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 85 .) And though these may be delivered from hell and a ttain 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 h ell is not admittance to heaven (James E. Talmage, The Vitality of Mormonism, 255 56). It is reasonable to believe, in the absence of direct revelation by which alone absolute knowledge of the matter could be acquired, that, in accordance with God s plan of eternal progression, adv ancement from grade to grade within any kingdom, and from kingdom to kingdom, will be provided for. But if th e recipients of a lower glory be enabled to advance, surely the intelligences of higher rank will not be stopped in their progress; and thus we may conclude, that degrees and grades will ever characterize the kingdoms of our God . Eternity is progressive; perfection is relative; the essential feature of God s living purpose is its associated power of eternal increase. Articles of Faith, James E. Talmage (1st Edition, pp. 420-421) It is reasonable to believe, in the absence of direct revelation, by which alone absolute knowledge of the matter could be acquired, that, in accordance with God s plan of eternal progressi on, advancement within each of the three specified kingdoms will be provided for; though as to possible progres s from one kingdom to another the scriptures make no positive affirmation. Eternal advancement along different lin es is conceivable. We may conclude that degrees and grades will ever characterize the kingdoms of our God. Eternity is progressive; perfection is relative; the essential feature of God s living purpose is its associated power of eternal i ncrease. Articles of Faith, James E. Talmage (12th Edition p. 409) I attended the Prayer Circle in the evening In conversing upon various principle s President Young said none would inherit this Earth when it became celestial and translated into the p resence of God but those who would be crowned as Gods and able to endure the fullness of the presence of God, except they would be permitted to take with them some servants for whom they would be held responsible. All oth ers would have to inherit another kingdom, even that kingdom agreeing with the law which they had kept. He said th ey would eventually have the privilege of proving themselves worthy and advancing to a celestial kingdom, but it would be a slow progress. Journal of Wilford Woodruff, 5 Aug 1855 Brigham Young Once a person enters these glories there will be eternal progress in the line of each of these particular glories, but the privilege of passing from one to another (though this may be po ssible for especially gifted and faithful characters) is not provided for.

Joseph F. Smith Improvement Era 14:87 [November 1910] The brethren direct me to say that the Church has never announced a definite doct rine upon this point. Some of the brethren have held the view that it was possible in the course of pr ogression to advance from one glory to another, invoking the principle of eternal progression; others of the b rethren have taken the opposite view. But as stated, the Church has never announced a definite doctrine on this point. Neutral - Secretary to the First Presidency in a 1952 letter; and again in 1965 "Words of the Prophet", p. 24 ("Scriptural Items"); Scribe: Franklin D. Richards , August 1, 1843; CHO Ms/d/4409/Misc Minutes Collection. Hiram [Smith] said Aug 1st [18]43 Those of the Terrestrial Glory either advance to the Celestial or recede to the Telestial [or] else the moon could not be a type [viz. a symbol of that k ingdom]. [for] it [the moon] "waxes & wanes". Also that br George will be quickened by celestial glory having been ministered to by one of that Kingdom. J.D. 25:236; Franklin D. Richards; Discourse delivered in the Tabernacle, Logan, Cache County; Saturday afternoon; May 17, 1884. . . .but those in the terrestrial kingdom are those who will come forth at the t ime when Enoch comes back, when the Savior comes again to dwell upon the earth. . . .They will go forward, like unto the new moon, increasing in knowledge and brightness and glory, until they come to a fullness of celestia l glory. During the Millennium multitudes of people who have not heard the gospel will hear and receive it and go forward into this glory, while those who will not go forward to a fullness will go back to that lesser gl ory which is likened unto the stars of heaven. . . . I am not a strict constructionalist, believing that we seal our eternal progress by what we do here. It is my belief that God will save all of His children that he can; and while, i f we live unrighteously here, we shall not go to the other side in the same status, so to speak, as those who lived righteously; nevertheless, the unrighteous will have their chance, and in the eons of the ete rnities that are to follow, they, too, may climb to the destinies to which they who are righteous and serve God, have climbed to those eternities that are to come (J. Reuben Clark, Church News, week ending 23 April 1960, p. 3) the words of the secretary to the First Presidency, as cited in Dialogue, Vol.15 , No.1, pp. 181-182: The Brethren direct me to say that the Church has never announced a definite doc trine upon this point. Some of the Brethren have held the view that it was possible in the course of pr ogression to advance from one glory to another, invoking the principle of eternal progression; others of the B rethren have taken the opposite view. But as stated, the Church has never announced a definite doctrine on this point. B.H. Roberts pointed out that D&C 76 speaks of the celestial ministering to the

terrestrial and the terrestrial ministering to the telestial. The most relevant verses from section 76 to his di scussion are verses 43-44 and 86-88. He said: Salvation, in some order of its many degrees, shall meet the soul of every man a nd every woman, bringing them unto that exaltation that their souls are capable of receiving, and saving them unto the uttermost not all alike, any more than men are all alike here, no more than conditions are all alike here ; but as the stars differ from each other in brightness or glory, so shall the rewards of men differ in the world wh ich is to come, even "according to their works." But no man shall be left out of the mercy and the grace of God, ex cept only those who do violence unto it, after having once received it; for the crime of high treason against God, an d a repudiation of the plan of life and salvation after having received it, merits such punishment and such destruct ion as is known only to God. But the remainder of the children of God shall find rest in some one of the many divisio ns of glory that are to be found in the kingdom of God, and shall find peace and glory equal to the development that they have made or are capable of making with the grand opportunities that will be presented to them, until progre ss shall be made from glory to glory, until every soul shall contain all that it is possible for it to receive, even e ndless progression. For God has decreed that those of the celestial glory, that is after the resurre ction, shall minister to those of the terrestrial glory, and those of the terrestrial glory shall minister to them of the telestial glory; and I can conceive no reason why there should be this continual ministration of the higher to the lower glory but for the purpose of exalting all to a higher plane of glory, in the direction of the eter nal progression which God has opened to the children of men. This explanation Mormonism makes possible to these facts that we see before us, and which are otherwise inexplicable. (June 21, 1896 discourse, in Collected Dis courses 1886-1898, Volume 5) The question of advancement within the great divisions of glory celestial, terre strial, and telestial; as also the question of advancement from one sphere of glory to another remains to be considered. In the revelation from which we have summarized what has been written here, in respect to the different degrees of glory, it is said that those of the terrestrial glory will be ministered unto by those of the celestial; and those of the telestial will be ministered unto by those of the terrestrial that is, those of th e higher glory minister to those of a lesser glory. I can conceive of no reason for all this administration of the hig her to the lower, unless it be for the purpose of advancing our Father's children along the lines of eternal progressio n. Whether or not in the great future, full of so many possibilities now hidden from us, they of the lesser glories aft er education and advancement within those spheres may at last emerge from them and make their way to the high er degrees of glory until at last they attain to the highest, is not revealed in the revelations of God, and any s tatement made on the subject must partake more or less of the nature of conjecture. But if it be granted that such

a thing is possible, they who at the first entered into the celestial glory having before them the privilege also of et ernal progress have been moving onward, so that the relative distance between them and those who have fought their way u p from the lesser glories may be as great when the latter have come into the degrees of celestial glory in which the righteous at first stood, as it was at the commencement. Thus: Those whose faith and works are such only as to enabl e them to inherit a telestial glory, may arrive at last where those whose works in this life were such as to enable t hem to entrance into the celestial kingdom they may arrive where these were, but never where they are. (New Witnesses for God, pp. 391-392) 1. Letter from Joseph L. Anderson, written on behalf of the First Presidency to Brother ___________, March 5, 1952. This brother wrote, in part: "Please inform me to [sic] the teaching of the Chur ch regarding the possibility of a person progressing from one kingdom to another after the resurr ection." (Copy in compiler's files.) "The Brethren direct me to say that the Church has never announced a definite do ctrine upon this point. Some of the Brethren have held that it was possible in the course of progression to advance from one glory to another, invoking the principle of eternal progression; others of the Brethren have taken the opposite view. But as stated, the Church has never announced a definite doctrine on this point. " 2. Letter from Joseph L. Anderson, written on behalf of the First Presidency, to Joe J. Christiansen, Dec. 17, 1965. (Transcript in compiler's files.) "Reference is made to your letter of the December 7th in which you inquire what the teaching of the Church is relative to the possibility of progression from one particular glory to another after the resurrection."The Brethren direct me to say that the Church has never announced a definite doctrine upon this point, though some have held the view that it was possible in the course of progression to advance from one glory to another, invoking the principle of eternal progression; others have taken the opposite vi ew. As indicated, however, the Church has never announced a definite doctrine on this point." 1. Franklin D. Richards, "Words of the Prophets," p. 24, Church Historians Offic e. (This is a small booklet kept by Brother Richards of the statements made by Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith.) "Hiram [Smith] said Aug 1st. Those of the Terrestrial Glory either advance to th e Celestial or recede to the Telestial or else the moon would not be a type, [because] it 'waxes & wanes.'" 2. Franklin D. Richards, Discourse of May 17, 1884, as printed in the Journal of Discourses, 25:235-236. "Let me remind you of another interesting feature in this allegory, and that is this: The Savior tells us that the terrestrial glory or kingdom, is likened unto the glory of the moon, which i s not of the brightness of the sun, neither of the smallness nor dimness of the stars. But those others who have no part in marrying or giving of marriage in the last resurrection, they become as stars, and even diff

er from each other in glory; but those in the terrestrial kingdom are those who will come forth at the time w hen Enoch comes back, when the Savior comes again to dwell upon the earth; when Father Abraham will be there with the Urim and Thummin to look after every son and daughter of his race; to make known all thin gs that are needed to be known, and with them enter into their promised inheritance. Thus the people of God will go forward. They will go forward, like unto the moon, increasing in knowledge and brightness and glory, until they come to a fulness of celestial glory. During the Millennium multitudes of people who have not heard the Gospel will hear and receive it and go forward into this glory, while those who will not go forward t o a fulness will go back to that lesser glory which is likened unto the stars of heaven...." 3. Brigham Young, as quoted by Wilford Woodruff in his Journal, August 5, 1855, Church Historians Office. "He [Brigham Young] though they [those in lower kingdoms] would eventually have the privilege of proving themselves worthy and advancing to a celestial glory but it would be a slow proc ess." 4. Brigham H. Roberts, Outlines of Ecclesiastical History, 4th Ed. (Salt Lake Ci ty, 1925), pp. 415-416. "The question of advancement within the great divisions of glory -- celestial, terrestrial and telestial; as also the question of advancement from one sphere of glory to another, remains to be considered. In the revelations from which we have summarized what has been written here, in respect to the different degrees of glory, it is said that those of the terrestrial glory will be ministe red unto by those of the celestial; and those of the telestial will be ministered to by those of the terrestrial -- that is,those of the higher glory minister to those of a lesser order of glory. We can conceive of no reason for all this administration of the higher to the lower, unless it be for the purpose of advancing our Father's children along the lines of eternal progre ssion. Whether or not in the great future, full of so many possibilities now hidden fro m us, they of the lesser glories after education and advancement within those spheres may at last emerge from them and make their way to the higher degrees of glory until at last they attain to the highest, is not revealed in the revelations of God, and any statement on the subject must partake of more or less the nature of conj ecture. "But if it be granted that such a thing is possible, they who at the first entered into the celestial glory --- having befo re them the privilege also of eternal --- have been moving onward, so that the relative distance between them and those who have fought their way up from lesser glories, may be as great when the latter have come into the d egrees of celestial glory in which the righteous at first stood, as it was at the commence ment; and thus between them is an impassable gulf which time cannot destroy. Thus:

those whose faith and works in this live were such as to entitle them to entranc e into the celestial kingdom --they may arrive where these were, but never where they are. But if it be granted that the chief fact about Intelligences is that t hey have power to add fact to fact and thus build up knowledge, and through knowledge have wisdom, and thus make pr ogress; and if so such intelligences there granted eternal life --- immortality --- then it is useless to postulate any limitations upon them if progress be very slow --- there will come a time when these intelli gences --- men and women of even the telestial glory --- may become very acceptable characters, and very important pe rsonages." 5. J. Reuben Clark, in the Church News, April 23, 1960,p. 3. "I am not a strict constructionalist, believing that we seal our eternal progres s by what we do here. It is my belief that God will save all His children that he can; and while, if w e live unrighteously here, we shall not go to the other side in the same status, so to speak, as those who lived righteously; nevertheless, the unrighteous will have their chance, and in the eons of the eternities that a re to follow, they, too, may climb to the destinies to which they who are righteous and serve God have cl imbed in those eternities that are to come." 6. Joseph F. Smith in the Improvement Era, 14 (Nov. 1910): 87. "Once a person enters these glories there will be eternal progress in the line o f each of these particular glories, but. . .the privilege of passing from one to another (though this may be possibl e for especially gifted and faithful characters) is not provided for." Perhaps one such reference might be the doctrine of translated bodies. Joseph Sm ith taught that translated bodies are terrestrial (TPJS pp. 170-171). Mormon was taught that the three Nephites (w ho were translated) would have to undergo a further change to become celestial (3 Nephi 28:36-40, see also TPJS p. 191). I disagree, as I understand it, there is a final judgement wherein all are trans figured/resurrected for and assigned to their appropriate kingdoms. Perhaps there is one thing that might explain different perspectives on the issu e: My view of the judgment is not one of God "sorting through" people and putting t hem in different "boxes" or places. I understand the "three degrees of glory" to be a fairly rough descriptive group ing of what is really an infinite spectrum of progression. The scriptures tell us that the glory of those in the t elestial kingdom is likened unto the glory of the stars, "for one star differeth from another star in glory". Thus, t here are really various "degrees" of glory within the telestial kingdom. Similarly, we know explicitly that the celes tial kingdom has (at least?) three degrees. Hyrum Smith (quoted above) points out that the moon, as a type of the terrestria l, "waxes and wanes". And there are kingdoms above the celestial, as we learn in D&C 130:9-10. In essence, I do not see the kingdoms as strictly-defined areas with boundaries that cannot be crossed. Indeed,

it makes as little sense to me to say that one cannot progress from the highest degree of the telestial to the lowest degree of the terrestrial as it does to say that a person who is "49.9% good" go es to hell and a person who is "50.1% good" goes to heaven. Rather, I believe that the glory one receives is commensurate to the "deeds done in the body" (which certainly vary widely from person to person). And I believe that our information about the king doms is quite limited. As Joseph Smith said, quote: Paul ascended into the third heavens, and he could understand the three principa l rounds of Jacob's ladder the telestial, the terrestrial, and the celestial glories or kingdoms, where Paul saw and heard things which were not lawful for him to utter. I could explain a hundred fold more than I ever have of the glories of th e kingdoms manifested to me in the vision, were I permitted, and were the people prepared to receive them. The Lord deals with this people as a tender parent with a child, communicating light and intelligence and the knowledge of his ways as t hey can bear it. (TPJS pp. 304-305) Indeed, if, as Joseph said in describing his thoughts before receiving section 7 6, "if God rewarded every one according to the deeds done in the body the term "Heaven" as intended for the Saints' eter nal home, must include more kingdoms than one." (TPJS p. 9), maybe we can extend that and think that perhaps it must include more kingdoms than three. Of course, since we have no official doctrine on the matter, this discussion cou ld be called "just speculation". Or perhaps it could be called "pondering the things of God"... Why keep the founder of Crips in jail http://blog.mediumcouncil.org/?p=117 D/C 76 86 These are they who receive not of his fulness in the eternal world, but of th e Holy Spirit through the ministration of the terrestrial; 87 And the terrestrial through the ministration of the celestial. 88 And also the telestial receive it of the administering of angels who are appo inted to minister for them, or who are appointed to be ministering spirits for them; for they shall be heirs of salvation. 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 telestia l world;