The Prisoners Shall Go Free | What Is the Spirit Prison? (LDS) & the 1841 Bible Miracle

Send us Fan MailWhat is the spirit prison, and how are the dead actually set free from it? Walking through the heart of Doctrine and Covenants 138 — President Joseph F. Smith's Vision of the Redemption of the Dead — this episode explores what awaits on the other side of the veil: the innumerable company of the just awaiting the Savior's coming, the captives to whom He declared liberty, and the gulf between paradise and spirit prison that Christ bridged so the righteous could carry the gospel to those in darkness. Along the way: Jedediah M. Grant's two nights in the spirit world as recounted by Heber C. Kimball — where the righteous are organized in families, the gardens hold flowers of fifty colors on one stalk, and his little daughter lost on the plains stood whole in her mother's arms; Brigham Young on death as "the next sphere"; Lorenzo Snow's promise that preaching in the spirit world will be "a thousand times more favorable"; and Wilford Woodruff: "in every death there is a birth." The episode closes with one of Tia's most personal thinning of the veil experiences: a prompting to search eBay for an 1840s Pennsylvania Bible, a hand-sewn 1850 newspaper clipping about a missing 14-year-old girl named Cordelia Rickards — and the words heard the moment her name was entered into FamilySearch: "Thank you for finding me. I'm not lost anymore." (Doctrine and Covenants 128:22: "...that which would enable us to redeem them out of their prison; for the prisoners shall go free.") Q: What is the spirit prison, in LDS doctrine? A: The spirit prison is the condition of spirits who have not yet received the gospel of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 3:18–20). These spirits retain their agency; if they accept the gospel and the temple ordinances performed for them, they may leave the spirit prison and dwell in paradise. Elder Bruce R. McConkie taught that repentance "opens the prison doors" — as spirits gain light, believe truth, and cast off sin, they can leave the prison that holds them.Q: What is the spirit world like, according to those who have seen it? A: Jedediah M. Grant, after two nights in the spirit world shortly before his death, told Heber C. Kimball he saw perfect order with no darkness or confusion — the righteous "organized in family capacities" — buildings surpassing Solomon's temple, and gardens beyond anything on earth. He also saw his deceased wife holding their little daughter who died on the plains: "Here she is, all right."Q: How does temple work free those in the spirit prison? A: Joseph Smith taught in Doctrine and Covenants 128:22 that the Lord "ordained before the world was that which would enable us to redeem them out of their prison; for the prisoners shall go free" — the vicarious ordinances of the temple. Lorenzo Snow taught that when the gospel is preached to the spirits in prison, "very few indeed" will not gladly receive it, for the circumstances there are "a thousand times more favorable."Website: thinningoftheveil.comYouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@UCAA9WnYhYvCp1ffCe-AGUQQ YouTube The Prisoners Shall Go Free Video: https://youtu.be/j6YS8ImnrkIBook: Patterns of Revelation: https://www.amazon.com/Patterns-Revelation-Spiritual-Foundations-Hearing-ebook/dp/B0BWGLZ8VXCitations: Journal of Discourses, Volume 1, Discourse, “Spiritual Communication”, Parley P. PrattD&C 138: 12-24(DNSW, 28 July 1874, 1)JD 4:135, Heber C. Kimball, Remarks at the Funeral of President Jedediah M. GrantMoses 7:37–39Chapter 41: The Postmortal Spirit WorldBruce R. McConkie, (Mormon Doctrine, 2nd ed. [1966], 755)Lorenzo Snow, Millennial Star, 22 Jan, 1894, p. 49) Wilford Woodruff, Conference Report, Apr. 1880, p.9JD 22:347, Wilford Woodruff, Funeral DiscourseD&C 128:22Support the show