President Joseph F. Smith\u2019s Vision of the Redemption of the Dead is one of the most recent documents to be included in our cannon (only followed by Official Declaration 2).\u00a0 Experienced on 3 October 1918 and recorded shortly thereafter, the vision outlines the underlying theology behind proxy work for the dead that we perform in the temples.\u00a0 Received against a dramatic backdrop of death, the vision gives hope for all of humankind.\u00a0 Yet rather than breaking new ground, the document is a capstone of years of theological development in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.\u00a0 That doesn\u2019t undercut its significance, however, since its later inclusion in the scriptures canonized those developments for the Church.<\/p>\n
Received over 100 years ago, this important vision came at a time of wide-spread death and destruction.\u00a0 WWI was just a month away from its official end, after four years of carnage that resulted in millions of deaths.\u00a0 Similar to today, a deadly pandemic was raging at that time that would kill tens of millions of people.\u00a0 Joseph F. Smith himself had experienced loss not long before the vision.\u00a0 In that year alone, his eldest son, a son-in-law, and a daughter-in-law had all died at young ages.\u00a0 In addition, as his great-grandson stated: \u201cDuring his lifetime, President Smith lost his father, his mother, one brother, two sisters, two wives, and thirteen children. He was well acquainted with sorrow and losing loved ones.\u201d[1]<\/a>\u00a0 It was against this backdrop that Joseph F. Smith was pondering on the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the words of Peter about the \u201charrowing of hell.\u201d[2]<\/a><\/p>\n The vision is beautiful and covers a lot of ground about life after death.\u00a0 Susa Gates described the contents as follows: \u201cIn it he tells of his view of Eternity; the Savior when He visited the spirits in prison\u2014how His servants minister to them; he saw the Prophet and all his associate Brethren laboring in the Prison Houses; Mother Eve & her noble daughters engaged in the same holy cause!\u201d[3]<\/a>\u00a0 President Gordon B. Hinckley later noted that: \u201cIt is a document without parallel.\u00a0\u2026 [It sets] forth the deep and eternal meaning of the Atonement of the Redeemer. There is nothing quite like it in all of our sacred literature.\u201d[4]<\/a>\u00a0 And, as President Russell M. Ballard stated: \u201cWe \u2026 can be comforted and learn more about our own future\u00a0when we and our loved ones die and go to the spirit world by studying this revelation and pondering its significance. \u2026 The vision revealed more fully the depth and breadth of Heavenly Father\u2019s plan for His children and Christ\u2019s redeeming love and the matchless power of His Atonement.\u201d[5]<\/a><\/p>\n Yet, much of what is presented in the vision is not original to that vision. \u00a0Where it is the only canonized document that goes into detail on the subject of redemption for the dead beyond what Joseph Smith discussed in his September 1842 letters to the Church (D&C 127-128), it can be easy to overlook that fact.\u00a0 We can go through and discuss examples from the text of the section itself and the development of the ideas before being presented in Section 138:<\/p>\n \u201cI saw the hosts of the dead, both small and great. And there were gathered together in one place an innumerable company of the spirits of the just, who had been faithful in the testimony of Jesus while they lived in mortality. \u2026 While this vast multitude waited and conversed, rejoicing in the hour of their deliverance from the chains of death, the Son of God appeared, declaring liberty to the captives who had been faithful, and there he preached to them the everlasting gospel, the doctrine of the resurrection and the redemption of mankind from the fall, and from individual sins on conditions of repentance\u201d[6]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The idea of the \u201charrowing of hell\u201d is present in traditional Christianity thanks to the very verses of the New Testament that Joseph F. Smith was pondering: \u201cChrist also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you\u00a0to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit,\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison,\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah.\u201d[7]<\/a>\u00a0 It was deemed important enough that the early Christian document known as the Apostles Creed included the idea: \u201cHe descended into Hell; the third day He rose again from the dead.\u201d\u00a0 One apocryphal gospel portrayed this in dramatic terms, describing Christ storming hell, where he broke \u201cthe gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron asunder,\u201d and rescued \u201cAdam and his sons.\u201d[8]<\/a>\u00a0 The idea of Christ visiting hell became a standard part of many Christian traditions.<\/p>\n The shape of the experience in the Spirit World developed early in the Church.\u00a0 Alma in the Book of Mormon describes \u201cthe state of the soul between death and the resurrection\u201d as a time when \u201cthe spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness\u201d while the \u201cspirits of the wicked\u201d would exist \u201cin darkness, and a state of awful, fearful looking for the fiery indignation of the wrath of God upon them.\u201d[9]<\/a>\u00a0 This liminal period of the soul between death and the resurrection was a subject of some discussion by 19th<\/sup> century Latter-day Saints.\u00a0 Elder Parley P. Pratt, for example, stated that he believed that in the Spirit World, \u201csocieties are made up of all kinds,\u201d including many who \u201chave lived in part of the spirit world \u2026 where the key has not yet been turned nor the gospel preached.\u201d\u00a0 To help them, however, \u201cmodern saints that have departed this earth clothed upon with \u2026 priesthood go to the world of spirits not to sorrow but as joyful messengers with glad tidings of eternal truth anointed to preach the gospel.\u201d[10]<\/a>\u00a0 Ultimately, this gave rise to the view that the Spirit World is a place where both wicked and righteous live, but the righteous live in a paradisiacal state while the wicked live in a prison of some sort.<\/p>\n As for the ministry of Christ in the world of spirits, that too was something that early Latter-day Saints discussed.\u00a0 Joseph Smith declared that: \u201cJesus Christ became a ministering Spirit, (while his body <?was?> lying in the Sepulchre,)\u00a0to the Spirits in prison; to fulfil an important part of his mission, without which\u00a0he could not have perfected his work or entered into his rest.\u201d[11]<\/a>\u00a0 His 16 February 1832 vision (D&C 76) also referenced \u201cthe spirits of men\u00a0kept in prison whom the son visited and preached\u00a0the gospel unto them.\u201d[12]<\/a>\u00a0 President Brigham Young likewise taught that: \u201cJesus was the first man that ever went to preach to the spirits in prison, holding the keys of the Gospel of salvation to them. Those keys were delivered to him in the day and hour that he went into the spirit world, and with them he opened the door of salvation to the spirits in prison.\u201d[13]<\/a>\u00a0 The idea of the hosts of righteous being gathered in the Spirit World, that Jesus came to visit the Spirit World between his death and resurrection, and that his visit turned the key to allow redemption of the spirits in prison had a lot of precedent in earlier Latter-day Saint teachings.<\/p>\n \u201cBut unto the wicked he did not go, and among the ungodly and the unrepentant who had defiled themselves while in the flesh, his voice was not raised, neither did the rebellious who rejected the testimonies and the warnings of the ancient prophets behold his presence, nor look upon his face.\u201d[14]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n This is one of the areas that does seem to be more unique to this revelation.\u00a0 Some of the early Christian Church Fathers were uneasy with the literal description of Jesus visiting hell and chose to describe it in different ways.\u00a0 Clement of Alexandria, for example, wrote that: \u201cHades says to Destruction, We have not seen His form, but we have heard His voice.\u201d[15]<\/a>\u00a0 This is similar in portraying the idea that Christ did not fully visit the wicked between his death and resurrection, since Clement didn\u2019t feel it was appropriate for the wicked to see Jesus in hell.\u00a0 Yet, for most Latter-day Saints prior to Joseph F. Smith, they embraced the idea of Jesus visiting and preaching to the wicked.\u00a0 Referencing the 1832 Vision again, it describes: \u201cThe spirits of men\u00a0kept in prison whom the son visited and preached\u00a0the gospel unto them.\u201d[16]<\/a>\u00a0 Generally, they took the First Epistle of Peter at its word that \u201che went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison.\u201d\u00a0 This is in contradiction to what Joseph F. Smith states in this document (\u201cunto the wicked he did not go\u201d), but Joseph F.\u2019s statement is, perhaps, a logical conclusion on his part, since he was concerned about how the Christ\u2019s \u201cministry among those who were dead was limited to the brief time intervening between the crucifixion and his resurrection \u2026 and how it was possible for him to preach to those spirits and perform the necessary labor among them in so short a time.\u201d[17]<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI perceived that the Lord went not in person among the wicked and the disobedient who had rejected the truth, to teach them; but behold, from among the righteous he organized his forces and appointed messengers, clothed with power and authority, and commissioned them to go forth and carry the light of the gospel to them that were in darkness, even to all the spirits of men. And thus was the gospel preached to the dead. \u2026 Thus was it made known that our Redeemer spent his time during his sojourn in the world of spirits, instructing and preparing the faithful spirits of the prophets who had testified of him in the flesh, that they might carry the message of redemption unto all the dead unto whom he could not go personally\u201d[18]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The idea of missionary work to the dead was something that was a part of Latter-day Saint belief throughout much of the 1800s.\u00a0 In the 16 February 1832 Vision (D&C 76), Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon described the Terrestrial Kingdom as a place for: \u201cthey who are the spirits of men\u00a0kept in prison whom the son visited and preached\u00a0the gospel unto them that they might be judged\u00a0according to men in the flesh\u00a0who received\u00a0not the testamony of Jesus in the flesh but\u00a0afterwards received it.\u201d[19]<\/a>\u00a0 Joseph Smith would continue to expound on this idea of conversion in spirit prison, stating in 1844, for example, that: \u201cAll those who die in the faith\u00a0goe to the Prison of spirits to preach\u00a0to the dead in body but the[y] are alive\u00a0in spirit and those spirits preach\u00a0to the spirits that the[y] may live\u00a0according to god in the\u00a0flesh<\/span>\u00a0Spirit\u00a0and men do minister for the flesh\u00a0and angels bare the glad tidings\u00a0to the spirits and the[y] are made hapy\u00a0by these means.\u201d[20]<\/a>\u00a0 Many early Church leaders taught similar concepts, establishing the concept of missionary work organized among the righteous vising the wicked in the world of spirits as widely-believed Church doctrine.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd the chosen messengers went forth to declare the acceptable day of the Lord, and proclaim liberty to the captives who were bound; even unto all who would repent of their sins and receive the gospel. Thus was the gospel preached to those who had died in their sins, without a knowledge of the truth, or in transgression, having rejected the prophets. These were taught faith in God, repentance from sin, vicarious baptism for the remission of sins, the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, and all other principles of the gospel that were necessary for them to know in order to qualify themselves that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. \u2026 The dead who repent will be redeemed, through obedience to the ordinances of the house of God, and after they have paid the penalty of their transgressions, and are washed clean, shall receive a reward according to their works, for they are heirs of salvation.\u201d[21]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Vicarious baptism for the remission of sins is something that Joseph Smith instated in the later years of his life, as shown by D&C 127-128.\u00a0 I\u2019ll just point folks to a previous post for more details on that concept<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cAmong the great and mighty ones who were assembled in this vast congregation of the righteous, were Father Adam, the Ancient of Days and father of all, and our glorious Mother Eve, with many of her faithful daughters who had lived through the ages and worshiped the true and living God.\u201d[22]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n This reference to women being among those who were doing missionary work was something that Susa Gates found to be particularly exciting.\u00a0 She wrote that: \u201cThis is unusual\u2014the mention of women\u2019s labors on the Other Side. \u2026 The direct view of [women] associated with the ancient and modern prophets and elders confirms the noble standard of equality between the sexes which has always been a feature of this Church.\u201d[23]<\/a> The idea had been around before the vision, however\u2014for example, six years before the vision, Joseph F. Smith had indicated that he believed sister missionaries would be working in the Spirit World: \u201cWho is going to preach the Gospel to the women? Who is going to carry the testimony of Jesus Christ to the hearts of the women who have passed away without a knowledge of the Gospel? Well, to my mind, it is simple thing.\u00a0[Faithful sisters]\u00a0will be fully authorized and empowered to preach the Gospel and minister to the women while the elders and prophets are preaching it to the men.\u201d[24]<\/a>\u00a0 I\u2019m unaware of earlier references to this idea of sister missionaries in the Spirit World (most other quotes discuss priesthood offices being a part of the missionary work), but it was at least an idea that was present before 1918.<\/p>\n \u201cThey were assembled awaiting the advent of the Son of God into the spirit world, to declare their redemption from the bands of death. Their sleeping dust was to be restored unto its perfect frame, bone to his bone, and the sinews and the flesh upon them, the spirit and the body to be united never again to be divided, that they might receive a fulness of joy. \u2026 The dead had looked upon the long absence of their spirits from their bodies as a bondage.\u201d[25]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The resurrection was a standard doctrine in the Church from early on.\u00a0 In fact, the first part of the text here is referencing a couple different scriptures.\u00a0 In the Book of Mormon, Amulek discusses the idea that: \u201cThe death of Christ shall loose the bands of this temporal death. \u2026 The spirit and the body shall be reunited again in its perfect form; both limb and joint shall be returned to its proper frame. \u2026 This mortal body is raised to an immortal body, that \u2026 they can die no more; their spirits uniting with their bodies, never to be divided.\u201d[26]<\/a>\u00a0 The vision of Ezekiel in the Valley of Dry Bones (them bones, them bones, them dry bones) is also referenced, where: \u201cSuddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. \u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them.\u201d[27]<\/a>\u00a0 Used here as a description of the resurrection, the Amulek and Ezekiel texts are woven together.<\/p>\n The second part about the dead being in bondage because they lacked bodies is a bit more complicated.\u00a0 A December 1832 revelation that Joseph Smith received (D&C 88) suggests this in stating that: \u201cThrough the\u00a0redemption, which is made for you; is brought to pass the resurection from the dead;\u00a0(and the spirit, and the body is the soul of man)\u00a0and the resurection from the dead, is the redemption of the soul.\u201d[28]<\/a>\u00a0 Joseph Smith preached a further-developed theology of embodiment, stating that: \u201cWe came to this earth that we might have a body, & present\u00a0it pure before\u00a0before<\/span>\u00a0God in the\u00a0celestial kingdom. The great\u00a0principle of happiness consists in having a body. The Devil has no\u00a0body, & herein is his punishment.\u201d\u00a0 He added that embodiment gives power: \u201cAll beings who have bodies have power over these who have not.\u201d[29]<\/a>\u00a0 Hence, \u201cSalvation is\u00a0nothing more or less than to triumph over\u00a0all our enemies & put them under our feet \u2026 as in the case of Jesus he was\u00a0to reign untill he had put all enemies under\u00a0his feet & the last enemy was death \u2026 No\u00a0power<\/span>\u00a0<?person?> can have\u00a0this Salvation except through a tabernacle.\u201d[30]<\/a>\u00a0 While not explicitly stated that lacking a body is bondage, it\u2019s certainly implied in Joseph Smith\u2019s teachings on the subject.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Prophet Joseph Smith, and my father, Hyrum Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, and other choice spirits, who were reserved to come forth in the fulness of times to take part in laying the foundations of the great Latter-day work, including the building of temples and the performance of ordinances therein for the redemption of the dead, were also in the spirit world. I observed that they were also among the noble and great ones who were chosen in the beginning to be rulers in the Church of God.\u201d[31]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n This section goes into more detail on the idea of commissioning the departed righteous in the Spirit World by giving specific examples of the people who were known by the Latter-day Saints who were actively performing the work.\u00a0 Wilford Woodruff was particularly vocal on expounding similar thoughts during his lifetime.\u00a0 He taught the idea in the 1850s at the funeral of President Jedediah M. Grant, saying: \u201cThe same Priesthood exists on the other side of the v[e]il. \u2026 \u00a0every Apostle, every Seventy, every Elder, etc., who has died in the faith as soon as he passes to the other side of the v[e]il, enters into the work of the ministry.\u201d[32]<\/a>\u00a0 He even talked about people in the Church dying specifically so they could serve as missionaries in the Spirit World.\u00a0 On one occasion, he talked about an experience in Cache Valley of three different men getting sick in succession and being visited by a former local Church leader who had died (Peter Maughan).\u00a0 In each visit, Maughan told them that \u201cwe held a council on the other side of the veil.\u00a0 I have a great deal to do, and I have the privilege of coming here to appoint one man to come and help.\u00a0 I have three names given me in council, and you are one of them.\u201d\u00a0 The first was deemed too busy with Church callings and recovered, the second was deemed to lack sufficient faith and recovered, and the third died (and so apparently passed inspection).[33]<\/a>\u00a0 (As an aside, the idea of being visited by the ghost of stake presidents past and being threatened with death so I can serve a full-time mission in hell is terrifying to me, but I can also see how it is comforting to Church members who have experienced an unexpected death in the family to believe that they were given a higher calling and needed elsewhere.)<\/p>\n President Woodruff also described Joseph Smith as being particularly busy in the Spirit World, stating that: \u201cJoseph and Hyrum Smith, Father Smith, David Patten and the other elders who have been called to the other side of the veil have fifty times as many people to preach to as we have on the earth.\u201d[34]<\/a>\u00a0 He said that he had been visited by Joseph Smith many times after Smith\u2019s death, but that the last time he saw him, Joseph Smith told Woodruff that: \u201cHe said he could not stop to talk with me because he was in a hurry,\u201d as did all the other former Church leaders he met in that dream.\u00a0 When he asked why (noting that \u201cI expected my hurry would be over when I got into the kingdom of heaven, if I ever did\u201d), Smith told him that: \u201cWe are the last dispensation, and so much work has to be done, and we need to be in a hurry in order to accomplish it.\u201d[35]<\/a>\u00a0 Wilford Woodruff believed that Church leaders and faithful members would be very busy with Church work after death.<\/p>\n Thus, for the most part, the vision of the redemption of the dead is presenting doctrines that were already established in the Church.\u00a0 The document itself and its later canonization in the 1970s are still significant, however, for brining those doctrines together into one place, presenting them in a coherent structure of the afterlife.\u00a0 Many of the doctrines, while established in the Church by prophets and other leaders prior to that time, were not included in the scriptures.\u00a0 Inclusion in a canonical document gave added authority to those doctrines.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Footnotes:<\/strong><\/p>\n [1]<\/a> M. Russell Ballard, \u201cThe Vision of the Redemption of the Dead,\u201d CR <\/em>October 2018, https:\/\/www.churchofjesuschrist.org\/study\/general-conference\/2018\/10\/the-vision-of-the-redemption-of-the-dead?lang=eng<\/a><\/p>\n [2]<\/a> See George S. Tate, \u201c\u2018The Great World of the Spirits of the Dead\u2019: Death, the Great War, and the 1918 Influenza Pandemic as Context for Doctrine and Covenants 138,\u201d BYU Studies <\/em>46 no. 1 (2007), https:\/\/scholarsarchive.byu.edu\/cgi\/viewcontent.cgi?article=3821&context=byusq<\/a>. For a shorter version, see George S. Tate, \u201cI Saw the Hosts of the Dead,\u201d Ensign<\/em>, December 2009, https:\/\/www.churchofjesuschrist.org\/study\/ensign\/2009\/12\/i-saw-the-hosts-of-the-dead?lang=eng<\/a>.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> Susa Young Gates diary, Nov. 5, 1918. Cited in Lisa Olsen Tait, \u201cSusa Young Gates and the Vision of the Redemption of the Dead,\u201d Revelations in Context: The Stories behind the Sections of the Doctrine and Covenants, <\/em>ed. Matthew McBride and James Goldberg (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2016), https:\/\/www.churchofjesuschrist.org\/study\/manual\/revelations-in-context\/susa-young-gates-and-the-vision-of-the-redemption-of-the-dead?lang=eng<\/a><\/p>\n [4]<\/a> Gordon B. Hinckley, \u201cRemarks at the Dedication of the Joseph F. Smith Building at Brigham Young University,\u201d September 20, 2005, https:\/\/speeches.byu.edu\/talks\/gordon-b-hinckley\/remarks-dedication-joseph-f-smith-building-brigham-young-university\/<\/a><\/p>\n [5]<\/a> Ballard.<\/p>\n [6]<\/a> Editors\u2019 Table: \u201cVision of the Redemption of the Dead,\u201d Improvement Era <\/em>(Dec. 1918), 166-167, https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/improvementera2202unse\/page\/166\/mode\/2up<\/a>.<\/p>\n [7]<\/a> 1 Peter 3:18-20, NRSV.<\/p>\n [8]<\/a> Apocryphal New Testament<\/em>, 3rd<\/sup> ed. (London: William Hone, 1821), 64.<\/p>\n [9]<\/a> Alma 40:11-14.<\/p>\n [10]<\/a> Parley P. Pratt sermon, 7 April 1853, papers of George D. Watt, transcribed by LaJean Purcell Carruth.<\/p>\n [11]<\/a> “History, 1838\u20131856, volume C-1 [2 November 1838\u201331 July 1842],” p. 1229, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed November 29, 2021, https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/history-1838-1856-volume-c-1-2-november-1838-31-july-1842\/401<\/a><\/p>\n [12]<\/a> “Vision, 16 February 1832 [D&C 76],” p. 7, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed November 29, 2021, https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/vision-16-february-1832-dc-76\/7<\/a>.<\/p>\n [13]<\/a> Brigham Young,\u00a0Discourses of Brigham Young<\/em>, ed. G. Homer Durham (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1954), 378.<\/p>\n [14]<\/a> \u201cVision of the Redemption of the Dead,\u201d 167.<\/p>\n [15]<\/a> Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata<\/em>, Book VI, http:\/\/www.earlychristianwritings.com\/text\/clement-stromata-book6.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n [16]<\/a> “Vision, 16 February 1832 [D&C 76],” p. 7, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed November 29, 2021, https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/vision-16-february-1832-dc-76\/7<\/a>.<\/p>\n [17]<\/a> \u201cVision of the Redemption of the Dead,\u201d 167-168.<\/p>\n [18]<\/a> \u201cVision of the Redemption of the Dead,\u201d 168.<\/p>\n [19]<\/a> “Vision, 16 February 1832 [D&C 76],” p. 7, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed November 29, 2021, https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/vision-16-february-1832-dc-76\/7<\/a><\/p>\n [20]<\/a> “Discourse, 12 May 1844, as Reported by George Laub,” p. 21, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed November 29, 2021, https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/discourse-12-may-1844-as-reported-by-george-laub\/3<\/a><\/p>\n [21]<\/a> \u201cVision of the Redemption of the Dead,\u201d 168, 170.<\/p>\n [22]<\/a> \u201cVision of the Redemption of the Dead,\u201d 168-169.<\/p>\n [23]<\/a> Susa Gates, \u201cIn Memoriam: President Joseph\u00a0F. Smith,\u201d\u00a0Relief Society Magazine,<\/em>\u00a0vol.\u00a06, no.\u00a01 (Jan. 1919),\u00a021.<\/p>\n [24]<\/a> Address of President Joseph\u00a0F. Smith Delivered at the Funeral Services of Sister Mary\u00a0A. Freeze,\u201d\u00a0Young Woman\u2019s Journal<\/em>\u00a023, no. 3 (March 1912): 130.<\/p>\n [25]<\/a> \u201cVision of the Redemption of the Dead,\u201d 167, 169.<\/p>\n [26]<\/a> Alma 11:42-44.<\/p>\n [27]<\/a> Ezekiel 37:7-8, NRSV.<\/p>\n [28]<\/a> “Revelation, 27\u201328 December 1832 [D&C 88:1\u2013126],” p. 35, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed November 30, 2021, https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/revelation-27-28-december-1832-dc-881-126\/3<\/a><\/p>\n [29]<\/a> “Discourse, 5 January 1841, as Reported by Unidentified Scribe,” p. [1], The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed November 30, 2021, https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/discourse-5-january-1841-as-reported-by-unidentified-scribe\/1<\/a><\/p>\n [30]<\/a> “Discourse, 14 May 1843, as Reported by Wilford Woodruff,” p. [30], The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed November 30, 2021, https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/discourse-14-may-1843-as-reported-by-wilford-woodruff\/1<\/a><\/p>\n [31]<\/a> \u201cVision of the Redemption of the Dead,\u201d 170.<\/p>\n [32]<\/a> Wilford Woodruff, in\u00a0Journal of Discourses<\/em>, 22:333\u201334 (Oct. 8, 1881).<\/p>\n [33]<\/a> Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses, <\/em>22:334.<\/p>\n [34]<\/a> Wilford Woodruff, JD<\/em>, 16:269 (Oct. 8, 1873).<\/p>\n