Isaiah, through his words, continues to minister to those below.

When Jesus said, “He will send his angels…and they will gather together his elect from the four winds,” he surely meant those who would reach the Seraph level. (Matthew 24:31; emphasis added.) In Isaiah’s endtime scenario, gathering the elect is precisely the mission of God’s servant and his seraph-associates. They bring God’s “sons” and “daughters” to the place Zion or Jerusalem in a new exodus from the four directions of the earth.

Although their role resembles that of angels, it is more than that of “messengers.” As kings and priests to God—as proxy saviors on the Seraph level—they are more effective in their ministry than all others of God’s children. Their earthly missions are central to the fulfillment of God’s redemption of his people in the “last days.” Together with God’s servant, they labor in the world against evils greater than God’s people can overcome on their own. God has kept Seraphs in reserve as a power for good to all who rely on him. The “deliverance” and “salvation” they secure for others is second only to Jehovah’s.

Of course there is so much more in terms of scriptural types of each of these levels as identified by Isaiah. This very short version is given as both an incentive and a warning to the Ephramite Gentiles. You cannot and will not stay where you are. You will either be receiving grace for grace as you come closer to God, or you will find yourself remaining in Babylon. 

We differ from God and angels only with respect to the light and truth we have received, or better said, only with respect to the light and truth we have become and are becoming. 

In effect, “rebirth” on every level constitutes “re-creation,” as the person who is reborn assumes a new identity. God re-creates, or rather “de-creates” even those who descend, because they are now no longer what they used to be. God continues to “create” us spiritually, some male and others female, until we become like him—until we grow into his image and likeness.

As John bore record, 

"And I, John, saw that he (Christ) received not of the fulness at the first, but received grace for grace; And he received not of the fulness at first, but continued from grace to grace, until he received a fulness" (D&C 93:12-13 emphasis added).

This same promise is given to us;

"For if you keep my commandments* you shall receive of his fulness, and be glorified in me as I am in the Father; therefore, I say unto you, you shall receive grace for grace" (D&C 93:20 emphasis added).

And no time to wait! We should begin to receive more and to become more, even now!

*"Now this is the commandment: Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day" (3 Nephi 27:20).

For a more complete picture see Isaiah Decoded: Ascending The Ladder To Heaven, by Avraham Gileadi. 

Good Guys vs Bad Guys

I am not sure where the idea came from, but when I was quite young I had this idea that there were good guys and bad guys in almost every perceived area of my life. There were good kids at school and in our neighborhood, and bad kids as well. There were good neighbors and bad neighbors. People in the church were usually perceived as being good, even though there seemed to be some bad ones as well. Bible stories had good guys and bad guys, and of course the Nephites were the good guys and the Lamanites were the bad guys. There were good girls and bad girls. The good guys always were players on the teams I liked, and the bad guys played for the teams that were trying to beat the good guys. People who smoked were bad, and were really bad if they smoked cigars.

This idea kept me from venturing too far from home, as it seemed to me that there could be more and even worse bad guys in the neighborhoods further from my house.

No one that I can remember ever said any of this to me. It just seemed to be there, perhaps as a custom or a tradition. Perhaps I just liked it that way so I could identify with the good guys.

Neighbors came in different varieties to me. Some were members of the Church, some not. Some were friendly to me, some didn't seem quite so friendly. There were three known (to the neighbor boys) pedofiles in our neighborhood, one just down the street from me. I didn't know that term, and strange as it may seem, I didn't really think of the one who molested me as being a really bad guy. I just learned to avoid him. I am sure, however, that my perspective about sex was altered by several experiences with Bob McKendrick.*

As I got older, there was still a good guy/bad guy perspective, but it was changing. In high school, there were still good guys and bad guys. I was a good boy because I didn't do some of the things some of the other boys did. I didn't drink, smoke or hang out late at night. And I avoided those who did. I was curious about girls, attracted by them, and heard many stories, but had no ideas about sex or petting. Even the few times that I did 'make out' never led to anything more. I didn't even know what more was, at least not until I got married. 

Then, I believe that my being molested started to manifest in me. I mistakenly thought that I wanted more than my wife was able to give me. This baggage that I brought into our marriage caused a division that was difficult to bridge. But because of my ideas about good and bad, this did not lead to anything more than just being disappointed. I just learned to accept it.

I was the classic example of a boy who was sheltered. I was not ready for the world. So how could someone like me, a boy who feared venturing into unknown neighborhoods, be living in France, so far away from what I had known? 

I eventually learned that no one is really good and no one is really evil. We are all in between. There are no good guys except how the world defines good guys, and I certainly was not a good guy.

My experience in the Marine Corps really broadened my perspective in many ways. I met many who were not LDS, but who were religious and loved their wives and children. I saw sacrifices made that I am not sure I could have made. I saw people, I think, for the first time, with no labels, and I liked them and enjoyed our differences. I realized that there were a lot more people better and braver than I was.

But I still did not feel comfortable in their world. Nor did I feel comfortable in the world as I experienced it on my mission in what was then the Central States mission, but I caught a glimpse of being in the world to help bring others out of the world.

But, I learned, the world is a dangerous place, not just because of crime, disease, war, corrupt people, and natural disasters, but because it is so inviting. It entices us with its glamor, its things, its music and its activities. And not only that, but it captures us with its systems and the values those systems represent. 

I thank my Heavenly Father for Hugh Nibley because of his gifts of teaching the word of God. As I wanted more and bigger, his writings always brought me back to the real world--God's real World, not the one we live in, which is Satan's. It was a conflict for me. Because of my desires, I tried to ignore what I was coming to know as God's will for me, but I couldn't. He wouldn't let me.

The danger for me wasn't what I had thought it was in my early and formative years. It wasn't those bad guys. The danger for me was becoming too comfortable in Satan's world, putting my trust in the economy, ignoring what I knew to be true, and thinking of myself as one of the good guys.

"What is it, then, of Babylon that has such a stranglehold on its people? Why are we tempted to commit ourselves to things of pure human fabrication rather than to what is of God? Even when the Jews had an opportunity to return to Jerusalem, most did not, but stayed in Babylon, even though they had been taken captive by this great world power. This was because it is so easy to assume the value of Babylon's systems, her way of doing things, because Babylon was so successful. They failed to realize that they had been taken captive by Babylon--again!" (The Stranglehold of Babylon, Fingerofgod.blogspot.com)

I succumbed to this temptation when I got caught up in the Nu Skin frenzy in the early 1990s. The first meeting I went to was in a house which blew me away with its size and decor. And to hear of people making twenty, fifty, one-hundred, even five-hundred thousand dollars a month! The theme of financial freedom was enticing, and I eventually left a senior partnership in my law firm to chase the dream. I didn't achieve it though. And how grateful I am now that I didn't. I learned just how easy it is to be enticed by the world. This also put a terrible strain on my marriage.

And it would not be the last time that I sought for riches and not for wisdom. Satan has great power, unto the stirring up of the people to do all manner of iniquity, and to the puffing them up with pride, tempting them to seek for power, and authority, and riches, and the vain things of the world" (3 Nephi 6:15). No, my friends, the Book of Mormon does not exaggerate either the relentless efficiency or the speed with which wealth corrupts all those who "set their hearts upon riches and the things of the world."

You can imagine the pain, sorrow and relief when I finally found out that I was not one of the good guys. I knew it was time that I needed the Lord's help to get prepared to do what He had called me to do when I was released as a bishop in the 1980s.

Christ in John Chapters 14, 15 and 17, identifies seven categories of persons or people. These seven categories include everyone--all, in the drama which is our lives on this earth.

1. His Father

2. Himself, Jesus Christ, as the Son of God

3. The Holy Ghost 

4. His apostles

5. His saints

6. The world, and

7. The Prince of the world

The summary of all our relationships to other beings is given in these chapters from the lips of the Savior.

The five levels at the top form an unbroken continuum, a single universe of discourse, which does not embrace the two lowest levels: the world and the prince of the world operate on their own principles on the other side of a great gulf as in Lehi's dream.

I think what I mistakenly thought were bad guys, was really a sense that I was in a dangerous place, a world that was inviting me with open arms. I resisted even when I was young, but it was so persistent that as I got older, I succumbed to the those areas where I could still maintain my status as one of the good guys by not participating in its more lurid activities, but becoming captive nevertheless. 

The tenet we hear often--being in the world but not of the world--is a fiction we have created to make us feel comfortable in the world while we see ourselves as good guys who are living the gospel. When we are in the world we are in it, subject to all its allures and temptations. 

But Christ makes a different distinction. He said, "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own . . . but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you" (John 15:19).

When we go into the world to bring people out of the world, we are still in the world, but He prays for us, while he does not pray for the world. 

"I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me" (John 17:9).

He has given us the tools necessary to navigate our way in the world as we work "To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God" (Acts 26:18).

"I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world" (John 17:14 emphasis added).

In short, the saints must be in the world to do their dangerous work of recruiting other would be saints out of the world. And saints does not mean in name and membership only. It is not a club. It includes those who have desired to, and been called of Him to thrust in their sickle and reap. The saints are those who are repenting, have been born again, changed from their carnal state to a state of righteousness, and are becoming sons and daughters of God.

In Isaiah's context those who have moved or are moving from Jacob/Israel to Zion/Jerusalem to Sons-Daughters/Servants, would be considered saints. To ascend to the Zion/Jerusalem level, people on the Jacob/Israel level must repent of transgressions until they obtain a remission of their sins. In that manner, they become heirs of salvation but not yet of “glory” or exaltation. Those who do not repent are of the world or as Isaiah says, they will remain in Babylon. 

To ascend to an exalted category, persons must become holy or “sanctified.” At that point, they are reborn or re-created as God’s “sons” and “daughters,” elsewhere called “just men made perfect” and God’s “elect.” Their perfection, however, pertains only to Isaiah’s son/servant category, as the higher a person ascends the greater the degree of perfection. Seraphs, for example, keep an even higher covenantal law and attain a higher level of holiness, resulting in their inheriting a greater glory.

Jacob adds, “But, behold, the righteous, the saints of the Holy One of Israel, they who have believed in the Holy One of Israel, they who have endured the crosses of the world, and despised the shame of it, they shall inherit the kingdom of God, which was prepared for them from the foundation of the world, and their joy shall be full forever (2 Nephi 9:18 emphasis added).

Another help He has given His Saints is the Holy Ghost, whose purpose is to comfort those who have been called and bring to their remembrance all the words which Christ has spoken. [When the Comforter comes in his place], "the world cannot receive [him], because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him" (John 14:16-17).

Here visitors from above are not welcome; they are treated as trespassers and offenders--despised, rejected, and persecuted wherever they go. But the Lord leaves His peace with His saints but "not at the world giveth, give I unto you (John 14:13). To those He says, "I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit" (John 15:16).

All these things may seem perfectly obvious once they are pointed out, but we tend to forget them and identify with the world by the simple process of following the way of least resistance. Once in the world, even the angels are tempted. The posture of "sheep among wolves" is a difficult one to maintain: in fact, in most cases the sheep were "turned into wolves." Almost invariably the easy way, offering "the flesh-pots of Egypt" or "the precious things" at Jerusalem is the winner against the hard way of life in the wilderness.

"When anyone heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart.... He that received the seed in stony places...he hath not root in himself, but dureth for awhile: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. He also that received seed among the thorns,..the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful" (Matthew 13:19-22).

The world's answer to John 14, 15 and 17 is a hierarchy of fear and compulsion, both historically and presently, and it is becoming more evident to those who have been shielded from this for most of their lives.

The whole world has been engaged in a counterfeit version of the combat between good and evil (like I was) in which Shiz and Coriantumr, Lamanites and Nephites, destroy each other in the illusion that it is the good guys fighting the bad guys.

So yes, in France, a world so far removed from the world I grew up in, I feel the Lord's peace in me. I am comfortable with the French people that I have met and associated with. But I am never comfortable in the world because I have experienced how easy it is to be drawn in and partake of its delights and false comforts. Worldly activities divert a worshiper’s attention from the true God and His law, to a counterfeit. I must constantly partake of His words and pray to Him, but I still want to stay in the world to bring others out of the world where the Prince of this world reigns. 

He has called me out of the world to say nothing but repentance unto this generation, and I do so knowing that there may come a time when those of the world will hate me for doing so. 

See Sons-Daughters/Servants for more on Isaiah’s ladder. 

*Bob McKendrick lived three houses south of me. He abused several boys on our street, including my brothers. The neighbor next door to him, whose boys Bob had also abused, bought Bob's house after he died, tore it down, and to this day it is a vacant lot on the 1300 block of Lincoln Street in Salt Lake City, Utah, a memorial to those of us who had to avoid walking past Bob's house whenever he was around.

Whom Shall He Give Instruction?

This is a slide presentation on Isaiah 28, with prophecies concerning Ephraim, both as a nation (America) and a people (specifically the Ephraimite Gentiles--us), prior to the Lord’s Day of Judgment. It concerns Ephraim's political leaders, its religious leaders, and its people. It is the failure of the Lord's people to hear the voice of God and repent, that is the catalyst for these events. Since the Lord's people refuse to receive instruction directly from the Lord, He will speak to them in a foreign tongue.

Whom Shall The Lord Give Instruction? 

Inside the Ossuaire at Duamont, home of an estimated 130,000 soldiers' bones gathered after the Battle of Verdun

The *audio on this presentation "Dancing on Green Grass" is a reminder that at one time during the Battle of Verdun there was not a single blade of green grass growing, and the grass we dance on now will not always be green. As Christ reminded us, "great are the words of Isaiah!"

Repentance: Bondage of Sin

These posts on Repentance are best read in order beginning with Repentance: Introduction. At the bottom of each post is a link to the next post. This is another postscript on repentance.

I have been thinking a lot lately about some departed friends. Their obituaries described them as active church members, kind and loving, having held many callings in the church. They were noted as being loving husbands, fathers and grandfathers or loving wives, mothers, and grandmothers. 

I would describe them as good friends whom I loved and enjoyed. Each was the kind of person we would describe in the church as nice people or good people. And I wonder in what category¹ are they in the spirit world?

Knowing them very well, and having spent many hours with them over the years, I knew they were not very familiar with the words of God, and were not desirous of searching them. Each had been raised in the church and had remained active and involved. They were good neighbors and thought highly of by others. We spent many enjoyable years together, reminiscing, laughing, talking, traveling and sharing. 

But try as best I could, I was not able to teach them much about the word of God, about the Book of Mormon prophecies and about repentance. They just didn't seem to understand or desire to understand the word of God. Like with any language, the tongue of angels requires that both participants know or are learning the language, in order to communicate even a little. And, with the exception of one friend, they did not seem to desire to learn what the Lord had to say. 

I think they believed they knew, and could recite 'church talk' and the traditional gospel, but the word of God seemed to have very little impact in their lives, except perhaps what they believed and gave lip service to. Most figured they were good people, and while they had made mistakes, because the Lord loved them, they would be welcomed into His presence.

What happens to these good and decent friends, and all the others like them, in the spirit world? I wanted to know, and so I asked the Lord. He did answer me by directing me to what He has already revealed (a lot), and based on what He has revealed the answer was quite clear. There are many scriptures, each adding something to what we know about the world of spirits.

Alma inquired of the Lord about the space between death and the resurrection. He describes his answer in Alma Chapter 40. He said that "concerning this space of time, what becometh of the souls of men is the thing which I have inquired diligently of the Lord to know; and this is the thing of which I do know" (Alma 40:9). 

He further states "Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the ¹spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life" (Alma 40:11).

This is what we normally hear and hope for, in addition to meeting departed loved ones and reuniting with others. But then Alma says "that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow" (Alma 40:12). He does not define who the righteous are. 

Nor does he define the wicked when he says, "that the spirits of the wicked, yea, who are evil--for behold, they have no part nor portion of the Spirit of the Lord; for behold they chose evil works rather than good; therefore the spirit of the devil did enter into them, and take possession of their house--and they shall be cast out into outer darkness; there shall be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth, and this because of their own iniquity, being led captive by the will of the devil" (Alma 40:13 emphasis added).

Alma further says that he learned that "the state of the souls of the wicked, yea, in darkness, and a state of awful, fearful looking for the fiery indignation of the wrath of God upon them; thus they remain in this state, as well as the righteous in paradise, until the time of their resurrection" (Alma 40:14).

Except perhaps for those spirits who have a portion of the Spirit of the Lord, there seems to be no middle ground in what was revealed to Alma. It is either the righteous or the wicked. Who are righteous spirits and who are wicked spirits according to the Lord? Does He tell us? Are my deceased friends' spirits righteous, in a state of happiness, or wicked and in outer darkness where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth? In which ¹camp are my friends?

He has revealed elsewhere that we can know the righteous from the wicked. He even defines the righteous and the wicked. This He does in many scriptures, but one in particular is quite clear.

"And the whole world lieth in sin, and groaneth under darkness and under the bondage of sin.

And by this you may know they are under the bondage of sin, because they come not unto me.

For whoso cometh not unto me is under the bondage of sin.

And whoso receiveth not my voice is not acquainted with my voice, and is not of me" (D&C 84:49-52).

And by this you may know the righteous from the wicked, and that the whole world groaneth under sin and darkness even now" (D&C 84:49-53 emphasis added).

The righteous He describes as those 

1) who are acquainted with and receive His voice, 

2) who come unto Him, and

3) who are not under the bondage of sin.

The wicked He describes as those

1) who receiveth not His voice, because they are not acquainted with His voice, 

2) who come not unto Him, and

3) who are under the bondage of sin and are in darkness.

Remember Amulek telling us to not procrastinate the day of our repentance (turn to and come unto our Savior), because "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" (Alma 34:34).

Those who are righteous in this life (repenting and relying wholly upon Christ's merits, having received the righteousness of Christ) are those who are righteous in the spirit world. 

And those who are wicked in this life (not repenting and relying on their own goodness, having not received the righteousness of Christ) are those who are wicked in the spirit world.

Would this apply to my friends? They have chosen either Good or Evil, and are therefore defined by their choice. Evil in this sense is not choosing good/Christ. They cannot say they didn't know or that they were not taught, because they had all that God had chosen to reveal, and treated it lightly. Or in other words, they did not hear His voice because they were not acquainted with His voice. 

My friends are not those who died without the law, or were not like Joseph's brother Alvin who died without hearing about the truth, but who would have accepted it if he had heard (D&C 137:5-8). They had revealed to God their works according to the "desires of their hearts" for their entire lives (D&C 137:9). The standard for them is higher because they had the Book of Mormon and they treated it lightly. 

But there is more. Joseph F. Smith's vision of spirits kept in prison at the time of Noah, which is recorded as D&C 138, adds more to the picture. In this revelation we learn that there are, like Alma saw, two ¹categories of spirits, the righteous and the wicked, but in this vision President Smith saw that the righteous spirits were teaching Christ's Gospel to the spirits kept in prison, who were willing to be taught, "who died in their sins, without a knowledge of the truth, or in transgression, having rejected the prophets."

In this vision, the righteous are the teachers, and the wicked are those who have the opportunity to be taught. I would include here those who may have a portion of the Lord's Spirit. We learn that many of these spirits were taught and repented of their sins, were baptized vicariously and received their reward.

But there is a major difference between those who were repenting (came unto Christ) when they died, and those who were not repenting (came not unto Christ) when they died, but did repent in the world of spirits.

For those who are righteous when they die, Christ paid the demands of justice for them, and they will be found guiltless at the judgment following their resurrection (3 Nephi 27:13-21).

For those who die in their sins, who die under the bondage of sin, but who repent, pay the demands of justice themselves. Read this carefully:

"The dead who repent will be redeemed, 

through obedience to the ordinances of the house of God, 

And after they have paid the penalty of their transgressions, 

and are washed clean, 

shall receive a reward 

according to their works, 

for they are heirs of salvation" (D&C 138:58-59 emphasis added).

Heirs of salvation are all those except Sons of Perdition. See D&C Sections 76 and 88. We also know that ..."the heathen nations [will] be redeemed, and they that knew no law shall have part in the first resurrection; and it shall be tolerable for them" (D&C 45:54). Keep in mind, however, that all will be redeemed except Sons of Perdition. 

For those who knew the law like my friends, could they repent in the spirit world, and if so would they have to pay "the penalty for their transgressions" while those who were repenting and not under the bondage of sin, when they died, be found guiltless because Christ would pay the penalty for them? From what has been revealed, I would answer yes. 

Amulek was right by admonishing us to not procrastinate the day of our repentance!

Many other scriptures add to the picture, but Alma's description of the chains of hell is worth noting because it adds to what the Lord means by those who hear His voice. He says:

"And now Alma began to expound these things unto him, saying: It is given unto many to know the mysteries of God; 

nevertheless they are laid under a strict command that they shall not impart only according to the portion of his word which he doth grant unto the children of men, 

according to the heed and diligence which they give unto him. 

And therefore, he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; 

and he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, 

until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full. 

And they that will harden their hearts, to them is given the lesser portion of the word 

until they know nothing concerning his mysteries; and 

then they are taken captive by the devil, and led by his will down to destruction. 

Now this is what is meant by the chains of hell" (Alma 12:9-11 emphasis added). Note the link in Alma 40:13 to "lead captive" by the will of the devil. Alma again, it seems, describes no middle ground--it is more or nothing.

If they die in this state, they die under the bondage of sin, they die in their sins, and would be described as wicked. These both Alma and Joseph F. Smith saw in the spirit world and described them as wicked.

Concerning those who die without the law and the spirits kept in prison at the time of Noah, the Lord has revealed:

"And again, we saw the terrestrial world, and behold and lo, these are they who are of the terrestrial, whose glory differs from that of the church of the Firstborn who have received the fulness of the Father, even as that of the moon differs from the sun in the firmament. 

Behold, these are they who died without law; 

And also they who are the spirits of men kept in prison, whom the Son visited, and preached the gospel unto them, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh; 

Who received not the testimony of Jesus in the flesh, but afterwards received it"

...These are they who are not valiant in the testimony of Jesus (D&C 76:71-74;79 emphasis added).

The phrase 'bondage of sin' coupled with being "saved from our sins" link to help understand what being under the bondage of sins means. Again Alma adds more.

"For, said he, I have repented of my sins, and 

have been redeemed of the Lord; 

behold I am born of the Spirit. 

And the Lord said unto me: 

Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, 

born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, 

being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters; 

And thus they become new creatures; and 

unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God" (Mosiah 27:24-26 emphasis added).

These are the "righteous" and they are called righteous because they have been changed by God from their lost and fallen and carnal state to a state of His righteousness. 

'...our awful, sinful and polluted state,' is a state of being under the law and not under grace. Hence the need to be born again and become new creatures, a state where we find ourselves under His righteousness. Not under the law, but under grace.

"For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Romans 8:3-4).

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain" (Galations 2:20-21).

Could I say of my friends that because of their unbelief they "remained so ever after, even in their carnal and sinful state" (Mosiah 26:4)?

Everything He teaches leads to this conclusion. His Gospel (3 Nephi 27:13-21); His teachings on Justice and Mercy (Alma 42); His teachings on Death and Hell (2 Nephi 2); and His teachings on repentance. Everything, even in death, is for us, linked to repenting now! 

Remember that for those like my friends who should know better, "he that exercises no faith unto repentance (in this life) is exposed to the whole law of the demands of justice; therefore only unto him that has faith unto repentance is brought about the great and eternal plan of redemption" (Alma 34:16 emphasis added).