Dear Gramps,

What does it mean to deny the holy ghost? For
example take a person who was a good member, and still believes in the
gospel but does not pray or attend because of the shame of breaking
the commandments (pretty specific example I know).

James

Dear James,

Lucifer, which means “the shinning one” or “light bringer”, was the son of the morning.  He knew God’s plan of salvation, but he rebelled against God and was thrust down from the presence of God and the Son.  He was then called Satan, the Devil or Perdition.  Those that followed him also rebelled against God and became sons of perdition.  Cain was taught the Gospel, was baptized and communed with the Lord.  He also rebelled against God and killed his brother Abel.  For this he was cursed and became a son of perdition.

Those who become sons of perdition and deny the Holy Ghost are the only ones who will not be forgiven.  In D&C 76, the Lord says:   “34 Concerning whom I have said there is no forgiveness in this world nor in the world to come—  35 Having denied the Holy Spirit after having received it, and having denied the Only Begotten Son of the Father, having crucified him unto themselves and put him to an open shame.”     Joseph Smith defined what a person has to do in order to become a son of perdition.  He stated:  “What must a man do to commit the unpardonable sin?  He must receive the Holy Ghost, have the heavens opened unto him, and know God, and then sin against Him.  After a man has sinned against the Holy Ghost there is no repentance for him.  He has to say that the sun does not shine while he sees it;  he has to deny Jesus Christ when the heavens have been opened unto him, and to deny the plan of salvation with his eyes open to the truth of it; and from that time he begins to be an enemy.”  He further stated:  ‘For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.  Those who sin against the light and knowledge of the Holy Ghost may be said to crucify more than the body of our Lord, they crucify the Spirit.”

Those who enter into the new and everlasting covenant of marriage and are sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise and then commit murder in that they shed innocent blood also will not be forgiven.  In D&C 132 the Lord says:  “ 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.”

Gramps