Doctrine and Covenants 29:7

Elder Neil L. Andersen:

“Your mission will be a sacred opportunity to bring others to Christ and help prepare for the Second Coming of the Savior.

“The Lord has long spoken of the necessary preparations for His Second Coming. To Enoch, He declared, ‘Righteousness will I send down out of heaven; and truth will I send forth out of the earth, … and righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out mine elect from the four quarters of the earth.’ [Moses 7:62.] The prophet Daniel prophesied that in the latter days the gospel would roll forth unto the ends of the earth as a ‘stone [that is] cut out of [a] mountain without hands.’ [Daniel 2:45.] Nephi spoke of the latter-day Church as being few in number but spread upon all the face of the earth. [See 1 Nephi 14:12–14.] The Lord declared in this dispensation, ‘Ye are called to bring to pass the gathering of mine elect.’ [Doctrine and Covenants 29:7.] … Your mission is a great opportunity and responsibility, important to this promised gathering and linked to your eternal destiny” (“Preparing the World for the Second Coming,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2011, 50–51).

Doctrine and Covenants 29:7–9

Elder Bruce R. McConkie:

“Stakes of Zion are … being organized at the ends of the earth. In this connection, let us ponder these truths: A stake of Zion is a part of Zion. You cannot create a stake of Zion without creating a part of Zion. Zion is the pure in heart; we gain purity of heart by baptism and by obedience. A stake has geographical boundaries. To create a stake is like founding a City of Holiness. Every stake on earth is the gathering place for the lost sheep of Israel who live in its area.

“The gathering place for Peruvians is in the stakes of Zion in Peru, or in the places which soon will become stakes. The gathering place for Chileans is in Chile; for Bolivians it is in Bolivia; for Koreans it is in Korea; and so it goes through all the length and breadth of the earth. Scattered Israel in every nation is called to gather to the fold of Christ, to the stakes of Zion, as such are established in their nations” (“Come: Let Israel Build Zion,” Ensign, May 1977, 118).

Doctrine and Covenants 29:14–21

Prophet Joseph Smith:

“Concerning the coming of the Son of Man … it is a false idea that the Saints will escape all the judgments, whilst the wicked suffer; for all flesh is subject to suffer, and ‘the righteous shall hardly escape’ [see D&C 63:34]; still many of the Saints will escape, for the just shall live by faith [see Habakkuk 2:4]; yet many of the righteous shall fall a prey to disease, to pestilence, etc., by reason of the weakness of the flesh, and yet be saved in the Kingdom of God” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith [2007], 253).

Doctrine and Covenants 29:34–35

President Boyd K. Packer:

“Natural and spiritual laws which govern life were instituted from before the foundation of the world. … They are eternal, as are the consequences for either obeying or disobeying them. They are not based on social or political considerations. They cannot be changed. No pressure, no protest, no legislation can alter them” (“For Time and All Eternity,” Ensign, Nov. 1993, 22).

Doctrine and Covenants 29:41

President Joseph Fielding Smith:

“The second death is spiritual; it is banishment from the presence of the Lord. It is similar to the first spiritual death, which has passed upon all men who have remained unrepentant and who have not received the gospel. Those who have suffered the first spiritual death or departure, which is a shutting out from the presence of God, have the privilege of being redeemed from this death through obedience to the principles of the gospel. Through baptism and confirmation they are born again and thus come back into spiritual life, and through their continued obedience to the end, they shall be made partakers of the blessings of eternal life in the celestial kingdom of God.

“Those who partake of the second death are those who have had the spiritual light and have rebelled against it. These remain in their sins in their banishment” (Doctrines of Salvation, ed. Bruce R. McConkie, 3 vols. [1954–56], 2:222–23).

Doctrine and Covenants 29:42–43

True to the Faith

“Immortality is to live forever as a resurrected being. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, everyone will receive this gift. Eternal life, or exaltation, is to inherit a place in the highest degree of the celestial kingdom, where we will live in God’s presence and continue as families (see D&C 131:1–4). Like immortality, this gift is made possible through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. However, it requires our ‘obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel’ (Articles of Faith 1:3)” (True to the Faith: A Gospel Reference [2004], 52).

President Thomas S. Monson:

“Don’t put your eternal life at risk. If you have sinned, the sooner you begin to make your way back, the sooner you will find the sweet peace and joy that come with the miracle of forgiveness.

“… You are of a noble birthright. Eternal life in the kingdom of our Father is your goal. Such a goal is not achieved in one glorious attempt but rather is the result of a lifetime of righteousness, an accumulation of wise choices, even a constancy of purpose. As with anything really worthwhile, the reward of eternal life requires effort.

“… May we be filled with gratitude for the right of choice, accept the responsibility of choice, and ever be conscious of the results of choice” (“The Three Rs of Choice,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2010, 69–70).

Doctrine and Covenants 29:46–47

Elder Bruce R. McConkie:

“Among all the glorious gospel verities given of God to his people there is scarcely a doctrine so sweet, so soul satisfying, and so soul sanctifying, as the one which proclaims—Little children shall be saved. They are alive in Christ and shall have eternal life. For them the family unit will continue, and the fulness of exaltation is theirs. No blessing shall be withheld. They shall rise in immortal glory, grow to full maturity, and live forever in the highest heaven of the celestial kingdom—all through the merits and mercy and grace of the Holy Messiah, all because of the atoning sacrifice of Him who died that we might live …

“Are all little children saved automatically in the celestial kingdom?

“To this question the answer is a thunderous yes,which echoes and re-echoes from one end of heaven to the other. Jesus taught it to his disciples. Mormon said it over and over again. Many of the prophets have spoken about it, and it is implicit in the whole plan of salvation. If it were not so the redemption would not be infinite in its application. And so, as we would expect, Joseph Smith’s Vision of the Celestial Kingdom contains this statement: ‘And I also beheld that all children who die before they arrive at the years of accountability are saved in the celestial kingdom of heaven.’ [D&C 137:10.] …

“How and why are they saved?

“They are saved through the atonement and because they are free from sin. They come from God in purity; no sin or taint attaches to them in this life; and they return in purity to their Maker. Accountable persons must become pure through repentance and baptism and obedience. Those who are not accountable for sins never fall spiritually and need not be redeemed from a spiritual fall which they never experienced. Hence the expression that little children are alive in Christ. ‘Little children are redeemed from the foundation of the world through mine Only Begotten,’ the Lord says. (D&C 29:46.)” (“The Salvation of Little Children,” Ensign, Apr. 1977, 3, 4–5).