--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Smith, Joseph F., Jr. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 19 number: 5 published: 1916-03 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Joseph F. Smith, Jr., "Is Man Immortal?," *Improvement Era* 19, no. 5 (March 1916): 425–431.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1905unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera1905unse start_page: 425 end_page: 431 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1916-03) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1905unse publication_year: 1916 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1916, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Is Man Immortal? Is Man Immortal? BY JOSEPH F. SMITH, JR., OF THE COUNCIL OF THE TWELVE IN THREE PARTS PART III The punishment of Satan and the third of the host of heavenwho followed him, was that they were denied the privilege ofbeing born into this world and receiving mortal bodies. They didnot keep their first estate and were denied the opportunity of eter-nal progression. The Lord cast then out into the earth "Rev. 12:7-8), where they became the tempters of mankind—the devil andhis angels. "And it must needs be," the Lord has said, "that thedevil should tempt the children of men, or they could not beagents unto themselves, for if they never should have bitter, theycould not know the sweet" (D. & C, 29:39). At times these fallen spirits steal possession of the bodiesof men and women, overpowering the spirit who has rightfulownership. They realize what they have lost and are willing,when opportunity is given them, of possessing bodies of loweranimals, so anxious are they to be clothed with flesh even for aseason. On one occasion a legion of these evil spirits, when castout by the Lord, asked the privilege of entering the bodies of aherd of swine (Matt. 8:31). Out of Mary Magdalene the Lordcast seven devils (Luke 8:2). These evil spirits know the Lordfrom the knowledge and experience they obtained in the heavensbefore their banishment for rebellion. They called him by namewhen he disturbed them in their stolen habitations, saying: "Thouart Christ the Son of God * * * for they knew that he wasChrist" (Luke 4:41; Mark 1:24; Acts 19:15). This mortal existence is conclusive evidence that all who re-ceive it kept their first estate. In our former, or spirit existence,we walked by sight. We were in the presence of both the Fatherand the Son and were instructed by them, and under their per-sonal presence. In this mortal life, or second estate, the Lordwilled that we should walk by faith and not by sight, that wemight, with the great gift of free agency, be proved to see if wewould "do all things whatsoever the Lord our God commandedus." Therefore, he took away from us all knowledge of ourspiritual existence and started us out afresh in the form of help-less infants, to grow and learn day by day. In consequence ofthis we received no former knowledge and wisdom at birth, but,as it is written of the Son of God, who in the beginning made all 426 IMPROVEMENT ERA things (John 1 :1, 3). we "received not the fulness at the first,but received grace for grace" (D. & C, 93:12; Luke 2:52). Notwithstanding this fact that our recollection of formerthings was taken away, the character of our lives in the spiritworld has much to do with our disposition, desires and mentalityhere in mortal life. The spirit influences the body to a greatextent, just as the body in its desires and cravings has an influenceon the spirit. The Lord has caused it to be so, therefore thosewho were "noble and great ones" in that former world, the Lordfore-ordained to be his prophets and rulers here; for he knewthem before they were born, and through the action of the spiriton the body, he knows they will be likely to serve him here. En-vironment and many other causes, however, have great influenceon the progress and destiny of man, but we must not lose sightof the fact that the characteristics of the spirit which were de-veloped through many ages of a former existence play a very im-portant part in our progression through mortal life. It was necessary that Adam and Eve should fall, thus bring-ing to pass mortality. It was fully understood before this earthwas prepared to receive them, that they should break the law.Jesus Christ was chosen in the heavens to be the Lamb to atonefor their transgression (Rev. 13:8). Mortal life is a necessarypart in the training and preparation for exaltation. Bodies offlesh and bones were thus received and exaltation could not bewithout them. The spirit alone cannot receive a fulness of joy,neither can the body of itself, but the two united forming thesoul of man, can. "The elements are eternal, and spirit and ele-ment inseparably connected, receiveth a fulness of joy. Andwhen separated, man cannot receive a fulness of joy" (D. &C. 93:33-34). We read in the Book of Mormon that the reasonAdam transgressed the law was "that men might be, and menare, that they might have joy" (II Nephi 2:25). If Adam hadnot transgressed he would have remained in the garden of Edenwithout posterity, and all the host of heaven who were looking for-ward to the earth life would have been denied that great boon.Jesus of Nazareth would not have become the Redeemer of theworld, "and all things which were created, must have remained inthe same state [spiritual] which they were, after they were createdand they must have remained for ever, and had no end. And they[Adam and Eve] "would have had no children; wherefore, theywould have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, forthey knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin"(II Nephi 2:22-23). It is made known in the Pearl of Great Price that afterAdam's transgression the Lord sent angels to instruct him in thegospel of Jesus Christ and to make known to him the plan ofmortal redemption. When Adam heard this he rejoiced saying: IS MAN IMMORTAL? 427 "Blessed be the name of God, for because of my transgression myeves are opened, and in this life I shall have joy, and again inthe flesh I shall see God. And Eve, his wife, heard all these thingsand was glad, saying: Were it not for our transgression we nevershould have had seed, and never should have known good andevil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life whichGod giveth unto all the obedient. And Adam and Eve blessedthe name of God, and they made all things known unto their sonsand their daughters" (Moses 5:10-12). The atonement of Jesus Christ is of twofold nature. Becauseof it all men are redeemed from mortal death and the grave andwill rise in the resurrection to immortality of the soul. Thenagain, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel, manwill receive remission of individual sins, through the blood ofChrist, and shall inherit exaltation in the kingdom of God, whichis eternal life. The resurrection of the dead must of necessity be just asbroad as was the curse that brought death into the world. Paulhas said "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all bemade alive, but every man in his own order; Christ the first fruits ;afterwards they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh theend. when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, eventhe Father: when he shall have put down all rule and all author-ity and power. For he must reign till he hath put all enemiesunder his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death."From this we learn that the atonement reaches out and embracesevery living creature in the resurrection. Just as long as one soulremains un-redeemed from mortal death and the grave, death hasnot been destroyed ; therefore, everv soul shall be ferreted out andreceive the resurrection. Death shall be destroyed and immortalitygain the victory (I Cor. 15:22-26). Paul taught the resurrection of the dead, both the just and theunjust, (Acts 24:15) and the Son of God very emphaticallydeclared that "All that were in the graves should hear his voice,and should come forth ; "they that have done good, unto the resur-rection of life [that is eternal life] and they that have done evil,unto the resurrection of damnation" (John 5:28:29). What isdamnation? It is being barred, or denied privileges of progres-sion, because of failure to comply with law. All who fail to enterinto the celestial kingdom, are damned, or stopped, in their pro-gression, but they will enter into some other glory which they areentitled to receive. The Lord does not delight in the punishment of men. Fiewas kind enough to grant to each his freedom to merit blessingsor punishment according to his free will or pleasure. It neverwas the intention of the Lord to destroy, in the sense of annihila-tion, any of the souls of his children. His great object was to 428 IMPROVEMENT ERA save them all if they would freely partake of the blessings of salva-tion. As already expressed, the Lord declared that his great workand glory is "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life ofman." And that he created man, "that he might have joy." Thathis children might not be lost, or denied the great privilege forwhich they were created, the Lord prepared various degrees ofglory so that each individual may enter into the kingdom of God toinherit that which he is entitled to receive. When the day of finalreckoning comes, we shall discover that none of his children is lostsave the very few who become "sons of perdition"—those whohave received the light and spirit of truth and then wilfully rebelagainst the Son of God with full knowledge of their guilty deeds.For them there is no forgiveness, even in the world to come. Ofthem the Lord said: "They are vessels of wrath, doomed to suf-fer the wrath of God, with the devil and his angels in eternity;concerning whom I have said there is no forgiveness in this worldnor in the world to come, having denied the Holy Spirit afterhaving received it, and having denied the Only Begotten Son ofthe Father—having crucified him unto themselves, and put himto an open shame. These are they who shall go away into the lakeof fire and brimstone, with the devil and his angels, and the onlyones on whom the second death shall have any power; yea, verilythe only ones who shall not be redeemed in the due time of theLord, after the suffering of his wrath'" (D. & C., 76:33-38). It is a very pleasing and consoling thing to know that theLord will save all of his children, excepting the very few whowillfully rebel against him. When his children have paid thepenalty of their transgressions, they shall come forth from theclutches of the second death to receive a place somewhere in thegreat heavenly kingdom which is prepared with its several gloriesand degrees of salvation, for them. The Lord cannot exalt thosewho are guilty of evil practices, the corrupt, the vicious, and therebellious. They become immortal but are denied eternal life inhis presence and that of his Son. Paul says there are, in theresurrection of the dead, "celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial"and these glories differ. One he likens to the glory of the sun,the other to the glory of the moon, and yet a third, where theglories differ as do the brilliancy of the stars of heaven (I Cor.15 :40-41). In the highest glory, the celestial, will enter those whohave kept all the commandments of God and have been faithfulin all things. They shall dwell in the presence of God and his SonJesus Christ for ever and ever. Into the next, or terrestrial, shallenter all those who die without law; they who are the spirits ofmen kept in prison, whom the Son, visited and preached the gospelunto them, that they might be judged according to men in theflesh (I Peter 3 :18 ; 4:6), who received not the testimony of Jesusin the flesh, but afterwards received it. Honorable men of the IS MAN IMMORTAL? 429 earth who were blinded by the craftiness of men; those who wer~not willing to receive a fulness of his glory and those who werenot valiant in the testimonv of Jesus, "wherefore they obtain notthe crown of our God" (D. & C 76:71-79). Those who enter into the telestial are they who received notthe gospel of Christ, neither the testimony of Jesus. "These arethey who deny not the Holy Spirit, but are thrust down to hell,"and shall not be redeemed from the devil until the last resurrec-tion, until the Lord Jesus Christ shall have finished his work.In this glory shall enter all "who suffer the wrath of God onearth," who have not become sons of perdition, but who havebeen unclean, liars, sorcerers, adulterers and those who have de-lighted in evil. For even these there shall be a partial redemptionand they are heirs of salvation, (D. & C. 76:88), for they shall allbow the knee, and every tongue among them shall confess thatJesus is the Christ. However, before they enter into their placethey shall all be judged according to their works and pav thepenalty of their transgressions. Those who enter into this king-dom "shall be servants of the Most High, but where God andChrist dwell, they cannot come, worlds without end" (D. & C.76:98-112). In this kingdom the inhabitants will be innumerableas the stars of heaven, or the sands of the sea shore. And theyshall receive instruction and be ministered to by those of thehigher glory. In both the terrestrial and the telestial glories the inhabitantsthereof will be limited in their powers, opportunities and progres-sion, "because thev were not willing: to enjoy that which theymight have received" (D. & C. 88:32). The question arises. What of the dead who did not embracethe truth while living in this mortal life? For the good reason,perhaps, that they did not hear it. The Lord in the great plan ofredemption has provided for them. Jesus taught the people that thedead should hear his voice and come forth from their graves, forhe would carry the gospel unto them (John 5 :28-29). Peter bearsrecord that the Lord did this very thing, while his body was inthe tomb his spirit was declaring salvation to the dead in the spiritworld. (I Peter 3:18-20; 4:6). The gospel will be preached to all the dead who have not re-ceived it until all are converted and every knee shall bow andevery tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ. The ordinanceswhich they did not receive in mortal life shall be performed forthem vicariously in the Temples of God, and the Lord will acceptthe work in their behalf as if they had performed it forthemselves. The Lord declared to Joseph Smith that all who diewithout a knowledge of the gospel, "who would have received itif they had been permitted to tarry, shall be heirs of the celestialkingdom of God; also all that shall die henceforth without a 430 IMPROVEMENT ERA knowledge of it, who would have received it with all their hearts,shall he heirs of that kingdom. For I the Lord, will judge allmen according to their works, according to the desire of theirhearts" "And I also beheld", said the Prophet, "that all childrenwho die before they arrive at the years of accountability, are savedin the celestial kingdom of heaven" (Hist, of the Church, Vol.2:380-1). Thus we see the great wisdom and mercy of God in preparinga means of escape from death and hell for all his children whowill receive it, and a place in his great kingdom where each shalldwell conscious that he has received all that he merits and that fulljustice has been done. "Death and hell must deliver up their dead, and hell mustdeliver up its captive spirits, and the grove most deliver upits captain bodies, and the bodies and the spirits of menwill be restored one to the other; and it is by the power ofthe resurrection of the Holy One of Israel. O how great theplan of our God! For on the other hand, the paradise of Godmust deliver up the spirits of the righteous, and the grave deliverup the body of the righteous; and the spirit and the body is re-stored to itself again, and all men become incorruptible, and im-mortal, and they are living souls, having a perfect knowledge likeunto us in the flesh. * * * And it shall come to pass, thatwhen all men shall have passed from this first death unto life, in-somuch as they have become immortal, they must appear beforetlit judgment-seat of the Holy One of Israel; and then comeththe judgment, and then must they be judged according to the holyjudgment of God. (II Nephi 0:12-15). In the resurrection from the dead, the bodies, which werelaid down natural bodies, shall come forth spiritual bodies, that isto say, in mortality the life of the body is in the blood (Lev. 17:11). but the body when raised to imortality shall be quickenedbv the Spirit and not the blood, hence it becomes spiritual, but itwill be composed of flesh and bones, just as the body of Jesus was,who is the prototype. (Luke 24:29). We read in the Book of Mormon that through the redemptionmade by the Savior all who believe on his name have eternal life,and salvation in the celestial kingdom comes to none else. "There-fore the wicked remain as though there had been no redemptionmade, [so far as entrance into the celestial kingdom is con-cerned] except it be the loosing of the bands of death; for behold,the day cometh that all shall rise from the dead and stand beforeGod. and be indeed according to their works. Now there is adeath which is called the temporal death; and the death of Christshall loose the bands of this temporal death, that all shall be raisedfrom this temporal death. The spirit and the body shall be re- IS MAN IMMORTAL? 431 united again in its perfect form; both limb and joint shall berestored to its proper frame" (Alma 11:40-43). When the body and the spirit are thus united in the resurrec-tion, to become an immortal soul, that soul can die no more,neither can the spirit and the body be divided any more, for theyhave been "inseparably connected," thus the whole becoming spir-itual and immortal "that they can no more see corruption" (Alma1! :45), and man is then privileged to receive a "fulness of joy"(D. and C. 93:33). In this mortal life the spirit and the body are not inseparablyconnected, neither can they be until there first comes a separationwhich is called mortal death at the close of this probation, andthen when re-united man is a soul whose parts are inseparable andimmortal, and if faithful, he shall enter into eternal life as a sonof God. How great and glorious is the plan of redemption. Howwonderful it is when understood, for the Lord desires to save allthe workmanship of his hands. The worlds that he has peopledwith his children are without number, and "As one earth shallpass away," to its exaltation, to fill the measure of its creation asa place of eternal habitation for the souls of men, "even so shallanother come," and there is "no end to his works neither to hiswords" (Moses 1:38). This earth on which we dwell, like many that have gone be-fore, is destined to become a celestial sphere and the righteousshall inherit it forever. "For, for this intent was it made andcreated," and after it has filled the measure of its mortal creation,it shall be crowned with glory, even with the presence of God theFather. Like man, the earth also shall die, but it also shall bequickened again, and shall abide the power by which it is quick-ened to continue throughout eternity as the celestial abode of man(D. and C. sec. 88). Surely it is a wonderful work, "to bring to pass the immor-tality and eternal life of man." The great work which is theglory of God, our eternal Father.