Jesus Christ is physically NOT in the Spirit World

                 Jesus Christ will appear in all-red attire when he returns for his "Second Coming."

    

  THE Spirit World seems to a confusing doctrine for many Latter-day Saints.

 Latest example: A High Council member speaks in my ward and he is not 30 seconds into his talk when he states that Jesus Christ will look very familiar to us when we see him in the Spirit World.

What?

  Although there's little doubt Christ's spirit and influence can be felt in the Spirit World, he is NOT there physically.

Why?

  After all, the Spirit World is a realm created just for spirits. Jesus Christ himself spent just three days there after his death, but could only be there because he was in spirit form there, before his resurrection.

   Spirit World residents still have to live by faith there, as we do on Earth. Prayer is also likely our communication tool in the Spirit World, as it is here.

  It just seems strange that members can't seem to grasp this doctrine.

  Other church members hold to the inaccurate "he was called home" idea too, regarding the Spirit World. How can it be "home," when one has never been there before and it is certainly not a permanent place of residence in the afterlife. Other than deceased friends and family are in the Spirit World, the "called home" idea is not correct either.

 NOTE: This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and opinions only.

 

The Three Dimensions on Earth

 

                    NASA image from Wikipedia Commons, in public domain.

THERE appear to be three dimensions on our Earth.

  1.We live in the mortal, tangible dimension, separated from the other two.

  2.The Spirit World, where ALL persons instantly go when they die, is also located on Earth, but is in a separate pocket, a dimension, where spirits can reside and await the resurrection. Occasionally and not often, some righteous spirit world residents may be permitted by God to briefly visit, or interact with mortals on Earth.

  3.The “prison” dimension is where the one-third of the host of Heaven who rebelled against God are kept. They can apparently see what happens on Earth, with mortals. However, they can whisper in the minds of mortals on Earth, tempting them, as demons of Satan. And, if a person sins and allows a demonic spirit to take over their body (“possession”), they can do so at least temporarily, until cast out by the priesthood, or that person dies. It may also be possible that these demons can partially possess an evil person, adding a second voice to their mind, to prompt/instruct such persons to do even more evil.

Also, according to Alma 34:34:

"Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for 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."

 Thus, evil spirits, as in the One-Third cast out, may still have some power over unrepentant spirits in the Spirit World too.

 NOTE: This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and opinions only.

 

 

Jesus Christ is NOT in the Spirit World

                    One of the oversimplified pieces of LDS artwork that's out there.



I recently heard a widower of a few years -- and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- reflecting on his wife's passing. His wife had said that she looked forward to meeting Jesus in "Paradise" (the Spirit world) -- and her departed family members.
I did not have the heart to correct he, nor his late wife's incorrect understanding directly.
A significant number of newspaper obituaries of LDS Church members wrongly declare that a deceased person has gone back to their Heavenly Father.

I wish more LDS Church members would have a more accurate understanding of the Spirit World.
Jesus Christ is NOT present in the Spirit world, nor does he likely visit there.
Why?
Because he could only spend 3 days there, as a spirit, after his mortal death.
It IS the world of spirits after all, and all inhabitants do live by faith there, much as they do here. To have Christ, or God the Father there defeats the purpose of the Spirit world.
Yes, the Holy Ghost and Light of Christ can be felt in the Spirit world by the repentant, but that's all. I suspect even prayer is present in the Spirit world.
(One's knowledge of life before birth also ISN'T automatically restored in the Spirit world, despite some past teachings that it is.)
This myth of meeting your make right after death keeps being perpetuated most often in the LDS Church during funerals -- he or she was "called home" or they will "meet their maker."
This incorrect doctrine may make people feel "comforted," but it simply isn't accurate. (Saying someone has "transferred" or "graduated" from life would be more accurate terms.)
This myth is also present in some oversimplified LDS artwork (see the above photograph from a St. George, Utah funeral home).
Perhaps only those who have been dead briefly and then returned to life have ever been to the Spirit world before. So, how can one correctly say "they were called home" when they have never been there before?
No deceased person likely meets Christ until they are at the judgment bar, or after they are resurrected.

NOTE: This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and opinions only.

Can the evil dead return to earth?

                                    This LDS Church book examines the spirit world.

THERE'S mention of "unclean spirits" in the New Testament (Mark chapter 5, Luke 11:24 are two examples).

How are these different from "evil spirits"? I'm not sure of that.
However, I am certain that "unclean spirits" are NOT any of the evil dead who have returned to earth.
Yes, the spirit world may also be on earth, but it is in a different dimension.
Also, when an evil (or unclean) person dies, they are in spirit PRISON.
A prison denotes confinement, being bound. So, how does an evil person die and return to haunt their house, or possess the body of a living person? They don't. 
(Yes, men may sometimes escape from the prisons of men, but I'm sure God's prison is escape-proof ...)
Repentance is the only possible means of escape from spirit prison.
On the other hand, the one-third of the host of heaven who were cast out in the pre-earth life for rebellion are loose all over earth, tempting us and are eager to possess even in a swine's body for a brief time.
These evil spirits have watched the lives of people, so they can impersonate them, perhaps even mimic their appearance.
If the righteous dead can only interact with mortals on very special occasions, then why can the evil dead run loose on earth? No, that's not consistent with an orderly plan of God.
(Such a scenario also unbalances the "temptation equation," if the evil dead have such power ... and the righteous dead do not.)
When Ted Bundy or Hitler died, they went to spirit prison and are confined there, tormented by their own heavy weight of sins. They are NOT roaming about the planet tempting, impersonating or possessing anyone.
Yet, I don't doubt that those 1/3rd of the host of Heaven cast out are eager to impersonate Hitler or Bundy to fool, confuse and further torment, afflict and lead mortals away from the truth of the Gospel.
It is these 1/3rd evil spirits who keep getting mistaken for the real deal -- the departed dead -- and they probably get a thrill out of that deception.

-This, of course, also means there are no REAL ghosts on Earth. No one who lived before as a mortal haunts any place. That is all done by impersonators, whose entire existence resolves around deception.

-So, it is looking more as if "unclean spirits" and "evil spirits" are pretty much the same -- both of the 1/3rd of the host of heaven who were cast out. 
The Biblical translation is confusing at the least in that regard. Too bad the Prophet Joseph Smith didn't have time to finish his revision of the Bible.

NOTE: This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and opinions only.

A Look At the Spirit World ...

                                                   Where do the spirits of the dead go?

WHAT comes after death is perhaps man's greatest mystery.
What does happen immediately after death?
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is blessed with a wealth of revelations on that subject, whereas most of the world must rely on the near death experiences of various people for their sketchy information.
First of all, ALL people who die end up immediately in the spirit world. That's an absolute, unless someone is instantly resurrected in the twinkling of an eye.
Second, where is the spirit world?
According to Brigham Young (Deseret News Aug. 27, 1856) and Parley P. Pratt, is it simply on earth.
Elder Pratt said it is in the inward, spiritual realm, invisible to mortals. He said the veil exisits to separate the two (From his "Key of the Science of Theology" book).
Today, we would probably envision the spirit world as occupying the same space, but being in a different dimension from the physical world.
Notwithstanding, it is often stated by church members in obituary notices or funeral talks that he or she "was called home."
Why is the spirit world "home"? It is not anyone's permanent realm and no one who has not died has ever been there before.

  In addition, when we die, our spirit is naked, yes without clothes! Just as we entered the mortal world naked, our spirit is initially naked -- and it appears that someone is dispatched to meet a spirit just before he or she enters the spirit world and gives them a robe to wear.

(Source: Wilford Woodruff, History of His Life and Labors, as recorded in his daily journals. Prepared for publication by Matthias F. Cowley, September, 1909. Reprinted by (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 7^th Printing, 1978), 541.)

 "The Vision," compiled by N.B. Lundwall in 1945 is probably the best overall source for information on the spirit world, outside the standard works.

D&C 138 is another must read to grasp the spirit world.
There is an instant judgment once you arrive in the spirit world. If you are wicked, you will be in misery and separated from the good people.

Read D&C section 76 and it indirectly has some great insights on the spirit world. 
Verse 73 states that it was the terrestrial level residents of the spirit world who Jesus Christ opened up gospel teaching to during his three days there. No mention is made of telestial level spirit world inhabitants being preached too.
In fact, verse 85 states that telestial spirits will NOT be redeemed from Satan until the last resurrection (after the millennium).
So, this implies that telestial level residents of the spirit world are NOT taught the gospel there. They are "they who are thrust down to hell" (verse 84) and are "they who received not  the gospel of Christ, neither the testimony of Jesus" (verse 82).
Telestial level residents of the spirit world are apparently still in the spirit prison and are not able to mingle or interact with those of the other 2 kingdoms.
The spirit world is also organized into two parts, paradise, for the righteous and hell for the wicked (Alma 40:11-14).

It is sin and false traditions that imprison people in the spirit prison, according to Elder Bruce R. McConkie in Mormon Doctrine.
Although Church members tend to think of the final judgment as the big event in the judgment process, a huge partial judgment is evident in the spirit world. (Hence, far better to repent in mortality than think one can wait until they are in the spirit world.)
Those who may have pondered what it may be like to mingle in the spirit world with those who were famous in mortality (like movie stars, great athletes and politicians) may find that activity somewhat limited as some of those "famous" may be locked away in the spirit prison of the spirit world, being telestial level spirits and not even terrestrial worthy.
Notwithstanding, there are seemingly enough terrestrial residents in the spirit world who never heard the gospel in mortality to keep the righteous busy in the teaching process there well into the millennium.

Joy and gladness dominates the attitudes of the faithful in the spirit world, while the opposite engulfs the evil.
The righteous church members are very soon after arrival called to preach the gospel. They meet with immediate family briefly first.
Righteous inhabitants there are organized into families.

There could easily be many billions of inhabitants of the spirit world and that's a lot of people to teach. An increasing number of people are being added now as the world has more residents and thus more daily deaths.
Proportionally, church members who can teach the gospel there is likely very, very small compared to total residents.
Apparently, there are NO wards or stakes in the spirit world, Church members are organized by families instead ....

Now that teaching concept brings up the issue of one of the most common myths about the spirit world -- that our knowledge of life before birth is instantly restored after death.
That is simply not true. Think about this, if it were true, why would people in the spirit world need to be taught the basics of the gospel, for they knew all this in the pre-earth life and even chose to come to earth to be tested?
Elder Melvin J. Ballard, an apostle from 1919-1939 taught that the dead don't know any more when they die then they did alive, except that they have now passed through the process of death.
A popular church video production, "Man's Search for Happiness," contains the error that knowledge of life before birth will be restored after death. Yes, it will eventually be restored, but not immediately. Such restoration is probably based on worthiness.
He said there is no shortcut to hearing the gospel -- you hear it from the elders in this life or the next, or not at all.
If you refused to hear the message on earth, it is likely you will not want to hear it there either.
Elder McConkie also said that the same attitudes, knowledge, habits, etc. a person has are all carried to the spirit world.
Joseph Fielding Smith also taught that residents of the spirit world can exercise both faith and repentance. (Church News section of the Deseret News, Jan. 5, 1935, p. 7.)
Indeed, Elder Ballard said it is 10 times harder to repent in the spirit world, because we lack our body, a more moldable element.
That's the limiting atmosphere of the spirit world, the "bondage" and absence of not having a physical body (see D&C 45:15, 138:50). We came to earth to receive a body and without it, we are not a complete soul (D&C 88:15).
We likely speak the same language in the spirit world and so perhaps the same language skills we had in the pre-earth life are restored to us.
What about age in the spirit world?
All spirit world residents are adults (Joseph Fielding Smith, "Answers to Gospel Questions," 1:60). Even those who died as babes are adult in appearance, though visions of deceased persons may make them appear as about the age when a person last saw them on earth.

 I'm not certain if different races exist in the spirit world. I think "race" is a mortal condition and as such does not extend beyond that.

Can spirit world residents see us? Brigham Young said so, but I can't believe that's always true or they would be too distracted, concerned or entertained over what we do to do much else in the spirit world.

Certainly when a person's temple work is being done, or perhaps even during a person's funeral, they may tarry nearby and see our world, but a regular and anytime-I-want-to-see-the-earth option seems far too distracting for the work to continue there.
The patriarchal blessing of a few mentions some church members having a gift to see through the veil at times.
What does the spirit world look like? An account in "The Vision" of near death experience by a church member describes it as much more beautiful than our current earth.
It contains incredible looking gardens/flowers and very well-constructed buildings.
If it does cover the entire earth space, it would be huge in size.
-AND, since God the Father and Jesus Christ DO NOT dwell in, or likely visit the Spirit World, prayer is probably an important spiritual exercise in that realm too, as on the mortal Earth.

I certainly don't profess to know everything about the spirit world, I only know what has been revealed to church leaders and is in the scriptures.

-Regarding attire in the Spirit World, some accounts from people who have temporarily died and then returned to life have presented some startling ideas, true or not ...
One is that the more righteous a Spirit World resident is, the whiter his or her attire is. So, some have more gray colored clothing there and anyone in the "Spirit Prison" is dressed in black.
Could this be true? Perhaps, though it does seem a bit too obvious there to all residents there of, if true.
This isn't necessarily doctrine, but it does kind of make sense that there could be some sort of partial judgment -- visible or not --  like this in the Spirit world. 



NOTE: This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and opinions only.