Ihave sought and do now seek that guidance
and enlightenment which comes from the
Holy Spirit of God. I desire to speak by the
power of the Holy Ghost so that my words will
be true and wise and proper. When any of us
speak by the power of the Spirit, we say what
the Lord wants said, or, better, what he would
say if he were here in person.
I shall depart from my normal and usual
pattern and read portions of my presentation
because I want to state temperately and accurately
the doctrinal principles involved and to
say them in a way that will not leave room for
doubt or question. I shall speak on some matters
that some may consider to be controversial,
though they ought not to be. They are
things on which we ought to be united, and to
the extent we are all guided and enlightened
from on high we will be. If we are so united—
and there will be no disagreement among
those who believe and understand the revealed
word—we will progress and advance and
grow in the things of the Spirit; we will prepare
ourselves for a life of peace and happiness and
joy here and now, and for an eventual eternal
reward in the kingdom of our Father.
There is a song or a saying or a proverb or a
legend or a tradition or something that speaks
of seven deadly sins. I know nothing whatever
about these and hope you do not. My subject
is one about which some few of you, unfortunately,
do know a little. It is “The Seven Deadly
Heresies”—not the great heresies of a lost and
fallen Christendom, but some that have crept
in among us.
Now I take a text. These words were written
by Paul to certain ancient Saints. In principle
they apply to us:
I hear that there be divisions among you; and
I partly believe it.
For there must be also heresies among you, that
they which are approved may be made manifest
among you. [1 Corinthians 11:18–19]
Now let me list some axioms (I guess in
academic circles we call these caveats):
—There is no salvation in believing a false
doctrine.
—Truth, diamond truth, truth unmixed
with error, truth alone leads to salvation.
© INTELLECTUAL RESERVE, INC. 1
The Seven Deadly Heresies
BRUCE R. MCCONKIE
Bruce R. McConkie was a member of the Quorum of
the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints when this fireside address was
given at Brigham Young University on 1 June
1980.
—What we believe determines what we do.
—No man can be saved in ignorance of
God and his laws.
—Man is saved no faster than he gains
knowledge of Jesus Christ and the saving
truths of his everlasting gospel.
—Gospel doctrines belong to the Lord, not
to men. They are his. He ordained them, he
reveals them, and he expects us to believe
them.
—The doctrines of salvation are not discovered
in a laboratory or on a geological field trip
or by accompanying Darwin around the world.
They come by revelation and in no other way.
—Our sole concern in seeking truth should
be to learn and believe what the Lord knows
and believes. Providentially he has set forth
some of his views in the holy scriptures.
—Our goal as mortals is to gain the mind
of Christ, to believe what he believes, to think
what he thinks, to say what he says, to do what
he does, and to be as he is.
—We are called upon to reject all heresies
and cleave unto all truth. Only then can we
progress according to the divine plan. As the
Lord has said,
Whatever principle of intelligence we attain
unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection.
And if a person gains more knowledge and
intelligence in this life through his diligence and
obedience than another, he will have so much the
advantage in the world to come. [D&C 130:18–19]
Please note that knowledge is gained by
obedience. It comes by obedience to the laws
and ordinances of the gospel. In the ultimate
and full sense it comes only by revelation from
the Holy Ghost. There are some things a sinful
man does not and cannot know. The Lord’s
people are promised: “By the power of the
Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all
things” (Moroni 10:5). But if they do not seek
the Spirit, if they do not accept the revelations
God has given, if they cannot distinguish
between the revealed word and the theories
of men, they have no promise of gaining a fullness
of truth by the power of the Holy Ghost.
Now may I suggest the list of heresies.
Heresy one: There are those who say that
God is progressing in knowledge and is learning
new truths.
This is false—utterly, totally, and completely.
There is not one sliver of truth in it. It
grows out of a wholly twisted and incorrect
view of the King Follett Sermon and of what is
meant by eternal progression.
God progresses in the sense that his kingdoms
increase and his dominions multiply—
not in the sense that he learns new truths and
discovers new laws. God is not a student. He is
not a laboratory technician. He is not postulating
new theories on the basis of past experiences.
He has indeed graduated to that state of
exaltation that consists of knowing all things
and having all power.
The life that God lives is named eternal life.
His name, one of them, is “Eternal,” using that
word as a noun and not as an adjective, and he
uses that name to identify the type of life that
he lives. God’s life is eternal life, and eternal
life is God’s life. They are one and the same.
Eternal life is the reward we shall obtain if we
believe and obey and walk uprightly before
him. And eternal life consists of two things. It
consists of life in the family unit, and, also, of
inheriting, receiving, and possessing the fullness
of the glory of the Father. Anyone who has
each of these things is an inheritor and possessor
of the greatest of all gifts of God, which is
eternal life.
Eternal progression consists of living the
kind of life God lives and of increasing in kingdoms
and dominions everlastingly. Why anyone
should suppose that an infinite and eternal
being who has presided in our universe for
almost 2,555,000,000 years, who made the sidereal
heavens, whose creations are more numerous
than the particles of the earth, and who is
2 Brigham Young University 1980 Speeches
aware of the fall of every sparrow—why anyone
would suppose that such a being has more
to learn and new truths to discover in the laboratories
of eternity is totally beyond my comprehension.
Will he one day learn something that will
destroy the plan of salvation and turn man and
the universe into an uncreated nothingness?
Will he discover a better plan of salvation than
the one he has already given to men in worlds
without number?
The saving truth, as revealed to and taught,
formally and officially, by the Prophet Joseph
Smith in the Lectures on Faith is that God is
omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. He
knows all things, he has all power, and he is
everywhere present by the power of his Spirit.
And unless we know and believe this doctrine
we cannot gain faith unto life and salvation.
Joseph Smith also taught in the Lectures on
Faith “that three things are necessary in order
that any rational and intelligent being may
exercise faith in God unto life and salvation.”
These he named as—
1. The idea that he actually exists;
2. A correct idea of his character, perfections,
and attributes; and
3. An actual knowledge that the course of
life which he is pursuing is according to the
divine will.
The attributes of God are given as knowledge,
faith or power, justice, judgment, mercy,
and truth. The perfections of God are named
as “the perfections which belong to all of the
attributes of his nature,” which is to say that
God possesses and has all knowledge, all faith
or power, all justice, all judgment, all mercy,
and all truth. He is indeed the very embodiment
and personification and source of all
these attributes. Does anyone suppose that
God can be more honest than he already is?
Neither need any suppose there are truths he
does not know or knowledge he does not
possess.
Thus Joseph Smith taught, and these are his
words:
Without the knowledge of all things, God would
not be able to save any portion of his creatures; for it
is by reason of the knowledge which he has of all
things, from the beginning to the end, that enables
him to give that understanding to his creatures by
which they are made partakers of eternal life; and if
it were not for the idea existing in the minds of men
that God had all knowledge it would be impossible
for them to exercise faith in him. [As quoted by
Bruce R. McConkie in Mormon Doctrine (Salt
Lake City: Bookcraft, 1966), p.264]
If God is just dabbling with a few truths he
has already chanced to learn or experimenting
with a few facts he has already discovered, we
have no idea as to the real end and purpose of
creation.
Heresy two concerns itself with the relationship
between organic evolution and
revealed religion and asks the question
whether they can be harmonized.
There are those who believe that the theory
of organic evolution runs counter to the plain
and explicit principles set forth in the holy
scriptures as these have been interpreted and
taught by Joseph Smith and his associates.
There are others who think that evolution is
the system used by the Lord to form plant and
animal life and to place man on earth.
May I say that all truth is in agreement, that
true religion and true science bear the same
witness, and that in the true and full sense, true
science is part of true religion. But may I also
raise some questions of a serious nature. Is
there any way to harmonize the false religions
of the Dark Ages with the truths of science as
they have now been discovered? Is there any
way to harmonize the revealed religion that
has come to us with the theoretical postulates
of Darwinism and the diverse speculations
descending therefrom?
Bruce R. McConkie 3
Should we accept the famous document
of the First Presidency issued in the days of
President Joseph F. Smith and entitled “The
Origin of Man” as meaning exactly what it
says? Is it the doctrine of the gospel that Adam
stood next to Christ in power and might and
intelligence before the foundations of the
world were laid; that Adam was placed on this
earth as an immortal being; that there was no
death in the world for him or for any form of
life until after the Fall; that the fall of Adam
brought temporal and spiritual death into the
world; that this temporal death passed upon
all forms of life, upon man and animal and
fish and fowl and plant life; that Christ came
to ransom man and all forms of life from the
effects of the temporal death brought into the
world through the Fall, and in the case of man
from a spiritual death also; and that this ransom
includes a resurrection for man and for all
forms of life? Can you harmonize these things
with the evolutionary postulate that death has
always existed and that the various forms of
life have evolved from preceding forms over
astronomically long periods of time?
Can you harmonize the theories of men
with the inspired words that say:
And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed
he would not have fallen, but he would have
remained in the Garden of Eden. And all things
which were created must have remained in the same
state in which they were after they were created; and
they must have remained forever, and had no end.
And they [meaning Adam and Eve] would
have had no children; wherefore they would have
remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for
they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew
no sin.
But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom
of him who knoweth all things.
Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that
they might have joy.
And the Messiah cometh in the fulness of time,
that he may redeem the children of men from the
fall. [2 Nephi 2:22–26]
These are questions to which all of us
should find answers. Every person must
choose for himself what he will believe. I recommend
that all of you study and ponder and
pray and seek light and knowledge in these
and in all fields.
I believe that the atonement of Christ is
the great and eternal foundation upon which
revealed religion rests. I believe that no man
can be saved unless he believes that our Lord’s
atoning sacrifice brings immortality to all and
eternal life to those who believe and obey, and
no man can believe in the atonement unless he
accepts both the divine sonship of Christ and
the fall of Adam.
My reasoning causes me to conclude that if
death has always prevailed in the world, then
there was no fall of Adam that brought death
to all forms of life; that if Adam did not fall,
there is no need for an atonement; that if there
was no atonement, there is no salvation, no resurrection,
and no eternal life; and that if there
was no atonement, there is nothing in all of the
glorious promises that the Lord has given us.
I believe that the Fall affects man, all forms
of life, and the earth itself, and that the
Atonement affects man, all forms of life, and
the earth itself.
Heresy three: There are those who say that
temple marriage assures us of an eventual exaltation.
Some have supposed that couples married
in the temple who commit all manner of
sin, and who then pay the penalty, will gain
their exaltation eventually.
This notion is contrary to the whole system
and plan that the Lord has ordained, a system
under which we are privileged to work out our
salvation with fear and trembling before him. If
we believe and obey, if we enter the waters of
baptism and make solemn covenants with the
Lord to keep his commandments, we thereby
4 Brigham Young University 1980 Speeches
get on a strait and narrow path that leads from
the gate of repentance and baptism to a reward
that is called eternal life. And if we traverse the
length of the path going upward and forward
and onward, keeping the commandments, loving
the Lord, and doing all that we ought to
do, eventually we will be inheritors of that
reward.
And in exactly and precisely the same
sense, celestial marriage is a gate that puts us
on a path leading to exaltation in the highest
heaven of the celestial world. It is in that highest
realm of glory and dignity and honor hereafter
that the family unit continues. Those who
inherit a place in the highest heaven receive the
reward that is named eternal life. Baptism is
a gate; celestial marriage is a gate. When we
get on the paths of which I speak, we are then
obligated to keep the commandments. My suggestion
in this field is that you go to the temple
and listen to a ceremony of celestial marriage,
paying particular and especial attention to the
words, and learn what the promises are that
are given. And you will learn that all of the
promises given are conditioned upon subsequent
compliance with all of the terms and
conditions of that order of matrimony.
Heresy four: There are those who believe
that the doctrine of salvation for the dead
offers men a second chance for salvation.
I knew a man, now deceased, not a member
of the Church, who was a degenerate old
reprobate who found pleasure, as he supposed,
in living after the manner of the world. A cigarette
dangled from his lips, alcohol stenched
his breath, and profane and bawdy stories
defiled his lips. His moral status left much to
be desired.
His wife was a member of the Church,
as faithful as she could be under the circumstances.
One day she said to him, “You know
the Church is true; why won’t you be baptized?”
He replied, “Of course I know the
Church is true, but I have no intention of
changing my habits in order to join it. I prefer
to live the way I do. But that doesn’t worry me
in the slightest. I know that as soon as I die,
you will have someone go to the temple and do
the work for me and everything will come out
all right in the end anyway.”
He died and she had the work done in the
temple. We do not sit in judgment and deny
vicarious ordinances to people. But what will it
profit him?
There is no such thing as a second chance to
gain salvation. This life is the time and the day
of our probation. After this day of life, which is
given us to prepare for eternity, then cometh
the night of darkness wherein there can be no
labor performed.
For those who do not have an opportunity
to believe and obey the holy word in this life,
the first chance to gain salvation will come in
the spirit world. If those who hear the word for
the first time in the realms ahead are the kind
of people who would have accepted the gospel
here, had the opportunity been afforded them,
they will accept it there. Salvation for the dead
is for those whose first chance to gain salvation
is in the spirit world.
In the revelation recently added to our
canon of holy writ, these words are found:
Thus came the voice of the Lord unto me, saying:
All who have died without a knowledge of this
gospel, who would have received it if they had been
permitted to tarry, shall be heirs of the celestial
kingdom of God;
Also all that shall die henceforth without a
knowledge of it, who would have received it with all
their hearts, shall be heirs of that kingdom;
For I, the Lord, will judge all men according to
their works, according to the desire of their hearts.
[D&C 137:7–9]
There is no other promise of salvation than
the one recited in that revelation. Those who
reject the gospel in this life and then receive it
in the spirit world go not to the celestial, but to
the terrestrial kingdom.
Bruce R. McConkie 5
Heresy five: There are those who say that
there is progression from one kingdom to
another in the eternal worlds or that lower
kingdoms eventually progress to where higher
kingdoms once were.
This belief lulls men into a state of carnal
security. It causes them to say, “God is so merciful;
surely he will save us all eventually; if we
do not gain the celestial kingdom now, eventually
we will; so why worry?” It lets people live
a life of sin here and now with the hope that
they will be saved eventually.
The true doctrine is that all men will be
resurrected, but they will come forth in the resurrection
with different kinds of bodies—some
celestial, others terrestrial, others telestial, and
some with bodies incapable of standing any
degree of glory. The body we receive in the
resurrection determines the glory we receive in
the kingdoms that are prepared.
Of those in the telestial world it is written:
“And they shall be servants of the Most High;
but where God and Christ dwell they cannot
come, worlds without end” (D&C 76:112).
Of those who had the opportunity to enter
into the new and everlasting covenant of marriage
in this life and who did not do it, the revelation
says:
Therefore, when they are out of the world they
neither marry nor are given in marriage; but are
appointed angels in heaven; which angels are ministering
servants, to minister for those who are worthy
of a far more, and an exceeding, and an eternal
weight of glory.
For these angels did not abide my law; therefore,
they cannot be enlarged, but remain separately and
singly, without exaltation, in their saved condition,
to all eternity; and from henceforth are not gods,
but are angels of God forever and ever. [D&C
132:16–17]
They neither progress from one kingdom to
another, nor does a lower kingdom ever get
where a higher kingdom once was. Whatever
eternal progression there is, it is within a
sphere.
Heresy six: There are those who believe or
say they believe that Adam is our father and
our god, that he is the father of our spirits and
our bodies, and that he is the one we worship.
The devil keeps this heresy alive as a means
of obtaining converts to cultism. It is contrary
to the whole plan of salvation set forth in the
scriptures, and anyone who has read the Book
of Moses, and anyone who has received the
temple endowment, has no excuse whatever
for being led astray by it. Those who are so
ensnared reject the living prophet and close
their ears to the apostles of their day. “We will
follow those who went before,” they say. And
having so determined, they soon are ready to
enter polygamous relationships that destroy
their souls.
We worship the Father, in the name of the
Son, by the power of the Holy Ghost; and
Adam is their foremost servant, by whom the
peopling of our planet was commenced.
Heresy seven: There are those who believe
we must be perfect to gain salvation.
This is not really a great heresy, only a doctrinal
misunderstanding that I mention here in
order to help round out our discussion and to
turn our attention from negative to positive
things. If we keep two principles in mind we
will thereby know that good and faithful members
of the Church will be saved, even though
they are far from perfect in this life.
These two principles are (1) that this life is
the appointed time for men to prepare to meet
God—this life is the day of our probation; and
(2) that the same spirit which possesses our
bodies at the time we go out of this mortal life
shall have power to possess our bodies in that
eternal world.
What we are doing as members of the
Church is charting a course leading to eternal
life. There was only one perfect being, the Lord
Jesus. If men had to be perfect and live all of
the law strictly, wholly, and completely, there
6 Brigham Young University 1980 Speeches
would be only one saved person in eternity.
The prophet taught that there are many things
to be done, even beyond the grave, in working
out our salvation.
And so what we do in this life is chart a
course leading to eternal life. That course
begins here and now and continues in the
realms ahead. We must determine in our hearts
and in our souls, with all the power and ability
we have, that from this time forward we will
press on in righteousness; by so doing we can
go where God and Christ are. If we make that
firm determination, and are in the course of
our duty when this life is over, we will continue
in that course in eternity. That same spirit
that possesses our bodies at the time we depart
from this mortal life will have power to possess
our bodies in the eternal world. If we go out of
this life loving the Lord, desiring righteousness,
and seeking to acquire the attributes of
godliness, we will have that same spirit in the
eternal world, and we will then continue to
advance and progress until an ultimate, destined
day when we will possess, receive, and
inherit all things.
Now I do not say these are the only great
heresies that prevail among us. There are others
that might be mentioned. My suggestion,
relative to all doctrines and all principles, is
that we become students of holy writ, and that
we conform our thinking and our beliefs to
what is found in the standard works. We need
to be less concerned about the views and opinions
that others have expressed and drink
directly from the fountain the Lord has given
us. Then we shall come to a true understanding
of the points of his doctrine. And if we pursue
such a course, we will soon find that it proceeds
in a different direction than the one that
the world pursues. We will not be troubled
with the intellectual views and expressions
of uninspired people. We will soon obtain for
ourselves the witness of the Spirit that we are
pursuing a course that is pleasing to the Lord,
and this knowledge will have a cleansing and
sanctifying and edifying influence upon us.
Now, in order to have things in perspective,
let me identify the three greatest heresies in all
Christendom. They do not prevail among us,
fortunately, but they are part of the gross and
universal darkness that covers the earth and
blots out from the minds of men those truths
upon which salvation rests.
The greatest truth known to man is that
there is a God in heaven who is infinite and
eternal; that he is the creator, upholder, and
preserver of all things; that he created us and
the sidereal heavens and ordained and established
a plan of salvation whereby we might
advance and progress and become like him.
The truth pertaining to him is that he is our
Father in heaven, that he has a body of flesh
and bones as tangible as man’s, that he is a literal
person, and that if we believe and obey his
laws we can gain the exaltation that he possesses.
Now that is the greatest truth and the
most glorious concept known to the human
mind, and the reverse of it is the greatest
heresy in all Christendom.
The Christian heresy, where God is concerned,
is that Deity is a spirit essence that fills
the immensity of space; that he is three beings
in one; that he is uncreated, incorporeal, and
incomprehensible; that he is without body,
parts, or passions; that he is a spirit nothingness
that is everywhere and nowhere in particular
present. These are concepts written in the
creeds had in the churches of the world.
The second greatest truth in all eternity pertains
to the divine sonship of the Lord, Jesus
Christ. It includes the eternal verity that he was
foreordained in the councils of eternity to come
to earth and be the redeemer of men, to come
and ransom men from the temporal and spiritual
death brought upon them by the fall of
Adam. This second greatest truth is that Christ
worked out the infinite and eternal atoning
sacrifice because of which all men are raised in
Bruce R. McConkie 7
immortality and those who believe and obey
are raised also unto eternal life.
Now the second greatest heresy in all
Christendom is designed to destroy the glories
and wonders of the infinite and eternal atonement.
It is that men are saved by some kind of
lip service, by the grace of God, without work
and without effort on their part.
The third greatest truth known to mankind
is that the Holy Spirit of God is a revelator and
a sanctifier, that he is a personage of spirit, that
his assigned ministry and work in the eternal
Godhead is to bear record of the Father and of
the Son, to reveal them and their truths to men.
His work is to cleanse and perfect human
souls, to burn dross and evil out of human
souls as though by fire. We call that the baptism
of fire.
Now the opposite of that is the third greatest
heresy in all Christendom. It is that revelation
has ceased, that God’s mouth is closed,
that the Holy Ghost no longer inspires men,
that the gifts of the Spirit were done away with
after the death of the ancient apostles, and that
we no longer need to follow the course they
charted.
I simply name these things; I think you will
want to weigh and evaluate what is involved.
I think you will want to ponder and wonder
and search the scriptures. After Jesus had been
teaching the Nephites as a resurrected person,
giving them as much truth as in his wisdom
he felt they could absorb at one time, he counseled
them to go to their homes, and to ponder
in their hearts the things he had said, and to
pray to the Father in his name to find out if
they were true, and then to come again on the
morrow and he would teach them more.
Now that gives us the pattern by which
we should operate in the Church. We come
together in congregations, seeking the guidance
of the Holy Spirit, studying the revelations,
reading the scriptures, and hearing
expressions of doctrine and counsel given by
those who are appointed. These teachings
ought to be delivered by the power of the Holy
Spirit. They ought to be received by the same
power. And if they are, then the speaker and
the hearer will be mutually edified, and we
will have true and proper worship.
Then when the meeting is over, the “amen”
should not end it. We should go to our homes
and to our families and to our circles, and we
should search out the revelations and find
out what the Lord has said on the subjects
involved. We should seek to get in tune with
the Holy Spirit and to gain a witness, not solely
of the truth and divinity of the work in which
we are engaged but also of the doctrines that
are taught by those who preach to us. We come
into these congregations, and sometimes a
speaker brings a jug of living water that has
in it many gallons. And when he pours it out
on the congregation, all the members have
brought is a single cup and so that’s all they
take away. Or maybe they have their hands
over the cups, and they don’t get anything to
speak of.
On other occasions we have meetings
where the speaker comes and all he brings is a
little cup of eternal truth, and the members of
the congregation come with a large jug, and all
they get in their jugs is the little dribble that
came from a man who should have known better
and who should have prepared himself and
talked from the revelations and spoken by the
power of the Holy Spirit. We are obligated in
the Church to speak by the power of the Spirit.
We are commanded to treasure up the words of
light and truth and then give forth the portion
that is appropriate and needful on every
occasion.
I do not think that the heresies I have
named are common in the Church. I think
that the great majority of the members of the
Church believe and understand true doctrines
and seek to apply true principles in their lives.
Unfortunately, there are a few people who agitate
and stir these matters up, who have some
personal ax to grind, and who desire to spread
8 Brigham Young University 1980 Speeches
philosophies of their own, philosophies that, as
near as the judges in Israel can discern, are not
in harmony with the mind and will and purpose
of the Lord. It is incumbent upon us to
believe the truth. We have the obligation to
find out what is truth, and then we have the
obligation to walk in the light and to apply the
truths that we have learned to ourselves and to
influence others to do likewise.
Now the glorious and wondrous thing
about this whole system of revealed religion
that the Lord, our God, has given us is the fact
that it is true. There isn’t a grander, a more
glorious, a more wondrous concept than the
simple one that the work in which we are
engaged is true. And because it is true it will
triumph and prevail, and the knowledge of
God and his truths will roll forth until it covers
the whole earth as the waters cover the sea. We
do not expect to have a perfect society among
us until the millennial day dawns. But that is
not far distant. And when that day comes, we
will all, as the scriptures say, see eye to eye and
speak with one voice, and the Lord himself will
dwell among us. He could not dwell among us
now because we are divided and we are not
living in that perfect harmony and unity and
with that devotion that prevailed among the
Saints in the city of Enoch.
God grant that we may be wise in what we
do, that we may seek truth, that we may live in
harmony with the truth, that we may bear testimony
of the truth, and that we may, as a consequence,
have joy and peace and happiness
here and now and be inheritors, in due course,
of eternal reward in our Father’s kingdom. This
is my prayer for myself and for all of you, and
for all of the members of the Church, and for
honest truthseekers everywhere, and I offer it
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Bruce R. McConkie 9
