The following is an excerpt from President Russell M. Nelson's bookThe Gateway We Call Death.
The gateway of death may not be governed by a door as heavy and shut as it seems. It may be softly veiled by a billowy curtain or a delicate drape. The Prophet Joseph Smith referred to the "veil of death." 1 Certainly communication through the gateway between this world and the next is not closed. Prophets and apostles treat such transfer of intelligence as a very sacred matter, and rarely speak openly about it. Some disclosures have been made, however, and serve to illustrate how near we may be to those who have departed.
President Brigham Young honored his predecessor, Joseph Smith, in many ways. Perhaps Joseph's ability to blend heaven and earth would be among the foremost. President Young wrote: "I never saw any one, until I met Joseph Smith, who could tell me anything about the character , personality and dwelling-place of God, or anything satisfactory about angels, or the relationship of man to his Maker. Yet I was as diligent as any man need to be to try and find out these things.
"What is the nature and beauty of Joseph's mission? You know that I am one of his Apostles. When I first heard him preach, he brought heaven and earth together; and all the priests of the day could not tell me anything correct about heaven, hell, God, angels, or devils; they were as blind as Egyptian darkness. When I saw Joseph Smith, he took heaven, figuratively speaking, and brought it down to earth; and he took the earth, brought it up, and opened up, in plainness and simplicity, the things of God; and that is the beauty of his mission. I had a testimony, long before that, that he was a Prophet of the Lord, and that was consoling. Did not Joseph do the same to your understandings? Would he not take the Scriptures and make them so plain and simple that everybody could understand? Every person says, 'Yes, it is admirable; it unites the heavens and the earth together,' and as for time, it is nothing, only to teach us how to live in eternity." 2
Brigham Young was not the only leader to be deeply impressed with the Prophet's seership. Another contemporary penned this statement: "[Wilford Woodruff] referred to a saying of Joseph Smith, . . . That if the People knew what was behind the vail, they would try by every means . . . that they might get there, but the Lord in his wisdom has implanted the fear of death in every person that they might cling to life and thus accomplish the designs of their creator." 3
President Heber J. Grant's Visit to the Spirit World
At the funeral of President Jedediah M. Grant, President Heber C. Kimball relayed extensive information that President Grant had conveyed about his visit into the spirit world. (Both President Grant and President Kimball served as counselors to President Brigham Young.) The record of President Kimball's remarks reads: "[Brother Grant] said to me, brother Heber, I have been into the spirit world two nights in succession, and, of all the dreads that ever came across me, the worst was to have to again return to my body, though I had to do it. But O, says he, the order and government that were there! When in the spirit world, I saw the order of righteous men and women; beheld them organized in their several grades, and there appeared to be no obstruction to my vision; I could see every man and woman in their grade and order. I looked to see whether there was any disorder there, but there was none; neither could I see any death nor any darkness, disorder or confusion. He said that the people he there saw were organized in family capacities; and when he looked at them he saw grade after grade, and all were organized and in perfect harmony. He would mention one item after another and say, 'Why, it is just as brother Brigham says it is; it is just as he has told us many a time.'
"That is a testimony as to the truth of what brother Brigham teaches us, and I know it is true, from what little light I have.
"He saw the righteous gathered together in the spirit world, and there were no wicked spirits among them. He saw his wife; she was the first person that came to him. He saw many that he knew, but did not have conversation with any except his wife Caroline. She came to him, and he said that she looked beautiful and had their little child, that died on the Plains, in her arms, and said, 'Mr. Grant, here is little Margaret; you know that the wolves ate her up, but it did not hurt her; here she is all right.' . . .
"He asked his wife Caroline where Joseph and Hyrum and Father Smith and others were; she replied, 'they have gone away ahead, to perform and transact business for us.' The same as when brother Brigham and his brethren left Winter Quarters and came here to search out a home; they came to find a location for their brethren.
"He also spoke of the buildings he saw there, remarking that the Lord gave Solomon wisdom and poured gold and silver into his hands that he might display his skill and ability, and said that the temple erected by Solomon was much inferior to the most ordinary buildings he saw in the spirit world.
"In regard to gardens, says brother Grant, 'I have seen good gardens on this earth, but I never saw any to compare with those that were there. I saw flowers of numerous kinds, and some with from fifty to a hundred different colored flowers growing upon one stalk.' We have many kinds of flowers on the earth, and I suppose those very articles came from heaven, or they would not be here.
"After mentioning the things that he had seen, he spoke of how much he disliked to return and resume his body, after having seen the beauty and glory of the spirit world, where the righteous spirits are gathered together." 4
Get more in-depth insights from President Nelson in The Gateway We Call Death.
“Our ultimate and highest destiny is to return to our heavenly home. When that times comes, it can be as momentous as the time of birth. Birth is the gateway to mortal life; death is the gateway to immortality and eternal life.”
InThe Gateway We Call Death, President Nelson, a surgeon by profession and now a special witness of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, approaches the subject of death from both a medical and a theological point of view to discuss such topics as these: The purpose of life and of death; the purpose of mourning; when death comes without warning; factors of choice, such as suicide, euthanasia, and use of mechanical means to extend life; and life after death.
“As I have come to comprehend more about life in all of its phases,” President Nelson writes, “I no longer feel that death is always that foe to be feared. Instead, I view it as a potential friend to be understood.”
President Brigham Young's Insights into the Next Life
President Brigham Young, preaching at the funeral of Elder Thomas Williams on July 19, 1874, provided additional insights. He first cited questions often asked about conditions in the world to which we will go: "Shall we have labor? Shall we have enjoyment in our labor? Shall we have any object of pursuit, or shall we sit and sing ourselves away to everlasting bliss?"
Then President Young gave this response: "I [will] have passed from a state of sorrow, grief, mourning, woe, misery, pain, anguish and disappointment into a state of existence, where I can enjoy life to the fullest extent as far as that can be done without a body. My spirit is set free, I thirst no more, I want to sleep no more, I hunger no more, I tire no more, I run, I walk, I labor, I go, I come, I do this, I do that, whatever is required of me, nothing like pain or weariness, I am full of life, full of vigor, and I enjoy the presence of my heavenly Father, by the power of his Spirit." 5
Get more in-depth insights from President Nelson in The Gateway We Call Death.
“Our ultimate and highest destiny is to return to our heavenly home. When that times comes, it can be as momentous as the time of birth. Birth is the gateway to mortal life; death is the gateway to immortality and eternal life.”
When Elder Hugh B. Brown Received a Visit from a Former Prophet
Moving from messages of apostles of the nineteenth century to those of the twentieth, I would like to relate a personal experience with Elder Hugh B. Brown. It is sacred to me, and was also to him. Elder Brown had served earlier as a member of the First Presidency where, along with countless other matters, he had borne responsibilities relating to the building of the Washington Temple. I suppose that some of the decisions that had to be made did not go unchallenged.
President Spencer W. Kimball extended an invitation to Elder Brown to attend the dedication of that temple in November 1974. As a physician, I had been invited to accompany Elder Brown, now enfeebled due to advanced age. Months prior to his passing on December 2, 1975, I received his permission to record this experience, from which I quote:
"On the morning of the temple dedication, President Brown greeted me [R. M. N.] with the news that he had been visited during the night by President Harold B. Lee (President Lee had died the year before)." Elder Brown "described it as a glorious visit, one that meant much to him, for President Lee had been aware of some of the difficulties encountered by President Brown in the decisions that led to the construction of the temple in Washington, D.C.
"Later that morning, as we took President Brown to breakfast, Sister Harold B. (Freda Joan) Lee approached us. As we exchanged greetings, President Brown said to her, 'I had a glorious visit with Harold last night. He is just fine. It was so good to visit with him.'
"This was such a moving experience for us all. We felt the presence of President Lee's spirit in the temple through the witness of President Brown." 6
Get more in-depth insights from President Nelson in The Gateway We Call Death.
“As I have come to comprehend more about life in all of its phases,” President Nelson writes, “I no longer feel that death is always that foe to be feared. Instead, I view it as a potential friend to be understood.”
Elder David B. Haight Experience on the Verge of Death
More recently, Elder David B. Haight spoke at a general conference of the Church, following his miraculous recovery from a life-threatening illness. His surgical repair and prolonged convalescence had been fortified by the faith and prayers of many people in his behalf. Elder Haight first described some of that initial catastrophic experience when he was on the verge of death. Then he said:
"The terrible pain and commotion of people ceased. I was now in a calm, peaceful setting; all was serene and quiet. I was conscious of two persons in the distance on a hillside, one standing on a higher level than the other. The person on the higher level was pointing to something I could not see.
"I heard no voices but was conscious of being in a holy presence and atmosphere. During the hours and days that followed, there was impressed again and again upon my mind the eternal mission and exalted position of the Son of Man. I witness to you that He is Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, Savior to all, Redeemer of all mankind, Bestower of infinite love, mercy, and forgiveness, the Light and Life of the world. I knew this before—I had never doubted or wondered. But now I knew, because of the impressions of the Spirit upon my heart and soul, these divine truths in a most unusual way." 7
No doubt many of us are aware of additional accounts of communication from the deceased to friends or family members living here in mortality. While the validity of such accounts may not always be easy to ascertain, there can be little doubt that our loved ones are near in spirit. Their watchful eye is indicated by this scriptural account of a heavenly perspective: "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." (3 John 1:4.) From such parental love, we are separated only by the thin veil draped from the gateway.
Notes
^1. Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 56.
^2. Discourses of Brigham Young, comp. John A. Widtsoe (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1978), 458-59.
^3. A. Karl Larson, and Katharine Miles Larson, eds., Diary of Charles Lowell Walker 1 (Logan: Utah State University Press, 1980), pp. 465-66. Note: Charles Lowell Walker wrote the words to the hymn "Dearest Children, God Is Near You," Hymns, no. 96.
^4. Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses 4:135-36.
^5. Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 17:142.
^6. Russell M. Nelson, From Heart to Heart (Salt Lake City, 1979), p. 188.
^7. David B. Haight, "The Sacrament—and the Sacrifice," Ensign, November 1989, pp. 59-60.
Get more in-depth insights from President Nelson in The Gateway We Call Death.
“Our ultimate and highest destiny is to return to our heavenly home. When that times comes, it can be as momentous as the time of birth. Birth is the gateway to mortal life; death is the gateway to immortality and eternal life.”
InThe Gateway We Call Death, President Nelson, a surgeon by profession and now a special witness of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, approaches the subject of death from both a medical and a theological point of view to discuss such topics as these: The purpose of life and of death; the purpose of mourning; when death comes without warning; factors of choice, such as suicide, euthanasia, and use of mechanical means to extend life; and life after death.
“As I have come to comprehend more about life in all of its phases,” President Nelson writes, “I no longer feel that death is always that foe to be feared. Instead, I view it as a potential friend to be understood.”
