150. The glory and grandeur of the telestial kingdom surpasses all human understanding.
153. The inhabitants of the telestial kingdom will be as innumerable as the stars.
154. The telestial kingdom is comprised of several subdivisions.
150. The glory and grandeur of the telestial kingdom surpasses all human understanding.
And again, we saw the glory of the telestial, which glory is that of the lesser, even as the glory of the stars differs from that of the glory of the moon in the firmament. . . .
89. And thus we saw, in the heavenly vision, the glory of the telestial, which surpasses all understanding;(Vision to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, Feb. 16, 1832) D&C 76:81,89
And thus I beheld, in the vision of heav'n,
The telestial glory, dominion and bliss,
Surpassing the great understanding of men, —
Unknown, save reveal'd, in a world vain as this. (Verse 64 of a 78 verse poem: "The Answer to W. W. Phelps, Esq., A Vision") (Published by Joseph Smith in Nauvoo, Ill., Feb. 1, 1843 in the Times and Seasons) MOFP1:166
The book [Doctrine and Covenants] explains clearly that the lowest glory to which man is assigned is so glorious as to be beyond the understanding of man. It is a doctrine fundamental in Mormonism that the meanest sinner, in the final judgment, will receive a glory which is beyond human understanding, which is so great that we are unable to describe it adequately. Those who do well will receive an even more glorious place. . . .
The Gospel is a gospel of tremendous love. Love is at the bottom of it. The meanest child is loved so dearly that his reward will be beyond the understanding of mortal man. (Message of the Doctrine and Covenants, p.167) DCSM:166
Even the telestial glory "surpasses all understanding; And no man knows it except him to whom God has revealed it." AF:84
God thus takes into merciful account not only our desires and our performance, but also the degrees of difficulty which our varied circumstances impose upon us. No wonder we will not complain at the final judgment, especially since even the telestial kingdom’s glory “surpasses all understanding” (D&C 76:89). God delights in blessing us, especially when we realize “joy in that which [we] have desired” (CR 1996Oct; D&C 7:8). (“According to the Desire of [Our] Hearts”, Ensign, November 1996, p.21)
151. Those who will inherit the telestial kingdom will be the wicked people of the earth, such as adulterers and deliberate liars.
also quoting Joseph Smith
The telestial kingdom. Into this kingdom will go all of those who have been unclean in their lives. See verses 98 to 112, in Section 76 [of the Doctrine and Covenants]. These people who enter there will be the unclean; the liars, sorcerers, adulterers, and those who have broken their covenants. Of these the Lord says:
"These are they who are cast down to hell and suffer the wrath of Almighty God, until the fulness of times, when Christ shall have subdued all enemies under his feet, and shall have perfected his work;" [D&C 76:106]
Yet these, after they have been punished for their sins and having been turned over to the torments of Satan, shall eventually, come forth, after the millennium, to receive the telestial kingdom. (Answers to Gospel Questions, 2:208-10) TLDP:127
And again, we saw the glory of the telestial, which glory is that of the lesser, even as the glory of the stars differs from that of the glory of the moon in the firmament. . . .
99. For these are they who are of Paul, and of Apollos, and of Cephas. 100. These are they who say they are some of one and some of another—some of Christ and some of John, and some of Moses, and some of Elias, and some of Esaias, and some of Isaiah, and some of Enoch; 101. But received not the gospel, neither the testimony of Jesus, neither the prophets, neither the everlasting covenant. . . . 103. These are they who are liars, and sorcerers, and adulterers, and whoremongers, and whosoever loves and makes a lie. (Vision to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, Feb. 16, 1832) D&C 76:81,99-101,103
also quoting Joseph Smith
The Telestial Glory —The revelation continues: "And again, we saw the glory of the telestial, which glory is that of the lesser, even as the glory of the stars differs from that of the glory of the moon in the firmament. These are they who received not the gospel of Christ, neither the testimony of Jesus. These are they who deny not the Holy Spirit. These are they who are thrust down to hell. These are they who shall not be redeemed from the devil until the last resurrection, until the Lord, even Christ the Lamb, shall have finished his work." We learn further that the inhabitants of this kingdom are to be graded among themselves, comprising as they do the unenlightened among the varied opposing sects and divisions of men, and sinners of many types, whose offenses are not those of utter perdition: "For as one star differs from another star in glory, even so differs one from another in glory in the telestial world; For these are they who are of Paul, and of Apollos, and of Cephas. These are they who say they are some of one and some of another —some of Christ, and some of John, and some of Moses, and some of Elias, and some of Esaias, and some of Isaiah, and some of Enoch; But received not the gospel, neither the testimony of Jesus, neither the prophets, neither the everlasting covenant." Evidently a considerable part of the human family will fail of all glory beyond that of the telestial kingdom, for we are told: "But behold, and lo, we saw the glory and the inhabitants of the telestial world, that they were as innumerable as the stars in the firmament of heaven, or as the sand upon the seashore." They are thus not wholly rejected; their every merit will be respected. "For they shall be judged according to their works, and every man shall receive according to his own works, his own dominion, in the mansions which are prepared; And they shall be servants of the Most High, but where God and Christ dwell they cannot come, worlds without end." AF:369-70
J. Reuben Clark, Jr., David O. McKay,
(First Presidency)
also quoting Joseph Smith
In the great revelation on the three heavenly glories, the Lord said, speaking of those who will inherit the lowest of these, or the telestial glory:
"These are they who are liars, and sorcerers, and adulterers, and whoremongers, and whosoever loves and makes a lie." — (D&C 76:103)
The doctrine of this Church is that sexual sin—the illicit sexual relations of men and women—stands, in its enormity, next to murder.
The Lord has drawn no essential distinctions between fornication, adultery, and harlotry or prostitution. Each has fallen under His solemn and awful condemnation.
. . . . By virtue of the authority in us vested as the First Presidency of the Church, we warn our people who are offending, of the degradation, the wickedness, the punishment that attend upon unchastity. . . . CR1942Oct:11
Selfishness is actually the detonator of all the cardinal sins. It is the hammer for the breaking of the Ten Commandments, whether by neglecting parents, the Sabbath, or by inducing false witness, murder, and envy. No wonder the selfish individual is often willing to break a covenant in order to fix an appetite. No wonder those who will later comprise the telestial kingdom, after they have paid a price, were once unrepentant adulterers, whoremongers, and those who both loved and made lies. (CR 1999Apr; “Repent of [Our] Selfishness” (D&C 56:8), Ensign, May 1999, p.23)
152. Those who are to inhabit the telestial kingdom are first cast down to hell in the spirit world before they are redeemed from the devil in the last resurrection.
Those who enter into the telestial kingdom . . . are the ungodly, the filthy who suffer the wrath of God on earth, who are thrust down to hell where they will be required to pay the uttermost farthing before their redemption comes. These are they who receive not the gospel of Christ and consequently could not deny the Holy Spirit while living on the earth.
They have no part in the first resurrection and are not redeemed from the devil and his angels until the last resurrection, because of their wicked lives and their evil deeds. Nevertheless, even these are heirs of salvation, but before they are redeemed and enter the kingdom, they must repent of their sins, and receive the gospel, and bow the knee, and acknowledge that Jesus is the Christ, the Redeemer of the world. (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:22) DGSM:93
Even to hell there is an exit as well as an entrance; and when sentence has been served, commuted perhaps by repentance and its attendant works, the prison doors shall open and the penitent captive be afforded opportunity to comply with the law, which he aforetime violated. . . .
The inhabitants of the telestial world—the lowest of the kingdoms of glory prepared for resurrected souls, shall include those "who are thrust down to hell" and "who shall not be redeemed from the devil until the last resurrection." (D&C 76:82-85And though these may be delivered from hell and attain to a measure of glory with possibilities of progression, yet their lot shall be that of "servants of the Most High, but where God and Christ dwell they cannot come, worlds without end." (v.112)
Deliverance from hell is not admittance to heaven. (The Vitality of Mormonism, pp. 255-56) DGSM:93
also quoting Joseph Smith
All liars, and sorcerers, and adulterers and all who love and make a lie, shall not receive the resurrection at this time, but for a thousand years shall be thrust down into hell where they shall suffer the wrath of God until they pay the price of their sinning, if it is possible, by the things which they shall suffer. [See Church News, April 23, 1932, p.
6.]
These are the "Spirits of men who are to be judged and are found under condemnation; And 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" [See D&C 88:100-01.]. . . .
These are the hosts of the telestial world who are commanded to "suffer the wrath of God on earth"; and who are "cast down to hell and suffer the wrath of Almighty God, until the fulness of times, when Christ shall have subdued all enemies under his feet, and shall have perfected his work" [Era, vol 45, p 781; D&C 76:104-06. . . .
This suffering will be a means of cleansing, or purifying, and through it the wicked shall be brought to a condition whereby they may, through the redemption of Jesus Christ, obtain immortality. Their spirits and bodies shall be again united, and they shall dwell in the telestial kingdom. But this resurrection will not come until the end of the world. (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:295-98) TLDP:564-65
And again, we saw the glory of the telestial, which glory is that of the lesser, even as the glory of the stars differs from that of the glory of the moon in the firmament. . . .
84. These are they who are thrust down to hell.
85. These are they who shall not be redeemed from the devil until the last resurrection, until the Lord, even Christ the Lamb, shall have finished his work. . . . 104. These are they who suffer the wrath of God on earth. 105. These are they who suffer the vengeance of eternal fire. 106. These are they who are cast down to hell and suffer the wrath of Almighty God, until the fulness of times, when Christ shall have subdued all enemies under his feet, and shall have perfected his work;(Vision to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, Feb. 16, 1832) D&C 76:81,84-85,104-06
Related Witnesses:
Jesus will bring forth, by his own redemption, every son and daughter of Adam, except the sons of perdition. . . . Others will suffer the wrath of God—will suffer all the Lord can demand at their hands, or justice can require of them; and when they have suffered the wrath of God till the utmost farthing is paid, they will be brought out of prison. (In Bowery, Aug. 26, 1860, JD8:154) TLDP:330
The spirit world is not the heaven where Jesus Christ, his Father, and other beings dwell, who have, by resurrection or translation, ascended to eternal mansions, and been crowned and seated on thrones of power; but it is an intermediate state, a probation, a place of preparation, improvement, instruction, or education, where spirits are chastened and improved, and where, if found worthy, they may be taught a knowledge of the Gospel. In short, it is a place where the Gospel is preached, and where faith, repentance, hope and charity may be exercised; a place of waiting for the resurrection or redemption of the body; while, to those who deserve it, it is a place of punishment, a purgatory or hell, where spirits are buffeted till the day of redemption. (Key to the Science of Theology, pp. 132-33) TLDP:637
God will not condemn any man to utter destruction, neither shall any man be thrust down to hell irredeemably, until he has been brought to the possession of the greater light that comes through repentance and obedience to the laws and commandments of God; but if, after he has received light and knowledge, he shall sin against the light and will not repent, then, indeed, he becomes a lost soul, a son of perdition. ("I Know That My Redeemer Lives," IE1908Mar:381) TLDP:634
I have thought sometimes that some of our people are inclined to think there is no hell and that nobody is going to hell. I tell you there will be a large number of people go to hell; they will suffer torment and will go where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth; they will be in outer darkness and suffer far beyond anything we can conceive of. Latter-day Saints especially who commit sin, if they die in their sin, will go to hell, and they will suffer torment there until the day of redemption. But think of the length of time during which they will be in this torment (Gospel Truth, 1:85) TLDP:639
Messianic prophecies . . . describe in a most graphic way how the Lord saves men from the direful fate that would be theirs if he had not atoned for their sins. It is known as freeing the hosts of men from prison—from the prison of death, of hell, of the devil, and of endless torment. And how apt and pointed the illustration is, for the prisons of ancient times were hell holes of death, disease, and despair. They were dungeons of filth, corruption, and creeping denizens. Sheol itself was known as the pit, the dungeon of despair, the nether realms of torment, the Hades of hell. To be in prison was worse than a living hell, and to be freed therefrom was to arise from death to life. It is no wonder that the prophetic mind seized upon this illustration to teach what the Redeemer would do to ransom men from the fate that would be theirs if there were no atonement. (The Promised Messiah, pp. 238-39) TLDP:51
153. The inhabitants of the telestial kingdom will be as innumerable as the stars.
And again, we saw the glory of the telestial, which glory is that of the lesser, even as the glory of the stars differs from that of the glory of the moon in the firmament. . . . 109. But behold, and lo, we saw the glory and the inhabitants of the telestial world, that they were as innumerable as the stars in the firmament of heaven, or as the sand upon the seashore; (Vision to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, Feb. 16, 1832) D&C 76:81,109
Those who enter into the telestial kingdom, where their glories differ as do the stars of heaven in their magnitude, and who are innumerable as the sands of the seashore, are the ungodly, the filthy who suffer the wrath of God on the earth. . . . (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:22) DGSM:93
also quoting Joseph Smith
Evidently a considerable part of the human family will fail of all glory beyond that of the telestial kingdom, for we are told: "But behold, and lo, we saw the glory and the inhabitants of the telestial world, that they were as innumerable as the stars in the firmament of heaven, or as the sand upon the seashore." [D&C 76:81] They are thus not wholly rejected; their every merit will be respected. "For they shall be judged according to their works, and every man shall receive according to his own works, his own dominion, in the mansions which are prepared; And they shall be servants of the Most High, but where God and Christ dwell they cannot come, worlds without end." [D&C 76:112] AF:370
Related Witnesses:
As eternal beings we all have to stand before him to be judged; and he has provided different degrees of glory—the celestial, the terrestrial, and the telestial glories—which are provided according to certain unchangeable laws which cannot be controverted. What will he do with them? For those who are ready to listen to him and be brought under the influence of the Spirit of God and be led by the principles of revelation and the light of heaven, and who are willing to yield to obedience to his commands at all times and carry out his purposes upon the earth, and who are willing to abide a celestial law, he has prepared for them a celestial glory, that they may be with him for ever and ever. And what about the others? They are not prepared to go there any more than lead is prepared to stand the same test as gold or silver; and there they cannot go. And there is a great gulf between them. But he [God] will do with them just as well as he can. A great many of these people in the world, thousands and hundreds of millions of them, will be a great deal better off through the interposition of the Almighty that they have any idea of. But they cannot enter into the celestial kingdom of God; where God and Christ are they cannot come. (Quarterly conference, Salt Lake Stake, in Salt Lake Theater, Jan. 6, 1879, JD20:116) TLDP:325
154. The telestial kingdom is comprised of several subdivisions.
And again, we saw the glory of the telestial, which glory is that of the lesser, even as the glory of the stars differs from that of the glory of the moon in the firmament. . . .
98. And the glory of the telestial is one, even as the glory of the stars is one; for as one star differs from another star in glory, even so differs one from another in glory in the telestial world; . . . (Vision to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, Feb. 16, 1832) D&C 76:81,98
Those who enter into the telestial kingdom, where their glories differ as do the stars of heaven in their magnitude, and who are innumerable as the sands of the seashore, are the ungodly, the filthy who suffer the wrath of God on earth. . . . (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:296) DGSM:93
The three kingdoms of widely differing glories are organized on an orderly plan of gradation. We have seen that the telestial kingdom comprises several subdivisions; this also is the case, we are told, with the celestial; and, by analogy, we conclude that a similar condition prevails in the terrestrial. Thus the innumerable degrees of merit amongst mankind are provided for in an infinity of graded glories. HL:83
The glory of the telestial world no man knows, except he partakes of it; and yet, in that world they differ in glory as the stars in the firmament differ one from the other. The terrestrial glory is greater still, and the celestial is the greatest of all; that is the glory of God the Father, where our Lord Jesus Christ reigns. (In Tabernacle, Aug. 15, 1852, JD6:293) TLDP:12
