For the spirits of men who deserve it, there is a place of punishment. Such proclaims Alma, (Alma 40:12-13), are the spirits of the wicked who have no part or portion of the spirit of the Lord. Their condition is that of “darkness,” or hell, where they are buffeted until the day of redemption.
In his effort to gain ascendency among the Gods, Lucifer evidenced no love for the subjects who would come under his power. His aim was for position without respect for the rights of the individual his plan violated. In this effort he disobeyed at least three eternal principles of progression. First, he rebelled against God; secondly, he sought to destroy agency so that his advocated doctrine of compulsion could function; and thirdly, he sought to make himself equal with God on the premise that the plan he advocated was of such noteworthy quality, that he was entitled to singular recognition as its author. His plan was rejected and he and his followers were cast out of the realm of that existence, to roam in the ambient areas of the earth, until a place of eternal existence, suited to that of no-regenerative type of personages, is made ready for them.
After these many events have transpired in sequence, the destruction of the wicked and men's hearts failing them, of great earthquakes, of the sun becoming black, and the moon as blood, with mountains and islands moved out of place, the great day of wrath will come upon that portion of mankind not able to stand, with flaming fire and retribution on them that know not God and obey not the gospel of Jesus Christ; and there will come, also, the casting aside of those who are ashamed of the Lord. But, all of this shall be over and done with as the time draws near and the final preparations of the righteous among men upon the earth are made 6 for the coming of the King of kings and Lord of lords.
Those who were faithful to this priesthood, magnifying their callings to it in the pre-existence, no doubt provided a realistic means of selection in the foreordination of many obedient spirit sons of God to have the opportunity here in mortality of being called into the priesthood service and of assisting God our Eternal Father in his great work.
Because of the imminence of the second coming of the Lord the day and age in which we are now living is often referred to as the “Saturday night of time.” It is a period just prior to the Sabbath of time, which, as we have come to know, is to be the seventh thousand years, during which millennial time God will complete his work of the “salvation of man.”
The loosing of Satan for a little season will lead to the gathering of his armies, not only the unembodied spirits of evil who were cast out of the presence of God in the beginning, but, also, the disembodied sons of perdition who have lived and died upon the earth and have sinned against the Holy Ghost and are lost in second death. These constitute the hosts of hell. Michael, now the resurrected Adam, shall gather together his armies, even the hosts of heaven, “And then cometh the battle of the great God; and the devil and his armies shall be cast into their own place, that they shall not have power over the saints any more at all. For Michael shall fight their battles, and shall overcome him who seeketh the throne of him who sitteth up the throne, even the Lamb.”
As the one chosen in the primeval councils to be the Savior of mankind, the Firstborn spirit Son of God, covenanted and promised that he would come to earth and fulfill this divine calling … This he accomplished.
The spirit world, while a place of rest and comfort to the righteous, is not a place of “do nothing bliss.” It is a place of activity an action … In the light of the labor and continuing work of the Lord among the disembodied spirits, Peter, James, and the other disciples of Christ, in the intervening centuries from the meridian of time to the present, have been busily engaged in their callings and are proclaiming the gospel of liberty and truth to the captives in prison in the spirit world. There can be no doubt that the Prophet Joseph Smith, his brother Hyrum, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Willard Richards, Wilford Woodruff, and many of the servants of God upon the earth in their own day and time, have, since their departure, ministered unto the spirits in the intermediate period of time between death and resurrection.
All who inherit the celestial kingdom will come forth in the first resurrection, many in the “morning” or early part. There is, however a circumstance referred to in the revelations, wherein certain individuals, because of disobedience, even though and because they have been sealed to it, will have to wait until the second resurrection to receive their glory, powers, and dominions. Such individuals who have been sealed unto exaltations, but have been disobedient, and yet have not committed murder to shed innocent blood, and have not denied God, his Son, and the Holy Ghost, after having received of a perfect knowledge and testimony of them, after a period of purging in the spirit world, having suffered the “buffetings of Satan” will be redeemed and come forth in the “first resurrection; and if it be after the first resurrection (then) in the next resurrection,” after having fully repented and after having fully made restitution. (See D&C 132:19; 132:26.).
The Millennial Reign of Christ. In the wisdom of God the Father, the last approximate one thousand years of earth-life existence will witness the culmination of his work among all of mankind. According with the utterances of the prophets, as revealed to them from God, we come to understand that under an actual governmental millennial reign of the Christ, much work will be accomplished to prepare all men for their assignments and placement in that particular sphere of eternal existence subsequent to mortality and resurrection of the mortal body. In this sense the characteristic of rest will not apply, only as it pertains to a rest from painful toil and strife, for the work that is to be done will be zestful and glorious, and carried out under conditions that are ideal. One cannot realistically fashion from the sacred writings that the millennium will be a time of blissful, unpurposeful drifting, without care or obligation. This has no part in the foreordained plan for this great period of adjustment, judgment, and preparation.
All of the gospel ordinances, wherein, covenants, promises, and sealings are invoked upon living man because of his righteousness, are available to the righteous man who lived and died without having the opportunity to accept and obey them …It follows that many of the various ancestral lines of people living upon the earth today, righteous in thought and deed as they may have been, would never hear of the gospel plan unless salvation for the dead is a reality. In the wisdom and justice of God these, too, must have the opportunity of accepting and abiding by the covenants and sealings of the plan of salvation and exaltation, in preparation for immortality and eternal lives, and, though they live in the spirit, they can be judged according to those things performed in mortal existence.
As to the place and conditions of the kingdom of condemnation where Lucifer, or Satan and his angels, who are unembodied spirits, and the sons of perdition of earth-life existence who are resurrected, shall dwell, and, “concerning whom I have said there is no forgiveness in this world nor in the world to come,” there has been no revelation given. They who have lived upon the earth in mortality will have suffered a “second death.” This means that they and the devil and his angels never, throughout all eternity, will in any way receive of the influence and presence of God, directly or through his servants. They sought to become a law unto themselves and this will be their punishment. But the laws which they will take unto themselves will be laws of rotative damnation, for there is no light or truth in them and they shall abide in sin, (meaning in violation of laws of light and progression), forever.
The Second or Last Resurrection. Following those who come forth in the two divisions of the first resurrection will be the “spirits of men who are to be judged, and are found under condemnation.” And, as with the first resurrection, not all will come forth at the same time. Here again, among the unjust, will be two major divisions of spirits whose resurrected bodies will be particularly suited to the assignment they will receive for immortal existence. “... These are the rest of the dead; and they live not again until the thousand years are ended, neither again until the end of the earth.” Among those who are to remain until “that great and last day, even the end,” and who will be the last to come forth in the second resurrection, will be those of whom the Lord has said “it had been better for them never to have been born,” for these are sons of perdition and they shall remain in a “filthy” or corrupt state, speaking of corrupt as that of existing without light and progression. These who remain to the very last are the ‘only ones on whom the second death shall have any power.”
Since the celestial kingdom will have three heavens or degrees, no doubt all who will inherit the second degree, in addition to possessing all of the qualities of those who will possess the first, or lowest degree, will receive an endowment in the temples of God for this purpose, and will have “overcome by faith,” and be sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise, which the Father sheds forth upon all those who are just and true. They attained this by obedience to the sacred obligations of the endowment which they received by covenant. As to exaltation, or the inheritance of the third heaven or degree in the celestial kingdom, we have the following revelation which gives the dominions and powers of the spiritual bodies, who, in addition to possessing all the qualities of those who possess the first and second degrees of this kingdom, will also be … (see D&C 76:55-62 above).
Under normal conditions, when the spirit departs from the natural body, a state of inanimation exists in that body and the reversion processes cause it to return to the element of the earth, spoken of scripturally as the "dust of the earth." But whether the natural body is dead for only an hour, a day, a week, a month, a year, or many years, the cycle of death and the quickening of the body, or spiritualization of it, is the same. This is called resurrection, or the bringing back to life that which was dead, or causing that which is separated to be brought back together. This becomes an actuality only as the spirit body re-enters and becomes an eternally united part of the regenerated natural body.
The Center of Pre-existent Controversy—Led by Lucifer, or Satan, one of the intellectually brilliant spirit sons of God the Father, a controversy developed in the pre-existent councils over whether the natural and eternal law of agency should be permitted to function during the earth-life existence of man, or whether, as proposed by Lucifer, the redemption of mankind would be undertaken by means of external compulsion so that not one soul would be affected by obedience or by disobedience to law. The nature of this proposal by which Lucifer sought to elevate himself to power, would make of man a thing to be acted upon with a complete loss of freedom of choice. Concerning this, the Prophet Joseph Smith stated that the contention in the pre-mortal existence was due to the fact that there would be certain souls that would not be saved, whereas the devil, or Lucifer, said he could save them all. This proposal, involving the surrendering of the law of agency, was rejected and the plan advocated by the Firstborn Spirit Son of God, that the law of agency would continue in mortality, was accepted.
“The Ten Commandments given unto Moses were inscribed on two tables of stone. Generally speaking, biblical authorities claim that the first four commandments—dealing with the love of God, referred to as the First Word and the remaining six commandments, dealing with the love of neighbor—are referred to as the Second Word. Some authorities place five commandments in each table. This would indicate that the 5th Commandment to honor father and mother bore semblance to the honoring of our Heavenly Father and Mother, as well as our earthly parents. (Also see Ex. 21:5 re: servants loving their master, who as the Father of the household is as a God unto them.) The first four commandments concern man’s duty to God—with the implication of the fifth as explained. The last six refer to man’s duty to man, with the fifth, specifically referred to as concerning man’s parents.”
The questions are often asked, “Who am I? Where did I come from? What am I doing here? Why am I here upon the earth?”—While these questions puzzle us, we cannot help reflecting upon them … Man sees himself as only a speck in creation; as also the world he inhabits, in comparison to the myriads of worlds with which he is surrounded, and is thus led to wonder what it is all about.
Since man is an agent unto himself in the acquisition of individual intelligence, he will aspire to and attain greatness, mediocrity, or lowliness. Upon this principle the variations of man has prevailed from the beginning … It may be disturbing to some, to realize that even in the beginning the intelligent entity born into the spirit-personage was of varying degrees. Some are superior to others and because of this nobility are selected by foreordination to fill certain useful and necessary offices for the good of others … Yet, the greater and the lesser spirits may both be innocent and being justified would be useful, each in their own capacity, as they would magnify their individual stations in existence, within the realms of their intelligence.
For the spirits of men who deserve it, there is a place of punishment. Such proclaims Alma, (Alma 40:12-13), are the spirits of the wicked who have no part or portion of the spirit of the Lord. Their condition is that of “darkness,” or hell, where they are buffeted until the day of redemption.