Mormon Quotes

Men become gods

Brigham Young
Joseph Smith holds the keys of this last dispensation, and is now engaged behind the vail in the great work of the last days. I can tell our beloved brother Christians who have slain the Prophets and butchered and otherwise caused the death of thousands of Latter‑day Saints, the priests who have thanked God in their prayers and thanksgiving from the pulpit that we have been plundered, driven, and slain, and the deacons under the pulpit, and their brethren and sisters in their closets, who have thanked God, thinking that the Latter‑day Saints were wasted away, something that no doubt will mortify them ‑ something that, to say the least, is a matter of deep regret to them ‑ namely, that no man or woman in this dispensation will ever enter into the celestial kingdom of God without the consent of Joseph Smith. From the day that the Priesthood was taken from the earth to the winding‑up scene of all things, every man and woman must have the certificate of Joseph Smith, junior, as a passport to their entrance into the mansion where God and Christ are ‑ I with you and you with me. I cannot go there without his consent. He holds the keys of that kingdom for the last dispensation ‑ the keys to rule in the spirit‑world; and he rules there triumphantly, for he gained full power and a glorious victory over the power of Satan while he was yet in the flesh, and was a martyr to his religion and to the name of Christ, which gives him a most perfect victory in the spirit‑world. He reigns there as supreme a being in his sphere, capacity, and calling, as God does in heaven. Many will exclaim ‑ "Oh, that is very disagreeable! It is preposterous! We cannot bear the thought!" But it is true.
Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 7:289
Brigham Young
'I do not depend upon any inherent goodness of my own,' say they, 'to introduce me into the kingdom of glory, but I depend upon you, brother Joseph, upon you, brother Brigham ... I believe your judgment is superior to mine, and consequently I let you judge for me.' Now those men, or those women, who know no more about the power of God, and the influences of the Holy Spirit, than to be led entirely by another person, suspending their own understanding, and pinning their faith upon another's sleeve, will never be capable of entering into the celestial glory, to be crowned as they anticipate; they will never be capable of becoming Gods.
Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 1:312
Brigham Young
Now those men, or those women, who know no more about the power of God, and the influences of the Holy Spirit, than to be led entirely by another person, suspending their own understanding, and rinning their faith upon another's sleeve, will never be capable of entering into the celestial glory, to be crowned as they anticipate; they will never be capable of becoming Gods. They cannot rule themselves, to say nothing of ruling others, but they must be dictated to do in every trifle, like a child. They cannot control themselves in the least, but James, Peter, or somebody else must control them. They never can become Gods, nor be crowned as rulers with glory, immortality, and eternal lives. They never can hold scepters of glory, majesty, and power in the Celestial Kingdom. Who will? Those who are valiant and inspired with the true independence of heaven, who will go forth boldly in the service of their God, leaving others to do as they please, determined to do right, through all mankind besides should take the opposite course. Will this apply to any of you? Your own hearts can answer.
Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 1:312
Brigham Young
It appears ridiculous to the world, under their darkened and erroneous traditions, that God has once been a finite being.
Brigham Young, Deseret News, 11/16/1859, p.290
Brigham Young
Angels are those beings who have been on an earth like this, and have passed through the same ordeals that we are now passing through. They have kept their first estate far enough to preserve themselves in the Priesthood. They did not so violate the law of the Priesthood and condemn themselves to the sin against the Holy Ghost as to be finally lost. They are not crowned with the celestial ones. They are persons who have lived upon an earth, but did not magnify the Priesthood in that high degree that many others have done who have become Gods, even the sons of God.
Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 9:103
Brigham Young
Joseph Smith holds the keys of this last dispensation, and is now engaged behind the veil in the great work of the last days. I can tell our beloved brother Christians who have slain the Prophets and butchered and otherwise caused the death of thousands of Latter‑day Saints, the priests who have thanked God in their prayers and thanksgiving from the pulpit that we have been plundered, driven, and slain, and the deacons under the pulpit, and their brethren and sisters in their closets, who have thanked God, thinking that the Latter‑day Saints were wasted away, something that no doubt will mortify them ‑ something that, to say the least, is a matter of deep regret to them ‑ namely, that no man or woman in this dispensation will ever enter into the celestial kingdom of God without the consent of Joseph Smith. From the day that the Priesthood was taken from the earth to the winding‑up scene of all things, every man and woman must have the certificate of Joseph Smith, as a passport to their entrance into the mansion where God and Christ are ‑ I with you and you with me. I cannot go there without his consent. He holds the keys of that kingdom for the last dispensation ‑ the keys to rule in the spirit‑world; and he rules there triumphantly, for he gained full power and a glorious victory over the power of Satan while he was yet in the flesh, and was a martyr to his religion and to the name of Christ, which gives him a most perfect victory in the spirit‑world. He reigns there as supreme a being in his sphere, capacity, and calling, as God does in heaven. Many will exclaim ‑ 'Oh, that is very disagreeable! It is preposterous! We cannot bear the thought!' But it is true.
Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 7:289
Joseph Smith
We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea, and take away the veil, so that you may see. These are incomprehensible ideas to some, but they are simple. It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the Character of God, and to know that we may converse with him as one man converses with another, and that he was once a man like us; yea, that God the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ himself did, and I will show it from the Bible.
Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp.345‑346
Joseph Smith
You have to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and be kings and priests to God, the same as all Gods have done before you, namely by going from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one: from grace to grace from exaltation to exaltation until you attain the resurrection of the dead.
Joseph Smith, History of the Church; Vol. 6 Pg. 306
John Taylor
Thus we are the only people that understand anything about the present position or the cause of the organization of the world and of man, and that understand anything correctly about a preparation for a future state; that we are the only people that know how to save our progenitors, how to save ourselves, and how to save our posterity in the celestial kingdom of God; that we are the people that God has chosen by whom to establish his kingdom and introduce correct principles into the world; and that we in fact are the saviours of the world, if they ever are saved;
John Taylor, Journal of Discourses 6:163
Ezra Taft Benson
You who submit yourselves to an abortion or to an operation that precludes you from safely having additional healthy children are jeopardizing your exaltation and your future membership in the kingdom of God.
Ezra Taft Benson, Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, 1988, p. 541
Mark E. Petersen
Let us consider the great mercy of God for a moment. A Chinese, born in China with a dark skin, and with all the handicaps of that race, seems to have little opportunity. But think of the mercy of God to Chinese people who are willing to accept the gospel. In spite of whatever they might have done in the pre‑existence to justify being born over there as Chinamen, if they now, in this life, accept the gospel and live it the rest of their lives they can have the Priesthood, go to the temple and receive endowments and sealings, and that means they can have exaltation. Isn't the mercy of God marvelous?
Mark E. Petersen, "Race problems as they affect the church"
Orson Pratt
Baptism is just as essential to salvation, as Faith and Repentance. Without being immersed in water no man can enter into the fulness of Celestial glory: for baptism is instututed for the remission of sins; and if a person does not take the necessary steps to obtain pardon of sins, of course, he cannot be saved in the kingdom of God.
Orson Pratt, Apostle Orson Pratt, The Seer, p. 255
James E. Talmage
We further say that [Adam's] power was not forfeited when as a celestial being he voluntarily partook of the forbidden fruit, and thereby rendered his body mortal in order that he might become the father of mortal tabernacles, as he was already the father of immortal spirits ‑‑ thus giving opportunity to the offspring of his own begetting to pass through the ordeals necessary to prepare them for a resurrection from the dead, a celestial glory.
James E. Talmage, Joseph E. Taylor, Collected Discourses, v. 1, June 2, 1888
Jens Christian Andersen Weibye
Brother Allred preaches at Manti on Adam as God, with the following remarks in part: 'Adam was buried by God and was only dead like a twinkling of a eye, and his God exalted him immediately. Mary was sealed to Adam; and unless we have two wives, we can never be Gods. Adam will worship his god and we will worship Adam, and our children will worship us.'
Jens Christian Andersen Weibye, Jan Christian Anderson Weibye Daybooks, Daybook 5th, pp. 20‑22
Thelma Geer
As a white Mormon, I proudly accepted the teaching that my fair skin and Mormon parentage signified that I had been one of God's most intelligent and obedient born‑in‑heaven spirit children.... As a reward for my superior attributes and attitudes, I had been singled out, trained, and qualified to be born a white Latter‑day Saint, deserving of emulation, adulation, and eventual deification. All dark‑skinned people, even darker‑complexioned Caucasians... had been inferior spirits in heaven.
Thelma Geer, Thelma Geer, Mormonism, Mama & Me, 1986, pp. 24‑25
© 2011