Rebelled and Strayed

I remember one man whose son not only rebelled and strayed from the church, he was into drugs, went to prison, and finally [took his own life]. He said, “What hope is there for my boy? For my eternal Family? My wife and I have been righteous - sealed in the temple - tried to live our covenants...” A verse of scripture came to mind, as I talked with him, in the 76th section of the Doctrine and Covenants. As we talked, I said, “Now you never know the Lord’s mercy in His plan - let’s not judge. Let the Lord do all the judging.” He said, “My son - at best - lived a telestial law. What can I hope for any better than that? I’ll never see him again.” I said, “Never under estimate the power of the temple and those ordinances.” Notice what section 76 suggests to us - we read this together - this is verses 86 through 89 (He’s speaking of the telestial - the kingdom this man thought his son surely would go to): “These are they who receive not of his fulness in the eternal world, but of the Holy Spirit through the ministration of the terrestrial; and the terrestrial through the ministration of the celestial. And also the telestial receive it of the administering of angels who are appointed to minister for them, or who are appointed to be ministering spirits for them; for they shall be heirs of salvation. And thus we saw, in the heavenly vision, the glory of the telestial, which surpasses all understanding.” Now it seems that that verse is saying that those of the higher kingdoms minister to those of the lower kingdoms. Joseph Smith rewrote section 76 in poetic form, and that particular verse talks about ministering angels of the higher kingdoms to the lower kingdoms. He [Joseph] kind of created his own verb - he said they ‘happify’ them. That’s a beautiful thought. Those of the upper kingdoms minister to and happify even those of the telestial kingdom. And I said to that brother, “If your son - and we don’t know this - granted your assessment - ends up in the telestial kingdom, and the Lord said, “I need someone to happify and minister to that boy,” whose hand would be the first to go up - as a volunteer? And who - by right of temple sealings - and covenants you have been faithful to - would be the most logical person to happify and minister to that child? To see that they were happy. Would it not be you, the parents? The grandparents? The aunts? The uncles? The siblings?” The very last part of section 76 [verses 110-112] speaks again in the very worst case scenario - that a child stays ‘strayed’ and the very best you can hope for is a telestial world. The Lord says of those people, “These all shall bow the knee, and every tongue shall confess to him who sits upon the throne forever and ever; for they shall be judged according to their works, and every man shall receive according to his own works, his own dominion, in the mansions which are prepared; and they shall be servants of the Most High...” Not a bad way to spend eternity: faith and understanding of the Savior, and a servant of the Most High, ministered to and happified by those of higher kingdoms.

- Michael Wilcox, Oct 3, 2005,Using the Scriptures to Solve Serious Problems, Families Under Fire Conference