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Are our children ours or do we return them to God later? Well, a bit of both. Join me for this thrilling exploration of eternal promises related to parents and their children, including the doctrine of adoption, which sheds more light on the eternal mysteries of who God is and how to become like him!

The meaning of this title is that we inherit children from the Lord and we keep them. They are not just on loan. Our children we raise on earth will be a part of our eternal kingdom. We existed in the beginning like God and may become like him.

topics: intelligence, pre-mortality, spirit creation, body creation, continuation of families, children being your kingdom, blood redemption & blood as symbol of life, Godhead as each being fathers, earthly parents functioning as Holy Ghost representative parents, Jesus Christ as a parent to his people, what it means to join a family, joint-residency in eternal kingdoms of heaven (earthly parents’ kingdom and heavenly parents’ kingdom and Christ’s kingdom), life is a definitive eternal placement test, heavenly and earthly parents give exclusive rewards to their people/children, seek to understand the universe

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-Subheadings of this article include:
1. OUR CHILDREN WILL CONSTITUTE OUR ETERNAL KINGDOM, EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE HEAVENLY FATHERS SPIRIT CHILDREN
2. ADOPTIVE PARENTS EQUAL TO BIOLOGICAL
3. MANKIND EXISTING IN THE BEGINNING CAUSES HUMAN INDEPENDENCE; GODHEAD AS PARENTS, EARTH PARENTS REPRESENTING HOLY GHOST
4. PARENTING IS AN ATONEMENT, REDEEMING OTHER (CHILDREN) UNTO YOUR ETERNAL KINGDOM, BLOOD AS A SYMBOL FOR LIFE
5. THIS LIFE IS A DEFINITIVE ETERNAL PLACEMENT TEST, WE ALL GET EXACTLY WHAT WE WANT
6. CELESTIAL KINGDOM IS DIFFICULT TO OBTAIN, THE JOINT OPERATION OF JUSTICE AND MERCY DON’T ELIMINATE RIGHTEOUS REQUIREMENTS
7. SACRIFICE ALL BUT DESPAIR NOT FOR YOUR CHILDREN, GODS KINGDOM IS GREAT AT EVERY LEVEL
8. SEEK & FIND UNDERSTANDING OF THE UNIVERSE

-OUR CHILDREN WILL CONSTITUTE OUR ETERNAL KINGDOM, EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE HEAVENLY FATHERS SPIRIT CHILDREN: Prophets have taught that the constituents of Gods kingdom are his children, and that he rules over no person save he is their parent. Our kids even though they are the spirit children of heavenly father they really do contribute to our kingdoms because for one the prophets of said so and for two if ever you suffer for someone it’s like buying them, redeeming them, owning them, another word for redeemer is purchaser. Even if your children elect a kingdom of God other than the Celestial, they will forever serve you because of what you have done for them, and thus build your kingdom. So our children’s spirits were created by Heavenly Father, and they will always belong to his kingdom because he helped them use their spirits and suffered to train them, similarly each person has co-residency in the eternal kingdom of their earthly parents, them having taught their children how to use their bodies, and having suffered to train them. We also belong to the kingdom of Jesus Christ, he having made it possible for us to have resurrected bodies, and having suffered to train us. See footnote 1 for a scripture showing how Jesus becomes one of our parents alongside Heavenly Father & Mother and our earthly father & mother.
Heavenly Father & Mother are our parents in clothing our intelligence in spirits and sacrificing for our behalf (Elder Holland did a question and answer session at the Missionary Training Center while I attended, one of the questions was “Why does God love us?” His answer was that he loves us because he raised us from his knee in premortality. From this answer we get a beautiful picture of each of us having established in pre-mortality an intimate parent child relationship with Heavenly Father),
earthly parents are parents in clothing and otherwise training spirits with bodies and sacrificing on their behalf, Jesus Christ is a parent in enabling us to have resurrected bodies and sacrificing on our behalf.
I’ve heard it said that our children are on loan from Heavenly Father and aren’t our own, this is true in a sense, but in another sense, they are very much ours. We are involved in their creation. Think not that after this mortal life our families will be dissolved, and all will return to equality before God the father. No, but family organization will continue to exist there! See D&C 130:2 says ” And that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy.” These doctrines are the foundation of the long standing religious biblical and LDS idea that a person should have as many children as they can. Both parents and children benefit. Parents are sealed to their children, that is strong language, the strongest we know of, and it’s the same language we hear when learning about our forever relationship to Christ as his children as mentioned in Mosiah 5.

-ADOPTIVE PARENTS EQUAL TO BIOLOGICAL: What of adoptive parents who didn’t sire their children? They’re still involved in the creation of those children as they are training the children how to use their bodies righteously. Elder Holland in a recent General Conference said women don’t just bear their children once, but throughout the lifespan. Further, Jesus Christ is something of an adoptive parent of ours. We take upon ourselves his name, and by that name will we be called at the last day. His name is the name written on the foreheads of the exalted. Taking upon you his name represents joining his club, his way of life, and in so joining and committing to fidelity to his ways, he offers his club members exclusive access to his grace. The doctrine of being adopted into the House of Israel is well known. The scriptures say many times that Christ came to save not everyone, but to save HIS people. Matt 1:21 says “he shall save his people from their sins.” Mosiah 18:20 reads “Yea, even he commanded them that they should preach nothing save it were repentance and faith on the Lord, who had redeemed his people.” When we raise a child, they take upon them our family name, they walk after our ways, and we offer them exclusive insider access to our wealth, our time, our knowledge, our everything.
I’ve heard recently that the atoms in our bodies replace themselves / exchange every 5 years, so we really do become new people as life goes on.
This reminds me of a story of a centennial reporting on being married to the same man over 60 years. She told the reporter that he was mistaken, she had been married to 5 different men throughout her lifetime, not one. The reporter was embarrassed and thought he was in error coming to see this woman. The woman laughed and said something like, ‘let me clarify. I’ve been married to this same person, but he has changed; he is not the same as he was when I married him.’ This story illustrates the very real ability of being born again.

-MANKIND EXISTING IN THE BEGINNING CAUSES HUMAN INDEPENDENCE;
GODHEAD AS PARENTS,
EARTH PARENTS REPRESENTING HOLY GHOST:
Though we have joint residency in the kingdoms of our several parents (heavenly and earthly), we are independent beings destined for our own kingdoms. The D&C teaches that we also existed in the beginning with God, and will thus have no end, and thus are capable of independence in spite of forever worshiping God and our earthly parents. God consists of the Godhead and Heavenly Mother. Elohim the Hebrew word for God strictly translated means gods, Hebrew scholars suggest that this being used in singular form suggests that Elohim refers to God and his wife, or is representative of the enormity of Gods power.
Holy Ghost as a parent? In a way, earthly parents represent the Holy Ghost to their children, witnessing of God to their children. This completes the divine parent’s analogy: Heavenly Father & Mother are your parents, Jesus Christ is your parent, and your earthly parents by being filled with the Holy Ghost are your parents also.

See footnote 2 for a scripture about intelligences existing before earth and them being taken in by the great one being God.

See footnote 3 for a scripture about us being in the beginning with God.

Here are LDS Prophets teaching about intelligence being clothed with spirits by God in premortality:
Spencer W. Kimball, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, said, “Our spirit matter was eternal and co-existent with God, but it was organized into spirit bodies by our Heavenly Father” (Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness, p. 5, Salt Lake City, 1969). Marion G. Romney said, “Through that birth process, self-existing intelligence was organized into individual spirit beings” (Ensign 8 [Nov. 1978]:14). Bruce R. McConkie, an apostle, said: “Abraham used the name intelligences to apply to the spirit children of the Eternal Father. The intelligence or spirit element became intelligences after the spirits were born as individual entities (Abr. 3:22-24). Use of this name designates both the primal element from which the spirit offspring were created and also their inherited capacity to grow in grace, knowledge, power, and intelligence itself, until such intelligences, gaining the fulness of all things, become like their Father, the Supreme Intelligence” [Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 387].

-PARENTING IS AN ATONEMENT, REDEEMING OTHER (CHILDREN) UNTO YOUR ETERNAL KINGDOM,
& BLOOD AS A SYMBOL FOR LIFE: the atoning blood of Jesus Christ is Jesus shedding his blood which meant giving his life; and so when we give our life force or energy, our attention and concentration to our children, it’s like giving our blood for them; in the Old Testament and elsewhere we learn that blood is symbolic of life itself, this is why the law of Moses forbid drinking the blood of an animal, that being the life force of the animal. it’s wearing out our lives for them, so this means it’s atoning and redeeming them when it comes to parenting children. The word Redeemer comes from buying back; buying that means you own them (in a sense), and they will be a part of your kingdom even if they rebelled and go to the lower kingdoms of God they will still serve you and minister to you on your behalf and will be a pleasant person for you for eternity because of what you’ve done for them, so you don’t need to spend all your time worrying about whether or not your children will or will not make it to the top kingdom of God, they will make it to a kingdom of God, and they will be happy. All except a few sons of Perdition will make it to one of the kingdoms of God; but wo to them who repent not of their sins and do not therefore qualify for Gods greatest blessings.
Why most everyone going to Gods kingdom:
The idea of suffering in purgatory before going to heaven if you didn’t live quite as you should is actually quite correct, except we know that the candidate will receive a lower eternal inheritance if he repents not, despite suffering in purgatory or what we more perfectly call it, the world of spirits, which is the same thing as hell, the prison section of that world anyway. The only permanent hell is a place called outer darkness, and it is reserved for the Devil and his angels, namely the sons of perdition, those who rejected God in premortality, and those who deeply betray God in this life, and who deeply betrayed him in the prior. Outer Darkness is primarily a place for those who fell in premortality. Those who made it to mortality, they are basically all of them going to some place in the kingdom of God, though not all places in that kingdom are equal. There are 3 levels, and in the highest of those, another 3 sub-levels. To get the highest there, you must marry. D&C 131:1-4 shows this clearly: “1 In the celestial glory there are three heavens or degrees; 2 And in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood [meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage]; 3 And if he does not, he cannot obtain it. 4 He may enter into the other, but that is the end of his kingdom; he cannot have an increase.”

The atonement/divine intervention you make for others starts not at marriage, but at childbirth. Women still make the same amount of money being single or married, but when they’re a mother, they don’t make as much money (this study sited in A Case for Marriage by Waite and Gallagher). People often mistake marriage as the critical sacrifice beginning, but according to social science, married persons benefit overall, its when the children come that you see what you’re made of, parenting basically being the school and essence of the Gods. Not that marriage isn’t meaningful, but children make it more meaningful.

-THIS LIFE IS A DEFINITIVE ETERNAL PLACEMENT TEST,
WE ALL GET EXACTLY WHAT WE WANT:
We never despair for anyone because this life is the placement test, this is where we get placed; the test is perfect and the grader is perfect and the results are final; we’ve been preparing for eons and millenniums and even longer in the pre-mortality for this little test; it’s a test it’s like walking into a testing center for an hour or maybe a few hours on an exam; compare our life span to the average academic class test. It’s very short in comparison. Pre-mortality was the class, now mortality is the exam. Post-mortality is the assigned reward based on our performance; in each phase there are varying levels of challenge, success, failure, reward, and punishment. The results are final, everyone gets exactly what they want and more; everyone’s going to be pleased by what they get there, though many are going to be a little ticked off that they didn’t do better. But they’re still going to be really happy about what they receive.

-CELESTIAL KINGDOM IS DIFFICULT TO OBTAIN,
THE JOINT OPERATION OF JUSTICE AND MERCY DON’T ELIMINATE RIGHTEOUS REQUIREMENTS:
Do not think that God owes you a place in the Celestial Kingdom. Do you think just anyone can walk into the Celestial Kingdom or the highest degree thereof? The Lord said narrow is that way, and few find it. God is not so wonderfully merciful that he breaks justice; even mercy has its parameters and bounds which the Lord has set; if the Lord were to cease to represent justice, he would cease to be God. Mercy is a fancy way of saying “justice satisfied by a third party based on the contract between the debtor and redeemer”; the life to come is based on this life, this life is the test, it’s not a, “anything goes” test or it wouldn’t really be a test at all; when go to the next life you will be pleased knowing that even if you didn’t get the best, you got better than you deserve. God is kind, and loads all the mercy into your contract he possibly can. The Mormon/LDS view of heaven is much more wonderful and graceful than the way most of Christendom views it – they say it’s all or nothing, whereas Mormonism says there are multiple levels. The multiple level of heaven doctrine allows for the sort of good person to get a sort of good eternal residence, rather than the sort of good person being stuck forever with the most vile of sinners. Logic screams her approval is this type of eternal reward! Praise God for it! The challenge for us is to work out our salvation and become saints through the atonement of Christ the Lord (Mosiah 3:19) while the day of repentance (this life) is still before us (Alma 34:32-33). Repent “while it is called today” the scripture says; the day of this life is today; today ends either with Christ comes in his glory or when we die, whichever comes first. D&C 64:22-25 says, “22 And after that day, I, the Lord, will not hold any guilty that shall go with an open heart up to the land of Zion; for I, the Lord, require the hearts of the children of men. 23 Behold, now it is called today until the coming of the Son of Man, and verily it is a day of sacrifice, and a day for the tithing of my people; for he that is tithed shall not be burned at his coming. 24 For after today cometh the burning—this is speaking after the manner of the Lord—for verily I say, tomorrow all the proud and they that do wickedly shall be as stubble; and I will burn them up, for I am the Lord of Hosts; and I will not spare any that remain in Babylon. 25 Wherefore, if ye believe me, ye will labor while it is called today.” When today is over, time is up, hand in your tests, watch the grader make his judgement.
Conscience must be obeyed if we hope for salvation; it whispers in the small aspects of daily living; Elder Christofferson etc. says conscience is another way of saying the Light of Christ which everyone is born with. If we take upon ourselves the name of Christ, we are heeding what the light/voice of Christ directs; if we neglect that whispering, we develop into a creature not known by the name of Christ, and the devil becomes our shepherd (Alma 5:37-41).

-SACRIFICE ALL BUT DESPAIR NOT FOR YOUR CHILDREN,
GODS KINGDOM IS GREAT AT EVERY LEVEL: So while you’re doing everything you can yearning for them praying for them bleeding for them suffering for them even dying for them, doing everything you can for them, do not despair for them, for they will be saved in the kingdom of God even if in one of the lesser kingdoms and they will rejoice and because of what you’ve done for them, they will serve you forever and you will forever be associated with them in some form because of your bonds of love and feelings of love towards them. The rebellious feelings they have will subside to some degree even if they go to a lower Kingdom they still will be intelligent beings in that lower Kingdom and serviceable to you and causing you to be happy.

See footnote 4 for a scripture showing that only marriages by the priesthood (LDS) are lasting in heaven.

-SEEK & FIND UNDERSTANDING OF THE UNIVERSE: It seems that we are all Little Einstein’s wandering around trying to prove our theories, he was obsessed, so must we be… wandering around trying to figure out the universe. As we go through life we do see that the light and understanding which God enfolds us, of this we become enlightened and we are happy; we have peace in life, but if we stop seeking the mysteries of God we will never be happy; if we stop trying to figure out how the world Works, to figure out how the universe works, to figure out how the laws of the justice of God work, all these things that we need to understand perfectly, we are damned. Don’t damn yourself by giving up; Satan loves when we give up because he doesn’t have to work so hard; in pre-mortality Satan got a large following by persuading people that this mortality thing was just too hard, so why even bother if they’re going to fail so hard anyway.
However the truth is that you can look at yourself and be amazed that you are looking at an offering of deity. You may even faint at the sight! You’ve made it this far so you may as well keep going.
Combine temporal excellence with spiritual excellence & you can have excellent blessings and views (this is not to say to be obsessed with money); you must temporally provide and spiritually provide or both will drown.
We must know that we are the best, that is what it means to be a child of God, that we are the best. We keep trying too. A pillar of faith as taught by Joseph Smith is to know you are in line with God’s will. Being in line with God’s will means you are trying. It means you are being productive in some good way. It means you are acting on good impressions with an increasingly high success rate.
Would to God that all were prophets, as Moses said. You see it is open enrollment. There are not a limited number of chairs. 144000 means 12×12, representing infinity, the number 12 being a priesthood number. Come everyone and partake of your nature of being an offspring of God, get the Holy Ghost and marvel daily at the workings of the universe and the operations of the justice of God. It’s not only a possibility but a duty to seek to understand. Cease this seeking and you damn yourself for intelligence is godliness. Elder Holland reminds us that “seek and ye shall find” is one of the most repeated messages of holy writ. But if you cease to serve the poor in your quest for intelligence, you violate an essential law of heaven, and your intelligence will decay from that moment onward, working to your damnation rather than to your salvation.
Orson Pratt spoke on seeking knowledge and understanding of the things of eternity: “Perhaps you may ask me why I dwell on this . . . subject. In answer, why did the Lord dwell upon it forty-two years ago, if he did not want us, in some measure, to understand it? Would he speak at random? Would he give a revelation without expecting that the people would even try to understand it? If the Lord wished us to understand something, and condescended to reveal something, why should we . . . think that we are stepping over our bounds in trying to comprehend approximately what the Lord desired us to understand . . . It is an old sectarian whim and notion, to suppose that we must not try to understand revelation….Do not suppose, however, that those first principles [of the gospel] are the only ones to be learned; do not become stereotyped in your feelings, and think that you must always dwell upon them and proceed no further. If there be knowledge concerning the future, . . . the present, . . .[the] past, or any species of knowledge that would be beneficial to the mind of man, let us seek it; and that which we cannot obtain by using the light which God has placed within us, by using our reasoning powers, by reading books, or by human wisdom alone, let us seek to a higher source—to that Being who is filled with knowledge, and who has given laws to all things and who, in his wisdom, goodness, justice and mercy, controls all things according to their capacity, and according to the various spheres and conditions in which they are placed.” (Orson Pratt, March 14, 1875, Salt Lake City, 16th Ward, reported by David W. Evans)
On the same account, “It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance.” (D&C 131:6)

-These footnote scriptures will greatly help one to understand the foundations which we have built upon in this article, particularly helpful to the non-LDS or recently LDS or lifetime LDS reader who needs some brushing up on the doctrines of becoming children of Christ, premortal intelligences, intelligences existing in the beginning with God as co-independent units, and the need for an LDS marriage to access one’s own eternal kingdom, including forever keeping both one’s spouse and children:

Footnote 1: a scripture showing how Jesus becomes one of our parents alongside Heavenly Father & Mother and our earthly father & mother:
Mosiah 5:7, 9, 10, 12 illustrates the reality of being adopted into the family of Christ: “7 And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters….9 And it shall come to pass that whosoever doeth this shall be found at the right hand of God, for he shall know the name by which he is called; for he shall be called by the name of Christ. 10 And now it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall not take upon him the name of Christ must be called by some other name; therefore, he findeth himself on the left hand of God. …12 I say unto you, I would that ye should remember to retain the name written always in your hearts, that ye are not found on the left hand of God, but that ye hear and know the voice by which ye shall be called, and also, the name by which he shall call you.”

Footnote 2: a scripture about intelligences existing before earth and them being taken in by the great one being God:
Abraham 3:18-27: “…as, also, if there be two spirits, and one shall be more intelligent than the other, yet these two spirits, notwithstanding one is more intelligent than the other, have no beginning; they existed before, they shall have no end, they shall exist after, for they are gnolaum, or eternal. 19 And the Lord said unto me: These two facts do exist, that there are two spirits, one being more intelligent than the other; there shall be another more intelligent than they; I am the Lord thy God, I am more intelligent than they all. 20 The Lord thy God sent his angel to deliver thee from the hands of the priest of Elkenah. 21 I dwell in the midst of them all; I now, therefore, have come down unto thee to declare unto thee the works which my hands have made, wherein my wisdom excelleth them all, for I rule in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath, in all wisdom and prudence, over all the intelligences thine eyes have seen from the beginning; I came down in the beginning in the midst of all the intelligences thou hast seen. 22 Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones; 23 And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born. 24 And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell; 25 And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them; 26 And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever. 27 And the Lord said: Whom shall I send? And one answered like unto the Son of Man: Here am I, send me. And another answered and said: Here am I, send me. And the Lord said: I will send the first. 28 And the second was angry, and kept not his first estate; and, at that day, many followed after him.”

Footnote 3: a scripture about us being in the beginning with God:
D&C 93:19-36 teaches us about being co-eternal with God, about existing in the beginning with him, and being independent agents in eternity therefore: “19 I give unto you these sayings that you may understand and know how to worship, and know what you worship, that you may come unto the Father in my name, and in due time receive of his fulness. 20 For if you keep my commandments you shall receive of his fulness, and be glorified in me as I am in the Father; therefore, I say unto you, you shall receive grace for grace. 21 And now, verily I say unto you, I was in the beginning with the Father, and am the Firstborn; 22 And all those who are begotten through me are partakers of the glory of the same, and are the church of the Firstborn. 23 Ye were also in the beginning with the Father; that which is Spirit, even the Spirit of truth; 24 And truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come; 25 And whatsoever is more or less than this is the spirit of that wicked one who was a liar from the beginning. 26 The Spirit of truth is of God. I am the Spirit of truth, and John bore record of me, saying: He received a fulness of truth, yea, even of all truth; 27 And no man receiveth a fulness unless he keepeth his commandments. 28 He that keepeth his commandments receiveth truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things. 29 Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be. 30 All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also; otherwise there is no existence. 31 Behold, here is the agency of man, and here is the condemnation of man; because that which was from the beginning is plainly manifest unto them, and they receive not the light (I note, condemnation because he knows fully well what he is doing, he has been around as long as anyone! Everyone has always been here are we’re just showing our stuff, putting it on the line, we all know perfectly well what we’re doing in this life, as we’ll recall in the hereafter; yes we need reminding, the prophet’s cry repentance, but those who heed them not never really planned to anyway). 32 And every man whose spirit receiveth not the light is under condemnation. 33 For man is spirit. The elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparably connected, receive a fulness of joy; 34 And when separated, man cannot receive a fulness of joy. 35 The elements are the tabernacle of God; yea, man is the tabernacle of God, even temples; and whatsoever temple is defiled, God shall destroy that temple. 36 The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth.”

Footnote 4: a scripture showing that only marriages by the priesthood (LDS) are lasting in heaven, that all contracts not sealed by the Priesthood are void after this life, including non-temple marriages and non-sealed posterity:
D&C 132:4-33: “4 For behold, I reveal unto you a new and an everlasting covenant; and if ye abide not that covenant, then are ye damned; for no one can reject this covenant and be permitted to enter into my glory. 5 For all who will have a blessing at my hands shall abide the law which was appointed for that blessing, and the conditions thereof, as were instituted from before the foundation of the world. 6 And as pertaining to the new and everlasting covenant, it was instituted for the fulness of my glory; and he that receiveth a fulness thereof must and shall abide the law, or he shall be damned, saith the Lord God. 7 And verily I say unto you, that the conditions of this law are these: All covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associations, or expectations, that are not made and entered into and sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, of him who is anointed, both as well for time and for all eternity, and that too most holy, by revelation and commandment through the medium of mine anointed, whom I have appointed on the earth to hold this power (and I have appointed unto my servant Joseph to hold this power in the last days, and there is never but one on the earth at a time on whom this power and the keys of this priesthood are conferred), are of no efficacy, virtue, or force in and after the resurrection from the dead; for all contracts that are not made unto this end have an end when men are dead. 8 Behold, mine house is a house of order, saith the Lord God, and not a house of confusion. 9 Will I accept of an offering, saith the Lord, that is not made in my name? 10 Or will I receive at your hands that which I have not appointed? 11 And will I appoint unto you, saith the Lord, except it be by law, even as I and my Father ordained unto you, before the world was? 12 I am the Lord thy God; and I give unto you this commandment—that no man shall come unto the Father but by me or by my word, which is my law, saith the Lord. 13 And everything that is in the world, whether it be ordained of men, by thrones, or principalities, or powers, or things of name, whatsoever they may be, that are not by me or by my word, saith the Lord, shall be thrown down, and shall not remain after men are dead, neither in nor after the resurrection, saith the Lord your God. 14 For whatsoever things remain are by me; and whatsoever things are not by me shall be shaken and destroyed. 15 Therefore, if a man marry him a wife in the world, and he marry her not by me nor by my word, and he covenant with her so long as he is in the world and she with him, their covenant and marriage are not of force when they are dead, and when they are out of the world; therefore, they are not bound by any law when they are out of the world. 16 Therefore, when they are out of the world they neither marry nor are given in marriage; but are appointed angels in heaven, which angels are ministering servants, to minister for those who are worthy of a far more, and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory. 17 For these angels did not abide my law; therefore, they cannot be enlarged, but remain separately and singly, without exaltation, in their saved condition, to all eternity; and from henceforth are not gods, but are angels of God forever and ever. 18 And again, verily I say unto you, if a man marry a wife, and make a covenant with her for time and for all eternity, if that covenant is not by me or by my word, which is my law, and is not sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, through him whom I have anointed and appointed unto this power, then it is not valid neither of force when they are out of the world, because they are not joined by me, saith the Lord, neither by my word; when they are out of the world it cannot be received there, because the angels and the gods are appointed there, by whom they cannot pass; they cannot, therefore, inherit my glory; for my house is a house of order, saith the Lord God. 19 And again, verily I say unto you, if a man marry a wife by my word, which is my law, and by the new and everlasting covenant, and it is sealed unto them by the Holy Spirit of promise, by him who is anointed, unto whom I have appointed this power and the keys of this priesthood; and it shall be said unto them—Ye shall come forth in the first resurrection; and if it be after the first resurrection, in the next resurrection; and shall inherit thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers, dominions, all heights and depths—then shall it be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, that he shall commit no murder whereby to shed innocent blood, and if ye abide in my covenant, and commit no murder whereby to shed innocent blood, it shall be done unto them in all things whatsoever my servant hath put upon them, in time, and through all eternity; and shall be of full force when they are out of the world; and they shall pass by the angels, and the gods, which are set there, to their exaltation and glory in all things, as hath been sealed upon their heads, which glory shall be a fulness and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever. 20 Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting, because they continue; then shall they be above all, because all things are subject unto them. Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them. 21 Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye abide my law ye cannot attain to this glory. 22 For strait is the gate, and narrow the way that leadeth unto the exaltation and continuation of the lives, and few there be that find it, because ye receive me not in the world neither do ye know me. 23 But if ye receive me in the world, then shall ye know me, and shall receive your exaltation; that where I am ye shall be also. 24 This is eternal lives—to know the only wise and true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent. I am he. Receive ye, therefore, my law. 25 Broad is the gate, and wide the way that leadeth to the deaths; and many there are that go in thereat, because they receive me not, neither do they abide in my law. 26 Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man marry a wife according to my word, and they are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, according to mine appointment, and he or she shall commit any sin or transgression of the new and everlasting covenant whatever, and all manner of blasphemies, and if they commit no murder wherein they shed innocent blood, yet they shall come forth in the first resurrection, and enter into their exaltation; but they shall be destroyed in the flesh, and shall be delivered unto the buffetings of Satan unto the day of redemption, saith the Lord God. 27 The blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, which shall not be forgiven in the world nor out of the world, is in that ye commit murder wherein ye shed innocent blood, and assent unto my death, after ye have received my new and everlasting covenant, saith the Lord God; and he that abideth not this law can in nowise enter into my glory, but shall be damned, saith the Lord. 28 I am the Lord thy God, and will give unto thee the law of my Holy Priesthood, as was ordained by me and my Father before the world was. 29 Abraham received all things, whatsoever he received, by revelation and commandment, by my word, saith the Lord, and hath entered into his exaltation and sitteth upon his throne. 30 Abraham received promises concerning his seed, and of the fruit of his loins—from whose loins ye are, namely, my servant Joseph—which were to continue so long as they were in the world; and as touching Abraham and his seed, out of the world they should continue; both in the world and out of the world should they continue as innumerable as the stars; or, if ye were to count the sand upon the seashore ye could not number them. 31 This promise is yours also, because ye are of Abraham, and the promise was made unto Abraham; and by this law is the continuation of the works of my Father, wherein he glorifieth himself. 32 Go ye, therefore, and do the works of Abraham; enter ye into my law and ye shall be saved. 33 But if ye enter not into my law ye cannot receive the promise of my Father, which he made unto Abraham.”

-New additions to this document not on the audio version:
-“Echoing the words of the revelation, he (Joseph Smith) taught that men and women were co-eternal with God and could become like Him by “going from a small capacity to a great capacity,” until eventually they dwell “in everlasting burnings.” Speaking with revealed assurance, he taught: “The soul, the mind of man, whare did it come from? The learned says God made it in the beginning, but it is not so. I know better. God has told me so.”(“Discourse, 7 April 1844, as Reported by Wilford Woodruff,” 135, 137, josephsmithpapers.org; punctuation modernized.)” (https://history.lds.org/article/man-was-also-in-the-beginning-with-god?lang=eng)
-Gospel doctrine manual: Mankind may in their resurrected state sire spirit children and lead them through experiences similar to those we currently live in
-add some quote examples of prophets teaching that our children build our eternal kingdom

 

For a converse study about those who don’t remain worthy of eternal parenting and therefore lose their children and future opportunities for more children, see my document “Losing Your Children and Eternal Procreative Power Upon Disobedience”.