“They are they who are the sons of perdition, of whom I say that it had been better for them never to have been born; . . . Having denied the Holy Spirit after having received it, and having denied the Only Begotten Son of the Father, having crucified him unto themselves and put him to an open shame. . . . the only ones on whom the second death shall have any power; Yea, verily, the only ones who shall not be redeemed in the due time of the Lord, after the sufferings of his wrath. For all the rest shall be brought forth by the resurrection of the dead, through the triumph and the glory of the Lamb, . . .” (Doctrine and Covenants 76:32-39).
This is an example of a gospel subject that the Lord has clarified for us who live in this final gospel dispensation beyond the teachings of Church leaders in other dispensations as reflected in the Bible and the Book of Mormon. A review of the scriptures in three of our four standard works enumerated in the Topical Guide concerning the second spiritual death demonstrates my point, but I will not go through that exercise here. What does become clear to a student of the scriptures is that our clearest understanding of this subject comes from the modern-day teachings of the prophets as well as the Lord’s revelations to them.
The second death must be a spiritual one, and on this point the prophets of old and of the modern-day are united. For through the transgressions of Adam and Eve in the garden, two deaths came upon our first parents and all of their descendants. One death was physical in nature; the other was spiritual. Through Christ’s atonement, the physical death is overcome for all by Him because He was “the first begotten of the dead” (Revelation 1:5). We have no choice as to whether we individually want to participate in the resurrection or not. Participation in the resurrection is mandatory. However, the degree of our participation in the salvation wrought for us through Jesus Christ’s atonement is very much within our control. All of God’s spirit children who are resurrected to one of the three kingdoms of glory will receive the appropriate degree of salvation and will be forever free thereafter of Satan’s temptations. However, the sons of perdition receive no degree of salvation, they experience no forgiveness of their sins, and they will spend eternity with Lucifer. Individually, they will be brought out of that hell where they will have suffered damnation for their sins until the end of the millennium long enough to claim their resurrected body, and then they will be thrust down to Satan’s dominion for eternity. There, they will exist in a condition superior to their “master,” (Moses 5:23) because they will possess a body of flesh and bones, a blessing Lucifer will never realize.
So the question ought to be asked, what did they do to warrant such a hopeless and damned end? These are they “concerning whom I have said there is no forgiveness in this world nor in the world to come--Having denied the Holy Spirit after having received it, and having denied the Only Begotten Son of the Father, having crucified him unto themselves and put him to an open shame” (D&C 76:34-35). On this subject, the Prophet Joseph Smith taught the following: “What must a man do to commit the unpardonable sin? He must receive the Holy Ghost, have the heavens opened unto him, and know God, and then sin against Him. After a man has sinned against the Holy Ghost, there is no repentance for him. He has got to say that the sun does not shine while he sees it; he has got to deny Jesus Christ when the heavens have been opened unto him, and to deny the plan of salvation with his eyes open to the truth of it; and from that time he begins to be an enemy. This is the case with many apostates of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
When a man begins to be an enemy to this work, he hunts me, he seeks to kill me, and never ceases to thirst for my blood. He gets the spirit of the devil--the same spirit that they had who crucified the Lord of Life--the same spirit that sins against the Holy Ghost . . .” (Teachings, 358).
Also helpful are these thoughts concerning verses 34 and 35 of Section 76: “He [a son of perdition] thereby commits murder by assenting unto the Lord’s death, that is, having a perfect knowledge of the truth, he comes out in open rebellion and places himself in a position wherein he would have crucified Christ, knowing perfectly that he was the Son of God. Christ is thus crucified afresh and put to open shame” (Joseph Fielding McConkie and Craig J. Ostler, Revelations of the Restoration, 524).
There is a bit of what I choose to call “social gospel” that circulates among some Latter-day Saints to the effect that the number of the sons of perdition will be very few, perhaps no more than those who may be counted on the fingers of one hand. For them, I would focus attention on the Prophet’s comment quoted above. When teaching concerning the number of the apostates of the Lord’s Church that possibly have placed themselves in jeopardy of being judged sons of perdition, Joseph Smith used the word “many.” For me, five is not many, and consider please that the Prophet apparently was speaking of those apostates of his day. If nothing else, this subject should give us cause for reflection.
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